Secret World: I Became a God Through Lies

Chapter 177 The Dream of Libra, the Scale of Awakening

“Every blink of an eye is a decision;
Every breath is a gamble.

Between dreaming and waking—there is only a ray of light."

The stage seemed to grow out of the bones of an underwater theater, surrounded by a faint blue mist, like the breath of a sleeper.

It is made up of countless spiral coral columns and broken mirrors, and the mirror reflects the expressions of everyone - surprise, vigilance, and uneasiness, as if they have become characters in this play.

A school of lantern fish hangs from the theater dome, and in the belly of each fish there is an uneasy light beating, like the heartbeat of the world, waiting for the judgment bell to fall.

They stood in the center of the theater, and under their feet—

It is a huge and ancient balance.

The bronze double sky disks hang high in the silence, with stairs leading up on both sides.
It is covered with long-lost ancient spells and nightmare sentences, like the remnants of a contract forgotten by the world.

The center of the balance is suspended in the air, without any support, and water droplets like a sea of stars drip from the void.
It hit the stand, "dong-dong-dong", and the echo was low, like the pendulum of fate, or the prelude to a requiem.

"What...is this place?" Ian whispered, his voice carrying a rare heaviness.

There was nothing around, as if the entire stage was holding its breath, waiting for the moment when the curtain would open.

Alison had already drawn her musket and was leaning forward, her guard as sharp as a steel blade.

Rex stood behind her, his fingers subconsciously touching the edge of his right eye lens, while the sleepless pocket watch on his left wrist trembled slightly.
The hands quietly pointed to the quarter after twelve, as if giving some kind of hint in advance.

"...This is the main stage of the trial." Calvino spoke slowly, looking at the slowly swinging scales.
His eyes were as deep as the night sea. "The final will of the dream awaits us here."

Lilia stood beside him, her fingers gently stroking the edge of the glass of the sleepless pocket watch, with a calmness that was almost compassionate in her eyes, as if she had foreseen everything.

At this very moment——

A pure white spotlight, like the spear of judgment of the gods, suddenly fell from the dome and locked onto Sima Ming without any warning!
"Si Ming!" Rex roared, his voice breaking the silence, and everyone turned around suddenly.

They saw with their own eyes—

Sima Ming's figure seemed to be precisely locked by some invisible law, and the colors of the world quickly peeled off around him.

Before his eyes appeared an array of judgments woven from nightmare threads, illusory yet sharper than reality, each thread leading to the softest part of his soul.

A sharp feeling of withdrawal came from deep within the fate lines, as if the soul was hooked out of the bones, and Siming's body stiffened violently.

He turned back suddenly, his throat tight, trying desperately to say something, but he only had time to look in the direction of Calvino and Lilia -

"Oops."

This was the only clarity left in his mind.

The next second, his body was like a piece of canvas cut by a knife. The whole person twisted, spun, and disintegrated violently in the white light.
It transformed into a gray-white silhouette detached from reality and flew rapidly towards the torn light gate right above the theater.

Immediately afterwards, a flash of scarlet lightning streaked across the theater!

"Owner!!!"

Celian roared, her voice seemed to tear the void, her pupils suddenly erected, her fangs exposed, and her entire body was completely ignited by the power of life patterns and blood.

But before she reached Siming, she was swallowed by the white light.

——Power suppression.

This is a direct sanction from the supreme will of the world system.

Her body instantly shed the form of the "Secret Card" and turned into a violently trembling blood-red halo, shrinking rapidly in the air.

Finally, it exploded into countless blood mist fragments, like a trampled rose, and dissipated in the sky above the theater.

"Celian!!!" Siming yelled, using up the last bit of his consciousness. But his voice could no longer penetrate reality.

His skin began to peel off, his name began to peel off, his voice, his identity, his beliefs, everything that belonged to "Si Ming",

All of them were drawn out, torn apart, and swallowed up layer by layer in that white light——

That's not death, that's a reset of destiny.

A denial of the "character's existence" that comes from deep within the fate lines, as if someone has put a red cross on the Thousand Faces' script, erasing him completely.

The rules choose you.

【It's not defeat, but being designated.】

In the final moment, the world fell silent.

There was only one voice—not the voice of a single being, but the will of the entire theater, the entire Dream Cards, echoing from the depths of the void.

Low and distant, like the whispers in a dream after a tsunami:

"Welcome, weaver of destiny."

"The Lord of Sleep...has been waiting for you."

That's not an invitation.

That's a predator's opening line to food.

World Series·High-Level Secret Card·No.003——

The real body of the Dreamy Sea opened its eyes.

The black fog surged like the rumbling tide of a dark sea, quietly enveloping the stage.

"Welcome, passengers of the Lost."

A deep, ethereal voice rang out, as if coming from the heart of the Sleeping Lord. "You have entered the 'Trial of Lucidity: The Balance of Dreams.'"

The scales beneath everyone's feet slowly lit up, their wings spread out, like a ritual vessel for an ancient god. On the two bronze plates, inscriptions appeared:
Inscription on the left plate: Calvino, Lilia;

Inscription on the right plate: Alison, Ian, Rex, Baroque.

"The rules of the game are as follows—"

"Your 'Never Sleep Pocket Watch' is the manifestation of your 'Awake Value'."

"Each character's lucidity value will be converted into 'spiritual weight'."

"The heavier the scale, the lower the level of sobriety on that side."

"After six pulses of fluorescent light—"

"The heavier side of the scale will be judged as the [Sleeping Violator]."

"Everyone on this side will be trapped in this dream forever, losing the right to return home."

As the words fell, the air became stagnant like water.

"That means... those who are unconscious will be left behind?" Baroque widened his eyes in disbelief.

"The less awake you are, the more dangerous it is." Lilia frowned and repeated in a low voice, with an indescribable tremor in her voice.

"This is simply... a reversal of logic." Rex muttered, "Dreams do not welcome the awake."

"This is the rule of dreams," Calvino said in a tone as steady as steel. "Who can resist dreams? Who is allowed to leave?"

The voice sounded again, gentle but cruel:
"Any attempt to use the Mystic will result in the backlash of 'Rule Priority'."

"This field is numbered No. 003, High-level World System."

"Any secret number lower than that of this field will be suppressed."

Before he finished speaking, Baroque roared and pulled out the secret card:
Tide Giant, activated!
But the next second, just as the fate star on his arm ignited a flame, it was snapped by an invisible force.

The ground was forcibly extinguished, and a burning sensation exploded in the nerve center.

The spell pattern failed and the energy collapsed.

The giant's shadow had not yet taken shape, just like the last breath of oxygen was taken away by the abyss and dissipated into nothingness.

"Damn..." Ian cursed softly and reached out to draw his sword, but found that the weapon in his hand had become blurry, like an illusion shrouded in water vapor, and even the touch was dissipating.

"The secret has failed," Alison calmly judged, but a hint of repression crossed her features. "We... are on His home turf."

Rex tried to activate the lens of his right eye, and the "Banshee Peeping into Fate" glowed faintly in the corner of his eye. As soon as it was activated, it shattered with a "click", and a sharp crack tore through the mirror surface, almost biting his eyeball.

"Ah——!" He groaned, covered his eyes, and his breathing became disordered.

The whisper of the dream sounded again.

"Stop struggling."

“You are just the awake ones.”

"As long as you give up wakefulness and submit to sleep, you will find true 'peace'."

"Especially you, Calvino."

"You just sit back and watch the game play out to the end."

"You can leave in peace with your beloved violinist."

"It's just... a few crew members are missing."

"Just a few lives, in exchange for your and her survival—isn't that a good deal?"

The tone was calm and gentle, almost as if he was persuading a child to sleep, but it was so vicious that it was suffocating.

Calvino said nothing, but just lowered his eyes and looked at the slightly trembling hands of his sleepless pocket watch, as if he was silently counting down the hours of a sacrifice.

Lilia looked up at him, her lips pursed, her eyes trembling imperceptibly. She knew that the weight of this choice was far greater than any other.

At this moment, the lights around the stage quietly lit up.

The first lantern fish swam by, its light flickering like sparks, igniting the atmosphere of the theater.

The first fluorescent light begins.

The scale made a low clicking sound and vibrated slightly.

The right side - sank a bit.

Alison, Ian, Rex, and Baroque—the four of them changed their expressions at the same time.

On the left, there is only the sky disk of Calvino and Lilia - rising slowly.

First stage judgment: The right side has a higher sobriety value.

The whisper of a dream fell softly, like a prelude to the dream:
"...After five flashes, I will choose—"

“Who among you deserves to be forgotten?”

The pointer of fate turns quietly.