Chapter 369: Chapter 39: Master of Destiny, Everything Is Arranged by ’Destiny

Adelaide told the goddess Sophie everything she knew.

"That’s not a bad excuse."

Upon hearing that the Star Empire had deployed an Intelligent Mechanic Legion to the mortal realm of the Square World, and even learning of their subsequent arrangements, the goddess Sophie’s eyes lit up.

"Searching for lost soldiers... The excuse is a bit of a stretch, but it will suffice."

"I wonder why the Star Empire even needs such a high-minded justification."

"It really feels like they’re tying their own hands."

"But there must be a reason I’m not aware of. It’s so frustrating! My Half-Body is so useless, falling behind yours again."

"If she had successfully completed her Ascension to Divinity, I wouldn’t even need to be asking you about this."

Adelaide couldn’t help but smile at her words.

"You know your own personality best. You just can’t seem to settle down and focus. Otherwise, in an environment like the Star Empire, your Half-Body would have achieved her Ascension to Divinity alongside mine long ago."

The goddess Sophie frowned at this but quickly relaxed, nodding unconsciously.

It was true. She knew her own situation all too well.

A Half-Body is still just a Half-Body. Although they are a part of us, they haven’t personally experienced the same path to godhood that we did in this world.

Therefore, there was a fundamental difference between the goddess Sophie of this world and the Demigod Sophie of the Star Empire.

At the very least, their temperaments were vastly different.

The Sophie in the Star Empire was, at best, a younger version of herself. The goddess Sophie in this world, however, could be considered the mature version, her personality tempered and steady.

Thus, unless the Sophie in the Star Empire achieved her Ascension to Divinity and their Spiritual natures fully connected and merged like Adelaide’s, their thoughts could never be perfectly synchronized.

So, it wasn’t hard to understand why the Sophie in the Star Empire had yet to ascend.

Her personality was too impulsive. To put it bluntly, her ambition outstripped her abilities.

"Forget it. You can’t force these things."

"But the more I think about it, the situation with our two Half-Bodies is strangely similar to that of the Twin Gods."

"Do you think our souls splitting in two during that ritual might have something to do with the Twin Gods?"

Neither of them was a fool. Ever since their Ascension to Divinity, and especially after learning of the existence of their other bodies and souls in the Star Empire, they had been pondering this very issue.

So, over the years, they had discussed it countless times.

Of course, they weren’t foolish enough to ask the Twin Gods directly.

After all, if they were wrong, they would have exposed themselves for no reason.

And if they were right, the fact that the Twin Gods had never mentioned it meant they surely had their own plans.

That made them even more afraid to ask.

After all, those two Deities had always been very mysterious.

They rarely summoned their Subordinate Gods, spending most of their time playing a board game within their Divine Kingdom.

According to what they’d heard from the other Subordinate Gods, if you disturbed their game, you’d be lucky to escape with all your parts intact—even for a Subordinate God.

They were truly mercurial.

"Whether it’s related or not is no longer important."

Adelaide’s gaze fell upon the goddess Sophie. After a moment of silence, she sighed and shook her head.

"Actually, at this point, I’m beginning to think that our very existence, and the appearance of the Star Empire... it’s all part of Destiny’s calculations."

"???"

The goddess Sophie was no fool; she understood Adelaide’s meaning perfectly.

"This... Adelaide, are you saying..."

The goddess Sophie’s eyes narrowed, her entire body tensing abruptly.

She glanced up at the terrifying being in the heavens, suddenly feeling as if their entire conversation was being overheard.

"There’s no need to be nervous."

"At this stage, being nervous is useless anyway."

"It’s something I only figured out myself in the past few days."

"The idea is quite simple, really. Our Master of Destiny might have foreseen long ago that the Square World would face a huge problem like the Giant Serpent God."

"And because of that, He leveraged the power of the Destiny Law, ultimately guiding us to this world. That way, the current stalemate is naturally resolved, isn’t it?"

The goddess Sophie’s face was a mask of disbelief.

She couldn’t even remain calm, shaking her head immediately.

"How is that possible?"

"How could the Destiny Law possibly possess such terrifying Power?"

"You have to remember, we performed that ritual back when the Deities of the Karte World still existed."

"Back then, the Karte World hadn’t even been invaded by Giant Demons, and there was no such thing as a Star Empire!"

The goddess Sophie’s horror was understandable.

After all, the time span was immense, and the two worlds were incredibly distant from each other.

For a single, ordinary planet... even if the Destiny Law was truly mysterious, to be able to predict things to that degree was simply too frightening.

Was this really a Power that a mere Star God could command?

"I know what you’re thinking."

"But the Destiny Law is universally acknowledged by the Deities of the Star Realm as the most elusive and difficult Law to control."

"So, the possibility definitely exists."

"After all, there are too many coincidences. Besides, Sophie, don’t you think our path to Ascension to Divinity in this world was a little too smooth?"

"Was it?" Sophie was unconvinced.

After all, in her memory, they had clawed their way up from mortality, fighting tooth and nail through the Underground City.

They had faced countless life-or-death crises, so...

No!

Suddenly, the goddess Sophie thought of the Twin Gods’ chessboard.

’Were the life-or-death crises she remembered truly life-or-death?’

In that instant, the goddess Sophie finally understood.

She even found herself unconsciously looking up again at the Master of Destiny, who sat cross-legged above the realm.

She wasn’t sure if it was her imagination.

Sophie even felt that the Master of Destiny, still in the midst of fusing the Twin Gods’ Power, seemed to vaguely lift an eyelid in her direction.

’An illusion?’

’No!’

’The Master of Destiny is the fusion of the Twin Gods, of Fantasy and Reality.’

’He isn’t just the God of Destiny; He is also the God of Fantasy and Reality.’

’What feels like an illusion might very well be reality.’

At this, Sophie’s entire Divine Body froze.

But after her stupor passed, the goddess’s tension suddenly vanished.

’That’s right.’

’Since everything is part of destiny’s arrangement...’

’...what secrets could she and Adelaide possibly have left?’

’So there’s no point in being afraid anymore.’

"Hah. So in the end, we were just pieces on the board all along and never even knew it."

"Our so-called efforts, our so-called adventures, our Ascension to Divinity... it’s all a joke. Heh... haha... It’s utterly laughable."

In that moment, it was as if the goddess Sophie had lost all her will.

A sense of utter dejection washed over her.

After all, you spend your whole life believing your success came from your own hard work and life-or-death struggles, and you take pride in that.

But what happens? Suddenly, someone tells you it was all due to some powerful figure pulling strings behind the scenes.

Your so-called efforts, everything you’ve achieved—it was all arranged from the very beginning.

One can only imagine what a crushing blow this would be to someone so proud, so fiercely self-reliant.

Seeing the goddess Sophie in this state...

When Adelaide had first come to this realization, she too had felt an immense sense of loss and frustration.

But upon further reflection, she had come to terms with it.

After all, in the Square World, who seeking Ascension to Divinity hadn’t been a piece on the Twin Gods’ board at some point?

The only real difference between them and the other pieces was that they had been on the board from the very beginning, while other ascendants only made it onto the board when they managed to catch the Twin Gods’ attention.

’Alright, thinking about it that way is actually even more depressing.’

’But what could they do about it?’

’Accepting it... wasn’t that also a way to survive?’

’Countless beings would kill for the chance to be in such a "helpless" position.’

’Besides, what did it matter if they were Deities? Whether in the Star Empire or the Square World, they were still just "slightly more powerful" Transcendents.’

’The fall of Deities was hardly a rare occurrence.’

’In the end, only those with value and strength have the right to exist.’

’And this wasn’t entirely a bad thing.’

’After all, they each possessed two Divine Bodies and two Divine Formats.’

’When their two Half-Bodies combined their power, the resulting amplification would far exceed that of ordinary Deities.’

’Perhaps this benefit was, in itself, a gift from "destiny."’

’As for the price?’

’That, naturally, was to serve as pawns to draw the Star Empire into saving the Square World.’

So, Adelaide felt, even a god had to learn to be content.

This was already a good outcome. It was enough, wasn’t it?