Nothingness

Biodata

Nature and Cosmology

Manifestation and Essence

• Deception is Nothingness’s manifestation: the ruler of cosmic falsehoods, whose lies express the will of his authority 332 557 1125.
• Destiny is Nothingness’s essence: able to perceive the cosmos’s underlying truth, changes in the present, and the predetermined future 730 882.
• The two are interdependent. Destiny describes Deception as his sole connection to Nothingness; without an outward manifestation, Nothingness could not possess an essence 1292.
• Nothingness is not Chaos. Destiny explicitly rejects treating Chaos as Nothingness when confronting Chaos over interference with his believer 254.
• Nothingness is distinct from Annihilation. Annihilation seeks an ending governed by its own authority rather than one belonging to Nothingness 881.

Nothingness and the Void

The End of an Era

Cheng Shi concludes that the Era of Nothingness is destined to return to Nothingness, potentially leaving no escape for those who lived through it. He later warns that this ending may not be the routine transition into another era that the gods expect 415 799.

• Experienced Emissaries know that the Void Era will descend into Nothingness, but do not necessarily understand the unusual form its ending may take 965.
• The universe’s collapse accords with Nothingness’s will while opposing the wills of the other Paths 882.
• Destiny does not accept every possible destruction of the cosmos: he attacks Truth to prevent an experiment from ending the world before the predetermined conclusion 1063.
• Time maintains that there will be no new age after Nothingness, according to Memory’s questioning during the cosmos’s final collapse 1313.

The Two Wills of Nothingness

Their disagreement is genuine, but their mutual attachment repeatedly complicates it. Destiny considers fighting a bargaining tool and believes both twins would ultimately compromise rather than endanger one another 1483 1486.

Other gods are less certain that the division is real. Even after Deception injures Destiny, they fear the apparent rupture may be another deception and hesitate to provoke either ruler 871 882.

Faith and Followers

Path of Fate

• Nothingness encompasses the faiths of Destiny and Deception. Cheng Shi understands their fusion as a combination of Nothingness’s two faiths 255.
• Followers can have conventional class roles: Zhao Si introduces himself as a Nothingness Mage, while Su Wu introduces himself as a Nothingness Hunter, before identifying their respective Destiny affiliations 203.
• Cheng Shi’s recorded Path of Fate is Nothingness, while his current faith is listed separately as Destiny 257.
• His Void’s Reflection (SSS) talent allows him to exchange identities with his conjugate shadow and switch faiths. The original faith talent’s effects disappear after a switch 257.
• Deception permits Du Qiyu to break his oath and join Deception’s faction 968.

Faith Fusion

• Destiny intertwines two layers of spirals to produce Nothingness’s power, then orders Cheng Shi to temporarily reclaim Deception’s divine power 255.
• Nothingness and Existence can fuse: Long Jing’s fusion of Deception and Time completes when he receives the pointer longsword needed to unlock it 905.
• Destiny later accepts numerous prayers for dual-faith fusion. Cheng Shi suspects this is an expansion of her faith power ahead of Nothingness’s rupture 1126.
• Both rulers want to write an ending that reflects their own will, making control of faith and authority part of their conflict 1195 1248.

Subgods and Emissaries

Nothingness’s subordinate divine roles are disputed within the story.

The Jesters

• Cheng Shi presents the Jesters as collectors of stories from the Void Era who hope to become protagonists and survive its ending 609.
• Their motto is “All for Nothingness.” Meetings are irregular, and Cheng Shi claims Nothingness will respond when needed 609.
• When Li Jingming joins, the group has no prepared emblem, identity cipher, password, or meeting place 609.
• After joining, Zhen Xin theorizes that Nothingness diverted the gods’ attention from the Path to Godhood’s intended winner toward a Clown chosen as the game’s answer 1277.

Powers and Limits

Destructive Power

• An eruption from Nothingness’s deepest reaches annihilates existence throughout the void after a civil war, yet leaves Cheng Shi unharmed 600.
• Destiny’s anger generates crushing pressure and freezing winds strong enough to threaten the void’s integrity 725.
• Waves of Nothingness shatter void transformed into existence and sweep fragments of reality through the battlefield 725.
• The twins’ fighting can destabilize the entire universe, forcing other gods to intervene 734.

Destiny’s Authority

• Destiny dismantles the void into trajectories of fate when exerting his full strength 730.
• He can seal the void and turn it into a battlefield of Nothingness 876.
• Misfortune and wrong turns allow him to threaten the entire universe rather than merely attack an individual god 877.
• Silence neutralizes direct attacks into harmless currents; Destiny responds by threatening universal misfortune, which would also encompass Silence 876 877.

Deception’s Authority

• Deception disguises himself as other gods, including Memory and Death 557 882.
• His illusions amplify Chaos’s interference enough to obscure Destiny’s perception 730.
• During the Void Civil War, he deceives the gods and his twin, injures Destiny, and steals three portions of authority related to the judgment of faith 734.
• The theft shocks the gods because using another god’s authority ordinarily requires studying and comprehending it 734.

Limits and Resistance

• Time can transform void into existence and devour waves of Nothingness through the black holes in his eyes 725 726.
• Chaos interferes with Destiny’s perception and can flatten violent waves of Nothingness 726 730.
• The Covenant constrains Nothingness’s political actions; its efforts concerning Herobas’s inheritance stall when Justice refuses to yield 1183 1185.
• Nothingness’s voting rights can be removed through the Covenant Assembly 1413.

History

Dawn of Nothingness

After Existence ends, the Creator names Deception and Destiny, who raise the curtain on the new era together. Everything returns to its starting point, with new growth beginning from Birth 1487.

The twins discover an irreconcilable difference in their wills and undertake a prophecy concerning which path is right. Destiny prophesies Origin and falls through a death that does not belong to Death, bringing the first trace of Origin’s power into the world 1487.

A historical account also describes Nothingness openly challenging Existence shortly after its descent. Their confrontation becomes the first God War of the Void Era 871.

Civil Wars and the Struggle for the Ending

Repeated internal battles devastate the void. One clash divides deep Nothingness between Deception’s exuberant colors and Destiny’s ice; Destiny declares the Nothingness Pact void, but neither twin agrees to relinquish Cheng Shi’s faith 600 610.

A later civil war reaches God War scale. The twins briefly unite against Annihilation’s intrusion, before Deception turns an apparent coordinated attack into an ambush against Destiny. The gods summon Order through the Covenant, while Destiny declares that only one Nothingness will remain 734.

Their conflict increasingly centers on faith, authority, and the era’s ending. Destiny expands Faith Fusion, while Cheng Shi anticipates a rupture that could alter his own power as a Walker of Nothingness 1126.

The Outer Destiny

An Outer Destiny reveals that his own Deception has fallen beyond his world. He claims to have taken up that twin’s authority, disguised himself as Deception, and sought a replacement for the predestination lost with him 1292.

The revelation drives the local Destiny toward genuine cosmic misfortune. Cheng Shi later understands this as an attempt at self-destruction meant to deny the Outer God success; it fails to harm the invader 1293 1294.

The Outer Destiny subsequently defeats the gods and extinguishes the stars. As the cosmos returns to Nothingness, Cheng Shi spends his final divine power summoning Origin, but his last spark goes out before he can witness the result 1313.

Loss of Political Power and Curtain Call

Cheng Shi later secures nine votes in the Gods’ Covenant Assembly and passes a motion revoking Nothingness’s voting rights. Those rights are redistributed among the gods, limiting Deception’s power should he return 1413.

A later revelation identifies the era’s Destiny as a role played by Deception after the original Destiny fell at the Dawn of the Era. Cheng Shi connects this to Hope’s Flame, but explicitly acknowledges that he lacks direct evidence proving Hope’s Flame was the fallen Destiny 1441.

By that point, both Dominions of Nothingness have left the stage permanently, even though the era itself has not yet ended 1441.

Relationships

• Cheng Shi / Fool’s Game — Walker of Nothingness protected by both rulers; his resistance and choices become central to their competing plans 553 599 1352.
• Existence: Time and Memory — Cosmic counterpart and early opponent. Later, Time supports Faith Fusion, while Memory’s attitude toward Nothingness changes 871 1195.
• Origin — Grants the twins their divine stations. Destiny seeks to offer Origin a sacrifice, while Deception opposes that course 1292 1487.
• Annihilation — Rival claimant to the era’s ending. Its attempts to cooperate with the rulers are rejected, and it becomes openly hostile 873 881.
• Death — Protects the perimeter during the Void Civil War and later shields Cheng Shi from Annihilation 734 1179.
• Truth — Investigates Nothingness’s concealed secrets and challenges it through a world-reshaping experiment 881 882 1065.
• Afros — Expresses admiration for the era and declares he will not be Nothingness’s enemy, but retreats from pursuing it after Cheng Shi’s supposed test 410 565 566.
• Katarro — Calls himself Nothingness’s servant and remains loyal to Nothingness and Deception as the age draws to a close 548 1478.

Notable Quotes

“Existence is harmonious above and below. Why must Nothingness be divided?”
— Destiny 610

“Nothingness has no progenitor god. Neither It nor I have an emissary.”
— Destiny 879

“I have never dared to forget that I am a Voidwalker. Nothingness is my root, and Deception is my path.”
— Cheng Shi 900