God of Tricksters

"This is World Chess. My domain."

Theo was surprised by the sudden change of scenery, but he could faintly feel that they were still inside the car.

It felt like an illusion, but it wasn't. He was sure of this fact as someone who possessed the Reality Order. In other words, this World Chess was something else.

"Your domain?" Theo squinted his eyes, examining the whole area.

The Heavenly Sovereign smirked but didn't answer him. He simply extended his hand and said, "It's your turn."

Theo hesitated for a moment and moved another pawn forward. But this time, he found a great change in the scenery.

As soon as he placed the pawn on the board, one of the nearest stars suddenly changed its position as if following Theo's move. After that, three stars shone brightly as if they were trying to match each other.

He could feel those three stars were actually connected to three pieces on the board. His pawn, his bishop, and the Heavenly Sovereign's knight.

"This is…" Theo frowned. "…not a normal chess."

The Heavenly Sovereign didn't reply to him. He instead made his next move by placing a knight forward, the same knight that shone earlier.

The knight soon shone together with two of his pawns as well as Theo's queen. But what shocked him the most was the fact that the light was red instead of blue like earlier.

Theo believed the difference in color came because it was the Heavenly Sovereign's turn, but he was wrong.

When he placed his next piece, the glow was also red. Only when the Heavenly Sovereign moved his king did the light turn white.

Theo became even more curious about this mechanism. There should be a meaning behind those colors as well as the entire scenery that kept changing.

But what shocked him the most was when the Heavenly Sovereign used the knight to destroy his pawn. When his pawn was destroyed, two other planets were destroyed, symbolizing the Heavenly Sovereign's pawn as well as Theo's rook.

And surprisingly, the pawn was removed while the rook remained.

"Hmm?" Theo became even more confused because this game wasn't like anything he had played before. "Care to tell me about the rule?"

The Heavenly Sovereign shrugged. "Will your enemy explain the rule?"

Theo's expression turned grim. The answer itself gave him another meaning behind this chess. The Heavenly Sovereign was looking at this chessboard as a battlefield instead of a simple game of chess.

He had seen four lights during the game, making him realize that they represented the affiliation of those pieces. The red light meant enemy, the blue light meant ally, the white light was a bystander, and the yellow light represented the third party.

But when he looked at the board and how the chess pieces were positioned, he felt something strange. "Wait a minute…"

He realized that his knight and rook were trying to take down a bishop. At the same time, his king was close to the Heavenly Sovereign's king as well as his queen.

These two situations alone might be able to represent the condition with the Heavenly Sovereign bishop going straight to Theo's Queen.

"It seems that you have understood this game a little bit." The Heavenly Sovereign smirked. "There are five stages of Order: Fusion, Body, Earth, Transcendent, and Heaven. Or that's what I conclude based on my own naming sense."

"Fusion is the stage when the body and the Order are assimilating. Body is the stage where we can utilize that power. Earth is the application to everything around us. Transcendent is the stage where we find the uniqueness of our power, and lastly, Heaven represents the domain." Theo narrowed his eyes as if he had learned something.

What the Heavenly Sovereign used this whole time was the fifth stage of Order. Like his fifth stage, the Reality Realm, the Heavenly Sovereign made this realm his domain.

To reach the domain stage, Theo had to know about the uniqueness of his power first. And the Poison King had dropped a big hint to it. It was to wield his power the way he wanted to.

For the Poison King, his poison had powerful corrosion that was powerful enough to affect space and time.

He had been thinking about his own meaning, but he never gave a concrete answer because he was still hesitating so as to not choose the wrong meaning.

But he forgot about one thing. It wasn't his choice anymore because he had chosen the uniqueness of his power already. The only time he could choose was his rules, the way of his life. That determined his Order.

As for the meaning of his Order, he himself had already known it this whole time. Whether it was the recognition of his Order or when he proved himself in the underworld that he was the true Theodore Griffith, it didn't change the fact that he had given the answer.

"Ha… To think it took me this long to realize it. I guess what people say 'about the more you overthink things, the farther your answer will be,' is true." Theo let out a long sigh.

The Heavenly Sovereign smiled, hiding the shock in his heart. He never thought that a little clue was enough for Theo to learn something big.

He planned to do this because they had made an alliance. He wanted to see Theo's potential with his own eyes to know whether the alliance was the right choice or not. But it seemed this was the correct choice.

Theo closed his eyes for a moment while muttering, 'Is this an illusion or is this a reality? Am I the real Theodore Griffith or am I just a clone of Theodore Griffith? To think the answer is this simple.

'From this point on, I won't be lying to anyone… no, it's not that I won't be lying, it's that whatever I say will be the truth. Even if it's not, I'll make it to be the truth. After all, this will be…' Theo suddenly reached for his rook and placed it forward. Suddenly, the light didn't shine this time. Instead, a pair of red diamonds and a pair of red hearts appeared on top of four chess pieces as if this was 'two-pairs' in poker. '…my reality.'