The 100,000 non-human spectators loomed over Zhang Chulan—and over the countless viewers across the multiverse.
Their anticipation was palpable. Inscrutable.
The ammonia in the air thickened until Zhang Chulan's lungs burned. He could even see the lead hexagram beneath his feet beginning to smoke.
Then came the sixth beat.
He prayed the D-class had missed it out of curiosity, courage, or some noble scientific urge to witness what came next.
But hope was futile.
The man was weak. Stupid. Panicked.
He missed it again.
And then—
It saw him.
It saw them all.
And they saw It.
The "audience" had swelled to hundreds of millions now—
A coalescence of impossible faces: antlers, rings of ice, shimmering metallic orbs, and behind them—more.
A twisted sonata. An inverted melody.
The entity was preparing Its response.
It tilted Its head once more, and the world bent in reverence.
The timpanist clapped.
The flutist clapped.
The horn player clapped.
Zhang Chulan took a shuddering breath—and joined them.
Every eye locked onto the D-class.
150 meters northwest, through the warping fabric of reality, the Stag gazed at him.
At all of them.
Perhaps muscle memory made the man play a G.
The oboist clapped.
Hammers stilled against stone. The screams of the dead faded. Even the cries of infants vanished.
The Stag watched them exit.
A hundred million hands clapped—
As if demanding an encore. Seven more wrong notes.
For that moment, the universe itself seemed to pause.
Perhaps satisfied by this farcical performance, the Stag lowered Its head.
Those eyes—brimming with cosmic law—closed contentedly.
It waited.
For Its turn to sing.
But that time was not now.
Finally, Dr. Clef's voice echoed through the valley:
"Ritual effective. SCP-2845 preliminary containment complete! Phase Two initiated!"
The performance succeeded.
Containment succeeded.
Across the multiverse, beings erupted in euphoria.
Many pinched themselves, muffling their cheers—as if too loud a sound might shatter this fragile miracle.
No one wanted to face the Stag again.
No one wanted to contain a Supreme Deity again.
The chat group exploded:
"HOLY F—KING SH*T."
"God… did they really just contain the Stag?!"
"When that D-class missed the beat, my heart damn near leaped out of my throat!"
"If the Stag had lashed out again—without the Empress to stop it—"
"Site-100's nukes would've fired. Protocol 2845-XK1: Moonfall. That three-eyed doctor's words!"
"But… it worked."
"So the Foundation actually contained a Supreme Deity?!"
Across the Multiverse:
Three-Body Universe | Earth
Luo Ji gasped, drenched in sweat, his exhausted smile flickering at the screen.
"I don't know why that ritual worked… but this is humanity's victory over a god, isn't it?"
Jackie Chan Adventures | Section 13
Agents cheered as if they'd contained the Stag. Uncle and Captain Black exchanged a hollow grin.
"One more thing!" Uncle rubbed his back. "This ritual must be documented! Research is essential!"
Marvel Universe | Kamar-Taj
The Ancient One stared, unsettled. That grotesque ritual had subdued a being beyond gods?
Battle Through the Heavens | Heavenly Emperor Ye
He studied the screen, bitterness gnawing at him. The Empress's defeat had been absolute—yet this farce tamed the Stag?
"We thought transcending mortality made us invincible… yet the Foundation's first Supreme Deity crushed us like ants."
His whisper was raw: "Will you return?"
Toaruverse | Windowless Building, Academy City
Aleister Crowley's hands trembled.
"If they fooled a god… can they purge that thing inside Kamijou Touma?"
The Truth Unveiled
The screen shifted to Dr. Clef's debrief:
"To contain this 'Stag,' we crafted a ritual of blood and sacrifice—not because we lacked alternatives, but because cosmic law demands it."
"Should It realize the deception? The ritual fails. It escapes. Site obliterated. XK-Class End of the World. The Tree of Knowledge erased in a thought."
The multiverse reeled.
Why did it work?
Because the universe decreed this the only way.
Observer Dimension | Marvel
Uatu exhaled. "A god, fooled by mortals… yet if it awakens?"
Site-0 | Administrator's Reward
Chu Yun's system chimed:
[Ding! SCP-2845 containment complete! Rewards:]
Causal Perfection – Designate anomalies for instant containment, retroactively fulfilling all prerequisites.
Path of Ascension – Top agents may now evolve beyond human limits.
Stag's Natural Conversion – Gain a fragment of Its power.
Divine Spark – For containing a Supreme Deity, you inherit 0.1% deific authority.
Chu Yun's lips curled. "Containing a god pays well."
Causal Perfection was the true prize—no more gambling against unstoppable entities.
Ascension? A path to godhood.
But first—more containment.
His gaze fell on the Empress, now revived in Site-19.
Clef faced her, indifferent to her transcendent aura:
"Choose: Return—or stay as Foundation personnel."