Myths Reawakened

A demon from hell!

Bo’s heart thumped with alarm, a faint cold light glinting in his eyes as he carefully studied the figure in the shadows. Londan was a city where light and darkness coexisted—for every measure of light, there was an equal measure of evil.

The River Thames, as a popular dumping ground for bodies, saw a massive influx of population every year. For Bo to stand out among all the barrels of concrete proved that he was no ordinary person. The great fog had awakened his latent bloodline, the super vision being the best proof.

His eyes were special, able to capture details that ordinary people, mages, and even scientific instruments couldn’t see. In his eyes, the man before him possessed countless faces, each one incredibly real.

Looking into the man’s eyes was like staring into the eyes of a thousand people; the silent, deathly still attention sent chills down Bo’s spine. Whether he was a demon was hard to say, but his formidable power was beyond question.

No. Bringing such a person to his master wouldn’t be wise. If he turned out to be an enemy, wouldn’t Bo have unintentionally become a traitor?

Bo frowned slightly. “Your name. I’ll relay your message to my master. Come back for an answer in three days. As for whether my master is willing to meet with you, I can’t give you a definitive answer right now.”

“Tell your master that the demon from hell is called the Thousand-Eyed Demon.”

As the shadow said those words, his form dissolved on its own. Countless millipedes crawled out through the windows, some burrowing into cracks in the walls and others disappearing into the damp sewer entrances.

“Vile.” Bo grimaced with disgust. He woke the sleeping staff at the detective agency and instructed them to purchase a large batch of insecticide tomorrow, spraying it every evening after work to thoroughly clean the Dawn Detective Agency.

He reviewed the files today and took the backup copies of the investigation records, handing them over to his former superior, Officer Green. The Dawn Detective Agency covered a wide range of investigations, but they all boiled down to one word: ‘injustice’.

When the scales of justice tilted, it could only mean there was a vast disparity in status between the defendant and the plaintiff. Generally speaking, the police couldn’t handle such cases. Even if they made headlines and caused a public backlash, the result was often delayed processing. Why? The excuse would be due process.

Windsor had always been like this!

Officer Green was able to take on the cases only because the higher-ups had tacitly permitted the existence of the Dawn Detective Agency. It was an unusual sign that Green still couldn’t figure out.

Who dares to accuse this official? You’re right. Men, arrest this official!

Yes, it would be akin to someone ordering their own arrest. It wasn’t just strange, but absolutely ridiculous!

Everything that existed existed for a reason. Bo attributed all the unreasonable things to his master. The Death Knight was incredibly powerful, and to appease him, all sides had made concessions.

Bo respected his master from the bottom of his heart. Although the Death Knight wasn’t a living man, and the faith in Death was often associated with evil, the facts were self-evident. He believed his master to be a good man.

Well, a good undead.

This time would be no exception, surely. His master would turn down the demon’s request for cooperation immediately.

***

“Oh, he wants an alliance?!”

In the spacious flood control tunnel, Wayne received his subordinate’s message. Riding his undead horse to meet Bo, he learned that the Thousand-Eyed Demon had come to his doorstep willingly. For a moment, he wasn’t sure how he should react.

Outside of laughing, he meant.

“Kekekeke—”

Bad news, the Thousand-Eyed Demon wanted to join forces with the Death Knight; good news, he was the Death Knight.

A few hours ago, Wayne had been agonizing over how he should find the Thousand-Eyed Demon in this expansive world. Now that the target had come looking for death, he had no reason to turn him away.

“Three days from now, at this same time, bring him to the Great Cemetery in Western District. I’ll be waiting for his arrival.” Wayne chuckled. “The faith in Death is being suppressed by the Life Alliance in Londan, and demons from hell are being expelled by the Church of Heavenly Father. There is potential for cooperation between us.”

“But Master, he calls himself a demon.” Bo didn’t want to disobey his master’s orders, but pressed on. “I’m not questioning you. It’s just... he doesn’t look like a good person.”

“Of course. Demons can’t be good.” Wayne waved his hand dismissively. Without explaining the real reason he was meeting the demon, he said bluntly, “But so what? Do I look like a good person?”

You just don’t look like one!

Bo opened his mouth, but in the end, obeyed orders and left without another word.

“Master received divine revelation from the goddess to bring Death’s equality and absolute fairness. Everything is proceeding smoothly, and the reputation of Death has greatly improved. He must have chosen to work with the demon for another purpose.”

Bo rationalized it to maintain his master’s righteous image, soon convincing himself. “That’s right. Master will use the Thousand-Eyed Demon to bring Death’s fairness and justice to hell.”

***

Wayne’s residence.

After Wayne returned from his outing, Veryl had finished going through the inventory and categorized the jewelry and books he brought. The former went to the storage, while the latter went to the study.

Wayne checked the inventory and told Veryl to rest. Then he headed to the study with the Holy Chalice. Inside, Valkyrie, the knight, was reading historical texts in an attempt to deduce the era when she was alive and recall her true name. At the very least, it was a good idea.

Valkyrie’s memories had perished along with her physical body, and her remaining thoughts existed only in the form of a curse. Simply put, her memories hadn’t been put in the recycle bin; the recycle bin itself had been erased.

She clung to hope because during daily conversations, she could occasionally remember certain things. These memory fragments required external triggers, and the historical texts kept by the cathedral in Cambrook were undoubtedly an excellent choice.

Wayne glanced at her before turning to study the Holy Chalice and the black robe. The Holy Chalice was a sacred artifact and contained a certain amount of holy light. The purity was lacking, not even good enough to be a snack for the Book of Greed. Hoping to obtain holy light through the chalice was impossible.

It was more like a mana seed, a key to opening the door to holy light.

He bent down to study it when he felt something tickling his ear. He shook his head and shifted to the side.

“Sorry, I’m used to standing behind you,” Valkyrie apologized.

No problem. Feel free to back-hug me!

Wayne’s views on love were conservative, so much so that he only liked women. And not only was he conservative, he was generous, too. Facing his first love from August twentieth, he graciously forgave her transgression.

“What do you think of the Holy Chalice, Valkyrie?”

“The light is dazzling, but unfortunately, contaminated. It’s neither pure nor innocent.”

While Valkyrie’s thoughts were limited and could not be improved upon, she had been incredibly powerful with a transcendent level of existence in life that even a partial mind gave her a perspective that far exceeded Wayne’s. She immediately saw the flaw in the chalice. The holiness on the outside couldn’t mask the evil inside. It was a contaminated sacred artifact, usable, but of limited value.

Wayne was baffled at first, but quickly remembered what Bishop Keith had said about the chalice’s history and the questionable actions of its original owner, Noah III.

Noah III had created seven Holy Chalices, using them to hold sinful blood before purifying them altogether. That was the main reason for the chalice’s contamination. Why would someone go through the trouble of painstakingly crafting the Holy Chalices before doing something that would contaminate them? Was the complex process necessary for purifying evil?

Putting himself in the Pope’s shoes, Wayne guessed that Noah III hadn’t just put the sinful blood in the chalices for purification. He had probably borrowed the power of demons to fight demons.

Noah III was a pragmatist who should have joined the Free Mage Alliance.

“What a pity...”

Wayne shook his head. He had underestimated the servant of the Thousand-Eyed Demon. If he had known that the servant would be so capable, he would’ve raised his price to take the Holy Shroud rather than settling for the Holy Chalice.

“Compared to the Holy Chalice, the robe is undoubtedly much purer.”

Valkyrie picked up the black robe and closed her eyes, trying to dispel the disguise. She tried three times, all unsuccessful.

Opening her eyes, her expression became grave. “Wayne, where did you get this robe?”

“Spoils of war. I picked it up since no one wanted it.”

Wayne spoke truthfully. He had personally turned the original owner into a corpse, so there was nothing wrong with calling the robe unwanted.

Valkyrie nodded and said, “The robe’s disguised, its true appearance concealed by a powerful being altering reality with their will. I alone can’t restore it. You’ll need to put on the armor.”

Then hug me. It’s not the first time.

Wayne put Valkyrie on. The spirit embraced him from behind, her palms pressed to the back of his hands tightly as their four hands gripped the knightly sword, activating light to dispel evil.

Ripples of radiance spread through the study. An inverted pentagram lit up on the back of the robe, and a black demonic shadow rose from the ground, forming a vague shadowy silhouette. The light-wielding Sun Knight confronted the evil shadow from hell. Their opposite energies each occupied their half of the room.

The darkness’s prowess was only temporary, though, overwhelmed by the endless light in the end. The inverted pentagram dispersed, revealing the Holy Shroud in its original form.

“This is...” Wayne’s eyes lit up, remembering the treasure of Saint Dominic’s Cathedral.

Wonderful! So the Holy Shroud has also returned to its rightful owner!

“The burial shroud once wrapped a demon’s corpse, its blood containing the purest sin. It’s a priceless treasure,” Valkyrie whispered in Wayne’s ear.

What?

Wayne thought he had heard wrong. “As far as I know, this is the Holy Shroud, which was used to wrap the remains of a saint from the Church of Heavenly Father. Are you sure you’re not mistaken?”

“Church of Heavenly Father...” Valkyrie frowned with disapproval. “Those hypocrites harvesting faith under the pretense of light? Nothing they do would surprise me.”

Wayne was dumbfounded. Judging by his knight master’s tone, the Church of Heavenly Father had a poor relationship with the Church of Sun, far from the harmonious relationship they showed now. Considering that they both wielded light, it made sense that they would be rivals, viewing each other with hostility and disdain.

Valkyrie called the blood of demons from hell evil, but also acknowledged that the Holy Shroud was an invaluable treasure. After sensing it carefully, she said, “That’s right. The light in the shroud has been drained. It’s pure. It can be reworked into defensive equipment.”

She suggested transforming the shroud into a chainmail worn beneath the knightly armor, but Wayne disagreed. Times were changing, and chainmail was too conspicuous. Better to make it into a suit so that he could wear it daily.

Wayne would be the one to wear the transformed Holy Shroud, so Valkyrie didn’t insist. His opinion mattered more in this instance. Using her hands, she measured his arm length, and then measured from his shoulders to his chest, abdomen, and legs.

(⁄⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄⁄)

Sister’s hands are so soft!

The reaction saw a lackluster effect. His blushing might be devastating to the dragon-blooded girl, but the mature and composed knight was completely unaffected. When her student was bold enough to flirt with his teacher, she smiled and pinched his leg hard.

Wayne sucked in a sharp breath.

“My thoughts aren’t sufficient to reshape it quickly. I’ll have the suit ready in ten days.”

“No problem. I can wait.”

He grimaced as he left the study, but once he closed the door, the pained look immediately dropped. He raised his hand with his index finger extended, a wisp of holy light appearing at his fingertip. It was the radiance he had obtained from the Holy Chalice, too limited to be practical in combat.

Then the Book of Greed switched modes, and a blob of black liquid as viscous as crude oil emerged from his fingertip. It was the power imbued in the Holy Shroud. Again, the amount was too small to be combat-ready.

However, he had obtained two keys, one leading to heaven and the other to hell. In the future, he could pose as one of their own.

Overall, he was quite satisfied with his rewards this time. He had picked up a few rewards, not letting valuable things slip by. He would have regretted it if he hadn’t picked up the lost items he found on the streets.

***

September ninth.

Wayne’s Detective Agency, Commercial Street.

Director Wayne conducted his routine inspection, chatting with the two ladies at the front desk for five minutes before heading to his office to review documents. The detective agency had just opened, and as the boss, he should’ve been working hard to grow the business. Unfortunately, he got delayed in Cambrook County for four to five days. Having disappeared for so long, he had to work hard today.

On opening day, the White Glove Society generously sponsored him with two commissions, which he had assigned to Wesley and Mona, respectively.

Mona was highly efficient. Including the train travel, she had completed the task in only two days.

With the commission completed, he gave her thirty percent of the payment according to the contract, while he personally earned seventy percent without doing anything. That was how being an employer worked—employees worked themselves to death while the employer exploited them. What would he be if he didn’t do it?

Besides, he didn’t exploit Mona that much. Assistant V had paid to work here and even funded the detective agency out of her own pocket. She hadn’t earned any money and instead had been losing money to the business the whole time, yet she never complained.

Thus, he didn’t complain when Veronica skipped work today.

Vera didn’t show up, either!

“Outrageous! Instead of doing honest work, she spends her days doing nothing. Does she think she deserves the salary Veronica pays her like this?” Wayne decisively put an X on Vera’s attendance record, docking her of her full attendance bonus and one day’s pay. When the accountant processed her salary, the docked sum would go directly to the detective agency’s revenue.

Meanwhile, Wesley’s investigation yielded no leads. After five days of searching, he still hadn’t found the rich man’s pet dog. Dogs could either be easy or difficult to find; luck played a big role. Instead of blaming Wesley, Wayne simply told him to hurry up. If he couldn’t find the dog in three days, Mona would take over.

As a mage, she would find the dog as easily as flipping her hand.

***

After working hard for half the day, Wayne received a call from Silvia in the afternoon and drove to the Lando Estate. Since he had successfully constructed his hexagram and graduated from being a mage apprentice, it was time to learn practical combat techniques.

In the northeast corner of the Lando Estate, ten meters underground, a training base resembling an air-raid shelter slowly opened up to Wayne. Auston had built the large base specifically for his wife and daughter. It had two levels, wholly constructed with steel and reinforced with magic circles, specially designed for combat training.

Silvia changed into pants and a white tank top, exposing her slender shoulders and arms. She beckoned to Wayne with a curl of her finger.

“Hit me.”

“Come at me with full force. Sister wants to test your physical power.”