Myths Reawakened

Kristen kept stepping back. With a guilty conscience, she stammered and couldn’t form a complete answer. She was the traitor!

Only when she was cornered did she sense the danger. They were so close that she could feel his breath. She pressed her hands to his chest to push him away, wanting to say something, but then she remembered the immoral relationship between the brother and sister; worried that they would make an irreversible mistake, she decided to sacrifice herself.

It was a nice thought, but she was all talk and no action. The moment she pressed her hands to his chest, she stilled.

With a blush dusting her cheeks, she averted her gaze, her eyelashes fluttering in a lovely way. Innocence was the highest form of seduction—it applied to Mona, the battle nun, when she was wearing her white uniform, and to Kristen at this moment.

She wasn’t Filomina, and there was no bet between them. Wayne couldn’t help but bend down and bite her face.

Kristen groaned softly, clutching Wayne’s shirt. It confused him. Again, Senior Kristen was acting unlike herself today.

Had Filomina given her a mission?

Wayne couldn’t believe it. He had thought that the Church of Heavenly Father was bad, but the Church of Moonlight turned out to be worse. He lifted his arms to pull her into his embrace, lowering his head to whisper into her ear, “Don’t be scared. I’m here. No one can hurt you.”

“Yeah.” Kristen lay in his arms. The warmth made her feel lightheaded and sleepy.

He patted her back gently. “Ignore that woman. She’s too extreme. Just let her words go in one ear and out the other. If you believe everything she says, it’ll only hurt you.”

Kristen didn’t know what he was saying at all. It felt too good, and she couldn’t be bothered to think. Mind hazy, she nodded in agreement, and it took only five minutes for her to fall asleep.

Holding her, Wayne looked up at the moon outside the window, feeling disgruntled about Filomina. “Look what you’ve done. You scared Kristen.”

He wouldn’t deny that he had abused their bet for his enjoyment, but Filomina was the only one he had taken advantage of, or maybe the twins, too. He wouldn’t say no to more. But she shouldn’t involve Kristen.

Senior Kristen was gentle, meek, and bad at saying no. She never shared negative feelings, but only happy thoughts. She was a typical good girl whom even Wayne didn’t have the heart to bully, let alone let others do it to her.

“Do you want to play? Fine, I’ll show you how a scum plays!”

Wayne narrowed his eyes. He had thought that the High Reverend was a good woman with no experience, but now it seemed that the unhinged lady was quite shrewd and would stop at nothing for her goal.

A bad woman deserved a bad man!

“I was going to interact with you as a good man, but you keep pushing your luck. I’ll stop pretending. I’m scum!” He lowered Kristen to the bed and tucked her in, gingerly walking out of the door.

Once he was back in his room, he worked overnight to make the second outfit: a set of modern undergarments, all black. Since he couldn’t complete the clothes in such a short time, he had to enlist Valkyrie’s help, having her shape the materials with her thoughts.

The conservative knight suspected her student of harassing her at night. Wayne explained himself many times, but to little effect. The undergarments wouldn’t lie, and she labeled him as a bad student.

Another reason to get revenge against Filomina!

***

The second day, Wayne rushed back to Filomina’s manor at noon. As her tour guide, he accompanied her to the different historical sights across Londan. Then they had a candlelight dinner and shopped on Commercial Street. Whatever couples did during their dates, they did, too.

Wayne took care of Filomina like the model boyfriend. She had zero experience in dating, and all she knew about relationships, she learned from the many romance stories she had read. Thus, she assumed that she had won the bet with her incredible charm when, in reality, she was being toyed with.

When it came time to apply night cream, Wayne turned down the free benefit politely like a true gentleman. Oh, he simply believed that distance made the heart grow fonder. And yes, it was because he had fallen that he yearned for a pure, innocent love.

I fell for your beautiful soul and want to have a spiritual connection with you. It has nothing to do with your looks.

Filomina had never experienced such pick-up tactics. When Wayne pressed a gentle kiss to her fingertips and took his leave, her heart sang for him. She rolled around on the bed that night, unable to fall asleep.

The High Reverend was a woman of her word. When Wayne showed his earnest feelings, she was also ready to give away her earnest heart.

For the coming week, the pair could be seen all around Londan. Filomina lost herself in the reciprocated love of her imagination, and if not for the twins acting as her reality check, she would’ve forgotten that she was the High Reverend of the Church of Moonlight, coming to Londan with a mission.

It’s fine. The bet is for the church!

***

On November seventeenth, Auston’s investigation team made significant progress. Whether it was bribery or an intentional attempt to knock down a political rival, the leads he found pointed to the Wilson family, one of the fourteen Tulip Families.

Each of the fourteen families specialized in different fields, but at the core, none ever gave up on their pursuit of magic. That applied to the Lando family, the Boswell family, and, of course, the Wilson family.

The Wilsons devoted themselves to politics and had built quite the connections. Although none of the existing members were legendary mages, there was a Gold-rank mage and several Silver-rank mages among them. They had also funded numerous hexagram-level mages and mage apprentices. They commanded quite a strong force in the Ministry of Magic.

On paper, at least, they were more powerful than the Lando family.

According to Auston’s investigation team, the dragon-blooded mutants and the magical items for setting up barriers that the Ministry of Magic was missing showed discrepancies in the inventory. Following the lead, the Wilson family was found responsible for manipulating the records.

Auston reported to the Queen and continued his investigation. Based on his experience, he believed that the Wilson family wasn’t the mastermind; whichever legendary mage was pulling the strings behind the scenes was the true traitor.

He informed Wayne, and Wayne implied to Filomina that the Ministry of Magic was working on the investigation. She only had to wait a little longer. Even without the information, though, Wayne had already silenced Filomina—with love.

Today, Wayne and Filomina had taken a sightseeing cruise across the River Thames, passing the riverbank ports.

Meanwhile, a few legendary mages gathered in the headquarters of the Ministry of Magic, arguing about who the traitor was.

A fight didn’t actually break out since they weren’t stupid enough to make a scene in this situation, but soon, they realized something was wrong.

More and more of the four elements were gathering, drawn by a Gold-ranked meditation circle. At first, it didn’t attract much attention from the ministry. Only after the elements exceeded the normal threshold did the grounded legendary mages take notice.

The sheer amount accumulated led to a substantial change, and the space the ministry occupied went still. A spatial rampart formed in a square, trapping everyone inside.

While the Gold-rank mages didn’t know what a spatial rampart was, the legendary mage did. A spatial rampart was also known as a vitality domain. It was an ability granted at a stage all legendary mages aimed for in pursuit of a breakthrough—it was the power of a mythical demigod.

The legendary mages didn’t spell it out. Instead, they gathered together and exchanged scrutinizing glances.

“Is that you, Obed?”

“If it’s me, why would I lock myself up, too?”

“Bourne...”

“I can’t do it, alright?”

“Celeste, how about you?”

“Don’t be absurd. I’m loyal to the Ministry of Magic...”

After a round of accusations, they suddenly realized that Planck wasn’t with them. Just when they were going to lose it, Planck opened the door and sauntered over with a grave look on his face.

“Stop making random guesses. This isn’t the power of a demigod, but a false god. Someone brought the Great Prison of the Forgotten here.”

All of them fell into a stunned silence. Obed said in disbelief, “Don’t be ridiculous. The Great Prison of the Forgotten isn’t in this world. You can’t just say whatever you want because you’re the director of an asylum.”

“It’s exactly because I’m the director that I dare to make the leap!” Planck declared confidently. He was an expert in the study of the Forgotten Ones. “I checked the spatial rampart around us. They didn’t cause any corruption to my thoughts, so this can’t be the vitality domain of a demigod...”

“One of us has stolen four elements and somehow projected the Great Prison of the Forgotten here, trapping us inside!”