Myths Reawakened

From the outside looking in, Filomina could see clearly that the first few difficulties Dorrin encountered had to be Obed’s doing. With him pretending to be her knight in shining armor, though, Dorrin subconsciously ignored the possibility.

That made Filomina realize how lucky she was. She was in a similar situation as Dorrin—a priestess having a relationship with a mage of the Ministry of Magic—but Wayne wanted nothing but the best for her.

“The demon Obed’s working with is the Thousand-Eyed Demon, who once descended in Londan. Obed planted some of his thoughts...”

Wayne looked at Filomina’s back, heart thumping while he gave her the information, worried that she would glimpse something from Dorrin’s experience.

“Mina, one of Dorrin’s adoptive children has divine blood and is a descendant of a deity!”

“What did you say?!” Shocked, Filomina stopped and urged Wayne to explain.

“Let’s get out of here first and walk and talk. We don’t have much time.” Wayne patted her on the behind to urge her along. “When I was interrogating her, Dorrin’s thoughts were in chaos. Whatever I asked about, she answered. I believe she couldn’t have lied to me...”

Obed told Dorrin to adopt children from orphanages and raise them into elites. Whatever method they employed, they managed to find a divine child.

Obed brainwashed Dorrin into believing that the Ministry of Magic would never stop suppressing the churches, and for the Church of Moonlight to gain a foothold in Londan, they had to have both public support and power.

Public support served as an external force, meaning that different churches should band together to pressure the Ministry of Magic. However, that alone wouldn’t be enough. There had to be something they could leverage against the ministry—it would be best for the Church of Moonlight to lose a high reverend.

Power would be the Church of Moonlight’s own strength. They needed a powerful member beyond the Legendary rank, and considering the different factors, someone with divine blood would be the best option.

Dorrin had confessed much more, which Wayne summarized by cutting out the extraneous parts. Obed wanted to take over Kristen’s body and become stronger through her divine bloodline.

That was the conclusion Wayne could make based on the information at hand. Dorrin was only a pawn, so Obed couldn’t have told her everything. There had to be a greater scheme, or Obed would’ve made his move already, rather than waiting for a demon to appear and striking a deal with said demon at the risk of betrayal.

Wayne was curious what role the Thousand-Eyed Demon played in this plan. A demon wouldn’t willingly act as a tool to facilitate another’s plan; the Thousand-Eyed Demon had to be plotting something else.

Filomina frowned and said frostily, “A divine descendant adopted by the church’s priestess is the goddess’s gift to us. I will not allow them to hurt the child.”

Wayne nodded. He agreed.

“What’s the child’s name, Wayne?”

“Kristen Letty.”

Filomina stopped again and gave Wayne a once-over, feeling the need to warn him. “She’s a kid, so leave her alone from now on. Whatever you want to do, do it to me.”

“I’m a kid, too!” Wayne protested. Both Kristen and he were young. Why did he have to let an auntie sit on him, while Kristen couldn’t be with the man she liked? Did honest people deserve to be taken advantage of?

“You’re different. You don’t seem young psychologically. You’re mature,” Filomina struggled to respond. At the end of the day, Wayne already had her, and he should stick with his choice in love. He shouldn’t be shopping around.

She suddenly felt pressured. Although she believed in her charisma and her young boyfriend’s loyalty... Kristen was so youthful that her face seemed to ooze collagen.

They stopped occasionally for Filomina to solve formulas and find the correct answers, leading Wayne out of the chaotic space. Wayne saw a familiar ruined city. The desolate land of broken walls and rubble seemed to house no life at all.

A strong gust of wind hit, sweeping broken stones and sand from the ground. Powerful energies clashed in the sky. Darkness and light started from their distinct sides before clashing and tangling in the middle.

Wayne looked up and saw Mona already battling the Thousand-Eyed Demon with a sacred lance, making the demon struggle to defend himself. There was no arguing that angels were always the most professional in dealing with demons.

Filomina had entered this church earlier, yet she had put in a lot of time and effort to break through the disorienting space the demon created. Mona, despite arriving later, was already confronting the demon.

“I remember her...” Filomina recognized Mona, the woman who had been tailing Wayne back in the Capital Hotel. Seeing her here further compounded Filomina’s insecurity. She grabbed Wayne’s arm and pulled it to her chest, saying jealously, “You came here together, didn’t you? Are you close? She doesn’t look young.”

Still younger than you are! Wayne swallowed the comment and instead gave her a practical explanation, “What are you thinking? She’s the assistant whom the Church of Heavenly Father assigned me. I’ve received benefits from them and often helped them banish demons.”

Really? Filomina wondered.

Seeing that she wasn’t convinced, Wayne continued, “The Church of Heavenly Father is smarter than the other churches. They have spared no effort to recruit me. To tell you the truth, they made such great offers that I almost said yes several times.”

Filomina ground her teeth together. She knew it. A good man would always be coveted no matter where he went. First, it was Moonlight’s shameless ally. Then it was the shameless Church of Heavenly Father. They never stopped exploiting the decent and honest people.

“Mina, deal with the demon. I’ll look for the divine descendant. According to our intel, she should be nearby.” Wayne forcefully extracted his arm and extended his senses to look for Kristen.

Although she was jealous, Filomina knew that this wasn’t the right time to let her personal feelings get in the way. Her eyes glinted with silver light as she transformed fully into an elf.

Horizontally symmetrical stripes of light silver marked her cheeks. Her long silver hair ran down with a strand falling by her ear, framing a face with crystal-like eyes that resembled the purest moonlight. She had always been stunning, and now that she had turned elven, she was inhumanly beautiful.

She had also gotten taller, close to two meters. Noticing Wayne’s adorable look of amazement, she tapped a finger on her lips and pressed it to one corner of his mouth.

With that flirtatious gesture, she extended her wings of ice and gathered wind elements to soar into the sky.

“Is ice magic covered in the faith of Moonlight?” Wayne wondered aloud before turning to rush eastward. He had to admit that elves were wonderful. The next time he was putting night cream on Filomina, he should ask her to transform first.

In the sky, two women over thirty exchanged a glance and saw the same dissatisfaction in each other’s eyes. Their feminine instincts told them that the other was a rival who coveted their master and young boyfriend, respectively.

Bah, how shameless! Both cursed silently.

The Thousand-Eyed Demon felt double the pressure. The ruin was an isolated space outside the sphere of influence that the Church of Moonlight created to suppress other faiths. Mona was able to fight to the best of her ability, and, wielding the sacred lance, she was as powerful as an angel summoned to the human world via the Golden Law.

While the Thousand-Eyed Demon had received help from Obed and brought all of his thoughts and even his main body here, having lost a large part of his territory in hell, he was already struggling to fight one strong enemy. Another joining in was deadly.

Thinking of his plan, the demon clenched his jaw. He had nothing else to lose because he had already lost almost everything. If he succeeded, he would return to hell and become a demon lord. If not...

No, he had to succeed. He had gone all in, and this would be his last attempt.

Sacred flames roared, and moonlight condensed like frost. The two equally sacred faith magics struck in turns in completely different presentations. Left with no choice, the Thousand-Eyed Demon revealed his main body prematurely. The giant black bug spanning around a thousand meters breathed out black smoke, reshaping the demon’s territory in the human world.

In essence, the Thousand-Eyed Demon was no doubt stronger than a legendary mage. He could turn others into his apostles by granting them power and create familiars, which was only possible for demigods. However, Obed had timed it too well, keeping the demon waiting for two months so that when he offered resources and made a deal with the demon, the demon had already lost a large part of his territory in hell and much of his power.

The Thousand-Eyed Demon provided a shelter and a way to hell; Obed offered a new body for the descent to the human world. In their differing plans, both believed that they would be the last one laughing.

But now, the Thousand-Eyed Demon could no longer laugh. An angel was never part of the plan, nor was a high reverend who suddenly came home. He had reason to believe that it was part of Obed’s scheme.

Fortunately, he had his own scheme, too, or he would’ve died a dog’s death!

***

East of the ruin, a black figure rushed across the land in a blur, his motion incredibly agile with wind elements lightening his steps. A barrier of black light blocked the way, but Wayne simply met the gaze of the Book of Greed and activated hell’s power before running headlong into the depths of the darkness.

The inverted pentagram recognized him as one of hell’s and allowed him entrance. Right after that, he encountered the barriers Obed had set up with the three major faiths of the Life Alliance, which posed a harsh requirement for a visitor’s versatility.

Wayne easily bypassed each of them. Every faith was a key, and with a full collection, he could blend in wherever he went. That didn’t stump him at all!

After breaking through layers of barriers, he faced a dark domain; Obed had created the still space with his thoughts, and to be on the safe side, he even pulled part of the Astral Plane in. The chaotic, wild knowledge would intercept all Gold-ranked mages.

“Hey, book! Time to eat!”

Wayne’s body expanded. With tentacles unfurling from his body, he entered the dark domain.