Myths Reawakened

“You saw it...”

“I’m Marius, Blood Tyrant’s familiar, arriving in the human world with a mission.”

The crimson-eyed demon didn’t intend to hide anything. Raising his hands, he conjured two heavy weapons of blood crystals. One was a greatsword the width of a door, and the other a greataxe that should’ve required two hands to wield.

He gave Wayne a taunting stare. “Death Knight—no, the new Death Knight, you’ve stolen the Book of Seals from the Lord of Blood, twice. Hand over Shadow Nightmare and the books, and I may just put in the good words for you so that Master will make your head into a nice chalice.”

So, no room for negotiation!

Wayne laughed. The baldy didn’t seem very bright, exchanging his intelligence for all his muscles. Wayne didn’t even have to prod for the demon to give him all the information.

The Headless Knight was exposed, the demons could bring their familiars to the human world, and the familiars had come from Franc...

Wayne identified the important information and cursed at the troublesome development. The Headless Knight wasn’t controlled by one single demon, but a whole group of them. If Blood Tyrant could bring their familiar to this world, how about the other demons? And if Blood Tyrant could do this, why hadn’t they summoned their familiar back on Dragonheart Island? Was there a restriction on such descent?

How about the seal imposed by heaven? What were the angels doing when the demons were making such audacious moves?

Wayne sentenced Marius to death in his head. Demons were too dangerous, and not even their familiars should be allowed to stay in the human world for long. They should be wiped out, no matter the cost!

The white glowing orbs in his skull shimmered. Julia neighed, slamming through space to enter a portal, bringing Wayne to Marius’s side. Shadow Nightmare radiated radiant white light as it swung down toward Marius’s head.

With an angry roar, Marius blocked Shadow Nightmare with his greatsword, staggering back under the undead warhorse’s incredible momentum despite his strong build. Then the crystal greatsword cracked audibly, no match for the divine weapon that was Shadow Nightmare. It was already covered in so many cracks from the hit that it seemed like it would shatter the next second.

Marius cast faith magic once more, stabilizing the greatsword’s form with his thoughts. Flexing all of his muscles, he planted his feet into the ground to offset the undead warhorse’s momentum.

Growling, he put more power into his axe-wielding arm, making the already thick muscles bulge even more. He raised his greataxe high, bringing it down toward Wayne’s head.

Boom!

The edge of the axe collided with the white skull, sputtering sparks in the air. Incredible waves of Death energy surged and rendered the greataxe into decayed, muddled blood before turning it into ashes.

At the same time, Julia created a portal under her feet and quickly plunged into it with the help of the downward force. Marius held his greatsword with both hands as he watched his surroundings.

A shadow plummeted from above—from the portal that had opened above the demon’s head. Julia galloped down, breathing out purple flames to burn Marius’s body. Wayne’s white blade moved in a flourish, swinging toward the demon.

In that split second, Marius raised his greatsword to block the slash. Crimson light surged out of his eyes, the energy beams shooting at Wayne.

Meeting the tranquil Death unleashed by Wayne, the red light slowed to a near halt, overwhelmed in the blink of an eye. Shadow Nightmare swung down, breaking the crystal greatsword...

Rip!

There was a scream. Then corrupted blood splashed and pooled. Marius jumped to the side, holding onto the stump of his arm.

“That’s it? How dare you rampage about in the human world when you’re this lacking? You disturbed my sleep for nothing.”

Wayne brought his sword back to his side. Julia stomped on the severed arm on the ground, gathering Death energy to rot the flesh until only the bones remained. Then the white arm bones turned a dark yellow before the horse hoof crushed them to pieces, the resulting sludge returning to the earth.

Blood gushed out from Marius’s stump in incredible volume, as if life itself was eager to escape him. The blood pooled into a river, and monstrous figures fiercely rose from it. Under the effect of Blood Magic, the red river rumbled and surged, showing signs of turning into a lake of blood.

Wayne remained unfazed. The cape behind his back fluttered as grey Death energy spread in the forms of tentacles, blending into the omnipresent mist to devour the sprawling river.

This is nothing!

On the west side of the Great Cemetery, Do manipulated the thick mist to support her master while he devoured the crimson river. By her side, Bo kept a watchful eye on the surroundings.

Soon, he spotted a figure hiding behind a tree. The woman was wearing the white battle outfit of the Church of Heavenly Father, adorned with a golden cross on the back. It was Mona!

Bo frowned. He seemed to have seen that face before. He asked Do about her and was told that she was Master’s secretary.

Why would a skeleton need a secretary? And this secretary... seemed to be an employee of Wayne’s Detective Agency, right across the Dawn Detective Agency.

Bo fell silent. He didn’t dare to say anything or ask any questions. He decided to be happy that his master had a clergywoman as a secretary. Certainly, his master was on the side of justice, only he was indirect about it and tended to speak like a villain.

Meanwhile, Caim watched the one-sided fight while concealed in the dark. The Death Knight was more powerful than he had expected, and Marius was weaker than he had expected. The former was a difficult enemy, while the latter was pulling his punches for whatever scheme he was brewing.

“Under his thuggish appearance is a shrewd mind. I almost fell for your ploy...” Caim shook his head. Marius was obviously trying to lure him and Juliette into making a move. While Marius was on the cunning side, he wasn’t that smart. Caim and Juliette didn’t care if he lived or not.

Actually, it would be better if he died!

Londan wasn’t big. The population of a few million wasn’t enough to sustain three demons, so it would be nice for the familiar of the Blood Tyrant to exit the stage first. With that thought in mind, Caim slowly retreated from the cemetery.

Marius roared furiously. When his teammates failed to show up even after the fight had dragged on for so long, he cursed them out in his head. The hellish river was being devoured by Death, and Blood Magic didn’t work on the Death Knight’s skeletal body. He stopped playing weak. His body expanded in size, and his arm regenerated, turning into a three-meter-tall humanoid monstrosity.

It was covered in green scales, shimmering with a crimson glint under the dim moonlight. Its sharp teeth and claws resembled those of a dragon, and its serrated spine ended in a thick crocodile tail, swishing about powerfully.

A familiar’s appearance resembled their master and reflected their faith. This proved the relationship between Blood Tyrant and great dragons—they could be a subspecies of dragons.

“Crocodile man!”

Wayne uttered a blatant insult. He only knew two Dragonbloods, both belonging to the Lando family. The others would either be reptiles or crocodiles. Geckos worked, too. He was open-minded enough to accept other people’s opinions.

Marius growled. Four rays of red light shot out from his back. Following that, blood crystals shot toward the sky, scattering at a hundred meters above ground. They plunged into the ground, the four pillars of crimson crystals standing tall on the east, west, north, and south of the cemetery.

Wayne rubbed his chest. The power of Death was somewhat suppressed. The feeling reminded him of the anti-magic domain at the Capital Hotel in Luzerbourg. This barrier was obviously something else, though. It had to be a magic unique to the faith of Blood.

While he was thinking, the four pillars radiated red light and formed a hexahedron—a cube to be exact—trapping Wayne and Marius.

Growling, Marius grew dramatically larger with crimson energy radiating from him. His height had shot up to five meters, his thick arm and long tail large enough for Julia to gallop on with Wayne on her back.

The Blood energy came with intense heat and the ability to corrupt all blood in the vicinity, which had no effect on his current opponent, the Death Knight, who had no flesh or blood.

Marius condensed Blood energy into a heated armor of red crystals to cover his body. His fierce blade-like claws and fangs glowed red, matching the color of his eyes. The demon’s presence had reached an incredible height. The red light rippling from him swept through the area violently and intimidated the four elements. Even Wayne felt some pressure from him.

The Book of Greed got Wayne’s attention. It smelled a delicacy it hadn’t tasted before.

“New delicacy...”

Wayne’s eyes lit up. Blood Tyrant’s familiar had a different power. How nice of the demon to deliver him take-out. He would give the service a five-star rating!