Myths Reawakened

Wayne touched his chest, instinctively thinking of an ancient god and their followers. Anastasia thought the same. She had encountered similar situations and was certain that an ancient god’s follower existed in Londan.

Wayne didn’t jump to conclusions. Glancing at Auston, he said, “It’s not just the Queen. The Princess and Prince were kidnapped, too. You’re right. We need a queen, or we’ll be on the front lines.”

Rather than being the vanguards and taking the brunt of all conspiracies and schemes, it was better to support the Queen from behind.

Change of plans, Auston. The family has decided not to give you new clothes. Starting today, you’re the regent.

Auston rolled his eyes. Do you hear yourself? There’s not a bone of loyalty in you!

“It’s best that you think this way. I taught you long ago that this world isn’t as simple as it appears to be, and danger can strike at any moment. Don’t put yourself in the open. You always need a representative, no matter what you want to do.”

“Exactly, which is why I wanted to make you king.”

Auston choked on air and almost had a stroke. Closing his eyes, he looked for the Queen and Douglas with his senses but found neither. He thrust Twilight Despair into the ground.

Black light surged underground, reaching the depths and spotting a passage connected to the mist within the complex magical foundation. A portal opened. Auston quickly strode inside.

His ease told Wayne that he had come prepared. Wayne followed with his sword, telling Julia to stay and mark the spatial node.

Silvia stepped forward, but after a moment of consideration, she stopped, thinking wryly that she would only be a burden. She had made up her mind to reach Legendary rank as soon as possible, or Auston would only get further away from her.

Filomina stood quietly before the portal. When the High Reverend didn’t have a certain man’s hands on her bottom, she was quite intelligent. In her mind, the Death Knight’s appearance slowly overlapped with Wayne’s.

She didn’t understand. How could the Death Knight be the Nature Knight? Weren’t Death and Nature supposed to be on opposite sides?

Could it be that Nature and Death weren’t parallel lines that would never intersect, but a cycle? Nature’s end was Death, and Death ultimately returned to Nature?

How absurd. She would rather believe that the Death Knight was the Moonlight Knight.

Anastasia silently observed the two graceful ladies. Recalling her failure, she fell into an endless cycle of guilt and frustration. She could’ve performed better before her faith, but she ended up serving no purpose but being eyecandy.

The three women’s worries stemmed from different sources, but they reached the same conclusion: they were too weak.

Two legendary mages and a Gold-ranked Dragonblood about to reach Legendary rank... Weak should’ve never been the right word to describe them.

***

The Ministry of Magic’s headquarters was located in the Western District in Londan, close to Buckingham Palace. Given its geographical location, Londan’s overall layout, and the flow of the rivers, the place was considered highly auspicious in feng shui.

The Ministry of Magic had selected this site with care. It definitely wasn’t because the royal family wanted their workplace to be close to their home.

“Londan overlaps with a projected space. Every night, the space opens and allows the mist to emerge...” In the passage, Auston shared his findings. He didn’t specify when he had started investigating, worried that Wayne would mistake that as a desire to rebel.

“The mist affects life essence and spreads evolution and corruption. Thus, Windsor’s magical community has been monitoring the mist...”

Wayne nodded. Based on what he knew about Route 114, the mist wasn’t the root of chaos; what lay beyond the mist was.

“Although Londan’s mist is an indiscriminate source of corruption, it’s not like Thoggua, the ancient god’s vassal. The projected space in Londan would be more accurately called ‘Grey Space’. It’s what the antique silver coins are connected to.”

Auston explained the truth of the Grey Space: “It’s a fallen Divine Realm. After a deity falls, their kingdom shatters. Some of the fragments assimilate with the Astral Plane, while others fall to the Chosen Landon. A Grey Space only disappears once the Laws contained within completely merge with the Astral Plane or the Chosen Land.”

Besides being the hometowns of the four elements, Grey Spaces were also home to the knowledge the gods have learned and the magic they had mastered in their long lives, or they were the gods’ evolution path. The composition was complex.

Ordinary existences couldn’t absorb so much information. Under indiscriminate corruption, their chaotic thoughts and mutated flesh made them seem like they had been blessed by ancient gods.

There was a great fundamental difference, though. The information within Grey Spaces was safer and could be mastered by Gold-ranked and Legendary-ranked mages. They, however, had to keep their desires in check, learning moderately and selectively rather than gorging themselves just because it was safer. Otherwise, they would end up descending into madness from learning too much all the same.

The royal family used antique silver coins to win over legendary mages, treating them generously without ever fully opening the Grey Space that the royal family had access to. The key remained in the royal family’s hands.

Only then did Wayne realize that the Grey Space that the silver coins led to was the world beyond the mist.

He asked curiously, “So the royal family doesn’t use the mist itself, but the Laws within the world beyond the mist? Divine blood adapts better to Laws, and thus, they are able to bear more power. Is that it?”

“No. Divine blood’s evolution path is fixed. The royals aren’t bearing Laws with their divine blood, but awakening the divine blood corresponding to the Laws they receive, triggering quick growth.”

Auston paused. “There is no balance during the process, so it’s dangerous, more agonizing than me enduring the pain from Twilight Despair.”

Not everyone had the Book of Greed and could thus accept everything like Wayne. One had to maintain balance while pursuing evolution, keeping their body, thoughts, and knowledge in sync. Even a slight deviation would topple the house of cards.

That was why, while the royal family had access to the Grey Space all these years, they had never produced a powerhouse who could defy heaven alone, only using the Grey Space as one of their last resorts.

They all feared death!

They would never use the card unless everything was on the line.

Wayne clicked his tongue. He had been planning on activating Kristen’s divine blood, but hearing that it would threaten the mother of his children’s life, he abandoned the idea.

As they spoke, they reached the end of the spatial passage, seeing a pale door in their way.

It was black with white patterns of slender, pale arms forming a cross. At the center was a hellish face wearing a carapace mask. There was a hint of something holy within the insidious evil.

Douglas had left the roadblock in the hope that it would delay troublemakers.

Without wasting his breath, Auston raised Twilight Despair and unleashed its full power, devouring the door. He led Wayne to a Grey Space with no up, down, left, or right.

Book of Greed perked up.

What are you waiting for? Eat all you can today! Wayne urged.

While thanking nature’s bounty, Wayne was relieved to recover what he had lost. As the book feasted, he tried to analyze the attributes of the fallen Divine Realm.

Life Alliance’s Nature, Sun, and Moonlight corresponded to Death and Darkness. There was also Storm and Lightning, as well as the Holy Light of the Church of Heavenly Father. Although all gods had mastered a vast amount of knowledge, each had their strongest suit.

By this logic, the fallen deity that this Grey Space corresponded to should also have a specialty. Through the Book of Greed’s smaller eyeballs, Wayne should be able to deduce the god’s true identity.

No matter how he looked, though, he couldn’t figure it out.

This deity’s knowledge was extremely complex, leaving the Grey Space with a chaotic mix of Laws. If anything stood out, it would be the absurdly abundant fire elements.

As Wayne puzzled over this, a smaller eyeball shook slightly, opening to reveal scorching firelight. His affinity with fire elements underwent an epic enhancement!

It wasn’t a qualitative evolution brought about by the accumulation of great quantity, but the acquisition of a Law that represented fire. Following that, the smaller eyeball of Death also shook and advanced further, securing its top position once more.

How could Death be related to fire?

Wayne didn’t understand. After three to five seconds, strange Laws fused into the Book of Greed’s cover, which was reflected on Wayne. He felt his physical body becoming more powerful, including his speed, strength, reflex, endurance, and poison resistance...

It was a strange feeling he couldn’t put into words. After a while, he decided on an approximation: he felt like he could kill a dragon with a punch.

“Found them!”

***

Somewhere in the Grey Space.

Bones stretched upward and downward, disappearing into the void and fusing with the Grey Space seamlessly. The bones were the rib bones Douglas had extracted and reshaped into a cage for the five captives: Queen Sophelia, Prince Edward, Juno, Carol, and Alistair.

The first three shared the same bloodline, so they would likely awaken similar divine blood. The latter two were unclear for now, and Douglas didn’t have the brain to consider such matters.

His body had evolved further. His volatile, towering form embodied a masculine beauty with golden lion mane and knotted muscles. He looked like a lion standing upright, but with six eyes and bat wings!

Those were traits of the Lord of Pride.

Frank once stole the royal family’s vessels for the Seven Demon Lords. At the Lando Estate, only six out of seven vessels had appeared. The vessel for Pride had been absent, which turned out to be left for Douglas.

Similarly, the Book of Hell was also in Douglas’s body.

He had completely lost his reason and was simply following Frank’s instructions in everything. Frank had planted part of his thoughts in Douglas, but due to his loyalty to Pride, he dared not seize control of the body.

Frank knew that he was only part of the Book of Hell’s evolution, but loyalty that wasn’t absolute was absolutely not loyalty. For his faith, he would willingly become fodder for the book.

It was all for Master Pride.

“Let the Queen go!”