Myths Reawakened

Amid howling wind and crackling lightning, a calamity descended upon the newly formed Divine Domain. At the intersection of infinite lightning and tempest, two figures clashed with such speed that their afterimages stretched endlessly. Every collision made an earth-shattering boom. Wild vortexes of energy came crashing down, spreading from east to west and then from south to north, ravaging the Divine Domain.

Gashes tore across the land, the impact collapsing the mountains. Massive boulders tumbled down and triggered rising veils of dust. The distant ocean rose into walls, the resulting tsunami crashed into the land and corroded it along with the tempest. At the edge of the battlefield, Wayne took a deep breath.

Seleucia got to battle her archenemy, and Wayne got to benefit from her battle. Afterwards, they would go seven to three, with Wayne taking seventy percent of the gain, and Seleucia getting on her knees to offer her thirty percent to her faith. It was a win-win scenario.

“What a dull fight,” Ines said while inspecting her nails. “Barbaric, with no beauty to speak of. As expected of the primeval deities. Their control over their Laws is rudimentary at best.”

“That’s presumptuous. There is a beauty to raw strength, and at least they made a great spectacle.” Wayne spoke up for Seleucia. “See? She has the advantage in weapons and life essence. As long as she catches Sett off guard, she’ll win.”

“What about Sett?”

“I don’t see an obvious weakness, but He’s been in slumber for so long that His thoughts are still sluggish. This won’t take long.”

Wayne narrowed his eyes. As the battle escalated, he was able to see Sett’s condition. Sett had not reincarnated into a human. He was using an elemental body forged with Storm and Thunder, unlike what Seleucia had found in her investigation.

It was possible that as Sett’s power rose substantially, the human body could no longer accommodate his thoughts, so He abandoned it.

It wasn’t likely, though. Hesione, after being reincarnated into Mona, had never even considered leaving her rightful body despite the bullying from Mona and Wayne. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to, but she couldn’t. Her body suited her the most. She was Mona, and Mona was her. They could only ever integrate fully rather than separate from each other.

Similarly, Sett had no reason to abandon his reincarnated body. Perhaps he had reincarnated in a different way: possession.

Wayne thought of the Great Sage. Given the level of power that Sett had demonstrated, clearly, the Great Sage was the one being used. Once Sett made a glorious comeback, the Great Sage would have to make room for Sett. Then, Sett could deliver false oracles as the Great Sage and turn the Church of Darkness into the Sect of Storm and Thunder, stealing the Goddess of Darkness’s followers in the human world.

Perhaps the Goddess of Darkness had sent Vichy to stop Sett, but Vichy ended up being killed instantly instead. While keeping an eye on Sett, She waited for the next Darkness Knight to awaken.

It would be a logical explanation, but... it didn’t seem like the Goddess of Darkness’s modus operandi.

Wayne glanced at Ines and the phony fear she was projecting. The Goddess of Darkness was much more than met the eye. He hadn’t yet figured out exactly what kind of goddess She was, but he could see the inconsistencies in Her personality.

Among the goddesses, the Goddess of Darkness seemed to be most concerned with the safety of the Chosen Land. She had issued an oracle to Anastasia and deployed a group of darkness elves to the Frozen Land, having Anastasia take the place of the Darkness Knight until he awakened. Only when Anastasia was having trouble holding on did the goddess manually accelerate Auston’s awakening.

Wayne had always thought that the reason the Holy Maiden, Pope, and disciples of Darkness were so outstanding was the goddess’s influence, but the Goddess of Darkness was a real shrew.

It should be impossible for such a black-hearted goddess to have such righteous followers. The most likely explanation was that the Goddess of Darkness had two aspects, each represented by the good Holy Maiden and the evil knight, as well as the kindness shown to the followers and the harsh destruction shown to the heretics. The two sides combined to make a god.

Wayne shook his head. That was what the followers had imagined and recorded in the church’s texts. He shouldn’t allow the assumption to mislead him. The Goddess of Darkness was a bad woman. She hadn’t brought the light of kindness to Her followers, only trickery for Her entertainment. The Church of Darkness was good only because they chose to rise above their own material desires; it had nothing to do with the goddess.

However, without the goddess’s permission, the church couldn’t possibly be what it was now...

Wayne was stumped by the logical inconsistency, unable to reach a reasonable conclusion. But then he stopped himself. Oh, no. I’ve gotten curious about the Goddess of Darkness.

He shook away his unnecessary thoughts and locked onto Seleucia with his thoughts, descending upon her to shove all the Laws he had replicated into her mind, giving her a new buff.

No matter what the Goddess of Darkness was up to, the Church of Darkness had to remain stable, and the Laws of Storm and Thunder had to be Seleucia’s.

This battle had gone on for too long. It was time to end everything.

“Seleucia, feel the power. You’ve exceeded Sett. He’s not your match.”

When Seleucia heard him, she felt a strange, indescribable power rushing into her. She froze, getting hit by Sett’s swinging Edge of Pursuit and slamming into the ground, leaving a large crater.

White foam splattered from Seleucia’s prone form in the crater. Her twisted limbs prevented her from immediately picking herself up.

“Seleucia, you’re as weak as you were back then,” Sett said derisively, towering over her.

Just then, Seleucia floated into the air, her twisted body recovering. A vertical eyeball opened up on her featureless face. Like an insect’s buzz, an infinite string of whispers burst out, twisting and turning to put Sett’s thoughts in a catatonic state.

“Astral Plane...”

“Heaven...”

A massive amount of indecipherable information filled Sett’s mind, immobilizing His thoughts and body. He could only watch as Seleucia charged forward with her spear.

The lightning spear pierced through Sett’s body, unleashing powerful currents to offer the most extraordinary extolment. His steel body shattered like fragile ceramics. Storm and thunder gushed out from the injury, and he deflated like a balloon.

The Divine Domain rumbled and trembled. Violent wind howled as pillars of lightning struck down, as if playing a requiem for Sett.

His mind blanked, and his vision turned pale. He couldn’t see or sense anything, standing still and doing nothing as Seleucia zigzagged in and out swinging her spear, quickly carving away the tattered body.

Seleucia shrank down proportionately, weaving webs of lightning with her spear to disintegrate Sett completely, erasing his thoughts in the most straightforward way.

Rumble!!

High in the sky, the single vortex of dark clouds hurled a bolt of lightning. Unlike the other lightning, this particular bolt was ink-black, condensing the purest darkness.

The lightning forced Seleucia to retreat while enveloping Sett, bringing Him down to the ground. He assimilated His thoughts with the Divine Domain, resonating with the obelisks to form a collective whole.

Seleucia was shocked. Her mortal enemy had been on the verge of death. The development had come out of nowhere.

When in doubt, ask Wayne. My faith, have you increased the difficulty of the test?

Wayne nodded. The lack of challenge had bred hubris in Seleucia’s mind, so he had to make the test more difficult.

“Of course. I was a little too arrogant and careless.”

Seleucia nodded to herself. Charging toward the ground, she searched the nearest obelisk for Sett’s hidden thoughts, flushing them out and erasing them.

It was a dull, arduous process that would take a few months to complete. Seleucia realized the true purpose of the test: her faith was training her patience. Only after she tasted the fruit of her hard labor would the test be completed.

Moved, Seleucia returned to her task with renewed vigor.

Wayne looked at Seleucia with renewed exasperation. The Goddess of Sky was so honest that he felt guilty whenever he deceived her. Were it Ines, the evil woman, Wayne not only wouldn’t feel guilty, but would push harder.

He rubbed his temple and asked, “What’s going on? Where did the darkness come from?”

Blinking, Ines turned to Anastasia and said, “He’s asking you. Where did the darkness come from? Speak!”

...Goddess of Darkness, Anastasia thought, did you even hear yourself?

Wayne shielded his white moonlight. He would not tolerate any slight to her. “Sett can’t be the mastermind. Just like Seleucia, He’d been lost in history, and Darkness has been pulling the strings, from his awakening to the gathering of the obelisks.”

He glared at Ines. He was careful even when he rode Anastasia, worried that he would be too forceful. He would not allow Ines to bully Anastasia.

“You favor her too much. Not fair at all!” Ines complained with what sounded like jealousy, huffing. “How should I know where the darkness came from? I’m not the actual Goddess of Darkness. I’m your vassal. Since this is the Rus Federation, the Church of Darkness is obviously involved.”

“Goddess, the church doesn’t have the capacity to do this,” Anastasia hurriedly explained.

“You’re only a Holy Maiden. What do you know about the Church of Darkness?” Ines shot back. “I am the Goddess of Darkness!”

“And now you’re the goddess. You truly just say whatever benefits you,” Wayne grumbled. When Anastasia opened her mouth to explain more, he shook his head and said, “If the goddess said that the church is suspicious, there’s definitely a problem. Tell me about the Great Sage. What do you know about him?”

“Great Sage Kane’s devotion to Darkness rivals that of His Holiness and me. He cannot be a traitor...”

Anastasia was certain. It would be fine for Kane to be involved in Sett’s rebirth, but the death of the previous Darkness Knight, Vichy? That would be a serious crime.

“Don’t be so sure,” Ines said. “How about a bet with me?”

Anastasia didn’t respond. Aside from Wayne, she had never seen Ines suffer any defeats. Thinking back to Seleucia’s earlier loss, she considered the possibility of Kane being the mastermind.

Logically speaking, it was highly unlikely. Anastasia wasn’t underestimating Kane, but realistically, Kane shouldn’t be able to control Sett.

A legendary mage controlling a demigod? Kane wasn’t Wayne. He couldn’t do it.

“Come on. Let’s go to the Church of Darkness. We’ll know if he’s responsible with a test.”

Wayne patted Anastasia’s backside while messaging Seleucia, telling her to focus on the test. He would check on her progress when he returned.

Just in case, he gave Seleucia another buff before his departure.