Myths Reawakened

Thinking of the things he wanted to do with Hesione, Wayne looked at her and noted the calm look on her face. She didn’t even flinch as Auriel lay into her. In fact, she seemed... pleased.

What? So it’s not love?

Wayne rolled his eyes. It turned out that Hesione was simply setting Auriel up!

Thinking that Wayne was the Anointed One, Hesione was setting up her rival. In her perception, the worse Auriel’s insult got, the more he was alienating himself from the Anointed One.

Wayne pressed a hand to his chest. Hesione hadn’t been like this. She had been an angel of integrity, honor, and shame. Not anymore. She had fallen!

Auriel took a long enough breath from his reprimand to realize that Wayne was the one breathing out sighs, while Hesione remained perfectly poised. A chill ran up his spine to his scalp. Why wasn’t she defending herself? Why would anyone accept such verbal abuse without talking back? Talk!

Hesione had spoken up for Wayne earlier, yet she remained quiet now. Auriel didn’t understand why, but he knew something had to be amiss.

He hid his caution and huffed, “The Gate of Hell has closed down. Since my work here is done, I’ll return to the Papal State. Remember what you said, Hesione. The right to command the reincarnated angels is mine. You will not go to the Papal State.”

With that, he walked away, increasing his pace for fear of meeting a trap.

Hesione’s lips curled up as she watched him flee, confident of her victory. She had interacted with Wayne enough to know how petty the bastard was. In that regard, he could rival even the Lord of Envy, who had made a series of failed investments.

Given how much Auriel had cursed him out, one day, Auriel would be assigned to clean the restrooms in Heaven.

What? There was no restroom in Heaven? That could be easily amended. The Anointed One only had to say the word.

Slap!

Following the ringing sound, Hesione turned to glare at Wayne. “We had a deal. You’re not touching me ever again.”

“You know me. I always go back on my word.” Wayne looked at her calmly. “Were you thinking... that you’d won already?”

Hesione’s breath hitched. She might have been too obvious and allowed Wayne to see through her. Thinking of how out of character she had behaved, she felt a tingle in her scalp. If Wayne had seen through her and made a deduction based on her thoughts, it would be easy for him to figure out the root cause of her change.

Oh, no. The Anointed One cannot know that he is the Anointed One, or there will be no stopping him!

“Don’t say it. Don’t even think about it.” Wayne patted her on the shoulder, pointing at the ruinous catacombs. “This place is almost empty. Palis is very likely to sink. This isn’t the time to celebrate your victory. Help me create some pillars to keep the ground up.”

So that’s what you’re talking about!

Hesione’s heart settled down. When Wayne started conjuring quickly cemented earth walls with magic, she joined in and helped.

Each of the four Śārim represented one of the four elements. Auriel, representing earth, had already left. Although Hesione represented water and wasn’t as good a construction worker as Auriel, that could be amended with raw power. She had enough mana to fill the empty underground space with Wayne.

When men and women worked together, they would never tire of the work. In no time, they filled up the empty space.

“Hesione, check if it’s all filled up.” Wayne dusted his hands with a chuckle. “If there’s an empty hole, just tell me. You know me. I never complain. I can keep working.”

Hesione ignored his dirty jokes. She was still agonizing over his comment about thinking she had won. She suspected that he had figured out the truth and had merely refrained from exposing her, and she knew why he would do that. The bastard wouldn’t play dumb for any other reason than to tease her.

“Hesione, I’ve once again battled demons and managed to take back the Death Knight’s head, saving Palis. I told you that I was the Anointed One, but you wouldn’t believe me. What do you think now?” Wayne wiggled his eyebrows at her.

“I-I don’t... It can’t be real!”

“If you say so, I’ll listen to you.”

...Damn it. He must have guessed it!

Looking at the face he made at her, she wanted nothing more than to punch it.

“Hey, you once promised me that every time I banish a demon, you’ll reward me with a derisive roleplaying session. Let me count how many demons I’ve taken out this time... Where are you going?”

Later, a scowling Hesione found Hestia, as well as the three Holy Maidens standing behind her. There was Corte, who was in a compromised condition, Sukra, who lay on the ground slacking off, and Galen, who looked like she was having an existential crisis.

Galen seemed to have experienced an unbelievable paranormal phenomenon. As a result, she kept muttering to herself, ignoring Corte’s words.

Before them was a Grey Space filled with Death energy. It was the only part of the underground world that hadn’t been filled with earth walls, and the last patch of the remaining catacombs. Wayne looked deep into it. After a few words with Hesione, he stepped in.

Sukra hurriedly picked herself up and followed him in. Worried that lives would be conceived while they were inside, Corte made to follow them, only to be intercepted by Hesione. She looked intimidating even though she had only raised a hand. It was all Corte could do to complain to her bestie since she didn’t dare speak up against Hesione.

Her words fell on deaf ears. Galen was still muttering to herself.

***

Death was an indispensable stage in life. Compared to life, which could be grand or dully uneventful, death couldn’t be more distant from ruckus and tribulations, manifested as the ultimate peace.

Death came to anyone and everyone fairly, regardless of one’s will. The peace wasn’t aloof or heartless, but a respect and understanding of life.

In the doctrines of the Church of Death, death wasn’t the end of a life, but a new beginning. People would return to nature and become one with the universe—become part of eternity.

Death was serene and eternal. She was not an enemy of life. One shouldn’t be afraid when faced with death, but rather learn the peace while holding the highest respect for life.

That was the nature of this Death-filled realm. It was peaceful and eternal. Sukra found her mind going blank as she followed Wayne in, free of whatever concerns had plagued her. She felt a stronger urge to slack off.

After taking dozens more steps, Wayne found Rognes and Julia.

One knee on the ground, Rognes held Shadow Nightmare with both hands, clad in black armor with flame-like black mist swirling around his white skull, two orbs of white light dancing in his eye sockets.

Wayne didn’t see the Headless Knight’s true form. It might have something to do with the fact that two of the keys were still in his possession. Incomplete, Rognes could not transform into his human appearance.

Julia was staring into space by Rognes’s side. When Wayne showed up, she immediately switched to her happy mare mode, going up to him and nuzzling him.

She had her new master, and her old master had recovered himself. The thought of receiving love from both masters excited her, but also troubled her. How would she split her time? Wouldn’t her masters get into fights to decide who got to ride her?

[Stop fighting for me.jpg]

The happy concern left Julia lamenting her greatness. If she weren’t such a good mare, her masters wouldn’t break into a fight out of jealousy.

If that ever happened, she would stop the fight, dividing her time fairly so that they could all have their happily ever after.

Wayne climbed onto her back then, pulling the reins to ride her around Rognes. Her sprightly clip-clops showed how happy and content she was. Rognes, on the other hand, felt only annoyance. He stood up with Shadow Nightmare and looked at Julia as she shook her head, then at the rider on her back. He huffed.

“Master, you’re awake!” Julia trotted up to Rognes and lowered her head to nuzzle him.

“Julia...”

Rognes raised a hand to stroke her head, but before he could touch her, Wayne pulled Julia away with a crack of the reins.

(눈_눈) (는皿는)

The air suddenly thickened with tension. Julia, enjoying the two men’s jealousy over her, was so happy that she didn’t know where she should place her hooves.

Sukra heard the name ‘Julia’ uttered, but looking around, there was only an undead horse that was playing both sides. It had to be the Julia the two men had talked about.

Hmph, how dull!

Sukra huffed, her fantasy about a love triangle shattered. She started hoping that Corte’s theory was right.

Though it would be sacrilegious to say that the two Death Knights seemed like members of the Church of Sun, the facts were obvious. Julia was only an instrument of the two riders’ meeting. Rognes and Wayne only ever had each other in their hearts.

Wouldn’t they suddenly start making out during their fight? The thought excited Sukra. She clenched her fists and quietly took two steps back.

Kiss! Kiss already!

“Headless Knight, you don’t look so good. How’s your recovery?”

“I’m not the Headless Knight!”

“Really? Then what’s this in my hand?”

Wayne took two white skulls out of his personal storage. They were the last two keys to liberate Rognes fully. At this moment, Wayne held the power to control Rognes. While Rognes could resist, he couldn’t resist fully.

“See?” Wayne smirked, more villainous than heroic. “You are the Headless Knight.”

“Mr. Wayne, we’re here to save Mr. Headless,” Sukra quickly spoke up. The situation didn’t seem in line with what she had imagined. “Please return the skulls to him. You still have to carry out the important mission of saving the Divine Realm. This isn’t the time for infighting.”

When she saw the two knights working together to fool the demons, she had thought that they were close friends who had known and respected each other for a long time, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

“I’m not Mr. Headless!” Rognes turned to Sukra, irritated. “Who are you?”

“I’m Holy Maiden Sukra of the Church of Death. Do you remember? Once, in the underground catacombs, you and I—”

“I don’t remember.”

“...”

“You there,” Wayne said from horseback. “This is none of your business. Remove yourself.”

“...”

Sukra rolled her eyes, furious that she had become an innocent victim of the two difficult knights’ argument.

That wasn’t even the most infuriating thing.

“Masters, please stop fighting,” Julia said petulantly. “It makes me feel sad.”

“We’ll stop.”

“You’re right.”

“...”

୧(╬▔皿▔)૭

Sukra rolled her eyes as hard as she could. Her friendly advice met only jeers. She received less attention than a skeletal horse two-timing her riders. No wonder the Death Knights were skeletons, and no wonder they went for skeletons.

The more she thought about it, the angrier she became. Fine, she would just slack off!

She found a corner and bundled up Death energy to use as a pillow, plopping herself down. She had thought that would be the end of it, but no. Something even more infuriating happened.

“Holy Maiden, is it?” Rognes said slowly. “Wayne and I have things to discuss, things that are above your pay grade. Please give us some privacy.”

You’re pushing it!

Sukra sat up. This had veered into the realm of bullying. She had lain down flat. What else did they want from her?

She glared at Rognes in particular. She had bled for Death and achieved much for her faith. As the Holy Maiden of the Church of Death, she had found the new knight and helped save the previous knight. Why was she not entitled to hear whatever conversation they were having?

She would stay here one way or another!

“Sukra, there are things that’ll put responsibility and pressure beyond your imagination on you if you become informed,” Wayne said. “Are you sure—”

“I’m going. Right now.”

Sukra ran away without hesitation, like she was fleeing. She would do nothing going forward, so it would be nice if no one put any pressure on her.

Once she left, Wayne weighed the skull in his hand before tossing it to Rognes, who caught it and placed it on his neck. The skulls merged. Rognes returned to his peak, making a full return.

No energy radiated from him, and there was no overbearing aura around him. The only changes were the more intense white light in his eye sockets and the more serene Death around him.

“Wayne, in your body exists the goddess’s thoughts.”

“Yes.”

“The goddess must trust you if she chose you. I have nothing else to worry about...”

Rognes nodded. The mission in the Divine Realm would be dangerous, and he wasn’t sure he could return safely. With Wayne here, he could set out without concerns.

The black armor covering his chest dispersed, revealing his bare ribs. He extracted a ball of grey mist from his chest cavity, holding it before his chest with both hands. “These are the goddess’s thoughts stored in my body,” he said devoutly. “I’m entrusting Her to you. Take care of Her and protect Her with your life. Do not let any harm come to Her.”

(・˘_˘・)

So you’re the one who let the enemy army in?