Myths Reawakened

Envy scowled at the vermin who were laughing and crying. “Laugh. Laugh while you can,” he scoffed. “Once the legions of angels invade, you won’t be able to laugh anymore.”

“Heard that? He told us to laugh!”

“Hahaha—”

“I can’t take more. I’m going to laugh myself to death.”

“I knew it. I knew I was right to attend this meeting. Laughing to death here will be worth it.”

“I can’t. Envy is too strong. I, Pride, am going to die from his jokes.”

“...”

Envy looked up at the sky with a blank look on his face, biting his lower lip in frustration. The established order had crumbled, and justice had lost its place. There was no fairness in Hell.

He suddenly didn’t want to be a demon. He wanted to go to Heaven and join the Seven Sacred Virtues. He would become the eighth Virtue, Justice—Credibility or Endurance would work, too.

Finally, the demon lords stopped laughing to catch their breath. Pride slammed the table and said approvingly, “Good opening remark. You’ve broken the ice. Do you have anything else to say about me being Heaven’s spy?”

“Of course!” Envy scoffed. “Pride, you put up a good act, but your teammates are lacking. I captured him today and gained valuable information from him, including the fact that the legions of angels have surrounded Hell, and that you’re the mole who would let them in and their chief strategist.”

He rattled off the nonsense Wayne had told him. Not even Envy believed the story. Pride, an undercover agent from Heaven and a chief strategist? That was a blatant lie.

But what if? What if the lie convinced the other demon lords?

The reality proved that to deceive others, one had to first deceive themselves. Otherwise, their words would lack conviction, and their guilt would be obvious.

As Envy went on, the other demon lords grew increasingly disinterested.

Sloth lazily raised his hand. “I don’t want to hear more about that. It’s putting me to sleep. Wouldn’t you repeat the joke about Hesione to wake me up?”

“You can just do it yourself, Sloth!” Greed chimed in.

“But it’s only funny when Envy says it. None of us could get the same effect. We lack the earnest belief in the lie!”

“Pfft!”

“Hahahaha—” x6

“...”

Have you had enough, you punks?!

Envy was so angry that his face distorted. He took off his shoe and used it to slam the table. “Be serious. This is the sacred council meeting of the demon lords. Would you stop laughing already?”

“But you’ve been telling jokes.”

“Hahahaha—” x6

“...”

Eventually, Pride couldn’t laugh any longer. He knocked on the table and cleared his throat. “Stop. We’ve run out of our quota today. If we don’t show him any respect, we’ll lose the great Lord of Lies. Then we won’t hear any more jokes from him.”

“As expected of Pride. You’re right.”

“Yes, you’ve shown great foresight.”

The demon lords mocked and jeered at Envy. At that moment, the demon lords found it impossible to stop talking about Envy even though he wasn’t the head of Hell. He was the focus of the council meeting, which would make him a spiritual leader!

“Tell us, Envy, why did you convene this meeting?” Pride glanced at Envy. “If you’re going to say the same thing, stop wasting everyone’s time. Unlike you, we don’t live for jokes. We’re busy.”

“Bastard!” Envy gritted his teeth and barely managed to stop himself from losing his temper. Scanning the demons, he said in a solemn voice, “I caught the human who bedded Hesione. Whether you believe it or not, Purity is no longer pure.”

“Envy, if you don’t capture Hesione, a random human male won’t prove anything. While we’re demons, we respect the objective truth.” Pride shook his head. “Again, we’re not you. We’re honest and never tell lies.”

“Stop trying to influence the conversation. I’m not done yet.” Envy scoffed irritably, his tone resentful. “His name is Wayne. I told you about him before. Because of Solsknar of the Abyss... He was transported to Hell... I captured him in Mattea’s territory. He’s powerful, so powerful that I only managed to capture him by going all in.”

Then, before Pride said anything, Envy conjured a screen of water to replay his battle with Wayne.

He had cut off the start and the end, chopping off parts in the middle. The battle scene was thus disjointed.

The other demon lords were startled.

“Astral life...”

“What a big eye. I almost thought that was the Eye of Judgment!”

“Why was there so little detail, Envy? Did you delete the parts where you were beaten up?”

“That’s not the important thing!” Envy looked at them in turn. “He slept with Hesione, staining Purity. That’s true whether you believe it or not. I’ve never lied about it.”

“Envy, you lied—”

“Shut up, Pride. You cut me off every time. You’re clearly a spy sent by Heaven!” Envy snarled, speaking at rapid-fire speed. “Wayne’s directly connected to Heaven, and Auriel and Hesione are among the reincarnated angels. The two Great Archangels came to the human world and raised Wayne to his current greatness. Don’t you understand after watching my fight with him?”

“Understand what?” Pride frowned deeply, his heart sinking.

“Wayne’s the weapon Heaven cultivated in the human world. Look at his frightening corruption. He could flood the Chosen Land at any time and fill the human world with Astral life...”

“He was a legendary mage, but he’s suddenly become a demigod. Hesione and Auriel have clearly been feeding him resources...”

“Heaven’s acquired a living weapon with incredible might. If I hadn’t caught Wayne early, if he hadn’t entered Hell before he fully matured, could you imagine what would happen after Heaven deployed the monster in Hell?”

“All creatures in Hell would’ve been devoured by him, including the Seven Deadly Sins!”

“According to reliable sources, he’s earned the trust of the Goddess of Darkness and the Goddess of Death. He’s very likely to enter one of their Divine Realms as a subordinate god!”

“We’re all prey. Heaven has a grand plan. They want to conquer the world and wage a new war of faiths to kill all gods!!

Envy made powerful declarations. When the Seven Demon Lords frowned bemusedly, and Pride hadn’t interrupted him, he was so excited that he started an impromptu speech.

Putting aside the self-aggrandizing and the insults to Pride, his speech could be summarized as follows: under his leadership, Hell had demonstrated its might and dignity, sweeping all past failures under the rug and sealing up Heaven.

From now on, the human world would become the second Hell, and all six great demon lords—sans Pride—would have a bright future.

No, you’re wrong, Pride thought. Wayne isn’t a weapon cultivated by Heaven. He’s the Anointed One!!

Pride’s eyes gleamed coldly. A few days ago, he had communicated with his thought replica in the human world and discovered that Forest had been hiding a great secret. He demanded that Forest share it with him.

Forest had been reluctant. Why would he share? Not even his other self deserved to watch the same show!

After some argument, they each offered their memories. The entertainment that Pride had offered was Envy; in Hell, the only worthy entertainment came from the Lord of Clowns.

The memories that Forest offered were exceedingly wretched, so much so that Pride almost laughed himself to death. A blindly generous Generosity, a furious Gentleness, a wanton Temperance, an increasingly filthy Purity...

Four of the Seven Sacred Virtues had descended to the human world and quickly gone down the path of the Seven Deadly Sins. If Hell remained complacent, the Virtues would sooner or later overtake the demons in the art of sinning.

When had Heaven fallen so far?

After repeated rewatching, Pride had archived the precious images and evaluated the not-so-important information on the Anointed One. Forest didn’t know what the Anointed One was and what he represented to Heaven. While trying and failing to overcome the allure of capitalism, he waited for the reincarnated angels to reveal the truth.

He speculated that the Anointed One was the Heavenly Father’s child, and the reincarnated angels had descended in search of the Anointed One. Since Forest didn’t know their defining traits, he had no choice but to bide his time.

Pride thought that that would be the end of the matter, but after an unexpected chain of events, Envy found the Anointed One that the reincarnated angels hadn’t found.

No, wait! Hesione had long found the Anointed One, which was why she allowed herself to lose her purity!

Pride figured out everything. Due to a lack of information, Envy had mistakenly assumed Wayne to be Heaven’s living weapon. Hesione knew everything but hid things out of selfish desires, which was why Auriel and the other reincarnated angels were still blindly looking for the Anointed One.

Auriel couldn’t be blamed for failing since the bastard had nothing to do with the title. Pride analyzed Forest’s memory. The parts related to Wayne... It was fair to say that if someone like that could be the Anointed One, he, Pride, could as well!

Pride looked down on Wayne’s character and morality, seeing Wayne as no better than a demon. However, he knew very well that the Seven Sacred Virtues, justice, and light were all lies. They were fantasies about the Heavenly Father. Heaven and the Church had projected the perceived virtues on the Heavenly Father through propaganda.

The Heavenly Father had won the War of Faiths as the sole winner. He crushed the Life Alliance and intimidated the five goddesses into giving up. It was one thing to call Him powerful, but good?

Forget that. The regular people might be deceived because religions created fools, but the demons wouldn’t fall for the deception!

The fact that Wayne had nothing to do with the Seven Sacred Virtues didn’t stop him from being the Anointed One. There was only one requirement for that—power!

The most powerful life in the world existed in the Astral Plane. It was the perfect form of life: ancient gods!

The Heavenly Father had gone down the evolution path of the ancient gods, while Wayne was an Astral being who was able to retain his sense of self. Having inherited everything from the Heavenly Father, his power was to be expected.

He might not be strong enough now, but in the future? His power was unquestionable if even Envy could see his potential! Who could be the Anointed One, if not him?

Pride smiled. The Anointed One had eluded the reincarnated angels, but ended up in Hell and in his grasp.

Hesione, my old friend, you must be beside yourself with anxiety!

Pride laughed darkly. He could already picture Hesione coming to Hell with no regard for the price. Good. That would be another proof of Wayne being the Anointed One.

“Cut the crap, Envy. Show us your captive. We’d like to see Heaven’s weapon with our own eyes,” Pride cut off Envy’s speech. “Don’t you want to prove yourself? Go on then. Your chance has come.”

“I don’t need you to tell me that!”

Envy immediately took out the marble and slammed it on the table, lifting the seal to release the pale ocean of incredible corruption.

All Seven Demon Lords were in attendance, so the paleness wouldn’t stir up much trouble. Even if he gave Wayne another chance, he would still be captured alive!

“Open your eyes and see for yourselves. He is the one who corrupted Purity.”

Click!

The marble cracked, and white foam leaked out. It writhed on the table for a moment, and then...

It turned into black sludge. That was all.

“...” x7

“Hahahaha—” x5