Myths Reawakened

Ruins of the Life Alliance.

The open council plaza was in shambles. The columns encircling the plaza had all collapsed, and the stone statues of the alliance members were either toppled or shattered. The excavation to rescue Wayne had further ravaged the already well-worn ruins.

After a pulse of light, two figures appeared a few seconds apart.

Wayne took a deep breath, savoring it. “The air is refreshing in the human world, unlike the sulfurous smell permeating all of Hell.”

“Does the Lost Paradise smell of sulfur, too?” Ines asked sarcastically. “As expected of the Lord of Deceit, you lie with every breath. In my opinion, going to Hell is like returning home for you.”

“You’re hideous, Ines!”

“Huh?!”

“You said so yourself. I lied with every breath.”

“...”

Ines clenched Her teeth furiously. He never let Her get the last word and always had a comeback ready. She had made up Her mind. Alliance ended with Wayne today. She would sever their relationship... was what She would like to say.

The sunk cost was so high that She couldn’t do it.

Wayne cackled, thrilled to have found a way to deal with the disciplinary teacher. He insulted Her before murmuring sweet nothings to Her. Then when She called him a bastard, he called her babe.

Ines still looked disgusted, of course. She had not cracked a smile at Wayne since the cream puff came out of the oven. Her vocabulary for insults left something to be desired. She kept recycling through the few barbs.

Was it because She wasn’t good at this? Oh, no. She was an expert. She knew that Wayne liked women who struggled to find the right curse words.

They stuck together like a passionate couple at the beginning stage of their relationship, polluting the environment with their public display of affection.

Smack.

“Enough already. Be serious.”

Ines pushed Wayne away and smoothed out Her black robe. As She looked toward the collapsed columns, Her expression suddenly became solemn and dignified.

After all, this had been Her workplace, and She still remembered Her colleagues like they had been around just yesterday. Even someone as audacious as She was found it a little shameful to mess with a pretty boy here.

Maybe next time. There were too many witnesses at the moment.

Wayne raised an eyebrow, laughing silently when he saw through Ines. She talked the talk, but She was still a conservative goddess at heart. If not for his skyrocketing power and the hostile situation that left Ines with no other options, he wouldn’t have gotten a taste of Her.

There was no romance between them. Wayne knew that Ines was making a bet. Their relationship was analogous to someone hopping on a train before buying a ticket. Ines had chosen to bind them together for Her own gain and then introduce the romantic elements to solidify the binding.

Stiffening or hardening worked, too.

Wayne didn’t think there was anything wrong with that. Ines was the Goddess of Darkness. Someone so elevated from the material world could not and would not fall for anyone. The fact that She was willing to try was impressive enough.

Wayne was confident in himself. His relationship with Ines was reciprocated in a way. One day, he would get a look at the true Goddess of Darkness and consummate their bond.

Ines stared at the poor representation of the Life Alliance’s past glory for a moment. Shaking her head, She said, “Let’s go. This is their territory, not a place for me to linger.”

Wayne nodded without a word. He had gained Kaleb and Siluk’s permission before entering the ruins of the Life Alliance, so he wasn’t a trespasser like Ines. He would be fine even if he was found here. He had no reason to hide.

However, Ines had made the right bet. She was more important to Wayne than Kaleb and Siluk, and he unconsciously prioritized Her interest.

Ines opened up space with a wave. She made a questioning sound when She saw the Divine Realm rimmed with shimmering silver light. Stopping Wayne from peeking in, She shook Her head and said, “This is a passageway to the Divine Realm of Moonlight. Siluk is waiting for you. Let’s see what she wants.”

“Aren’t you going to stay away?”

“Why should I?” Ines chuckled. “It’ll be easier for you to negotiate for a better price with me around, won’t it?”

“Oh, my. You’re evil!”

“Do you like that?”

“Yep.” Wayne nodded. The evil man and woman gleefully watched as two figures emerged from the pristine white passageway—Corte, the Holy Maiden of Sun, and Galen, the Holy Maiden of Moonlight.

Divine light pulsed around them, highlighting their noble existence and authoritative presence. They looked haughty and inviolable.

Clearly, they weren’t the Holy Maidens whom Wayne was familiar with. Just like Anastasia, their respective gods had taken over.

Kaleb, the Goddess of Sun, and Siluk, the Goddess of Moonlight!

“Kaleb, Siluk, why are you here?” Ines said with a faint smile as if She were the host here.

“I should be the one to ask you that, Ines,” Siluk responded. “The Life Alliance has expelled you. This isn’t where you should be.”

“Correction, I wasn’t expelled. I left the alliance of my own volition.” Ines continued to smile. Noticing Kaleb’s gaze on Wayne, She grabbed his arm and sealed it with Her bosom.

Wayne’s composure crumbled. Planting his feet on the ground and raising his other hand, he said in a panic, “Goddesses, Darkness caught me. Come save me.”

“...” x2

Caught? You’re right where you want to be! x2

Siluk stared at him nonchalantly, while Kaleb looked at him with open curiosity. Kaleb said bluntly, “Ines, we’re among friends here, but should you really be doing this? If your followers saw, their imagination of the sacred, pure goddess would crumble, which would be troublesome to you, wouldn’t it?”

“No one would believe the slander of heretics,” Ines said, unfazed.

Indeed, whatever facts the Church of Sun and Church of Moonlight spouted about the Church of Darkness, it would be considered a typical smear campaign meant to slander Darkness and frame the goddess. Even if the attempt succeeded, the Church of Darkness would be able to retaliate in kind.

The Goddess of Darkness slept with a human male!

Yours, too, and they do it altogether!

It wasn’t even considered trouble for Ines. She felt not the least bit panicked.

Because She had slept with Wayne!

A dirty conscience fears no accusation. Since She had done the deed, She didn’t have to worry about being framed for doing the deed. Darkness had secured an unbeatable position before the public opinion warfare even began.

That would also bring Her and Wayne closer.

“A heretic’s slander may be dismissed, but the man you’ve picked for yourself isn’t a nice man, Ines. You’ve made your Holy Maiden suffer.”

“Really? But I heard that the Holy Maidens of some goddesses have failed to complete their missions even by volunteering themselves.” Ines covered her mouth with a gasp. “The humiliation of not getting what they wanted even after getting on their knees... Oh, how the goddesses have lost face. I might have said something I shouldn’t have said.”

I expect no less from you. Compared to you, Sun and Moonlight are too righteous, Wayne thought gleefully. The open verbal war between the three goddesses was a real spectacle. He just had to be a background prop.

A shameless person wouldn’t be beaten by any enemies, and a calculating shrew would make everyone their enemies.

Ines was a shameless and calculating shrew, which meant She was surrounded by enemies who could not beat Her. In the goddess circle, at least, She was the public enemy.

Siluk’s eyes twitched. Cursing in a low voice, Kaleb said bluntly, “Stop wasting your breath on her, Siluk. Wayne has found his way to the ruins of the Life Alliance with our map. We can’t let Ines take him away, or the loss will be too great.”

Siluk was going to nod when Ines interrupted, “Make no mistake. I didn’t take Wayne away. He insisted on following me because he couldn’t bear to be apart from me.”

She curled Her lips into a smile. When She heard no response, She turned around and saw the pretty boy looking at Her with glinting eyes. She rolled Her eyes irritably, shoving him.

“Stop enjoying this. Speak!”

“Speak what? I—”

Oh, right. Business comes first!

Behind every successful man is a woman in charge of provocation.

Wayne nodded to himself. The quote spoke the universal truth!

He turned to the Goddess of Sun and the Goddess of Moonlight with no shame or guilt. “I’m sorry. She offered me too much. I couldn’t resist. From now on, Darkness will be my only goddess.”

That’s more like it! Ines’s eyes curved into crescents. Although that was partly an act, it didn’t matter. Humiliating Kaleb and Siluk was bringing honor to Ines.

“Don’t be fooled by her lies, Wayne,” Siluk said coldly. “She’s the Goddess of Darkness, defined by lies and deception.”

Wayne shook his head. “No, She’s truly offered me too much.”

He was pushing the price on purpose, but that wasn’t all there was to it. Ines was, in fact, his top investor now. He suggested the two goddesses follow suit, or Darkness would become more than the biggest shareholder. She would become the boss’s wife.

“Wake up, Wayne. Darkness doesn’t care about anything but interest. She will never truly care about you. If you get too close, sooner or later—”

Siluk was still trying to persuade him when Kaleb cut Her off for speaking too much. “I’ll offer more. What did she give you? I’ll pay you double!”

(눈_눈)

This isn’t how business is done, Siluk thought. You’re going to go bankrupt at this rate.

Wayne shook his head. “Goddess Kaleb, I don’t know how much you’re ready to offer, but I have to tell you that Ines has given me a lot. I don’t think you can pay double.”

Kaleb couldn’t accept that. “If you don’t tell me what she gave you, how would you know that I couldn’t afford it?”

“I slept with him!” Ines tightened Her grip around Wayne’s arm, showing no shame at all.

Seriously? Should you just say that, Sis? Wayne looked at Ines in shock. He didn’t understand why She would expose Herself. He had assumed that their encounter would be a stain on Her record. While they could sleep together, it had to be kept a secret so that She wouldn’t become a laughingstock for Her fellow goddesses.

What is the woman thinking?

Darkness was so dark that Wayne couldn’t see into the bottom of it. He played along, nodding and putting his arm around Ines’s waist. “Yes, She’s right.”

I don’t believe you! x2

Siluk didn’t believe Ines, nor did Kaleb.

Ines was on the unhinged side, but She wasn’t a fool. She would never make such an absurd mistake.

When Wayne refused to listen to reason and insisted on standing with Ines, Kaleb and Siluk radiated surging divine light, their golden and white radiance tangling and amplifying each other. Their combined strength grew further.

Ines blocked Wayne behind Her with black light overflowing in Her eyes. She pointed in the air and conjured a concentration of black light that grew infinitely, swallowing the incoming light completely with the all-encompassing property of Darkness.

In the opposition between light and darkness, light could disperse darkness, but darkness could also devour light.

Usually, light should stand a better chance at dispersing darkness since Kaleb and Siluk had the advantage in numbers. When they fought together, there was no reason...

This was unusual. Their infinitely expanding light could not escape darkness. The stronger the light grew, the greater the darkness’s pull became.

Kaleb looked shocked, and Siluk’s heart sank with confusion. She didn’t understand how Ines had become so much stronger in such a short span of time.

Goddesses differed in strength, and the gap was even more pronounced when they had descended through their Holy Maidens. Even when using the same divine art, the greater a goddess’s divine power, the higher a Holy Maiden’s ceiling.

The three goddesses had been openly and secretly fighting each other, so they had a full understanding of each other. Siluk didn’t see how Anastasia could be Corte and Galen’s match. The fact that she was winning a one-on-two fight had to result from the source of the power.

Siluk thought of a possibility. She turned to Wayne with silver light in Her eyes, trying to figure him out. She saw nothing but darkness.

Ines was blocking Her line of sight. Standing before Wayne, She said with the same smile, “Stop checking him out. He’s your brother-in-law. A peek will cost you.”

Wayne nodded. Indeed, he wasn’t an easy guy. That would be paid content.

Siluk looked away at the collapsed stone columns around her, barely containing the ecstasy in Her heart. But then She looked at Ines and Her suggestive, annoying smile and had to curse silently.

“Ines, you’ve found a way to fight corruption. Since we’re allies, aren’t you going to share it with us?” Siluk reined in Her divine light.

“Why should I settle for a half victory when I can take down all of you?” Ines leaned back into Wayne’s arms, driving up his value with every word. “I remember a certain goddess saying that Darkness only cares about Her interest, never about anyone else. I find the comment quite insightful. I won’t deny it.”

Wayne looked down at Ines. What a terrible goddess. He loved it. But...

Why was Ines doing this? Making him an attractive investment would only push him toward Kaleb and Siluk. How would that benefit Ines? She couldn’t be doing this for love, could She?

That would be absurd!

She couldn’t be that much of a simp. Ines clearly wasn’t an easy woman like Vera or Corte. Kaleb would be more likely to do that.