Myths Reawakened

Wayne had long given up on commenting on Mikhael’s twisted mindset. He pointed at the first draft and said dryly, “When you wrote this, did you ever consider Au—Saint Auston’s opinions?”

“It’s his honor to have your surname. Since he has received honor, his opinions don’t matter.”

You sure this is an honor? Also, does the son’s surname come before the honest, cuckolded father’s surname? Just because I’m the Anointed One, I’m allowed to reverse the cause and effect; is that so?

Wayne had many notes to give. The stories were indeed fabricated, but they should at least make some sense. Once the Sacred Tome was published, Auston would never get to keep his head high.

“This part should be revised. I don’t think it’s appropriate...” He skipped the issue with Auston, the honest, cuckolded man, and got to the part about the adopted young lady and her fellow villainesses—the three magical girls.

It was so absurd and completely out of character.

Veronica was a tsundere, but not a snobby, unreasonable one. She definitely didn’t bully people. Vera was an optimistic and kind-hearted girl who smiled at everyone, so she only dispersed darkness rather than brought darkness. Kristen was educated and well-mannered, a typical pushover and people pleaser. She had to think long and hard before even saying no to friends; she would never be a bully who indulged the young lady.

“Also, have you considered that she’s actually the heart of the trio, and without her, the family will fall apart?”

Wayne was speechless. He ordered Reza to revise that part, or the trio of magical girls would be too ashamed to meet people once the Sacred Tome entered the market.

He flipped the pages again and got to the first appearance of the cold-blooded High Reverend of the Church of Moonlight. She lured the Anointed One to corruption with seduction and coercion. Then the evil faction of Darkness extended their evil hands toward the Anointed One. The Holy Maiden of Darkness and the Darkness Knight repeatedly endangered him as a united front.

(一`´一)

Who am I? Where am I? What am I reading?

“Great Anointed One?”

“Quiet. I’m thinking.”

Wayne shook his head. Flipping more pages, he finally saw someone whose character hadn’t been twisted. The bookish girl had a tragic background, facing Nature’s oppression while following Nature.

When she was in danger, the Anointed One extended a helping hand, and since then, she had considered herself an apostle. She kept trying to seduce the Anointed One and harbored a perverse adoration for him, trying to lay claim on him. In the end, she finally saw the wrong of her way because of him. She became an apostle both in name and in essence.

(ㆆ˘_˘ㆆ)

Who am I? Where am I? Why am I thinking about those questions?

There were more chapters, but Wayne deemed them unworthy. He closed the first draft and said, “Kill this. This version of the Sacred Tome doesn’t meet my standards. Revise—no, rewrite this.”

“Great Anointed One, I don’t see a problem with this manuscript!” Mikhael said with a frown.

“Viceroy of Heaven, He Who Is Like God, the strongest angel, Mikhael...” Wayne rattled off the titles, his tone hardening once Mikhael was on cloud nine, “What you think doesn’t matter. It’s what I think that matters. Remember, I am the Anointed One here!”

Mikhael’s face darkened. “Then, pray tell, what is wrong with this first draft?”

“It’s offended too many people. See? Aside from the Church of Heavenly Father, none of the other churches involved are represented positively. Moreover, the negative tropes are unimaginative. There’s murder, and there’s honeypot. The readers will get tired of it and mistake the Anointed One for a real pervert.”

Wayne criticized the draft without pulling back. He had very few good things to say about the novel.

“Great Anointed One, the goddesses are losers at Father’s hand,” Mikhael said arrogantly. “History has proven them to be heretics. We need not mince our words or paint them in a positive light.”

Mikhael was right from Heaven’s perspective, and Wayne couldn’t find any fault in his argument. The losers were the losers. Since Elohim won the War of Faiths, Heaven was allowed to write history however it wanted. The other five churches had to keep their grievances to themselves.

“The problem is that Elohim is no longer around, and there is no god in Heaven. If you write them like this and publicize the story, what do you think the goddesses will think when they see it? The Goddess of Darkness, especially, is portrayed as a downright villain in this book.”

Wayne shook his head in disapproval. Although Ines was a wicked woman, the wicked woman was hot.

“Great Anointed One, you possess the power of a god, as do I. Heaven has two gods. We don’t have to worry about their opinions.” Mikhael remained arrogant. “If they have any objections, let us have another War of Faiths. This time... their faiths will disappear from the world!”

“You underestimate the gods.”

“Great Anointed One, my instincts told me that you don’t actually see those goddesses as threats.” Mikhael refused to back down. He would write the story like this.

“Um, but the part about the Goddess of Darkness must be revised.”

“Why?”

“Well...” Wayne looked aside and sent the clergy away with a wave. Then he lowered his voice and said, “I’ve slept with the Goddess of Darkness. She’s my lover.”

“...” x2

Reza lowered his head, pretending that he had heard nothing.

Mikhael fell silent. He picked up the first draft of the Sacred Tome and threw it to the ground. The officials were waging a war to the death. Why was their emperor having a tryst with the leader of the enemy nation?

Mikhael couldn’t understand it. Barely stopping his lips from twitching, he said, “Great Anointed One, that’s... redemption. You’ve chosen to redeem Darkness, haven’t you?”

“Nah, I just want Her body.”

“Ah, so Darkness is redeemable. You’ve chosen to walk forward with Her sins on your back. Moved, She willingly became your apostle.” Mikhael came to a realization. “Not even Father has managed to secure a goddess as His apostle. This will be the greatest achievement noted in the Sacred Tome.”

“Wake up,” Wayne warned. “It’s fine for you to fool others, but not yourself. I’m the Anointed One, while you’re the Viceroy of Heaven. We shouldn’t be the one lost in faith.”

Mikhael staggered back while holding his chest, feeling like he had been stabbed.

Since he couldn’t say anything, Reza came up to speak instead, “Great Anointed One, I believe Viceroy Mikhael has a point. If the Goddess of Darkness truly cares about you, She will agree with the description in the Sacred Tome.”

“I think She’ll kill you. A goddess is still a woman, and She’s a petty woman,” Wayne grumbled. Among the goddesses, Ines was the pettiest one. She even got jealous over Her own Holy Maiden. There was a zero percent chance that She would agree with the new Sacred Tome. It was more likely that She would whine about him losing his love for Her and accuse him of seeing Her as the villain portrayed in the Sacred Tome.

The thought alone made his head hurt—no, heads, both the upper and the lower ones.

No characters in the first draft of the new Sacred Tome were portrayed in ways he found satisfactory, not even Auston the honest man. He disapproved. The book needed to be rewritten!

“But...”

“No but. This is a problem you should solve on your own. I only care about the results.” Wayne waved at them with a frown. “Actually, the rewriting of the Sacred Tome isn’t urgent. You know the day will come, Mikhael. Until then, nothing about the Sacred Tome matters. Isn’t that the case?”

Mikhael frowned. “Great Anointed One, the day you know of is different from the day I know of.”

“Oh, then tell me about the day you know of for my reference.”

Mikhael lowered his head, refusing to spell out the Heavenly Father’s secret order.

Wayne smiled and stopped pushing. Clearing his throat, he suddenly had an idea. “What about this? I’ll give you a suggestion for the new Sacred Tome. The last chapter will be Revelation. Because of the sins of the people, a doomsday judgment is prophesied.”

Mikhael and Reza both perked up. The writing material personally provided by the Anointed One had to be included in the Sacred Tome.

“On Judgment Day, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse will appear, also known as the Four Horsemen of Revelation. Seven angels lift the seal and let them loose...”

“They arrive riding on four warhorses: the white Rider of Pestilence, the red Rider of War, the black Rider of Famine, and the grey Rider of Death...”

“Actually, the Rider of Death should be green, but whatever. Make it grey!”

“The four horsemen brought judgment upon the human world and everything within. They possess incredible, unrivaled power. The technology humans are so proud of and the knowledge that mages hail as divine will be nothing facing them...”

“The world thus meets its doom, and all sins thus vanish. The old era ends, ushering in the new era...”

Wayne monologued about the Revelation, paying homage to the text he knew, but because of his lack of understanding of the real thing, his homage lacked authenticity. Aside from providing the names for the four horsemen to grab attention, there was no other detail. Mikhael and Reza would have to fill in the blanks with their creativity.

Hearing the description about the Judgment Day, Reza wiped the sweat on his forehead nervously. “Great Anointed One, will the prophecy come true?”

“Such a day will come, but it may not come. I don’t know about the details.” Wayne waved at him dismissively, showing no accountability. “As for the four horsemen and the horses, they are all made up. It’s not gonna happen.”

He snorted.

“That so...” Reza sighed in relief, then broke into a smile. “This subordinate thought that with your omniscience and omnipotence, you’d seen the future, resulting in the Revelation.”

Adding flattery every three sentences? I expected no less from you.

Wayne nodded to himself. He was already picturing tossing Auriel to Hell to guard its entrance. Pride had briefed him and said that Auriel, the bastard, would very likely incite a war between Hell and Heaven on purpose. That was a serious sin, and demotion would definitely follow.

Wayne silently encouraged Reza to do a good job. Once there was an empty spot among the Seven Sacred Virtues, he would take it. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ

Mikhael frowned deeply. When Wayne brought up the Judgment Day before, it didn’t sound like a joke. The fact that he had mentioned it again and demanded that it be added to the Sacred Tome as the last chapter...

He couldn’t be doing it to support the divinity of faith. He had to be serious.

The Judgment Day! The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse!

Mikhael had to pay attention to the potential signs in the human world, or he, Viceroy of Heaven and He Who Is Like God, might be caught off guard when the riders invaded Heaven.