Myths Reawakened

In front of the crystal coffin, Wayne held Monica in his arms and easily placated the startled cat. Monica had been allowed free rein like a semi-stray, so she was a bold cat that never even experienced a stress response. After a moment of surprise, she calmed down.

Both she and Julia stared at the crystal coffin. Julia, standing beside Wayne, was also nuzzling his head.

“Master, who is this elegant lady? Is she dead?”

“Um, in a manner of speaking, the Goddess of Death has always been dead,” Wayne said.

“What? She’s the Goddess of Death?!” Julia was first surprised, then she said with realization, “No wonder She seems familiar to me. She’s the goddess who has given me life. I remember now. She made me with Her own hands.”

“Have you considered that She is you... Fine, whatever makes you happy.”

There were too many things wrong with her statement that it would take too much time to correct everything. Wayne patted Julia on the head and had her lean down to the coffin, then he placed Monica’s paw on it.

ฅ

“Come back to life, my goddess!”

Wayne didn’t really know how one went about waking a goddess up, so he tried the most straightforward method first. To increase the success rate, he even shouted the words.

It was proven that the simplest method was often the most effective. Sometimes, overthinking did more harm than good.

The moment Julia touched the coffin, she sneezed several times in a row. She whined, “Master, I must have been cursed. I feel like something went missing in my body.”

What do you mean? Aren’t you an incarnation of the goddess?

Wayne looked down at Monica in his embrace. Her eyes fell half-closed as she purred, like she was falling asleep.

“Ah, so you aren’t full incarnations, but hosts in an unorthodox sense...”

He scratched the black cat’s head, curling his five fingers to massage her until her eyes rolled back from the pleasure. His thoughts told him that Monica had become ordinary. Losing something to the goddess, she now seemed no different from a regular black cat.

He could find out with a test: cats died when killed!

Originally, Monica was unkillable and could tamper with the memories of those around her. Except for Auston, who possessed the silver coin, and Wayne, who had Shadow Nightmare, Monica had modified the memories of everyone else at the Lando Estate, including her loyal caretaker, Megan.

Now, it was different. If Wayne even applied a fraction of his force, Monica would...

He didn’t try.

The test would come with a cost: the life of a cat, and a black cat at that. Monica was so cute that Wayne would have to be insane to conduct the test. If he tried, and she died, there would be no turning things around!

Two ‘somethings’ that Wayne didn’t understand entered Aztimor’s body. Her eyelashes fluttered like Her eyes were slowly opening.

But it didn’t happen. She remained asleep.

“What is missing?” Wayne asked himself. Placing Monica on Julia’s back, he patted Julia on the rump and sent her to seek company from Rognes.

Staring at the goddess in the crystal coffin, Wayne infused Her with his thoughts and tried to communicate with Her dormant thoughts. If the goddess refused to wake up because She had been reshaped, he would suggest She come to terms with Her reality. No one could live a life without meeting a few backstabbing friends. It was logical and reasonable that Ines would betray Her friend after falling in love.

His monologue was met with no response, but Aztimor’s body had awakened. An indescribable, powerful presence continued to become more pronounced. It was like a volcano would soon erupt right in front of Wayne.

He sensed the rage, but he wasn’t worried. Corruption could not be reversed. He had confidence in his life essence. Since Aztimor had been reshaped already, there would be no turning back.

He noticed the changes in the Underworld then. Threads of energy gathered from different corners of the Divine Realm. The grey mist morphed into threads. Generated in the twelve levels of the Underworld as well as the Heart of Nature, the energy had jumped space to reach the temple. Instead of the crystal coffin, the mist infused into the black divine throne.

In only a moment, a vague shape turned concrete. She opened her eyes and looked at the three figures outside the main hall. After a moment of confusion, She saw Monica and Julia, Her face stiffening.

She sensed the change inside the coffin. Then She looked at Wayne, who stood innocently in front of the coffin. Her silver eyes blazed with killing intent. A soul-crushing chill swept down and enveloped the entire Underworld, freezing all souls within.

Rognes, Grau, and Saigner were about to bow to their goddess, but halted due to their frozen souls.

“Hiss, it’s freezing!”

Cold sweat slid down Wayne’s forehead—it was real sweat this time.

Never had he considered that Aztimor was like a rabbit who had several burrows. Not only had She divided Her thoughts and entrusted them to Rognes, Sukra, and Ines, but She had kept two portions in the Divine Realm, too. One was stored in Her main body, while the other was divided between the divine throne and across the Underworld.

The thoughts in Her main body had been corrupted by Wayne. As for the one in the throne...

The moment Aztimor floated up from the throne, She saw Her now-corrupted body in the coffin. With a stiff expression, She glared with a killing intent that was almost physical.

Not only had She not evolved when She woke up, but She had become corrupted. No matter how She thought about it, She couldn’t figure out what had gone wrong.

Her knight, Holy Maiden, subordinate gods, and best friend had all betrayed Her, handing Her thoughts and incarnations to an Astral life that had come out of nowhere. More absurdly, the Astral life possessed Shadow Nightmare and was Her knight in the mortal realm.

Aztimor was equal parts furious and lost. She did not deserve this fate. Her murderous eyes locked onto Wayne. “As my knight, why did you betray me?”

Wayne continued to wipe his sweat as he put on a hurt look. “Goddess, I’m waking you up. Don’t you see?”

Waking me up? You’re ready for a coup!

Aztimor’s thoughts flashed. One part of Her thoughts mobilized the Underworld to strip Wayne of the mantle of the Death Knight so that he could no longer use Shadow Nightmare or any Laws related to Death.

That didn’t work. Wayne wasn’t a regular Astral life, so the Death information that the Book of Greed had swallowed was beyond Aztimor’s control. Moreover, his incredible life essence had formed a world in his body, so Aztimor couldn’t retrieve the Authority over the Underworld after he had swallowed it.

All She could do was retrieve Shadow Nightmare.

[Surprised Pikachu.jpg]

“You’re no Astral life. What are you? Why did Darkness do this?”

“Ines told me to rouse you. The Final Judgment is upon us. It’s time for you to wake up.” Wayne put the blame on Ines and caused the wobbling friendship between the two goddesses to capsize. He made it sound like Ines had orchestrated everything.

Aztimor stiffened, murmuring, “I didn’t tell her the truth because I needed Elian’s power, and she disliked Elian...”

“Even so, she shouldn’t have betrayed me...”

The momentary confusion was followed by a murderous glare at Wayne. Aztimor drew a scythe from thin air and swung it at him. Transparent ripples infused the void before vanishing in an instant.

Sensing the change to the Underworld, Wayne dodged out of the way with an instant teleport.

When he landed, a crack stretched along his waist and bisected him in half. He burst into two clumps of white foam. Though they tried to come back into one, an invisible barrier kept the white foam apart.

Squelch!

The white foam writhed and rose into two Waynes. They stared at each other.

“Amazing. I dodged it, yet this happened.”

“It’s a conceptual Death. What has been divided cannot merge back together. We cannot go back.”

“Wonderful. I’m free! I’m also Wayne from now on!”

“Ha, who do you think you are, calling yourself Wayne?” Wayne huffed. His thoughts moved, turning the rebellious replica into sludge.

It didn’t matter what he looked like or where his thoughts were. The Book of Greed was the key. As long as she failed to touch the book, no matter how many pieces Aztimor cut him into, there would only ever be one Wayne.

Aztimor’s heart sank at the bizarre show. She expected no less from an Astral life that had managed to corrupt Her. She wondered where Ines found the freak.

At this point, Aztimor had lost part of Her Authority over the Underworld, over ninety percent of Her thoughts, and Her main physical body. Although the possibility was endless as long as She was in Her Divine Realm, She was infinitely weaker than Her peak. What was worse, Her evolution had been interrupted. Her slumber had not only led to great loss, but also wasted Her time.

She felt the urge to kill Herself!

Wayne’s body writhed, and a large eyeball opened on his chest. The Pale Knight crossed his arms as four cannons emerged from his back.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The Temple of Eternity shook. The devastating power ravaged space itself and shook all of the twelfth level of the Underworld. To protect Rognes and the other spectators from harm, Wayne shifted space and tossed them out, shutting the doorway to the twelfth level. He confronted the goddess hovering in the air.

Aztimor looked on with an expressionless face. She hadn’t stopped him from protecting those traitors. “Traitors must die,” She said icily. “You cannot protect them. Once I kill you, I’ll decimate their souls personally.”

“Times have changed, Aztimor. You’ve been asleep for too long. You should look around before making a threat. While this is your home turf, it’s mine, too.”

The Pale Knight’s chest eye contracted. The twelfth level slowly melted, bringing white foam from the sky like a downpour. It washed over the sky and land. Standing amid the rain, Aztimor repelled the white foam that could distort space. She couldn’t take the Authority back from Wayne, but She held a share of the Authority, too. She had created the Underworld with Her own hands. Whatever She didn’t want to touch, be it matter, energy, information, or thoughts, would never come into contact with Her.

She looked down at Wayne with contempt, mocking him for not knowing what made a god. She sneered icily, “When Ines tossed you in, didn’t she tell you what gods are?”

“No, because She’s also intimidated...” The Pale Knight spoke his mind. Under Aztimor’s furious gaze, the white foam rushed into the crystal coffin, making the pale body sit up and rise into the air.

The Pale Knight on the ground decayed and rotted.