Myths Reawakened

Wayne transferred into Aztimor’s body and pointed at his chest. “At this moment, the Underworld is half yours and half mine. You cannot banish me, and I cannot deal with you. However, your body and most of your thoughts have already been reshaped by me. I can do this with you all day, but how about you? When are you going to surrender?”

“Tell me why Ines did this to me!” Aztimor growled.

Because She thought we were messing around behind Her back, meaning you, Her bestie, had hooked up with Her boyfriend in secret. She tossed you aside in a fit of rage.

Wayne shook his head silently. The truth was so absurd that even he felt wronged by the misunderstanding; he would spare Aztimor the feeling.

“Speak! Tell me!”

“Stop wasting our time, Aztimor. Return to your body. This is a path of evolution, too.” Wayne spoke with Aztimor’s face. “It was an accident that I corrupted you, so as an apology, I would grant you one unreasonable wish. Let us sit down and talk properly. Tell me what you want.”

Aztimor didn’t speak. She swung Her grim reaper’s scythe and made another invisible arc in the air, bisecting Her own body.

Writhing white foam reshaped into two ‘Aztimors’, proving to Aztimor that She could no longer turn things around. She had been reshaped by Wayne.

Splat!

One of the ‘Aztimors’ melted into black sludge, while Wayne piloted the other body. It turned completely pale, and on the curves of the chest, a vertical line opened into a large eye.

Rip!

The pale sky of the twelfth level tore apart, and a massive monstrous eye looked down. The low murmur resounded in Aztimor’s heart as tentacles reached out from the cracks of the void, reaching reality and infiltrating every corner of the world.

An ancient will invaded the depths of every listener’s thoughts, tearing at the threads of rationality like an intangible, twisted hand. The incomprehensible language disseminated an incredible volume of information, capable of shaking the mind and reshaping life.

Every syllable contained an ineffable power, pushing Aztimor’s cognition over the edge and shaking Her mind. She couldn’t reject the voice even though She wanted to.

Despite Her shock, She found the voice reasonable.

It was beyond insidious!

Aztimor wanted to say no, but She couldn’t suppress the urge to listen. Her thoughts expressed their cravings for more of the murmuring. Just a little longer. It would be fine.

As Her rationality crumbled, the low whispers became increasingly distant yet clear. The voice sounded like it had come from the bottom of the ocean hundreds of millions of years ago, or from the most distant corner of the universe. With cold, wet, and decayed energy, it crossed the infinite darkness and void and passed through the barriers of time and space, painting a pale cosmos in front of Aztimor, pointing Her to one path of evolution.

Images that couldn’t be described with words flashed through: distorted space, twisted universe, slimy celestial bodies that radiated chaos and disorder, and the vague figures of the ancient deities. All the bizarre images implied a truth of the universe that was beyond human comprehension—no, it wasn’t just incomprehensible to the human mages. It was an uncharted, unknown universe even to the gods.

Aztimor’s mind blanked. She wondered if She had died, but then She saw Herself in the twisted universe.

Death was a grand concept, and She was part of it, but from a more distant perspective, Death was merely part of the universe.

An ocean of pale tentacles swarmed in, and the distortion pulled at time and space, making Her vision advance at the speed of light until it reached the edge of the universe. There, energy was twisted, and matter decayed. The information that gods considered to be corruption was the correct information.

The defined order in the Underworld was merely a mistake born out of falsehood and self-delusion. Under the guidance of the whisper, true Death lay hidden in the limbo on the edge of the universe. On the outer rim of the paleness, a massive eye slowly opened.

Rip!

Aztimor’s heart spasmed with a thump that hit Her bones. She saw worshippers with blank looks in their eyes holding the monstrous eye in blind esteem and fear. Their pale faces were all identical to Hers.

She opened Her eyes wide, waking up from the nightmare of endless cycles. She looked at the monstrous eye in the sky in horror, scared that She would become one of those blind devotees. She swung Her tentacles to bring the scythe of Death down on—

Wait, tentacles?

Aztimor froze. Her slender body had mutated, and the arm wielding the scythe had already become a pale, moist tentacle.

Her stunning face melted. When She opened Her mouth to say something, She realized that She had already lost Her mouth.

Her scorching chest thumped violently before it ripped open audibly. Four tentacles reached out, winding and weaving into a massive eyeball. The pupil contracted and then dilated. By looking at the world with the eye, Aztimor realized that She was coming to understand everything.

Information She would usually shy away from seemed scrumptious at this moment. She didn’t have to worry about the consequences of learning it; She could just take it, and She would be able to use it.

In the infinite void, no living beings with quantifiable stats could become eternal, the great dragons and elves being no exception. Only the monstrous eye with no ceiling was the ultimate form of life.

There was beauty in the power!

“No, this is corruption!”

Aztimor inspected Herself. In that moment of carelessness, another large part of Her thoughts had been corrupted, and what little remained of Her thoughts was quickly turning pale as well. Once everything became white, She would cease to be Herself.

She decisively divided the thoughts that hadn’t been corrupted, then...

Oh, he makes so much sense!

I’ll just listen to another line. It’ll be fine.

The monstrous eye looked on from above as Aztimor struggled. She cast aside the corrupted thoughts, but the rational part of Her mind quickly started listening once more. Then She cut off the corruption once more, only to start listening again. The process repeated dozens of times.

Finally, Aztimor stopped finding the whisper reasonable. She looked at Her remaining thoughts and then at the dozens of Her other selves around Her. Glancing at the monstrous eye above, She closed Her eyes with a bitter smile.

“Why did you stop?” She asked. “You could’ve gone all in and turned me into your slave!!”

She had bit out the last few words through clenched teeth.

“I didn’t intend to corrupt you. It’s just that you were in such deep slumber that I couldn’t miss the chance...” Wayne appeared in front of one of the Aztimors. “As an apology, I will agree to some of your unreasonable wishes. Tell me while you still retain yourself and haven’t become blindly devoted to me.”

Ha, how nice of you! Aztimor scoffed, refusing to accept the humiliating condition. Sensing Her Authority over the Divine Realm with Her eyes closed, She ignited Her thoughts without hesitation.

She chose self-detonation since She couldn’t win!

Boom!!

The Underworld did not explode. The pale ocean stirred and bled black, offsetting the impact.

Aztimor had managed to detonate Her remaining thoughts, choosing death over servitude. Unfortunately, Her remaining thoughts weren’t enough. One second before the explosion, the monstrous eye had corrupted Her and pieced Her back together.

(╥﹏╥)

Aztimor couldn’t even die. She had come back.

The monstrous eye in the sky closed. Boundless pale ocean went through the spatial cracks and returned to the inbetween space within the Underworld, leaving the twelfth level clear of any paleness.

At least it seemed clear on the surface.

Wayne went up to Aztimor and pulled Her into his arms. Once the last of Her thoughts became assimilated, he returned Aztimor’s body to Her.

The Pale Knight emerged from Her back. The white foam writhed and reverted to his human skin. Slicking his hair back, Wayne turned around and bowed in greeting, placing one hand on his chest and taking Aztimor’s hand with the other to kiss Her fingertips.

“My goddess, it’s an honor to meet you. Your beauty is like the brightest star in the night sky, splitting darkness and guiding me to the right path.”

“Do not mention darkness in my presence,” Aztimor said darkly. “That’s my most hated word from now on!”

“Makes sense!” Wayne nodded respectfully. “May I get up now, Goddess?”

He had acquired his first god-level vassal in an unethical way; he should show Her respect and coddle Her.

Aztimor inspected Herself and realized how much autonomy She enjoyed. Her damn shameless, despicable master didn’t intend to control Her will. That improved Her mood a little.

Just a little.

“My goddess, may I get up?”

“No, stay on your knees!”

“...” x2

Instead, Wayne rolled his eyes and straightened up.

Aztimor glared daggers at him furiously. “I heard you said that you would show me respect, that you would coddle me.”

“Yeah, I just did.”

Wayne turned around to check on Rognes and the other spectators. Their souls remained frozen. After looking around, he went up to the divine throne and sat down, all the while Aztimor glared at him in fury.

“Ah—” Wayne looked pleased. Then he complained, “What’s going on? Why is your divine throne as much of a torture device to the bottom as Elohim’s throne? Is your ass fine?”

Aztimor was caught off guard. “Have you... gone to Heaven?”

“Yeah, I’m somewhat important there. Whatever I say, the angels will do, more or less.”

Wayne nodded, compiling some of his memories and shoving them into Aztimor’s mind. It was a long story that would be difficult to explain. She should just see for Herself.

“Anointed One?!” Aztimor finished watching the memories in silence, then stepped back and said stiffly, “You said that as an apology, you would grant my unreasonable wishes. Does that still stand?”

From some of the memories, Aztimor saw Hesione becoming two and deduced the paid content based on the censored version. Her damn shameless despicable master wasn’t like an Astral life at all. He was a human male with human desires, but on steroids.

“Hey, I heard all that,” Wayne grumbled, but he was ready to grant Her wishes. “It still stands. Whatever you want, tell me. I’m not completely unredeemable, so aside from the wishes that I cannot grant, I’ll grant the rest.”

Aztimor swallowed the words She wanted to say and sighed, shaking Her head. “Forget it. It’s all a meaningless struggle. I’m fine as long as you allow me to keep my dignity as the Goddess of Death.”

“Really? Aren’t you going to reconsider?”

“No.”

“Then come sit here.” Wayne patted his thighs.

“Um, maybe I should reconsider.” Aztimor turned away, ignoring his instruction. She said through clenched teeth, “My first wish is for you to corrupt Ines as you have corrupted me!”

(一`´一)

Oh boy, now the plot is getting interesting.

He looked forward to the show.