Myths Reawakened

Aztimor was thinking the wrong way. Ninety-nine percent of the reason Wayne was unable to resist darkness was precisely the fact that Ines was a wicked woman.

Who could resist a smart, independent, confident baddie who loved and hated with conviction, showed Her haughty side to others and seductive side in private, and was willing to listen to your manipulative nonsense?

No scumbag could resist the temptation!

Wayne certainly couldn’t resist. Ines only had to raise Her hand to put him down. Keeping the truth to himself, he silently offered moral support to Aztimor’s plan to share Her plight with Ines.

Good luck. You’ve got this!

“Since you have no other demand, Goddess, let us talk business.” Wayne spread his empty hand. After all the hard work, it was finally time for the mission rewards.

He could’ve taken what he wanted by force, but he chose to ask nicely first. As he had promised, he was preserving Aztimor’s dignity as a goddess.

Whether it was hypocritical was one thing. At least he honored his word!

Aztimor nodded and went up to the divine throne, staring at Wayne silently.

You’re in my seat!

Once Wayne rose and walked away, Aztimor flapped Her sleeves and sat down slowly, keeping Her head high and Her posture haughty as She elegantly raised one hand. She waited for Wayne to bow and receive the rewards.

Grandstanding much? I’ll have Ines make you cry.

Wayne solemnly bowed and took Her hand to kiss the back of it. “My goddess, your mercy and compassion shine upon the world. You’ve generously blessed every living soul, and your clear yet deep wisdom guides all those seeking the truth. At your feet, radiance existed in harmony with mortal mundanity. Every suffering in the world finds a quiet safe harbor.”

The elaborate flattery made Aztimor narrow Her eyes in involuntary pleasure. If it had come from anyone else, it would’ve entered one ear and come out the other without stirring Her heart, but since it had come from Her damnable, shameless, despicable master, it struck a chord in Her heart.

I like it. Tell me more.

While the disingenuous conversation took place, Aztimor opened Her database to Wayne’s thick tentacles, surrendering all Her knowledge.

Nom.

The Book of Greed swallowed and, surprisingly, failed to swallow everything in one gulp.

This had happened in Heaven and Hell.

Aztimor’s eyes closed halfway in Her enjoyment. When Wayne let go and quieted, She threw him a disapproving look.

Don’t stop. Keep talking.

Wayne let go of Her hand, closing his eyes and sensing the newly acquired knowledge. His brows furrowed in confusion. “I know that you’ve acquired a lot of knowledge on Nature for your progress, but isn’t this too much?”

The knowledge on Nature that Aztimor had in store far exceeded Wayne’s expectation. She almost had as much knowledge on Nature as She had on Death. It was absurd. She had enough to introduce Herself as the Goddess of Nature, and Wayne would believe it.

Aztimor sighed, shaking Her head with a bitter smile. “I don’t want to talk about it, so just take a look yourself.”

Wayne sent his thoughts into Her mind. The goddess’s memories were too vast for him to sift through, so he made a query with ‘nature’ and ‘Elian’ as the keywords. As he saw the Goddess of Nature’s true form, he also came to understand the partnership between the two goddesses.

Indeed, Aztimor had gotten involved with another goddess behind Ines’s back—it was the Goddess of Nature, Death’s supposed archenemy!

Aztimor, the Goddess of Death, was once a major member of the Life Alliance. For the pursuit of Life, the five goddesses’ amicable relationship was but a veneer. There existed an inconsolable conflict and rivalry between them. If Elohim hadn’t been such a powerful enemy, the five goddesses would’ve never come together.

After Elohim’s departure, Aztimor and Ines left the alliance, and Siluk and Kaleb partnered up to form a smaller clique. The Life Alliance existed only in name.

Death and Nature stood in opposition as the two indispensable components of life. Elian had tried many times to make a move on Aztimor, but failed every time, sometimes because of bad luck, and other times because of Ines’s intervention.

Before His departure, Elohim spoke of a terrible prophecy about the Final Judgment. It would be the doom of the Chosen Land, but also of the gods.

Even Elohim, who had defeated the five goddesses on His own, lacked the courage to face the Final Judgment. It was obvious that the five goddesses would be even less confident. They each plotted for their own future instead.

After repeated failures, Elian sought out Aztimor. Rather than fighting until they met their mutual doom on the day of the Final Judgment, they would be better off sharing knowledge as they pursued Life with wisdom and luck on their sides. Whoever reached it first would be the true Goddess of Life.

Aztimor considered the offer and concluded that the potential gain outweighed the risks, so She struck a deal with Elian. They each acquired the knowledge they needed from the other.

Because they were goddesses, they remained guarded against each other. When they made the deal, both Aztimor and Elian kept part of their knowledge to themselves instead of putting all their chips on the table.

Moreover, Aztimor had prepared a contingency.

Death was an infinitely vast concept. The Law of Death alone had the potential of becoming Life’s equal. It only failed to do so because of the constraint of the boxed world, which prevented Her from reaching the vaster void outside.

Moreover, Aztimor had tested the Heart of Nature and found out that Her odds of becoming the Goddess of Life were slim. If She woke up to find Her evolution a failure, while Elian had succeeded, the consequences would be too great for Her to bear.

It was very likely to happen. Based on what She knew about Life, Death becoming Life would be a class change, while Nature becoming Life would be a natural progression that only required steady steps. Elian had been generous most likely because She was scheming against Death. She wanted to make Death a lackey of Life.

Aztimor didn’t dare risk Her future. Becoming the Goddess of Life was only Her second choice. Her first choice would always be a greater Goddess of Death.

With that sorted out, Aztimor decided to gamble. Utilizing the pressure that Nature exerted, She prompted Her Death to go one step further.

She would die and come back to life!

Dividing Her thoughts into several parts, She entrusted them to reliable subordinates to be sent out of the Underworld. She had also created three incarnations: Monica, Julia, and one that was hidden in the divine throne of the Underworld.

To make sure She could go into a state of true weakness to approach death properly, She planned for the three subordinate gods to fight among themselves and for the Authority of the Underworld to be stolen. The thoughts and incarnations She had divided were supposed to be killed.

That was to give Her a deeper understanding of Death and fool Elian.

To make sure that Her slumber wouldn’t be disturbed, She had opened a back door to allow Juvian, Elian’s subordinate god, to observe Her tomb. Then She entrusted another part of Her thoughts to Ines for safekeeping, telling Ines about Her plan to take a leap of faith and become the Goddess of Life.

In that regard, Ines was right to suspect Aztimor. She did have another plan behind Her friend’s back.

But She really hadn’t seduced Ines’s boyfriend.

The more thoughts and incarnations She lost, the weaker Aztimor became. When civil war raged in the Divine Realm, destabilizing its foundation, She sensed true death and began evolving under Nature’s pressure.

Indeed, the Aztimor in the crystal coffin was dead. Wayne had seen a corpse.

Later, after a series of misunderstandings and coincidences, Wayne gathered all of Death’s divided parts and interrupted Aztimor’s evolution through corruption.

Aztimor didn’t want to come back to life in a hurry, but if She didn’t, She might even lose Herself. She sat up... and met the large eyeball.

That was the end of the memories. What followed were paragraph after paragraph of complaints. It was one thing for Her knight, Holy Maiden, and subordinate gods to betray Her; they were weaker and shouldn’t be blamed for losing what they had been safeguarding, but it was absurd for the thoughts entrusted to Ines to end up in Wayne’s hands. What was even more unacceptable to Aztimor was the reason Ines handed the thoughts over.

Who slept with your boyfriend? There should be a limit to being unreasonable. I won’t even take someone like Wayne for free.

She was beyond aggrieved.

If Wayne was missing even one part of Her thoughts or incarnation, Aztimor wouldn’t have woken up prematurely. But he had collected them all.

She felt so wronged that She wanted to die.

Wayne made a strange face after browsing the memories. “Do you believe in fate, Aztimor?”

“No.”

“You should. Or your luck would be too rotten.”

The jab hit so hard that Aztimor sucked in a pained breath. She did have rotten luck. All Her scheming and hard work ended up landing Her a master.

A damnable, shameless, despicable master!

“I heard that.”

“Doesn’t change the fact that you’re a damnable, shameless, despicable master!”

“Fine. Whatever makes you happy. I’m not losing anything.” Wayne shrugged, generously forgiving the offense. “What are you now? Your death ritual has failed, and you’re now closely connected to Nature. Have you evolved into the Goddess of Life?”

“No, I’m just a pathetic, enslaved Astral life with no freedom,” Aztimor murmured.

Freedom. What a luxury it was. She could see it, but not reach it.

“Enough already. Do you want to celebrate Mother’s Day next year?”

Wayne huffed, squeezing into the divine throne of Death and pushing Aztimor aside, their shoulders pressed together.

It was a tight fit. Death’s throne wasn’t as wide as the Heavenly Father’s throne.

Aztimor glared at him, swatting away the hand grabbing Her shoulder.

Wayne rubbed the back of his hand and grimaced, pretending that it hurt. “On the bright side, while you’ve failed to be promoted, you are my vassal. Even if Elian succeeds, you won’t become Her subordinate.”

“I’d rather be—”

“Watch your tongue before you say anything. I’m not just any pervert. I’m a bold pervert. If you anger me, you’ll be sitting on my lap.” Wayne huffed in warning.

Aztimor turned aside furiously. The more She thought about Her situation, the angrier She got. She shouted to vent Her grievances.

Better now.

“I’m not done yet,” Wayne said. “There are many perks to being my vassal. Never becoming Elian’s slave is only one of them. Though you’ve lost your freedom now, it doesn’t mean you’ll never have freedom. Trust me. One day I will liberate you.”

He raised his voice, trying to prove his credibility with words alone. His attempt garnered a pretty eyeroll. He then said, “Besides, what’s so bad about being an Astral life? Don’t you find your current form beautiful?”

There was beauty to the power!

Aztimor nodded wordlessly. Her life essence had been fully transformed. She no longer had to worry about collecting faith since She could eat all the knowledge in the Astral Plane without worrying about corruption and eventual insanity.

Ha, She might just be the one to corrupt others! She had nothing to fear—aside from Her master, she meant.

Her eyes lit up. Given Her current corruptive power, She might be able to turn Ines into Her vassal.

“No!” Wayne shot Her down.

“What about Kaleb and Siluk?”

“Still no.”

“Why? Are you involved with them, too?”

“I’m not. They’re my investors, and I’ve corrupted part of their thoughts. Given the potency of your current corruption, it’ll be easy for them to stop you.”

He compiled the images and showed Aztimor.

She gaped in shock and said stiffly, “I came first. You’re my knight. Why...”

“Serves you right for sleeping for so long!”

“So, I can only corrupt Elian?”

“That you can do.”

“But...” Aztimor was unconvinced. She said quietly, “You’ve seen my memories. Elian’s beautiful and has a great body. Would you really let me bully Her?”

Wayne fell silent. “First, you hold some misconceptions about me. I’m not a pervert.”

“Pfft!” Aztimor covered Her mouth with mockery in Her eyes.

“...” x2

When Wayne reached out to pull Her into his embrace and even leaned in, Aztimor stopped smiling and hurried out, “Apologies. I just remembered something funny. I wasn’t laughing at you. I... I won’t do it again.”

“You’d better not.” Wayne scoffed. If Aztimor wanted to corrupt Elian, he wouldn’t stop Her provided She had the capability to do it. After all... he could always corrupt Elian a second time!

Aztimor’s corruption wouldn’t stop him from claiming the vassal with more potent corruption.

Once Elian had been corrupted by Aztimor and suffered at Her hands, swearing to retaliate when Her day came, Wayne would offer a helping hand and pull the unlucky goddess out of the marsh as a hero. Then he would be Her savior!

I’ve come to save you, Goddess. I’m your Oracle High Reverend/Nature Knight!

Wayne nodded to himself, feeling a little excited.

After a while, he frowned at Aztimor and said, “Your plan to go into slumber went too smoothly. Have you considered that it’s all part of Elian’s plan?”

Aztimor’s eyes widened. “You call this ‘smooth’?!”

“I was an accident,” Wayne said gravely. “Without me, your plan would’ve gone too smoothly.”

“Perhaps. But it’s too late to have that conversation now that She’s secured Death.”

“What will She become?”

“The Goddess of Life!”