Myths Reawakened

Elian suddenly came back to life—no, She had not come back to life, but was still dead. She was simply a reanimated body.

Wayne blinked in confusion. Horseman of Pestilence? Who? Was She talking to him? If She was referring to the corruption of the Astral Plane as pestilence, it would make some sense. However...

His rationality told him that Elian had gotten the wrong person.

The way She put it, the Horseman of Pestilence was clearly Her equal, meaning they were a god or at least someone with god-level power.

Wayne felt like he had been struck by lightning. Stiffening, he looked down at the deathly grey eye and said, “How should I address you, one who used to be the Goddess of Nature?”

“I am Death.”

Elian pushed Wayne’s hand away and swept Her skeletal fingers over Her face, covering the inner decay with a stunning skin. Once She restored Her appearance, She opened Her eyes. Finally, She realized something was wrong.

Her Divine Realm had been corrupted, so had Her three subordinate gods. The Horseman of Pestilence had taken the Authority of the Divine Realm, and the four goddesses who should be receiving their judgment were in Her Divine Realm...

Startled, Elian looked at Wayne’s false human skin. “You are not Pestilence. This isn’t the time for you to descend... Who are you?”

“Oracle High Reverend of the Church of Nature and Nature Knight, Wayne.”

“...”

Just like Her subordinate gods, Elian was stunned for a moment by his introduction. Thinking back, She remembered hearing the name Wayne somewhere. It seemed that someone had brought up the name while She was half asleep, but She couldn’t remember who.

The one who had told Her about Wayne was Moula, the current Nature Knight. He had asked Elian whether Wayne was the next chosen knight because of Elemental Mantra and Wayne seemingly juggling three faiths.

Unlike Aztimor, Elian woke up every once in a while during Her slumber. When She heard Moula’s story, She had wondered who the thief of Nature’s divine power was, but since She had more important matters to take care of, She paid it little mind and decided to wait and see.

She went to sleep and forgot about the matter.

When Wayne introduced himself now, She had already forgotten about the three-timing slave.

It didn’t matter. If She didn’t remember, She didn’t. She didn’t have to remember as long as he was dead.

Her eyes turned icy as She thrust Her white skeletal hand through Wayne’s chest, protruding from his back. Surging Death energy and green light took turns ravaging Wayne’s body, crushing the thriving white foam into black sludge with the cycle of life and death.

Wayne tried to devour the two energies, but couldn’t. It was his first time failing to do it since becoming a demigod.

The Book of Greed raged, trying harder to consume the power.

At the same time, a large volume of white foam proliferated and filled up Wayne’s empty chest. Rather than dodging, he allowed his life essence to adapt to the stimuli and evolve. He just had to adapt to Elian’s skill. He believed in the Book of Greed.

Ignoring the skeletal hand in his chest, he grabbed Elian’s neck and peeled off the smooth skin with a simple rub, revealing the dead tissues inside. White foam surged in, looking for a way to corrupt the goddess.

The attack was almost identical to Pestilence’s method. Elian’s brows furrowed, making Her expression look even sharper. Her strange existence denied the white foam’s corruption. Her entire body radiated Death energy, and Her eyes alternated between a cold green and a deathly grey as She forced the white foam out and then rendered it into darkness.

Change of plan! The four goddesses spurred to make a move.

Wayne stopped them with his free hand, meeting Elian’s cold eyes. “So you are the Death Knight. What a coincidence. I am, too. The title can only go to the strong, so only one of us will walk out of here alive today.”

“What a strong killing intent. I accept your challenge!”

Elian smiled and rose from the divine throne, leaving five black dents that looked like burn marks on Wayne’s face with Her skeletal hand.

“Before we do that, would you satisfy my curiosity so that I may meet death in peace?” Wayne said bluntly. “Aren’t the Four Horsemen going to come on the day of the Final Judgment? Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death?”

Elian made a soft sound of surprise. Where did Wayne get the information?

Wayne realized he had guessed wrong when he saw Her expression. How absurd. The Revelation he had made up turned out to be accurate.

The Goddess of Nature hadn’t become the Goddess of Life, but instead changed class and became the Horseman of Death among the Four Horsemen. The Horseman of War was obviously the source of Mechanical Augmentation and the god that the Prussian mustached Führer worshipped. Where were Pestilence and Famine, then? Elian mentioned Pestilence, which meant that the Horseman already existed...

Would it be the one in the inner world?

No!

Wayne’s eyes glinted. When he attempted to corrupt Elian, She had mistaken him for the Horseman of Pestilence, which meant that Pestilence pursued the evolution of the Astral Plane, unlike the mysterious creature in the inner world. That entity was most likely the Horseman of Famine.

He had already accounted for three of the Four Horsemen. Pestilence was still a mystery. He didn’t know where Famine was, either, only that they existed but had never made an appearance.

Wayne combed through the different clues his turbulent mind could think of. Another question occurred to him, making him break into goosebumps.

Heavenly Father, Heaven, angels, the Church of Heavenly Father, the Sacred Tome, the Revelation...

That would be too much of a coincidence!

Elohim had to know something if he could foresee the final judgment. It wasn’t a prophecy. He was either part of the judgment or the mastermind behind the descent of the Four Horsemen. Since it would be too far-fetched for him to personally cultivate four powerful gods, Wayne guessed that Elohim was the Horseman of Pestilence.

Elohim had mimicked the evolution of the ancient gods, and the Horseman of Pestilence was an Astral being. It was a match.

The angels of Heaven couldn’t corrupt others like Astral beings could, and Elohim was not known for corrupting anyone. Now it seemed like He had been hiding His true power. He had not left the Chosen Land. He was waiting to descend as the Horseman of Pestilence on the Final Judgment.

Then there was Mikhael’s mission to stay in Hell!

Wayne suddenly remembered him. He had given up his real name and oversaw Hell as Pride because Elohim had given him an important mission. Mikhael had refused to explain what the mission was. Now it seemed that Pestilence had been hiding in Hell!

In the span of a few seconds, Wayne solved mystery after mystery, clearing the fog that shrouded the world. He took a deep breath and slapped Elian’s hand away, posing the most important question:

“Elohim foresaw the final judgment and escaped from the Chosen Land, heading to a world outside the box. That’s what everyone believes. I, however, know that he hasn’t actually left. Tell me. Where is he right now?”

Elian’s eyes widened. Both of Her skeletal hands pierced through Wayne’s body, ripping him in half. Grey and green energies enveloped the two halves, turning them into black sludge at an observable speed.

Above the Source of Life, paleness had gathered into clouds at some point, and a large volume of white foam poured down in a torrential rain, hitting everyone below. Ines and Aztimor remained silent and stared at Elian, who had become something else entirely under Her skin. Aztimor, especially, looked downright murderous.

The truth was out. Her deal with Elian hadn’t been mutually beneficial, and they hadn’t been competing on the same path of evolution. She had simply been used. Elian wanted the title of Death, so She exchanged it with Nature, taking Aztimor’s path to make sure that She couldn’t go down the same path.

You plotted against me, you wench!

Kaleb frowned but didn’t think much of it under the white rain, while Siluk couldn’t remain composed the same way. While She pretended not to care about the corrupting white foam drenching Her, She secretly created a barrier to shield Herself.

Soon, though, the white foam soaked through the barrier, and writhing raindrops slid down Her curvy body, making Her shudder in discomfort. She wanted to die. If he wanted to corrupt Her, just do it. Why would he do this when he didn’t aim to corrupt? Did he think it was funny?

Wayne had simply brought the rain down with Elian as the intended target. Siluk was never on his mind. While he wasn’t aware, though, he had completed a training session with Siluk.

An unintended lesson worked better than an intended one.

Splash!

The drops of white foam morphed into the Pale Knight. He dripped white droplets from the bottom half of his body, with a pale, wrinkled, ill, and desolate cape draping from his shoulders like the sky, connected to the clouds above and blending in with the Divine Realm of Nature.

He and Elian shared the Authority of the Divine Realm, and Wayne had corrupted the Divine Realm entirely. Before the battle even began, Elian was already at a disadvantage.

Her face was icy as She said, “You don’t exist in the prophecy I know. Who are you, and what mission are you entrusted with? Are you one of the Horsemen of judgment?”

The torrential rain hit Her face and ended up erased by grey and green energies. The stubborn white foam attempted to pierce through the strange energy to thrust into the perfect body wrapped in the white robe, but failed.

“The Final Judgment isn’t a prophecy, but a conspiracy. It is a pre-planned slaughter. Both you and Elohim are slaughterers...”

A single eye opened up on the Pale Knight’s chest. Incomprehensible murmurs wove into understandable sound waves, rippling toward Elian in waves. “If it’s not a fated prophecy, there must be variables. I’m that variable!”

Wayne launched into a grandstanding spiel. When he, an imposter, became the Anointed One and clapped the actual Anointed One, Hesione, in the garden, he already knew that Elohim wasn’t omniscient and omnipotent. The propaganda didn’t match the real thing.

Now it turned out that Elohim wasn’t even remotely omniscient or omnipotent. The prophesied Final Judgment was merely a scheme, and He hadn’t foreseen that a troublemaker would foil His plan so thoroughly.

Wayne wondered in what form Elohim currently existed and if He was still asleep. He had to be. Otherwise, it wouldn’t make sense that Elohim hadn’t responded at all while Wayne lied his way into enjoying feast after feast and stirred up trouble.

Good. He should keep sleeping. Once Wayne left this Divine Realm, he would go straight to Hell. Even if he had to dig three meters into the ground, he would unearth Elohim’s coffin.

Then there was Mikhael. Let him see if Mikhael would talk after a couple of slaps!

Elian’s ire deepened. She had only woken up temporarily rather than completely awakened before Wayne interrupted Her and undermined the power of the Horseman of Death significantly. The corruption of Her Divine Realm, especially, was devastating to Her.

She wouldn’t need it in the future, but it was crucial to Her now.

Rumble!!!

Their thoughts clashed and scattered the pale clouds in the sky. The great fissure extended from the land all the way to the sky, almost tearing Source of Life in half. Writhing tentacles reached out of the fissure, proving Elian’s theory.

She could resist Wayne’s corruption, but not the Divine Realm of Nature. It had already been reshaped by him.

Who was he?!

She didn’t understand how something like Wayne could exist. Had an ancient god moved past the box and, in a moment of curiosity, picked it up and toyed with it? Or did Elohim have another plan and had been deceiving Her?

Elian closed Her eyes, feeling anxiety rising in Her chest. She could not calmly respond to Wayne’s challenge.

She needed to meet Elohim. She needed answers.