Myths Reawakened

“His name has been erased, no longer found in any known history...”

“The stone tablet contains his divine power, and many more are scattered across the Chosen Land. When they come together, the divine power of storm and thunder will serve the goddess again.”

“The moment the stone tablet emerges, the holders of the other stone tablet will see this place. You also gave me the Book of Seals...”

Sebastian recited what the Death Knight had said to him, repeating not only every word but also every pause and stop. He said respectfully, “Lifting the seal requires the impact of a great amount of the four elements. You granted me four rings, which this subordinate dares not claim for himself. I will give them back to you along with the stone tablet.”

Erased history... The God of Storm and Thunder!

What a high and mighty name. It seemed that the Book of Greed would get to have another feast. And during the first war of faiths, more gods had to have fallen.

Wayne listened to the explanation intently. Feeling greedy, he nodded and said, “Sebastian, I made the trip personally because of the gravity of the matter. You need not take the stone tablet to Palis. I’ll take it and the rings myself.”

“As it should be.”

Sebastian lowered his head, frustrated that he had gotten nothing from the mission and instead lost two capable subordinates. What about the army of skeletons? Was the Death Knight going to take them back to the underground catacombs? He could already imagine how much his rival, Gaye, would laugh when he got wind of what happened. A letter would come every day with nothing but ‘hahaha’!

Wayne asked a few more questions with the excuse of testing Sebastian. Sebastian found the questions meaningless and the answers self-evident.

While the Death Knight was acting strange, though, he never once questioned that he might be fake. That proved again that faith made one resilient, while religion made one a fool. Devoting oneself to faith deprived them of the ability to see the forest rather than the trees.

During their conversation, Sebastian’s underlings had set up a few more magic circles, busy satisfying the demands of their leader. With the rings and the four elements in the ruin charging the obelisk, the energy reached the tip of the obelisk, transforming into crackling, blinding currents that spread across the sky like a curtain of lightning.

Sebastian stared in surprise at the dramatic change the obelisk was undergoing.

Lightning ran along the energy circuits as stone tiles peeled off from the obelisk. The incredible impact shook the land with rumbling noises, and the large falling rocks killed many of the mages below.

When the white light faded, a crack was left in the top of the ruin. Every now and then, large rocks fell. Dim moonlight shone through the crack into the ruined city of giants.

Large pieces of stone fell from the obelisk, which revealed its true form under the moonlight. Standing around a hundred meters tall, the obelisk was entirely gold, etched with the patterns of a giant wielding a lightning storm. It reflected the bright moonlight toward the dome like a sharp blade piercing through the sky.

In Wayne’s skull, two orbs of white light wavered violently. With his keen eyesight, he could clearly see that as its outer shell peeled off, the obelisk was shrinking, turning from an immeasurably large tower to the current hundred-meter-tall structure. And it was still getting smaller!

The process came with the scratchy noises of components rearranging. The obelisk didn’t stop shrinking until it was fifty meters tall. To a giant, it was just the right size, but to regular people, it was magnificent and towering.

The surviving mages and Sebastian held their breath, their eyes glinting with their greed for the gold.

While in Death Knight mode, Wayne’s clear head allowed him to quickly recover from his shock. He scoffed, “Sebastian, seal the obelisk immediately. I told you that others would notice as soon as the stone tablet was unsealed.”

Sebastian shuddered, hurrying to the obelisk and looking up at the complicated texts he had never seen before. Waving his walking stick to draw a black curtain, two skeletons carried a book with black leather cover out.

It was fifty by thirty centimeters with a thickness of fifteen centimeters, resembling a briefcase more than a book.

The Book of Seals!

The back cover, made of black leather, featured a spine and two rows of rib bones, while the front cover featured a pair of crossed skeletal arms, very much in line with the Church of Death’s style. However, the skull in the center of the cover was clearly made in the style of hell. The pale human face was covered from the nose bridge down with a black carapace mask, with red, symmetrical, slanted eyes.

The skeletons gingerly placed the Book of Seals on the ground, making a dull thud. The moment Sebastian opened the book, black blood overflowed. The book had no pages, proving to be more of a container than anything.

The Book of Seals had been programmed with triggers. Once the book opened, black chains emerged out of the blood, increasing in size and thickness as they wrapped around the stone tablet. Then, a pair of pale hands reached out of the book, the arms white and slim and the fingers black and slender. They grew bigger before clutching the obelisk, lifting it off the ground.

Under the power of both the chains and the ghost hands, the obelisk slowly shrank until it could fit into the Book of Seals.

The process completed without hiccups; Sebastian had clearly come prepared. Or it would be more accurate to say that the evil god of hell that was manipulating the Death Knight had made all the preparations, waiting for the Death Knight to deliver the Book of Seals and the stone tablet it contained.

Sebastian took the rings and closed the book, letting out a sigh of relief for a mission well accomplished.

Just then, the ground rumbled in a prolonged earthquake. Without the obelisk—the main pillar that maintained the balance of the ruin—the very space the ruined city occupied and the Element Mountain overlapped, causing the ruin and the mountainous terrain to clash violently.

A mutual destruction!

Foreseeing the imminent collapse of the Element Mountain, Sebastian hurriedly brought the Book of Seals and the rings to Wayne. “Sir Death Knight, please allow my subordinates to take their leave first. They are going to serve the goddess for much longer and shouldn’t be buried here.”

“No need. I’ll send them away.”

Wayne took the rings and drew Shadow Nightmare. A powerful wave of Death energy swept over the mages, rotting their flesh and blood and turning them into skeletons.

What kind of a send-off is this? A send-off to Death?

“Sir Knight, you—”

No longer pleasantly surprised by the knight’s helpfulness, Sebastian watched in a mix of shock, confusion, and fear, his mouth opening and closing as he struggled to find the words.

Swish!

There was a flash of white light.

Oh, no! Sebastian retreated far, looking at the Death Knight in terror as the knight made a deadly swing at him. Thankfully, he reacted quickly. Otherwise...

Why is it suddenly so cold?

In Sebastian’s sight, the Death Knight split into two parts at the waist. Along with the head of the undead warhorse, his upper body slid down diagonally. Sebastian saw a splash of blood.

Shadow Nightmare would never betray its master, of course. The one who had met a swift end was Sebastian. With his head sliced in half diagonally, his vision splintered, too.

No blood got onto the pure white blade of Shadow Nightmare. Once Wayne pointed the sword toward the ground, Sebastian transformed into a skeleton soldier, picking himself up with his walking stick.

A Gold-rank mage met his demise just like that.

Wayne jumped off his mount and tucked the Book of Seals under his arm. With large rocks falling in the background, he moved with unhurried elegance.

“Julia, open a portal.”

As she did just that, something went wrong. The Book of Seals came into contact with Wayne’s body, and a strand of thoughts hit him. It was so powerful that it knocked him out of Death Knight mode.

Grey mist swirled and manifested into a figure in a pathetic state. The headless Death Knight in black armor and torn cape growled in fury, “Julia, Shadow Nightmare, what are you doing?”

...Shit, the cuckold comes!