Myths Reawakened

Night.

Moonlight pierced through the thick darkness like a silver blade, illuminating a lone figure. Dressed in a long black robe, the Goddess of Sky, Seleucia, walked on the misty streets of Londan alone. She had been in slumber for so long and had become so detached from the current era that everything felt new to her. Even a sedan driving past made her stop and stare for a long time.

“The world’s changing so fast. I could barely recognize it...” Seleucia murmured. A gust of cold wind made her wrap her robe around her instinctively. She didn’t feel cold in her body, but in her heart.

She had had it hard!

She had spent some time in a staring contest with the small octopus in the sky palace, but Bruce, the Lord of the Void, never jumped out of the bushes. Only then did the prideful goddess realize that the man never treated her seriously.

Seleucia was enraged, but her fury quickly deflated, her conflicted heart filled with bitterness. She thought of how she had wilted in her long slumber, how the Lord of Storm and Thunder had reached godhood, and how she had been described as a filthy old witch in the scripture of his faith. In the end, she reached out a trembling hand and allowed the white foam to devour her thoughts.

The Lord of the Void was a despicable man who trampled on her dignity, but the Lord of Storm and Thunder had to die. For revenge, she would willingly meet her fall.

With a heart yearning for revenge, Seleucia successfully changed class into an Astral being. The bitterness in her heart grew as she overcame layers of white foam seals.

The Lord of the Void made it clear that she had no other choice. While he didn’t care about her, he wasn’t going to let her go.

The goddess’s pride was carelessly disregarded. Seleucia stepped into the human world and followed her connection to her faith all the way to Londan. She saw a foreign world and found everything new and fascinating. Before she knew it, she was already lost.

She could contact her faith with her thoughts, but she didn’t. Her remaining pride didn’t allow her to. She wanted the Lord of the Void to seek her out.

It was her last resistance.

To outsiders, she looked like a lady of the night who stopped walking every now and then to attract patrons, and she covered her face because she was trespassing on another’s territory and needed to avoid the local gangs.

Or she might have been new, covering her face because she still couldn’t accept the reality that she had gone from a private car to a taxi, and she didn’t want people she knew to recognize her.

The passerby felt bad for her. The economic depression was to blame. The demon named money waved the bill and drove a housewife out of her home late at night. There was the drunk husband, the ill child, the demanding landlord, the hypocritical headmaster... and she, who was about to fall apart.

No, I must help her! xN

The passerby rummaged through their pockets. Though they couldn’t help her solve her problems at once, they could provide her with a warm shelter for temporary mooring and a passionate fling.

Just when a few well-dressed scumbags were going to inquire about her price and ask whether group customers received a discount, a black luxury sedan pulled over before Seleucia. The door opened. With a sound of surprise, she dove in.

The car’s taillights drew retreating lines in the air, leaving behind the aggrieved passerby.

Damn it, she wasn’t a new taxi, but someone subject to a nobleman’s kink for humiliation.

***

The black sedan drove toward the manor of the Holy Maiden of Darkness slowly. In the passenger seat, Ines, wearing Vichy’s face, turned back with her side pressed to the seat to look at Seleucia in the backseat. Her smile was mocking, and her eyes brimmed with the satisfaction of a successful taming.

Wayne turned left at the street corner, glancing back as he drawled, “Seleucia, we meet again. You didn’t even thank your master when your master personally picked you up. That’s not how a qualified vassal should’ve acted.”

In the back, Seleucia lowered her head with her hood covering her face, shamefaced. When she heard Wayne, her body stiffened, and she stammered, not knowing what to say.

“Just call me Boss. From now on, you’ll work for me, and I’ll evolve with you. We’ll each get what we want and benefit together.” Wayne made empty promises and offered platitudes with increased ease.

“You’re too kind to your employee, Wayne,” Ines said sarcastically. “Believe me, a kind heart and soft touch do not make a good leader. She’ll become bold and careless, and she will start defying your orders. One day, she’ll even fight back and walk all over you. Who knows who will be the master then?”

Since she was using the former Darkness Knight’s face, Seleucia found her familiar, but hadn’t recognized her old friend immediately. When she heard what Ines said, she just lowered her head without a word.

“What do you suggest I do, then?” Wayne asked with a raised eyebrow.

“You should show your dominance and knock her down a peg with a hard touch. Make her see reality so that she won’t get ideas.” Ines let out a low chuckle. “Look at how prideful she’s acting. She clearly hasn’t come to terms with her reality. Have her give away her purity. Only after suffering would she learn obedience.”

Seleucia looked up and glared at Ines. When Wayne didn’t say anything, seemingly considering the viability of the method, she hurriedly said, “Boss, don’t listen to her nonsense. I’ve chosen your evolution path. I will not and cannot betray you.”

“Even so, you may still entertain betrayal. Loyalty that isn’t absolute is absolutely not loyalty. You need to be taught a lesson.” Ines’s eyes lit up, as if Seleucia was a doll she could dress up and manipulate however she wanted.

The Goddess of Darkness had such a terrible personality that even though Ines was only the goddess’s partial thoughts and had most of her memories erased, her malicious disposition remained.

Seleucia glared at Ines, cursing the shrew out in her mind. She once again emphasized her loyalty. Since she had gone down the path of no return, she didn’t plan on turning around.

Betrayal was impossible. She had given up.

Ines frowned. “Have you really corrupted her fully, Wayne? Her personality hasn’t been completely twisted.”

“I want a goddess, not a slave,” Wayne said honestly. “I allow her to maintain her autonomy rather than making her a loyal eye candy who can’t think for herself.”

At the end of the day, Seleucia had been the Goddess of Sky, so he should show her the basic respect. She had been corrupted and could never betray him anyway. Given the circumstances, loosening restrictions moderately could fuel her drive and help create friction in the team.

In other words, the leader had left room for competition so that the subordinates would get moving on their own.

“Ah, you’re taming her!” Ines came to a realization.

“It’s called management,” Wayne huffed. People saw what they were. With the Goddess of Darkness’s dark hobby, Ines saw everything as taming.

Wayne said to Seleucia, “Don’t worry. Though you will feel oppressed as my dog, you’ll lead a life with no concern while retaining your autonomy. I won’t force you to do what you don’t want to do. That is my promise to you, with no expiration date.”

Seleucia was about to say something when she heard Ines cackle, “You won’t take initiative and won’t reject her, but she is allowed to take initiative. You really are manipulating her.”

“Shut up and stop stirring up trouble.” Wayne rolled his eyes at Ines. Unlike his other followers, he had been most careful with the Goddess of Darkness’s thoughts, corrupting her most thoroughly and enforcing most restrictions. And yet Ines still showed a side unlike the other vassals.

She wouldn’t defy Wayne openly, and she would do everything he ordered her to do. She would willingly roll thrice on the bed if he just beckoned to her. It didn’t seem like there was anything wrong with her, but when she faced the other vassals, such as Anastasia and Seleucia, she became incredibly aggressive.

Wayne attributed that to the Goddess of Darkness’s nature. Since the catfish effect benefited him and would drive his subordinates to work harder, as he wanted, he didn’t stop her.

Ines was right. Management was a form of manipulation!

The car reached the Holy Maiden’s manor. Anastasia came over in a long dress. When she saw the newbie in the backseat, she rolled her eyes at Wayne with exasperation.

Vassals could sense each other, so the moment Anastasia and Seleucia met, they knew what the other was.

Another worker, Seleucia thought.

Boss, I know you can take it, but do you have enough time? Anastasia gave Wayne a look.

Wayne didn’t explain. He simply sat down on the sofa and patted his thigh, telling Anastasia to sit on him.

Ines took the VIP seat and glared at Anastasia, forcing her to sit on the side. Intimidated by her former supervisor, Anastasia didn’t dare to say no.

“Who told you to sit here? Stand over there.”

Though the former Darkness Knight was a fresh face, Wayne wasn’t someone who discarded the old for the new. He would not tolerate seeing Anastasia bullied.

Immoral goddess, you don’t deserve to be treated as the Holy Maiden’s equal. Get over there!

Wayne kicked the huffing Ines away and reaffirmed Anastasia’s status in the family. He introduced everyone.

Learning that Seleucia was a goddess who had been abandoned by history, Anastasia felt a newfound admiration for her faith. Darkness and then Sky. Following the trajectory, her faith would sooner or later become greater than all deities.

“What?” Seleucia called out in surprise. “You’re Wayne rather than Bruce the Lord of the Void?”

“What’s so shocking about that? No one uses their real name outside, especially when you were trying to take over my body.” Wayne shrugged. If she was surprised by the practice of assuming different identities, no wonder she had met her demise in the War of Faiths.

Seleucia clenched her fists, resenting her naivety. She turned to Ines and said in disbelief, “I didn’t expect to meet you here, Ines. To my knowledge, you’ve forged the divine name of the Goddess of Darkness, no longer the Plague of Stars you once were.”

If even Ines, who had become a god, ended up as Wayne’s pet, it didn’t seem that bad for her to fall. Seleucia felt a little better when she saw her good friend meeting the same fate. The more powerful Wayne was, the greater her chance of revenge.

It was a good thing. She shouldn’t feel ashamed.

“You’re too naive, Seleucia. You see only what you see and don’t understand what gods mean now. I’m but a wisp of corrupted thoughts, far from the actual Goddess of Darkness,” Ines mocked, happily manipulating her old friend.

“You talk big, but you’re just like me now!”

“I’m not like you. I’ll sleep with Wayne, but can you?”

“...”

Why are you getting competitive over that? And you sound proud of yourself.

Accepting your fall so easily, you degenerate? I’ve misjudged you!