Myths Reawakened

Rumble!!

The fierce gale roared like a furious dragon, ravaging the heaven and earth with infinite violence. The dark clouds rose into the sky and covered the sun, as if it had emerged from Hell. Countless bolts of lightning snaked down, meeting the tornadoes rising from the ground to paint a heart-stopping, apocalyptic picture.

Under the rumbling thunderbolts and rampaging gusts, the ground trembled, charred and ravaged like a wasteland. From within a dark domain, Wayne looked up at the strange space.

The dark domain was Anastasia’s doing. After recovering her body and going down the path of Astral evolution, her stagnating power had started making steady progress again. With the years her psyche had endured, she was able to reach the threshold for demigodhood.

Her dark domain was strong enough to block the lightning and storm.

“This is similar to the grey space...” Wayne thought of the world inside the obelisks. The presentation was similar, while the essence was different. He wasn’t certain what he should think.

“This is a false Divine Realm, known as a Divine Domain,” Ines said.

“There’s a false Divine Realm?” Wayne asked in surprise. “Only gods can create Divine Realms, right? What’s a false Divine Realm? Something created by a false god?”

“A subordinate god is something like a god, but not a real god,” Ines explained. “Divine Domain is what they create based on their faith.”

Right. That makes sense.

Wayne nodded. He had forgotten about it because of his blind spots. According to the texts of Hell and other ancient texts, the Seven Demon Lords had their own ‘Divine Realm’, and great dragons had their Draconic Realms. However, those weren’t true Divine Realms, but a demigod’s vitality domain, reinforced by faith. Demigods who could do that already had one foot in the realm of godhood.

They only had to ignite divine fire to become a real god.

“Demigod isn’t a clearly defined rank. Some demigods create their Divine Domains based on their incredible foundation. Some demigods cheat by making use of their faith; their success is only surface-level. They could call themselves a subordinate god, but they aren’t a real god.”

Ines glanced at Seleucia then. The Goddess of Sky was one such example. She had created a Divine Domain through faith, wishing for an overnight success and ending up meeting a devastating defeat due to her lack of true power.

She set a precedent and served as a cautionary tale. One should acknowledge their insufficiency and never bite off more than they could chew, or they would end up suffering the consequences.

Seleucia hadn’t noticed Ines’s gaze. She turned to Wayne and said, “Boss, the Master of Storm and Thunder was reforging his Divine Domain. I can sense it. Its entrance is right above. I can kill him as long as I can break in.”

So? You failed to find the right entrance after all the trials and errors over the past three months.

Wayne looked at Seleucia pityingly. As she said, she could sense the Master of Storm and Thunder; conversely, the Master of Storm and Thunder could sense her, too. Neither could hide from the other on this path they were squeezing themselves onto.

Perhaps the Master of Storm and Thunder had spotted Seleucia and purposefully led her down the wrong path.

Wayne felt sorry for the honest woman. Since he didn’t want to point out her mistakes and embarrass her, he instead stared at Seleucia and hoped that she would come to the realization on her own.

Seleucia was thoroughly confused. She touched her face and found it quite clean. She didn’t have dirt on her.

“Pfft—” Ines chuckled. “Idiot, if you can see him, he can, too. In my opinion, he has seen through your intention and pointed you in the wrong direction.”

Sarcasm was Ines’s default. She could even make a compliment sound like an insult, and now, she was actually insulting Seleucia.

Seleucia huffed and countered, “I’m the Goddess of Sky, ruling over storm and thunder. Who could deceive me?”

Storm and thunder were serious business. Ines should stop pretending to understand it when she had only been playing with darkness.

The two goddesses started fighting. Once again, Ines taunted and provoked her to manipulate her, as effectively as ever. Enraged, Seleucia agreed to many more bets. With all the nighttime companionship she had bet and lost away, she would be stuffed into Wayne’s blanket nine times a night.

Wayne stayed silent. Seleucia was a good slave, never even entertaining betrayal since becoming his vassal. She was as loyal as Do.

Since Do was a female dog, while Seleucia was a goddess, Wayne felt even more goodwill for her. Such a slave wasn’t easy to come by.

The only problem was that she was so stupid that she would be easily exploited with no one watching her. Wayne hoped that the Goddess of Darkness could change that with her lessons. He didn’t need her to become smart; he only wished that she would learn from her mistakes and not repeat them.

While the two women argued, Wayne looked down at the ground. If there was no path up, they should go down. It was very likely that the pathway to the Divine Domain was underground.

“I heard that gods are unbeatable in their Divine Realms. Is that true?” He turned to the two goddesses—no, to Ines.

“Some had said that,” Ines said vaguely. “However, it differs case by case. For example, Seleucia’s Divine Realm was destroyed by her opponent, and even her Laws were stolen.”

Utterly humiliated, Seleucia rushed out, “Boss, my situation then was different. I made a serious mistake only because there was a lack of precedents we could learn from. I was actually very powerful, not as incompetent as she said.”

There was an advantage to taking the initiative. It allowed one to quickly dominate the market and maintain an edge. Seleucia set out first and changed her title from Manipulator of Atmosphere to the Goddess of Sky, making Ines, the Plague of Stars, her lackey.

With advantages, however, came disadvantages. The pioneers didn’t have any frame of reference and had a high chance of taking the wrong step, becoming the negative case study that others would reference.

Ines had gone from the Plague of Stars to the Goddess of Darkness, while Seleucia had gone from a leading goddess to a subservient vassal. That proved that in the pursuit of godhood, being first wasn’t a key advantage; making stable steps was most critical.

“Boss, you’ve erased the Master of Storm and Thunder,” Seleucia continued. “He’s no longer a god, and his quote-unquote Divine Realm is still in the rebuilding stage, similar to the situation I was in. Even without your intervention, I can take him out alone.”

“I don’t plan on dealing with him. This is your test.” Wayne showed his approval for Seleucia’s attitude before saying, “I have my criteria for the test. After you wasted three months getting stuck here, I can’t in my good conscience give you a good mark for intelligence.”

Seleucia lowered her head.

You would think a god should have godly wit, but the god was rather a dimwit[1]!

“Don’t worry. This is also a plus.” Wayne played her like a fiddle, improving her mood after personally putting her in a bad mood. “Let’s skip that part of the test. I’ll give you a hint: if you can’t go up, go down. The entrance to the Divine Domain lies in the unseen.”

“Where?”

Seleucia looked around. She didn’t want to question her faith, but she still thought the sky was more likely. Storm and lightning should be looking down on everything else.

“Idiot, it’s right before you. Open your eyes and look clearly. That’s the Divine Realm you’re looking for.”

Ines pointed at Wayne with clear intentions, just shy of saying that the Divine Realm was inside Wayne—well, she didn’t know if that would be the Divine Realm, but it was certainly the entrance to Heaven. Seleucia would have to find out on her own.

Ines kept smiling.

Ignoring her, Wayne pointed at the ground. “Seleucia, the entrance is right below. Pierce it with your spear of lightning.”

Seleucia owned two divine artifacts: Extraordinary Extolment, which was a spear of lightning, and Perennial Panoply, an armor of storm. While the names sounded impressive, they paled in comparison to the weapons of the chosen knights, embodying a limited number of Laws. Seleucia had lagged completely behind the goddesses.

Due to the great gap, Seleucia was allowed to keep her artifacts rather than losing them to her master, who had a habit of ‘reluctantly’ accepting a tribute after rejecting thrice just for show.

“Ha, what did I say? Your enemy has seen through you and pointed you in the wrong direction.” Ines smirked. “It seems that I won the bet. Remember to keep Wayne company tonight. Whatever he tells you to do, you do it.”

“Fine. I’ll do anything to keep Boss company.”

Seleucia huffed, not intimidated at all. If Wayne had acted as himself and shown the long-lasting traditions of a noble family, Ines would’ve been able to use the same intimidation tactic many times. However, Wayne had been treating Seleucia as a subordinate and nothing else, not having the heart to take advantage of an honest goddess.

How dull.

Seleucia gripped her long spear, summoning an intertwining mix of lightning and storm. Amid the scorching light, white pillars of lightning hit the land, shaking the sky and charring the land.

Black smoke rose from the over ten-meter-diameter crater, weaving into a pattern that appeared to be a magic circle.

Boss hasn’t lied to me!

Seleucia was overjoyed. She hadn’t expected her archenemy to be right below. After getting Wayne’s permission, she jumped into the large pit with her spear.

Lightning currents snaked around Seleucia uselessly, doing no damage and failing to even slow her down. She was readily let in.

The God of Storm and Thunder had once stolen the Goddess of Sky’s Laws. After being defeated in the War of Faiths, the god had divided the Laws into different obelisks, four of which ended up in the Goddess of Sky’s possession.

After all the back and forth, they ended up with almost an even number of Laws. The bad blood between them boiled. They were in each other’s way, so only one of them could survive today.

“Come on. Let’s go.”

Wayne put an arm around Anastasia’s slim waist and parted the lightning with his fingertip before jumping in. Ines, with a slight frown, muttered, “Favoring Anastasia while taking care of Seleucia, but never giving me the time of day. You aren’t trying to tame me, are you...?”

“Interesting. I’ll play this game with you!”

Ines stepped on the lightning ward, easily tearing a black gash into it with a ripple of dark glow. She sank in, reaching the Divine Domain below.

It was the Divine Domain of Storm and Thunder.

***

Rumble!

Within the Divine Domain of Storm and Thunder, violent wind and lightning comprised a solemn, magnificent symphony. Here, the gale was no longer a mindless, rampaging beast, but a dignified messenger that roared across the sky to reach every part of the Divine Domain and bring about infinite power and vitality. Similarly, the lightning was no longer a ruffian with no code of conduct, but, like a god’s roars, represented punishment and rage to show the inviolable nature of the god’s might.

Wayne saw a newborn world with mountain ranges, plains, and countless rivers that flowed into the ocean. Powerful wind triggered rising waves, and lightning cut open the vast sky. The two parts of the world resonated with each other, polishing the mountainous landscapes and bodies of water to a vibrant shine.

At the edge of the world, a vast amount of the four elements rushed to create four-colored light. Amid the continuous rumbling thunderbolts, the four elements turned from energy to matter and became part of the material world, slowly expanding the world’s conception.

Wayne perked up, getting the eager Book of Greed under control before recording the volatile world with his thoughts, committing everything to memory.

Good job on your homework. I’ll note it down. Maybe it’ll be useful one day.

1. The raw “神·智不清” is a play on the four-character idiom “神智不清”, which means disoriented/confused. The first character, 神, is god, while 智不清 is literally “intelligence unclear/unintelligent”. Since it’s a specific play on the source language, I went for a different way to render it. ☜