Myths Reawakened

In different corners of the newly born world, obelisks stood tall and reached toward the sky. Lightning and violent wind disintegrated the obelisks of information, leaving a void filled by the four elements.

Wayne nodded at the rudimentary, straightforward method. It was like a company’s boss secretly moving their assets before the company went bankrupt to avoid paying the employees, starting anew to recreate their former glory.

He turned to Ines curiously. “Who defeated the Master of Storm and Thunder? Why didn’t they kill him properly?”

“You defeated him!” Ines blinked. “Have you forgotten? You erased the God of Storm and Thunder with your thoughts to honor your promise. It took only the time of a blink for you to turn him into this.”

“Tsk, you know too much,” Wayne huffed. He would sooner or later put her mouth to better use.

Judging by the scale of the Divine Domain, the Master of Storm and Thunder had long awakened. When a country was near its doom, there would always be abominations; when a world was falling into chaos, there would always be devils around. The Master of Storm and Thunder had been asleep for so long, only to wake up when a world war was breaking out. Wayne refused to believe that it wasn’t an intentional scheme.

He was worried that the world war would escalate into a world-destroying war. Moreover...

He scanned his surroundings, taking in the obelisks. He remembered that the obelisks had been scattered across the world. While in slumber, the Master of Storm and Thunder couldn’t possibly collect them, much less awaken to preach his teachings. The number suggested a long-term effort. Someone had awakened the dead deity.

Wayne narrowed his eyes. He was certain that the Great Sage of the Church of Darkness, whom he had never met, was responsible. But why?

Did he not want to serve Ines in the Divine Realm of Darkness, but didn’t want to jump ship to Hell or step into the hostile environment of the Astral Plane? Was that why he had gone down the path of Storm and Thunder?

That wasn’t a bad plan, but... wouldn’t the Great Sage lose their chance by awakening the Master of Storm and Thunder?

Was that an accident?

Wayne still had unanswered questions, including Vichy’s death. Since the former Darkness Knight had the ability to trouble Darienne, she had undoubtedly been powerful. The Great Sage couldn’t have been her match. Besides, the scene of the crime suggested an instant death!

Of course, the Master of Storm and Thunder could have insurance in place. After his awakening, he might have sought out the Great Sage and used him as a mere puppet. Then, Vichy would’ve been killed by the Master of Storm and Thunder.

There were too many unanswered questions for Wayne to come to a conclusion. He turned to Ines and opened his mouth to ask her, but she would most likely use amnesia as an excuse once more. He thus said instead, “There’s something wrong within the Church of Darkness, so you want to use me to clean it up, don’t you?”

Anastasia tensed, turning to her former supervisor. She was the Holy Maiden of Darkness. Although she had been away for a long time, she had a deep trust in the leadership of the church. Their devotion was unquestionable—unless they had been cursed and forced to change their faith.

“Why would there be anything wrong with the church?” Ines said with a smile. “They are devout subjects I’m most satisfied with.”

Wayne stopped after getting no useful information from her.

Meanwhile, the Perennial Panoply that Seleucia was wearing unfurled its wings of storm, allowing her to streak across the Divine Domain and steal the information contained in the obelisks. At the same time, she swung her spear, Extraordinary Extolment, drawing lightning to destroy the Divine Domain.

“Sett—”

Seleucia called out to her mortal enemy, her voice rippling through the entire world. However, Sett, the Master of Storm and Thunder, did not make an appearance. Whether he was intimidated or was simply asleep, he gave no response.

After plundering the Divine Domain for a moment, Seleucia realized that she couldn’t extract more Laws. She furiously conjured lightning and storms to literally fuel the fire.

“Sett!”

“Stop hiding. I know you’re here. If you were audacious enough to take my Laws, you should boldly open the door!”

The fact that her mortal enemy refused to make an appearance infuriated Seleucia. Wayne, anticipating their fight after millennia, decided to help her wake the Master of Storm and Thunder from his fake nap.

Closing his eyes, Wayne lifted his restriction on the Book of Greed. Over a hundred illusory tentacles spread in all directions, threatening to devour the world like the mythical glutton from his original world, Taotie[1].

He wasn’t a demigod, but he had the appetite of one.

Wherever the tentacle passed, the obelisks weathered into whooshing golden sand and swarmed up to Wayne in violent waves. Almost simultaneously, the four-colored ocean surrounding the world stopped supplying the substance of the world.

The fire elements made a sharp turn and eagerly charged at Wayne, rallying their fellow elements to follow.

Come on. I’ve found us a backer!

The water elements seemed hesitant at first. Seriously? He doesn’t look like a good guy.

Stop complaining, or I’m gonna burn you!

The four-colored ocean gathered the golden sand and rendered it into a large, colorful screen in the sky. It streamed into Wayne along the veins of the tentacles.

Ines narrowed her eyes. This was it. This was Wayne’s greatest secret.

Information could be stolen, but it had to be understood first, or it could lead to indigestion and backlash. Wayne, however, had been devouring information before understanding it. Even when he couldn’t digest everything, he experienced no ill effects.

It didn’t make sense!

The Goddess of Darkness had thought that nothing could surprise her anymore, and She had speculated about his unique ability, but now, seeing him in action, She confirmed that this was indeed something She had never seen before.

Her eyes turned pitch black as She stared at Wayne’s back. Her gaze pierced through layers of space and saw a massive, sinister eye in a dark cosmos—no, it wasn’t a dark cosmos. Returning to the place, the Goddess of Darkness realized that the limbo was all pale. It was completely filled with pale mist save for the fringe.

Looking closely, She could see that the mist consisted of droplets of white foam. With such an abundance of four elements, the foam procreated at an incredible speed.

When the massive eyeball looked over, She quickly looked away. Ines watched Wayne quietly. He was a pure Astral life with the potential of an ancient god. What he was experiencing wasn’t so much evolution as reclaiming what had been his.

That was impossible. Ancient gods never died, and they certainly wouldn’t have reincarnated into a human.

Just what was going on?

Rumble!!

A thunderous lightning interrupted Ines’s thoughts. She turned around and saw dark clouds stirring into a vortex-like eye. A towering figure slowly descended.

The behemoth god was as massive as a mountain, standing on the peak of the storm with the ocean of lightning behind him. He had a strong build and stocky, powerful limbs, as if forged from storm and thunder. Every part of His skin gleamed with a metallic luster. A single step of His made the earth tremble with thunderous rumble.

He was the God of Storm and Thunder, Sett. His evolution manifested as a giant.

Sett was over ten meters tall, His long golden mane fluttering without wind. Topless, His broad chest was on full display, and so was the rise and fall of His other muscles. Every inch of His steel-hard skin was etched with mysterious symbols.

Behind Him, His robe of lightning had transformed into a pair of wings covered in lightning patterns—it was the Crown of Glory. In His hand was a battleaxe of storm that stirred up violent currents—the Edge of Pursuit.

Sett was armed with Crown of Glory and Edge of Pursuit, His lightning robe and storm axe.

Seleucia was armed with Extraordinary Extolment and Perennial Panoply, her lightning spear and hurricane armor.

They possessed the same Laws, but the focus of their interpretations and the uses of the information differed, leading to entirely different manifestations of divine artifacts.

“Seleucia!” Sett, despite being a titan, was a handsome man with fine features. Watching His old rival, He said with a frown, “I didn’t expect a dead fish to come back to life...”

“You’ve gotten smarter!”

He readily exposed Seleucia’s biggest weakness. She was talented and competent, but short-tempered and gullible. She wasn’t good enough to be His rival. Compared to Seleucia, Sett was more concerned about Wayne.

He had confined his Divine Domain, yet Wayne completely bypassed the confinement and plundered His Laws and the foundation of the world at the roots. The theft of the Laws wasn’t a serious problem since Wayne had only replicated them. However, the foundation of the world, namely the four elements, took tremendous effort to collect. Sett didn’t have a big reserve. He had only managed to create this Divine Domain thanks to the generous donation from the Church of Darkness. He couldn’t possibly allow Wayne to run free.

Considering Wayne the primary target, Sett stepped forward and raised the Edge of Pursuit. The storm axe swung down while distorting space, enveloped in endless, swirling gusts.

Ines jumped in fright, throwing herself into Wayne’s arms and whining for his protection.

Boom!!

A flash of scorching lightning knocked Sett off His feet. He landed heavily in the Divine Domain, triggering a rising tsunami of sand.

Seleucia waved, and her long spear returned to her hand in a streak of lightning. She stared coldly down at her mortal enemy, telepathically apologizing to Wayne about the surprise before charging in pursuit of Sett like a gale.

As the land tremored, wind and lightning interwove, and lightning and storms clashed. Seleucia and Sett scuffled at such an impossible speed that they couldn’t be perceived by the naked eye.

Wayne pushed the phony goddess away to hold Anastasia’s slim waist instead, giving his secure embrace to her. Again, why would he want the Goddess of Darkness when he had the Holy Maiden?

Rooar—

Powerful blasts roared like a dragon. Sett swung His axe at Seleucia as she stubbornly blocked Him. With blazing rage in His eyes, He growled, “You mad woman, you’ve died, and I have, too. We’re both losers in the War of Faiths. We can put aside our bad blood for now and deal with the real threat. The newcomer has claimed our Laws. Neither of us has a future.”

“I’ve found my future!”

Seleucia’s eyes turned pale as she slowly grew into a ten-meter-tall faceless figure. Her smooth, curvy figure exuded an incredible feminine charm. She would be a real beauty if she were judged only by her silhouette. Her frontal view, however, couldn’t be further from beautiful. Her face was covered in layers of pale wrinkles like overgrown tissues. Behind her head, her long hair had become randomly swaying tentacles, running down her shoulders and reaching her waist.

Extraordinary Extolment and Perennial Panoply had grown proportionately bigger to fit her.

Her insidious appearance left Sett gaping in shock. “Seleucia, you’ve chosen the path of the Void? Are you out of your mind? What about your pursuit of the elven form?”

A white crack opened up on Seleucia’s featureless face. A large amount of white foam connected the upper and lower lip of the eerie, crack-like mouth. “Becoming an elf won’t make me a god, but the Void can. I’ve given my great master everything. He’ll point me in the right direction.”

After a moment of surprise, Sett burst out laughing. “You’ve become someone’s slave. How wonderful. I haven’t gone to such a long slumber for nothing. It’s worth it to witness your fall.”

“You’ve only perished recently, Fool!”

“Mad woman, have you even lost track of the passage of time?” Sett sneered. “I perished in the War of Faiths not long after defeating you, at the hand of Heaven. Do you understand?”

“So that’s how Master arranged it!” Seleucia nodded in approval, touched.

Her faith had concealed the truth of Sett’s death. He modified Sett’s memories to make Sett think that He had died in the War of Faiths, putting in all the effort just to give her a fair fight and a chance to avenge her humiliating defeat.

(눈_눈)

Ines stared at Seleucia’s touched expression. Oh, no! She had overestimated the idiot. She actually bought all the lies!

1. Taotie is a mythological creature from Chinese mythology, known for its insatiable appetite. ☜