Myths Reawakened

Briar took a deep breath, composed herself, and sneered, “Spare me your disgusting drivel. No woman is going to be fooled by such sweet talk. Rather than wasting your breath on me, you’d do better to take Kaya’s advice and seek out some old, ugly, blind, and insane fool of a woman. Your odds would be much higher then.”

“I like it. Give me more.” Wayne’s eyes crinkled. He continued in a determined tone, “I don’t believe a word you say. I’ve always thought that as long as I show up sincerely, with flowers in hand, the elegant woman I adore will beam at me. Her beauty will be more vibrant than the flowers I carry. I won’t allow you to slander either her looks or her intellect.”

You’ve got it rough, more so than Kaya and I. Briar shot Wayne a pitying glance before launching into a loud jeer. “Save it. Flowers? How shallow must the woman be? If you don’t believe me, try it. Bring me flowers and watch me throw them to the ground and grind them with my feet.”

(一`´一)

After some consideration, Wayne decided against producing the roses of darkness. Enough was enough. If he tried harder, the grass at Briar’s grave would be three meters tall a year from now.

“What, have you lost your nerve? I told you. No woman will love someone as morally bankrupt as you.” Briar stared at Wayne’s profile gravely. “There is no such woman, ever. Not unless it’s not a woman at all!”

“Alright. That’s enough.”

Wayne knocked her on the shoulder, helping her make a crater in the ground. He aimed so perfectly that the crater overlapped with Kaya’s to form a bigger crater.

The two subordinate gods stared at each other. As Wayne soared to grab the star, they hurriedly tried to get to their feet and stop him.

Their arms and legs were sore, and they felt no strength in their body. It felt as though their Authority had abandoned them, and a thousand curses had hit them. They couldn’t even move their fingers, much less get on their feet.

“What did he do to us? I feel like my body has betrayed me. It’s not responding to me at all.”

“All I can say is the Devourer will become the strongest subordinate god...”

They exchanged a glance and saw the same delight in each other’s eyes. Someone that strong would entertain the goddess for a long time.

Wonderful! x2

Up in the sky, Wayne plucked the brightest star and returned to the crater on the ground. As the radiance faded, what remained in his hand was a neatly folded square of black velvet. He weighed it in his hand, gulping quietly.

Briar and Kaya felt the pressure keeping them down lifted. They floated toward Wayne and congratulated him for passing the test, offsetting his moral bankruptcy with raw strength alone. He could now visit the goddess with the token.

Wayne ignored them both. He carefully unfolded the velvet, revealing a felt lining and a somber, dignified black ring. It was forged from some unknown black material with a singular shine as though it had drawn the very essence of the night sky, radiating a pure, unwavering light. The eternal brilliance would never fade.

The design was minimalistic and exquisite, with slick lines and a classy, smooth surface. Its unique luster made the ring extraordinary, transcending the mundane.

Briar and Kaya were immediately drawn.

“What a beautiful ring. Is it a ring signifying your authority? The authority of the Devourer?”

“Strange. It looks like a woman’s ring...”

“Who cares about that? Try it on, Wayne, or give it to me. I love the design.”

“Me too!”

As they chatted, they discovered something unusual about the ring: there was no diamond set, nor were there intricate engravings. There was only a simple line of text carved around the inside.

“Beloved... Ines... Vow...”

Briar read the words out loud, then froze. Shaking her head, she opened her eyes wide and read them again, “Beloved! Ines! Vow!”

(Ő⌓Ő
)

A chill swept through her body, making her teeth clatter, and cold sweat drenched her clothes in an instant. She kept shaking her head desperately, saying in anguish, “Oh, no, Kaya. I’ve been cursed. I’ve lost the most basic reading comprehension skill. Hurry. Check this for me. What does the ring say?”

(Ő﹃Ő;)

Kaya couldn’t answer. She had lost even more—not just the basic ability to read, but also imagination and mobility.

The two of them stood there like wooden posts, seeing multicolored lights flashing before their eyes. Their thoughts were lost in the lightshow, and they were instantly transported back to their carefree childhood.

Their long lives were replayed before them, fast-forwarding through the vivid memories.

Vichy came up to Wayne and looked at the ring in his hand with envy. She didn’t let it show. “Congratulations, Adventurer Wayne,” she said flatly. “You’ve defeated the two subordinate gods and found the goddess’s lost treasure. Now, you just have to defeat the two subordinate gods hiding in the dark and put the treasure on the goddess, and She’ll wake up. You’ll save the entire Divine Realm of Darkness.”

Wayne sucked in a breath. After much consideration, he decided to start with a comment, “What do you mean by the two subordinate gods hiding in the dark? Have they been fired or something?”

Vichy shook her head. Such a complicated and serious question was above the Darkness Knight’s pay grade.

“Fine, since I’ve come this far, I’ll just march forth and solve the riddle.”

Wayne folded the velvet and was about to put the ring in his personal storage when he reconsidered and tucked it in his chest instead, keeping it close to his heart.

“Vichy.”

“Yes?”

“I never thought about it before, but would you like a ring just like—”

“Ahem!”

Vichy coughed, cutting off his nonsense and casting her gaze down toward the ground. “No, I’ve never thought about that. It’s an honor reserved for the goddess. Let’s get moving. The Divine Realm needs saving.”

“Understood. You want one.”

“I do not. I didn’t, and still don’t.”

“You sure? Even if everyone else gets one, but not you?”

“...”

Vichy started to speak, stopped, started again, and then stopped again. She couldn’t say anything.

Wayne raised an eyebrow at her. She backed away with a blush, then walked briskly toward the next stage.

Half a minute later, she took Wayne back the way they had come from. Her mind had gone so blank, and she had been so busy fantasizing that she had nearly forgotten the business at hand.

Standing before the two dazed subordinate gods, she cleared her throat and put on a stern look. “Briar the Listener, Kaya the Avenger, you were blinded by false darkness and couldn’t see that the Divine Realm was falling. Now that you’ve been defeated by Adventurer Wayne and come to understand the Divine Realm’s plight, are you willing to join the party and journey into the abyss to rescue the goddess?”

“I am!” x2

Almost instantly, Briar and Kaya rebooted and nodded like chicks pecking at rice grains. They glanced at Wayne out of the corners of their eyes, finding him inexplicably dignified and intimidating.

That raised the question: was Wayne real? Was what had happened real? Was it another trick of the goddess?

“What do you think, Kaya?”

“I’m scared.”

“Obviously. Who asked you that... Fine, I’m scared, too.”

Tears overflowed from Briar’s eyes like pearls.

“Why are you crying like little girls?” Wayne snapped. “The Divine Realm is in crisis, and the goddess hasn’t woken. You carry heavy responsibilities, so pull yourself together already!”

So that’s the Eye of Tears. She’s quite wet—ahem, quite prone to crying.

His lecture only made Briar cry harder, and since sadness is contagious, Kaya also started weeping, her nose stinging.

“What is your relationship with the goddess, Wayne?” Kaya asked, sniffling.

“The relationship between an adventurer and a goddess.”

“That’s it?”

“The rest shouldn’t be shared in polite company. If you insist on hearing it—”

“I’m good. I’m scared.”

Kaya covered her face with both hands, crying even harder than Briar. “You deliberately made Briar and me say bizarre lies. How could you do that? You have no decency at all.”

“Kaya, talking to me about decency? You have no respect for your elders. How rude.” Wayne huffed, raising his voice. “Stop crying. Everyone, smile! Let’s see who dares to keep crying!”

The two subordinate gods immediately swallowed their sobs, but their resentful tears refused to cooperate. They continued to drop like they would never stop.

“Alright, alright. It’s fine. It’s not that easy to die. Ines is a gentle soul, and She’s never once raised Her voice at me. Ignorance absolves all crimes. I’m sure She’ll forgive you with a smile.”

Wayne reached out to pat Briar’s shoulder with a reassuring smile, but his hand missed. Briar had dodged away with a look of pure horror, warning her shoulder not to come into contact with what it shouldn’t touch.

The subordinate god of the Divine Realm of Darkness was too frail. A pat from Wayne would be fatal!

Delighted, Wayne tried to pat Kaya and missed again. Like a child who just received a new toy and couldn’t put it down, he chased after the two of them to the end of the street, cornering them against a wall.

“Kekekeke—” 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

He rubbed his hands together while stalking up to them. Under their despairing stares, he patted each of them on the shoulder.

To make things worse, he even sniffed his hands and said in a dazed tone, “Smells lovely. As expected of beautiful ladies who are right down my alley. The first time I saw you, I fell in love.”

“...” x2

Lightning crackled and rumbled as though an immeasurable fury was looking for a release. The tremendous roar drowned out the two subordinate gods’ heartbreaking wails. They held each other and slumped down against the wall. It seemed that with Wayne’s arrival, the sky in the Divine Realm had become darker, and their lives had become even more difficult.

Watching it play out speechlessly, Vichy went up to save the two unlucky souls. “Get up and don’t keep the goddess waiting. She is merciful, so She won’t hold those thoughtless words against you.”

“Are you sure?” x2

When Vichy couldn’t say anything, Briar and Kaya clutched their heads and wailed harder.

Wayne grinned with delight, showing all his teeth. He expected nothing less from the Divine Realm of Darkness. There were so many pushovers—so much entertainment to be had.

He turned to look at the deepest part of the Divine Realm, sensing the spatial Laws being unsealed. He saw the Void where countless stars converged, as well as the great black palace deep in the starry cosmos.

The Heart of Supreme Darkness!

It was the abyss where the princess was imprisoned.

“Speaking of which, who are the two hidden subordinate gods? Does Ines have four of them?”

Wayne raised an eyebrow. That would be impossible. It was most likely that Ines had made a last-minute revision to the script.

Thinking it through, he thought of two unlucky candidates.

“Um...”