Myths Reawakened

Corte slowly stood up, her long, fiery red hair swaying in the still air. Her eyes radiated golden light as her body glowed faintly. In her elven form, her figure seemed more elegant, and her face became softer.

Galen’s elven form, on the other hand, glowed with cold light. With her long platinum blonde hair running down to her waist like a serene waterfall, she stood elegant and mysterious, appearing more distant than the fluctuating fire beside her.

They were hot and cold, blonde and platinum. There were too many ways that the sun and moonlight complemented each other.

“Knight Wayne hereby welcomes the goddesses!”

Wayne bowed with a hand on his chest, his expression one of a pilgrim’s deference. He didn’t consider kissing the goddesses on their hands in greeting. Going too far in etiquette would do more harm than good. He wouldn’t want to leave them with the impression of a pervert or a brute.

“Wayne...”

‘Galen’ slowly opened her eyes, scanning Wayne with frosty, light silver eyes. They seemed able to see through the human heart and everything in the world. However, ‘Galen’ saw nothing in Wayne.

There was nothing but a void of paleness, a greedy void that yearned to be filled. It was a pale abyss!

If you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you. While the two goddesses observed Wayne, Wayne was observing them, too. He saw two figures inside the Holy Maidens.

The radiant golden light wasn’t that brilliant, and the clear white light wasn’t flawless. The Twilight Sun and the Pale Moon held incredible power, but they also bore the corresponding price.

Wayne couldn’t get a clear look at Sun’s and Moonlight’s true selves through the haze—unless he gained the two goddesses’ thoughts and converted them into his shape, which would be far-fetched.

Sun and Moonlight didn’t know as much about Wayne as Darkness. Darkness had made a heavy investment in him, while they had merely traced Darkness to him, waiting to see if they should make a bet, and how much.

Even if Sun and Moonlight were willing to hand Wayne their thoughts for him to corrupt, after he failed to corrupt Darkness, he would never believe a free offering ever again.

Death was another story. She was Schrödinger's goddess in Her Divine Realm, so it was doable.

After a brief eye contact, Wayne smiled at the goddesses. “Goddesses, I’ve learned of your descents from the Holy Maidens, and I’m here to receive your oracles. May I be so bold as to ask what you want with me?”

“You walk too close to Darkness. That is inappropriate. As the chosen knight of the Sun and Moonlight, you should be keeping your distance from the Darkness and considering Darkness your mortal enemy...”

The Goddess of Moonlight was the one speaking. She recognized Wayne as their chosen knight before denying his connection to Darkness, never even bringing up Nature.

Although he was supposed to be chosen by three goddesses in their minds, the Goddess of Moonlight omitted Nature, and she didn’t say anything about Wayne’s theft of the divine artifacts.

The goddesses were too shrewd to care about that. Those who attempted to steal divine artifacts were thieves, while someone who had succeeded in stealing divine artifacts was a chosen knight. That was the harsh reality of the world.

Wayne nodded to himself. The Goddess of Moonlight made a reasonable point, and he agreed with Her.

“Darkness seduced you. I have theories about her intention. She worries that once you grow stronger, you’ll undermine the Church of Darkness’s interest in the human world, so she tries her best to make you fall into Darkness and become her sharp blade.”

“Wayne, my knight,” the Goddess of Moonlight said slowly. “I’m not disappointed that you failed to resist Darkness’s temptation. You’re still growing and have not reached your peak. It’s normal for you to make trivial mistakes in the meantime.”

She was quite a tactful talker. The Moonlight Knight had bedded the Holy Maiden of Darkness and the Darkness Knight, getting his hands on Twilight Despair, a weapon exclusive to the Darkness Knight. He more than deserved to be burned at the stake, yet the Goddess of Moonlight called those ‘trivial mistakes’.

“Mistakes aren’t unacceptable as long as you recognize them and change accordingly. You’re still my chosen Moonlight Knight.”

She smiled. “My knight, are you willing to make things right? Will you muster the courage and determination to swear to me that from today on, you’ll only swing your blade for me, and that you’ll stay loyal to me in good times or bad times, and in the human world or the Divine Realms?”

“I do!” Wayne nodded solemnly. The vow sounded a little misleading, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was to reaffirm his stance. He believed that rewards would come next.

But that wasn’t the case.

The Goddess of Moonlight took a step backward, while the Goddess of Sun took a step forward, repeating the same lines.

“My knight, are you willing to make things right... You’ll only swing your blade for me... in good times or bad times... the Divine Realms?”

“I do!”

Wayne nodded once more. Hearing the same vow twice made him seem like greater scum. Also, the Dawn Doctrine was a spear, and White Night Creed was a bow. How was making him swing a blade going to work? Swords were the other three goddesses’ weapon of choice for their knights.

Since the two goddesses weren’t hung up on the technicalities, though, he wasn’t going to spoil the mood by pointing out the inconsistencies. This was a serious occasion. If he had rings on him, he would’ve handed each goddess one.

After his solemn oath, it was finally time for rewards.

The two Holy Maidens raised their hands. A golden beam and a white beam shot out. Through projection, the goddesses converted the Laws in the Divine Realms into physical matter, forging it into two heavy, hallowed books.

The book that seemed to be made from pure gold had a cover with complex patterns and text, a sun-shaped golden emblem in the center. It looked like it had been cut out from sunlight with its dignified golden radiance that could grant all life and wisdom, guiding them to pursue truth and light.

The entirely silver book looked almost identical, but with four moon phases in place of a sun, starting from a thin arc to a bright full circle. The presentation was sophisticated, with soft, pure light that embodied the serenity and beauty that moonlight bestowed upon what it shone on.

The Hallowed Book of Sun, and the Shadow Book of Moonlight!

The goddesses had put their first chips on the table, telling Wayne to study them. If he could learn the knowledge taught by the books, he would gain the perseverance to resist the temptation of Darkness.

Ah, so you have something better, but you want to test me first.

Wayne raised an eyebrow. He knew better than anyone how talented he was.

Those with tentacles understood that learning was as simple as swallowing everything. Others’ knowledge would immediately become their own. The problem was whether Wayne should show his talent to the two goddesses.

He pondered for a moment. It wasn’t easy for the two goddesses to descend, so he decided to give them a demonstration.

After bowing and thanking the goddesses for their gifts, he took the Hallowed Book of Sun and smoothed a finger over the cover, stopping at the golden emblem. Rather than a book, it seemed more like a container. Inside the elaborate cover were Laws woven by golden threads.

The Book of Greed perked up.

In an instant, all Laws went to Wayne, filling him to the brim. The smaller eyeball for the Sun became brighter than ever. Once he had taken all the Laws contained in the book, the golden light on the cover dimmed until fading completely.

The Goddess of Sun looked at him in surprise, inspecting him curiously. She would like to enter his body for a better look.

Then, Wayne did the same thing to the Shadow Book of Moonlight. In less than three seconds, he consumed all the Moonlight.

The Goddess of Moonlight was caught off guard as well. After exchanging a glance, the two goddesses’ expressions grew solemn. Wayne’s talent was key. Ines had to have gotten something more important from him, so they had to find out what it was.

This time, it was the Goddess of Sun who started the conversation, “Wayne, my knight, did Darkness say something to you when invading you?”

“Um...” Wayne blushed. “You may not believe it, but Ines—bah, the Goddess of Darkness descended through the Holy Maiden of Darkness and did unspeakable things to me.”

The Goddess of Sun brightened up. “Describe it!”

Seriously? Wayne thought. I told you those are unspeakable things, so just imagine them.

“Ines...” the Goddess of Moonlight said with a frown. “Where did you learn the name?”

“The heretical evil god of Darkness told me!” Wayne said, unconcerned. He had heard the name ‘Ines’ from Seleucia, the Goddess of Sky. The Goddess of Darkness hadn’t introduced Herself as such in the beginning. However, negotiation required some level of posturing. If he didn’t tell them that Darkness wanted his body, the goddesses wouldn’t make a heavy investment in him, would they?

Once Sun and Moonlight left, and Darkness returned, he just had to tell Ines about the two goddesses’ bet, and Darkness would follow. Rinse and repeat. Soon enough, by raising his price, Wayne would be able to develop his small storefront into a listed company.

That was how business worked!

Learning that Ines had told Wayne her name, Sun and Moonlight paused in surprise. The Goddess of Sun repeated her earlier question, “Tell me, what unspeakable things has Ines done to you?”

This time, Her tone lost the hint of levity and became more serious.

“This... and this...” Wayne made several hand gestures, scowling. “There were many times when I was disciplining the defiant Holy Maiden of Darkness that her energy suddenly changed. I suspected that the Goddess of Darkness had descended.”

“I don’t believe you!” The Goddess of Sun shook Her head. Ines wasn’t that shameless.

“I don’t believe it, either!” Wayne nodded. “But She tried to seduce me before, which led me to have those feelings.”

“How did she seduce you?”

“Back in the Church of Darkness, She kissed me through Darkness Knight Vichy’s body. My head was filled with the two of you, so I refused to let Her get what She wanted. Despite my struggle, though, She got me.”

He sighed. “You know me, Goddesses. I’m no less loyal than Leo and Darienne. I’ll even declare that my reverence for you is infinite, overflowing like the River Thames...”

“Enough,” the Goddess of Moonlight interrupted his nonsense. “Skip that part.”

How rude of you to interrupt me!

Wayne filed that away in his head, enduring the humiliation since he was the weaker party at this moment. Once he had his day, he would make Her pay a hundred times what She owed him.

The two goddesses exchanged a glance, furious with Wayne’s deception. They refused to believe that Ines would do that. Giving him the Holy Maiden and the knight was the limit. Ines would have to be mad to seduce him personally.

While Ines was unhinged, she was more calculating than anyone. She would never have done that. Otherwise, if news got out, she would become a joke!

“Wayne, that should be your delusion,” the Goddess of Sun said with certainty. “The one you kissed is Darkness Knight Vichy rather than Ines.”

“Would you bet on that?” Wayne raised his voice.

“Why no—”

“That won’t be necessary,” the Goddess of Moonlight interrupted Sun’s childish urge.

Interrupted again! So very rude!

“The facts are the facts,” Wayne argued, vexed. “Ines—bah, the evil god of Darkness used Her own face rather than Vichy’s. I knew it was Her from the way She tasted!”

Wait, her face?

The two goddesses exchanged another glance of disbelief. Then the Goddess of Sun said, “Tell me, how did Ines look at that moment?”

“Why would I use my words? I can just show you...”

Eyes narrowed, Wayne extracted the image of him getting pinned down by Ines in the confessional from his memory, projecting it from his eyes with sunlight. It wasn’t fabricated. He had been struggling back then.

The image was so disturbing that the Goddess of Sun and the Goddess of Moonlight couldn’t help but stare. Moonlight murmured that it couldn’t be, while Sun became more and more invested.

After the scene completed, the Goddess of Sun said bluntly, “Play it again. There are details I didn’t catch.”

Direct, just like I expected.

Wayne granted her the wish and played the video again. He realized then that he had misunderstood.

While Vera and Corte were the type to give themselves away, the Goddess of Sun wasn’t. She was recording the image he was projecting, copying the kissing scene right in front of him.

(一`´一;)

What a waste. He should’ve sold the footage at a high price.

“Is there more, Wayne?”

“Yes, there are a lot of moments where Ines was acting seductive. Tsk, I can’t describe how desperate She seemed without tainting your ears. I’ll keep that to myself.”

“It’s fine,” the Goddess of Sun said. “Play them. I’ll keep my ears shut.”

“Still, it won’t be appropriate to show you such filth.” Wayne looked up at the ceiling. The free trial had ended. The rest was paid content.

“...” x2

My knight, charging your god? Now that is inappropriate! x2