Myths Reawakened

The black scimitar closed in on Wayne with unstoppable momentum and ferocious force. Wayne calmly held up his legendary weapon, the Spider Queen, to block the attack. Only once the scimitar hit Mattea in the chest in a vicious crimson arc did he throw the punch he had readied.

Bam!

Space shuddered. Solsknar’s body scattered into mist as he flew backward, fading away before he even landed. Even his main body was no match for Wayne, much less a replica of his thoughts. The fact that he had launched a suicide attack despite knowing that showed how important the Goddess of Darkness was to him.

“Remember to tell the Goddess of Darkness that I’ve thoroughly humiliated her,” Wayne called out from a distance, sending Solsknar to the Divine Realm of Darkness with his dying will.

“Brother—”

Envy roared... then quickly became indifferent, forgetting about his brother. Solsknar’s value lay in finding Wayne, and once Envy found Wayne, he no longer had value. Someone without value was in no position to be Envy’s brother.

That applied in the mortal realm as it did in Hell.

Envy turned to Wayne with a smile. “Stop wasting your effort. I’ve locked down this space, and without my permission, Solsknar’s thoughts will be nothing after death. You aren’t getting any message out of Hell.”

“But don’t worry, I’ve permitted his exit. That’ll leave you with hope, which will make your despair taste better.”

“Are you putting your hope in the Goddess of Darkness? If so, keep hoping for Her intervention!”

“...”

What a terrible personality, and he’s prideful!

Wayne frowned. The lockdown seemed tied to Envy’s Authority, but it wasn’t as simple as that. It probably was exclusive to the Seven Demon Lords.

They were the real deal. Wayne wasn’t sure he could defeat them in a fight. What should he do? Should he surrender and let a group of succubi pile on him, waiting for Hesione to rescue him?

After 0.25 seconds, he decided to test the demon lord. Perhaps his apparent prowess was only an appearance.

“Wayne, the murder of my dear brother is a feud that cannot be resolved. I’ll capture you and have hundreds of succubi humiliate you, letting Hesione know that her man has been the demons’ plaything.” Envy burst out laughing.

“How... brutal? What a demonic move,” Wayne grumbled, holding up the Spider Queen, whose eyes had rolled back into her skull. “Enguema and Stolas are a nuisance. Get them out of here. I want to duel you.”

Envy shook his head, still laughing. “This isn’t working. Demons don’t care about hono—”

“The Lord of Pride cares!” Wayne raised an eyebrow and said in an admiring tone, “The Lord of Pride will say, ‘Who do you think you are, standing with me against an opponent? Get out of here!’”

Envy’s eyes twitched. Then he roared at Enguema and Stolas, “Who do you think you are, standing with me against an opponent? Get out of here!”

Can’t you be a little more mature? Aren’t you a great demon lord? x2

The two were speechless. Envy repelled them with a simple wave, tossing them out of Mattea’s territory.

“Does Pride have anything else to say, Wayne?” Envy pulled a long face.

“Indeed,” Wayne said arrogantly. “I, the Lord of Pride, can defeat you, a mere legendary mage with one hand. If you can defeat my one hand, I’ll show you mercy and let you go. I promise not to chase you down.”

“...”

“Say it, Envy!”

“What if I do? We demons do not honor our words, Pride included.” Envy had had enough. He raised one hand and pulled Wayne to him with a curl of his finger, his other hand swinging residual black light. Filthy blood splattered.

Mattea screamed as she lost half of her body. Demons were tenacious creatures, especially powerful demons like her. She would still be able to keep cursing with only a head left, let alone with only half of her body gone.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Black light flickered. After the exchanges where Envy attacked and Wayne defended, the Spider Queen was soon left with only a head.

Indeed, she was still cursing.

“Demon!” Mattea cursed, but she was snarling at Wayne rather than Envy. Envy had always been a demon, and a lord among demons at that.

Envy continued to swing his blade, always hitting her instead. He knew Wayne was eliminating a potential threat through his hands, but he played along instead of getting angry.

“You’ve underestimated demon lords. No matter. I’ll play along.”

The Seven Deadly Sins were interconnected, so it was no surprise that Envy had caught the disease of Pride. He didn’t need Mattea’s power. He believed he could capture Wayne alive on his own. Like a cat toying with a mouse, he was in no rush to get Wayne.

After a dozen exchanges, Wayne had run out of Mattea to use as a shield. He sighed in resignation at the remains scattered on the ground. “You didn’t even leave a large enough chunk of her body. I was quite excited about her.”

“Hahaha—”

Envy stalked up with his sword. He liked Wayne’s depravity. While Wayne wasn’t a demon, he might as well have corrupted Hesione like one. Hell had tainted Heaven’s Purity.

Clang!!

Two black greatswords collided in the air, locked in a stalemate. Neither could gain the upper hand.

Envy looked at the Abyssal Sword in surprise. “This was Pride’s weapon. Why is it in your hand?”

“I know Pride,” Wayne said without pause. “He’s actually a spy sent by Heaven. He’s the main strategist of Heaven’s assault on Hell this time.”

Still speaking nonsense! Envy thought contemptuously. Still, he wasn’t going to waste his time getting to the bottom of the matter. He planned to seize Pride’s old weapon and place it in his exhibition of spoils of war to humiliate Pride. It might cause the misunderstanding that he’d taken it from Pride...

That was exactly what he was aiming for.

Sparks sputtered as the blades clashed. Envy and Wayne exchanged blow after blow, sending shockwaves tearing through the Spider Queen’s nest. In the distance, Mattea had regenerated her body. Unable to escape, she watched the fight and noted with surprise that Wayne was getting stronger and stronger. What a monster.

She could tell that Envy had underestimated his opponent in the beginning and hadn’t gone all in. It wasn’t until Envy realized Wayne’s unusual power that he accelerated his attacks.

Wayne caught up. He was growing stronger as he fought, tapping into more and more of his potential like an abomination. He even managed to keep up with a great demon lord.

“How is this possible?” Envy pulled back, touching his face. His pupils contracted when he saw the blood on the tip of his fingers.

Exhaling hot air, Wayne hit Envy with heat vision. He had been satisfied with his power after becoming a demigod; it wasn’t until now that he realized there was still potential to tap into.

He needed outside pressure. Enguema wasn’t enough, while Envy, one of the Seven Demon Lords, was just right.

As expected of a demon investor!

“So you’ve sealed up your power to stay in the human world. I get it now.” Envy’s expression turned icy. “You don’t have the same concern in Hell, and you’ve been gradually releasing your power. Tell me, which god cultivated you?”

“You may not believe it, but they’re all in on it!”

“If you don’t want to tell the truth, fine. This is Hell. You’re not escaping me.”

Envy’s eyes widened. Violent power went wild, instantly shattering the frozen space into a dark vortex. Under Mattea’s frightened gaze, the vortex drew in an infinite black ocean, at the bottom of which an enormous beast lay.

Boom!!!

***

Outside the Spider Queen’s nest, Enguema and Stolas froze before running back to their territories, making a run for it with their territories on their backs.

Mattea’s territory was doomed. Not only had it been reshaped by Envy, but it had also been uprooted.

There was nothing they could do. They would no longer be allies.

In the bushes, Greed popped his head out for a peek. He observed the changes in the space curiously, murmuring, “What’s happening? Although Envy has been substantially weakened after the series of failures, only we fellow Deadly Sins could make him go all in. Who... is Wayne?”

He took a glance and saw a dark shadow swinging the Abyssal Sword.

“So he is Pride. That makes sense.”

Greed huffed. After all the mess, it turned out that Wayne was Pride’s replica.

“Envy’s mad. What good does it do for him to claim that Pride slept with Purity?”

“And how prideful must Pride be! Why wouldn’t he admit it? I would’ve admitted my guilt immediately were I in his shoes!”

“But Pride is Pride. He might not want to admit that his replica has slept with Purity when he hasn’t.”

Greed shook his head. Losing interest, he turned to make for Gluttony’s and Wrath’s territories. There was nothing worth seeing in a battle between Envy and Pride. Envy would surely lose and seek him out for a deal. He should profit off Gluttony and Wrath first and wait for Envy to throw money at him with tears running down his face. Haha.

After Greed departed, another figure emerged.

Solsknar!

Yes, stubborn as he was, he had sent another part of his thoughts to Hell. He spawned in his territory in Hell, which was close to this battlefield.

He was rendered speechless by the clash between Envy and Wayne. One of them was so powerful that it inspired despair, while the other wasn’t as powerful, but was getting stronger at a despair-inducing rate.

Both were incredible!

When Solsknar first learned that Wayne was serving two masters, he was excited. While he wasn’t Wayne’s match, Wayne’s faith was divided; he had been part-timing for the Goddess of Death behind the Goddess of Darkness’s back.

He had even become an elite unit, the Death Knight!

Solsknar only had to report the truth to the goddess, and Wayne would be disqualified from becoming a subordinate god after Her investigation. Aside from Wayne, no one else could compete with Solsknar.

Not long after, though, Wayne demonstrated power that could rival that of the Lord of Envy. While he wasn’t a subordinate god, he was far closer to becoming one than Solsknar. All he needed was the goddess’s stamp of approval.

Given how strong and talented Wayne was, would the goddess not forgive Wayne and consider his disloyalty a practice run, making him Her subordinate god?

Thinking further, Solsknar realized that Wayne, whose potential made him stronger every time they met, definitely wasn’t aiming to become the Goddess of Darkness’s subordinate god. His goal was to become a god in his own right and an ally of the goddess.

In fact, he might just aim to become the goddess’s husband.

Together, they would punch Heaven and kick Hell, as well as imprison Nature, Sun, and Moonlight in their basement. Then they would subdue Death and make Her serve them tea.

They would sweep the world, eternalized as its sovereigns.

Solsknar held a hand to his chest. He couldn’t bear to even think about it. He didn’t care about the accommodation and daily diet of the three goddesses of the Life Alliance and the Goddess of Death, but the Goddess of Darkness? She was the purest, most noble goddess in his mind.

No!

“Absolutely not!”