Myths Reawakened

“Rise...”

An authoritative female voice reached everyone in the council hall. They bowed in gratitude before slowly rising to their feet.

On the other side of the green veil, Wayne had molded himself into Elian. His gaze pierced through layers of space and locked onto Senna, ignoring the vermin.

It had been four months since they last met. She had become even more beautiful. Particularly in the pope’s long robe, she looked noble and inviolable, making her a leader in every sense of the word.

Sensing the gaze lingering on her, Senna had to control her thumping heart, not daring to make any move.

“Acting Pope Senna, you’ve done well. The Oracle told me about Ludwig’s collusion with the demons and the betrayal of his faith. You concealed the fact rather than announcing his treachery immediately, thus protecting the church’s honor...”

The goddess spoke softly, sparing no praise for Senna. “You need not worry much. Go ahead and be crowned as the Pope. That is my decree. If anyone objects, send them to the Divine Realm. I’ll listen to their slander in person.”

“...” xN

Don’t you favor her too much?! xN

The others fell silent. The goddess made Herself clear: whether Senna was in the right or in the wrong, anyone who questioned her would be considered a slanderer. As for how they should be sent to the Divine Realm, the goddess seemed to be suggesting that Senna kill them. Then those sinners would arrive at the Divine Realm.

With Senna being granted the right to play judge and executioner with no checks and balances, the Church of Nature could just be called the Church of Senna in the future. It was absurd!

However, the vermin didn’t dare question the goddess. They could only hold on to their envy. Why did the goddess favor her so much when they were all vermin? Did Senna have friends in the Divine Realm, too?

Do I have friends in the Divine Realm? Senna thought with confusion. Among the higher-ups, she was the most surprised by the development. She couldn’t figure out who could’ve done this for her—she did think of a possible explanation, but it was sacrilegious.

Perhaps Wayne had won the goddess’s favor and gotten Her to show Senna special treatment through pillow talk.

It was such an absurd and unbelievable scenario that Senna thought better of it. She bowed and allowed herself to relax. Parting her lips, she launched into a litany of praises for the goddess’s radiance. She swore on her faith in Nature that she would devote her whole life to Nature. If she went against it...

Wayne looked at Senna, amused. He had identified a pattern: it seemed that strong-willed women were a special feature of the Church of Nature. Silvia, whom he had met the earliest, Senna, whom he had met later, and Elian, the highest leader of the faith, were all women like that.

There was a common trait among members of the Church of Moonlight, too. All of them were delicate ones with some smarts, but weren’t particularly intelligent.

Then there was the Church of Sun. Whether they were smart or not, all of them gave themselves away for free, and they never took back trust once they gave it away.

As for Death, Sukra and Aztimor both had a penchant for lying down. The former was trapped by sofas, while the latter had been sealed in a coffin when Wayne first met Her.

He didn’t have to talk about Darkness. The goddess was such an odd case that She stood at odds with Her Divine Realm and church.

Once Senna was done with her flattery, Wayne scanned the council hall, light spreading from his gleaming eyes to summon Elemental Mantra from Senna’s personal storage. Then he made a replica and gave it to Senna, sending the other to the Frozen Land through the void.

The others’ breath quickened, and they were so envious that their teeth almost shattered under the pressure. The goddess had not only granted Senna the privilege to kill whoever she found disagreeable with no accountability, but also given her a divine weapon that could kill without getting blood on her.

What happened? Whose help had Senna solicited to gain the goddess’s favor?

Why would you keep such a low profile if you’re so strong? If you told us you had friends in such high places, we would have licked your feet rather than worked against you!

How dare you! Once the goddess departs, we’ll be on our knees! If you don’t forgive us, we’ll stay on our knees together!

Senna took the Elemental Mantra, still flabbergasted. She wasn’t the Nature Knight, not even a backup one. It was one thing to forgive her for keeping the divine artifact, but the goddess even created a replica for her...

Had her bastard of a master really gotten into the goddess’s bed?

Just when everyone in attendance was shocked into numbness, green light spread in the council hall, and Moula, the current Nature Knight, arrived with his sword.

Seeing the projection in the sky, he bowed. “Goddess, Moula has come on your order.”

“At ease. I summoned all of you today for an important announcement.” Wayne looked down at all of them and spoke at a deliberate pace. “I am the deity of Nature, but I’m not the only deity in the Chosen Land. I created the Life Alliance to try and ascend to a greater height, becoming the deity of Life. In the meantime, I’d been fighting the other gods and my own desires. Around twenty years ago, I finally saw a chance...”

“I sent half of my thoughts to the mortal realm as a human roaming the Chosen Land. He was born in Londan and later joined the Church of Nature.”

The crowd erupted in shock. The goddess had reincarnated into a human and joined the church? Who was it? Senna? But the age didn’t match. And he? Had the goddess reincarnated into a male?

“Coming into contact with Elemental Mantra, he awakened his memories and became me. Because he was dissatisfied with the church’s compromised state, he cut off its ailment, Ludwig. Then he made Senna the new Pope...”

The ‘goddess’ morphed. The voice became deeper and masculine, and the slender figure began to transform. When the hazy veil of green light dispersed, Wayne emerged.

Hiss— xN

Everyone sucked in a breath in shock.

Desiree’s eyes widened. She had competed to become the Holy Maiden/Anointed One with this bast—god?

Tubert’s face flushed red. No wonder Wayne was so talented. It made sense if he was the goddess—the god’s incarnation in the human world.

Speaking of which, he had harassed Wayne for quite some time because he wanted him to take over as the High Prophet. Would the gate of the Divine Realm still open for him? To put it bluntly, the god he followed wasn’t a petty god, was He?

Garvin and Moula froze, their eyes wide as saucers. Garvin had evaluated Wayne for the Holy Maiden selection and judged him to be a talented young man, with the promise to inject the stagnant church with fresh blood. When Wayne pulled out of the selection, he still wanted to recruit him into the Order of Nature as the next Vice Captain.

It turned out that Garvin had misjudged completely. Wayne established the church. He created the Divine Realm itself.

Moula thought back to his first meeting with Wayne and how he had treated him. As a senior, Moula had behaved appropriately, making no mistake. The problem was he wasn’t Wayne’s senior. He had been training his god as a teacher, calling him student and praising his talent.

Weaving, Baker, and McCarey, the three vermin, had no proper thoughts in their heads. They turned to Senna first thing with shock and terror in their eyes.

You slept with the god you follow! x3

In some way, the statement was accurate.

They all realized why the god had taken such good care of Senna. The Pope was a major sex-payer. She wasn’t just a regular pope, but the god’s lover in the human world.

It all made sense!

Senna gaped at the pretty boy hovering up in the sky, trying and failing to figure out what was happening. As smart as she was, she couldn’t tell what was going on. She suspected that she was dreaming, and it was an absurd dream.

The goddess had descended and become her student’s student. She had tried to control said student but ended up being controlled instead. Then, unable to suppress her desire and admiration, she got closer, and he got inside her further.

So, I’ve never betrayed my faith. I’ve been following the same god!

Senna shuddered, then shuddered again. She finally wrapped her head around the matter.

No one would question the God of Nature in the sky. The Divine Realm didn’t lie, nor did subordinate gods, much less Elemental Mantra and the god.

Wayne... was the God of Nature!

Once they finally recovered from their shock, Wayne continued, “I came to see who I was and returned to the Divine Realm, thus regaining my divinity. However, my other half in the Divine Realm, Elian, had changed. She took in the concept of Death and believed Nature and the cycle of Death combined made Life. She failed, becoming neither humanlike nor ghostlike. It’s hard to call her a god...”

“After an intense fight, I took back the Divine Realm, but I couldn’t keep her. She is my evil thought and possesses divine power that can rival mine. She ran from the Divine Realm, never to be seen again.”

“That’s why I summoned you. If someone who calls themselves the ‘Goddess of Nature’ descends, do not fight back. Listen to her orders. She’s too powerful for you to banish. I’ll do that in person.”

“Don’t worry. Just because you submit doesn’t mean you agree with her. You’ll only be submitting to her great power because you have no choice. I’m not an unreasonable god who’ll question your loyalty for that.”

“But be careful. My evil thought sees it as her calling to destroy the world. She cannot become the Goddess of Life and has misunderstood the truth of evolution. She swore to destroy the world and slaughter all of humanity. She has become Death...”

“Wayne!!”

While everyone was listening in shock, Desiree, the Holy Maiden, snarled, unleashing incredible power from her body. The hit shattered space and triggered spatial turbulence that could kill all of them instantly. Fortunately, a ray of green light shielded them and kept them alive.

They fearfully stared at ‘Desiree’ and noted her suddenly changed existence, coming to a realization. The presence was a mix of dim, grey Death and vibrant, green vitality. The God of Nature’s evil thought had descended.

“Elian, you’ve come at just the right time.” Wayne looked down at her with compassion and guilt in his eyes. “Come back to me. You shouldn’t allow Death to corrupt you. Give up on destroying the world and merge with me. The world is a wonderful place. I will not permit you to slaughter at will.”

“What nonsense. You're a despicable thief who stole my Divine Realm!”

Elian raged, seethed, and fumed, wanting nothing but to charge into the Divine Realm of Nature to fight Wayne to the death. After meeting the Horseman of Pestilence, She had examined her arsenal and considered how She should start a War of Faiths at the largest scale possible. Soon, She realized that She could still milk the Church of Nature.

In the Chosen Land, the war had been limited to between countries, while the churches had refrained from getting involved. They just needed a single push for everything to fall into place.

Darkness, Death, and Light listened to Wayne and wouldn’t let their followers start an internal war, but it didn’t matter. As long as the Church of Nature provoked the other churches first, the scale of war would still expand.

She never expected to see Wayne impersonating Her as soon as She descended through the Holy Maiden, even calling Her his evil thought.

If you’re so good at making things up, why don’t you go write a novel?!

“Look at yourself, Elian. Admit it. There are no real and fake goddesses here, only one God of Nature who has been reborn and the fallen evil thought of Nature.”

Wayne sat on the divine throne and whisper-shouted, “I have not excommunicated you from the Divine Realm. I’ve always recognized your name. As long as you abandon Death, we will come together. After all...”

“I am majorly responsible for your current condition.”

The critical hit made Elian’s face distort with rage. Amid flashing light, a green ray split the sky and descended upon the council hall.

Wayne floated down to face Elian, who was possessing Her Holy Maiden. He spread his arms in apology. “You are me. I’m willing to shoulder your sins. Please do not take your misunderstanding of Death out on a regular person. Come back. Then you’ll still be the Goddess of Nature who is compassionate to all and protects everything beautiful in the world.”

“Bastard, I’ll kill you!”

Boom!!!