Myths Reawakened

Ines’s slap was a critical hit that sent Wayne to the ocean. She immediately regretted it.

As Wayne had said, Ines had no legitimate reason to slap him. Theirs was a business relationship. Her stubborn behavior could twist their relationship, and they would no longer be able to talk business properly.

She rotated Her wrists, cursing in Her head. Not slapping Wayne would be frustrating, but slapping him left Her with regret.

Wayne teleported back, silently rubbing his face.

Ines scoffed and looked to the side with Her arms crossed. “I’m minding a business that isn’t my own. The Lord of Deceit has been having a good time in Hell, and I came at a bad time. I’ll be going.”

She didn’t even move.

“Pfft...” Wayne chortled before clearing his throat. “Ines, that was harsh. I don’t mind personally, but it doesn’t fit the Goddess of Darkness. Why don’t we think of the slap as you doing Ana a favor?”

Ines didn’t respond.

What to do? Wayne’s face stiffened. Gritting his teeth and stomping his foot, he went up to sit beside Ines.

She had given him a great volume of information on Darkness, once again becoming his top investor. She had the right to be more demanding. Besides, a test was all it took to confirm if he was lying.

“Get your hands off me and piss off!”

“Pride was watching me, so I had no other option. Besides, it was all the Bat Demon’s doing. Lust doesn’t even know what I look like.”

“And I do?”

“Um, this is my real face...”

“Does an Astral being have a face?”

“While I’ve done my fair share of inhuman deeds, I do see myself as human.” Wayne reaffirmed his stance. When Ines continued to give him the cold shoulder, he said, “Besides, putting aside the facts, do you really have no culpability at all?”

“How am I to blame?” Ines snapped.

“Think about it.” Wayne widened his eyes. “How did I come to Hell? It was Solsknar’s doing. How did Solsknar know about the ruins of the Life Alliance, and just so happened to run into me?”

Ines scoffed. “I looked into it. Solsknar knew because the Listener, Briar, leaked him the information. That wench has been plotting to overturn the Divine Realm of Darkness to replace me as the Goddess of Darkness. I’ll kill her and Solsknar once I return.”

Don’t be ridiculous. Briar would have to be mad to rebel against a goddess like you!

Wayne would bet twenty sillings that the Listener and the Avenger had long been thoroughly tamed. The obedient pets would only do Ines’s bidding. If not for Her implicit permission, Briar wouldn’t even have known where the ruins were, much less be able to lead Solsknar there.

What had the unlucky ones done in their past life to deserve the fate of serving the Goddess of Darkness as Her pets? Whatever it was, they had more than repaid their karma.

Subordinates were meant to take the fall for their superior. Ines shifted the blame to Briar and Solsknar without guilt or shame. “If you don’t believe it, I’ll take you to the Divine Realm. We’ll see if they’ll admit to their guilt!”

I would have to be out of my mind to go there!

Wayne rolled his eyes. “I figure they wouldn’t dare deny their guilt, so case closed. You didn’t know anything, and I was the victim. It was all because of Briar and Solsknar.”

“Yeah.”

“Remember to kill them once you’re back.”

“I don’t need you to tell me that!”

With some grappling, Wayne ended up holding Ines in his arms once more. Looking at the familiar face, he hesitated. He tried to mold Her into Ines’s true form with his thoughts.

“What are you doing?” Ines struggled with a frown until She reverted to Anastasia.

“If you want to talk about relationships, why are you using Ana’s face?” Wayne grumbled. “It’s weird. It makes me feel like I’m cheating on her.”

Speechless, She glared daggers at him.

She had avoided commenting on the word ‘relationship’, and She didn’t explain Herself. It made Wayne’s mind wander in an attempt to figure out the goddess’s real feelings.

He was pretty certain that Ines, under great pressure from the competition, was trying to honeytrap him to ensure She remained as his biggest investor. After all, being sentimental was one of his few shortcomings. He couldn’t do anything once someone had their grip around his weakness, which had led to many losses.

It was hard to say whether Ines’s feelings were genuine.

Wayne was wary of Her, so he suspected that She was acting. To ensure that he wouldn’t be falling for Her lies, he decided to do everything he wanted to do before that happened.

Picking Ines up by the waist, he teleported to a hotel in the City of Decadence, leaning in for a kiss.

“Perverts aren’t attractive. You show none of the respect you should have for me.” Ines turned aside, Her tone steely. “Also, stop with these dull tests. The problem doesn’t lie in me, but in you. You’re too wary of me.”

“No, the problem does lie in you. It’s because of what you’ve done that I remain alert about you.” Wayne spoke his mind. “To tell you the truth, among all the goddesses, you’re my favorite after the Goddess of Sun.”

“Wait, let me ask you one question first.” Ines made a face of distaste. “Why Kaleb? What about Her deserves your respect?”

“Maybe it’s because my fire affinity is too high...”

Wayne shrugged. He might be a Wayne and seem born to serve the Goddess of Darkness as the Darkness Knight, but that wasn’t actually the case. Contrary to his name, he was more like Clark, with all the trappings of Clark.

Clark was a god among men and the son of the sun. Or he could be considered a small sun because his unique constitution allowed him to store solar power.

Just like him, Wayne derived most of his superpowers from the phoenixes, which belonged to the Goddess of Sun. In other words, while he looked dark, his heart belonged to the light, making him somewhat of a sun. He couldn’t serve the Goddess of Darkness.

It made complete sense for the suns to attract each other, didn’t it? It did.

“Just because of fire elements?” Ines huffed. The nonsensical reason was clearly a lie. She wanted the truth.

“The truth...” Wayne looked down at Ines. “I adore Ana for her character, ideals, and actions. I’ve always thought of her as my goddess.”

“The followers of Darkness I met at the church’s headquarters and the camp in the Frozen Land all showed incredible integrity. Even Solsknar, the bastard, isn’t that hateful to me. You are an exception.”

“Why?”

“Before heading to the Frozen Land, you sent a messenger to awaken Auston. The messenger wielded Twilight Despair, hurting Megan and almost killing my master and fiancée. It was only because of my timely intervention that they weren’t hurt.” Wayne explained the true reason he disliked the Goddess of Darkness.

The goddess had lowered the standard of morality for the Church of Darkness—no, for all of the Divine Realm of Darkness. She didn’t deserve Anastasia.

Ines frowned. “Auston is my chosen Darkness Knight. Do you really think I’d kill his wife and daughter?”

“Who knows? Judging by your later actions, you are far from a benign goddess.”

“Just because of that...” Ines closed her eyes and then opened them again, stroking Wayne’s face. “Do you think I should bet on whether you were telling the truth?”

“Sure,” Wayne said seriously. “Every gambler has their day. If you don’t gamble, how could you be sure that you would lose?”

Seeing his obvious intention to sleep with Her without paying the price, Ines shook Her head and snorted. “But if I lose, the consequences will be unbearable. Why should I believe you when I could’ve won?”

“You’re putting the eggs in different baskets. That’s called hedging.”

Wayne wagged his eyebrows. Speaking of hedging, he had to mention the condom company going into the powdered milk market by acquiring a significant player in the maternity and baby industry. Whether the consumers produced offspring, the company would profit[1].

Of course, hedging didn’t always work. The market was unpredictable, and no one could foresee what would happen in the future. Assumptions could be disproven by the market.

For example, the well-known Zhuge family had bet on three different masters, hoping that they would at least keep their capital if not make any profit. But they fucking lost everything[2]!

Wayne explained the pros and cons of the different options. After pondering with a frown, Ines unfastened his belt.

Wait, really?!

Wayne grabbed his pants and retreated until his back was against the wall. “Calm down. You’re not supposed to be an easy goddess.”

“Of course I’m not. I’m not you...” Ines stood up gracefully and pinned him to the corner. “My plan to make you into a subordinate god failed. You would never obey me. To avoid future conflicts, I’m adjusting my strategy with you as my ally.”

“Allies don’t have to sleep together!”

“That’s true. But I’m a beautiful, evil Goddess of Darkness. Are you sure you can control yourself, bastard?”

“...”

You’re so right. Keep going.

“Rather than waiting until you can’t control yourself anymore and becoming the one at your mercy, I’d rather take the initiative now. If I unluckily lose the bet and suffer because of it, I’ll be the one to blame.”

Ines couldn’t be calmer. “I made the decision myself. If I lose, I lose. As for you... Look at how you’re cowering. Why are you scared when I’m not?”

“You really are a bad goddess,” Wayne lamented.

“Are you game or not?”

“I am!”

Wayne nodded vehemently, pushing Ines’s shoulders and pinning her to the bed.

Their eyes met.

“Keep going!”

“Um, would you not use Ana’s face?”

Ines fell silent. Although She was gambling, it would be too risky to go all in already. As Wayne had said, that wasn’t how hedging worked.

“Ha, I thought you really were a bad goddess!”

Cackling, Wayne leaned in and kissed her.

They baked all day and made a pie overflowing with cream. For further explanation, please refer to Urban Dictionary[3].

1. The mother company of Durex bought Mead Johnson, a baby formula company, in 2017. ☜

2. A reference to Zhuge Jin, Zhuge Liang, and Zhuge Dan serving Wei, Shu, and Wu respectively during the Three Kingdoms era. However, Zhuge Dan wasn’t actually their brother, but just a relative, and they had not chosen different masters intentionally. It happened because of chance and circumstances. It’s a common misconception, or perhaps a purposeful distortion of the facts to make the story more entertaining. ☜

3. The original is literally, “Day after day, belly is filled, and there is peace. If you want to learn more, please refer to an idiom dictionary.” 日复一日, meaning repeating something or time passing uneventfully, can be used as a sex pun because 日 can mean “fuck” in China. The expression would then mean “have sex day in and day out”. 鼓腹含和 means a peaceful time when people can have food in their mouths and fill their bellies. Here, the food in the mouth and belly being filled are obviously referring to sexual acts instead. I’ve opted for a euphemism in English. ☜