Chapter 416 (1): At One’s Peak, False Support, at One’s Decline, True Devotion.
Wayne brought up the two divine arts that Sukra had used on Andrius the Troll in a roundabout way. He admitted that he wanted them for himself. He could defeat the Troll. As someone juggling five professional relationships, he had a wider repertoire of skills than Sukra. However, he couldn’t take the Troll out with two glances as she had done.
Considering that Sukra was a legendary mage, the divine arts she had used had to be more than what met the eye; they were likely connected to the Goddess of Death.
Wayne had to do something when new knowledge was on the table. Even if he had to resort to deception or manipulation, he had to acquire the skills—especially the second skill of opening the door, kicking the target in, and closing the door. It had a real grandeur that suited a boaster like him.
The first skill paled in comparison. There was nothing special about a straightforward attack with raw power. With enough knowledge, anyone could do it.
“Wayne, those aren’t divine arts.”
Sukra pulled away reluctantly. After years of dodging pursuit, she hadn’t known such serenity for a long time, and she didn’t want to lose it.
The new Death Knight was eloquent, righteous, and powerful. He made her feel incredibly secure. The warmth eased her.
However, she was the Holy Maiden at the end of the day. Though she could no longer contact the goddess, and the church had excommunicated her, she still had to follow the code of conduct of a Holy Maiden, keeping her distance from the opposite sex.
It was a crucial component of her devotion to her faith, not to be violated.
“What are they, if not divine arts?”
Wayne’s eyes widened. He was new here and didn’t know a lot about the field. He wanted more information from Sukra.
Since he was one of their own, Sukra didn’t hide anything from him. “When the three subordinate gods rebelled, and the Divine Realm was close to falling apart, the goddess arrived and granted me powerful divine power. It’s not regular divine arts...”
“The goddess resides in my eyes!”
Gulp!
Wayne craved it even more. He wanted it.
“Sukra, I understand the Headless Knight’s current situation. Aside from the powerful alliance of demons, he’s lost his mental faculty and fallen under the demons’ control. He sees us as his worst enemies...”
“You don’t have to say all that, Wayne,” Sukra interrupted him with a smile. “You’ve risked your life coming to Palis to save Rognes. You’re a real knight, your faith undeniable. If possible, I’d like to entrust you with this power.”
She had such a heavy weight on her shoulders for so long that if possible, she would like to lower it and take a break. However, the divine power was bestowed by the goddess. She could use it, but she didn’t own it. She couldn’t transfer it to Wayne.
“Give it a try. What if it works?”
“That’s too dangerous. It’s the divine—”
“No, no. Don’t look down on my faith,” Wayne declared. “Put your trust in love and human connections. In my devotion to the goddess.”
Though he was manipulating Sukra into giving him her skills, he made it sound like he was doing it for justice.
Hesione turned away. She refused to believe that he could do it.
“But...” Sukra hesitated. She believed Wayne’s talent in Death, but this wasn’t a matter of talent. The divine power belonged to the goddess, and Death claimed ultimate ownership. If the worst-case scenario became reality, she would be the greatest sinner in history.
“Don’t worry,” Wayne said. “I’ve become a different man after my death. Whatever doesn’t kill me only makes me stronger. You’re worried, but I’ve been through similar things many times. I always came out just fine.”
Wayne brought up his resurrection once more, attributing it to the Goddess of Death’s blessing. He wasn’t a regular Death Knight, but the strongest knight who would save the Divine Realm and the goddess from the ongoing chaos. He would not die so easily.
Sukra nodded. Resurrection was such an absurd event that the only reasonable explanation would be that the goddess had long chosen Wayne. Perhaps this man possessed divine power just like her. In fact, the goddess might have granted Sukra the power and led her to Wayne so that she could give him the power.
She nodded gravely. “You bear a greater responsibility than I do, Wayne. You’re tasked with saving the Divine Realm. Do not die.”
“I won’t die until I meet the goddess!”
“I believe you.”
Sukra untied the grey bandages. With her eyes closed, she lifted her head slightly to show Wayne her full face—she looked just like Wayne’s first love, with fair, flawless skin and a quiet, sweet temperament like a girl-next-door.
The old Wayne would’ve fallen for her, but not the current Wayne. Ever since those women found out that he was an animal, they had been using him like an animal. As a result, he would rather do magic than do them now.
“I’m making sure one last time, Wayne. Do you really need this power?” Sukra held his face with hooded eyes, her eyelashes fluttering.
“I do. I must defeat the Headless Knight myself. It’s a duel between two men. It’s my promise to Julia and Rognes!”
He continued playing a virtuous character, speaking with determination. “Though we aren’t determining a winner and a survivor between us, our duel will be fueled by the respect and admiration the Headless Knight and I have for each other. He’s waiting for me, waiting until I gain the power to rival him. However, I... don’t want to make him wait too long!”
“That’s the strange competitive spirit men have for each other, isn’t it?” Sukra smiled slightly. What a straightforward, genuine man. He was kind and righteous, feeling both love and hate deeply, and he was devoted to friendship. Her life would be worth it if she could witness the fight between the two knights.
Under Wayne’s continuous manipulation, she had become all pumped up. They each played their role quite well in this farce.
(눈_눈)
These Holy Maidens are proving to be lacking in intelligence, Hesione thought. Might as well. Heaven approves. Keep them coming.
Stop, Mona sighed. You’ve been acting in ways that the demons in Hell would approve of.
Sukra opened her grey eyes to meet Wayne’s gaze. They weren’t a monotone grey, but a deep silverish grey. It was difficult to refer to it as a regular color. As if it contained stardust, the grey shone with the light of a distant galaxy. In the depths of her eyes hid a strange undercurrent of power.
Wayne held her gaze. His super vision allowed him to look deeper, seeing chains of rhythmically pulsing information in the beautiful eyes.
There was also a figure.
Sukra wasn’t sure exactly how talented Wayne was, nor was she certain that he could carry the divine power. She had to admit that it was a bit of a gamble. To prevent a lifetime of regret, she had been slowly releasing the divine power as she sustained her eye contact with Wayne, rather than giving him everything at once.
Slowly, their faces drew closer, so close that Hesione huffed out.
What’s that? Mona asked.
You can’t do it now, so I’m huffing for you! Hesione responded.
The undercurrent of power followed their gaze and slowly infiltrated Wayne’s eyes, making his pupils dilate. His contractible irises consisted of countless tiny tentacles, dividing the information as it entered.
He wasn’t picky!
Confirming that Wayne was indeed the goddess-chosen savior for the Divine Realm, Sukra stopped holding back. Barely keeping her composure, she turned over all the divine power she had stored in her eyes. At the same time, an undetectable figure followed the flood of knowledge into Wayne’s eyes.
“Huh?”
He called out in surprise. In addition to the knowledge, Sukra had also sent a powerful thought to him; he had only encountered such a high-quality thought once before, when he met the Goddess of Darkness!
The Goddess of Death’s thoughts were in Sukra’s eyes. It was no exaggeration to say that a goddess resided in them.
Isn’t the goddess alternating between life and death in the Divine Realm? Why would Her thoughts be in the Chosen Land?
Wayne hid his surprise. The situation in the Divine Realm of Death seemed more complicated than what Sukra had described. There existed an enemy so powerful that the Goddess of Death couldn’t defeat them; left with no choice, She brought parts of Her thoughts to the Holy Maiden’s body.
Wayne sensed it closely. As expected of the Goddess of Death’s thoughts, they were unusually quiet and lifeless, like She was actually dead. He had no reason to turn down a gift. He had even corrupted the Goddess of Darkness; he wasn’t going to pull back when the Goddess of Death was motionless like a doll.
His tentacles of thoughts wrapped around the goddess’s thoughts, slowly corrupting and wearing Her down, trying to turn Death into his shape as quickly as possible. However, it was slow going, far slower than his corruption of the Goddess of Darkness.
Wayne had never met the five goddesses in person. Based on how their conflicts had gone down, he came to an estimation of their strengths.
Nature and Death were at the first tier. Between them, Nature was stronger. By plotting for the betrayal of Death’s three subordinate gods, Nature had put the Goddess of Death to sleep. She was a leading player among the five goddesses, dominant in both power and cunningness.
In the conflict between light and darkness, the Goddess of Darkness was able to rival the two goddesses of light on Her own, putting Her on the second tier.
Recently, She had been plotting to acquire a third subordinate god, placing Her on the top of the second tier. If She succeeded, She would catch up with Nature and Death.
Sun and Moonlight had been finding comfort in each other’s company. As neighbors, they had been defending against Darkness while staying vigilant of Nature. Just like Franc, they had been focusing on defense with no thought of offense. They were no higher than the third tier.
Death was stronger than Darkness, so it took longer for Wayne’s tentacles to infiltrate Death. It wasn’t surprising.
Still, wasn’t it taking too long?
He concluded that the Goddess of Darkness hadn’t been that weak, and the partial thoughts he had corrupted had only submitted so easily because the goddess allowed it to happen, hoping to gain his life essence.
Now that the Goddess of Darkness had returned to the Divine Realm with the corrupted thoughts, perhaps She was conducting experiments in a dark laboratory right this moment!
Fine, you want the thrill? I’ll make you cry one day.
Wayne and Sukra stared at each other for half an hour.
The tips of their noses were pressed together, their breaths mingling and filling their lungs. Wayne didn’t mind, but Sukra minded very much.
She felt suffocated.
A moment later, she took two steps back, her face flushed from the lack of oxygen. She focused on her eyes and realized that the power in them was still there, only it had become exhaustible. She didn’t understand. Telling Wayne her condition, she asked whether it was a success or a failure.
“It’s a success, of course,” Wayne said with certainty. With the Holy Maiden’s help, he had tossed the Goddess of Death’s thoughts into a pile of tentacles, thoroughly exploring the thoughts at this moment. They were lifeless, impossible to awaken even after his corruption. Something was missing.
Sukra’s condition was easy to explain. Her once-infinite divine power had come from the Goddess of Death’s thoughts. Every time she exhausted her MP with an ultimate attack, the goddess would replenish it. Now that the goddess had moved out, her MP was no longer infinite. It would run out one day.
“It’s not a big deal. Allow me to fill you up.”
Wayne stepped forward and, ignoring Sukra’s surprised yelp, cupped her face. Meeting her eyes, he injected an overwhelming amount of Death energy into her eyes.
Sukra’s body had been reforged by the Goddess of Death’s thoughts. Ignoring the other parts of her body, her eyes were definitely specially made to carry Death energy without collapsing.
Human eyes had their own immune system, separate from the other organs, so modifying the eyes wouldn’t affect the rest of the body. It turned out that the goddess he had pictured as a history teacher was also a biology teacher, which overlapped with Teacher Nature of the infirmary. No wonder they were in conflict.
Wayne measured the progress of his corruption of the Goddess of Death’s thoughts. “The divine power has transferred to me, but suddenly depriving you of the power would make you helpless in battles. That’s why I lent part of the power to you to ensure your safety.”
Sukra acknowledged it with a blush. She expected no less from the knight she had hand-picked. He was such a man of integrity that he never even considered hoarding the power.
But... would you mind pulling away before you start talking?
Comments