Chapter 416 (2): At One’s Peak, False Support, at One’s Decline, True Devotion.
The knight’s character was unquestionable. He definitely didn’t intend to take advantage of Sukra. His heart was pure, and the thoughts of taking advantage never even occurred to him. She, on the other hand, felt the urge to emphasize purity and manners when they had only gotten a little close. She felt deeply ashamed about her depravity.
She had been wandering alone for years, running away from the church’s pursuit. To hide Wayne while he was still green, she had had no choice but to watch out for assassins sent by the church and take care of them. Now that she could finally afford to take a break, she had to formulate a plan to rescue the Headless Knight, Rognes. She had been slaving away twenty-four seven, her working conditions worse than those of a work animal.
Work animals at least had pasture to munch on, while she, unable to contact the Goddess of Death, had been working without a salary, purely doing it for the love of her faith. Now that someone was offering to take the responsibility off her, she couldn’t wait to lie down and rest, letting Wayne take care of everything.
Moreover, while it was embarrassing to face a man from such a short distance that she could feel his warm breath, she didn’t find the serious face disagreeable. She even sneakily inhaled a few times.
(눈‸눈)
You’re still you, Hesione thought. You’re winning her affection even while stealing her power. Her progress bar is growing.
With Sukra serving as an example, Hesione warned herself to never make the same mistake.
Wake up, Mona huffed. Your progress bar is already fully inside you. The same mistake? It’d make more sense if you feel vicariously embarrassed.
A few minutes later, Sukra was in danger of running out of oxygen again. Her vision swam, and all she could see was Wayne. His image was so deeply burned into her mind that she couldn’t disperse it even after closing her eyes.
“That’s enough, Wayne,” she said.
“Just a little more. Don’t underestimate yourself. I know you can take more.”
“It’s too much.”
Sukra broke out of his hold and stepped back, shaking his image out of her mind. She recited the scriptures of the Sacred Tome of Death and recovered her peace and serenity.
Putting the bandages back on her eyes, she asked curiously, “Wayne, why don’t you need to cover up your eyes? Are you sure you’ve succeeded?”
“We’re different,” Wayne said. “I’ve become a changed man after resurrecting. I’m no longer a pure human, but one with the life essence of an Astral being.”
Hesione fell into deep thought. Coming back to life and becoming a human who wasn’t human... Wasn’t that exactly what the prophecy said about the Anointed One?! But someone like Wayne couldn’t be the Anointed One. He had no respect for Heaven and defiled angels in a million different ways...
He had no faith!
Hesione refused to accept an Anointed One like him. Heaven didn’t deserve such a punishment. Something had to be wrong. Yes, Wayne was obviously lying and just so happened to provide details that matched the prophecy.
Still, he didn’t know the actual prophecy. Among the reincarnated angels, Auriel and Hesione were the only ones who knew the prophesied traits. It was too much of a coincidence. Besides, Wayne had shown no mercy to demons, always leading the charge against them...
Hesione wavered. She realized to her chagrin that her imagination of the Anointed One was taking on the form of a man who was only presentable in appearance, wearing a gilded white robe. With his hands raised, he pontificated about morals and integrity.
God says let there be love!
“Aside from my unique constitution, it’s also because of the goddess’s will.” Wayne touched his eyes solemnly. “I see Death. The goddess is in my eyes. Without Her permission, I cannot master this power fully.”
He had to keep his excitement contained. It was his first intimate experience with a god’s core knowledge and the way said god applied the knowledge. Shadow Nightmare was his first divine artifact, and Death was also the first god to reveal Her face to him. He and the history teacher were a match made in the Underworld.
“Come on. Let’s talk about how to save the Headless Knight outside...” As soon as he raised his hand, he remembered the variety of beautiful women outside. He had to prepare Sukra for the latest version of the story.
“Sukra, to tell you the truth, I’ve come as a representative of the Church of Nature. To carry out my duty as the Death Knight, I pretended that I’ve come to Palis to destroy demons...”
“Church of Nature?!” Sukra asked in surprise. “Death and Nature are oil and water. You’ve... pushed yourself quite hard.”
“Not really. Nature gifted me a sword named Elemental Mantra. Though I wasn’t willing, I became the Nature Knight.”
“What??”
“I’m also the Sun Knight, Moonlight Knight, and Darkness Knight, and the Church of Heavenly Father framed me as a reincarnated angel...”
Wayne explained his tragic situation of juggling six professional relationships, and then he listed the allies he had recruited: Hestia, a reincarnated angel, Corte, the Holy Maiden of Sun, Galen, the Holy Maiden of Moonlight, and Sukra, the Holy Maiden of Death. It was a full army, powerful enough to launch a frontal assault into the underground catacombs.
Sukra felt lightheaded. She tried and failed to figure out which goddess’s chosen knight Wayne was. Had she been too reckless when she handed such an important power to Wayne? She deeply regretted her reckless action. Only after she did it did she realize that she knew nothing about the man.
Some people appeared to follow the Goddess of Death, but actually went around sleeping in other goddesses’ dwellings.
Sukra thought of the worst. The Goddess of Death had fallen into deep slumber, while the Goddess of Nature was at her peak. As the two goddesses’ knight, wouldn’t Wayne choose Nature over Death?
“Sukra, you seem to be thinking about something quite rude!” Wayne said solemnly, making a forceful declaration to the grey-haired Holy Maiden. “It is at one’s peak that they see the false support, and it is at one’s decline that they see true devotion. I’m devoted to Death. Even if She had lost Her Divine Realm rather than simply fallen asleep, She would still be my only faith.”
“Then why didn’t you reject the other divine artifacts?” Sukra asked, troubled.
“I’ve been practicing outside so that I could better serve the goddess,” Wayne responded in the same troubled tone. “I feel misunderstood.”
“But...”
But that’s inappropriate. You give it to them just because they ask for it? Where’s your chivalrous spirit?
Sukra stammered. Her perfect mental image of Wayne fell apart. She couldn’t accept it just yet.
“There’s no point in saying all this now,” Wayne said with a sigh. “If we get technical, you should bear full responsibility for this.”
“Huh?”
“If not for you, I wouldn’t have died and been reborn anew, and I wouldn’t have become a tasty pie that every goddess wants a finger in. I wouldn’t have tried to hide the secret of me being the Death Knight, thus going against my conscience...”
He lamented his tragic life. “There’s no point crying over spoiled milk. You didn’t mean to make the mistake.”
Sukra could tell something was wrong, but couldn’t put a finger on it. “It’s-it’s not my fault,” she said stiffly. “Your death is most likely part of the goddess’s plan.”
Oh, you shift the blame to the goddess. I’m gonna tell on you when I meet Her.
Wayne’s eyes lit up. “You’re right. It must be Her doing. She’s playing chess to make me extraordinary enough to infiltrate the other churches. That must be part of Her plan.”
Then he had a eureka moment about the goddess’s infinite wisdom, strategic mind, unending victories, thorough preparation, successful backstabbing... Anyway, it was all the Goddess of Death’s doing that he now served six factions.
“If it’s the goddess’s arrangement, we have nothing to worry about. We’ll secure victory by believing in our faith.” Wayne patted Sukra on the shoulder. He had put in a lot of effort to deceive her, so he hoped that she wouldn’t make things difficult for both of them.
Sukra was still reeling from the shock. Every time she thought about Wayne being chosen by all five goddesses, she felt another wave of disbelief. “Can you juggle all that work? Do they truly believe you, or have they seen through the goddess’s plan and are only pretending to fall for the ploy?”
“I think they truly believe me.” Wayne put on a show of looking around before whispering into Sukra’s ear, “These are secrets I haven’t told anyone other than you. It’s serious, so do not reveal them, especially not me being the Death Knight.”
“Yeah.”
“I’m certain the goddesses believe me. Not only have they given me the divine artifacts, but they have also issued oracles to have their Holy Maidens seduce me.”
Sukra fell silent. What kind of development was that? Was he for real?
Forgive her Holy Maidenness. She would swear on her pride as a professional Holy Maiden that there was no goddess like that in the world.
“I’m telling the truth. The Holy Maiden of Sun and the Holy Maiden of Moonlight are trying to seduce me, while the two serving Darkness and Nature have been doing that for a while...” Wayne lowered his voice, glancing at Hesione. “The secretary wearing glasses by my side is a clergywoman of the Church of Heavenly Father. She’s been following me around with a mission. She wants my body.”
“Um...”
He sounded so serious and certain that Sukra wavered. She wanted to confirm the truth with her own eyes.
“I’m not lying to you. You’ll see later. My resistance to their seduction displeases them!”
“Um, you haven’t let them get their way, have you?”
“...”
I’ve gotten my way with two of them: the Holy Maiden of Darkness and the Śār.
“Say something, Wayne!” Sukra rushed out.
“Apologies, I was young back then. A hot-headed, reckless young man I was, I ended up letting them have their way.” Wayne lowered his head. If only he had stayed strong for a little longer, if only he had overcome his impulses...
“They’ve all gotten their way with you?”
Sukra paled, worried that the knight would lose his soul to the pillow talk of the shameless Holy Maidens. That couldn’t happen! Wayne’s calling was to save the Divine Realm of Death—the Underworld. He could not fall at this stage!
“Who do you think you’re talking to? I do have shame!”
“So they haven’t done anything to you?” Sukra brightened up. She knew she could trust his devotion.
“Um, one of them has. The one with glasses. She’s incredible at seduction...” Wayne’s eyes flickered. He readily admitted his mistake, “After that, I reflected on myself and made up my mind to start anew. I’ve never allowed anyone else to tempt me.”
...Pardon my bluntness, but you’ve already lost your shame.
When Sukra didn’t respond, Wayne stared at her with widened eyes. He had made a mistake, but he had forgiven himself. Sukra should learn to put aside reality and ignore the details.
It was all the goddess’s plan at the end of the day. How was he supposed to find his way into the other Divine Realms if he never found his way into the Holy Maidens?
Sukra covered her face. “Wayne, it’s not too late to give up now. Juggling relationships with the Holy Maidens is playing with fire. You’re not their match and will end up burning yourself.”
Yeah, I’m burning up with arousal.
“Why should I give up?” Wayne asked. “Just because they are up to no good as they approach me?”
Seeing the disapproving look on Sukra’s face, Wayne, worried that he would break his character, coughed into his fist and amended, “They have ulterior motives, but I don’t have such excuses. If I cut them off now, how does that make me any different from scumbags who change their tunes after putting on their pants? Think about it. If I bed you before joining the Holy Light, and when we meet again as subordinates of different masters, I not only attack you, but also call you names, what would you think?”
“Um, I don’t think that hypothetical question is valid.”
“Just tell me if you would be angry!”
...Well, yeah. Scumbags like that should be torn to pieces.
“My conscience dictates that I repeat my mistakes. After sleeping with a woman, I’m not going to just put my pants on and walk away.”
Wayne justified his base desires as if it were the right thing to do. Then he changed the subject. “I didn’t know in the past, but now I can tell that it’s the goddess’s plan. The other deities are fighting for me. By sleeping with all the Holy Maidens, I’ll gain their trust and succeed in going undercover.”
Be careful not to get lost in their beds!
Sukra made a face, but she now believed that those goddesses were actually using their Holy Maidens to make Wayne betray Death. It was a bargain to sacrifice one Holy Maiden to kidnap the Death Knight’s offspring. In that case, Wayne must truly be important. Because the goddesses were worried that he would save the Underworld, they had sent their Holy Maidens to make him fall.
Sukra hissed. She felt the burden on her growing heavier. What if the goddess had foreseen everything? By entrusting her to transfer the divine power to Wayne, was the goddess also giving her a secret mission?
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