Chapter 500 (1): I’d Rather Not Have This Sister!

Clink! Clang!

As they said, the reasonable ones could go anywhere, while the unreasonable ones couldn’t take any step. Wayne had firmly planted himself on the reasonable side, while the banshees were making a ruckus unreasonably. Of course they would all collapse.

After the banshees fell, the undead creatures summoned by them either vanished or turned into aimless strays, leaving in small groups.

Omeros lay prone on the ground, looking at Wayne with terror and shock. She wasn’t seriously injured. There was barely any scratch on her. However, her demigod vitality domain remained restrained, rendered unreachable by a seal.

The skeleton soldier was too strong, so strong that it defied common sense.

She then looked at Sukra’s prone form on the ground, her backside raised. She just wanted to know how Sukra had raised the skeleton soldier. Why would the servant, absurdly, turn on the master?

Scowling, Sukra gritted her teeth and shot Wayne a glare. Although she couldn’t defeat him, she refused to admit defeat.

Since they were friends, Wayne wasn’t going to actually spank her. To downplay the punishment, he patted her instead.

“Oh, there’s a nice bounce!”

“...”

Sukra screamed internally. Being humiliated after her defeat made her want to crash into Wayne and die. But she couldn’t. If she could get him, she would’ve bled all over him as she said she would.

“Since no one’s talking, I’ll say a few words.” Wayne cleared his throat. “First things first, the house rules. One, I’m the only one who can interrupt others. Any problem?”

No one said anything, and they looked calm. It had to mean that they had no objection.

“It’s simple, really,” Wayne said slowly. “As all of you can see, I’m the goddess’s chosen knight. Since the goddess has fallen into slumber, and the Underworld is in dire danger, I came to quell the rebellion and awaken the goddess.”

He shook his head. Why did no one interrupt him? He was looking forward to it.

Once he stopped, Ryza talked back in a hardened tone, “If you were the chosen knight and knew Rognes, you would know the truth about the Underworld, and you wouldn’t have attacked us.”

“I told you the truth, but you wouldn’t believe me. You even used a divine art on me. I have no choice but to attack you.” Wayne spread his hands. “Attacking you isn’t my goal, but a means to calm you down so that I can clarify myself.”

“But you attacked the goddess!” Omeros added.

“First, that’s a projection created by the divine art, not the actual goddess,” Wayne defended himself unhurriedly. “Second, I only made one swing, and the supposedly unrivaled goddess fell? Does that make sense?”

“No!”

“If you just use your brain, you’ll see that I didn’t attack the goddess, but introduced myself to Her. Learning about my arrival, She dispersed on Her own, unwilling to hurt me.”

“...” xN

Ryza and the banshees fell into thought. He might have a point.

“Don’t listen to his nonsense. He’s a pro at deceiving women!” Sukra hurriedly warned when they wavered.

“Hey, which side are you on?” Wayne was speechless.

Sukra gnashed her teeth together. “You, the goddess’s knight, attacked the goddess. Whose side do you think I’m on?”

Wayne nodded and pointed at her rump. “Did you hear that? She didn’t deny my identity. I am the goddess’s knight.”

Is that the point? xN

“The goddess fell into slumber because our mortal enemy, Nature, ambushed the Underworld. Caught off guard, She suffered a heavy blow—”

“Impossible!” Omeros countered. “This is the Underworld, where the goddess reigns supreme. Not even the Goddess of Nature would be able to defeat the goddess here, much less strike a serious blow.”

But what if Death did this on purpose? What if this is part of Her plan?

Wayne knew part of the truth, but he neither spelled it out nor held Omeros accountable for interrupting him.

The banshee was three meters tall and a cold corpse. Wayne didn’t swing that way. If Sukra or Ryza interrupted him, on the other hand, he would definitely make them pay.

To be more precise, he had made the rule for the master and disciple, and only they would be punished for violating it.

“Indeed, the goddess is invincible in the Divine Realm, and Nature couldn’t have defeated the goddess in the Underworld. But what if there were traitors?” Wayne said bitterly. “There are traitors among us, and the goddess was surrounded by treacherous vermin. The three subordinate gods had guided Nature into the Underworld. It was their betrayal that critically injured the goddess and put Her to sleep.”

“Impossible!!” Omeros snapped. “The three subordinate gods are confidants that the goddess had handpicked. They are all loyal. They couldn’t have betrayed the goddess altogether.”

Yes, so one of them must be a spy!

Wayne agreed. He had felt that something was amiss. When he acquired parts of Aztimor’s thoughts from Ines, he became certain that at least one of the three was a spy.

It was most likely the Observer, Grau the Misfortune Spider!

After Auston became the Darkness Knight, Grau gave him an antique silver coin of luck, helping him suppress the pain brought by Twilight Despair. In return, Auston had to follow Grau’s orders.

Since Auston acquired the coin, Grau had only given him one mission: to attack the Church of Nature’s head office in Windsor. Auston had never heard from Grau again ever since.

The coin was worth much more than the head office. Grau had obviously used that as a red herring, when his true goal was to bring Monica the black cat, one of Aztimor’s incarnations, to the human world.

Placing the cat with anyone other than Auston would have been dangerous since Rognes had already become the Headless Knight then. Auston was Darkness’s knight, and Darkness and Death were good friends. His estate was a good option.

The motive made sense, and the logic was sound. Grau was most likely the spy. The least likely to be a spy was the Executor, Sizorn the Wings of Winter. He had personally ambushed Rognes, which alone would make him the unmistakable traitor of the Underworld.

The Judge, Saigner the Soul-devouring Crow, was Aztimor’s creation. Her birth predated Rognes’s, making her Rognes’s older sister.

Rognes was a loyal subject of Death and Her top supporter. Learning that Saigner was part of the rebellion and the mastermind behind the attempt to lay claim to Death’s divine throne, Rognes felt a deep resentment and derision for Saigner.

He’d rather not have a sister like that!

“What?” Omeros scoffed. “Can’t make up anything?”

“I have nothing to say. The three subordinate gods are traitors, and the goddess sent me to the Divine Realm to quell the rebellion. That is the truth.”

Wayne’s form shimmered. Black smoke swirled around his skull, then pitch-black armor covered his skeleton. With a tap on Shadow Nightmare, the blade shed the humiliatingly shabby skin and showed its true form.

Grey Death energy permeated the air, casting shadows in everyone’s hearts. Intangible claws of Death gripped their thoughts. Wayne could corrupt them completely at will to make them return to death’s embrace—in the literal sense.

He snapped his fingers and released his restraint on all of them, holding Shadow Nightmare vertically. “I came to rescue the goddess,” he said, white light dancing in his eye sockets. “Banshees, you’re the goddess’s devout followers. I order you to obey me.”

The banshees felt helpless in the face of the overbearing Death Knight. Omeros, their leader, had a dark look on her face.

“I’m willing to believe that you’re the goddess’s knight, but Sir Sizorn is a subordinate god and the goddess’s avatar. I can’t tell which of you is telling the truth and which of you can represent the goddess...”

It was impossible to untangle this mess. The banshees were put in a dilemma of opposing claims. Ryza, on the other hand, didn’t share their concern. She took Wayne’s side without hesitation and bowed alongside her companions.

“No rush,” Wayne said. “You may take your time considering. If you can’t decide which side to join, I won’t push.”

Omeros had taken good care of Sukra before the battle broke out, clearly a kind-hearted follower at heart. Kindness begot kindness, so Wayne had no reason to kill her. However...

“To prevent information breach, I’ll restrain you and take you with me by force. You don’t have to join the fight, but you must stay where I can see.”

He told the banshees to consider the matter before turning to address Ryza. “I know you, the former Holy Maiden of Death, Ryza. I’ve heard some interesting trivia about you in the human world.”

When Ryza looked at him with confusion, he continued, “According to your disciple, Sukra, the current Holy Maiden of Death, you’re a lazy slacker with no ambition in life. Your lifelong dream is to go home early and lie down.”

Ryza looked even more confused.

“Bastard, stop your slander!” Sukra rushed up to him. “I’m right here!”

“It’s immoral to speak ill of someone behind their back, so I speak ill of you right in front of you.” Wayne gave himself a thumbs-up. He was an honest man.

Ryza looked at the malnourished banshee in shock. “Sukra, you’re dead?”

Wayne’s masterful transformation was so convincing that not only didn’t Omeros notice anything amiss, but Ryza, Sukra’s master, also failed to see through the disguise.

“Master...” Sukra mumbled, feeling embarrassed when she thought of how Wayne had patted her on the backside.

The ruby at the tip of Shadow Nightmare flickered faintly, and Sukra transformed from a two-and-a-half-meter-tall banshee back into a regular human.

Ryza brightened up and threw her arms around Sukra, pecking her on the forehead.

“What’s wrong with your eyes, Sukra?”

“Why did you enter the Underworld...”

“The banshee earlier...”

Ryza asked a series of questions, to which Sukra responded properly. She pointed at Wayne and said, “See? Isn’t the Death Knight I’ve chosen incredible? He’s born the perfect chosen knight of Death. I have a good eye for people, don’t I?”

Ryza nodded approvingly. She was about to say something when Sukra was pushed aside, replaced by Wayne, whose arms were raised. He even lowered his head and waited for Ryza to kiss him.

That surprised Ryza. She had never met a knight this friendly. He was just a skeleton, though, so there was nothing wrong with giving him a kiss. She hugged him and was about to peck him when Sukra dragged... dragged... dragged her out of Wayne’s embrace.

“Be rational, Master. Don’t give him something just because he asks. He’s good at fooling women!” Sukra pulled a long face. “You’d been a Holy Maiden all your life. Then you entered the Divine Realm and became a lady-in-waiting. You’ve never had a relationship, so you don’t know how terrible a scumbag from high society could be. Trust me. You can’t go wrong with keeping your distance.”

“You spoke as if you’d been in a relationship,” Wayne snorted. “Sukra, our relationship could only be considered a sponsorship. I provide you with the money to keep you well fed and well dressed, while you don’t have to do anything but lie down. That isn’t an actual relationship.”

Ryza sucked in a breath and staggered back in denial.

“Sukra, you’re a Holy Maiden. How could you have so little self-respect? What did I teach you before?!”

“You misunderstood, Master,” Sukra hurried out. “I’m just lying down and doing nothing.”

“That’s still wrong!”

“I don’t mean it like that...” Sukra stammered, pointing at Wayne. “Calm down, Master. Think about what I just told you. This bastard is a professional in deceiving women, so don’t buy a word out of his mouth.”

“Nonsense, Sukra. You called me a liar? Then let me ask you this. Haven’t I paid for your livelihood? Haven’t you been lying down every day?” Wayne demanded like he was the hurt party.

(╥﹏╥)

Bastard, Sukra wailed. You’ve got nothing to feel hurt over.

Though it was their first time seeing each other after years of separation, the master and disciple didn’t have a pleasant reunion. Sukra couldn’t explain herself, and Ryza gave her a good scolding.

Pleased, Wayne turned to Omeros and asked, “What’s your decision? Have you made up your mind? Do I take you with me by force, or would you join me willingly?”

Omeros didn’t have a choice. She smiled bitterly and said, “I still can’t figure this out. Please just take us by force!”

Wayne nodded and silently commended their loyalty. The banshees didn’t care about sunk cost. They were much better than the vermin in Heaven.

He had updated his integrity ranking:

Death > Darkness/Sun/Moonlight > Heaven/Hell/Londan > Nature

Why was Darkness at the same rank as Sun and Moonlight when Anastasia was Wayne’s white moonlight? The reason was simple: Ines, a bigshot in Darkness’s camp, severely lowered the average score.