Chapter 502 (1): What’s a Traitor Got to Be So Proud of?

Wayne muttered to himself. The authorities granted by a god could be considered an upgraded version of the Seven Deadly Sins in Hell, but if that was all it amounted to, the Divine Realm wouldn’t be all it was cracked up to be.

That would give him the courage to invade the Divine Realm of Darkness, which would be bad news for the Goddess of Darkness.

Ines had set out to become the boss’s wife. If Her Divine Realm failed to impress, Her market value would depreciate, and then it would be difficult for Her to land the position.

“Lord Rognes!” Ryza shouted. A formidable enemy stood before them, and the eighth level was locked down. Wayne needed to leave now, and under no circumstances should he arrogantly provoke Saigner.

One misstep would start a chain reaction and topple the house of cards. The fate of the entire Underworld hung on this. Wayne could not fall here.

Ignoring her, Wayne locked down the surrounding space with a wave. From this moment on, no one was allowed to speak without his permission.

Snap!

Following the snap of his fingers, the passageway to the Heart of Nature opened, and green vines came snaking out, coiling around the dozens of demigods and dragging them into the verdant sanctuary, along with the captives.

Suddenly, the entirety of the eighth level became isolated from the outside world, preventing even thoughts from escaping. The sheer dominance of the power caught Wayne’s attention. He wondered if it was the subordinate’s power, or the authority of the Divine Realm.

White light pulsed in his eyes as he broke through the seal and forced a connection between the Heart of Nature and the Summit of Pride. An impassable chasm divided the two levels. Those inside couldn’t get out, and those outside couldn’t get in. In between the two worlds, one would be close enough to touch either side, but everything would be intangible.

The Heart of Nature had been Aztimor’s personal creation, a secret that the three subordinate gods weren’t privy to. They didn’t know it existed and should not be able to exert influence on it with their own authority. Only with the Authority over the Underworld that they later acquired could they stop the two worlds from connecting.

Wayne sensed the transparent figures around him. He reached out toward Ryza, but his hand passed right through her chest without touching her body. He could neither send these people to the Heart of Nature nor drag them back to the Summit of Pride...

They were stuck!

“Interesting. That’s quite a high-level clearance...”

He rose into the air with surging Death energy radiating off him, forming eight grey tentacles that stretched from earth to the sky. They thrashed and pulverized the mountain ranges, converging overhead to form a massive shadow that blocked out the sun.

“Come on then. Let’s duel!”

Before Saigner could even react, the nine Night Gods blanched. The current Death Knight was beyond audacious. He was nothing like the gallant young successor that Rognes had boasted. They might as well be different people.

The demigods felt helpless, but they didn’t even know who to complain to. They blamed themselves for betraying Rognes’s trust. Ryza, in particular, looked ashen. She glanced at her student Sukra and found the girl watching everything play out with an expectant expression, as if the outcome weren’t decided yet. She couldn’t stop herself from knocking the girl’s head with a knifehand.

Thud!

“Master, why did you hit me?” Sukra asked petulantly.

“You know nothing about demigods. I refuse to admit you’re my student!” Ryza seemed to find her an outlet for her frustration. She seized Sukra’s ear and scolded her, deeply regretting that she hadn’t taken the right precautions. If she had known that Wayne had nothing in that skull of his, she would’ve formulated a foolproof strategy.

Sukra tried to cut in many times, but lacking Wayne’s experience in shutting people up, she failed every attempt.

Feeling wronged, Sukra decided to throw her master under the bus. “It’s easy to stop Wayne from doing something reckless. I’ll teach you a sealing technique. It’s guaranteed to keep him from straying far. You won’t even be able to make him stay away.”

She grabbed Ryza’s arm as an illustration.

“What’s the sealing technique?”

“This! I’ve sealed you!”

“...”

(ꐦ￣皿￣)ง(⇀‸↼;)

“This isn’t the time for jokes! You’re just as brainless as Wayne!”

“Master, this will work—”

“Shut up!”

High in the sky, colorful radiance faced off against a black shadow, splitting the sky of the eighth level in two. At the center, where powerful thoughts collided, the radiance shattered, and the shadow collapsed. Neither of the two distinct parts could gain an inch.

Saigner blinked with surprise creeping onto her flawless face.

Among the three avatars of Death, Saigner alone had been personally created by Aztimor, inheriting some of Her features and thus bearing a seventy percent resemblance to the goddess. Her skin was fair and flawless with a faint, gentle shine. Her nose was straight and delicate, and her lips thin and soft. Her long grey hair was combed into serene stillness, free of mortal disturbances and embodying an ethereal grace.

Yet the set of her brows and eyes gave off a noble severity and an overbearing presence that kept others at arm’s length. The Judge of Death fit the requirements to be elevated above others in both looks and temperament.

Unlike the other disciples of Death, there was little grey on Saigner. Her tall figure was hugged by a black dress of shimmering light, paired with long black gloves that clad her slender arms, accentuating her graceful lines.

The black hem of the dress appeared like mist at night, airy and mysterious, as though it might dissolve into shadow at any moment. It was the complete opposite to the light she emitted when she entered.

Wayne studied her. Saigner’s divine title was the Soul-devouring Crow, but he saw no crow-like features on her. She was nothing like Grau, the Misfortune Spider, who never made an appearance without special effects featuring black spiders.

Speaking of which, titles like the Misfortune Spider, Soul-devouring Crow, and Wings of Winter would be akin to titles like the Pale Moon or the Plague of Stars in the beginning of the War of Faiths. It was entirely possible that the goddesses of that era, freshly ascending to demigodhood, were nowhere near a match for today’s subordinate gods.

Saigner frowned slightly. Her thin lips parted as she spoke in a cold, clear voice, “Who are you? You’re not Rognes. Where is he? Why would he have you impersonate him?”

“I am Rognes!”

Wayne drew Shadow Nightmare to prove his identity.

“No, you aren’t.” Saigner’s eyes bloomed with white light. An indescribable, colossal power erupted from her and swept every corner of the eighth level, dispersing the clouds of Death energy and stripping the Death Knight skin off him.

“Um...”

Wayne touched his face, then looked down at Shadow Nightmare. The ruby at the pommel had dimmed, unable to put the Death Knight’s exclusive skin on him. It had been sealed!

Ever since he inherited Shadow Nightmare fully and became the one and only Death Knight, Shadow Nightmare had been his exclusive weapon. Not even Rognes could take the divine artifact from him.

Rognes wasn’t a Death Knight in the normal sense. He had merely been the blade’s custodian, his real duty being to guard Julia and the fragment of Death’s thoughts within him. To keep up appearances, he had been taking on the Death Knight’s work occasionally.

What Rognes couldn’t do, Saigner...

A subordinate god might be able to do it, but Wayne didn’t believe that Saigner would be able to easily seal Shadow Nightmare with her own power. He believed she had invoked the Authority of the Underworld.

“I’m one of the three contenders for the divinity of Death, and Death’s power answers to me. You can never use Death against me.” Saigner’s expression was stiff as she went on. “You have lost. Now tell me where Rognes is and why he had you impersonate him.”

“Here’s the thing. Perhaps Rognes looks faceless and skinless most of the time, but actually looks just like me when he wants a face.”

“Are you not going to talk?” Saigner narrowed her eyes. “It’s commendable that you’re courageous enough to face a god. I’ll interrogate your soul and let you keep a shred of dignity.”

“Hmph, what’s a traitor got to be so proud of?” Wayne scoffed. “Spare me the posturing. You haven’t become a god yet, and even if you have, you’re nothing but a mad dog who bit its own master.”

“Rognes said that the two of you were created by the goddess. She’s your faith and mother!”

“Strange. While you aren’t biologically connected, you are siblings. Why are you so different?”

Wayne continued his verbal assault, thoroughly provoking Saigner until her face darkened and her composure broke. That hit a nerve!

“Don’t get angry just yet. I’m not done!”

He took a deep breath, projecting his voice across the eighth level. “You’re the goddess’s subordinate god. Despite your high status, you betrayed your faith. That is disloyalty. As the goddess’s creation, you conspired with foreign forces and forced the goddess into slumber. That is unfilialness. You started a war for divinity, causing the death and torment of the people of the Underworld. That is cruelty. You twisted facts and framed Rognes as a traitor, stopping at nothing to get what you want. That is injustice...”

“You disloyal, unfilial, cruel, and unjust sinner. What right do you have to stand above the mortals?”

“The Underworld is shamed because of you. I, Wayne the Death Knight, will drag you down from the sky!”

The righteous declaration spread across the entire eighth level. The demigods in his camp applauded and cheered, all pumped up and ready to throw their lives away to take out Saigner.

“Silence!!”

Saigner’s eyes had gone red, too. Her vast thoughts swept down and manifested as a giant hand, clamping around Wayne.

The sky and earth stilled, and the air thickened and became stagnant. An omnipresent chill closed in with the coldness of deep winter, piercing the flesh and reaching the heart.

Time was frozen to eternity by an intangible force, and infinite gravity coiled around Wayne, trying to tear his soul out and shred it.

Devour the soul!

But the power did nothing.

With a wave, Wayne cut the frozen space with Shadow Nightmare. His incredible thoughts remained stable and strong. Neither his body nor mind wavered in the slightest.