Chapter 525 (1): Let Go of That Man. I Will Fight You One-on-One

“Changed your mind already?” Wayne looked disappointed. Unwilling to let it go so easily, he insisted, “You may not have been paying attention, so let me repeat our bet. From this day onward, the Goddess of Moonlight, Siluk, will have to obey my commands whether they are reasonable or not and whether they go against your wishes. Do you hear me clearly? There is no time limit. You’ll be mine to command in the future. Think of it like being my subordinate god.”

Siluk shut Her eyes, Her face stiffening. If Kaleb weren’t here and refusing to leave with Her no matter what, She would never stay and suffer the humiliation. She would just head back to the Divine Realm of Moonlight and shut the door, going off the radar.

“Do you have no objection? I’ll take that as a yes.” Wayne studied Siluk with interest. “Since you’re mine now, you’ll have to play along with my kinks. You’re new, so I won’t make unreasonable demands yet. Let’s start with something simple to ease you in.”

He patted his thigh and gestured at Her to sit on his lap.

Siluk’s eyes flew open in fury. “Is this reasonable for you?”

“Yeah. If you find this excessive, wouldn’t you pop a vessel when you hear the truly unreasonable requests?” Wayne cocked his head. “Or should we skip the onboarding process and jump straight to the real deal?”

Siluk silently took two careful steps back.

Wayne neither pressed nor threatened Her. He simply stated the truth. “Come sit, or I’ll see it as a breach of contract. You’re not Kaleb. Corrupting you won’t make me lose sleep... Don’t glare at me like that. I’ve given you a choice. You were the one who broke the promise first. I’m just retaliating out of necessity.”

He spread his hands, acting like a victim.

Siluk could not bear to look at his shameless face. She was about to ignore their agreement and turn to leave when Her gaze landed on Kaleb. She came to a halt.

A moment later, She dragged Her feet toward Wayne with a blank look on Her face and sat down on... the chair beside Wayne.

“Wrong seat.”

“...”

Siluk pretended She heard nothing and stayed silent.

Wayne knew how to deal with people like Her. With a huff, he stood up and sat on Siluk’s lap instead.

(?_?)

The Goddess of Moonlight was dumbfounded.

“Such a soft cushion,” Wayne commented. “As expected of the bosslady of the Church of Moonlight, you live up to every stereotypical impression I have of Moonlight.”

Noticing that the ‘cushion’ vibrated, he lit up and launched into an enthusiastic string of compliments.

Siluk was trembling with rage, Her teeth clenched and Her eyes fixed on the back of his head. Her silver eyes flickered with killing intent as She thought about how She could take out the bastard.

Then She got an idea: could it be that Wayne was the Final Judgment prophesied by Elohim?

It was a distinct possibility. She didn’t know about the others, but Kaleb and She had already been judged.

Wayne rubbed against the cushion a few times before returning to his seat, bored by the one-sided interaction. He curled his fingers at Siluk. “I’ve had my turn. It’s now yours. You can run away today, but not forever. If you don’t sit down, I’ll have Kaleb—”

Before he could finish, Siluk plopped Herself down on his lap, with fragrant air around Her. As She sat down, She whipped Her silver hair across his face.

Wayne hissed. Seriously? Are you for real?

He took a deep breath of the fire elements and turned to find Siluk with Her eyes squeezed shut, looking solemn like someone attending a funeral. He blinked and said, “My goddess, you smell wonderful!“

Siluk’s composure immediately broke. She shot to Her feet and snarled at Wayne. She had thought that She would be able to endure him, but it was an overestimation of Herself. She could barely take existing in the same space as him, much less sitting on his lap.

The ruckus drew Kaleb’s attention. She handed the octopus back to Wayne and marveled at Siluk’s furious spiel. She hadn’t seen Her bestie like that since they became gods.

“You’re amazing, Wayne.”

“Right?” Wayne sounded proud of himself.

Siluk shot Kaleb a glare. “Bastard, why do you think I haven’t gotten up and left? Can’t you please think for one second? Look at the demands he’s been making of me. He’ll turn around and treat you the same way.”

“Doesn’t matter.” Kaleb waved at Her and refused to change Her mind. “He could’ve just corrupted us after defeating us, but he didn’t. If that’s not cause for me to trust him, what is?”

“Idiot, that’s exactly his plan,” Siluk snapped. “He’s humiliating us and enjoying our struggle. It makes him happier than simply corrupting us!”

“But I haven’t struggled.”

“...”

Siluk fell silent. Dropping down on the chair, She covered Her face, Her shoulders rising and falling.

Kaleb had accomplished what Wayne had failed to do: making Her cry.

Still, Siluk refused to give up on Kaleb. She messaged Her and told Her the theory.

Have you considered that Wayne’s the god awakening for Final Judgment? Look at the two of us and think about what happened during the fight. He may be the great evil god destined to destroy the world.

Again, he could’ve just corrupted us. Then none of this would happen.

Wayne would like to interrupt: Forgive my intrusion, but I’m not going to destroy the world. You know what a capitalist is, don’t you? Just like how goddesses cannot do without followers, capitalists cannot remain noble and superior without slaves.

Siluk stiffly lowered Her hands. There were barely any tears on Her face, and Her eyes were brimming with confusion instead. She didn’t get why Wayne was part of their private chat.

“Kaleb added me,” Wayne said, scratching his head shyly. “It’s embarrassing to admit, but even though I’m a latecomer, She trusts me not much less than She trusts you.”

∠(??•?ω?•??)

Are you getting it on? Count me in!

The line hit Siluk like a truck, leaving Her speechless.

History repeated itself. First, Ines and Aztimor had a falling out. Then, the same happened to Kaleb and Siluk. Another pair of friends saw their friendship falling apart because of a man.

Siluk was beside Herself. She hugged Herself and sobbed. She gave up. She didn’t care about anything now.

If this was Final Judgment, She would be fine as long as Kaleb would be right there with Her in the abyss. She wouldn’t like it, but She could take it.

“Stop being sad, Siluk. Watching you like this is going to make me cry,” Kaleb tried to convince Her. “Think about it. Although Wayne just forced you to sit on his lap, the moment you sat down, he said something to push you away, didn’t he?”

“Then think about this: he’s clearly harassing me.” Siluk slumped down on the table with Her head propped on one hand, too drained to argue properly.

She was exhausted. When was the end of the world going to come? Hurry and let the world meet its doom already.

Kaleb shrugged. She had said everything there was to say, but Siluk wouldn’t listen. There was nothing She could do.

It was fine. Time would prove Her right. She trusted Her instinct and trusted that Wayne wouldn’t lie to Her.

“Since the two of you have woken up, I’ll get to business,” Wayne said. “I’m in a hurry. Hand over your knowledge.”

He extended both hands, one toward Kaleb and the other toward Siluk. Kaleb handed over all Her knowledge without delay, while Siluk let out a hysterical laugh before doing the same.

Siluk considered this a tax She paid for intelligence. She turned to Kaleb and stared at Her long and hard. “Just you wait. Now that he’s gotten our knowledge, everything I said would come true. You’ve doomed us this time.”

“And if that doesn’t happen?”

“That’s even worse,” Siluk said pessimistically. “That’d mean that he’s going to toy with us more. Once he’s broken us, our doom will come.”

She didn’t understand why She and Kaleb had worked so hard to survive the War of Faiths and practiced their combos. Just for Wayne to show up and use them as entertainment?

That would be beyond terrible!

If She had known what would happen, She wouldn’t have worked so hard.

Kaleb’s head hurt. Rubbing Her temples, She said slowly, “Siluk, you’ve been the strategist between us all this time. You’ve been infected by those wicked goddesses. Trust me. There are still genuine people in the world.”

“Ha.”

The two goddesses stared at each other and tried to persuade each other, but failed. In the end, they agreed to let time show them who was right.

Meanwhile, Wayne had gathered the knowledge of almost all the gods in the Chosen Land. He found himself lost in it. Because he had acquired knowledge, he desired knowledge. His growing desires yearned for more. He wanted an infinite supply of knowledge.

There was knowledge in the Astral Plane, but it was scattered and far too slow to harvest. Nothing compared to the efficiency of simply beating up a deity.

Wayne looked beyond the box. He had robbed most of the deities in the Chosen Land, save for the Goddess of Nature, Elian. The slave who had served five masters had become the master of 3.2 goddesses.

Siluk accounted for 0.3 because it was clear from Her indignant expression that while She couldn’t defeat him, She would continue to refuse to admit defeat. It would be unrealistic to expect Her to submit.

Kaleb accounted for 0.9 because they were allies working together, and his progress bar had not gone into Her a hundred percent. It wouldn’t be difficult to do it, though. He wasn’t exaggerating when he said that he could easily give Her nine times a night by beckoning to Her.

Ines and Aztimor accounted for the remaining 2. The goddesses had taken in all his progress bar, and he had to actively avoid them if he didn’t want to give it to them nine times a night.

“That is power to you!” Wayne opened his eyes and stood up, taking Kaleb’s hand to kiss Her fingertips. “Thank you for your gift, my goddess. May your grace remain high in the heavens for an eternity, and may your wisdom never be shrouded by dark clouds.”

Kaleb smiled, Her eyes curved into crescents. She shot Siluk a pleased look.

What did She say? Wayne had not turned on them. Look at him. He only showed Her more care after getting what he wanted. A certain goddess just assumed that everyone was the same because She had insidious thoughts.

Siluk pressed a hand to Her chest, feeling like She had been shot in the heart—no, not just shot. It felt as if She had been hit by eighteen different weapons and then run over repeatedly by the golden chariot.

After thanking Kaleb, Wayne skipped Siluk and returned to his seat.

“Wayne, you haven’t thanked Siluk,” said Kaleb.

“The Goddess of Moonlight wouldn’t appreciate it. Besides, a subordinate god like Her should be serving me. Wouldn’t it be an insult to Her loyalty for me to thank Her?” Wayne waved dismissively, turning to Siluk. “Am I right?”

Siluk huffed. “You’ve gotten the knowledge, so stop pretending. Just say it. What insidious scheme are you plotting?”

“Kekekeke—”

Wayne laughed, whipping his head toward Siluk. “Since you’ve seen through me, there’s no point pretending to be a gentleman. Tonight, I’ll give you a night you’ll never forget for the rest of your life.”

Siluk shuddered. Instead of running immediately, She spun around and turned to Kaleb. “See? That’s his true nature. He’s dropped the act!”

“He’s messing with you. You’ll be fine tonight.”

“If I’m not fine?”

“Then we’ll talk.”

“...”

Siluk closed Her eyes and slumped in the chair, a single tear rolling down from the corner of Her eye. She wasn’t afraid of Wayne. She was afraid that Kaleb would count the money for Her kidnapper after Her kidnapper sold Her.