Chapter 541 (1): I Promise You, Your Good Times Are Still Ahead

Elian had always looked down on Elohim’s endless rambling. He was a researcher who buried himself in his work, with a bit of status. What gave him the right to be compared to Her, the Imperial Princess?

What? You’ve unraveled the ancient gods’ evolution path? You can become an ancient god?

Fine. Let’s see how you manage that!

And so, Elohim went on and on about his grand blueprint like a fanatic, claiming that by destroying the world, one could transcend to a higher plane, surpassing even the new gods and becoming an eternal, immortal ultimate lifeform.

To be honest, Elian didn’t believe Him. Although the box was the empire’s greatest masterpiece, it was forged solely to create gods. Its limit was a new god, or at best a divine system. Ancient gods...

If it were so easy to become ancient gods, They would be so common that They weren’t worth anything.

In the universe were countless civilizations that could rival the Randal Empire. The civilization of great dragons was even more ancient than the empire. Since the empire could create the box, the other civilizations must have similar artifacts. Yet in all recorded history, throughout generations of new gods, none had ever ascended to ancient god status.

Elian found Elohim extreme and believed that he shouldn’t speak in absolutes. However, the temptation of becoming an ancient god was too great, and Elohim did paint a clear picture. Having just been defeated, She had no grounds to question Elohim. She decided to watch him from up close.

Destroying the world would push one to become an ancient god... Might as well give it a try. What if it worked?

(?_?)

This woman isn’t exactly the sharpest tool, either! Wayne thought.

After reviewing Elian’s memories, Wayne’s impression of the once-leader of the goddesses plummeted. He had thought that She was top tier in both intellect and combat, having built the Life Alliance through Her cunning and raw power and figured out an evolution path on Her own. Now, he learned that She had simply benefited from someone else’s work. She innovated nothing.

The average goddess wasn’t even Ines’s match!

Fortunately, there were idiots like Kaleb and Seleucia acting as the intellect low bar among the goddesses, or Wayne would have ranked Elian dead last and dubbed Her the ‘Goddess of Wisdom.’

“Elohim wears the skin of a male human, which makes him a man in some sense. It serves you right to end up with nothing. You believed a man’s nonsense—more than once.”

Wayne snorted. He felt no goodwill for Elian, his newly acquired vassal. Compared to Her, even Siluk was much more likable.

Meanwhile, Elian had been resolutely ignoring Ines’s questioning. Seleucia and Aztimor went right to extracting Elian’s memories by force with the permission Wayne had granted them.

Although Elian was a vassal like Aztimor and Seleucia, She couldn’t resist them, just as She couldn’t resist Wayne.

After going through all the memories, the two goddesses fell silent. Learning that their very existence and evolution had been manipulated by Elian made them feel like their entire lives had been a lie. Seleucia had seen far more. Even Her battle with Sett had been Elian’s machinations.

Sett had been the one to kill Seleucia and take the Laws of Storm and Thunder from Her, but Elian had been the mastermind. Seleucia had taken Her revenge on Sett, and now, it was Elian’s turn. She pinned Elian to the ground while gnashing Her teeth.

Elian’s life essence had been transformed to make Her Wayne’s vassal, so She wouldn’t die by Seleucia’s hand; She wouldn’t even feel pain. A slap to Her face was a blow to Her dignity, however. She glared at Seleucia with fierce eyes, ready to ensure mutual destruction.

Soon, the number of goddesses She had to ensure mutual destruction with grew to five.

Aztimor silently created a group chat and invited Ines, Kaleb, and Siluk. After the memories were shared, they took turns using violence on Elian.

It was bullying in the Divine Realm!

Wayne didn’t stop them. He just commented dryly on the rain and then started studying the Divine Realm and the Book of Greed. Good news: he had gained all of Nature’s knowledge and corrupted Elian, completing the Divine Realm and making it even more stable. The Authority had been enhanced for the five goddesses and the newly added Elian.

Bad news: the Book of Greed was insatiable and impossible to sate. Collecting the information inside the box wouldn’t help Wayne ascend overnight. If he wanted to leave the box, he needed more information. If he wanted more information, he needed to leave the box.

It was a circular paradox.

He clenched his fists and murmured, “Almost there. I’m not quite there yet if I want to corrupt the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.”

In his fight with the Horseman of War, Wayne had evolved repeatedly, growing stronger. He tried multiple times to corrupt War, but to no avail. The machine’s red coating was practically peeling off because of the Book of Greed.

Despite the failures, Wayne could sense that the Horseman of War had an upper limit. If Wayne could surpass that, he would be able to break the deadlock and claim War as his own.

That was his biggest takeaway from the battle. He now had a clear goal and no longer had to make wild guesses about the Four Horsemen’s strength.

Of course, there were losses, too. Bringing Elian to the new Divine Realm was a losing deal for sure.

“If I hadn’t brought Elian in, the divine battle wouldn’t have happened, and the Horseman of War wouldn’t have awakened. Elian would continue to be the Horseman of Death...”

Wayne rubbed his temples. Still, he couldn’t deny that Elian’s integration into the Divine Realm was invaluable. From the Divine Realm’s perspective, Elian had to be here, or they couldn’t stand against the Four Horsemen.

Elian’s memories also contained fragments about the Four Horsemen, including Famine in the inner world, War in the Chosen Land, and Pestilence in the Forbidden Zone of Remains.

Wayne had theorized that Pestilence was Elohim, but Elian disagreed. Even though Pestilence had called Elohim his former self and seemed to know the Four Horsemen inside out, She remained skeptical.

She had no concrete proof other than Her sixth sense. Her gut feeling told Her that Pestilence wasn’t Elohim.

Wayne didn’t understand where the confidence came from, but since Elian had raised the possibility, he couldn’t ignore it. Frowning, he considered where the real Elohim would be hiding if Elian was right.

As he pondered, a subtle fragrance swept over him.

Ines sat sideways on Wayne’s lap, draping an arm over his shoulder. “I’m not an independent being. I’m just a test tube in the gene bank. Even my efforts and my understanding of Darkness have merely been copied from another lifeform.”

Her eyes reddened. The unhappy disciplinary teacher had come to seek Her husband for comfort.

Wayne put aside his questions and asked, “What’s wrong? Tell me, and I’ll help you rub it out. A good rub will fix everything.”

“My chest feels tight.”

“I’ll rub it.”

Slap!

Ines swatted Wayne’s hands away, grumbling, “I’m upset. Can’t you say something nice to comfort me?”

You don’t get it. This is called diversion. Don’t you feel better already?

Before he could argue for himself, Ines leaned into his shoulder and blew into his ear. “There are too many people here. We’ll talk later.”

As expected of you!

Wayne raised an eyebrow and stared at Her face from up close. Then he kissed Her.

His lips missed!

Ines had been yanked back by the hair. She whirled around to glare at the troublemaker, Aztimor. “Wench, if you want to die, just say so. You don’t have to be so roundabout with it.”

Aztimor ignored Her. The pair of friends had not made up since their friendship capsized. It didn’t seem like they ever would.

Among the goddesses, only one pair was genuinely close: Kaleb and Siluk. All others were as real as plastic stuck together with glue. They might be close for a period of time, but never permanently.

Digging deeper, it all came down to personality. Kaleb and Siluk were too complementary. Their bond was stronger than steel, and not even Wayne could wedge himself in.

Aztimor didn’t want to watch Wayne and Ines get all lovey-dovey. She had come to interrupt their moment, and now that She had succeeded, She set Her sights on a new goal.

“Master, I’m not an independent being... I’m a copy of another lifeform.” Aztimor parroted Ines’s lines, sighing softly. “My chest feels tight.”

Ines furiously shot to Her feet and kicked Aztimor out, warning Wayne, “Don’t think I don’t know about your little tryst with Her. You’ve been sneaking around behind my back all the time!”

Among the collection of World’s Famous Paintings: the Goddess of Darkness’s Honeymoon, Ines had seen quite a few versions in person. There were also those drawn by the Holy Maiden of Darkness and the Darkness Knight. Ines knew about them, but chose to let them slide.

Correction: those drawn by Vichy were fine, but not those by Anastasia. The Goddess of Darkness saw Her Holy Maiden as Her mortal enemy, wanting nothing more than to slap the wench into a photo.

Too bad She couldn’t.

It was sad, but Ines had a feeling that while She was Wayne’s wife, She might just rank below Anastasia in his heart.

“You misunderstood me, Ines,” Wayne mumbled pitifully. “I haven’t been sneaking around with Aztimor all the time...”

It had only been three or four times. It wasn’t all the time. Also, while they had been sneaking around, he had kept it chaste for Ines. Aztimor hadn’t gotten a taste at all.

Wayne’s face was inherently punchable. Ines couldn’t help but grit Her teeth and raise a hand... Only to pat his cheek.

He had had it hard. He had been busy running around. She would deal with him after the Final Judgment.

“Boss, I’m not an independent being—” Seleucia walked over with a troubled expression.

(?乛?乛)(一′一;)

Ines turned to Wayne with a withering glare, waiting for him to explain. Wasn’t Seleucia supposed to be an idiot? Hadn’t he been treating Her like a pet? What was going on?

Wayne was speechless. He waved Seleucia away. If Her chest felt tight, She should rub it on Her own. He didn’t provide that kind of service.

Once She turned to leave, Wayne said, “Is it possible that She’s just come to join the party?”

“Hmph!”

Ines shot Seleucia’s back a cold glance. The wench had not come to join anything. Unlike Aztimor, She was here to express Her dissatisfaction with Ines.

It wasn’t easy to be the boss lady. Ines had no support at the moment.

Wayne, ever observant, noticed Kaleb gearing up to do the same about Ines. He hurriedly stood up and dusted his pants, promising a rain check. He had to handle the important stuff now.

He went up to Elian, the goddesses trailing after him with frosty expressions. No one showed Elian any goodwill.

Wayne crouched down, putting on a look of shock. “My goddess, what put you in such a sorry state? It’s one thing for your hair to be disheveled, but what happened to your clothes? You’re barely covered up.”

He turned to glare at the group of vermin. “Speak. Who did this? If you confess now, I’ll go easy on you!”

When no one talked, he turned to Siluk and said, “Don’t think I wouldn’t know it was you just because you said nothing. It must be your doing.”

Siluk glanced at him and harrumphed. Ever since She mastered the art of fantasizing about Her victory, She had stopped arguing with Wayne, taking the blame quickly like a perfectly obedient subordinate while She pictured Herself beating Wayne up and putting him on his knees.

“Wayne, I can vouch for Siluk,” Kaleb hurried to say. “It wasn’t her.”

“Oh? If you say it wasn’t her, it wasn’t.” Wayne nodded readily, stroking his chin. “In my opinion, Goddess Elian must have ended up like this because She wasn’t watching where She was going. She tripped and fell.”

“Indeed, She tripped and fell.”

“Hehehe—”

“Hahaha—”

“Kekekeke—”

Amid the chorus of mocking laughter, Elian trembled with rage, Her limbs and torso collapsing multiple times. She would’ve killed every last one of them if She could.

But She couldn’t. As long as Wayne didn’t allow it, She couldn’t even stand up.