The next day, a black sedan drove away from the cathedral, going straight to the next destination.

The Goddess of Darkness had given Wayne two gifts. One was on its way here on horseback; Anastasia had contacted her pope father at the headquarters of the Church of Darkness, transporting treasure to Londan in the name of Darkness’s oracle. The other gift Wayne had to retrieve on his own. It was located in the burial site of the previous Darkness Knight in Windsor, where Auston had found Twilight Despair.

Wayne had learned the exact location from Auston and planned to find it. He might as well get that done during this trip. It wouldn’t be much of a detour.

In the back seat, Wayne looked at the map while Kristen was sound asleep beside him, her head resting on his shoulder. Last night... things were a little complicated.

Simply put, an adult had faced a terrifying choice. The two opposing results were both correct, and while children wanted both because they were greedy, adults took both because they didn’t have a choice. Wayne was a victim here.

Troubled in love, Kristen caught up on sleep against Wayne’s shoulder.

He lowered the map and glanced at her. The holy grail could awaken her divine blood. While it wouldn’t be as efficient as striking her with Laws, it would be much safer and less painful.

How they should go about it was something to figure out. He would take as much time to study it as he needed to once back in Londan.

***

The burial site was located on the border of the Republic of Erland and Northern Erland, in the middle of nowhere. It was so remote that there was not a single soul in sight, let alone a road. It was evident how much Auston yearned for power that he had found and acquired Twilight Despair here.

Wayne had Mona stay in the car and take care of Kristen. He was quick on his feet, so it wouldn’t take long for him to grab his treasure and come back.

With the detailed descriptions provided by Auston, Wayne followed the landmarks to the entrance of the ruins in half an hour. It was a desolate place with walls that had been weathered by time. The collapsed, worn structures were a poor representation of their former glory. From above, he looked at the ancient city that occupied a large space.

Weeds had taken over. Cold gusts blew from different directions and brought in scents that were unique to wildlands like this. They rustled as they brushed past the stone walls of the ruins.

Wayne went deep into the ruins. He saw etchings and patterns on walls submerged by dead branches and leaves, obscured beyond recognition.

The clearest mural portrayed a ritual: under the guidance of a priest, followers circled an altar to worship god, raising their hands and hoping for god to descend. From the thick clouds in the sky, two massive eyes looked down at the ritual site.

It was an ancient faith that did not correspond to any of the main faiths in the Chosen Land, and the deity wasn’t one Wayne knew of.

“Another god lost in the long river of history...”

He closed his eyes and extended his thoughts to look for the entrance that Auston had told him about. His body melted into white foam, seeping through cracks to go underground.

His clothes and shoes were all creations of his thoughts, so he could disintegrate them and reconstitute them at will, enabling him to undress in one second to save time.

Reaching more than ten meters underground, he found a pitch-black tunnel leading deeper down. The white foam reassembled into a tentacle monster and climbed along the walls, moving impossibly fast.

Wayne went around the underground ruin, scouting out the rooms of varying sizes that totaled over a hundred. The place was spacious, but not that incredible in scale. Most rooms were storage for supplies. This looked like a shelter.

At the end of the tunnel were dozens of stone walls that had been broken violently. Transforming back into his human form, Wayne smoothed a hand over the broken walls, speculating that these had been shattered in one blow.

He mimicked the swing, picturing what had happened.

It was obvious that Auston couldn’t have done this. Megan might be able to, but Auston was too cautious to allow her to when there could be magical traps remaining in the ruin. Thus, someone else had found the ruin before Auston did.

Emboldened by his own power, Wayne passed through the broken stone walls to the deepest part of the ruin. The spherical bastion was spacious and dark. The walls were etched with dense arrays of magic circles, all of which were rendered obsolete by the violent destruction.

He snapped his fingers to conjure fireflies of fire elements to roam and illuminate the bastion. It was empty.

With his thoughts, he detected an anomaly in a corner: a broken stone statue that had been smashed. The stone bricks underneath had been replaced.

While reassembling the stone statue the way one would piece together a puzzle, he unearthed the remains buried underneath. The skeleton would suggest a female.

“Such thick darkness...”

Wayne guessed that the remains belonged to the previous Darkness Knight. She entered under her goddess’s oracle, and then...

He shifted his gaze to the statue. The long robe covered the whole body, but the curves were still visible. It should be a goddess.

During the war of faiths, numerous deities had fallen. This goddess, struggling to survive, had found her way here and gone into a slumber. Then, the Darkness Knight barged in. The two ended up killing each other in their violent clash.

Later, the Goddess of Darkness had guided Auston here. He acquired Twilight Despair and buried the remains of the previous knight, receiving the disciplinary teacher’s favorite kind of lesson—a game of Darkness.

Anastasia was so perfect in appearance, temperament, and character that Wayne had a favorable impression of the Church of Darkness. The dark elves guarding the Frozen Land also contributed to the increased score. Among the five churches, only the Church of Darkness remained true to its mission of guarding the seal, while all other churches had given it a wide berth. The Church of Death had run the fastest, with even its chosen knight ignoring the threat.

Perhaps there was more to the story, but based on what Wayne had witnessed, the Church of Darkness seemed to have made the most contribution and sacrifice, performing the best among all churches.

Once he encountered the Church of Darkness’s top leader, the Goddess of Darkness, though, his impression quickly plummeted.

There was nothing good about the woman!

Both the way the goddess had sold Anastasia out without hesitation and the way She had sent a messenger to expedite Auston’s awakening made it difficult for Wayne to feel any goodwill for Her. It was partly a retaliation for him to seal the Goddess of Darkness’s thoughts and reshape Her after himself.

He didn’t care that Silvia and Veronica hadn’t gotten hurt. He held a grudge against the goddess for that and exerted part of his revenge through the goddess’s partial thoughts. Once Wayne became powerful enough, the debt the goddess owed him would have grown exponentially, and he would make Her pay in full.

With a huff, Wayne put the remains away in his personal storage. Putting the goddess aside, he still felt favorably about the Church of Darkness. For Anastasia’s sake, he would collect the Darkness Knight’s remains and bury her in the Western District Great Cemetery.

“So chosen knights die, too. I thought they would be unrivaled in the Chosen Land when each of them was as powerful as a demigod.” Wayne looked at the nondescript statue, his thoughts extending once more to look for treasure in the area. He had guessed what the resources the Goddess of Darkness talked about were—pretty sure it was the legacy of a deity, just like the obelisks.

It would be a good meal for the Book of Greed.

Wayne searched for a long time but found nothing. There was no treasure to be found in the ground under the statue. He shifted focus and went above instead. If there was nothing below, there had to be something above.

With a glint in his eyes, he melted into white foam and filled the underground bastion in rumbling waves of paleness, rising ever higher. All the magic circles on the walls that had been violently destroyed were mended. He injected his mana to activate them, awakening the ancient ruin from its millennium of slumber.

Countless magic circles flickered high above. Wayne reverted to his human form and looked up, feeling as if he were looking into an infinite sky with an infinite number of stars. He felt suddenly insignificant and awe-struck. Even his knees weakened.

“Cheap tricks!”

Wayne huffed, keeping his legs standing. He had never even knelt for a living goddess; he certainly wasn’t going to do it for a dead one—unless said goddess went down on Her elbows and knees.

The dense stars sparkled, casting strands of light that danced like ribbons. A magnificent palace was projected deep in the sea of clouds, standing tall and glorious with faint white wisps obscuring the architecture, preventing onlookers from getting a clear look.

Different natural phenomena continued to occur in the sky. Rainstorms followed lightning, and cyclones followed rainstorms. Once the entirety of the palace disappeared, a pair of eyes opened in the depths of the clouds.

The purple eyes contained an infinite amount of mana, with crackling currents circling their solemn visage. They looked down at Wayne with no hint of emotion, but there were disturbances of thoughts.

Wayne sensed thoughts awakening, followed by spatial fluctuations in the air. Beyond the clouds lay a hidden world.

The eyes flashed, curving in what looked like a smile when they spotted the mended statue beside Wayne. Amid the rumbling clouds and crackling lightning, a dignified female voice spoke:

“Devout pilgrim. I am the Goddess of Sky, manipulator of the atmosphere. Speak your name, and you will have the power of the divine. Walk in the human world in my stead.”

“Bruce.”

Wayne gave the alias that he often used.

He wasn’t going to use his real name. Who knew what the ancient beings would use his name for? The Lord of Envy from Hell, for example, might go back to Hell and curse Himbo out of envy for fornicating with the Śār.

That wasn’t impossible. Keke.

“Bruce...” The Goddess of Sky repeated the name slowly, extending a wisp of thoughts to swirl around Wayne and create a gale. “Open your mind to welcome a newly born divine power. You will henceforth be my knight in the human world, manipulating the atmosphere and mastering lightning...”

Wayne raised an eyebrow, sensing a domineering but weakened thought circling him. He thought of the previous Darkness Knight, who had met her demise, and came to a realization.

If you want to come in, I’ll let you, but I’ll give you a friendly warning. Don’t even think about running away afterwards!

“Come in, Goddess. I’m ready.”

Wayne spread his arms and closed his eyes with an impassioned expression.

The Goddess of Sky couldn’t wait to enter Wayne’s body. She was severely weakened, first injured in the war of gods and later suffering a heavy blow from the previous Darkness Knight. Things deteriorated further. She was in dire need of a fresh body to carry Her thoughts.

It didn’t matter if the vessel was male or female. She had to survive first before She could be picky.

Three seconds later, the goddess screamed. The rest of Her thoughts instantly cut contact and escaped back to Her hiding place through the spatial disturbances, licking Her wounds.

“You’ve come already. Why the rush? Stay a little longer with me!”

Wayne cackled, raising his hands as his upper body turned into white foam. He lunged at the world beyond the spatial disturbances.

“Kekekeke—”

“Goddess of Sky, I’m coming in!”