Chapter 479 (2): Evolution Isn’t a Bloody Fight, But a Diplomatic Negotiation

Suburban Londan.

In the same place where Wayne had fought the reincarnated angels, he sat on a bench with his arms and legs crossed, Hesione, Hestia, and Olga standing behind him. A black magic circle hung in the sky. In the distance, four shadowy figures, enveloped by sins, were fighting Auriel, Gerar, Vilkul, and Fred. They were the replicas Wayne had created a moment ago.

It would be unbecoming of him if he fought too seriously.

Tapping on the long table with a hand, he faced Garville with a frown. “Your master is Pride, isn’t it?”

“No, my master is the Lord of Envy.”

“No, your master must be Pride. Pride is the only one in Hell who knows who I am. I worked with him to take down Wrath and Gluttony. Envy knows nothing.” Wayne shook his head. “Talking about that now won’t help. You’re under Pride’s control, so no matter what I say, it will fall on deaf ears. The Book of Hell you’re holding is dangerous. Hand it over, and I will grant you an easy death.”

Garville was silent for a moment. “May I offer the Book of Hell and my loyalty and faith to you, Great Lord of Deceit? Then would you give me a chance to go to Hell for further study?”

“No,” Wayne rejected decisively. At the end of the day, he was a good demon—a good man. Garville was welcome to offer his allegiance for any reason except for that.

“Speaking of which, this wouldn't be my first time killing you. I killed you once in the inner world,” Wayne said sympathetically. “In the inner world, you became the Moonlight Knight after claiming White Night Creed, killing all dissenters, including the Pope, the Holy Maiden, and other high-ranking members.”

“That means you have the potential to become the Moonlight Knight in the human world, but you’ve chosen betrayal too early. You should’ve waited longer, and your time would have come soon.”

Garville froze and gaped like a statue. “You’re the Lord of Deceit. You... are you lying to me?”

“Why would I, when you’re going to die?” With a wave, Wayne took Garville’s Book of Hell from him, extracting all the information on the Seven Deadly Sins by smoothing a finger over the cover. It became a blank notebook that posed no danger.

He put it away. He would write his diary in it for Veronica.

Garville’s pupils contracted. “I’m closely linked to the book,” he murmured. “This is impossible... Is that the power of a demon lord from Hell? How could you remain in the human world when you’re this strong?”

Wayne raised an eyebrow noncommittally, lifting a finger at Garville to erase his existence.

“Wait, I’m genuinely willing to—”

“But I’m not!”

Facing his impending doom, Garville clenched his teeth, his existence changing violently. The moonlight that had been corrupted by Hell vanished, replaced by domineering thoughts. His eyes turned light silver as he transformed into a moonlight elf. His handsome, androgynous face was framed by his long, silver hair, giving him a feminine air.

“Great Sage... A subordinate god?”

Wayne looked at him curiously. Siluk, the Goddess of Moonlight, had only two subordinate gods. If Wayne killed one of them here... No, he would have to enter Siluk’s Divine Realm to do that, which would please Siluk so much that She would laugh Her head off.

Looking at the subordinate god’s dark face, he pursed his lips. Evolution wasn’t a bloody fight, but a diplomatic negotiation.

He smelled business!

“Kekekeke—”

He laughed, propping his chin up with a hand. “Moonlight has two avatars: the Guardian, the Dancer of Silver Moon, and the Cleanser, the Master of Dark Moon. May I ask which you are?”

“Tyrol.”

“Ah, the renowned Master of Dark Moon. Pardon me for not recognizing you. I mean no offense.” Wayne pointed at his own face. “Do you know who I am, Sir Tyrol?”

“...”

So you don’t! The plan will work, perfect.

Siluk, your subordinate god has offended me with their attitude. You know what you have to do!

Wayne’s smile widened further. To his knowledge, there were a total of twelve subordinate gods between the five goddesses.

Nature: the Oracle, the Dreamer, the Destroyer

Death: the Observer, the Judge, the Executor

Darkness: the Listener, the Avenger

Sun: the Transmitter, the Harvester

Moonlight: the Guardian, the Cleanser

The more subordinate gods there were, the more stable the Divine Realm, and the greater the god’s divine power. Among the five goddesses, Nature and Death were the strongest; Darkness, plotting for the third subordinate god, was making steady progress; Sun and Moonlight, on the other hand, had been stagnating and doing little.

Things might change. After they gained a replica of white foam for filtering information, they would... Oh, Darkness had gotten that, and way earlier. Sun and Moonlight would remain at the bottom of the pecking order.

The twelve subordinate gods were among the strongest demigods, just like the Seven Sacred Virtues and the Seven Deadly Sins. Aside from Pride, who was game-breakingly powerful, Wayne speculated that the others would be around the same level.

That was merely his speculation, though. He would have to conduct a test to measure their power. Unfortunately, he couldn’t do it!

Tyrol had only descended with partial thoughts, while the main body remained in the Divine Realm of Moonlight. He would most likely do worse than even Auriel in a real fight. Conducting a test now would be meaningless.

Wayne had no choice but to conduct business instead.

Tyrol frowned at the black-haired man, sensing great pressure from him. Then he looked at the three ladies behind Wayne.

What’s going on? Tyrol thought with shock. Where do all these powerful demigods come from in the mortal realm? Which faction do they belong to?

While pondering, he sensed the thick heavenly energy from Auriel, Gerar, Vilkul, and Fred. He then took in Wayne’s sinful replicas and came to a conclusion.

“You’re demon lords from Hell...” He looked over at Hesione, Hestia, and Olga. “You must be the Lord of Lust.”

(는_는)

Hestia glared back. As a Throne, it was unacceptable to be mistaken for Lust. She bent down and whispered to Wayne, “Śār, may I kill him?”

“No, let him talk. I like the sound of that.”

Wayne looked at Tyrol amicably. The Master of Dark Moon seemed gullible. Anyone with eyes could see that there was no demon here, that this was purely an internal strife within Heaven.

Of course, Tyrol wasn’t completely blind, but Hestia’s figure was so misleading that anyone would think of Lust when they saw her.

Tyrol frowned deeply in confusion. He tried to peruse Garville’s memories and found his mind all jumbled by Hell’s information.

Was he a traitor? Had he purposefully brought his thoughts to a demon?

The water was too deep for Tyrol to navigate. He prepared to make a retreat.

“You must have realized that Garville has been corrupted by me. He’s a loyal Great Sage who refused to serve me. He summoned your thoughts to prove the courage and defiance of Moonlight.”

Wayne ‘truthfully’ relayed Garville’s statement, speaking in a booming voice, “Though the Great Sage isn’t as powerful as I am, he is courageous. He would rather die than submit to Hell. As a subordinate god, you, Sir Tyrol, will surely do everything in your power to avenge him...”

Wayne propped himself up with one hand and presented his face to Tyrol. “Let’s get to business. I deserve to be punished for my crime. Since you’ve come all the way here, I’ll let you have one hit first. Here, hit this spot.”

Tyrol’s eyes twitched. Things seemed increasingly alarming. He asked cautiously, “Which demon lord are you, may I ask?”

“I’ll proudly declare my name, for I never hide who I am.” Wayne straightened his back haughtily. “I am the Lord of Pride, the head of the Seven Deadly Sins.”

No, you aren’t Pride!

Tyrol didn’t want to linger. There were too many alarming signs for him to risk it. When he tried to pull his thoughts back to return to the Divine Realm, though, he realized that this space had been completely locked down, allowing only entrance and no exit. He could not leave.

“Kekekeke—”

Wayne laughed heartily, thrusting his fingers at Tyrol like claws. “You will not leave my territory with your thoughts. Stay and be reshaped after the image of the Seven Deadly Sins!”

The attack howled with swirling black currents. Tyrol dodged by a hair and narrowly avoided being corrupted by the Seven Deadly Sins. He conjured a silver bow, his mind in chaos. He didn’t understand what was going on.

His instinct told him that this young man wasn’t Pride, and he was up to something big.

“You aren’t Pride, but you have to be a demon with the sins you’re brimming with,” Tyrol said tentatively. “Are you... Envy?”

“How dare you mistake me for that clown?!”

Wayne smashed the table with a kick, moving in flashes like a phantom. With dark shadows wrapping his hand, he lunged at Tyrol doggedly.

At first glance, the attacks seemed primitive and of little threat, but Tyrol, who was getting chased down, knew very well how powerful the Lord of Envy was. With this little amount of thoughts, Tyrol wouldn’t be able to defeat Envy.

“Hey!”

“Hah!”

“Hmph!”

Wayne did his best to put on a show as Pride, risking his life to frame Tyrol. After a few exchanges, he succeeded in taking Tyrol’s silver bow. He crushed it easily and sped up all of a sudden like he had teleported, appearing right in front of Tyrol.

In his shock, Tyrol threw a punch without looking and... and hit.

The punch landed on Wayne’s face. With a cry, he plunged from the sky and crashed into the ground, lying prone in the large crater.

Tyrol stared at his fist, flabbergasted.

Who am I? Where am I? What happened?

The demon couldn’t have been so weak, and Tyrol couldn’t have suddenly landed a critical hit. Therefore...

Why?

Just then, he sensed a crack in the spatial lockdown. The moment he landed a heavy punch on ‘Envy’, the barrier had destabilized, creating an opening.

Tyrol scowled. Whether it was the demon’s trap, he would have to be a fool not to run when he could.

Summoning a silver bow with a wave, he sent silver arrows pouring down on where Wayne was, triggering a series of explosions.

Boom! Boom! Boom—

Space cleared up as Tyrol attacked with increasing ferocity. Tens of thousands of white rays hit the ground. As soon as he sensed the Divine Realm, he retreated.

He was a cautious one!

“Kekekeke—”

Wayne sat up and returned to the bench, smiling at Garville as he slammed into the ground, his eyes curved. “You just sacrificed yourself to summon a subordinate god? How decisive. You must be trying to make me and Tyrol kill each other. I’d commend you for that.”

He could already imagine cash flooding into his account.

“Śār, what were you doing?” Hestia asked.

“It’s business. It’s hard for me to make you understand given your intelligence.”

“Śār, how could you just assume that I wouldn’t understand if you don’t explain to me?” Hestia grumbled.

“Fine, let’s test it.” He turned around and pointed at Hesione gleefully. “Now, repeat after me, Hestia. He-si-o-ne.”

Little—wench—

Hestia called out the correct name in her head while saying with a grimace, “Clergy—woman—”

Hesione smiled faintly like she wasn’t even bothered.

Oh boy. The silence is a death sentence! Wayne thought sympathetically. “Hestia, you should follow me from now on. I share some responsibility for making you like this.”

“Śār, haven’t I been following you?” Hestia asked.

“...”

“Śār?”

“Hestia!”

“Śār.”

“Keep it up. I like idiots...”