Chapter 531 (2): My Vassal’s Vassal Isn’t My Vassal

Wayne narrowed his eyes. The camera pulled in and gave the protagonist and the antagonist each a close-up. The protagonist was cast in a soft light to emphasize his pain and guilt, while the antagonist was shot with a dark filter to make Her seem unrepentant.

It was one soundtrack away from becoming an epic movie.

At the headquarters of the Church of Nature, the disciples dropped to their knees and prayed that their god could overcome His evil thoughts, sparing the mortal realm from the threat of Death so that they could all remain in Nature’s embrace.

While praying, they implored their god to fight back; the evil thoughts could not be reasoned with or redeemed.

Those with more sophisticated minds realized what their god was doing. The God of Nature had cut His evil thoughts loose and would take responsibility for his errors. Even now, He refused to give up on his evil thoughts.

A god’s magnanimous nature was beyond human comprehension. A few glimpses alone moved them deeply.

What else needed to be said? They were determined to follow their faith!

Meanwhile, Wayne continued to take Elian’s attacks without fighting back, putting on a compassionate act to provoke Her while asking for more abuse so that he could adapt to Her strange attacks and evolve further.

He had to adapt to the new meta to become its king. Then he would be able to counter the meta and formulate his own rules.

Wayne had been through the experience many times. Whatever didn’t kill him would only make him stronger, be it Elian or the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. They would decide whether he could transcend the box.

Elian’s aggression was remarkable, but Her assault bore little result. Wayne couldn’t take Her down, but She couldn’t do anything to Wayne, either. Both would struggle to do damage even if they just stood around taking each other’s attacks.

Attacking did little but vent Her anger.

Good news: at least Elian had taken a step further toward becoming the Horseman of Death in extreme rage; bad news: She could never clear Her name. No one would believe Her when She claimed to be the true Nature.

The Goddess of Nature had created the Divine Realm of Nature with Her own hands, yet it was stolen...

The thought further fueled Her ire. She unleashed greater Death energy and Life energy, injecting the mutated powers into Wayne’s body to erase his thoughts and vitality.

He continued to adapt.

Ten minutes later, Elian stopped attacking. “You took away my Divine Realm, so I’ll destroy your world,” She said icily. “Just you wait. The doomsday will arrive, and I’ll personally judge your everything.”

Wayne looked at Her with a blank face. His life essence was adapting to Her and had made some progress, but not enough for him to corrupt Her. He would need a little more time. If the Horseman of Death alone gave him such trouble, once the Four Horsemen appeared together...

Things weren’t looking good. Wayne tried his best to look at the bright side, but thinking of the four shrewd goddesses on his side, he felt like the opponents’ chance was greater.

Damn it. Without their Divine Realms, the four vermin weren’t the Four Horsemen’s match. Kaleb and Siluk’s combo could give them some edge. Aztimor, too, was more than a regular Goddess of Death with the information of Nature She had acquired.

To conclude, Ines was now the weakest link.

***

Wayne's second battle with Elian, the Horseman of Death, once again ended with no real conclusion. He could only watch while She took Her leave.

The enemy could come and go as they wished, while Wayne would have to bring his people when he wanted to leave. He pondered what he should do.

Amid shifting light and shadow, he returned to the council hall of the Church of Nature’s headquarters with an unconscious Desiree in his arms. The higher-ups knelt and bowed to him readily. The three vermin, in particular, bowed so smoothly it seemed like they had rehearsed it.

Wayne placed Desiree on a chair. Senna messaged him and said, “Kill her. The Goddess of Nature can descend through Her at any time. She would be a risk.”

Wayne didn’t listen. If he killed Desiree, there would be a new Holy Maiden. Even without a Holy Maiden, Elian still had spare knights She could use. There was no killing all of them.

He pushed Desiree by the shoulder and sent her to the Divine Realm of Nature. Then he turned to Moula and said, “The evil thoughts can descend through you, so I’ll send you to the Divine Realm. That may not stop Her from descending, but at least the risk will be far away from the Chosen Land.”

Moula didn’t object to the God of Nature’s oracle. He bowed and asked, “My... lord. What should we do about the seal in the Frozen Land? If the ancient god’s vassal returns now, we’ll be short one chosen knight who can guard it. The vassal will easily break through the defense.”

“The seal in the Frozen Land doesn’t matter right now. My evil thoughts have fallen and become Death, one of the Four Horsemen who will destroy the world. They are the true calamity...”

Wayne gave Moula an update on the world. “Senna, move the headquarters to Londan. I’ll have the other four churches do the same. Keep your people under control. Without my explicit oracle, no one is to attack members of the other churches, not even those from the Church of Death.”

Elian’s appearance concerned him. It felt like She had another plan and had only shown Herself because She couldn’t take another second of his righteous speech.

What was Her goal? Where was She now? Aside from the Divine Realm, where else in the Chosen Land could the Four Horsemen be hiding?

Wayne closed his eyes and pondered, thinking of the inner world, where the Horseman of Famine was. He had come into brief contact with Famine, and his life essence had been rendered helpless. His white foam could not counter the negativity.

That was then, though, and this was now. he had evolved much further. He was confident that if he met the Horseman of Famine again, he would be able to make Famine get off their high horse for a proper conversation.

He was curious. Pestilence had awakened, and Famine seemed to have gained a shape. However, the Four Horsemen didn’t seem intent on making an appearance. Even the Horseman of Death had not launched any large-scale attacks.

What were they waiting for?

“The Horseman of War...”

***

Pope’s Basilica.

In a brightly lit room, Wayne lay on the bed with a troubled look on his face, allowing Senna to do whatever she wanted to do with him. He only showed some reaction when the creampuff came out of the oven.

Senna was speechless. She complained, “My lord, you aren’t even humoring me. Have you gotten another sidepiece?”

She lay down on Wayne’s chest, asking him to talk about the Goddess of Nature’s landslide defeat. She loved hearing about how great her faith was.

Wayne poked her in the forehead and sent her a compressed file of everything he had done recently for her perusal, getting her up to speed and upgrading her at the same time.

The power of evolution flooded into her, granting her rebirth. Rather than marveling at her changes, she said with wide eyes, “You... you’ve taken the Divine Realms... and conquered Heaven and Hell?”

“Yeah.” Wayne waved at her. It was nothing to write home about.

Senna’s eyes lit up. She immediately asked him to conquer her next, but noting his concerned look and distraction, she closed her eyes and used her thoughts to summon the secretary watching the door.

Rustle.

Hearing the noises of undressing, Wayne looked over and was surprised to find a girl with Regina’s face. If memory served, this should be Regina’s twin sister, Nilsson.

Since when had she turned into an Astral life?

“Stop. Put your clothes back on. Get out.”

Nilsson didn’t listen. Instead, she turned to Senna and, getting a nod, continued to undress.

“Get out!” Wayne covered his face. “Senna, I know you’ve always been audacious, but I remember telling you not to create vassals unless absolutely necessary. What’s this?”

The last time they met, Regina had introduced Nilsson to him and said that her sister wanted very much to make progress, asking him for help. What could Wayne do? He either turned her into a vengeful spirit or a vassal. Since neither option was viable, he had introduced Nilsson to Senna and told her to teach the girl the most sophisticated magic.

Yet Senna had corrupted Nilsson. Whatever Senna told her to do, she would do, and Wayne would just take it.

How was he going to face Regina? He demanded Senna explain what had happened, or he would shut her up physically.

Senna shrugged and explained. Wayne had warned her not to do anything reckless, so holding onto the principle of zero corruption and proliferation, she had never once crossed the line.

That was until the ‘Goddess of Nature’ descended. For her own safety, Senna had corrupted Nilsson and stored her thoughts in Nilsson’s body so that she could come back to life when necessary.

She rolled her eyes. If a certain someone hadn’t messed around, Nilsson wouldn’t have been corrupted.

(一`′一)

What? Are you shifting the blame to me?! Wayne huffed.

He hated when people shirked responsibility. Putting the facts aside, Senna was the one who should be held accountable. He flipped and pinned her down to punish her, only to catch Nilsson staring at them with wide, unblinking eyes, like she didn’t want to miss a thing.

Wayne covered himself up with the comforter. “Why aren’t you going?”

His vassal’s vassal wasn’t his vassal. If he didn’t issue a direct order, Nilsson could ignore any of his requests. She was loyal only to her faith—Senna.

He groaned. Nilsson’s face, identical to her sister’s, made him feel deeply guilty. He didn’t know how he should tell Regina the truth.

Regina, do you remember your older sister? Yes, I’m talking about Nilsson. She’s mutated.

The more he thought about it, the more exasperated he felt. Since the headquarters of the Church of Nature would soon be relocated to Londan, the twin sisters would be reuniting shortly. He wondered how Regina would react when she saw her sister.

With his thoughts, he ordered Nilsson to leave the bedroom and stay out of the intense battle between two adults. Then he dished out corporal punishment to Senna.

Senna would do it again!

The relocation of the church began. There wasn’t much to move since the headquarters was a Philosopher’s Stone. Senna could just go to Londan with the stone.

Wayne didn’t take part in the process. With Shadow Nightmare, he located the coordinates for the inner world and vanished into thin air.

Let’s see how strong the Horseman of Famine is. If they’re nothing special, let’s just form a party and take them down.