Mythology Rebooted

Unlike Wayne's yearning, Veronica was filled with such intense fear of the so-called Gate of Truth that it overwhelmed her madness, restoring her chaotic thoughts to calm.

She released the little magic power she had in one breath, regained control of her body, and shouted into the sky, "Stop right now, the Gate of Truth is forbidden magic, your mind can't withstand the baptism of the world, it's not too late to stop."

Veronica didn't care about Mike's life or death; she feared that her party would be implicated. The Gate of Truth, something even proper mages would avoid at all costs, and she had never seen someone as stubborn as Mike.

"Silly girl, what do you know? You believe whatever the teachers at school tell you. Do you know the value of knowledge? Do you know how many mages are longing for this moment just like me?"

Mike sneered with a hint of madness on his face, "The Nelson family has always been waiting for this day, just to conduct a sacrifice, to open the Gate of Truth, to become a Legendary Mage, to grasp all the knowledge in the world. For this, I am willing to pay any price, even if it means going mad without hesitation."

The priest thought that Mike's return to the town was to complete the mission left unfinished by his family, to save the townsfolk and let everyone rest in peace, and by the way, to take revenge and settle the past;

Veronica thought Mike had sacrificed the town to the Goddess of Death, seeking to exchange the death worshiped by his faith for great transcendent power.

They were both wrong!

The Nelson family never thought that way from the start. Though they were followers of the Goddess of Death, their faith was not devout. They had only kneeled to Death to gain powerful strength.

If a better stepping stone appeared, they wouldn't mind betraying their faith, bringing their knees to the embrace of other gods.

Gods are defined by humans; gods look the way humans need them to look!

The Nelson family was like that. As the heir, Mike embraced this concept. They saw gods as trading partners, not caring whether a god was good or evil. If a god wanted worship, they would do all the rituals, just a trade, so was there a need to fret over good or evil?

Whether faith came before magic or magic before faith, was a question worth pondering.

Mages aren't fools. There aren't just a few mages like the Nelson family; many are devout because they can't find a suitable stepping stone.

The eerie curse of Caforno Town was such an opportunity. That day, a Mysterious Space descended from the sky, bringing cataclysmic changes to the town. Rules so powerful and unparalleled altered everything, killing the townsfolk and making them think they were still alive.

To describe it as killing wasn't quite right. In an instant, the transformation altered the form of life, causing it to be permanently stuck in death, unable to find peace.

After much verification, the Nelson family confirmed that a pie had indeed fallen from the sky. They had found the rules and, using the Golden Triangle as a sacrifice, could open the legendary Gate of Truth.

Mages who had seen the Gate of Truth could master all knowledge in the world, transcend mortal flesh, step into legend, and obtain the seed of divinity.

The chance to sit on an equal footing with the gods was close at hand, which explained the frenzied slaughter that night.

Too bad they were too weak, didn't win the fight, and were wiped out by the townspeople led by the priest, with only Mike, a distant cousin, lucky enough to escape.

It was raining that day, and the travel delayed, by the time he arrived, the Lundan Investigation Team had already closed the case.

Time took a roundabout path, coming to today, fifty years later. This time the priest was leading the way in front, Mike had once again deceived the Goddess of Death and obtained magical power, and this time, his great task was accomplished.

Success always comes with hardships. Thinking of this, Mike couldn't help but burst into laughter. Below, Veronica was still saying something, but he heard nothing.

"You misunderstood; it's not that mages who enter the Gate of Truth become legends, but that only Legendary Mages are qualified to enter the Gate of Truth." Veronica shouted loudly, seeing that Mike was indifferent, she picked up William and Monica, preparing to leave.

Whether they could escape or not was another matter; they needed to run first!

After walking two steps, Veronica looked back at Wayne, who was trembling in place, a three-meter-tall eerie... monster. She racked her brains but couldn't understand what kind of magic it was, assuming Wayne was a beginner whose thinking had been corrupted, causing his magic to mutate.

She hesitated for a moment, then quickly walked toward Wayne, intending to carry this drag along too.

If they were going to run, they would run together; if they were going to die, they would die...

She hoped to throw Wayne as far away as possible before dying!

In the high sky, the giant full moon disappeared, with the starry cosmos taking its place. This void connected the human world to the ultimate truth of the universe, and the Gate of Truth was completely open.

Veronica touched Wayne, intending to lift him, but instead, her fingers sank into the mushy grey-white flesh like rotten mud, startling her enough to hastily withdraw her hand, almost getting swallowed.

"What kind of monster is this, so disgusting?"

Veronica felt immense disdain, and as she tried to take Wayne away again, his monstrous body slowly shrank, with the overgrown flesh transferring to his back, where a pair of grotesque bat wings unfolded, stirring up a wind as he took to the sky.

The white beast flapped its wings upward, aiming straight for the Gate of Truth, which elicited intense dissatisfaction from Mack. The black flesh ball pressed down, and the two monsters collided in midair, falling together from the sky.

Under the influence of The Book of Greed, Wayne, seething with rage at being obstructed, transformed his ash-white arms into a pair of long knives that he fiercely plunged into the black blob.

The pale long knives, akin to biological keratin, had soft, slippery flesh on their backsides with clearly visible pulsing veins, while their edges gleamed with the cold luster of metal, sharp beyond compare.

The flesh ball was split open, creating two massive gashes from which viscous black liquid rained down like a downpour, soaking Wayne and staining him black.

This blackness was the physical embodiment of the laws, the source cursing the townspeople to eternal unrest. Any who touched it, even slightly, would be melded into the eerie space where the town existed, becoming part of the black flesh ball.

Join us!

Become part of us...

Countless whispers echoed in his ears, but Wayne paid them no heed. Before long, his well-shaped skin began absorbing the sticky black liquid adhering to his body.

Who curses who is still up for debate!

Veronica looked at the two mangled blobs twisted together, her stomach churning; her SAN Value plummeted, and she no longer cared whether Wayne was dead or alive, fleeing the scene with William and Monica in tow.

Too late!

High above, the Gate of Truth contracted severely, shrinking to the size of a pinhead before expanding violently, darkness engulfing the land and utterly submerging Caforno Town.

A sensation of cold and pain swept over her entire body in an instant.

Veronica's body was suspended in air, the pain causing her to convulse all over, and William and Monica also woke up due to the excruciating pain. A deluge of information flooded into their minds, scrambling their thoughts beyond reason, their faces distorted into something grotesque.

There were moments of elation, and also pain and struggle...

The Gate of Truth shattered the curse, and Monica's body slowly returned to its original form, unclothed, completely exposed in a round shape.

She had platinum blonde hair and the light, delicate beauty of an angel's face, paired with a devilishly alluring figure that was unapologetically prominent, creating a stark contrast.

If Monica's shape was enlarged, William's was diminished. She retained her blonde pigtails, her features clean and flawless, and her figure, compared to Monica's, slightly more petite, standing half a head shorter, her once oversized clothes now hanging loosely on her frame.

All three female college students had been changed by the curse. Veronica's magic power was sealed, William was turned into a robust man after his magic power was sealed, and Monica had the most unfortunate transformation, turning into a cat with two strange little bells added.

With the curse lifted, Veronica's magic power was unleashed. As her mind was bombarded with complex knowledge, her thoughts became increasingly muddled. She watched her dear friends slowly drift away, too weak to stretch out her arm. Wanting to touch them but grasping nothing, she could only watch helplessly as they moved away from her.

Her hollow eyes gradually lost their sparkle, and a bone-chilling coldness overwhelmed her consciousness.

Heavy eyelids slowly closed, and silent tears of dissatisfaction rolled down gently—Veronica struggled in vain, awaiting the approach of death: "It's over..."

So cold!

Snap!

A warm hand pressed on Veronica's lower back, dispelling the chill and hoisting her by the waist over a shoulder.

Wayne!

With bloodshot eyes and panting, he swaggered over, stark naked.

His eyes also bore intense pain and struggle, wincing like being pricked with needles at every movement. Because of The Book of Greed, he managed to maintain a shred of lucidity, enabling him to conduct some basic thinking.

For example, taking the black cat, the homo, and the lady away.

Wayne, severely dimmed in intelligence, was puzzled by the disappearing black cat, remained unfazed by the platinum blonde-haired lady standing candidly before him, and simply clamped her under his arm, then bit down on her golden pigtails, stepping towards the light ahead.

"What are you crying for? Who said it's over!"