As the time on the mortal realm passed slower compared to the time on the heavenly realm, the entire night's worth of time that the angels spent on the mortal realm were mere minutes to Isis. It didn't take much time for Petra to return to the residence of the goddess, heading straight to report without even minding her appearance and injuries.

"My Sovereign, I seek your punishment!" Petra kneeled in front of the large red throne the moment she saw her master. Her voice and expression were full of guilt. She was a sinner, a failure who once again could not complete the task given to her.

The atmosphere within the large hall turned terrifyingly cold.

Isis, who was already livid upon realizing that the Deity of Fire had awakened, could no longer withhold her anger upon hearing those words. Her divinity dangerously swirled around her as if it would explode at the slightest touch.

After several seconds of heavy silence, Isis lifted her gaze away from the mystical bronze mirror floating in front of her and the divinity around her body somewhat calmed.

"What happened?"

Her gaze narrowed at her servant who looked to be in a bad state. Traces of battle could be seen on her soft armor, and it was shocking to see her like this. Who could hurt a powerful angel like Petra in the mortal realm? Even if both Evanthe and Sierra, those fallen goddesses, were to team up and attack, their strength would at most be on par with the lowest-ranked angel. Petra did not go down alone—she even brought tens of high-ranked angels for this task.

A sudden realization hit Isis as she sensed the power that caused harm to her servant.

'Hellfire? I can sense hellfire. How can that be?'

"My Sovereign," Petra's voice pulled Isis out of shock. "I have failed to bring the purple-eyed child."

Isis asked with her voice raised, "Did you meet the Deity of Fire? Did she manage to complete her core?"

"N-No, my Sovereign. We didn't come across the Deity of Fire. It was that purple-eyed child, Sierra's child. For some reason, she managed to awaken that power and wield it to fight us. We were powerless against her."

"That could not be! She's an inferior being, a half-blood! She shouldn't be able to wield divinity the way us divine beings could. Besides, her magic is of earth, not fire, and isn't she cursed to be unable to use any divine power? Did she manage to break the curse? Did she find someone she would want to protect? No…"

Once more, the golden divinity surrounding her body began to swirl dangerously, causing even the throne where she was sitting to crack. Her perfectly beautiful features began to distort in anger.

"Why is everything going against my plans? Why—-"

Petra was terrified to see her master angry. "My Sovereign, please calm—"

"You! You failed me again and again. You could do nothing but return to me crying over your failures. It was my mistake to trust you with such an important matter. Do you know what will happen now?"

Petra trembled under that cold gaze and could only lower her head, touching her forehead against the floor. "P-Please forgive me, my Sovereign."

"Does your incompetent self deserve forgiveness?"

"I deserve your punishment, my Sovereign, but I beg you to spare my brethren. All of them are seriously injured as we speak, and it is my fault as their commander to not only fail our mission but also have our people suffer heavy casualties. I was negligent in determining the strength of the enemies."

Isis sneered at her. "Negligent, you say?"

Petra dared not raise her head as she spoke softly, "My Sovereign, the Lord of Darkness is helping the purple-eyed child."

Isis had already guessed it as she faced the same thing. The power of Darkness was hindering her from seeing the situation with the Deity of Fire as well.

"Was He there?" Isis asked.

"No, my Sovereign, but I saw his pawn."

"His pawn?"

"There was a young Dragon protecting Sierra's daughter. The Devil is the first Dragon birthed by the world, and all Dragons are his people," Petra replied. "If not for this young Dragon's interference, we would have been able to get the purple-eyed child before she could manifest the Deity of Fire's hellfire."

It shocked Isis. "How could He have a pawn in the mortal world?" ｂｅ𝚍𝚗𝚘ｖｅ𝚕．ｃ𝚘𝚖

"Not just that, but this pawn is a half-Dragon, half-warlock. His essence is similar to Evanthe as well."

"Having powers of both darkness and water attributes?"

"Y-Yes, my Sovereign."

At this point, Isis found herself amazed, shocked and confused, unable to fully digest the new information Petra revealed. She closed her eyes for some time. Her plans all fell through, and worse, an unpredictable factor had appeared. She felt lost on how to handle the situation.

After a while, she opened her eyes and looked at Petra, "Do you think that pawn you said is their child, His child with Evanthe?"

Petra dared not immediately agree. To be honest, that young Dragon was extremely similar to the Devil's—his red-eyed and black-haired appearance, not to mention the purity of his power of darkness—but she felt scared to make that claim. If this information were to be known by others, the heavens would be in turmoil.

"I..I am not sure, my Sovereign…but, if we think about it, how can a person possess both the powers and the essence of those beings unless that person is birthed by them?"

"How old is this Dragon?"

"He is nothing but a child, not even three decades old."

Isis once again closed her eyes.

"To think you will discover the hidden child of that fallen woman and the Devil."

Petra could only swallow silently, remaining on her knees with her head touching the floor. Instead of bringing good news to her master, she could only bring bad news for her, adding to her troubles.

Isis slammed her hand against the armrest, causing a crack to appear on the throne she was sitting on. Her bearing was no longer that of an elegant goddess, but that of a volcano about to erupt. She was muttering under her breath, her words filled with uncertainty.

"...but after that, He has long disappeared, and not only the gods of the pantheon, even my husband, the king of heaven, is not sure of his whereabouts. He is not allowed to interfere in the matters of both the heavenly realm, that includes keeping touch with divine beings, even banished divine beings.

"How could Evanthe find Him? Besides, she should not have any memories of him. Does she still remember Him even after she was exiled from heaven? Or that Devil reached out to her after she was sent to the mortal world…?"

Petra refrained from making any sounds, fearing to interrupt her master's loud contemplation. However, Isis' attention eventually went back to the kneeling angel.

"Weren't you keeping track of Evanthe after she left the heavens, Petra? How did you miss such a huge thing?"

"I..I merely checked on her a few times, my Sovereign. I did not keep track of her per se as the Heavenly Emperor forbade us to know Evanthe's whereabouts and I still did it with a guilty conscience. In those few times, there was no sign of the Lord of Darkness around Evanthe."

"This is huge," Isis sighed, "we need to let the King know about it. If the Devil had broken the rule and even had a child, he would be punished along with that woman. I will make sure that Evanthe and her pawn will be punished for it. That child should not have been born."

"Not born?" Petra could not help but echo. "Did the Heavenly Emperor…?"

"Petra, this is a silent agreement among the gods of the pantheon. I am only telling you this because despite your incompetence, your loyalty is unquestionable. Other than Him, there can be no other who possesses the power of absolute darkness, and only that way can we gods be safe and can dominate all the realms. We cannot let it change. I am sure the King will take action upon knowing this news."

"Is this the will of the Heavenly Emperor, my Sovereign? Wasn't the Lord of Darkness one of his most trusted beings, second only with the King of Heavens?" Petra asked.

Isis looked down at the foolish angel. "Has the Absolute ever meddled in the affairs of the heavens after he went into isolation?"

"The Heavenly Emperor never showed himself again after giving all rights to govern the three realms to the King of Heavens. Forgive my ignorant question, my Sovereign," Petra answered.

"My dear Petra," Isis started to explain, "you ought to know that the three realms exist thanks to the efforts of the King of Heavens and the pantheon to manage the balance. The presence of the Devil, while He is a benefactor of all living beings, is one who destroys this balance.

"Ever since He became the Darkness, He became an existence as powerful as the Heavenly Emperor who is the Light. With the Heavenly Emperor going into seclusion, His strength now becomes a threat to the balance of the world and our very existence.

"That is why the Heavenly Emperor made the Devil give a vow to never meddle in the affairs of the heavenly realm, allowing us, the pantheon of gods, to rule over all the realms.

"Do you understand the seriousness of the situation now, Petra? We cannot let the existence of darkness threaten the rule of the pantheon. Both the Devil and that Deity of Fire, we have to keep them under our toes in order to preserve the current peace. Neither of them are allowed to grow their powers—they can only serve us but not the ones to rule us."

Petra lowered her head, "I understand, my Sovereign."