CHAPTER 799: THE DEVIL’S ARRIVAL-I

Isis’ gaze turned resolute. "Solon, now you clearly admit your doing in front of all the deities—that you are the one who let Sierra take away the Hellfire and betray the Heaven realm. You will surely be punished accordingly."

"It was meant to protect the Heaven realm, Deity Isis. But still, I’ll accept my punishment decided by the Sovereign," Solon looked resolute; he meant each word. "As for you, I still urge you to obey the Sovereign."

In response, Isis looked at Grianor. "Why should I obey him? Is your Sovereign even powerful now to control this crystal? If he is not, then who is to blame? Who made him this weak and caused him to lose a great part of his cultivation that he has yet not regained?"

Her eyes were angry as she looked at Ember. "It’s her. Back then, he alone bore the brunt of Hellfire when she showed no mercy towards him and towards this Heaven realm. Yet he doesn’t seem to blame her but is trying to protect her. If he were not weak, would I ever gain this much power? Now, whatever the Heaven realm is facing is his and her fault—and I will show it to you."

As everyone heard it, they all remembered what happened in the past. When the Deity of Fire wanted to destroy Heaven in her anger, Grianor faced her and protected everyone.

"What happened in the past is left there," Grianor interrupted her. "Today’s decision will be based on the facts in the present. And about the Hellfire—it will go to where it belongs so it wouldn’t cause any harm."

"Where does it belong?" Isis exclaimed angrily. "You can’t send it back to the depths of Hell, then that means..." She seethed with anger. "I can’t let it happen. I want the Hellfire, and for that I will stop at nothing. If I can’t, then I will make sure to take everyone along with me. I will destroy this crystal, and then no one’s left to look down on me."

"You cannot have Hellfire," Grianor said. "You won’t be able to handle it. Fire is not even your elemental power."

"I can’t handle it?" Isis chuckled scornfully and looked at Seren. "That halfling with a weak human body could bear it since she was a child, and it’s still in her body. Then what right do you have to say I can’t handle it?" She looked at the crystal floating over her hand. "Can’t you see I am now the most powerful deity?" She looked back at Grianor. "Instead, shouldn’t you ask me how I became so powerful all of a sudden?"

Grianor sure had this question. Though she was powerful, not enough to control that crystal. It was so powerful that no deity other than the Heavenly Emperor and Grianor could even reach it among the existing deities. At the same time, he was sure this much power, in such a short time, could be gained only in a forbidden way.

Isis continued, "While you were recuperating in seclusion and all other deities were enjoying the days of peace and idling around, I spent most of my days cultivating in Mount Aramis and in the Heavenly Spring. Though it was effective, it would still take a lot of time to reach this level. So guess what I did?"

All the other deities as well waited to hear it. There were many older deities present there, but Isis, the young one, was still more powerful than them.

"Let me show you," Isis used her power, and soon one angel among her own people was dragged ahead by her powers. That angel looked in pain as slowly Isis was absorbing her cultivation, and that angel’s soul was about to be destroyed.

"Enough, Isis," Grianor exclaimed, but Isis didn’t stop.

Soon, that angel’s body disintegrated into fine sparkles and disappeared.

Isis smirked, "I had secretly practiced this forbidden spell, at the same time I raised so many angels who sacrificed their cultivation for me and ceased to exist."

Grianor clenched his jaw in anger as he looked at her. "You are truly evil."

"Now you know," Isis said smugly. "But you are yet to see the extent of my evil side, which I can show you if you won’t summon the Lord of Darkness, ask him to get that Hellfire out of that halfling’s body, and hand it over to me. If not, I will, one by one, absorb the cultivation of all the deities to extinguish my anger towards you, then destroy this crystal so all three realms are destroyed." She smirked. "Let me start with your most cherished deity."

As she said this, she looked at Solon. "Throwing you down the Celestial Hollow is not as satisfying as absorbing your powerful cultivation and watching you disappear."

Solon, unbothered by her threat, stood his ground and said, "I also request you to free the previous Deity of Earth. She belongs to the mortal world, and you shouldn’t harm her."

"Sure. I will let her see how I kill her daughter once I get the Hellfire—but you won’t be alive to see her." Isis signaled Petra to bring Sierra, and then extended her power towards Solon, but...

"Stop!" Grianor’s cold voice echoed in the Heaven realm as he stood before Solon to block Isis’ powers from reaching him. If not for that crystal in her hand, which he feared would destroy him, he would have attacked her and punished her despite being in a weakened condition and even at the cost of losing his entire cultivation. But...

"The Lord of Darkness will be here," Grianor announced. "The message has already been sent."

"You should have said it already," Isis chuckled as she rotated that crystal in her hand smugly. "I knew you were a righteous god as usual, doing everything to protect the three realms. How foolish of you."

Isis laughed wickedly. "Finally, you know what to do. Not just you, but even the Lord of Darkness will have to bow to me."

Meanwhile, everyone was alerted by those few words Grianor said. The Lord of Darkness—the Devil himself—was coming here?

Evanthe, still unable to free herself from that magic, almost froze in place. So he was finally showing up. They were going to face each other once again after that night. Her heart suddenly gripped with nervousness. But at the same time she was hopeful as he was the one could protect her people, though unsure how will she face him.

Drayce was the same. His always so calm heart and mind were somehow shaken, though on his face, he showed nothing at all. Seren, standing by his side, held his hand to calm him.

Morpheus paid attention to Ember, who seemed lost somewhere, her gaze locked onto Isis. Through their bond, Morpheus could feel that destructive anger inside her. Has she regained her memories? Morpheus wondered. But I can’t let her lose her calm at this moment. It will only harm her and Seren once again.

"Ember, calm down. Draven will come soon. You have to control your anger," Morpheus said in a soothing, low voice. "Seren’s body won’t be able to take it if you awaken the Hellfire again. Calm down."

Ember’s angry gaze turned to Seren, who was comforting Drayce. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply to calm her anger.

"Don’t look at her," Morpheus pulled Ember into his arms and stopped her from looking at Isis. Ember obeyed and let herself calm while resting her head against her mate’s chest, his rhythmic heartbeats soothing her.

Sierra was brought into the throne hall. Entirely too weak to even stand, she was pushed onto the floor.

All the deities were shocked to see Sierra like this, as her face—full of scaly skin—was on display. She was once the most beautiful woman in the Heaven realm, and so many deities and even the demons had coveted this heavenly jade beauty.

Seren hurried to her mother and knelt next to her. "Mother."

Sierra’s heavy-lidded eyes looked at her daughter. "Seren, don’t be scared. Once He is here, everything will be fine."

"He?"

Sierra simply nodded and smiled before closing her eyes.

It scared Seren. "M-Mother."

Drayce knelt next to her as well and checked on Sierra. "She is too weak to stay awake at this moment. Let her rest."

Seren sat on the floor, allowing Sierra to rest her head on her thighs, tears rolling down her cheeks as she looked at her weak mother. "I... can’t pass her my essence..." Seren said in a trembling voice.

"These chains do not allow us to use our power," Drayce explained. "But we should trust what she said."

Seren simply hummed as she wiped her tears.

Isis laughed once more. "She was to die long back, but she survived long enough. Poor one. She used to be all smug about being the most beautiful woman in all three realms, but see how she looks now—worse than a beast."

With tear-filled eyes, Seren looked at Isis. She wished that if the curses on her were not lifted, she would have burned this woman right this instant—but she was helpless.

Grianor and Solon stood calm as they looked at Sierra. Both were visibly sad to see her like this.

All of a sudden, the air in the Heaven realm seemed to change.

The divine essence of the Heaven realm seemed to be replaced with the powerful existence of absolute darkness—so powerful that it could swallow all three realms in the blink of an eye if the Devil decided to unleash it.

They all understood—finally, the Devil was here.