After ten thousand immortal heroes appeared, the spatial channels closed. They all arrived and immediately swept their senses over every inch of the place, leaving nothing to escape.
They only saw an army made up of draconic beasts and blood golems. At that moment, all these beings were petrified, completely sealed and analyzed. However, no one found anything particularly noteworthy. Until, suddenly, one of the heroes roared.
"Drizea!" A red-haired demonic hero shouted, distressed, as he felt a fluctuation in the environment. He shot a cold look at the human present and spat in anger: "WHERE IS MY DAUGHTER?"
The human snorted. "So it really was your daughter. Anyway... she was the one who caused me to summon you."
He waved, showing fragments of a needle made of Yin, and recounted everything he had witnessed the demoness do. As soon as he finished speaking, the demon suddenly used his power to forcibly open a channel toward the place where the specters resided.
In desperation, he searched for something... until his eyes widened upon finding traces of blood — the only thing left of the demoness.
"WHO DID THIS?!" He roared in complete frenzy.
"She herself, or almost," the human replied coldly, ignoring the other’s rage. "It’s still possible to sense a remnant of Yin from death at the place where she exploded. She entered that place and likely absorbed the Yin from the lake. To have done that, clearly a lingering will found the opportunity to dominate her."
All the heroes heard these words and squinted, pondering. Until another demon spoke: "Yes, it’s possible. I remember a demon from the past who died, and his power was compatible with part of that lake. He may have hidden his will within the Qi of Purgatory."
"You told her about this, even though it’s against the rules, didn’t you?" another hero asked flatly, questioning the furious demon. "The little brat must have tried to absorb that energy, and the will took the opportunity."
The human nodded. "I felt a strange fluctuation in her when she left. My suspicion is that this will caused her to explode inside the place to damage the formation, and left something ready to attack me later. I don’t know why, but it seems suspicious and senseless..."
The heroes agreed with a gesture. Then, a blonde elf spoke coldly: "By damaging the formation, he may have infiltrated with his will. Afterward, he attacked you, once everything was stabilized, to buy time and hide inside the formation. Escaping without raising suspicion would be impossible, but hiding there... someday, he could find an opportunity."
Another hero agreed: "Yes, that’s a solid theory. But for him to have done so much, there must be a good reason..."
"This is impossible! My daughter couldn’t have been killed!" The red-haired demon roared, and everyone turned toward him with a mix of mockery and pity.
"Why do you say that?" the former missionary human asked flatly.
The demon replied coldly: "I myself gave her my heroic rune. It’s impossible for a will to dominate her or make her act without me noticing and saving her. Even if you tried to kill her, I would know. This can’t have happened."
"You... this is beyond being against the rules..."
"Fuck it! I don’t care about the consequences! I want revenge! Who else could do something against her, even with my heroic rune, you bastards?!" the demon shouted, glaring at everyone.
The heroes widened their eyes, remembering a not-so-recent piece of information.
The demon continued: "Yes, the oracle was right. He confirmed its truth before, observing the past and the connection of that Heaven-Defier with the Behemoth’s release. Now, he predicted the future, and the other Heaven-Defier really tried to invade our home using this place."
Everyone grew serious, until, in the next instant, one of the heroes took out a golden tablet and spoke to everyone:
"That Heaven-Defier definitely did this to create a distraction. He can’t escape without raising suspicion; his intentions are to invade, and he doesn’t realize we’re already waiting for him. He’s surely inside this world, infiltrated among those taking the test. Maybe he discovered the trap we left to check all the approved ones. But it doesn’t matter, seal the whole place, now!"
Everyone sighed in agreement and activated their heroic powers simultaneously. In seconds, the entire small world was covered by a radiant golden aura. Now, nothing could escape.
Meanwhile, Alm, Bruno, and Ruri were on top of a mountain not far away. Hidden from the senses and eyes of the heroes, they managed to hear everything due to their proximity.
Alm and Bruno were stunned by what they had discovered. ’Oracle? Predicted the past and the future... how is that possible?’ Bruno murmured, seriously.
By accident, they found out how the heroes had discovered Almin’s home planet. The heroes had placed him as a suspect and, upon investigating, discovered he came from that planet that had mysteriously disappeared. It wasn’t their mistake; they had no way of guessing something like that existed.
Techniques capable of reading the world’s karma and uncovering past events that shouldn’t be revealed were not new. When they arrived at Gloom Planet, that Soul Eater demoness identified them as responsible for her husband’s death in the past, thanks to something like that.
These techniques were very costly, had many prerequisites, and still didn’t deliver concrete information. Additionally, everyone involved was marked by heavenly karma. If they faced a tribulation afterward, they would certainly die.
That’s why no one was crazy enough to use such techniques. There was still a chance that the information obtained wouldn’t be relevant. Luckily, that demoness managed to find them on Gloom Planet, which caused all that trouble in the past.
But now, someone capable of perfectly reading the past... and even the future? That seemed completely impossible and ridiculously overpowered. How could they deal with something like that, especially being next to the heroes?
’From what the heroes said, this oracle doesn’t seem very reliable, and his predictions must be vague and somewhat disconnected,’ Alm analyzed coldly. ’In Almin’s case, there were already many signs pointing to him. As for our arrival, if they could really know everything about us, they would’ve captured us as soon as we stepped in here, or at the very least, they would’ve known our identities and hunted us down in the Queen’s universe.’
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Bruno sighed in agreement. However, the heroes knew at least that an invasion would eventually happen and that they would infiltrate among the mutants. The heroes had already set a trap to intercept them.
’Did this piece of shit from Heaven’s Will send us here to die?’ Bruno spat. Still, he knew very well that Heaven’s Will wasn’t omniscient. Within the Queen’s domains, it probably knew very little, if anything at all. Not to mention that its power was pretty limited.
Maybe even Heaven’s Will wasn’t fully aware of the situation. It probably sent them on this mission because, whether it wanted them to or not, they would have tried to invade as quickly as they could. Once they knew where Isla and Almin were, they wouldn’t waste any time. But now, it was clear they were walking straight into death.
Alm snorted: ’Well, maybe it’s fate. All our actions in this place somehow ended up revealing everything, and we still haven’t been caught... yet...’
A simple, lustful demoness who had caused problems unexpectedly ended up destabilizing their entire infiltration, but at the same time, she temporarily saved them.
At that moment, the heroes began to move, after stabilizing all the heroic power and creating an impenetrable prison.
’If we use all the heroic cores we took from the demoness, we can activate the celestial soul and use the Eraser to escape,’ Bruno thought quickly. ’But the immortals will clearly feel the fluctuations from the hammer and track where we go. If we return to the Queen’s universe, we can hide, but...’
Alm and Bruno sighed in sync. Escaping to the Queen’s universe meant abandoning the mission, probably losing any chance of saving the four. The heroes would reinforce the defenses, and it might take years for another opportunity to arise – if there was another. Not to mention the consequences of failing the main mission: would they be stuck in the same realm until they succeeded?
Going to Alpenglow Planet was even more unthinkable. It would be suicide. The heroes would know where they went, and that planet was God Gaia itself. Before they even tried to enter, they’d be noticed by him. A hidden infiltration would be virtually impossible.
They were cornered; all the options were bad or even worse. That’s when Ruri squeezed their hands, visibly anxious.
Following her gaze, Alm and Bruno noticed that, after the heroes found nothing at the location, they headed toward the army of draconic beasts and blood golems.
It was clear that this army had some connection to the Heaven-Defier. He could be hiding among them, or otherwise, the memories of these creatures might hold some new clue. Without hesitation, the heroes would thoroughly investigate them, kill them, and completely search their souls and memories. It was the most direct and effective method for the heroes.
They were all together in one area, so they were surrounded, and the aura of death pressed down on them, clear as day.