A few days after Mutrad survived the slaughter and struck a deal with the Dark Lord, he was summoned by the Supreme Guardian. This was the first time Mutrad had stepped into the Winston Manor. The guards patrolling the premise looked proud and walked with their chests puffed up. Since Norvin accompanied Mutrad, the guards did not stop him. Mutrad descended to the ground.

"Noah is waiting in the garden. This way," Norvin gestured at Mutrad to follow him. Mutrad's heart beat slowly rose. He was the Dark Lord's spy. So naturally, he felt an uneasiness in Noah's house. He hated being stuck between two gods. At Least Noah was not as brutal and ruthless as the Dark Lord. Mutrad could still remember when Andreas revealed himself and told the entire world that Noah was the God of Light. At that moment, Noah became the poster child for the fight against the Dark Lord. But the fear of the Dark Lord spread throughout the world like wildfire. The fear undermined Noah's rule and power. Moreover, Noah's feats were nowhere close to what the Dark Lord did.

Mutrad slowly followed behind Norvin to the garden. They walked around the manor instead of through it. As he stepped into an elegant garden with a pond in the center, he noticed Noah's mother sitting on a bench and feeding the birds.

"Mother," Norvin smiled when she turned her gaze toward them.

"You are late," said Diana.

"Sorry," Norvin scratched the back of his head. She looked at Mutrad,

"Who is this?"

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Lady Diana. I am Mutrad," Mutrad slowly bowed.

For a moment, Norvin could swear he saw a glimmer of anger within Diana's eyes. But soon, the anger faded away as she smiled.

"You must be the representative of House Halrid,"

"Yes," Mutrad nodded. He felt something strange about this woman. She looked gentle, yet something about her bothered him. He shoved his doubts aside. After meeting the Dark Lord, he doubted everyone.

"Wait here. I'll go send Noah," Diana quickly left the garden. Since Mutrad was tasked to apprehend the Dark Lord, he made it into Harriet's hit list. Mutrad was still alive because she did not want more heat to fall on Michael. If she killed Mutrad, the Sea Folks would retaliate by sending their army to fight Michael. The last thing Diana wanted was more trouble for her son. After Diana left, Mutrad sat on the bench with Norvin.

"You alright?" asked Norvin. Mutrad was not a very talkative person. But he was unusually silent ever since he returned from the fire realm. Granted, he met the Dark Lord face to face and lived to tell the tales, yet Norvin couldn't help feeling amiss.

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"Why wouldn't I be?"

"You look worried. Is something bothering you?"

Mutrad rolled his eyes. He hated Norvin's concern. Unlike him, Norvin and Alicia escaped the Dark Lord using a teleportation scroll. They weren't there to see how the Dark Lord brutally slaughtered his men,

"Of course, something's bothering me. I just survived the Dark Lord. I was this close to dying," said Mutrad.

"About that, why didn't you use the teleportation scroll? You got one right?"

"I wasn't lucky. After you teleported, the Dark Lord locked the space around us. I tried and failed," said Mutrad. It was a lie. He was petrified and failed to use the teleportation scroll. Ever since that day, Mutrad couldn't close his eyes. Because every time he did, he saw vividly how the Dark Lord slaughtered the men. To be honest, Mutrad wanted to return to his homeworld, leaving all this behind him. However, his elders ordered him not to. Hence, he had no choice but to remain in the land and spy for the Dark Lord. Otherwise, his homeland would become the next Itholan.

"You are lucky," Suddenly, Mutrad heard Noah's voice. He turned around to see Noah walking toward them. To Mutrad's surprise, Alicia was standing beside Diana at the doorway. After what had happened in the Fire Realm, Mutrad thought Noah would kick out Alicia. Imagine his surprise when he heard Noah actually married her. Mutrad failed to figure out what Noah was thinking. Even Alicia's family exiled her from the family. One thing was sure, the Winstons were either stupid or prepared to face the Dark Lord's wrath. If Mutrad had to bet on someone between Noah and the Dark Lord, he would choose the Dark Lord without a second thought.

However, Mutrad dared not to underestimate Noah. According to Mutrad's men, Noah often went on secret adventures, leaving his post. It meant one thing, he was looking for something. Mutrad knew it must be something worth sacrificing his cultivation. Noah could have reached the Fusion stage by now, yet he chose not to. Everyone in the guild wondered why. If he was going to face the Dark Lord, Noah had a long way to go.

When Noah appeared, Norivin transformed himself into his natural form and climbed onto Noah's shoulder. Noah sat beside Mutrad with a smile.

"You are here and not under six feet. It means you are lucky, Mutrad," said Noah.

"I don't feel lucky," said Mutrad.

"There must be a reason why Ghost left you alive,"

Noah had doubts about why Ghost chose to leave Mutrad alive instead of killing him. Knowing how Ghost loved to make connections, Noah suspected Mutrad of being his spy. Lately, he and his teacher had more disagreements. But on Mutrad's matter, they both agreed that the Dark Lord might have turned Mutrad. There was no other plausible way to explain why Ghost spared Mutrad.

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"Where are you getting at, Noah?" Mutrad creased his brows.

"Nowhere. Just needed to get your side of things before closing the file on the fire realm incident," said Noah.

Mutrad was surprised and almost couldn't believe Noah. he expected Noah to investigate the matter further. Contrary to his expectation, Noah said he was about to close the file.

"Don't be surprised," As though Noah had read Mutrad's mind, he asked him not to be surprised.

"It was not my operation or guild's. It's a mess the Arctic hall and Skyhall need to clean. If it wasn't for Alicia's involvement, I wouldn't have bothered about all this," Noah sighed.

"I just need to know what happened after Alicia and Norvin left the hall. I heard Ghost teleported the cage before killing everyone,"

"Hmm," Mutrad nodded.

"Did the Skyhall meet Alicia afterward?" Mutrad asked Noah.

"Unfortunately, no,"

Even Noah was surprised that no one from the Skyhall bothered to meet Alicia after what happened in the Fire Realm. According to Andreas, the Skyhall may have lost its ways. But Noah couldn't understand what's more important than the Dark Lord. The longer they let the Dark Lord free, the stronger he would become. Any Alpha Guardian could have killed Ghost a year ago without breaking a sweat. But now, they were afraid of him. Almost everyone in the Guild feared the Dark Lord. Noah wasn't surprised by their fear. He had done nothing to reassure them. Sadly, they would have to fear him long until he finds all the god-killing arrows. Until now, he managed to get two arrows. The MAzeroth founders went to great lengths to hide the arrows.

Moreover, they forged replicas of the god-killing arrows to confuse the Dark Lord in case he searched for these arrows. Noah found two of these replicas. If it wasn't for the original arrow in his possession, he would have believed these replicas as the original ones.

Mutrad saw no point in hiding what happened after Alicia and Norvin teleported. He told Noah everything except the fact that he had struck a deal with the Dark Lord. Noah was about to question Mutrad when a Winston family guard interrupted their meeting.

"Young Master Noah, there is someone from the guild who wants to meet you. He said it's urgent," said the guard.

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"Bring him,"

Noah waited for the guard to return. A few moments later, the guard came with a guardian. To Noah's surprise, this guardian was one of the men he sent to the Southern continent. Their task was to monitor the Dark ocean and report back to him. Judging by the look on the guardian's face, Noah could tell something happened. The guardian looked reluctant when he saw Mutrad.

"It's okay. Tell us what happened," asked Noah. Not that Noah trusted Mutrad, but he wanted to see how Miutrad would react.

"Supreme Guardian, the Dark Lord has triggered a heavenly tribulation in the Dark Ocean,"

As soon as they heard the guardian, they were stunned. Norvin's eyes widened to the point it looked like his eyes were about to pop out. Mutrad's mind went blank.

"Is it Ghost, or someone else triggered the heavenly tribulation?" asked Noah.

"It's him, Supreme Guardian. He's trying to become an Immortal,"

Mutrad felt that he made the right choice by striking a deal with the Dark Lord. He slaughtered the Arctic Hall's best men when he was just a Half Immortal. How strong would he be after reaching the Immortal stage? Definitely stronger than Noah. God or not, Noah was just a Soul Refining stage cultivator. Meanwhile, the Dark Lord was about to reach Immortality.

"We have to strike him down now. This might be our only opportunity," Norvin quickly said. However, Noah shook his head.

"Sending a team to interrupt his heavenly tribulation is like sending them to their deaths. He would not have triggered the tribulation without preparing for the worst,"

"So are we going to sit around and wait for him to get stronger?" asked Norvin as Noah shook his head.

"I have plans," said Noah.

Noah dismissed the guardian before inviting Mutrad to a feast inside the manor. The rest of the day was pretty much uneventful. Mutrad just had his belly full of food and left the Winston manor. The Winstons were preparing for the baby shower as Katherine and Andres were expecting their second child. Almost everyone prominent in the Elon continent would come to bless the couples. Hence, everyone in the manor had work to their necks. Mutrad just hoped the Dark Lord wouldn't be one of the guests.

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