Eventually, the cloud of darkness faded out of existence, leaving Andohr alone in the giant castle. It was time for Andohr to see what his minions were up to. He just raised his hand as a golden beam of light shot out of his hands. Soon, three figures emerged from the light. They were in their astral forms rather than physical forms. The moment they came into existence, they fell to their knees.

"Heavenly Lord Andohr," they greeted him with utmost respect and reverence. They didn't even raise their heads to look him in the eyes. These three were none other than the three elders who planned to enslave Noah, Devdan, Thorfinn, and the lady in white, Erael. Through these three, Andohr controlled the entire Skyhall. They served him wholeheartedly in the hope of becoming gods one day. Once the Dark Lord could open the portal to higher realms, they planned to ascend with Andohr.

"What are you three idiots doing nowadays?" asked Andohr. He didn't bother to hide his disgust toward the mortals. The mortals were pretty disgusting in his eyes. In his mind, the mortals were a disease to the world. If he cared about the world, even for a bit, he would have cleansed the world of the mortals. Unfortunately, not all the gods shared the same thought about the mortals. In the higher realm, some gods loved the mortals, some hated them, and the majority of them couldn't care less about the mortals. Thanks to the Dark Lord, no god could descend from the higher realm to the mortal realm, and Andohr was stuck in the mortal realm for thousands of years.

"Guiding Noah Winston in his path to be stronger, heavenly lord," Devdan answered Andohr despite how he was getting treated by Andohr.

"What's the God of Light up to?" asked Andohr. As the god who wields power to kill his opposite, Andohr rooted for Noah. Simply put, Noah was like a friend to Andohr as the enemy of his enemy was his friend.

"He is on his way to his home, heavenly lord," said the dwarf, Thorfinn.

"What?" Andohr's calm voice turned menacing. He creased his sword-like brows.

"Shouldn't he be searching for the arrows?" asked Andohr. Although killing a god was not an easy task, it was not impossible. There were some ancient texts in the higher realm which mentioned killing a god and its effects. But Andohr had no idea how a mortal like Qin Jiu managed to get a piece of this ancient text and managed to forge these god-killing arrows. Even in the higher realm, Andohr had never seen a god die for eons. Only some scripts mentioned some rogue gods and the war between the gods. As for the consequences of a god's death, nothing was mentioned in any texts.

If only Andohr was at his peak power, he would have found Qin Jiu with a snap of his fingers. After all, he was the God of Time and Space. Unfortunately, he was still recovering from the last battle with the Dark Lord. He was fortunate the Dark Queen was there to save him from the Dark Lord.

(This Dark Queen is not Gaya)

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The trio stayed silent. Their bodies trembled, sensing the overwhelming power radiating from Andohr. Although he was not at his peak power, he could still kill the trio before they could blink an eye. But he needed them more than he liked to admit. As the God of Time and Space, Andohr knew better than anyone of the consequences of altering the events in the timeline. Any simple change could result in a catastrophic change in the future. Hence, Andohr had to approach the situation with extreme caution. For a moment, Andohr picked his brain in complete silence.

Finally, Andohr came up with an idea to nudge Noah in the right direction. It was not changing the events per se but speeding things up a bit.

"Send an assassin to the Winston manor. Take a shot at one of Noah's loved ones but do not kill them. Just let your clone in the family take care of the assassin," said Andohr.

"Let the Dark Lord take the fall. It should be enough to light the flame in Noah's heart,"

By injuring someone from Noah's family, Andohr was not completely altering the timeline but nudging Noah in the right direction. In this situation, the right direction would let Noah battle the Dark Lord. Andohr wanted the God of Darkness to die but to ascend to the higher realm, he just needed one god to die. It might even be Noah. But no matter what, their battle must happen. Andohr was manipulating the Skyhall and the Great Eight clans from behind the scene to ensure that. Otherwise, the Skyhall could have easily taken down the moment Michael revealed himself as the Dark Lord.

Although Andohr felt he was in control, and he was, for the most part, he failed to take the past Dark Lord into the equation. His ego as a god blinded him from thinking whether the past Dark Lord planned this or not. Andohr was still thinking that the past Dark Lord did not anticipate Andohr would escape from the time array.

"As for the God of Darkness, make his life harder, but don't end it. I won't stay in this scum of a world a second longer than I have to," Andohr snarled. It wouldn't take a second for Andohr to leave his caste and kill the God of Darkness. The current Dark Lord's power was not even a fraction of his past self. Hence, killing him would be as easy as stepping on an ant to Andohr. However, if he did that, the Dark Lord's soul would leave his body and wander the universe for an unknown time before finding another suitable vessel. It might take eons. Even the God of Time and Space did not have that much patience. The quickest way for Andohr to leave this mortal realm was with the God of Darkness.

"Consider it done, heavenly lord," the trio bobbed their heads up and down.

"Now leave," Andohr waved his hand as the astral figures of the trio vanished into thin air. As Andohr returned to his throne, his mind played tricks with him. He heard the God of Darkness's words in his mind.

"May the other gods have mercy on you because I won't," These words sounded loud and clear in Andohr's head. It was as though the Dark Lord himself was speaking to him from somewhere in the castle. Andohr clenched his fist to the point golden blood trickled out of his palm.

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"I am not my brother, Andohr. He will show you mercy. I will show you death,"

"When mortals are desperate and helpless, they will pray to a god. Tell me Andohr, what are you going to do?"

The more he heard the Dark Lord's words, the redder Andohr's eyes turned. He wanted to leave the castle and rip him to pieces.

"I am the God of Darkness. I am Vengeance. I am your death!" Andohr's heart skipped a beat when his mind played the last words the Dark Lord spoke to him. This wasn't new to Anodhr. On the contrary, he had been hearing the Dark Lord's words and seeing his images flash in front of his eyes for thousands of years. Still, every time it happened, it had the same effect on Andohr.

"We will meet again, my dear God of Darkness," Andohr growled as his eyes glistened.

********************************************************

Meanwhile, back on the demons grave, Michael slowly turned around. To his surprise, it was one of the men who went into the portal a few moments ago. The angel was holding a crossbow made of some kind of red stone. The crossbow bolt glistened, threatening to end the life of whoever it was pointed at.

"Easy there tiger," said Michael.

"Do you see this?" The angel was not afraid of Michael, not even a bit. The way he talked showed his courage.

"This is specially designed to knock out an Immortal," said the angel. Because of the helmet on his head, Michael couldn't see the angel's eyes. But if he had to guess, he would say they had no fear within them.

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"Get on your knees with your hands in the air," said the angel, only to see Michael laugh. Vedora snuck back into Michael's robes.

"Trust me, that bolt wouldn't save you if I wanted to kill you," said Michael while moving the Spyder toward the angel. It was slowly crawling on his armor. The angel had no idea, Michael was just buying time until the Spyder could reach an exposed area in his armor and send its venom into the angel's bloodstream. Spyder was just one way of dealing with the angel. If Michael wanted, he could kill him with his dead beams in a blink of an eye. The angel was not even strong as he was just at the Fusion stage.

"You have three seconds," The angel warned Michael.

"But you only have two seconds," said Michael as the angel's eyes went wide. His muscles tensed. Soon, the angel collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

"Done," Michael smiled. He walked toward the angel and picked up the crossbow from the ground.

"I'll take a look at you later," said Michael. The crossbow vanished into thin air as Michael turned his gaze back to the angel on the ground.

"Let's get out of here first," said Cain.

Lingering around in this place was not a safe option, Michael knew that. He waved his hand as the casket slid toward him.

"Hgrrm," Michael growled, picking up the casket from the ground. He carried the casket on one shoulder and lifted the angel by his chest plate. Then, Michael dashed into the forest, using the Lightning dash. Michael just hoped the other angels wouldn't track him down until he could get information from the angel. Flying away would have been much easier if it wasn't for the strange and powerful gravity. Eventually, Michael put several miles of distance between the digging site and him.

From where he was standing, he saw nothing but ancient trees. The place was enveloped in complete darkness. After putting down the casket and the angel down, Michael stretched his arms.

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"What are you hiding inside?" Michael asked, looking at the casket on the ground. He didn't waste any more time. Instead, he grabbed the casket on its edge and pried it open with brute strength.

"What the fuck?" Michael was stunned by the thing inside.