The God Realm was still active even while the Gods, and Goddesses were absent. The residents, and angels stayed behind, to keep the realm running.
On the outskirts of the God City, several hooded figures appeared from the shadows. It was like they could control the shadows at their will.
Bella removed her hood, and gazed towards the faraway palace. It was Zeus' palace, and they had tracked the location of the illusionary veil to that location. It was also great that most of the major Gods, and Goddesses had left.
Without the tournament, it would have taken them much longer to arrive in the God Realm. Behind Bella, the Commanding Demons looked toward the palace. They could feel a strange fluctuation in the air.
''It is there...'' One of them whispered, and clenched his trembling hands, ''Finally, we can return home.''
''Home...'' Bella murmured with sadness. She didn't have anything called "home''. During her stay in Stronglord, she managed to feel like that place was her home. However, it was all fantasy. She had a job to do, to break the veil of illusion.
''General?''
Bella turned to her subordinates, and nodded, ''Let's go.''
They nodded, and they again submerged into the shadows. The shadows slithered across the dark alleyways, and rapidly moved towards the palace. However, on the front steps, there were several winged-creatures guarding it. They were Angels.
But, Bella didn't care as she slithered across the ground, and slipped past their legs, and entered the palace from underneath the door.
Soon, her subordinates followed.
''Did you see that?!'' One of the angels flinched, and jumped away from the ground like someone with Arachnophobia who suddenly saw a spider. His wings unfurled, and he majestically hovered a dozen meters away from the ground.
He looked at the door, but saw nothing except the confused expression of his guard partner. The angel frowned. He thought he saw something, but after seeing that there was nothing there, he flew back down, and scratched his hair in confusion.
Inside the palace, the shadows slithered across the tiled floors. They moved past the bottom floor, then when they arrived at the first set of stairs, they split up. Bella moved to the second floor, followed by a few others, while the rest searched the bottom floor thoroughly and tried to find a way to the basement floor.
After searching the entire luxurious palace, everyone gathered on the bottom floor, and Bella frowned inside the shadow. They couldn't find anything, but they knew that the veil of illusion was somewhere nearby.
Flap! Flap! Flap! Then, the shadows scurried away to dark corners. Among the flapping noises, a heavenly angel, flew across the palace while scanning the floor with squinted eyes. A golden armor donned his masculine body.
He was one of the Archangels, Michael, the Bringer of Protection. He softly landed on the tiled floors, and looked around with a frown. When he was dining in his own quarters, he felt like something was crawling in his skin, as if he was scratching a coarse texture.
Michael turned to the dark corners, and frowned. His sharp gaze noticed a strange scene. There should only be one shadow, but with his amazing eye-sight, he noticed there were a dozen!
He immediately drew his sword, and lunged forward. From one of the shadows, Bella appeared, and turned into her seductive demon form. She had a beautiful bronze skin, barbed-wire-like tail, and two long horns.
''Demon!'' Michael shouted in shock. He was utterly frightened that demons had infiltrated the God Realm, and no one had noticed a thing. And the scary part was that they were in the place where the veil of illusion was!
The other shadows slithered away, and started desperately searching for any way to the basement.
''Begone, vile creatures!'' Michael shouted, and hacked his sword down at Bella, who dodged it with a light-footed movement. She sprang forward, and smashed her fist into the Archangel's face, sending him flying across the palace.
Bella immediately kicked the ground, and chased after the Archangel. While flying, Michael unfurled his wings, and stopped his flight. With a bloodied face, he flew straight back to the demoness, and swung his sword.
Bella ducked under the blade, and slid across the floor. After going past flying Michael, she jumped up, grabbed his pure white wings, and ripped them off!
''Aaaaghhh!'' Michael's cry of agony echoed in the empty palace. He was the sole guard of the palace, and every other Archangel was doing their duty elsewhere. He crashed on the tiled floors, rolled a dozen meters while leaving a trail of golden blood in his wake.
''...'' With no emotion, Bella jumped across the air, and landed on Michael's back, breaking his spinal cord.
''Cough!'' The Archangel spat out golden blood that had lost its luster. With a weak expression, he lay back on the ground with the glow disappearing from his eyes.
Bella looked down at the crippled Archangel, and slammed her gentle-looking foot on his skull, shattering it. Michael, the Bringer of Protection, died.
''General, we found it!'' She then heard one of the shadows shouting. The shadows slithered past a fancy-looking bookshelf.
Bella turned into a shadow, and slithered under the bookshelves. They entered a deep flight of stairs, leading far down. After a long descent, they arrived in a dimly-lit cavern-like room. The walls were high, the ceiling rocky, and the air was moist.
However, the only thing they cared about was the pair of enormous doors at the end of the room. They could feel the strong fluctuations coming from behind that door. There it was, the Veil of Illusion.
There were no guards, not even a light that could shine in their path.
Bella, and the other Demons reappeared in their demon forms. They couldn't bother to hide themselves anymore. The finish line was right there, and this cavern was covered in a thick layer of moon rock. Usually, it would stop all signals that could track Demons.
And, it would make it impossible for demons to feel the existence of the Veil of Illusions. But, the Demon Kings prepared for this. Thus, they sent only highly sensitive demons, who could even feel a tiny ripple in the air.
Bella clenched her fists, and thought, 'This is it... No one can escape the power of demons.'
