Demonic Devourer's Development

While the face of Goddess of Wizards appeared calm even after witnessing the magic apparition recreate past in front of her, her eyes betrayed her disgust at Aivena and Devourer's actions. Nevertheless, she didn't stop with one spell. It gave her a trail to follow, but it was already cold. Any reasonable person would agree that a delay to find more information would be worth it. Goddess of Wizards was known as the most reasonable of the Twelve.

She cast another spell, looking deeper into the past. This time, apparitions moved much faster, as if in fast forward. They recreated everything that happened in the valley ever since Devourer got there.

Goddess of Wizards's face was darker than before after she finished watching. "Even if you were in the state that allowed it, you'd never be allowed to return to Heaven after this. Even if Goddess of Druids would forgive you, the thought that I walked the same ground with a despicable person like you make my stomach turn," she said to the empty air, so coldly that the icy mountain wind seemed warmer than her voice.

Then, Goddess of Wizards twirled her finger, casting another spell, and an item flew out from the hut submerged under the snow. An unassuming vial, filled with greenish half-transparent matter—a sample of Devourer's flesh.

For the next spell she made, Goddess of Wizards opened her magic book. The page she showed to the light was filled with a circle surrounded by mysterious occult shapes. If a person sensible to magic looked at them, they'd see that the ink they were made from wasn't just some soot and water, but pure magic energy. The circle was a blank for a spell, a way to cast them faster and with fewer preparations.

Goddess of Wizards put the vial on the circle. It floated there, kept in the air by an invisible force, just like the book when the goddess let go of it. Then Goddess of Wizards poured magic into the spell, shaped and directed it, and tapped into the connection between a body and its part.

There was no better way to find someone. Immediately, the location where Devourer hid became clear to her. She could've teleported there this very moment, but hesitated.

With that vial, she could do much better. She could cast a spell on him from where she stood. There was no need to kill him personally, either. Or alone, to that point. Goddess of Wizards remembered well the untamed power Devourer shown to the Twelve in Hell. They defeated him, yes, but, as much as Goddess of Wizards didn't want to admit that, even to herself, the fight shook them.

The Twelve didn't have opponents that'd been their equal since the first centuries of their creation. When the world was young, monsters were a much more dangerous threat, and the gods themselves were much weaker. Then they fought for protection of humanity and themselves, side to side with the most powerful adventurers, and often died in the process.

These times were long past now. There was no monster the Twelve couldn't kill with a single strike.

A bird screech from above made Goddess of Wizards raise her head. There, a huge griffin with icy-blue fur and a tassel of the same colour on their tail flew towards her with outstretched talons.

While monsters weren't a threat to the gods anymore, they themselves didn't know that.

With an annoyance at being distracted from her thoughts, Goddess of Wizards closed the thick book shut and tapped into another page of it. She focused the spell on the approaching beast. The next moment, its heart exploded. Outwardly, the griffin opened his mouth in a silent scream, and then fell, spiralling down—away from the goddess.

The Goddess focused back on her current predicament. It felt cowardly to simply curse Devourer from here. He was weak as it was—he couldn't defeat a mere angel, and not even of the highest rank. He stood no chance against her.

"If don't kill him personally, I will be laughed at when I return to tell the tale," Goddess of Wizards concluded, and snorted. "No, I better kill him face-to-face and make sure to throw his head at Goddess of Druids for not monitoring her angels' nasty habits."

Mountains responded with a howl of wind that carried snow from the heaps on the ground around the place, creating small white whirlwinds. Any other creatures that could've listened to the goddess' conversation with herself stayed silent, either because they couldn't talk, or by choice.

Before Goddess of Wizards activated a teleportation spell, she spent a little more time on using her magic to study her enemy and their lair. The burrow Devourer found made the goddess's lip curl in distaste. She also noted the changes in his hair colour and the shape of his antennas from what she saw in the valley.

As usual, Devourer found new powers when left alone for a moment. This was what made him so dangerous. Right now he was a gnat to stomp on, even with his recent additions, but leave him without interfering, and he will devourer Heaven, Hell and everything between. He certainly could—the very same valley Goddess of Wizards stood at was a proof. Devourer consumed even rocks and showed no intent on ever stopping eating everything.

Goddess of Wizards's expression turned resolute. This creature—it seemed wrong to call him demon now that he was reborn as a mortal—couldn't be left unchecked. If he couldn't be killed for good, they would have to imprison him. In Heaven, where he'd be under the Twelve's watchful eyes and unable to escape his cage with death.

But first, Goddess of Wizards would bring him to Heavenly Judgement.

She poured energy into a page of her book, focused on the place where she wanted to travel to, and vanished from the spot with a soft sound of teleportation—a hard to describe one, but most resembling something like "wshooh".