For a long while, none of the four Celestial Rank Angels spoke a single word as they silently stared at the horrifying sight before them, the corpses hanging inside the massive iron cage silently reminding them that the Heavenly Realm had already been infiltrated far deeper than any of them had imagined.
Eventually, the City Warden took a slow breath before stepping forward, his Divine Sense spreading throughout the entire underground chamber as the other three Angels immediately followed suit.
Every formation they discovered was dismantled with ease, every hidden compartment was forcefully opened, and every corner of the cavern was searched thoroughly.
The countless experimental instruments, records, reports, and research materials scattered throughout the laboratory were carefully observed one after another.
Yet despite spending several minutes investigating the place, they found nothing besides Abyssal materials, records of countless experiments, and lingering traces of Abyssal Energy.
It was as though whoever had operated this place had already anticipated their arrival, leaving behind nothing but an abandoned laboratory, years’ worth of experimental data, and the corpses of the Angels they had experimented upon, while every Devil had disappeared without leaving behind a single useful clue that could reveal where they had fled.
"Damn those Devil bastards..."
One of the Celestial Rank Angels muttered through gritted teeth as he tightly clenched a thick stack of reports in his hand, his voice carrying unconcealed killing intent while his eyes swept across the countless records documenting experiments conducted on Angels.
"There is nothing here that can be used to trace them. Not even an iota of evidence pointing toward where they escaped. It almost feels as if they intentionally abandoned this place."
"They didn’t clean everything."
The City Warden’s calm voice suddenly echoed through the cavern as his gaze slowly shifted toward the massive iron cage suspended from the ceiling.
"They left us this."
The other three Celestial Rank Angels instinctively followed his line of sight.
Nearly ten Angel corpses hung lifelessly within the iron cage, their once magnificent wings stained with dried golden blood while every trace of Divine Aura had long since vanished, leaving behind nothing but empty shells that silently testified to the horrifying experiments they had endured before death.
For several moments, none of them spoke.
The atmosphere inside the cavern grew heavier with every passing second as each of them unconsciously recognized thefaces before them.
"...I don’t recognize most of them."
One of the Celestial Rank Angels finally broke the silence.
The City Warden slowly nodded.
"Neither do I."
His expression became increasingly grim.
"The four people who recently disappeared aren’t among them."
The moment those words left his mouth, the expressions of the other three Angels froze.
If these corpses weren’t the missing people they were searching for....
Then who were they?
The answer was obvious.
These Angels had disappeared long before the recent incidents, and somehow, their disappearances had never been connected to one another, with how big the realm is, the disappearance of Angels would be hard to notice because of many unexpected scenarios.
Which meant...
The Devils had already been operating within the Heavenly Realm for far longer than anyone had imagined.
A suffocating silence settled over the underground chamber as every one of them realized the true severity of the situation.
If an entire laboratory containing nearly ten Angel corpses could exist beneath their noses without anyone noticing, then there was no telling how many more hidden laboratories existed throughout the Heavenly Realm, nor how many Angels had already become victims without ever being reported.
"We’ve underestimated them. But... I still don’t understand why they chose to expose themselves now. If they hadn’t started targeting our people, they could have remained hidden for much longer..."
One of the Celestial Rank Angels muttered solemnly, his brows tightly furrowed.
Unfortunately...
No one had an answer to that question.
The City Warden shook his head before taking out a communication artifact.
He immediately contacted the Headquarters once again, personally reporting everything they had discovered, from the hidden Abyssal laboratory and the countless experimental materials to the imprisoned Abyssal creatures and, most importantly, the ten Angel corpses hanging inside the iron cage.
The experimental data scattered throughout the laboratory were also quickly collected.
Although none of them had the time to examine every document in detail, merely skimming through several of the records was enough to confirm that the Devils had been conducting experiments on Angels for a very long time.
Just as the four Celestial Rank Angels finished gathering everything they deemed important...
A violent fluctuation suddenly erupted from deep beneath the laboratory.
The expressions of all four Angels changed instantly.
"Retreat!"
All four of them roared as an overwhelming Divine Aura burst out of their body, before they shot toward the cave entrance at terrifying speed.
A heartbeat later...
BOOOOOOM!!!
The entire mountain range shook violently as an earth-shattering explosion erupted beneath it.
The four Celestial Rank Angels emerged from the collapsing mountain, turning around just in time to witness the entire mountain range sink into itself as enormous clouds of dust filled the sky.
"...A self-destruction formation."
One of them muttered grimly.
"They planned for this from the very beginning."
None of them doubted it.
To them, the Devils had deliberately abandoned the laboratory after realizing it had been exposed, leaving behind only enough evidence to delay their pursuers before erasing everything else.
What none of them knew was that Ash had simply been lucky.
While wandering through the Abyssal Realm, he had stumbled upon this laboratory entirely by coincidence, discovering that Devils had secretly captured several Angels and were experimenting on them in an attempt to uncover a fatal weakness of the Angel Race.
Their number was small, but to ignite a fire even a spark was enough.
Instead of destroying the laboratory, Ash killed the Devils who were managing the lab and Angles who were still alive at that time and then transferred the entire place into his Soul Space, preserving everything exactly as it was.
Later, his clone in Heavenly Realm simply summoned the laboratory beneath the mountain range and restored the surrounding terrain to its original appearance.
With his Universal Element Control, not even the slightest trace of terrain manipulation or earth movement was left behind.
Initially, Ash had only planned to use the corpses of the Angels he had personally killed to create a little chaos within the Heavenly Realm.
Unexpectedly, however, he had stumbled upon something far better.
An entire Devil laboratory filled with countless experimental records.
And nearly ten Angel corpses, though their rank was far lower.
But, it was the perfect piece of evidence.
With all the reports, research records, and experimental data preserved within this laboratory, he had unknowingly obtained the greatest tool possible to sow suspicion and ignite unrest throughout the Heavenly Realm.
The flame he was about to ignite would be far greater than he had originally anticipated.
Naturally, Ash had delayed the laboratory’s self-destruction formation just enough for the Angels to uncover everything before it activated, ensuring they would mistake it for the Devils’ desperate attempt to erase the evidence and bury every trace behind a sea of flames.
The moment the report reached the Headquarters, the entire Heavenly Realm erupted into action.
What had initially been treated as a suspicious disappearance instantly escalated into one of the highest-priority investigations in recent history.
Celestial Rank Angels were dispatched from every major city, specialized investigation units were mobilized, and countless God Rank experts spread across the Heavenly Realm, leaving no region unchecked.
For the next three days, the Heavenly Realm searched with unprecedented intensity.
Every suspicious mountain range was investigated.
Every hidden valley was turned upside down.
Every report regarding unusual energy fluctuations, mysterious disappearances, or traces of Abyssal Energy was followed without exception.
The investigation expanded further and further with each passing hour, eventually covering an area so vast that even ordinary Angels began noticing the unusual military movements taking place throughout the Heavenly Realm.
Despite mobilizing such an overwhelming force and conducting one of the largest investigations in the Heavenly Realm’s history, the results were pitiful.
Other than a few scattered traces of Abyssal Energy that appeared here and there before disappearing once again, not a single Devil was found. Every clue they managed to discover eventually turned into a dead end, as though the Devils had vanished into thin air the moment the investigation began.
However, while the Heavenly Realm was exhausting its manpower searching every corner of the realm for hidden Devils...
The killings never stopped.
In fact...
They only increased.
Perhaps because of the unprecedented investigation sweeping across the Heavenly Realm, the Devils no longer bothered concealing the aftermath of their attacks.
It was almost as if they already knew they would eventually be discovered, and before that day arrived, they intended to drag down as many Angels as they possibly could.
Every victim was left exactly where they had fallen.
An Early God Rank Angel would be found dead deep within a forest.
A Demi-God would be discovered lying lifeless beside a secluded river.
Another God Rank expert would disappear while carrying out a routine patrol, only for their corpse to be found several hours later hun
Within just three short days...
The number of confirmed deaths had already reached thirty.
The most frustrating part was that every murder occurred in a completely different region of the Heavenly Realm, separated by unimaginably vast distances, making it impossible for the investigators to predict where the next victim would appear or whether the attacks were even being carried out by the same group.
One victim would be found in the eastern territories, another in the far north, while the next would appear somewhere near the southern borders, making it impossible to establish any connection between the attacks.
The timing differed, the locations differed, even the identities of the victims seemed completely random, leaving the investigators frustrated beyond measure.
Compared to the enormous population of the Heavenly Realm, thirty deaths were practically insignificant.
But nobody cared about the numbers.
This was a matter of pride.
The Angels had always believed themselves to be the supreme race, beings chosen by the Heavens themselves, standing above every other existence in creation, especially those filthy Devils they had despised since ancient times.
Yet now...
Those very Devils had infiltrated the Heavenly Realm, established secret laboratories beneath their noses, abducted and experimented upon Angels, slaughtered their people at will, and continued escaping every investigation thrown at them.
It was no longer merely a security issue.
It was humiliation.
A humiliation so severe that every report sent to the Headquarters only caused the fury burning within the Heavenly Realm to grow stronger.
And with every Angel that fell, the hatred the Angels held toward Devils became deeper than ever before, while the invisible hand manipulating everything from the shadows quietly watched the flames grow larger with every passing day.
**