The angel of peace was tall, standing at almost two meters in height. Her hair was long, silky smooth, and golden brown, bordering on blond if the lighting was right. But that wasn’t where it ended, because unlike all humans and angels, she looked a bit off. Her skin was so pale that the veins underneath could be seen, and her body was clearly striped, showing several hues of paleness that bordered on ashen.

When she stepped out of nothing and appeared in the middle of the dark throne room, her glowing skin became apparent, illuminating the entire place as her divine magic filled the entire hall. Her feet were bare, but the divine magic seeping out of them burned the ground and melted it, and the simple white robe she wore fluttered, crackling like a thousand whips all at once.

Merlin could clearly feel the heavy presence, and it was surprisingly dense and powerful. This angel was clearly unlike any other, posing enough divine magic on her own that she could be mistaken for a lesser divine. She was clearly at the level of a world power, and if Isdis wished, this angel alone could bring divine judgment on an entire world.

"Would you mind dampening that wave of divine magic you’re releasing? It’s crackling all over the place and cracking this palace." As Merlin spoke, the angel glared right back at her with two burning golden eyes. For a second, she looked ready to fight, but then, all of the divine magic faded away.

"As you wish, Queen Merlin." The angel gave her a gentle bow. "I was merely trying to show off in front of my goddess’s sister." She then shifted her gaze toward Lucy, who was a bit shocked and surprised. "Showing off... You got more than half of my divine magic... Are you even an angel?"

Hearing those words, the angel froze in place, remembering a moment when she met Arad before. It wasn’t that long ago, right after Isdis turned into a goddess, and she was with her in the private quarters. She was walking down the hallways, following Isdis from behind with other angels to guard her, when everything turned black.

All she could see was darkness. She was an old angel, but at that moment she had pissed herself and was on the verge of crying. Feeling Arad’s entire presence behind her, her entire body screamed that standing up was a fatal mistake. She wanted to turn back and kneel, but didn’t. She was an angel, serving a divine goddess. She won’t bow to any mortal, no matter who they were.

As she barely moved her eyes around, she saw all the other angels already with their faces on the ground, having been unable to endure the horrifying presence of what showed up behind them.

"You... aren’t an angel." Arad spoke right behind her back, and she had to swallow her vomit back. What was this? Who was this? Why is his presence even more horrifying than Kali and Amaterasu combined? Eternal darkness, peerless void, the nothing before everything.

She knows why; she had seen him before in the outer void right after his fight with Eris. This dragon wasn’t a mortal, but an abomination with as much nasty eldritch magic as a Nyar Avatar, and on top of that, that Eldritch magic wasn’t getting rejected by the universe.

She gulped several times before gathering the courage to talk back. "I’m... an angel. I’m just too old..." She sprouted her wings, and she had four: two pale wings with beautiful white feathers and a second bald pair that had nothing on it. "My second pair had just grown; the feathers aren’t out yet. Soon, I’ll be an archon. The weakest of them all, but still one."

Arad looked at her bald wings for a second. "So, angels can become Archons on their own... I hope you become one soon." He then walked past her and approached Isdis, after which they spent a while talking.

Back to the current time, the angel extended her wings out, and now she had two perfectly white pairs of divine wings. "I’m technically an archon, but I still work as an angel since I’ve just recently become one."

It was just an hour after Arad gave her his blessing that her wings were full-grown, and she could swear that none of that divine magic came from Isdis. What did he do to her? She didn’t know. But one thing was clear: he wasn’t normal at all.

"Hooo!" Lucy jumped out of her throne. "Sister sent me a whole archon!? I only asked for an angel that can turn into a pigeon." She rushed in and inspected the archon. Lucy still didn’t have any archons. Karon didn’t have any, and those of war preferred to go with Eris, who was a fighting divine and suited them best. "What can you do?! What can you do!?"

The archon smiled. "My name is Moby; I only became an archon recently. So, I hope you’ll still treat me as an angel. I can take the form of a humble pigeon, so you can count on me." And before she could even finish talking, Lucy was already inspecting her wings, legs, arms, and even face.

"Why do you have fish scales?" It was quite horrifying that Lucy spotted them, but Moby smiled. "Yes, My Lady. They are leftover from my true form." She looked at the palace’s window. I can show it to you."

"The area outside the palace is empty, but safe. You can transform there." Merlin pointed at the wall with one finger, and the archon disappeared. Lucy rushed to the window to look outside, and what she saw made her freeze in place. A titanic white whale that was kilometres long and boasted a halo bigger than its body above it. It soared through the empty darkness with two pairs of pale wings, its roar echoing like a distinct scream.

In her true form, Moby had as much divine magic as Lucy did, showing her that while archons don’t have the same authority as gods, they can be just as potent. Almost immediately then, Moby returned to the palace, drenched in sweat, which was just holy water seeping out of her skin. "Sorry... but I can’t maintain that form for too long, far away from her divinity, Isdis."

She lacked divine magic, and Isdis wasn’t in a state to give her an unlimited amount. Even though the whale was her true form, that form required much more divine magic to maintain than the small humanoid form she is now taking.

Lucy approached and touched her forearm. "Then I’ll give you a bit of my divine magic. It isn’t much, but it is something." Using half of her entire reserve of divine magic, Lucy fuelled the archon as much as she could.

"Today, you’re working for me." Lucy smiled.

Back at the private quarters, Isdis was still sitting inside her frozen training room when the door swung open, and Eris walked in. "It’s cold... aren’t you going a bit too far?"

Isdis didn’t need to open her eyes, because they were already frozen open. "No, I never managed to get this cold before, and now I can thanks to this divine body. I now only need to control it." She lifted her head, and her neck started cracking. "What do you want? Did Arad wake up?"

"No, but Altair did send a message." Eris sat down, looking a bit worried. "Arad’s draconic body is rapidly growing in size. He might be on the verge of evolving again."