Back in the divine plane, right outside the tip of a pyramid floating thousands of kilometers above the ground, was a familiar middle-aged man. Save for the simple pair of pants and the Ibis head-dress upon his head, his upper body was completely bare.

On the ground that was thousands of kilometers this man, one could see hordes of living creatures staring up at him, with eyes full of deep veneration and respect.

As one single entity, they all fell onto their knees in complete unison and roared out causing the land to shake, "Praise be to our Lord and Savior, Empyrean God Thoth! Your humble subjects, provide their best wishes for our Lord's expedition!!"

Thoth who usually would've stared down at his subjects with an approving gaze didn't even spare a single glance at them on this day.

In a great hurry, he turned to a nearby chimeric follower of his and was just about to issue and command to leave, when, suddenly... his eyes widened in disbelief.

Thoth sputtered out loud, "He already opened the Book!? To open it so fast, who in the Nine Worlds is he? A fellow cultivator of the scholarly path? But to even make it impossible to detect his location-- Could he be on par with a pantheon leader?"

Quickly pushing his disbelief aside, Thoth returned to his senses. Falling into thought, his eyes slowly grew serious, 'As impossible as I find it, if this were to continue, that thieving god could potentially bind the Book of Thoth for himself! That would be a huge disaster! I have to summon Senior Heka immediately!'

Raising his head towards the sky above himself, Thoth's body suddenly grew taut as if he had frozen in place.

Weng!

With a slight tremble in the air around him, Thoth's figure began to blur and shiver. Almost immediately, several surges of spatial waves began to spread out from his location, revealing that he had already left.

The countless onlookers down below stared up at the spreading spatial waves with great respect.

The fact that the World only did so little to obstruct Lord Thoth's spatial transference was evidence of his superior capability as an Empyrean God and his mastery over space!

Despite the fact that they were divine cultivators as well, they could only dream of spatial transference which went against the natural order of the Divine Plane!

Thus, the countless onlookers couldn't help but roar with cheers and felicitations, once more.

📜📜📜

In a beautiful star-lit sky, millions of kilometers above the land, a small spatial wave began to spread out. A blurry figure appeared at its center, slowly stabilizing into the form of Empyrean God Thoth.

For a single moment, his eyes drifted to the sight below him.

Even at such an impossible height, the divine plane still seemed to stretch as far as the eye could see.

The most eye-catching sights, however, were four distinct constructions; A seemingly limitless mountain with thundering storm clouds around it, a kingdom of gold built upon the formless clouds, a towering but tranquil pagoda-like temple reaching for the skies from amidst a misty mountain range, and a kingdom floating upon a mirror-like lake filled with blooming lotuses.

To even be visible from Thoth's current height, one could only imagine the size and magnificence of those constructions when up close.

Rather strangely, there were four gigantic knot-like root tendrils piercing the earth of the divine plane. Placed in completely random locations deep within the less populated areas, the root tendrils seemed to radiate a dark and sickly aura of death...

However, to Thoth, a god who had existed almost since the beginning of creation, this view was nothing new.

Rather hurriedly, he flicked his hand to bring out a ghostly rock shaped like a scarab beetle. Its body was covered in lines of enigmatic engravings and was translucent like a spiritual body.

Squelch!

In a single grip, Thoth crushed the scarab rock. But the moment he did, a bloody squelching sound rang out, almost as if the scarab had been a living creature...

Thoth ignored the strange white blood seeping from his hand and stared straight ahead.

Instantly, just a few meters in front of him, an old man appeared. In terms of appearance, he was completely ordinary.

He had an ordinary face, an ordinary body, was dressed in an ordinary white robe, and didn't release even a single spiritual fluctuation. However, that was also the most fearsome aspect of his appearance.

To not warrant even a minute obstruction from the World when he used spatial transference, it was obvious that this old man was leagues above Thoth!

Despite the fact that he had expected this, Thoth couldn't help but be shaken by this unintentional show of prowess.

Seeing that his summons had worked, Thoth heaved a sigh of relief and lowered his head in a respectful bow and called out, "Greetings senior."

Even as an Empyrean god he didn't hold even a single speck of pride in front of this ordinary old man.

This was because this old man was Heka! A mysterious and elusive god, with little to no popularity among the masses of the nine planes. However, not even the Pantheon Leaders dared to anger him.

The old man's eyes fell upon Thoth, who couldn't help but shiver under his gaze.

Ignoring his reaction, Heka began to speak in a calm and ordinary tone.

Rather strangely, he didn't open his mouth and instead was only speaking through divine will transmission, "Junior Thoth, I hope you have a satisfactory reason for summoning me this day."

Even before Thoth could begin to ask for forgiveness and explain the situation, Heka continued in a threatening tone, "Today was turning out to be a wonderfully rare day of father-daughter bonding with my lovely daughter, and you completely ruined it! If it turns out that you wasted my time, along with the summoning talisman I gifted your master, I don't think you need to be an Empyrean God anymore..."

Hearing this, Thoth put aside all other thoughts and cut right to the chase, "It's the Book of Thoth! It was stolen! The thief acted in a similar manner to the Daoist named, 'This handsome and scholarly self'. There is news of him having received the first Cosmos Tier treasure crafted by Hephaestus, and even stealing some random magical device from the All-Father!"

Despite the seriousness of the situation for Thoth, Heka didn't even blink. Even if Cosmos Tier treasures were the absolute pinnacle level of treasures available in the current cosmos, Heka had witnessed the creation and destruction of hundreds of them.

Hearing these words, Heka asked in an even more annoyed tone, "I raised your Soul-bound treasure to the Cosmos Tier as a favor to Fellow Daoist Atum-Ra, but you went and lost it almost immediately? What the heck are you junior gods doing? This is almost as stupid as what that crazy pervert Loki has been up to!"

Hearing these insults, Thoth could only bow his head in apology. To be compared to the perverted Loki was an incident of great shame to him. But he could only stew in his smoldering rage while imagining ways of torturing 'this handsome and scholarly self' for revenge.

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Heka ignored his actions once more and continued in an impatient tone, "I assume you are unable to track the thief's location and believe there is a considerable threat of losing your soul bound treasure to him? You want me to help you find him, right?"

Hearing this direct question, Thoth was elated. But before he could even begin to reply, Heka began to speak in an enraged tone, "Pray tell me, why the hell didn't you ask your master for help and waste his time, instead of mine?"

Thoth shivered in fright as a stifling pressure crashed down on him with that single sentence.

He hurriedly bowed and began to explain, "Please forgive me, senior! Master is currently in an important meeting with the Olympians, and considering the little time available I had no one else to turn to. To help Senior Heka a bit more in his search, perhaps you could use this? I was able to capture a speck of the thief's energy."

Saying so, Thoth hurriedly presented a small glass globe with a single speck of struggling divine white energy. Even so, he continued to keep his head lowered out of fear for enraging Heka further.

Honestly speaking, Heka didn't have any real reason to be angry with Thoth, especially when his scarab talisman entitled the user to a single favor from him. However, the fact that he had just lost the rare chance of spending a satisfactory day with his cute daughter was enraging him beyond belief.

As such, he was planning on making Thoth cower in fear a bit more before he actually helped the poor fellow out. But the sight of the white energy in front of him caused him to tremble in agitation.

That single spark of mystical white light... That aura, as familiar to him as much as his own...

Heka couldn't help but brush his eyes in disbelief. Seeing that he wasn't hallucinating, he didn't waste a single second more and waved his hand.

Weng!

Instantly, the globe disappeared from Thoth's grasp and reappeared in his hand.

Thoth was surprised by this reaction and raised his head wondering what had changed Senior Heka's mind and caused his rage to calm down. But by the time he did, Heka's face and appearance had reverted back to his normal calm and cold nature. 

Staring at the globe, Heka was feeling rather conflicted. He 'felt' that he had a fairly good chance of tracing the location of the energy before him, but considering the owner of this energy... he didn't believe for one second he could do it.

Most importantly, even if he was a hundred percent confident of retracing the location, he still wouldn't do it!

Heka was planning to spin some excuse and refrain from interfering in this matter, when suddenly... Thoth shivered in agitation and gasped with glowing eyes.

His face was a mixture of emotions shifting from gleeful surprise, to contemplation, and finally rage.

Turning to Heka, Thoth spoke up in a mixed tone of excitement and anger, "Senior Heka, thank you for your help and support, but I've already figured out the culprit!"

He bowed and spoke in a more serious tone,  "Junior can only apologize for wasting your time. This Junior will be willing to accept any punishments for wasting Senior's time, as long as I'm allowed to contact my Master to inform him about this new development, of course."

Heka was flabbergasted, to say the least. Quickly weighing his options, he fell into thought, 'How!? Did he really figure it out? Will I have to silence him...?'

Even so, Heka maintained his calm and posed a simple question, already preparing to kill the god before him if necessary,  "Oh? And what name does this thieving god go by?"

Intense killing intent flared out as Thoth replied with obvious rage, "He played all of us for fools! Not only did he grab a Cosmos Tier treasure from the Olympians, but he also stole one from us, Kemetics!"

Suddenly Thoth paused in disbelief for a moment, before continuing to shout in rage, "FUCK! I just lost the soul connection to my book! I can't believe I just lost my soul-bound treasure to such a spineless villain!

If he didn't mess up in that instant, considering his original situation, I never would have figured it out!

To think he actually pretended to be a victim to throw us off... HOW SHAMELESS!

No wonder the fellow only lost some random divine treasure and not his own Cosmos Spear!"

With intense rage, causing sparks of lighting to appear in the air around him, Thoth finally spat out the name, "The culprit, is the so-called All-Father, Odin, of course!"

Hearing this absolutely incorrect and implausible accusation, Heka almost collapsed on the spot laughing out of sheer disbelief. All his intentions of silencing the other party were shattered with this single sentence.

Even so, Heka quickly controlled his emotions and posed another question, "Junior Thoth, that is a grave accusation you are making. Do you have the evidence to back it up?"

Thoth quickly reined in his own rage as he was reminded of the status of the individual he was with. He quickly nodded in reply and explained, "Senior, of course, I do! I sensed the distinctive aura of that one-eyed old man's only eye staring at my poor book! I can easily use this as evidence."

Hearing this new tidbit of information, Heka couldn't help but raise an eyebrow in surprise. But considering the status of the person that he was considering, this actually made perfect sense...

Turning to Thoth, Heka spoke up in a 'serious' tone, "Junior Thoth, I'm sure that you are aware of my neutral status in the affairs of the four grand pantheons. However, I'm still a Kemetic by birth. Considering the gravity of the situation, I exempt you from punishment for wasting my time. You may leave," and waved his hand in dismissal.

Thoth was taken aback by this reply. He hadn't thought for one second he could get away scot-free. He quickly bowed in goodbye, deep respect and admiration for the magnanimous senior Heka, surging in his heart.

Weng!

With a familiar tremble in the air, Thoth vanished from the sky, leaving only a few spatial waves in his wake.

He was going to Mount Olympus to report this matter to his master and pantheon leader, Atum-Ra!

Watching Thoth's quickly disappearing figure, despite his greatest attempts not to, Heka couldn't help keep a smile from creeping on to his face.

Staring at the speck of mystical white light inside the globe within his hands, with nostalgic eyes and a smile on his lips, he fell into serious thought, 'Old friend, it's good that you're back, and I'm truly glad you took the time to let me know.

Even in your weakened state, I'm pretty confident that you only let Junior Thoth capture this speck of energy to let me know that you're fine, right?'

A light chuckle rose in his throat, 'But... why do I get the feeling you only let me know, in order to get me to look out for you?'

The chuckle died down as his eyes slowly grew serious, 'Don't worry, I'll use this speck of energy to keep an eye on your growth back to the top.'

Heka heaved a heavy and complicated sigh, 'In your absence, the nine worlds have changed. The Moirai that once served you, have accumulated supreme power over our part of the cosmos and have done their best to prevent the rise of another individual on par with yourself. The Giants have recovered a quite of their power as well. Coming back won't be easy. Good luck.'

KABOOM!

Suddenly, a world-shaking explosion wrecked out from the land below him. Even as Heka stared down in surprise, he couldn't help but be shocked.

Odin was in a heaven-shaking battle, as he simultaneously waged war with both Zeus and Atum-Ra!

This shock slowly converted into amazement as a nostalgic grin crept onto Heka's face.

'Unbelievable!

You took a Cosmos Tier weapon from Hephaestus, inadvertently angering the Lighting Lord Zeus who is always prone to fits of anger.

You took another Cosmos Tier weapon from Junior Thoth, which happened to be his soul-bound treasure that I, myself, upgraded!

However, from All-Father Odin, you only took a random useless divine treasure.

Then... you used Odin's lost eye, which is absolutely incriminating evidence, to pin the entire thing on him!

What will happen is exactly this! Full-blown war!

The Olympians and the Egyptian Kemetics were always close to each other. By pitting them against the Nordic Aesir and Vanir, the resulting war will devastate the entire divine plane! Even the prideful Immortals might get into it, supporting their allies, the Norse!

By doing these simple actions, not only will you be teaching those stuck-up little gods a lesson, but the Moirai will also be distracted away from any commotion you might cause!

But the fact that you decided to pin all of this on Odin is interesting... Is he truly involved in your disappearance?

Still, what a scam this is! A Scam that will ultimately shake the nine worlds... nay, the entirety of this side of the Cosmos!!

Old friend, you definitely haven't lost your old touch, huh?'

However, Heka also realized that something was off. He had used his massive divine sense to cover the entire divine plane and search for information regarding the Daoist 'this handsome and scholarly self'.

In this event, he had come across news about him stealing from Goddess Guanyin of the Immortals. Apparently, the object of theft was a single bottle of used bathwater...

Having heard this, Heka's initially amused grin grew rather complicated, 'My old friend, who gave up on worldly pleasures, he couldn't have such strange tendencies... right?

Before Heka could think more on this matter, suddenly a playful voice rang out from behind, "Oh?! Father, what is with that intriguingly complicated grin? Are you that happy to be away from me, that you can't help but smile at the empty air like an idiot? I really hope it is because of that, because if you're smiling at the war that will erupt soon, I'll still be disgusted. I thought you hated war-headed idiots like Ares..."

Even as he heard this, it was as if a cold pitcher of water had been chugged all over him.

Heka immediately froze in disbelief. He hurriedly turned around waving his hands in refusal, "No, no! Sweet daughter, you've got it wrong! It's not what you think at all!"

Right behind him, was a bewitching young woman. Her hair was a beautiful light brown, while her skin was as smooth as pale jade. However, there was something eerie in her eyes, almost ghost-like and devil-like...

Right at her heels, following after her, was a terrifyingly large black dog.

The young woman crossed her hands with a harrumph, "Is that so? Then explain! Why were you smiling!? Did you see peek on some pretty young goddess? Will I have to tell mother?"

Despite the precarious situation that Odin was currently in as he faced against two pantheon leaders, poor Heka felt that he was much much worse off.

He completely forgot about the matter regarding the bathwater, as he began to wrack his brains for a clever explanation.

Slowly realizing that he was short of good ideas, he felt a terrifying headache coming on...