'He's a child'

That was Thrag's first thought upon seeing the third Node Bearer. And his second thought was:

'He's different to the others'

Lilac skin with short hair that was a slightly darker shade of purple, these two features were completely different to the other goblin's violet-coloured skin and hair colour which ranged from black to blonde. However, these differences were overshadowed by the much more glaring ones, a short, heart-tipped tail, two horns which curved away from his forehead and eyes that were entirely black, making it look as if his eye sockets were empty.

It was clear that the young goblin wasn't actually a goblin but something else. Something with more potential. Thrag could feel a weak sense of suppression while being in the boy's presence, it seemed to stem from the blood flowing through his veins. Why would he feel such a thing from this boy?

'Unless...'

The priest's eyes widened in enlightenment as he focused upon the third Node Bearer with excitement growing on his expression. This strange feeling of suppression was natural bloodline suppression one felt when in the presence of a creature with a purer bloodline. It meant this child was an actual demon, unlike the rest of them who were only demonised goblins.

But how did this child evolve?

There was only one way to find out.

"Boy, when did you evolve?"

Upon hearing the priest's question, a look of confusion appeared on the child's face, as if to say he didn't understand what was being asked.

"Uhhh...Lord Thrag, what exactly is evolution?"

For a moment, both Thrag and the twins were shocked that the child didn't know about evolution before they remembered that he was just a child. Of course, he wouldn't know about evolution, and that fact caused Thrag to narrow his eyes in thought as a certain theory popped into his mind.

'It couldn't be, could it?'

"Well, evolution is when your bloodline reaches a certain level of purity, triggering a qualitative change in your strength"

Pausing to allow the child to digest the information he had just received, Thrag took note of his expression, checking to see if there was any realisation or familiarity. Finding nothing, the theory in his mind started to solidify as it was starting to look to be true.

"You will usually gain new bloodline-specific abilities as well as some physical changes. Most important, is the increase in potential which increases the speed at which you grow as well as the maximum rank you can reach."

With the priest's explanation coming to an end, the child bowed his head as a gesture of thanks before sinking into his memories.

While watching the child delve into his memories, Thrag had already long come to a conclusion regarding the truth behind the child's evolution. Taking into account the goblin's short pregnancy time which could range between one to four days as well as their inherent lustful nature, the priest believed that the child had been born as a fully-fledged demon. With both parents being demonised goblins, it was possible that rather than the child being born demonised, they were instead born as demons.

A Demonised being was technically a demon, however, they weren't classed as so due to the fact they didn't have the demon's main organ, the demonic core. The Demonised state was the transition phase where the being would slowly become a true demon but at the end of the day, they were still a demon. Demonic mana flowed through them now instead of pure mana, which was a trait exclusive to the demons.

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As he was piecing things together, Thrag's train of thought was disrupted by an innocent voice, though he wasn't irritated by this, as the priest was waiting for an answer.

"I don't think I've evolved before, I was born like this"

The child's response acted as a form of confirmation for the priest's previous thoughts. He nodded his head to signal to the youngling that his answer was fine. However, this wasn't the same for the two goblins with shocked expressions standing next to the child. The twins couldn't believe what they were hearing, the fact that someone else could become a true demon before them was a wake-up call for them.

Some beings were born with more advantages than others, and naturally, the two of them wished they were the ones born as demons. But, there was nothing they could do except train as hard as they could to become demons as soon as possible. And they wouldn't stop there, they would keep going until they reached the being of their dreams.

While the twins were strengthening their conviction to grow stronger, the First Priest thought back to when he was teaching the goblins about magic. He had come to realise why he hadn't seen any other true demons among their people, it was because they had all most likely only come into this world recently. The third Node Bearer was probably the oldest among them.

'So the next generation will all be born one step ahead of us all, looks like us adults are going to have to work harder'

Mentally sighing to himself before letting out a self-deprecating chuckle, Thrag turned to the child with a glint of hope and excitement in his eyes. Their future was looking bright.

"You don't have a name, do you?"

Seeing the child shake his head in response, Thrag, who already knew what the answer was going to be, cleared his throat before staring deeply into the young demon's eyes.

"From this day forth, you shall be known as Depravus"

Hearing the name bestowed upon him, Depravus had a silly grin plastered across his face as he felt pride rush through his veins. Noticing the boy's reaction, the First Priest could only shake his head in amusement before deciding to start his lesson on Node Enhancement.

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"Depravus...it's a good name"

With his eyes fixed upon the scenes being shown to him through the Observation Screen, the devil remained slumped on his throne without any care in the world. Unlike the goblins, the appearance of the first demons from the demonised goblins didn't surprise the devil at all. He had long expected such a development, after all, he had the necessary knowledge to know what would happen when two demonised beings engage in procreation.

When the child is in its mother's womb, rather than a cracked core, that all the Demonised had, forming, a demonic core would form instead. This was a natural outcome, a core couldn't be formed with cracks unless the child had a deformity. And since the Demonised's base was now demon instead of their original race, it would mean the child would, naturally, be born a demon.

And in the case of Depravus, he had been born an Imp of Defilement. This would be what every goblin in the village would eventually become.

The devil had expected the goblins to become an imp species of sorts, but due to the goblins also having been corrupted, there was no knowing which species they would evolve into.

Goblins tended to become Imps of Lust, however, it appears because of the influence of the corruption they would evolve into this new species of imp. Furthermore, from what the devil could feel within himself, in particular his bloodline, the imps seemed to be connected to him on a much deeper level than the other goblins.

With his understanding of the demon race, the devil concluded that the Imp of Defilement was a branch bloodline. Unlike the Royal bloodline which directly descended from the devil, the Imp of Defilement descended from one of the species among the Royal bloodline. What the devil found interesting about this was that it implied that some of the species among his Royal bloodline were predetermined.

When the thought of the Royal bloodline came up, the Lord of Corruption's eyes suddenly widened as he came to realise something important. Faye couldn't exactly be considered to be truly part of his bloodline, despite having a Royal bloodline. She was just an Asura, she didn't have an additional prefix or suffix which was linked to the concept of Corruption.

'Which means in the future she will experience some sort of evolution to fully become part of my bloodline'

He could only dream as to what changes his dear apostle would experience, but one thing was for certain: she would certainly touch the levels of the divine in the future.

But that was only possible if she managed to live long enough to reach her potential, and for that to happen the devil needed to guide his followers accordingly. With that in mind, the devil had already decided what needed to be done to ensure a victory against the Merman God's followers.

'Once they absorb those other goblin tribes, I'll get them to use that ritual'

Wasting no time the devil activated the Abyssal Whispers technique, the target of his whispers being the First Priest, after all, Faye had been entrusted with another task.

"Gather as many human women, who have recently given birth, along with their newborns as you can. Ensure this task is completed before the battles with the other goblin tribes begin"