TLC: Hedonist

“God of Light! You’re the God of Light!” Han Shuo snapped when it finally dawned on him.

Judas nodded with a smile. “That’s right, indeed I am. I’m only borrowing Judas’s body. Bryan, oh Bryan, you truly are more amazing than anyone would’ve expected.” Judas directly admitted to being the God of Light. Han Shuo immediately knew why he remained behind even though the other Hegemons had left after witnessing his newfound strength.

An Overgod with a Quintessence was easily a hundred times more powerful than overgods the likes of Dhaka. Though they shared the same descriptor, it couldn’t be further from the truth. An overgod with Quintessence wouldn’t be afraid of being harmed by Han Shuo.

“God of Light... Why are you a Hegemon? Don’t tell me you Overgods were the one who orchestrated the formation of the Godhunter Alliance to begin with?” Han Shuo asked.

The Goddess of Destiny nodded listlessly. She stretched her hand out to send out an odd energy wave that covered the entire area. Nobody would be able to notice what went on within whether from above or below.

“The Godhunter Alliance has to exist, otherwise the so-called alliance here would’ve long been wiped out by us,” the Goddess of Destiny casually said after sealing off the entire area.

“Why would that be the case?” Han Shuo asked.

She smiled without answering his question, instead turning to the God of Light and Overgod of Death. “Gentlemen, I believe we can now tell him about Aethernia by now.”

“That is fine. But before that, I must first destroy Han Hao’s Quintessence Shard!” Nestor said with a nod. He glared at Han Hao on the bone throne without any intention to negotiate.

The moment he said that, Han Shuo’s expression changed. “I don’t care what you plan to do, but I will not allow anyone to touch Han Hao!”

Nestor leered at him and mocked, “You think you’re powerful enough to even do that?” He turned back to Han Shuo and his body shuddered. The purest of death energy emanated from his body. All of a sudden, the Overgod of Death approached Han Hao, his seemingly infinite energy of death affected the environment around him simply by manifesting.

Shocked, Han Shuo snapped, “You won’t stop me from trying!”

Nestor had said he wanted to destroy the Quintessence Shard in Han Hao, which had already fused with Han Hao’s soul. Destroying it meant wiping Han Hao from existence entirely, and Han Shuo would never tolerate that.

His relationship with Han Hao was far deeper than what he had with his women. Back when he had nothing, Han Hao had accompanied him all the way, helping him pick up trash and clean. He was an integral part to his life, and he wouldn’t allow anybody to touch him, not even Nestor!

With a thought, the thirteen avatars came out of the cauldron. Six of them, death, destruction, lightning, darkness, wind, and water respectively, overlaid with one another to unleash the new Domain of Divinity.

This time around, Han Shuo had a much easier time controlling the six avatars with his consciousness, unlike before. Even so, he still hadn’t yet stabilized his new growth and was only able to use six avatars for now.

The new congregate force formed a barrier that enveloped Han Hao, stopping the encroachment of Nestor’s energies. Han Shuo couldn’t afford to hide any ounce of his power when facing off against a foe like him. The new domain that formed was unique in that six waves of energy flowed through it like water.

“Ooh!” The Goddess of Destiny seemed really interested in this new energy. She turned to the possessed Judas and asked, “What’s going on?”

Judas laughed and shook his head. “I don’t know myself. Perhaps this is what makes the energy he cultivates so special. It has to be a wondrous reaction between his energy and our universe’s energy for something like this to even be possible... But worry not. His new power isn’t perfect yet. Just fusing them together by force isn’t going to unleash too much energy. Hahaha... It’s still all under our control.”

“Under control, huh...” She wore an odd expression on her face. “This is only the start. He still hasn’t managed to master his powers yet. But when he does, it will surely be very different from how it is now. This Bryan is both promising and worrying...”

Even though she had basically mumbled the whole thing, Judas heard it all clearly. He knew what she was implying. Now, he seemed to also have noticed something unique about Han Shuo and was in deep thought.

By now, Nestor’s death energy fell upon Han Shuo’s congregate barrier. An Overgod with the power of Quintessence couldn’t simply be compared to a ‘faux’ overgod. The moment the forces clashed, Han Shuo felt a boundless, dense energy of death that was far more powerful than any overgod’s. It was as if the death energy across countless planes had been gathered here.

Facing such immense power when he hadn’t even mastered his own yet was a gruesome and straining affair. There was always a chance that his barrier would crumble.

Not only that Nestor could draw the purest death energy from the environment, he himself was a massive battery of densely packed energy, having had billions of years to infuse himself with power, the extent of which nobody could even begin to imagine.

Had it not been for Han Shuo’s new avatars’ combined six energies, there was no way he’d be able to take on Nestor’s attack. The energy from the consciousness manifested as very thin lines that were hard to see by the naked eye. The threads melded together with the other avatars and continuously helped channel their energies to the new barrier, but the effort took a huge toll on Han Shuo.

“Oh, not bad. Apart from Quintessence Overgods, nobody has been able to hold out against me for this long!” Nestor said in a surprised tone before putting even more pressure on the barrier.

“Father!” Han Hao cried. Being telepathically linked with Han Shuo, he knew about what was happening. He knew that Han Shuo was expending the power of his soul to save him. If demonic yuan energy was used up, it could be replenished in time, but it was a whole different story for the power of the soul, which the death-adept Han Hao was too well aware of. He couldn’t help but feel a little anxious about Han Shuo for doing so.

All of a sudden, a gigantic tombstone manifested behind Han Hao as he used all his power to infuse his bone spear with the demonic yuan energy he had cultivated over the years in a desperate bid to fight Nestor. A subtle light suddenly shot out from the tombstone as the energy of death fused with demonic yuan energy.

Then, a clear-sounding ringing could be heard from the tombstone as it morphed into a rhombus-shaped, crystalline object that hovered and spun on an axis. It kept on unleashing death energy as it spun including all sorts of negative energies like endless hatred and resentment.

“Nestor, stop!” the Goddess of Destiny cried as the Mirror of Destiny leapt out of her hands to reflect the shift in the tracks of fate.

All of a sudden, Nestor retracted his death energy and retreated to her side. Giving her a troubled look, he asked, “Why? That kid has a Quintessence Shard. I will definitely not allow an existence that can threaten to replace me to live.”

The goddess didn’t answer him and instead focused on the crystalline object that spun near Han Hao’s chest with a look of wonder.

Judas, mouth agape, muttered, “How... how could this be possible?”

The Goddess of Destiny and the God of Light’s reactions caused Nestor to look at Han Hao, before his expression completely shifted. “This... this is?!”

Nodding firmly, the goddess said, “It’s the power of the Quintessence! A... a new Quintessence formed on his body!”

The moment she said that, even Han Shuo shuddered. He turned to Han Hao with a look of wonder without letting up the barrier and saw a Quintessence, not just a shard! One of the most amazing things in the universe had just manifested on Han Hao’s chest!

In Elysium, the reason the Twelve Great Overgods reigned supreme wasn’t their innate talent, their impressive reputation, nor their long lifespan, but rather, their Quintessence that nobody else had. It was something that marked absolute superiority amongst even overgods, and now, Han Hao managed to form one of his own. What did that imply?

Nestor, the goddess, Judas, Han Shuo, and even Han Hao himself were all dumbfounded. What type of Quintessence would his be?