***In the Dominion of Death. Inside a stone chamber in a towering mountain. The chamber was saturated with extremely concentrated elements of death. A powerful being was awakened and rose from the pool in which it was immersed. It looked in the direction where Han Hao was and muttered softly, "Who could it be?
Concentrated Death Elements in liquid form spilled out of its mouth as it spoke.
Every Death Element cultivator had to absorb the element from the environment to strengthen themselves. However, this being seemed to have broken this law of nature and no longer needed the ubiquitous elemental power found throughout the universe. What's more, with every word it spoke, the Element of Death spewed from its mouth.
It was almost as if this being was the source of the Element of Death, as if all the Death Energy in every material plane came from him.
"It seems I must take a trip to the Dominion of Fate," the man murmured. Then he seemed to dissolve into the Death Elements in the chamber and vanished without a trace.
***
In the Dominion of Destiny, in the massive central hall of the Destiny Goddess' Shrine, Andrina looked boredly at the expressionless Goddess of Destiny and pleaded flirtatiously, "Mother, I want to go out and play. I want to find Bryan. I know he's in the Land of Chaos, it's so close!"
The goddess' eyes narrowed as she smiled. There was no trace of her terrifying, powerful aura that Aobashi and the others had experienced in the Darkness Dominion. She looked like an ordinary mother, graceful and kind as she replied softly, "No, sweetheart, not now. Just wait a little longer. I will arrange for you to meet him in due time."
"Why?" Andrina, chewing on energy crystal stones like a snack, sulked and grumbled.
The Goddess of Destiny reached out and stroked Andrina's soft, long hair, smiling faintly as she said, "There are certain things I cannot reveal to you yet, but I can tell you that Bryan is a key figure... He shouldn't be here, but his presence will change the fate of many."
"What is so different about him? Why do you keep saying that Bryan shouldn't be here? I know the Profound Continent is only a low level material plane, but there are many successful people living on Elysium who are from low level planes!" Andrina was a little confused.
The Goddess of Destiny calmly explained, "He is not from the Profound Continent, nor is Bryan his original name. You will learn this in time. His existence is an opportunity for us all. One day in the future, we may even need his favour.
Andrina was shocked and said, "All of them? The Twelve Overgods?"
Smiling as she nodded, the Goddess of Destiny replied, "That is all I can reveal to you for now. I promise you, when the time is right, I will tell you more."
Then, suddenly, the Goddess of Destiny stared blankly into a pair of eyes that seemed to contain galaxies. Stars seemed to rotate in her deep eyes. She turned and looked in the direction where Han Hao and Dagmar were fighting. Her eyebrows furrowed slightly as she murmured, "Why would a piece of Quintessence Shard appear here? Hmm, it is from the Death Element, he must have sensed it too. I suppose it will visit my dominion..."
"Mother, what is it?" asked Andrina curiously, seeing her in a daze.
"Nothing." Smiling as she stood up, the Goddess of Destiny said to Andrina, "I'm going away for a while and should be back soon. Andrina, promise me you won't be naughty while I'm gone and stay at home. OK?"
"Of course I won't leave," Andrina assured her immediately with a sweet face.
The Goddess of Destiny nodded. She leaned down to give Andrina a soft kiss on her delicate cheek before she vanished into thin air.
***
Back to the battlefield between Han Hao and Dagmar, where only the latter remained. Dagmar stared blankly for a long time before leaving the scene as well.
Three days after the battle, Dagmar went to a volcanic crater near the Fringe. Asser and Dhaka, the Hegemons of Darkness and Destruction, were waiting for him.
When Dhaka, who cultivated destructive energy, saw Dagmar appear above the crater with his bone throne, he frowned slightly and asked, "Dagmar, what's wrong? I can tell by the look on your face that something is wrong. Don't tell me you haven't been able to settle this little brat who's been causing us trouble?"
Asser was also rather puzzled and said in a deep voice, "Dagmar, I know he used to be one of your followers, but you can't be reluctant to deal with him. It doesn't matter if he has great potential, he is our enemy now. If you allow him to roam the borders of the various dominions, the divine guards of those dominions will come for us. Then we will be forced to stop our invasion!"
"Dagmar, if you couldn't do it, let me finish him off for you. We can't let a puny little joker jeopardise the master plan we've been working on for years!" said Dhaka, who seemed displeased.
The masked Dagmar looked at his fellow Hegemons and said, "I tried to kill him, but I failed. Not only that, but I lost a painful amount of Divine Energy to him. That kid has some kind of divine weapon that I've never seen before. Somehow he overpowered me.
Dhaka and Asser's faces fell when they heard this explanation. They both looked at him in disbelief and Dhaka asked gravely, "Dagmar, are you sure? This boy is not even in the realm of the Overgods. He couldn't stand up to you, no matter how powerful his divine weapon was. What exactly happened?"
Asser was also shocked and looked at Dagmar with a puzzled and perplexed expression.
"It's a tombstone with abstruse carvings on it. It radiated an extremely miraculous energy of death..." Dagmar recalled the scene from three days ago and explained in detail what he had experienced. He even told them his own understanding of the tombstone in as much detail as possible.
When he finished, the Hegemon of Darkness, Asser, stared blankly with a look of astonishment, while Dhaka stroked his long beard thoughtfully.
After a long silence, Dhaka suddenly realised something and raised his head, exclaiming, "It's a Quintessence Shard!"
Dagmar and Asser were shocked, their eyes full of incredible surprise. Dagmar's voice trembled as he murmured, "Yes...yes, I should have known...! It's the only thing in the universe that could unleash such power, that would allow him to suppress me!"
Suddenly a blinding light of greed burst from Dagmar's eyes. Completely losing his cool, he grabbed both Dhaka and Asser and demanded, "Help me capture the Quintessence Shard! I will give you both anything! Anything you want!"
Dhaka and Asser exchanged glances and loosened the grip of Dagmar's hands, which were clinging tightly to their clothing. Dhaka said with a solemn expression, "Quintessence Shards are said to only exist in Aethernia, and that place was sealed when the Creator last disappeared. How could there be a Shard that was left out?"
Asser also said with a heavy voice, "Although a Quintessence Shard is not the Quintessence, as a vessel that once held the Quintessence, it is still a powerful object that contains the deepest and most complete understanding of its fundamental power. If a Quintessence Overgod dies for any reason, any ordinary Overgod who possesses a Quintessence Shard will automatically become the new master of the Quintessence. This item is of great importance. The Quintessence Overgods will attempt to reclaim the shards at any cost, and will destroy anyone who possesses one! For this reason, those who possess the Shards would never dare to reveal them, and would hide in material planes millions of light years away from Elysium. How the hell did that guy come to possess a shard?"
Dagmar managed to calm himself somewhat as the two Hegemons spoke. He smiled bitterly and said, "How should I know? If he hadn't suppressed my power with that object, he would have been dead three days ago! With such a marvellous device in his hand, it's no wonder his power has increased so much. If I'd known earlier, I would have killed him when he was in the Dominion of Death and taken the Shard from him. Sigh, but it's too late now. He has become so powerful that no Death Energy cultivator but the Overgod of Death can touch him.
After a short pause, Dagmar continued, "Therefore, I ask you to help me acquire the Shard. Once I have it, I promise to find the Quintessence Shards of Darkness and Destruction for both of you. How does that sound?"
"Of course we will help you. We are all allies here, aren't we?" Dhaka agreed, smiling schematically as he said, "As long as you can find him, Asser and I will do everything we can to help you. Right, Asser?"
Asser nodded silently. No one knew if he was sincere.
Dagmar had lived for countless years and he had met all kinds of people. He could tell from their tone that they wouldn't help him in good faith. However, the temptation of the Quintessence Shard was simply too great for Dagmar, and at the moment he only had a chance of getting it with the help of these two Hegemons.
"Alright, Dagmar, we still need to discuss how exactly we are going to attack the Fringe. The boy will definitely be there. Once we conquer the Fringe, he will have nowhere to hide and will be forced to fight!" Dhaka saw Dagmar's desperation for the Shard and knew he would not be able to get it out of his mind. So Dhaka tried to use the argument to get Dagmar back on track.
"Understood. I will mobilise all the power in my hands. As soon as the boy appears in the Fringe, I will take the shard from him at any cost!" Dagmar took a deep breath and began to consider whether he could kill Han Hao using his subordinates who were not Death Energy cultivators.
He even thought of Salas, wondering what he could offer Salas that would tempt him.
The temptation of the Quintessence Shard had thrown Dagmar's mind into disarray. It was the only thing he could think of. He was completely obsessed!