After armoring himself, Judas still dared to give the Cauldron another direct counter. It was a sign of his absolute confidence in his strength. The crucifix shone even brighter now that he was clad in the Holy Aurum Armour. The holy power was far more intense than before.
With the Crucifix and the Holy Aurum Armour, Judas seemed to be the embodiment of the God of Light himself. There was no way people would associate him with a Hegemon of the Godhunter Alliance.
Han Shuo felt the pressure of the holy power coming from Judas. He had no choice but to send a stream of energy into the cauldron to help it withstand all that holy power. All this time, he had thought that Dhaka was the strongest fighter in the Godhunter Alliance. Now that he had seen Judas' holy power, he knew that Judas, the one who had betrayed the God of Light, was even more terrifying. He was the true, undisputed hegemon of the Godhunters.
The Seventeen Flying Swords formed up and used Deicide Slash once more, keeping Dhaka at bay and forcing him to retaliate with full force. On the other hand, Han Shuo sent some demonic yuan energy into the cauldron, allowing it to draw out even more power before slamming into the armoured Judas. The force of the blow left him stunned.
"Haha, it's even better!" Judas exclaimed excitedly. He was fully clad in the armour forged by the combined faith of 100 million followers of the God of Light. Even after being rammed twice by the Cauldron, the armour didn't shatter. The condensed faith shone brightly with holy energy like the sun, seemingly able to resist any form of corruption.
"Han Hao, you are no match for me!" Ossora grinned. Earth energy filled his body, making him feel like a magnificent mountain. Every blow he unleashed gave off an impressive feeling of dominance.
While Han Hao alone would be hard pressed to face such raw power, he was now sitting in the middle of Dagmar's white bone throne. His entire body seemed to have merged with the throne itself; the throne had become an extension of his body. The concentrated energy of death flowed unabated through the throne, transforming it into a gigantic, yet impossibly agile monster.
With a single thought, he could cause the throne to extend its fangs and claws to attack Ossora, as well as command it to shrink and defend itself from Ossora's attacks. The throne was as good at offence as it was at defence, and Han Hao used this to his advantage. From time to time, the bone spear in his hand would flash, causing Ossora to retreat in fear each time. It was only because of the throne that Han Hao was able to drive Ossora away without actually being hurt or attacked.
But just as Ossora couldn't do any real damage to him, Han Hao couldn't kill Ossora either. He wasn't a Death Cultivator, so the Quintessence Shard of Death wouldn't be able to do much. Earth Cultivators were also excellent at defence, and Ossora covered himself completely in an earth armour. There wasn't much Han Hao could do against it. If not for Ossora's defensive element, Han Hao would definitely be able to crush him.
"You can't kill me either!" Han Hao said coldly. He wouldn't let Ossora's words affect his emotional state.
Ossora was still somewhat injured and wasn't able to use the Earth Energy to its full potential. Coupled with such an impressive defensive artefact as the White Bone Throne, there wasn't much Ossora could do to hurt Han Hao.
Han Shuo, alone with Judas and Dhaka, turned to look at Ossora and Han Hao. Much to his relief, the latter did not seem to be in any trouble. Smirking, he said, "So you still think you have everything under control, huh?"
Then he whistled loudly. Suddenly, two identical Han Shuos flew out of the Cauldron of Myriad Demons, each holding the left and right sides of the Cauldron as they radiated death and destruction energy before forming a hybrid domain of divinity around them.
These two avatars were Late-stage Highgods, a hair's breadth away from achieving Overgod status. Not only had they absorbed the souls and divine energy of many Highgods of Death and Destruction, but they had also incorporated much of the memories contained within their souls. Now they were stronger than ever.
With a ping from the divine consciousness of the main body, the two Avatars were in sync with the main body. Suddenly, the Domain of Divinity of death and destruction shifted to a new, never-before-seen Domain of Divinity with the Cauldron at its centre, instantly spreading out and enveloping the entire area.
The cauldron in the centre focused the energies of death and destruction, allowing the combined domain to repel other types of energy. Dhaka's expression immediately changed as he realised that despite being an Overgod of Destruction, he was no longer able to truly grasp the laws of Destruction.
Death energy was pouring in from all directions, while the Orbs of Destruction were hanging in the sky like fruits on invisible branches, rolling incessantly as they unleashed terrifying destructive energy.
Dhaka looked up and saw that not only did the Orbs of Destruction above contain death and destruction energy, but the orbits on which they spun also contained traces of the true essence of the Laws of Destruction. If a Lowgod who cultivated destructive energy looked at the orbs, he would be able to grasp new ways to use destructive energy and become even more powerful.
Inside the Hybrid Domain, Judas immediately noticed the light from his Sacred Aurum Armour fading. Even his evil-dispersing Crucifix didn't seem to be able to withstand the combined domains.
The two Avatars, not even at the Overgod Realm , were far greater than the sum of their parts; the combined domain of Death and Destruction affected everyone within its boundaries and affected their power, with only one exception: Han Hao, who carried the Death Quintessence Shard. The death element of the combined domain was actually unaffected by the influence of his shard, much to his shock.
Suddenly, without any warning, Han Hao glowed brightly and was completely out of control. One rune after another surfaced from his body as a gigantic image of a tombstone manifested behind him. The moment the tombstone appeared, it seemed to affect the new hybrid Domain of Divinity. The two forces became disharmonised and clashed, causing unbridled energies to shoot all over the place.
The tombstone was not controlled by Han Hao, and the clash of the two forces was far beyond his expectations. It had happened so quickly that he hadn't been able to react.
Han Shuo was equally surprised. He hadn't thought that his Avatar's Hybrid Domain of Divinity would clash with Han Hao's Quintessence Shard just because it contained some Death Energy. Eventually, the hybrid domain began to crack, causing the death energy within it to flow towards Han Hao. The remaining destructive energy was no longer able to support the Hybrid Domain of Divinity.
"Hahaha, truly interesting! To think that father and son would turn on each other!" Ossora had been stunned when the new domain had just formed, but now he could only laugh.
"It's the Quintessence Shard! It can't be anything else!" Judas shouted as he turned to look at Han Hao. Hearing this, Tuckamore and Ossora also looked at Han Hao in disbelief.
The chaotic battle had come to a halt the moment Han Shuo's Hybrid Domain of Divinity collided with Han Hao's Death Energy, causing the other Overgods who didn't know about the Quintessence Shard to stare at him. Even Salas and Wasir were shocked when they realised the reason Nastor had gone to Omphalos to interrogate Logue.
It seemed that the Overgod of Death himself had been searching for the Quintessence Shard. It was no wonder that such an exalted being would come all the way from the Dominion of Death to the Fringe.
"We must end this battle quickly. It won't be long before the Overgod of Death returns. If we don't leave before he does, we might end up on his dinner table!" Dhaka said hastily.
Everyone knew that Nestor was extremely sensitive to the Quintessence Shard of Death. It was another matter if he did not activate the Shard, but Han Hao had manifested it directly, out in the open. There was no doubt that Nestor would immediately sense the power of the Shard and come.
While the Hegemons normally liked to throw their weight around, they knew that they were no match for Nestor. The Overgod of Death could easily wipe out every Overgod in the Fringe on his own.
"Let's make haste!" Judas said, before suddenly laughing out loud. "Haha, Regis, Isaiah, Miller and the rest are here. The battle is almost over!"
As he had said, there were indeed five figures coming from the distance.