Everyone was stunned, including Han Hao himself. He looked blankly at the spinning diamond near his chest and felt as if it had become his second soul. Thanks to the new quintessence, the hatred, resentment, anger, and all sorts of negative energies from all over the world had been affected and were flooding in from all directions.
This new quintessence almost seemed to be the source of all negative energies being channeled and collected for Han Hao to use. The diamond-shaped quintessence spun around a few more times before entering Han Hao's head and being enveloped by his divine soul, becoming one with it. At that moment, a great burst of light seemed to emanate from the bone throne as it began to change in some way.
Han Shuo, who was standing not far away, was as unaware of the changes as the others. He wasn't sure what this quintessence represented, but he secretly felt elated at the prospect of Han Hao becoming an existence at the level of the Twelve Great Overgods.
He could feel a familiar, yet paradoxically alien aura emanating from Han Hao, the nature of which he was still unaware. But from the expressions on the others' faces, he could be sure that the object was indeed a Quintessence.
"What is going on here? How could a new Quintessence be created?" Judas muttered. The smile on his face was now replaced by nothing but utter shock.
"Wasn't it said that only twelve Quintessences had been created since the beginning? In all the eons, I've never heard of any new Quintessences being created," Nestor said as he shot a confused look at the Goddess of Destiny, expecting some sort of explanation from her.
She seemed as stunned as they were. After recovering from the shock, she smiled resignedly and said, "Don't look at me. Even I don't know why this is happening. Han Hao's fate is beyond my control. He is now beyond my understanding of the universe."
"What do we do then?" Nestor said after some thought.
She didn't answer his question right away. Instead, she looked thoughtfully at Han Shuo and Han Hao. After a while, she frowned and said, "Nestor, the Quintessence is already born, so you don't have to worry about him taking your Death Quintessence. These two can help us. Now, I have a feeling we should leave."
Nestor turned to Han Hao with an uncertain look, while Han Hao looked back at him as if he were the greatest enemy he would ever face. He was afraid that the Overgod of Death would risk everything and attack him.
Even though he now had something so powerful in his divine soul, he still hadn't mastered the best way to use it. As of now, he was definitely no match for Nestor. Han Shuo was just as cautious as he was. Now, his main body and his avatars were carefully preparing to stop Nestor if he attacked.
"Nestor, there are some things that are out of our hands," Judas finally said.
Nestor shot him a look before nodding. With a chuckle, he said, "We have one more fight before we go to Aethernia. If you dare to use your trashy body again, I will not hesitate to destroy it." He then turned to Han Hao and just hummed. He then nodded to the goddess before leaving.
When Nestor was gone, the Goddess of Destiny furrowed her brow and said to Judas, "You shouldn't interfere too much in the affairs of the Godhunter Alliance and you shouldn't occupy Judas' body. The Alliance exists for a reason, but it doesn't need you to lead it.
When the God of Light heard what she said, his expression turned serious. With some hesitation, he said, "I know what I have to do, so you don't need to remind me. Once I leave, Judas will disappear forever. He will never appear in Elysium again."
The Goddess smiled and nodded. "Very well."
The God of Light turned to Han Shuo and Hao Hao. After some hesitation, he smiled and said, "Before Aethernia opens, an inevitable change will come to Elysium. I hereby invite you to join the battle as representatives of the Light, Life and Water Dominions. Don't be in a hurry to join or refuse. You can take your time to think about it."
"I want to kill one of your three guardians, Gyál!" Han Shuo said, remembering McKinley's plea just before the God of Light left.
He stopped in his tracks and turned to Han Shuo. After some thought, he said, "Gyál has been a loyal follower of mine for years, and I alone will decide his fate. If Gyál is dead, I will consider it as you having refused my olive branch. Think carefully before you decide.
He then nodded to the Goddess of Destiny before slowly walking away. When he was at her side, he paused and whispered, "It's not so much the Quintessence-bearing Han Hao that I'm worried about, it's his father who can fuse the twelve basic powers. We know the power and the limits of the Quintessence, but no one has a grasp on alien energies. You have to be careful how you let that develop.
Having said that, he slowly walked away. The God of Light didn't bother to hide what he was saying. Han Shuo and Han Hao heard it very well. Now, Han Shuo knew that the Twelve Overgods had other plans, but he still wasn't sure what they were.
Now that the other two had disappeared, the goddess smiled. "Looks like I don't have to worry about Andrina staying with you. Please take care of her. I have other matters to attend to at the moment. When the time is right, I will seek you out personally to talk about what you need to know."
Han Shuo really didn't know what to say to her. Even though he knew she was hiding something from him and had hopes for him, she had never gone into details. However, he had a hunch that it had something to do with his cultivation and the Exalted Demonlord. He couldn't imagine what other part of him would attract the goddess' attention.
He said nothing as he watched the goddess disappear. Now she was gone too, leaving only Han Shuo and Han Hao in the ruins of Pandemonium.
After the great battle, father and son had grown even stronger. Han Shuo's realm state broke through to the Diablo Realm, and he also gained avatars for thirteen different energies, all of which he could fuse into a sum greater than their parts.
Han Hao had also developed a quintessence, the pinnacle of divinity itself. To say it was a complete transformation would be an understatement. However, the two of them didn't think too much about their achievements, instead feeling a little depressed about the ruins. Gilbert, Sangius, Bollands and the others were still missing, so Han Shuo was rather worried about their safety.
"Father, Pandemonium is no more..."
Nodding, Han Shuo said, "Well, we'll just have to rebuild it. Every time we rebuild it, it will evolve. This time, with my current abilities, we'll give it a complete overhaul and use an ultra large Ninth Realm Mystical Yin Harvester, so we'll have limitless yuan energy for Pandemonium's operation!"
Back in the Profound Continent, the Exalted Demonlord had set up such a demonic formation to harvest the natural energy and used it to pull Han Shuo's soul from another universe into this one.
Compared to the Profound Continent, the yuan energy in the environment here was a hundred times denser, so setting up a formation here would allow Pandemonium to have an endless source of energy. He could also use the harvested energy to forge his Invincible Demonic Body and store more and more demonic yuan energy in it, so that his body could reach parity with his mind in the Diablo Realm.
As long as his mind and body were in the Diablo Realm, he was confident that he would have a fighting chance against the Aeonic Quintessence-bearing Overgods. Besides, he still had thirteen other Avatars to count on. The fusion of six of them alone would allow him to defend himself against Nestor's attack. The moment all thirteen fused, there might not be anyone left in Elysium who could take him on.