***At the Dominion of Death. Inside a stone chamber located in a towering mountain. The chamber was saturated with extremely concentrated elements of death. There, a mighty being was awakened and it rose from the pool it was submerged in. It looked in the direction where Han Hao was, and murmured softly, “Who could it be?”
Concentrated death elements in liquid state overflowed from its mouth as it spoke.
Every cultivator of the element of death had to absorb the element from the environment to strengthen themselves. This being, however, seemed to have broken this natural law and no longer needed the ubiquitous elemental power found all around the universe. What’s more, the element of death would overflow from his mouth with each word he spoke.
It was almost as if this being was the fountainhead of the death element, as though all death energy in every material plane had originated from it.
“It seems that I have to take a trip to the Dominion of Destiny,” the man murmured. Then, he seemed to dissolve into the death elements in the chamber and disappeared without a trace.
***
At the Dominion of Destiny, at the massive central hall of the Destiny Goddess’ Shrine, Andrina looked at the expressionless Goddess of Destiny with boredom and coquettishly begged, “Mother, I want to go out to play. I want to go find Bryan. I know that he’s in the Land of Chaos, it’s just nearby!”
The Goddess’ eyes disappeared into squints as she smiled. Not a trace of her terrifying mighty aura, which Aobashi and the others had experienced in the Darkness Dominion, could be sensed. She appeared as though an ordinary mother, graceful and kind as she gently replied, “No, sweetie, not now. Just wait a little longer. I will arrange for you to meet him in due time.”
“Why?” Andrina, chewing on energy stones like snacks, pouted and grumbled.
The Goddess of Destiny stretched out her hand and caressed Andrina’s soft and long hair, putting on a faint smile as she said, “There are certain things that 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 alter the destiny of many.”
“What’s so different about him? Why do you always say that Bryan shouldn’t be here? I know Profound Continent is only a low-level material plane, but there are plenty of successful people living on Elysium who originated from low-level planes!” Andrina was a little confused.
The Goddess of Destiny calmly explained, “He did not originate from Profound Continent, nor is Bryan his original name. You will learn of this in time. His existence is an opportunity for all of us. One day in the future, we might even need his favor.”
Andrina was shocked and perplexedly said, “You all? The Twelve Overgods?”
Smiling as she nodded, the Goddess of Destiny answered, “That is all that I can reveal to you for now. I promise you, when the time is right, I will tell you more.”
Then, suddenly, the Destiny Goddess stared blankly with her pair of eyes that seemed to contain galaxies. Stars seemed to be revolving in her deep eyes. She turned and gazed in the direction where Han Hao and Dagmar were fighting. She bunched her brows lightly and murmured, “Why would a piece of a Quintessence Shard appear here? Mhmm, it is of the death element, he must have sensed it too. I suppose he will be visiting my Dominion…”
“Mother, what is it?” asked Andrina curiously when she saw her in a daze.
“Nothing.” Smiling as she stood up, the Destiny Goddess said to Andrina, “I’ll be leaving for a while and should be back soon. Andrina, promise me, do not be naughty while I’m away and stay home. Okay?”
“Of course, I will not leave,” Andrina immediately assured her with a cute face.
The Goddess of Destiny nodded. She bowed to gently kiss Andrina on her delicate cheek before she faded into thin air and vanished.
***
Back to the battleground between Han Hao and Dagmar where only the latter remained. Dagmar stared blankly for a long while before also leaving the scene.
Three days after the battle, Dagmar went to a volcanic crater near the Fringe. Asser and Dhaka, the Darkness and Destruction Hegemons, were waiting.
When Dhaka, who cultivated destructive energy, saw Dagmar appearing above the crater with his bone throne, he frowned slightly and asked, “Dagmar, what’s the matter? I can tell that something is wrong from that look of yours. Don’t tell me that you have failed to settle that little brat who’s causing us trouble?”
Asser was also rather baffled and he said in a deep voice, “Dagmar, I know that he used to be a follower of yours, but you can’t be reluctant with him. It doesn’t matter if he has great potential, he is now our enemy. If you are to let him mess around in the borders of the various Dominions, the divine guards from those Dominions will come for us. By then, we will be forced to cease our invasion!”
“Dagmar, if you couldn’t do it, let me finish him for you. We can’t let a puny little joker jeopardize the masterplan that we have worked on for years!” remarked Dhaka who seemed displeased.
The masked Dagmar glanced at his fellow Hegemons and said, “I did try to kill him, but I failed. Not only that, I even lost an aching amount of divine energy to him. This kid has come to possess some sort of divine weapon that I’ve never seen. Somehow, it overpowered me.”
Dhaka and Asser’s faces jolted when they heard the explanation. They both looked at him with disbelief and Dhaka gravely asked, “Dagmar, are you sure about that? That kid is not even in the overgod realm. He couldn’t match 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 face.
“It’s a gravestone with abstruse carvings on it. It emanated an extremely miraculous energy of death…” Dagmar recalled the scene from three days ago, and explained what he experienced in detail. He even told them his own understanding of the gravestone in as much detail as possible.
After he finished speaking, the Hegemon of Darkness, Asser, stared blankly with an astonished look, while Dhaka stroked his long beard pensively.
After a long silence, Dhaka suddenly realized something and raised his head, exclaiming, “It’s a Quintessence Shard!”
Dagmar and Asser were shocked, their eyes were full of incredible surprise. Dagmar’s voice was trembling 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 dazzling light of greed bursted from Dagmar’s eyes. He completely lost his cool and grabbed both Dhaka and Asser, demanding, “Help me capture the Quintessence Shard! I will give you both anything in exchange! Anything you want!”
Dhaka and Asser exchanged glances and they loosened the grip of Dagmar’s hands which were clutching onto their clothes tightly. 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, containing the most profound and complete understanding of its Fundamental Force. If, for any reason, a Quintessence Overgod perished, any ordinary overgod who holds a Quintessence Shard will automatically become the new master of the Quintessence. This object is of great significance. The Quintessence Overgods will attempt to reacquire the Shards at all costs and annihilate anyone who possesses one! For this reason, those possessing the Shards would never dare to reveal it and would hide themselves in material planes millions of light years away from Elysium. How the hell did that fella come to possess a Shard?”
Dagmar managed to calm himself down somewhat as the two Hegemons talked. He smiled bitterly and said, “How would I know? If he hadn’t suppressed my power with that object, he would have been dead three days ago! With such a marvelous device in hand, it’s no wonder his strength has been soaring. Had I known earlier, I would’ve killed him when he was in the Dominion of Death and taken the Shard from him. Sigh, but it’s too late for me to do so now. He has now become so powerful that besides the Overgod of Death, no cultivator of the death energy could touch him.”
After taking a short pause, Dagmar continued, “Therefore, I beg you, please help me acquire the Shard. Once I possess it, I promise to find the Quintessence Shards of Darkness and Destruction for you two. How does that sound?”
“Of course we will help you. We are all allies here, aren’t we?” Dhaka agreed, smiling schemingly as he said, “As long as you can locate him again, Asser and I will do all we can to assist you. Right, Asser?”
Asser nodded silently. No one knew if he was being sincere.
Dagmar had lived for countless years, and he had encountered all kinds of characters. He could tell from their tone that the two wouldn’t be helping him in good faith. However, the temptation of the Quintessence Shard was just too great to Dagmar, and at present, it was only with the aid of these two Hegemons that he had any chance of obtaining the Shard.
“Alright, Dagmar, we still have to discuss how exactly we will attack the Fringe. That kiddo will definitely be there. Once we conquer the Fringe, he will have nowhere to hide and be forced to fight!” Dhaka saw Dagmar’s desperation for the Shard and knew that he could not take it off his mind. Therefore, Dhaka tried to use the line of reasoning to get Dagmar back to business.
“Understood. I will mobilize all the power in my hands. As soon as the kid appears in the Fringe, I will seize the Shard from him at all costs!” Dagmar took a deep breath and began considering if he could kill Han Hao using his subordinates who were not cultivators of the death energy.
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 that he could think of. He was utterly obsessed!
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