Translator: Ryogawa
TLC: Hedonist
Aethernia continued to creep along the cosmic aether, slowly nearing the center of this universe and Elysium. Countless lights were being released around the city, weaving together into a protective net around the mysterious castle-like city.
“We couldn’t have come a moment too soon,” Althea remarked. Given the rate Aethernia was moving, it would collide with the continent of Elysium in a few more decades. Everyone there would no doubt perish, with even the gods unable to escape the disaster. Without the power of faith, the Quintessence overgods would lose control of their Quintessence and be swiftly dispatched by the Allmother.
“Han Shuo, break the barrier, quick!” Monroe said, staring at him hatefully. “If you can’t break it, we’ll wipe you out first! Our dominions have paid a huge price in order to make this happen!”
“Monroe, since when did you have the right to bark at me like that?” Han Shuo snapped coldly.
“You!” She angrily tossed a body of crystalline water towards him. Two centuries ago, Monroe had suddenly appeared and did the same thing to his avatar to humiliate him. Back then, his main body still didn’t have enough energy to rival her, so it was all he could do to endure it.
But now, he merely humphed coldly and sent the Cauldron of Myriad Demons out. Before that gigantic water drop approached, the cauldron sent a wave of water splashing outwards that pushed Monroe’s attack aside and washed over her, sending her flying off uncontrollably. Her body turned into fluid before it reformed sometime later. Now, all she did was grit her teeth and glare at him without daring to threaten him any longer.
“This is for that day two centuries ago. If you continue to talk to me like that, don’t blame me for being not as gentle next time.” He smirked and held on to the cauldron.
“You!” Monroe was filled with anger, but she knew now that Han Shuo wasn’t someone she could afford to mess with.
“Seriously, Monroe, don’t you have something more important to worry about right now?” Han Shuo snapped, before he smiled and turned to Azdins, Lyna, as well as the Goddess of Wind and Gods of Fire, Lightning, and Earth. “I know many of you will want to attack me after I break open the barrier. I’ll be waiting, so make sure to give it your best shot.”
He didn’t say anything else and looked into a cauldron; beams came out of his eyes into the cauldron, filling it up and causing it to glow with a dark light. Cries of tormented souls could be heard coming from within, as if there were demons within it about to be let out at any moment. As that occurred, the Cauldron grew in size until it was a black sphere adorned with many ancient and arcane characters alongside many ghastly faces.
An ancient, mysterious and evil energy began to slowly leak from the cauldron. Then, the formation of the stars and moon could be seen on the black spheroid, followed by the appearance of mountains, lakes and all sorts of scenes of nature.
Gradually, it began firing one dark beam after another, each one of them having a life of its own and shrieking as they left the cauldron. The beams gradually grew in size as they struggled to devour one another before growing into an unimaginably large blood of dark light. Then, an odd sound could be heard coming from Aethernia. The barrier that was formed from the strongest energies of this universe actually began to crack.
“What a terrifying power! Aethernia’s barrier is really cracking!” exclaimed the Goddess of Wind, Balyr. The other gods seemed to have mixed feelings about the matter as they watched the barrier slowly crumbling. On one hand, they had been waiting for this day for who knows how long. It was a miracle unfolding before their eyes. On the other hand, the energy coming out from the cauldron was so terrifying that they couldn’t help but feel hostile towards it. They were worried that Han Shuo would be a blight to them before the barrier even fully collapsed.
Then, a clear, crackling sound could be heard from the colorful barrier. It had protected Aethernia for aeons, but now, it was slowly coming apart, revealing holes through which people could see.
“We can enter now!” Fernando cried as he immediately opened up a spatial pathway to that crack. At that moment, the Quintessence overgods that stood at the pinnacle of Elysium began to turn to one another, hesitating. They didn’t dare to be the first to step through the pathway. To them, the Allmother was the most terrifying existence in the entire universe. In their long lives, the trauma they had suffered from their fear of her was so much that they were hesitating at this crucial moment.
“If she doesn’t die, you will anyway! What’s there to hesitate about?” Han Shuo said, his eyes glowing paradoxically dark. He continued to pour in more power into the cauldron to make the crack bigger and bigger.
Perhaps because his words had struck a chord in Althea, she hesitated for a moment and said, “That’s right. If she doesn’t die, all of us will. Everyone, we’ve been waiting for this for far too long, and I believe we should be ready for whatever’s to come. Any of us alone is unable to threaten her one bit, so we must fight as one.”
“We should leave the matter of Han Shuo for later. Right now, the one that is the most threat to everyone is no doubt the Allmother. Perhaps we should work together to defeat Her first before we talk about anything else,” Nestor said as he turned to him.
If Han Shuo didn’t demonstrate his power just now, they might have already started attacking him. But after he schooled the Goddess of Water, Monroe, they began to take Han Shuo’s power seriously.
“That’s right. Dealing with Han Shuo as we have planned is no longer feasible,” Azdins said, never having denied the hostility he held for Han Shuo. “Given his power, we won’t be able to defeat him without suffering losses, and we can’t afford to waste any of our energy on fighting amongst ourselves. Han Shuo, you should be aware that she won’t let you off either, so I believe you should help us deal with her too!”
“Oh, that was my intention all along. Once she’s dead, we’ll settle our debts. We’ll find out who the ruler of this universe is when we fight later.”
“Let’s go in together,” Althea said. The others nodded, being able to push their petty squabbles aside to focus on the bigger picture.
“Alright!” Fernando said, being the first one to lead the way. The others followed and walked in line with him into the pathway.
When Han Shuo entered, his eyes flashed before the cauldron began to howl really loudly. Then, loud explosions could be heard as the colorful barrier was torn through like wet paper by the cauldron.
“It’s gone now!” Fernando said as he and Althea hurried up to enter Aethernia. Han Hao and Han Shuo tagged closely behind. When he stepped onto Aethernia, he almost forgot to hold onto the cauldron.
They all stood on the ground of Aethernia that was made from an unknown rocky material. There wasn’t the slightest sign of life there, only incredibly dense elemental energies that were not one bit weaker than the power of the Quintessence. Han Shuo spread his consciousness throughout the entire place and didn’t feel any signs of life. It’s as if the whole place was dead.
“There’s no sign of life here at all! What’s going on?” Han Shuo said, before he turned to Lyna, the Goddess of Life, “Do you feel her presence here?”
“My power comes from her, so even if she is right next to me, I won’t be able to detect her presence,” she said with a resigned shrug.
“We have to find her first!” Fernando said, looking rather troubled. Ever since he came, he had been teleporting all over the place but didn’t find a single trace of the Allmother. He was running out of ideas.
“You’re finally here, my dear children. I’ve been waiting for you for a long time,” said a gentle voice all of a sudden that seemed to have come from the top of Aethernia. “You’re all standing on me right now, my dears. Why are you still looking?”
