Great Demon King

Before the echo faded, Aethernia began to transform. The barrier that Han Shuo destroyed instantly repaired itself, enveloping Aethernia in iridescent lights and trapping all the intruders within.

Then came a series of terrifying explosions, all so powerful that they caused the entirety of Aethernia to rumble. An enormous egg erupted from the center of Aethernia amidst the explosions.

Immediately, the elemental energies from all over the universe began gushing towards the egg, covering its surface with colourful, moving stripes. Before long, the enormous egg cracked.

A dazzling woman emerged with a faint smile on her face, sporting a pair of enchanting eyes that seemed so deep that it contained galaxies within. Her lustrous hair shimmered with all colours, and her skin was a radiant translucent tone, stretched across her voluptuous, naked body. Surely, the concept of beauty itself was derived to describe her visage.

Then, with a wave of her hand, the shattered egg shell glowed and transformed into complex linear patterns that wrapped tightly around her body, forming strange yet beautiful patterns. The halo around her grew more distinct as she gradually exuded an austere, intimidating aura that kept growing stronger with time. The Twelve Overgods immediately locked their gazes at her, perceiving her as a hostile threat as their faces turned grave and pale.

“Allmother,” greeted Althea in a respectful voice before turning to her fellow Overgods and sternly yelled, “What are you waiting for?”

Immediately, the Overgods cast every last bit of hesitation out of their minds and activated their Quintessences. Some held them in hand, others wore it on their chest, and some manifested them in their eyes.

If they were ever to stand any chance against the Allmother, it would only be possible if they attacked with all they had. Channelling their force through the Quintessences which they came to dominate with the power of faith, they unleashed their full, apocalyptic might, pushing the power of their Quintessences to their very limits right from the get-go in hopes that it would annihilate the Allmother. Raging fire, frigid ice, wrathful lightning, roaring wind, blinding light, all-consuming darkness, and other energies went blasting towards her, but she did not seem the least bit concerned.

“O, my adorable children, it was Me who had bestowed power upon you. How could you hurt Me with what I gave you in the first place?” the Allmother remarked with a benevolent smile, as if she was nagging at naughty little children. Dazzling, iridescent rays of light suddenly shot forth from her body before interweaving to form a barrier similar to the one enveloping Aethernia.

The all-out strike of the Overgods clashed with the barrier she willed into existence, but not a single explosion or sound could be heard. Their attack was like water that was being poured into the ocean, not causing the slightest stir nor splash. Needless to say, it did not damage the Allmother in the slightest, much to their abject horror. Some were even visibly frightened.

“You are all born of this universe, and everything that you have was granted by Me. I raised all of you, granted you power, and gave you command over My planes. Yet, you wish to betray Me. Is this how you repay Your Mother?!” said the Allmother with the same smile.

Then, the strange patterns plastered on her perfect body began to glow and move as the iridescent barrier disintegrated into countless lights that flowed into her body, further infusing her already terrifying aura with even more dread and august flair while also making the colorful halo around her take a more corporeal form. Even her skin seemed brighter and more magnificent.

The looks on the Overgods’ faces turned even more sour, having been completely blindsided by the Allmother’s ability to render their attack useless and convert it into Her nourishment.

“We don’t deny you gave us everything we have, but it wasn’t out of good intention on your part. You only wanted to make us servants with which to maintain your grip on the universe. Despite possessing the Quintessences, we could only borrow its power but never truly possess it. You’ve never treated us as your own children, but as slaves,” said Althea calmly, shooting the Allmother a grim look.

“So? What’s wrong with that?” The smile on Allmother remained warm and kind “You are all My children. It is only right that you take part in My work and grand design. And you, Althea, are my favourite for being the most impressive of My children. But do you really think that you can harm Me just by joining hands with them?”

“Of course not. I knew that we would never be able to harm you. You could easily destroy all twelve of us without breaking a sweat even when you were severely injured with only a fraction of your power. Had you done that, however, you wouldn’t be getting a constant supply of the power of faith, so you chose to control us through the Twelve Quintessences like you always have.”

“That is correct,” the Allmother seemed pleased. “You are indeed the smartest of My children. I did indeed deliberately spare your lives. If I had killed you all, I wouldn’t have obtained such enormous streams of faith power as choosing new Quintessence Overgods involves time and trouble. That is the sole reason why you all still exist.”

All the Overgods except Althea were stunned; even Han Shuo and Han Hao were shocked to learn that.

“Althea, what do you mean?” Monroe was appalled and horrified. “Are you saying that we should have died long ago? That she left us alive not because she couldn’t kill us? Then all the work that we had done for all these years had all been in vain? Was our fate ordained from the start? You bitch! You knew everything and kept it to yourself! Fuck you, Althea, you fucking trecherous bitch!” Monroe, the Goddess of Water, could no longer hold it together after learning the truth.

“Isn’t that better? If I had told you the truth back then, your life would have been filled with dread, and you definitely wouldn’t have done my bidding. At least I gave you a purpose in life,” replied Althea indifferently.

“How could you do this to us?!” cried Lyna.

“Our power came from Allmother. No matter how weak She is, we cannot kill Her. This is a fact that nobody can change!”

Althea turned to look calmly at Allmother and asked, “You left us alive for so long till now so that you can retake our power on this day, right? And once you absorb our energy, you will recover your power fully and release the Quintessences once more to raise another cycle of Overgods, correct?”

“It seems that I have overlooked some things after I was hurt. Have you removed the seal, Althea?” the Allmother gently raised an eyebrow as though something was out of Her expectation.

“Yes, I have. Every few billion years, you would gather all the Quintessence Overgods, assimilate their energy, annihilate their body and soul, and select a fresh batch of Quintessence bearers – but I will always be spared. In every cycle, you would just seal off my memories and some of my powers before making me reincarnate to become the Destiny Goddess again and again. If my count is right, there have been nine cycles, and all 99 of the Overgods had their energy taken and their souls destroyed. If it wasn’t for that person hurting you so badly, I would still be blinded from the true essence of Destiny and remain your helpless puppet!”

“Oh, so you have found out about your past. Big deal. But so what? What else can you do about it? Soon, I will rid you all of your power. And you, Althea, will have your memories sealed once more. You will be reincarnated again and again, managing the trajectory of the universe’s destiny for me and supplying me with destiny energy from every part of the universe. This is your destiny as it has always been, as it currently is, and as it ever will be!”

The Allmother put Her hands together, causing Her eyes to glow like a pair of blazing suns. All of a sudden, twelve glowing vessels of different colors emerged from every corner of Aethernia, each of them emanating a distinct aura corresponding to each of the Twelve Fundamental Forces as immense energy waves.

“Quintessence Vessels!” cried Azdins in terror. The Quintessence on his chest was going berserk and dragging him towards one of the Quintessence Vessels.

It wasn’t just Azdins; all the Quintessence Oversgods, except Han Hao, started losing control over their Quintessences and themselves. Struggle as they might, they couldn’t stop themselves from being drawn towards their respective vessels.

“I cannot resist you, but I can kill them!” Althea suddenly let out a wild shriek and the Mirror of Destiny in her hand glowed with strange, colorful lights. Fine threads, representing the orbits of life surfaced from the mirror and entangled with one another. Soon enough, the billions of threads intertwined to form eleven bright and thick threads. As soon as those eleven threads took shape, all the Overgods felt a pull on their divine souls, causing them to jolt once more.

“Althea, what the hell are you doing?!” Nestor shouted, absolutely horrified.

“You can never escape from Her, but at the very least, I can make sure your death isn’t in vain!” Althea gritted her teeth and started to pull the eleven thick strands with all her strength.

“Damn you, Althea!” the Allmother, who appeared calm and unhurried the whole time, finally showed a hint of true emotion: wrath. She pointed at Althea and shot a stream of colorful beams at her.

Knowing that she cannot resist the power, Althea immediately turned to Han Shuo and shouted in a panicked voice, “Help me, Han Shuo! All these souls I had gathered from all those wars are for this moment! Once the threads in my mirror are broken, their divine souls will shatter with their Quintessences and the Allmother will be weakened! Only then will you stand a chance at killing Her!”

“Han Hao, attack!” Han Shuo ordered after making his decision in a split second before he charged towards Althea. He hurled the Cauldron of Myriad Demon towards her as a clump of black light emerged from it and enveloped Althea in a barrier.

Even though this meant that Fernando, the Overgod of Space would perish, it was Han Shuo’s one and only real chance at killing the Allmother. It was a fight for his and the world’s survival, something that he had to do even if it meant sacrificing a good friend.

The two energies representing the pinnacle of power from their respective universes clashed, creating a blinding burst of light that lit up every inch of Aethernia. Han Shuo’s body trembled as he barely managed to resist the Allmother’s strike.

“You think you can fight me, Han Shuo? Your power isn’t even close to what He had!” remarked the Allmother before she gestured, sending eleven halos to envelope the eleven Overgods.

“Oh no! With those barriers, their Quintessence will remain intact even if I shatter their souls. Han Shuo, you must destroy those barriers or I won’t be able to destroy their Quintessence!” Althea exclaimed.

“Understood!”

Out of nowhere, a majestic figure utilizing a bizarre energy tore through in Aethernia’s barrier and landed before the Allmother. It was Han Shuo’s avatar, now no longer half-baked and forcibly combined using the edict of space like it had been two centuries ago. Now, his face was symmetrical and flawless.

Back then, as Han Shuo’s main body remained inside the Mystical Yin Harvester to be reforged, he did not have time at all to get intimate with any of his women. Eventually, Rose threw herself on his avatar. Having practiced this involuntary abstinence for ages, Han Shuo could no longer hold it and went on to consummate the delicious fruits of their relationship.

While using his usual demonic copulation technique of Yin-Yang enhancement, he discovered that the two parts of his avatars began to show signs of harmonizing. From that point on, Han Shuo began his journey of pleasurable cultivation with his women in Pandemonium. Thanks to the sheer size of his harem, he could engage in cultivation non-stop and make rapid progress. Eventually, the two parts of his avatar completely reconciled and fused into one three decades ago.

“Oh?!” The Allmother’s face jolted slightly as she sized up the other Han Shuo. She exclaimed, “Not bad, not bad at all, you have managed to fuse all Twelve Fundamental Forces in that body. It is comparable to mine in my youth. Excellent! I can directly assimilate this body of yours and grow my power to a new peak!”

“Han Hao, attack!” shouted Han Shuo. His main body and his avatar then charged at the Allmother. Meanwhile, Han Hao, who was on his White Bone Throne, activated the seven bone spurs on his back, releasing a burst of aura filled with extreme dread, desperation, and hatred. His seven bone spurs assailed the radiant barriers enveloping the Overgods while he charged towards the Allmother alongside Han Shuo.

Han Shuo sent forth a hundred thousand demon generals from the cauldron while his avatar charged up the Twelve Fundamental Forces into a giant beam. Han Hao concentrated his negative energy on his bone spear. All three of them attacked with their full power. Had it been any of the Quintessence Overgod, they would have no chance of surviving this attack.

The Allmother put on a grave look. Suddenly, a strange light flashed in her eyes and she shrunk into a sphere, once more enveloped in a giant eggshell. The attacks landed on the mercurial shell produced loud explosions, but didn’t seem to shatter it at all. It appeared as though the energy of Han Shuo’s avatar did not have much of an effect on the eggshell. Only his demonic energy and Han Hao’s negative energy caused the eggshell to shake.

“Keep it going!” shouted Han Shuo. The hundreds of thousands of demon generals emerged from the cauldron and attached themselves to Han Shuo’s arm, forming an enormous, terrifying fist. He punched on the eggshell with all his power.

The strike contained the full power of Han Shuo’s main body and every demon general in the cauldron. It was Han Shuo’s ultimate attack. When it landed, a high-pitch ringing could be heard as cracks finally formed on the eggshell.

Before Han Shuo could throw a second punch, the Allmother re-emerged with bits of eggshell sticking to Her skin, forming colorful lines. Her bright, translucent skin seemed to have turned a hint dimmer. She hastily retreated a great distance away before she snapped, “How dare you?! I am the Creator! Worship Me!”

Then, she performed a bizarre gesture with her two hands, causing a new Quintessence Vessel to appear out of thin air. This vessel glowed with a dark radiance and seemed much bigger than the others. It shimmered with an even more ancient and mystical power, echoing not just the Allmother’s aura, but also the sinister aura of Han Shuo. As soon as the Quintessence Vessel appeared, it streaked across the sky almost instantly and buckled on the top of Han Hao’s head.

Immediately, Han Hao began to stare blankly at the Allmother. His seven bone spurs that were shooting towards other Quintessence Overgods suddenly froze in mid-air.

“Han Hao, you are my son. My only son!” said the Allmother with a warm and kind voice as she shot him a loving gaze. She smiled and asked, “Your father wants to kill me, he wants to kill Mother. Son, are you going to let your father kill Mother?”

“No,” replied Han Hao in a monotonous voice. After staring for a while, he pointed the bone spear in his hand towards Han Shuo.

“Wha– what the fuck is going on?!” Han Shuo was completely flabbergasted. He looked to Han Hao, and then back to the Allmother, with a feeling that everything was about to come collapsing down.

The Allmother was still all smiles. “Good boy, Han Hao. Now, Han Shuo, did you think your bloodline alone and your imperfect demonic arts was enough for him to grow nearly as he is now? Oh, Han Shuo, ever since this child got the gravestone, a trace of my blood and stigma manifested within him. You were completely oblivious to it.

“There’s no way he would’ve been able to mature so quickly without my blood and stigma to the point he could rival you in power. Do you really think that a new Quintessence would just form out of the blue? Let me tell you, Han Shuo, he is the child of both of us, and it’s only natural for a good son to defend his mother from a father that’s trying to kill her.”

Those words explained everything. Han Shuo finally understood how Han Hao was able to improve so quickly and even form a brand new Quintessence which didn’t need the sustenance of faith, unlike Nestor’s or the others’. The Allmother had planted a seed within him long ago, a seed that kept on festering the whole time!

“What did you do to him?! He’s definitely not himself!” Han Shuo bellowed. His heart clenched at the sight of Han Hao pointing the bone spear at him.

“Don’t worry. You will die, but he will outlive you! He is the only true child I’ve ever had in my aeons of life – my Firstborn! Althea was right; I have always considered the Overgods mere slaves. They are not fit to be my children. They don’t have my blood nor stigma. Hahahaha…. Han Shuo, I really owe you my gratitude. Without your blood and the knowledge of demonic arts that was transferred to him, my child wouldn’t have grown so powerful. Rest in peace knowing that our son will be the sole ruler of this universe! After I retake Althea and the others’ powers, I will come to your universe to conquer it!” The Allmother began cackling in an uncharacteristic fashion, breaking her saintly image. “Han Hao, kill your father and this universe will be yours!”

Han Hao seemed to no longer be able to recognize Han Shuo after hearing that order. He charged towards Han Shuo, mercilessly aiming his spear at him. At the same time, the Allmother tried to hold back Han Shuo’s main body as she began collecting the twelve Quintessence Vessels. Even with her power not at its prime, she was not someone Han Shuo could easily take on. She was easily able to push Han Shuo back with such force he couldn’t afford to not evade her attacks.

“Han Hao, snap out of it! I am your father! Your only parent!” Han Shuo’s main body and his avatar both yelled in an attempt to snap Han Hao out of it. He couldn’t bear to hurt him and kept on evading instead. His avatar tore into the surrounding space while his main body continued to retreat from the Allmother’s attacks and slowly suffered damage from her Twelve Fundamental Forces. His arms, chest, abdomen, and waist were all hurt. Even with his Invincible Omen Body, he wasn’t impervious to Allmother’s attacks, as was apparent from the blood all over him. He had no choice but to continue sacrificing divine souls within the Cauldron of Myriad Demon to mitigate the damage he suffered.

“Accept your fate. I have found out about you long ago and you are but a pawn in my grand scheme. The only reason you managed to live till now wasn’t thanks to Fernando or Althea. I needed you to grow strong enough so my son could continue to improve. Not to mention, I will be partaking in the energy you have amassed.

“Hahaha… Once I collect the energy from your two bodies, I will use your techniques to overcome the great divide between the universes and head to your universe and do as I please. Know that your destiny has been written and you’ll never be able to change it!” The Allmother was all too happy at Han Shuo’s increasingly battered state.

Althea, who was watching from the sidelines, couldn’t do anything to help. Her power had originated from the Allmother herself, so even if she joined in, she wouldn’t be able to do any damage to her. In fact, she would be essentially returning her energy to the Allmother.

If this went on, everyone who came to Aethernia would be wiped out in one fell swoop by the Allmother. There was no way she would allow anyone to leave alive. Han Hao’s sudden change completely threw Althea and Han Shuo’s plan out of whack, leaving them at a huge disadvantage. Meanwhile, Han Shuo’s avatar got stabbed through his chest by the bone spear. Han Hao pulled the spear out and immediately aimed for the head.

“Wake up, Han Hao! Did you forget the time we fought together in the academy on the Profound Continent? You did all sorts of things for me, helped me teach Lisa a lesson, helped me…” Han Shuo looked panicked for the first time. He wasn’t able to bring himself to kill Han Hao and things were growing worse by the second.

However, his desperate plea seemed to be working. Han Hao’s face suddenly turned blank before he broke into tears, as if there were thousands of sharp blades being drawn through his head at that moment. His eyes turned clear and then blurry again, alternating between the two states.

When the Allmother noticed the change, she seemed slightly taken aback, as if she hadn’t expected Han Hao to even be able to resist her stigma. As she was planning to reassert control over him, Han Shuo’s main body intensified his attacks like a madman, summoning all hundred thousand demon generals from the cauldron and fusing them with his main body regardless of the cost! He kept the Allmother occupied with an unrelenting effort.

“Aaaagh!” Han Hao yelled louder and louder. “I only have a father, I don’t have a mother!”

When he said that, he pierced the bone spear towards the Quintessence Vessel on his head, causing it to shatter. The seven bone spikes that had been hovering in the air previously continued their trajectory towards the barriers around the other Overgods’ heads.

“Nooooo!” shrieked the Allmother in full desperation.

Althea, who had been waiting for a chance, finally got it and immediately snapped the thick strands extending from the Mirror of Destiny. Then, the mirror shattered. Apart from Fernando, whose Quintessence Vessel had been broken by Han Hao moments before, the bodies of the other ten Overgods were instantly reduced to dust in a clear, audible explosion, which was quickly followed by ten explosions within the Allmother’s body. With each boom, color drained from her face. After the final one, she staggered weakly from the power leaving her.

“Han Hao, let’s kill this Bitch together!” Han Shuo cried.

With Han Hao’s reason now restored, they worked in tandem and unleashed an endless barrage on the weakened Allmother, debilitating her current state even further. Meanwhile, Fernando stood with Althea as they watched the father and son ravage the Allmother, poking thousands of holes through her out of which her life force seeped and waned.

Suddenly, the Cauldron of Myriad Demon in Han Shuo’s hand sucked the Allmother entirely into it. Using the energy from the souls of the dead Overgods that had yet to dissipate, the cauldron managed to keep the Allmother sealed within. Han Shuo held the cauldron tightly and said, “Fernando, open a spatial pathway to Pandemonium. I’m going to use it to slowly grind her down to nonexistence!”

Shocked, Fernando immediately made a pathway and let the father and son leave, before going through the pathway himself with Althea. Aethernia, now no longer supported by the Allmother’s power, crumbled and imploded into space debris.

Back in Pandemonium, the Ninth Realm Mystical Yin Harvester was reactivated, but this time, it wasn’t infusing Mystical Yin into Han Shuo’s body. Instead, it was using the remnant pieces of soul of the dead Overgods and the demon generals from the cauldron as well as the Mystical Yin that had been gathered over the years to transmute and refine the Allmother.

Soon, a century passed. With Fernando, Althea, and Han Hao keeping guard, Han Shuo finally managed to grind away at the last remnants of the Allmother’s will and awareness. As he did so, his avatar began to absorb the energy refined from the cauldron gradually. Now that the Allmother was gone for good, his avatar was magnitudes more powerful than before.

Han Shuo finally emerged from Pandemonium and looked at Fernando, Althea, Gilbert, Emily, the Five Elite Zombies, Andrina, Phoebe, Wasir and the others. Smiling, he said, “She’s gone for good. From now on, this overlord of the universe is no more.”

“You are the new overlord of the universe,” Althea said with a smile.

“Sorry, I misunderstood you. I thought you stood with the other ten,” Han Shuo apologized sincerely.

Smiling and shaking her head, Althea said, “You don’t need to be. I had been waiting for this chance the whole time. For the sake of achieving my goals, I have done more unspeakable things than I would have liked. Thankfully, you managed to succeed and didn’t disappoint me. Not to mention, you’re not just another Allmother. You wouldn’t do something as cruel and unjust as she would.”

“Han Shuo, when will you finally open a pathway to another universe for me? I am itching to go out for a walk,” Fernando said with a warm smile.

“Maybe a century later. I’ll let my main body absorb some more energy from this universe and break through to the realm of the Exalted Demonlord. Then, I will be able to establish a pathway to other universes for you.”

“I would like to leave and take a look outside as well,” Althea said. Turning to Fernando, she said, “Let’s go. We shouldn’t disturb him any longer.”

“Father, you’re finally done,” Han Hao said. Now, he was smiling in a most natural fashion, something previously thought impossible for an artificial lifeform like him.

Han Shuo didn’t say anything else and merely ruffled his hair. The father and son could already understand one another without words.

Then, Han Shuo turned to look lecherously Emily, Phoebe, Fanny, Helen, Lisa, Sophie, Jasper, Sylph, Hemanna, Donna, and Rose. “I know, you all have been wanting to bear my children for a long time now. And you won’t have to wait any longer; From now on, we will be making babies, and I will give you as many children as you want!”

The ladies blushed, smiling with contentment and excitement.

—- The End —-