The two blazing flames charging straight toward the crimson star collided, and an extremely terrifying shockwave spread throughout the surrounding hell.
Countless ghosts on the black platforms were swallowed by the shockwave and staggered backward one after another, as though afraid that the heat wave would tear apart their fragile bodies.
The high temperature was like a boiling ocean, spreading throughout the entire space.
Two scorching auras rubbed against each other in the collision, stirring up fierce flashes of fire.
Looking at the man before him, Hades, wrapped in blazing flames, was full of confusion.
How had that human girl suddenly turned into the human thief who had stolen his dog and whom he hated with all his heart?
What exactly was the principle behind this?
Hades's gaze gradually fell on the trench coat behind Viktor, and his enormous pupils suddenly contracted.
His imposing gaze casually swept over the corner behind him, precisely where he had thrown away the trench coat.
And now, that trench coat was gone.
At this point, Hades finally understood.
After realizing this, an incomparably vast orange flame surged through Hades's mind.
It was like the scorching heat spreading along his scalp, setting his towering dark-black hair ablaze.
Thick veins covered Hades's forehead. Through his blue skin wrapped in flames, one could even see fire flowing through his veins.
"Damn dog thief, you were actually hiding inside that trench coat."
He used his thick arm to swing the enormous gun, suddenly tearing through space and pointing it directly in front of Viktor's face.
At this moment, Hades's body, wrapped in flames, seemed to be about to touch the distant stars.
The terrifying flaming body was like a gigantic wall erupting with endless fury, as if in the next second, this wall would crash down toward Viktor before him, smashing together with the solid ground of hell.
In Hades's eyes, Viktor was an insignificant existence no bigger than his toe.
'Such a weak and lowly little human actually dared to toy with a god!'
"Are you provoking me!?"
A deep, chaotic roar mixed with the sound of mechanical twisting shook the restless air of this space, repeatedly crashing against the surrounding black platforms.
Countless ghosts heard the furious voice of the Lord of the Underworld and covered their ears one after another, afraid that hearing a few more words would make them vanish completely.
Some timid souls were even so frightened that they curled into a ball, their features completely distorted.
To Hades, ever since Viktor had come to hell once, he had not had a single peaceful day.
After stealing his guard dog and returning to the human world, the matter had left Hades furious and troubled.
He had long wanted to tear Viktor to pieces.
But now, Viktor had not only hidden inside the trench coat and returned to hell, he had also concealed himself in front of Hades for so long, only revealing his true form now.
Hades firmly believed that the human before him had simply come to amuse himself.
He would never let this human go.
Facing Hades, who had transformed into a towering wall of flames, Viktor remained expressionless.
He raised his head and calmly stared at the golden spearhead pointed at him, a hint of barely perceptible sharpness showing in his eyes.
As for Hades's misunderstanding, he had no intention of explaining it at all.
In fact, Viktor appearing before Hades right now was absolutely not intentional.
After a human dies, their soul usually leaves their body and returns to the Underworld according to the world's rules.
But Viktor was different.
Strictly speaking, ever since he encountered the Calamity invasion in the royal capital, Viktor, who had gathered the six Calamity origins, had already surpassed an ordinary human in essence.
His body had been reshaped by natural energy and was no longer an ordinary human shell.
The only difference was that he was much stronger than the Calamity.
Therefore, when he was judged to be dead, his soul did not flow directly into the Underworld like an ordinary person's.
His soul became tangible, just like the origin of the Calamity.
Viktor manifested this origin as his trench coat, causing his soul to merge into the trench coat.
Coincidentally, the trench coat carrying Viktor's soul drifted into hell. It was accidentally discovered by a scavenger ghost and eventually fell into Hades's hands.
Even Viktor had never expected this scene.
Fortunately, a human had entered hell and arrived at the Gates of Hell.
This caused Hades to mistakenly believe that Viktor had intentionally come to hell.
So he hurriedly grabbed the trench coat and followed that powerful aura to the Gates of Hell, intending to confront him.
However, he never expected that the person who came would actually be a human girl.
During the duel between the two, Erika, who could draw upon the Calamity, put on the Calamity-origin trench coat that contained Viktor's soul.
"Finally, using Erika's special constitution as a medium to awaken yourself?"
"Oh my god, Viktor, you're a genius."
That was Welt's assessment after learning that Viktor was about to die, expressing his admiration for Viktor's brilliant idea.
Afterward, Welt heard Viktor continue, "There is another advantage to doing this, and that is..."
———
Viktor's gaze moved away from the spearhead pointed down at him by Hades, and he slowly raised his head.
His gaze firmly settled on the enormous and shocking Hades before him.
"Let's try out the new power."
As soon as his voice fell, Viktor's body began to shatter from head to toe, transforming into rippling crimson flames.
The crimson flame waves spiraled upward along Hades's golden spearhead, swept across the dark-red shaft, and rapidly approached Hades's face.
Hades's crimson eyes suddenly widened, astonishment appearing in his pupils.
"What..."
The next moment, Viktor's body reappeared amid the flames.
He stood on Hades's thick arm, his body spinning rapidly as his black trench coat left a circle of black afterimages in the air.
One leg was completely wrapped in flames. It pierced through space and kicked heavily toward Hades's enormous blue face.
This kick almost brought forth a terrifying shockwave that completely covered half of the arena.
The towering flames nearly passed over Hades's entire head before rushing all the way toward the distant crimson star.
The flames shook wildly like living silk, bursting toward the distance.
Viktor's entire body was wrapped in scorching heat waves. Fierce flames shot from his eyes as a shockwave capable of tearing apart heaven and earth erupted.
BOOM!
The attack slammed hard into Hades's face, kicking a deep depression into his blue features.
The powerful shockwave tore apart the dark-black platforms. Fortunately, the countless ghosts and souls on them had dodged to both sides in time.
The group of souls whose bodies had condensed into blue smoke trembled constantly, intense terror showing in their empty blue eye sockets.
If they had not dodged that attack, half the ghosts in the arena would probably have vanished completely.
But soon, all the remaining ghosts in half the arena began cheering.
Because this attack had not caused Hades any real harm.
He merely turned his head slightly, straightened his gaze, and looked at Viktor before him.
This dog thief.
Had he become even stronger since coming to hell last time?
Hades suddenly swung his spear. The terrifying pressure of the slash tore through space, attempting to cut Viktor in half.
The ground of the arena shattered with a crash, and Hades's thick legs stomped hard into the ground, leaving deep depressions.
But the moment the shockwave from the slash touched Viktor's body, an intensely flashing radiance of lightning suddenly burst forth.
Viktor instantly transformed into a winding purple serpent and swiftly traversed toward another point in space.
Lightning flashed across the ground and landed on the collapsed soil. Viktor, crackling with electricity, appeared again.
He raised his head and looked at Hades, who was holding his spear aloft. One of his hands rapidly transformed into a hard and enormous wooden hammer.
This huge wooden hammer was nearly ten times Viktor's height.
It swept through the air, leaving behind a clear and ghostly green trail of energy as it struck toward Hades's thick and enormous waist.
BOOM!
The impact of the wooden hammer pierced through Hades's waist.
A powerful sensation of pain swept over him, causing Hades to involuntarily cover the place that had been struck with his hand.
But the stronger the pain, the more furious Hades became.
The breath he exhaled through his nostrils grew heavier and heavier, and his intense rage spread like a storm.
The enormous spear in his hand rapidly tore across the shattered ground and charged toward Viktor.
This time, Viktor transformed into a pale wind, deftly passing through the spearhead between the cracks and gaps, then lightly landing on the other side of Hades.
Hades suddenly turned his head and looked at Viktor, who had landed steadily, frowning in displeasure.
"What an annoying ability."
Now, he was gradually sensing the same true power on the human girl and Viktor.
"Nature."
From the beginning, that human girl had used a similar kind of power.
However, she had seemed too weak at the time, so much so that Hades could barely detect her power at all.
But now...
Hades's gaze became serious as he carefully examined Viktor before him.
As the God King who ruled over the dead, Hades could see the essence of a living being's life.
Although that girl from before had now become the dog thief, the essence of her life was still that human girl.
Only her soul had been temporarily replaced with Viktor's.
And through magic, Viktor had transformed into his own appearance.
And furthermore...
Hades could sense the extremely powerful force flowing through his body.
It was as though six completely different powers had been placed together in the most suitable vessel and merged into one.
They fused with and intertwined with each other.
Every power had undergone an extreme transformation. The slightest movement of one power would unconsciously cause the others to tremble at the same time.
And as for why they were able to complete this fusion, Hades already had an answer in his heart.
"Is it because of that girl?"
His gaze swept across Viktor's body, and the image of the sleeping blonde girl was reflected in his crimson pupils.
So who exactly was that blonde girl?
Hades felt somewhat surprised, but this was not the time to think about it.
So he sneered and mocked Viktor.
"Using a woman's body to fight me. Looks like you really want to become a woman?"
The next moment, Hades slammed the spear in his hand hard into the shattered ground.
For a moment, the already ruined ground collapsed with a crash, and countless torrents of molten lava wrapped in hellfire suddenly erupted.
Even this scorched-black world beneath his feet seemed to have been brought to life, surging with magma-like lifeblood.
Along with this frenzied atmosphere, the countless souls above the arena stands immediately went wild.
As the arena became increasingly frenzied, their cries rose wave after wave, shrill and savage.
Intense hellfire wrapped around Hades's head, revealing his terrifying hollow eyes and enormous head, which seemed to be penetrated directly by the flames.
Within the hollow and deep eye sockets, frenzied flames also continued to flicker.
"Come, girl. Don't keep the audience waiting."
"We should get serious."
Under the world filled with raging flames, Viktor clearly felt a kind of mad pressure throughout his entire body, powerful enough to alarm the God of Death.
Mechanical roaring and the howls of the souls repeatedly thundered beside his ears. He slowly raised his head, his gaze falling on the tall and mighty figure swallowed by the sea of fire.
Above Hades's head, a long, thin health bar appeared, with no end in sight.
[Hades, God of the Underworld (10%): Lv71]
Yet Viktor merely continued to feel the natural power flowing through his body.
This power had become even stronger after merging with Erika.
He put both hands into his pockets, completely confident.
"Your current self."
"Can't beat the current me."