After the Hellhound died, even the oppressive, dark red sky of the Twelfth Layer seemed to brighten a little.
The lava river still churned, but the omnipresent pressure of death had completely dissipated.
The passage to the Thirteenth Layer appeared without obstruction-right at the base of the black Stone Tower, where black light flowed quietly over the steps.
Loa was in no hurry to go up.
He landed on a protruding rock ledge at the Stone Tower's base, put the Hidden Abyss Sword back into his Space Ring, and leaned against the wall with his eyes closed to recover.
That last Nine Heavens Execution Platform had consumed a considerable amount of soul power and fused divine power. He needed a moment to recover.
When Dylan and the others saw the execution platform's manifestation disappear from afar, they knew the battle was over and sped toward the Stone Tower.
Before long, four figures landed beneath the Stone Tower, one after another.
Dylan had returned to human form, becoming a strikingly uncanny man in dark gold robes.
Cesar was still rather pale. As he landed, he unconsciously rubbed his head. He had been a hair's breadth from death; that Death Call had nearly annihilated his soul power.
Catherine's mask still covered most of her face, and the intense heat had curled her long silver hair slightly.
O'Brien landed last, his expression somewhat complicated. His gaze lingered on Loa for a moment.
No one spoke first about the Divine Spark.
But everyone knew that the Hellhound was a middlegod beast and had at least one intermediate Divine Spark inside its body.
No one could ever have too many Divine Sparks. Whether kept for family and descendants or used in a trade, an intermediate Divine Spark represented considerable wealth.
But the problem was-the Hellhound