King Hollowbelly's belly began to swell. He clutched his mouth in agony, frantically signaling for us to leave. Without a second thought, I headed straight for the golden beam of light.
"Ethan Zhang, give up on any thoughts of escaping. That old bastard has probably already sealed off everything around his hell."
I let out a startled cry. Vivian Maple drew her dagger, while Noah Grimm smiled nonchalantly.
"Boss, things are looking complicated."
Redmond nodded. King Hollowbelly's belly swelled even larger, his whole body looking like a balloon about to burst.
Red beams of light shot out from King Hollowbelly's body in all directions. He screamed in agony. With a thunderous bang, King Hollowbelly was blasted into the air, exploded, and then crashed heavily to the ground with a loud thud.
"Judge Bane, are you really going to let all this money go to waste..."
With another bang, King Hollowbelly's entire head exploded, leaving only a bloated corpse. Judge Bane sat atop his massive body and looked over at us.
"Back then, you managed to escape from the Infernal Hell—I'll give you that. But today, you don't have any chance of getting away."
Redmond nodded in tacit agreement, then smiled and spoke.
"Old bastard, you're right—we can't escape from here, and killing us would be as easy as snapping your fingers for you."
Judge Bane nodded. Redmond continued speaking.
"But if you want to kill me, you'll have to show some real power."
With a thunderous bang, Judge Bane raised a hand and moved in front of Redmond. A yellow glow flashed. Noah Grimm stepped between them. In an instant, a red beam devoured everything to the left, leaving only scorched earth—nothing else remained.
"See? I told you, unless you use your true strength, you can't kill me."
With a loud bang, I cried out in shock. Redmond kicked Judge Bane in the chest, sending him flying to land beside King Hollowbelly's corpse.
"Your Malice Wraith power has grown stronger again."
Judge Bane spoke as black flames ignited behind Redmond—nine in total—circling around his body.
"What's wrong, Ethan Zhang, are you scared? It's just Judge Bane, nothing more."
Redmond spoke with absolute confidence.
Judge Bane was incredibly strong—not just ordinary strong. His power already surpassed Mr. Brown. In the ghost realm, the strongest ghost aura I'd ever seen belonged to Mr. Brown, but Judge Bane's was even greater.
"Redmond, do you really think I don't dare do anything to you?"
"If you dare, then release it—undo all the hells under your control, let your true self appear. If you do that, we won't stand a chance against you."
I let out a sigh of relief. The Judge Bane before us was just one of his countless avatars, and what Redmond suggested was impossible. The Ten Judges are the embodiment of hell itself—their power forms hell, and they control everything in the Underworld Court. If they withdrew their power, hell would vanish.
Judge Bane laughed. He raised a hand, and suddenly Hollowbelly City vanished around us. We found ourselves in a desolate wilderness, surrounded by jagged rocks. Judge Bane sat atop one of the stones.
A swirl of black energy appeared, and a chair materialized behind Redmond. He sat down heavily.
"You've grown a lot in a short time. Your Malice Wraith power keeps getting stronger, but in my eyes, you're nothing but a child."
Redmond clapped his hands together.
"You really are shameless. You already acknowledged the Eleventh Judge, but now you come to wipe me out. I've never seen such shameless bastards before—right, Vivian, Noah?"
Vivian Maple stood to Redmond's right and nodded. Noah Grimm stood to his left, chuckling.
"Boss, looks like today's battle is unavoidable."
We were already surrounded. Ghosts shrouded in black veils appeared all around us—the same ones from the Hall of Lost Souls. Each was at least mid-level Blue Wraith.
"You don't really think that little bit of power is enough to take my head, Judge Bane?"
Redmond said mockingly. Judge Bane just laughed.
"No matter what you say today, I'm taking you down, Redmond. I'll give you one last chance—if you surrender, I'll spare your two aides and the others. Otherwise, there will be no mercy."
Redmond nodded, clapping and laughing.
"Not bad, not bad. If there's one thing I hate, it's being threatened. The more someone threatens me, the more I want to show them what I'm made of. Even if I die here today, this Great Wailing Inferno won't remain unscathed."
A rushing sound filled the air. In an instant, the ghosts of the Underworld Court lunged at us, wielding all kinds of weapons. I immediately drew Belle. Redmond placed a hand on my arm.
"Just stay put, Ethan Zhang. You're not qualified for a battle of this scale yet."
The rushing sound intensified as waves of powerful ghost aura surged toward us. Redmond grinned wickedly, crossing his legs as he spoke.