The five Sovereigns of the Fringe were once its protectors. With them around, the Fringe was able to maintain a degree of relevance without being threatened by the other Divine Dominions or the Godhunter Alliance.
But in time, Salas and Wasir chose to side with Han Shuo, while Ossora betrayed him and died, only to be quickly followed by Logue and Tyre. In a short decade, three of the five Sovereigns had perished, while the other two had surrendered.
The Fringe had seen many years of war, but from this day forward, no one could threaten the House of Han. The gigantic avatar formed from six types of energy returned to the Cauldron of Myriad Demon . Han Shuo looked down at the remains. "Tyre and Logue are dead. You should disperse now."
Slank and Karp bowed respectfully. "Since the Godhunter Alliance is still in the fringe, we should serve you temporarily to fight against them. Why did you ask us to leave?"
It wasn't just them, even Logue and Tyre's men were reluctant to leave. As far as they knew, they were supposed to be subordinate to Han Shuo now, as he was the biggest player in the Fringe. Any other sovereign in this situation would demand their loyalty and assimilate them into his army, so they couldn't understand why Han Shuo was doing the exact opposite.
Smiling coldly, he said, "Pandemonium is more than enough to deal with the Godhunter Alliance, so there's no need to waste your energy. The Godhunter Alliance is allowed to exist for a reason. When they leave later, you should not stop them. Just let them pass. After all, there are many other powers outside the Fringe that are looking for them."
"Is... is there anything we can do?" Slank said with an embarrassed look. He felt as small as an ant in front of someone like Han Shuo. It didn't seem like Han Shuo was the least bit worried about the Godhunter Alliance's threat to the Fringe.
"What can you do?" Han Shuo shook his head with a smile and said, "All you have to do is live well in the Fringe. Omphalos will stabilise in time, and you can spread the word to the merchants of Omphalos who have gone into hiding that they are free to return when this is over."
The next moment he was out of their sight.
"The Five Sovereigns no longer exist as of today..." Slank said blankly. "Lord Bryan is far more powerful than they ever were. As long as he stays in the Fringe, it will be his."
"That's no bad thing. If the Fringe is controlled by one person, there will be no more endless wars," Karp said after thinking about it. "Anyway, this Lord Bryan seems quite decent to his own men. It would be nice if we could serve under his house one day."
"Well, only if they think us worthy! There were many who tried to join them before the great battle, but they didn't take any. I had thought that the House of Han only looked down on people, but now I know that they couldn't be bothered to waste their time on the likes of us. Without Pandemonium, the Fringe would have fallen to the Godhunter Alliance long ago.
"We must do our best to earn Lord Bryan's favour and become one of them!" Karp said. Han Shuo had fully convinced him of his position as the strongest in the Fringe after defeating Logue and Tyre.
Meanwhile, Han Shuo had returned to Omphalos. The loud explosion had reduced Tyre's part of Omphalos to rubble. Tuckamore and Asser managed to survive, but they were badly injured. They could barely move.
The two happened to be in the area at the time of the explosion and couldn't escape in time before they were engulfed in the blast. Fortunately, only part of Omphalos had exploded. If the zones of all five Sovereigns had exploded at the same time, the explosion would have been at least ten times more powerful. Asser and Tuckamore would have been killed instantly.
When Han Shuo arrived, he noticed that the remaining Hegemons were quickly leaving Omphalos. The first explosion had been so powerful that they didn't dare risk staying in the other parts in case there were more explosions waiting to go off.
Tuckamore, Asser, Regis, Isaiah, Miller, Balintan and Kauze were the only seven Hegemons left, the first two badly injured and incapacitated. Regis, Isaiah and Miller hadn't fully recovered from the battle at Pandemonium either, leaving only Balintan and Kauze in peak condition.
Han Hao raised his bone spear and blocked the seven Hegemons, staring them down coldly. An eerie mixture of negative energies seeped from his body. It came from the Quintessence, which he couldn't yet adequately control, but it served to terrify the seven Hegemons. Han Shuo's arrival caused them to shrink in fear. If Han Hao alone was enough to put so much pressure on them, his father blew the last traces of their confidence into the ether.
"Father, here are all seven. They're all here," Han Hao said.
Nodding with a smile, Han Shuo turned his gaze to them. "Gentlemen, we meet again. Now, the explosion in Omphalos was all part of Dhaka and Tyre's plan. They had hidden tens of thousands of tonnes of energy crystals underground and wanted to wipe you all out. But thanks to my interference, you all survived.
The Hegemons didn't know what to do with him now. Their men were still scattered. If they escaped from the fringe alone now, their injured men would never be able to stand up to Han Shuo and Han Hao.
"What are you going to do now?" Isaiah said in a sullen tone. Before he came to the Fringe, he had been on top of the world. But now he had lost all his strength and just wanted to get as far away from this place as possible. He didn't want to see this father and son ever again.
"Hmmm, I wonder..." Han Shuo stroked his chin with a grin. He combined his six avatars to display his power, forming a huge veil in the sky that enveloped all the Hegemons within.
"I gave you a chance to leave the Fringe, but you dared to continue causing trouble here. Since that is the case, don't blame me for showing no mercy!" He laughed out loud and began to close the veil. Like an egg shell, it slowly applied pressure to all seven Hegemons inside.
Only Balintan and Kauze were able to resist. The others were either too injured from the explosion or still weak from the battle at Pandemonium, so there was no way they could take him on, especially with Han Hao still nearby. The father and son were now so powerful that they would be no match for anyone but overgods with Quintessence.
"You... you dare to kill us?" shouted Life Hegemon Kauze, "The Godhunter Alliance has existed since ancient times! Even the Twelve Quintessence Overgods acknowledge our presence and haven't touched us, so who are you to dare?"
When the Goddess of Destiny came to Pandemonium, she revealed a hidden truth about the Godhunter Alliance. It seemed that they had to exist for a reason, which was why the Twelve Overgods tolerated them. Even the Goddess of Destiny didn't wipe them out after her husband was killed by one of them.
"Why wouldn't I?" Han Shuo clenched his hand, causing Kauze's bones to snap and him to spit out blood in pain. "Hmm, it seems like you know something. Very well, very well. Since I can't get the Goddess of Fate to reveal anything, I guess I'll have to get it from you."
Han Shuo took out the cauldron and sucked Kauze into it. As he used it to refine Kauze's divine soul, he gathered the power of his Fusion Avatar to wipe out the other six Hegemons. "Since the Godhunter Alliance must exist, I won't wipe out all the Godhunters. I will only get rid of you Hegemons and use your souls to help the House of Han grow in power."
With a loud crack, the Hegemons' bodies shattered and their souls were absorbed into the Cauldron as it refined Kauze's soul.