The ashen-faced Tyre and Logue were beaming with excitement once more. Logue said, "We wiped out the Hegemons in Omphalos all at once! Slank, Karp, the situation in the Fringe has changed. We have suffered huge losses so that we can get all the Hegemons in one place and wipe them out. Do you know why I did what I did?"
"I've lost two thirds of my men and this won't bring them back," Slank said after he had recovered from the shock. He no longer trusted Logue with anything, especially after he admitted to using them as cannon fodder.
"Bryan, the Hegemons are finished and you have been avenged. We should no longer be fighting each other! The situation is urgent now, and we should deal with the remaining Godhunters first. What do you say?" Tyre asked, finally calming down and turning the situation around. As expected from a powerful Overgod, his attitude changed immediately the moment he saw that Han Shuo was far more powerful than them.
Han Shuo didn't care what Tyre's intentions were and looked at Omphalos coldly. "My Celestial Pearl Pharmacy was still operating there with many of my subordinates among the staff. You blew up the whole place without giving me a chance to get my men out, and now they have perished in the explosion. Do you think I'll still be on your side after you've just killed so many of mine?
"Sacrifices are essential to the Fringe's victory! Bryan, you should be more open to that!"
"Why do you never have to sacrifice?"
"Why are we the only ones to be sacrificed?"
The other faction leaders complained without restraint, one louder than the other. They had suppressed these dissenting thoughts for a long time, and they came pouring out at Logue and Tyre in one fell swoop after Han Shuo triggered it.
"That's right! Why did you sacrifice our men but never your own? Tyre, you've never cared about our welfare!" Karp snapped.
"Hahaha... Sir Logue is even better. He can easily sacrifice his loyal subordinates. Remember how he grabbed one of his men, who had served him for many hundreds of years, to block a blow from Kauze before sneaking away? If he doesn't care about the lives of his own men, why should he care about ours?" Slank said mockingly, having personally witnessed this at Osteoburg.
After witnessing Han Shuo's power, Karp and Slank's courage was inflated. They believed that Tyre and Logue wouldn't dare harm them in front of his impressive strength. But it wasn't just the two of them.
Many others began to criticise Logue and Tyre for their treachery, including some of their own subordinates who were convinced. After years of working for them, they too had noticed such tendencies, especially after the others had pointed them out. Back then, there were no sovereigns who could avenge their subordinates like Han Shuo, so people didn't really think too much about it. But now they couldn't help but compare their masters to Han Shuo.
"What are you saying? Do you want to mutiny?" Logue said after noticing that even his loyal followers seemed to be turning against them.
The moment he snapped, the others bowed their heads. However, Slank and Karp weren't his subordinates and they chewed him out even more, with Han Shuo backing them up.
"You have a death wish!" Logue suddenly lashed out at Slank as his poisonous death energy gathered in the surroundings before a bone cage trapped Slank. Han Shuo knew Logue would act. Watching from above, he unleashed the combined six energies at them.
Suddenly, the bone cage shattered. A great force pressed down on Logue, pinning him down so quickly that he couldn't escape. The force of the impact caused him to spit blood. With a single thought, the new domain sent down a strange force that seemed to trap Logue like a net. Han Shuo also noticed that Tyre was about to sneak away and laughed. "Tyre, I don't want to deal with you right now. I want to see what kind of chaos you can cause with Dhaka and his men."
As he said this, Tyre's jaw dropped. "What... what did you say?"
"Isn't Dhaka your older brother? I bet you already conspired with him to wipe out everyone else who survived the explosion, right? Two Overgods of Destruction working together must be terrifying. You're counting on that to turn everything around, aren't you?" Han Shuo looked at Tyre with a mocking smile.
"What? Tyre is actually conspiring with Dhaka?" Karp looked at the exposed Tyre in disbelief. "No wonder! Tyre was one of those who betrayed the Fringe!"
This time everyone, not just Slank and Karp, was filled with anger. The fact that Tyre was Dhaka's blood brother was something they couldn't even fathom. It meant that Tyre had been a traitor all along, and was at least half to blame for how badly the Fringe had fared against the Godhunters.
Even Logue, trapped and injured as he was, wore a face of disbelief. With a resigned laugh, he said, "I see... Tyre, oh Tyre, you were planning to wipe me out with your brother Dhaka, huh? Hahaha... That way you'd be at the top of the Fringe with no one to threaten your position".
Tyre's expression was grimmer than it could ever be. He didn't say a word.
"Don't bother arguing your way out of this. Dhaka will be here soon. The truth will come out then. I'd like to see if you can defeat me by working with Dhaka," Han Shuo said with a grin as he turned to look into the distance. Someone was coming, and it could only be Dhaka.
"What's with that, Tyre? Why did you destroy only a fifth of Omphalos, your fifth of this place too!" Dhaka roared before he had even arrived. The Hegemons in Omphalos hadn't all died in the explosion. Dhaka was struggling to regain control of the situation. His anger was hardly surprising, considering all his efforts over the years had been undone.
This was all the proof they needed that he and Tyre were indeed brothers.
"What?!" Dhaka stopped suddenly. "Bryan, why are you here?!"
He immediately recoiled at the thought of how powerful he was, still traumatised by the whole incident at Pandemonium.
"Dhaka, I gave you a chance, but it seems you didn't appreciate it. Since you still haven't left the fringe, you'll never be able to!" Han Shuo turned to Tyre and said, "Do you have anything else to say at this point?"
"Brothers, we just need to wipe out Bryan and the Fringe will be ours!" Tyre said suddenly as he burst out laughing. Seeing that there were still some people who doubted him, he continued, "That's right, Dhaka and I are indeed brothers. I have used others as well. But aren't you all well? I did it all for myself. In the future, you'll see that the Godhunter Alliance will be no threat to us with me in charge. Isn't that what we've all been working towards?"
He was still trying to salvage whatever loyalty he had left. The subordinates who had followed him over the years seemed conflicted, but not one of them promised to fight by his side right away. They didn't seem to refuse either, choosing instead to remain silent.
Han Shuo immediately knew the reason for their hesitation. "Who rules and who falls will be decided by this fight. Hahaha, Dhaka, Tyre, all you have to do is defeat me. Your men will still be yours in the end!"
Tyre thought about it and knew immediately what his men were thinking. If he and Dhaka were killed in the ensuing battle, there was no guarantee for the safety of the others.
"Brother, let us kill Bryan. There is no overgod that can stand against us!" Tyre proclaimed proudly.
Dhaka's courage seemed to be stoked by his words. "Hahahahahaha, not bad. No Overgod without a quintessence can fight us two brothers."
The two of them suddenly turned towards Han Shuo. They were both Destruction Overgods of the same blood, which would allow them to synchronise with each other much better. They could also combine their domains like Han Shuo was doing. After they did that, their destructive powers shot through the roof.
Now, perhaps no Overgod without the quintessence would be able to resist them. However, combining domains with six different energies was a hundred times more difficult than what Dhaka and Tyre were doing, and therefore a hundred times more powerful. They were still far from his match.
Even after he felt their power increase, Han Shuo still smiled. Waiting for their power to peak, he said, "Dhaka, Tyre, how dare you claim to be unmatched by all the overgods?"
Destructive energy exploded from Han Shuo, spreading outward like a huge wave. The power was so terrifying that it crushed the combined domain of Dhaka and Tyre.
"I don't even fear the Overgods of Death and Light, so why should I fear little fish like you?" He laughed so loudly that it shook the heavens as more power surged out of the void towards them.
Nothing could be heard but their painful screams. Tyre was surrounded by a powerful light and transported to the strange space where Logue was being held. When Dhaka heard this, he immediately tried to escape, only to be hit by the light wave, leaving him covered in blood. He didn't dare look back at Han Shuo, nor did he care about his younger brother's survival. The pain he felt caused him to flee in despair.
The thought of Han Shuo's claim to have no fear of the Overgods of Death and Light made him realise something. When he left Pandemonium, he knew that Nestor was on his way there. He thought that Han Shuo and Han Hao would undoubtedly be killed by him, yet he was still alive and saying something like that. The implications of this were so frightening that Dhaka fled without taking Han Shuo's attack like Tyre had.
"Brother!" Tyre cried in the prison next to Logue. He couldn't run or fight, but his sight and hearing were unobstructed. He screamed desperately as he watched Dhaka flee, not caring about anything else. Dhaka had obviously heard him, but he didn't stop.
Han Shuo smiled and said, "Well, that's clever of you, but do you really think you can escape?
The reason Han Shuo didn't move was because he could feel Han Hao nearby. Dhaka suddenly noticed someone in front of him. He soon realised that it was Han Hao. "You want to stop me too?! Since your father hurt me, I'll get back at him by getting back at you!"
He unleashed a gigantic Orb of Destruction, using all the destructive energy stored in his body, before hurling the 'Grey Sun' at Han Hao.
Dissatisfaction seemed to flash across Han Hao's eyes as he stood proudly brandishing his bone spear. "You really deserve to die."
He raised the spear and shot a beam from its tip. It contained all sorts of negative energies such as death, despair and cruelty. The grey sun of destruction, Dhaka's all-out attack, seemed so insignificant compared to the beam.
Then there was a loud explosion. Dhaka's charge suddenly stopped, and before he could react, he could see the bone spear in front of him. In the next instant, it pierced between his eyes, 'nailing' him in the air before his flesh and soul were absorbed by the spear. The despair he felt before his death was transformed into a mist that Han Hao swallowed. His eyes glowed brighter, as if he had just been nourished by it.
Dhaka had just died. How could father and son become so powerful in just a few days?
"How dare you attack my family? You deserve to die!" Han Hao said as he pulled the spear from Dhaka's divine body before it disintegrated into nothing. Dhaka had died after having everything sucked out of him.
After killing Dhaka, Han Hao didn't come over. Instead, he sent a telepathic message: "Father, I have already killed Dhaka. There are still some Hegemons on Omphalos. I'll make sure they don't leave the Fringe alive."
"Go ahead. I'll be there soon." Han Shuo then turned to his captives. "Tyre, your brother left first and died first. You should know that he's gone when you can't communicate with his soul."
Tyre, still filled with hatred for his heartless brother, now seemed stunned. He tried to reach out with the magic mirror before laughing. "Haha, hahaha! He deserves to die! Let's die together!"
Suddenly, a great destructive force came from his body and shook the cage before enveloping it in light. Even Logue couldn't escape as Tyre detonated his divine body.
Seeing Tyre commit suicide, Han Shuo hastily drained their powers and threw the Cauldron of Myriad Demons at the cage. Even if he couldn't collect their divine bodies or divine energies, he would be able to get their purified divine souls.
An Overgod's divine soul was far too precious. With Tyre's and Logue's, one could advance in the Death and Destruction Energy. Once someone from the House of Han understood the intricacies of the power, they might one day become powerful Overgods themselves.
Fortunately, Han Shuo arrived in time. The Cauldron managed to absorb their souls before they were extinguished by the Light. Although Tyre had said that Dhaka deserved to die, he committed suicide. Han Shuo found this rather strange. He wasn't sure if he chose to kill himself because of his close relationship with Dhaka, or because he knew there was no hope of escaping Han Shuo's wrath.