With none of the twelve Hegemons left, the Godhunters had lost their leaders. They didn't know what was going to happen to them. Now they needed someone to give them new hope, and Han Hao fit the bill in terms of actual skill, power and status as a Godhunter. Without wasting too much time, Han Hao unleashed the power of the Quintessence, causing the Godhunters to all bow and submit to him and cementing his position in the Godhunter Alliance forever.
"Father, I may have to leave the Fringe for a while. I will take them away from the Fringe and consolidate my power among the Godhunters of the various Divine Dominions first".
The dead Hegemons still had many subordinates scattered throughout the Divine Dominions who didn't know what had happened to their leaders. With them gone, Han Hao needed to quickly eliminate those who would doubt him and take the rest under his wing.
Han Shuo nodded with a smile. "Go your way. Take Polo and the others with you. Be careful as you leave the fringe. Don't let the city lords of the Divine Dominions ambush you and gang up on you. There's no doubt that many Godhunters have died in the Fringe, so I think the Twelve Overgods will be pleased with the outcome. But that doesn't mean their followers will stop hunting the Godhunters, so you should know what to do.
Han Hao could use Demon Generals and his new Quintessence. With demon generals, he could easily find out the troop distribution of the various city garrisons across the Divine Dominions and avoid direct conflict or other troublesome matters.
"Then I'll take my leave now. It may be a while before I come back for a visit. I'll have to understand the power of the Quintessence first." Without saying too much, Han Hao immediately motioned for the Godhunters to follow him. He then went to the far end of Omphalos to instruct Polo to gather the other Godhunter troops in one place before leaving the fringe with him.
Seeing Han Hao giving orders from afar, Han Shuo was a little reluctant to let him go. However, he felt more joy than melancholy over the whole affair. He was happy for Han Hao for achieving what he had. As one of his most important family members, Han Hao not only had the power to protect himself, he also had the ability to manage others. Only with enough subordinates could he afford to survive the endless conflict in Elysium.
Soon, Han Hao's presence was fading away. Han Shuo suppressed the emotions he felt. Soon he felt Akley's presence approaching him.
Akley smiled and said, "Bryan, it's all done! The pesky toxin brewers and some other oddballs you wanted me to deal with personally have all been dealt with."
"Thank you for your hard work, Akley. From now on, Celestial Pearl Pharmacy will be the greatest pharmacy in all of Elysium. However, we need to start thinking about how we can set up branches in the Divine Domains. As long as we can do that, we will never run out of black crystal coins. Although their brand was well known, they simply didn't have enough talented brewers for their potions. There was no way Han Shuo himself could afford to spend too much time and effort brewing potions in the pharmacy, so he needed capable brewers to man the pharmacy. With the new additions to their team, Han Shuo could rest easy in the future.
"Father," Han Jin said as he emerged from the underground with Andrina. They seemed to have been caught in the explosion, their clothes slightly torn and their faces covered in soot.
"Are you two all right?" he snapped, surprised at their appearance. Even though he knew they had unique constitutions, he was still worried that they had been injured trying to contain the explosion.
"We're fine," Han Jin replied as he gave Andrina a bright look. "Not only that, we also benefited from it. The energy from the explosion didn't harm us at all and instead allowed us to store a lot of energy in our bodies."
Han Shuo beamed with joy. He swept his consciousness through the two of them and found that the energy content within them was denser. "Not bad. I knew you two would do well. Your constitutions and bodies can only benefit from the explosion of the energy crystals. Still, the question remains as to what Tyre did to make his part of Omphalos explode."
"Tyre is truly devious. He has placed detonators in every district of Omphalos that receive a signal from his soul. But the detonator in his district was equipped with three redundant power sources that were really well hidden. The energy waves coming from them were also obscured, so we couldn't find them in time before Tyre triggered the detonation," Andrina said hatefully.
"We are sorry, Father. We could not stop the explosion," Han Jin said embarrassed.
"You did well enough." Han Shuo didn't blame them and turned to Wasir. "You should move your men from Glacial Peak to Omphalos. I'm afraid that the guards of the Divine Dominions will not only target the Godhunter Alliance."
Wasir's expression changed as he nodded before leaving immediately and contacting his men with his magic mirror.
"Salas, Empyrean Peak will be yours in the future. There will undoubtedly be many factions left in the Fringe after this, so take as many under your wing as you can. I have enough people on my side that I won't allow them to join the House of Han. There is also a chance that the Fringe will take in more refugees from the Divine Dominions. If you can convince them to serve you, they can come to Pandemonium as well," he promised.
Overjoyed, Salas said, "That's what friends are for! He knew that if Pandemonium was willing to open its doors, then the leaders of the various factions in the Fringe would not hesitate to join them. In effect, they would be Han Shuo's men and would not consider joining Salas at all. However, Han Shuo's promise allowed him to gather his own forces while enjoying the benefits of protection in Pandemonium.
"I will spread the word of the good relationship between the three of us in the fringe. I'll also forbid my men from clashing with yours and Wasir's. Hahaha, the Fringe will be ruled by the three of us from now on," Han Shuo said.
Salas shook his head and said, "Bryan, I appreciate the sentiment, but Wasir and I have discussed it. There is only one ruler of the Fringe, and that's you. The two of us will serve the House of Han."
"How can that be?" he said in surprise.
In the meantime, Wasir had finished communicating with his subordinates and returned. "Bryan, your power is far greater than ours. Everyone in the Fringe knows that it was you who resolved this crisis. We have no right to be your equal. Don't refuse. On the Fringe, might is right. You are powerful enough to have earned our respect!"
Salas nodded heavily in agreement as he laughed. "With you in the Fringe, even the Quintessence Overgods will have to think twice before they come to mess with us. From now on there is no need for us to fight among ourselves. The Fringe will have its own rules of conduct, just like other big cities.
By now, Han Shuo knew he had no choice but to go with the flow. He nodded after giving it some thought. "Alright, I'll accept it. From now on, Omphalos is no more. I will rebuild it and call it Hexopolis of the Fringe! I will be its mayor, and you will be its chief guardians. The three of our clans will rule it!
"Hexopolis of the Fringe... Hexopolis..." Salas repeated a few times. "This name is a bit strange, but it sounds impressive!"
"Alright! Hexopolis of the Fringe it is!" Wasir exclaimed.
"I'm going to stay here for now instead of going back to Pandemonium. I want to see what the Guardians of the Twelve Divine Dominions can do to me when they come!" Han Shuo felt that with his strength now, he had nothing to worry about. If even the Quintessence Overgods didn't want to give him any trouble, there were few others in Elysium who could bother him now.
As such, he had little to worry about and could concentrate on gathering demonic energy. A stream of black gas flowed into the ruins of Tyre's former territory, gathering around a few boulders before dragging them over.
With a few loud bangs, the ten-metre-high boulder was transformed into a smooth monolith and placed in front of a city gate. Black streaks flashed across the surface of the monolith, loudly chipping away at smaller pieces of rock. A short time later, a gust of wind blew away the dust and small pieces of stone, revealing the words carved into the gate: Hexopolis of the Fringe.