GDK 990: Hexopolis of the Fringe
Translator: Ryogawa
TLC: Hedonist
Now that not a single one of the twelve Hegemons remained, the G.o.dhunters had lost their leaders. They didn’t know what would happen to them. Now, they needed someone that could bring new hope to them, and Han Hao fit the bill in terms of actual capability, power and status as a G.o.dhunter. Without wasting too much time, Han Hao unleashed the power of the Quintessence, causing the G.o.dhunters to all bow and submit to him and cementing his position in the G.o.dhunter Alliance for good.
“Father, I might need to leave the Fringe for a period of time. I will take them away from the Fringe and consolidate my power among the G.o.dhunters of the various Divine Dominions first.”
The dead Hegemons still had many subordinates scattered across the Divine Dominions who weren’t aware of what had happened to their leaders. With them now gone, Han Hao had to rapidly strike down those that would doubt him and take the rest under his wing.
Han Shuo nodded with a smile. “Go your way. Take Polo and the others away too. Be careful when you leave the Fringe. Make sure you don’t run let the city lords from the Divine Dominions ambush and gang up on you. There’s no doubt that quite a lot of G.o.dhunters have perished in the Fringe, so I believe the Twelve OverG.o.ds will be happy with the outcome. However, that doesn’t mean that their followers will stop persecuting the G.o.dhunters, so you should know what to do there.”
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 affairs.
“Then I’ll take my leave now. It might take a while before I come back to visit. I’ll have to comprehend the Quintessence’s power first.” Without rambling too much, Han Hao immediately motioned for the G.o.dhunters to follow him. He then went to the far end of Omphalos to instruct Polo to gather the other G.o.dhunter troops at one spot before leaving the Fringe with him.
Seeing Han Hao give out orders from afar, Han Shuo felt a little unwilling to let him leave. However, he felt more joy than melancholy about the whole affair. He was happy for Han Hao for achieving what he had. As one of the most important family members to him, Han Hao didn’t only have the power to protect himself already, he also had the skills to manage others. Only with enough subordinates could he afford to prevail through the endless conflict in Elysium.
Soon, Han Hao’s presence went further and further away. Han Shuo quelled the emotions he was feeling. Soon, he felt Akley’s presence approaching him.
Akley smiled and said, “Bryan, it’s all done! The pesky toxin brewers and some other weirdos you wanted me to approach personally are all dealt with.”
“Thanks for the hard work, Akley. From now on, Celestial Pearl Pharmacy will be the greatest pharmacy in all of Elysium. However, we have to start thinking about how we can build branches in the Divine Domains. As long as we can do that, we will never run out of black crystal coins.” Though their brand was well known enough, 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 on the pharmacy brewing potions, so he needed capable brewers that could 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 involved in the blast, with their clothes slightly torn and faces covered in soot.
“Are the two of you alright?” he snapped, surprised at how they looked. While he knew they had unique const.i.tutions, he was still worried that they got hurt from trying to suppress the explosion.
“We’re fine,” Han Jin replied as he shot 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 up on lots 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 fine. Your const.i.tutions and bodies can only benefit from the energy crystals’ explosion. Though, it still begs the question what Tyre did to make his part of Omphalos explode.”
“Tyre truly is sneaky. Within every district of Omphalos, he installed detonators that would receive a signal from his soul. But the detonator at his district was fitted with three redundant power sources that were really well hidden. The energy waves coming from them were also obscured, so we weren’t able to find them in time before Tyre triggered the detonation,” Andrina said hatefully.
“We’re sorry, Father. We failed to stop that explosion,” Han Jin said with embarra.s.sment.
“You did well enough.” Han Shuo didn’t blame them and turned to Wasir. “You should have your men move from Glacial Peak to Omphalos. I worry that the guards of the Divine Dominions aren’t just targeting the G.o.dhunter Alliance.”
Wasir’s expression changed as he nodded before leaving immediately and contacting his men with his magic mirror.
“Salas, Empyrean Peak will belong to you in the future. There will no doubt be many factions remaining in the Fringe after this, so take in as many under your wing as you can. I have enough people on my side, so I won’t be allowing them to join the House of Han. There is also a chance the Fringe will receive more refugees from the Divine Dominions. If you manage to convince them to serve you, they can also come to take shelter at Pandemonium,” he promised.
Elated, Salas said, “Now 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 wouldn’t hesitate to join with them. Effectively, they would be Han Shuo’s men and wouldn’t consider joining Salas at all. However, Han Shuo’s promise allowed him to gather his own force while also enjoying the benefits of protection in Pandemonium.
“I will spread word of the good relations.h.i.+p between the three of us in the Fringe. I’ll also forbid my men from clas.h.i.+ng with yours and Wasir’s. Hahaha, the Fringe will be ruled by the three of us from now on,” Han Shuo said.
Shaking his head, Salas said, “Bryan, I appreciate the sentiment, but Wasir and I have talked it over. There is only one Sovereign of the Fringe, and that’s you. The two of us shall serve the House of Han.”
“How can that be?” he said, surprised.
By now, Wasir had finished communing with his subordinates and returned. “Bryan, your power has far outstripped ours. Everyone in the Fringe knows that you were the one who resolved this crisis. We have no right to be your equals. Don’t refuse this. In the Fringe, might is right. You are powerful enough to have earned our respect!”
Salas nodded heavily in agreement as he laughed. “With you at the Fringe, even Quintessence OverG.o.ds have to think twice before coming to mess with us. From now on, there is no longer a need for us to fight amongst ourselves. The Fringe shall has its owns rules of conduct like other large cities.”
By now, Han Shuo knew that 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 name it Hexopolis of the Fringe! I will be its city lord and you will be its chief guardians. The three of our clans shall rule it!”
“Hexopolis of the Fringe… Hexopolis…” Salas repeated it for a few times. “This name’s a little weird, but it sounds impressive!”
“Alright! Hexopolis of the Fringe it is!” Wasir exclaimed.
“I’ll stay here for now instead of returning to Pandemonium. I would like to see what the guardians from the twelve Divine Dominions can do to me when they come!” Han Shuo felt that there was no longer anything he had to worry about given his strength now. If even Quintessence OverG.o.ds didn’t want to cause trouble for him, there were few others in Elysium that could bother him now.
As such, he no longer had to worry about much and could just focus on gathering demonic energy. A streak of black gas flowed into the ruins of Tyre’s former territory and gathered around a few boulders before dragging them over.
With a few loud booms, the ten-meter-tall boulders transformed into a smooth monolith and was erected outside a city gate. Black streaks flashed across the monolith’s surface, chipping away at smaller pieces of rock loudly. A bit later, a gust of wind blew the dust and small rocky shards away to reveal the words carved into the gate: Hexopolis of the Fringe.