Great Demon King

TLC: Hedonist

Han Shuo and Han Hao didn’t remain at Pandemonium’s ruins for too long. Too much had happened here and it wasn’t known whether the Godhunter Alliance was still in the Fringe, nor how Wasir, Salas and the other members of the House of Han were doing.

Their first priority was to get a clear picture of the current status quo, starting by locating Sangius, Bollands, Phoebe and the rest, thereby ensuring their safety. Additionally, they would have to head to Omphalos to scout it out as well as find out what the circumstances were behind Tyre’s disappearance. Lastly, Pandemonium would have to be reconstructed to incorporate the Ninth Realm Mystical Yin Harvester. There were too many tasks to attend to, so he had no time to waste here.

Even though Han Hao now had a Quintessence of his own, he still couldn’t utilize its power to its full potential. Even so, it should be more than enough to deal with the likes of overgods like Tyre and Logue. So, Han Shuo sent Han Hao back to his base near the mountains where Dhaka, Asser, and Dagmar lost many of their men to gather some of his godhunter subordinates before going to hunt down Logue and Tyre. He was also asked to look out for the other Hegemons that just left.

Han Hao was now filled with confidence; his acquisition of a Quintessence made him one of the most powerful existences on Elysium. He left through the underground tunnels quickly after Han Shuo gave him the order.

Han Shuo then expanded his consciousness to get in touch with the Five Elite Zombies before heading in the other direction. Now that his realm-state was at the Diablo Realm, his consciousness could spread boundlessly like the sea, allowing him to clearly perceive anything and everything inside it’s enormous coverage. By magnifying the signals between the Five Elite Zombies, he could easily locate them.

Han Shuo suddenly noticed that his consciousness had completely transformed due to his elevated realm state. It was as if he could vaguely feel the souls of every single living being in the Fringe. The more powerful the lifeform was, the more obvious he could pick out their telltale life aura.

Gradually, as he focused on his senses, he began to pick out many familiar signals, including Tyre’s, Logue’s, as well as Wasir, Salas and so on. He cracked a smile at this new mastery he had acquired. His new realm state still hadn’t stabilized completely yet, but he already had a taste of how powerful the Diablo Realm was and it would only get better from there. Now, it was as if he could see through everything.

He decided he would first consolidate his men, starting with Wasir and Salas who were nearest to him. He immediately flew towards them at a speed nearly impossible for the naked eye to detect. Soon, he reached a cold pond. “Come out, Salas, Wasir,” he cried towards the crack in a cliff.

The two of them were worried that Han Shuo wouldn’t be able to escape the grasp of Judas and the rest. The moment they heard his voice, they immediately burrowed out of the crack with joy.

“Are you alright, Bryan?” Salas seemed genuinely happy to see him.

Wasir, however, didn’t say much and merely looked at him, as if he was checking if he was hurt in any way.

Seeing these two again, Han Shuo felt a little odd. When he had first come to the Fringe, these two were the most hostile to him. He also had some unfortunate grudges with the two of them and had almost killed them.

Yet, these two had become among his closest allies. While the two of them were proud and didn’t have good tempers, they were sincere folk, unlike superficial backstabbers like Ossora, Logue, and Tyre.

“Haha, I’m fine. However, the threat still looms over the Fringe. The Godhunter Alliance hasn’t left yet. First, we have to find the rest of the members of my house. After we settle them down, we’ll head to Omphalos together. I have a feeling that Logue and Tyre are now located around there with the last of their forces. It seems like they’re up to something.”

“We’ll go with your plan then!” Salas casually said, “After the last battle we’ve faced, I am convinced. Only someone like you can inspire my trust, not Logue or Tyre.”

Wasir didn’t say what was on his mind like Salas did, but he still gave a tacit nod, agreeing to what Salas had said. Even though they didn’t officially pledge their allegiance to Han Shuo, it was still a sign that Han Shuo would replace Logue and Tyre as the unparalleled ruler of the Fringe.

......

Omphalos had lost much of the splendor it used to have. Not only did the Sovereigns leave, many of the businesses there had closed down. All that remained were people who didn’t belong anywhere else.

Everyone knew that a cruel fight was breaking out in the Fringe. Not only did the Godhunter Alliance have the advantage in sheer numbers, they also had lots of elites. Even the merchants that feared the might of the Sovereigns back then weren’t too confident that the Sovereigns could resist the Godhunter Alliance’s invasion.

Back then, their safety at Omphalos was almost guaranteed, but it was wholly different now. Word from the Fringe was that the Godhunter Alliance held the complete upper hand, causing those in Omphalos to fear for themselves. If they weren’t fugitives among the Divine Dominions, they would definitely have left Omphalos long ago. Most of the shops of the Sovereigns there had already closed down, with the only establishment remaining being Celestial Pearl Pharmacy.

These days, Celestial Pearl Pharmacy had become an important source of information for the remnants in Omphalos for toxin brewers.

Akley had been left in charge of Celestial Pearl Pharmacy. He was the first person Han Shuo had gotten to know when he first stepped foot on Elysium. Back then, Akley’s mastery of the energy of destruction was at the lowgod stage. He had grown much since thanks to the many divine essences that he, Han Shuo and the House of Han had obtained. He was now an early-stage highgod.

Initially, Han Shuo wasn’t willing to leave Akley in such a dangerous place like Omphalos, but he himself had said that being in constant danger helped hone his realm state in the edict of destruction, what with there being a constant dread and threat of destruction that loomed over Omphalos. He had insisted to be allowed to stay back in Celestial Pearl Pharmacy.

“Tell all the toxin brewers to join the House of Han. We can ensure that they make it out of these troublesome times safely,” Akley said to an old man as he leaned lazily into his beast-skin chair, popping one shiny grape into his mouth after another.

“Lord Akley, the others are all on edge. Strangers show up in Omphalos often nowadays and it seems like the Godhunter Alliance will come at any moment. It’s not just them; even I’m scared. Don’t you think we should at least lay low first, Lord?” The old man wiped nervous sweat off his face.

He was just a pharmacist Han Shuo had hired from Ethereal City, so combat was not his forte. With things being the way they are now, anyone could tell that it wasn’t safe in Omphalos and those who could had already evacuated from the Omphalos. Only Akley seemed to stay there like a fool who didn’t understand the true extent of the threat the Godhunter Alliance posed.

“Scared my ass!” Akley spat out the last grape seed and said, “Tell the poison brewers that Bryan of the House of Han promised they will be kept safe as long as they work for Celestial Pearl Pharmacy!”

“How are we going to assure them of their safety?” The old man must’ve thought that Akley was insane.

Akley humphed and said, “The Godhunter Alliance has suffered heavy casualties at Pandemonium, resulting in the Hegemons all fleeing hastily. I don’t think they’ll have much time left. The age of Logue and Tyre is long past. From now on, the whole of the Fringe belongs to the House of Han!”

“You can’t be serious!” The old man couldn’t believe what he heard at all. Nowadays, Akley feasted and drank himself to the high heavens nonstop as far as he was aware. It didn’t help that his words sounded like the ravings of a madman.

“Fool! Don’t you know that every member of the House of Han has a spatial mirror?” He rolled his eyes, got out of his chair, and went outside as he continued to mumble, “This is a chance you can use to convince those fellows. After the danger passes, it’ll be hard to get any concessions out of them...”