As Ossora dealt with Asser's desperate attacks, he watched the nearby pillars carefully, afraid that they might emit more energy beams to freeze him. He felt utterly helpless as he wondered how on earth he had ended up in this area and encountered Asser in the first place. His plan to deal with Han Shuo had been completely ruined.
The two of them were severely restricted within this strange formation. As they fought to the death, the sky piercing stone pillars next to them would send out beams of strange energy that would freeze anyone who was hit, causing them to be hit by the one who was not frozen.
After a while, the two evenly matched fighters were covered in wounds, half of them from their opponent, the other half from the beams the pillars shot out. Ossora didn't want to fight Asser anymore. He had been looking for a way out from the beginning, but the attacks from the formation and Asser's constant pursuit took all his attention. So he could not leave, even if he wanted to.
"Asser, I don't want to fight you anymore! Stop pestering me!" Ossora said as he shot a beam into the ground, causing a giant earth golem to rise and block in front of him.
Asser, hiding in the darkness, chuckled. "Ossora, you are a Sovereign of the Fringe and on good terms with the owner of Pandemonium, Bryan. As soon as you get out, you'll join forces with him to fight me. Do you take me for an idiot?"
Ossora smiled bitterly and wanted to explain that he no longer had any ties to Han Shuo, but he felt that it would be inappropriate to do so before he had properly betrayed him. Not to mention, it wasn't as if Asser would believe him if he told the truth anyway, hence his hesitation.
Seeing that Ossora remained silent, Asser stepped up his attacks. The energy of darkness tried to reach out and grab Ossora like tentacles. He did everything he could to wound Ossora before he left this damned place.
Meanwhile, the ghastly images on the dozen pillars nearby seemed to come to life, wailing out of the dense negative aura with a deafening scream. Both of them noticed the change in the pillars and immediately grimaced. Since the beginning of their battle, the stone pillars had been interfering, but they hadn't seemed nearly as threatening, so the two had continued to fight.
But now, the wailing ghost images seemed to be emitting an incredibly cold aura of evil, causing Asser and Ossora to shudder at the threat. They looked at each other, as if sensing something, and immediately backed away from each other, not continuing their fight. Soon, a long shadow appeared behind one of the pillars. The energy emanating from the pillars seemed to be attracted by something, and it gathered around the blurred shadow.
"Great! You're finally here!" Ossora exclaimed with joy, "I'm glad you're all right. I was pursued by Isaiah and the others and had to retreat here. Little did I know that I would fall into this place and meet this fellow!"
He knew that this person was Han Shuo. Asser's expression changed at the implication. He knew he was in deep trouble for having to deal with both the master of the place and Ossora at the same time.
As expected, the figure turned out to be Han Shuo. "Ossora, are you all right?" he asked, looking worried.
Ossora was obviously pleased by Han Shuo's apparent attitude, thinking that his whole trick hadn't been revealed yet. "I'm fine, you came at the right time. Let's wipe out Asser together!"
"That's exactly what I was going to do!" he said as he charged towards Asser, who was hiding in the darkness.
The rays of light the pillars shot out were like sharp weapons, tearing through anything in their path. Even Asser's Domain of Divinity of darkness was ripped open by the blasts, exposing his body inside. Ossora became even more excited. He looked at Han Shuo with a well-hidden malicious intent.
"Coming!" Ossora laughed loudly as he swerved, causing the sands on the ground to gather around him. Now he was as heavy as a mountain as he approached Asser in a domineering manner.
Asser sighed at his misfortune and predicament. If he hadn't been in that damned formation, he might have had a chance to escape. He knew from experience how difficult it was to escape, and that he wouldn't be able to do it without enough time. He watched as Ossora and Han Shuo closed in on him from both sides. Then he abandoned any lingering thoughts and suddenly turned to Han Shuo.
Having fought Ossora for quite some time, he knew the rough extent of his abilities. He believed that he would be able to withstand Ossora's strike. Han Shuo, on the other hand, was far more terrifying and he wasn't sure if he would be able to withstand the blow.
"Haha, Asser, you should have known this would happen from the day you wanted to wipe out Pandemonium," Han Shuo said as he suddenly disappeared.
Asser realised that he could no longer sense Han Shuo's presence, causing him to panic and give up on attacking, choosing instead to surround himself with darkness once more.
From behind him came a thud, followed by a deafening scream. "Bryan... why... why did you attack me?!" Ossora was covered in blood.
Asser was stunned. He watched as Ossora bled to death and turned to the smiling Han Shuo, completely stunned.
A strange energy swirled around Ossora's body, causing countless explosions. Eventually, blood spurted from all of Ossora's orifices. He desperately dodged Han Shuo's attacks as he cursed the unfair treatment he had received.
"Ossora, I've always respected you as a leader. But you didn't know your place!" Han Shuo's expression was one of utter coldness. "You dared to bring Isaiah, Regis and Miller to Pandemonium, so you should have seen this coming! Hehe, I was just doing what you wanted to do to me all along!"
"You... you knew?"
Han Shuo nodded. "You don't have to keep hoping that Isaiah and the others will save you. They can't even save themselves."
"Impossible!" Ossora cried in a high voice, his wounds making him far more distraught than his usual calm demeanour. "There's no way you can stop the three of them!"
"I guess there's nothing else to say." Han Shuo sighed. "Ossora, you helped me before, so I don't want to kill you myself. You better finish it yourself!"
"Hehehehehehehehe... finish it myself?! Bryan! Do you really think that everything is under your control?"
"Oh? Isn't it?" Han Shuo grinned and looked at Asser who was trying to run away. "Are you talking about him? Haha, do you think he can help you?"
As he spoke, two more figures appeared from behind two pillars, namely Wasir and Salas. The moment they appeared, Ossora's face turned ashen. "Wasir and Salas... Bryan, oh Bryan... You really are ruthless! I didn't think that you would not only work with Wasir, but also with that crook Salas!"
Asser stared at Salas in disbelief. "You! Why are you helping him?"
Even though he wasn't from the Fringe, he knew that Salas held a huge grudge against Han Shuo. Otherwise, Dhaka, Dagmar and Asser would not have allowed him to join the fight against the Fringe. But now they were on the same side.
"Didn't you already know?" Salas feigned surprise and sneered, "Weren't you convinced that I was the one who caused you that loss at the Three Mountains? Why are you acting so shocked now?"
As he said this, Asser shook with anger. "So it really was you!" Although they had blamed Salas for the loss of their men back then, they didn't really believe that he had betrayed them.
"Haha, of course it was me! Otherwise, you wouldn't have lost half of your men before even entering Pandemonium!" Salas laughed with glee as he saw the expression on his face. Back then, the trio had tried to make him the scapegoat, but now he was having the last laugh.