"How dare you tell such an obvious lie? Did we all come here to be made fun of?" Bale asked, his face flushed from anger but San merely chuckled

"What lie? I do know where the Confluence is" He said in a confident tone while everyone else simply watched the two.

Bale's outburst was obviously a product of exaggeration and insecurity. The fact that San Fidwud called this meeting showed just how confident he was in this information and as much as he (Bale) wished it was not true (because that would put San in a much better position than him), he would have to accept it however...

"No one is disputing that you might know where it is, what makes me upset is that you expect us to believe a 'Malevolent one' told you" Bale said with frantic gesticulation

"And why not?" San asked with a raised brow

"Because it's obviously a made up title" Bale said in a tone that suggested that anything contrary to this was against common sense.

To his credit he received agreeing nods from most of those in the room. San included.

"You are right. It does sound made up. But aren't all titles made up?" San said with a pondering expression.

Bale stared at him for a while before his angry frown relaxed a fraction.

"The title is made up but not by me, I would never give credit of such valuable information to someone else. I was visited last night by an individual that identified itself as the Malevolent one's representative and it told me where the confluence is.

"After...it was gone I went to the location described to me and came to the conclusion that it was suspicious, not to mention it was protected by a number of subtle but strong arrays" San explained

"And this representative just told you this without asking for anything in return" Bale asked in a snide voice

"Exactly"

"That's impossible. No one does anything without an obvious advantage for themselves. We are all primitively selfish" Bale said and Tod chuckled in agreement.

"Oh?, So the Master is selfish as well?" San asked with a raised brow

Both Bale and Tod blinked "We never said that"

"But we are all primitively selfish. Those are your words. So, according to you the Master, our Benefactor must be selfish as well"

*Bang*

The chairs the two sat on Exploded as they stood up in anger

"Stop twisting our words!" They both yelled at San who smiled at the two and waved off his guards who had steeped forward for his protection

"I apologize. Now if you two are done disrupting the meeting maybe you'll finally let me get to why we are gathered here today" San said in a falsely courteous voice.

The destroyed chairs were replaced and the two sat down with a perpetual frown.

Knowing he would no longer be interrupted for most likely the rest of the meeting, San cleared his throat and explained all that happened the night before, glossing over the part where he had been forced to kneel in his own home.

Once he was done, a contemplative silence fell upon the hall as visions of grandeur began to form in their mind. Of course to a lesser mind, wealth would be the only thing of value to the Confluence. However, considering how protected it is, in face of devastating troubles and circumstances, it could also be a stronghold from which the leaders of the Great families could direct their forces.

Raiding that place would do more than just make them (The plebeians) wealthier, it would also take away a secure location from the so called Greats.

Which, considering the state the city was bound to be in soon, would not bode well for the Greats.

As they all ruminated on the information, San could not shake the feeling that they were playing into someone's hands but he could not, for the life of him, find out how.

There was an obvious suspect in case of foul play and it was this so called 'Malevolent one'. It made no sense for someone to simply give up this information unless....

... And then it dawned on him. The two barking dogs had been right, 'We are all primitively selfish' and this Malevolent one is no different.

Now San Fidwud could see where the game was.

'The Malevolent one already knew where the Confluence was, most likely since the last time it was visited the year before but could not go after it until it was opened again, not unless they wanted to cause a huge scene.

'A huge scene that would not bode well because their forces were not strong enough. So they devised a plan as soon as the auction was announced, to set two forces against each other and in the midst of the chaos, once both sides were weakened, come in with their meagre force and take the advantage, eventually clear out the confluence and retreat before the arrival of reinforcements. Ah ha, I got you!' San had to control himself so as to not burst out his excitement at finally making his way into the mind of an unknown figure.

Of course, As good as San was at deduction, he only got half of the plan right. But all that for later.

"You are sure of this information?" Baret asked in a calm tone that fooled no one as his hand was trembling with anticipation. But no one cared. Everyone on the scene was feeling the same after all.

"Positive" San reiterated as he mind chuckled at his own brilliance.

"Okay then. How to proceed?" Ian asked with a look towards San who did not falter and began...

"We will need all of our resources. The Greats have no idea that they would be robbed but I have reason to believe there will be someone else at the site and we need to be very ready. The third party has no idea we have caught on and we need to take advantage."

"You mean..."

'Yes, Tod, we will need the gangs" San said with a nod

The Gangs in Salmon city were divided into three main groups;

The first group were those who were sponsored by the Great families and had a lot of influence over the others.

The second group were of course sponsored by the Plebeians.

While the third group were new gangs or simply gangs deemed of no importance, for example; The black vine gang that had tried to assassinate Hal. The rest of it's members had quickly disbanded and joined Pre-existing gangs.

Now this gangs were not truly among the true fighting forces of these families. They were simply a way to control the masses without making the commanding family unpopular.

They usually received stipends and are not given any public connection with the Families. Which is why they do not really have loyalty towards any one family and can ally with the one that offers the most advantages.

The first group however would never switch loyalty from the Greats to the Plebeians but of course they could still switch from one great family to another. They call it Gang Politics.

The second group would love an opportunity to go under the Greats but are always turned down for being 'Compromised' which was simply a fancy word for 'weak'.

"We need all the help we can get. So every family should inform their Gangs to select their best" San said

"That's all fine. The gangs will aid in this heist but we will not let our strongest men into such a situation that could send them all to their grave" Bale grunted

"Well of course. The Gangs will serve as meat shields, they'll do anything for money anyway. It would be insane to use our men. We are planning a coup after all.

"But, we need to pool every other resources we can without jeopardizing certain longterm plans"

"Agreed" Said all nineteen at once.

As they all stood up and made their way home to begin preparations. Bale and Tod looked back at San with venomous glares but he was looking down at the table with a vindictive smile on his effeminate face

'I got you now, you son of a bitch. Malevolent one my Ass'

Clearly the incidents of the night before had some lasting effects on the Fidwud family head.

....

Meanwhile in his mansion

Hal walked into Melinda's room, his casual robe worn loosely as Rita had only just fell unconscious from their incessant fuck session.

Looking upon Melinda's calm face he sighed and moved to her bedside. The smug grin seemed almost directed at him, almost as though she had finally managed to one up him in bed.

The thought brought a smile to his face.

He leaned closer and spoke into her ear "Wake up, Baby girl"

She remained the same but that was okay as he had not expected it to wake her up. He moved a strand of hair away from her face before lightly stroking her cheek...

*Boom!*

She was suddenly illuminated by a golden light and from her chest emerged a white semi transparent sword that Hal could easily recognize as a Cosmic Armament...but there was something different about it.

On the armament were crisscrossing golden veins not unlike the black veins that crisscross Executioner.