Hal returned to the main Hall and together with the ladies they left Edgar castle and got into the carriage that had brought them there and left together.

However, a short distance away, the carriage stopped, it's door opened but no one could be seen stepping out. After a short second the door closed again and the carriage went on it's way...

------------

The Confluence...

The Representative of each of the Great families arrived before the obscure location that it was.

All four representative were each leading minute forces of a hundred men and just as they suspected of the Plebeians, all of this men were gangs here just for their protection in case something did happen.

But of course the Representatives already had their orders which was to completely clean out the Vault in the Confluence and return for their superiors decision on what to do going forward.

Either split the co joined wealth or just create a new location.

Darryl and Marlon stood side by side. A picture of brother solidarity, the other three -Burt, Ciel and Fidel Horst- eyed them discretely, but they were all on the side. For now.

Together the four stepped forward and brought out the seal from within their spatial pouches and put the four together before injecting Cosmic energy into it to allow the four pieces to hold together and release resplendent light that instantly lifted the Warding off array and those lying in wait could now use their Perception to plot the Confluence's location.

For the men lying in wait, this was the signal and they all stormed out if their hiding positions and gathered right before the Four Representatives.

All the men on the Plebeian side had at least the late stage of the Cosmic pearl Realm making them the elites among the gangs they had been picked out of and were being led by 6 men of the Early stage of the Cosmic Armament Realm. One of which was San's right hand man, Evian.

There was no real surprise whatsoever in the eyes of the representatives who had been expecting an Ambush but were more than satisfied with this confrontation.

"What are you waiting for?" Evian asked the men under his command " If you want that Gold, Attack!"...

...and attack they did.

The whole area quickly descended into chaos as the two forces were soon engaged in an all out brawl.

Every where you looked will be men involved in Combat with one side trying to prevent anyone going into the mound that was the entrance to the Confluence while the other side tried to break through, so far they remained at a stalemate.

The six on the Plebeian side soon stepped past the chaos, effortlessly as none of the brawlers were their match.

"As you can see, you're outnumbered" Evian said with a spread of his arms.

It was true the Four representives -Darryl, Burt, Ciel and Fidel- were outnumbered and having Marlon with them did not change that fact as they still remained one man short,

But then Darryl let out his cultivation base that showed what was already general knowledge which was that he was at the Mid stage of the Cosmic Armament Realm.

He had done so for the purpose of intimidation but Evian simply chuckled at the display...

"What difference does that make?" He said and let out his cultivation as well to release a pressure that matched Darryl's equally once again putting their side at a disadvantage.

"You still lose. Why don't you hand over the seal now and not suffer the humiliation that would plague you as a Great family scion who was outmatched by a Plebeian right hand?"

Darryl gritted his teeth and clenched his fist but just then a smiling voice sounded and made all eyes turn in direction of the middle aged butler in their midst...

"Darryl can give you his piece but I won't" Burt said as he stowed away his piece of the seal which they had all separated the moment the attack began and let out his cultivation base to reveal, to the surprise of all those present, that he was at the Mid stage of the Cosmic Armament realm as well.

What in all Hell!

The others thought.

Never had they expected the Payne Butler had such strength. Could it be that the Payne have more man power than meets the eye?

Burt for his part completely ignored their reaction, instead he stretched his hand and summoned a green broadsword that was his Cosmic Armament and pointed it at the frowning Evian

"So will you retreat now or should we force you?" He said in such domineering fashion that Evian's lips twitched and he went straight for the Butler with his Armament summoned as well and soon Broadsword and Saber crossed and announced the beginning of their Five-way duel.

Marlon was locked in contact with one of the Early stage Cosmic Armament Realm cultivator.

Ciel was locked in the same type of combat.

So was Fidel.

Darryl was more than happy to take on the last two.

His pride had been deeply wounded and he could not help but remember his father's worry about the family's future when left in the hand of Darryl and Marlon.

He could now see the worry as genuine.

His Armament, a red Sword, was summoned and he was adequately fending off both opponents.

The battle between Burt and Evian was however the most action packed

"Third grade skill: Raptor strike"

Burt quickly summoned a three circled ring, out of which emerged a green raptor that went straight after Evian who due to being trapped by the skill's energy could not move away and made to defend himself.

Swinging his Cosmic Saber and sending Cosmic attacks at it did reduce the damage but it was damage all the same.

*Bang*

*Crack*

His left forearm fractured with an audible crack! that made the whole arm useless and hence forced him to fight with one arm instead of two.

The only good news was that the Cosmic Energy consumption of such a skill was such that even with his Mid-stage Cosmic Armament cultivation, Burt could only use it once, another usage might not do well for his physique and that was a risk he was not willing to take.

And he was sure he would not need to.

He was fighting a one armed man after all.

How hard could it be?

He could not have been more wrong.

When the crossing of blades once again began, Burt quickly realized that Evian was only handicapped by the pain of the fracture, fighting one handed however, proved to not be any more difficult than fighting with both hands for the Plebeian right hand.

Their battle was far from over and Burt was far from having total advantage.

...

A few yard away from the chaos stood the Plebeian trio who watched the action with slight dismay.

They had not expected such an equal sided battle.

The main reason San had allowed Evian to lead was because he hoped his strength would turn it completely in their favor. Who would have thought a simple butler would have strength equalling his.

The strategy had been to take down the Early stagers with numbers while Evian held down the supposed only Mid stager, Darryl and after the Early stagers had been taking down, all six would gang up on the Mid stager Darryl.

That was simple enough right?

Wrong!

Somehow things had to turn into a cluster fuck.

"If they don't seize advantage soon, we might have to order a retreat" Bale said

It was true, this was taking too long and it would be for the best if they retreat soon. The gang members could be left to continue fighting, the only ones that truly matter were the Six Cosmic Armament Realm cultivators.

San was sure the Great family leaders would be on their way to put a stop to everything soon once they realized the Plebeian trio were no longer staying out of it.

But most of all, San was expecting the Malevolent one or maybe the Bogeyman. He was sure they were just lying in wait.

"Oh, here you are" said a voice from behind the trio and they turned, or at least they tried to before a pressure bore down on them and forced them to their knees.

Their eyes widened. That pressure could not mean good things.

It did not!.

A white haired man, easily recognized as old Hector Edgar, current Mayor of Salmon city, walked out of the thicket behind the trio, his smile was kindly but the look in his eyes would have caused the three to shiver. Had they been able to see it.

Ford Horst, Gregory Payne and Edvard Krast walked out from behind him.

Needless to say. it was now clear to the trio that their whole plan was a bust and as they readied themselves to plead with the current (placing emphasis on current in their minds) Hegomons of Salmon city...

A different type of feeling enveloped the whole area.

A feeling of Fear!

The pressure the Mayor Emitted, lessened some what, confident the trio could not get away.

San piped up instantly "It's Him" he said

The others looked at him like he was insane but he ignored them and just then...

*BOOOOM!!!*

A blast suddenly sounded and the whole area of the Confluence was enveloped with a Dome of pure Astral Energy.

A dome that looked familiar...

...

Meanwhile...

Inside the dome, fighting gangs were all thrown around in various directions caused by the blast, with some of them still moaning and grunting in pain...

A figure of about 1.85 metres stood before the Eleven in the Cosmic Armament Realm who could not move as they stared at the figure with black shoulder length hairs and piercing sapphire blue eyes who stared at them with a smile while stroking his jaw.

"Who the hell are you?" Evian was the first to speak even as he felt the familiar feeling of fear...

"Oh, I'm the Malevolent one. It's nice to finally meet you in person"