Edgar Castle

The summit continues...

Gregory finally broke the silence with a mild chuckle,

"So we are suspects and you are not"

"Yes You're one to talk Ford. You're probably the most suspicious of us all"

Edvard said with a glare at the Horst family head who looked at him as though the younger man might be insane. Why else would he make such a ridiculous claim? After all, of all four, he was the one with the least obvious Ambition.

"What does that mean" Ford asked, responding to the glare in kind.

"Well, you're the one with the suspicious wife, are you not?" Edvard said

"What does Emily have to do with this?" Ford asked with a frown

"Is it not obvious, she's the only one who could possibly have done this. Her true strength after all still remains as she as always strived to make it; Private"

Gregory said with a look in Ford's direction as though he dared him to deny it.

The look however only cause Ford to chuckle,

"Don't try to intimidate me with your pointless stare, if you had the strength to make me feel threatened, we wouldn't be having this conversation"

Gregory clenched his fist tightly before he sighed and loosened it.

Ford continued,

"I don't stop you from suspecting me as I suspect each of you as well, but i don't think it's a crime for someone to keep their Private life Private"

While the duo had no retort, it did not change the fact that rather than searching or inquiring about a new unknown individual, the most effective means of finding the culprit was to investigate those who knew the location of the Confluence.

Ford himself had sowed doubt with his accusation and now...

...They were all suspect.

However as Hector looked at them all argue, he could almost see the rift beginning to form and in it he saw the game where it lay.

He saw what this Malevolent one was truly after and the thought almost made him forgo the loss he felt from the stolen gold. Almost.

*Bam*

"Enough!" He yelled, cutting off any further argument from any of the three,

"Don't you see? This is what he wants. This is what he is truly after" Hector said

"What he? For all we know, our culprit is female" said Gregory with a pointed look at Ford who knew the latter was referring to Emily but declined to comment further.

"Based on the scene of the incident, I believe the culprit to be male and if not, it would have to be a particularly violent and inelegant female"

"In the cultivation world, violence does not discern between genders" Edvard retorted with a shrug

"Be that as it may, we will consider the culprit a male for now. And you idiots are playing right into his hands"

"Playing into his hands? We just lost millions and you still want to claim the conspiracy runs deeper?" Gregory was in complete disbelief.

How much more proof was needed to show that this Old man had gone senile?

"Yes it does. The vault represents much more than Co joined wealth, it also represents our promise of cooperation. To always be there when our hegemony is threatened.

To always make sure that even after a Mayor is declared, all other Great families remain mostly intact.

We have lost that and we need to ensure we don't lose the promises in the process."

An ominous silence followed Hector Edgar's enlightening words

The silence was the type the Mayor hoped would herald in a new declaration of continuous support. Alas...

...he had gravely underestimated the greed of men.

As they all looked into each other's eyes, Hector knew it was over.

When they next would fight, it would be brutal. There would be no consideration and each Great family would strive for the complete eradication of the others.

There would no longer be Cooperation.

They would no longer care for joint Hegomony.

And most of all...

The victor will not keep the defeated Families intact.

There would be Total decimation.

And to become the victor, someone was needed;

The illusive Alchemist.

This was no longer just about becoming the Mayor but about making their individual families the strongest force in Salmon city.

As for the Plebeians? Naturally they would go down as well.

....

The Mansion

There always existed cracks in the vase that was the relationship of the Great Families, it had just remained mostly civil.

Hal could not have that.

The best way to pick them off separately was to remove any possibility of cooperation which had existed among the Four families, and despite their obvious hostility, the cooperation remained. Albeit little.

To discover that it was represented by a vault of Gold had been too much for Hal to resist.

After all he would become wealthier rather than lose money at the Auction, he would rob the Great families and as an added bonus, he would divide them.

That was a three for one special he just had to have.

He sat cross-legged on the bed as he refined the essence he had gotten from the ladies during their orgy session.

He finally made the push and his cultivation was at long last at the Late stage of the Cosmic Pearl realm!.

The pearl in his abdomen had also increased in size and purity but Hal was far from satisfied as he withdrew into his mind space to appear before Grimiore to vent...

"This is too slow"

"No it's not. You're just impatient. You've only being cultivating less than a month, your advancement is already insane" Grimiore told him calmly

Hal knew it was right but he just could not imagine cultivating for years when he needed the strength right now.

"The only way you can cultivate faster is to feed the peculiarity of your Cultivation technique" Grimoire continued

"Meaning?"

"Well, for Battle techniques, you fight battles and for Dual cultivation techniques.. " Grimoire started

"You Fuck" Hal completed with an agreeing nod before he sighed

"I would love to keep doing that but at the rate my body gets use to their essence it would still take me years. To others, it would be considered 'quick' but not to me" He said with frustration

"Well, then it's simple. You just need more partners, and I mean those with strong cultivation bases" Grimoire said in a level tone

Hal chuckled "What? Do you mean hundreds of beauties?"

That couldn't be right. Right?

"Hundreds? no no no. If you want to maintain this insane cultivation speed, you need to start thinking in thousands"

Grimiore said as though it was explaining something very rational.

Hal's shock was so palpable in the mind space such that he quickly ejected himself and returned to the outside.

'Thousands?!'

He yelled in his mind before he stood up and put on his clothes took one last look at the happy ladies and left the Time warped chamber, feeling the change in time flow.

His legs took him to the only place his numb brain could process.

Melinda's room.

It was when he finally looked upon her face that he felt something strange and it was not the fact that her cultivation was now at the Mid stage of the Cosmic Armament Realm.

It was the glowing radiance that shone from her face.

He stepped closer immediately and checked her condition with Astral sense and could sense nothing wrong.

He sighed as he made to brush her hair from her face and found that he couldn't.

His hand was trapped and unable to touch her.

It was then that she opened her eyes and it glowed golden, Sclera and all as she sat up and regarded him with the most disdainful expression.

"That can't be good" Hal could not help but comment

Melinda smiled, but it had no warmth,

"You're right. It's not good for you"

A blast of light was suddenly released from her body and struck Hal in the chest...

*Bam*

*Bang!*

...sending him breaking through the room and mansion walls to hurtle across the sky into the courtyard.

As He flew away, a snide voice that seemed to be Melinda's and yet sounded 'Alien' boomed throughout the Mansion.

"I am going to love gutting you, Hahahaha"