While Things in Tretch forest remained intense despite the exit of the Great family scions,

Those very same scions were about to find out that the life-threatening experience they had just undergone was ultimately a distraction for the main goal of the Plebeians.

This, of course, did not mean that the attack against them was half-hearted, on the contrary, the Plebeians had hoped to kill two birds on that day.

Alas,

Hal and his Blood knights put a wrench in their minor plans.

That said, the main event was going on in full spring.

All Great Family homes: Payne Estate, Krast Estate, Horst Manor, and Edgar Castle, were under attack!.

The Plebeians never went to great lengths to keep their plans of attacking the young generation a secret. They made sure there was still enough suspicion. Enough that initially, all Great families deployed their strongest to protect their young generation.

This reduced the security in certain areas in the Great families.

With war looming, it was not just Hal who had tasked his men with cultivation. All the Great families had done the same when they realized they had been slacking all this while.

If Plebeian leaders could cultivate and attain an equal level of strength as the Great family heads, it stood to reason that the same was true for their forces.

So the Great families put their men who were at the Energy sensing Realm and Cosmic Pearl realm through rigorous cultivation and training. Only sparing some of them for the security of those who were cultivating.

However, once the suspicion of the threat against their young generation came to light, they dispatched a lot of those men to protect them.

It was then that the Plebeians struck.

Sending in all of the gangs under them, telling them that this would be the only way for redemption since they had failed to successfully loot the Confluence.

Even though the Gangs were upset that they were being blamed for something that wasn't their fault, they recognized that their support still came from the Plebeians, and an attempt to break free of that support now was unwise.

So with clenched fists and gritted teeth, they stormed the Great Households.

It didn't take long for the Greats to know what was happening, unfortunately, the damage was already done.

While the Gangs aimed to kill as many as they could of those in seclusion for cultivation, the reality was that merely causing a commotion had caused Cultivation deviation for a lot of those in seclusion.

*BOOOOMMMM!!!*

*CRACK!!!*

*BAAANNNNGGG!!!*

Foundations were getting damage with every shockwave their attacks were causing.

The problem was that even though they knew it was dangerous and counterproductive to engage in combat with the Gangs, the Great Family forced had no choice.

The best they could do now was defeat the Gangs quickly to put the matter to rest.

Maybe then they would be able to salvage the safety of some of them.

Payne Estate...

The attack had begun and Gregory was forced to direct his forces as Burt was not yet at his best.

While he directed them, he could not help but wonder where Lilian was.

He had gone to find her at the start of the attack and had expected to find her cultivating so he could call her out of it safely before she suffered Cultivation derivation.

He could still risk the safety of his men but he could not risk hers.

But when he went in, she was nowhere to be found.

He shook his head to shake away those worries. He needed to focus on these idiots who had the audacity to storm his home.

He directed his forces not to attack but to herd the Gang members to a part of the Estate.

Once they were all there, he harnessed immense Cosmic Energy that was worthy of someone of his caliber at the peak of the Cosmic Armament realm and he released all of it into the Center of an array by his side.

Immediately, the array came to life in the form of spinning blades of Astral runes that whirled and slashed all Gang members to pieces instantly.

"Did they really think this was enough to shake me?"

Gregory snorted before he turned away from the scene and left cleaning the Blood and gore to his servants.

...

Other than the Payne Family, the others focussed more on direct combat, one that they won easily but the Cost was still high.

None of them (the Great Families) had taken any chances and still left their young generation with protection, and it was a testament to the power of the Great families that they still won overwhelmingly despite being ambushed.

However,

The Plebeian leaders had expected this and it was why their plan had never being to defeat the Great Families, if it had been, they would have attacked with their true force and not with Gangs.

They had aimed to cripple the fighting force of the Great families, and while a lot of Gang members had died and many more had been injured, on that note they had succeeded.

Even Gregory Payne who had taken care of the Gangs quickly and efficiently with the use of that powerful array still recorded quite a few casualties.

The other families were considerably worse off thanks to the prolonged effect of direct combat.

By the time the Horst, Krast and Edgar scions were out of the forest, the attack was over, most of the Gang members were dead, and yet they could already feel it in the air that their families had not won on that day.

Victory was the Plebeians'.

...

Tretch Forest...

Hal's hand was raised and the Dome that had pushed away Frank's attackers remained strong as he could not help but think about the things that were happening in the City at that moment.

Thanks to his Blood knights having infiltrated the Great Families, he could see it all unfold if he so wished.

The one he focussed on the most at that moment was the attack on Payne Estate and he could not help but sneer at Gregory's use of the high powered array.

Of all the Great Families, Payne Family survived best not only because of Gregory's use of the Array, but because the targets of the attack (the Payne Elites) were not even there.

His Elites were cultivating in a different location altogether. Hal knew where it was thanks to the Map Rita had managed to steal the day he killed Rad.

Hal could not help but admire Gregory's brilliance, those Cultivating in the Estate were mainly Guards and not his true fighting force.

They were the perfect decoy.

Following this attack, the Plebeians would believe themselves to have the upper hand but in regards to the Paynes, it would be nothing more than gross underestimation.

Hal nodded in his mind, he preferred it this way.

He would eventually pay a visit to those 'Elites'.

Frank's excited voice brought him out of his thoughts,

"It's you!"

'Oh yeah, this idiot is still here' he thought before he spoke to him,

"It's me what?"

"You're the strongest Runemaster in Salmon City. You can save me" Frank said with a grin.

Hal wanted to ask why Frank believed he was the strongest Runemanster but when he looked at the Dome which still covered both of them, he had to admit it was fairly obvious.

There were no runes involved in the creation of this dome and even Frank could identify that as strength.

Hal chuckled,

"I can save you? Well I don't want to"

The dome faded and he stepped closer to Frank who unconsciously took a step back and then he spoke to him again,

"If I kill you now. Would your prophecy have come to pass? Hmm?" Hal asked with a cold smile.

However, unlike before Frank stood his ground with a smile,

"It will not. But you are not going to kill me" he said with a smile.

"What makes you so sure?" Hal asked with the same cold smile.

"Because you know it would make my sister sad and besides you already saved me once"

Frank said and gestured at the assailants on the ground, some unconscious while others struggled to stand and failed time and time again.

Hal raised his eyebrow,

"Oh? The very same sister you obviously envy?"

Frank clenched his fists.

He could not deny that he envied his sister. Despite being twins, she always outclassed him. She was always better.

When their mother called a friend of hers to take Amelia as her student and even facilitated her enrollment into the flame lotus sect, the feeling of envy intensified.

The only thing he ever got was the title of the future ford of Horst manor but how could he not see that compared to his sister, this title was merely a shackle to keep him in this city while greater titles abound outside.

Why?

Why?

Why was life so unfair?

He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists so hard that his nails dug into his palm and drew blood.

*Pat*

His eyes widened when he felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked up to see Hal frowning down at him.

"Normally I wouldn't care about your envy but I know how dangerous it could be if it's allowed to fester"

Hal took his hand away from him and the area around them was once again surrounded by a Dome of Astral energy that Frank could see was meant to cut off his path of escape.

"You see, I have a sense for these things and I felt it the moment I saw you. The envy is strong and it will eventually drive you to seek her life..."

Hal's eyes turned Blood red as he said,

"...and unlike you, I protect those close to me and so before that happens, I will kill you myself"