The events at Edgar castle, Namely the attack by the Plebeian alliance, were far from being a secret. While it had only been the privileged that had been present for the ceremony at the Castle, the ruckus caused during the attack told everyone in the city of events to come.

They all agreed, including the commoners, that this was a sign of Dark times to come.

The Plebeians had dealt the first blow and while they had been forced to leave due to the Earthquake (which had shaken a good percentage of the city's landmass by the way) it did not change the fact that momentum was on their side.

The Plebeian family heads were now gathered at Fidwud Family home to go over what they were to do now and as much as a lot of them did not like San and wished he was not the leader of the alliance, it did not change the fact that his plans had been successful today.

The casualties of Plebeians as compared to the Edgars were miles apart and in the favor of the Plebeians, Not to mention that the Backbone of the Edgars was now out of commission.

So despite their dissatisfaction, they all agreed that if there was anyone who could guarantee their victory and the complete decimation of the Great families, it was San Fidwud.

The thing was, San could feel that at that moment, he had finally gotten their loyalty, at least in all things related to leading the alliance against the Greats but he just did not care about their 'Loyalty'.

There was only one thing he cared about at the moment and it was burying Evian's body with his own hands.

Corrupted or not, Evian had been a major part of the Fidwud family and his death was a mighty loss to the family.

The Plebeian family heads stepped back and only those with direct ties with the Fidwud Family moved close enough to San.

As his wife was long dead, the closest to San at the moment was his son Leyton who could not possibly distance himself from his father in such sad circumstances.

That said, there was still enough space between them to depict that their relationship was not the close father-son relationship it once was.

Leyton had already begun to notice his father's change but it seemed Evian's death had aggravated it. So much so that Leyton felt he could feel coldness emanating from his father's form.

And it was a coldness that made him no more than a stranger to the teenage boy.

San was bent over Evian's body and there was solemnity in the visage of those present as they waited for what he would say and he began,

"You bastard. You allowed yourself to be corrupted... You deserve to... die!"

The words while quiet were more than loud enough for all those at the scene to hear and their eyes widened. Especially the Plebeian family heads who wished they had recovered the bodies of their Right-hand men as well.

They would have loved to say that this was simply how San dealt with grief but those of the Fidwud family knew it was not so and could not help but feel they might have underestimated just how much change San had gone through.

San continued,

"I gave you everything and you could not even resist the corruption... For my sake.

Not to worry though, that Master of yours, that Malevolent Son of a Bitch... I shall meet him soon and when I do, I shall make him wish for death.

So don't worry, you corrupted, traitorous bastard, you won't be alone for long, he and Hal Payne shall soon join you"

San included Hal in his vow, not only because he hated him but because he was convinced now more than ever that Hal and the Malevolent One were connected.

San stood to his feet, dusted his robe and pointed at Evian's body and sent a small version of a Cosmic phenomenon to it.

The Phenomenon rounded about the body, digging the ground up along the way. San rotated his finger and the patch of earth Evian's body was laying on lifted and the earth that had been dug up was at least 5 feet before it turned around and buried Evian's body in quite an unceremonious manner.

After which, with hands behind his back, San turned towards the Fidwud Family home with a relaxed smile on his face, which considering he just buried his right-hand man (albeit corrupted) was a little out of place.

If San noticed or cared about how they viewed him, it did not show in his visage as he said on his way into his home,

"We have much to discuss, Years of Hegemony to destroy and most importantly,

We should be expecting a letter"

...

Edgar Castle Court...

Hal sat at the Head of the ornate table and his ladies, -Melinda, Rita, Amelia and Marla- were the closest to him. After which was the Edgar brothers followed by a heavily bruised Karon who stared at the table as though it were distances away rather than right in front of him.

On the other side of the table was an empty seat followed by Gregory Payne whose expression was terrible to behold. Terrible in a sad sense.

After him was Edvard whose bruises were even more extensive than Karon and was now sporting quite a few broken ribs of his own.

Beating the two had been more than enough to brand them and Hal hardly had any vendetta against Karon but Edvard was another matter altogether and his thorough beating was a long time coming.

However, Hal had not been the one to deliver those vicious strikes. Once he had branded Edvard with the Devil Mark, Melinda stepped forward and mentioned how the slap she had once given him had not been satisfying to her.

She claimed that his cultivation was much too low at the time and the slap had only been successful because she caught the Krast lord by surprise and totally off-guard.

She then proceeded to punch and hit any part of Edvard she could touch. Hal had not allowed Edvard to use his cultivation base to defend himself, but even if he had been able to fight back, he would still have been defenseless against her.

Once she was satisfied, Rita stepped forward and delivered her round of beating because Edvard had 'attacked her' and even though he cried out that it was Hal he had been after and not her, she beat him up for 'having the guts to attack her man'.

To be honest, had they had the cultivation base to inflict significant pain on the Krast patriarch, Marla and Amelia would most likely have joined the fray as well.

Marla was even tempted to use her physique.

Anyway,

Even without the Devil Mark, Edvard had no rebellion in him anymore. It had been beaten out completely.

The last straw that broke his will was when he found out that as Karmen was the one who had selected 'Capable' guards to accompany him today, they were all Blood knights who she had aided in infiltrating the Estate's forces much earlier.

Speaking of Karmen, she was seated at the end of the table as one of the four Blood Knights allowed to join the meeting and by her side was Olivia who had declined Marlon's opinion to go into the castle and attempt to forget the Day's terrible events.

She wanted to be here.

Frank was seated close to the Blood Knights as well and keeping his ears open for what Hal wished to say.

Hal cleared his throat,

"For those of you it concerns, you will be pleased to know that I have taken Hector to somewhere safe and I will attempt to aid his recovery.

It will be difficult and the chances of success are quite slim since as you are already aware, Hector Edgar is at the end of his lifespan and if he does not advance to the next realm, his recovery will be meaningless..."

"But you can help him" Marlon interrupted.

"Yes I can but if your father does not wish for survival, there is not much I can do"

Marlon dipped his head at this while Darryl patted his back and told him that at least, there was hope.

Hal was about to continue when someone walked into the hall and it was none other than Ford Horst.

Once inside, he ignored the looks of all those present and looked Hal in the eye. The sentiment was clear;

Ford was tossing his lot with Hal. Not because his soul was in Hal's hands but because it was his choice.

Hal smiled lightly,

"Now on to the matter at hand..." He said and passed every information they might not have known to all those present.

Either through Devil marks or contracts.

And then he gave a vocal summary for the purpose of those he had not branded or signed contracts with and did not know anything prior.

Of all those present, only Olivia fell into that category.

He did not really entertain questions as he was only telling them this as a preview for things to come,

"A letter will be composed and will be delivered to the Plebeians tomorrow. A letter that I would like all the Great family heads to sign, Darryl Edgar can sign for his father. With it, you will officially declare war on the Plebeians and a Battlefield will be decided upon.

I was the reason you were all divided and while it was quite entertaining to see you all think only about yourselves, I now want, No, I now command you to join forces against a common enemy.

On that battlefield, this whole shenanigans with the Civil war will be put to an end and the bigger fishes will finally come out to play.

As for how the battle will be fought, other than the Payne Family, I shall not command or interfere with any family. At least not for now.

As for the Pills you all purchased from Arya the Alchemist, do not use any of them personally and only give them to your men.

They're going to need all the help they can get"

The words were generous but the wolfish smile on Hal's face was anything but.