“All of you have a chance to confess before we announce the traitors,” Bella announced, and the atmosphere within the hall tensed.

Though it seems her influence over everybody present was strong enough, and nobody really believed her words, attempting to call a nonexistent bluff.

“I see… So that’s how you all think of me. Okay, when I call your name, step up to the front of the group and keep your head down,” Bella announced once more, but this time she began to call out a few fake names.

None of them were on the list of traitors, and I could tell she was trying to absorb more information by making them panic.

Possibly catching one of them in the act of trying to contact somebody else via a phone or telecommunicator.

The tension within the room had risen to unbelievable heights, and even just so much as a nail scratching would cause everything in the room to snap.

“*sigh*… Whatever… Luna, do your thing,” Bella sighed as she shook her head and then looked at the first victim.

Her eyes rolled back into their sockets, and blood poured from out her throat and then out her mouth, but she was still alive, of course.

As she suddenly began to convulse, a few others followed in her footsteps and convulsed with so much force that you could hear their bones breaking.

Their blood-curdling screams rang throughout the hall while Luna gladly manipulated their minds into seeing the most horrifying nightmares in existence.

“What fun,” Luna muttered before squeezing her hand.

They all suddenly lifted their hands and grabbed the sides of their head, twisting their neck until their spines cracked.

A few maids and butlers threw up from the sight and sound, while the rest had faces paling with an extraordinary amount of fear.

“Now, as the temporary head of this family, I order you all to clean up this mess… and any traitors are, of course, not welcome,”

…

Late at night, we all had a cup of coffee and had a meeting with a single blood-red pill sitting in front of us, seemingly taunting us into consuming it.

“So, why’d you call us over?” I asked Luna.

“You already know why… We need to take action before the enemies take even more action. It’s us versus so many others… and we need more firepower. I’m confident we can match the strongest of the younger generation, but the older generation is a different story,” Luna responded as she twirled a small stirring spoon in between her fingers.

“I agree. The only ones who could possibly survive, not beat, but survive would be Orion or Bella… and that’s it,” Cy said, eyeing the red pill in front of him.

“First of all, how about you tell us the reason why this is here?” Findir asked before picking up the pill with a gust of black wind and drawing it right in front of him.

It swirled and twirled in front of him, leaking a menacing tent.

“I was debating whether we should eat this or not….” I said, and Luna just clicked her tongue.

“Hey, answer my question first before we get sidetracked any further,” Luna quickly interjected, and so I sighed and slumped in my chair.

“As you all know, I’ve been working with the head of the Wony family to try and delay the other families as much as possible. It’s been working great, but now, it is surely going to die down, and everybody will dog pile on top of us,”

“And you called us here to tell us that?” Aisa asked, a bit annoyed.

“Let me talk. I’m not done yet… So, we need to take action. Luna already inferred it, and yes, I’ve reached out to some people to help us, but only one person has decided to back us up,”

“And who is that?” Aisa asked before flicking a ball of paper at my forehead.

“The magic tower… The tower master has agreed to give us support as long as we join the magic tower right after… Any thoughts?” I asked the group, and just as I had thought, they were all extremely pissed off.

“Are you **ing kidding me?!” Bella exclaimed, but before anybody could get any madder, I cut them off quickly.

“Wait, wait, wait… There was also another offer, and that was to send the little girl to the tower. She will also be under a sort of freer contract that will let her attend school outside of the tower so she can grow up with lots of other interactions,”

“Isn’t it obvious he has plans for her then?” Aisa asked, and I was a bit surprised by her attentiveness.

“That’s true. Very true. But what other choice do we have… She may not want to go there, but it’s for the best for her. Looking for her family is a stupid idea as well since they would’ve already come looking for her if they really did lose her,” I muttered.

“Okay, we send her there, and then what? Will he come here personally?” Cy asked while gripping the edge of the table.

“No, but he will send an army of his mages with a few who are almost on par with him… We may still struggle, which I think the tower master wants, but at least we have a chance of coming out on top… with just us, we’re nothing,”

The entire room went silent, and everybody began to think things over very, very deeply.

Eventually, we all sighed and bit the bullet as using the little girl for our benefit and probably for her future benefit would be amazing.

No matter how much she resents us, if it’s worth it for the both of us, we can deal with it.

“Is that a deal?” A deep voice asked, and we all jumped in our seats before snapping our heads towards the corner of the room.

It was that loyal shadow servant who was always with the tower master… and boy was he strong as **.

Nobody could sense him even as he stood right in front of us.

“Yes, it’s a deal,”