Rise of the Cosmic_Emperor

Castor and the other guards went to work immediately and restored the damaged orts of the mansion in minutes. In a world of cultivation, simple restoration of damaged parts of a construction is quite easy to deal with.

Strength and speed being heightened.

The tough parts were the Roses that had been destroyed and would need to be replanted.

The replanting was not the difficult part. Instead, it was Melinda\'s reaction to the destruction that slowed things down until she eventually sent them to deal with other matters and would replant the garden herself.

"This is so annoying!" Melinda grumbled as the destroyed flowers were pulled into a pile.

"I know it is" Hal sighed with an arm around her waist as he led her back to the mansion and into the lounge while the hole in her room wall was being fixed.

Hal changed his clothes right in there and cleaned up the blood on him. While he still had wounds and bruises, they were no longer as distinctive.

Melinda just watched him change with a smile on her face. A smile with a \'but\' owing to his injuries, 

"When next I meet her, it\'s not going to be pretty" She growled, obviously the day\'s events were still very much on her mind.

Hal simply chuckled as he fastened his clothing, 

"I\'m leaving for a little while", He told her.

"In your condition?" 

"I\'m better than I look. Besides, this is something I need to take care of right now" He said with a smile

"Can I come along?" She asked 

"I don\'t see why not. It\'s to our estate after all" He said and Melinda\'s lips curled into a smile, 

"So you bought it then?"

"Yep"

"Care to share some details?" She asked as she stood to grab his arm. Gently so as not to cause him any more pain.

"I\'ll tell you on the way"

...

A few minutes later, they were in a carriage driven by Castor and escorted by a few other guards, as they moved away from the Mansion, the Array faded to reveal it in pristine shape and no trace of conflict.

"Where\'s Rita?" Melinda asked

"She\'s busy," Hal said with a smile.

"With what?" Melinda asked lightly as she looked out the carriage window into the streets they trudged through.

Living in one of the best parts of the city, her view of poorer regions was blocked but she could still catch glimpses.

"She\'s \'preoccupied\'" Hal said with a chuckle.

Melinda was about to point out that that was not an answer when she paused and noticed the tone and smiled lightly as she turned to face him, 

"Oh. I see. YOU\'VE has been busy" 

"Well, I couldn\'t fail in my duties, now could I" Hal turned to her and smiled back.

"I guess you couldn\'t." She sighed " But, We\'ll be making up for lost time later, I presume" She smirked and rested her head gently on his chest.

"That goes without saying," Hal said as he stroked her silky hairs.

"Okay then. Now details... What did I miss?" 

And so Hal launched into a tale of all that happened since she had been unconscious. Ordinarily, the tale would not have taken long but Hal, being an aspiring master of theatrics sprung for the lengthy version which painted him in a wonderful light.

Of course, he was careful not to embellish too heavily.

....

Edgar Castle

Hector stood in Darryl\'s room where he was been nursed back to health. 

As a Father, all he could see at that moment was that his children were hurt. That it would not take them long to be healed was not taken into consideration.

He was certain his children had nothing to do with it and all he wanted to know was who did. Who had orchestrated those plans?

Who had made fools of them and mocked his reign?

Had he been too lenient all these years?

That was very likely.

His first aim had always been to protect his family and as long as he still lived, protect the title that had been in his family for centuries.

His sons were surely not up to the task. The way he saw it. The Edgar Mayoral line was going to end with him. At the very least, for a little while until his children or his very talented Grandson was strong enough.

He could feel his organs begin to fail. Old age was gripping him already. He was very close to the End.

-Sigh-

He drew up a chair and sat to look at the Darryl, his eyes shining with deep melancholy.

"Father, are you worrying again?" came a voice beside him, being quite aware that there was only one other occupant in the room at that moment, Hector turned and was incredibly pleased to see Darryl\'s eyes opened and smiling at him.

Instead of replying, Hector first made sure he was alright for sure and he had confirmed that Darryl\'s recovery was still ongoing but it would not be detrimental to him if they indulged in conversation,

"Good. You\'re awake. Alexander has been worried. I am surprised you woke up this early but it\'s good" Hector said

"How long have I been unconscious?" Darryl asked

"Just a few hours," Hector said and Darryl\'s eyes widened at how still recent the day\'s events had been.

When he opened his eyes and saw his father\'s expression, he had believed himself to have been unconscious much longer.

"Since you\'re awake. Why don\'t you tell me what happened in the Array? Who attacked you and your brother?"

If Hector was being completely honest with himself, he was not hopeful of getting any new information from Darryl but he had to ask and clear up any form of discrepancy.

"Well, there was first an explosion and everyone at the scene that was not at the Cosmic Armament realm was affected. The explosion had been for them and that was why we did not face the impact..." Darryl paused to lick his slightly dry lips before he continued,

"When the dust settled, HE was standing before us..."

"Someone you recognized?" Hector could not help but interrupt.

Darryl shook his head, 

"No, it\'s no one I have ever seen before, his very form instilled fear in us all. But we stomached that fear and soldiered on, summoned our Armaments, and went after him.

" Father, I do not say this to be brave. This was a terrible experience for me"

Hector frowned, 

"What was his cultivation?" He asked

"That\'s the most peculiar part. He did not reveal the strength of his cultivation and our battle had nothing to do with Cosmic energy. His flesh was strong and the pressure he released was menacing. His cultivation base is unclear but I can infer that it was at the very least at the Late stage of the Cosmic Armament realm" Darryl said with wide eyes as though he was reliving the experience.

"Really?" Hector inquired to be certain

Darryl nodded and Hector went into deep thoughts.

The whole explanation was sounding a lot like the testimony of the slaves that had been freed from Holger Estate after the death of the Holgers.

It was at that moment that Hector began to form another theory in mind. He had never believed one of the Great families had gone after the Confluence and that was why while the others had been quick to suspect one another he had seen the whole thing as the work of a third party.

And it was most likely the very same one who had attacked the Holger Estate and emptied their vaults. In which case there were two possibilities which he had already concluded after the Holgers had been killed;

One was that whoever it was had a vendetta against the Holgers which would mean the culprit had been connected in one way or the other to the Holger Slave business.

The other possibility was that the culprit was simply picking off those he deemed wealthy one by one. 

Which would correlate with the recent robbery as he went after the Holgers who at that time were first among the Plebeians and then went after the Joint vault that belonged to the Great families.

A significant step up.

The attack on the Holger Estate could have been a part of the Grand plan to rob the confluence.

The attack opened the Estate for Auction after all and it was the auction that caused the Confluence to be visited if not it might have been years before the culprit would get a chance to rob it.

\'If this is all true then this was such a devious plan Hector thought.

Unfortunately, all this made this figure all the more mysterious, after all, it was still completely unknown how the \'Malevolent one\' or as he had been termed by the escaped slaves; \'The Devil\' found out the location of the confluence.

There was only one reasonable explanation and it was that there was a spy in one of the Great Families or maybe all four of them.

Immediately, Hector became alert and turned to his son,

"Darryl, once you and Marlon are well, I need you to do something very important" 

"What is It, Father?" Darryl asked

"I need you to weed out all the spies in this family. I believe we are under surveillance. We need to find the traitors and replace them with those we can trust" 

Hector said with a slight smile. With Darryl on the job. He could rest easy.

Unfortunately, he had no idea this was exactly what the Malevolent one needed to flood Edgar castle with his Blood Knights.