The warehouse was located on the outskirts of the city, but it wasn’t as far away as the Morten Family’s factory we had raided with Alex. It still counted as being within city limits, with buildings and people living around it.

However, Thomas Morten didn’t care about any of that.

He had all the roads around the warehouse blocked off. He didn’t allow anyone to enter or leave. Then, he advanced toward it with a team of his most trusted men and me.

It didn’t take long for someone to confront him about what he was doing.

“S- Sir Morten… to what do we owe these actions of yours, if I may a- ask?”

I could see beads of sweat forming on the man’s forehead. It seemed like he was in this kind of situation for the first time in his thirty years of life. Who could have known that the Morten Family, known for their neutrality, would suddenly raid one of the Dasim Family’s warehouses like this? On top of that, the two families had no connection whatsoever.

But there was nothing the poor man could do. He faced Thomas Morten, one of the city’s most powerful figures.

“Step aside, there’s something I want to see here.”

The man opened his mouth to protest, but then his eyes widened gradually. He couldn’t even close the mouth he had opened to speak. His whole body was shaking violently, and he seemed to have frozen.

“What part of that don’t you understand, you idiot?!”

In front of him, Thomas Morten looked even angrier than before. His mana was enveloping his body, cooling the atmosphere around him and making it difficult to even breathe.

“Didn’t I tell you to get out of the way? Wasn’t I clear enough?”

Thomas Morten placed one hand on the man’s shoulder.

“Since you’re deaf, I’ll be even clearer this time.”

Then the man’s figure simply vanished from where he stood.

Just like that.

He was nowhere to be seen… as if he never existed to begin with.

“Tsk, moron.”

Thomas Morten brushed his hand sharply in the air several times, as if he had touched something dirty. But then he didn’t care anymore and continued walking slowly toward the warehouse.

As he took that first step, a sound echoing from a few streets away reached everyone’s ears.

“…”

It was the sound of something… falling and then crashing. The car alarm that echoed immediately afterward made it clear that whatever had fallen had landed on a car.

I turned my eyes to Thomas Morten’s back.

This man… can be so ruthless when he needs to be, huh…?

How interesting.

I kept my thoughts to myself, of course.

Finally, the door to the warehouse was thrown open by the Morten Family’s men.

Neither the security guards outside nor the employees inside had stopped him this time. They were scared of him. Though, he didn’t even glance at them as if they were just insignificant flies. He was examining the interior, committing every corner of the warehouse to memory and… comparing.

After a short while, he narrowed his eyes. The scene before him matched the interior in the picture I had shown him exactly. If his daughter was really here, he knew where to find her.

So, without saying a word, he walked with heavy footsteps that echoed everywhere. He passed by containers full of wine and made his way through the production machines. At last, he stopped in front of a container that could be said to be in the farthest corner of the warehouse, almost hidden.

It was a container no different from the others. It was just squeezed into a corner as if it hadn’t been used in a while, untouched until it had almost started to gather dust.

Thomas Morten took a deep breath. He gently pushed the container doors, but sighed when he realized they were locked. He took two steps back, clenched his fist… then slammed it against the door as hard as he could.

~kra-shrk!

But even this punch, which seemed to give everything he had, was actually controlled. The container door didn’t fly off its hinges, there was no explosion… not even a shockwave.

It just went right through the spot he punched.

Right where the door lock was.

When Thomas Morten pulled his hand back and pushed the door again, he felt no resistance this time. The door slowly opened all the way, revealing what was inside for everyone watching.

“…”

Thomas Morten stood frozen in place. He didn’t move an inch, as if he couldn’t believe his eyes. His expression was frozen, except for his slightly open mouth.

His daughter, who had been missing for weeks, was finally in front of him.

She was chained, and although her eyes were open, she didn’t seem conscious. Saliva dripped from her lips. Several of her fingers were missing, and she was wearing the same clothes she had been wearing the day she disappeared, even though they were torn here and there and looked thoroughly unpleasant.

“A- ah…”

He approached his daughter, bent down, and broke her chains.

“M- Marynette? Hey…”

He placed his hands on her cheeks, making her look at him.

But he never saw the focus, the consciousness he was looking for in his daughter’s eyes.

“…”

In the end, all he could do was silently embrace her.

He just embraced his daughter, whom Alex had carefully and discreetly placed according to my plan. He held her tightly, her body no different from a decapitated puppet, having lost all sense of self.

For seconds on end, without moving an inch.

“Franz.”

But all of that didn’t matter to me. I didn’t care about his union with her lost daughter.

What really mattered for me… was this.

His voice was cold.

“Gather your men.”

Maybe we hadn’t spoken much, yes… but everyone who spoke to him said he was normally a kind man, looking at everyone as if he were a grandfather watching over his grandchildren.

And right now, he bore not a single trace of that ‘kind’ man. It was the most emotionless tone of voice I would ever expect to hear from this man.

It was as if the world no longer mattered to him.

The intentions, plans, and identities of those who had kidnapped his daughter and put her in this state…

None of it mattered.

He wanted only one thing.

“All the families responsible for this will be gone tonight.”

And that was slaughter.

I bowed respectfully, even though he couldn’t see me. And I wasn’t the only one. His men, watching what was happening behind me, had also bowed.

“As you wish, Sir.”

All of us knew.

The Morten Family’s neutrality had ended at that moment.

Just as I had intended.

*******

I gathered my men, I did…

But I didn’t have that much power. Compared to what the Morten Family had, the men I had prepared were almost insignificant. We were like a single orange fish in a swarm of red fish, barely noticeable.

I couldn’t help but wonder if I was even needed as I watched those marching behind Thomas through the city streets.

Well, it didn’t really matter to me.

What mattered to me was that Thomas Morten, fueled by his blind rage, would bring destruction to everyone in the alliance, one by one. That way, as a reward for finding and rescuing his daughter, I could devour them.

After cleaning up the mess, I would have an Inferesse Family in my hands that was much more powerful than it had been during Philip Inferesse’s time. This was necessary to move on to the next stage of my plans.

Which is exactly what happened.

“W- why…?”

A mansion engulfed in flames, the smell of blood and burning permeating the air. Gunshots and screams audible everywhere, spells resembling a spectacle.

It was pure chaos, a blend of modernism and fantasy.

“Why?!”

“Hm?”

I paused, looking down.

Right in front of me, someone lay face down on the floor.

“Ah.”

One of her legs was missing, and half her body was burned. Her pink eyes were filled with shock, disbelief, and… pain. Her throat was burned, making it difficult for her to speak.

Her last breaths were near. However, for now, her entire focus was on me, standing right in front of her.

It was none other than Frensa Dasim, who had looked down on me with contempt just a week and a half ago, wanting to devour the Inferesse Family in the name of the Alliance’s good.

“You’re not dead yet, huh?”

Turns out she’s more attached to life than I thought…

I pointed my hand at her face, blue flames covering my fingers. Still, I didn’t neglect to answer her question.

“There’s no real reason. I just need you all to disappear.”

Before the blue flames engulfed her entire body, before her death nourished A New Beginning and brought it closer to completion, the last thing I saw was the rage and… helplessness in her eyes.

That was it.

The Dasim Family thus became the first family to meet their end that night.

The end of the other families was no different.

Thomas Morten, his senses clouded by rage, neither listened to what they were trying to say nor showed mercy to a single person. He crushed everyone in his path underfoot. His attacks were so unexpected and sudden that no one could resist.

Neither the Nomar Family nor the Planar Family, nor the last three families who tried to resist by joining forces after hearing about the attacks.

It was literally a one-sided massacre.

And so, just nine hours later…

“Hmm.”

I couldn’t help but nod slightly as I looked at the corpse of Parker Planar, with a huge hole in his chest, and Thomas Morten, his entire arm painted red, standing right next to him.

This method had been even more effective than I had expected.

I hadn’t felt even a hint of difficulty. It was as easy as that when you had enough power, no matter what you wanted to do. I hadn’t even had to lift a finger except for the few times I deliberately took the initiative. I had just watched the events unfold with satisfaction.

Now that the massacre of the alliance was over, what I had to do was… make sure everything was going the way I wanted it to.

“What happens now, Sir?”

In response to my question, Thomas Morten’s still sparkling blue eyes turned to me. There was not a single trace of emotion on his aged face. Aside from his expression, there were no wounds on his body either, despite the blood covering it. What a man at the edge of S+ could do was truly remarkable.

As the sparkle in his eyes slowly faded, he took a deep breath. He took a cigarette out of his pocket, lit it, and turned his face to the dark sky where the sun had not yet risen.

~pufff

Then, he answered my question.

“Nothing.”

“So, ending the alliance is enough for you?”

“I killed those who took my daughter. Is there anything else left to do?”

“Of course. Why do you think your revenge ends there?”

Thomas Morten paused. His eyebrows furrowed as he turned his eyes back to me.

“What are you trying to say?”

“You killed everyone in the alliance. All the families involved in your daughter’s abduction and torture are gone. But did it ever occur to you why they might have done it?”

Thomas Morten said nothing.

Of course it hadn’t occurred to him. For hours, the only thing he had thought about was killing those who harmed his daughter in the most painful way possible, nothing else.

“…”

So, he was speechless.

“None of the alliance members had anything to gain from angering the Morten Family. They were all families seeking stability. So why, all of a sudden, did they take such a risky action?”

“What are you trying to say? Explain yourself.”

His patience was wearing thin. It was clear from the deepening wrinkles on his face and his expression growing colder by the second.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep