Rising god

The dust of war had barely settled, but even before Baines and his team reached the Darkan main family, news had already spread. The branch family, still recovering from the aftermath of the civil war, had wasted no time in sending a report detailing the events.

Yet they weren’t finished.

There remained one final task: ransack the blood deplorable’s headquarters. Whatever twisted force had helped him create the blood orb, they intended to locate it, understand it, and destroy it. Afterward, they threw a celebratory feast, a grand one. Still, it carried an emptiness.

Baines wasn’t there, and while no one said it aloud, the absence left a hollow note in every cheer and toast. Eventually, they left him be. Perhaps he preferred silence to celebration.

But that was only the branch family’s perspective.

The main family of Darkan had been thrown into chaos.

For them, the idea of a branch family quelling a civil war, and one involving a 7th star-class threat no less, was almost absurd.

Unprecedented. Even scandalous.

The pressure was immense. During the thick of the fighting, the Darkan family head had remained bound to the capital, unable to leave, forced to maintain a posture of strength under the watchful eyes of their rivals. Any sign of weakness would have been blood in the water.

But when the report of success arrived, when it was confirmed that the blood deplorable was dead, the family head finally let it all out. And for the first time in weeks, he slept with a smile.

Then, more news followed.