chapter 111
POV: The third son of the 4th founder family
“Master, it’s time. Your brother’s police department is getting close to finding proof that you are the cult leader. If we don't act now, all will be lost.”
It unnerved me to talk so openly about this, but he was right. If we don't act now, my elder brother will have his child, and I would be even further from sitting in the elder chair. But I can’t let that lunatic make decisions for us, otherwise, he's going to doom our family.
“Did we manage to get control of Forward Horizon and that captain’s robots?”
“Yes, master, I went there personally. Their ship—while an interesting design—isn’t anything special. They even have just a standard fusion core and a serious lack of manpower to run that thing, but it will get the job done.”
“Excellent. A lot of my brother’s secret forces are there disguised as crime organisations. We can take them of those forces and their heavy machinery that they shouldn’t even have using that ship.”
“Of course, master.”
“I mean, I do not understand his choices. There are strict laws forbidding us and any other member of the six families from having even the smallest of ships or heavy combat machinery. Yet he’s pushing his luck, and not just his, but our entire families.”
“It is unforgivable, master.”
“Commence the attack.”
“As you wish, master.”
He started to relay orders, and I myself did the same through my nearly 200 bonds. No one knew that I had so many. It is unfortunate to have had to sacrifice so many skill slots to gain this much, but it will all be worth it.
Brother, know that I am sad that you will soon be gone, but this attack will not only kill you, it will also kill other families’ key members, especially those responsible for Father’s death. We will have our revenge.
Alerts came through the emergency system, informing that there was an attack on the six families. It said to get to a safe spot, exactly like it should. Many of those safe spots were actually traps, including the one that my brother was most definitely heading towards.
“Activate the isolation bubble and start running the experiment.”
One of my party members activated his innate ability, closing us in and stabilising mana to an incredible degree. This was basically the only way you could properly experiment with mana tech without blowing yourself up.
Immediately, we got to work. We were quite close to rolling out mana tech robots. This will be so much better than the current police force we have and will most definitely secure our position as the strongest family.
There was one problem, and that was that we wouldn't be able to get any signals from outside, but we could still see what was happening, and we had plenty of people outside who would warn us if something had gone terribly wrong. If so, we could always drop the bubble and deal with anything that came up.
Almost 20 minutes later, a person outside started to wave frantically.
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“Drop the bubble,” I gave the order, and as soon as it was down, the person waving immediately started to speak.
“There is a problem with Forward Horizon. Our controller showed that the ship is in flight and attacking, destroying all the targets assigned to it, but for some reason, the city isn’t responding to these hostile actions.”
That was weird. They should have automatically started attacking any ship that so openly broke the law. That ship should be a burning wreck right now.
“What is the reason for them not attacking? Is this my brother’s doing? But no, he should already be dead.”
“That’s the thing, the city doesn’t seem to know anything about such an attack. It’s like it’s not happening.”
That should not be possible. “What about the robots, do we have control of them?”
“We don’t know. We lost contact with the team sent there.”
“We sent five of our best bond manipulators there. What do you mean you’ve lost contact?”
“I’m sorry, master, I do not know.” He didn't manage to finish that sentence before the large doors at the end of the room were blown open.
“Little brother, what stupidity have you done?”
“No, you can't be alive?” Those words slipped out before I could stop them.
“Why? Tell me why.”
“It’s to avenge our father.”
“We already did that. It cost us a brother, and we watched those masterminds behind our father's death be executed. It was finished.”
“You really are stupid. You think that they didn't take orders from the others? That entire family needs to die?” He just looked at me with such disappointment. It made me so angry.
“You don't get to pity me. Just die.”
Immediately I threw my needles, empowering them with every skill I had. They would cut through him like he wasn't even there. There would be repercussions for this, but I can manage that. I am sorry, but this is the only way.
The needles were about to hit when one of his party members got in the way, raising his shield to block. That idiot, does he really think that… I heard clinking noises, and while the needles penetrated a bit, they still fell to the ground.
“Don't look so shocked, little brother. While you were wasting time making that cult of yours, me and my party members delved portals to get stronger. Did you already forget our father’s teachings? Strength of numbers, doesn't defeat the overwhelming strength of a few… we could have been such a powerful team, you and I?”
“Kill them all,” I commanded all my subordinates.
Gunfire erupted, with the more powerful people using different types of skills. Our robotic forces were to spread out to do anything here right now. Lightning and fire rained upon my brother's party, but when the dust cleared they were untouched.
“By the founding laws of Paradise, you are under arrest, little brother. Surrender now and keep the little honor you have left.”
I pulled out as many needles as I could and started hurling them all. That shield can’t defend everyone, it’s not large enough.
To my surprise, the shield user charged towards me. He didn’t reach all the way to me, that skill wasn't that’s good, but now that he was closer he managed to protect them all.
My other party members moved in to kill that shield user, but my brother's other party members rushed in protecting him. A huge mass of muscles with four arms punched my strongest team member; he managed to block but I heard bones breaking.
That single punch destroyed so much equipment around them. Those two didn't stop, both trying to punch each other to death. In most engagements we were on the losing side. My rogue seemed to be better than my brother, but he was helping him, so they were surviving.
The fight turned into chaos as everyone started to use movement skills. It was so hard to keep track of everything. I threw my needles as best I could, but that shield user was relentless. He would happily take hits from others just to block my attacks.
We will eventually grind him down. More and more of the building was destroyed. Then I heard a large crunch and looked toward the fistfight. My brother’s party member had two of his fists buried in my party member's head. He used his other two hands to throw him away like he was trash.
“You bastard!” Immediately I focused on him, but that shield user once again got in the way.
“You won’t have that shield for long.” Now I focused fully on that shield, if I destroy it, we will win.
“Sorry, little brother.” I heard it from behind me. I tried to jump away, but the shield user was now directly in front of me, blocking me from escaping.
My brother’s blade bit deep into my back and pierced all the way through to the shield that was blocking my escape. Wait, he was supposed to capture me, not kill me.
“What are you doing, brother?” I managed to say after having collapsed to the ground. All around me I could see everyone being killed. None of it made sense, this shouldn’t have happened.
“Do you really think that I could have taken you in and exposed what you did? You do know how many of the other family members you killed. I managed to stop a lot of that, but little brother, what were you thinking?”
“It was the only way to save us,” I managed to get out while coughing blood.
“That has always been your problem, thinking too large and being too impulsive. I should have never let you go out on your own. Make it look like it was the cult attack,” my brother said to everyone.
“Captain, the cult forces are wavering, we have managed to keep the damage to a minimum.”
“Excellent. Reward everyone who is helping us. The other families will be suspicious, but I think we might manage to pull this off.”
“What about the captain of Forward Horizon? He might know too much.”
My brother then looked towards me.
“I believe they would keep anything they know a secret, especially when we inform him that the cult is done for. He seems like one of those types who don’t die easily. Isn’t that right, brother? If you didn’t try to go after him, you might have succeeded.”
I tried to say something, but my mind was so fuzzy. That bastard ruined everything. Why did you have to come here?
“Goodbye, little brother.” That was the last thing I heard.