Chapter 95: Raging Storm
Asher ignored her, and walked towards Richard and his guild members, staring at the Vice Guild Leader with an icy, unforgiving detachment.
"I will visit your guild tomorrow evening... If you don’t want any trouble, prepare everything for me." He stated.
The vice guild leader lowered her gaze, completely subjugated by the sheer weight of his presence, and nodded her head: "Alright."
"Sorry I am late, Master!"
Everyone turned to Luna, as a man appeared before her out of thin air, dropping on one knee and raising a black box into the air at her with absolute reverence.
"You are right on time." Luna took the box, her fingers trembling with a mix of anticipation and dread, and opened it, revealing a five-edged star. In the center was a skeleton’s mouth, wide open and seemingly hungry for truth.
"Baby brother, if you prove your blood isn’t that of my family, I will accept that you are not my brother... But remember this." Her tone turned deadly cold, stripping away the playful, twisted affection she usually wore like a mask.
"If you are no longer my brother, the family protection will be gone... You do know what that means, don’t you?"
Asher grimaced at her words. The family protection; it’s an ironclad rule which prevents siblings from killing one another. Even if you secretly sent assassins, you will still be exposed, and the punishment? Ten years of endless torture, then on the eleventh year, you will have your throat split open, with the process of the cutting slowed down—just imagining it will send a chill down anyone’s spine.
Due to this rule, Asher could stay alive in that family filled with nothing but wolves, but the rule didn’t say anything about bullying, fighting, and injuring your siblings, which he suffered from daily. What Luna meant was, if he isn’t her brother, this rule doesn’t apply to him, meaning, if she wants him dead, she is completely free to act.
Asher chuckled inwardly. In the past he might have been terrified, paralyzed by the looming threat of his monstrous siblings, but now...
"If this proves I am not your brother, you will leave me and my wives alone, agree?" He asked, staring straight at her, his posture unyielding.
"Of course, I just need a drop of your blood... Show us the truth." She stretched the token at him, as her man stood some feet behind her, a silent shadow.
Tyson, Katherine, and the remaining onlookers watched in absolute silence, as Asher walked towards her, then placed his palm above the star. From its maw, a bone-white needle rose, and gently pierced his palm, drawing blood.
Everyone watched with bated breath as the needle retracted inside, and after some agonizing seconds, a deep, mechanical female voice sounded from the ancient object:
["Error. Blood isn’t a Starfire, there is only 10% match, not high enough to be a guaranteed descendant. In short, he isn’t part of our Starfire family."]
"...?!!"
The silence stretched far longer than anyone hoped. They all watched stunned, as the skeleton’s maw closed shut again, finalizing the absolute severance of Asher’s past.
"This?" Luna was stunned speechless. The foundation of her entire reality fractured in an instant.
’Impossible?!! Does that mean... Does that mean we have been raising someone who has never been our blood? Is this why out of all the descendants, he is the only one with a useless talent... So all this while, we have been fools.’ She clenched the box, her knuckles turning white, and burst out laughing, a horrible, grating sound that shattered the silence.
"Hahahaha!! So all this while we have been taking care of someone who isn’t even related to the family!! Your mother is truly a bitch!! She even cheated on my father, and gave birth to you... That must be the reason she ran away, knowing that if Father discovered this, he will have both your heads! Hahahaha!!! I wonder what he will do next!!" She yelled to the sky, laughing like a crazed lunatic, her mind snapping under the weight of the ultimate betrayal.
Asher tilted his head to the side. No matter what Luna thinks or reasons, he doesn’t give a fuck even if she suspects his mother of infidelity. She wasn’t a mother to begin with.
Asher clenched his fist. In the past, he was so against anything his siblings said, especially when they kept repeating his mother’s deeds... But when he turned fifteen, he finally discovered everything they said about his mother being the truth. From then on, he gave up on that woman entirely.
But the issue here is his father. If he discovered the boy he kept alive wasn’t his son, he might come for him... Although that man never involves himself in anything that won’t result in profit, he will still need to vent this earth-shattering anger. And Asher will surely become the object of his wrath.
’Seems I need to get stronger, and fast.’ He thought, his mind already calculating the ticking clock above his head, staring at Luna:
"Can you leave now?" He asked coldly.
Luna chuckled in anger, staring at him with disgust and killing intent, a gaze Asher hadn’t seen before. Luna had always stared at him with a grin, a smirk, or even some weird smile... Although she bullied him, she still took him as her baby brother. This was the first time he had seen such a deadly, hollow gaze from her; he even felt like he had done something wrong to deserve such pure hatred.
Asher took a deep breath, and exhaled, calming down his beating heart.
"I wish you a long life... Stranger." Luna said coldly, and ascended into the air, her dark guard following closely behind her.
"Hope we don’t cross paths in the wilderness or any dungeons... If that happens... Oh, well..." She stared at him one last time, promising nothing but death, before flying away with her fastest speed.
"Oh boy, I don’t know if you’re her brother or not, but watch your back from now on." Katherine said with a heavy sigh, causing Asher to turn towards her.
"Why are you still here?" He asked with a slight frown, his patience wearing dangerously thin.
Katherine stared at him, then at Tyson, who shook his head in bitter irritation, and vanished, teleporting away from the humiliating defeat.
"Okay everyone!! If you don’t want to die, get lost!!!"
Katherine yelled, her voice reverberating all over the place with the force of an SSS-Rank command, covering five miles in an instant.
".....?!"
Asher and Juliana blinked, both stunned, watching as all the Awakened turned tail and ran away like frightened animals. Even the Dragon guild helped their Guild Leader up and ran away without looking back.
"Alright, all the pests are gone, we should get to business." She said, turning to Asher and Juliana, her opportunistic grin returning in full force.
"What business?" Asher asked in genuine confusion.
"Of course, your Mythic-Tier equipment... I will offer you anything you need, from spirit stones, evolution stones, weapons, dungeon keys, skill books, and even mutated dungeons located in the wilderness... If you want, I can also become your fourth wife... Just name it." She said seriously, laying her entire empire bare. Her words stunned Asher, while Juliana immediately raised a dangerous eyebrow.
"Hey blue hair freak, we three sisters are enough, if you repeat the last request, I will cut off your tongue!" She snapped, pointing her dagger directly at Katherine’s throat.
"Blue hair freak?" Katherine was flabbergasted.
Asher sighed in relief. If it was the gangster Juliana, she would have attacked without warning. Luckily she is whole, but...
"Mutated Dungeons?" He asked, his instincts immediately catching the anomaly.
This was entirely new information.
"Yeah." Katherine answered, completely ignoring Juliana’s lethal threat, her gaze fixed entirely on Asher:
"Mutated dungeons are different from normal dungeons. This dungeon leads to monsters’ cities, it’s a populated dungeon, filled with nothing but powerful monsters, and each one of them is intelligent; some can also speak human languages. The Boss is even stronger than an SSS-RANK Boss." She explained with a tantalizing smile.
Asher thought for a moment. These types of dungeons must drop higher rewards and gains; with her words, they’re very important for his accelerated growth.
"Such dungeons should be under the Ancient families, how come your family has one?" He asked, narrowing his eyes at the geopolitical loophole.
"My family has a close relationship with one of the Ancient families. Due to our friendship, they gave my father two S-Rank mutated dungeons... If you give me a Mythic-Tier gear, I will give you one, No! Two!" She said, her greed practically vibrating in the air.
Asher was silent. If he could upgrade such a dungeon with the Devil Key, or Emperor Demon Key, he could turn it into another SSS-RANK Dungeon. He isn’t strong enough right now, but this will be incredibly beneficial in the future.
BUT...
A Mythic-Tier equipment isn’t something that can be given away so easily. He doesn’t even know this girl before him; giving away such a weapon without thinking is stupid, purely foolish in a world governed by stats and betrayal.
"I will think about it." He said, and turned around, dismissing an Heiress like a passing merchant.
"Huh?!! Think about it? That sounds like a big No! Come on!!"
Before Katherine could take a single step forward, Juliana stood firmly in front of her, an immovable wall of protective fury:
"You heard my husband, he said he’ll think about it, so back down." She snapped.
Katherine blinked, stunned speechless by the sheer ferocity of the younger woman.
’Huh? Is she jealous someone else has their eyes on me, or...’ Asher thought in surprise and confusion, as he seamlessly took the heavy golden cauldron into his system storage.
"Hey, your husband is beautiful, and also young, he can take as many wives as he wants; he is my type, but I know he won’t accept me, so don’t worry about it... I am just here to make a deal, myself is just part of the items." Katherine said flatly, treating her own marriage as a mere transactional bonus.
"...?!"
Juliana was speechless, looking over her shoulder at Asher, who completely ignored the two women, walking steadily towards the door of their home.
"Lady, we will talk about this after I think it through, you can leave now!" Asher said, waving his hand dismissively, as he walked inside the house, entirely exhausted by the day’s politics.
"Lady?! I am only 23 years old??" Katherine yelled, but paused, as Juliana’s dagger moved forward.
"You heard that." Juliana muttered, her grip on her dagger remaining tight.
"I understand, but I want to warn you, be careful... I don’t know much about the others, but Luna is a lunatic, always watch your back and don’t easily trust anyone." She said, her tone shifting into a rare, genuine solemnity as white flames enveloped her body.
"Thanks for the warning."
Juliana watched as Katherine turned into ashes, which flew away into the turbulent winds. She sighed deeply, letting the adrenaline finally leave her system, and moved her gaze around their completely destroyed estate:
"My goodness, this will take some time." She muttered to herself, staring at the cratered courtyard.
__
[Distance away, above the city.]
"What now, Master?" The dark figure asked, flying rapidly to keep pace behind Luna.
"What else... I am heading back to Crownfall, I need to personally report this to my Father... Not only that, I want to see his expression when he knows he was cheated on twice. Hehehe, I can’t just wait." She said, her voice dripping with venomous anticipation as she increased her speed, leaving the man behind in the clouds.
’Trouble is coming to Silverspire, I hope the city can survive.’ The man thought to himself, staring down at the sprawling metropolis that was entirely unaware of the impending storm.