*****“PFT!” An abrupt, loud, and completely inappropriate sound suddenly burst out simultaneously from the father and son duo.Then, before they could even control themselves, the two doubled over slightly, laughter spilling out of them as though they had just been told the funniest joke ever conceived by mankind.“The… Grandmaster?” the Harrison Patriarch echoed, wiping the corner of his eye, still half-laughing, half-staring in disbelief.Reginald stopped laughing, disbelief plastering itself all over his face. “So let me get this straight,” he uttered, unable to stop himself despite knowing he probably shouldn’t be involved in a discussion between two elders. “All this tragic trembling, existential despair, and public collapse…” he gestured vaguely at the Blackwood family, who still looked like they had been run over by fate itself, “…was because of the Grandmaster?”Before Reginald could even finish the sentence…The atmosphere shifted.The concern that had previously fill

*****For a brief moment after hearing the vivid recount from the Blackwood Patriarch, the Harrison Father and Son duo even wondered how fate could be so cruel as to grant such an opportunity to the wrong family.But then…The story continued, and everything changed.When the Blackwood Patriarch finally spoke about the poisoning… about how his sons, driven by paranoia and suspicion, had dared to poison Xavier…Every trace of color drained from the Harrison father and son’s faces, their shock deepening into horror.It was the kind of horror that froze the blood.And before they even realized it, they trembled violently, their bodies reacting before their minds could catch up.Their pupils shrank, their breathing grew shallow, and cold sweat poured down their backs, soaking through their clothes as though someone had dumped a bucket of icy water over them.Then finally… they completely froze in place, unable to blink, move, or even breathe again.They just stood there like liv

*****The last time the soul-bound slavery had ever been practiced dated back to the Stone Age… an era ruled by strength, paranoid tyrants, and iron-fisted leaders, who trusted no one, not even their own shadows.Back then, such rulers chained souls because fear was the only language they understood.People never volunteered for this kind of bondage. They were dragged and broken into it.Screaming or silent, it made no difference.And now…Aldric, Roland, Darius, Cassandra, and Reginald continued staring at the Blackwood Patriarch as though their ears had betrayed them.Their expressions hovered somewhere between disbelief and the look people wore when they realized the ground beneath them wasn’t ground at all.Once again, Aldric swallowed hard, his throat dry. Roland’s jaw clenched so tightly that it looked like it might crack. Darius blinked again and again, appearing as though rebooting his brain would suddenly make this make sense. And Cassandra’s fingers dug into her palm

*****There was no cushioning to the Harrison Patriarch’s words, no diplomacy, and not even the slightest attempt at mercy.Every single one of his sentences was a blade, and he wielded them with surgical precision, mercilessly slashing them at the Blackwoods.By the time he finished, the Blackwoods looked like corpses who hadn’t yet realized they were dead. Their faces had drained of all color, their lips pale, and their eyes hollow.The Blackwood Patriarch was the worst of them all.It was as though the last few minutes had aged him a decade more.No… several decades more.His shoulders had sagged, his gaze dulled, and the pride that had once defined him had been crushed so thoroughly that it didn’t even leave fragments behind.Only then did the Harrison Patriarch stop, his chest rising as he exhaled slowly, visibly restraining the storm of fury boiling within him.After forcing himself to calm down, he spoke again.“In fact,” he said coldly, “I would like to ask you all t

*****A pin-drop silence currently swallowed the entire space.It was the kind of silence that pressed against the ears, heavy enough to make breathing feel intrusive.No one moved, no one spoke. Instead, every pair of eyes was locked onto the Harrison old man, staring dazedly at him, unable to comprehend the revelation he had just made.Everyone… except the Blackwood patriarch.That’s right.At this moment, the elderly man wasn’t even looking at the Harrison patriarch at all.In fact, he wasn’t looking at anyone.If anything, his gaze was currently fixed on empty space, unfocused and distant, appearing as though his soul had just momentarily drifted somewhere far away.His face was blank… so blank that it was impossible to tell whether he had even understood what had just been said, or whether his mind had simply collapsed under the weight of hope and fear colliding at onceFor a terrifying moment, even his sons wondered…‘Did Father… break?’But just at that moment and without the s