A few days had passed since the emotional confrontation in Sebastian’s dical wing.
Damian had spent the ti recovering, his self-healing ability accelerated by Sebastian’s experintal treatnts until his injuries were nearly completely healed.
The visible wounds had closed. The broken bones had nded. The internal damage had been repaired to the point where he could move and train without restriction.
His family had returned to their own ho just yesterday, the Valcor residence in a quiet district of Norrington City where they could maintain so privacy despite the dia attention still swirling around Damian’s demon battle.
But Damian had remained at Sebastian’s house, ostensibly for a final day of monitoring but actually because he needed the private space to handle certain matters that couldn’t be conducted under his parents’ roof.
Now he stood in Sebastian’s personal training room, a facility that would make most Academy equipnt look primitive by comparison.
Advanced diagnostic systems lined the walls, monitoring his Aura flow and physical condition in real-ti.
But Damian wasn’t training.
He was thinking.
His mind worked through problems and variables with the cold efficiency that had beco his default state when dealing with strategic matters.
’The tiline is wrong. Demons shouldn’t be breaching portals this easily yet. The dinsional barriers are supposed to weaken gradually over years, not suddenly enough to allow elite warrior Demons to crash a ship near civilian train routes.
Which ans either my mories of the original tiline are incomplete, or sothing has changed. Soone has changed sothing. Accelerated the schedule sohow.’
His jaw clenched unconsciously.
’I can’t depend on knowing what cos next anymore. Can’t plan around events I rember if those events aren’t going to happen as I expect them to. The only thing I can rely on is power. My own power, and the power of the organization I’m building.
And that ans getting stronger faster. Expanding the Mafia more aggressively. Recruiting more capable subordinates instead of just developing the students I already have.’
The students were valuable. They were loyal, talented, growing rapidly under his guidance.
But they were still students, still developing, still years away from being the kind of force that could handle threats like Demons or rival awakener organizations.
’Right now I have Mike and maybe three or four others at A-rank under my command. That’s not enough. Nowhere near enough if the world is accelerating toward dinsional collapse faster than expected.
I need more manpower. More experienced fighters. More infrastructure to support rapid expansion across not just one city but entire regions.’
His thoughts turned darker, more focused.
’But before any of that, there’s sothing that needs to be handled. A problem that’s been festering for too long.’
Damian pulled out his watch and activated the communication function.
"Aiko, connect with Adrian Murdock."
"Establishing connection."
The holographic display activated, showing Adrian’s face appearing after a few monts.
The purple-haired Noble looked surprised to receive a call from Damian, his expression shifting to sothing more guarded almost imdiately.
"Damian. I wasn’t expecting to hear from you. I thought you’d be recovering with your family."
"The list I asked you to compile. Is it ready?"
Adrian’s face went very still, his violet eyes sharpening with understanding of what Damian was actually asking about.
The silence stretched for several long seconds.
"...Yes."
His voice was quiet, carrying weight that suggested he knew exactly what that list represented and what would happen once it left his hands.
"Send it to now."
Adrian’s hand moved off-screen, presumably accessing files on his personal device.
"Damian, this list... so of these nas are from very powerful families. Imperial family mbers, major Noble house heirs, students with connections that go all the way to the Federation Council.
If anything happens to them, there will be investigations that won’t stop until soone pays for it."
"Then make sure nothing connects back to you. You compiled this information as a favor to . What I do with it is my responsibility, not yours."
The file transfer notification appeared on Damian’s display.
He opened it briefly, scanning the contents.
Twenty-three nas. All were students of Stormhold Academy, located in the Central Region.
All from various years and all were confird through Adrian’s careful investigation and access to sealed records.
All guilty of the sa cri: raping commoner girls who had no recourse, no protection, no ability to seek justice without destroying their own lives and futures.
Damian forwarded the file imdiately to another contact: Old Man Mike.
Then he looked back at Adrian, whose face had grown more troubled as he watched Damian’s expression remain completely cold and empty.
"What are you planning to do with them?"
The question ca out carefully, as if Adrian was afraid of the answer but needed to hear it anyway.
Damian looked at him silently for a long mont, his crimson eyes flat and emotionless in a way that made Adrian physically uncomfortable despite the distance between them.
"Keep up the good work, Adrian. Your information gathering capabilities are proving very valuable."
He ended the call without answering the question.
The holographic display disappeared, leaving Damian alone in the training room with his thoughts.
He imdiately placed another call.
"Boss."
Mike’s weathered face appeared, his expression serious as always when receiving direct communication from Damian.
"I just sent you a file. Twenty-three nas, all students at Stormhold Academy in the Central Region."
"I received it. What do you need done?"
Mike’s voice was carefully neutral, waiting for instructions before making assumptions.
"I want them all gone."
The words were spoken calmly, casually, as if discussing a routine administrative task rather than ordering multiple executions.
"All twenty-three. Use different thods, locations, and different timing. Make it look like accidents when possible. Inner Noble conflicts when accidents aren’t plausible. Random violence when neither works.
But I want zero connection back to the Mafia, understand? Not a single thread that investigators can follow. Use only your trusted subordinates, the kind who would rather die than reveal the truth if caught."
Mike was silent for a long mont, his weathered face showing no shock or moral objection, just careful consideration of the operational requirents.
"We’re not being surveilled by the SFD anymore thanks to whoever intervened on your behalf.
But moving against students from this many powerful families simultaneously will draw attention regardless of how careful we are."
"I’m aware. That’s why I’m emphasizing the need for absolute secrecy. The teams you send for this operation should be completely separate from our regular Mafia operations.
Use contractors if necessary, people with no official connection to us who can be silenced if anything goes wrong."
Damian’s voice remained cold and strategic.
"Space the executions out over two to three weeks. Different cities if possible. Make sure each one looks completely unrelated to the others.
Investigators should see a pattern of unfortunate accidents and Noble house conflicts, not a coordinated operation."
"...Understood. This level of operation will be expensive and require significant resources. The planning alone will take days."
"Use whatever resources are necessary. This is priority one above everything else except maintaining our existing territories and protecting our core mbers."
Another pause.
"Damian... are you absolutely certain about this? Once these operations begin, there’s no recalling them.
And if even one goes wrong, if even one connection is made back to us, the consequences will be severe."
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