The Over-Break System

Taking charge of the battlecruiser, which once belonged to her Husband, Darla Jetlensr swiftly left the family compound to gather whatever information she could on the death of her Husband.

However, since the distance between the Jetlensr Family compound and Valor City was several thousands of Kilometers, it would take time before she could arrive.

Time, which she desperately required so that she could grieve the loss of her beloved Husband. Although on the outside, they would appear to not be close nor intimate, behind closed doors, it was the opposite, and Darla had been very much in love with Lithlen from the time they were young children.

Unfortunately, due to their position in the family, they were forced not to show any outward affection toward each other, thus creating the stigma that their marriage was convenient instead of the love it had been built upon.

And contrary to what she expected to be a trip without trouble, an hour into her flight, unexpectedly, Darla received word about the situation in the capital.

Between the attack on the Gala by Haylon and the intense Tier-6 battle that tore the governor's mansion asunder to the newly formed DPV, Darla found herself at a loss for what to do. On the one hand, her mind and the family demanded answers.

At the same time, on the other, her arrival would be seen as a potential support to both the government and the military, two bodies that she, unlike her deceased Husband, had no intention of aiding.

Still, with the need to understand what happened to her Husband, Darla decided to move forward and even went so far as sending word back to the family to move a handful of the family's resources, such as battlecruisers and relief supplies, toward Valor City.

---

-Present day-

Standing before the family, Darla turned and looked over her shoulder before shouting with authority.

"Bring the disgraced prisoner to the underground punishment chambers. I will handle things on my own." Her words confused to rise in the minds of those present, but soon, accompanied by the sound of rattling changes, the image of a broken, bloodied, muscular man was escorted down the walkway of the ship, revealing his identity to everyone.

Some gasped, while others sneered, but only one person present glared with pure hatred in their eyes as he quickly recognized his uncle, who he believed to be directly tied to everything that had happened, along with the death of Lithlen.

With bloodshot eyes, clenched fists, and teeth-a-grid, Leelan's upper lip rolled up as he struggled to stay in control.

"Rikard…" Leelan growled under his breath.

Even if Leelan had zero proof of his thoughts about the involvement of his cousins Cynrik and Brance in the death of his grandfather, there was zero evidence that it had been Haylon who killed Lilthlen.

After the previous spectacles that Cynrik had put on during the competition, he knew that his cousin was sinister and could have capitalized on his grandfather's situation.

He would have even brought this information to his grandmother; however, Leelan was stuck at an impasse on moving forward without proof and only speculation backing up his theory.

Still, because Rikard had been brought back to the family in a battered state and chains, Leelan felt that his grandmother had found something out…something that could potentially seal the deal on Cynrik and Brance's fate.

Little did he know that Darla had not only stumbled upon her wretched and disowned son, captured him, and obtained valuable information along with the remains of her Husband, which had been received from Rikard.

But she was also the one who had left the man in his present state out of pure rage upon seeing the head of her deceased Husband.

Unwilling to listen to anything her son had to say, she vented everything on the significantly weaker man before locking him up in the ship's brig. Unfortunately, it would be several months before she could leave Valor City.

The fact that it had taken her so long to return to the family compound was simple; although she wished to leave immediately, it wasn't as simple as packing up and going.

The first factor which slowed down her return was all the bureaucratical bullshit and red tape involved in pulling back her forces after arriving to aid in the relief efforts, something that proved to be extremely challenging for the woman.

But that wasn't all; upon retrieving her Husband's remains from Rikard, Darla still took it upon herself to gather as much critical data as possible, scanning through all the available footage frame by frame until she located the moment her Husband vanished from the camera's sight.

She had even combed through all the satellite footage. Still, at the end of her investigation the only thing she could uncover was that upon sending away Leelan, Lithlen suddenly disappeared. Yet, somehow, Rikard had come upon her Husband's head, which made things even more confusing, leading to his beating as the man refused to reveal that it was his children who killed the man.

Instead, he cultivated an elaborate story about how Jessup had found it in the DPZ. It was relatively believable since it was well-known that Jessup Pinhurst had Tier-6 power, especially since Darla was aware of how close her disowned son was with the man.

Ignoring the looks of disdain thrown at her disowned son, Darla made her way through the crowd. She stopped just behind Leelan before motioning for him to follow and headed toward her villa, where she would soon delve into her findings with the future patriarch.

---

Meanwhile, as this was occurring, on the opposite side of the country, nearly equidistant from Valor city as the Jetlensr Family compound, only to the east instead of south, unlike the previously mentioned compound, this expanding territory was surrounded by a vast open plain, filled with lush green grass.

In contrast to the above-ground village, which was the territory of the Jetlensr Family, the Opurn family lived like dwarves in a colossal underground city.

As one of the most wealthy, old, and expansive families, they had long since moved underground to hide from prying eyes, unlike the Jetlensr Family, who stuck to ancient traditions and built up a town their forefathers had created.

Their location and housing facilities aside, unlike the organized situation in the Jetlensr Family, it was absolute chaos here. Upon the activation of Jason's life-saving teleportation device and his subsequent arrival in the City, Warning alarms went off, signaling the life signs of Viktor had stopped being sent out, indicating the man was dead.

To make matters worse, unlike Darla's firm grasp on the Jetlensrs, Viktor's first wife, Patricia, the one who was supposed to be in charge, was quickly killed off by Viktor's fourth Wife, Alicia effectively kicking off a power struggle between the dead mans eight wives along with their multiple children and backers.

As such, civil war akin to what happened in kingdoms when the monarch died was presently taking place, and Jason, who had control over the Patriarch Token, was quickly plotted against and found himself fleeing like a scared rat from the various family members who had once praised him, turning his life into a living hell.