Chapter 171: My Brother’s Son

The ruined industrial district on the outskirts of Zenith City fell into an uneasy silence as Alessandro Vittorio Orsini stood at the edge of the enormous crater, staring at the scene before him.

Dozens of warehouses and abandoned factories had been reduced to rubble, the reinforced roadway was covered in deep trenches, and the remains of three armored vehicles lay scattered among the wreckage.

However, none of that destruction held his attention. His gaze was fixed upon the bloodied young man lying at the bottom of the crater, and the white-haired Awakener standing above him with a sword raised.

"JET! I SAID STOP!" Alessandro shouted again, his voice carrying across the devastated battlefield as he stepped forward.

Jet remained frozen, the Vorpal Blade suspended above Damian Visconti’s chest.

His entire body ached from the prolonged battle, and his right arm trembled beneath the lingering backlash of Pashupatastra.

Blood continued dripping from the wound across his chest, but the pain seemed insignificant compared to the confusion spreading through his mind.

Of all the people he had expected to appear at the conclusion of this battle, Alessandro was the last.

The Guildmaster had no reason to be involved in Damian’s criminal activities, and Jet had deliberately avoided bringing him into the investigation because of the suspicious connections involving Darkstar Guild.

"Guildmaster?" Jet asked, slowly turning toward the approaching man. "What are you doing here?"

Alessandro didn’t answer immediately. His eyes moved from Jet’s bloodied face to the critically injured Damian, whose chest rose and fell with increasingly shallow breaths.

The golden markings of Mammon had almost completely disappeared, and the young man’s body was covered in burns, cuts, and terrible injuries inflicted by the final explosion.

Alessandro’s expression changed drastically, and before Jet could ask another question, the Guildmaster descended into the crater with astonishing speed.

"Lower your weapon, Jet," Alessandro ordered, stopping several steps away. His voice was firm, but there was an unmistakable tremor beneath it. "Whatever happened here, put the sword down. Now."

Jet frowned beneath his disheveled white hair, unable to understand the Guildmaster’s reaction.

Alessandro wasn’t looking at the destroyed convoy or the bodies of the hired Awakeners scattered across the road.

His attention remained entirely on Damian, and the concern written across his face was far too personal to be explained by an ordinary encounter with an injured stranger.

"Guildmaster, this man is Damian Visconti," Jet explained, keeping his weapon raised despite his confusion. "He’s the mastermind behind everything that’s happened to us. He ordered the assassination attempts against the expedition survivors, and he’s connected to Odhran’s murder. His people have been hunting us because of the Palladium Tree."

Alessandro’s expression stiffened at the mention of the assassination campaign, but he continued approaching until he stood directly beside Damian.

For a moment, he simply stared at the young man’s bloodied face, seemingly struggling to reconcile what Jet was telling him with the person lying before him.

Then he slowly knelt, placing two fingers against Damian’s neck to check his pulse.

"He’s still alive," Alessandro murmured, releasing a breath that sounded almost painful.

He looked up at Jet, his expression unusually strained. "Whatever crimes he’s committed, he needs immediate medical attention. If you strike him again, he won’t survive."

Jet stared at him in disbelief. The Guildmaster had always been a composed and dignified man, someone who rarely allowed his emotions to interfere with his judgment.

Yet the person kneeling before Damian appeared genuinely frightened, and that realization only deepened Jet’s confusion. He lowered the Vorpal Blade slightly, although he made no attempt to put it away.

"Why are you protecting him?" Jet demanded, his voice becoming harsher than he intended. "Do you understand what he’s done? He tried to have us killed. He sent people after our families, and my little sister could’ve died because of him. Why are you acting like he’s the victim here?"

Alessandro closed his eyes briefly. When he opened them again, the anguish in his expression was unmistakable.

He looked down at Damian, whose breathing had become increasingly irregular, before turning toward Jet with an expression the young Awakener had never seen on his face.

"Because Damian is my nephew, Jet," Alessandro answered quietly. "He’s my brother’s son."

For several seconds, Jet couldn’t process the words.

He stared at Alessandro, waiting for some explanation that would make the statement less impossible.

Damian Visconti was the wealthy businessman who had orchestrated an assassination network, while Alessandro Vittorio Orsini was the honorable Guildmaster who had personally guided Jet’s development.

The two men seemed to belong to entirely different worlds, and Jet had never once considered that they might share a family connection.

"Your nephew?" Jet repeated, his grip loosening around the Vorpal Blade. "But his surname is Visconti. You’re telling me that Damian Visconti is your brother’s son?"

Alessandro nodded slowly, his hand remaining against Damian’s shoulder. "He uses his mother’s family name. My younger brother and his wife were killed during a Dimensional Impact many years ago, when Damian was still an infant. I took him into my home afterward and raised him myself. I’ve looked after him since he was a baby, Jet. For all intents and purposes, he’s my son."

The revelation struck Jet harder than any attack Damian had delivered throughout their battle.

His mind immediately returned to the conversations he’d shared with Alessandro during their training sessions at Darkstar Guild.

The Guildmaster had spoken fondly about a talented young relative, someone close to Jet’s generation whom he believed Jet would enjoy meeting.

He had mentioned the young man’s intelligence, his accomplishments, and his desire to introduce them whenever an appropriate opportunity arose.

Jet had never imagined that the person Alessandro wanted him to meet was the very man responsible for the assassination campaign.

"You wanted me to meet him," Jet said slowly, remembering those conversations. "That young man you kept talking about... the one you said I should get to know. You were talking about Damian?"

Alessandro looked at him, and something in his expression seemed to collapse. "Yes, Jet. I was talking about Damian. I thought the two of you might become friends. You’re both exceptionally talented young Awakeners, and I believed you could learn something from each other."

Jet lowered his gaze toward the unconscious Damian. The man who had threatened his sister, ordered the deaths of innocent people, and attempted to capture him for information about the Palladium Tree was the same person Alessandro had raised with such affection.

Worse, Jet had been only a heartbeat away from driving the Vorpal Blade through his chest.

Before either could speak again, the distant thunder of aircraft engines echoed across the industrial district.

Several helicopters appeared above the ruined factories, their searchlights sweeping across the devastated roadway as they approached the battlefield.

Behind them, a long column of armored vehicles entered the industrial district from the eastern access road, their engines rumbling as they maneuvered around collapsed structures and enormous craters.

More than two dozen vehicles spread across the surrounding streets, establishing a security perimeter while additional helicopters hovered above the destruction.

Jet recognized the insignia painted across their armored hulls.

O.R.D.O.

The first helicopter descended near the remains of an abandoned loading yard, and Adesewa emerged alongside several heavily equipped officers.

Her armor bore fresh damage from the confrontation she’d fought elsewhere in the city, but her expression remained focused as she surveyed the battlefield.

Behind her, dozens of O.R.D.O. personnel deployed from the arriving vehicles, establishing checkpoints, examining the bodies of the defeated mercenaries, and securing the wreckage of Damian’s convoy.

Adesewa spotted Jet and Alessandro standing inside the crater and immediately approached.

Her eyes widened slightly when she recognized the Guildmaster kneeling beside Damian, but she quickly regained her composure and descended toward them with two officers carrying specialized Awakener restraints.

"Jet, are you all right?" Adesewa asked, examining the blood covering his clothing before turning toward Damian. "Marcus reported that the convoy had stopped transmitting, but we couldn’t establish exactly what happened afterward. Is that Damian Visconti?"

Jet nodded, finally lowering the Vorpal Blade completely. "That’s him, Captain. He’s a 3-Star Awakener with an S-Rank Divine Rune called Mammon. He’s badly injured, but he’s still alive."

Adesewa glanced toward Alessandro, noticing the Guildmaster’s protective position beside the unconscious man. "Guildmaster Orsini, I wasn’t informed that you would be present. We’re taking Damian Visconti into O.R.D.O. custody. He’s the principal suspect in an extensive assassination conspiracy, and we have substantial evidence connecting him to the attacks against the expedition survivors."

Alessandro slowly rose to his feet, his expression regaining some of its usual composure. "I understand, Captain. I won’t interfere with your investigation, and Darkstar Guild will cooperate with whatever lawful inquiries are necessary. But Damian requires urgent medical attention. If you intend to arrest him, make certain he survives long enough to answer for whatever he’s done."

Adesewa studied him briefly before nodding toward the officers. "Secure the suspect and summon the medical team. His Mana must remain suppressed throughout transport, and I want continuous monitoring of his condition. No unnecessary force. He’s already critically injured."

The officers immediately approached Damian, carefully securing reinforced restraints around his wrists and ankles before attaching a Mana-suppression device designed for dangerous Awakeners.

Several medical personnel descended into the crater moments later, carrying emergency equipment and a reinforced stretcher.

Alessandro stepped aside reluctantly, allowing them to examine Damian while Adesewa began coordinating the collection of evidence from the surrounding battlefield.

Jet remained silent throughout the procedure. He watched as the medical personnel stabilized Damian’s breathing, treated the most dangerous injuries, and carefully transferred him onto the stretcher.

The sight should have brought him relief. The mastermind had finally been captured, his hired Awakeners had been defeated, and the immediate threat against Inez and the surviving expedition members was beginning to collapse.

Yet Jet couldn’t stop looking at Alessandro, whose expression revealed how deeply the revelation had affected him.

As the officers carried Damian toward the waiting helicopter, Alessandro followed them to the edge of the crater.

He watched until the stretcher disappeared into the aircraft, then stood motionless while the medical team prepared for departure. Only after the helicopter’s engines intensified did he finally turn toward Jet.

The Guildmaster approached slowly, his expression exhausted and unusually vulnerable.

For several seconds, he studied Jet’s injuries, the blood covering his clothes, and the Vorpal Blade hanging loosely from his hand.

Then his gaze shifted toward the crater where Damian had been lying moments earlier.

"Jet," Alessandro asked quietly, his voice barely carrying above the approaching helicopter’s engines, "were you really going to kill him?"

Jet looked at the man who had trained him, encouraged him, and treated him with genuine kindness since their first meeting.

He wanted to explain everything Damian had done, to remind Alessandro of the danger his nephew represented, and to make him understand why he’d raised his sword.

But the question hadn’t been whether Damian deserved to die.

Alessandro was asking whether Jet had intended to deliver the final blow.

Jet couldn’t bring himself to lie.

He slowly lowered his eyes, tightened his grip around the Vorpal Blade, and answered the Guildmaster with a single, quiet word.

"Yes," Jet admitted, his expression filled with painful certainty.