Chapter 203: The Fall Of Baal Family

Reinhard carried Emily down the shattered staircase, one arm beneath her knees and the other around her back. She was breathing steadily, but remained unconscious. The tower was quiet now, its corridors littered with broken weapons and fallen guards.

At the bottom, he found Maki sitting against a cracked pillar, watching Yuna and Lily, who lay unconscious nearby. She tried to stand when she saw him, but her legs trembled.

"Reinhard! Is Emily—?"

"She’s alive. She needs rest, but she’ll recover."

Maki let out a breath and leaned back against the pillar. "Thank goodness. I thought we might lose her this time."

"What about those two?" Reinhard asked, glancing at Yuna and Lily.

"They pushed themselves too far. Yuna kept fighting after her injuries began affecting her movements, and Lily refused to stop until she could barely stand." Maki’s expression softened as she looked at them. "They kept saying they couldn’t let Emily fight alone."

"They’re both stubborn."

"You’re one to talk."

Reinhard smiled faintly and brushed a strand of hair away from Emily’s face. For a moment, none of them spoke. They had survived the attack on their home, the horrors of Marvello, Emily’s struggle to reclaim her strength, and now another battle that had nearly cost them everything. Yet the Baal Family had kept hunting them.

"How many times are we going to have to do this?" Maki whispered. "How many more times will someone decide our family is something they can destroy whenever it suits them?"

Reinhard had no easy answer. He had spent so long thinking about how to protect them that he rarely considered how exhausting it was for everyone to live under the threat of another attack. He tightened his hold on Emily.

"Hopefully, not many more."

Maki looked toward the upper floors. "Did you kill the Baal Family leader?"

"Yes."

Her eyes widened. She lowered her head, then let out a shaky laugh as tears gathered at the corners of her eyes. "Then we can finally put this to rest."

She quickly wiped her face, but Reinhard pretended not to notice. The leader’s death, however, did not automatically mean the end of the Baal Family.

"We still have a problem," he said. "If we leave without proof, the Aurlieus Overseers could treat us as criminals. We attacked a Great Family’s estate, killed its leader, and left the mansion in ruins."

"Then we need evidence," Maki said.

"Let’s search his office."

They made their way upstairs. The office had escaped the worst of the destruction, though its windows were shattered and its desk overturned. Reinhard carefully laid Emily on the sofa while Maki searched the desk and shelves.

"Xanxus wouldn’t keep everything in ordinary filing cabinets," Reinhard said. "He would have planned for the possibility of his records being discovered."

He activated the Merchant King’s Lens. Most objects produced ordinary results until the Lens highlighted a wall behind a decorative metal panel.

Item: Reinforced Concealment Safe Market Value: 180,000 Credits True Market Value: 950,000 Credits Recommended Selling Location: Private Auction Network Optimal Use: Secure storage for sensitive documents and restricted information.

Reinhard knocked on the panel. The hollow sound gave it away.

"Found something."

Maki examined the seams. "There should be a lock, but I can’t find it."

"We could spend ten minutes looking, or I could do this."

Space twisted beside the wall as Reinhard opened a narrow tear. He reached through, found the safe’s internal latch, and clicked it open without damaging the reinforced panel. Inside were sealed folders, a storage device, and several handwritten ledgers. He retrieved them and laid everything on the desk.

The Lens highlighted three promising groups of records.

Item: Internal Operations Ledger Market Value: 2,400,000 Credits True Market Value: 12,000,000 Credits Recommended Selling Location: Rival Corporate Intelligence Networks Optimal Use: Trace covert transfers and connect Baal officials to unauthorized operations and financial backers.

Item: Marvello Incident Authorization Records Market Value: 4,000,000 Credits True Market Value: 25,000,000 Credits Recommended Selling Location: Private Intelligence Exchanges Optimal Use: Corroborate responsibility for the Marvello operation and identify personnel involved in its authorization.

Item: Ashcroft Surveillance and Abduction Orders Market Value: 3,500,000 Credits True Market Value: 20,000,000 Credits Recommended Selling Location: Rival Great Family Intelligence Networks Optimal Use: Establish targeted surveillance, interference with family support, and planned abduction operations against the Ashcrofts.

Maki opened the surveillance orders first. "These are clear. They tracked Emily after her accident, interfered with people trying to help her, and discussed taking her and other family members into custody."

"Kidnapping," Reinhard said. "They just gave it a respectable name."

"I’m trying to be precise."

"Then be precise. It was kidnapping with paperwork."

She ignored him and compared the Marvello records with the ledger. Her expression soon tightened.

"These records show Baal personnel coordinated the operation, but the final authorization is missing. They could claim someone forged the papers or acted without the family’s permission."

"Can you connect them to the other records?"

"The dates match the Marvello preparations, but the money passed through three shell companies. The ledger uses code names instead of the recipients’ real identities." Maki pointed to one entry. "This name appears in both the Marvello records and the surveillance orders. Whoever it is was involved in both operations, but that alone doesn’t prove who gave the orders."

Reinhard took out the Mirror of Possibilities. "Then let’s find something more decisive."

The mirror’s surface rippled as he focused on Xanxus before the attack on the Ashcroft residence. An image appeared of Xanxus reviewing plans with Baal subordinates. He personally approved the assault, describing the Ashcrofts as obstacles that had to be removed before the Marvello incident could proceed without interference.

Maki studied the vision. "That establishes the attack was authorized from the top. The timing connects it to Marvello, too."

"There’s more."

Reinhard shifted the Mirror’s focus. Another scene showed Xanxus reviewing the results and ordering a later assault involving multiple S-Rank Awakeners. This time, the goal was to capture the Ashcrofts alive.

"They weren’t going to stop," Maki said, her expression cold.

"No. They thought they could send stronger people until we were gone."

The Mirror’s visions supported the physical records, but Reinhard knew the authorities would still need to authenticate the documents. As Maki returned to the files, the Lens highlighted the storage device again.

Item: Spatially Sealed Recording Archive Market Value: Unavailable True Market Value: Classified Recommended Selling Location: Restricted Intelligence Exchange Optimal Use: Recover concealed recordings and communications containing evidence of coercion, blackmail, and unauthorized inter-family operations.

"There’s a spatial seal on this," Reinhard said.

Maki looked up. "Can you open it?"

"It’s connected to a separate space. Xanxus used more than spatial manipulation in battle. He could conceal things where ordinary searches wouldn’t find them."

Reinhard drew Tepes and directed its edge toward the air beside the device. He sensed a tiny enclosed world folded away from reality. One careless cut might collapse the space and destroy everything inside, so he studied its boundary before striking.

Tepes sliced through it with a quiet sound. A thin line appeared in the air, then widened into an opening onto a pocket world barely larger than a storage room. Recording crystals, communication logs, and sealed correspondence floated inside.

"He hid an entire archive in a miniature world?" Maki asked.

"Apparently, he didn’t trust ordinary safes."

Reinhard reached through and retrieved the contents before the pocket world destabilized. The recordings were organized by family name, several bearing the seals of powerful alliances.

Maki activated one of the crystals. A man’s angry voice emerged.

"Your people will continue receiving resources as long as you cooperate. If you interfere with my plans, I’ll make certain every secret your alliance has hidden becomes public."

Another recording contained a similar threat against a different alliance. Xanxus had used the Black Moon operation and his knowledge of the participating families to keep them under his control.

Maki examined the labels, eyes widening. "These aren’t just records of his crimes. He was blackmailing the other alliances to keep them obedient."

Maki examined the labels again, her expression growing more serious. "If he had this much leverage over several alliances, then some of them might have helped him willingly, while others were forced to cooperate. We can’t assume everyone connected to the Black Moon operation knew what he was planning."

Reinhard nodded. The archive could expose Xanxus’s methods, but it could also reveal how deeply his influence had spread. "Which means some of them may have a reason to deny everything. But they’ll also have a reason to make sure these recordings never disappear."

He gathered the records and archive. Between the documents, the Mirror’s visions, and the recordings, they had enough to expose the Baal Family’s operations and force an investigation.

"Let’s leave. The authorities should be arriving soon."

By the time the Ashcrofts emerged from the ruined mansion, the estate was surrounded. Helicopters hovered overhead, armored vehicles blocked the roads, and Aurlieus Security had established a perimeter with contracted Awakeners from several alliances.

As Reinhard stepped outside with Emily in his arms, dozens of weapons turned toward him.

"Those are the intruders!" a wounded Baal guard shouted. "They invaded the estate and murdered our leader! They should be executed!"

Other survivors joined the accusations, insisting the Ashcrofts had used the chaos to destroy a Great Family.

Reinhard stopped. Maki stepped beside him with copies of the recovered documents.

"Before anyone decides to execute us, perhaps you should examine what we found."

An Aurlieus Security officer approached cautiously. "What is it?"

"Evidence that the Baal Family authorized the attack on our home, sabotaged Emily’s support during her recovery, and planned to abduct our family," Reinhard said. "We also found records connecting Baal leadership to the Marvello incident."

"Those are serious accusations. Do you have proof?"

Maki explained how the dates and transfers connected the operations, then presented the archive and the Mirror’s corroborating visions. The officer reviewed the records with another official, their expressions growing more troubled.

One of the contracted Awakeners stepped forward. "Let me see those recordings."

Maki held the crystal out without releasing it. "You can review it with Security present."

The man hesitated when he saw his alliance’s name on the archive index. A murmur passed through the crowd.

At last, the officer lowered his weapon. "Secure all the evidence. No one is to alter, destroy, or remove these records without authorization. We’ll establish an independent investigation and verify them against our own intelligence."

He turned toward the Baal guards. "Until that investigation is complete, no one is to attack the Ashcrofts. Anyone who interferes with the evidence will be detained."

Several officers moved to separate the surviving guards from the Ashcrofts while others secured the materials. The men who had demanded the Ashcrofts’ execution fell silent.

The order mattered more to Reinhard than their changing opinions. The Ashcrofts were no longer being treated as ordinary suspects, and the Baal Family could no longer rely on its reputation to bury the truth.

One alliance Awakener stared at the recordings, his face pale. "If these are authentic, the Baal Family has been threatening major alliances for years."

"Then perhaps you should ask yourselves why no one dared to challenge them," Maki replied.

Nobody answered. Some looked away; others stared at the ruined mansion, realizing the Great Family they had feared might have been responsible for far more than they had imagined.

Then a slow clap sounded from behind the security perimeter.

Clap. Clap. Clap.

The sound silenced the crowd.

A woman walked through the assembled officers as if the road belonged to her. Black-and-silver hair framed her face, and her diamond-blue eyes caught the light. Her pearl-adorned black gown shimmered with gold detailing, while an enormous smoky-gray shawl spread behind her like folded wings, embroidered with golden dragonflies.

She ignored the ruined mansion and looked directly at Reinhard, Emily still unconscious in his arms.

Every Aurlieus Security officer straightened.

"Sentinel!"

The officers saluted. Even the contracted Awakeners stepped aside, some lowering their heads as she approached.

Reinhard narrowed his eyes. He had fought Xanxus, survived the Baal Family’s assault, and stood before the Will of Monad itself. Yet the moment he met this woman’s gaze, his instincts screamed a warning.

If he made the wrong move, he would die.

The Sentinel stopped before him, her expression unreadable. Her gaze shifted to the evidence in the officers’ hands.

"How interesting," she said softly. "It seems the fall of the Baal Family is going to cause considerably more trouble than I expected."