When Cecil had spread his Mana Sense out into the entire valley, he had found more of the invading Alternians around the Silvaria Branch family's complex and was immediately infuriated.

In his anger, he had struck out with a Flash Cannon. Cecil made sure to control his output and struck only the area that had the invaders present. He wasn't that irrational to think that everyone from the branch family were involved in whatever scheme that was being pulled from behind the main family's back.

As for the Silvaria branch members who were inside the blast zone...well, Cecil didn't care about them. From his Mana Sense, he already knew that the invaders weren't there to take anyone from the branch families as hostages so he had no qualms in attacking. In his eyes, the few branch families' action of housing those invaders was already an act of betrayal against the main family and he had no use for such backstabbing fools.

Serilla and everyone below had seen Cecil send a large beam of mana into the distance and they quickly rushed out. When they saw that Cecil had struck a particular section of the city, everyone couldn't help but pale in fright.

Cecil scanned the valley one last time and made sure that there were no more invaders inside the kingdom before he landed back on the ground.

Anastasia was a little livid at her son's actions and she immediately stomped over to him.

"Cecil! Do you know what you've done?"

Cecil still had a dark look on his face when he responded to his mother, "...Gather the family, Mother. Today, I'm going to clean the trash out of our family."

Seeing her son's infallible stance, Anastasia involuntarily nodded at his words. Cecil asked her mother if she was okay before turning around and quickly making his way over to Serilla to check up on her.

"Are you okay?"

"Y-yes, darling... I'm fine. Nothing happened," Serilla replied with a somewhat strained smile.

"...I'm sorry, I'll clear things up later, but for now, I want to deal with the fools who brought a foreign enemy into our kingdom."

"..."

Cecil immediately led Serilla back into the complex and Quinn followed them from behind. Anastasia looked on in worry at her son, but she still ordered a few family members to go inform every member of the branch families to gather at the main estate.

*****

On Lucia's end, she, Luca, Fatima, and all of the Goldenia family members who were present in the meeting with Luca, had rushed straight towards the residential area of the city and immediately found out that the attack from earlier had struck only a portion of the Silvaria branch family's housing complex.

Fatima immediately ordered for the soldiers that she had brought with her to look for survivors and close off the area and maintain order. Not long after, Kaiser and a few soldiers also arrived on the scene.

When he noticed the Goldenia Family Leader, Augustus Goldenia, standing in the midst of the crowd of people, Kaiser immediately strode over imposingly and asked, "What're you doing here, Augustus?"

"Oh, if it isn't Kaiser Silvaria? How are you, my old friend," The Goldenia Family leader replied leisurely.

Kaiser narrowed his eyes and growled, "Are you the one behind the attack on my family's estate and the city? If you are, don't expect to be pardoned!"

"Oh please, Kaiser, don't jump to conclusions. If it weren't for us, your son Luca would have been forced into quite a dangerous spot."

"..."

Luca walked over and reluctantly said, "Though I'm reluctant to say it, but it's true, father. If they weren't there at that time, those invaders would have either killed or captured me."

Kaiser's expression didn't change. He only harrumphed and walked over to Fatima and the others. He looked around the area and said, "...The attack was from Cecil, wasn't it?"

Lucia walked over and said apologetically, "Y-yes, father-in-law. That was Cel's Flash Cannon..."

When Augustus overheard Lucia calling Kaiser, father-in-law, he couldn't help but rea.s.sess the beautiful young lady.

"So that's the future Matriarch?" He mumbled.

"Wow, she's a beauty! It looks like Katya's going to have some compet.i.tion!" Emilie chortled in amus.e.m.e.nt.

Katya only observed the slightly fretful Lucia silently. She didn't opt to say anything.

Kaiser rea.s.sessed the area and soon noticed something.

"...he struck directly at a few of the opposing elders' courtyards..." He said with a grimace.

The family members of the other branch families that weren't affected by Cecil's attack began gathering around the area and observed in horror at the destruction in front of them.

"P-Patriarch! W-who did this?!" A branch family leader asked in horror.

Kaiser didn't respond and only shook his head. A few other family members couldn't help but step forward and ask in fear.

"are we under attack?"

"Patriarch, what's happening?!"

"The main estate was just attacked and so was the city! Now the residential area is under attack! Are we being invaded?!"

Kaiser didn't respond to their worries and only told the soldiers to secure the area and prevent anyone else from getting too close.

"Everyone, calm down, I've already deployed men to search for survivors so you can all head back to your homes!"

While Kaiser, Fatima, and a few other main family members were busy trying to settle down the situation, a few curious citizens from the surrounding area also came over to see what was happening. It wasn't long before the city's guards arrived to help maintain order.

Cecil's skill hadn't actually killed everyone in the blast zone. The ones who were on the outer edges of the blast zone had managed to escape with their lives still intact but had suffered some degree of injuries. The soldiers were also able to recover some of the invaders that managed to survive and Kaiser immediately ordered for them to be treated and locked up.

The jails in their kingdom had been crafted from the Anti-Mana ore earlier on since that was the only thing that it was good for at the time so they didn't need to worry about the people inside using Mana or anything.

After the recovery unit had essentially rescued everyone who survived and retrieved all of the bodies inside the destroyed area, a few members of the main family arrived and informed Kaiser that they had come with orders to round up all of the branch family members and bring them to the main estate.

When Kaiser asked on whose command they were obeying, the main family members replied that it was the Young Patriarch's commands. Kaiser frowned and couldn't help but wonder why Cecil wanted to round them all up.

"That boy...he couldn't possibly..." Kaiser frowned when he thought the worst. He immediately ordered for everyone from the main family to quickly finish their tasks or hand them over to someone else before quickly heading back to the main estate.

*****

Once everything was cleared up over on the residential area's side and the tasked were handed down to their subordinates to manage, Kaiser, Lucia, Fatima and everyone that was part of the Silvaria family immediately stepped through Lucia's Misty Gate and arrived back at the Silvaria family's main estate.

Kaiser didn't want to leave Augustus and his Goldenia family's brats and elders roaming around the city so he brought them over as well and had Luca, Rowan, and Fatima watch over them closely.

The Goldenias looked around the estate and couldn't help but find that it was quite aesthetically pleasing. They also noticed that the ambient mana in the air was much more rich and concentrated than it was when they were inside the city.

The other branch family members felt it as well and their bodies felt much lighter and more energetic. This was due to the magic barrier that Cecil and Lucia had created to surround and protect the estate.

Cecil had added in the World Tree's Spiritual Garden's magic array in the formation he had created so it was only naturally that the atmosphere was richer and the mana density was much higher than it was outside of the estate.

The branch family members couldn't help question why they were all gathered here. However, they all felt relieved though because currently, it seemed that outside of their family's main estate, the situation was dangerous.

Kaiser ordered the servants to quickly settle the branch family members along with the Goldenias inside the large hall that the Silvaria family normally used for their family meetings.

Kaiser, Lucia, Angelia, and Ren rushed over to the main mansion and when they entered, they noticed that the air was somewhat stifling. Serilla and Anastasia were sitting down on the couch in the living room and immediately stood up when they saw them.

"Are you two alright?" Kaiser asked.

"We're fine honey...but I think you should go have a talk with your son..." Anastasia worriedly said.

"Where is he?"

"..."

Anastasia pointed outside and on the family's back porch, Cecil was standing there with his arms crossed, silently gazing out into the family's garden. Golden streaks of mana were flas.h.i.+ng all around him.

"Father-in-law, le-let me talk to him first, okay?" Lucia carefully asked.

"Y-yes, father-in-law. Let Lulu calm Darling down first! Darling is like this only when he's completely infuriated..."

Kaiser eyed his two fretful daughters-in-law and said, "...Go."

Lucia immediately went over to the sliding door and slowly slid it open. The golden streaks of mana halted for a moment before they started again but this they were streaking around Cecil in a much more furious manner.

"...Not now, Lulu..." Cecil muttered.

"Cel, can you calm down, please?" Lucia worriedly said in reply.

Cecil didn't answer her question but instead answered with one of his own.

"...Are the branch families all here, yet?"

"...They're waiting in the grand hall..."

Cecil nodded and turned around, "Good, let's go then."

"Cel, before we go, how about you calm down first, alright?" Lucia said as she slowly approached him.

Lucia stopped right in front of Cecil and grasped onto both his hands. She dragged him over to a chair on the porch and sat him down. She then proceeded to sit down on his lap and pulled his head into her bosom before stroking it gently.

"...why did you do that?" Lucia gently asked.

"...They were asking for it. I already gave them a warning and a fair chance. Instead of meeting it head on, they let foreigners invade us and attack our kingdom. I knew immediately what they were aiming for, they wanted Mother and Seri."

"...Luca was attacked too..."

"That makes it much worse then," Cecil growled in anger.

"That's enough. Don't get mad, you already took care of them, right? Now tell me, what do you mean that the branch family had let in invaders?"

"...When I spread my mana sense earlier, I noticed a large amount of those Alternians hiding in that spot in the city. After making a closer observation, I saw that they were intentionally hiding those people in their homes. My family has no need for traitors..."

"..."

"We had sealed the borders and stationed soldiers all along the valley's protective walls since we were at war. Unless they weren't doing their jobs, which I hardly doubt they weren't, the only way those people were able to get into the city was through those branch family members who were housing them. Attacking my family is my bottom line and they have crossed it!"

Lucia sighed before saying, "Now that you've killed them, how're we going to have them answer for their crimes?"

"Oh, you don't need to worry about that...I didn't kill every one of those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds just yet..."

Cecil finished saying before he grabbed onto Lucia and stood up.

"I'm fine now. Let's go and address the branch family members. We'll determine today whether they should remain in the family...or not..."