"A discovery?"
Kael halted his steps and turned around. In the Reynolds estate, a unicorn rhino was shouting excitedly.
Both Kael and the little cat were puzzled. The cat even scratched its head, wondering if there was some treasure it had missed. But that shouldn't be possible—its spiritual perception was exceptionally sharp, and very few things could escape its detection.
Kael strode forward quickly and saw the rhino bellowing, "Boss Kael, we found a hidden chamber inside the estate!"
"A hidden chamber?"
Kael's interest was piqued. Aside from the treasury, the Reynolds family had actually concealed a secret room? Could there be something significant inside?
He nodded and flashed the rhino an approving smile. "Well done. You've earned a reward when we return!"
"Thank you, Boss Kael!" The rhino cheered, while the others nearby looked on enviously.
With a faint smile, Kael followed the rhino's directions and finally reached the hidden chamber.
The room wasn't large. Its entrance was concealed behind a hidden mechanism, which, when triggered, slowly revealed the chamber.
Inside, it was pitch black, with only a desk and chair placed in the center. On the desk lay a few documents—nothing else.
The chamber had been discovered by sheer chance. Unfortunately, the rhinos were too massive to enter, so they had no idea what lay within.
Kael stepped forward and examined the documents on the desk, his brow furrowing slightly. "These are... letters?"
The neatly sealed and well-preserved letters puzzled him. Why would the Reynolds family go to such lengths to hide mere correspondence? Unless these letters contained something incriminating...
With growing curiosity, Kael opened one of them.
"What's written here..." Kael skimmed through the contents, his pulse quickening. He immediately grabbed the other letters, growing more alarmed with each one he read. These were all personally handwritten by Orc, the former head of the Reynolds family—and they contained a major secret.
"Kael, what's wrong?" The little cat asked curiously, noticing Kael's grave expression. It couldn't read human script.
Kael took a deep breath. "The Reynolds family had ties to the Darkwing Mages!"
"What?!" Even the little cat was stunned. The terror of the Darkwing Mages needed no explanation—they were practically the sworn enemies of all mages across the continent. How could the Reynolds family have been connected to them?
Kael nodded solemnly. "Yes. The Reynolds family maintained contact with a Darkwing faction called the Phantomflame Tower. Their dealings were frequent, but the Reynolds clan was careful enough to avoid detection."
There were many Darkwing factions, most operating in secrecy, rarely surfacing openly.
Their organizations were also ranked by strength. The most formidable among them was undoubtedly the Shadowlands. Ironically, Kael had some 'history' with them—the Moonveil Dusk in his possession had once belonged to Cole, a former member of the Shadowlands.
However, the Shadowlands were shrouded in mystery, with little news ever emerging about them.
At their peak, they had been powerful enough to rival behemoths like the Sacred Council. Though they had faded in recent years, their lingering influence remained terrifying.
Beyond the Shadowlands, weaker factions existed, such as the Tower of the Fallen and the Phantomflame Tower.
Among these, the Tower of the Fallen was stronger than the Phantomflame Tower. If the Shadowlands were considered first-tier, then the Tower of the Fallen ranked as second-tier, while the Phantomflame Tower barely qualified as third-tier.
But underestimating the Phantomflame Tower would be a mistake. Though it was among the weaker Darkwing factions, compared to ordinary noble families on the continent, it was still a force to be feared.
After all, the mere mention of Darkwing Mages was enough to make most people pale.
From the correspondence between Orc and the Phantomflame Tower, it appeared the Reynolds family had been colluding with them for a long time.
Based on Kael's assessment, the Phantomflame Tower was significantly more powerful than the Reynolds family. Moreover, they seemed ambitious—possibly using the Reynolds family to secretly train Darkwing Mages.
"Troubled times indeed—even the Darkwing Mages are emerging from the shadows," Kael mused silently.
The little cat nodded in agreement. For Darkwing factions to surface one after another was undeniably unusual.
"Should we be wary of this Phantomflame Tower too?" the little cat asked.
Kael pondered for a moment before a faint smile finally touched his lips. "Of course we should stay vigilant—but I have a plan. The Darkwing Mages..."
Taking on an entire Darkwing faction alone would be arduous, and Kael had no intention of doing such thankless work.
However...
He glanced at the letters in his hand, an idea already forming. While Kael might be outnumbered, let it not be forgotten—he had the backing of the Sacred Council!
"These letters are actually a boon. At the very least, they provide irrefutable proof of the Reynolds family's collusion with the Phantomflame Tower. With this evidence, even the Kingdom of Mide wouldn't dare protest their annihilation," Kael remarked.
These letters would serve as his ironclad justification.
After carefully storing them in his spatial ring, Kael motioned to the unicorn rhinos. "Let's move out."
The rhinos returned to their contracted space, and Kael departed the Reynolds estate with the little cat in tow.
Outside, a crowd had already gathered—though they were merely onlookers, keeping a cautious distance.
When Kael emerged from the estate, their expressions shifted to a mix of awe and fear. Murmurs rippled through the crowd, just loud enough for him to catch:
"That's the guy?"
"Yeah, that's him. Terrifying… A twenty-year-old kid, already a 10th-tier mage..."
"Not just a 10th-tier mage—he took on two 10th-tier experts alone and wiped out the Reynolds family single-handedly. How can someone so young be this monstrous…"
The crowd dared not speak loudly, nor even look directly at Kael, as if he were some monstrous beast emerging from the abyss. Their hushed whispers were filled with shock and awe.
Around the Reynolds estate, even the city guards of Moonlight City had gathered. The commotion Kael had caused earlier had undoubtedly alerted them, yet they too kept their distance, not daring to interfere.
To them, Kael had become synonymous with a god of slaughter. Stopping someone who had single-handedly annihilated the Reynolds family? That would be asking for death.
Kael shook his head, taking in their fearful expressions. Seeing them so terrified, he couldn't help but rub his nose.
Destroying the Reynolds family had merely been an act of self-preservation—it wasn't as if he could have just waited for them to come for his head.
"Let's go." Satisfied with the gains from this venture, Kael soared into the sky, vanishing from sight under the astonished gazes of the onlookers.
Though Kael had left, the shockwaves of his destruction of the Reynolds family were only just beginning.
The next day.
News that Kael had obliterated the Reynolds family—one of Mide Kingdom's most prominent magical dynasties—overnight spread like wildfire across the Three Continents.
Thousands of magic guilds, tens of thousands of noble magical families, and even the four great human kingdoms were stunned. The revelation that the perpetrator was merely a youth around twenty years old made the feat all the more unbelievable.
In an instant, countless factions across the continent were thrown into turmoil.
Within the royal palace of the Mide Kingdom.
The emperor received a confidential report detailing Kael's annihilation of the Reynolds family. Given the sheer scale of the event, suppressing the news was impossible.
"The Reynolds family… destroyed by a single young man?" The emperor's voice was calm as he scanned the report, revealing neither approval nor anger.
Simultaneously, nearly every major family and power on the continent received the same news. Reactions varied—some were astonished, others indifferent—but most were simply awestruck.
On this day, Kael's name shook the Three Continents.