The capture squad assembled by the Creed family consisted of seven members.
Six-Star Knight Val Simmons, Seven-Star Order Knight Mary, Sage Orlando Edward, Undying Emma Burke, Legendary Witch Dorothy Hall, Seven-Star Bloodshadow Knight Ian, and Prophet Sarah Rhine.
Sending these seven to act together served both to familiarize them with each other, foster mutual understanding, and act as a competition of strength among the families.
Compared to the three Blessed Artifacts controlled by Randall, the [Hand of God], [The Door], and [House of Happiness] held by the two major families were even more daunting.
The [Ear of Folly] could almost control all the witches in the empire, which was the empire's strongest fighting force.
The [Fairytale Book] contained the Life Dragon, Meryl.
The [Azure Dragon Whip] could create armies.
Even more frightening was the unknown Mysterious Blessed Artifact.
Under such circumstances, a clandestine meeting targeting the Moria and Hall families quietly began.
Headed by Augustus, the Frank Family, Edward Family, Rhine Family, Burke Family, and Simmons Family participated.
The flames of the bronze candlesticks suddenly shrunk by half an inch in unison.
Augustus tapped the obsidian table with his finger, and crack-like blood streaks traveled through the stone patterns, eventually converging into a map of the imperial territory.
The shadows of the five family heads were stretched and projected onto the stone wall, like a flock of carrion birds waiting for an opportunity.
"It's time to show our cards."
The Emperor stroked the dragon scale ring inlaid on his index finger, his brown eyes sweeping over everyone.
Seth Frank slowly unbuttoned his dark red shirt, revealing that the skin on his chest was translucent, and a purple-red heart entwined with blood vessels was expanding and contracting strangely under everyone's gaze—each beat made the candlelight flicker, and the silver cup next to the Simmons family head suddenly shattered, the wine outlining a pattern similar to a heart on the stone table.
Seth Frank placed his hand on his heart, and almost everyone present could feel the frequency of their hearts beating in synchronization.
"Yes, I can control all hearts, even the hearts of dragons and the hearts of blood clans will be controlled by me."
The reason why the Frank family was able to become the royal family of the Seven Creed Families was because they controlled three Blessed Artifacts.
[Shield of Protection], [Beating Heart], [The Ripper].
Mary's [The Ripper] was an open secret, but the [Shield of Protection] and [Beating Heart] had never been made public.
As he spoke, the crystal hourglass in the arms of Earl Rhine suddenly floated, and the silver hair of the eight-year-old prophet Sarah moved without wind, and the sand grains floated upwards against gravity.
The old Earl pressed his trembling grandson's shoulders, and blood flowed from the eye sockets of the skull inlaid on the base of the hourglass.
The Edward family head took off his monocle and took out a mask flowing with rainbow light from a velvet-lined box.
When his fingertip touched the edge of the mask, his skin immediately carbonized into ashes, and within three seconds, it was reborn into new flesh as tender as a baby's.
"Divinity Harvester."
His hoarse laughter was accompanied by the sound of metal scraping, and a melting angel relief appeared on the surface of the mask.
Duke Burke unbuttoned his sable cloak, revealing a hideous wound with bone horns embedded in his spine.
When his fingertip stroked the edge of the curved horn, the entire stone chamber suddenly rang with a buzzing sound like millions of locusts flapping their wings.
Duke Burke said in a joking tone: "The last time I blew it, my spleen turned into a butterfly."
The moment the Simmons family representative opened the iron box, twenty candles turned ghostly green at the same time.
The withered palm curled up in the box suddenly raised its middle finger.
While the five major Creed families were holding a secret meeting, in Alex Fort, the Hall and Moria families' family banquet also reached its climax.
Grand Duke Moria dismissed all the servants, leaving only the core confidants of the two families.
The firelight leaping in the fireplace divided the long table into a battlefield of alternating light and darkness.
The crisp sound of Grand Duke Moria's bronze fingertip knocking on the silver fork startled the wax tears condensed on the candlestick and fell into the gold-inlaid bone china plate.
Earl Hall stroked the rose crest ring, watching the family crest projected on the stained glass window being torn into a distorted shape by the cold wind.
Outside the window, it began to snow.
The cold outside the house formed a sharp contrast with the warmth inside.
Grand Duke Moria suddenly cut open the roasted deer spine, and the blood seeped into the napkin, leaving a map-like trace on the snow-white linen.
"Today we are sitting here not only to celebrate Ian and Dorothy's engagement, but also to discuss the future of our two families.
With my understanding of the Frank family and Emperor Augustus, they will not generously bless us, and our union will become a threat in their eyes."
The amber oil dripping from his knife tip onto the candlestick caused the flame to rise three inches.
Dorothy paused slightly as she lowered her eyes and turned her engagement ring.
Tina, the Hall family's naval commander, suddenly pulled out a fishbone dagger to pick crab claws, and the sound of metal rubbing against the carapace made a certain family minister tremble and spill his sherry.
"The raven brought news.
His Majesty secretly summoned the five major families, but not us."
As Earl Hall said this, the watchman's bell rang outside the window, and the twelve vibrations caused the crystal pendants of the chandelier to collide with each other.
George Moria slammed the bear skin rug, and the belt inlaid with northern wolf teeth clanged against the silver cutlery: "When I led the army to chisel through the ice giant troll's lair, the Frank family's cubs were still drinking milk!"
The mead foam sticking to his thick beard splashed with the roar, resembling a miniature rainbow in the candlelight.
At the other end of the long table, Walter, the Hall family's financial officer, trembled and took out a handkerchief to wipe his monocle.
This habitual action caused the mirror chain to entangle the table knife, and the tip of the knife pointed to the direction of the Imperial Capital Treasury.
"The joint team of the Seven Creed Families failed to capture Randall, which in itself is a signal.
Augustus should have secretly allied with Randall.
If the five major Creed families are also persuaded by them, then the enemy we will face is the entire empire."
Grand Duke Moria slowly put down his wine glass and looked at his family ministers with a serious expression.
"The main person that Randall and Augustus hate is me.
In fact, everyone doesn't need to get involved.
Just put on a show and let me sever ties with the family."
Ian suggested, this was the best way he could think of to avoid war.
He and Dorothy could defect from the Imperial Capital to protect the Hall and Moria families.
Grand Duke Moria shook his head, "We have mastered too much power, and other families cannot tolerate it."
"Yes, even if you and Dorothy leave, it will not change our situation,"
Earl Hall said.
"In that case, I think there is some information that everyone must know."
Ian told everyone about the Blessed Artifacts controlled by the five major families.
"The Frank family controls the [Shield of Protection], which protects Yalong City, preventing any alien demons and monsters from entering here, even human armies.
As long as the holder does not want the armed forces to appear, they can be blocked out."
"The Rhine family controls the [Hourglass of Time], but the hourglass has merged with Sarah.
Only Sarah can travel through time and space and change fate.
The hourglass that everyone sees now can form a connection with Sarah to sense Sarah's state."
"The Edward family controls the [Divinity Mask], which can temporarily gain the power of God after wearing it.
The duration is 3 seconds, and the price of use is the user's immediate death."
"The Burke family controls the [Bone Horn], which can increase the combat power of all friendly forces by 200% after blowing it.
The price of use is that the user randomly loses an internal organ."
"The Simmons family controls the [Hand of Luck Thief], which can steal the luck of the opponent in a short period of time, making the target quite unlucky.
The price of use is that the holder is afraid of sunlight for a long time."
"These are the Blessed Artifacts controlled by the five major families.
In addition, Augustus and Randall have reached an alliance.
We also need to pay attention to the [House of Happiness], [Hand of God] and [The Door]."
"And the Sage Academy.
If I guess correctly, they should also control a certain Blessed Artifact, otherwise they would not be able to hide the Sage Academy."
The cadres of the Moria family and the cadres of the Hall family were stunned.
Although each of them had seen big scenes, they couldn't help but be shocked by the empire hiding so many Blessed Artifacts at this moment.
Most of the Blessed Artifacts, they had never even heard of the names.
So how did Ian know?
Could this be the strength of the Pope candidate?
"What are you afraid of?
Father is already an Eight-Star Knight now, and Earl Hall is also an Eight-Star Knight.
If the Emperor really dares to attack us, we will overthrow the Frank family."
George Moria said, if it weren't for the Emperor's wedding this time, he might still be reclaiming wasteland in the Northern Border and would not come to the Royal Capital.
George Moria is Parker's father and also an excellent Six-Star Knight.
"Yes, why can the Frank family always be the royal family, and our other Creed families can only be loyal?"
The Moria family's family ministers echoed.
Tina raised her eyebrows, took a sip of wine, and said,
"I used to think that Grand Duke Moria was the most loyal Imperial Prime Minister, but it turns out that his subordinates are a bunch of rebellious people."
Compared to the Moria family's excited family ministers, the Hall family's family ministers seemed much gentler.
The Hall family's confidants, in addition to knightly navies like Tina, were mostly good businessmen who had been accustomed to a comfortable life for too long and had never thought about rebelling or establishing their own territory, much like Earl Hall himself.
If Dorothy hadn't chosen to be with Ian, Earl Hall felt that he wouldn't be sitting at this long table.
"The Burns in the east are eyeing us, and a civil war now will only allow others to take advantage of the situation.
Is there no peaceful solution?"
Earl Hall asked.
"There is a peaceful solution,"
Ian said,
"Transfer the battlefield and don't fight domestically, that's peace."
"Things haven't reached that serious point, have they?
His Majesty needs our Hall family.
The taxes we contribute every year are the highest, and Dorothy has also agreed to become the empire's war witch for 5 years.
Compared to finding a way to eliminate us, letting us live is of the highest value to the empire,"
The Hall family's family minister said, "The entire Hall family is in Yalong City, and 70% of our industries are here."
"How much of the total revenue does the Hall family need to pay in taxes each year?"
Ian asked.
"Usually 10% to 20%,"
The family minister replied.
"The Hall family only needs to pay a maximum of 20% of the revenue to be sufficient to fill the entire treasury.
The Frank family let the Hall family go before because they felt that the remaining 80% would sooner or later belong to the Frank family, but now,
The Hall family's contract is terminated, and Dorothy has not yet married Augustus.
With the Frank family's personality, will they really let the Hall family continue to develop?"
Ian retorted.
The Hall family's family ministers were speechless for a while.
They all knew that Ian was right.
The Frank family had previously relaxed many policies for the Hall family because the Hall family was an affiliated family of the Frank family.
Now that the contract was terminated and the Hall family was independent, and Dorothy was engaged to Ian,
Those family properties would naturally not belong to the Frank family unless the Hall family was destroyed and all the property was confiscated.
"What are you hesitating about?
If the five major families are really secretly discussing to get rid of us, we should fight back."
"The Moria family is thinking too simply.
Your troops are all in the Northern Border, and our troops have also been consumed by the Azure Dragon Court.
How are we going to fight?"
"We don't need troops.
This is a duel between Blessed Artifacts and transcendent powers.
Where do we need so much cannon fodder?"
The Moria family's family ministers and Earl Hall's family ministers quarreled.
More people make it easier to have disagreements.
Ian also knew why the Hall family didn't want to rebel.
They themselves had a strong sense of belonging to the empire, and they had become accustomed to the Frank family's rule.
Ian just told everyone the imminent result.
The final decision was still in the hands of Grand Duke Moria and Earl Hall.
Whether to rebel, or to leave the Royal Capital, this place of right and wrong, or to continue to maintain the current state.
"Let's go back to the Northern Border.
We can't let the war ignite the entire empire,"
Grand Duke Moria said slowly.
The noisy banquet hall was suddenly silent.
"The Hall family will not adapt to life in the Northern Border,"
Earl Hall said, "The Azure Dragon Court is a good choice.
We can move there."
Although they didn't understand why the two strongest war knights didn't want to start a war, as family ministers,
Everyone could only choose to obey the arrangement.
Ian was not surprised by this result.
After experiencing the naval battle, the Azure Dragon Court had been destroyed twice and rebuilt twice.
If the Seven Creed Families were to riot in the Royal Capital, it would undoubtedly put tens of millions of people in the entire empire in crisis.
If you want peace, you must make concessions.
Moreover, the Moria family had more important things to do in the Northern Border.
