And finally, a boy with gunmetal-gray hair ran down the street, his face pale and his eyes filled with fear.


    "Hey! Orion! What''s up with him!? Should I kill him as well!?" Cy shouted up to me as I eyed the boy now mming on the gates, begging to be let in.


    "Let him in and don''t fucking touch him… The second step of the n hasmenced," I muttered with a smile.


    As soon as Cy let the boy in, he came rushing toward me and then ced his hands on his knees to catch his breath.


    "What''s wrong? Did something happen?" I asked as I stepped down and made sure to try andfort this fragile boy as much as possible so our rtionship could only further.


    "Th-They''re after me. The men from the Humblecrest family… Please… please let me stay here for a bit, man. I''m struggling out here without any real backbone," Orme requested, but I would''ve rather liked to see him beg.


    Well, you can''t have everything.


    "It''s alright, man. Come on in and tell me everything," I said before smiling back at Cy, who just rolled his eyes.


    Once we all gathered at the dinner table and gave Orme a ss of water, he began to spew a bunch ofints that I never needed to hear.


    We all thought it wouldn''t end until, finally, he changed the subject to something serious.


    "M-My father is reaching out to other families outside As. This has only put us in deeper trouble because of the debt we ce on ourselves with each request… FUCK! IF I WAS THE FUCKING HEAD, I COULD''VE DONE THIS WITHOUT ANYTHING ELSE!" Orme cursed at the top of his lungs before mming the table with his fists.


    Despite knowing the Bonebloom family and the Wony family are currently at war, I, the head, and Orme still retain a rtionship because of the information I''ve been feeding them.


    They still think I''m a spy for this family, and even though some of the information is precious and could severely hurt the Wony family… why would I care?


    That''s not my family, right?


    I may care about Be, and my kindness towards her is unimaginable, but that doesn''t extend even a single finger towards the Wony family.


    They could die for all I care… They''re just the queen of my chessboard while I am the king.


    "Then, do you want to be the head of the family? We could help you," I suggested, and the others quickly caught on.


    "We''re also traitors of the Wony family. We could care less about what happens to them,"


    And even Be, who was the future head, seemed to actually be genuine, which got a few cogs in my head to slowly turn even faster than before.


    Orme looked back and forth at all of us, debating whether listening to us was a good idea since the battle of the mind has been something that has dominated this war already.


    Though… the little boy wasn''t that intelligent.


    "Come on. You won''t have anything to lose. I mean, you hate the head of the Bonebloom family, don''t you?"


    Orme looked up and down at the table this time,rge beads of sweat rolling down his face and drenching the cor of his shirt.


    "[Join Us]," I said with the influence of my newly acquired tongue.


    A searing pain overcame my chest, and I could barely keep a straight face as Orme continued to think over his answer.


    Using the tongue like this has terrible bacsh if the person in front of me doesn''t have even the slightest bit of remorse towards me… but they''re already partly under my control, so I can kind of manipte them even further.


    "Fine… I''ll join you, but if I ever feel something is off, I''ll leave,"


    "Good, now do you know the weakness of the Bonebloom head?" I asked while covering my mouth as blood seeped from the flesh of my tongue.


    "Are you alright?"


    "Yeah, just feeling a bit feverish from the stress of this war. It''s really taking a toll on everybody," I muttered.


    "Tell me about it," Cy added while slumping down into his chair, doing a good act at faking exhaustion.


    "Seems I wasn''t the only one," Orme sighed with a bit of a content smile, and at this moment, I knew we had himpletely under our thumb.


    …


    (Luna POV)


    "Huff… huff… huff… huff… Seems the information was fake," I chuckled as the Bonebloom head reached for my throat and slowly lifted my body up with just his pure strength.


    I struggled and kicked against him, but the grip on my neck was too strong.


    My airway was immediately cut off, and my throat had been crushed to pieces, only left to linger within my neck as I was lifted up into the ceiling.


    BAM


    He then tossed me against the ground, a move he should''ve never made.


    "NOW!" I shouted, and all of our limp bodies disappeared into pink smoke, serving as a smoke screen as we quickly attempted to escape.


    But, the head was way too fast and even caught up to us.


    "Seems Orion was right. You all really dide and were oh so very weak," The head muttered, causing all of us to nce at each other before three swords rammed through our backs, piercing straight through our stomachs.


    "What… What are you talking about?" I muttered as the man stood above us, his cold eyes ring down on us.


    "Oh, were you not aware of the traitor in your circle… how pitiful… I should reward that boy for his efforts. Getting all of you on his side,"


    [Mystical Moon Illusion]


    "Huff… huff… huff… huff… huff… huff… We escaped… we actually managed to escape an A-rank level adventurer," Aisa muttered as we ran as fast as we could down the street, snaking between buildings in case anybody was following us.


    We soon felt that we were far enough from the mansion to actually take a break, so we made our way up the nearest building and copsed on the rooftop.


    "Shit… She''s fainting, and her pulse is dwindling! Findir! Get the-"


    And suddenly, my hearing disappeared as my vision slowly faded into darkness.