The Death Generals reached the depths of the clan, sensing a powerful aura of death around them. However, as they stepped downstairs, even they were slightly surprised.
They could see the stairs being covered in blood. Even some splashes of blood could be seen in the walls.
Walking down the stairs, one of the Death Generals noticed a finger lying near the corner of the stairs. The finger was very small and didn't appear to belong to an adult. If anything, it seemed to belong to a little child.
Even the Death Generals felt slightly disgusted. However, they had seen many such scenes. After only a brief glance, they kept going down.
After reaching the end of the stairs, they were even more stunned. In the middle of the hall, there was a statue of a strange creature who had six arms and three heads.
The person in the statue seemed to have canine-like teeths, that were covered in blood. However, what was even more surprising was that all around the statue, fresh bodies of little children were littered around, all of them being dead.
Moreover, there were also cells in the distance, which were filled with skeletons that appeared to be there for thousands of years. There appeared to be tens of thousands of the skeletons, all belonging to children.
"This clan... Just what was it trying to do? How can they be so disgusting?" one of the two Generals frowned.
He raised his hand, casting a dark flame that couldn't be extinguished, as if intending to burn this entire place straight to hell.
The General was the Ancestor of Raphael, and was quite wide.
Since Karyk was pretending to be a son of this clan, it was going to be troublesome for the time being if this truth was exposed.
After casting a fire that could burn anything, both the Generals left the clan together, disappearing into the shadows.
The entire clan burned down to ashes leaving nothing in its place. However, if the Generals were here, they would've been stunned.
The strange statue in the basement was still completely intact, even as it was constantly burned by the invincible flames. This was the only taking that was left intact in the entire clan premise.
However, the blood on the teeths of the statue had disappeared. At the same time, something seemed different about it. Unfortunately, it was impossible to put a finger on what.
****
After two long hours, the doors of the meeting room finally opened and Karyk stepped out. Behind him, the Elders also left the hall. All of them appeared somewhat pleased, as if the discussion had gone well.
"From now on, Gabriel will stay with us. Assign a room on the first floor to him." The Family Head told the Head Butler of the house, before leaving. There were some more things he had to take care of, especially related to Gabriel's demands that he had placed forth during the negotiations.
The Family Head of the Stein Clan didn't understand why Gabriel wanted the information about the Goddess of Light, and everyone else who was close to the Northern General.
However, he didn't pry the young man's matters. In any case, their clan was also against the King of the Upper Realm and the four Generals who were the cause behind their Downfall.
Also, the more he talked to Gabriel in the meeting, the more he realized that Gabriel wasn't ordinary. In some regards, his understanding of the situation and his knowledge was even better than him after all!
The Family Head of the Stein Clan found himself to be quite impressed. Moreover, he had high hopes that Gabriel wasn't going to be bought by the other clans since he also hated the General. All other clans were puppets of the Northern General after all.
So the two of them were natural allies. He was once again hopeful that they could retrieve the legacy and revive their clan. However, he didn't dream too high yet, since things were easier said than done.
All the Elders also got back to their work, looking quite pleased. Moreover, none of the Elders appeared to be faking it! They truly loved the Family and wanted revenge! They wanted nothing more than to see their clan rise to the same old heights after recovering the legacy!
The Head Butler of the Clan escorted him to the new room that was assigned to him. However, before he could do much, Ulesis stopped him, telling him that she was going to take care of it.
Leaving the Butler behind, she held Gabriel's hands and took him upstairs to show him the best available room on the first floor.
"You scared me when you started fighting there. Fortunately, things turned out well in the end." As she walked next to Gabriel, she couldn't help but think back to that tense moment where everyone was on the verge of a war.
"There was nothing to be scared of. I knew your father wouldn't move. As a family head, he had to worry more about the family than about his own feelings," Gabriel responded, not showing much reaction. "As soon as I got a hold of his family, he could do nothing. Either he could watch me leave, or he could negotiate. And he did the latter."
"Did you plan everything?" Ulesis asked.
However, Gabriel didn't answer. Instead, he asked a question of his own. "Why did your founder leave his legacy in a place where even you can't retrieve it easily?"
"He didn't leave that legacy there. If anything, he didn't even have the time to leave behind any legacy..." Ulesis sighed.
"Then that Legacy...?" Gabriel frowned.
"That's the original source of the Legacy. Even he learned everything he knew at that place. No one knows when shadow gardens appeared, or where that legacy came from. However, if we want to gain the knowledge that our founder had, we can only go directly to the source." The girl answered.
"Directly to the source huh..." Gabriel thought of something, but didn't comment much.
