"Oh? Did Rory kill that level 5 Acolyte?" Vicente asked with interest, a twinkle in his eyes quite different from the worried look of a few seconds ago.
"Yes, the guy was badly injured. He seemed to have had several parts of his body eaten by some kind of beast. On top of that, he could barely walk, and his mana was so low that we could threaten his life even without our weapons." One of those guys explained how it had been possible to kill the leader of Defiant Tyranny, even though there was a huge difference between them.
The current weapons of Vice and his people could only threaten level 4 Acolytes if they used good strategies and had surprise on their side. Otherwise, this group's weapons could threaten only level 3 or lower-level Acolytes.
However, the characteristics of magicians' bodies ranged!
Stamina was at its peak when a magician's mana was at its highest and at its lowest when a magician was exhausted.
Not only that, a level 2 Acolyte would be more resilient than a level 1 Acolyte when both were exhausted.
One's permanent characteristics also improved as one became stronger and reached higher magic levels.
However, the higher the level, the closer one was to the top of the exponential curve. But the reverse was also true! At lower levels, there would be little difference between the powers. During exhaustion, with extreme injuries, even someone at the end of the 2nd stage could be vulnerable to 1st-stage magicians.
For this very reason, Vicente's weapons could end the lives of magicians much stronger than their limit because while the characteristics of the bullets were always constant, the qualities of their targets could vary greatly depending on the circumstances.
Vicente had learned this at the Academy of Stars and had no trouble understanding how Rory had killed Ryker.
"Excellent! With the death of Defiant Tyranny's leader, that faction will fall in a matter of hours. The same will happen with the bounty on my head!" Vice said with a smile, satisfied with what had happened to his enemy.
Without that bounty, the last thing that could stop Cesar from moving freely around the city would be the army that was against him.
But not having to worry about assassins was a good thing!
'Defiant Tyranny's supporters need a new group to pay them fees...' Vicente smiled at this thought.
The point of allowing a group like Defiant Tyranny to exist was to create a competitor to the Scarlet Syndicate and a fee-payer for noble houses and kingdom officials, such as soldiers and members of the Martial Court.
His disappearance would make room for the Scarlet Syndicate to grow, but it would also increase the need for a new group to emerge.
Considering the many threats he had made recently, Vicente felt he could use this to steer these people in a new direction.
'If they agree to ally with me, we can pacify the city, maintain the local balance of power, and make gains for all sides.' He clenched his fists, eager to get down to business.
As a mafioso, Vicente was perfectly open to resolving a complicated situation with a deal. Sometimes, problems had to be solved with massacres and the extermination of entire families. But these were serious actions that shouldn't be considered until things reached their limits.
Don Cesar had often shaken hands with his enemies on Earth. If it weren't for his ability to negotiate and sit around the same table with his opponents, he wouldn't have even reached the top with his family, one of the most influential in his country.
Vicente knew Cesar's history and saw no problem in sitting at the same table with the nobles who had supported his enemies.
He ordered his men. "Very well, I have new plans for this city. First, we must regain what we lost the night before and expand into the territory of the Defiant Tyranny.
Let's put the Symons family problem aside for the moment and concentrate on occupying the space left by the Defiant Tyranny.
Once we have men in place, it will be time for me to negotiate the support of the local nobility and solidify our family's position by resolving our problem with the army and the Martial Court."
"That..."
"Boss, won't that go against your agreement with Miss Staples?"
Vicente laughed and said. "Shelby wants chaos for the nobles, so it would be terrible for me to stabilize the situation in Millfall. But don't think it will happen in a day or two. Before we reach the culmination of this plan, there will be blood in the streets."
The men there shivered as they listened to their leader, understanding that there were no eternal enemies or allies.
"Tell the rest of the family about this. I want the group to focus on this as soon as possible."
"Yes, boss!"
...
Meanwhile, Rory was near his group's headquarters, taking over the reins of the Mazzanti family while Cesar could still not show himself in public.
After separating his group at dawn, he arrived at their headquarters to find the place surrounded by soldiers and badly damaged.
While he and his men kept an eye on the soldiers, they discovered what had happened to the people who had been there the night before.
Of the more than 30 people who had been there last night, 7 had died at the hands of assassins and other enemies who had attacked them before the royal soldiers entered the place in search of Vicente.
Most survivors had been injured, and only a group of five had escaped unharmed.
But between the injured and the uninjured, all the Acolytes in the group had been arrested by the royal forces, and only the Apprentices had escaped the worst and were free.
Realizing this after dozens of minutes of observation, Rory was worried sick when he rejoined his men.
"Deputy, the situation of the group is terrible. How are we supposed to maintain our operations if we don't have our most important men?" One of the men beside Rory asked.
"First, let's focus on finding the group's Apprentices. They're freed and must have gone to a safe place in town where we can find them." Rory said.
Even without their Acolytes, the Mazzanti family could still be considered very strong, for with Vicente's upgraded weapons, the Senior Apprentices had abilities similar to those of those Acolytes!
"If we find them and our Don finishes upgrading our weapons, we'll have enough strength to continue our operations."
"But how, deputy? Most of our group's weapons and items have been confiscated by the army." One of the men at Rory's side reminded the young man of this fact.
"And that's a problem? If they don't return them for good, we'll steal our weapons!"
