A long table built for sixteen held elders and men of standing, all draped in black robes with the kind of elegance that came from old money and older grudges.
At the head sat a blind elder in red, flanked by the Kugo Clan's Four Wings—three of them now, the fourth conspicuously absent. The air in the room carried that absence like a weight, thick and choking.
The remaining Wings drew most of the attention in the room, and it wasn't hard to understand why.
Haste, the leader and the most compassionate of them, stood with his eyes drenched in tears, making no effort to conceal it. Isa and Kaito were no longer composed.
Mike had been the youngest among them, and now he was gone. The mourning was raw, visible, and entirely warranted. But the clan had a decision to make. They couldn't let him die for nothing.
"What is your opinion, Clan Leader? This matter cannot be ignored. Anyone capable of facing Mike is not an opponent to be taken lightly."
