Everyone immediately believed it—this was Belladett’s home ground, and they had just been confused by the volcanic eruption, the white fog of the Sea of Knowledge, and the reverse flow rain of the Flowing Gold River. Even the Holy Sanctuary Mages had not been spared.
If it were the Angel family of Belladett, they indeed possessed the strength to suppress them all.
Rein and the others struggled to turn their heads, looking at Yvalin who was gazing into the distance from the railing. In the remnants of the fireworks, she watched these guests with an expressionless face, without any indication, like the owner of a house watching a play after letting the dogs out.
"Belladett..." Rein trembled all over, all thoughts of standing up, gathering magic power, casting miracles, activating Artifact Spirits—anything related to resistance—were snuffed out the moment they arose.
Only fear, shame, panic, and such emotions could linger in the depths of his heart. Even anger was fleeting, unable to become the energy for his emotions!
No sealing of magic power, no forbidding of actions, but a direct control of their thoughts from the origin!
Rein never thought that his first encounter with Belladett’s Dominion Faction would result in such a thorough defeat!
Clearly, Belladett was very dissatisfied with their actions, and had directly suppressed these invaders who intruded into their private territory using the Dominion Faction!
"You..." he chose his words carefully, unable even to speak harshly, as curses went out in his mind just as quickly as they came: "This time it was the Mercury family... trespassing into Belladett Manor without permission, I, on behalf of Mercury, offer my apologies to you, please... please forgive Miss Belladett."
Zuvendas was the same, despite being a Holy Sanctuary Mage, a leader of high position and power in his family, he could now only writhe like a caterpillar on the lawn, his eyes bulging, grinding his teeth as he said: "The Kaysree family... offers its sincerest apologies to Belladett!"
The others, as if reminded by Zuvendas’s words, apologized one after another, louder and more solemnly than the last: "I, on behalf of the Vastino family, hereby reflect deeply on our actions and remember the tolerance of Belladett, and will keep in mind the respect owed to Belladett, and we will certainly make substantial amends for the losses sustained by Belladett in the future!" "The Roland family has learned from this lesson, and is willing to pay any price to seek the friendship of Belladett, even at the cost of our entire fortune, we only ask for Belladett’s olive branch!"
The words were nice to hear, but their fierce expressions said it all—they might as well be saying, "If you have the guts, kill me now, or I’ll call for your entire family’s death once I get back."
Like the Spirit Faction, the Dominion Faction also values three elements: thoughts, will, and emotions. The control that Rein and the others experienced was ’Thought Control,’ which meant that their every thought was directly twisted and suppressed, making them unable to move even a finger, and their Technique Spirits could not receive their commands.
For themselves, this was undoubtedly a horrific and terrible experience: they could clearly feel their thoughts being plucked and crushed, as if a stir stick was churning in their brains. Hence, Rein and the others’ submission was indeed filled with genuine emotion; they simply wished to quickly escape from this humiliating state of being like puppets!
However, faced with the surrender and submission of the Holy Sanctuary Mages and the consortium families, Yvalin did not waver in the slightest; her aloofness was the blue in her hair tonight.
"Hmm, cough!" Ash coughed, signaling Liss and the others to be patient, turned, and bowed to Yvalin: "Esteemed Blue Rose, may I inquire whether you are willing to accept the apologies of these rude individuals? Or would you have us, your loyal dogs, punish their despicable acts on your behalf and ravage their dignity?"
Who is Blue Rose? You call me as if you have some special pet name for me, as if we are close, but I don’t even know you!
And it’s not me who did this, I never thought about dominating you all so drastically!
You’ve all got it wrong, the real mastermind is Igula Bokin!
Yvalin had countless things she wanted to say, but the ’Thought Control’ she was subjected to was the most thorough: not just actions, she couldn’t speak, show expressions, or even frown; her every physical response was under control, so she couldn’t even feign fainting because that ’Action Command’ was instantly erased!
She was like a monarch made a figurehead by a traitor, every gesture, every smile under the control of the traitor, while the people only saw her as a tyrant and were blind to the traitor manipulating the court!
At this very moment, what she could conjure in her heart was only the anger towards Igula and the regret for her own dullness!
She should have noticed earlier!
When Rusted Crow uttered the new doctrine of the Divine Sect as "Increase what they desire, bestow what they need," she should have realized Rusted Crow was Igula—because this very statement was at the core of Belladett’s Dominion Faction!
It was Rusted Crow who brought the Divine Sect to unprecedented heights because he had stolen the Dominion Faction’s knowledge and applied it to the management of the sect. Although Rusted Crow didn’t have the Blessing of the Angel ancestors, the gifts from the Pillar Gods probably weren’t far off!
From the very beginning, Igula never intended to betray the Funeral Ceremony!
His aim was the Dominion Faction of Belladett! Even the Gospel saw it!
But at this moment, Yvalin couldn’t help but feel deep confusion: she had verified over and over that Igula indeed had no secret conspiracies with anyone, this was purely Igula’s own action, but... how could that be?
Was he not afraid of losing the trust of his companions?