'Blood Knights? That's the best you could come up with' Grimiore chuckled

'Damn it, Do you have a better one' Hal retorted

'Actually, I do'

'Then share it' Hal smirked

'I don't want to'

Hal snorted 'it's not that you don't want to, it's that you can't'

'Whatever, master of nomenclature'

Infiltrating the two Estates would not be as difficult as it would have been normally, the rumor about the coup coupled with the display of the Plebeian Family representatives at the meeting had alerted the Great Families and they were now recruiting to bolster their forces in case of all out war.

This was of course a dangerous endeavor, one that opportunists such as Hal would be quick to take advantage of, but it was a risk they were ready to take as long as they kept the recruits from sensitive positions and information.

As Hal watched his Blood Knights converge for planning and shallow strategizing, he smiled, turned {Invisible} and left the mansion.

He was confident they would be fine. While as semi-fiends they had no access to Bloodline Armaments, the fiendish bloodline and bloodcurdling presence should be enough to get them out of most jams. And if a situation they could not handle came about, he would be on standby.

...

Meanwhile...

*Bang!*

Melinda spiraled away from the imprint in an attempt to escape the range of it's attacks. It hit a wall in the courtyard causing it to shatter. However barely a blink of the eye later the wall reconstructed, looking as though it had never been destroyed.

This had been happening since their battle began. Because the whole space was merely in her mind, nothing could truly be destroyed, and so far the same went for this annoying imprint.

"I told you sweetheart" The imprint smiled "I'm here to stay"

Melinda gritted her teeth as she could feel the imprint reinforcing the suppression while also successfully fending her off. In here, her body felt no strain but same could not be said of her mind as her form was literally a manifestation of her will.

Also in here she could not make use of cosmic attacks or skills but she could augment herself limitlessly, which meant that in her mind, She was god.

Unfortunately the imprint could do the same and was returning her attacks with same or even more intensity, so till then they remained at a stalemate.

The more Melinda studied the situation, the more hopeless it seemed.

Leaping forward with her fist outstretched, she struck a blow at the imprint who dodged and retaliated in kind. Then soon they were spinning off into every part of the courtyard as they continued to exchange blows and Melinda in turn continued to feel the mental strain.

Then as all seemed bleak, Melinda's head suddenly snapped up as she regarded the smiling imprint

"My father placed you in my mind yes?"

"That's true" The imprint replied with a nod

"But he isn't here and while he can sense you, he is not the one providing the energy for your sustainence, is he?" Melinda asked in a musing voice

"Where are you going with this?" The imprint narrowed it's eyes as it watched Melinda closely. Something did not feel right

"It seems to me that you are a parasite. Feeding off of my mental health and using it to sustain yourself for the purpose of reinforcing the suppression" At this point, Melinda no longer seemed to be talking to the imprint, she seemed to just be thinking aloud.

Now the imprint's eyes were reduced to slits, but Melinda did not seem to notice

"In here, nothing can be truly destroyed because my mental health remains strong. Same goes for you"

"If you're just going to keep talking to yourself, then get out of here and talk to yourself on the outside" The imprint snarled

Melinda looked and smiled "oh I'm sorry, it just occurred to me that I am the reason this whole place still stands" she said as she gestured towards the whole courtyard that was presently the representation of her mind

"So what?" The imprint still seemed confused

"So..." Melinda smiled and lifted a fist...

Bam!

...and struck into her mind section.

Despite the fact that it was self inflicted, the punch sent far to the other side of the courtyard.

As she lay on the ground, she could feel that her self inflicted pain had sapped her mental strength. Even as pain wracked her all over, she ignored it and instead surveyed the courtyard.

Just as she had suspected. the ground was cracked, so was the wall. The damages also were not fixing themselves as before, but all that gave her no satisfaction, it was the imprint's shocked look and crack lined face that made her so happy.

"You bitch, what are you doing?" It growled

"*gasp* 'Daddy'! Language" Melinda smirked while she stood and once again struck a fist into her ribs and the cracks in the courtyard and on the imprint intensified.

*Bam* *Bam* *Bam*

Melinda continued to hit herself and her mental health continued getting weaker.

"Stop hitting yourself!"

*Bam*

"Stop it!"

*Bam*

"Melinda, listen to your father and stop hitting yourself!"

*Bam*

"I order you to stop!"

*Bam*

"Please, stop!"

But Melinda did not.

"If you continue you will die" The imprint gasped while holding her hands out to placate her

"Pfft. No I won't" Melinda shook her head while trying to stifle a chuckle even as the pain continued to intensify

The truth was, she could die and she knew it.

She would have to time her final attack perfectly or she could go down with the ship (Ship in this case being the imprint).

The self battering continued and soon, her mental health was close to total collapse.

The imprint seemed to have resigned to fate and no longer made an attempt to defend itself by trying to stop Melinda from hitting herself. It was now convinced that Melinda was insane and she was ready to sacrifice her mind all for it's destruction.

That was a mistake.

The instance it gave up and was too weak to muster any resistance, Melinda stopped the self-punishment and dashed forward to strike it in it's core.

This was something that she could never do without first weakening the imprint. It was something she could never do unless it let it's guard down. And finally it was something she could never do if the imprint hadn't been a mere imitation of her father and lacked his vigilance.

*Bang*

From the point she struck, more crack lines spread and before long, it imploded into gold specks of light before Melinda's mind crumbled as an aftermath of her actions.

-puchi-

Outside, right where she sat crosslegged in cultivation, Melinda spat blood and fell into the arms of a worried Hal.

He had only just arrived at the mansion and after a quick scan with Astral perception, he was shocked to find Melinda's mental strength fluctuating. A more thorough scan showed that it was close to collapse.

The moment he entered into her room, he believed himself to be too late because she spat out blood and fell backwards into his waiting arms, her breathing was irregular and her heart rate moving faster than he could have thought possible

'What caused this?' He asked Grimiore but mostly himself as he scanned her body with astral perception, only to realize she had barely pulled through and further damage would have put her in a vegetative state.

'It's Self inflicted' Grimiore said and Hal nodded silently. He could see no other cause of her present state other than herself.

He began to inject cosmic Energy into her to help further the healing that had already begun. Then he laid her down.

'She'll be unconscious for a few days at the very least' Hal sighed

Melinda lay as though asleep, her breathing and heartbeat now back to normal.

'She'll be alright' Grimiore told him

'I know' Hal said as he could sense that even unconscious, Melinda continued to absorb Cosmic Energy and her pearl rapidly got stronger.

***

UNKNOWN LOCATION...

Two men stood aide by side on a balcony, There was not much difference in their looks, they looked alike, except for what could be called 'deliberate mistakes'.

One was dark haired while the other was brown haired, however hair color aside, the two were obviously brothers, both having light Gold eyes.

"*sigh* She did it" Said the Dark haired man who looked exactly like the imprint

"Oh, How could she?" Asked his slightly taller brown haired brother

"Not sure, but I felt it the instant it was gone"

"Okay. Then it's time"

"*sigh" Fine, send an Envoy" The dark haired man sighed in resignation and turned towards his brother, nailing him with his light Gold eyes "Just know that I will take no responsibility for what happens to your 'envoy'. Neither will she"

The brown haired man chuckled "Don't worry, I'll make sure the envoy is capable"

***

Hal stood outside of Horst manor with a slight feeling of trepidation but Amelia gripped his arm tight and pulled him closer

"Come on, let's get this over with" she said

Hal nodded in agreement and walked with her towards the manor.

As soon as they were in the lounge, a tall man with brown hair walked briskly towards the two

"Dad, this is Hal" Amelia said once she saw him and the man paused

Not sure what to do as Ford Horst stared at him, Hal simply smiled slightly and kept his posture calm.

The silence continued before Ford walked forward...and grabbed Hal's hands

"Hal Payne, oh I have wanted to meet you for a long time. I'm a big fan of your work" he shook Hal's hand with an air of a man meeting the King.

Hal blinked

'What the hell is going on?'