The arrival of the god caused several problems.
The god destroyed the isolation barrier, so the situation in the Blood Night Gang became apparent to all capital. This level of destruction was enough to attract the attention of a few powerhouses.
Fortunately, the Blood Night Gang's base was the only building destroyed during the fight, so it still can be passed as permissible damage.
The problem was the giant hand in the sky. All the powerful people in the capital must have noticed the presence of a divine being, in other words, all of them knew that something important enough to warrant the apparition of a god happened here.
Not even five seconds after the god left, I could feel several powerful presences flying towards here, plus another god looking towards this place.
I sighed. Snapping my fingers, a magic circle appeared around each man of Red Skull. The next second, each one of them was teleported to the headquarters.
Similarly, I also left one second later.
I don't wish to face a god yet. Gods, although limited by their divine concepts, are very powerful. Some of them comparable to immortals.
Of course, I don't fear them, but fighting against one of them right now is a bad idea. Not only it will attract the attention of many powerful people, but I risk revealing my true identity. And once my identity is discovered, more than one person will attack me.
Mainly the other gods and the people on the emperor's side. I'm sure that even the three big families will try to get rid of me.
Nobody will allow someone like me, who can easily threaten their power.
Even then, I don't fear them. I'm confident in surviving even if all of them join hands against me. I can even kill a few of them before escaping.
But protecting the people around me under those circumstances is impossible even for me.
Most probably, they will be used as bait to fish me out or killed to rile me out and force me to attack. Neither option is something good.
Protecting someone is much harder than killing someone.
When I appeared in the headquarters, the men of Red Skull looked at me with gazes of worship and admiration.
Even although most of them were unable to witness the battle between me and the men of the three families, simply the shockwaves of our clash were more than enough to give them an idea about my true strength.
Moreover, judging for my condition, it's obvious that I was the winner.
But contrary to them, Marana had a grave expression.
"Everybody, silence!" Marana shouted.
When the men stopped speaking, she took a deep breath and put on a serious face. "Nobody of you will talk about what happened tonight, understood? Especially about leader's battle. If someone asks you, you can tell them everything, but never talk about leader's battle. Just say that you were unable to see anything."
"... But boss, they will know it's a lie." A random gang member said.
"Yes." Replied Marana. "But it will give us more time to make preparations for our next attack."
The gang members looked at each other before nodding. I also made sure of putting a suggestion on their minds to stop them from speaking. Just to be safe.
"Very well. You can disperse now! Go and celebrate our victory!"
"""YEEEEEAHHHHHH!!!!""" The men raised their hands a shouted excitedly. In seconds, all of them had gone to celebrate.
Today's battle was a perfect victory for the Red Skull Gang. Their casualties were minimal, but the results they got were overwhelming. They were now the gang in control of the east of the city!
But contrary to them, Marana's expression was ugly. She looked at me and furrowed her brows.
"Leader, we need to talk."
I raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Of course."
I then led Marana to my office. Akilah, Raven, Cline, and Elene followed after us.
When we were inside, Marana looked at me coldly.
"Explain, what are you planning?"
"You look angry." I smiled. "Did something bad happen?"
"Something bad? Something bad!? We were attacked by eight peak powerhouses! Are you asking me why I'm angry?"
"Calm down." I waved my hand calmly. "I beat them back. What is the problem?"
Marana gritted her teeth. "I heard your conversation with them."
"Oh?"
"The Ferret, the Riea, and the Carmell family. I heard everything! Even when you spoke about their plans to rebel! Tell me, is that not enough reason to be worried!? Dammit, we offended the three big families and besides know about their biggest secret! They will not rest until killing us!"
I seated in a chair and observed Marana leisurely. When she finished speaking, I crossed my arms.
"So?"
"So!? We are going to die!"
"Don't you trust me? Tell me, do you think they dare to offend us after I showed them strength powerful enough to kill eight twelfth-layer practitioners singlehandedly?"
Marana fell silent.
"Don't worry. At least for a while, they will not go against you." I smiled.
Marana looked at me fixedly and then heaved a sigh.
"Whatever. We are already deep in the water anyway."
"That is the attitude." I praised her.
Marana then took a deep breath and asked again.
"Then, what is your plan? Why did you need to take control of the capital's underground?"
I smirked towards Marana. "Tell me what you think."
Marana lowered her head. She circled around the office while thinking about my goals.
"... You are also supporting a faction, right?"
"Bingo! What else."
"... It's neither the crown prince nor the three big families. The church? No, the church has never interfered in political affairs... Could it be... Prince Claus? I heard he has a very powerful master. Is it you?"
Whoa, I'm impressed.
"Close, but you are wrong. Prince Claus is not the one that wants to be the emperor."
"He is not? Impossible. Prince Bryan is useless, and the other factions are too weak to fight for the throne... Could it be another kingdom?"
"Nope." I shook my head. "It's princess Dina."
"... Huh?"
"We are supporting princess Dina as the next emperor."
Marana was stunned. "B-But, she is a woman!"
"And?"
Marana was stunned. After a few seconds, she force some words out of her mouth.
"... You are crazy."
"Hahaha, thank you very much." I then looked at the other people in the room that were hearing our conversation with stupefied expressions. "Does any of you have a question?"
None of them was able to speak. The information they just heard was enough to overwhelm them.
Only Raven seemed relatively normal, obviously completely uninterested in the topic.
I tapped the table twice to attract their attention.
"Okay, now that you know my goal, you need to start working towards it. Marana, from tomorrow onwards, the Red Skull Gang focus is getting complete control of the east of the city. You will also create an information network spread through all the capital. We need to know what will happen, when it will happen, and how it will happen.
"Also, do remember to continue the training and send some men to protect Prince Claus's business. Just mention that you are a friend of the prince and the person in charge will accommodate you."
"I understand." Marana nodded.
"Very well, you are dismissed for today."
Having said it, I confirmed that Elene accepted the suggestion to stay here for a while, and after that, I left.
...