Hugart and his lackeys had left the ruins 5 days before the barrier was meant to close. Hugart didn't help Rebecca arrange the wedding decorations but he began to put in a particular interest into who would be there and the various seating arrangements. Seeing the prince be interested in their marriage, Rebecca became even more smitten than she already was. She began to spill everything she knew about Lucius to Hugart, and under only a little questioning she told him all about her father too. Hugart had only asked harmless questions that seemingly any good son-in-law should be interested in. Such as : What are his favourite foods? What are his favourite drinks? What would he like as a present? and so on. These questions could of course be used in a harmful manor and as smart as Rebecca was, she obviously saw through the princes questions but she simply didn't care. Rebecca had already forsaken her father completely!
To begin with Hugart had arranged a meeting between him, his uncle Jamal, the three Colonels and their sons, along with the royal chefs and such who would be cooking and serving at the wedding. They met and discussed Yatir's plan and developed it further, flattening out the rough edges and destroying any chances of failure. The plan was quite simple, but simple was better, as if they did enact a complicated and contrived plan, there would be more chance of things going wrong so they opted for a simpler, more practical plan. The wedding was pushed forward by a bit and it would start a week and a half after the closing of the barrier. They weren't concerned about Lucius joining Jacks side and they instead encouraged it so they could get their revenge on him in the most brutal manor. Hugart had planned out in his head how he would torture Lucius much more than he planned out how to end the White family. The three Colonels were the same degenerate trash as the prince and the other royals. They were jealous of Jack and how much power he had and the loyalty he commanded. They were petty and irrational, saying that he had used some decrepit and dishonourable means to attain his status and glory to justify their horrific actions but deep within their hearts, they all knew he was an honest man while they were evil scum. This didn't make them hesitate at all and instead made them even more pissed as they blamed him within their hearts for being an upright and honest man. These villains simply could not be pleased!
The time for the barrier to close was nearing as most of the youths who had entered had already left and began to return home or to work with their spoils. Some of them however, stayed in the capital as they were going to be attending the royal wedding with their fathers. These were mostly the sons of Lieutenant Colonels that followed the three Colonels and were thus just as corrupt and dishonest. The long years of service in the army under these Colonels had already warped them all into greedy and sneaky people who wouldn't hesitate to slaughter entire villages just for a few extra gold coins. They had all been brought up by bad people and it could therefore be argued that these people weren't of blame but their upbringing and parents were. This could go on and on if you blamed their parents and then their grand parents and so on and so forth but ultimately it could be bottled down to the disgustingness of human nature. Just because that was the only way they knew how to be and it was others' fault in their minds, it couldn't exempt them from the atrocities they had caused when they subjugated kingdoms and such under the iron thumb of the Gold Kingdom. After all, even in such an environment, Jack and the White Wolfs and his personal army were all good men. They didn't commit arson, pillaging, massacres, or mass rape and slavery. They were good men who cared about others. In the end though, there weren't many good men in this world.
When Lucius didn't emerge even after the barrier was re-erected, the Whites had felt anxious at first but after remembering his strength and resources they stopped worrying and focused on the wedding. They knew that even if he couldn't escape he could probably just leave the world entirely and then come back later so it was better for them to focus on the task at hand instead. The wedding preparations were slowly progressing as Rebecca was a perfectionist who had been dreaming about this day since the day she knew what marriage was. She wasn't going to be satisfied with a half assed, rushed ceremony that didn't measure up to her beauty or talent. She was the best and thus her wedding would be the best too. After a week since the barrier closed, most of the people who were going to attend had already arrived. The venue was set and the tables arranged. They were only now waiting on the ingredients for the feast. As the royal wedding of the future king and queen, the feast was a customary ceremony that should show the wealth and status of the Gold clan. They had been tracking down tier 1 high rank beasts since a year back and although they had amassed enough to feed the guests, they would need to serve tier 1 peak rank beast meat to the royal couple to show their future status. The beast had already been found but it was taking a while to kill it. The beast was as strong as a peak (rank 9) Spirit Condenser and thus required the teamwork of Jamal, Jack and the three Colonels to hunt. The Major General, Hugart's father, Jalal Gold, almost never left his private palace and wouldn't be attending the wedding either. He was a recluse and highly illusive. It was such that only he lived in the rumoured fully gold palace while Hugart and Jamal lived in their own palaces that were further out. Furthermore, it was a known fact that Hugart's mother had died during child birth and thus only the Brigadier General Jamal would be attending as a senior member of the Gold Family. It was also for this reason that Jalal wouldn't help with hunting down the beast even though he had already broken through to the Elemental Ascension realm.
A few days later, the beast had been slain and the wedding had been started. The Gold Kingdoms royal wedding would be quite a long and tedious endeavour. Hugart would meet Rebecca at the beginning of the city, they would sit on a palanquin that would be carried by some strong servants. They would tour the city slowly and receive blessing and gifts from each family, each person of importance and each business within Golden Heart and then finally arrive at the venue to be wed. It was only then that the royal couple could commence the rituals and vows. The tour of the city took three days before they arrived at the wedding venue. Rebecca had enjoyed the fawning gazes and the lavish gifts and while Hugart would have normally enjoyed it too, his mind was preoccupied with the plan that he was enacting right now. They had reached the wedding venue on a Friday at 9 AM, they began the ceremonies which took 4 hours and it turned to 1 PM within a blink of an eye. It was at this time that the feast would begin.
"Today, I wedded the most beautiful girl in this world. Her face is more tender than an angels tear, her body more heavenly than the worldly secrets that surround us, her voice as tender as the chimes of the anklet of the Goddess of Love, her demeanour as gentle as a unicorns endless mane. I have waited years for this day and I can only give thanks to the great and honourable Jack White for agreeing to let me marry his little angel. Everybody! To Jack White!"
Before the feast started Hugart got up to give a speech and then toasted to his new father-in-law. Most of the guests roared out a toast to Jack as they had no idea of the plan. They had been invited only since Hugart and the rest knew they could control these people and even if they started a massacre here, they wouldn't dare to say anything about it!
After the toasts and the atmosphere had settled down, the waiters had brought out the first course of the meal. They began with a pre-meal snack, something to down quickly while the waiters brought out the heavy load that was the main course. The main course was various platters of grilled magic beasts meat and carried immense energies and such. Although it had been purified by the royal Alchemist, it wasn't nearly as good as the meat that Lucius had purified and prepared. The pre-meal snack was a supplement that would aid in digestion of these violent energies. They all began eating but before this, Hugart got up and left with Rebecca. As per tradition, they would have to have to first begin their marriage before eating the tier 1 peak rank beast meat.
They left and headed straight for the Royale Suite. Hugart was whispering sweet nothing in Rebecca's ear as she blushed and smiled dreamily at his words. Hugart had a deeply enamoured smile of lust and longing for her body and couldn't wait to reach the room so he began to strip her and himself before they had even reached the suite. Rebecca smiled, reached out and began to kiss him passionately. Within 5 minutes they had reached the suite but by that point they were already stark naked. Hugart through her on the bed and began ravaging her.
It was an unspoken tradition of measuring a kings gusto and strength by measuring how long they took to return from their 'first meeting', if you will. Since both Hugart and Rebecca were cultivators, they could go on for days theoretically, but Rebecca had a weak body for someone of her stage and Hugart was concentrating of his yin devouring technique, so by the hour mark, Rebecca had already given up and collapsed on the bed. This was the chance that Hugart was waiting for, as the yin devouring technique required for the woman to completely submit before their cultivation could be extracted. Once Rebecca collapsed down, Hugart got stronger and stronger as he pounded her in while focusing his mind on the qi that he had transmitted into Rebecca's body imperceptibly, using his lower arm. The signal for him to withdraw all of her cultivation would be at the point of her greatest climax, in other words, the point were she completely released the control she had over her body. After 2 minutes of pounding her out, he climaxed which caused the same in her. As his mind blanked out from the pleasure, the yin devouring technique absorbed all of her cultivation in one direct go. Rebecca was sheltered and pampered from young and had never forced her cultivation, she used many precious materials and treasures and thus her cultivation was highly pure for someone of a tier 1 low grade world. Hugart had absorbed her everything in one straight shot while Rebecca had already fainted.
While Hugart was enjoying his time with his new wife, the plan was being enacted. Jack had been given specially prepared delicacies that were his favourite and he had began to assume that Rebecca had arranged these dishes especially to his taste. He began to feel slightly happier and began thinking that his relationship with his daughter that he thought had already deteriorated too far, could still be salvaged.
The seating arrangement was based to mimic the real life situation. The royal family had the central part of the hall, the Whites the west, the Reds the north, the Blues the south and the Greens the East. The three Colonels and Hugart had to allow Jack to bring in his high levelled subordinates to show fairness so each of the four sides had the high ranked people of each section seated on separate, further back, tables. Behind the high officials were the low officials and then the miscellaneous officials who didn't belong to a faction, such as ministers of rations, uniform and such. After they had all eaten their fill of the main course, the desserts were brought out. These too were accustomed to the likings of not only Jack but also the other White warriors. The main course was more generalised but these desserts were completely personalised. Jack smiled brightly and thought his daughter had finally learnt some filial piety and he enjoyed the fact that his daughter had actually been listening to him and his people all these years. It was at this time that Johnny, who had eaten a little too much ran out of the hall to go to the toilet. Jamal and the three Colonels watched him leave but they didn't really care if a 12 year old boy left. His entire family would be dead soon anyway and then he wouldn't be able to escape even if he tried.
Within 5 minutes of eating the desserts the first anomaly happened, the lowest level White official keeled over in pain! He began to choke and squirm, trying to get someone to help him but before the person next to him could do anything, his eyes rolled back and he collapsed. He was dead! There was poison in the desserts! Everyone in the White camp immediately spat the desserts out of their mouths but before they could do that another man had the same symptoms and dropped dead the next second. They got up and pulled out their weapons shouting at those in the hall in a raged and crazed state. A few seconds later and 5 more men dropped. The Whites charged at those around them, some heading north while some headed south. However, most of those who leapt out stopped halfway and dropped dead too! By this point the three families had already got up and pulled out their weapons as they charged at the Whites.
A war began, a war between the strongest White family and the other three families of the Gold Kingdom. However after 10 minutes of fighting, even though the Whites had been poisoned, the three families suffered quite a few casualties due to the high ranking members of the Whites like Jack and Fredrick. The Colonels used army formations to surround and eradicate the Whites while they personally banded together to battle with Jack. After another 5 minutes, Brigadier General Jamal joined the encirclement with the royal forces. Within a further 20 minutes the Whites were crushed and Jack had lost an arm and his weapon with it. He had slashes all over his body and was already on his last leg. Jack looked around him at all the death and devastation and began to laugh. He looked into the eyes of each of the 4 leaders and cursed them.
"Hahaha, don't worry wretched scoundrels. You might have killed me and the Whites, but soon all of your heads shall be on spikes! Lucius will avenge me, Johnny will reach him for sure!"
Jack wasn't as stupid and naïve as he seemed as he could already tell that the main course actually had poison in it from the start. The desserts were merely activating agents that would accelerate the lethality of the poison greatly. He had noticed how he was surrounded and had no chance of escaping so he decided to tell Johnny to leave and call Lucius to come avenge them.
"Hahahahaha, look at this idiot! He's relying on a 12 year old boy to come and get revenge! He's relying on a child that has only reached the Spirit Gathering stage! He may be a genius but he's only a boy, you know? We have so many people, how is he going to defeat us huh?"
"Hahaha, I guess it is pathetic to rely on a kid my sons age, but I don't care. That boy was more family to me in these past few months than my daughter was. Can you tell her that I'm sorry, sorry that I.... that we were never enough for her!"
After saying that with a self mocking tone, Jack jumped back and arrived at his wife's corpse. She had died from the poison quite early on as she wasn't strong enough to stop it. He stood there and gazed lovingly at his wife's silent face. He whispered his goodbye before 4 different blades stabbed through his body at the same time. He was smiling in a standing position, holding tightly to his wife's body before he exploded his cultivation. He managed to injure the 4 leaders but not kill them but even this was enough as he knew that now, Lucius would have an easier time. He also did it so that he could destroy his and his wife's bodies so they couldn't be desecrated. He knew that Jamal had a necrophilia fetish that he hid well but was found out by Jack in the end. This was the reason that Jamal had assisted in this assassination in the first place, to get rid of the only one who knew his dirty secrets.
The 4 stood cursing at the pile of meat with 4 blades stabbed though it. A lone sword stood there, standing along among all the chaos and mess, stabbed deep into the ground. The wolfs head on the pommel roaring out with a blood red tear in its eye.
This was quite a long chapter, usually my chapters are from 1600 words to 2400 but this one was 3000 words. This is the penultimate chapter of the first volume. I thought about Jack disowning Rebecca before his death but i thought against it. I feel like its even more meaningful this way and better emphasises Jacks honourable character. I had already decided at the start when making Jack as a character that he would die but now that i've actually killed him off, I feel kind of sad. But for the sake of the plot progression and for the next chapter and volume, this was a necessary part. Thanks for reading guys, much appreciated.