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Seated at the head of the table was Lord Victor Borgias, his face grim, eyes narrowing as he listened to the discussion unfolding around him.

Lyuzen sat to his right, his hands clasped tightly on the table, while on his left sat a man in a dark suit, his face crisscrossed with scars, likely from explosion, giving him more a sinister edge.

"We still don\'t know where he is," the scarred man muttered, his voice a low growl that matched the darkness of the room. "Disappeared into the AC sector, and not a single trace of him since."

Lyuzen\'s jaw clenched. His hands twitched, but he maintained his calm exterior. "Lyerin could be anywhere. He\'s always been… resourceful. It wouldn\'t surprise me if he\'s holed up with some tribe, hidden away."

"Resourceful or reckless?" Lord Victor shot back, raising an eyebrow. "We\'re dealing with a rogue halfling here, Lyuzen. He doesn\'t play by our rules anymore."

Lyuzen straightened in his seat, he knew Lord Victor was just upset because it impacted his status, with Lyuzen\'s eyes sharp. "He may be rogue, but he\'s not foolish. He knows exactly what he\'s doing, and that makes him dangerous."

The scarred man, who had been silent for a few moments, leaned forward, resting his scarred elbows on the table.

"And what of his tribe? We needed to find him in the real world too. But the question is, what does his tribe look like? Yet even when we mobilized all our forces, we couldn\'t find it."

There was a murmur of agreement around the table.

Several members exchanged glances, uncertain.

Lyuzen\'s gaze darkened.

He had never fully understood his son, not the way he understood his other children.

Lyerin was a halfling, distant, and now, that made him more dangerous than his other offspring.

He hadn\'t even seen Lyerin\'s potential until it was almost too late.

Victor tapped his fingers against the table, considering. "Lyerin might be smart, but even he has weaknesses. He took his mother and we can use that against him."

"Excommunicado?" suggested one of the elders, a wiry man with a sharp nose and sunken eyes. "We put him on the list, have him hunted like the others."

Victor shook his head, frowning. "Excommunicado is meant to kill, not to capture. We need Lyerin alive. That\'s the only way we can use him."

The scarred man smirked, the expression twisting his mangled features into something almost grotesque.

"Excommunicado has always been about finality. Putting someone in the crosshairs. But keeping them alive… that changes the rules."

Another elder, a woman with silver hair tied into a tight bun, leaned in, her voice steely. "He\'s a halfling. The rules were never meant to be applied to someone like him. But if we tweak the system, we can control him. Keep him on the run, force him to come to us."

Victor seemed to mull it over, his hand stroking his chin.

"Lyerin is elusive, yes, but that also makes him vulnerable. He doesn\'t have support or an army. The only problem is if he allied himself to another family…"

Hearing these, all became silent.

That\'s the worst part, this is why they use connections like mothers and fathers to the halflings so they won\'t ally themselves with other powerful families.

"But what about his mother?" the scarred man interjected, his voice slicing through the tension. "We all know Lyerin cares about her. If we can use that against him—"

Lyuzen\'s eyes flickered, and for a moment, the mask of calm slipped, revealing a raw edge of emotion. He quickly recovered, but not before Lord Victor noticed.

"You don\'t have control over him anymore, Lyuzen," Victor said softly, his tone almost mocking. "Whatever hold you had on him, it\'s gone. He\'s outgrown you—No, us."

Lyuzen stiffened. "That\'s why we need to use his mother. She\'s the only one who can draw him back in. If we get her, we can get him."

Victor sighed. "And what makes you so sure Lyerin doesn\'t know what you\'re planning? He\'s crafty. Scheming. He\'s always been several steps ahead, even when we\'ve had him under our thumb. The brat has instincts.

He can smell a trap from a mile away."

Lyuzen shook his head, his eyes burning with intensity. "He doesn\'t know. He couldn\'t possibly know. He\'s not a god. He\'s still my son, still driven by emotion. As long as he believes his mother is in danger, he\'ll come back."

Victor considered this, his face hardening. "Maybe. But even then, it\'s risky. He could see through it, and if he does, we lose our one chance."

Lyuzen clenched his fists, frustration simmering beneath the surface. "You underestimate him, Victor. You always have. He may be clever, but he\'s still just a halfling. He still has attachments, weaknesses. We can use that."

The scarred man nodded slowly. "So, we play the long game. Draw him out slowly, use his mother as bait, but keep him alive. No Excommunicado."

"But how do we do it? He took his mother in the ruined magical world, it\'s likely that he knew that even if we use his mother in this world, it would be useless because she got her there," the elder woman asked, her voice sharp. "Plus, he\'s already slipped through our fingers once."

Victor\'s lips twisted into a thin smile. "Next time, if I see him, I\'ll make sure he has nowhere to run. His tribe… if we find them, we dismantle them piece by piece. Cut off his sanctuary. Starve him of allies. He\'ll have no choice but to come back."

There was a murmur of agreement around the table, but Lyuzen remained silent, his mind working furiously.

He knew his son better than anyone in the room, after all, he is son, but even he couldn\'t predict Lyerin\'s next move because he only knew the basic things about him.

All he knew was that his son was dangerous, more dangerous than any of them realized. And if they didn\'t find him soon, the consequences could be catastrophic.

Victor glanced around the room, his eyes sharp, calculating. "We need to move quickly. If Lyerin has aligned himself with others families, it would be done for."

"And if we can\'t find him?" the scarred face man asked, his voice low.

Victor\'s expression darkened. "Then we do what we\'ve always done. We make an example of him. But we keep him alive. We can\'t afford to lose him."

The room fell into a tense silence, the weight of the decision pressing down on everyone present.

Lyuzen stared down at the table, his mind a whirlwind of conflicting emotions. His son was out there, somewhere, and the thought of what he might be planning sent a chill down his spine.

He had never truly understood Lyerin, had never bothered to learn who he was, and now, it was too late.

His son had become something else, something dangerous. And now, they were all paying the price.

"If only I had studied him like one of my children," Lyuzen murmured softly, more to himself than anyone else. His voice carried the weight of regret, the realization that his neglect had played a part in creating the monster that Lyerin had become.

Lord Victor glanced at him, his expression unreadable. "If you had studied him, Lyerin would have probably schemed against you from the start. But now, we know one thing for sure. He cares about his mother."

Lyuzen nodded slowly. "As long as we can get his mother back into our hands, we can control him. But it\'s still unlikely. The boy is far too crafty."

Victor leaned back in his chair, his eyes narrowing. "Then we play it safe. We don\'t underestimate him. But if we move quickly, we might have a chance."

At that moment, a frantic knock echoed through the room.

The entire table fell silent, their eyes snapping toward the door. Lyuzen frowned, exchanging a quick glance with Victor, who gave a curt nod to the guard by the door.

The guard opened the door, and before anyone could react, Lina burst into the room, her face pale, her eyes wide with panic. "Lyerin," she gasped, her voice barely above a whisper. "He\'s in my room!"

A stunned silence fell over the room as the words hung in the air, thick with disbelief. Lyuzen\'s heart raced, his mind spinning. Lyerin, here? After all this time?

Victor stood up slowly, his eyes narrowing as he fixed Lina with a piercing gaze. "What do you mean, Lina?"

Lina\'s breath came in ragged gasps, her hands trembling as she clutched the doorframe. "He\'s here! He came for me! Lyerin\'s in my room right now!"

A heavy silence settled over the room, each member of the Borgias family processing the gravity of Lina\'s words.