Surprisingly, the belief that every Secret Realm had to be cleared became a worldwide consensus almost overnight. Governments across the globe began rigorously enforcing the emergency laws they had passed in the wake of the European disaster, leaving many people stunned by how quickly political disagreements disappeared. Even nations that were normally slow to cooperate suddenly treated overflowing Secret Realms as an existential threat rather than a regional problem. The lesson taught by the battle on Europe's border had been so severe that no government wished to gamble with the lives of its own citizens.
One of the biggest surprises was the reaction of the United States. Many observers had expected powerful financial interests to resist strict government intervention, especially when it affected privately owned Secret Realms that generated enormous profits. The common belief among many people was that wealth often allowed influential individuals to avoid consequences, or at the very least soften them through legal means. Whether that perception was fair or not, it made the speed and determination of the American response all the more shocking.
Instead of delaying enforcement, the American government deployed military personnel to oversee compliance. Secret Realms that were considered dangerous were immediately placed under supervision, while owners who refused to cooperate found themselves facing consequences far more severe than financial penalties. Several influential individuals who had attempted to delay or circumvent the new regulations were quietly removed from positions where they could interfere. The message was unmistakable: protecting humanity had become more important than protecting private interests.
To many people, the sudden unity seemed almost unbelievable. Countless novels and conspiracy theories had long claimed that the wealthy cared only about money and viewed ordinary people as expendable. Reality, however, was often far more complicated than those simplistic stories suggested. Powerful individuals could certainly act selfishly when it benefited them, but they were rarely interested in creating chaos that would ultimately threaten their own position.
After all, power depended upon stability. A nation consumed by disaster generated less wealth, less influence, and fewer opportunities than a prosperous one. Even the most self-interested elites understood that allowing Secret Realms to overflow unchecked would eventually destroy the very society from which they derived their power. Protecting the country therefore aligned perfectly with protecting their own long-term interests.
Within the setting of this world, another factor also influenced their decisions. Many of the influential American families viewed the United States as something they had spent generations building, expanding, and protecting. Seeing that nation threatened by reckless actions felt like a direct insult to their authority and legacy. Regardless of their rivalries, none of them wished to watch decades of accumulated influence disappear because someone underestimated the danger posed by a Secret Realm.
There was also another source of motivation, one that few outsiders understood. Among those powerful families lingered a deep sense of rivalry toward Europe's mysterious Great Houses. Although America's elite possessed immense wealth and influence, the Great Houses had never truly acknowledged them as equals. That quiet dismissal irritated many ambitious families far more than they were willing to admit publicly.
Many had expected history to unfold differently. They believed that once American influence reached its peak, Europe's old aristocratic families would eventually emerge from the shadows to negotiate, compromise, or even submit to the new balance of power. Instead, they discovered something deeply frustrating. No matter how many investigators they employed or how many resources they spent, they could barely find any trace of the Great Houses' existence.
That difference reflected centuries of history rather than simple wealth. According to the stories whispered among intelligence agencies, the Great Houses had begun withdrawing from public life long before the United States even existed as a nation. They had gradually learned that true influence became stronger when exercised quietly instead of openly. While kings, ministers, and merchants came and went, the Great Houses slowly disappeared behind layers of intermediaries and carefully constructed anonymity.
Their final major appearance in public affairs was said to have occurred around the closing years of the Dutch Golden Age. After that period, they deliberately reduced their visibility with every passing generation. As newspapers became widespread and public records grew increasingly detailed, those ancient families simply retreated even farther into the background. Rather than becoming celebrities, they preferred becoming myths.
From their perspective, fame represented unnecessary risk. Public attention invited curiosity, political pressure, and eventually hostility, none of which served their interests. By hiding behind foundations, trusts, corporations, and trusted representatives, they allowed history itself to obscure their existence. Over the centuries, their names gradually disappeared from public memory even while their influence supposedly continued to spread beneath the surface.
The contrast with America's newer elite families could hardly have been greater. Because those families had risen to prominence in a far more modern age, much of their history remained thoroughly documented. Birth records, business dealings, marriages, charitable foundations, and countless biographies could still be found by anyone willing to spend enough time searching. Even after attempts to reduce their digital footprint, traces of their past remained scattered throughout archives and public databases.
Families such as the Vanderbilts served as a perfect example within those discussions. Although later generations had become considerably more private than their famous ancestors, enormous amounts of historical information remained publicly available. To the hidden Great Houses, that level of exposure seemed almost unimaginable. They regarded such openness not as a sign of prestige but as a dangerous weakness.
The newer American dynasties understood that vulnerability all too well. Unlike Europe's ancient houses, they had needed public recognition to accumulate wealth, attract investors, and expand their political influence. Remaining hidden simply had not been an option during their rise to power. By the time they possessed enough influence to value secrecy, generations of public records had already created a trail that could never be completely erased.
As a result, the rivalry between the two groups extended beyond wealth alone. It became a contest between two completely different philosophies regarding power itself. One side believed authority should be displayed openly to inspire fear and respect, while the other believed genuine influence was strongest when nobody realized it existed. Neither approach was inherently perfect, but history had given each side very different lessons.
The events surrounding the Secret Realms only reinforced those differences. Faced with a threat capable of destroying entire cities, both groups reached the same practical conclusion despite their ideological disagreements. Stability had to be preserved at all costs, because even the wealthiest and most influential people could not rule over a world reduced to ruins. For the first time in many years, old rivalries were temporarily set aside in favor of humanity's collective survival, even if everyone suspected that those ancient competitions would eventually resume once the immediate danger had passed.
At the very least, those newly established powerful families could not do much about the difference between themselves and Europe's Great Houses. They still needed to expand their wealth and influence, and that could only be accomplished by operating in the open, where businesses, investments, and political connections could be seen by the public. Unlike the ancient European houses, they had not enjoyed centuries to quietly disappear behind layers of intermediaries and shell organizations. Their rise to power had been rapid, but that speed came at the cost of secrecy.
Because of that, they always believed that Great Houses had to exist somewhere on the European continent. Every intelligence report, historical anomaly, and unexplained political decision pointed toward hidden organizations that seemed to influence events without ever revealing themselves. Yet despite decades of investigations, they never managed to uncover anything concrete. It was as though every trail deliberately dissolved the moment it became promising.
Private investigators and intelligence specialists were dispatched time and time again in search of evidence. Some returned empty-handed after years of work, while others simply disappeared without a trace under mysterious circumstances. Rumors circulated that a number of investigators had met gruesome ends after stumbling onto something they were never meant to discover, although no one could ever prove those stories. Whether true or not, the rumors alone were enough to make many investigators think twice before accepting such assignments.
Even when an investigation survived for years, success was far from guaranteed. It was not uncommon for wealthy families to spend decades chasing what they believed to be a promising lead, only to discover that they had been following a carefully planted trail from the very beginning. Occasionally, the investigation ended in the most humiliating way imaginable. A simple anonymous letter would arrive thanking them for wasting twenty years of manpower, money, and resources on a false lead before all contact ceased once again.
Eventually, many of those influential American families grew tired of the endless game. They hated the fact that they could never determine the true extent of the Great Houses' influence, nor could they measure the resources hidden behind those invisible organizations. Fighting an enemy you could neither identify nor locate was an infuriating experience for people accustomed to solving problems with money and influence. Their frustration slowly transformed into an obsession with proving that the Great Houses were not as untouchable as they appeared.
That obsession reached its peak when the United States unexpectedly descended into a devastating civil war. The nation's leadership fractured, political institutions broke apart, and the military found itself struggling to maintain order while armed factions emerged across the country. Powerful families that had once exercised enormous influence suddenly discovered that controlling business leaders was far easier than directing experienced military commanders. Generals who had tolerated political interference during peacetime became far less willing to do so once the nation itself stood on the brink of collapse.
As the conflict escalated, those influential families found themselves fighting battles on several fronts at once. They had to contend with rebellious civilian groups, a military establishment that refused to become anyone's puppet, and rapidly deteriorating domestic stability. Resources that had once been devoted to expanding influence abroad were instead redirected toward preserving what remained of their position at home. It was during that period of chaos that, according to rumors circulating among intelligence circles, the Great Houses finally made their move.
Rather than confronting their rivals directly, the Great Houses supposedly demonstrated what centuries of operating from the shadows truly meant. American influence throughout Europe began disappearing piece by piece with astonishing speed. Military agreements quietly expired without renewal, intelligence assets were identified and dismantled, and long-standing political connections suddenly became unavailable. To outside observers, the process looked almost effortless, as though years of preparation had been activated all at once.
Within those circles, many concluded that the Great Houses had simply waited for the perfect opportunity. They believed that patience had always been their greatest weapon and that they had no intention of acting until circumstances overwhelmingly favored them. A divided America could no longer project the same level of influence overseas, while Europe finally possessed enough freedom to reshape its own future. From the perspective of those hidden organizations, the timing could hardly have been better.
Some analysts even argued that the subsequent conflict with Russia had been anticipated long before it actually began. According to that theory, Russia had always desired more defensible borders and would naturally seek to capitalize on any prolonged period of American weakness and European political realignment. Whether that assessment was correct remained impossible to verify, but many influential figures considered it a convincing explanation. If such an opportunity was ever going to present itself, they believed it would be during precisely such a period of global instability.
Those expectations, however, did not unfold exactly as many had predicted. Europe offered far stronger resistance than anticipated, forcing the conflict into a costly and prolonged struggle instead of a rapid victory. At the same time, the Great Houses allegedly used the crisis to redirect public anger toward an external enemy, encouraging greater unity among the European nations. Regardless of whether those rumors were true, the end result was difficult to ignore.
When the dust finally settled, Europe emerged more united than it had been in generations. Political cooperation increased, military integration deepened, and public support for continental defense reached unprecedented levels. If the Great Houses had indeed hoped for a stronger and more independent Europe, then events had unfolded almost perfectly from their perspective. The balance of power had shifted dramatically without them ever appearing in public.
The powerful American families, on the other hand, found themselves in an increasingly uncomfortable position. Their influence had diminished, rivals both foreign and domestic sensed weakness, and countless nations began pursuing policies that would have been unthinkable only a few years earlier. To many observers, it looked as though everyone wanted a share of what remained of American influence before it disappeared entirely. Only one factor prevented that pressure from escalating into outright intervention: the nation's nuclear arsenal, whose existence continued to discourage any direct attempt to push the situation beyond the point of no return.