For the past two days, Aethelburg had been terrifyingly quiet, like the calm before a storm. Finally, a single spark set a prairie fire. A video of what happened at the Ninth Heaven Mansion was leaked online by an unknown source. The video went viral, sweeping through Aethelburg and causing a massive uproar. Everyone in the city was waiting for the Ashworth Family's next move.
Just as everyone expected, the day after the video went viral, Paul Ashworth's Apex Group launched a thunderous public assault on five of Aethelburg's moderately well-known families. The stock prices of the five families' companies plummeted, and their business partners began pulling their investments, leaving everyone in a state of panic.
Simultaneously, the Ashworth Family also targeted businesses belonging to the Montague and Winters Families. The conflict escalated dramatically, and the headlines were filled with reports on the terrifying scale of the Ashworths' operation.
