All of the news channels, online media, content creators, and more were talking about one thing—the upcoming fight that was to take place in a few days. It had been titled the "Clash of Kings." The name had spread around online before the announcement had been made, and the marketing team had taken the chance to select the title of the event as such.
Pinning what Gary had said, claiming to take away Harvor’s crown from him, and the fact that both of them were respective kings of their city—the name the Underworld had given them both. The rumors had swirled about the backgrounds of the two, and what was once kept a secret to the many eyes of the public was coming out into the open.
Regardless, people didn’t really care about that, as they were more focused on the main fight up ahead.
Inside a castle, Lupus was watching a broadcast of the situation that was unfolding; it was unavoidable.
"What circumstances of events led to this?" Lupus asked himself as he leant on his hand, propping up his head in his throne-like chair. "It will be an interesting fight to watch, to see if he's actually someone I need to worry about.
"But right now I have a bigger headache with the Altered Hunters. I haven’t taken part in all of this just yet... but it appears one of their leaders is here, was it Edvard? I guess if I take him out, then the rest of them will fall with ease.
"I’m sure the vampires are the ones behind this. Always moving through the use of others and the shadows, not wishing to get their hands dirty. If only it wasn’t so hard to locate their settlement, I would love to rip them apart."
Elsewhere in the world, the news was spreading to those in AJ Entertainment, who were willing to show their full support. The members in Cardez Electronics and those in the AFC Academy who remembered Gary very well.
His personality, as well as his bright green hair and the events that had occurred, allowed all of them to remember him.
Then there was even Maya, who had been stuck on the sofa changing from news channel to news channel.
"I believe in the end that Harvor will be the winner. Although Gary has shown impressive feats, it has been nothing when we look at the two's records. I believe this whole thing is just to build up hype around the fight."
"Stupid news reporter, doesn't even know what he's saying," Maya mumbled.
"Mum, you shouldn’t watch TV for a while. Everyone’s just talking about Gary," Amy claimed.
"I know, but I have to do something, and I get to see my boy all the time on the screen. On top of that, I'm worried for him, I can't help but worry. What do you think, should I give Gary a call, should I be there when he's fighting, will that help him?"
Amy came over and placed both of her hands on top of her mother's shoulders.
"I want to be there cheering him on, but knowing Gary there's something bigger with all of this going on. It’s best if we let him focus and just stay here where he knows we're safe."
Maya started to rub her daughter's hand, and through it, she could feel how nervous she was, how nervous they all were.
"Gary solved so many things on his own, and while you were in the hospital. Look at how much has changed because of him. That brother of mine, and son of yours, he's grown up, we have to leave this to him."
It wasn’t just Gary’s mother that had received the news though. Off a cliffside, walking down on a stony beach with the waves rushing in and out, two people in particular were traveling to another excavation site.
It was one that had finished its excavation. It was a site that Rumper Karn had worked on before. It still had several bases set up and guards surrounding the place, as did all excavation sites; they would eventually become tourist hotspots for people to see, with certain fossils that weren't used in the excavation.
Or even with interactive displays of what Altereds came from here. This site in particular wasn't at that stage yet.
Rickle ventured deep into the ground, looking at the soil, and placing his hand on the area. Dean didn’t really know what he was doing, but was just on his phone watching a broadcast of sorts.
Unlike the last site, there were no Retrievers to attack them; if anything, there weren't many people at all. Eventually, frustrated with what he was watching, he had placed the phone away and looked at Rickle.
"Why are we at this excavation site in particular? It seems there is nothing here," Dean asked.
"Right, at the moment there is nothing here, at least not anymore," Rickle confirmed, still with his hand touching the ground. "When reading through the reports, there was a high number of suicides that had occurred on the site.
"When I looked further into it, it wasn’t just the workers here, but it seemed like the families were affected as well. Sure, things like this happen from time to time, but it's not common for it to happen in one place and the link to be that they all worked at this site.
"In some cases, the person would even kill all of their family before ending their own life. Friends and colleagues have no idea what happened."
Rickle then lifted up his hand and gave out a big sigh.
"I think I know the reason as well, and why Rumper did all of this. It looks like we are going to have to get involved. We need to help in this case and help your son take down Harvor. Otherwise, things might get a lot worse."