Chapter 1339: Chapter 1339: Peak

To this very day, people across the Middle belt remain perplexed - some even fascinated - by the bizarre, almost unnatural dynamic between the head of the Distra family, Helmor, and his enigmatic firstborn son. It's a relationship cloaked in silence, distance, and speculation. Some of the more insightful sages and historians believe that Helmor carries a deep, unresolved guilt toward his son - guilt born of something buried, something long past but never forgotten. Because of this, they say, he allows Hedrick to live as he pleases, without interference or oversight. On the other hand, a different school of thought claims that Hedrick, the first son, is far too dangerous, too powerful, and perhaps too ambitious. These scholars assert that Hedrick is the most likely heir to rise as the next Behemoth of the Mid-belt, and that Helmor's hands-off approach is not out of mercy - but necessity. Then, after a cataclysmic event that shook the family's fate, came the birth of Helen - the current fifth and final child. Helen was born with an innate brilliance, a frightening talent that outshone even the legends of her older brothers and sisters, whether dead or alive. Whispers say she followed in her eldest brother's footsteps, choosing to sever all dependency on their father entirely. Yet, paradoxically, she still attends the mandatory family assemblies alongside her remaining three siblings, paying the required "life tax" - a term cloaked in mystery and burden. Her presence remains an enigma, her intentions unreadable. All in all, the Distra bloodline is a tangled web of contradiction and secrecy - a family that is just as strange as they are powerful.