Chapter 292: Mother of Beastslayers
Victoria’s death screen opened beneath the Condemned Brand.
The usual respawn notice began to form, then disappeared behind a larger account review. Black roots spread from the sponsor record and passed through every permission, payment, and formula result the system had attached to the prohibited lineage.
[Alchemical Lineage and Liability Notice]
[Formula credit, sponsorship records, restricted-development violations, and resulting sanctions attach to the participating player account.]
[Changing characters does not sever alchemical lineage.]
[Alternate-character identities remain private unless disclosed by the player or released by a separate identity judgment.]
Martin and Rias had accepted the same liability rule when they registered for the alchemy circuit. Cassandra had treated it as protection for Night Espresso because their appraisal was transparent and their evidence claim separated the guild’s crystal from the forbidden project.
The rule protected Night Espresso from formula liability. It did not protect the player who had begun the lineage under another name.
[Originator account identified.]
[Condemned Brand: Mother of Beastslayers]
[Brand propagation completed across all characters registered to this account.]
A private list opened beneath the notice.
[Victoria — Mother of Beastslayers]
[Kill Clause — Mother of Beastslayers]
[Cassandra Selfmore — Mother of Beastslayers]
The list belonged to Cassandra’s account review. No copy went to Martin’s evidence claim, Night Espresso’s roster, or Just Die’s guild channel. Each character carried the same private brand, but anyone outside the account would see only a generic Condemned marker. The game did not publish the names connecting them.
Mountain Risen processed Victoria first. Her academy standing changed to condemned, and the sponsor seal that had opened the alchemy quarter closed permanently. Just Die’s roster still named Victoria as its guild leader, but every permission attached to her character had been stripped away. Raze no longer needed to pretend she possessed authority over him.
[Character selection restored.]
Cassandra selected the character bearing her real name.
Forest Hidden rebuilt Cassandra Selfmore at the edge of its visitor plaza instead of returning her to the academy headquarters. Her long black hair and white business suit returned with the character. Before she could take one step toward the gate, a black marker settled beneath her name. Other players would see only the account’s public sanction, not the lineage title inside Cassandra’s private review.
[Condemned]
The Light Tree’s judgment reached her from across the academy road. The system replayed the oath Cassandra had given when she asked Forest Hidden to trust Night Espresso with its future.
"I swear to do anything for the academy’s prosperity."
Her own voice sounded precise and certain.
When Cassandra made that promise, she had been thinking of funding, organization, and the personal cost of completing the development chain. She had never expected an account-level sanction earned elsewhere to reach the character bound by that oath.
[Forest Hidden Academy standing review complete.]
[Cassandra Selfmore: Standing revoked.]
[All characters registered to the condemned account are banished from Forest Hidden Monster Hunter Academy.]
The academy gate sealed before her.
Another review opened immediately. This one carried Night Espresso’s crest.
[Night Espresso Charter Association Review]
[Registered Guild Leader: Cassandra Selfmore]
[Active Condemned Brand: Confirmed]
[Individual guild members have not inherited the Condemned Brand.]
[Members who retain the Night Espresso affiliation will be treated as associates of its condemned leader by Forest Hidden and participating academy partners.]
[Guild-based access, reputation benefits, territory privileges, and development rewards are suspended while the association remains active.]
Night Espresso had not been declared responsible for the formula. Its members were free to leave without receiving Cassandra’s brand. Staying meant carrying the guild tag attached to it, and every academy or merchant that respected Forest Hidden’s judgment could decide the association was reason enough to close a door.
The first departure arrived before Cassandra opened the guild channel.
[RainyBoi has left Night Espresso.]
Two more followed close behind. Then the guild channel expanded on its own as messages began arriving faster than Cassandra could read them.
[Kuro A: Two parties were turned away the moment our tags showed. I’m not telling everyone to wait while that keeps happening.]
[Potato Block: My party can’t use the quest desk while I wear the tag. I’m out. Sorry.]
[Kuro A has left Night Espresso.]
[Potato Block has left Night Espresso.]
The penalties did not wait for an appeal. Members filled the channel with screenshots from Forest Hidden’s quest desks, supply counters, and travel services. Their personal reputation still appeared on each window, but the Night Espresso crest overrode the benefits they had earned through the academy. Outside parties canceled hunt invitations rather than risk being seen beside a condemned guild tag.
Leaving removed the association almost at once. One member posted a second screenshot after dropping the guild, showing the same clerk offering ordinary academy service again. That comparison spread through the roster faster than any reassurance Cassandra could have written.
The names continued disappearing. Some members demanded to know what Cassandra had done. Others left without writing anything, unwilling to risk their equipment vendors, quests, and academy standing for a leader they had never met outside orders and contribution notices.
Cassandra tried to move the charter to Martin before more people lost access.
[Leadership transfer unavailable.]
[A change of guild leader cannot remove an active Condemned Charter Association.]
[Available protective actions: Release Members | Open Resource Claims | Dissolve Guild]
There was no clean successor route. Even if Martin inherited later, he would receive the title and territory records without any usable permissions, while the Night Espresso charter remained tied to Cassandra’s brand.
The real-world company existed outside the game and would not vanish with the guild. Martin’s shares, the company’s existing contracts, and every legal obligation Cassandra carried would remain waiting after logout.
Cassandra opened the secured channel shared by the core party.
[Cassandra Selfmore: Leave Night Espresso. The charter cannot protect your academy standing while it remains connected to me.]
Martin answered first from Mountain Risen.
[Emperoar: Why are you marked Condemned?]
Alexandra’s response followed before Cassandra chose an answer.
[Chaosgraphy: Do not order us out and pretend that replaces an explanation.]
[Cassandra Selfmore: It does not. Leave anyway.]
[Emperoar: Cassandra. What happened?]
The question remained on the channel. Cassandra could tell him that Victoria’s sponsor record belonged to another character on her account, but the answer would also connect Victoria to Kill Clause and Cassandra Selfmore. It still would not remove the penalty from Martin’s guild tag.
She had promised Martin there would be no wall between them. His question waited in the channel while she built one again.
Rias answered from beside him.
[Flash Fang: Cassandra’s public marker contains no lineage record. It proves that her account received a condemned sanction, nothing more. We do not know why she carries it.]
[Emperoar: She does.]
[Flash Fang: Yes. She does.]
Rias did not soften the silence that followed.
[Flash Fang: Staying will not help Cassandra. It will only keep the penalty on us. I am leaving the guild, not cutting any of you off.]
[Flash Fang has left Night Espresso.]
Alexandra took longer. When her message finally appeared, it contained none of her usual provocation.
[Chaosgraphy: Kumoe and I will not enter another academy beneath a condemned guild tag. This conversation is not over, Cassandra.]
[Chaosgraphy has left Night Espresso.]
NukEncore left after declaring that no system window had permission to decide whom she cared about. Crimson Halo followed with a quieter promise that Cassandra would answer her when the immediate danger had passed. Neither woman kept the guild tag.
The roster that had once filled several pages collapsed to a handful of names. The remaining messages all addressed Emperoar.
Martin used the limited authority still attached to his vice-leader rank and opened a charter vote for every unbranded member who remained.
[Emergency Charter Vote]
[Dissolve the condemned Night Espresso charter and release all remaining members from its affiliation?]
Cassandra could see the count but had no vote. The result passed before the full timer expired. A few members abstained, while the clear majority chose to protect their personal academy access and rebuild without her charter.
[Guild Dissolution Approved by Member Vote.]
She opened the resource claims and released every recorded personal contribution to its owner. Shared materials entered a thirty-day claim window, while private inventories and party contacts remained untouched.
Then Cassandra selected the last protective action available to her.
[Dissolve Night Espresso Guild?]
[This action will remove the guild roster, ranks, channels, shared privileges, and active charter associations.]
[Confirmation required from the highest active officer without a Condemned Brand.]
[Vice Leader: Emperoar]
Martin received the request while his name still sat beneath hers on the shrinking roster.
[Emperoar: You want me to confirm this without telling me the truth.]
Cassandra rested her hand against the sealed academy gate.
[Cassandra Selfmore: Yes.]
Several seconds passed.
[Emperoar: This doesn’t end the conversation.]
[Cassandra Selfmore: I know.]
The confirmation arrived.
[Cascade Valley Administrative Authority released. Territory Status: Unclaimed.]
[Forest Hidden Monster Hunter Academy Development Project: Failed — executing guild disbanded.]
Night Espresso’s channel closed first. The officer ranks vanished next, followed by the shared storage, territory tab, development records, and the crest beside every remaining name. Cassandra’s guild panel emptied until only one black-bordered notice remained.
[The Night Espresso Guild has been disbanded.]