The D- rank gang mber clutched his bleeding shoulder, his face twisted with rage and pain.
"You think one gun makes you hot shit, kid? I’ll rip your fucking–"
BANG!
The bullet took him through the knee.
He collapsed screaming.
Damian lowered his gun, his expression utterly bored.
"I said move. You chose death."
He aid for the headshot–
Suddenly, the entire street exploded with Aura.
It was very dense and suffocating.
Every student staggered under the weight of it, their own Aura flickering weakly in comparison.
Even Ronan’s Titan form wavered.
"What the hell is this pressure!?"
From the far end of the street, a figure walked calmly through the chaos.
Tall. Lean. Moving with the casual confidence of soone who knew he was the most dangerous thing in the area.
His Aura was dark purple, thick enough to be visible even without trying.
C rank.
The gang mbers imdiately parted for him, their faces showing relief mixed with fear.
"Boss Kael!"
"Thank god, Boss is here!"
The man, Kael, surveyed the carnage with cold eyes. Bodies everywhere. His people dead or dying. Blood coating the pavent.
And a bunch of fucking students responsible for it all.
"Well."
His voice was quiet but carried effortlessly.
"You kids have so balls, I’ll give you that. Coming into my territory. Killing my people."
He cracked his neck, the sound unnaturally loud.
"But balls don’t an shit when you’re dead."
He raised one hand.
Dozens more gang mbers poured out of buildings, alleyways, hidden positions.
Edrin’s face went pale as his tactical skill processed the new threat assessnt.
They were completely surrounded now. At least sixty fresh enemies. And this man – this leader – was on a completely different level.
"Fall back! FALL BACK TO–"
"There’s nowhere to fall back to, kid."
Kael smiled, and it was the smile of a predator who’d already won.
"You walked right into my web. Now you die in it."
He gestured casually.
"Kill them. All of them."
The gang mbers surged forward as one, a wave of violence and Aura.
****
The Mafia students tried to form defensive positions, but they were exhausted, injured, running on fus.
A student nad Leo raised his shield – crackling with his Aura, to block a machete strike.
The blade, infused with far superior Aura, sheared straight through.
The machete buried itself in Leo’s collar bone.
"AGHH!"
He went down screaming.
Selene, still clutching her ruined hand, tried to fight with one dagger.
A chain wrapped around her neck from behind.
She gasped, choking, her face turning red as the Aura-coated chain tightened–
BANG!
The gang mber holding the chain jerked backward, a hole in his chest.
Selene collapsed, gasping for air.
Damian fired again from his rooftop position.
And again.
And again.
Each shot perfectly placed, each bullet infused with just enough Aura to punch through defenses.
He was keeping them alive through sheer marksmanship. Constantly using Oga Point to strengthen the bullets.
But even he couldn’t be everywhere at once.
Ronan’s Titan form finally flickered out, his Aura completely spent.
He stumbled, suddenly much smaller, vulnerable.
A bat crashed into his already injured ribs.
CRACK!
"RONAN!"
Lysa fired arrow after Aura arrow, but her hands were shaking, her aim suffering.
She was running on empty too.
Edrin’s tactical mind was screaming at him– We’re going to die. We’re actually going to die here. I don’t think even boss can handle a C Rank enemy.
His swords felt impossibly heavy.
Zavier was still sohow stabbing people while crying, but even his hysterical energy was flagging.
"I can’t–I can’t keep...please just–"
They were breaking.
Completely.
And then Kael moved.
He just walked toward Edrin with terrifying casualness.
"You’re the smart one giving orders, right? I can tell."
Kael’s fist, coated in dense purple Aura, lashed out faster than Edrin could track.
BOOM!
Edrin’s hastily raised swords shattered like glass.
The punch caught him square in the chest.
He flew backward, crashing through a wooden crate. Blood exploded from his mouth.
He tried to stand but he couldn’t. His ribs were broken. Lungs screaming.
’Is this how I die?’
Kael stood over him, raising his fist for the killing blow–
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Three shots.
Kael’s hand blurred, his Aura flaring.
He caught the bullets.
Actually caught them mid-air with his bare hand, the Aura-infused rounds crumpling harmlessly against his superior defense.
He looked up at Damian’s position and smiled.
"Nice try, kid! But you’re gonna need more than a–"
A massive Aura shield materialized in front of Kael.
No.
Not in front of him.
Around the entire street.
Translucent barriers of golden Aura rose from the ground, forming walls that blocked every escape route, every line of sight to Damian’s position.
"What the–"
From behind the shield, another voice rang out.
"Kael, you’re being sloppy. Let handle the sniper."
A second figure erged from the Serpent Gang headquarters building at the end of the street.
Shorter than Kael. Stockier. His Aura was golden, dense, and absolutely suffocating.
C rank.
His na was Marco "The Wall" Chen.
And his specialty was shield-type defensive arts.
He raised both hands, and more Aura shields materialized, layered, overlapping, creating an impenetrable barrier between Damian and his targets.
Damian fired.
BANG!
The bullet struck the shield and stopped dead, the Aura absorbing the impact completely.
BANG! BANG!
Two more shots. Sa result.
The Wall smiled.
"Sorry, kid. But that toy won’t work on . My shields can stop a fucking tank round."
He gestured, and the shields began to move, actively hunting for Damian’s position.
Kael laughed.
"See? This is why Marco is second-in-command. Now, where were we?"
He turned back to Edrin, raising his fist–
****
On the rooftop, Damian watched his shots bounce harmlessly off the golden shields.
He lowered his gun.
’A shield specialist. Annoying.’
His crimson eyes swept across the battlefield below.
His Mafia was on the verge of complete collapse with most of them Injured and exhausted as they were completely surrounded.
They’d fought well. Better than he’d expected for their first real combat.
But this was beyond them now.
Ti to stop playing support.
"Ariana."
His voice was calm despite the chaos.
Down in the street near him, pressed against a wall for safety, Ariana’s eyes widened.
She could hear him sohow, his voice cutting through the noise.
"My axe. Now."
She didn’t hesitate.
Her spatial storage activated, and Damian’s weapon materialized in his hand.
Sixty centiters of pure black obsidian handle.
Two crescent blades – one at the top, one at the base.
The primary blade featuring that distinctive circular hole that made the weapon whistle when swung.
Dark crimson Aura imdiately flooded into the weapon, making it pulse like a living heartbeat.
The students below saw it and froze.
"Boss has... an axe?"
"Since when does he use lee weapons?"
"I thought he only used guns!"
Even Edrin, through his pain, stared up in shock.
Damian stood at the roof’s edge, his crimson hair whipping in the wind, his axe held casually in one hand.
The Wall’s shields were still hunting for him, closing in.
He smiled.
Not his usual cold expression.
A genuine, excited, slightly unhinged smile.
"Finally."
He jumped.
Not toward the ground.
Across.
To the next building. His legs coiled, Aura exploding from his feet–
He launched himself through the air in a perfect arc, clearing the thirty-foot gap easily.
The Wall’s shields tried to intercept, but he was too fast.
He landed on the next rooftop, already moving–
Another jump. Another building.
Closer.
Closer.
The gang mbers below were tracking his movent now, pointing, shouting.
"He’s coming! That guy is coming!"
"Fuck, soone stop him!"
Damian hit the third building and didn’t stop.
This ti, he jumped down.
Straight toward the center of the gang’s formation.
His axe raised high overhead, both hands gripping the obsidian handle.
Dark crimson Aura erupted around him like flas, so thick it was almost solid.
The gang mbers raised their weapons, their Auras flaring–
Too slow.
BOOM!
Damian landed like a teor.
His axe, loaded with catastrophic amounts of Aura, ca down in a perfect vertical strike.
The blade t a gang mber’s upraised guard.
And split him in half.
Vertically.
From head to groin.
The two halves of the body fell in opposite directions, blood spraying in a wide arc.
Complete silence.
Everyone froze.
Damian stood in the center of the carnage, blood coating his face and clothes.
He looked up slowly.
His crimson eyes found Kael.
And he smiled.
It was a very wide, manic and terrifying smile.
"My turn."
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