While the war between the two gangs began in the Heaven Star Academy, Leon sat comfortably in his chair, seeping a wine.
”Why are you acting as though a war is about to happen?” Leon asked with an amused grin. Daneel standing behind him, could be seen bitting his tongue as though anxious about something.
If it weren’t because Leon was his boss and his status was higher than him, he would have shouted at him, saying not to take the war between the gangs like a joke. They had poured a lot of money and resources into the Vermilion gang to let it go to waste.
”You don’t have to be that anxious. You should have faith in your subordinates, and even if you don’t, it is all fine. We can swallow the winner. Did you forget the other ace we have up to our sleeve?”
Facing Leon’s confident smile, Daneel nodded and sat across from him. Now that he had calmed down, he couldn’t wait for the result of the fight between the Vermillion gang and the Ouroboros. As Leon had said, no matter what happened, they wouldn’t lose as they would have all the gangs in the capital under them, it was just a matter of patience, and it required a lot of time.
•••••
At the same time, in the Vermillion gang’s base.
”Leader, vice-leader Antony who led our men to the frontline was killed by Katherina.”
The leader of the Vermillion gang was a tall man with a beard. The long years fighting for his life had left many scars on his face and made his expression look fierce like a wild beast.
The leader nodded calmly. “I see. How is the situation on the frontlines?”
“We are losing. The Black Snake Gang, no call themselves Ouroboros now.” The man corrected himself before continuing.
”Katherina’s gang is stronger than expected. We lost a fifth of our men during the first clash!”
“I understand; return to your position.”
“Yes, Leader!”
When the messenger was gone, the leader tapped a table softly and sighed.
“What do you think?” The leader asked his subordinates.
A man standing behind him answered.
“It’s as we thought. The Black Snake gang, no Ouroboros, experienced something recently that boosted their strength greatly; the rumor stating that they went under someone must be true. This person must be extremely powerful or have the means to strengthen the gang in the shortest time.”
Apart from the man that spoke, another three people were standing nearby. Together, they were the remaining four vice leaders of the Vermillion Gang.
The Vermillion Gang had six vice-leaders and one leader. One had been killed by Orpheus one week ago, and another was killed by Katherina just now.
The leader of the Vermillion gang fell deep into thoughts. His hands played with a pen while he planned his next step.
“Antony was the third strongest of you.” He said and watched their reactions; they nodded to acknowledge his words.
The leader then continued.
“If even he was killed, it means that Katherina probably reached the middle rank, maybe even higher as Level 4 Origin master. I fear I’m the only one able to stop her now.”
The vice-leaders fell silent.
“However, even like that, we have the advantage in numbers. Our gang still has five high-level Origin masters. But they only have three siblings besides Katherina herself. In a frontal confrontation, we have a greater probability of winning. I doubt their mysterious helper will help because if he wanted, he could have easily taken over our gang, so they must be a reason for him to stay in the shadow. We will use this to our advantage and act swiftly.”
The vice-leaders nodded before a woman, and one of the vice leaders raised a question. Something the others were burning to know.
“Then, are we going to fight them?”
The leader shook his head. “Not yet; wait for a while more. We will fight them when they arrive here.”
“But, our men….” The woman tried to object, but their leader stopped her and said coldly.
“They are contributing to our cause. Their lives will tire out Katherina’s gang and give us information about their strength. Once the enemy is tired, we will use our elites to ambush them and give them a lethal blow.”
The vice-leaders looked at each other and closed their mouths. They were already used to their leader’s cruel ways.
At that moment, one of the vice-leaders raised his hand hesitantly.
“… Leader, what about the reinforcements you asked for? Will they come?”
The leader’s expression sank, and he said. ”Do not expect any support. We are on our own. You know how young master Daneel does things, right?”
The vice-leaders nodded severely; their benefactor wouldn’t act because even he was working under someone. They wouldn’t probably assist them. This would be like their test to see whether or not all the benefits they had received would produce something. To know if they were could be of us or a simple waste of time.
”We must not fail.” The leader declared, that it was more of order than a declaration.
•••••
Back to the battlefield.
The battle had turned even more chaotic. After an hour of battle, corpses littered the ground.
Blood and severed limbs were everywhere in the streets. The battle had been incredibly fierce, with corpses being created each second. Both of the gangs were fighting in a frenzy, as though they could not live in the same world as the enemy.
But unexpectedly, Katherina’s subordinates had a clear advantage.
With the gang members trained in the dangerous forest, Ouroboros’s men were overwhelmingly stronger than the Vermillion Gang. Even though the Vermillion gang had a numeric advantage, they lost men while not always successfully killing a member from Ouroboros.
It took Katherina’s subordinates less than two hours to kill the first battlefield. They advanced into the Vermillion gang’s territory and continued killing any enemy they found.
As they progressed, apart from Orpheus and Lilith, Katherina was the first one to understand the enemy’s strategy.
“Fuck that cunning snake!” Of course, she was furious.
“Sister?” Aileen was startled. It was rare for her big sister to become so emotional; her current rage could be felt a mile away.
“I can’t believe they are sending their men to die like this!”
Aileen put on a stunning face. But she quickly understood her sister’s meaning.
“Ah? Don’t tell they-”
“They are planning to use their weakest members as cannon fodder to tire us out!” Katherina cut her off and finished the sentence.
After hearing her sister’s confirmation, Aileen paled. Currently, the Vermillion gang should have lost around a hundred and fifty men. She could not believe that those men had been sacrificed so ruthlessly by their leader.
“What are we going to do then, sister?” She couldn’t help but ask this. Unlike her third sister, Stella, who showed no change in expression after hearing the Vermillion gang’s plan, Aileen was concerned about what they needed to do from now on; it was why she sought her sister, the one in command opinion.
“We will continue! That plan would have worked one week ago, but he has underestimated the current us! With our strength combined, the Vermillion’s gang leader will die when he appears!”
“I understand!” Aileen nodded.
Katherina put on a serious expression. “Tell the men to advance faster! We need to destroy the Vermillion Gang tonight! More variables will appear if we take too long destroying them.”
Aileen nodded. She then departed towards her unit and led them to pierce through the Vermillion gang’s line of defense.
Once their line of defense was broken, the Vermillion gang’s men were like lambs waiting to be slaughtered. They could not put an effective resistance against the stronger and more organized Ouroboros, who had fought countless origin beasts to create and perform many formations for their incoming fights. It had increased their strength drastically, but their teamwork was incomparable to any other gang in the capital.
The Ouroboros’s core members could be considered one of the strongest elite teams in the capital.
In less than three hours, they reached the Vermillion gang headquarters.
The final battle was about to happen. Lilith wished for more blood to be spilled as the ground being dyed in blood was like the beautiful blue sky to her.
Meanwhile, there was someone who had a hard time controlling her urge; she had been fed with her master’s blood recently, making her extremely sensitive to the smell of blood. Amber’s knuckles turned white from how tight her fists were clenched. At several points, she wanted to give up and enjoy the blood in front of her, her eyes would turn red, and her sharp canines would appear, trying to push her to feast on her enemy’s blood, even her comrade’s blood, but she resisted this urge because she was certain that once she let this emotion take control, she would turn into a mindless beast that only knows how to drink blood.
Except for her master’s blood or blood from someone powerful, she refused to drink.
”Grrrr! Grrr!” With her head lowered, Amber growled, still fighting against her urge.
Looking at her, Lilith nodded and continued to observe. She was full of praise; back when she was also undergoing the same test, she could not endure it like Amber; it almost made her jealous because Amber’s potential far surpassed her, and her willpower was not weak either.
Orpheus’s attention had never left Amber; he also nodded in appreciation seeing Amber holding.
Suddenly, his face darkened as he sensed someone calling him. After heaving a long sigh, he left.