Chapter 410: He is here
[Mafia Headquarters - Tranquil City]
A Domain stretched across three city blocks, its boundary shimmering with translucent green Aura that pulsed like a heartbeat.
The long street leading to the Mafia headquarters had become a warzone.
"THUNDER LANCE!"
Purple lightning erupted from a Mafia enforcer’s hands, arcing toward three masked figures as they collapsed with smoke rising from their corpses.
"GET DOWN–"
Gurgle
An ice spear punched through a woman’s throat from behind, emerging red from the front of her neck.
A pale-faced Shadow Council operative stood on a nearby rooftop, her hands already forming another spear.
She launched it.
BOOM
The spear took a Mafia lieutenant through the chest, pinning him to a wall, his legs kicking weakly before going still.
"EARTH PRISON!"
Stone walls erupted around five Mafia fighters, trapping them in a circle.
"Break it! BREAK–"
Shadow Council blades descended from above–
"Arg-"
–And their screams were cut off wet.
BOOM
A rifle cracked from the Mafia headquarters rooftop and a Shadow Council operative’s head exploded three hundred meters away.
BOOM
The second Mafia sniper fired, his bullet
punching through a masked figure’s chest and continuing through two more bodies.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM
Four answering shots came from across the street.
The same four A- rank snipers who’d ambushed Damian in the northern region.
"REFORMING LEFT–"
BOOM
The order cut off as the speaker’s chest caved in.
BOOM BOOM
Two more dropped, defensive lines collapsing.
BOOM
An explosion ripped through a storefront, Shadow Council operatives pouring through the gap.
"Hold them! HOLD–"
A blade caught the shouting member across the gut, opening him from hip to ribs.
The Mafia’s formation was collapsing, numbers dwindling and defensive positions collapsing.
’Mike’s still fighting... If he falls, we all fall.’
This was the thought in every Mafia member’s mind.
Old Man Mike stood in the center of the carnage, cleaver in his weathered hands, grey hair matted with blood.
Before him stood a man in black robes, white skull mask pushed up to reveal a face twisted with boredom.
He was A+ rank and the leader.
Behind him, twenty meters back, another A+ rank stood with hands raised.
Green Aura flowed outward in a continuous stream as his healing Domain covered the entire battlefield, washing over Shadow Council members, sealing wounds and restoring stamina.
The leader’s blade came down and caught Mike across the chest. The edge bit deep, opening a wound from shoulder to sternum.
Mike staggered backward but didn’t fall. His cleaver swung horizontal and forced the leader back half a step.
"Old man, why are you struggling?"
The leader’s chest wound sealed as green Aura washed over him.
"No matter how many times you cut me, I’ll just heal." His voice carried genuine annoyance. "You should just die quickly and let us go home. I have better things to do than watch an old man bleed out slowly."
Mike attacked again.
CLANG
Sparks flew where the blades met.
"Stubborn bastard."
Around them, Shadow Council operatives pressed forward, every wound sealed within seconds and every moment of exhaustion faded under that green light.
Mafia members fell back step by step.
A young enforcer took a blade through his gut and collapsed screaming.
A woman lost her arm to fire, the limb burned off at the elbow. A man went down with his throat cut.
"WHY STRUGGLE WHEN YOU ALREADY KNOW THE CONCLUSION?!"
The leader’s voice thundered across the street, cutting through the sounds of combat.
"Look around you! Your people are dying! Your defenses are broken! Your old man is on the verge of death!" He laughed, the sound cruel and mocking. "How about this... anyone who surrenders can join us instead! Live to see tomorrow! Serve a real organization instead of playing at being criminals!"
The Mafia members roared defiance, techniques blazed brighter and movements became more reckless.
A bloodied enforcer with one eye swollen shut laughed.
"So what if you have a Domain healing you?!" He spat blood. "We also have a healing skill! Our boss gave it to every single one of us! We’re not afraid of you!"
The Shadow Council leader’s expression darkened.
"Boss, huh?" He ducked under Mike’s cleaver and drove his blade through the old man’s thigh, twisting before pulling free.
Mike’s leg buckled but he stayed standing, his weight shifting to his good leg.
"You really think your boss is still alive? Hehe..." The leader’s smile widened, showing teeth stained with someone else’s blood. "Let me tell you something. There are three Shadow Kings and two more S ranks attacking the place where your precious Damian was hiding."
His blade flashed again.
SLASH
It caught Mike across the arm. The edge severed tendons at the elbow and Mike’s left arm dropped, hanging useless.
"He’s probably already dead... Just another corpse among thousands tonight."
"IMPOSSIBLE!"
Multiple Mafia members shouted simultaneously, their voices cracking with desperation and disbelief.
"THE BOSS HAS BEEN MISSING FOR SOME TIME NOW! HE ISN’T EVEN IN THE CITY!"
A young enforcer screamed it, his face twisted with hope and fear.
"Hehe... missing?" The leader’s smile became predatory. "No, no, no~ We came here today specifically for your boss. We already knew he’d be here. We planned this attack around him."
His voice dropped lower, each word deceitful and cunning, meant to break their spirits.
"A seer told us everything! Where he’d be, when he’d arrive and who’d be with him." He paused, letting it sink in. "Your boss walked right into our ambush... And now he’s dead."
SLASH
His blade pressed forward and caught Mike across the ribs.
SLASH
Another strike opened Mike’s right shoulder, the cleaver falling from nerveless fingers.
CLANG
The weapon clattered on blood-soaked pavement, the sound somehow louder than all the screaming.
The leader’s blade rose for the killing blow, positioned to take both arms at the shoulders.
Mike’s knees hit the ground as blood pooled beneath him, spreading across cracked pavement in a growing circle.
Around him, Mafia members were dying. Their screams echoed off buildings, their blood painted the street and their bodies fell one by one.
The Shadow Council leader stood over Mike, blade raised high, backlit by the green glow of the healing Domain.
"Old man, you tell them..." His voice carried across the sudden quiet. "Where is your boss? Why isn’t he here to save you if he’s really alive?"
Mike looked up at the masked figure through vision that was fading at the edges, going grey and dark.
’Is this it? Is the Mafia really going to be extinguished tonight?’
His mind flashed through memories.
Children laughing in the orphanage courtyard, families eating together in the restaurant, people who’d been nothing but petty criminals, who’d been abandoned by the society, who’d finally found a home when Damian came.
’Everything we built... everyone who believed... all of it ending here in blood and fire?’
The blade began its descent, catching moonlight as it fell.
’All these people who finally had homes... families... futures that weren’t just survival and suffering...’
Mike’s weathered hands pressed against pavement slick with his own blood.
’Damian...’
The thought came weak and desperate.
’Are you really dead?’
Then–
BOOOOOOOOM
–The green healing Domain shattered like glass hitting concrete.
The shockwave made buildings tremble down to their foundations. Pavement cracked in spiderweb patterns spreading outward for hundreds of meters.
The leader’s blade froze mid-swing, his head snapping up so fast his neck popped.
Every fighter on the battlefield stumbled, their balance disrupted, their inner ears screaming.
And Mike felt it.
’That feeling... That overwhelming pressure... It’s... it’s–’
His weathered face split into a smile through the blood coating his teeth and he looked directly at the Shadow Council leader.
"He... is here."