Max’s hands were visibly shaking as he held onto the glowing screen of his phone. He wasn’t quite sure what he was looking at in the photograph, but at the same time, he couldn’t even comprehend why his own chest felt so suffocatingly tight right now.
In the end, Aron managed to snap out of his own analytical daze. He walked over to Max’s side, looking over his shoulder to review the data, his eyes instantly locking onto the sent image.
"They... they targeted the university students," Aron murmured, his brow furrowing as he processed the parameters. "Why would Dud purposefully drag those ordinary kids back into the crossfire?"
Aron thought about it for a long, heavy second, running through the profiles of their enemies until a definitive answer finally clicked. "The rogue Stern they have financing their war... this isn’t a tactic the older generation would ever resort to. Neither Randy nor Dennis would be willing to compromise their pride to work alongside a low-life like Dud. This means it can only belong to one specific individual."
"Right," Max said, his voice flat and cold as ice. "It’s Donto. Donto tried to weaponize those exact same students against me once before back on campus, and I turned up to break his line. Using them a second time is his idea of a flawless leverage play. He’s harboring a massive psychological grudge against me, so I bet he’s more than willing to drain his personal bank accounts to fund Dud’s syndicate if it means taking me down.
"And looking at the timeline, I’m finally starting to understand why they went out of their way to get the other Sterns involved tonight too. It’s an insurance policy."
Aron nodded slowly. It was quite the lethal predicament, and internally, the older guardian probably understood Max’s spiraling emotions better than the youth did himself. It was a perfectly normal human reaction for someone to worry about classmates they spent their daily life sitting in lectures with.
But it went entirely deeper than that. It was the crushing realization that people around Max—no matter how little actual involvement they had in his criminal empire—always appeared to get dragged into the dirt, get hurt, or bleed. The kids from the Wushu club had zero relation to the Billion Bloodline; they were just ordinary students. Yet, like a toxic curse, they were being subjected to this life-threatening nightmare for the second time solely because they knew his face.
Max looked back down at his phone as another notification cut through the silence. A high-resolution map of the city limits materialized on the screen, but it wasn’t just a standard transit layout—the digital grid was marked with two distinct ping coordinates at opposite ends of the territory.
"He’s intentionally split the hostages into two camps," Na interjected, his eyes narrowing as he analyzed the display over Max’s arm. "It’s a classic defensive strategy we used to deploy back in the day with the Rejected Corps whenever a large, troublesome organization tried to execute a raid against our turf.
"By holding two separate hostage positions, he forces you to split your vanguard’s power. But worse than that, if you commit your full strength to save one group, the defensive cell at the second camp will immediately liquidate their prisoners the moment they realize their position is compromised. They’ve created a zero-sum game."
"Then that means there’s only one logical play we can execute," Max answered, his gaze hardening as he made the choice. "We have no choice but to divide our forces and strike both coordinates at the exact same micro-second."
Right now, looking at the structural map, Max found himself desperately wishing the Fallen Rose was still stationed in the courtyard. This would have been the absolute perfect operational milestone to utilize their nomadic power, sending their thirty swords to completely level one of the enemy camps while his rangers handled the other. But they were completely isolated in Carlton City.
"Max, I need to voice a severe tactical concern," Aron said, his hand dropping heavily onto the back of Max’s chair. "We’ve already seen the forensic data showing they possessed the raw kinetic power to take down Hercules on the mountain peak. I heavily fear that’s because Dud is utilizing the assets of another hidden syndicate... a group that will be vastly more interested in harvesting my head than whatever street war is happening with you. The foundation I used to belong to: the Black Hand."
Max went perfectly still. He vividly remembered Aron mentioning his past deployment files a few times before—the dark training facility where he had come from. It was the sole reason why Aron’s combat skills were as elite and flawless as they were.
"Are you telling me that syndicate has been hired by Donto’s capital too?" Max asked, turning his head to look directly into his guardian’s eyes. "Are you telling me there are a number of active agents on their side who are just as talented and conditioned as you are?"
To which Aron simply nodded in silence, his gaze dropping slightly, almost as if he were deeply ashamed of the bloodline he had escaped from.
"If that is the statistical reality," Max whispered, his jaw tightening, "I’m finally starting to see how they managed to overpower a titan like Hercules."
"It’s not just the Black Hand variables you need to worry about," Na interrupted, stepping around the desk, his expression dead serious. "Whatever counter-play you think you have prepared right now, Dud probably has three more contingencies planned out in the shadows. Back when we were rising through the ranks of the Rejected Corps, he was always the one individual I was most cautious of crossing.
"I’ve explained a bit about our history to you before, right? Well, during this downtime, I’ve been quietly looking into our old database files. Back during the campus border expansion, the person who physically pulled the trigger and executed your friend was Chrono.
"But the entire conspiracy started because of Dud’s instructions. Chrono was just the weapon; Dud was the architect trying to stage a corporate takeover of the entire gang. He was the instigator. His plans, his operational foresight—he was always aiming for a higher tier of power than the streets."
Na took a slow breath, his voice dropping an octave as he delivered the final blow. "And I looked into another anomalous data point in my spare time, Max. I heard from the older rangers about your other childhood friend who was killed in a car accident a year ago. When I ran a forensic check on the rental documentation for the vehicle that caused the crash... based on the physical description and the forged ID of the driver... I’m completely certain that was Dud as well.
"This monster is a person who has already systematically murdered two people close to your heart, Max. And while I am standing by your side as a ranger, I would absolutely hate to see you lose a third."
Being violently reminded of their deaths, Max’s entire body began to vibrate with a raw, unrefined fury. The phantom memories of the blood on the pavement rushed back. Dipter had broken out of prison too—the freak responsible for one more execution right in front of his eyes. The room felt like it was spinning, the air thick with the scent of an impending slaughter.
"They honestly think this trap is their golden opportunity to get back at me and break my Vow," Max said, his voice dropping into a dangerous, guttural frequency that made the glass on his desk rattle. He stood up, his eyes flashing with a terrifying, superhuman focus. "But I think this is my ultimate chance to hunt them down and eliminate every single one of them once and for all. Otherwise... none of my friends will ever be able to rest in peace."