The night air was thick with the stench of blood and fear. The abandoned factory, once filled with the thunderous roars of men ready for battle, had turned into a graveyard of the fallen.
Blake stood at the center of it all, his Frost Whisper dripping crimson, its once-pristine blade now bathed in blood. His expression remained eerily calm, unbothered, as if the slaughter around him was nothing more than an inevitability.
The Black Blade gang—once proud, once confident—now trembled like cornered animals. Their weapons shook in their hands. Their breath came in ragged, terrified gasps.
"This guy... he's not human..."
The same thought ran through their minds, over and over, clawing at what little sanity they had left.
Even Hideki, their ruthless boss, felt the weight of it. These were his best men, hardened killers who had earned their reputations through blood and brutality. And yet—not one had even grazed Blake.
How could a single man stand against a hundred and emerge untouched?
Blake took a slow step forward, his boots squelching in the pooling blood beneath him. His icy blue eyes scanned the remaining gangsters, sending chills through their spines.
"Weren't you going to destroy me?" His voice was mocking, laced with an eerie calm. "Why stop now?"
The few still standing flinched, some instinctively stepping back.
But there was nowhere left to run.
The air thickened, heavy with an aura so oppressive it crushed the last shreds of their will to fight. Some dropped their weapons entirely, their knees threatening to buckle.
Hideki's face twisted—pale one second, livid the next. He had finally realized the ugly truth.
They had kicked an iron wall.
And now, that wall was coming down on them.
Blake's ears picked up the subtle sound of safeties being flicked off.
His eyes narrowed. Sixteen of them have guns.
The first volley of gunfire tore through the night—
But Blake was already gone.
Ducking, weaving—he moved like a specter, each bullet missing him by a breath.
"Swish—Swish—Swish—Swish—Swish!"
Five men dropped—heads rolling, their lifeless bodies slumping to the ground, still clutching their weapons.
The surviving gunmen froze, their hands trembling on the triggers.
It was impossible. They had him surrounded, aimed—and yet, before they could even pull the trigger a second time—
He had already killed five of them.
A flicker in the darkness.
The wet sound of steel piercing flesh.
One after another, the remaining gunmen fell, their choked gasps the only sounds before their bodies hit the blood-soaked ground.
To the rest of the gang, it was as if Death itself was walking among them, cutting down lives with each silent step.
"R-Run!" one of them screamed, his voice cracking.
Like a broken dam, the last of the Black Blade members turned and bolted, their weapons clattering to the ground.
Their only thought now was escape.
The moment he realized the truth, he had spun on his heels and fled into the night.
The great underworld boss—the feared kingpin of Black Blade—was running like a scared dog.
All his power, all his men—useless.
A sword that moved faster than bullets?
That wasn't something Hideki could fight. That wasn't something anyone could fight.
No—this was beyond human.
And so, his one and only thought was simple: survive.
He would leave the city, go into hiding, disappear completely.
Living in the same city as this creature was too terrifying.
But the moment that thought crossed his mind—
A voice whispered behind him.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Hideki's blood ran cold.
His eyes went wide, his breath catching in his throat.
A blinding arc of silver cut through the night.
For a split second, Hideki felt nothing.
His body hit the ground, skidding across the concrete, blood pouring from the severed stumps where his legs had once been.
The agony was unbearable.
And then he screamed.
A sound so raw, so filled with pain, it echoed through the empty factory, mingling with the silence left in Blake's wake.
Blake stood over him, expression blank, watching as Hideki writhed in his own blood.
A kingpin reduced to nothing.
He slowly crouched down, tilting his head slightly.
"You should've known," Blake murmured, voice low and calm. "Some things in this world... you just shouldn't provoke."
Hideki shuddered, his body convulsing in pain.
And raised his sword one last time.