Good Luck, They Started Fighting Each Other

Rayne calmly sheathed his blade. Not a trace of blood stained its surface.

He glanced at the five consecutive [Judgment Successful] notifications that had appeared in his mind, along with the surging [Crime Index], and nodded in satisfaction.

With a thought, he chose [Body Inheritance] for all the system rewards.

"Buzz—"

Five streams of warmth, some larger and some smaller, instantly spread throughout his body, as comfortable as soaking in a hot spring.

Rayne could clearly feel his muscles, bones, and even his internal organs becoming tougher and more explosive under the nourishment of that warmth.

"Still not enough..." Rayne felt the surging power within him. "I'm only one step away from the [Top-tier] Physique Realm. If this happens one more time... no, maybe killing just one more SR-ranked guy will be enough for a breakthrough."

A smile curled across his lips. "Sure enough, shortcuts always beat hard training."

Only he remained standing in the alley. Rainwater washed over the scattered flesh and blood, while a nauseating stench filled the air.

Rayne walked over to the pirates' corpses, bent down, dipped his fingers into some still-warm blood, and casually smeared it across his combat uniform—especially his left arm, which he coated particularly heavily.

Only after finishing all that did he walk to the corner of the alley.

Rosinante was still slumped on the ground, his face pale and his eyes vacant.

The corner had not completely blocked his view.

He had heard Rayne tell him to run, then immediately saw Rayne charge forward.

First came two unbelievably fast slashes. The burly man wielding the hammer had been split apart along with his weapon, followed by wave after wave of increasingly efficient slaughter...

This was not the Rayne he knew! This was not strength a recruit could possess!

Only when Rayne came before him and that icy killing intent receded like a tide did Rosinante abruptly come back to his senses, his entire body trembling violently.

"Rayne... Rayne..." He looked at Rayne's combat uniform covered in blood, his voice shaking. "Are... are you okay? These... these pirates..."

Rayne "wiped" sweat that did not exist from his forehead, pointed at the corpses—or rather, chunks of corpses—on the ground, and casually offered an extremely perfunctory excuse riddled with holes. "Got lucky. These guys... seemed to have started fighting among themselves and killed each other."

He shook his "blood-soaked" left arm. "Hiss... I got careless. I was still caught up in it and suffered a little injury."

Rosinante looked at Rayne's "miserable state," then at the pirates' bodies strewn across the ground, clearly cut down by some sort of sharp weapon—especially Blood Axe, who had been cleaved in two. His mind went blank.

Infighting? Killing each other? Caught in it and injured?

Who would believe such bullshit...!

But...

Rosinante looked into Rayne's calm eyes and ultimately swallowed the questions that had reached his lips. He knew Rayne did not want to talk about it.

"And... even if I knew the truth, what could I do? Go tell Vice Admiral Sakazuki? Rayne is my good friend. How could I betray him..."

Rayne watched Rosinante hesitate before ultimately choosing silence, and understood at once.

He did not care whether Rosinante believed him. That "big golden retriever's" kindness—or perhaps naivety—ensured he would never be the one to report him. That was enough.

"Let's go." Without giving him a choice, Rayne grabbed the limp Rosinante and pulled him to his feet. "We need to rendezvous with Lieutenant Colonel Dal and the others quickly."

Like a puppet on strings, Rosinante was half-dragged and half-pulled by Rayne out of the bloody alley.

Half an hour later, at the fortress's central square.

The battle was nearing its end. Under the elite Marines' surprise assault, the Blood Axe Pirates' main force had been swiftly crushed.

Lieutenant Colonel Dal was directing the soldiers as they cleared out the remaining enemies, but his expression was somewhat grim—Captain Barton and several core officers seemed to have escaped amid the chaos.

Just then, two blood-soaked figures supporting each other staggered out of a side alley.

They were Rayne and Rosinante.

"Lieutenant Colonel!" Rayne shouted "weakly."

"Rayne? Rosinante?" Dal froze, then quickly hurried over. "Are you two all right?! Earlier, over by the alley..."

"Reporting, sir..." Rayne said "breathlessly," "we were separated by the explosion... and ran into 'Blood Axe' Barton and his men..."

"What?!" Dal's expression changed drastically. "Where is he?!"

"They... they seemed to have started fighting among themselves..." Rayne pointed behind him toward the alley, then at his own "mangled" arm. "Barton and the others seemed to have internal conflict and started killing each other. We... we hid, and by the time we came out, only one of them was left. We took care of that wounded man, but suffered a few minor injuries."

Dal sent men to inspect the alley, half believing and half doubting. Before long, the soldiers returned with their report: Barton's corpse and those of several officers had indeed been found in the alley, and their deaths had been... exceptionally gruesome.

Dal looked at Rayne's "ghastly" wound, then at Rosinante beside him, who was so frightened he looked ready to pass out. At last, he nodded.

"Well done, Rayne." Though the process was bizarre, the outcome was good. "Go get your wounds treated first."

Inside the warship's bridge.

Sakazuki sat in the main seat, expressionlessly reading a battle report that had just been submitted by the landing force.

The report was highly detailed: after the landing squad was unexpectedly exposed, it had stormed the fortress and ultimately succeeded in eliminating all pirates. The Blood Axe Pirates had been confirmed wiped out.

The landing squad had suffered only minor casualties. As for the missing captain of the Blood Axe Pirates, "Blood Axe" Barton, and his core officers, the report stated that they had turned on one another in an alley along the fortress's flank, killing each other before being fortuitously encountered and finished off by two separated recruits, Rayne and Rosinante. The report also included recorded footage of the grisly scene in the alley.

Sakazuki exhaled a mouthful of cigar smoke. Amid the swirling haze, no emotion could be seen on his severe face.

"Infighting? Killing each other?" he repeated quietly, a faint, almost imperceptible mockery in his voice.

He casually tossed the report onto the table. This explanation was so full of holes that not even a three-year-old could be fooled. Yet... the horrific state of the scene seemed to support it.

Sakazuki looked out the window at the sea, where wind and rain still raged.

He could not help recalling Rayne's gaze, calm in a way no recruit should have been, and the explanation in the report—riddled with holes, yet impossible to pin down.

"...Hmph."

There was no expression on that face as hard as stone. Only his eyes narrowed slightly, revealing a dangerous gleam.

"Interesting."