Taking an enemy commander's head amid an army sounded thrilling. Pulling it off was another matter entirely.
One wrong move, and he would be torn to pieces.
Sengoku knew exactly what the World Government—no, the Dragon People—had in mind. Just as when Rob Lucci had come before, they wanted to put the Marines in their place.
Only this time, their warning would cost Loa his life.
Their reasons were simple.
First, Marine Headquarters had intercepted the Blood Marrow Worms they had hoped to use for immortality. Lucci and the CP9 members sent to make a show of force had been beaten to a pulp. The resulting chain of events had cost them dearly.
Those "losses" sounded laughable. They had tried to steal something that belonged to someone else, failed, then shamelessly decided they had suffered a loss.
But by the Dragon People's logic, the blame still fell on Loa.
Second, the Dragon People Family that had chiefly backed the plan had faced fierce criticism from powerful figures in its own circle once the scheme came to light. Under pressure from every direction, the family desperately needed to save face.
And what better way to do that than to kill Loa, the man at the center of it all?
This time, the Dragon People had set a death trap for him.
It might seem absurd that the Dragon People would kill someone from Marine Headquarters over something as petty as pride. But even before Loa crossed over, the Western nobles of Earth a few centuries ago had been little different.
When people spent their lives wanting for nothing and looking down on everyone else, they came to believe they were naturally superior.
Loa had made that family lose face, and its peers would see it as a humiliation to them too.