Where the Garrison Regiment was stationed.
The long street that had once bustled with life.
Was now deserted.
The ground was covered in the bodies of those killed in battle.
Thirteen stood alone, turned sideways, with a single saber.
He held his long saber, its red tassel fluttering, his upper body bare.
Blood had dyed him red, and the black dragon tattoo on his body seemed to have caught the scent of blood and come alive.
Beneath his feet, corpses lay piled like a mountain.
The bodies of Pao Ge and Kou Island soldiers were tangled together, piled a story high.
Matsushita had lost an arm, and fewer than one in ten of the soldiers around him remained.
This battle had broken the Garrison Regiment's pride.
This battle had thoroughly shaken the people of Kou Island awake.
"Reporting, our Garrison Regiment... has failed the Emperor. Two thousand brave warriors were obstructed by vicious bandits. Though... we eliminated the foreign enemy, we... suffered devastating losses."
Matsushita glanced at the mountain of corpses towering like a wall, his eyes filled with despair.
The man standing atop the bodies was like the grim reaper.
Though he was exhausted, the survivors did not dare advance again.
"Of the Garrison Regiment's eight... eight hundred Awakened, fewer than a hundred survive. The ordinary soldiers... have almost all been killed or wounded."
Matsushita struggled to report the battle's outcome over his radio.
"I have betrayed the empire's trust. Once this fiend is dealt with, I shall commit seppuku."
"Heh."
Thirteen chuckled, his head hanging, blood dripping even from his hair.
Utterly exhausted, he slowly raised his head.
He glanced at the sky. "Still no signal. The battle isn't over."
The few Pao Ge remaining beside him forced themselves to their feet.
Li Xiaomao had only one eye,