Group Battle X Elder X Liquor Line

Two days passed in a flash.

More than thirty sheet-metal shields, large and small, were piled in the open space in front of the living quarters. The iron spikes along their edges had yet to be fully polished, but the shields felt solid and weighty in hand, sturdy enough to send machetes and iron clubs bouncing off them.

Beside them stood two rows of Molotov cocktails, their mouths plugged with strips of cloth soaked in waste oil. They were neatly arranged like ranks of squat little soldiers.

Jiang Ye looked at the equipment, then glanced at Bago, who was swinging a shield nearby.

Bago raised the sheet-metal shield over his head, swung it around, and slammed it heavily into the ground, a bloodthirsty grin spreading across his face.

His attitude was completely different from what it had been a few days ago. Since submitting, he had kept a low profile, but something in his eyes had never stopped surging to the surface.

It was his wildness!

Jiang Ye had no intention of suppressing it.

Bago was a born fighter, and that wildness was precisely what had kept him alive in Meteor City until now.

As long as he understood orders and followed directions, that wildness would be useful on the battlefield.

He looked away and was about to return to his container room. Gray Beak was waiting for him there, ready to report that men had been stationed around the leveled ground and could seal off access at any time.

But before he could take a step, one of Shattered Eye's men came running over from a distance.

The man wore a short gray cloth jacket, and his trouser legs were speckled with mud. He ran with his arms swinging wide, clearly in a hurry.

He skidded to a stop in front of Jiang Ye, bent at the knees and waist, braced one hand on his knee, and pointed behind him with the other.

"Boss... they're here!"

"Lots... lots of them!"

He took a couple of breaths before finishing what he had to say.

"The Shattered Iron Group and Gray Rat Squad are coming from the eastern scrap zone. There's a huge crowd of them, at least seventy or eighty, and they're all armed!"

At those words, Jiang Ye's gaze darkened for a moment.

Tie Liao and Shu Mu had made their move!

He had already pushed his estimate of when they would come back again and again in his mind.

Within four days, perhaps even sooner.

But when the enemy actually came into view, the sense of urgency was still different.

Over the past two days, he had learned the basics about the Shattered Iron Group and Gray Rat Squad from Iron Wall and Gray Beak.

Tie Liao's Shattered Iron Group relied on brute force and numbers. Tie Liao himself was an Enhancement Nen user, skilled at explosive, short-range charges.

Shu Mu was a Manipulation user who could control thin, threadlike objects with Nen to restrain and cut enemies from a distance.

Together, the two groups were at least as strong as the Rust Bone Gang had been when Dodge was alive.

That was without even mentioning Grey Elder behind them.

Jiang Ye turned and looked over everyone in the open space.

"Stick to the plan."

He paused, then spoke quietly but clearly.

"Iron Wall, lead the frontal assault and pin them down. Gray Beak, move along the flanks. Shattered Eye, handle ranged throwing and funnel them into the traps."

"Bago, charge with Iron Wall."

With that, he stepped back with his right foot and sank into the shadow beneath him.

The gray-black shadow swallowed his body like the surface of water, leaving not a trace behind.

At the same time.

On the second floor of the standalone house on the outskirts of District 13, Grey Elder stood with his hands behind his back before a floor-to-ceiling window.

He watched the dust rising and the faintly shifting figures in the distant scrap zone, a composed smile on his lips.

A subordinate in black stood behind him, bent at the waist, and delivered his report in a steady voice.

"Elder, the Shattered Iron Group and Gray Rat Squad have set out."

"The Rust Bone Gang has made some preparations. It doesn't look like they're completely unprepared."

"Should we intervene discreetly... and lend a hand?"

Grey Elder waved a hand without even turning his head.

"It's just the little Rust Bone Gang. There's no need to put so much thought into it."

He picked up the glass of red wine on the windowsill and swirled it, watching the dark red streaks slowly slide down the inside of the glass.

"Even if they've made every preparation, they'll only die a few days later."

He returned the glass to the windowsill, turned, and walked toward the door.

The hem of his black robe brushed across the floor with a faint rustle.

"In District 13, anyone I want dead is not allowed to live."

His subordinate immediately followed, bowing slightly behind him.

"You're right, Elder."

Grey Elder pushed the door open without breaking stride.

"The most important thing now is to go to the Council of Elders and receive my coronation."

His figure cast a long, slender gray shadow in the light at the end of the corridor.

"I'm about to officially become the elder of District 13."

The subordinate lowered his head behind him, his voice carrying just the right touch of flattery.

"Congratulations, Elder!"

Meanwhile, at the edge of the scrap zone.

The Gray Rat Squad and Shattered Iron Group had reached the outskirts of the Rust Bone Gang's territory.

More than eighty people formed a dense mass, each wearing iron shoulder guards and a breastplate, and carrying a sharpened machete, spear, or iron club.

Several people at the front carried crude firearms. Their accuracy was questionable, but they certainly made an imposing sight.

Iron Wall stood at the very front of the Rust Bone Gang's position. Looking at the well-equipped ranks, he could not help cursing under his breath.

"Despicable bastards..."

He tightened his grip on his sheet-metal shield.

"One look and you can tell Grey Elder must have given them that equipment."

He didn't even have to think to guess where it had come from.

The only thing in District 13 that could produce so many iron weapons and pieces of armor at once was the key to the Council of Elders' resources in Grey Elder's hands.

Back then, Grey Elder had kept Dodge firmly under his thumb because he could draw on more resources than all the gangs in District 13 combined.

Iron Wall gritted his teeth and swallowed his anger, then suddenly bellowed.

"Everyone, get ready!"

As his words rang out, everyone raised their shields.

The cloth strips in the Molotov cocktails were lit with flint.

The trap lines concealed in the gaps between scrap heaps were drawn taut at the last moment.

Meanwhile, the Gray Rat Squad and Shattered Iron Group began pressing forward. Their footsteps kicked up clouds of gray dust, and the clatter of iron echoed over the scrap zone.

As time passed, Iron Wall's first move tore open the entire battle line.

He led more than twenty shield bearers in a frontal charge. Their sheet-metal shields crashed into the enemy ranks, forcibly ripping a gap through the middle of the formation of more than eighty men.

The Shattered Iron Group's men were blocked at the front, unable to break through. On the two flanks, Gray Beak and Shattered Eye moved at the same time.

Gray Beak's men cut in from the flank, struck once, and withdrew, only to dart in again. Each time, they left bloody marks in the gaps in the enemy's armor.

Shattered Eye's men stood at a distance, lighting Molotov cocktails and hurling them into the densest parts of the crowd. Firelight illuminated the gray sky, and the heat drove the armored figures back again and again.

Compared to the three men's distinct tactics, Bago charged at the very front.

His machete split open a Shattered Iron Group member's shoulder guard, but the blade lodged between the man's bones and wouldn't come free. Bago abandoned it and smashed the edge of his shield into the man's face instead.

The moment the man fell, Bago shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Kill! The more you kill, the happier the boss will be!"

Panting heavily, he glanced back at the Rust Bone Gang members behind him.

"The more trust and rewards you'll get! The same goes for you!"

The moment he said that, something seemed to ignite in the eyes of the Rust Bone Gang members.

Their morale surged within seconds. They pushed harder with their shields, and their machetes fell faster.

The combined force of more than eighty had lost over half its numbers in less than a quarter of an hour.

Some lay on the ground wailing, while others dropped their weapons and fled.

Their fine iron armor had not performed as expected against the Molotov cocktails and traps.

Atop an abandoned container in the distance, Tie Liao and Shu Mu stood side by side.

At that moment, both men's expressions were extremely ugly.

Tie Liao spat the cigarette butt he had chewed to pulp onto the ground by his feet, his scarred face as dark as a rusted iron plate.

"Fuck... what kind of fighting is this?"

The smile had finally vanished from Shu Mu's narrow eyes.

His fingers trembled slightly, not from fear, but from anger.

They had expected a one-sided rout.

Eighty well-armed men charging into the territory of a gang with only fifty or sixty people, most of whom didn't even have decent weapons-any fool could tell it should have been a massacre.

But now they were the ones being massacred.

"Tactics..."

Shu Mu's voice was so low it sounded as though he were forcing the words through his teeth.

"A front line, flanks, ranged attacks, and traps."

"That kid split a bunch of rabble into three groups and put them to use."

Tie Liao clenched his fist, his teeth grinding audibly.

The muscles in his shoulders swelled and relaxed, as though he were suppressing some impulse.

Then the two men turned and looked at each other at the same time.

Each saw the same thought in the other's eyes.

They would enter the fight themselves!

As Nen users, they could tip the scales of the battle in an instant as soon as they made their move.

Tie Liao's explosive Enhancement power could punch straight through Iron Wall's shield formation, while Shu Mu's Manipulation threads could sever Gray Beak and Shattered Eye's chains of command from a distance.

If they acted, the battle was still winnable.

But the instant Tie Liao took his first step forward, the shadow beneath his feet suddenly stirred.

A mass of gray-black shadow silently rose from the shade of a nearby pile of scrap iron barrels and condensed into a small, slender figure.

A closer look revealed none other than Jiang Ye!

Jiang Ye stood facing them, less than five meters away.

An old, half-full liquor bottle rested at his feet.

The bottle was uncorked, and the dark yellow liquid inside sloshed gently.

At the sight, Tie Liao and Shu Mu both froze.

Jiang Ye bent down, picked up the bottle, and tilted its mouth.

The cloudy liquid poured out, drawing a wet mark across the gravel in front of his toes, like a thin line barring the way.

He casually tossed the empty bottle aside, then raised his head and looked at the two men before him. His voice was calm, yet it brought Tie Liao to an abrupt halt.

"Anyone who crosses the liquor line..."

Jiang Ye raised his right hand from his side, and shadows silently spread beneath his feet.

"Dies!"