Published at 20th of September 2024 7:21 am

Chapter 169: Turning Point

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Kyle sat with his five soldiers around a circular table within a conference room at the Raven’s main safehouse, led there by Garreth. The dried blood stains on the armour gave the surviving Ravens who seen them in action an air of uncertainty, even though they far outnumbered the soldiers.

Yet Garreth knew numbers would not do anything – Kyle had already proven that by wiping out nearly every straggler in the town in a single day, eliminating the foes that Garreth himself had struggled to weed out over the last three months. This… this is true power.

What Garreth didn’t know was that Kyle had a second squad led by Sasha chasing down anyone who tried to escape the town, using a hovercraft to clearly track movements and hunt them all over. Kyle even had Sasha swap out squad members to let the elite force have some more experience.

[Sir, Raven convoy detected moving into town.]

“Got it.”

Soon, the door opened to reveal the leader of the Ravens, a well-dressed lady in a black suit, her boots clicking on the wooden floor as she walked confidently into the room. Flanked by four bodyguards, she did not look any older than twenty, but Kyle did not underestimate her, examining her closely. A clear haughty prideful demeanor, the leader took her place at the head of the circular table.

“As leader of the Ravens, I thank you from the bottom of my hearts for saving my men.” The leader bowed sincerely, as did her bodyguards and Garreth.

“I don’t have time to waste on small talk.” Kyle waved his hand dismissively, getting straight to the point. “I want to form a working alliance with the Ravens to fight against the Cretins.”

The leader did not waver, obviously already expecting this as she took her seat carefully, staring right at Kyle. “With your capabilities, I hardly think that you would need us in this fight.”

“Killing a few hundred men and killing an entire major gang is different.”

“So you want cannon fodder.”

“You won’t be left wanting – the whole of Kregol will be given to you on a sliver platter if you want it.” Kyle retorted.

“That’s only as long as you survive your own war in Raktor. I heard the Seven Snakes took a fairly bad beating in the Culdao Peaks. How long can you last?”

Kyle squinted at the insuination, though he was not particularly personally offended. This was simple business - a powerplay between the two of them, trying to establish who needs each other more in this alliance. It was obvious that the Ravens were not going to back down that easily.

The best scenario would be to have the entire Raven gang subjugated, but it would create a whole host of other problems that Kyle could not afford to deal with. Otherwise, he would have just killed the leader right here and now, claiming authority for himself. Better to have them willing work with us than against us.

The leader noticed Kyle’s hesitation, pouncing onto the opportunity. “You need men and basic supplies, more than you currently have. The Ravens need protection and equipment to stabilize our control in Kregol and push out the Cretins. Yet, if we work separately, the Seven Snakes will die in a month’s time when you’re crushed by all the major gangs, while I will last longer. As strong as you are, you can’t fight all five major gangs alone.”

Despite the obvious display of strength in the town, the leader was not afraid of Kyle killing her – she knew she still had value. Smart, her predecessor must have trained her well. Intimidation Aura!

The air suddenly grew heavy, the bodyguards immediately kicking into defensive mode and aiming their guns right at Kyle, who still sat quietly in his exosuit armour, not moving a single inch. The leader began to gasp for air as her heart palpitated, the intimidation aura clearly affecting her.

Even the veteran Garreth who had seen his fair share of death could feel the scythe closing in on his neck, his pulse increasing sharply.

“Perhaps you should see it the other way.” Kyle replied while the leader gripped the table for support. “In spite of my lack of manpower, support and power, I was able to hold out against a major gang for two months without faltering. Even when a second major gang attacked me, we still held strong and even pushed them back.”

“Yet for the Ravens, in spite of your dominance, your advantage in manpower and your reputation, you have been continuously losing ground to small-time thugs and no names. You might have not been appointed leader yet, Victoria Raven. But even if you were, you may not be leader for very long.”

Kyle stood up. “Regardless of whether the Ravens work with us or not, we will be eliminating every Cretin-controlled business in Kregol. The only choice you have to make is whether it will be the Ravens taking over what’s left, or the vultures all around who are simply waiting to see what rots.”

He tossed an arctech radio onto the table, before leaving Victoria breathing sharply as she tried to catch her breath, the domineering pressure finally gone. As Kyle walked through the safehouse, he kept the intimidation aura on, frightening the surviving ravens who had all gathered in the main room shitless, some of the more inexperienced ones even pissing themselves on the spot.

The moment Kyle left the safehouse, the fear suddenly lifted like a veil over the surviving Ravens, as they began to discuss among themselves. “Who the fuck was that? It felt like he was going to kill all of us in an instant!”

“There’s no way we can go against that kind of monster! It’s like fighting a giant!”

“What did he talk about with our boss to warrant such a reaction?”

Victoria could clearly hear the commotion outside through the door left agape, before Garreth quickly closed in, everyone in the room calming down. It wasn’t her first time meeting a gang from Raktor either – she was there when her father had met with Ares and Sebastian in a similar negotiation.

Her father had refused immediately on the spot, earning himself a bullet to the head two months later, leaving her alone in a succession war. As much as she wanted to take Kyle’s offer, she knew she did not have complete control over every single Raven. Most likely, our ranks have already been corrupted by those working for the Cretins.

Both Garreth and Victoria knew there was not much of a choice to make, being eaten from both inside and outside. She immediately picked up the arctech radio, turning it on. “I accept the offer. The Ravens will work with the Seven Snakes.”

[Good.] Kyle’s voice came back over the radio. [Our first order of business is to reorganize. We’ll start from the rims and slowly consolidate Raven control.]

“I do not have enough men to begin a cleanup operation right away – you must give me a week.”

[No need. Give me a list of targets, we’ll handle the rest. Just make sure you have enough bodybags.]

Three days later, in Raktor….

The Ardent Cretins’ war-room was a flurry of action. It was here that every command and order was processed and delivered, all under the watchful gaze of Sebastian who monitored every communication line. “Is the regrouping complete?” He asked one of his subordinates.

“Almost done, sir. We’ll be ready to hit the Seven Snakes with everything within a day.”

Sebastian nodded in response, planning to strike while the iron was hot. With the tunnel network of the Seven Snakes now collapsed, he already increased the intensity of the skirmishes, forcing the defenders to deplete their supplies before he launched a direct assault.

However, a nagging feeling at the back of his head told him that it was not going to be this easy. Dealing with Kyle never was.

Walking around the war-room, he headed towards his logistics department, who were all obviously in a panic. “What’s wrong?”

“Sir, thirty convoys has gone missing in Kregol, with no survivors found. Mines that were previously under our control as well as farms are slowly being overtaken by the Ravens once again.”

“Didn’t we send response teams after the takeover of the town?”

“Yes sir, but none of them have replied back. Our spies tell us that the Ravens are still in control, and everyone we had sent over had been wiped out.”

“By who?”

“They don’t know as well - our spies are currently in hiding due to a purge operation.”

“What happened to the assassins we sent after Victoria?”

“There hasn’t been any word from them yet, but with everything we’ve been seeing so far, we are being cut off from Kregol!”

Sebastian furrowed his brows, massaging his temples

“Sir, the supplies are still stable for now, and we will be able to purchase them from the other major gangs if needed.” The subordinate pointed out. “But if we lose all access to Kregol, our supply of both food and basic supplies will be cut in half.”

“Understood. Hand me the report.”

Sebastian poured over the documents and collected data, a list of all the missing mercenary groups and convoys who had missed their hourly check-in over arctech radio. How are the Ravens coming back in force? They should be completely disorganized after I assassinated their leader, yet they seemed to be working in tandem.

He noted in the report that his informants within the Ravens were also missing in action, causing alarm bells to ring in his head. He had worked hard to establish supply lines from Kregol to Raktor to fuel the ongoing war, but now they were getting cut off, falling like dominoes one after the other.

The worst part was that he was completely in the dark as to how the attackers were overwhelming his defences. He had equipped his men with the best military equipment he could get his hands on, a mixture of Versian industrialists leftovers and Count Leon’s equipment.

Could it be the Violet Demons? As allied as the major gangs were, it was still a tenuous one – one where everyone eyed each other like a hawk, looking for the slightest hint of weakness present in the gangs. Even though Sebastian sat at the head of a major gang with Ares, he now felt that his position was volatile at best, able to fall with a single mistake made.

No, the Violet Demons aren’t good enough to pull off such a rapid response. It must be the Seven Snakes. Sebastian gripped the paper tightly, nearly crumpling the edge of the report. The Seven Snakes had been a major thorn in his side ever since the war started, doggedly resisting with the help of the enforcers and Baron Cain.

Originally he had let them off easily when they built the hypermall, expecting the Seven Snakes to join in revolution when the time came. It was why he allowed them to build their powerbase and economic strength, hoping they would serve as a potential ally.

Naturally, he had countermeasures in place as well, immediately whittling down the Seven Snakes to a single district and destroying their weapons factory in one fell swoop at the beginning of the war. Yet the tunnel network proved impenetrable, continuously supplying the Seven Snakes and Enforcers and forcing the Cretins into a war of attrition, unable to break past the ardent defences.

It was only with significant concessions that Sebastian had managed to get the Violet Demons to launch a full assault on the Culdao Peaks, yet even with the tunnel network collapsed, the Seven Snakes were still determinedly holding on.

Even if I win the fight against the Seven Snakes and control the South Sector, I will be severely weakened compared to the other major gangs. He was well aware of the East Sector brokering peace with Baron Namor, inducing more refugees in the Central District to flock there for added safety and economic opportunities.

To Sebastian, the war in Raktor was not a simple ‘us vs them’ but was instead a free-for-all, where every interested party would be fighting for the top dog position. The original plan of being a council of gang leaders ruling over Raktor had already been flung out of the window the moment Baron Namor came into the equation.

Right now, Sebastian began to doubt the viability of the original plan that the major gangs had agreed on, and whether the Ardent Cretins could find their place in the council. Sebastian spent the next hour calculating their losses due to the skirmishes in Kregol, and the numbers only pointed to a terrible scenario in the future.

Instead of being upset, Sebastian only began chuckling to himself, knowing that Kyle was only doing to him whatever Sebastian had been doing in return. You won’t enjoy cornering me, Kyle. “Call the troops, tell them to speed up preparations. We strike in an hour. Send Ares first.”

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