CHAPTER 51: THE MONSTER

Chapter 90:

The ceiling had caved in slightly from the explosion, and smoke still drifted in the air like lazy ghosts refusing to leave the battlefield.

The top floor of the Azura Gang’s hotel lay in ruins, cracked windows whistling as wind poured in through jagged holes.

Blood and debris painted the once-polished tiles, now defiled by battle.

Kai finally reached the top. His boots crunched over broken glass and rubble, the weight of what just happened bearing down on him more heavily than fatigue.

He found Lucas slumped near the collapsed wall, bruised and battered, a fine mist of blood still drying on his skin.

His shirt was torn at the shoulder, and purple bruises painted his ribs.

"You gonna be okay?" Kai asked, eyes scanning his brother-in-arms with concern.

"Yeah... just hurts all over," Lucas replied with a wince, forcing a weak smile that failed to hide the pain in his expression.

Kai let out a long sigh, dragging a hand through his soot-streaked hair. "We’re gonna have a hell of a hospital bill," he muttered.

Still, his thoughts wandered. ’He left the moment he blocked that last attack....’

He pulled out his phone, dialed Jack, and waited. After a single ring, Jack answered.

"What’s up, Kai?"

"You done yet?" Kai asked bluntly.

"Nope. I didn’t even fight. We clashed once, and he retreated."

Kai’s brow furrowed as he shook his head in confusion. "Okay then... Elijah, Tristan, and Dean are all at the hospital in West District. Go and protect them."

"That bad on the boss’s side?" Jack replied after a short pause.

"Alright, I’ll take the SUV. Where is it... and that guy Tony?"

Kai gave him the directions, keeping his voice level.

As the call ended, he turned his eyes toward the ruined skyline and the broken interior of their stronghold.

’We’ve suffered too many losses today... injuries, property damage, bodies. But it was worth it.’

Despite the damage, they had taken the gangless zone entirely.

The most lawless piece of the Southern Territory now bore the Azura mark.

No taxes, no tribute, no other gangs left to collect from the locals.

All revenue would funnel directly into their pockets.

’Even if we can’t match the top Omega gangs yet... we’ve become the strongest among the weakest.’

He could already see the foundations of their next phase. ’Control brings income. Income brings power. And with the whole territory under us... we’ll finally have the leverage we need.’

The Stray Dogs wouldn’t retaliate.

Not after this.

’They’ll play it smart... stay quiet. If they attacked again, we’d bleed them out.’

And that guy Elijah beat... he wasn’t some grunt.

’From what Tristan said, that guy was ranked up in their gang. A big shot. We may have just pulled their fangs without knowing it.’

But it wasn’t over.

Not even close.

They needed a plan to crush the Stray Dogs completely, and they only had a three-month window before they take the risk.

Kai glanced down at Lucas, unconscious now, body still twitching in response to pain.

Without a word, he knelt and lifted him onto his back.

’We’ve come far... a lot of that is thanks to Elijah and the techniques he got from his grandmother’s book. But there’s more in that book—more secrets, more power.’

Lucas was strong, but not enough.

’Our leader’s too weak right now—physically and mentally. He’s doing good... but not good enough. If we’re gonna survive what’s coming, he needs to train harder, become ruthless, become unbreakable.’

They were outside now, walking into the ruined parking lot where the rest of the injured were being loaded into vehicles.

Four members dead.

The rest severely wounded.

Kai handed Lucas’s unconscious body over to one of the men.

Kevin was already secured inside another car, bloodied and silent.

Kai stood tall, staring up at the night sky, his face unreadable.

"...But let’s enjoy the new year," he whispered to himself, "and the small things."

Later, Just After Midnight

Far from the chaos of the Azura Gang’s hotel, in a lavish high-rise overlooking the city’s skyline, silence reigned in a cold, well-lit office.

Cain and Renji knelt on polished marble floors, sweat dripping down their backs despite the air conditioning.

The lights above cast long, sharp shadows on the floor behind them.

Across from them, sitting on a throne-like chair behind an ornate desk, was Nora.

Her silver hair shimmered under the fluorescent lights, but it was her icy blue eyes that cut the two men like daggers.

Beside her stood a tall man with deep red hair and even redder eyes—Austin.

Fury radiated off him in silent waves.

He had trained all three —Cain, Renji, and Lura.

His recommendation had failed.

His pride was crumbling.

"You’re lucky you’re still breathing," Austin said without emotion, his arms crossed tightly.

"I trusted you with my name. You came back beaten—and one of you didn’t come back at all."

Nora didn’t move. Her voice was colder than the wind outside. "Where is the boy?"

"Ma’am," Renji said quickly, his face buried in the floor.

"They were too powerful... and hid the child well. We couldn’t locate them."

Her eyes didn’t blink.

She turned to Austin. "Then what do you have to say about this, my love?"

Austin exhaled slowly, his expression tight. "It was my bad judgment to think they could do it—"

Before he could finish, Cain broke in, voice panicked. "Vice Leader! Even you can’t defeat that guy!"

Austin’s expression twisted into a snarl, his aura flaring for just a second, enough to make the room tremble.

He took a step forward—just one—and Cain began shaking.

"Choose your next words carefully," Austin said, his tone now low and dangerous. "Explain."

Cain was trembling—but not from fear of the two before him.

It was the memory.

Golden hair and crimson eyes.

That casual smirk.

That overwhelming aura.

"That kid... no," Cain said, his voice cracking.

"That man is a monster."

He gritted his teeth, but the image wouldn’t fade.

"I clashed with him once. Just once.

And I saw it all.

The way he read me like a book.

He didn’t just defeat me—he played with me.

Kept me close... like I was a toy, a punching bag.

There was no resistance.

Nothing I could do.

I was powerless."

Austin’s eyes narrowed. Nora said nothing.

Cain continued, eyes wide with something close to awe.

"Before him, all I could do was... accept. Accept that he was on another level. That I was beneath him."

It was a confession of defeat. But also a warning.

He knew exactly what he was saying.

He knew that Austin and Nora were Advanced Knights, far above his own level.

But he was certain—even they wouldn’t have won.

"There’s no one in our gang who could beat him," Cain whispered. "No one."

Nora’s voice was soft, but it cut like a blade.

"...What did you see?" she asked.

But Cain didn’t answer as he was just looking at the ground in a state of fear and shock.

His hands were trembling slightly, clenched into fists but unable to stop the small, involuntary shakes.

His breath was shallow, his eyes wide with something far deeper than simple defeat—raw, undeniable fear.

"Don’t attack them," he muttered, voice almost a whisper. "It’s not worth the risk."

"The risk of what?" Austin questioned, his voice rising, tight with frustration and anger.

Cain’s eyes flickered up to meet his, and for a moment there was something dead in them.

A man who’d stared into something he couldn’t comprehend.

"Of death," Cain finished, his voice steadier now, but cold.

"You both know my Ki sensing abilities are amazing. What I sensed from him... was a monster waiting to be awakened."

The weight of that statement hung in the air.

Nora, who had been silent until now, narrowed her eyes.

Her lips thinned into a tight line.

Cain was never one to exaggerate—if he said he felt death, it meant something.

Nora’s frown deepened as she turned her gaze toward Austin.

Her voice was firm, cutting through the tension like a blade. "Call Xiniz."

Austin gritted his teeth but obeyed.

He pulled out his phone and dialed quickly.

One ring.

Two.

Three.

No answer.

He tried again.

Nothing.

A third time—still nothing.

His expression changed from irritated to concerned.

"Did Leo enter to help them?" Austin asked, his tone uncertain now.

Nora’s eyes shifted, calculating.

She was quiet for a while, visibly working through possibilities.

When she finally answered, her voice was measured but grim.

"No. He’s moved. If he had stepped in... we’d know. He’d be after our heads without hesitation. He’s still chilling. Watching."

Austin’s breath caught in his throat.

That was even worse. Leo wasn’t the type to let things slip under his radar.

If he was letting events play out without interfering, it meant he didn’t feel the need to.

Which could only mean one thing.

"Then... it means we’re not fighting an Unranked gang anymore," Austin said slowly, the words weighing him down as he spoke them.

"We’re fighting against an Omega-ranked gang."

Nora nodded slowly. "It seems so."

She exhaled, her breath frosty with suppressed tension.

Her voice remained calm, but her eyes were sharp with worry.

"Their leader killed Xiniz. That alone means his power is either at the Peak Intermediate Knight stage... or worse—he’s already reached the Advanced Knight stage."

Cain’s head shot up again, lips parting in shock.

Austin paled slightly, his hands tightening around the phone as if crushing it might stop the truth from being real.

"And he’s not the only one," Nora continued. "There are two others. One killed Lura. The other is the one Cain faced."

Cain flinched at the memory.

He could still feel the phantom presence pressing down on his soul like a boulder made of fire and blood.

Austin looked between the two of them, disoriented. "So what do we do now?"

Nora didn’t respond immediately.

Her gaze was distant now, eyes flickering with thoughts she didn’t voice.

She seemed to be balancing the weight of strategy, resources, and vengeance all at once.

But the silence was short-lived.

"It doesn’t remove the fact that you two failed," she said abruptly, voice sharper than before.

Cain’s mouth opened in protest.

Austin stepped forward. But neither of them had time to utter a word.

The room froze in an instant.

It wasn’t just a drop in temperature—it was as if time itself had been flash-frozen.

A shimmering veil of frost danced across the walls and ceiling.

Crystalline vines of ice raced up their legs, coiling with deadly grace.

In less than a second, Cain and Austin were completely immobilized—turned into statues of ice.

Nora stood, her expression unreadable.

The very air around her shimmered with magic.

No Ki. No brute force.

Just pure, concentrated mana.

The difference was palpable.

She hadn’t been bluffing.

She hadn’t been an Advanced Knight.

She was an Advanced Mage.

Cold mist swirled around her boots as she stepped forward, lips pressed into a line of disappointment.

She raised her hand slightly, almost as if she were about to swat a fly.

With a flick of her finger, the ice statues cracked.

Thin lines snaked their way through the frozen figures—first Cain, then Austin.

A moment later, they shattered.

The sound was delicate at first, like glass cracking.

Then it crescendoed into a sudden, violent explosion of frozen shards.

Icy fragments sprayed across the marble floor, skidding to a stop like discarded pieces of failure.

And just like that, they were gone.

No bodies.

No blood.

Only silence and mist where once two warriors had stood.

Nora exhaled again, eyes still glowing faintly with mana.

The frost that coated the room slowly receded, absorbed back into the air, leaving behind only chill and dread.

She wasn’t bluffing.

She had been watching closely—testing them.

And now they had confirmed what she feared: that even two of her best weren’t enough.

Now the game had changed.

They had underestimated the Azura gang.

That mistake had cost them operatives,and possibly the upper hand.

And worse—it had revealed too much.

Her thoughts turned back to the figure Cain had described.

A monster waiting to be awakened.

That wasn’t just flowery exaggeration.

Cain had never used that term before. And if what he felt was real...

Nora turned her back to the empty room, walking toward the arched exit as shadows began to gather behind her.