The blade was poised to rcilessly slice open his throat.
"You can't leave—stay with ," Jotaro Shobo warned.
"Are you crazy?!" Saiken shouted, a mix of shock and anger on his face. He couldn't fathom what sort of madness Jotaro Shobo was exhibiting.
Yet, in truth, Jotaro Shobo was completely lucid—he couldn't run. The reason was simple. Phoenix Casino was Tyger Claws territory, an asset of the Jotaro Group. If the Tyger Claws higher-ups discovered that soone had smashed Phoenix Casino while Jotaro Shobo himself fled… the lightest punishnt would be relegation to a permanently low-ranking mber.
The worst outco might even be expulsion from Tyger Claws or being forced into a humiliating seppuku.
In either case, Jotaro Shobo couldn't accept it. He had already savored the sweet taste of power; to be forever trampled upon as nothing more than a minion was unacceptable. He'd rather die gloriously in battle.
Moreover, he still had a chance—after all, he was implanted with the Zetatech Sandevistan MK.2. Even though it was only the basic model, it might just be the key to turning the tide.
"I might be crazy," he murmured as he pressed the blade gently against Saiken's neck, leaving a shallow cut, "but if you choose to run, you'll die by my blade. You know very well you can't outrun my Sandevistan."
Saiken's face fell into despair. He was rely an ordinary trafficker with hardly any combat cyberware. In the end, he didn't dare challenge Jotaro Shobo and, dejected, slumped back into the office.
"Crazy… absolutely crazy," he muttered.
---
A few minutes earlier, even though the doors of Phoenix Casino had already been closed, one mber of the Jotaro Group remained on guard at the entrance. He wore headphones, listening to music while chain-smoking, his body swaying along with the beat in a state of bliss.
However, when he saw the Mox erging from the darkness, his eyes widened in terror.
At the forefront of the group, Leo raised his hand and fired his silenced pistol with a soft "pfft." In the next second, a bullet punched a hole right through the guard's forehead, and his body slumped lifelessly to the ground.
Without waiting for Leo's further command, two Mox won sprinted forward, quickly retrieving keys from the fallen guard. They inserted the keys into the lock and swung open the main door. In a corner of the first-floor lobby, two more Jotaro Group mbers—who, despite the late hour, had not yet retired—were sitting by a pachinko machine. Just as one of them was about to insert coins, the sound of the door opening behind them froze them in place.
When they saw Leo and his team entering, they were instantly dumbfounded. The won following Leo imdiately raised their guns and opened fire. A burst of bullets rained down, reducing the two group mbers to a bloody ss. Their dying screams, shrill and pained, served as a grim warning to their comrades upstairs.
Soon, the lights on the upper floor flickered on. Almost imdiately, the clamor of chaos spilled downwards. The Jotaro Group mbers, awakened by the gunfire and the agonized screams of their comrades, grabbed their weapons and shouted as they rushed toward the lobby.
What t them was Jackie, hefting a heavy machine gun in his arms. Since their presence was already compromised, there was nothing left to conceal. Their plan was simple—if they eliminated every enemy they encountered, Tyger Claws in Japan Town would never know who was responsible.
Boom, boom, boom!
The deafening roar of the heavy machine gun filled the room as large-caliber rounds, accompanied by a furious clamor, tore the leading Jotaro Group mber to pieces. The others scrambled for cover behind any available debris. Before long, the gunfire ceased—whether due to depleted ammunition or an overheated barrel, no one could tell.
Just as the mbers hunkered down began to catch their breath, a figure brandishing a samurai sword burst upward from the stairs.
On the stairway, Leo launched himself with a powerful kick, his body moving with the lightness of a butterfly as he twisted mid-air and struck the stairwell wall with his foot. That single burst of montum was so extraordinary that, to the onlookers, he appeared nothing more than a fleeting blur before he had already sliced his way into the midst of the enemy.
A Jotaro Group mber at the front instinctively raised his gun in defense, but both he and his weapon were cleaved in two by Leo's assault. In a swift reversal, Leo's downward slash pivoted upward with one fluid step, carving open another Jotaro Group mber's chest.
The ferocity of Leo's attack terrified one of the remaining group mbers into a frenzied scream, his finger desperately pulling the trigger even as chaos reigned around him.
Rat-a-tat-tat—
Leo imdiately retreated, dashing around a stairwell corner. He erged unscathed, while the surrounding Jotaro Group mbers suffered grievous injuries from stray and ricocheted bullets, their casualties mounting. One such mber, persistently mashing his trigger, soon emptied his magazine entirely. In his panic, even as he continued to pull the trigger, no bullet fired—only the hollow clack of an empty chamber echoed.
Leo then gripped his blade with his free hand and made a light slice. Clutching his throat, the hapless man collapsed onto the bloodstained stairs.
---
After quickly clearing the remaining Jotaro Group mbers from the stairs, Leo led the Mox further upward. The second floor catered to VIP custors, offering illicit black braindance experiences, while Jotaro Shobo's office was located on the third floor. The squad assigned to block the rear exit had yet to report back—an indication that Jotaro Shobo had not fled via the rooftop or back door but was still holed up on the third floor. Their next objective was clear: eliminate Jotaro Shobo and then withdraw before the Jotaro Group reinforcents from Westbrook arrived.
In various rooms on the second floor, several Jotaro Group mbers had taken cover. Unlike their earlier comrades, they were not reckless; they planned to wait until the Mox had moved through the second floor and onto the third before launching a surprise attack. Believing they were well-hidden, they failed to realize that their positions had already been exposed through Leo's tactical scope.
Leo shared the live feed from his scope with every mber of his team. Leading the charge with him were Jackie, V, and Lucy, while the Mox won followed behind, heading straight for the Jotaro Group's hiding spots. With Jackie's heavy machine gun and the tech weapons wielded by V and Lucy—capable of penetrating any cover—the concealed enemies were in for a brutal reckoning.
After spending a few tense minutes clearing out the Jotaro Group mbers on the second floor, Leo and his team continued their ascent toward the third floor, with the Mox trailing closely behind.
As they raced upward, Leo activated his tactical scope to scan the third floor once again. Suddenly, his face changed expression. He quickly crouched and signaled for the Mox behind him to halt. In the next mont, rapid gunfire erupted—bullets pounded the walls and floor, sending dust and debris flying.
Had they not stopped, they would have been torn apart by the relentless barrage. The gunfire was coming from a sentry turret installed inside the third-floor office. No one could fathom what Jotaro Shobo had been thinking—installing the turret not on the exterior but inside his own office.
Who was it ant to guard against? His own people?
"Lucy, I'm creating an opening for you," Leo called out. With that, he dashed forward. The sentry turret imdiately swiveled its barrel, unleashing heavy machine gun rounds that shattered the floor and walls. Yet Leo moved with extraordinary agility, weaving through the hailstorm of bullets without sustaining a single injury. Taking advantage of the turret's montary realignnt, Lucy peeked out from beneath the stairs, her eyes flashing with a fierce red light. A few seconds later, the thunderous machine gun fire abruptly ceased as Lucy successfully hacked into the turret, forcing it into a remote shutdown.
"Let's go—ti to et that bastard Jotaro Shobo," Leo commanded with a gesture. The Mox followed as they stord into Jotaro Shobo's office. The mont they stepped inside, everyone gasped in unison.
The office had been ravaged as if caught in a storm of blades. Few items remained intact: the walls, floor, and ceiling were scarred with countless cuts; desks, computers, and sofas lay in tatters; even the ceiling fan had been torn down and discarded onto the floor. Seated on the one sofa that had survived the carnage was Saiken, whose eyes widened in surprise at the sight of so many intruders.
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