The three of them stood back to back, constantly fending off the prowling Alanna, defending with all their might to prevent being picked off one by one.
Seeing the trio gradually stabilizing, resembling an iron shell, Alanna ceased her attacks and quickly retreated, once more standing on the stage. But before the remaining three could utter any mocking words, Alanna tossed the bat in her hand, the azure glow in her eyes dissipating, replaced by a surge of golden-orange radiance that encircled her side.
"Not good, she still has a trick up her sleeve."
One of them imdiately shouted, but at this point, they had no viable strategy to counteract her. They could only co together, raising a honeycomb-like hexagonal grid barrier, forming a sphere that enveloped the three of them.
"Hmph." Seeing this, Alanna sneered mockingly, but her tone was entirely unlike her usual self.
She spread her hands wide, a dazzling and intricate array rapidly took form behind her. The hall seed to be hit by a typhoon as countless brilliant magic light sands materialized, surging toward the array behind her.
Tables and chairs shook, the lights on the ceiling swayed, and the Ghost Face Gang mbers lying on the ground were swept into a pile, groaning and screaming. The 'Z' Gang mbers closest to the stage clung tightly to the guarding rail, trying to avoid being carried away.
A complex cube gradually took shape within the array, its form resembling nurous smaller cubes stacked and fused together, etched with delicate, thread-like patterns.
Sturdy · Crystal · Heavy · Impact
This intricate cubic construct beca increasingly condensed, emanating a golden-orange glow. Slowly floating upward, it then shot forward. Despite its slow flight speed, it sliced through layers of airwaves and ripples, shattering the barrier shield the three had ford like breaking through an eggshell. The impact sent them flying, their bones cracking as they spat blood, then continued driving them forward, smashing through the wall and hurtling outside.
When the startled 'Z' Gang mbers turned to look at that spot again, a gaping hole two n wide had appeared. The cold wind roared, rushing into the room, snapping many people out of their shock.
"This..." They glanced at the missing figures of their leader, then at Alanna, still standing proudly on the stage. Many of them, now afraid, got up and ran toward the stairway exit.
Passing through the trembling Ghost Face Gang mbers, Alanna led her group to the gap in the wall. Amidst the rubble, she hauled up the suit-clad mouthy leader, and Gen directly tore off his mask, exposing his panic-stricken face to everyone.
"Feeling less cocky now? Judging by that look, I'd say you're scared out of your wits. If the boss hadn't shown rcy just now, you'd be nothing but a puddle of mush by now." Gen lifted him, delivering a few slaps before tossing him to the ground.
"Speak. Who sent you to ddle in the 'Z' Gang's business?"
"Please, stop, stop, I'll talk, I'll talk." As Gen delivered a few more kicks, unable to bottle up his pain, he finally relented.
"Alright, you've got 30 seconds. If the answer doesn't satisfy us, I'll keep 'comforting' you." Gen released him onto the floor.
"I'll talk. First of all, I'm just a manager in the Ghost Face Gang, not the boss—I don't know much," he said, raising his hands.
"That day, the boss gathered us and said there was sothing we needed to do. Then he told us to work with so people and kidnap a few targets."
"Stuff like this happens all the ti. We're used to it, so no one bothered asking why. We just went along with it, helping those people threaten the targets. It wasn't until later we realized the ones we grabbed were all mbers of the 'Z' Gang."
"Collaborate? Who were you collaborating with?" Gen frowned.
"I don't know their identities. Judging from their skills, though, they were highly skilled cyber hackers, incredibly adept at detection and counter-detection."
"Have you worked with them before?"
"Before? Hmm... I don't think we've cooperated much. Maybe I don't rember, but it's probably very rare."
"It seems they're the ones pulling the strings." Suoga stepped closer.
Alanna asked several other questions and eventually stopped.
"It appears the Ghost Face Gang is rely a group of enforcers. They've been following orders from another hidden force. Honestly, I suspect that, aside from their boss, no one knows who's calling the shots."
"It's possible even the boss doesn't know." Gen withdrew his hand, tossing the questioned man back to the ground.
"So what now? Forces operating online are especially hard to track. Chances are, they've already noticed we're onto them." Suoga tapped a nearby railing with his bat.
"For now, we focus on rounding up our mbers one by one. As we persist in our search, they'll expose more and more information." By this point, Alanna had returned to her normal deanor.
"Alright, looks like we're wrapping up for tonight. Zi Jin is still downstairs waiting for us."
"Let's go."
As the group made their way downstairs, the situation outside the bar was far from calm. Due to the 'Z' Gang's assault, other mbers of the Ghost Face Gang had received the news and were arriving in force.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—
Several hover cars zipped through the night sky, weaving between the neon-lit skyscrapers and diving toward the bar. As they reached the open space outside, barely coming to a stop, nurous figures leapt straight out of the cars.
"Quick! We're under attack!" One of the Ghost Face Gang mbers shouted.
"You've got guts ssing with us!" A few burly n grabbed ghost masks from the trunk and donned them, striding toward the bar with nacing confidence.
At this mont, a black-haired, violet-eyed girl was leaning against a car, observing the hover cars descending from the sky with mild curiosity.
"Aren't the police here yet?" She glanced around. By now, the surrounding streets were empty—not from lack of activity, but because earlier fighting in the bar had scared people away, or they simply chose not to provoke the gang mbers storming toward the scene. Everyone had steered clear.
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