The bde was poised to mercilessly slice open his throat.
"You can't leave—stay with me," 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 Cws territory, an asset of the Jotaro Group. If the Tyger Cws higher-ups discovered that someone had smashed Phoenix Casino while Jotaro Shobo himself fled… the lightest punishment would be relegation to a permanently low-ranking member.
The worst outcome might even be expulsion from Tyger Cws 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 impnted 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 bde gently against Saiken's neck, leaving a shallow cut, "but if you choose to run, you'll die by my bde. You know very well you can't outrun my Sandevistan."
Saiken's face fell into despair. He was merely 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 member 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 emerging 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 women 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 members—who, despite the te 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 pce.
When they saw Leo and his team entering, they were instantly dumbfounded. The women following Leo immediately raised their guns and opened fire. A burst of bullets rained down, reducing the two group members to a bloody mess. 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 immediately, the cmor of chaos spilled downwards. The Jotaro Group members, awakened by the gunfire and the agonized screams of their comrades, grabbed their weapons and shouted as they rushed toward the lobby.
What met them was Jackie, hefting a heavy machine gun in his arms. Since their presence was already compromised, there was nothing left to conceal. Their pn was simple—if they eliminated every enemy they encountered, Tyger Cws in Japan Town would never know who was responsible.
Boom, boom, boom!
The deafening roar of the heavy machine gun filled the room as rge-caliber rounds, accompanied by a furious cmor, tore the leading Jotaro Group member to pieces. The others scrambled for cover behind any avaible debris. Before long, the gunfire ceased—whether due to depleted ammunition or an overheated barrel, no one could tell.
Just as the members hunkered down began to catch their breath, a figure brandishing a samurai sword burst upward from the stairs.
On the stairway, Leo unched 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 momentum 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 member 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 ssh pivoted upward with one fluid step, carving open another Jotaro Group member's chest.
The ferocity of Leo's attack terrified one of the remaining group members into a frenzied scream, his finger desperately pulling the trigger even as chaos reigned around him.
Rat-a-tat-tat—
Leo immediately retreated, dashing around a stairwell corner. He emerged unscathed, while the surrounding Jotaro Group members suffered grievous injuries from stray and ricocheted bullets, their casualties mounting. One such member, 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 cck of an empty chamber echoed.
Leo then gripped his bde with his free hand and made a light slice. Clutching his throat, the hapless man colpsed onto the bloodstained stairs.
---
After quickly clearing the remaining Jotaro Group members from the stairs, Leo led the Mox further upward. The second floor catered to VIP customers, offering illicit bck 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 reinforcements from Westbrook arrived.
In various rooms on the second floor, several Jotaro Group members had taken cover. Unlike their earlier comrades, they were not reckless; they pnned to wait until the Mox had moved through the second floor and onto the third before unching 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 member of his team. Leading the charge with him were Jackie, V, and Lucy, while the Mox women 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 members 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 moment, 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 meant 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 immediately 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 momentary realignment, Lucy peeked out from beneath the stairs, her eyes fshing with a fierce red light. A few seconds ter, the thunderous machine gun fire abruptly ceased as Lucy successfully hacked into the turret, forcing it into a remote shutdown.
"Let's go—time to meet that bastard Jotaro Shobo," Leo commanded with a gesture. The Mox followed as they stormed into Jotaro Shobo's office. The moment they stepped inside, everyone gasped in unison.
The office had been ravaged as if caught in a storm of bdes. Few items remained intact: the walls, floor, and ceiling were scarred with countless cuts; desks, computers, and sofas y 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.
