Cugine City, Neutral Area. While Reina and Fraus were targeting Lucas Emilio’s money, Amelia was about to start the mission that was assigned to her. She stood in front of a two-story black building. On it were the words Black Dogs. This was the headquarters of the city’s police force.

“I guess there’s no going back after this. We won’t be able to live peacefully once we attack here.”

She mumbled.

“Well, we’re about to go to war with every faction in the city. We can’t do that by being law-abiding citizens can we.”

Beside her stood Shancai, who looked like the personification of fire, as always. Amelia was partnered up with him for this mission.

“The Black Dogs May be this city’s police force and although their motives are just, their actions aren’t. Griselda is afraid that if she leaves them alone then Cesare Mori will do something that would disrupt the city again.”

“Is he really that dangerous?”

“Well, he’s a madman, to say the least. He too was a victim of Salvatore Riina’s tyranny. However, he lost himself and was driven mad by his own rage. Now he’s willing to do anything to destroy everything that Salvatore left behind. Criminals.”

“You seem very knowledgeable about this when you’re not from this city.”

“What makes you think I’m not from this city?”

“Because you know Rory. Rory said that this place didn’t exist when he was around.”

“Hmm….I pretty much know where this conversation is going.”

Shancai turned his attention to the building in front of him.

“For now, let’s focus on what we’re supposed to do. I’ll answer your questions after.”

He stretched his hand out and Amelia saw a deep red flame flickering in his palm. She didn’t know why but she could tell that this flame wasn’t normal.

“The reason why the two of us were partnered together is because we have the most firepower in the group.”

He stepped forward and swung his arm. The flame left his palm and transformed into a lotus. The lotus hit the building and immediately grew big enough to devour it. Amelia stood in shock as she saw the building trapped inside the fire lotus. She could see the building melting before her eyes.

(Amazing. It would take me several attacks even using my animus to destroy the building. Yet, he’s melting so casually.)

The concrete building was like ice cream on a hot summer day. It was quickly reduced to a puddle. Shancai waved his hand again and extinguished the flame.

“Let’s go. The building was only a cover. The real base is underground. Prepare for battle the moment we enter.”

Shancai started walking towards their target. Amelia nodded and followed after.

At the same time, Silver Bullet’s territory.

*Bam!*

A building suddenly exploded flinging several people who were nearby into the air. These people were members of the Black Dogs and were all wearing dog masks and were dressed in black.

“Fuck! They’re bombing their own buildings! These guys are insane!”

“Yahoo!”

They looked and saw dozens of people riding towards them on bikes.

“Light them up, boys!”

The bikers pulled out their guns and started firing at the Black Dogs.

“Shit! They’re using Animite bullets! Look for cover and return fire!”

Gunshots echoed through the area as both parties released an onslaught of bullets on their opponents. Several of the bikers were flung off the bikes and dropped dead on the ground. The same for the Black Dogs Who would have their heads blown off whenever they peeked out from behind what they were using as cover.

“Run wild boys!”

The Black Dogs heard a shout and looked up to see dozens of people diving off buildings and head towards them.

“Dammit!”

Desperate the Black Dogs started to retreat. The silver bullet members chased after them. Some even going as far as throwing rocks at the dogs for the fun of it.

“You people sure have some nerve.”

The Black Dogs stopped when they saw a man appear in front of them.

“Chief!”

It was there leader Cesare Mori. Cesare walked passed them with a big grin on his face.

“To think that you bastards would chase down my pups and even threw stones at them….You got balls!”

“Cesare!”

The silver bullet members looked overjoyed when they saw the enemy leader.

“Let’s go to hell together, Cesare!”

They started behaving even more frantic as they came closer to him.

“Go to hell by yourself!”

Cesare charged towards them like a mad bull with a crazy look in his eyes.

*Bam!*

He crashed into the group and sent many people to fly and destroyed many of their bikes.

“Ohhh!”

He spun around and swung his leg like a whip, slamming it into several Silver Bullet members and sent them flying with broken bones.

“Haha!”

Several laughed as they pounced at Cesare with their weapons in hand. They were all hit in the face by Cesare’s ultra-fast attacks and had their faces destroyed.

“Guys, move!”

A man appeared with an RPG on his shoulder which he pointed at Cesare.

“I’m gonna blow this dog to smithereens!”

As he was about to squeeze the trigger to fire the rocket, Cesare appeared directly in front of him.

“Too slow.”

Cesare swung his hand and the man was instantly beheaded. He then took his body and threw it into a group of his comrades.

“You trash can't beat me. I’m this city’s justice!”

Cesare beat his chest and said.

“Justice? Hahahaha!”

The thugs around him started laughing.

“Fuck justice!”

“Fuck the police!”

They all pounced at him with crazed expressions.

“And most of all, fuck you!”

“Heh.”

Cesare chuckled a bit and drew something out of nowhere. It was a giant hammer.

“Taste the justice you curse!”

He swung the hammer with a roar.

*BOOM!*

Everyone around him burst apart and flesh and blood surrounding him like he was caught in a storm of carnage. He twirl the hammer a little and then rested it on his shoulder.

“Have fun in hell, scum.”

“There’s no need to tell them to have fun.”

Cesare turned around and saw several dead corpses on the ground. It was the corpses of his men he was just protecting. Standing in front of their corpses was Tony Gambino.

“Cesare, we’re all going to hell together.”

“Tony!”

Cesare immediately charged towards him wielding his hammer. He leaped into the air and swung it down with all of his strength.

“I’m afraid it’s not time yet, Cesare.”

*BOOM!*

The building closest to them suddenly exploded and flung Cesare who was midair across the street.

*BOOM!*

The building he landed next to also exploded, thus flinging him again.

*BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!* *BOOM!*

All the buildings down the street started exploding one after the other without pause. Soon the entire street was on fire.

“Tony!”

Cesare got up with his hammer and looked around.

“This is boring, Cesare! It’s still not enough!”

Tony’s voice reached Cesare’s ear while the surrounding was being devoured by flames of the explosions.

“Don’t get impatient, my friend. Once I turn this city into hell, then I’ll take you on. I’ll take you all on. We’ll all go to hell! Everyone in this city will all go to hell!”

His voice echoed in the fiery hell which surrounded Cesare.

“Tony Gambino!”

*BOOM!*

Explosions drowned out Cesare’s angry voice.

Underneath the building that served as the Black Dogs’ base. The sounds of gunshots and explosions echoed in an open space underground. Amelia and Shancai were in the middle of fighting the black dog agents.

“There are less than I expected.”

She said while dodging the attacks of the dogs and attacking in return with blasts of various elements.

“Most of the Black Dogs are currently in Silver Bullet’s district trying to get it under control. I believe that only a quarter were left here to defend the place.”

Shancai looked like he was casually strolling through the battle. The attacks of his opponents couldn’t reach him because of a layer of flames that surrounded him and burn everything away. Anyone who was within 20 meters radius of him was rolling on the ground screaming from pain.

(He’s using heat to cook their insides….)

Amelia was shocked by the power that Shancai displayed. She was even more shocked by how casual he was when doing it.

(He’s definitely not inferior to Rory.)

*Swoosh!*

She heard something cut through the air and past her ear and soon felt a slight sting on her cheek. She placed her hand there and saw that she was bleeding.

“Looks like they’re finally using their Animite weapons. Be careful. Their attacks will penetrate your Anima cloak. You’ll have to avoid them and not take them on.”

Shancai gave her a warning before lifting his hand in the air. A giant lotus made of flames appeared over his head.

“Bloom.”

The lotus suddenly started growing in size, devouring everything around.

“Ahhhh!”

Screams of pain resounded as the underground was flooded with flames.

“….Guess I’ll get serious too.”

Various elements started dancing around Amelia as she rushed to attack her enemy.

Around 30 minutes later, the two had left the underground space after they finished their mission.

“Tony Gambino expected us to try and stop him first, so we did something he would never expect. We attacked the ones he’s currently fighting with.”

Amelia mumbled. She had blended into the crowd along with Shancai and was leaving the area.

“I understand that this will throw Tony and Cesare off, but won’t this benefit Tony?”

“Yes, but that’s okay. In a battle royal the moment you take out an enemy your other enemies will surely receive some benefits from your actions. As such you shouldn’t hold back worrying about aiding your enemies. It’s fine to aid them, as long as you’re standing in the end everything is fine.”

Shancai replied.

“Besides, the Black Dogs can’t gain momentum no matter what. They’re the only side in this war who can move freely because of their public persona as law enforcers. If they gain too much confidence in themselves they’ll really get out of control.”

“That’s why Griselda sent us to humble them?”

Shancai smiled.

“What can be more humbling than having your bases crushed by two people? This should wake them up from any high that they may be getting from clashing with Silver Bullet. This will send them a message. ‘Don’t get ahead of yourselves, you stupid dogs’, or something like that.”

“You seem to be enjoying this, Shancai.”

“Well, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t.”

A big smile was on Shancai’s face.

“By the way, you wanted to know about Rory, right?”

Amelia slowly nodded.

“Just So you know, I wasn’t his friend or anything. I’m merely his acquaintance so I might not be able to give the answers you want…He’s friends with my master though.”

“Master? You don’t mean Griselda, right?”

“Of course not. A little girl like that can’t be my master. I’m just helping her out. That’s all.”

Amelia became quiet for a bit. She wanted to know who Shancai’s master was but she had a feeling he wouldn’t tell her.

“Then, can you tell me what you know about Rory?”

“Well, that depends on what you wanna know.”

“Meaning?”

“There are some things surrounding him that would cost most people their lives if they knew about it.”

Shancai words were serious.

“…..Then could you tell me how you two met?”

“That’s fine, I guess.”

Shancai started to think a little before speaking.

“I met Rory when we were just about to become teenagers.”

“That’s quite a long time.”

Shancai nodded.

“I’ll be honest with you, I can’t really connect the Rory you know with the one I’m used to. When you talk about Rory you talk about a scum bag of a man with charisma.”

“He was different then?”

Shancai nodded.

“My first impression of Rory was….Surreal? Incomprehensible? I can’t really think of the right word. Otherworldly….could work.”

“Huh?”

“You don’t get it?”

Shancai turned and looked at Amelia.

“Basically he was nothing I’ve ever seen before. To be honest, I was really afraid of him.”

Amelia immediately remembered the scene of Rory losing control and rampaging about in the Marigold Kingdom.

“…..I think I know what you’re talking about.”

“No, you don’t.”

Shancai immediately shut down her claim.

“Why are you so sure?”

“Because I doubt you’ve ever seen the real person behind Rory.”

Amelia had a confused look on her face.

“As I thought, he hasn’t shown you his true face.”

Shancai turned his head from her.

“On second thought, I shouldn’t be blabbing about his business. So you’ll just have experience it on your own.”

“Huh? Wait!”

Shancai lifted his hand to stop her.

“But I’ll tell you this.”

A serious look in his eyes.

“The first thing that I thought when I saw that person was “How is something like this existing in this world. This isn’t something that should be on this plane”.”

“………”

Amelia didn’t know what to say after hearing Shancai’s words. She just knew that the figure of the man she’s haven’t seen in a long time is starting to fade before her eyes.