Chapter 682: Not Wine in the Bottle, Part Two

For the sake of... the Blood Bottle Gang?

Hearing this sentence, Catherine's pupils shrank.

The next moment, the Red Viper's laughter came faintly.

"Two against one."

Nekra's arm gradually exerted force, pressing the Phantom Blade's sleeve claws downward. He grinned ferociously.

"No objections, right?"

On the left, Fogg snorted softly. His long blade exerted force, making Catherine's hand begin to tremble.

"Catherine, do you know how difficult it was to lure you out of the capital, out of that heavily guarded crowd, and into Jade City?"

Lure her into Jade City...

In that instant, Catherine understood something.

She inhaled hatefully and shouted the names of her two most trusted subordinates.

"Matthew! Sedat! Break through..."

But before her subordinates could react, Ping behind her tugged his left hand again.

Clink...

The next second, the Chaos Soldier puppet tool that Fogg had knocked to the ground opened again and fired the next round of blades.

This time, Catherine, firmly pinned by the two men, could not dodge in time. She could only watch as the blades flew toward her and all embedded themselves in her abdomen.

"Ugh!"

Catherine groaned in pain, but she gritted her teeth and spun, breaking free from the two men's pincer attack amid crackling sounds from her arms and bringing out a spray of blood.

But her good luck had run out.

Fogg seemed to know what she was about to do. His long blade turned and intersected with the Phantom Blade's spinning arm.

Shhk!

Flesh split open.

Catherine clutched her left shoulder and fell into the pool of blood. One second later, her severed left arm, still holding its weapon, spun once through the air and landed before her with a crack.

"Ahhhhhhhhh!"

Catherine's scream shook the entire warehouse. Only then did the pain from her abdomen and arm reach her brain.

This blow happened in a flash. Everything occurred within a few short seconds.

Amid the Phantom Blade's scream, everyone was stunned.

"Big Sister!"

Matthew, Catherine's fighter, roared and charged forward.

But Nekra, his face covered in blood, had already come before him with a savage smile.

This time, he held nothing back. He activated his ability at full force and cut Matthew down with two seemingly effortless strikes, then added a blow to his throat, dyeing the blade with blood.

On the other side, Sedat had already fallen under the surrounding attack of Fogg's subordinates.

What was this?

Glover looked at all this in astonishment. His gaze kept moving back and forth between the cold-faced Fogg and the dying Catherine.

Was this... the Blood Bottle Gang?

He was not the only one shocked. Several seconds later, everyone reacted one after another. Frango from Jade City was the first to cry out in alarm.

"Boss, Boss Fogg! Why, why..."

Fogg sighed and turned around.

Shhk!

With the sound of a blade entering flesh, Frango looked at Fogg in disbelief.

"I've wanted to do this for a long time."

Fogg's face did not change as he pulled the blade from Frango's chest, pushed him down, and wiped the blood from his face.

"Frango, you annoying stinking registrar. Of all these fish, you're the slyest. You couldn't even pay your share cleanly."

"Big Sister! No!"

Roger roared and chopped aside two people blocking his path.

"Fogg, you bastard..."

But the next second, he met an obstacle.

"You shouldn't have gone back on it, Dung Egg."

Gutierrez firmly locked Roger's arm.

"You shouldn't have."

Roger had just started to say something when Gamandia gritted his teeth, stepped forward, took a deep breath, and stabbed a blade into his abdomen.

On the other side, Tarimi, who had also gone back to Catherine's camp, turned pale and looked at everyone.

"You... all of you, all of you are..."

Fogg looked at him silently, as if looking at a dead man.

Covered in blood, Nekra turned toward Tarimi and showed a savage smile.

"Guess."

"No, Boss Nekra, no, no, no, I'm sorry. I was only, I was only..."

But the panicked Tarimi had no time to speak before several of Fogg's trusted subordinates surrounded him. He soon fell amid screams.

Between the moving figures, countless blades mixed cold light with bloody light, rising and falling back and forth.

Among the remaining people, Jaga shouted and tried to run out of the warehouse, but Gutierrez knocked him down with one punch. Sangare clicked his tongue, stepped forward, and drew a dagger.

"This is for business, old friend."

For a time, Frango the Registrar, Bad Shoemaker Jaga, Zeka the Newspaper Seller, and Good Man Tommy all fell amid screams.

"Fogg, you won't die well... ah!"

"If you're going to kill me, then make it quick... shhk!"

"Please, I didn't do anything... ya!"

Just like that, Fogg's subordinates cooperated with Nekra's subordinates, along with some of the Jade City locals who had switched sides. Step by step, they began to encircle and wipe out the forces loyal to Catherine.

Before long, only heart-palpitating breathing and the lingering smell of blood remained in the warehouse.

"Then..."

By the round table, Balta the Barber, who had been hiding in the corner throughout the fight, raised his head and sighed.

"Is it over?"

"Far from it."

Nekra snorted coldly and turned his head.

In the pool of blood, the heavily injured Phantom Blade Catherine, now left with only one arm, crawled toward the wall with her face covered in blood. She used all her strength, trying to sit up.

Glover instinctively looked back at Ralf. The latter sat blankly in the corner, watching the Phantom Blade, whose defeat was already certain yet who still struggled without cease.

Before Zombie could react, Zimikas suddenly flipped himself up from beneath two corpses and pulled Glover down into a crouch.

"It's fine, it's fine. I understand the situation now. We're Boss Fogg's men. We're fine..."

On the other side, Catherine tremblingly tore open her clothes, tightly wrapped her severed arm, and worked hard to stop the bleeding.

"Why, Fogg, why?"

Step.

Step.

Step.

Step.

Fogg slowly stepped forward and casually threw down his long blade.

"Because he wanted you to taste this."

The Wanderer's gaze at this moment was incomparably complicated.

"The taste of betrayal."

Catherine's mind was scattered. Hearing this, she was startled.

"Who?"

Fogg smiled and did not speak.

Catherine was silent for a while, then smiled despairingly and turned toward another person.

"Nekra, so you pretended to come seize Fogg's power, and then made Fogg come to me for help..."

The Red Viper clicked his tongue and shook his head.

"I told you. I only came to help."

Help?

Catherine turned back, trembling.

"Little Red, your brain isn't this good."

Her voice came in broken intervals, as if every breath brought enormous pain.

"And you, Fogg, your courage isn't this great..."

Catherine, covered in blood-red, held her shoulder and showed a powerless smile.

"Tell me. Who is backing you? And who came up with the rotten idea behind the scenes? Is it the North Star?"

Glover frowned when he heard this.

Just then...

"What about you, Little Blade?"

A voice that had not appeared before came from the darkness of the warehouse.

"Back then, who backed you, and who gave you ideas?"

This was...

Hearing the voice, Glover froze for a moment and inexplicably felt it was familiar.

Following the voice, a figure gradually approached from the darkness and slowly came before Catherine.

Neither Nekra nor Fogg spoke. They only stood silently where they were.

"Who... who are you?"

Catherine looked at the approaching figure and frowned.

"Why, why are you covering your face?"

Covering his face?

The figure gradually became clear.

The person who had come was wrapped from head to toe in airtight black cloth. Even his eyes were protected by a pair of black goggles.

The next second, Glover's pupils shrank.

It was him.

Him.

"Who is that? Is he from our gang?"

Zimikas asked doubtfully.

Glover ignored him and instinctively turned toward Ralf in the corner, his expression anxious.

Ralf also frowned hard and nodded at him.

That's right.

Him.

It was that black-clothed killer with an ability.

The one who broke into the wool merchant's home and killed him...

Then beat the Star Lake Guard who arrived afterward into utter defeat.

"Damn it. No wonder I lost focus for a moment just now. I thought..."

Glover sighed and hit his own head hard.

Bad.

If he discovered them...

Don't think, don't think, don't think...

Wait. The black-clothed killer. What was he doing here?

Thinking this, Glover pulled Zimikas in front of him and lowered his own body even further, avoiding attention.

The black-clothed killer passed one gang member after another. Every person was briefly dazed as he passed.

At last, he came before Catherine and looked down at her as she struggled powerlessly.

"I cover my face because I am ugly. Revenge is always ugly-faced, ferocious, and hateful."

Revenge...

Catherine's gaze barely focused.

Wait.

"Your voice is very familiar... who are you? What grudge do we have?"

She forced herself to sit up.

The black-clothed killer sneered.

"Guess, Little Blade."

He spoke softly to the heavily injured woman at his feet.

"Who am I?"

Little Blade, Little Blade...

Catherine's breathing quickened.

"You, why do you call me that?"

There was an inexplicable panic in her tone.

"You forgot? I called you that for many years."

The black-clothed killer's tone was calm, as if he were chatting about family matters.

"If you didn't like it, why didn't you say so from the beginning?"

He lowered his head, his tone intimate.

"Little Blade?"

Called her that for many years...

Catherine painfully struggled to rise, but in the end, she fell again.

"Take off the face cloth! You, who the fuck are you?"

She began to panic and instinctively looked toward the Red Viper and the Wanderer.

But Nekra and Fogg only turned their heads away and remained silent.

The warehouse fell silent.

Until the black-clothed man spoke again.

"I remember, we specifically chose that day to act because the rain was very heavy and could better hide our movements."

Heavy rain...

Catherine froze.

"Qinza, Roda, Morris, and the other experts in the capital at the time... as always, we made full preparations for every enemy who might appear and obstruct us."

Catherine's eyes slowly widened.

The black-clothed man's words continued.

"As for the location of the attack, we first chose the underground street. Later, when the intelligence changed, we switched to the abandoned house. The intelligence said the more unrelated people present, the more they could interfere with Black Sword's action patterns..."

Black Sword?

Catherine examined the black-clothed man in disbelief.

"Impossible..."

The black-clothed man chuckled, seeming both emotional and sorrowful.

"I remember everyone was there then, proceeding step by step and working together according to our divisions, including you, Little Blade."

Catherine suddenly turned over and screamed in terrible pain.

But she seemed to be doing everything she could to move farther away from the black-clothed man before her.

"You, you, who exactly are you?"

"Who?"

The Phantom Blade screamed, her tone filled with fear.

No one answered her.

Nekra tilted his head, seemingly unwilling to look at the black-clothed man. Fogg frowned and hid everything deep in his eyes.

Damn it.

Glover rapidly thought.

It seemed this black-clothed killer was connected to the Blood Bottle Gang, but... what connection exactly? What kind of hatred did he have with Catherine?

The black-clothed man chuckled and raised his head, looking around the dark and dim warehouse.

"A century ago, Red King John was tyrannical and wicked. He exhausted the army with war, banned alcohol, and requisitioned grain, plunging the entire Kingdom of Stars into misery and leaving the people with no means to live."

He suddenly began telling a story, his tone drifting.

Catherine froze.

"Amid poverty and despair, a retired soldier risked beheading to smuggle grain and liquor from the desert to support his family."

"The times were difficult, and the people's lives were bitter. People needed liquor, needed drunkenness, needed dreams, needed numbness and self-deception. So the soldier's business grew larger and larger, his trade routes wider and wider, and the people on his team more and more numerous..."

The next second, the black-clothed man's tone suddenly shifted.

"Until one day, he was finally caught by the king's inspectors."

Catherine listened to the story, but she began trembling uncontrollably.

"The inspectors held up his smuggled liquor and asked whether he knew what was in the bottle. They also asked whether he knew the prohibition order had been personally issued by the king..."

"And that soldier drew his blade for the last time and laughed loudly..."

The black-clothed man's words hid an indescribable coldness.

"There is no wine in the bottle, only the people's blood."

He stopped telling the story and looked toward Catherine by the wall, her face covered in blood, her hair disheveled, her body trembling.

"Then, do you still remember the second half of his words, Little Blade?"

Catherine dazedly raised her head and looked at the black-clothed killer in disbelief.

She seemed controlled by some force. Even while distracted, she opened her mouth to complete the second half.

"There, there, there, there..."

But whether from fear or tension, in her daze, she simply could not get the words out.

The next moment, the black-clothed man roared without warning.

"Say it!"

Catherine trembled violently, as if she had seen the most terrifying thing in an illusion, cold sweat pouring down.

Fogg, standing to the side, could no longer bear watching. He sighed deeply and picked up the next line.

"There is no king in the kingdom, only a tyrant."

Fogg sighed.

"That was the story Boss Turnbull told that night, before we set out to ambush Black Sword, while wiping that scar-covered old armor. The origin of the Blood Bottle Gang."

There is no king in the kingdom.

Only a tyrant.

The Blood Bottle Gang?

Catherine gradually came back to herself. Hearing this, she clenched her teeth and glared angrily at the black-clothed man.

"No. This is impossible. Who exactly are you..."

This time, the black-clothed man did not hesitate again. He pulled down his face covering and revealed a delicate, handsome face.

Glover frowned. He did not recognize this person.

But judging by his age...

At most, he was in his thirties.

Who exactly was he?

But Catherine was different.

She carefully examined that face, and her expression became increasingly shocked.

The next second, Catherine shook violently and collapsed to the ground.

"No, no, no. There is no wine in the bottle, there is no wine in the bottle..."

The Phantom Blade's voice grew quiet. Her eyes were empty, and she was in disbelief.

"How is this possible?"

The black-clothed man snorted coldly and pulled his face covering back up.

"You taste it now, Little Blade? The taste of betrayal."

He turned around.

"Do it."

Fogg nodded lightly.

Watching from the side, Glover closed his eyes and sighed faintly.

So this was "life in the underworld."

Just like that Morsa who had guarded the abandoned house in the capital.

All right. Now they should finally leave and report the situation back to...

A wisp of wind swept past, lifting Catherine's messy hair.

Hmm, wind?

Glover, hidden behind the gang members, was horrified.

He instinctively turned his head and looked toward the corner.

At some unknown point, Ralf was no longer there.

"Hoo... hoo..."

The sound of wind grew louder and louder, making the doors in the warehouse clatter.

Glover anxiously searched for the Ghost of the Wind's traces. But he suddenly discovered that on the wall before him, several patches of dust had been blown away by the breeze, and the blank spaces just happened to form two words.

[You. Run.]

At that instant, Zombie understood something.

He sucked in a cold breath, shoved away Zimikas, who had been so frightened he was hanging onto him, and abruptly stood up.

No, no, no...

No!

Damn it! That bastard, don't!

"Hoo, hoo, hoo..."

Amid the sound of wind, the black-clothed man was the first to raise his head warily.

"This is..."

Fogg asked in confusion.

And when the sound of wind became abnormally loud, everyone sensed something was wrong.

In this piercing wind, the despairing woman lying in the pool of blood held her severed arm and raised her head with empty eyes.

At that moment, the former number one person of the Blood Bottle Gang, Big Sister, the Phantom Blade Catherine, dazedly realized:

The wind had risen.