Chapter 742: A Rescue

Aaron stretched out his arms with both batons held loosely by his sides, his fierce gaze locked onto Monk standing before him.

Although Aaron desperately wanted to intervene and help the rest of his squad, it was glaringly obvious that the single best way he could protect everyone was by giving his absolute, undivided attention to the monster in front of him.

Multiple heavy thoughts raced through Aaron’s mind in that split second. His primary anxiety was a lingering question: was he actually strong enough to face Monk and win?

He hadn’t been lying when he said he had maintained his rigorous daily training. He had pushed his body every day to protect Max, preparing for the inevitable moment the Black Hand would come to erase him. The last thing Aaron ever wanted was to become a burden to the family that had rescued him from the darkness. But would that preparation be enough?

The Black Hand was a hyper-competitive meat grinder. Its operatives were constantly pitted against one another, all striving to become deadlier, regularly deploying on harrowing assassinations—each contract more dangerous than the last based on their rank. Aaron, on the other hand, had only recently returned to facing high-level threats that pushed him beyond his baseline skillset.

Musicians don’t improve by simply rehearsing piece after piece they’ve already mastered; they grow by attempting what they don’t yet know, exploring unfamiliar techniques, and playing compositions far beyond their current capabilities. Combat was no different.

That realization was a major source of doubt, but at the end of the day, Aaron shook his head, clearing his mind of hesitation. The man standing in front of him possessed enough power to slaughter everyone on the grounds, especially in their current battered state. The rest of the Rangers had managed to win their respective duels, so Aaron had to step up and win his as well.

If he couldn’t stop this man, nobody else here could.

"You are a direct threat to my boss’s plans, so I will take you down right here, right now!" Aaron declared, kicking off the floorboards as he charged directly at Monk.

Off to the side, Commander Blark had been momentarily distracted, captivated by the high-stakes clash between the current and former Rank Ones. Even he was genuinely curious to see who would prevail between the two legends. Regardless of the outcome, it was bound to be a brutal fight, and Blark reasoned he could easily finish off whoever survived once the dust settled.

Looking down at the ground, Blark could see that the orange-haired ranger named Wolf was already clinging to life on his own. Yet, given how many unpredictable turns this operation had taken, Blark decided it was best to personally ensure the variable was eliminated.

He walked over, dropped to one knee, and positioned his thick hands around Wolf’s neck.

"It’s essential to eliminate loose ends, and you were sharp enough to try and take a shot at me," Blark remarked, tightening his grip around the young man’s windpipe.

Wolf possessed virtually no remaining physical strength to fight back, and none of the other Rangers were in any condition to rush to his aid. As his throat was crushed, Wolf struggled to draw air into his lungs. His vision rapidly narrowed into darkness, and a bright white light began to shimmer at the edges of his consciousness.

Damn it... in my final moments, I can’t even decide whether I should have spent more money on my gacha games or done something actually useful with my cash, Wolf thought bitterly.

Then, unexpectedly, the blinding white light began to recede. A faint surge of adrenaline returned to his body, and as his vision cleared, he looked up to see Blark suddenly releasing his neck and turning around.

"What the hell is this?" Blark growled, rising to his feet.

"What do you mean, ’what is this’?" a bruised and heavily bandaged man called out, stepping into the courtyard alongside a woman with vibrant, dyed hair.

"Rick... and Aki?" Wolf muttered, his jaw dropping slightly.

Rick and Aki had been severely injured earlier, placed under intensive medical care at the hospital after taking a brutal beating from Black Hand operatives. Wolf had never expected to see them standing here on their feet.

Even so, the two of them alone wouldn’t have been enough to halt Blark; throwing themselves into the fight in their state would have been suicide.

Pushing himself up ever so slightly against the stone floor, Wolf gained a clearer view of the courtyard—and realized Rick and Aki weren’t alone.

Hundreds of heavily armed gang members had poured into the area from behind the temple walls. They had systematically surrounded the perimeter, already in the middle of cutting the ropes to free the university students. Standing firmly beside Rick and Aki, the massive force stared down Commander Blark with menacing resolve.

"Did you really not realize who you were messing with?" Rick asked, a cold smirk spreading across his face despite his bandages. "When you attacked us, when you targeted those close to Max, and when you ambushed the Rangers, you weren’t just declaring war on a handful of fighters.

"You were going up against the entirety of the Billion Bloodline group," Rick declared. "And now we’re going to show you exactly why we’re a group you never should have crossed."

Although Commander Blark was a terrifyingly skilled combatant, not even a master could single-handedly wipe out hundreds of hardened gang members at once. Even if he attempted to fight through them, the hostages were now officially secured and out of his grasp.

Wolf let his head fall back against the stone, a faint grin breaking through his bloodied lips. Now, regardless of what happens here, Max can fight in peace and do whatever he needs to do.

***

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