Midnight Prince: Empire of Sin

[Los Angeles; Private Beach]

After closing the call with Marlene, Boris' sneere vanished and his eyes shone with a calm calculating light.

He knew very well that in this world… even a rat, once cornered, would bite a cat and even the greatest hunters did not always manage to capture their prey.

Carelessness was the bane of a well-planned endeavor.

"Boss…"

Closing his eyes, Boris thought about his boss. The one he owed everything to and the man for whom he was ready to sacrifice anything and everything.

He immediately changed phones and called the only number inside the burner phone, the most precious contract in his books…

[Hi! Missed me…!?]

An irritating and grating voice reached his ears and filled him with pure disgust.

"Wench. I will soon receive the artifact. Do not forget your promise."

[Heh~ Do not worry. I am a woman of my word.]

Boris scoffed at those words. Dark elves were the epitome of treachery. Elves that were cast aside by the world tree and bathed in the darkness of their hearts.

Even so, Boris was forced to continue on this dreadful road.

Even if it meant distributing this distasteful drug without getting any benefits from it.

[Your words hurt me, you know? Did I not keep my promise and supply the appropriate dose of the world tree liquid?]

He growled but they both knew that this was nothing more than the cry of a desperate beast on his last dredges.

The Drows had them by the collar and there was little he could do to change this scenario for the better.

At the very least, they indeed have held their deals.

[By the way. You heard about what happened in Las Vegas a few days ago, right?]

"You mean the mass knockout?"

[Yes. If you notice anything similar in Los Angeles, warn us. I promise that you will receive far better rewards. Even a leaf from the world tree is not impossible.]

Rather than excited, Boris became all the more suspicious about this offer.

The Drow had lost the favor of their Primogenitor. So everything related to the world tree was extremely precious for them.

A leaf of the world tree was enough to make many organizations tremble in terror.

"I will take a look."

Boris gave a vague answer,

[Very well. Take care of the— Bzz]

"Hello?"

He frowned when nothing came out of his phone and all lights were switched off in the vicinity.

'An EMP bomb?'

Boris' organization specialized in specific strikes— assassinations and the like. As such he was able to determine that they were being attacked right now. n.-O1n

'Number and skill level unknown.'

"Is someone trying to provoke us? Or did the rat really decide to rebel as we thought…"

Either way, this changed nothing for him.

He would deal with the problem like everything else.

Fight when you can. Flee when you must. Discard all illusory feelings of shame.

At the end of the day, only the one who survived was the ultimate winner of this game that was the world.

He immediately opened a bag that was next to him and took out an old two-way radio as well as goggles with night vision and a few special enhancements that helped sharpen and adjust the senses in the midst of darkness.

The tactics of using EMP bombs were pretty common in his business and controlling communication was one of the better ways to ensure victory.

As such, they already had drills about actions to take in situations where all communication was suddenly cut and they had the equipment necessary.

"Team A. Prepare the retreat routes. Team B. We are going to fight. Team C and D, secure the hostages and start the retreat. You have utmost priority in this situation."

[What do we do about the boy?]

"Keep him, just in case. He might turn out to be useful. If not, use him to make an example."

[Roger. I will relay the orders.]

Chuckling, he took out his guns and placed them in the holsters that were the norm in the old-school mafia.

Those guns were specialized products and were more magical in nature than anything else.

They also had specified protection added to them to keep them functioning in most situations.

Once he was fully armed and made sure that everything was working, Boris breathed in deeply and made a small prayer to the god they believed in…

"Let the thunder of victory rumble."

—Boom!!!

He looked with surprise and astonishment as lightning struck outside of the house he was occupying, followed by the rumble of thunder.

There had been no sign of rain and the sky was still clear.

"Hah…"

He sighed.

This was without a doubt a joke. But at the same time, it was a statement from their enemies.

[We lost contact with Team C and D. They were attacked.]

As he thought, soon a message began pouring in.

"How many enemies?"

He asked quietly.

[One, sir.]

"Shit.'

This was going to be more complicated than he anticipated.

In the world of hunters, there was one comedic yet correct conjecture.

The lesser the number of people coming after you at the same time, the more you should be worried about them.

"Full retreat."

Boris immediately started running.

He did not need to know the power of his enemy and he did not care if he was called a coward.

Only two kinds of people would dare to attack his base alone while knowing his reputation.

Either utter fools who were full of themselves or utterly incomprehensible enemies… so powerful that he was quite literally nothing against them.

He didn't want to be there to find out which of which was true. It was better to ensure the safety of his life rather than gamble.

"I must say… Why is it that I always face smart guys? Is it too hard to ask for one arrogant dude who can't see Mt. Tai or something? Like seriously… Sigh~"

Bang~! Bang~! Bang~!

A rain of bullets immediately flew in the direction of the voice. But they hit nothing.

'Shit.'

Boris immediately jumped out of the room after breaking through the window. He needed more space.

Clearly, fighting was inevitable.

[1]: Dark elves and Drows are different words for the same race.