“Whoa, whoa, I almost got an arrow in my butt!”

Ariel dodged the arrows shooting towards her from behind as she twisted and turned through the complex streets of the Lower City District in an attempt to shake off her pursuers.

But the rats and thugs chasing her were clearly out for blood. No matter how she tried to escape, they refused to give up. They were far more familiar with the layout of the Lower City streets, so whenever Ariel thought she had successfully thrown them off, they would pop back up from some unsuspected shortcut to continue their relentless pursuit.

“Guess it really would’ve been easier if I had some backup, huh?”

Ariel sighed lightly, a trace of irritation flicking across her mind when she thought of that clueless guy from earlier.

Sure, he was clearly just some pampered noble brat completely out of his depth in the Lower City District, but he would’ve been useful as a decoy, wouldn’t he? As long as the plan worked, sparing him a couple of drops wouldn’t have been a problem—did she look like the kind of person who’d hoard everything for herself?

Anyway, at this point, it didn’t matter if Ariel had anyone helping her or not.

She glanced at the metallic container in her hand, her eyes shining with absolute delight.

The Heart Blood of the Ancient Dragon—secured!

And she hadn’t spent a single dime!

Now, what’s sweeter than getting something for free in this world?

Oh, there definitely is something sweeter!

That’s scoring something without paying *and* showing off in the process!

Ariel suddenly clenched her fingers, and a massive sword—a yard long, wrapped in white bandages—manifested in her hand. With a casual swing, she smashed a street thug who had tried to ambush her into the nearby wall. The thug let out a pitiful howl before being smashed into the bricks.

“Tsk, and here you thought your pathetic ambush would be enough for some black-on-black action?”

Ariel sneered in disdain, her confidence growing even further.

This, this is what it means to be a professional!

Perfect timing.

Perfect strategy.

Perfect escape route.

Even the post-heist swagger was executed with absolute perfection.

All that effort culminated in her effortlessly pocketing the Ancient Dragon’s Heart Blood that so many others had fought bitterly to claim.

Sure, her lack of a distraction during the chase nearly cost her an arrow in the backside, but hey, is there anyone more skilled at black-on-black crime than her?

Of course not!

She hadn’t failed even once at this game.

Back when she was just a little girl, a lowly illegitimate daughter of no importance, even the white bread she ate was the result of snatching it from thieves who had just robbed a bakery—a black-on-black heist, plain and simple!

“And to think that pompous noble brat dared to claim the Ancient Dragon’s Heart Blood as his?”

Now, Ariel thought about that oblivious fool again and couldn’t suppress a mocking smile.

He must have been scared witless by now, overwhelmed by the chaos, trembling somewhere deep in a hole.

“Hmm?”

Just as Ariel was basking in her triumph, a sudden chill swept through the air toward her.

Reacting instantly, she stomped the ground with the tip of her foot, contorting her form through the air in a motion utterly defying the laws of physics. She easily evaded the blade bursting forth from the shadows.

“You are...”

Looking at the man who emerged, Ariel slightly raised her brows.

“The guy named Lorenzo, huh? You actually managed to catch up?”

“Don’t underestimate me, damn it!”

Lorenzo stepped forth from the darkness with a furious expression.

Though blood smeared across his face and he appeared somewhat disheveled, his posture remained firm, his magitek armor glowing faintly with a chilling blue light that exuded an oppressive force. Behind him were his panting henchmen and what remained—less than half—of the Red Flame Gang’s elite fighters.

“Brat, are you ready to pay for what you’ve done?”

Lorenzo grasped his bloodstained longsword tightly, its blade still dripping with fresh crimson, radiating a killing intent sharp enough to pierce bone.

Tonight had been the most humiliating experience of his life—there was no night even remotely comparable before this.

As such, his thirst for revenge had never burned fiercer than tonight.

If he didn’t butcher this little thief before him with a thousand cuts, he wouldn’t begin to soothe his wrath!

“Oh? You’re pretty intimidating, I’ll give you that. But...”

Ariel turned her head, glancing in another direction. “These guys don’t look half bad either.”

From the stretched shadows under the moonlight, violent figures drenched in thick scents of blood began to emerge one by one. Most bore visible injuries, but like raging beasts, the graver their wounds, the fiercer their presence became.

Among them, Schurz stepped out. His once-noble demeanor had long vanished; his precious gilded silver staff was nowhere to be seen, and an arrow was still deeply embedded in his shoulder. Yet he seemed utterly numb to the pain. His aged yet piercing gaze was fixed on Ariel, brimming with madness and hate.

“Are you high?”

Ariel’s nostrils flared slightly, sensing a different aura emanating from them.

But, if even this almost-insensate group of infamous thugs could find her here, then naturally, the last piece on the board couldn’t have missed the mark.

On the rooftop, the infamous Rat King poked out half of his head. After briefly glancing at Schurz, a cold, silent smirk stretched across his face before he turned his attention toward Lorenzo and Ariel.

“Lorenzo, there’s no point in us fighting anymore at this point. When this is over, fifty-fifty. Are you good with that?”

His suggestion excluded the berserkers entirely.

Lorenzo didn’t respond immediately. Instead, he looked upward at the rooftop rats. Because of their positional advantage, the Rat King's gang had suffered minimal losses—only a few had been downed. Most importantly, they still had ample crossbows and arrows ready for action.

Lorenzo gritted his teeth hard, his face twisting in frustration, this slapped him with a harsh reality that cost him a net loss of fifty million. Yet he had a clear sense of the situation.

Through clenched teeth, he finally spat out, “Fine.”

“Caw caw, now that’s big-hearted! Should’ve done this earlier, huh?” Sam crowed obnoxiously, his laugh as grating as nails on a chalkboard.

A vein throbbed visibly on Lorenzo’s forehead as he fought to keep his rage at Sam in check, forcibly turning his focus entirely on Ariel.

The expression on his face as he scrutinized the thief was so dark it seemed ready to drip with venomous intent:

“Well, little thief. Have you decided how you’d like to die?”

“Oh, so you’re sure I’m done for?” Ariel responded with a faint chuckle.

“Isn’t it obvious?”

Sam sneered from the side, his voice laced with ridicule:

“Kid, haven’t you noticed you’ve already been cornered?”

Ariel silently glanced around her surroundings. Solid walls boxed her in all directions; behind her lay what appeared to be the very edge of the city.

Indeed, there was no escape.

Yet Ariel’s smile grew more radiant, hidden in the deep shadows of the night.

“How do you know I didn’t plan to come here on purpose?”

“What?” Lorenzo furrowed his brows in alarm—the series of mishaps and surprises throughout the night had left him jittery and paranoid. He feared that at any moment, this slippery thief might suddenly pull off yet another outrageous trick—possibly summon some notorious gang from the Lower City District just to crash the party.

That’d be a thrill.

But Ariel wasn’t about to perform a miracle gang summon. Instead, she rose onto her tiptoes, spun with joy, and spread her arms toward the surroundings.

“Look at this place.”

“So quiet, so secluded, so far isolated from the bustling crowd.”

“Most importantly, it’s far away from the bridge, and any watchpost for the city guards.”

“Do you know what that means?”

Ariel tilted her lips into her signature confident smirk:

“It means here, I can unleash all my power without holding back!”

Her gaze passed through the faint mist and focused on the tower bridge in the distance, a silhouette blurred by the distance.

You see that? Young man.

The true secret of black-on-black battles is that you need fists hard enough to crush your enemies!

If you can’t throw punches, what’s the point in playing double-crosses?

“Ha! Cocky thief, just watch me—”

Lorenzo was about to lash out in disdain at Ariel’s bravado when suddenly, a piercing whistle echoed through the night, sharp and ghostly.

“Schurz!”

He whirled toward the berserkers in rage:

“For heaven's sake, could you stop losing your minds for just one second?"

“No..."

Schurz, despite his chemically-induced madness, seemed to snap back to his senses as the whistle reached his ears. His eyes regained clarity, and terror filled his aged features.

“This isn’t our gang’s whistle. It’s...”