The Black Swan Behind (Beauty of Fire)

299 The War Begins

“Every day the Black Swan grows bigger. I’m optimistic that was can beat the Black Hole no matter how strong they are.” Emma said with fiery eyes.

“Good spirit,” Otsuka said.

“It’s only a matter of days before we go to war against the Dragger. Do you have anything that can help us?” Rachel asked Otsuka hopefully.

But the man could only give an apologetic face. “I’m sorry. I can’t seem to be of much help to you. As I explained, we are the ones hiding behind the window. But if there’s anything I can help you with, I’ll call you,”

***

The long-awaited day finally arrived. A real war. When the two camps had worn the best armour and sharpened their swords. Everyone had prepared as best they could.

No more sneaking and no more hacking. The fight would be huge and fair. It was a battle that would probably be written down in the history books of the dark world of Handway City – A fight that might change the future of many people.

Emma stood with a mask that completely covered her head as usual. As the leader, she stood in the middle of Troy Roner and Calvin Lee. Behind the three of them, all members of Jita Kyoei and Black Swan had lined up like a group of soldiers ready to run over the battlefield.

Several meters in front of them, a group of men with almost the same number of members also stood with grim faces. In the front row, two men in light-coloured clothes stood with smiling lips. They were Pablo Diablo and Creed Johnson.

.....

Unlike most fights, where the leader would stand behind all his soldiers to become the last defeated king, Emma and Troy had other thoughts. As leaders, they felt that they had to be at the front, as their name implies.

“Finally we meet in person,” Pablo said with a gaze towards Black. “You are cuter than I thought, and so are your masked members. Are you a clan of dwarves?”

Emma smiled. “Nice to meet you. You look even uglier than in the photos.”

“Thanks,” Pablo replied.

“We’d better remember this. Whoever loses, has to give up everything they own to the winner.” Creed said.

“We’ll never forget it. I’m thrilled to have an area as big as Jen Marrie.” Emma replied.

“I know Black has a lot of assets. You guys hide an empire well. I hope you won’t be cowards even if you lose later.” Pablo said.

“Tell that to yourself, boy,” Emma replied.

“We’d better just start this fight. You don’t need to talk a lot like a woman,” Troy said.

In the middle of the line, Kathy stood beside Poppy. This was the first big fight for the two of them. Usually, they were always behind the scenes as hackers and group managers. But for this fight, Black Swan actually mobilized all of its troops into the battlefield.

“Are you scared?” Kathy asked, turning to Poppy.

“Honestly, a little?” She chuckled.

“Don’t worry Pops. Stay by my side. We fight together.”

Poppy nodded. “Even so, I’ve been waiting for this for a long time; fighting with my best friends, not always hiding behind your backs, and being able to feel the thrill of victory. It might be difficult, but I’m very excited.”

“Those men have destroyed the future of many people, especially girls like us. This is a grudge we must avenge.” Kathy said.

“You’re right Kathy. I understand how their victims feel. I’m not going to let more girls suffer like me.” Poppy replied.

“That’s the spirit we need. We can do it, Pops! Remember to attack all the weak points we’ve learnt, and... remember don’t get hit.” Kathy put her arm around Poppy and lightly patted her upper arm.

“We fight together.” Poppy nodded enthusiastically.

At the forefront, the leaders were ready to attack. The two enemies only needed to stare at each other for a few seconds before taking off running with a growl of screams. The steps of the leaders were followed by all their followers.

***

“The war has already begun,” Damian said with a cell phone pressed to his ear.

He was standing alone, hiding behind a pillar which was located some distance from the battlefield. He wore all black like the Black members, but without a mask. In order to disguise himself as a spy, he was willing to change his hair colour to black.

Marcel nodded. “Try not to get involved in it. Be careful, Damian.”

“I can’t promise. Maybe I could have let my guard down by enjoying the show too much.” He laughed with small binoculars attached to his eyes. He really enjoyed the exciting battle like he was watching a world soccer match live.

Marcel just sighed before putting his phone down. He was in his car with Kenny Brown and Renu Khan. The car was parked not far from an abandoned mall building which was the location of the battle between the three major groups.

RJC decided not to remain silent on the war that occurred. Well, even though they didn’t intend to get involved, they hoped for one faction to win the war. RJC hoped that Black and Jita Kyoei would win the fight because they needed one or two of these groups to ally with the RJC to defeat the Black Hole.

“Dragger is much weaker than Black Hole. If Black and Jita Kyoei lose to that group, then it’s unlikely we can beat Black Hole even though we’ve merged groups.” Kenny said.

“Dragger is a child of Black Hole. I think, if they lose in the end, Black and Jita Kyoei won’t be able to get a dime of Dragger’s treasure. James won’t let that happen. In the end, Dragger will join forces with Black Hole to eradicate all the heroes.” Renu said.

Marcel nodded slowly. “It’s getting heavier. We’re all on edge. It looks like we’re all fighting to make big changes in this city.”

“There’s a reason why Apollo never touched the Black Hole long ago. They always reasoned that Black Hole was a bunch of snot-nosed kids. But I’m sure it was because Viggo already knew how strong that group was.” Kenny said.

“If Jack’s still around, maybe we’re strong enough to beat the Black Hole,” Marcel muttered.

“Maybe so. However, there’s no use imagining the impossible.” Renu said.

Marcel let out a long sigh. “Actually, James isn’t that strong. But that Black Hole... its core team is a lot. But if we all join forces, I’m sure we can beat them.”

“The answer will be known at the end of this fight,” Kenny replied.

***

Like two bulls fighting each other, the war broke out as soon as the two enemies collided.

A battle between two camps possessing great power and great skill made it hard to choose which fight was more interesting to watch because everyone was fighting fiercely.

As it should be, the leader against the leader and members against members. Dragger had a large core team. Luckily, Jita Kyoei and Black Swan were too.

Even though it wasn’t planned before, instinctively, everyone ended up fighting the person who had the same portion of strength.

Emma no longer needed to worry about her friends because they seemed able to fight the Dragger members well in pairs, just like what Emma had instructed from the start. Because she knew that Dragger had a strong core team, she must ensure that her members use a cooperative system to defeat the enemy.