Daniel stood before the five-year-old boy, the same child who had tugged at his pants earlier. The boy's cheek was still red from the slap he had taken.
Daniel crouched slightly, meeting the boy's teary eyes, and for the first time that day, he smiled.
"I am a hero," Daniel said softly.
Then he stood and turned back toward the chaos. His expression hardened. His sword whispered as it slid from its sheath—just for an instant—before cutting a Dark Crocodile soldier clean in half.
The massacre began.
Daniel became a storm. His blade moved with terrifying grace, slicing through enemies as if their flesh and weapons were paper. Its extreme sharpness and durability enabled him to cut through nearly anything with a single, effortless slash.
But his technique was even more unnerving. He never left the sword drawn longer than necessary.
He would only unsheath it just before a strike, and when defending, he used the handle, never the blade—because the weapon's immense power was such that even blocking could risk damaging it.
Every slash was final. Every motion was absolute. The Takamura Sword Style reborn in his hands turned the battlefield into a slaughterhouse.
The fight spilled outside the ruined restaurant. Blood soaked the streets, pooling in the cracks of Incheon's broken pavement.
"HAHAHA!" A familiar laugh cut through the carnage. Woongi Yeom charged again, wild eyes burning.
Daniel met his punch with the handle of his sword, stopping it cold. Yeom cursed and spat, "I'll fucking tear you apart!"
"You talk too much," Daniel replied coldly.
The sword flashed—unsheathed for less than a second. Shhhk!
Yeom's body split cleanly in two, blood spraying like rain.
The battlefield froze. Silence followed, broken only by the sound of Yeom's corpse hitting the ground.
"Holy shit…" a Speed Faction soldier muttered.
"The fuck is he…?" another whispered, trembling.
Dark Crocodile soldiers panicked. Some dropped their weapons.
"Run! Fuck this!" one screamed.
"He's a monster!" another cried.
But then came a voice, booming with rage:
"COWARDS! If you fucking run, I'll skin you alive!" Mugak Wang roared, his face twisting in fury.
He pointed at Daniel. "You don't know what the fuck you've done. You'll pay with your blood. The Dark Society will carve its revenge into your corpse!"
Daniel's eyes locked on him. He raised his blade, still dripping red, and spoke with chilling calm.
"You bark like the others. You prey on the weak to look powerful. For rabid dogs like you, there's only one cure… kill them before they can bite again."
He threw his sword forward, planting it into the earth with a heavy thud.
"Come then. All of you."
His voice carried like thunder, cutting through the chaos.
"I'll face every last one of the Dark Crocodile Society's thousand-squad leaders. Right here. Right fucking now."
The street trembled—not from footsteps, but from the weight of Daniel's declaration.
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