[RECAP]
Kroger was about to strike.
WHAM.
The ground exploded.
A monstrous impact split the asphalt between them, throwing debris in all directions.
When the dust settled, a silhouette stood there.
Long hair slicked back, gel perfect despite the early hour. A worn black leather jacket, marked by years of combat. A deep scar ran across his left cheek.
Cold eyes. A predatory smile.
Phantom.
One of the Three Emperors of Heaven.
Kroger stepped back, stunned.
"Phantom…"
Phantom slowly straightened up, brushed the dust off his jacket.
"Long time no see, Kroger."
Kroger gripped his blade.
"I thought I left you for dead in the rubble of your HQ."
Phantom smiled, a wide, dangerous smile.
"Ghosts don't die, Kroger. They just come back to slash those who buried them."
The wind rose, lifting the sand from the construction site.
Masajo, still on the ground, watched the scene, incredulous.
The Three Emperors… Phantom… in the flesh…
Kroger and Phantom faced each other.
The fight had just changed dimensions.
---
The dust was slowly settling on the construction site. Phantom stood facing Kroger, his predatory smile still plastered on his lips. He raised his weapon.
A giant sword. Massive. Imposing. With a Christian cross engraved on the guard, like a symbol of redemption or damnation.
"Remember this, Kroger?"
Kroger gritted his teeth.
"How could I forget. The Phantom Blood's sword."
Phantom spun it in his hand with disconcerting ease.
"While you thought I was dead, I trained. I became stronger. Much stronger than the me you knew back then."
He raised the sword to the sky, then brought it down in a fluid, almost graceful motion.
An invisible thread shot from the blade.
Silent. Deadly.
CRAAAACK.
The upper floor of the building under construction, fifty meters away, was sliced clean through. An entire section slid, tilted, and crashed to the ground in a deafening cloud of dust.
Kroger's eyes widened.
"What the…"
Phantom caressed the edge of his blade.
"My sword emits a thread. A thread so thin it's almost invisible. It slices through everything in its path. Steel. Concrete. Flesh. Bone. Nothing resists it."
Kroger looked at the rubble, then at his former friend.
"You learned some tricks during your absence."
Phantom chuckled.
"I learned to survive. To become what I should always have been without you."
Kroger was about to respond when a movement behind him caught his attention.
He turned around.
No one there.
Masajo had disappeared.
"Shit…"
Phantom raised an eyebrow.
"Your prey ran away."
Kroger clenched his fist.
"He used his blade. Ku. He became undetectable."
Phantom shrugged.
"Too bad. But we have other things to settle, you and me."
He raised his sword, pointing at Kroger.
"WE WERE A FUCKING FAMILY!"
His voice thundered across the construction site.
"WHY DID YOU KILL THE PHANTOM BLOOD'S? OUR GANG! YOUR GANG!"
Kroger looked at him, a flash of pain crossing his gaze.
"…Our gang."
Flashback.
——
JAY-YEOL EAST HIGH SCHOOL – 15 YEARS EARLIER
Kroger – back then, people still called him by his real name, Kai – was leaning against a wall, face bloody.
In front of him, three older guys, members of the Hippo-Hippo gang, were beating the shit out of him.
"DON'T HAVE THE MONEY, KID? COULDN'T RAISE OUR TRIBUTE?"
BAM. A fist to the stomach.
Kai fell to his knees, spitting blood.
"WE'RE GONNA SHOW YOU WHAT HAPPENS TO WORTHLESS FUCKS LIKE YOU."
The blows kept raining down. Kai didn't scream. He gritted his teeth, took it.
Then a shadow appeared from nowhere.
BAM.
One of the guys collapsed.
The other two turned around, surprised. A long-haired boy with a crazy look was staring at them.
Adam. Later, he would become Phantom.
"Don't touch my friend, you bitches. Understand?"
He charged.
He took hits. He gave some too. He was weaker than the guys, less experienced, but he had a rage that nothing could stop.
When the guys left, swearing they'd be back, Adam helped Kai up.
"You're an idiot," Kai said, spitting blood. "You should have hidden."
Adam smiled.
"And let you die? Never. We're a family now."
Kai stared at him, incredulous.
"A family?"
"Yeah. You and me. We're gonna become the strongest in the east. That way, nobody fucks with us anymore. And we'll dismantle all these shitty gangs."
Kai was silent for a long moment.
Then he nodded.
"…Deal."
——
FOLLOWING MONTH – THE NIGHT BEFORE THE MONEY DELIVERY
They were in their hideout – a shitty apartment with mattresses on the floor. Kai was counting the money, Adam was sharpening a knife.
"We don't have enough," said Kai. "Not even close."
Adam shrugged.
"We'll fight. Like always."
"We'll fight, and we'll lose. Like always."
Adam stopped, looked at him.
"You got a better idea?"
Kai stared at him.
"What if we stopped just surviving? What if we became so strong that no one would dare ask us for money?"
Adam smiled.
"I like that idea."
They spent the night talking. Dreaming. Imagining a world where they wouldn't be prey anymore.
A world where they'd be the predators.
——
A few days later, a man came to see them.
An imposing man with a piercing gaze. They called him Lion. He ran all the gangs in the east from the shadows. No one knew where he came from. No one knew what he really wanted.
He looked at them, sitting in a black car with tinted windows.
"You want to be the strongest in the east?"
Kai and Adam exchanged a glance.
"…Yes," they said in unison.
Lion smiled.
"Then I have a deal for you."
The deal was to dismantle and kill the 3 gang leaders of the east: 1. The Cobra Vador, 2. Love Pain, 3. Wild Lifeguard.
If they succeeded in this suicide mission, they would have their own crew that would control the entire east of the country.
——
IN FRONT OF THE COBRA VADOR LAIR – NIGHT
Kai and Adam were there, hidden in the shadows, watching the entrance of the lair.
The first gang they had to decimate. The Cobra Vador. Child traffickers. Monsters with human faces.
Kai looked at the building, the armed men in front of the door, the trucks coming and going loaded with illegal merchandise.
"You know what they do in there?" Adam whispered.
Kai nodded.
"Kids. They sell kids."
Adam clenched his fist.
"Then we're gonna show them what it feels like to be prey."
Kai drew his weapon.
"For the kids."
"For us."
"For our family."
They charged.
——
BACK TO THE PRESENT
Phantom, sword raised, looked at Kroger with eyes burning with hatred and pain.
"YOU KILLED OUR FAMILY, KROGER! WHY?!"
Kroger held his gaze.
"Because our family had become a monster."
Phantom blinked.
"What?"
Kroger looked down.
"After decimating the Cobra Vador, we kept going. Gang after gang. We became the strongest. We created our own crew. The Phantom Blood's."
He looked up.
"And we became worse than the ones we'd replaced."
Phantom stepped back.
"That's not true. We protected people. We…"
"WE SOLD KIDS TOO, ADAM!"
Phantom's real name hit him like a bullet.
Kroger stepped forward.
"You thought I didn't know? That I didn't see what was happening behind my back? You took the same paths as our enemies. You became Lion. You became what we swore to destroy."
Phantom – Adam – looked at him, lips trembling.
"I… I did it for us. For our power. For…"
"For nothing."
Kroger pulled a photo from his pocket. A photo of a child. A little girl with sad eyes.
"Her name was Luna. She was 7 years old. You sold her to organ traffickers."
Adam went pale.
"I…"
"You didn't know. Is that it? Like always. You never knew anything."
Kroger put the photo away.
"So yes, I killed the Phantom Blood's. I killed our family. Because our family had become a fucking criminal organization."
He raised his blade.
"And I'd do it again."
Adam, eyes wet, face twisted with pain and rage, gripped his giant sword.
"…You should have finished me properly. Left me in the rubble."
Kroger smiled sadly.
"I thought I did."
The two former friends, now enemies, faced each other.
The final fight was about to begin.
---
TO BE CONTINUED…