Chapter 574

New York’s Hero, Mayor Ross Delivers on His Campaign Promise: Voodoo Gang Wiped Out!

That was the headline splashed across every major newspaper in New York the following morning.

According to the reports, Inspector Grayson of the NYPD had led a tactical unit in an assault on the Jamaican Voodoo Gang the previous night.

Mayor Ross had personally gone to the front lines, directing the operation despite the danger.

When the Voodoo Gang’s leader, Voodoo King, and more than twenty of his senior lieutenants resisted arrest, they were all killed on the spot.

One of New York’s largest criminal organizations had been completely eradicated.

The newspapers ran plenty of photographs alongside the story.

There was Ross during the Battle of New York, dressed in camouflage and carrying a light machine gun.

There were photographs of him giving speeches, standing straight-backed and defiant before the cameras.

The people of New York were naturally delighted.

A few particularly loud voices complained about the gang members being killed instead of shot in the legs, apparently believing that demanding elaborate nonlethal takedowns would make them look enlightened.

Nobody paid much attention to them.

Ross’s approval rating climbed to another record high.

Compared with him, the previous mayor’s polling numbers looked downright pathetic.

The city’s remaining gangs weren’t nearly as happy.

S.H.I.E.L.D.’s earlier crackdown had already left them nervous and paranoid.

The destruction of the Voodoo Gang turned that fear into outright panic.

The Voodoo Gang had been one of the most powerful criminal organizations in New York. Other gangs had avoided provoking them for years.

And now they’d been wiped out overnight by the police.

That was enough.

"Let’s get out of New York."

Staying here was becoming an excellent way to die.

The problem was where to go.

After several gang leaders met to discuss their options, they settled on Los Angeles.

The City of Angels.

A land of opportunity.

They’d heard that a bar called the Demon had become quite successful there, famous enough that its reputation had reached New York.

A few new arrivals from the East Coast should be able to take over the place, establish themselves, and start building their power again.

At least, that was the plan.

Meanwhile, the Eredar Twins had returned to the Legacy of the Void nightclub.

They hadn’t visited the place in quite some time. Ever since Umbrella had begun operating properly, they’d rarely needed to come here personally.

Their sudden arrival left the employees stationed there both surprised and honored.

The nightclub had only recently been attacked and was still closed for repairs. There were no outsiders present.

The staff immediately arranged themselves into two orderly rows, men on one side and women on the other, then dropped to one knee beside the twins.

"I heard someone caused trouble here recently."

Oleses’s voice was remarkably calm.

"I also heard that some of our people were injured. Some even lost their lives."

She extended her right hand.

A human skull suddenly appeared in her palm.

"So tell me."

Her gaze swept across the kneeling employees.

"Who do you think this belongs to?"

Nobody needed to guess.

The skull was fleshless, but everyone recognized it.

Voodoo King.

"You are all human."

Oleses looked down at them.

"An inferior species. Physically weak and, by most standards, remarkably useless."

Nobody felt insulted.

If anything, they seemed to regard the statement as perfectly reasonable.

"But you belong to us."

Her voice grew colder.

"Your lives belong to us. Your souls belong to us."

She placed Voodoo King’s skull on the coffee table.

"Anyone foolish enough to steal what belongs to me will be punished."

The room seemed to grow colder.

Oleses tapped one finger against the skull.

Everyone except Salorlas shivered.

Then they looked at the empty eye sockets.

Two tiny points of yellow light had appeared inside them.

The lights seemed almost alive.

An understanding struck every person in the room at once.

Voodoo King’s soul was trapped inside the skull.

Oleses lifted her finger.

A tiny flame suddenly appeared atop the skull.

There was no oil.

No candle.

Yet it burned.

The yellow lights inside the eye sockets began flickering violently.

If they stared long enough, they could almost hear a scream echoing from within.

The realization sent cold sweat down their backs.

Their mistress was truly formidable.

Even after death, she could drag a man’s soul back and use his skull as a lantern.

"This flame won’t go out for three years."

Oleses waved her hand dismissively.

"So take it downstairs and use it as a candleholder."

She considered it.

"Or use it as a lighter for the stove. Or cigarettes. Whatever you like."

The message was clear.

Voodoo King had destroyed their nightclub.

He had stolen their merchandise.

He had injured their people.

And he’d apparently believed that dying would settle the debt.

It wouldn’t.

Death wasn’t an escape.

With that, the twins had finally vented their anger.

The chaos surrounding New York’s gangs gradually came to an end.

The city settled back into something resembling normal life.

For three months, everything remained peaceful.

Then, one afternoon, Evenson and Claire were on their way home.

Evenson had never been particularly fond of going outside.

He’d much rather stay home, play games, watch anime, and spend the evening testing his abilities than wander around for no reason.

Unfortunately, there was a comic convention that day.

Claire had dragged him there.

To his surprise, the event had actually been pretty good.

Claire had even improvised several cosplay performances, which had made the trip feel worthwhile.

That good mood lasted until they started walking home.

Evenson looked at the armor Claire had bought and grumbled.

"Are you kidding me? Five hundred dollars for a suit of aluminum armor?"

Claire rolled her eyes.

She’d bought one piece of Saber armor at the convention.

Apparently that single purchase had earned her an entire afternoon of complaints.

"The craftsmanship is pretty good," she said. "I’d say it’s reasonably priced."

"Reasonably priced?"

Evenson looked offended.

"I know blacksmithing. Buy me some raw iron and I’ll hammer you out a set of Silver-Scaled Breastplate."

He gestured at the costume.

"I guarantee mine will be better made, more practical, and cheaper."

Perhaps even the heavens had finally grown tired of listening to him complain about five hundred dollars.

An enormous explosion suddenly erupted from the top floor of a nearby building.

The blast thundered across the street.

People stopped and looked up.

Evenson stared at the burning upper floors.

Then he looked around at everyone else.

He couldn’t help feeling offended.

They were all standing in the same vicinity.

Why had none of them been hit by flying glass?

Why hadn’t a single piece of debris landed near them?

Yet somehow, in the grand lottery of exploding buildings, an entire section of wall had chosen him.

"Seriously?"

Evenson sighed.

The wall came crashing down.

He casually flicked a finger.

The falling slab struck an invisible barrier.

It shattered instantly, breaking apart into chunks that scattered harmlessly to either side.

The whole thing happened in less than a second.

Most of the crowd was still staring at the flames above.

Nobody noticed.

Nobody except one young Asian woman standing among them.

Her eyes widened as she stared at Evenson.

Him?

Before she could fully remember what had caught her attention, another wave of screams erupted from the crowd.

Someone had jumped from the burning building.

The figure was dressed somewhat shabbily, his face concealed beneath a hood.

He landed hard enough to drive both feet into the pavement.

Yet he wasn’t injured.

In his arms was a pale woman who appeared to be unconscious.

The man had jumped directly from the upper floor.

After carefully placing the woman on the ground, he immediately turned and walked away.

There was no doubt about it.

He wasn’t an ordinary human.

The Asian woman stared after him.

Then she suddenly realized something else.

Evenson was gone.

She hesitated.

Her expression tightened as she weighed the decision.

Finally, she gritted her teeth and ran after him.