"Oh? Is that all you've got?"
Felburn let out a pained groan as he struggled to push himself up from the ground.
"What, are those your last words?"
Cross advanced slowly, face expressionless, occasionally tapping the back of his shoulder with the dull edge of Kagehide.
Felburn gave a helpless smile. "Looks like you're not giving me a way out. In that case... we go down together!"
With that, he threw open his dark crimson blazer, revealing a series of cylindrical tubes strapped tightly around his abdomen.
"Explosives?!"
Cross's expression shifted slightly as he instinctively halted in place.
"That's right, eighteen sticks, packed with the newest formulation of gunpowder. Got it from Joker himself. Blowing up this little alleyway? Easy work." Felburn grinned maniacally, shaking the fuse in front of Cross. "Oh, and Joker said you know him. Whether you believe that or not? Up to you."
With those words, he yanked the fuse.
A sharp fizz followed. Sparks danced along the beige cord, racing toward the explosives.
"Shit!"
Cursing under his breath, Cross immediately turned and ran.
Whether Felburn was bluffing or not, whether those eighteen sticks were really that powerful, it didn't matter. Getting caught in the blast would definitely suck.
After all, he wasn't some candy-craving old hag, or a giant bull-headed gorilla called "Kaido." He was still just a kid.
At the same moment, seeing Cross bolt, Felburn scrambled to his feet in a panic. He frantically tore the explosives from his own torso, didn't even bother tossing them far, and simply chucked the whole bundle to the ground before sprinting in the opposite direction.
Cross's Observation Haki flared, something felt off. He stopped and looked back.
There was Felburn, running full speed away from him.
"You bastard!"
Cross snarled, pivoting to give chase, only to see the bundle of eighteen explosives lying right there on the ground, fuse nearly spent.
"Enliven: Earth!!"
Cross's face twisted. He dropped low and slammed a palm to the earth.
A deep rumble tore through the street as the ground beneath him surged upward, transformed by his ability into a massive mound of hardened earth shielding him from the imminent blast.
The fuse burned down.
And then—
BOOM!!!
A thunderous explosion ripped through the alley like a bolt from a clear sky.
Flames surged high into the air, scorching hot and blindingly bright, engulfing both sides of the street. The shockwave slammed through the district like an earthquake, rattling every bone and beam in its path.
Even behind the earthen mound, Cross felt the concussive force hammering his chest, pressing the air from his lungs.
When the dust finally settled, Cross climbed to the top of the mound.
What lay before him was a wasteland; scorched, flattened, still smoldering.
A crater more than five meters wide had been blasted into the earth, and the protective mound beneath his feet had been nearly torn in half.
Worse yet, civilians.
The surrounding buildings had collapsed, and the explosion had left a path of destruction through the residential district. Death cries echoed in the smoke. Bloodied survivors stumbled through rubble, sobbing, screaming, calling out for loved ones.
"Aaaaahhhhhh!!"
"My eyes... my eyes!! I can't see!"
"Mom! Wake up! Please, wake up! Doctor!! Somebody help! Help my mom!"
"Kill me... just kill me... it hurts, it hurts...!"
"..."
Cross stood frozen, his face ashen, his gaze empty as he looked upon the carnage.
He whispered, numb, "Why... why did this happen?"
The crushing weight of guilt crashed over him, drowning him like a rising tide.
If I'd just let him go... none of this would've happened.
With the major threats neutralized, the tide had turned swiftly in the Marines' favor. Captain Moore led the counterattack, pushing the remaining insurgents back. The 201st Branch was stationed only a kilometer away, and reinforcements arrived quickly.
Commander Barbic even dispatched a battleship from the branch's naval yard, sealing off the island's harbor and preventing any escape by sea.
With support from the reinforcements, the battle at the port didn't last long.
Of the more than one hundred criminal insurgents, nearly a hundred were killed or severely injured. The rest were captured, with only a handful managing to escape into the island's wilder terrain.
But the Marines paid a steep price. Of the 200 troops under Captain Moore's command, 73 were killed, 28 gravely wounded, and 30 sustained lighter injuries.
"Put the island on Level 1 Lockdown," Captain Moore ordered grimly. "No ships are to leave Miko Island under any circumstances!"
His voice was like steel.
"Deploy three hundred men, split into ten search squads. Sweep the entire island. Red signal flares if you meet resistance. If they fight, kill them."
"Yes, sir!"
The response echoed in unison.
Miko Island was small, but it had dense mountain terrain. A light search force wouldn't be enough to root out the scattered fugitives.
Still, Moore's decision was not without risk. The 201st Branch had only 800 troops total. With over a hundred casualties in battle and now 300 dispatched into the field, the remaining manpower was stretched thin.
Fewer than 400 Marines remained to man the ships blockading the port, defend the base, patrol the town, and handle clean-up efforts. It was barely enough.
Elsewhere, Cross crouched in the corner of a street, gaze blank, body motionless as people hurried past him.
The guilt was still gnawing at him, sinking deep into his bones.
He blamed himself for every civilian death.
"You just gonna sit here sulking?"
A familiar voice cut through his haze.
Cross slowly looked up.
Captain Moore stood nearby, arms folded, expression grim.
"It's my fault," Cross muttered, burying his head in his arms. "If I'd let him go, if I didn't confront him... he wouldn't have set off those explosives in the middle of the town..."
"Idiot."
Captain Moore snapped.
"You brain-dead or what? If he'd already lit the fuse, why the hell didn't you chase him down and finish it? Capture him. Kill him. Avenge the innocent civilians who died!"
Cross's head shot up.
He stared at Moore, eyes wide, face contorting in pain.
"I... I forgot... All I could see was... all those people, the bodies... I couldn't think... I just forgot..."
"Don't give me that crap!"
Moore's voice boomed like cannon fire.
"You think letting that bastard walk was the just thing to do? That you were saving innocent people? Wake up! I don't know who he was, but judging by his methods, he's got the blood of innocents on his hands. Lots of it."
"Even if sparing him today meant this town was spared the explosion, that doesn't make it right."
"You're wrong. Dead wrong. If you let scum like that escape, they'll only go somewhere else and kill more people. Justice isn't easy. It never was."
"When you face evil, you end it. Without hesitation. No matter the cost. If taking him out means sacrifices, then those sacrifices are worth it."
"If you're too scared of people getting hurt... if you'd rather run than risk anything, then every drop of blood spilled is wasted. Wasted, you hear me?"
"So if you don't have the courage to face that kind of burden... if you're not prepared to carry it, then quit the Marines, kid. This line of work isn't for soft-hearted dreamers."
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