Sometimes, violence is the final choice.
But more often, absolute violence becomes the first, and best, choice.
For Kali right now, this was certainly true.
With absolute power at her fingertips, Kali effortlessly hammered Zaaro and Little Red Riding Hooded Mercenary into the dirt—no matter how desperately Zaaro struggled, no matter how fiercely Little Red Riding Hooded Mercenary entered her berserk state, it made no difference.
Thus, within just half a minute, Little Red Riding Hooded Mercenary was knocked into the familiar egg-like shape beneath Kali's Mimicry… leaving only Zaaro, the Wolf Lord, resisting with extreme difficulty.
Rather, it was solely due to his extraordinary resilience that Zaaro had even survived this long without being instantly cut down by Kali.
An oppressive terror dominated the field—every swing of her blade spelled inevitable defeat.
Single-handedly, the Red Mist had swept onto the battlefield and turned the tides entirely. From the moment Kali stepped forward, the battle's outcome had already been decided—
It would unquestionably end in Kali's victory.
This was the strength known as the Red Mist. Her name had always changed battlefields in precisely this way.
For Zaaro, even that incredible resilience could no longer buy him much more time.
On another side, T Corp. employees—having successfully collected the remnants of the Saluzzo Family—quickly approached the battlefield. Arriving simultaneously was Hugh, who stood at a distance, observing Kali's overwhelming display of force, quietly clicking his tongue in admiration.
He then launched a drone into the air, carefully attaching a small device beneath it. Wobbling precariously, the drone nevertheless determinedly moved toward Zaaro.
Meanwhile, Zaaro—already beaten senseless by Kali—had no capacity left to notice the drone flying above him.
Thus, the small device fell squarely onto Zaaro's head, immediately latching on. At that moment, Zaaro's entire body froze in place, now moving with infinitesimal slowness—almost imperceptibly slow. Witnessing this scene, Kali forcibly halted her raised Mimicry mid-swing, looking sharply upward.
Hugh calmly approached from afar, smiling lightly and waving at Kali.
"T Corp. will handle everything from here."
As he smiled, Hugh spoke gently to Kali:
"We've temporarily halted the Wolf Lord's time with a thousand-fold temporal compression… Next, we'll secure him and hand him over to Lobotomy Corporation upon returning to the City, as part of the rewards for this commission."
"As for right now…" Hugh blinked deliberately, "Don't you want to go and have a nice reunion with Da'at-san?"
Kali paused briefly, then swiftly dispelled her E.G.O form. She thrust her Mimicry firmly into the ground, casting a deep look at Hugh before turning away.
"…Either way, I owe you one for this."
Without looking back, Kali left these words behind as she walked toward Da'at:
"If you ever need a favor in the future, you can call on me."
Listening to Kali's promise, a small smile appeared on Hugh's face. Raising his head, he gazed at Siracusa's endless drizzle, washing away bloodstains, and exhaled lightly.
"Such a perfect ending…"
"Well then," Hugh rose to his feet, a satisfied smile lingering on his lips, gazing upward into Siracusa's gradually clearing skies, "it's about time we wrapped things up as well. Come, let's carefully calculate…"
"…Just how much we've harvested from Siracusa."
...
Very soon, T Corp. and Lobotomy Corporation set out on their journey back to the City—and the Thumb left with them.
Their mission in Siracusa had officially concluded.
Yet the marks they'd left upon Siracusa would remain forever—and their gains, likewise, were innumerable.
The entire landscape of Siracusa had undergone a dramatic reshuffling. Nearly all the families had been weakened to varying degrees, but Saluzzo and Venezia had fared worst of all—one had suffered catastrophic losses, and the other had simply been wiped off the map.
This time… the name of Lobotomy Corporation finally resounded clearly throughout Siracusa.
Although, rather than L Corp. itself, perhaps it was more accurate to say the name "Kali" had spread.
Almost everyone now knew clearly—on that day, a bloody legend had single-handedly slaughtered her way through the entirety of the Saluzzo Family. Without question, Kali had become a living urban legend in Siracusa.
As for Kali herself, she quickly left with Da'at, brushing off the incident like it was nothing special. She also conveniently took Zaaro and the two Abnormalities with her. As for the Wolf Lord, his fate was almost certainly sealed—endlessly studied by L Corp. researchers.
As Siracusa nervously licked its wounds beneath a steady drizzle, the City wasted no opportunity. Indeed, the City took full advantage of the chaos—
—T Corp. had officially moved into Siracusa.
Before Siracusa could fully react, T Corp. set up a branch within the region under the guise of mere outside observers. On the surface, this was entirely believable—from the Siracusan perspective, all that carnage was clearly L Corp.'s doing. T Corp. had barely appeared on the scene.
Having already gained tremendous profits from the conflict, T Corp. now formally established itself in Siracusa. This time, the corporation was no longer plagued by a shortage of Time.
After harvesting at least fifteen thousand people from Siracusa, T Corp.'s daily Time output skyrocketed to over 300,000 hours. Roughly forty years' worth of Time could now be traded every single day.
Though compared to what W Corp. might someday produce, this figure still seemed somewhat modest. Nevertheless, for maintaining the TT1 Protocol alone—especially supplemented by L Corp.'s energy—it was already more than enough.
Within the City, T Corp.'s available Time reserves expanded dramatically overnight—from this moment onward, T Corp. was finally freed from its chronic shortage of Time.
This was T Corp.'s core achievement from its expedition to Siracusa. And precisely because of this incredible harvest…
T Corp. was ultimately granted an official title by the Head, formally recognized as a Wing of the World.
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T/N: no more raws :(