From Bullets To Billions

Chapter 725: Rangers Strike!

The Rangers had all been called up and mobilized to move out, with the sole focus of ensuring the university students were safely rescued.

Although some onlookers might have thought Max didn’t care about the students enough because he hadn’t come along himself, the reality was quite the opposite. Due to the double hostage situation, Max was putting his own life in far more danger. By going to the docks completely alone, he had sent nearly the entire core of his power to where the students were being held. That was exactly how much he didn’t want those kids to get hurt.

While Aaron continued to walk slowly ahead, his eyes locked onto Commander Blark and the other members standing in the opposing group.

Agent Two and the current Agent One—both of them had been high-ranking members of the Black Hand even during his own time there. They were elite operatives. How many deadly missions had they been on? How long had they been training since he left? The sudden thought entered Aaron’s mind: how much had they improved over the years, and was his cozy, peaceful life in the city going to be his ultimate downfall?

Shaking his head, he realized he couldn’t afford to think like that. He had a task to do, and that was to save these students. That was the direct order given to him by Max, and he wasn’t going to fail.

"Everyone, be careful. These people are exactly who I expected, but hoped it would never be true," Aaron said, his voice quiet and serious.

"Seriously?" Joe replied from behind him. "Come on, Aaron. You know how much stronger we’ve become. You shouldn’t worry about us too much."

"I’ll tell you all this now so you understand the scope of the people we are about to go against," Aaron said, not turning his head. "Each one of them is at least as strong as me, and they could very well be stronger."

Those words made the entire group of Rangers go completely quiet. They still vividly remembered during their intense training to unlock the power of their Vow, how easily Aaron had managed to best them all. Even though they had grown much stronger since then, and even though they were aided in other ways by their specialized gear, were they really strong enough to take on someone on the exact level of Aaron?

Eventually, the Rangers came to a halt, stopping about ten meters away from the opposing line. Commander Blark stood firmly behind the other Black Hand members, his arms crossed.

"It’s been a long time, One," Blark said, a smug grin on his face.

"My name is Aaron," Aaron replied flatly.

"Sensitive, I see. Did someone give you that name? The people that took you in and dragged you away from your real family?" Blark laughed, a harsh sound in the quiet temple grounds. "What was even the point of escaping anyway? What, you run away from everything we gave you just to be part of this petty gang that dresses up in matching colors? It’s pathetic."

"Like you guys can talk!" Joe shouted back, pointing at them. "From what I’ve learned, you guys just give each other numbers, like that’s some kind of fashion statement too!"

That comment from Joe clearly ground on Blark, and his eyebrows furrowed in irritation.

"We teamed up with a group of people to help them take down the Billion Bloodline group, and it appears we will be paid rather well for the job," Blark said, shifting his gaze. "But do you want to know the real reason why we took this contract?"

Blark looked over at Skull, who was standing quietly nearby.

"Because this one mentioned that we might run into you here. We have always tracked down every single person who has ever left the camp, making sure they can’t speak a single word of the details of what happens inside.

"But you, Aaron—we might have never gotten to you if you had decided to just live a quiet, peaceful life. But learning we had a chance to finally complete this file, we had to take the mission. And there are quite a few in our group who want to test a few things. They want to test if they are better than you now, and see if you were actually worthy of being the former Rank One."

Aaron looked past Blark, his eyes landing on the bald-headed man dressed in the orange, monk-like robes.

"Have none of you learned to have any shame?" Aaron asked, his voice dripping with quiet disdain. "Wearing that type of clothing despite knowing what it is you actually do."

"Ah, I believe that if anything, you are the shameful one," the current Agent One replied, his voice calm and steady. "Trying to live a normal, regular life despite everything you have done in your past."

Seeing how tense the atmosphere was, it was obvious a fight was going to break out at any second. That was when Stephen decided the best path forward was to utilize the art of surprise.

His Vow granted him extreme bursts of speed, and with the high-tech exoskeleton powering his fists, he knew he could deliver a devastating, fight-ending blow if he struck first.

He locked his target on one of the opposing women, specifically the one dressed in office attire. He had no doubt she would be incredibly skillful—otherwise, Aaron would have never given them such a harsh warning. But he doubted she would expect an attack to come this fast, and she seemed small enough that if she got hit with a massive, powered blow, she wouldn’t be coming back up.

His legs burst with movement as he unleashed the power of his Vow, kicking up dirt as he rushed ahead in a blur. He threw a heavy, rocket-like fist straight at Number Four—until his fist was suddenly stopped, held, and pushed back mid-air.

"Oh... now that is a very hard punch," the current Agent One said. He had smoothly intercepted the strike, his hand wrapped tightly around Stephen’s fist while using his other hand underneath for extra support. "It looks like this will be much more interesting than I suspected."