As Alpha and Bravo teams swept the second-floor rooms, they were met with a small number of Black Hand’s operatives.

“Fire!” Both squads yelled as they fired their weapons.

Their first volley was enough to put down six people, and they killed six more.

“We’ll take it from here, you go to the next floor,” Rolan said.

“Okay…good luck,” The squad leader of the Bravo team acknowledged and rallied his units to move onto the third floor.

The Alpha team made their way into the last room.

The room was empty, except for a lone man sitting on top of a table.

Rolan and four of his men entered the room with their weapons’ trained at the lone man.

The lone man raised his hands as the soldiers approached him.

“Stand up!” One of the soldiers shouted as he approached the unknown man.

The man stood up and held his palms out to show them he meant no harm, but they still pointed the guns at his head.

“Where is your leader?!” the soldier barked at him.

“Who knows?” the man replied defiantly.

“You! Are you messing with me?!” The soldier pressed the muzzle of his machine gun at his head, yet the man was unfazed.-.

Rather, he was smirking… “Big mistake,” he simply said as he quickly grabbed the barrel of the gun, twisted it around, and snatched it from the soldier’s grasp. It all happened in the blink of an eye.

Before the soldier realized his mistake, the man smiled again, this time, devilishly, and pulled the trigger, riddling the soldier’s body with bullet holes.

Rolan, who just witnessed his comrade die, stared in disbelief. The first thing that came to his mind is that the man who killed one of his units is trained.

As the body fell to the ground, lifelessly, the mysterious man aimed the submachine gun at their location.

“Take cover!” Rolan shouted, and they all dived to the left and right to avoid the bullets. But the moment they did, they were met with a hail of bullets from the man’s MP35.

Almost instantly, Rolan almost got hit by the bullets and it shredded his left sleeve. He quickly hid behind a desk and returned fire with his MP35. Their bullets connected with the desk and the bullets ricocheted around the room.

On the other side, the man exhausted the ammo of his submachine gun as he fire on them, not giving them a chance to retaliate. Then the man quickly rolled out of the room from a secret exit.

“Where the fuck is he?!” Rolan demanded.“I-I don’t know sir! He was just there and he disappeared like a wisp of smoke!” the soldier replied in a terrified tone.

Rolan quickly peeked his head out and looked left and right. On the far left side of the wall, he saw a wide-open door. Maybe it’s where the man escaped.

“We have to notify…”

Just as he was about to spew out his next order, a groan sounded from behind.

It was five of his men that he left for cover. Rolan and the three others quickly exited the room and saw a terrifying sight.

The men that were just standing here earlier had their necks slashed open. There is blood spurting out of it.

“Shit!” Rolan cursed inwardly.

The unknown man smiled as he made his appearance once again and leaped in full force, landing straight on the two men. The two were thrown back by the impact.

Rolan, realizing what happened, quickly aimed his submachine gun at the man but before he could pull the trigger, the man had already thrown what seemed to be a makeshift grenade.

Rolan batted it away with his gun.

The grenade exploded and their ears were pierced by the loud bang, filling the room with smoke.

As the smoke cleared, Rolan got back on his feet, surveying the damage. The man was nowhere to be found.

“Just what exactly am I dealing with here?” Rolan asked himself and glance at his remaining unit…”Are you all—”

There was no remaining unit, the three were already dead.

“Hoh…you’re the guy who is always standing by His Majesty’s side? Are you perhaps the Chief of Staff of the Imperial Army?”

A voice echoed across the hallway. Rolan reflexively aimed his MP35 at the source of the voice.

There, a figure loomed as it strode over to him confidently. He raised his knife that trickled with blood.

“Oh…you are indeed the Chief of Staff of the Imperial Guards, Rolan Makarov. What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be in the Winter Palace, protecting your Emperor?”

Rolan was met with a sinister-looking man. He looks like a foreign mercenary; maybe even a soldier of fortune. His hair is dark and it is tied into a ponytail, he has a pale complexion with a scar underneath his left eye.

The sun’s rays streamed through the windows, lighting up the man’s face. A cunning smile spread on his face as he stared at Rolan.

*tutututututututu…

Rolan struck his head up, hearing a continuous roar of a machine gun above accompanied by a groaning sound.

The man in front of him sniggered, “Looks like your comrades up there are having trouble, but that’s sad…you won’t be alive to see them.”

“You’re being haughty huh? Do you realize that I’m pointing a gun at you?”

“Feel free to shoot me,” the man provoked.

“My pleasure…” Rolan pulled the trigger but nothing happened. He cocked his head to the side.“Looks like someone is not counting,” The man said.

Rolan was out of bullets. He sighed and dropped the MP35 to the floor. He knew what would happen if dared try to reload.

“Before we kill each other…allow me to tell you my name.”

Rolan took a fighting stance and prepared for the worst. The man in front of him right now is a dangerous person.

The man continued. “My name is Karim…I serve at the pleasure of my Shepherd.”

“Karim…huh? Well, you’re going to die along with your Shepherd. I deemed your existence in this world dangerous for the growth of the Empire.”

“Rolan Makarov, you are going to die today,” Karim pulled out his knife and thrust it at Rolan.

Rolan managed to sidestep, avoiding the thrust but Karim quickly spun his body, slashing Rolan twice across the chest.

Rolan pulled out a knife and slashed back. Karim dodged to the side.

Rolan began to walk slowly towards Karim. Karim took reeled backward as he evaded Rolan’s knife.

As Rolan had his right foot forward, he stepped on the arm of his dead comrade. Karim saw the chance and charged at Rolan, pushing him to the ground.

Mounting him, Karim raised his knife and struck it down. Rolan, who saw the attack, tilted his head to the side and the knife plunged to the ground.

Karim pulled the knife out. He tried to plunge it again but before it could reach Rolan’s head. Rolan thrust his hip upward, causing Karim to tip forward and lose balance.

Rolan saw a perfect opportunity and quickly utilized it by gripping Karim’s right elbow and wrist, locking his feet, then rolling him to the side. Now, Rolan was the one mounting him.

Taking this advantage, Rolan unleashed a flurry of punches. Karim anticipated his attack and raised his arm up to guard his face.

Despite that, Rolan continued his barrage. Karim knew that if he were to say his position, it’d prove disastrous for him.

To get out of this deadlock, Karim turned to the side, however it was the biggest mistake of his life that he won’t have a chance to realize.

Rolan, who was already on top of him, seized the opportunity by repositioning his mount. He slipped his right hand under Karim’s armpit and the other behind his neck, locking it. With a pull, Rolan had Karim on a back control.

Rolan could feel the air being knocked out of Karim’s lungs as he tightened his choke around his neck. He could hear Karim’s gagging voice.

Karim tries to break free but Rolan has already subdued him.action

Seconds later, Rolan snapped his neck. Karim’s body slumped down, lifeless.

Rolan got up, holding his bleeding chest. As he stumbled, the images of the dead bodies on the floor; their necks slashed open, passed through his thoughts. It was truly a sight of horror. He shook his head, clearing his mind. He has a mission to complete.

He grabbed the MP35 that he dropped earlier and loaded a new mag on it. Then, he went to the third floor where he saw the Bravo team looking at him with concern.

“Sir…you okay? Where’s the rest of your team?” One of them asked.

“What happened here?” Rolan asked, avoiding the topic of his men.

“Well, an enemy armed with a Maxim machine gun shot us…four of our units got killed. But we got them,”

“What do you mean you by ‘got them?'” Rolan asked.

“We’ve cleared the third floor, sir. All Black Hands operatives are taken care of,” the soldier announced.

“I see…that’s good then,” Rolan breathed heavily. “Gather up evidence then…papers, photos, anything that could help us…I’ll signal the other teams,”

“Understood!”