Beasts often roam alone, while cattle and sheep travel in herds.
Unburdened by any encumbrance, Arabella moved like lightning; she did not go to the place where Albatross was held to rescue him.
Saving a blind man was like saving a useless encumbrance.
Nicholas knew her inside out, and surely he knew of her ability to identify sounds from a hundred meters away. The place where Albatross was confined would certainly be heavily guarded.
She didn't need to go herself; as long as Raven was there to stir up some commotion, that would suffice.
In a swift motion, she scaled the city walls, taking advantage of the fact that most of the guards were still in the rear courtyard. Without a sound, she silently dispatched the soldiers guarding the camp's gate.
Not only was she an expert with firearms, but her knife skills were also unmatched; however, her speed and lethality in unarmed combat were even more terrifying.
During the years she was imprisoned by the Ackerley family in the mountains, she had to fight wild animals hand-to-hand every day.
The speed of wolves and leopards honed her own punching speed—where a master might land a dozen punches in a second, she could do far more.
Even if filmed, the footage would only be visible at 0.1x speed.
The strength of a lion and tiger is formidable; if one fails to strike a decisive blow, the overwhelming force will instantly send them tumbling.
That's why her punches were both fast and heavy—one blow could be fatal, leaving her opponent no chance to even grunt before meeting the death.
Arabella looked down from her vantage point and saw that Taras and a group, were waiting at the entrance.
With the loss of the main base, the small Rus outpost was inevitably doomed.
The Rus leader, after fighting through layers of encirclement with Bramwell's desperate protection, broke out with a few remaining subordinates and lay in wait for Arabella's return.
This time, Arabella had no capable subordinates at her side; bringing Raven along, they had to venture into the danger. The task of contacting the Rus outpost had to be left to Taras.
It wasn't that she trusted Taras; by now, she trusted no one.
However, the remaining Rus forces were of little concern to the police—they were nothing more than a feather in their cap. For the underworld, eliminating them would require some effort.
She gave Taras the contact details and instructed him to bring his men and wait at the designated time at the entrance.
"Master Unknown," The leader choked as he saw her. He was genuinely worried about Arabella, and now that he saw she was safe and sound, a heavy stone seemed to lift from his heart.
Bramwell remained silent, standing behind the leader with his rifle, his gaze locked on Arabella, unwavering.
"Mm." Arabella gave the leader's shoulder a brief pat, her voice curt and indifferent. "Good job."
They didn't take offense at Arabella's coldness.
They knew Arabella too well—he had followed her from Scalien as she fought her way through the siege, then lived as a fugitive, constantly earning money to recruit soldiers and seize territories.
Arabella had so few chances to experience humanity, she was almost akin to a beast. With no one around her willing to show her kindness, she naturally became ever more ruthless.
Now that such a disaster had befallen her, it seemed that the small amount of humanity that Cyrus had once shown her would soon be entirely extinguished.
"The time is pressing, and this base is rigged with explosives. After you take the weapons, you'll head out through the secret passage."
"I'll stay too." As soon as Bramwell heard about the explosives, he panicked and blurted it out.
Arabella glanced at him. Her eyes were as cold as ice, though her face still wore a soft smile. "Do you want to stay and die?"
Bramwell fell silent. He keenly sensed the subtle change in Arabella.
But this was to be expected. Anyone facing such a catastrophic change would likely be restless, gnashing their teeth and cursing.
Only someone as ruthless and heartless as Arabella would simply become even more devoid of humanity.
He lowered his head and quietly retreated to his original spot. The leader knew he had good intentions, so he patted his head and said in a light tone, "You little rascal, come help me move things. What's the matter? You trying to kill me, the old man, off?"
After letting the group inside, Arabella prepared to slip away to find Nicholas, only to discover that Taras hadn't left, but was still following her.
"What, you want to die too?"
Taras pointed at himself and grinned, "I'm way smarter than that kid. Don't worry, if anything happens, I'll take care of it myself, won't drag you down."
Taras was straightforward, and Arabella saw no need to pretend. If he wanted to follow, let him. Whether he lived or died was none of her concern.
Taras said he could follow Arabella, but once he tried, he realized he was just joking.
At the speed of Arabella, he hadn't even had time to flee before she had already leapt across several rooftops. By the time he managed to scramble up, he could only catch a fleeting, faint silhouette of her in the distance. In the blink of an eye, she had vanished, a mere speck swallowed by the darkness.
Taras stood there for a moment, then forced a bit of admiration for Raven who had been following Arabella all along. It wasn't easy to be Arabella's dog; first, he had to keep up with her.
Arabella's ability to leap across rooftops was thanks to her absolute strength.
If anyone else dared to stand on the rooftops, they'd be like a target, likely riddled with bullets and reduced to a pincushion.
Taras silently descended from the rooftop. After a moment's contemplation, he drew upon the skills he had once honed as a petty rogue, slipping into the shadows with careful, feline steps, following the very path Arabella had just raced away on.
Arabella hurried back, and as she neared the rear courtyard, she could hear the loud, chaotic voices of people shouting for her capture. The place where Albatross was held was still echoing with intense gunfire, and Raven was still stalling for time.
She had confidence in Raven's abilities. Her target was Nicholas, or rather, the remote control for the bomb in his hands.
That madman Nicholas wanted to die with her, but he had to have the means to do so.
As she had expected, Nicholas, that lunatic, had erupted in a violent conflict with the joint military-police commander.
The reason the commander had tolerated Nicholas for so long was simply because his superiors had entrusted him with sensitive intelligence from various nations—information that could not be leaked. Moreover, with both of them targeting Arabella, they had temporarily set aside their differences to coexist in uneasy peace.
Upon learning that Nicholas disregarded the lives of over a thousand people here, and was willing to sacrifice everyone just to kill for the sake of one Arabella, who would not be suddenly struck with horror?
With no one to command him, Nicholas was indifferent to the situation. His only concern was Arabella. The lives of the others did not matter to him at all.
Arabella immediately sought out Merrick, knowing that Nicholas would certainly be guarding him. Merrick was still in a daze, calling out Arabella's name, while Edmund stood by, trying to comfort him with gentle words.
There were few guards left around; after such chaos, the joint military police would no longer follow Nicholas's orders to harm their own people. The remaining guards were all loyal to him alone.
As soon as Arabella appeared, Nicholas, who had been lurking in the shadows, sprang out like a madman. He raised his hand without hesitation to press the detonator.
But this time, Arabella would not allow him to be so arrogant.
The first time, Arabella had been caught off guard by the encirclement, giving him a brief moment of triumph. The second time, however, she had already sensed his hidden position. With a swift motion of his hand, a flying dagger whistled through the air, heading straight for her.
With a scream, Nicholas covered his bloodied wrist. His hand had already detached and fallen to the ground, his fingers twitching a few times.
Picking up the bloodstained detonator from the ground, Arabella kicked Nicholas, who was still writhing in pain, and turned to face Nicholas's subordinates who were desperately advancing to rescue their master.
Such a small number of people were naturally no match for Arabella.
As she drove the knife into the throat of the last man with one hand, a few drops of fresh blood splattered onto her.
She moved her gaze indifferently to Edmund, who looked up at her, his heart strangely calm.
He thought to himself that his life was likely ruined, never to return to what it once was. Even if he were to survive this day by some stroke of luck, he feared he would never be able to forget Arabella, would forever carry the memory of this ruthless, cunning, heartless, and treacherous woman.
"Arabella—I'm Cyrus. That night, I didn't betray you, really. Why don't you believe me?" Merrick, who had been acting deliriously, suddenly spoke and uttered a coherent sentence.
Arabella stood in the backlight, her posture lacking any formal stance. Yet, her figure loomed with an almost casual menace, the air around her heavy with an indifferent killer's aura.
"Take him and go."
Edmund helped Merrick up, gave Arabella a long, deep look, and turned to leave.
Merrick, though weak, struggled and refused to leave, repeatedly crying out, "Arabella, why don't you believe me?"
Arabella paid no attention to him and turned to leave.
The cries behind her seemed to echo across time and space.
Was her young man truly not betraying her back then?
Then why were there hundreds, even thousands, of fully armed soldiers chasing her that night?
The place and time were so clear, so certain, when they surrounded and tried to kill her as she gave up everything and was unarmed.
When she hanged Cyrus, he did not struggle, only silently shedding tears, and at the moment of death, he reached out his hand to her.
She was probably regretting it, or perhaps, because she was still so young at the time, she couldn't tolerate even the slightest betrayal.
If it were now, she would have merely accepted it numbly.
She kicked Nicholas hard enough to break a few of his ribs, and he tried to struggle on the ground, laughing maniacally. "Arabella, you hanged Cyrus back then, so why not kill this impostor?"
Arabella ignored him completely and rushed to find Raven. The gunfire had died down for quite a while from the distance, which made her suspicious.
On the way, she saw Raven dragging the semi-conscious Albatross toward her.
"Master Unknown, are you alright?" Raven's arm had been grazed by a bullet, but after being surrounded and fighting alone for so long, his skills had clearly become impressive.
"Good job," Arabella complimented Raven, then asked, "Why did the gunfire stop?"
"I don't know what happened, the allied forces suddenly retreated."
Arabella furrowed her brows but said nothing more. She only focused her attention on Albatross.
"Albatross?"
Albatross trembled slightly, keeping his head lowered, unwilling to look up. In a barely audible voice, he murmured, "Master Unknown, it wasn't me who pressed the emergency button."
Arabella nodded, her expression unreadable as she mechanically patted his head, her tone cruelly factual. "Do you want to live, or do you want to die? If you want to live, I'll give you some money. Find your own way."
Albatross felt tears welling up, but all he could shed were blood and tears. He spoke again, his voice filled with remorse: "Master Unknown, it was my foolishness. I betrayed you by colluding with Nicholas."
"I know," Arabella replied coldly, unmoved. "It's fine. If you want to live, you can still survive." She had already suspected this when she was surrounded in the mountains; with Nicholas alone, he could never take the main base.
Albatross seemed to find some release in her words, his body collapsing as he sank to his knees. "Master Unknown, I just want to die."
Arabella nodded silently. "I'll trigger the explosion here soon. You stay."
As soon as she finished speaking, she gestured for Raven to follow.
Raven, who had grown up alongside Albatross, still held some attachment to him.
He helped Albatross lean against the wall, giving his shoulder a light pat, whispering softly, "Good luck on your journey... my brother."
Albatross could feel the footsteps of the two of them fading away, and in his final moment, he summoned all his strength to shout, "Arabella! You must be happy in the future!"
He had once imagined that he could stay by Arabella's side, that someday, somehow, he would move her heart. But that was nothing but a lie he told himself—selfish and misguided.
The woman he loved, Arabella, would one day meet a man who truly loved her, a man who could give her the happiness she deserved.
As Arabella and Raven rushed towards the tunnel, Taras was anxiously pacing back and forth.
The moment he saw them arrive, he nearly leapt to them in relief. "Ah, my beloved Master Unknown, I can't keep up with you. You're driving me mad!"
"Let's go."
After leaving through the secret passage, Arabella glanced at the distant base and pressed the detonator.
The entire ground shook as if it were collapsing from within. The muffled sound of the explosion grew increasingly intense, followed by a massive, thunderous blast.
Arabella didn't care how many people were inside. She was completely indifferent to blood and death.
Unfortunately, the joint military-police retreated rather quickly, quickly enough to raise suspicion.
Arabella planned to meet up with the leader and the others, gather her things, and find a place to rest and regroup before seeking another way out.
However, from the distance, dust was rising. Arabella, rarely showing concern, furrowed her brows and softly shouted, "Move!"
But it was already too late to run. A sea of people surrounded them, completely blocking the trio's escape.
Julius had arrived.
