Vines suddenly began to erupt across her skin as she activated her transformation.

Leaves spread along her arms as her fingers elongated into claw-like appendages with fur covering parts of her body.

Her pupils became slitted as an extra set of eyes appeared and within seconds she resembled a strange fusion between a jungle predator and a living plant.

One of the remaining Iron Vultures members looked horrified.

"What the hell is that transformation?"

The girl charged. "I get that a lot."

Her claws slashed forward, splitting armor apart and slicing into his skin.

He screamed as vines immediately erupted from the wound and wrapped around him.

Nearby, two Verdant Pyre Behemoths tore through the battlefield.

The enormous creatures were terrifying to the already weakened opponents.

One grabbed an Iron Vultures member and hurled him into the ground, cracking reinforced concrete.

The other swatted another awakened across the face and slammed their paws into the ground, causing a pillar of green flames to erupt from below.

The impact sounded like a car collision as they got sent blasting into the sky with scalding burns.

Moments later, five of the eight Iron Vultures members were already unconscious while the remaining three backed away nervously.

One pointed a shaking finger. "You people are dead!"

Another nodded frantically. "You have no idea what you’re messing with!"

The third added. "Bloodstain is going to kill all of you!"

Hart cracked his neck. "Maybe."

The rookie grinned. "Maybe not."

Then proceeded to attack the remaining tro, ending the battle quickly.

Within less than a minute they were all unconscious.

The rookie stared down at them. "That’s it?"

Hart was already collecting loot. "What were you expecting?"

"A little more challenge."

Hart snorted. "Trust me. You’re going to get it."

Several minutes later, everything valuable had been loaded into a waiting vehicle positioned a short distance away.

Hart climbed into the passenger seat while the rookie jumped into the back.

One of the Verdant Pyre Behemoths squeezed into the cargo section while the other simply ran alongside as the driver kick-started the engine.

Hart activated the communicator. "Team Five. Loot successfully hijacked. Returning to base."

Static crackled briefly before Aria’s voice answered. "Good job."

The transmission ended as the vehicle immediately accelerated away.

•••

Several cities away, another ambush was reaching its conclusion.

An Iron Vultures convoy had been traveling across a highway unexpectedly ran into a hitch.

Currently, two vehicles were upside down while had been split open.

Debris littered the roadway... and standing calmly in the middle of the destruction was Aurethia.

The gold-haired summon looked completely untouched.

One surviving awakened staggered backward.

"T-That’s impossible... all our attacks had no effect..."

Aurethia didn’t say a word in response... Instead, she simply raised her sword.

The man screamed and attacked with a blast of greenish ring like energy but a second later he was sent flying through the air.

The battle ended shortly afterward because his other teammates were already down.

Aurethia proceeded to walk towards the vehicles next and picked up every single loot they had gathered before turning into a streak of glowing yellow light and speeding off.

•••

Elsewhere, at a different location far beyond Misty High City’s borders... a group of Iron Vultures members found themselves facing an entirely different nightmare.

A massive serpent-woman looked almost bored with five awakened members trapped within her coils simultaneously.

Their bodies groaned as they struggled desperately to free themselves. "Let us go!"

Seraphyra tilted her head. "Why?"

The man nearly cried while attempting to activate his branch.

Seraphyra squeezed slightly more and all five immediately stopped moving.

The giant serpent giggled. "Oh... I thought you were about to give an explanation. I guess it wasn’t that important?"

Nobody answered because they had all passed out.

Seraphyra sighed dramatically. "Master always gets the fun jobs."

She casually dropped them before slithering after the other three that were fleeing into the distance.

---

Across multiple regions, similar scenes continued unfolding. Shadow Reapers wasn’t attacking with numbers, they were attacking with quality.

Every single ambush had been carefully planned with every target selected beforehand.

Every ambush occurred while the Iron Vultures teams were exhausted from ruin clearing. This made them incapable of exercising much strength especially since they had cleared a ruin with less than usual numbers.

Jax, Nina and several involved newer recruits supported by Verdant Pyre Behemoths had all successfully ambushed Iron Vultures teams at their designated locations and were now returning with loot.

The operation was devastatingly efficient...

•••

•••

Meanwhile, back in Misty High City, West stood atop a nearby rooftop staring at a reinforced structure below reflecting moonlight.

The facility was large with massive security fences surrounding the property.

Multiple warehouses sat within the compound and surveillance cameras covered nearly every angle but there was barely any guards in place. The surroundings looked surprisingly empty.

West smiled. "Just as expected."

He activated his communicator and spoke through it. "Aria."

Her voice responded immediately. "Yes Gang Leader?"

West observed the facility below, noticing several vehicles abandoned.

Only about two to three awakened members remained visible... most of the personnel had clearly been recalled... just as planned.

West chuckled. "On site."

Aria immediately understood. "You found it?"

"I found it," West leaned against the rooftop ledge. "I knew the idiot would gather back all his manpower."

Aria laughed softly in response. "Which made breaking into the actual storage facility easier."

"Exactly."

There were barely any valuables kept at the Iron Vultures headquarters... all of it was stored in facilities like this one.

West’s eyes glowed faintly wbile blue-white footprints began appearing along the rooftop, leading directly toward the compound below.

Aria’s voice returned through the comms. "Need backup?"

West smirked. "They’ll be needing that when I’m done with them."

He looked down toward the unsuspecting storage facility. "I’ve got this one... I’m going to really enjoy doing this."

West dropped from the rooftop without making a sound.

The moment his feet touched the ground inside the storage facility compound, two awakened guards stationed near the nearest warehouse immediately noticed something was wrong.

One of them turned in disbelief while the other barely had enough time to open his mouth.

"What the—"

Bam!