MIDNIGHT PRINCE: Empire of Sin

While Adam was working on opening his third major Chakra pathway alongside the now common pain that had become the companion of his existence, the streets of Los Angeles were moving busily at their usual pace.

The harrowing events of the Pacific Park had been followed by many concentrated attacks in different districts under the directives of the underworld leaders in Los Angeles.

They thankfully managed to push back the one who had attacked, but not all of them were able to do it easily.

———

[Wild Hunt]

Sitting in front of a ton of paperwork, that looked like it would reach the ceiling or crash and scatter on the ground due to its volume and instability, Yui was busy scribbling notes one after another in silence in her office room.

Not far from her, Nikola's face could only form a bitter smile with her thin lips as she watched her boss work so furiously. But there was not much she could say or do for the matter.

The attack had been quite brutal. Many people had been changed into thralls and attacked from all sides and they were forced to go for the kill.

The territories under the Triad, the Russian Mafia, and the Yakuza were relatively untouched in the end. After all, they had many subordinate families under their control.

Yui was not that lucky, in fact.

The executives in the gang who had a high fighting power could be counted on one hand.

When they fought other gangs this wasn't really a problem for them. Yui had managed to recruit a powerful group of elites under her order and Yui herself was extremely powerful in her own right.

But this also highlighted their shortcoming. A small number of elite members was certainly useful but they lacked the coverage of the more powerful and older gangs.

As a result, the little Korea Town that was her territory had been hit quite badly and the few groups they had under them were starting to show reticence.

"Boss. You shouldn't worry about those bastards. You are just ruining your mood by doing that."

Yui looked up at Nikola with bewilderment before giving a smile as understanding dawned on her face.

"I don't care about those who are jumping. They are just being incited by the competition."

She shook her head and looked down again at the numbers, "I am just working on the document about the families of our gang members who were hurt or died. Also, I need to give reparation to the shops and companies who paid for our protection."

Yui pressed her brows with her hands and leaked a tired sigh. This was quite the step back in terms of funds but she didn't particularly mind about it.

Money was meant to be used when necessary. There was no use in hogging it down to her chest when it had its uses.

What brought her mood down was nothing more than the fact that she had failed in her endeavors…

"I can't do everything alone after all."

She had a clear code of conduct. People paid her for the protection. In her opinion, this wasn't extortion but a true contract and she had not been able to deal with the part of her contract.

This was something she simply could not accept.

"Until now, I have been too lenient towards the lesser gangs in K-Town. I think it's about time to change this for good."

She did not like wars and useless bloodshed. This was why, she had always used the most peaceful way when dealing with her territory and in extension the heterogenous groups that populated them.

But during this event, she realized that she was wrong in her approach. Outside of her direct subordinates and a few loyalists, most of the other gangs simply protected themselves when it really came down to it. This caused her to make a grave error in the estimation of their forces.

"Also, that bastard Boris didn't listen to my warnings and started to deal those fucking drugs in my territory again."

She chuckled but her eyes were cold and unfeeling as she spoke in an apathetic tone, "It seems like everyone thinks I am a pushover now. Don't you think it's quite funny, Nikola?"

Nikola did not laugh, she was not in a situation to laugh. She knew how to read the room, after all. She felt like she was facing a predator at the moment and it was not a great feeling. Yui's Prana was leaking out all over the place and the ground seemed to shake slightly due to her aura and the leaked Prana.

It had been quite some time since she had seen her boss become so angry that she lost control of her prana and let it leak away like this…

"If there is one thing I hate more than anything else, aside from breaking a contract and losing loyal subordinates that is, it's being underestimated. Now those three things happened one after another. How do you think I am feeling now?"

Nikola closed her eyes and leaked a sigh. A smile formed on her face as she began to understand where her boss was going with this. It was an exhilarating feeling for her…

"Are we going to war?"

Yui nodded gravely at her words, "Not now, of course. The LAPPD are like hedgehogs after what happened recently. They will come down on us hard if we start a gang war now. But… That is only if we start one, right?"

She shrugged and took the golden card she used for the invitation, "Share the invitation. The bar is opening once more."

"Who should I invite?"

A mischievous smile formed on Yui's face at the question that was directed toward her by her faithful subordinate, "Do you know about the trojan war?" [1]

Nikola was quite startled by her question as she understood the devious plan Yui was trying to weave with the mention of that eponymous war reference…

"Will this even work?"

"Well, let's see if our boys will be able to play the role of Paris or not."

She laughed as she went back to her papers. "Of course, we will have to be careful to not end like the Trojans [2]. You understand that, right?"

"I do. I will make sure to prep everyone so that they are in their top condition."

Yui nodded then hesitated slightly before speaking her next string of words, "Also, call Adam."

The two of them needed to have a discussion about the future. Since she was going to fight, she wished that Adam knew exactly what he was walking into and whether he wished to walk deeper or go back to the light from where he came from.

Nikola accepted the order with much much more reluctance than what she thought she would have in such situations.

Adam had once walked out from the gang and abandoned Yui all those years ago.

It didn't matter what reason he had. The reality was what it was and while she wasn't in the gang back then, this made it impossible for her to believe in him.

Still, she would wait and observe. She believed in Yui's eyes for people. All she could do was prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

She really hoped that he won't disappoint her boss any further.

———

[1]: There was once a dude called Paris. The dude was a prince of Trojans and decided to kidnap/seduce/rape (different versions have different depictions of him) Helene of Troy. Considered the most beautiful mortal woman. Problem is, the woman was married to a king, named Menelaus who was the brother of another king— Agamemnon (A very powerful man). So now, obviously Menelaus didn't like that he got cucked so he convinced Agamemnon to help him go recuperate his wife and this started the war. Well, if we go further into the origin, everything is because of Aphrodite and if we go further, it's because of Zeus who randomly decided to make a goddess beauty contest and choose Paris as the Judge. But that is another story altogether.

[2]: I think anyone who can read basically knows about the Trojan horse. So I won't go in depth. Trojans were stupid. Somehow accepted a fucking giant horse made out of wood in their citadel even though they were at war. Left no one to observe it, and got killed by the soldiers who hide in it while they were drunk and partying. Ngl this story was supposed to show how smart Ulysse/Odysseus(the same man) was. But this rather reminds me how some authors simply dumb down all other characters in a story to make the MC seem smarter.