Jackie's clean-up was good, although not perfect. There was a couple of places that she didn't see, and I helped her out before sending her off. I made sure all the slaves were secure in their cells and fed. It seemed Jackie understood that Slaves needed food too, and they were in the middle of eating when I did my final check.
I then locked up the place leaving just a little earlier than usual. I headed back to the apartment to change, and I moved across that field of instinctual dread before arriving. I was quicker than usual, and I arrived. Downstairs Kitty looked indignant and avoiding Freya. On the other hand, Freya was smiling towards Kitty as she tried to hide in the corner. The Nobility in the shop looking for new clothing to surprise their men with also took to Kitty seeing her on all fours. Many were declaring their want for their own pet.
I ignored that all as I headed up to the apartment, quickly changing. The night would fall soon, and I wanted to be in the slums where our headquarters was as soon as possible without leaking my position.
I moved quickly and stripped myself of my usual clothes and weapons. I needed to make sure my persona wasn't matched up to anything other than a hidden member of the gang. My Sadistic enchanted whip was something too eye-catching for that. I grabbed my older whips and generic bladed whip, ready for battle.
I slipped on Dark blood red leather that tightly bound itself to me. Leather had become like a second skin to me in this life. It was a constant in this life, and it hugged the contours of my body regularly. It was a feeling of light armor that I had grown to trust in.
I dawned a cloak and opened a window to exit. I swung up and closed the window with a hand even as I did so. I then made my way away from the apartment, hopping along the apartment tops. Many nobles had seen me go upstairs into the apartment, which gave plausible deniability if someone started asking questions.
That didn't matter, though at this point, and I moved toward the gang's headquarters silently upon rooftops. Soon I jumped down to the streets far away from the apartment. I moved through the crowded streets as the light in the sky began to darken. City guards patrols started to come out more often as if woken up by night coming in. The number of deaths and the orders from the city lord increased those patrols to stem the number of deaths happening.
It didn't matter today, though, I thought with a smirk. Tonight I was going on a killing spree. I wanted to pile the bodies and level up. I wanted to show the enemies that they couldn't continue to harass us without the bodies piling up. They had only seen that we had done short bursts of killing before consolidating our territory. They didn't want to give Cassandra that time to bunker down in the territory.
The only thing that stopped the full all-out war was the City guard populating the streets. As I moved past, a patrol of ten guards looking alert while walking down the street only punctuated the sheer number of the guards. You could even see detachments of two or three. I hoped that was one of the reasons for the Necromancer guild to hold off their attack to. If the reason was they were waiting for fewer alert guards all over the place; I think they would be smart.
Although it was supposed to be under the sensibilities of the nobles, the gang activity didn't mean they were not a part of the problem. Any form of gold to the more corrupt members of the nobility was legitimate—many probably held shares in Gangs taking a part of the profits they made. As long as not too many bodies stacked that it made them look bad, they couldn't care less what they did.
It made me wonder how the Empire held together with Nobility this corrupt. It didn't matter, though, I thought as I found my way into the headquarters while still in my thoughts. I slipped in while no one was watching and made my way into the underground meeting area.
There were random people practicing fighting with something that looked like Carl's type of fighting. It was different, though somehow, and it took me a second to recognize why it was different. The honesty in the movements was gone. All these gang members took what they learned from Carl and started to incorporate it into their own much more dirty fighting style. Carl also taught them the rudiments of Rage and controlling their emotions to become more powerful. It was interesting to see, and most of them were D rank already with that.
It was heartwarming that we were finally starting to get out some bodies that could actually fight in this world. In my previous world, all you had to do was to give them an automatic weapon and tell them to shoot in a general direction. It was a little more complicated than that, to be truthful, but it wasn't much more complicated if you wanted a person to go to jail afterward.
I missed that simplicity and the complicated factors of the Modren world I inhabited. The long-distance communication and the ability to move long distances quickly was something I sorely missed in this world. Then again, if I decided to start running as fast as I could in this world, I could probably change that distance problem. The only thing was that I would have to leave behind my toys. That wouldn't be too much of a problem, but Stacy was an interesting toy, as was Kitty.
Freya, on the other hand, was a trained toy completely. She would do anything I said without question, making her a very useful tool as well. Not to mention the connection that I still had with the Marquis. I wouldn't be sure how he would react if she were suddenly dead or missing.
All of these thoughts didn't really matter, though, as I passed by the people training in headquarters. They were remarkably light for training as well, to my surprise. I passed by them without anyone paying attention to me. It was a surprise how many people were in the headquarters this time, and I would be asking Cassandra why it was so.
I entered the meeting room where I always met Cassandra; when I entered, Cassandra was there with Carl. They both turned to me and looked surprised at my entry. My eyes narrowed, and I found some documents on the table. Interesting, I thought, and I picked them up from in front of them and read them.
I nodded in understanding as it was maps of the areas we were looking at attacking. They were also the spoils that Cassandra seemed to be thinking we would gain from the attack. There were also intelligence reports and plans that she wanted to achieve.
On them, I learned and now approved why those gang members were inside practicing. "Cassandra, Report," I ordered.
"Yes, Mistress," Cassandra said, "We are looking at attacking the gangs tonight despite the presence of the city guards littering the area." Cassandra began, "I was planning on occupying that territory with our own people behind us. I would like for us to go scorched earth, killing each member of every gang tonight." Cassandra said, looking at me. I noticed Carl frowning from this, though. "We need to purge them and make an example of these gangs that we are much more powerful than we appear to be. With your ascension, they should be bowing to our organization without a fight. But," Cassandra paused, "You want to remain in the shadows making this more difficult than if we came out with the Gang leaders rank. Instead, we will make them think that we have the backing by going through the hard points of gang strongholds that are at war with us." Cassandra continued, "This will strike fear into the other gangs, either making them back off or come at us as one. With the City Guard in the mix, though, they will not be able to attack us out in the open as they wish." Cassandra's grin was wicked.
"Carl will be your backup with myself and the Gang following you up, Mistress. We will attack following on your heels and clean up and occupy the territory we take. We will take the last of the western docks from their hands, ensuring they all understand with blood that we control the docks completely. All their strongholds will be dead, and we can move on through to the outer area of the docks to make some strategic depth in the city. If we take two extra blocks, we can control it will round our territory, decreasing flank maneuvers." Cassandra said, and I nodded.
"How many are you bringing?" I asked.
"There will be a hundred gang members. They are all D rankers with some C rankers mixed in with them. We will let the C rankers be the leaders controlling the D rankers that are occupying with them. With this, we will have a force that can occupy the territory without the consolidation time. This strategy, though, requires you to kill as fast and thoroughly as possible. Survivors getting out and calling anyone that could actually fight you would be the only reason this strategy wouldn't work." Cassandra paused for a moment, "Well, They could also call the guards, and that would bring the City lord into the gang's issues, which might be even worse." Cassandra summed up the major issues, "If it weren't for the fact that you hit B rank in your chosen field, this plan would be suicide." She finished it off with the truth.
I couldn't fault her deduction. It was true this was what would be considered an insane push for territory. The massacre that needed to be done to pull this off successfully would stack the bodies in the strongholds. I looked down at it, and it was just like the last time. It was a warehouse that probably hadn't stored anything off the barges and ships from the river. Instead, It was the working headquarters that we identified for the gang. It was around the center of what used to be the center of their territory. It was not closer to the edge of our territory, and I would need to hit the headquarters fast and hard before killing those in the affiliated strongholds.
The gang we were attacking, which I never bothered to learn the name of, was smart in their deployments of their members. They kept fast response teams to other territories inside their main headquarters. Then when something happened, the information we had told us that they sent messengers or, in some cases, a mage which I was told they might have two. Will send a mana message to headquarters, which will send however many people they need in support. It allowed their members to stay more rested and rapidly respond to situations where they are actually needed.
The next positive to this situation for them was that the rapid response team didn't need exactly smart members. If they were sent for, they needed to fight. That was all they were was a rapid and focused fight crew ready to bash heads in when called to fight. That left a smaller amount of smarter members at the strongholds to hold that territory.
It was a good setup but had one issue.
None of the strongholds except the headquarters was truly strong. That meant that with one swift, a strong blow from me, even if I got injured, we could rout the gang out of the territory in good time regardless of their fighting spirit. That wouldn't happen, though, and I was ready to fight.
"I think," I began smiling as I put back up my hood, "You should finish getting your troops ready, Cassandra, Carl," I said, looking at them both in turn. "I want to head out as darkness falls. I want to paint the streets red by the end of the night.