After hearing the confirmation of their numbers while hiding in the darkness, she decided to move swiftly and not hesitate. It resulted in Mercedes successfully taking care of the two thugs within one of the three groups that had trespassed into the abandoned warehouse.
As she had thought, they came from a local gang. These bastards were greedy and shameless. The fact that they were trying to rob a warehouse from an old man was already enough for Mercedes to not give them any signs of mercy.
They were bastards that were undeserving of it.
In her opinion, it would be better to cleanse them from the face of the earth.
Mercedes seemed to have never noticed that her ways were slowly changing as she kept training the Imperial Grim Art. Applicating such a dangerous and dirty technique also made her realize what a human could do against each other.
Anyhow, she was currently having a face-off against the remaining bastard of the group that had explored the eastern sector of the abandoned warehouse. The bastard seemed to be confident in the infamous reputation of their gang to protect him.
Sadly for him, Mercedes wasn't someone who cared for such things.
For her, it was as simple as a hostile enemy trying to rob her property. As a part of society, it was her duty to protect the land of her mentor and dispose of any bastards that dared to steal it.
The bastard of a burly thug in front of her flinched after hearing her recent reply. It was accompanied by a suddenly erupting bloodlust that shrouded the entirety of the eastern section. The burly thug's spine shivered as he took a step back.
"You don't know the capabilities of our gang. We have control over the nearby areas. The moment the group or the main group disappears. Others would come running in, and this place would become a battlefield."
"This place isn't a secret anymore."
The burly thug warned while also trying to consolidate his claim over the abandoned warehouse. Even an idiot would know better than to offend a local gang, especially a gang that was part of the infamous Quartet.
"Hahaha..."
"You make it sound like I care."
Mercedes chuckled after hearing the words of the burly thug. A sinister grin emerged on her face, along with a cold glint that wanted to pounce at the burly thug. The thug jolted and prepared himself for an upcoming battle.
The only thing he could do was buy time for the others to discover him. With the speed of the enemy, he also understood that escaping wasn't an option. His survival might even diminish if he runs away from the battle and exposes his back to the opponent.
'I must survive no matter what!'
'I am not planning to die in this random abandoned warehouse without even enjoying my life in this hellish world. I haven't even conquered the gang for myself. I still have dreams that I need to accomplish!'
The burly thug thought to himself and launched a preemptive attack. Mercedes easily dodges his punch, though he instantly switches into a high kick while also intending to grapple her with his wake.
However, unfortunately for the burly thug, she dodged each of his attacks like a serpent, and his grapple couldn't capture her as she slithered free from his bombardment. After escaping his preemptive attacks, Mercedes gave a counter.
She swung a kick towards his knee, dislocating it using a strange trajectory.
*Bam!* *GRagh!*
The thug winced in pain while gritting his teeth. He kneeled down to the ground and backed away from Mercedes, who had already incapacitated his leg in one attack.
'Painful!' The burly thug screamed within his mind and clenched his fist. Cold sweat dripped from his forehead as death dawned upon the entirety of his being. He gazed directly at Mercedes's eyes, which were devoid of any emotion.
Unlike the people, he had seen throughout his life as part of the criminal underworld within the fortress city. The one before him was different from the others. He felt it deep within his heart that a monster was being forged.
It was rare for someone to be devoid of emotion when killing people. Most criminals in the fortress city were crazy in their own way. Even if they were killing others, they would always present an emotion in every murder they had done.
Such an emotionless expression reminded him of the Imperium. The ones that ruled over the commoners and stood at the zenith of the world. The Paragons. They were arrogant individuals that were no different from demi-gods.
Each of the paragons in the Imperium had pride that amounted to a gargantuan mountain. They were prideful of their specializations. Whether it be medicines, war, commerce, or knowledge.
And when they disposed of their enemies on the battlefield. Their eyes would always present no emotion as if taking care of an ant that dared to be an obstacle in their path. Such were the personas of the paragons, and everyone knew it.
"You! I- I finally understand now!"
The burly thug yelled while heavily panting for air. He looked at the young lady's sapphire-like eyes and continued with his words.
"Paragons! You must have a connection with them. No wonder you're arrogant and a monstrous person. But don't underestimate us feeble mortals. The era where the Imperium stands at the very top has already fallen."
"You Paragons are nothing more but individuals who are barely consolidating their power in a falling world."
"We, on the other hand, will become more."
"We will be liberated!"
Mercedes found herself confused after hearing the words of the burly thug. Has he broken down due to the pressure of death slowly creeping in to take his neck? That sounds possible, though she scrapped that idea after hearing his next words.
It made her frown.
"Mercedes, this will not be the last tim-"
*Bam!* *Thud*
Before the burly thug could even finish his sentence, Mercedes threw a frontal kick, which knocked out the man. Without even hesitating for a single second, she kept kicking the man lying on the cold floor as dread started to take over her heart.
*Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!* *Bam!*
The words of the man were something that made Mercedes's heart pound. Hearing her name from his mouth and seeing his zealous expression. She felt the need to immediately extinguish him from existence.
"I have a bad feeling."
Mercedes murmured to herself and stopped kicking the collapsed face of the burly thug. She had become ruthless when it came to fighting. Violence was slowly becoming a part of her. Mercedes feared that she might lose herself in such dreadful circumstances.
"I need to be careful and control myself."
"But that guy knew of my name."
"Is my identity already that widespread, or is there something amiss going on?"
Mercedes started searching the body of the burly thug and found a combat knife. The thug could have used it for himself, but the moment he had done such a thing. Mercedes would have already dislocated his remaining arms.
"I'll have to clean this up."
Her boots were splattered with blood, and there were also the unconscious thugs behind her. They weren't dead yet and were barely alive. Mercedes didn't plan on giving any mercy to those bastards.
What would have happened if she didn't know how to fight?
Her fate would have been terrifying, and she would become the plaything of the bastards. They were the kind of people who would dominate and bully the weak. To the strong, they beg for mercy. That was just how it was.
Not wanting to waste time, Mercedes stood before the unconscious thugs and decided to make their deaths better than the last one. While she didn't think they deserved such mercy, Mercedes didn't want her newly bought boots to become even more dirty.
Mercedes slit their throats as blood spurted out of their neck. They started convulsing for a couple of seconds before calming down, becoming cold corpses lying on the ground.
She also searched their bodies and found pocket knives along with cash. They weren't rich, but it was still enough to feed herself for a single month. However, Mercedes did notice that they lacked any dangerous weapons other than knives.
"The authorities did a good job limiting the weapons criminals could use. However, it might be simply a way for them to continue being corrupt without getting exposed to the dangers of the criminal underworld."
Mercedes remarked and glanced at the entrance of the eastern section. She had been training here for a dozen days and had a great memory of the location. She knew where to hide, and this wasn't exclusive to the eastern section.
The old man also taught her to adapt to her surroundings, so she also sometimes trained in other sections of the abandoned warehouse. But nonetheless, she mostly stayed in the eastern section.
It was simply impossible to use the entirety of the warehouse for training.
The vastness of the abandoned warehouse wasn't to be underestimated.
"There should be two groups checking the warehouse. I hope that they haven't rendezvous with each other yet. It will be easier for me to dispose of them." Mercedes played with the combat knife with the edges of her lips rising.
She walked out of the eastern section of the abandoned warehouse, leaving behind three cold bodies lying on the ground with blood all over the place.
'Killing someone should have consequences. I'm sure that I'll be pummeled with nightmares during my sleep.' Mercedes sighed to herself before walking towards the southern section of the warehouse.
Having nightmares of the people she had killed wasn't a good thing to have. She understood that she needed to move on. This was nothing more than the falling world. The things she had done here don't matter.
Since no matter what she does, the results will always be the same.
"I want to eat dinner."
Mercedes quietly muttered as the sun slowly faded in the background.