London.
Michael ran back to the hospital from the subway station, unaware he'd been targeted. He left the hospital shortly after, looking troubled.
On the other side, during the subway station battle, the only surviving werewolf, Raze, returned carrying his companion's body.
After placing his fallen comrade on the operating table, Raze spoke. "We were ambushed by three Death Dealers, but we managed to kill two of them."
Lucian looked at Raze. "What about the target?"
Raze's body was covered with wounds. Four specialized darts protruded from his chest.
"We lost him."
Lucian's expression remained impassive. "You lost him?"
The researcher who doubled as the werewolves' doctor tore open the dead companion's clothing. Looking at the bullet holes in his chest, he spoke regretfully.
"Look at this damage."
Raze gestured to the body. "Mercury bullets, high concentration. Prevented him from transforming."
The doctor took tweezers and extracted a bullet. "It's useless removing the others. The silver has already penetrated his internal organs. There's nothing we can do."
He looked at the darts embedded in Raze. "Let me help you remove those."
He positioned an instrument against a dart on Raze. "This will hurt."
Amid Raze's screams, he tore a dart from his body and threw it into a water basin.
Lucian watched Raze's pain with a solemn expression. "Those vampires don't know you were stalking a human, do they?"
"I mean, I assume they don't know."
Lucian's tone remained flat. "You assume, or you know?"
Raze met Lucian's eyes. "I'm not certain."
The doctor pulled another dart from Raze's body.
Raze took a sharp breath. "But I saw someone wearing a scouter at the subway station. It's very likely our existence will be exposed."
Lucian shook his head. "They're more anxious than we are. I think those night crawlers will handle it."
Raze nodded, then continued. "Ever since the London Continental Hotel became the Assassin Brotherhood under Fraternity management, they've mainly targeted society's scum and underworld operations. What if we inform them about the vampires? Would they be interested?"
He leaned forward despite the pain. "At minimum, it could cause confusion for the vampires and divert their attention from us."
Listening to Raze's words, Lucian rubbed his temples. "That's a reasonable idea, but can the Assassin Brotherhood actually impact those vampires?"
Raze smiled grimly. "The Assassin Brotherhood alone can't make a significant impact. But the Fraternity behind it can. The god in New York is said to be the Fraternity's leader."
Lucian nodded. "Then I'll leave it to you. If necessary, you can attribute crimes to them. Murder, slaughter, blood-drinking, captivity."
His expression hardened. "And it's not fabrication. Just because they don't do it now doesn't mean they didn't do it in the past."
The doctor took werewolf blood from Raze and added it to the previous beaker to neutralize the sample.
After watching the red blood completely consumed by werewolf blood, he spoke helplessly. "Negative. None of these targets can neutralize werewolf blood. I'm afraid the silver weakness persists. Michael is our only remaining hope."
Lucian glanced at Raze and issued orders directly. "Go to the Assassin Brotherhood. Sell information and cause as much chaos as possible for the vampires. Keep those Death Dealers occupied."
He turned toward the exit. "As for Michael, leave him to me personally."
Without looking back, Lucian departed.
Watching Lucian leave, Raze grabbed the last dart in his chest and ripped it from his body with force.
With the silver dart removed, Raze's wound began healing rapidly.
Without hesitation, Raze pulled on his jacket and walked straight outside. The Assassin Brotherhood was quite a distance away.
In the Fraternity's conference room, Smith gathered the organization's top leadership, including Bulma and John Wick.
Melina, Yelena, and Alexei weren't included in this meeting's scope.
Seeing everyone assembled, Smith spoke. "A year has passed since John Wick used the Dragon Balls to make his wish. The Dragon Balls, which had been dormant and turned to stone, have revived."
After hearing about the Dragon Ball's revival, Wesley asked, "God, what do you need us to do? Are we examining holders' wishes like last time?"
Everyone looked at John Wick sitting at the end of the table. He'd been the target of the last investigation.
Smith continued, "This time differs from the last. Changes have occurred with the Dragon Ball. Everyone who has ever held a Dragon Ball, and the first being to contact one, will learn of its wish-granting ability."
His expression grew serious. "That means many people will compete for the Dragon Balls this time, unlike last time when John collected them quietly alone."
Everyone showed surprise at Smith's words.
"How could such a change occur?"
"So how do we proceed?"
"Do we investigate every person holding a Dragon Ball?"
Seeing everyone asking questions, Smith raised a hand. "We only examine the final wisher to ensure their wish isn't evil or world-destroying. But because more people will be involved this time, I've decided to initiate a Battle for the Dragon Ball and control the situation as much as possible."
Everyone reacted with surprise. "Battle for the Dragon Ball?"
Smith nodded. "I'll attempt to bring the Dragon Ball holders together and have them compete against each other. The person who wins and collects all seven Dragon Balls will have the opportunity to make a wish to the dragon."
Fox asked, "Battle? Won't the holders this time be ordinary people?"
Smith shook his head. "Those competing for the Dragon Balls this time are far from ordinary. If John Wick participated in this fight, he'd have no chance of winning."
According to Smith's understanding, current holders included Tony Stark, who hadn't yet touched the Four-Star Ball that had transformed from stone. The vampire Selene. Ivan Vanko, who would become Whiplash after learning the news. Xu Xialing, owner of the Golden Daggers Club. Even Xu Wenwu, who wanted to resurrect his wife, would be attracted.
This fight for the Dragon Ball would become extremely brutal. Without the strength to defeat others, survival itself would be questionable.
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