Axel Rhodes, still crouched behind the remains of his Jeep, risked a yell towards the alley. "Wait! This is a mistake! We are not your enemy! We are Celestial! We own the Celestial Garden community! We are only here to neutralize an unruly resident! We are not Olympus! You are attacking the wrong target!"

Jason's voice boomed back, cold and uncompromising. "We don't care who you are! You attacked our property, and you sent six thugs to vandalize our client's business! We know you hired Aaron Jenkins! You are going to pay the price for declaring war on Royal!"

"Keep the focus on Royal, keep the focus on the pizzeria. Ethan's safety depends on them thinking I'm the one in charge, not him." was the jason thoughts.

Inside, Alpha and his men were carefully navigating the aisles. Ethan knew he had to act now.

"Over here, you glorified security guards!" Ethan shouted, firing one round toward Alpha's position before instantly diving behind a new stack of containers.

The rifle fire was immediate and terrifying. Bullets ripped through the metal containers Ethan had just abandoned, sending sparks and shrapnel flying.

Ethan lunged out from behind his new cover, his body already hardened. He didn't shoot; instead, he charged the nearest mercenary. The man tried to pivot his rifle, but Ethan was too fast. Ethan's hardened shoulder slammed into the man's chest. There was a sickening CRACK, and the man collapsed, dropping his rifle, gasping for air as his ribs shattered.

"Gun him down!" Alpha yelled, firing a quick burst that Ethan barely dodged, the bullets tearing holes in the wall where his head had been moments before.

Ethan grabbed the mercenary he had just hit and used his body as a shield while unleashing a rapid, devastating series of kicks against two others, ignoring the wrenching pain in his own injured leg and chest. A burst of fire from one of the other agents grazed Ethan's arm, but his skin held firm, deflecting the round harmlessly into the ceiling.

"You're going to pay for this, Blake! We will tear you apart!" Alpha screamed, his own rifle barrel smoking.

Ethan threw the mercenary's limp body into the path of Rhodes, buying himself three precious seconds to bolt deeper into the dark heart of the warehouse. The air was thick with the smell of gunpowder, sweat, and spilled blood.

Ethan scrambled to a new position behind a steel beam, panting heavily. His chest felt like it was encased in concrete. He knew he had neutralized two of the enemy, leaving six fully active, highly trained mercenaries, plus Rhodes directing them.

[You have Twenty-six rounds left, Champion. That's a zero-percent chance of neutralizing the remaining six without using close combat,] the System calculated grimly.

Ethan took aim at the general area of Alpha's position and fired one round, creating a distracting WHIZZ as the bullet ricocheted off a support pillar. "My job is to keep them busy, not kill them," Ethan thought, reloading the pistol with excruciating slowness, forcing himself to ignore the pain.

The six Celestial operatives quickly reinforced their position near the entrance. They used tables and heavy storage units to barricade the small doorway Ethan had breached, temporarily blocking Jason's entry.

"Focus on him! Maintain distance! Do not let him get close, his body is unnaturally hard! Suppress him with fire!" Rhodes yelled, directing the operation from the safety of the barricade.

The mercenaries obeyed, unleashing short, precise bursts of tactical rifle fire toward Ethan's last known location. Ethan was pinned down, occasionally firing a single round to keep them guessing.

Outside, Jason, Falcon 1, and Falcon 2 led the remaining Royal's in a desperate assault against the barricaded door. Royal Private Security was new, aggressive, and highly motivated, but the men under Jason's command were mostly former street fighters and enforcers—not trained anti-terrorist soldiers like Celestial's elite team.

Santiago, hungry to prove his leadership and secure more power within the organization, led the charge with reckless abandon.

"For the Boss! Tear that door down! They killed Falcon's men!" Santiago roared, charging the entrance with a sledgehammer.

"Santiago, hold! Cover the flanks!" Jason yelled into his radio, his heart sinking as he watched the chaos unfold.

The moment Santiago and a dozen Royal's members reached the barricade, Celestial opened fire through the thin wooden planks and the gaps in the storage containers. The sheer precision and high-caliber rounds of the Celestial team were devastating.

The Royal's went down in droves. Their nominal armor was useless against the 7.62 rounds. Groans and screams filled the alley as men collapsed, leaving the pavement soaked in blood. The casualties were immediate and brutal: dozens of the Royal's nominal members were severely injured or killed in the opening minute of the assault.

Santiago, in his blind zeal, pressed the attack. He raised his sledgehammer to break the barricade, shouting war cries.

A short, controlled burst ripped out from inside the building. Santiago crumpled, dropping the hammer as three distinct impacts slammed into his body: one shot hit his right leg, one tore into his shoulder, and a final round slammed into his abdomen.

He fell onto the bloodied asphalt, screaming, severely wounded but miraculously alive due to the position of the hits.

"Santiago is down! Fall back! Fall back! Falcon 1, cover fire! We need to pull our wounded!" Jason roared, realizing the cost of their aggression.

Inside, Alpha heard the order to retreat and the screams of the dying. "They're pulling back! We've decimated their line," Alpha reported to Rhodes.

"It's too hot here! Their numbers are overwhelming, and they have armored vehicles! We can't hold this position against continuous assaults," Rhodes decided instantly. "Forget Blake for now. The mission is compromised. We're leaving! Find a viable exit on the opposite side of the building!"

From his cover position, Ethan watched the remaining Celestial agents, led by Alpha and Rhodes, move rapidly toward the opposite side of the warehouse. They were clearly looking for an alternative exit, abandoning the fight against Royal.

Frustration and fury overtook Ethan. He couldn't let them leave, not after they left him bleeding in an ambush and put Cassandra in danger.

Ethan pulled out his cell phone and frantically dialed Jason's number. "Damn it!" Ethan exclaimed, seeing that the call wouldn't even go through; the signal jamming was still active. "I have no other choice," Ethan hissed.

Ignoring the pain of his injuries, Ethan stood up and left his cover. "Stop right there, cowards!" Ethan yelled.

He started running after them, firing two shots from his pistol toward the Celestial agents' escape route. The shots impacted near the exit, forcing the agents to temporarily stop and find new cover. Ethan had stalled them, preventing them from fleeing down the opposite aisle while Jason and his men regrouped outside.

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