As Ilaya and her company were preparing for their celebration. The Yakuza was also preparing for their attack. Ivana gathered her staff as she discuss with them their plan of attack
"Has the Intel we have gathered been confirmed?"
The head of intelligence department nodded as he said
"Yes boss. There's some movements from the various groups, and the location of their gatherings is fully defended. The fact that we cannot move freely in that location said a lot about the importance of what will occur there"
Ivana nodded as she stood up and walked towards the map of Tokyo at the wall. She looked the incircled places where the headquarters of each groups. Then, she turned her attention to the location of the gathering. As she saw the place, she said to them
"At midnight, all of the fighters of our family will attack their headquarters. The location of the gathering will be besieged by the guards"
Her staff looked at each other not knowing what to say. Then, her first lieutenant asked her
"What about you boss?"
Ivana then turned around and looked at him. She soon said
"I'm taking action. I will behead those leaders myself"
She walked towards her seat as she said
"We're changing our usual attack"
Ivana sat in her chair as she said to them
"In each of our forces that will attack the HQ's, make sure that half of them are waiting around the place. Our lesson was enough last time. If those mysterious forces appeared. Ripped them to shreds. You can use all of our weapons. Including Gatling guns, machine guns, or even RPG 's. All of it. Make sure to destroy all of them"
Her staff nodded at her. She then looked at the head of intelligence as she said
"Make sure that you're coordinating all the forces. You're our lifeline. Update us new information on time, that way, we will move as a single body"
As she saw him nodded, she looked at her first lieutenant and said to him
"You will oversee the operation of others tonight. The attack on the eight HQ will be your responsibility. You will decide to continue or retreat. Stay in our headquarters and coordinate with the Intel head. You will act as general in this fight"
The first lieutenant nodded as he said
"Yes boss"
Ivana then said to him
"Remember to retreat if you think that they're making strange movements. We can fight another day as long we had our men"
After she said that, she turned to her second lieutenant as she said
"You're in charge of defending the bases. If they attacked, you can abandon the bases. But make sure that you dealt them a heavy casualties before leaving. Make them pay a heavy price to obtaining our bases. Base can be built anywhere. But their dead will not come back"
She didn't wait for him to answer as she said to her general manager
"Kirako, same as before. Abandon the least important bases and take all our valuables. Have our non combatants men to leave early. We can't take any chances. Cooperate with the 2nd lieutenant to bulk our defenders in the important bases. Raise the alert level to the highest"
The general manager nodded as he said
"Yes boss"
Ivana nodded and she looked at everyone before saying
"Now that's out of the way. Let's plan our strategies"
Everyone agreed and they started discussing their plans. All of them shared their own concerns and Ivana spoke from time to time. After about an hour, the meeting ended after everything was sorted out. Then, Ivana leaves the place as she drove towards the old mansion. She planned to prepare herself for the attack and to brief her personal force
She reached the base in an hour because of the traffic. As she got out of her car, she looked around the place. She saw Nicole outside arguing with one of her guards and she walked towards them
…
As Ivana prepares, Ilaya in the restaurant helps Mars cook in the kitchen. Despite the suffering she was in, she didn't show any abnormality as she continued to smile and laughed with Mars
As she prepares, Ilaya thought to herself
'This is it. Life is much more fulfilling if you have someone to share your happiness'
Ilaya smiled sweetly as she put the meat in the oil to fry. She smelled the aroma of the food that they had finished cooking. Good food, happy place, and good company for her is a blessing. Then, she heard Mars talked to her
"Ilaya. Are you okay? You looked pale, is everything alright?"
Ilaya nodded as she looked at her. She replied
"I'm okay nee-chan. I'm just tired from my training. And I'm always been white so it's normal"
Mars hesitated before smiling at her and saying
"Well alright. Why do you need to train your body? You can always stay here, or even in my home. You don't need to stay wherever you're staying now"
Ilaya looked at the meat that she's cooking and she thought
'I hope I can accept your offer. But…'
She remembered the words of Gerisa, the head nurse in the hospital and the words of Kazuki earlier. She really felt that she need to repay them somehow
'I'm always going to be chased by my karma if I avoid the problem. I think it's time to help them with my limited time. Maybe I'll be able to repay my debt to them before I die'
As she's thinking, Mars said to her
"Ilaya? Are you listening?"
"Ahh?"
Ilaya, who's thoughts was brought back to reality by Mars, said to her
"I'm sorry. I kind of focused on my thoughts. But, about what you said. I think I can't leave them yet. My training is also good for me to be able to protect myself. Having learned self defense is much better that having none"
Mars put the food in the tray as she picked it up to head to put it in the dining area. Then, before she left the kitchen, she said to Ilaya
"Well alright. But remember that we're here. Don't be afraid to ask for help if you're suffering alright?"
Ilaya looked at her with complex emotion as she nodded and didn't said anything else. She turned her attention again in the food that she's cooking. Mars sighed and got out of the kitchen
When she's gone, Ilaya put down her spatula as she gripped her hands tightly. She gritted her teeth as she focused all her attention to alleviate the pain in her heart
"... Kghh!..."
Blood streaks from her mouth as she hurriedly takes out her handkerchief and she wiped the blood. Then, she picked up her spatula and turned the meat to prevent it from burning. Ilaya pocketed her handkerchief as she acts like nothing happened
But inside, she was extremely terrified of dying. She nearly teared up from the fright as she forcefully held back her tears that threatens to come out. Ilaya couldn't afford to show weakness right now. It's not going to be a celebration is she cried in the middle of it
It's only this time that she thought of her fast recovery, a bane and a boon. It prevented her from collapsing because it heals the damage to her. But she felt that she's in for a world of suffering because her body will not let her die peacefully
'But, I'm going to leave them before I die. Maybe I'll find a secluded area for me to succumb'
A dark forest appeared in her mind as she quickly banished the thought. She said softly to herself
"Not yet"
She closed her eyes
'At least not yet'