A full month had passed since the final guardians had taken their places at Alex's side. Over those weeks, the quiet routines of school life had slowly fused six distinct personalities into a unified unit. But the fragile peace didn't last forever.
As Alex and his guardians turned the final corner toward the school gates, the usual morning chatter of students was absent. Instead, a tense quiet hung over the entrance, where a dozen men in dark, tailored suits stood blocking the main archway.
"Who are these guys?" Tatsuya muttered, his hands already curling into tight fists at his sides.
Before anyone could reply, the leader of the men stepped forward, his eyes locking onto Alex with cold calculation. "Alex Luciano. We've been waiting for you."
Hayato instantly shifted into a lead stance, his hand resting inside his jacket. "Identify yourselves."
"We speak for the Diablero family," the man replied, drawing a sleek combat knife from his coat while the men behind him unholstered iron batons and suppressed sidearms. "We've come to test the rumors. If you want to claim the seat of the Luciano family, you prove your worth right here. Defeat us, and the Diablero steps back. Fail, and you hand over your territory today."
Alex looked at the line of armed enforcers, his expression unreadable. He felt no surge of panic—only the steady, grounded resolve that had built up over the past month.
"I accept," Alex said quietly.
The Diablero leader let out a mocking laugh. "Confident. Where are your weapons, kid?"
"I don't need one," Alex said, stepping past Hayato into the open clearing. "My hands are enough."
"Arrogant brat! Take them down!" the leader barked.
The street erupted into motion.
Alex charged straight into the center of the fray, slipping past the first guard's lunging knife and delivering a precise, crushing hook to his jaw. Beside him, Tatsuya moved like a storm, unleashing a rapid volley of heavy boxing combinations that sent two enforcers crashing into the concrete.
"Watch the flanks!" Angelo shouted. Unsheathing his aluminum bat, the metal surged with a brilliant, flowing blue light, reshaping itself mid-swing into a gleaming, lethal katana. With fluid, sweeping strikes, he parried three incoming blades at once, driving the attackers back.
From the rear guard, Hayato drew his dual pistols with effortless speed, placing suppression shots with terrifying precision—disarming weapons and taking out foot soldiers before they could close the distance on Alex.
As the chaos escalated, the remaining Diablero fighters attempted to split the group, using smoke canisters and flash distractions to circle around behind Tatsuya and Angelo.
"Marco, Giovanni—front line!" Alex called out, reading the shift instantly. "Hold the center! Angelo, Tatsuya, cover the rear!"
"On it, Boss," Marco smirked, stepping forward like an immovable wall to absorb a heavy strike with his leather jacket before countering with brutal force. Beside him, Giovanni seemed to flicker like a illusion, slipping behind the attackers' sightlines to throw their formations into complete disarray.
Hiroto brought up the rear guard, his heavy Lightning Blaster crackling with static energy as he neutralized any attacker attempting to break their perimeter.
Realigned and working in complete sync, the Luciano guardians turned the tide in seconds. Driven back by the seamless coordination, the remaining Diablero enforcers dropped their weapons, battered and gasping for air on the pavement.
Angelo wiped his blade clean, the steel shifting smoothly back into the shape of a simple baseball bat. "Well. That was easier than expected."
"Don't get comfortable," Alex said, adjusting his collar as he looked down at the defeated lead enforcer. "This was just a probe. The Diableros won't take a loss like this lightly."
Hayato nodded, stepping up beside him as the school bell rang in the distance.
They had won their first true test as a family. But as Alex looked at the five guardians standing tall around him, he knew this skirmish was merely the opening line of a much larger war.