By leveraging the advantage of information gap and Botobai's demeanor, Gel had crafted this killing move.
If her target is the other member of Zodiacs, they likely would have fallen in defeat.
When Botobai pointed out that Gel had underestimated Moses, his underlying meaning was an acknowledgment of the lethality of the move she had prepared.
But that no longer mattered.
"You're out, Gel."
Botobai glanced at Gel's right hand.
Though the bleeding had been stopped in time, losing a hand was no small price to pay.
And this was only because Moses had deliberately held back, otherwise, Gel could have easily suffered far worse injuries in that moment.
"…"
Faced with Botobai's commanding declaration, Gel frowned deeply but remained silent.
Anyone could clearly see the conflict and hesitation on her face.
A single failed attack, and she was being forced to withdraw from the operation?
It was almost laughable.
But she could tell Botobai was serious, and she also realized that Moses had shown her mercy earlier.
That was the source of her hesitation.
Should she withdraw from the operation now, or grit her teeth and press on?
She wasn't usually the type to cling to pride, but being forced out at the very start of the mission was still a blow to her dignity.
Botobai watched Gel's internal struggle with a cold gaze, patiently waiting for her response.
Moses, who was standing next to them, wasn't yet fully aware of the situation and could only observe the exchange between Botobai and Gel.
The information he had was limited, but he could roughly piece together the gist of it.
As for whether his assumptions were correct-
Either he could wait for the Eyes of Sight to fully bloom on Gel and then control her into revealing the truth-
Or he could go to the designated battle location, beat Botobai into submission, and force him to explain everything.
Comparing the two, Moses still prefers to defeat Botobai openly, so that Gel, who was under the effect of Kyoka Suigetsu, can be kept as a hidden chess piece.
After all, since two members of the Zodiacs have joined forces to deal with him, there is no guarantee that a third member of the Zodiacs wouldn't appear.
This level of caution reflected Moses' usual wariness.
But what he didn't know was-
There are indeed more members of Zodiacs who would appear later, and among them is Ging, who was coming to join in the fun.
The corridor remained silent for a moment.
Under the weight of Botobai's oppressive stare, Gel finally relented.
"I won't do anything to him again."
She didn't declare her withdrawal from the mission, but only gave her word that she wouldn't target Moses anymore.
This was likely the most acceptable compromise for her.
Botobai nodded at this.
In his opinion, Gel's promise was as good as admitting defeat.
So, Botobai shifted his gaze away from Gel and turned to look at Moses.
Just as he was about to speak, Botobai heard Moses say first: "Lead the way. No more wasting time."
"…"
Botobai fell silent for a moment after hearing this.
He originally wanted to briefly explain the situation to Moses first, and then confirm whether Moses was still willing to proceed with their earlier duel.
But he never thought that Moses didn't care about these trivial matters at all.
"Fine."
After responding in a deep voice, Botobai walked ahead and headed towards the stairs they came from.
Moses subtly glanced at Gel, who remained silent and motionless, then strode quickly after Botobai.
Soon, the two disappeared into the stairwell one after the other.
Gel watched them leave, biting her lip slightly harder, clearly unwilling to accept the outcome.
…
A few minutes later.
Moses and Botobai arrived at the hotel's main entrance.
A jeep was already parked in the temporary driveway outside the door, which is prepared in advance by Botobai.
"Get in."
Botobai said, then walked around the front of the car and went to the driver's seat.
But Moses stood still and said, "The car is too slow."
"Hmm?"
Upon hearing this, Botobai abruptly stopped and turned to look at Moses.
Facing Botobai's questioning gaze, Moses calmly replied, "Just give me the location. We'll run there directly."
"Teiza Park."
Seeing Moses's attitude, Botobai didn't hesitate and immediately provided the name of the location.
"See you there."
After learning the location, Moses left those words behind and instantly channeled his Aura into his legs.
Whoosh-
In the blink of an eye, Moses's figure vanished, leaving behind a swirling vortex of air in his wake.
Botobai silently watched the direction Moses had gone, then also mobilized his Aura and dashed forward.
However, in terms of speed, he was clearly no match for Moses.
After Moses and Botobai left the hotel, several members of the Zodiacs, who had been watching the situation quietly in the hotel, showed up one after another.
They gathered near the hotel entrance almost simultaneously and looked in the direction of Teiza Park.
"Gel, is your hand... okay?"
Ginta, the muscular and broad-shouldered guy with thick lips, sharp teeth, and a beard, noticed Gel's missing right hand and immediately expressed concern.
Hearing Ginta's genuine concern, Gel replied succinctly: "Just a minor injury. It can be reattached."
"Then go to the hospital quickly."
Ginta urged anxiously, worried Gel might miss the golden window for reattaching her hand.
Gel hesitated for a moment, then nodded at Ginta.
She had already promised Botobai and Moses that she wouldn't interfere further, so her priority now was to go to the hospital and have her hand reattached, even if it meant missing the outcome of the fight between Moses and Botobai.
At this time, Cluck stepped forward and said gloatingly, "I thought the first one out would be Botobai, since he was so eager to take the lead. I didn't expect it to be you, Gel."
"…"
Gel frowned but said nothing.
Failure was failure. There was no point in making excuse.
Saccho gently rested his right hand on the hilt of his sword and asked softly, "Gel, can you briefly explain what happened just now?"
"Tried to cut corners and paid the price. That's all there is to it."
Gel tossed out those words and turned to leave with her severed hand in tow.
But after walking about ten meters, she suddenly stopped and coldly said without turning around:
"I'll give you a piece of advice. That guy's frontal combat ability is terrifyingly strong. While Botobai is also very strong, he might not be able to take him down alone, so... you'd better not worry about meaningless pride. Ensuring the mission's success is the most important thing."
After saying that, Gel quickly walked away.
Saccho, Ginta and Cluck looked at each other upon hearing this.
They all understood the meaning behind Gel's advice, which was simply asking them to pay close attention to the battle between Moses and Botobai.
Then, if Botobai is at a disadvantage or the situation is not good, they should not care about their pride or honor, but make completing the mission their primary goal, and choose to take action at the right time to take down Moses in one fell swoop.
But the question is-
Was it really necessary to go that far?
No matter what, they are the Zodiacs. Moreover, they already have the numbers advantage.