Chapter Seventy-One: The Saber-Toothed Tiger Must Die

Kyle stood alone on the rooftop, which had long since been battered and broken by several fierce battles. In his line of sight, the burly sabertooth tiger's back was retreating, somewhat disheveled, and vanished around the corner of a street. He had no intention of pursuing—driving off such a formidable opponent was the best outcome one could ask for.

The sabertooth was superior to Logan in both constitution and strength, but that very power cost him speed and finesse in combat. His fighting skills were far less refined than Logan’s, so the vibranium bracers proved even more effective in countering him. Yet that was the extent of his advantage; the sodium-carbon steel sword was still lodged in Logan’s body, carried away by Blue Eagle. Lacking the means and certainty to kill the sabertooth, Kyle had no desire to continue fighting.

What mattered more now was to extract the Self-Healing Factor card from Logan before any further mishaps could occur. With this in mind, Kyle did not linger. His dark figure flickered and soon vanished from the rooftop, swiftly making his way toward Blue Eagle’s location.

Three miles outside the small city, nestled within a birch forest in the outlying hills—

A cry echoed through the woods, both human and bestial, startling flocks of birds untouched by the chaos of war. Beneath the low-circling form of a giant eagle, Logan writhed on the ground, growling in pain, the grass stained deep red by his rolling. Nearby, a one-handed sword, still sticky with blood, was embedded in the trunk of a tree—clearly, it had just been forcibly removed.

Yet the wound left by the sodium-carbon steel sword continued to suppress the vitality of his healing factor, preventing the mortal injury to his chest from closing. An ordinary man would have died several times over before the sword was even drawn. Only Logan, through sheer willpower, managed to stay alive despite the loss of so much blood.

The sound of crisp footsteps approached—the black-clad figure moved swiftly through the forest, boots crunching fallen leaves. Blue Eagle, circling above, let out a jubilant cry upon seeing him, then, mission accomplished, beat its wounded wings and soared back toward the bright sky.

“You’re here… Where’s that man?” Logan forced his head up, glaring at the cold youth who had arrived. Clutching his chest, he struggled to rise from the blood-soaked grass, his muscular frame drenched in sweat and blood, looking utterly ravaged.

“He retreated,” Kyle replied calmly, his gaze indifferent as he regarded the grievously wounded Logan.

Between the two, there was no enmity—if anything, they were, in a way, fellow soldiers in the allied forces. But Logan possessed an important card Kyle desperately wanted, and the law of the jungle was all that mattered.

Kyle had never been a paragon of goodness. Driven by an overwhelming desire for power, even if given another chance, he would still risk his life to duel Logan for the Self-Healing Factor, no matter the cost. He had principles, boundaries, and feelings, but they only extended to those on his side—not to anyone on the opposite front.

In the birch forest, Kyle swept his gaze around, walked a few steps forward, and pulled the bloodied sodium-carbon steel sword from the tree. Sword in hand, he approached Logan.

“Are you going to kill me here?” Logan’s voice was weak and bitter. Propping himself against a birch, his eyes were full of unwillingness. He could not accept dying here—dying before the sabertooth!

“I never said I’d kill you. But now, with things as they are, it’s too late for negotiations. Even if I don’t want to kill you, I can’t let you go,” Kyle stated flatly.

Even after he extracted the ability card, given their now-hostile relationship, there was no way Kyle would let Logan walk away.

“Then there’s nothing to discuss.” Logan gave a bitter, mocking nod. Suddenly, his right hand extended, and three sharp claws emerged—not toward Kyle, but pressed against his own heart.

Kyle narrowed his eyes and asked calmly, “What are you doing?”

“I want… to renegotiate!” Logan gritted his teeth, staring intently at Kyle, taking a deep breath. “There’s something in me you want, and it must require me to be alive—otherwise, you wouldn’t have ordered that eagle to save me on the rooftop. You would have let that man kill me.”

Indeed, his order to Blue Eagle had exposed this secret.

“I don’t think threatening suicide is much of a bargaining chip,” Kyle’s face remained impassive, but inwardly he sighed—he really had no other option at the time. Ability cards could only be extracted from the living; item cards, by contrast, required killing the holder.

“This is all I have left. How can I not at least try?” Logan said hoarsely, driving the claws deeper into his own flesh. The healing factor, still suppressed, showed no sign of repairing the new wounds.

Kyle was silent for a moment, then asked in a low voice, “Fine. What do you want to negotiate?”

“Looks like I bet right.” Logan exhaled in relief, then said coldly, “That man—the sabertooth—he must die!”

“That’s not a problem. I’ll kill him,” Kyle agreed. The sabertooth was now a German officer; once the Allied forces stormed Germany, he’d have to face him eventually. For now, it was best to keep Logan calm.

But Logan shook his head. “No. He must die by my hand. You may only assist me.”

“Impossible.” Kyle refused outright. That was asking too much.

“So long as you agree to that, I’ll do whatever you wish in the future. Human experiments, or using me as a weapon—I’ll obey without question!”

As he finished, Logan pressed the claws closer to his heart, signaling his resolve.

The choice of negotiation now fell to Kyle. This was no longer just a life-for-life exchange, but one of loyalty pledged along with it.

Kyle paused, truly weighing Logan’s proposal. The man before him was a lone wolf, driven to desperation. If he could be brought under control, he’d become a significant asset for the future force Kyle intended to build. The only concern was the risk of betrayal down the road.

Kyle asked bluntly, “If I accept your terms, how will you prove your loyalty?”

“I swear on the name of my father, Strele, and my mother, Ailoren—if you help me avenge myself with my own hands, I will never hesitate to do anything you ask of me in the future,” Logan said earnestly, looking at Kyle with hope.

“Very well. Then we have an agreement. Remember your words today,” Kyle said, shrugging. “I will help you kill the sabertooth.”

From any angle, the sabertooth must die.