Orario, Third District.
"Hahahaha! Hahahahaha!"
"Violence and death, instinct and desire!"
"Such pure emotion, how utterly intoxicating!"
"Chaos! Violence! Plunder! Slaughter! This is the essence of what we pursue, hahahahaha!"
"Look! What a gorgeous sight! How stirring!"
On the rooftop of a multi-story building, a purple-haired woman stood with the hem of her coat billowing, both hands thrown up toward a sky stained red by flames as she cackled madly, paying no mind whatsoever to the fury of the Order Faction below.
Beside her, Evilus executives stood at angles, sat tilted, or dangled their legs over the eaves. Every one of them wore a sinister look.
"Damn it! Stop this at once!"
The pure-hearted elf Ryuu dropped to her knees, her voice breaking with despair.
Before her lay a raging sea of flames. As far as the eye could see, all four streets of the intersection had been swallowed by the violent inferno.
Warped air, enraged faces, silent weeping, bone-chilling screams.
Together they painted a living portrait of hell.
"Hehehe!"
Valletta Grede's laughter suddenly turned cold, laced with piercing mockery:
"That piece-of-shit Finn bastard, sending nothing but you righteous sluts and Ganesha's rejects to deal with me? While he cowers in the back issuing Order No. 21. What a sly, underhanded little Pallum!"
"Tsk tsk tsk, you poor discarded pawns. I pity you on his behalf, hahahaha!"
"And besides…"
"Isn't he looking down on me, Valletta, just a little too much? I was given the name Arachnia by the gods themselves, you know."
"Well?!"
"Huh?! Answer me!!!"
"Huuuuh?!"
By the end, Valletta's face was contorted, her furious roar venting the madness within her.
In her eyes, none of the others mattered. Only Finn, only that man, was the sole figure who counted.
And now that man was fobbing her off with these small fry? It was the ultimate trampling of her pride.
"Small fry, this round belongs to Evilus."
"Look forward to the next act of the show."
"That's all!"
"Until we meet again!"
"Naive little girls!"
"Bye~"
Across the raging sea of fire, Arachnia and the Evilus soldiers flashed the Order Faction a smile of utter contempt, then strode off as if no one else existed.
And on this side, they could only watch helplessly as the enemy withdrew at their leisure, utterly powerless to stop them.
"Damn it!"
Kaguya let out a bitter growl and slammed her fist into the charred wall.
Sharp shards of stone sliced her skin, and crimson blood trickled down her clenched knuckles.
Alise kept her face impassive, but her tightly balled fists trembled faintly from the force. Her nails had long since dug into her palms, and the blood seeping out spoke silently of the storm of emotions inside her.
Lyra tugged at the corner of her mouth and spread her hands, her tone cutting as she called out everyone present.
"Alright, everyone. On the battlefield, winning and losing is the norm. Have things been going too smoothly lately, giving you the illusion you'd never lose? Isn't that a bit arrogant?"
The broadside landed on her own familia members too.
"Damn… damn it!"
Shakti glanced at her sister, who was softly comforting Ryuu, forced down the rage and frustration in her chest, shook her head hard, and then called out to the military police:
"Secure the scene! Move!"
As her clear, decisive orders rang out one after another, the shell-shocked crowd seemed to find their anchor. They finally pulled themselves together from the massive blow and began working in orderly fashion.
After handling the immediate business, Shakti walked over to the red-haired girl.
She forced out an encouraging smile, trying to chase the shadow from the other's eyes:
"Alise, a setback like this won't be enough to knock down our future great hero, will it?"
Alise's head snapped up, the unyielding fire rekindling in her eyes:
"Hmph, a single failure, knock down me, Alise Lovell? Not a chance!"
"Lyra's right. Victory and defeat are part of war…"
"And besides… as long as we win in the end!"
"Then everything we've paid and sacrificed in this moment will have meaning!"
"I believe it!"
"Victory will belong to justice in the end!"
…
…
"Victory will belong to justice?"
"Of course it will. After all, only the winners are justice!"
Leon's home.
The moment Leon stepped through the door with armfuls of bundles, he caught the women gathered around the stone table, heatedly debating that ancient, unchanging question: justice.
All Leon could say was… the topic they'd picked was pretty trendy.
For thousands of years, the debate over justice had never stopped, and it had never had a single answer.
A thousand people held a thousand different Hamlets in their hearts, and justice was no different.
In every person's heart stood a scale of justice that belonged only to them.
As far as Leon was concerned, other people's judgments on justice didn't matter. As long as you could face your own inner standards with a clear conscience, that was enough.
So there was nothing worth debating about this stuff.
"Ladies, the world is never black and white. It's gray."
"Alright, let's wrap up this philosophical discussion!"
"Ta-da!"
He proudly tapped the bulging packs at his feet with his toe.
"Look, look! What's this?!"
The women, absorbed in their heated debate, only now noticed that Leon was home.
When they saw the several large bundles at his feet, even Jeanne, who had no particular attachment to material things, felt a flicker of anticipation at the sight of the spoils.
"Everyone, time to unbox!"
"Don't get your hopes up too much, though."
"After all, it was a freebie. No matter what's in there, it'll feel way better than stuff you earned yourself, right!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Laurier came rushing over like a gust of wind and threw her arms around the pack nearest her.
"Unboxing?! Yesss!"
"Me, me! I'll go first!"
Watching the elf girl's eager, bouncing excitement, Leon grinned:
"Just dump it all out, saves time."
"Mm-hmm!"
Laurier nodded vigorously, deftly untied the bundle, and grabbed the two bottom corners.
Whoooosh!
A massive pile of materials, Drop Items, contraband, and restricted goods came pouring out like floodwaters through a broken dam, covering a small patch of floor in an instant.
Roll, roll, roll.
A sharply faceted, finely crafted crystal vial rolled up to Leon's feet. He bent down, picked it up, and gave it a gentle shake.
"Whoa, we're starting on a high note. Big haul right out of the gate."
His remark instantly drew everyone's curious gaze.
"Leon, is this just… an elixir? But the packaging doesn't look quite right."
Rose leaned in, studying the vial and the liquid inside with a slight furrow of her brow.
Leon nodded, his tone carrying a hint of mystery.
"Well, this is a very rare magic item. But I'm sure you've heard of its name."
He paused, then enunciated the two words clearly:
"Status Thief!"
At that, everyone's face registered surprise.
After all, this thing really was a rarity.
"Huh? This is the legendary Status Thief, the one that can forcibly unlock someone else's Falna without even needing their deity's blood?!"
Through the clear crystal wall of the vial, one could see the blood-thick liquid inside, refracting eerie, mysterious gleams as it sloshed with the motion of his wrist.
"Tch…"
Leon clicked his tongue and weighed in:
"It's the good stuff, rarity checks out… but it's just not easy to unload."
"Even in the black market, you'd be lucky to sell one bottle of this a year."
"What a waste."
He hefted the crystal vial in his hand, a trace of regret in his voice.
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