Chaos erupted in the main hall of the casino without any warning.
The first to attack was a tall, thin man dressed entirely in black, wearing a smooth mask that left only a pair of cold, dull eyes visible.
He called himself Eraser, the Executioner of the Phantom Troop. The thirteenth. Every time he appeared in public, it was to carry out a death sentence.
At his side fought Kaigaku, a young man with dark hair and a tense expression, a specialist in high-speed cutting techniques.
Both had received the same order from their leader: eliminate all external executives. Cyrus, the former prime minister, was on that list.
Gilbert drew his sword at once, placing himself between Cyrus and the attackers.
"Don't kill him! We have to take him alive!"
Zack moved to his side, mana already concentrated in both swords, frowning.
"Easier said than done. Those two don't look like they want to talk."
Eraser turned his head slightly toward them. His voice came out distorted, flat, almost bored.
"Interference. Secondary elimination authorized."
The fight began with brutal violence.
Eraser extended both arms. His skin stretched and his forearms became long whips of flesh and bone that whistled as they cut through the air. One of them smashed a table full of chips; another lifted a customer by the torso and hurled him against a column.
People began screaming and running toward the exits in complete disorder.
Kaigaku moved like a shadow. He suddenly appeared to Cyrus's left, the blade of his katana seeking the former prime minister's neck.
Gilbert managed to intercept him. Steel clashed against steel.
"Get out of the way!" Kaigaku growled. "This has nothing to do with you."
"It has everything to do with me," Gilbert replied, pushing hard. "Zack!"
Zack was already moving. He launched a barrage of compact mana slashes at Eraser, forcing him to use his whips to defend himself.
"This guy is a monster!" Zack shouted while dodging a whip that grazed his shoulder and tore open his jacket. "His arms don't have normal bones!"
The hall turned into a battlefield in a matter of seconds. Gold and silver chips flew through the air. Bottles shattered.
The beast-men employees tried to evacuate the customers, but the panic made everything harder.
In the middle of that disorder, the three figures wearing fox masks who had been hiding in the side corridor stepped into the light. They were ninjas. The tallest of them cursed under his breath at the sight.
"What the hell is going on here? This wasn't in the contract."
The one of medium build, apparently the leader, clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"It doesn't matter. Let's finish the job and get out. Cyrus is the target."
The third figure, thinner than the others, said nothing. She simply adjusted her gloves and drew a pair of kunai.
Before they could take a single step toward Cyrus, Eraser's whips turned toward them as if they had a will of their own.
"Anyone who interferes with my objective will be eliminated," the Executioner declared in the same flat, distorted voice. "There are no exceptions."
One of the whips shot toward the tallest ninja. He managed to cut it halfway, but the force of the blow sent him stumbling several meters back, knocking over a gaming table.
"Damn it!" the ninja spat. "This guy attacks in every direction!"
Kaigaku, still exchanging blows with Gilbert, shouted toward Eraser:
"Focus on the main target! Don't get distracted by these insects!"
"I'm not distracted," Eraser replied with complete calm. "I'm eliminating them."
At that exact moment, a broken figure covered in improvised bandages burst in from one of the side entrances of the hall. The air around him distorted. It was Zargan.
The leader of the Four Celestial Kings of the Desert had survived the cave and followed Razel's trail all the way to the casino. His body was full of poorly made sutures and stains of dried blood, but his eyes burned with pure, personal hatred.
"Where is that damned brat?!" he roared, his voice broken by fury. "Razel Bartlet! Come out right now!"
No one answered him.
Zargan didn't need more. With a guttural cry, he raised both arms and unleashed a violent tornado inside the closed hall.
Tables, chairs, chips, bottles, and people went flying like dry leaves. A wooden column split in two. The ceiling began to creak dangerously.
"He's insane!" Zack shouted, protecting his face from the cutting wind. "He's going to bring the whole building down!"
Gilbert stepped back several paces, still facing Kaigaku.
"First them… and now this one! The night couldn't get any worse!"
The battle became completely chaotic.
Gilbert and Zack tried to keep Eraser and Kaigaku at bay.
The three ninjas fought for their lives against the Executioner's whips while still looking for an opening toward Cyrus.
And Zargan, at the center of his own tornado, destroyed everything in his path while screaming Razel's name, not caring who fell in the process.
The casino had turned into a war zone.
◇◇◇
On the upper floor, inside the destroyed office, Razel had Oz cornered against the wall.
Dust from the previous fight still floated in the air. The broken window let in the early morning wind.
"I'm asking you for real," Razel said in a low but firm voice. "Don't say anything about what you heard here."
Oz looked at him with barely contained contempt. His fists were clenched at his sides.
"I'm going to expose you. I can't let you get away with this. Especially not after how you seduced her."
Razel blinked, genuinely confused.
"Sister? What are you talking about?"
"Don't play dumb," Oz spat. "You're just trying to manipulate her. That's how you do things, right?"
"No. Listen to me for a second…"
"I hate you!" the boy interrupted, his voice cracking with rage. "I know exactly what guys like you are like. You smile, you help a little, you earn people's trust… and when they stop being useful, you abandon them. As if they never mattered."
There was a tense second of silence. Kurohime and Mikoto, who remained near the broken window, did not intervene. They only watched.
Then Oz spoke with a bitterness that did not seem to belong to someone so young.
"Alexei… is Monika's older brother."
Razel froze completely.
"What are you talking about?"
"I saw a photo in his office where they were together with other adults. Sometimes she talks in her sleep, and that's how I found out."
"Her real name is Roxy Noah Barielle," Oz continued, his voice trembling with a fury he had been accumulating. "She watched for years as her parents wasted money on nonsense, including taking the people's taxes and using them on themselves.
She complained to them, and as punishment they sent her away. Her older brother did nothing, and that's why she hates them."
He lifted his gaze and locked eyes with Razel.
"You will do exactly the same thing. You'll abandon them after using them. And what I just heard tonight… only confirms it."
Razel remained still for several seconds. Then he let himself drop onto the edge of a broken piece of furniture, as if his body had suddenly become too heavy. He ran both hands over his face.
"It's true that I'm a foreigner," he finally admitted. "And it's true that I have to return home within three months. If I don't… the people I left behind will be furious. And with good reason."
Oz let out a short, bitter, humorless laugh.
"I knew it. In the end everyone leaves after using people."
The resentment Oz felt toward nobles, toward the adults who had abandoned him, was etched into his body. That was the source of his hostile attitude toward Razel.
Razel raised his eyes. This time he spoke more calmly, choosing each word carefully.
"I came to this country because news arrived. News about the disease that is ravaging this nation. The Tear of Iris."
Both Kurohime and Mikoto opened their eyes slightly. Even Oz tensed, as if those two words carried a weight he also recognized.
"According to the source I received," Razel continued, "that disease originated here, in this country, years ago. I didn't come for fun or out of boredom. I came to search for the cure… or to find a way to destroy it before it spreads to the rest of the world."
Oz observed him in silence for several long seconds. The anger on his face had not disappeared, but now it mixed with something else: doubt.
"And the Phantom Troop?" he finally asked. "Is it connected to that?"
"Yes. From what I know so far.
That's why I want to capture one of the important ones. Extract all the information possible. The one who really knows everything… is the leader. I just have to find him."
Razel took a deep breath. He ran a hand through his hair, visibly tired.
"I'll tell Iris and the others the truth. Soon. But if they find out right now that I come from the Arklight Empire… everything will get ugly. They'll think I'm a spy. And in no country is that easily forgiven."
Oz lowered his gaze. His nails stopped digging into his palms as he processed the words.
"It makes sense… So you're some kind of vigilante."
Razel let out a tired, humorless laugh.
"I wouldn't give myself that title even if someone paid me. Heroes help for free. I usually charge. But with Clariana… it became different. She became my friend. And I want to help her. Period."
Oz looked up and stared at him as if facing a puzzle he couldn't solve.
"You're really weird. Either you're bipolar… or you're a textbook hypocrite. What you say with your mouth doesn't match what you do with your hands."
Razel shrugged. A tired half-smile appeared on his face.
"A little of this. A little of that. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what I am."
The silence stretched. Only the wind entering through the broken window could be heard, and, far below, shouts coming from the lower floor.
Finally, Oz let out a long sigh, as if he had just set down a backpack full of stones.
"I won't tell anyone."
Razel closed his eyes for a second, relieved.
"Thank you."
Then he opened them and looked at him with genuine curiosity.
"Now tell me the truth. What were you really doing here? Why did you sneak all the way into this office?"
Oz hesitated. He scratched the back of his neck, uncomfortable, avoiding the gazes of the two women who were still listening in silence.
"When I sleep… I have strange dreams. They're not normal nightmares. They're things that… might happen. Or that are going to happen."
He lifted his eyes toward Razel.
"The day before yesterday I dreamed you were drowning. That you were sinking into a hole full of water and couldn't get out. That's why I came here to warn you. Yesterday, while we were at Alexei's residence, I dreamed something else — while I was awake, and that's rare.
I dreamed that woman —" he pointed at Kurohime with his chin "— put you into a trance… and then killed you."
Kurohime raised an eyebrow, interested for the first time. Mikoto said nothing, but her hand instinctively moved closer to the hilt of her katana.
Razel opened his eyes with genuine surprise.
"If that's true… you have an incredible power. Can you see anything now? Anything about what's happening downstairs?"
Oz shook his head.
"No. Not right now. The dreams come when they want. Not when I want."
At that moment the office door was thrown open, almost ripped off its hinges. A servant as pale as paper ran in, out of breath, eyes wide.
"There are serious problems downstairs! The main hall is being destroyed! There are injured people! Everyone is fleeing!"
Razel sprang to his feet. Kurohime and Mikoto were already moving toward the door. Oz remained against the wall for one more second, still processing everything he had heard and said.
"An involuntary hero, huh?"
Then, without another word, he ran after them toward the stairs.
◇◇◇
The main hall was a complete field of destruction.
Broken tables, cracked columns, gold chips scattered across the floor like useless confetti. The air smelled of dust, spilled alcohol, and blood.
Kaigaku fought Gilbert in a pure speed duel.
Every clash of their swords sent sparks flying. Gilbert retreated two steps, blocked, counterattacked, but the young man from the Phantom Troop was like an unreachable shadow.
"You're good!" Kaigaku shouted between one slash and the next. "But not good enough!"
"Shut up and fight!" Gilbert replied, deflecting a cut that grazed his shoulder.
A few meters away, Zack faced Eraser's whips. He dodged by centimeters. Every time one of those flesh-and-bone appendages whistled near his face, the air itself seemed to be sliced.
"Damn it!" Zack spat, launching a barrage of mana slashes. "Stop moving those arms like they're snakes!"
Eraser didn't even respond. His whips moved with mechanical precision, destroying everything in their path.
In the center of the hall, Zargan, wrapped in cutting winds, faced the three ninjas at once. Small tornadoes spun around his body, deflecting kunai and shuriken.
It was then that the girl among the three masked figures — the one of slighter build — recognized Kaigaku. Her eyes widened behind the fox mask.
"Kaigaku!"
The young man tensed at the sound of that voice. For a second his movements stopped.
He turned his head and looked in the direction the voice had come from.
"Don't kill them!" he shouted toward Eraser. "Those three are from the clan!"
Eraser didn't even turn his head. His voice came out flat, distorted by the mask.
"I don't care. Anyone who interferes with my objective will be eliminated."
His whips launched themselves at the ninjas as well. The tallest of the group managed to cut one halfway, but the force of the impact slammed him into a column. Now the three were forced to fight for their lives against the Executioner.
"You crazy bastard!" roared the medium-built ninja. "We have nothing to do with your contract!"
Zargan, more and more out of control, screamed a single name while launching tornadoes that brought down entire columns:
"RAZEL BARTLET! COME OUT RIGHT NOW! I'M GOING TO TEAR YOU TO PIECES!"
In the middle of one of those uncontrolled attacks, his gaze met Cyrus's. The former prime minister was trying to crawl among the rubble, pale, his suit in tatters.
Zargan smiled with pure hatred.
"You… You were with Figaro that day. You hid like a scared rat. It's your fault too!"
Cyrus raised a trembling hand.
"Wait…! I can pay you! I can—"
He never finished the sentence. Zargan concentrated a wind blade as thin as a razor and launched it. The former prime minister's head rolled across the floor. The body collapsed lifeless a second later.
Every gaze centered on Zargan for a second of pure horror.
"…He killed him," Zack whispered.
"There's nothing left to do," Gilbert growled.
The battle changed at once. Everyone, without needing to coordinate, launched themselves at the man of the winds.
Gilbert and Zack approached Cyrus's corpse only long enough to confirm there was nothing left to save. The three ninjas tried to recover the body to at least fulfill part of their contract.
"Take it!" the leader ordered. "We can still—"
The largest ninja of the group jumped toward the corpse… and was intercepted by one of Eraser's whips, which slammed him into the floor.
At that exact moment, Razel arrived in the hall together with Kurohime, Mikoto, and Oz. He stopped dead at the sight.
"What the hell is going on down here?"
Kurohime surveyed what remained of her casino. Her golden eyes filled with a cold, silent fury. One of her tails struck the floor hard.
"Mikoto. Finish this."
The samurai girl didn't need to be told twice. She launched herself at the three ninjas with both katanas drawn.
Razel, seeing Gilbert and Zack still fighting, joined the combat without hesitation. The fight was fast and brutal.
The smallest ninja tried to throw a kunai at him. Razel twisted his body, dodged, and delivered a side kick so strong it left the ninja without air, doubled over on the floor. The largest one tried to attack him from behind; Razel spun and struck him precisely on the nape of the neck. The man fell to his knees and then face-first, unconscious.
Only the leader remained.
Razel advanced and threw a straight punch at the chest. The impact was clean… and the sensation that traveled up his arm was unmistakable.
(That softness… It's a breast. A huge one.)
The ninja leader froze for a second upon being discovered. Then, without a word, she grabbed the smallest companion by the collar and both fled through the dust and rubble, leaving the unconscious one behind.
Razel did not chase them. He turned toward the chaos that still reigned in the hall and shouted with all his strength:
"Where are Clariana and the others?!"
As if in answer, Zargan — free for a moment from the pressure of Kaigaku and Eraser — launched a violent tornado at the ceiling. Part of the structure collapsed amid screams.
Kurohime pointed with one of her tails toward the back of the hall, where a section of the wall looked smoother than the rest.
"In the back! There's a hidden door in the wall!"
Razel didn't wait a second longer. He ran in that direction while shouting orders:
"Zack, Gilbert! Take that unconscious ninja! I'm going after them!"
Kurohime, while dodging a falling piece of column, shouted at Mikoto in a sharp voice:
"Hurry up already! And stop letting them destroy my workplace!"
◇◇◇
Razel reached the merchandise area like a storm.
He asked for no permission. He gave no explanations. He simply advanced, breaking padlocks with mana-reinforced punches, ripping doors open and unlocking cages with controlled violence.
"Everyone out! Run for the exit right now! Move if you want to live!"
The slaves, stunned and frightened, began pouring out in disorder. Among them, a green-haired elf watched him with silent intensity, as if memorizing his face.
Razel didn't stop to ask questions. He ran toward the end of the corridor, where he finally found what he was looking for.
Clariana was still chained. Iris and Liddy were beside her, their wrists still bound by shackles.
"Get back!"
Razel concentrated mana in his palm and launched a controlled Impact. The chains shattered. Without wasting a second, he took Clariana into his arms. The mermaid weighed less than he expected; her body was trembling.
"What… what are you doing here?" she asked in a broken, almost incredulous voice.
"I came to save you," Razel answered without hesitation. "I promised you."
Clariana's cheeks flushed a deep red. Iris and Liddy exchanged a look that clearly said: "How do you manage to seduce her even in the middle of total destruction?"
"We'll discuss that later," Razel growled. "Now run."
They left the merchandise area as a group… and were met by a wall of cutting wind.
Zargan was there. He had managed to free himself from Kaigaku and Eraser. His body was covered in new, clumsy sutures; he had healed partially and imperfectly, but the hatred in his eyes burned stronger than ever.
"I won't let this humiliation stand," he spat, his voice hoarse. "Geruto died because of you. Arlen and Zurk were imprisoned. And you… you're going to regret being born."
He extended a hand. A violent current of air wrapped around Clariana, snatching her from Razel's arms as if she were a doll. It lifted her toward the ceiling while she screamed.
"Let me go! Razel!"
With a burst of wind, Zargan smashed through the roof of the false house that served as the casino's façade and shot upward into the dawn sky, taking the mermaid with him.
Razel didn't hesitate for a second.
"Raijin Phase 1!"
His body wrapped itself in lightning and he leapt after him, piercing through the hole in the roof like a projectile.
The fight moved to the interior of the upper house. Every clash made the walls tremble. The beams creaked. The floor cracked.
Zargan floated in the center of the room, surrounded by a constant whirlwind that made it impossible to approach without being pushed back.
"You won't escape," he said, smiling cruelly. "I kidnapped your little mermaid to avenge my comrades. She has two minutes of air inside that bubble. After that… she'll suffocate from lack of air. Do you think you can save her?"
Clariana struggled inside the sphere of wind, pounding the invisible walls with her hands. Her face was already beginning to turn pale.
Razel clenched his teeth.
"Lightning Spear!"
Three spears of pure electricity crossed the air.
Zargan's tornadoes deflected them as if they were toys. Every time Razel tried to get closer, the whirlwind shoved him backward with brutal force.
The house was coming apart around them: windows exploded, walls cracked, the ceiling threatened to collapse.
"One minute!" Zargan shouted, laughing like a madman. "Can you feel it? How the air is running out on her?"
Razel launched a long-range Impact. The air dispersed it.
"You damn coward! Come down and fight for real!"
"Why should I? When I can kill you slowly."
From the hole in the roof, Oz's voice arrived clear, urgent, almost shouted:
"Razel! I had a new dream! Attack the sky on the count of three!"
Razel looked up, confused. Zargan also turned his head, not understanding.
"What…? It doesn't matter what tricks you use — you're going to die here!"
But Razel had already decided to trust.
"One…!"
He concentrated mana in his right hand.
"Two…!"
The air around his arm began to vibrate with electricity.
"Three!"
He launched a Lightning Arrow straight toward the sky, so high and so fast that it disappeared among the dawn clouds.
Zargan, by pure reflex, raised both arms wrapped in tornadoes to protect himself from an attack coming from above.
That was his mistake.
At that exact moment, from below, Zack appeared leaping among the rubble of the house. He had followed Razel.
"Now!"
He delivered a mana-charged slash directly into Zargan's back. The impact wasn't enough to bring him down… but it was enough to throw him off balance.
Zargan was launched forward. Since he was levitating he didn't fall, but for a second he was completely exposed.
That second was enough.
The Lightning Arrow Razel had fired into the sky changed trajectory, dragged by the chaotic winds Zargan himself had created, and fell vertically like a divine judgment. Zargan raised his arms to cover his face…
And Razel vanished in a flash of light.
He reappeared right in front of him.
"Impact."
The fist reinforced with mana and lightning struck point-blank into Zargan's chest. The sound was dull, brutal. The man's body arched backward. The whirlwind collapsed at once. The air bubble containing Clariana shattered like invisible glass.
The mermaid fell.
"Clariana!"
Razel launched himself after her. He caught her in mid-air, wrapped both arms around her, and twisted at the last instant to take the impact against the ground with his own back. The wood cracked beneath his body. The air left his lungs. But she was safe.
◇◇◇
When everything was over, Casino Kuromorihime was nothing more than a heap of smoking rubble.
Employees, customers, and freed slaves poured out into the street in complete disorder. Some were crying. Others simply walked in silence, still unable to believe they had survived.
The sun was beginning to rise on the horizon, painting the ruins orange and red.
Kurohime contemplated what remained of her empire with an expression impossible to define. There was fury. There was exhaustion. There was resignation. She sighed once. Then again. And again.
"All of this… happened because you came."
Razel, still holding Clariana in his arms and with his back burning, lowered his head.
"I'm sorry. Truly."
Mikoto, her clothes in tatters, her hair disheveled, and her katana still firmly in her hand, spoke in a practical, almost weary tone:
"It was a stroke of bad luck. We'll rebuild it from scratch. It's not the first time."
Kurohime looked at him for a long time. For the first time since they had met, her expression softened. Just a little. Almost imperceptibly.
"So be it. Now that I know where my cousin is, and with that a weight has been lifted from me… I will also keep your secret."
She took one more step closer. Her nine tails moved slowly behind her.
"You'd better prepare yourselves. Today is the final of the tournament."
Everyone raised their eyes to the sky. The sun finished rising, bathing the ruins of the casino and the exhausted faces of the survivors in a light that seemed far too clean for everything that had just happened.
The final day had begun.
__________________
The fanservice is for Kurohime.
https://danbooru.donmai.us/posts/12083354