At that moment, Kaiser in the casino’s main security office was flipping through the recent security logs when something felt off.

“Officer. A word, please.”

“……”

The officer glanced his way with a surly expression.

Kaiser didn’t care. He spoke anyway.

“These are the records for today. There was a female swordswoman who won three times in the underground arena, a two-meter-tall lady in the underground banquet hall, and one more security guard than usual listed at the club… These entries. Can we get video footage or detailed information?”

But the officer’s expression didn’t change. With a sigh, he muttered:

“…You limping bastard.”

“Yes?”

“Could you just sit still for once? Quit making a fuss.”

Kaiser fell silent.

“……”

The interference from the Black Star⚉ side had everyone on edge.

When he was first assigned here, Kaiser had actually thought it was a good thing.

Because it meant avoiding war.

As the head of the Council of Control, he had a duty to protect both Eymon and Moong—if he stayed here, the odds of avoiding a crisis were much higher.

And both of them were in a safe location for now.

However… even taking that into account, the locations listed in the logs were troubling.

“As you know, officer, the underground casino, the arena, and the club all have [Magic Amplifiers] and [Magic Transmitters]. If anything even slightly suspicious happened, we should verify it.”

“Look, I told you we’ve got it handled. What, do you think we just sit here eating up paychecks? I’m already sick of you people interfering…”

It happens.

More heads, less efficiency.

Kaiser knew how to handle situations like this.

“Heliope. Are you here?”

Kaiser stepped onto the terrace and called out.

A moment later, a woman in a tight black bodysuit descended vertically on a thread, hanging like a spider in midair.

“Why’d you call me?”

“…First time meeting. You must be my ‘friend’s’ little sister.”

The lazy black eyes behind her anonymizing mask narrowed.

“I doubt it. Never met the guy. Can’t exactly call that sort of person a brother, now can I?”

“…But still.”

“You didn’t call me for that kind of nonsense. What help do you need? Which of the three?”

Heliope seemed to have heard the entire conversation.

Kaiser paused for a moment, then pointed to one location.

“Go to the underground club.”

“Confirmed.”

After she vanished along the threads, Kaiser began requesting additional materials from various departments.

For instance, the ‘control room’ where numerous [Surveillance Orbs] monitored the building like CCTV.

*

“Who’s calling?”

“Uh, uh… the Nibelung Family. They’re asking for some footage?”

“Annoying…”

At that moment, Gray, who was hiding in the corner of the control room, opened her eyes wide.

Gasp.

Then she quickly created a 『Glass Butterfly』 and cast [Stealth], sticking it close to the receiver.

***

“You’re refusing?”

— Eeeeh, can’t give it~ (low voice) click

Kaiser’s face twisted.

Even the control room refused to cooperate.

The same had happened with the casino and the emergency standby unit.

“……”

Kaiser formed two hypotheses.

One: The casino was even more poorly run than expected.

Two: All the major figures in the control room and elsewhere were under someone’s influence.

And not the influence of the Radiant Constellation⁺₊⋆.

Someone else.

It must be corrected.

***

VIP Room, Casino Basement. The edge of a colossal game table.

After betting quadrupled, then multiplied sixteenfold.

“All in.”

“I’m all in, too.”

Finally, a businessman and a noble, certain of victory, declared all-in.

Their poker faces thinly veiled smug smiles as they looked down on Rebecca.

【Gulp…】

【That pot’s insane…】

【That sugar daddy’s gonna get wrecked today… He’s already down a few hundred million Hika, right?】

Even the onlookers—wealthy in their own right—could only lick their lips at the sheer scale of the game.

Rebecca, too, seemed nervous, curling her fingers timidly.

“…You two are quite bold.”

But then—

After brushing aside her platinum bangs, the timid expression vanished completely.

What remained was a calm, confident smile never seen before.

“So scary.”

“All in.” Rebecca’s voice was quiet and low.

The air shifted.

Hundreds of orange chips piled in the center.

The two men revealed their hands.

A full house and four-of-a-kind.

“Argh! What the fuck!!”

“I won! Hahahahaha! My money! Bring me my money, madam!!”

Jubilation and devastation split the room. In one hand, enough money to buy several buildings in the city center had just changed hands.

Rebecca had three hearts, so at best, it seemed she had a flush.

But when her cards were revealed, the VIP room froze.

[A♥] [10♥] [J♥] [Q♥] [K♥]

Royal Straight Flush.

“Huh?”

Rebecca tilted her head.

“Did I win, darling…?”

She looked at Dante, feigning innocence.

Dante, inwardly: This fucking psycho. He burst out laughing internally.

“N-no… no fucking way…!!!”

Then chaos erupted in the VIP room. Accusations of [Illusion], of cheating.

The businessman who lost stood up and flipped the table, yelling for the floor manager.

He had just drawn his first four-of-a-kind today—only to be crushed by a card combo that statistically should never appear.

“P-please calm down—”

“Would you calm down, dumbass?! Bring me the manager!!”

“I-I am the manager.”

At that moment, Dante quietly scanned the manager’s info and passed it to Gray.

< Gray: Confirmed. >

In the control room, Gray identified the manager precisely, tracked his every move through the surveillance orbs, and relayed it to Balmung.

< Balmung: Got it. >

About twenty minutes later—when the manager opened a window to smoke a cigarette—Balmung took the shot.

Fitted with every type of [Low Noise] and [Low Impact] silencer, the sniper rifle launched a sedation round.

Pfft…

Three sedative darts flew across 1,500 meters, striking the manager and the two staff flanking him.

All three slumped unconscious at once.

< Balmung: Target neutralized. >
< Balmung: Gray. Move out. >
< Gray: Go go. >

Gray exited the control room, looted the [Master Card Key] from the collapsed manager, and immediately replicated it with [Illusion].

She inscribed the same patterns and mana circuits onto pre-prepared imitation metal.

< Gray: Key clone done! >
< Balmung: Meet you downstairs. >

Gray and Balmung moved covertly under [Stealth], following the casino stairs through the staff-only underground corridors.

As they walked, they whispered:

“Hey. Balmung.”

“What.”

“Your [Stealth] is absolute trash. I can see your damn arms.”

Gray bared her crooked teeth with a smirk.

“You’re—”

Balmung had been muttering under his breath but suddenly panicked—because Gray’s arms were completely visible.

“……??”

Why can I see them?

And right at that moment, Agion had activated 『Sanctuary of Light』. Since the skill had an option to reveal all things clearly, the [Stealth] spell was forcibly broken, and their transparent bodies became exposed.

“Huh? What the…?”

Gray looked down at her tattoo-covered arms, completely thrown off.

“Try going stealth again.”

“U-uh… it’s not working… What about you?”

“Same here…”

No matter how hard they tried, their bodies wouldn’t turn invisible again.

“Hey, hey! You two! Over here!”

That’s when it happened—security guards called out to them from behind.

Ack!

Both of them froze on the spot, and Gray shot Balmung a wide-eyed look of horror.

What the fuck is this?!

Hell if I know, fuck!

Even Balmung had no clue what was going on.

At least their faces were covered by [Anonymizing Masks].

He slowly turned around.

“What seems to be the issue?”

“And who the hell are you two supposed to be? This corridor’s for executives and security personnel only.”

“Ah, our apologies. We’re tourists—got a little drunk and ended up here by accident.”

“Hiccup. Baby~ where are weee…?”

Balmung’s acting was abysmal, so Gray bared her crooked teeth and put on a drunk-girl act instead.

“You’re drunk? Even if that’s true, how’d you get in here without a card key?”

Shit. A perfectly reasonable question, and they had no answer for it.

Gray’s mind spun.

If they got caught → body search → discovery of master card key → game over.

We’re so fucked.

“You’re acting suspicious. Come here a sec.”

The guards started approaching.

< Gray: Professor lol we’re soooooo fucked,,? >

They had to choose: fight or surrender.

If they fought, they’d be doing it deep inside enemy territory—not knowing what kind of protection or traps might spring up. But even so, getting captured was worse.

Just as Balmung and Gray exchanged glances and prepared to attack—

A communication came from Dante.

< Dante: Try stealth again. Now. >

Didn’t work before?

Doubt only lasted a moment. They activated [Stealth]—and suddenly it worked.

“Run!” Balmung hissed.

Gray clenched her jaw and bolted after him.

“Th-they disappeared!”

“They’re assassins! Block [N O V E L I G H T] the exits!”

The guards started shouting and making calls, but the pair just barely slipped past the emergency isolation system that began descending above the doors.

“Ha! Fuck yeah, we’re alive~~!”

“Keep running…! No turning back now!”

The reason stealth worked again was thanks to the Matriarch of Nibelung’s 『Submersion Site』 subtly overriding 『Sanctuary of Light』—something Dante had picked up on and factored into his orders.

However, that same 『Submersion Site』 caused a… different kind of problem for someone else.

Beneath the stripped-off jacket of Tyson Gaygay, curled up submissively like a little girl, lay Kendreik.

Suddenly, his scattered consciousness began to sink and converge into a single, stable point.

“…Ah.”

The hazy focus in his crimson eyes centered.

It was an unfamiliar ceiling.

Like he’d just awoken from an absurdly long dream.

“Hm? Something wrong, Lady Candy?”

Kendreik’s brow twitched.

What the hell is this psycho bastard?

“…The fuck are you, you son of a bitch.”

“...Sorry?”

“Ah, fuck this. Fuckin’ gross. Can you not? Where the hell even is this?”

Kendreik shoved Tyson off and sat upright. As his towering body rose, Tyson rolled off the bed like a sack of bricks.

“L-Lady? That voice… you’re a man?!”

“The hell… You thought I was a woman, you dumbass?”

“……”

Tyson Gaygay, utterly shocked, then… started laughing.

Heh… heheh… Of course. He’d thought his worldview had been shaken—

“Of course. It’s fine. I love men too, you see—”

The next instant, his head was dunked in the bathtub.

Kendreik muttered, “Freakin’ lunatic.”

He left Tyson unconscious in the tub and stepped outside, following the hazy fragments of memory.

Why the hell was he wearing these clothes? What the hell had happened?

He didn’t have full clarity.

But one thought had taken root in his mind.

I have to kill Professor Dante.

Barefoot, he ran outside in a panic—but once he was out, he realized he didn’t know where the hell he even was.

Where is Professor Dante…?

He wandered through the corridor aimlessly, until his mind suddenly went blank.

“Professor Dantuh…”

Just like that, the effects of the 『Submersion Site』 ended.

“……”

Kendreik came to a sudden halt.

“…Ugh?”

He scratched his head, having no clue what had just happened.

Apparently, nothing had happened.

And then—

PIRORORORORO! PIRORORORO!! PIRORORORORO!!!

Loud sirens rang out across the floor.

< Dante: Kendreik! Elize just located the magic amplifier. Get out of there, now. All exits are blocked—use the ventilation shafts! >

< Kendreik: U-Ugh! >

His mind cleared. We’re in the middle of a heist. Kendreik rushed over to the ventilation shaft.

< Kendreik: Ugh! >

Just as he arrived and signaled back, he reached for the vent cover… and froze.

“……”

The opening was smaller than his body.

***

Just moments earlier—

On the club floor, dressed as a male waiter, Elize had located the [Magic Transmitter] and urgently contacted Dante.

< Dante: Good work. Plant the bomb and evacuate immediately. >

< Elize: Got it!! >

She quickly attached the bomb and turned to leave, but the loud music of the club suddenly cut off, replaced by the blaring of an emergency alarm.

PIRORORORO!

Wha—?!

She had to get out. Fast.

Elize briskly moved through the hallways, but in a narrow passage, she bumped into someone.

A woman in an elegant black party dress—clearly dressed to match the club’s atmosphere.

Their shoulders collided as they passed.

“Sorry…”

Elize kept her head down and spoke in the practiced voice she had rehearsed.

But then—

“Hey there, sweetie.”

The woman called out to her.

She had called Elize a woman—despite Elize being in full disguise.

“……”

Elize hesitated, then started walking again.

But the woman’s voice slithered into her ear.

“You’re an assassin, aren’t you?”

In that moment, Elize realized her mistake.

When their shoulders bumped and she was pushed back, her feet made no noise—she’d instinctively absorbed the shock without sound, as she always did.

“A-ah, I…”

She began to turn.

Clack—

The barrel of a gun pressed against her forehead.

“What would an assassin be doing here?”

Heliope of the Black Star⚉ family asked with a smile.

“……”

Expressionless, Elize slowly raised both hands.