When the Matriarch’s Guard came looking for the Scout, the skin-and-bones man burst out in anger.

“Why are you only showing up now?!”

“If I’d just sat on my ass spying like you do, I’d have been here faster. What’s the situation?”

“There’s no issue with security! The casino and auction house are completely safe!”

“...Then why’d you call me?”

“That’s because—!”

The Scout paused.

Wait, why had he called them?

There wasn’t anything wrong. He thought hard about it... and concluded: nothing was wrong.

Maybe he’d called them just to be considerate.

“...Right. I called you to... uh, reassure you. Lessen your worries, you know.”

The Guard tilted his head and glared sideways at him.

Then turned to leave.

“Go eat something.”

On the way back, he contacted the Matriarch.

Matriarch. I recommend increasing internal security.

Something didn’t sit right.

Outside the window, the Black Star⚉ was forming a wall of darkness around the casino. It was still translucent enough to see the sky, but once the Matriarch invoked her authority, a fortress of shadow would rise right in the heart of Goldenfield.

Farther out, almost imperceptible, the Matriarch had mentioned the “Spectrometers” floating in the air. Light and shadow—both so easily deceive the human eye.

Soon, the Luminous Constellation⁺₊⋆ seated above would begin hammering on the dark wall with his army, and the Black Star⚉’s Guard and legions would stand to block him.

The so-called ‘Siege Defense’ was about to begin.

In terms of type advantage, Agion’s light gave him the upper hand against darkness.

But in rank, the Matriarch was #9—far above Agion at #20.

What do you suggest?

The Matriarch requested counsel.

The Guard deliberated, then replied.

How about assigning the Dominion Circle to internal security?

***

The underground arena beneath the colosseum was always in need of fresh fighters.

Since it involved real blades, blood, and betting, people often died. And with the Empire valuing human rights, slavery was abolished.

– Please welcome our new gladiator, Ellie! Give it up for her!

So when a pink-haired female swordswoman appeared with obvious talent, they couldn’t help but cheer.

– Ahh! Gladiator Ellie wins her first match!

She scored her first victory.

– Gladiator Ellie wins again! That’s two in a row!

Then two.

– And a third win! She’s just taken down Butcher Paco, who was on a 7-win streak! An unstoppable rampage!!

By the third match, she had cleanly eliminated elite assassins known in the arena—all in round one.

The colosseum erupted into delirium.

“Ellie! Ellie! Ellie!”

“YEAHH! I believed in her! That’s triple payout, baby!”

“Crazy! Who the hell is she?! She fought three matches in six hours and won them all!”

A monster had appeared.

And she was adorable.

Traditionally, what kind of people fought in the colosseum?

Grizzled, battered men who reeked of sweat. Missing fingers, missing eyes. Men with debts, scars, or broken pasts.

The colosseum director’s eyes suddenly lit up with the symbol of profit: Ħ.

Click!

“G-Gladiator Ellie! Rather than just this, why not sign a management contract with us? Come meet some noble sponsors!”

Even as he said it, he didn’t expect her to agree.

Her profile said she was from the Imperial borderlands, but it smelled like a forged identity. She was probably the daughter of a prestigious swordmaster family.

“Sponsorship? For me?”

“That’s right.”

But then—what was this?

Ellie smiled sweetly.

“Sure.”

The director’s heart leapt.

“Y-You will?! With me? I mean—yes! Great! Come inside, wait here just a moment, alright?”

He led Elize to the VIP lounge on the second floor of the colosseum, then rushed off to get the contract and notify the nobles.

Once the door closed, Elize dropped her smile. She took off the poncho-style coat, removed her shoes and gloves, tucked them into her waistband, and got moving.

Elize: Balmung. Mark this location. Guide me.

Balmung: Got it.

From a distant rooftop, Balmung used his 『Structure Vision』 ability to peer into the building.

Balmung: Head to the third floor.

Elize cloaked herself in [Stealth], leapt out the window, scaled a drainpipe, and slipped into a third-floor storage room.

Balmung: Crawl into the air duct. The power supply unit is deep inside—there aren’t any windows.

Elize: Gross...

Balmung: That’s why you took off your shoes and gloves, right? Go.

Elize stared into the dust-filled shaft.

Sniff sniff.

From the smell, it seemed a few dead rats were in there.

She exhaled a deep sigh.

Tying her hair up, she re-equipped her shoes and gloves, and crawled inside the dusty [N O V E L I G H T] duct.

Straight. Right turn. Straight. Look under the third panel.

She followed Balmung’s instructions and encountered a few rat corpses along the way.

Finally, the third panel. Probability that the “Magic Power Unit” lay beneath it: 25%.

Elize: Hmm.

Elize: It’s a magic amplifier...

Balmung: Not the supply unit? Damn. Return.

Damn?

She’d busted her ass for six hours just to get here and now it’s a bust?

Elize felt an irrational wave of frustration.

Elize: You bastard! Can’t you scan properly?!

Balmung: What? You think even a Challenger-rank could scan a fortified mana room? It’s impossible unl—wait.

Balmung: ...Shit! Get back here! Fast! The colosseum director’s returning with nobles!

Elize: What?? You’re telling me that now—?!

Balmung: MOVE!!

Elize scrambled back on all fours, only to slam her forehead into a vertical ridge in the vent seam.

WHAM!!

‘Eep!’

WHAM... WHAM... Clang...

The sound echoed through the ductwork.

Balmung: What are you doing?! He’s almost there!!

⋮

By the time the director returned with three nobles, Gladiator Ellie looked... odd.

“Hm? Ellie, are you alright?”

“......”

In just a short time, she’d somehow become disheveled.

And her poncho-like outerwear was backward.

“You look pale. Are you really okay?”

Then Ellie looked up.

And flashed a bright smile.

“...I’m fine, mmm...♪”

Just then, blood trickled from her forehead.

***

Imperial noble Tyson Gaygay was a man who had loved only men his entire life.

He lived in a lavender marriage with a lesbian woman, but they had never shared a bed.

‘How dull.’

Coming to the banquet hall had been coincidence. He was a VIP who usually stuck to the casino, but a friend had invited him to kill time.

He never imagined that his thirty-year doctrine would be shaken today.

‘...Ah!!’

There she was.

A lady. Towering height. Strength bursting from her frame. Yet inside—there bloomed a single sunflower’s delicate beauty.

The moment Tyson Gaygay saw her, it felt like lightning struck.

She was unlike anyone else.

Amid a sea of ladies, she was different.

“Gulp...”

He swallowed dryly.

And approached the lady.

“...Madame. Mademoiselle. Señorita... may I ask your name?”

The lady’s eyes were unfocused. She turned her head slowly, covering her mouth with a fan.

“Uhh...”

“What is it? I simply asked for your name, milady.”

“Uuhh... Ke... Ken... drr...”

“Kendi? Ahh. Such a sweet name, like candy itself.”

“......”

Kendreik stared blankly at the man.

He was a high-ranking noble.

A person with the privilege to access the VIP spaces, isolated behind [Barrier Magic].

That meant... he was a valid target.

“May I have the honor of pouring a drink for you, milady?”

“Urrgh...”

Because Kendreik’s mind was never entirely intact, his grasp on the world often cut in and out like broken frames.

Two hours later.

Somehow—he had no idea how—he found himself seated in the farthest corner of the banquet hall, alone with that man, sipping wine.

‘Urgh?’

It was around then that a vague sense of something’s not right began to take shape.

The man across from him smiled a buttery, radiant smile.

“...Shall we move somewhere more private, my lady?”

Kendreik responded with a stiff smile.

But the noble wasted no time—he smoothly reached out and grabbed Kendreik by the wrist, starting from the elbow.

“Let’s go.”

This was a crisis.

He wasn’t sure why, but it was definitely a crisis!

Kendreik desperately scraped together what was left of his shattered ego to recall an escape route.

“Uhh... restroom...”

“Pardon? Ahaha, milady, the private rooms have their own restrooms.”

“Urghh... pow...der... room...”

“No worries, mademoiselle. The powder rooms are also fully furnished in the private suites.”

“Uh... fri...end... the othe...”

“Ah, of course! We’ll invite your friend to the private suite later. Shall we go ahead and wait there?”

“......”

Something small and dainty gripped his fingers.

It was Tyson Gaygay’s hand.

“Thank you for granting me the honor of escorting you... my lady ‘Kendi’... fufufu.”

“......”

Kendreik felt like this might be the greatest crisis of his entire life.

***

Kendreik: Urgh.

Kendreik: Urgh!

Kendreik: UURGH! UUUUURGH!

Kendreik kept sending Connection messages, but no one could make sense of them.

Dante: Is everything going well?

Kendreik: Urgh 😭

Dante: Good. Keep it up.

There was no choice but to trust him for now. I myself was currently headed somewhere important.

The destination: the Control Room.

The place where multiple 「Observation Units」—like CCTV—monitored the building’s interior.

I needed to station Gray here temporarily, so we were currently sneaking through under a 『Cognition Disruption Veil』, pressed close together.

‘Professor, widen the veil. It’s too tight.’

‘Shh.’

‘Do you want to be pressed against me this much?’

‘Shut up.’

We were currently tucked in the corner of a hallway, cloaked in [Stealth].

Just then, the shift change arrived.

“Thanks for your work, senior.”

“Yawn... sleep well.”

When the evening shift opened the door, Gray and I slipped in without a sound. Even if there was a 「Death Veil Ω」 designed to neutralize [Illusion] and [Stealth], it couldn’t break my illusions.

‘Oh, we got in on the first try.’

Inside, as expected, hundreds of projection screens were displaying views from throughout the casino.

‘Door’s closing. Go. Hurry.’

Gray would carry out a few tasks here and then operate independently. Time for me to move elsewhere.

Or it should have been.

“Huh? What’s going on with this one?”

“What’s wrong?”

Voices from the security team inside the control room.

I looked in their direction.

One of the monitors showing the exterior of the casino—a feed from Observation Unit 311—began to flicker.

“Unit 311... which one is that again?”

“Oh, that’s the one pointing at the outer sky.”

No matter what buttons they pushed, the flickering didn’t stop.

Flick. Flick-flick. Flick...

More staff began gathering around.

Whispers. Uneasy voices.

‘What’s happening?’

Gray glanced at me sideways.

I quickly moved to cover her eyes.

‘What? Why?’

‘Don’t open them.’

‘......?’

Once I felt her lashes brush my fingertips—confirming her eyes were shut—I summoned my internal magic and resisted the encroaching force.

“Huh? Other screens are flickering too.”

“It’s not just the feed—it’s like something’s flickering. Turn up the sound.”

A guard turned the volume knob.

– Krrsshk...

Just static in the silence.

Meanwhile, the number of flickering screens grew. One turned into two. Then five. Then twenty.

With cries of “What the—?” the effect spread like a virus, until every monitor was blinking.

Then, all at once—

“......”

“......”

The five security guards watching the screens lost the light in their eyes.

Those who were seated froze in place.

Those who were standing stood still like statues.

This was a Lv.9 [Illusion].

『Infinite Mirage』

It was the work of the Luminous Constellation⁺₊⋆—Agion. He had cast a [Mass Hallucination] spell over the entire casino using light.

– Krrsshhh, krshh...

Then, a voice came through the flickering feed.

From high above, in the clouds, the voice of a man. Heavy, ominous. It made my hair stand on end.

Matriarch Nibelung.

His voice shook the space. Gray began trembling at the oppressive killing intent, whispering, “Professor...?” I told her it was okay and kept listening.

I’ll give you exactly 24 hours from now.

Surrender the “Peacemaker†.”

In a world frozen still, only Agion and Matriarch Nibelung were speaking. No diplomacy. No buildup.

Agion delivered a final ultimatum straight away.

Then, a sultry woman’s voice replied:

– No thanks.

A laugh followed.

The Matriarch continued.

– Tomorrow, then. Come die at your sister’s hands.

– Let’s finish what we couldn’t ten years ago.

In that moment...

The war between titans was officially declared.