"Nine-Tailed Shadow Fox."
The secret society known as the Fox maintained numerous hidden bases across the land, unknown to anyone.
But one of Cleat's hideouts, normally shrouded in silence, was now in an uproar—as though someone had poked a hornet's nest.
In the room deepest within the hideout, the new boss—Gaff Shenfelder—bellowed orders.
"There are assassins from other organizations! Traitors! Capture them! Don't listen to a word they say! They're being manipulated by fakes!"
"Don't let a single one escape! Those are the Boss's orders!"
Sora, too, threw both hands wide in support of the directive. Gone was the vaguely sacred aura she usually wore.
There was no backing down now. If they lost here, their position within the organization would be annihilated. The priestess held a special standing, but in the midst of internal strife, she could be quietly disposed of. Dead people cannot lodge protests.
Gaff's subordinates were exceptional. They had experience, they had strength, and they were accustomed to wielding that strength under Gaff's command.
For the major operation at Cleat, preparations had been made well in advance. Heaven's timing, earth's advantage, human harmony—everything favored the new boss.
Each of the fox-masked subordinates who rushed out of the room to face the shrine maiden—whose ferocity was unprecedented—was armed and ready.
Every single member of the Fox was elite. Even if the opposition was a direct subordinate of another boss, they would not go down easily.
"The enemy's numbers are small. We're the ones who are 'above' them."
By now, the Martial Emperor Festival should be underway at the arena. The key to the operation—the Earth Key—was in the former boss's possession. Something was bound to happen.
Ideally, Gaff and the others could watch at their leisure like the boss, but they could not move until these fox-masked intruders were dealt with.
Show an opening and you are finished. It is not the righteous who win—rather, the winner defines what is righteous.
Just then, the door burst open. A fox-masked man came charging in—but he was not one of Gaff's subordinates.
To have cut through subordinates who had honed their presence-detection abilities through rigorous training and made it this far—truly worthy of being a fellow Fox member.
The intruder was covered in wounds. His robe was slashed here and there, blood seeping through.
Yet to have navigated countless traps and Gaff's subordinates to reach this room—he was unquestionably formidable. Perhaps he was a direct subordinate of another boss.
But the enemy's numbers were small. Gaff had only recently inherited the boss's mask. This was no meticulously planned large-scale assault.
The intruder saw Gaff. Saw the mask Gaff wore. And his eyes went wide.
It was the briefest of openings. But Gaff was not so decrepit as to let such a thing slip by.
The Thief King's essence lay in command, but that did not mean he lacked confidence in combat. Drawing his weapon, assuming a stance, stepping in, thrusting—all took less than a second.
In the blink of an eye, a narrow custom-made knife was buried deep in the intruder's torso.
"Wh—!?"
"Don't worry. I won't kill you. But it seems there's been some kind of misunderstanding."
He would not let the man speak. The intruder's eyes widened, his lips moved to form words, but in the end he could not—and he collapsed.
The knife bore a coating of drug. A special paralytic, researched and developed to capture Phantoms alive. Even if the target had absorbed Mana Material, most could not withstand it.
He kicked the still-stabbed intruder into a corner of the room.
More intruders would surely come. Others who had been egged on by other bosses, trapped in an unfortunate misunderstanding.
This would be total resistance.
Gaff, wearing the unmistakable mask of the boss, allowed only his mouth to curl into a grin.
"I won't let them have their way. This is my territory—I'm... the Boss."
"Boss, we still need to make the fried tofu. You were the one who gave that order, Boss."
"...Ah, I know. I know perfectly well. I was the one who gave the order."
At the priestess's words, Gaff's grin vanished, and he sighed.
It was absurd beyond belief, but it was an operation devised by the former boss. He could not afford to cut corners.
The former boss had passed the mask to Gaff, but his power was unimpaired. Gaff was not so arrogant as to believe he could defeat the other bosses without the former boss's backing.
To think that gaining the seat of boss would chain him to a pen... Gaff let out a small sigh and decided to issue new orders.
§ § § Cleat's arena. The Martial Emperor Festival was about to commence. Dozens of meters directly above it, a single humanoid figure floated in the air.
Clad in a pitch-black robe. A white fox mask covering the face. Treading upon empty air, gazing down at the black stone held in one hand—a Resonance Stone.
The information pouring from the Resonance Stone was anything but good. The voice carried only urgency, and it was clear that headquarters was in chaos.
One of the Nine-Tailed Shadow Fox's supreme executives. A man whose territory spanned the wide region encompassing Zebuldia, he bit his lip in frustration.
The command structure had been completely severed. Communications with the subunit he had sent to the hideout, just to be safe, had been cut off. It seemed they had been attacked by comrades.
This disruption to the command structure was extraordinary. Even headquarters, which should have been directing operations in situations like this, was sluggish.
A divide-and-conquer stratagem—how contemptible. To throw an organization that had hidden itself for so long into this level of chaos in such a short time, this had to be a meticulously prepared plan.
He tucked the Resonance Stone into his robe.
This time, it was not the Explorer's Guild's doing. Not the Empire's, either. The Fox's eyes were everywhere—if a major organization had been behind this, it would have been impossible for no intelligence to have come through.
To think a single Hunter would openly challenge the Fox like this—apparently, the prior intelligence about the Mourning Specter's ruthless destruction of criminal organizations was no exaggeration.
But they were naive. Thousand Transformations had made one critical mistake: exposing their true identity.
The Fox was different from other secret societies.
The plan had failed, yes. But Thousand Transformations would die. While there existed many powerful Treasure Hunters, there were very few schemers capable of ensnaring the Fox, an organization that maintained absolute secrecy.
If Thousand Transformations died, the next operation would undoubtedly succeed. Rebuilding the organization might take some time, but eliminating an obstacle early was not a bad deal.
That Hunter's weakness was excessive pride.
Absolute confidence in their own victory. A firm belief that they could never be assassinated.
There was always someone above. It was not a clean method, but the Fox did not choose its means when it came to achieving its objectives. Nor did it hold anything back. The Boss was, within the organization, also synonymous with the strongest.
Radric Aturm Zebuldia would today witness the horrific death of the man who had protected him. And fear of the Fox would become bedrock solid.
Having thought that far, the boss cast his eyes upon the tournament bracket.
"Still, what a pointless scheme someone devised..."
Tournament bracket, first round: Klye Andrich VS Kurahi Andrich. Ridiculed in the streets as fake VS real—an absurd matchup.
How the bracket had been tampered with, he did not know. What purpose the tampering was meant to serve, he did not know either. But as a distraction, it was far too half-hearted.
He had never met Thousand Transformations face to face, but even without knowing which was the real one, the solution was simple.
—If you don't know their faces, just kill them both.
On the ground. In the vast colosseum, two black-haired men stood. The match would begin any moment.
If he were to strike, it would be the instant one of them fell. The venue was wrapped in a barrier, but that barrier was designed to contain stray attacks—it offered no protection against assault from outside.
Narrowing his eyes, he observed the fight intently. They were tiny as beans, but he could tell the two men were exchanging words.
Not yet. Fake and real. An unknown Hunter and a famous Hunter. The match would undoubtedly be decided quickly.
Concentrating his entire awareness. The opponent was Level 8. Even fighting head-on, he had no fear of losing, but if the battle dragged on, reinforcements would arrive.
From within his robe, he produced the linchpin of the original operation, somehow recovered—the Treasure Weapon, "Earth Key." The charge was already complete.
It was far removed from the original plan—but come, let despair begin. Now was the time to show the Fox's power to the entire world.
The instant that thought crossed his mind—the atmosphere at the venue underwent a complete transformation. From his vantage point overhead, the sounds did not reach him, but a sense of bewilderment wafted upward.
Had something happened...?
Narrowing his eyes, he looked down below. One of the men raised his hand.
And then—in an instant, a fierce sound, shock, and light passed through the boss's entire body.
§ § § "What... did you just say?"
A black-haired man asked, his expression blank with disbelief.
Kurahi Andrich. Kikikan-san's opponent in the match. The fake. Thousand Heavens Ten Thousand Blossoms.
From his body emanated Mana Material impressive for a human—of course, ten thousand times stronger than Kikikan-san's, but from the perspective of divine kin, nothing to speak of.
Nothing more than a trivial human warrior.
The fox sister put on a dauntless grin reminiscent of Kikikan-san, surveyed the entire buzzing arena once more, and spoke in a voice loud enough to reach every last corner: "I said it was an honor to meet the real one. But that ends today! Today, I will defeat you, and I—the real one—will become Thousand Transformations!"