—Inside the Akinashi Domain.
(Dammit! Dammit! Dammiiit! Nobody said anything about the Three Great Powers being here!!)
He had been hunted through this wretched city all night long. To his utter disbelief, his pursuers were none other than the Three Great Powers: Akegarasu, the Tao Family, and Lost Forest.
The Three Great Powers of the underworld were absolute, inviolable dark sovereigns ruling over society's shadows. A run-of-the-mill Holy Amelia Kingdom syndicate like Snake Blood was worlds apart from them in both prestige and sheer strength. Yet for some unfathomable reason, these three colossal factions had singled out the insignificant Snake Blood as their prey and were systematically hunting them down.
Most of his men had already been slaughtered or captured. All that remained were the dozen or so followers at his heels.
Suddenly, several towering pillars of fire shot up into the heavens. From that moment on, the pursuit ceased with unnatural abruptness.
They had been granted Release from that nightmare. By all rights, this should have been a moment of celebration. And yet, Snake and the survivors of Snake Blood could not bring themselves to view this sudden reprieve as a good omen.
"Nothing to do but push forward, huh."
The path behind them was blocked by the Tao Family, leaving no room for retreat. Either way, their only choice was to forge ahead.
(If only I hadn't fallen for that pig of a Count's sweet talk!)
Snake chewed over that bitter regret for what felt like the hundredth time.
Officially, the territory of Akinashi had been granted as a reward to Kotetsu Akinashi, an otherworlder who had once slain the evil dragon that brought the Holy Amelia Kingdom to the brink of ruin. That was the public tale, at least.
However, if that were the whole story, a mining hub of this scale would have been plundered by the greedy high nobles of the capital centuries ago. Yet for the past three hundred years, not a single soul had dared lay a finger on this land.
In the Holy Amelia Kingdom's underworld, it was occasionally whispered about as one of the realm's great mysteries. This city harbored a secret formidable enough to make even the realm's most prominent high nobles hesitate. Surely, that very secret was the reason behind this ruthless hunt by the Three Great Powers.
(Give me a break! Am I really going to meet my end in a dump like this, all for that pig's greed?!)
That, he refused to accept. Just how much misery did they think he had crawled through—a boy who was once nothing more than a starving gutter rat in the slums—to become the head of one of the top ten syndicates in the Holy Amelia Kingdom?!
He had drunk muddy water! He had done countless heaps of vile, bottom-feeding dirty work! He had bowed his head to scum he despised! Even so, the only reason he had clawed his way forward this far was because he swore he would never return to the pathetic squalor of his youth.
(It's not over... I'm not done yet—)
Bursting through the alleyway, he stumbled out into a circular plaza.
(Haha... I see. So this is the end of the line.)
Assembled across the plaza were all three factions.
First, the group bearing the crest of a serpent coiled around an urn.
Second, the group bearing the crest of a crow against the sun.
Finally, the group bearing the crest of a withered tree and a crescent moon.
Without a shadow of a doubt, they were the Three Great Powers of the underworld. The undisputed kings of the dark, leagues above anything Snake and his Snake Blood could ever hope to rival.
"We give up. I'll talk, I'll do whatever you want. Do whatever you like with me! So please, I'm begging you. Just let my men go!"
Pushed to the brink of death, the desperate plea that spilled from his lips was one he thought he had cast away a lifetime ago.
"Sorry, pal, but we ain't the ones callin' the shots here."
A handsome, blond-haired man drowning in oversized clothes spoke up, his face rigid as he stared intently at a single focal point.
The eyes of every single member of the Three Great Powers were fixed not on Snake and his pathetic remnants, but entirely on the figures occupying the center of the plaza.
One was an imposing, lion-faced beast of a man; the other was an exquisite beastfolk maiden with nine fox tails. Both were kneeling reverently before a black-haired boy cradling a small black puppy.
"You've finally arrived."
Lightly stroking the pup's head, the black-haired boy cast his gaze toward the far end of the main thoroughfare.
Before anyone had realized it, a young blond girl, still bearing the softness of youth, had stumbled into the plaza, completely out of breath.
"What in the world is the meaning of this?!"
"The meaning of what?"
"Akinashi isn't being overrun by bandits in the slightest, is it?!"
"Oh, but it was. Look, those three groups over there are the folks from Akegarasu, the Tao Family, and Lost Forest. And those utterly exhausted fellows over there are our friends from Snake Blood."
The blond girl swept her gaze across the gathered assembly, her cheek twitching uncontrollably.
"You are completely and utterly out of your mind!"
She forced the words out with raw, heartfelt disbelief.
"Well then, now that all the actors have taken the stage, let the festival commence!"
"A festival? Are you planning to make me fight these people?"
The black-haired boy merely shrugged, sweeping a bored, half-lidded glance across the Three Great Powers and Snake's shivering crew.
"Nah. A clash between novices hardly makes for much of a festival. Even less so against a bunch who've already had the fight knocked clean out of them."
He delivered the appraisal with total nonchalance.
(Haha! What in the world is going on with them...?)
Just catching the black-haired boy's eye was enough to make the battle-hardened veterans of the Three Great Powers freeze in terror, their bodies locked tight. More than anything, their faces looked as if their entire world was crumbling to pieces right before their eyes. What in the world could possibly force the supreme dark kings to wear expressions like that?
"Now then, I haven't gone over the detailed rules with our friends from Snake Blood yet.
To tell you the truth, just like that pig of a Count, I originally intended for you lot to rot away in agony as noble human sacrifices for this festival. But that final plea of yours changed my mind."
The boy paused, his eyes narrowing.
"Survive this festival. Expose everything in a public trial later, and as you requested, I'll allow your subordinates here to keep their lives."
He laid out the terms in a chillingly solemn tone.
"Nemea, what is the status of the townspeople?"
"Every breathing soul in this land has been shifted to my domain. A paltry lizard of that caliber will not manage so much as a glimpse of my realm."
"Good. And what of the all-important giant lizard?"
"Yeah! Master, Master! I went whoosh right at that lizard napping in the mountain! I held back real good, too! I didn't kill it! Pretty amazing, right?! Aren't I awesome?!"
The black puppy in the boy's arms puffed out its little chest, barking with sheer pride.
"Is that so? You managed to hold back, huh! Good boy, Fen!"
As the boy broke into a smile and gently scratched the puppy behind the ears—
"W-Wait just a minute! What is that supposed to mean?! I have an overwhelmingly terrible feeling about this!"
The blond girl shrieked at the black-haired youth.
The boy handed the puppy off to the silver-haired beastfolk maiden standing beside him, and his entire presence transformed in an instant.
Pulling the corners of his mouth into an impossibly sinister grin—looking for all the world like a wicked Demon King plucked straight from a dark fairy tale—the boy spread his arms wide and looked up toward the heavens.
"Ladies and gentlemen! What begins right this second is a deathmatch between the giant lizard slumbering within this earth and humanity, with both sides wagering their lives and their pride!!"
His voice thundered across the plaza with enough force to make the very air vibrate.
In that singular breath, a violent explosion ripped through the mountain peak above the mines, and a massive, pitch-black monstrosity began clawing its way out.
"A giant lizard... It can't be—is that the legendary evil dragon sealed three hundred years ago?!"
Her complexion draining of all color, the blond girl screamed at the black-haired boy.
"Oho, spoken like true royalty. So you knew about the giant lizard, did you? That's exaaactly right. I had it brought out as our special guest star for today's festival."
"Have you lost your mind?! That thing cannot be reasoned with! Once it is unleashed—"
"Indeed. That giant lizard's favorite dish is well-done human meat, specifically women and children. Its favorite pastime is burning human settlements to cinders. Its favorite music is the lovely harmony of human agony and dying shrieks! That worthless heap of scales is, quite literally, an enemy of all mankind. There's no need for restraint, and certainly no need for mercy. Feel entirely free to slaughter it."
"That is not the point here—!"
"Now then, let the festival begin. Nine-Tails."
"Understood, my Lord."
The silver-haired beastfolk maiden raised her right palm, summoning a cluster of brilliant light spheres that launched toward the summit at blinding speed, detonating violently against the crawling behemoth.
"Well then, I look forward to seeing you all fight for your lives."
With those parting words, the black-haired boy and his retinue vanished completely from the plaza as if they had never existed.
"Y-Y-You absolute raving lunatic!! There is a limit to how far a sick joke can go!!"
Paying no heed to the blond girl screaming into the night sky—her face a tempest of fury, panic, and utter despair—the colossal black silhouette atop the mountain unfurled its massive wings.
"GUGYOOOOOOOAAAAAAHHHHHH!!"
It unleashed a world-shattering roar that made the very atmosphere shudder.
The legendary evil dragon had awakened for the first time in three centuries. The grand tale orchestrated by the monster was hurtling toward its climax.