[Gorin City, Arima Family Residence]
Arima Yukito's father was named Arima Teru, usually a dignified, steady middle-aged man. As long as he slightly darkened his face, countless people would be struck dumb with fear.
But today, both his hands wouldn't stop trembling.
Arima Teru hid in the secret chamber behind the study, packing up gold, silver, and valuables. Beneath the chamber was a secret tunnel that led directly outside the city.
Escape.
He had to escape right now.
"Arima Teru! Your mother is dead!"
"Get the hell out here!"
Outside were the voices of several Gorin City officials. Through the silhouettes flashing past the window, it was clear this group of people held spears in their hands, each voice full of resentment.
On ordinary days, these officials would kneel before Arima Teru without hesitation. Now they wished nothing more than to kill him.
Yet Arima Teru understood them.
What kind of man was Ryosuke?
Different people, different definitions.
But to people like Arima Teru, Ryosuke was a murderous god.
Think of Governor Senmura.
Think of the last Daimyō of the Land of Water.
Now almost all officials of the great nations had a common understanding, "Toward those civilians even more lowly than frog piss, Ryosuke has an unreasonable, extraordinary favoritism. He will, without reason, cut down officials merely because they collected a bit more tax."
Based on this, officials of all the great nations had restrained themselves compared to the past, and reached a consensus, 'Do whatever you want, just don't attract that murderous god.'
But now, because of that bastard Arima Yukito, Ryosuke was brought here.
Never mind the bureaucrats outside, even Arima Teru himself, seeing his son's face on the family photo hanging in the secret room, couldn't help but curse under his breath, "F*ck your mother…"
He threw the last gold bar into the bag, then put on a hat and mask, covering most of his face, opened the secret tunnel, and was about to flee.
Arima Teru had to flee. The subordinates outside merely wanted to kill him. Those financial magnates who funded him and Shinnō had truly sent assassins.
In his head he carried their contact methods.
Even though there were layers of concealment measures in between, no one dared underestimate Ryosuke's means. To be safe, only if Arima Teru died could there be no mistakes.
But he didn't want to die.
Arima Teru burrowed into the secret tunnel, and had only gone two steps when he heard a thunderous boom.
The tunnel collapsed.
Because of the shattering of the core barrier, plus Star Platinum's flurry of punches smashing apart the black tide, it triggered a chain reaction of explosions, as if the entire underground of Gorin City was in upheaval.
Dragging along the spears of subordinates, the assassins of the consortium, and… Ryosuke.
Arima Teru clutched the money-filled suitcase tightly.
Clearly he possessed wealth enough to enjoy for a lifetime, yet he only felt despair gradually swallowing him whole.
Suddenly, he spotted a telephone hanging on the wall.
Arima Teru stood, stumbled over to the phone, and dialed a number.
Moments later, the call connected.
"Save me!" Arima Teru growled lowly.
The other side was silent for several seconds, only his tense breathing could be heard. After a few more seconds, a mocking sneer sounded, then came the long busy tone.
Shinnō hung up the phone and tossed it to his adjutant.
"From now on, don't transfer every phone call to me."
The adjutant bowed his head, "I'm sorry, Lord Shinnō, but this call was from the Arima family. I guess it was Lord Arima, the city lord…"
"Ah, yes, it was indeed Arima Teru. I thought he was a smart man, but now it seems otherwise."
Shinnō shook his head, narrowed his eyes, and looked toward the direction of Gorin City.
"Since he played within the rules, and profited within the rules, he must also accept the punishment of the rules."
In the Land of Wind, capital was supreme, and every person was a representation of "wealth."
When Arima Teru was city lord, his capital value was immense. Even if he hadn't called, Shinnō would have rushed over immediately to save him.
But Arima Teru had brought Ryosuke here. No, even if he hadn't brought Ryosuke, just the exposure of the barrier alone was enough for public opinion to pull him down from the position of city lord.
Once no longer the city lord, Arima Teru's capital value neared zero.
In the Land of Wind, who would do a losing business?
Arima Teru knew this well, yet still asked Shinnō for help.
"Once you sit at the table, you must obey the table's rules. If you lack this awareness, how are you any different from those sly civilians at the bottom?"
The adjutant nodded, his eyes toward Shinnō filled with reverence.
Such boldness, such awareness, this was why they willingly died for Shinnō.
Shinnō enjoyed the reverence of his subordinates, the corner of his mouth lifting in a smile, yet in his eyes flickered a trace of gloom.
He had thought he could buy more time.
The operation of General Hōjaku attacking Konoha had been arranged entirely by Shinnō.
Especially after Hōjaku General set out, the "Shinnō" who contacted him was not Shinnō himself, but a substitute found through Transformation Technique.
Even to ensure the substitute wouldn't be exposed, during this period the substitute carried out tasks similar to Shinnō's.
This way, even if Ryosuke came searching, he would only find a stand-in arranged hundreds of li away, which could stall for another two or three days.
Two or three days, under the effect of the barrier, was enough to turn nearly half of Gorin City's lower class into lunatics driven mad by repression and despair. All their negative emotions would, through the pipeline, flow into the body of the Zero-Tails.
The Zero-Tails would possess power surpassing all tailed beasts.
But no one expected that the "rats" of Gorin City would destroy the barrier.
All because of Arima Yukito.
This was why he did not allow subordinates to have self-will, and required all to act solely by his orders.
Often one fool was enough to ruin a precise plan.
Shinnō took a deep breath, suppressing the anger in his heart, and gave the order,
"Activate the Sky Fortress."
The command spread along the broadcast, transmitted to every corner of the gigantic Sky Fortress.
Chhhh!
The hills on the surface trembled violently, moved to the sides, and opened, revealing a huge pit. Beneath the pit, a steel fortress several hundred meters long slowly rose from underground.
[Engines preheating…]
[Triple defense barrier expanding… Main cannon, secondary cannon self-checks complete, targeting system and radar synchronized…]
One after another, messages fed back to the main control room. One after another, indicator lights turned from dark red to green, until the final message came, [Flight engines preheating complete, output efficiency 81%.]
The Sky Fortress suddenly trembled slightly, lifted off the ground, and rose into the air. Countless sand and dust fell, and it climbed to cloud height.
Shinnō stood before the display screen, overlooking distant Gorin City.
"Gentlemen, I am honored to fight together with you. Let us go together to suppress Ryosuke."
Shinnō spoke in a deep voice, "Sky Fortress, Unit Two, launch."
Acceleration to hundreds of kilometers per hour took only a few seconds. The clouds on both sides were thrown back into streaks.
The fortress cannon gathered radiance, and one second later, the muzzle aimed at the city below, firing a beam of annihilating laser.
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
patreon.com/XenosX
🥳Joining Patreon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰