The one and only bona fide Shadow Rider, Titan, entered with his head held high, walking past a roomful of undercover agents watching him. He came around the table to this end and happened to sit right beside Don Zaloog.
A brief silence.
Don Zaloog couldn't help sneaking a couple of glances.
Sensing the odd, slightly pitying look, Titan turned and frowned.
"What?"
"N-nothing."
Don Zaloog paused, feeling the air grow a bit awkward.
He tried to make small talk: "How's it going lately?"
Titan gave him a strange look.
"Same old," Titan rumbled.
"Tough business, huh?"
"Mm," Titan grunted.
And then there was nothing to say.
Fortunately, the awkward silence didn't last.
Soon, the electronic screen behind the far-end chair lit up. Everyone looked up, their eyes focusing on the giant display.
The image, as always, was a blurry silhouette. The background looked like underwater, with bubbles occasionally rising. Within that water was a massive dark shape, not human—more like some deep-sea creature with long tentacles and a huge body, evoking certain unnameable sea monsters.
But only Lyman in the room knew it wasn't water, but a life-support tank. Those weren't tentacles but a tangle of life-support cables.
On the other end of the screen was a mortally ill old man, yet he projected a mysterious, hazy authority.
The old man swept his gaze across them. His indistinct, low voice said, "Is everyone here?"
Tania's gaze swept the room.
"There should be seven," Tania said. "I only count five."
"That is all."
The old man spoke lightly.
"Nightshroud and Camula failed. They're dead."
The room's aura grew heavy.
After a moment, Don Zaloog took a deep breath, as if steeling himself.
To hell with it.
He slapped the table with a bang and shot to his feet.
The old man on screen looked at him coldly.
"You have a question?"
"Damn right."
Don Zaloog had been intimidated at the thought of confronting the mysterious boss, but remembering that most of the room was on his side, he grew bolder.
"We've been risking life and limb for you, doing jobs where death's around every corner. Now two of our comrades are down, and to this day we still haven't even seen your face."
Don Zaloog shook his head.
"I don't know how you people do things, but in our Burglars, trust between brothers is everything," Don Zaloog said. "They trust me, and I'm willing to risk my life for them.
If we can't even manage that basic level of trust, how do we accomplish anything big?"
The old man in the image only looked at him coolly.
"So, have your Burglars accomplished anything big?"
Don Zaloog was momentarily at a loss.
"I think he has a point, though."
Tania spoke up at just the right time to back him.
She crossed her arms and looked up at the old man on the screen.
"We each have our reasons to fight, but it's not to the point where we'll sell our lives unconditionally for you."
"We're risking our lives to fight for you, to seize the Sacred Beasts' cards for you. That's what we agreed to—no problem there. But at the very least, we should know who we're selling our lives for, right?"
"Agreed."
The Pharaoh, who had been largely silent thus far, rarely spoke up as well.
He lifted his head, sharp gaze piercing through the golden mask toward the blurry figure on the screen.
"If one is too cowardly to show his true face, he is unworthy of my hand."
The old man was silent for a few seconds, his gaze slowly sweeping over them.
Then, suddenly, he laughed.
That murky, underwater-like, low voice sounded only more unsettling when laughing.
"You all want to know who I am?"
"You think I've said too little?"
"Heh heh heh, is that so?"
He narrowed his eyes, which suddenly sharpened like a hawk's.
"I believe some of you do sincerely think so. At the same time, there are those trying to fish in troubled waters, hoping to use this chance to probe my identity... The one I'm speaking of should know who he is, no?"
At that, everyone felt a jolt.
Tania said in a low voice, "Are you... suspecting us?"
"Correct."
The old man's tone was cold.
"I fear we have a mole."
The words made everyone start.
Huh?
Only one?
They all began eyeing each other warily.
Only Titan was genuinely shocked, scanning and wondering who the shameless mole could be.
The others were thinking: Who slipped up and got exposed?
Was it me?
"A few days ago, a batch of live alchemical materials went missing," the old man said coolly. "Fine materials, rich in nutrients.
But they were lost.
Only Shadow Riders executives have access to them."
As he spoke, the old man scrutinized them.
"Tell me—where might the leak have come from?"
Silence fell again.
But only for a few seconds.
Then Amnael—Lyman—spoke first.
He pointed straight at Titan and said gravely, "Come to think of it, I noticed it last meeting... After Titan left, he skulked in a shadowy alley and made a call, saying things like 'observe a while longer' and 'I'll probe further'—who were you talking to?"
Titan: "?"
Huh? Did that happen?
"Oh, I think I heard something once too."
Chick, Don Zaloog's underling, chimed in.
"One time I went to the bathroom, and when I came out I heard someone inside say, like, 'We agreed on three months—after three months, another three months,' and 'I'm about to become a Shadow Riders boss'... Now that I think about it, it sounded like Titan."
Titan: "???"
Huh? That happened too?
At that moment, the old tiger that had been dozing in the corner by Tania let out a roar.
Tania said, "Oh? He says he's smelled something off about this guy for a while now—reek of a turncoat."
Meanae: "I've been undercover as the Duel Academy nurse for years. I think I've seen this guy there. I saw him chatting merrily with the Academy's chancellor, coming out of the chancellor's office together. I wondered then how they knew each other..."
"N-no, I didn't!"
Titan was stunned.
"That didn't happen!"
Even the Pharaoh slowly opened his eyes and, for once, spoke.
"A geomancer in my retinue says this man is suspicious."
Titan was dumbfounded. "Even the Pharaoh..."
Then he jerked his head up and met the unfriendly gaze of the Shadow Riders' leader on the screen.
"Titan," the leader asked icily, "anything you wish to explain?"
Titan: "."