The headquarters of Black Ring was located at the eastern edge of the Graverock Block.
An abandoned logistics center.
Deep inside it.
In the innermost room, leaning back in a massive chair, Toph was playing a game.
With over half his body covered in cyberware, he could hardly even be called human.
Embedded in the nape of his neck was a 6th Tier ACU.
Unlike standard ACUs, his was partially exposed above the skin, with thick circuit boards, cooling units, and auxiliary computing modules trailing along his neck, shoulders, and spine.
He was focused on a large holographic screen floating in the room.
Grotesque monsters swarmed across the screen, and Toph popped them one by one with a flick of his finger.
Bang.
Bang, bang.
Boom.
Every time a monster exploded on the screen, the corners of Toph's mouth curled upward.
"That's it. Come get some, you bastards."
As his metallic fingers swept through the air, the reticle split into three, impaling the enemies on screen simultaneously.
"Okay, you're dead."
When the next enemy appeared in front of him, Toph shifted his gaze toward it.
"Dead."
One.
"Dead."
Another enemy went down.
That was when it happened.
The door was flung open violently.
"B-Boss!"
As an underling rushed inside, gasping for breath, Toph's finger hesitated for a fraction of a second.
In that split second.
A monster on the screen slipped behind Toph's character.
And a few seconds later, an alarm chimed.
[CRITICAL DAMAGE]
[MISSION FAILED]
The room fell dead silent.
A red failure message hovered across the holographic screen.
The underling's face froze, only now realizing what he had just done.
"Ah...."
Toph remained motionless, staring silently at the screen for a while.
Then, he slowly turned his head.
"Hey."
He lowered his voice.
"Do you have any idea what you just did?"
At his words, all color drained from the subordinate's face.
"B-Boss. That's... I have an urgent report...."
Toph flicked his finger, and a blue light flashed briefly.
The low-tier ACU embedded in the subordinate's neck began to overheat, glowing brightly.
"Huh?"
He grabbed at his own neck, and then—
in the next instant, his neck snapped.
Crack.
Toph lowered his hand impassively, clicking his tongue in irritation.
"Ruined my mood."
Leaning heavily back against his chair, he vented his frustration.
"Fuck, that was an important run."
While the other underlings in the room barely dared to breathe, Toph nudged the dead lackey with the tip of his foot.
"Clear it out."
Two men immediately rushed over to drag the body away, while another swiftly wiped up the stains left on the floor.
Toph lightly cracked his neck from side to side.
"So."
He looked at another subordinate standing in the corner of the room.
"What was so damn important that you had to cause such a fuss and interrupt me?"
The subordinate was trembling violently.
Growing even more irritated by the sight, Toph narrowed his eyes.
"Why are you making such a fuss? If it's over nothing, I'll snap your neck next."
The underling gulped at his threat.
"W-Well, that is...."
"Spit it out."
"There's... someone running wild causing chaos in our territory...."
Toph's face contorted.
"Causing chaos?"
As his expression shifted, the subordinate flinched involuntarily.
Toph leaned forward.
"Caausing chaos?"
He slowly tapped his fingers against the armrest of his chair.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
And then.
"You fucking bastard."
Toph roared in a burst of rage.
"Why do you think I cleaned up the territory and handed it over to you guys?"
When the subordinates failed to answer, Toph let out a dry scoff.
"So you'd manage it properly on your own, right?"
"Y-Yes, sir...."
"Then what the fuck did you just say?"
Toph sprang to his feet, hurling his chair aside.
"There's someone running wild?"
The subordinate started to step back, but froze upon realizing there was nowhere to run.
A red, reticle-like light glowed in Toph's left eye.
"One guy?"
"Yes...."
"Just one?"
"T-That's correct...."
"Ran wild in our territory?"
"Yes...."
"For how many days?"
The subordinate's lips trembled.
"T-Three... no, about four days...."
The air in the room froze solid at his words.
Toph said nothing for a long while.
Yet after a brief silence, he scoffed in sheer disbelief.
"Four days...."
He nodded slowly.
"One guy's been running wild in my territory for four days, and you're only reporting it now?"
The underling's knees shook.
"I-I'm sorry! At first, we just thought it was a turf war...."
"A turf war, is it?"
Toph repeated his words.
"Right. That could happen."
He pointed a finger.
"Then why does your face look like complete shit?"
Bruises and cuts remained across the subordinate's face.
At the sight of the wounds that had yet to fully heal, Toph narrowed his eyes further.
"Did you get beaten up too?"
The subordinate couldn't answer, confirming it with his silence.
Toph stared up at the ceiling for a moment, then suddenly burst out laughing.
"Haha."
No one in the room dared to laugh along; nobody was crazy enough to laugh when a single breath could get them killed.
Toph laughed, then abruptly wiped the expression from his face.
"Pathetic bastards."
He slowly approached the subordinate and asked,
"So what kind of bastard is he?"
"He wears a black mask."
"A mask?"
"Yes. We couldn't confirm his face. He operates at night, usually appearing from rooftops or up above the alleys."
"Is he a Magician?"
"T-That doesn't seem to be the case."
Toph sank into thought for a moment at his answer.
"He's not?"
"There's no ACU response. We couldn't pick up any registered signal, either. But his movements...."
The subordinate swallowed dryly.
"They're strange."
"How so?"
"He doesn't seem to use magic, yet he subdued ACU users with ridiculous ease.... Besides, he didn't appear to have any special cyberware, but his movements were remarkably adept.... Like a trained soldier...."
At the subordinate's words, Toph's tense expression began to soften slightly.
His interest had been piqued.
"Didn't he just jump the low-tier guys?"
"It was mostly 1st and 2nd Tiers. But... today, even a 3rd Tier was taken down."
Toph tapped the ACU on the nape of his neck with his metal fingers.
"What about the ACUs?"
"He tore them out."
"Did he kill them?"
"He left most of them alive."
The corner of Toph's mouth twisted.
"Left them alive?"
"Yes. He doesn't kill them, he only takes the ACUs."
"What the hell is with that bastard?"
Toph sat back down in his chair and stared into empty space.
A black mask and extraordinary movements.
He wasn't equipped with any special cyberware.
A guy who skillfully handled ACU users and ripped out only their ACUs without killing them.
"A thief?"
Toph muttered.
"...Or a technician?"
No.
That wasn't enough to explain it.
'A soldier...?'
"...?"
"Interesting."
Hearing those words, the subordinate grew even more terrified; every person Toph had taken an interest in had ended up dead.
"How many ACUs did we lose because of that bastard?"
"Twelve that we've confirmed, sir."
"Ha."
Toph clicked his tongue.
"The money is one thing, but stealing goods right out of my territory?"
Reaching out, he grabbed the glass from the side table and took a sip.
The pungent stench of hard liquor filled the air.
"And making a joke out of my name."
Crunch.
The glass was crushed inside his metal hand, its shards scattering onto the floor.
Toph asked slowly.
"What are the punks on the streets saying?"
"...."
"Speak."
When the underling hesitated to answer, Toph tapped him lightly with a grin.
"Speak. I'm not going to kill you."
Nobody believed those words, but the subordinate had to answer nonetheless.
"That he's a black-masked Hero...."
The smile vanished from Toph's face.
"A Hero?"
"Yes...."
Toph stared at the subordinate for a moment, then lowered his head.
His shoulders shook faintly, as if he were chuckling quietly.
But the laughter did not last long.
He suddenly snapped his head up and echoed the word.
"A Heroooo?"
His voice grew louder.
"In my territory?"
Toph rose from his seat.
"Fine."
Stroking his chin, he spoke to his men.
"Find him."
"Pardon?"
"Find that black-masked bastard and bring him to me."
He flexed his metal fingers, curling and uncurling them one by one.
His artificial joints clicked and snapped.
"If he's alive, I'll tear him apart with my own hands."
Murderous intent swirled in his eyes.
"If he's dead, bring me his corpse."
The subordinate bowed his head.
"Y-Yes, sir! We'll get on it right away!"
"And."
Toph's voice halted them in their tracks.
"Those bastards who spread rumors calling him a Hero."
Toph grinned viciously.
"Rip their mouths open first."
At his command, the subordinate's face turned stark white.
"Understood...."
"Get out."
The underlings practically fled the room.
The door shut, leaving Toph alone in the room once again.
Sitting in his chair, he stared at the game screen.
[MISSION FAILED]
Then he clicked his tongue.
"Fuck."
***
"...el."
He seemed to hear someone calling out.
"Kael."
Only then did Kael lift his head.
"...?"
Mira was looking at him from across the bar counter.
"What are you doing in the middle of eating?"
Kael looked down at the spoon in his hand.
He saw the soup, which had not yet gone cold.
"No."
He began moving his spoon again.
"It's nothing."
"That wasn't an 'it's nothing' look on your face."
"I always look like this."
"Can't deny that."
Mira sighed as she wiped down a glass.
Then, she spoke in a hushed voice.
"The Black Ring guys have been acting strange lately."
Kael took a spoonful of soup.
"Is that so?"
"Yeah."
Mira glanced around the room before continuing.
"The rumors floating around aren't good. They're patrolling way more than usual, dragging people off to interrogate them, and even hunting down whoever started the rumor."
Kael asked calmly.
"What rumor?"
Mira stared intently at him.
"The rumor about the black-masked Hero."
"I see."
Mira set down the glass.
"You be careful too."
Kael replied tersely.
"Sure."
"You're just tuning me out right now, aren't you?"
"I'm listening."
"Then why is that your reaction?"
While they spoke, Kael finished off the soup.
"Because someone stirred up a hornet's nest."
Mira furrowed her brows at his words.
"What?"
"I mean it's only a natural outcome."
Kael picked up the bread sitting beside his plate.
Stirring up a hornet's nest.
The expression was accurate. No, in fact, no phrase suited the current situation better.
Kael had cleaned out Black Ring members in the Graverock Block and ripped out their ACUs, and those rumors had inevitably circulated until they reached Toph's ears.
Retaliation was a given.
In fact, judging by the timing, he thought they had reacted rather late.
'Soon enough.'
Kael dipped the bread into the soup.
'Is it time to blow away the entire hornet's nest?'
He recalled Pale's 6th Tier ACU resting inside his pocket.
Over the past few days, he had dismantled and consumed low-tier ACUs to check their reaction with his Magic Circuit.
A 1st Tier ACU was close to an ember.
Barely enough to cast a single, basic spell formula.
The 2nd Tier was better than that.
It lingered in the circuit a bit longer, and its output was stable.
And the 4th Tier used by Pale's subordinate was distinctly different.
After all, it was enough for his Magic Circuit to recall its past flow, if only for a brief moment.
Then what about a 6th Tier?
"...."
As tiers rose, output wasn't the only thing that increased.
It affected everything—mana purity, density, the deployment speed of spell formulas, and more.
Every single factor changed.
And Kael's Magic Circuit reacted to the mana scattering the moment that artificial circuit shattered.
If a lower tier was an ember, a higher tier was comparable to firewood.
If so.
What would a 6th Tier be like?
Rather than a brief flash, it might make an entire, full-fledged battle possible.
No, perhaps even more than that....
Of course, a 6th Tier ACU carried the risk of drawing unwanted attention if its output wasn't properly controlled, but if handled well, the reward would be far greater.
Besides, there was another 6th Tier in Graverock.
Toph, the boss of Black Ring.
Kael finished his bread and dusted off his hands.
'Just once.'
His eyes settled calmly.
'Shall I test it out?'