---

Thespian would step back as Baron activated her authority, a quick glance told her that it seems to be related on issuing commands. Domination or compulsion, probably a question for later.

Now that the monster is down it is time to go for the beast.

And it seems Signora has the same idea.

She looked at the Persona pinned by the knives Signora laid as let Daji make the upper end of staff catch fire with Eiha before staring at the Inugami.

She let out a wink before slamming the blazing staff into its ugly face.

---

BATTLE OVER

The sound of flames burning out and grunts from a disgruntled grunt were the knell that signaled the conclusion of this encounter. A situation under control, enough that the two girls in the back were able to casually walk up to the Chimeratix grunt on the ground as Noblesse began to tie him up with some rope nearby. Hands and arms bound, and seated up against the back wall of the dusty old station, and his phone out of reach which Noblesse had already begun scrolling through. "... Well well, your old fearless leader's been a naughty boy it seems..."

"H-hey... Whatever you do, please don't check my p-pictures",

Noblesse appeared to be about to say something, opening his mouth yet he stopped, frozen. Closed his mouth and shook his head a little. "Your tastes are barely anything to be ashamed of, I've seen worse... But I'm after the chats anyway", he began to scroll through what appeared to be a chatlog on a special app. After a few seconds he pointed at a carriage on the train.

"Someone check the second carriage. There should be a box wrapped in cloth and rope. It's not very big, or shouldn't be, bring it here."

There was a brief wait as one of the group went and retrieved it. Seeing as Baron was the big man here it was most likely him to go and get it. There was a particular tension in the air, why this box? More importantly, what as in it? Noblesse once the box was settled pulled out his saber and cut into it, exposing the lid from the cloth and rope, before prying it open. He simply reached into it, his arm sinking into the veritable pile of fake gold, before he pulled out what appeared to be a satchel. The Chimeratix grunt seemed to appear dejected.

"Man, this was meant to be an easy job..."

Noblesse produced from the satchel what appeared to be well... First of all, there was some expensive cosmetics, money, some loose jewelry, there was even some cans which one had to guess was also stolen. For the moment, it appeared that these trains were being used to transport stolen goods, likely to a fence. And then his demeanor changed, "well well, would you look at that."

It was a small bag of powder. The Chimeratix member looked up, there was a reaction, shock.

"W-wait! I wasn't- No one told me about that stuff!"

"Yeah, you're probably right. I've actually been looking into your group, narcotics weren't your thing... Until now that is", there was an odd sense of relief that this super powered group wasn't about to abuse him for something he didn't know. The Chimeratix member piped up again.

"I-I'll tell you everything I know... Lately the boss of... This place, the 'fixer', 'mastermind', 'planner', whatever, he uses this to transport goods we steal. You steal, enter metaverse, drop it at a station and it gets hidden in the cargo. Goes all the way up to the big building. My job's really just to sit around and make sure the shadows keep workin'..."

"I see, and now the big man's looking to 'level up' his game huh..."

"Y-yeah... I guess... Guess he is"

If anyone had anymore questions for him now was the time. As for what was to become of him, Noblesse planned to simply let him go. Probably just destroy his phone as soon as the interrogation was done too. He had the information he wanted, it confirmed his investigation. If the representation of areas was to be believed, the 109 in the real world was the base of their target, but it couldn't be that easy right...? There was no way they could just storm the 109 to find who-the-hell-knows.

---

Signora suppressed the urge to roll her eyes as the Chimeratix member started begging Noblesse not to check the pictures on her phone. Was that really what this man was concerned about at a time like this?

'...Hold on', she thought. Why was she even suppressing the urge to roll her eyes?

She knew why. 'Because it isn't proper for a lady of good upbringing to do such an uncouth thing'. And that doing something that can be seen as provocative might end up making people have the wrong impression of her. They already did, even with her carefully curating the sort of attitude and mannerism she presented to the world.

But, well...she decided to start speaking her mind more and care less about those sorts of things. Might as well start now.



"...You are working for a criminal syndicate making use of a supernatural phenomenon to smuggle goods, and you are concerned over some salacious pictures on your phone? How pathetic are you?"

Her tone was haughty and imperious, completely unlike the usual demure and polite tone Hikari Kasuga usually spoke with. It surprised Signora how easily it came out, to be honest. Liberating, almost. Perhaps it was because she was wearing a mask, both figuratively and literally. Not merely the one she was wearing physically, but that of anonymity. The man did not know who she was beneath the mask; thus, just as it was easier to brazenly speak without filter in the anonymity of the internet, a similar concept applied here.

"So what do we do now?" She asked Noblesse, "I don't think the police would accept the explanation that 'a criminal syndicate is smuggling illegal goods, including drugs' using another world. But realistically speaking, the best way to dismantle them is to hit them both here in the Metaverse and in the real world. We can handle dismantling their operation in the Metaverse, but for the real world...that would be difficult without involving the police."

Then, she briefly glanced at the man, before looking at the rest of the group again, "As for this man..." Signora stopped, hesitating. She REALLY did not like to use her authority. However...if it would help, then maybe...

"...How essential would it be to turn him into a 'mole' so to speak?"

After inadvertently using her authority on her friend, Signora felt it was wrong to merely use it. Especially as it concerns taking control of another person's free will and forcing them to think and behave in a certain way.

But if using her authority led to the dismantlement of a powerful criminal syndicate...that was also a form of redemption, right?

When the exact specifications on the box were mentioned, all eyes turned to Baron. “On it.” He said, stepping off the goon’s neck now that he was restrained. It wasn’t hard to find, other than knocking aside a few crates of that borderline weightless fake gold and jewelry to get to it, as the crate had been hidden well. Perhaps a side effect of Noblesse having been here before, perhaps just a coincidence. If it was them heightening security, this was only going to get worse.

The crate wasn’t all too heavy on it’s own, but it had actual weight, which was a sign in and of itself. It was small enough Baron didn’t need help to move it out, and once Noblesse had cut the ropes, Baron supplied a pry bar that one of the shadows was kind enough to leave for them. Baron couldn’t help but at least look over the ill-gotten gains of Chimeratix, curious more than anything. “Hm… gotta be at least, what? A hundred grand worth of stuff in here? Maybe more.” Baron mused, before being unable to help himself, and looking through the cans out of pure curiosity. “Oh come on! If you’re gonna steal booze, at least steal something that doesn’t taste like dog piss.” He muttered to himself, going through what was mostly cheap beer and sake, but Osamu was able to find at least one six-pack of something halfway decent that wasn’t some fancy liquor to scam rich people. He set it aside, kidnapping what they had rightfully stolen in the spirit of heroic thieves across time and myth.

There was one question Baron had that this man was in a position to answer, he realized. It’d give them all an idea of just how large the organization was, if nothing else. “How much cargo goes through the domain day-to-day? The real shit, not all this meta-junk gold and jewels.” He asked, shifted his sabaton closer to the man as a silent threat. It probably wasn’t needed, but it was easier for him to be intimidating than convincing.

Baron scratched his chin at the point Signora had brought up. His time with them had given him some insights into how they ran as an organization, and between that and general knowledge about how an organization like Chimeratix functions, he was able to make a few connections.

“Police are already looking for ‘em. But if we take down how they move their shit without it getting traced back to ‘em, that means there’ll be actual evidence for the cops to do their job. Not to mention, it’ll be harder for ‘em to slip away if we can make the metaverse unsafe enough for ‘em by being…” Baron paused, searching for the word. “...proactive.”

“Can I see his phone for a second?” He asked Noblesse, ignoring the gallery section of his phone, and going his texts. It didn’t take him too long to pin down the guy’s name.

“Oh, and if you go back to Chimeratix, or any other group like this? We’ll fuckin’ find you.” Baron said, handing the phone back to Noblesse. “Hiroto Goya.” He punctuated the man’s name with a glare beneath his visor, just to get the point across. They, or at least he, wouldn’t be making good on that threat. But if they could scare him straight, that’d be one less guy falling back into hurting people for money.

---

Shirona would also be staring in disgust on the man asking to have his gallery kept private. She knew what she'd be talking about even without her Authority backing her. Regardless she kept it open watching the conversations unfold.

Huh? Just when she thought Hikari is nothing but a mere victim of slander, it seems that there is some kernel of truth about her being unpleasant. Or maybe became one in some manner of self fulfilling prophecy, she'll be keeping tabs.

Meanwhile Osamu seemed not just be an average delinquent, in fact it could be said that he might be connected to this Chimeratrix in some way. That’s not what she's focused on though.

"Keep some for me, had plans to try drinking just workig out the courage." she spoke with a smile although it is clear she is underage to even think of it.

"As for the drugs, burn it and make sure it would never be seen again." she spoke to apprehended man is not sure why she had such a visceral reaction, she heard of celebreties engaging to keep up with the pressure only to dig their own graves.

Maybe she'll pay more attention if those things aren't around?

Thespian's eyes will laid out on Signora as she activates her authority, noting every single changes in the flames between the two.

Closing her eyes she heard the Baron's threat and noted, they do not have a way of enforcing that, they'll just need to rely of fear and infamy doing it's magic.

She can and will add the former.

---

"There'll be no need, though the idea has merit it would be wasted on him. We can just shoot his phone out and send him off. He has no loyalty to this gang besides money, and who knows if we can trust him ourselves anyway. Plus there's no information or usage he has that is worth the effort", referring to the idea of turning him into an inside man, Noblesse continued. It would be framing the man, it didn't seem like he knew where they came from either, someone was inserting them into their operation pipeline.

"Besides, we don't know where these are coming from... And I doubt him telling us when they pass through would help", or even if this was the key into the main city in this Metarealm. So what to do? His hand slipped over his revolver, he wanted to just shoot the phone and send this guy on his way, whatever way there was into the heart of this realm, it wasn't with this guy.

"I-if you guys wanna... Bust this whole thing, I dunno if it's... Any use but, I got something about this world... If you guys will let me go after", Noblesse pulled his hand away from his holster and turned his attention back to the thug. "Oh is that so?"

"S-so there's... Shadows here... In this town", of course there were, such a phrase only made Noblesse tilt his head in confusion, as if requiring elaboration. "Not like, the ones you guys just fought but... They 'live' in this town... There were instructions to... Not listen to a word they say. I thought it was weird, but they kept saying to give them back the station..."

Noblesse pursed his lips... Well, they could go out and check all of this right now. It would also be a lot better than just going home right away, seeing as they got some answers on how to navigate this world. Now they were being told there might be residents of this world too with their own communities.

"Interesting...Alright, Hiroto Goya, I think I can let you go. Are we all agreed?" He turned back to the group, it seemed that they had some choice words earlier but he wondered how they felt now.

"Though as for these drugs... Can you tell me how that bag we got was meant to be transported?"

"Ah... W-well, there's a courier shadow here, they take them to a major terminal in another town"

"Hm, I see... You all may disagree, but I think we should let this get sent for now. The Sovereign has no idea we're here, so let's keep it that way. As for you Hiroto, I think you should consider a new phone", Noblesse's reasoning was to stay undetected, there was merit to this. They weren't here to destroy a single bag, in fact they weren't even aware of this going in. Noblesse had suspicion this was signs of something starting, afterall Chimeratix was not known at all to deal in narcotics, but they had such a network setup now... Them deciding to delve into things more organized crime syndicates did systemically was the most likely scenario unfolding. Now as for their Chimeratix guest... The last words Noblesse gave him connected in his head in real time, as he looked at his phone in shock.

"Huh? H-hey wai-"



The gunshot rang out with Noblesse holding the smoking gun, cutting the young man off as he burst into red flames that were associated with the app. Leaving behind nothing but a phone with a hole through it, nasty cracks through it typical of a bullet through glass. Everyone present had the distinct suspicion he wanted to keep his phone untouched for... Reasons, but sadly that was not in the cards, not ever.

"Now then, should we see what these 'Shadows' of this town are about?"

---

"Understood," Signora said with a nod, as her proposal was rejected.

In truth, she was actually relieved.

Even now, she felt uncomfortable using her authority. She would, in fact, like it if she never used her Authority ever again. That said, considering their scope of activity, she could not deny the usefulness of her Authority.

"The fact that they have instructions to not listen to what these shadows said is curious, yes," Signora said, before elaborating, "As I understand it, a Kingdom is an area where a Ruler's Authority is exerted, correct? Our target's wish was 'the Freedom to do as I like', as I mentioned earlier, an absolute freedom in the sense that the 'freedom to do as I like' is only possible if you suppress other people's freedom to protest. As Authority seems to be the means granted by the Black Crown app to fulfil the wish...I would assume that our target's authority is something that would help him 'ensure his will'. Thus, the fact that these shadows' are seemingly outside of his control to the point he had to tell his men not to listen to the shadows meant that these shadows must have some way to nullify or at least mitigate the Authority of this Kingdom's Ruler."

Signora then replayed the previous battle in her mind, where her teammates had used their Authority. And that authority was certainly effective. She could only imagine how much more effective the Authority of the Kingdom's Ruler would be, considering they were in his territory.

"It would probably be wise for us to seek out these shadows in the off chance that they have methods to counter the Ruler's Authority. Also, by the fact that they apparently kept saying to 'give back the station', then they also have cause to depose the Ruler, no? All of the Metaverse seems to work on Jungian Archetypes, so I'm not sure how viable an alliance with a shadow would be, considering they are the 'side rejected and repressed by a person's ego' according to Jungian theory. But that might merit consideration. Though I suppose technically 'someone's repressed side' can be positive or negative."