Three Giants in a Three-Way Underworld Clash
So, three massive powers locked in a three-way standoff, huh?
Breck, the head of the Nostra Family's Imperial Capital branch, always started his mornings early. It was only natural for someone who dealt in information.
Arriving at the Dale Newspaper building—Nostra's public-facing front—faster than anyone else, Breck headed straight to the top floor.
Bang.
As he flung open the door to the top floor, a faint cigar scent gently tickled his nose.
"Heh, already been and gone."
Guessing the owner of that scent, Breck eyed the stack of papers that hadn't been on his desk the night before.
This wasn't the first time he'd collaborated with Abel, but this speed was something else.
"Looks like he's in quite a hurry."
Bringing up the raid on his usual haunt, Glen Luna, had clearly been a masterstroke.
Breck lifted the bundle of ledgers Abel had delivered—no, ledgers from rival families—with both hands and smacked them down to straighten them out.
The thickness of the stack felt substantial in his grip.
"..."
About three days had passed since Abel arrived in the capital.
The outline of the original drug purge operation had been this: The couriers transporting the drug had long been pinpointed. Capture them, trace the drug back upstream, and wipe out the source.
In the meantime, there were those Awakened with abilities from the drug itself. And since they'd produced it, the ringleaders were half-assumed to be Awakened too.
So, it made sense for Breck to commission the strongest Awakened he knew—Abel.
But the operation had gone sideways from the start.
"Damn church..."
Breck muttered a quiet grudge against the church, the root of the mess, without thinking.
The church. Unlike Nostra's shadowy dealings, they operated in the open, drawing attention.
Of course, they'd tried to keep it discreet.
The problem was, non-experts trying to stay stealthy? How discreet could it really be?
Word had already spread through the underworld's major families that the church was moving against the hottest drug, Miraz.
As a result, Miraz distribution had ground to a halt.
With the church scooping it up like rats, suppliers had no choice but to cut off the flow.
"Haa..."
Of course, the church wasn't at fault here.
From their perspective, Nostra—dragging in the drugs themselves—were just criminals.
Priests wouldn't even consider partnering with crooks, and if they did, they'd deny and ignore it.
It was just frustrating that an operation expected to wrap up quick had dragged on.
Rustle. Rustle.
So, as a Plan B, they'd targeted nearby minor families.
Miraz was already off the streets.
The distributors they'd identified had only been peddling double- and triple-sourced batches from suppliers. Once supplies dried up, every last bit sold out fast.
They needed intel on any minor families even tangentially linked to past Miraz ops.
Stitching tiny threads of info and tracing them upstream was Nostra's bread and butter.
Rustle rustle.
With that, Breck began sifting through the ledgers Abel had brought back from purging minor families nearby.
"These books are a total mess."
Calling them ledgers was generous—the dates, times, notations were a disaster.
No formal training, so it was expected, but pages of illegible scrawl still drew a sigh.
He spent hours poring over them, summarizing key points on a notepad beside.
Knock knock.
As morning sun rose and sunlight poured through the windows, a knock sounded.
"Come in."
Guessing who it was, Breck didn't even glance at the door.
Creeeak.
"Pardon the intrusion, Mr. Breck."
"Ah, yeah. Set it down here."
At his word, his secretary placed the ledgers brought by Nostra operatives beside him.
"Ledgers from yesterday's minor family purge."
"Hmm... not much volume, huh?"
Breck roughly gauged the stack his secretary had brought.
Visibly thinner than what Abel delivered.
"Yes. We raided, but they knew and put up a fight—injuries on our side..."
"Aah, got it. No need for details; I can guess."
The church was purging drugs, Nostra was moving. Families oblivious to that were doomed anyway. Yesterday's targets clearly weren't clueless.
Even Nostra couldn't shrug off bullets—humans die from gunshot wounds, no matter how tough.
Breck cut off his secretary, who was gearing up for a full rundown from 1 to 100.
She was highly capable, but her overly detailed reports were her one flaw.
"...These ones from Mr. Abel?"
"Yeah, pretty much."
"Impressive."
The stack was massive at a glance.
How many outfits had he hit? Hard to fathom.
Even accounting for strength, this gap between a lone wolf and full organizations?
"Mr. Breck, mind if I ask something?"
Curiosity piqued, the secretary blurted it out.
"...What?"
"We already know Mr. Abel's strong."
A single man rated equal to the underworld's top dogs like Nostra? That alone overflowed proof.
"But this? Strength alone doesn't explain it. How's this even possible?"
She held a high Nostra position herself.
But after Abel trashed Nostra once, his intel was classified top-secret—details scarce.
At her curious question, born of that context, Breck set down his ledger and sipped the coffee she'd brought.
"Hmm..."
Other operatives asking this? Out the door. But his secretary? Fine.
She knew her standing, which was why she asked.
Guessing as much, Breck chuckled shortly and spoke slowly.
"Well, Abel's strength is undeniably top-tier."
But that wasn't his real edge.
After clashing with him firsthand, Breck had pinpointed the true source.
"You know the traits of Awakened abilities?"
His secretary rattled off what she knew.
"Yes. Instinctively awakened, so unlike magic, they're fast or erratic in attacks."
Spot on.
Awakened powers: Still a mystery unsolved by scientists or mages.
Mana infused with unique traits, exercisable just by channeling it. Opposite of rational magic users.
"And they're often hyper-specialized."
One-on-one beasts weak against mobs, and vice versa.
Consensus: Tied to instincts or personality.
"Correct."
Breck nodded lightly.
"But Abel's different."
"Pardon...?"
Savoring the aroma wafting through his sinuses, he replied in a slightly subdued tone.
"His ability's biggest strength? A perfect hexagon—all sides maxed."
Offense, manifestation, defense, range, stealth.
"Even tops recon and info warfare."
"That's..."
Breck smirked at her shock, like watching a fun play.
Yeah, how stunned he'd been analyzing Abel post their first clash.
If just raw power, easy exploits.
Even Awakened fall to special-coated sniper rounds.
Or endless waves to grind their mind to dust.
But Abel? No dice.
"That day, Abel stormed Nostra solo—with manifested clones."
One-on-one or one-vs-many: Always dominant.
"Each clone packed roughly Knight-level power. Guess how many?"
"...Uh... twenty-ish?"
She looked doubtful.
Clone abilities existed, but Knight-grade twenties? Unimaginable.
Probably inflating based on rep, since Breck said it.
Breck gave a dry laugh.
"A hundred."
"Pardon...?"
"Number of clones he unleashed raiding us."
Pure annihilation.
Nostra resisted desperately, but it melted like ice tossed in midsummer streets.
"..."
His secretary stared blankly.
"Anyway, this pace? He's holding back."
Probably wants to wipe 'em all, but that'd collapse the underworld ecosystem.
Abel knew it—moving fast but throttling speed.
"So now you get why Nostra classifies one man's intel as top-secret?"
"...Yes."
Her voice trembled in reply.
In the heart of the Imperial Capital, the empire's busiest café—Mist and I ordered decent coffee, then I eyed her across the table.
"So."
I'd picked the ritziest spot here, the secret room, on purpose. Repeating what Mist told me this morning.
"Nebula Duke Family's jumped into this drug purge too. Right?"
"Yes."
She answered curtly, calmly forking into her dessert.
"Hmm..."
Nebula meddling in underworld biz?
Well, they're called the kings of it—par for the course.
Problem was...
"So now, one drug's got Nostra Family, Church of Light, and Nebula Duke Family all moving?"
Counting on fingers: Absurd lineup.
Overkill? Or smart roots-up extermination before disaster brews?
"But Nebula has a request."
"Hm? Request?"
"Yes."
Click.
"Their execution squad's mobilizing, but they want to appraise actual Miraz samples. They'd like Nostra's secured Miraz for inspection—can you help?"