"Whaaa—! I didn't know the Triangle was in Orange River…"
Maya's voice carried the kind of innocent astonishment that didn't belong in a place like this.
She pressed herself against the transporter terminal's glass wall, staring down at the city skyline beyond. Orange River stretched far into the horizon — layered highways, low industrial sectors, glass buildings reflecting polluted sunlight.
It looked peaceful.
It wasn't.
"The Triangle isn't in Orange River," I corrected calmly. "This is just a branch district. Why do you think they charged ten merits for the transporter?"
Maya blinked, then frowned.
"…Oh."
While she admired the skyline, I was fighting for my life against the city map.
'Who designed this garbage?'
Orange River was divided into numbered districts — commercial zones, residential corridors, border neighborhoods.
And one special section.
District 13.
The unofficial district.
Underworld territory.
Perfect.
I glanced sideways at Maya.
"You've been here before?"
She nodded.
"A few times."
"Good. Then follow my lead."
District 13
The further we walked from the branch transport hub, the more the city changed.
Clean white pavement turned to cracked asphalt.
Polished storefronts became barred windows.
Security cameras became broken husks hanging from bent poles.
The air grew heavier.
The light dimmer.
Maya's fingers twitched slightly.
"District 13 is dangerous," she whispered.
"It's controlled," I replied.
Dangerous implies chaos.
This wasn't chaos.
It was organized.
Which made it exploitable.
We turned into a narrow alley shadowed by leaning buildings. Smell of moisture. Rusted pipes. Trash bags leaking into gutters.
Maya stopped walking.
Without a word, she reached into her coat and pulled out a white mask painted with faint pink-and-blue accents. It covered everything but her eyes.
Her posture changed instantly.
"Rose," she said quietly.
"Third Black Sky. The Cloudy Sky."
I slipped my own mask on.
Matte black.
Thin red vein-like streaks across it.
"Dragon," I replied.
"First Black Sky. The Stormy Sky."
Her breathing steadied.
She was nervous.
But she was playing along beautifully.
Good.
The Door
We walked until the alley narrowed to what looked like a dead end.
Most people would've turned around there.
They would've missed the small wooden door sunk into the concrete wall.
Weathered.
Unmarked.
Almost embarrassed to exist.
I knocked.
Tap. Tap. Tap… tap.
Pause.
The panel slid open.
Cold eyes stared out.
"What do you want?"
"Read my fortune."
The panel closed.
Lock clicked.
Door opened.
We stepped in.
League of Shadows
The interior staircase was narrow.
Dim.
But clean.
That told me everything I needed to know.
They cared about hierarchy.
Which meant they feared replacement.
At the top of the staircase, light spilled into a lavish reception room.
Velvet sofas.
Glass tables.
Polished wood paneling.
Underworld organizations always overcompensated with decor. They wanted legitimacy they'd never receive.
Sitting behind a large desk was a heavy man with black hair and a small heart tattoo under his eye.
Maximus Sagaza.
Physical stats near peak.
Magic energy pathetic.
Concealment ability powerful.
Future faction leader in Arc 102.
He stood immediately.
"May I see it?"
No greeting.
No introduction.
Just hunger.
I handed him the black-bound manual.
His hands trembled when he flipped through it.
Mid-grade magic control.
Real.
He knew it the moment he saw it.
"I've never heard of you," he said slowly. "May I know your names?"
I inclined my head slightly.
"I am Dragon."
I gestured.
"And this is Rose. We represent Black Heavens."
"…Never heard of it."
"You wouldn't," I said.
"It operates in the Lawless Domain."
That hit.
The Lawless Domain.
The dreamland of criminals.
A place without nations.
Without unified control.
Without predictable consequences.
His eyes sharpened.
Now he was cautious.
"Why are you here?"
"To sell," I answered simply.
"And the price?"
I leaned back casually.
"You."
The Offer
Silence.
His leg stopped bouncing.
"Excuse me?"
"Black Heavens intends to establish a branch inside the human territories," I said calmly.
"You've proven you can control District 13."
He slammed his hands on the desk.
The wood dented.
"I don't take orders from shadows," he growled.
The guards rushed in almost instantly.
Ten men.
Armed.
Disciplined.
Maya didn't flinch.
She simply lifted her hand.
Blue metaphysical energy condensed into a thin blade at her fingertips.
The air grew tight.
Maximus froze.
His breathing hitched.
He could feel it.
This wasn't ordinary magic.
It was refined.
Controlled.
Dangerous.
"Relax," I said, placing my hand over Rose's wrist.
"Don't kill him."
She lowered her hand obediently.
The blade dissolved.
The tension didn't.
"Your physical stats are near the human cap," I continued.
"But without magic control, you've plateaued."
His eyes flicked toward the manual.
I pressed forward.
"Unify Orange River's underworld within thirty days."
"Impressive," I said softly. "You pass."
"And if I refuse?"
I leaned forward.
Let my magic circulate just enough.
Heat filled the room.
Not violent.
Not explosive.
Just enough to remind them we could escalate instantly.
"You lost the right to refuse," I said gently.
"The moment I spoke your family name."
The guards shifted uneasily.
Maximus' jaw tightened.
He pulled out a cigarette with steady hands.
"Light."
I snapped my finger.
Small flame.
Perfect control.
His eyes tracked it carefully.
He inhaled.
Exhaled.
Thinking.
Calculating.
"…And what do I gain?"
"You become the Eighth Black Sky."
That confused him more than the threat.
"And what prestige does that give me?"
I stood.
"Earn it."
Rose stood beside me.
"Thirty days," I said.
"Fail, and District 13 belongs to someone else."
We left without waiting for acceptance.
Because power isn't negotiated.
It's assumed.
On the Walk Back
District 13 faded behind us.
City lights returned.
Noise returned.
Normalcy returned.
Maya finally spoke.
"Does Black Heavens exist?"
I smiled faintly.
"It does now."
She walked in silence for several seconds.
Then—
"I trust you."
That hit more than I expected.
She squeezed my hand gently.
"Did you really give him magic control?"
"No."
"Variation?"
"Yes."
She studied me.
"How?"
I didn't answer.
Because the answer wasn't something I could safely explain.
I'm copying what you did in the novel.
The irony wasn't lost on me.
In the original timeline, Maya regretted selling magic control.
Here?
We engineered dependency.
"Will he succeed?" she asked quietly.
"Yes," I said.
Because I remembered one specific line from the novel:
"Not even the 29th-ranked world esper could penetrate his concealment."
Original bloodlines were not fragile.
They were patient.
We walked back toward the Triangle branch.
Toward the academy.
Toward the version of the story I was actively rewriting.
The underworld would begin moving within a week.
District wars.
Faction consolidation.
Resource shifts.
All outside the Triangle's official influence.
And when the Lawless Domain arc eventually arrived…
We wouldn't be infiltrating it.
We'd own part of it already.
I adjusted my mask before removing it at the branch gate.
"Let the future wait," I said quietly.
"For now, we prepare."
Maya nodded.
The skyline glowed behind us.
And somewhere in District 13,
Maximus Sagaza was deciding whether to become a king—
or a corpse.