Spider Banking, Pearl’s office.

“What? Superfly was attacked?!”

Pearl shouted after receiving a report over the phone.

“Yes, Madam. I’m standing in front of the ruins of Superfly now. The building collapsed and countless are either dead or missing.”

Pearl’s hand that was holding the phone started trembling.

“It’s just as that maid said…”

She bit her lips.

“What about Lucas? Where is Lucas Emilio?!”

“Lucas survived and was carried off by his men. I believe that he’s receiving treatment.”

“He’s injured?”

“I guess so. He stopped the missile from causing widespread damage by stopping it himself. However, it looks like even he couldn’t block a warhead so suddenly. Especially since the tip was made out of Animite so his strength was immediately negated when he touched it.”

“Wait….How do you know that?”

For several seconds Pearl could only hear silence from the other end of the phone.

“That’s because I told him.”

“?!”

Pearl’s body tensed up when she heard the new voice. She was very familiar with it.

“T-Tony….”

“Yo, Pearl. It’s been a long time since we’ve spoken. Sadly, it has to be in this situation.”

Tony’s voice was calm, terrifyingly calm.

“Tony, do you realize what you’re doing?! No matter how close the two of you were, Lucas won’t forgive this!”

“That’s what I’m counting on.”

Pearl could hear Tony smirking.

“Tony!”

“Pearl, even after all these days you’re still the same. You can’t think straight when you’re flustered and some obvious stuff are no longer apparent to you.”

“What?”

“Think about it? You were talking to your subordinate just now and now you’re talking to me.”

“…..What did you do to him?”

Pearl’s eyes became cold.

“Tsk, Tsk, Tsk. You’re still missing an important detail here. I just said that I told him about what was used to attack Lucas. Then doesn’t that mean that he’s been on my side?”

Pearl’s eyes slowly widened as if she just realized something terrifying.

“Looks like you’ve finally got it. Just like how you and Lucas have spies in my faction, I have people in your factions. The only difference between you two and myself is that I actually know every spy in my faction.”

*Ding!*

At that moment the private elevator that connected Pearl’s office to the other floors opened. She looked and saw a few of her employees strapped with all kinds of explosions.

“!”

She swung her hand and strains of light passed her employees and they all were sliced in two from the waist down. There were strings where their corpse were with blood dripping from them.

“From your silence, it looks like you just killed your subordinates.”

Pearl turned her attention back to the phone.

“I see that you’re still quick to panic when facing the unexpected.”

She heard him laugh.

“The explosives are faked and those weren’t my spies. Just people who had their families abducted. I told them all they needed to do to have their family returned to them was to wear those dummies to your office.”

“Wha….”

Pearl looked at the corpses. Upon closer look, the bombs looked like props. Tears came at her eyes as she clenched her teeth.

“Toooonnnnnnnyyyyyyy!”

She roared.

“Calm down, Pearl. It was a mere demonstration. I wanted to show you that I can make your empire crumble whenever I want. The number of spies and hostages I have are unknown. How and when I’ll attack are unknown. But, I’ll let you know this….”

Pearl paused as if she wanted to hear what he was about to say. It was at that moment, that she felt like the building was shaking. Before she could react-

*BOOM!*

The floor underneath her burst open and red hot flames rushed at her.

*BOOOM!*

Not too far away from Spider Banking, Tony Gambino stood on a roof with a smile on his face. He had just witnessed the building exploding. He was currently watching debris falling from the sky and people screaming and fleeing for their lives. He brought the phone he was holding to his mouth.

“There’s a bomb at the basement of your building.”

“………”

As expected he got no response from the other side of the phone. He smiled and threw the phone away. He looked at the man beside him.

“So, How did it feel working on the frontlines, Cole?”

The man had gelled black hair, a pair of square glass, an average face, and was dressed like a salaryman. This was Cole, Tony’s weapons maker.

“It’s a pretty nice feeling seeing your inventions causing this much destruction. It makes working for that woman undercover worthwhile.”

“What? You don’t like Pearl?”

“I don’t dislike her. I just find her boring. All she does is cope up in her office. She isn’t like the gangster I heard about during the last Mafia War.”

“Hahahaha.”

Tony laughed.

“Well, that’s true. She and Lucas mellowed down compared to when they were in their prime. In fact, it wouldn’t take me much to kill them as they are now.”

“But that would be boring, right?”

Tony nodded.

“This is a mere wake up call. They’ll be out for a while but they’ll definitely come back with a vengeance.”

He turned his back to the building.

“After all, they’re not weak kids anymore. They’re Dons for a reason.”

Tony and Cole disappeared from Pearl’s district leaving chaos behind.

Griselda’s, Amelia and Reina came here after being called by Griselda. They were currently in the club. In the club, there were lots of people who the girls didn’t know. They assumed that these were all members of Griselda’s White Tiger.

“I’ll cut to the chase. Pearl St. Claire and Lucas Emilio were both attacked and seriously wounded by Tony Gambino’s attacks.”

Griselda spoke with a serious tone fitting of a leader. Her words didn’t cause much of an uproar because what she said were already known across the city. People were already trying to leave the city in an attempt to avoid the backlash of Tony’s actions.

“I have more. Cesare Mori is trying to take this opportunity to seize the injured Pearl and Lucas. However, he’s yet to seize them. The two’s whereabouts are currently unknown.”

There was a heavy atmosphere in the room.

“I guess it’s already started.”

Amelia mumbled.

“It has. So far only we and the mayor Benito have yet to make any moves. I want that to change.”

Griselda looked at everyone’s faces.

“Byakko (White Tiger) will now step out of the shadows and make our presence known.”

“What’s the plan, Boss?”

“We’ll aim for the rampaging Silver Bullet. They’re causing too much meaningless destruction. We can’t just leave them alone.”

“Wait.”

Reina spoke up.

“That order I cant follow it. It’s against my policy to follow orders based on anger.”

“Are you saying that I’m being too emotional?”

“Yes.”

Reina looked Griselda straight in the eyes and answered.

“While the order itself isn’t wrong it’s too predictable. From the fact that he’s able to outsmart and play with his fellow Dons, Tony Gambino is definitely talented when it comes to warfare. Silver Bullet is currently running wild, but there must be a reason.”

“A diversion.”

Amelia added.

“Tony is forcing everyone to pay attention to his rampaging gang. This way he can use the chaos as a cover and move freely. If we focus on his gang, he’ll attack us like he attacked Pink Spider and Golden Fly.”

“That does sound like something he would do.”

Griselda started to think.

“Then, let’s leave Silver Bullet to the Black Dogs. They already have a blood feud, so they’ll natural go after them. Cesare is probably on Tony’s trail right this moment.”

The girls were impressed by how fast Griselda changed her plans after hearing their thoughts. This proved that she was open-minded, capable to accepting and correcting her mistakes, and able to be decisive when needed.

“Then let’s do something Tony wouldn’t expect.”

She smiled.

“Let’s add to the chaos.”

Neutral Area, Mayor’s office.

“That damn Cesare!”

The mayor of Cugine City, Benito Mussolini slammed his fists on his desk as he cursed.

“He went and started a war with Tony Gambino of all people. Everyone knows that man is a lunatic. Unlike Pearl and Lucas who hid after Salvatore destroyed them, Tony worked directly under Salvatore. He’s pretty much another Salvatore Riina. Picking a fight with him will only lead to mutual destruction!”

He slammed his fists on the desk again.

“You can’t war with a madman!”

His eyes became reptilian as he grind his teeth together.

“Hah~.”

He suddenly sighed and sat back in his chair. It was like he wasn’t mad anymore. Almost as if he simply stopped caring.

“Looks being a mayor really doesn’t suit me.”

He stood up and walked from behind his desk.

“What’s great about being the mayor anyway? No one respects you and you’re seen as a pitiful figurehead. In this city only those who are gangsters earn respect.”

He unfastened the tie around his neck and threw it on the ground along with his jacket. He rolled up his sleeves and entered his private elevator. He stood inside waited for the doors to close and for the elevator to bring him down to the lobby. When the doors opened he stepped outside.

“Mayor!”

The moment he stepped out he was greeted by several of his subordinates.

“Mayor, it’s a disaster!”

“The gangs of the Three Dons and the Black Dogs are running wild!”

“Lucas Emilio and Pearl St. Claire are MIA!”

“What should we do?”

“Mayor!”

Benito looked at his flustered subordinates with an apathetic look. It was like all their words fell on deaf ears. He looked around a bit before pushing past his subordinates. He walked towards a man standing in the corner.

“Danny, you smoke right?”

“Y-Yeah.”

“Which brand?”

Benito ignored the various gazes he was receiving.

“Jamie’s. It’s a cheap brand.”

“Do you have any on you?”

“I have a pack…”

The man took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. Benito immediately snatched from him and put a cigarette in his mouth.

“Mayor, you smoke?”

“I used to before I started wearing this mask.”

Benito used Anima to light the cigarette and took a draw.

“Ohh~.”

He puffed the smoke in the air.

“That hit the spot.”

“Um, Mayor…..”

Everyone was looking at his strange behavior with concern and shock. Benito took one more puff before saying-

“I quit.”

“Huh?”

“I’m resigning from being mayor. I don’t want to be a politician any more. I’m returning to my roots.”

Before anyone could say anything Benito walked out of the building.

“Mayor.”

His driver approached his car and was about to open his door. He had to stop and caught something that Benito threw at him. It was a stack of cash.

“You’re fired. Take that and leave.”

Benito pushed passed the driver and entered the car and drove away.

“Huh?”

The driver froze in place and watched as the car drove off. In the car, Benito took out his phone and made a call.

“Yeah, it’s me. Yeah, I’ve decided to take you up on that offer….What changed?”

Benito smirked.

“Nothing much. I just felt like returning to my roots.”