This is a rumor, but it's said that there are secret passages under all of the Barons' castles. People say they lead to the underground casino under Artemesa.
Asha kicked in the door to the Baron's castle. She stormed through the halls until she came across the stairs, taking them four at a time until she reached the dungeons. She walked all the way into the back, the empty cell, ignoring all of the cries from the prisoners. She walked into the cell and found the strange, hexagon-shaped stone instead of the smooth cut rectangles. She stuck her finger in the left bottom gap, pressing down with her foot on one of the stones below, too.The wall to the left shimmered slightly and Asha let go of the brick. She walked right through the wall, feeling as if she was moving through thick molasses. Then she appeared on the other side, where two guards stood at attention as her figure approached.
"Who goes there?"
Asha stepped into the light of the passageway beyond.
"Greetings, Mistress Phantomhive. We're very sorry, but we are restricted from letting you by without security clearance."
"Of course." Asha walked past the two guards, both shifting nervously. She just stepped into the long hallway. She felt the slight vibration as the tile under her foot sank slightly. She whirled, narrowly dodging the arrow aimed for her neck. Another plate triggered a wave of poison-coated needles, all of which she managed to dodge. She launched herself into the air, unfurling huge black feathered wings. She flew to about halfway before tucking her wings in and letting her fall. She landed briefly on the tiles again, ducking under the near-invisible net of wire that could have diced her finer than a gourmet chef dices onions, then she was off, her feet barely touching the tiles, and certainly not long enough to trigger any more traps. She stopped once she stood in the exit, glancing behind her. Her hand shot out and grasped the arrow aimed for her throat, stopping it inches from piercing her trachea.
Asha glanced around her and smirked at the bones and even fresher corpses creating a walkway into the next room. They'd let their guard fall as soon as they left the room. In Casinamora, thinking you're safe even in your own private suite is a mistake that can get you killed.
Asha proceeded into the next room, pitch black, with a tiny little square of light on the far end, the exit. She stepped in the room, her senses on high alert, eyes narrowed against the darkness. She stopped when she saw a pair of huge golden eyes staring at her.
A loud, feral snarl ripped around the room, those eyes getting even larger as they charged at Asha. The glint of claws, diamondsteel.
Asha ducked the claws, reaching up, grasping the collar around the huge panther's neck before heaving, flipping the cat over her head. "Nice try, Yukiri. But you're going to have to try a bit harder than that. If it wasn't for me, they would have found you out already," she said.
The black panther, taller than ten feet, snarled.
Asha just raised her arms in mock surrender. "I need to go now, but I'll hope to see you again." Asha walked right out of the room, the panther growling behind her, but it didn't attack.
The next series of tests were passed by Asha in rapid succession. Before she knew it, she was in front of two huge iron doors, probably a hundred feet high.
"It's good to see you again, Miss Phantomhive," one of the guards posted said.
"Are you the real Phantomhive? The one who dominated the pit fights a couple years back?" one blurted.
Asha ran a hand through her long hair, strands of it turning silver and gold. "I am."
"Wow," he breathed.
Asha just smiled slightly. "May I go in?"
"If you can pass the last test," one of the older guards said. "New protocol."
"Don't give her a hard time," one of them hissed.
"Open the door," the boy who'd fanboyed said.
Asha turned to face the heavy door. She grinned. Asha spun in a Brazilian kick, raising her bent leg as high as it would go before kicking down with all her might, her leg wrapped in tight, powerful wind.
The guards dug their spearheads into the cracks between slabs of stone to keep from being blow away. When they could stand still again, Asha was striding inside.
"That is definitely Mistress Phantomhive," the older one said. "Are you happy you got to see her overwhelming strength?"
"I can't believe she's back. I thought she retired in her last match."
"So did I," the old man said. "Let's just pray she doesn't bring the whole place down on top of us."
"Why?"
"Earl and Countess Phantomhive have bad blood with Marchioness Phantomhive because of this place. Earl and Countess Phantomhive are rumored aboveground to have bargained their daughter's Amorai away here. But we down here know the truth. They sold Marchioness Phantomhive's Amorai away, but when they started to touch the second child's, Mistress lost it."
"I've never heard of this," another argued.
"That's because they payed quite a bit of hush-money to keep this silent."
"How do you know?"
"I was her personal guard when she walked in here. I know everything she did in here."
"If they sold her Amorai, then why was she able to use one just now?"
"Where are we right now? What's the currency? And how much would someone as strong as her collect in a year?"
"Of course."
.
Asha walked through the doors and straight to the many ticket booth-looking tables. "I'd like to register for a pit battle very soon. Within ten minutes."
"Name?" the lady snapped, eyes down on the papers.
"Just put down Master."
"Excuse me, but who are you?" She finally looked up, glaring at Asha before gasping. "Oh my God, are you Marchioness Phantomhive? What do you need? I-if you do not tell me, I'll have to keep you from advancing," she said, voice shaking.
Asha raised an eyebrow. Ah, it was probably because she'd been known as the Police of the Underworld during her few years absent, doing work for the Artemesian Royal Family. They were afraid she'd turn them all in to the King.
Asha almost laughed. While Casinamora was a bit of a thorn in the King's side, he didn't care about something he saw as a mere rat under his boot. "I only came back to take something that was mine to begin with. I am not here as Marchioness Phantomhive today. Just a returning veteran fighter coming back to reclaim her title."
"V-very well. I'll put you down as..."
"Ash... Aphantine."
"Very well. How much will you be bidding? I'll set you up with an Amorarena based on how much you want to bet."
"All in."
"Which Amorglass you have?"
Asha lifted her skirt a bit and withdrew a three inch tall hourglass from the metal band around her thigh. She held it up, showing the Oblivinite metal brace and the inscribed image in the thin glass. "Oblivinite Amorglass. Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca Amorai."
The girl watched her for a second before hurrying through the book on her desk. "We'll put you in Amorarena A-1. There's only a high-tier, but his Red Fiend Dragon is quite strong."
"That'll be good enough. Thank you," said Asha, striding past her. She swept her bangs in front of her eyes before slipping through the crowd. She smiled as the hand grabbed her shoulder. She reached up, grabbing it by the wrist before flipping the attacker over her shoulder, falling with him and twisting, landing with her knee in his back and twisting his arm behind his back. "Ah, it was just you. I probably shouldn't have used that much strength."
"Thanks for the concern," Executive Y said from beneath her.
"That's what you get for going after her," Executive R said.
"You know she hates being touched," reminded Executive G.
"So you were basically asking for it," agreed Executive T.
Asha got off Y and faced the quadruplets.
They'd all originally had bland brown hair, but they'd dyed it a few years ago. Y had forest green hair, R had dark lavender hair, G had sapphire blue hair, and T had black hair with silver tips. But they all had the same dark blue eyes.
Asha sighed. "What do you need, Executives?"
"Nothing much, Executive A," replied Y. "Question is, why is a retired pit fighter returning?"
"That's my own business. Something came up in my real life, so I need to retrieve something from here I left a bit ago in case."
"Something happened? Color me curious," said T.
"It's none of your business. Go away. If you get in my way, I'll beat you up like the trash you are," Asha said over her shoulder as she vanished into the crowd. She grit her teeth.
Those four weren't only Executives working under the King of Casinamora himself, but they were also the Lords over the Blue Clan. The colored clans were almost as powerful as up to five barons, but they were more like gangs. However, none of them agreed on anything. None of them were on the same side, either. Some protected the world and its people, but some were just as proud for their job of destroying all humanity has built.
But there was a secret no one outside of the Royal Family of Solariyas and a few chosen to keep this knowledge knows. It's that the Color Clans were created once specific individuals found that color gemstone. An even more closely guarded secret is that they didn't just find the gemstones. They were bestowed upon the individuals to keep Artemesa and the world safe and in balance. Those gemstones weren't just precious jewels, but the gems that belonged to the Crown of Artemesa before it was shattered during the Great War.
Those four had on their person, four pieces of thin diamond-shaped Yellow Tourmaline, one each.
Asha made it all the way to the edge of the pit without running into anyone else noticed her, watching the fight below her. Her lip curled up in a snarl. These people were weak.
After one of them won, the Announcer on the raised platform looking down into the fighting pit called, "Next battle, Returning Champion Red Fiend Dragon!"
Asha's eyes widened only sightly as a large man leapt into the pit. He waved to the crowd and showed the gold-braced Amorglass to the crowd. "Show off," she muttered.
"And his opponent is another Returning Champion, the same champion that holds our record of Undefeated! Quetzalcoatl!"
The crowd began to mutter at that, searching amongst themselves for the champion they'd all heard of before.
Asha's lips curled in a smirk as she jumped down, landing in a crouch in the inch-or-so layer of sawdust.
"Oh, what is this little girl going to be able to do, even with a God-tier Amorai?" Red Fiend Dragon sneered.
Asha straightened, tilting her head so her bangs moved away from her eyes, showing a glare that would make grown men start running for their lives. "Even in this shithole, you are certainly among the trash that needs to get swept up."
Red Fiend Dragon shuddered under her gaze, without a clue for why. She was just a little girl, after all. How could she possibly beat him? Veteran fighter or not, she had to be weaker than him.
"Begin!"
He lunged forward, reaching out for her throat.
Asha grinned, dodging easily. She vanished, appearing behind him, striding away. She'd just stepped out of range before his meridians exploded, blood soaking the sawdust.
Too easy.
"Quetzalcoatl wins! That was an astoundingly fast round. One move, and High-tier Red Fiend Dragon was killed!"
Asha walked back to the body and took the hourglass, jumping out of the pit and striding off without another word.
Contrary to the stone passages on the way to Casinamora, the walls inside were made of a black marble, smooth with no seams or cracks. Well, to an untrained eye, at least.
Asha ran her fingernail down the corner of the wall, repeating the action until her fingernail snagged on a slight indentation. She pushed harder and the indentation sunk a millimeter deeper. A section of the wall sank back and to the side, opening a thin passage deeper into Casinamora. Asha slipped in, the wall sealing after her.
Everything was pitch black, but Asha had no problem walking, because that passage had been designed for her. She had barely two inches of space on either side, and the ceiling was only an inch above her 5' 3" height. That would make it extremely hard for an intruder to get to where Asha wanted to go.
She dragged her hand on the left side, staying close to that wall as she passed forks in the passage. She sensed the space open and widen, dropping her hand. She concentrated the energy in her blood, holding out a hand, a small ball of concentrated light appearing in her palm, casting light over the Oblivinite safe in front of her.
She neared it, and the particles buzzing around the safe became feral, rushing at her. Asha waved them off like simple flies, the flesh-eating particles having no effect.
Oblivinite wasn't originally flesh-eating, though. Oblivinite was a unique metal that could be coded to attack a specific material. Useful, really.
Asha pressed her palm into the indent of the safe, twisting it ninety degrees to the left. The first door opened, and Asha fit Quetzico's hourglass into the next indent, twisting it the same. The third door had hundreds of keyholes, different sizes and different shapes. But they were all false, except for one. Asha found one in the top left corner and pulled a shining silver key from under her shirt. She inserted the key and twisted, the third door opening, revealing dozens of hourglasses, some full, some nearly empty, with different braces.
Casinamora had a ranking system: the braces around the Amorglasses. The ranks were copper, silver, gold, ruby, sapphire, emerald, diamond, Bloodstone, Soulstone, and Oblivinite.
The point of Amorglasses are they can hold all or part of an Amorai in a fine sandy form. Casinamora exists to trade and sell Amorglasses. An Amorai's normal attachment to its owner is through the soul itself. But some technology turns it into sand that you can give, trade, or sell away.
Asha had... acquired Quetzico's Amorglass from someone very important to her, to replace the one that had been taken from her.
Asha tapped the silver bands around her wrists, the metal morphing into black gloves with the same silver braces around her fingers and wrist, clamping the glove in place. She touched the silver brace to each of the Amorglasses, activating the storage space.
Once all of the Amorglasses were put in the storage space, Asha looked at the last Amorglass, an empty one, with a picture propped up against it. Asha traced her finger along the edges of the photograph before closing the doors, the locks clicking back into place.
Asha glanced back only once before striding back into the darkness, that tiny light in her palm winking out.