At the same time, in the Arima family mansion in Golin City.
Arima Koto's father is named Arima Teruyuki. He's usually a stern, calm middle-aged man; a slight frown from him would make countless people too scared to speak.
However, today, his hands were trembling uncontrollably.
Arima Teruyuki was hiding in a secret room behind his study, packing gold and silver. Below the secret room was a secret passage leading directly out of the city.
Escape.
He had to escape immediately.
"Arima Teruyuki! Your mother is dead!"
"Get out here!"
Outside, the voices of several Golin City officials could be heard. Through the silhouettes passing by the window, one could clearly see the knives in their hands and the hatred in their voices.
Normally, these officials would grovel at Arima Teruyuki's feet in an instant. Now, they wished they could kill him and be done with it.
But Arima Teruyuki understood them.
Who is Linto?
Different people have different definitions.
But for people like Arima Teruyuki, Linto was a devil.
Think of Governor Morimura.
Think of the previous Daimyo of the Land of Water.
Now, officials from almost every major country share a common understanding—
"Linto has an unreasonable fondness for those commoners, more worthless than frog urine. He will kill officials without reason, simply because they collected a little more tax."
Based on this, officials in every major country have become more restrained than before and have reached a consensus:
Do whatever you want, just don't attract that devil.
And now, because of that scoundrel Arima Yukito, Linto has been drawn here.
Let alone the bureaucrats outside, even Arima Teruyuki himself, looking at his son in the family portrait hanging in the secret room, couldn't help but curse in a low voice:
"Damn you…"
He threw the last gold bar into his bag, put on a hat and mask to cover most of his face, and opened the secret passage to escape.
Arima Teruyuki had to leave. The subordinates outside only wanted to kill him, but the wealthy magnates who secretly funded him and Shinno had indeed sent assassins.
He had their contact information in his mind.
Even with layers of concealment, no one dared to underestimate Linto's methods. For the sake of absolute safety, only if Arima Teruyuki died would it be foolproof.
But he didn't want to die.
Arima Teruyuki entered the secret passage. He had only taken two steps when a deafening roar sounded.
The secret passage collapsed.
Due to the shattering of the core barrier and Star Platinum's wild punches breaking the Black Tide, a chain reaction of explosions occurred. The entire underground of Golin City was now in turmoil.
The subordinates with knives, the assassins from the corporations, and… Linto.
Arima Teruyuki held tightly onto the briefcase filled with money.
Even though he possessed wealth he could enjoy for a lifetime, he only felt despair slowly engulfing him.
Suddenly, he saw a telephone hanging on the wall.
Arima Teruyuki stood up, stumbled to the phone, and dialed a number.
A moment later, the call connected.
"Save me!" Arima Teruyuki roared.
The other end of the line was silent for a few seconds, only Arima Teruyuki's tense breathing could be heard. After a few more seconds, a sneer rang out, followed by a long dial tone.
Shinno hung up the phone and threw it to his adjutant.
"Don't transfer every call to me from now on."
The adjutant bowed his head: "I'm sorry, Lord Shinno. But this call was from the Arima family, I guessed it was Lord Arima…"
"Ah, yes, it was indeed Arima Teruyuki. I thought he was a smart man, but it seems now."
Shinno shook his head, narrowed his eyes, and looked in the direction of Golin City.
"Since he played by the rules and profited from them, he must accept the punishment of the rules."
In the Land of Wind, capital reigns supreme, and everyone represents 'wealth'.
When Arima Teruyuki was the lord, his capital value was immense. Let alone if he had called, even if he hadn't, Shinno would have rushed to save him immediately.
But Arima Teruyuki attracted Linto. No, even if he hadn't attracted Linto, the mere exposure of the barrier was enough to have public opinion remove him from his position as lord.
And Arima Teruyuki, no longer lord, his capital value was Limitless, approaching zero.
In the Land of Wind, who would engage in a losing business?
Arima Teruyuki knew this clearly, yet he still begged Shinno for help.
"Once you're at the table, you must abide by its rules. If you don't have that awareness, what's the difference between you and those cunning commoners at the bottom?"
The adjutant nodded, his eyes on Shinno filled with reverence.
Such courage, such awareness, this was why they were willing to die for Shinno.
Shinno basked in his subordinate's reverence, a smile on his lips, but a flicker of darkness in his eyes.
He had thought he could delay for some time.
Shinno had personally arranged for General Hornet to attack Konoha.
Especially after General Hornet's departure, the "Shinno" who contacted him was not Shinno himself, but a substitute using a transformation jutsu.
In order to ensure the substitute was not discovered, the substitute had been doing things similar to Shinno during this period.
This way, even if Linto came looking, he would only find a substitute stationed hundreds of miles away, which could delay Shinno for another two or three days.
Two or three days, under the effect of the barrier, would be enough to turn nearly half of the lower class in Golin City into madmen driven to frenzy by suppressed despair. All their negative emotions would flow into the Zero-Tails' body through pipelines.
The Zero-Tails would possess power surpassing all the Tailed Beasts.
But no one expected the "rat" in Golin City to destroy the barrier.
It was all because of Arima Yukito.
This was why he didn't allow his subordinates to have independent will and insisted they follow his orders precisely.
Often, one idiot could ruin a meticulously planned operation.
Shinno took a deep breath, suppressed the anger in his heart, and issued an order:
"Activate Sky Fortress."
The command was relayed through the broadcast to every corner of the massive Sky Fortress.
Hiss—
The hills on the surface trembled violently, moving and opening to the sides, revealing a giant abyss. Below the abyss, a steel fortress hundreds of meters long was slowly rising from the ground.
"Engines warming up…"
"Triple defense barrier activated… Main and secondary cannons self-inspection passed, targeting system synchronized with radar…"
One by one, reports fed back to the main control room. Indicator lights turned from dark red to green, until the final message:
"Flying engine warm-up complete, output at 81%."
The Sky Fortress suddenly trembled slightly, lifting off the ground and soaring into the sky. Countless dust particles fell until it reached cloud level.
Shinno stood before the display screen, looking down at Golin City in the distance.
"Gentlemen, I am honored to fight alongside you. Let us go and vanquish Linto together."
Shinno said solemnly:
"Sky Fortress Unit Two, depart."
The hundred-kilometer acceleration took only a few seconds. The clouds on either side were whipped into white streaks by the extreme speed.
The Sky Fortress's cannons gathered a brilliant light. A second later, the cannons aimed at the city below and fired a destructive laser!