Chapter 1: Thieves

Neighbor Nation Artello

Time: Late at night.

Alarms blazed across the dark skies of the night, stirring everyone into a frenzy.

Artello was a Neighbor Nation which had a strong and rigid system of nobility, amassing wealth and power at the top and utilizing the common citizens for their own desire. And while there were also internal struggles and power plays, they did understand the unified need to suppress the people and also defend against outside attackers, and so they had large collective vaults of weapons, Trion, and wealth that would be called upon.

However, one of those large vaults had just been robbed. Furthermore, it was by a boy wearing a strange white outfit and a white mask. A boy that proclaimed himself as Phantom Thief Mystos. And as if it was magic, or some other sort of supernatural thing, he had somehow gotten into the vault without raising an alarm. What triggered the alarm was a noble randomly deciding to deposit some funds into the vault late at night, and notices the boy sucking up everything into gates.

"You really had to make it flashy, huh?" a girl's voice asked the ten year old Phantom Thief.

"Well, its better this way. Besides, I am using the heavily altered appearance, so they wont ever recognize me in my normal form".

"Can you two please focus on the escape? I noticed some food stalls on the main street I want to try tomorrow, so I dont want to risk them catching onto our real identities or keeping us up too late" a second boy said.

"Rodger!"

"Understood!"

In truth, the real name of Phantom Thief Mystos was Aruu, and his companions were Leia and Leo. And for various reasons, they were thieves.

"Then I guess its time for a vanishing act" Aruu mentioned, as smoke grenades went off all around him. Using that, he not only turned invisible, but even concealed his trion signature, disappearing from the guards and their security systems.

And so, the legend of Phantom Thief Mystos lived on.

Aruu yawned as he woke up, stretching his bare arms as he stirred. Next to him was Leia, who had pulled the covers over her body, and then there was Leo, which had half of his body exposed. The lower half was still under the covers. Also, at the foot of the bed was a dog like Trion Soldier named Shiro. It was a Dog-like Trion Soldier that the three had worked on and has become very advanced, though technically is was Leo's partner and pet, it was kind of shared between them all.

Seeing this, he decided to get dressed in his favorite outfit, the green shortsleeve hooded sweater, brown shorts, and brown and white shoes. From their room, there was a small circular common room, which led to three other bedrooms, in case they had guests staying over (as rare or impossible as that was). The training room was also next to them, but it was soundproofed. The design was clearly Neighbor, but various things they picked up from Meeden was around, such as a few TVs, game consoles, and variosu data storage devices. They also got a few smartphones and computers as well. And of course, their kitchen had a lot of Meeden appliances.

From the common room, there were three ways out, that were not bedrooms, a training room, or two closets which were all dead ends. There were two ladders for emergency rapid access to the upper levels, a hallway that led to the other rooms on this floor, such as the large bathing room based on a Japanese hot spring, although that was also a dead end, and then there was a ramp on either side of that hallway that led up to the next floor.

The second floor had a large dining and kitchen area, as well as another common room. It also had a casual style briefing room, and if one went past all of that, a workshop. Past the workshop was the bridge, where they controlled the ship. Also, on either side were various weapon systems, deployment tubes, and Trion Soldier storage areas. The ladders from before could be used to access this floor, but they also reached the floor above. This was essentially the heart of the ship for the crew.

And then finally, on top. The top of the ship was the most heavily armored, although it was all armored and protected by shields, as well as a stealth system. This was where the ship's Trion Core was, and where excess Trion was stored to be used. It also had various support functions, monitoring devices, and an information gathering center. Leia was able to access this all from her Mobile Console, which could control this whole ship and was only usable by her.

Normally, ships would not be this large, but this ship was actually a Black Trigger. Fueled by the ridiculous power levels of Black Trigger level Trion, it would remain manifested. Leia would only need to deactivate and make the ship disappear if it took extensive damage, otherwise it could remain out forever. Thanks to this convenience, they had plenty of room.

And so, in that ship, Aruu was making everyone else breakfast. Atro also assisted, opening up the massive fridge that appeared to be its own room and getting supplies. The freezer was just as big though, and so was the pantry. It made it easier to stock up on Meeden snacks, such as the fried rice crackers Jin had introduced them to. The first to arrive was Leia, who looked very groggy. She was shortly followed in by Leo and Shiro though, who seems equally groggy.

"Good morning everyone" Aruu said, already a bit more awake after moving his body a bit. Leia and Leo were wearing robes and nothing else, which could be seen by the fact the robes were barely staying on.

"You are already dressed?" Leia asked, confused. The three of them had all been slaves of the sadistic, cruel, and perverted Persephone, so they were all quite comfortable with being naked with each other due to their forged bonds and having already seen each other naked repeatedly. As such, there was no reason for Aruu to be dressed.

"I am thinking of getting some early morning excercise, and maybe heading into town to see what the result was of last night".

"Ah, I see...then wait for us. After breakfast, I will join you".

"Same. Besides, as roomy as it is, its nice to get outside once in awhile".

"Pay attention, you stupid cat!" an angry man wearing fancy and ornate clothes said, slapping a young thirteen year old boy in the face. This boy was standing at attention, wearing nothing but a single piece tunic and a collar around his neck. However, what was notable is that he had cat ears on his head, and a cat tail from his rear.

His name was Kioru, and he was a slave purchased and owned by this noble house. Even though he could be considered a useful and precious resource, they treated him like this. That was the power and attitude of the Noble House, Tarkeyen. And right now, he was enraged since one the vaults that he helped handle security for had been robbed, and his security and forces been made to look like fools. Thanks to this, he had decided to take drastic measures. Next to Kioru, there was a nearly folded set of clothes. Some sort of robe like thing, but it looked like it could be secured and would be easy to move in, a jacket, as well as what appeared to be a Trigger in the shape of a sword handle.

Even if he was a slave and treated like dirt, he was also being trained to be useful to the noble house. To be an effective tool they could utilize. It was clear they had decided to utilize him to deal with the thieves.

"Get changed, and get ready to deal with the thieves. I will not have any more of my possessions stolen from me" he said.

I guess that probably means me as well Kioru thought to himself, taking off his tunic and putting on the new clothes. There was even a set of boots for him, it was both comforting and strange to wear footwear. He then activated his Trigger.

"Now, come along, we are heading to the next vault".

"So good~" Aruu mentioned, enjoying a delectable piece of meat they had bought at a side stall. Since they parked their ship in stealth mode a good distance away, it was already around noon, but also they were all growing children with voracious appetites. The three of them were walking down the street with Shiro, without any worries or fear. After all, they saw a few other Trion Soldiers around and about as well. Unlike what was seen on Meeden though, these Trion Soldiers were not made for combat or capture. Although not totally cheap, these only took some Trion and materials to make, so were at lot less expensive and easier to produce. One was helping to move heavy crates of cargo, another was cleaning dirt off of a floor, and another was some sort of baby monitoring and care model for a newborn, while her mother was working.

"I gotta say, this place isn't totally bad" Leo mentioned. "I heard the rumors, but Artello has some decent living standards".

"Yeah, but not everyone really can get by so well" Leia mentioned as she adjusted her hairclip, which was actually a Trigger in itself that was concealing her horns. She did this partly out of safety, since people didn't always take so kindly to those from Aftokrator. She noticed a few children that seemed underfed or malnourished.

"The nobles dont make it so bad as to force them to revolt, but they do certainly suck them dry. The common people in a lot of other nations have it easier".

"We can actually access the richer areas, if we pay the tax. Rich visitors welcome, poor ones can stay in the poor commoner areas, I guess".

"We should probably get a huge chunk of this meat to bring back with us" Leo added.

That said, they noticed increased security checks and patrols, with lots of them going around and asking questions. It seemed that last night had rattled them quite a bit.

"Maybe we should just skip out?"

"Nah..."

"But, wont it make it worse on the people here?"

"Actually, if they do that, they risk driving their own people into revolt. They tax the mheavily right now, and it causes some people issues, but most get along fine. However, should they try to tax them heavily, especially after having so many resources stolen by someone who could be among those preparing to revolt, then they could suffer a serious backlash. If they make things too bad, some of them could risk the creation of Black Triggers to lead the revolt, so in the end, they cant do that if they want to maintain the status quo. This country...what was those terms?"

Leia looked something up on her mobile console. "I think you mean, Lawful Evil".

"Yeah, that is the term. A lot of them might be scum, but they follow the law. Although these guys are the worst of the bunch, they risk a lot if they cause trouble. That is why they are searching for the thieves...they need someone to blame, someone specific to prosecute and charge. If they cant, the situation wont be favorable to them" Aruu mentioned. They walked right past the guards as they searched, with not a single one of them harassing the group.

No one got a good look at Aruu that night, he always kept his distance and wore a fancy outfit. He also disguised his own appearance, hair color, everything. Which is why, no one had yet to realize the thief's true age. Even if they had, they would likely assume it was a humanoid Trion Soldier, maybe one of those Dopples modified to appear human that people have been seeing lately on the markets. Which is why the trio of children was able to walk unharrassed. No one would bother looking at children when they were suspecting things like revolt or revolutionary goals.

But, Aruu and his group were not normal children. Forged by tragedy, trauma, suffering, they were already hardened and had a certain maturity to them. They could not be considered in the same light as average children.

"That said...we should probably prepare for combat...Atra?"

Atra, who was invisible and floating with them, understood.

"You truly are a greedy boy, Aruu. Understood, I will make the preparations and do investigations as needed. Heist time?"

"Right at sunset".

Kioru was looking at the logs once more, but he didn't understand it clearly. He was sure that whatever he did was not magic, but through a Trigger. Clearly a versatile one. He was able to hack security, infiltrate the vault, and gate away the loot. All of it undetected. He then proceeded to dance about in a flashy way...

"The flashiness was likely to hide his own Trigger use...no, wait. It could have been to hide other Trigger users? I get it...its not a single thief, its a team for sure. Thats why his attacks were flashy, drawing attention, and it explains the amount of smoke bombs he threw that doubled as radar jammers. He probably also has optical camoflauge. An advanced Trigger. Maybe from Tropoi? Wait...could it be the assistance of a Tropoi Autonomous Trion Soldier?"

"You think the enemy has that, cat" a big man with a giant hammer said. He was one of the strongest champions of House Jassel, Hagrin. They didn't normally guard this vault, and they had nothing to do with the last one either. They were a powerful moderate house though, that believed in reason and code and honor. Their hands were not totally clean, but they certainly did have a better reputation then House Tarkeyen.

"They did get into the noble district, and to the highest security facility in the area undetected" a slender man said as he played with a dagger in his hands. A "fixer" and "operative" of the Covert House, House Rumia, Vardel. Kioru was sure that guy was trouble though.

It would be better to call him an assassin.

And then, there was a man, a mercenary, that was hired. Yendra. He was hired by House Zorik, and had a massive rifle like Trigger.

The four of them were specialists hired in addition to the increase in security, to protect the vault while others hunted for the thieves.

"Time for a boring wait" Hagrin mentioned.

"No" Kioru corrected. "Their main strength is the lack of data on their abilities and Triggers. The longer they wait, the more we will analyze what we did see and get data on, and figure out more. So they will come tonight, very soon most likely".

THe sun was close to setting. They will soon arrive.

If he did this, maybe his master would treat him better. If he didn't, or tried to escape, it would be painful and hurt, and he probably wouldn't get far.

And so, while staying alert and expecting an attack, the sun got closer and closer to the horizon. And as it did, Kioru started to feel a chill in the air.

He looked back, but saw that Vardel had vanished already. And then, Kioru drew his sword, and cut the air in front of him, a slash flying from his sword and striking an empty space by the stairs that led to the plaza in front of the front vault door, where they were waiting.

"The hell was that?"

"They are here" Kioru mentioned, when suddenly he realized what was going on, and slashed at the door itself. Suddenly, a holographic image deteriorated, revealing an open vault door, and the thief stealing the loot.

"Oh, you catch on quick" he said with a smile, as the number of gates increased. He tried to get closer to slash at him, but suddenly smoke exploded inside the vault.

Cloaking and stealth abilities. They all had good senses, and it should have been impossible to set that up while they were there. Which means, it was already set up before they arrived. Perhaps, before the first vault was robbed. Everything had been set up ahead of time.

"If they were able to do that then why wait till sunset?"

"My guess is the stealth is not perfect...but with the light changing, our eyes would take time to adjust" Kioru mentioned as he stormed into the vault with Hagrin. Both of them spread out to prevent him from slipping by, while also slashing at the gates that opened. Hagrin created a shockwave that produced a blast, that shock have knocked him into the wall painfully. This also helped clear the smoke, which revealed Phantom Thief Mystos.

"You wont be escaping this time".

"We cant let him now. All of the loot is already gone".

Mystos just smiled. And then suddenly, anther smoke bomb went off at the same time as a flashbang. In this disorientation, both of them were unable to stop Mystos running right past them.

"Tsk, after them! And where are the guards! And the Trion Soldiers?"

"Aeros are in the air" Hagrin mentioned as he pointed to a bunch of drone like Trion Soldiers scouting and monitoring the area.

"That wont matter! We need to get them!"

"And there..." Leo said, deploying another smoke grenade. "That should be good".

"Woof!" Shiro mentioned, and immediately Leo ducked. Suddenly, an invisible dagger wielding assailant appeared where he was hiding, a balcony of a storage building.

"There you are, Mr. Supporter".

Shiro suddenly barked, and the shockwave created repelled Vardel a bit. Leo took out a dagger from his belt, and threw it at him. Vardel dodged it, but it detonated mid air and damaged him quite a bit, also making him fall to the ground. At least, he thought it would happen, but then suddenly Vardel jumped towards him from the smoke to slash at him. Shiro however transformed the end of his tail into a blade, and quickly slashed right through him.

"...thats not some normal dog" he said as he fell, before his Trion Body was destroyed.

"Attention. I was attacked by some sort of assassin. They are onto us" Leo said over comms. "I defeated him, but now I gotta head out. I get the feeling he wasn't alone".

"I cant recall people inside the city. They deployed a jammer" Leia replied. "Thankfully, it only scrambles Trigger Users, and once you are out of the city, it should be fine. Besides, we cant give away our gate system to them".

"Understood" he said, as he activated another function of his belt. His Trigger was the Gearbelt. It allowed the creation and use of a wide variety of tools and weapons, creating the objects with Trion, and could even mask his Radar signal and render him invisible. Shiro could do the same, but the stealth field was not perfect. Because of that, they had to be careful. It also drained Trion quite a bit, especially when used in conjunction of other features and weapons.

"Its okay. I can handle my own exit as well" Aruu mentioned, as he saw he had three pursuers. It was becoming darker and darker, so his outfit stood out a little. But that was part of the plan as well. He guessed his opponents would likely have something set up to detect invisible opponents anyways by this point.

That was when the rifleman fired, attacking from a distance. He had given up the chase and had resorted to long range sniping.

It seemed like he pulled out weirdly early, but that was something for another time. He did get a few shots in, but Aruu was able to dodge them and avoid critical damage.

Then there was Hagrin. He was clearly loosing out in a speed of mobility, as if he didn't expect to have to give chase.

That left one final combatant, Kioru. With the assassin eliminated, and the other two lacking mobility, only Kioru was chasing him now. Aruu had to draw a sword and fend off the attack, when he noticed that Kioru's tail had wrapped around his leg. Aruu and Kioru clashed, but it was clear early on Kioru was more skilled ,with Aruu on the defensive. He tried to use some of his tricks to hide it, but Kioru seemed to notice that in the shadows, things were moving around and firing at him.

"I see now...your Trigger lets you control numerous drones or such that can be modified to do different things. Adaptable and versitile. With that, I wont lose!"

"Hmm. Maybe" Aruu replied, appearing to muse over something. Aruu's leg was still caught, but thanks to the bounce pads set up by Leo beforehand, they kept bouncing further and further to the city outskirts. "However, I have some tricks up my sleeve".

And then, Aruu kissed Kioru right on the lips as they clashed blades. Such an action caused a temporary lapse in thinking from Kioru, which made him unable to react as the portal opened behind Aruu, and they both got pulled in right at the city outskirts. Suddenly, the two fell into a large white training room, and Aruu took out a dagger and cut the collar off of Kioru. At the same time, he twisted Kioru's arm while he was in shock, and flipped him over as he pinned him, keeping him stuck on the ground.

"Ow...what the?!"

"I am a thief after all, so, I decided to steal you from that jerk" he said. "Atra?"

Atra then appeared from thin air, and put his tendrils on Kioru's body.

"Location Device successfully jammed and deactivated. Ownership tags removed. Slavery has been cleared".

The moment Kioru heard all that, he went into a bit of shock. I was...freed? I am no longer a slave?

"Why...would you do this?" Kioru asked. "They wont take this lying down. They will search for you all over for sure, you know?"

"Well, we have our personal reasons...speaking of which, not sure if you wanted to, but we cant let you off here. Leia!"

"Understood! We are heading out!"

Kioru looked confused in this whole mess. And at the people who very much had saved him from a life of suffering in an instant.

"Who...are you guys?"

"Us? We are The Phantom Thieves. Now hiring!" Aruu said with a smile.

And thus was the meeting between Kioru, and the captain and leader of the Phantom Thieves, the Master Thief Aruu.