Chapter 70: Changing Crimson's Heart, Part 2
Shadow Crimson was slowly getting up as he was weakened. Then, he saw Arthur coming up to him and got scared.
"Hey! Get away from me!" He shouted, "Leave me alone, ya won! Just don't hurt me!"
Arthur clenched his teeth.
"If this situation was reversed, then you would have still hurt me." He said to him, "Maybe kill me if you like."
Shadow Crimson looked down to retrieve his top hat.
"But since this is the situation you are in like those imp goons you have abused…" Arthur continued, "...You're lucky that I'm not gonna kill you because I want you to turn yourself in for your crimes in the first place."
Shadow Crimson was then in despair as he held his top hat.
"Why do I subject myself to this?" He wondered, "I didn't want any of this… My wife's death… Controlling my only son… And the abuse I gave to my imp goons over my frustration… Why did I like it all?"
"Money and power, was it?" Arthur said,
Shadow Crimson was surprised.
"Maybe that was it… Or maybe the death of my wife only because I let her die got to me…" He said, "I don't know… My head is fucked up from all of this…"
Cattleya then saw the treasure, which was the briefcase a goon was holding.
"There's the treasure!" She said as she got the briefcase,
"Oh yeah, that's yours now." Shadow Crimson said to us, "You brats weren't the only ones that tried to steal it…"
"Huh? What are you talking about?" Arthur wondered,
"Some other thief in a black mask tried to take my treasure…"
"Again…" Willow said, "That thief with a black mask is mentioned again…"
"Heh, so you brats already know about it? Good…"
"Why does it matter to you?" Arthur asked,
"There's one more deal I wanna give out… And this one is for all of ya brats…"
"Go on…" Selene said,
"Find out who that black masked thief is."
"Only if you can turn yourself in for your crimes." Arthur said,
Shadow Crimson chuckled a bit as a light flowed around him.
"Then don't let me down." He said, "Otherwise, there's gonna be a greater problem you're all gonna face."
Shadow Crimson then faded away.
"So there's a thief with a black mask." Astrid said, "Well it can't be Arachnid…"
"My mask is a dark gray." Willow said, "So no, I'm off the table."
Then, the palace started to shake.
"We'll discuss this later!" Cattleya said, "Let's get out of here!"
We left the palace as we were still in the crater, but the crater is also gonna collapse and sink the palace with it!
"How are we gonna fly out of here?!" Astrid shouted,
"Simple!" Cattleya replied as she brought out her device to summon The Phantom Truck, "During our time before we go to this palace today, I installed some flight power!"
We all got in the truck as I took the wheel with Cattleya as my co-pilot.
"How does this work?!" Selene shouted,
"Joker, press that red button!" Cattleya said to me,
I pushed the button as wings took shape in the truck.
"Now pull the lever!" Cattleya said as I pulled the lever, "Let's fly!"
We then flew out of the crater and made it back to the real world.
Outside of Crimson's mansion, I checked if his palace was still in The Cognitive World through the metaNav app.
"The destination has been deleted." The app said,
"So, does that mean that we changed Crimson's heart?" Arthur wondered,
"Yup, we stole the treasure and changed Crimson's heart!" Cattleya said,
"Oh thank Satan…"
"By the way, what's in that briefcase?" Astrid asked Cattleya,
Cattleya opened it, to reveal nothing.
"...Nothing." She said, "But hey, it's a cool briefcase."
"Can I have it?" Arthur wondered,
"Sure."
Arthur got the briefcase.
"Thanks…" He said, "And thank you guys for helping out, I really appreciate it."
"Don't worry about it." Cattleya said, "We got your back."
Arthur smiled as he got a little teary-eyed.
"Oh, I'm getting teary-eyed all of a sudden…" He said,
"Hey, don't be a big baby." Boris said, "Just go home and pretend that Selene got you the briefcase from a flea market or something."
"That could work, to be honest." Selene said,
We all shared a laugh as went all home for the day.
Arthur took the briefcase home as Bernie was there.
"Hello, brother, I am home!" He said, "...For lunch break."
"Makes sense." Bernie said, "Also, where did you get that briefcase?"
"A friend of mine gave it to me after she bought it from a flea market."
"Was it that hellborn from Sloth? She could have done something artistic with it."
"Well… She couldn't think of anything, so she gave it to me."
"...Right, ok… Well, tell her that she wasted money."
The two chuckled.
"I'll do that." Arthur said,
September 15th. Moxxie was at home and on the phone with someone. Millie was waiting patiently. Then, Moxxie got off the phone.
"Who was it?" Millie wondered,
"...My dad." Moxxie replied,
Millie smiled.
"They did it, didn't they?" She asked Moxxie, "The Phantom Thieves?"
Moxxie smiled too.
"Yes they did…" He replied,
September 21st.
Bernie was drinking coffee and doing paperwork when all of a sudden, he heard knocking on his door.
"Come in." He said,
Darnell came in and slammed his hands on Bernie's desk.
"Bernie! Did you hear the news?!" He shouted,
"Heard what?" Bernie wondered,
Darnell got out his phone.
"It's big!" He replied, "And it has something to do with The Phantom Thieves!"
"Show me what it is you want to show me!" Bernie said as she was interested,
Darnell then showed Bernie a news article published where Crimson was turning himself in for counts of abuse, fraud, robbery and murder.
"Infamous Greed Mafia Boss Crimson Knowlastname turns himself in for counts of abuse, fraud, robbery and murder?!" Bernie said,
"Yeah! Have you seen any of those calling cards around here and Greed?!" Darnell said, "The Phantom Thieves have struck again!"
"I can't believe it… They literally went and "changed the heart" of another evildoer, but from a different ring…"
"Exactly! I don't know how they did it!"
"I don't know either… Did you took a calling card with you while you were at Greed?"
"I did!"
Darnell then took out a calling card sent to Crimson that he got from Greed.
"So, The Phantom Thieves are targeting anyone from a different ring other than Pride…" Bernie said,
"It's crazy! Who knows who they'll target next!" Darnell said,
"Let's not keep our guards down, Darnell. We got a job to do."
"Right, right."
Darnell then received a text from someone.
"Ahh, I gotta go, I got a meeting with someone." He said,
"A meeting?" Bernie wondered,
"Yeah, it's so sudden."
"Alright, take care."
Darnell walked away. Bernie sighed.
"This is crazy…" He said, "At this point, they'll probably "change the heart" of Lucifer or Mammon next… I mean, I probably won't mind Lucifer since he has been a bit… off lately… No, I can't lose focus. I gotta keep watch on their next move."