I became a heart-stealing thief in Azure Files

"...He should be executed."

After simply and ruthlessly announcing the target's 'death sentence,' Susanoo instantly appeared before 'Nyanada Masamune,' slashing his long sword diagonally down from behind his neck.

With a 'whoosh' sound, accompanied by a bright, arcing blade of light, a deep and unhealable wound was left on 'Nyantatsu Masamune's' back.

"Wait, wait a minute...!"

The arrogant and domineering 'Nyanda Masamune' who was just a moment ago was suddenly terrified.

Its expression changed faster than turning the pages of a book; now it was begging for mercy: "You...you...don't kill me!"

"Just don't kill me, I... I'll give you all my money, I... I'll do anything!"

With a 'poof' sound, the summoned Susanoo disappeared into smoke.

Although Izuna withdrew the summoning technique, she remained vigilant.

If 'Nyanta Masamune' wants to continue fighting... then don't blame her for continuing to use "Summoning Technique" to summon Amaterasu.

Amamiya stepped forward and placed her foot on the back of 'Nyantatsu Masamune', who was lying prone on the ground.

"We don't need your dirty money... what we need is for you to confess everything you've done, including but not limited to the evil deeds of 'hiring a demon to disrupt the cherry blossom festival.'"

"Then, stop all your evil deeds."

The cold muzzle of the gun was pointed at 'Nyanda Masamune', and Amamiya continued, "...If you can promise me that you can do these things, we can let you go."

What else can 'Nyantatsu Masamune' say?

If you say "no" even once, you'll lose your life.

Money can be earned back, but once you lose your life, no matter how much money you have, you can't spend it.

At that moment, 'Nyanda Masamune', sweating profusely, nodded repeatedly and assured, "I... I can definitely do it!"

"I...I will stop employing the demons and prevent them from disrupting the Cherry Blossom Festival again...In addition, I will stop deceiving and oppressing them and provide them with compensation for their losses."

"Regarding the issue of organized crime... I will gradually begin to disband or transform my organization..."

"If you can just let me return to my true self and repent for the mistakes I've made... anything is possible!"

As he spoke, 'Nyatatsu Masamune' began to repent, and a faint, shimmering light gradually emanated from his body.

Shadows are formed from negative consciousness... Once they begin to repent, or rather, begin to "repent," they begin to dissipate, transforming into pure guilt and remorse, returning to the heart that corresponds to the goal in the real world.

Amamiya withdrew his stomping motion, looked at the other person, and earnestly advised: "As a businessman, you must especially remember... there are many things you can sell, but you must never sell your conscience. There are also many things you can trample on... but you must never trample on other people's dreams."

"Remember your original aspirations... if you still have those aspirations."

"Don't continue down this wrong path..."

“I…I understand…”

'Nyanta Masamune' seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, but then fell into deep thought because of Amamiya's words.

Before it vanished, it made its final promise.

"I will...end all of this."

Chapter Twenty-Four: Let's burn this building to ashes!

As dusk gradually faded, the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons entered its 'night mode' as usual, and fireworks were lit.

Amidst the rich atmosphere of the evening festival, clusters of different colors, but all eventually explode into various 'flowers' under the star-studded night sky, whooshing and rising into the sky.

The three girls from the training club prepared their weapons.

Shizuko and Fina each prepared their equipment.

Izuna stood in the shadows behind Amamiya, maintaining the hand seals of a 'ninja'. He looked inconspicuous, but he was the rather special one among the group of girls surrounding Amamiya at this moment.

“Well…” Amamiya cleared his throat, glancing around at the same time, “Is everyone ready?”

"Ready!" ×6

The girls raised their voices and answered in unison.

Amamiya nodded: "Then... let's go."

"For the cherry blossom festival to proceed as planned... for the 'lights of ten thousand homes' during the Hyakki Yagyō (Night Parade of One Hundred Demons)."

Faced with Amamiya's slightly melodramatic words, which carried a sense of melancholy as a "shadow hero guarding the veil of darkness," the girls responded enthusiastically, with a touch of embarrassment, or with boundless energy.

"For the sake of the lights in every home during the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons!"

After a brief 'pre-battle mobilization,' Amamiya, following clues obtained from Izuna's 'preliminary reconnaissance,' set off under the cover of night with six girls.

The group quietly passed through the venue of the evening cherry blossom festival, gradually moving away from the brightly lit area where the lively atmosphere was no less than that of the daytime.

To facilitate attacks, disrupt the cherry blossom festival, and assess the results, the temporary headquarters chosen by "Chimei Ichiro," hired by the mastermind, was not too far from the cherry blossom festival venue.

Amamiya and his party did not need to take any vehicle; they could reach the destination in just over ten minutes on foot.

Soon, the group of seven stood beneath the temporary headquarters of the demons.

As the team leader, Amamiya looked up at the high-rise building, which was extremely modern in style and quite different from the "Edo period architecture" of the Hyakki Yagyō (Night Parade of One Hundred Demons).

—As the chairman of the commercial district, it's not surprising that Miaotianmaru could build such a 'modern skyscraper'.

The building seems to adopt a style similar to that of the millennia past, giving it a modern sci-fi feel—Amamiya looks somewhat familiar.

He thought for a moment before recalling a building that had some similarities to one he had seen before: the Night City landmark from Cyberpunk 2077.

"Arakasa Tower".

The PMC guarding the gate looked vaguely familiar to Amamiya.

It looks like the robot army of Caesar PMC...

Amamiya was momentarily surprised to see the PMC guarding the goal.

It seems... the repentance of the black market Caesars Group has not completely 'destroyed' the Caesars Group...

After scanning the building with his Persona Prometheus (The Hermit), which is known for its scanning abilities, and confirming the enemy's reaction, Amamiya switched to Ariadne, who was more suitable for guiding the best route.

The Ariadne Line instantly spread to the girls around her, giving them a brief moment of 'enlightenment' and allowing them to connect with each other.

"Next, we'll storm this building... There are quite a few enemies, but overall, we have the advantage in strength."

"Don't panic, everyone. Just follow my instructions."

After transmitting the combat mission using the [Ariadne's Thread], Amamiya began to deploy the operation.

Having already experienced the difficulties of being temporarily "connected" by the [Ariadne Line], Shizuko and Shizuko immediately began their actions with great enthusiasm.

This feeling of having "fate" in your hands and being in complete control is something you can't get enough of, no matter how many times you experience it.

The three members of the training club who had never experienced this before, as well as Izuna, were all briefly surprised.

Then, they were immediately captivated by Amamiya's novel battlefield command skills.

"oh oh……"

Shaking its tiny animal ears, Feng's eyes sparkled with disbelief as it whispered, "This is simply... the power of a 'hero'!"

Tsubaki, maintaining her languid demeanor, glanced unexpectedly at Amamiya.

After a brief silence, he spoke softly, with a tone that seemed to carry a strange sense of emotion: "So efficient, such amazing ability."

The pink-haired girl holding the pistol gave Amamiya a complicated look with her sea-blue eyes.

'Sensei's current abilities are more like "mind reading"...'

Thinking this to herself, Mimori suddenly realized that her 'thoughts' would be temporarily shared with everyone else in the team.

She looked at Amamiya and hurriedly explained, "Th-um, Sensei, I didn't mean to complain, it's just..."

"The abilities you've demonstrated, Sensei, are quite... novel..."

Izuna didn't speak, but simply looked quietly at Amamiya with her eyes that glowed faintly in the night.

'As expected of the lord Izuna has always trusted...'

'My lord is so amazing!'

Amamiya pinched the bridge of her nose, took the pistol "Destroyer Emperor" in her hand, and attached a special tactical silencer specially made by Yuriko for covert operations.

—Although they will be exposed soon as the attack begins.

But it's better to delay the exposure as much as possible.

"Set off."

Raising his gun and aiming, Amamiya accurately shot down Caesar PMC, who was guarding the gate, before leading six girls into the building.

Thanks to Prometheus's scanning and Ariadne's reconnaissance, Amamiya and his group were able to easily avoid the vast majority of "encounters."

Along the way, they skillfully avoided the various electronic devices equipped with surveillance cameras inside the building, and after walking through the shadows for a while...

Amamiya and the girls had no choice but to take a separate elevator to the top floor, arriving at the "President's Floor," a spacious floor with excellent visibility.

As soon as the elevator doors opened, Amamiya saw... about several hundred members of the Demon King's House, gathered in small groups.

Some were playing cards, some were playing online games together, and some were chatting or resting.

Obviously... no one could have predicted that Amamiya would launch a surprise attack.

When the members of the Demon King's Group began to recover, they were greeted by cold gunfire and a flashbang grenade that burst into intense, dazzling light indoors, capable of rendering a range of enemies incapable of fighting.

With methodical control over the girls' firepower, Amamiya maximized the group's 'single-round output' – in just one round of attacks, nine out of ten members of the Chimei were already gone.

The rest, in their panic, found cover to avoid the attack, or were members of the Chimei clan who had unexpectedly survived the first round of attacks, had completely lost their will to fight.

The gunfire gradually became scattered and eventually thinned out.

Under Amamiya's command, the girls miraculously and effortlessly conquered the entire resting floor used by the members of the Chimei.

After defeating the members of the Chimei clan, Amamiya and his group saw the mastermind behind the disruption of the cherry blossom festival—'Miaotianmaru'.

It should have been aggressive or even villainous, but its performance was not ideal at this moment.

Fear, trembling, despair... Amamiya saw many complex, extremely conflicted emotions on that cat's face.

Upon seeing Amamiya and her group, Motenmaru didn't even have the slightest thought of resistance. He immediately knelt down before them, tears streaming down his face, sobbing and wailing, "I was wrong!"

Shizuko, who was about to sternly question Megami Maru, thought: "?"

After a moment of surprise, the brown-haired girl's eyes flickered slightly.

After glancing at Amamiya standing at the front of the line, she vaguely understood what had happened.

"The Phantom Thief Who Stole Hearts" is over... So, is now the time for repentance?

Metenmaru's tearful monologue continued: "It was me, I did it... I hired members of Chimei Ichika to try and disrupt this Cherry Blossom Festival, to make it fail, and ultimately to make things difficult for the 'Festival Operations Committee'..."

"And the recent rumors circulating in the Hyakki Yagyō (Night Parade of One Hundred Demons) area, related to the underworld... I admit to all of them."

"We repent for all the mistakes we have made."

"But we do not acknowledge the faults that others have forcibly attributed to us—these faults are specifically..."

Although Miaotianwan cried throughout, it appeared very rational, completely behaving like a "repentant reformer," without showing even the slightest sign of being hypnotized or controlled.

It committed the crimes, and it makes no attempt to conceal them, bearing all the consequences.

It was not the crime it committed, nor did it have any intention of "seeking death" and taking the blame upon itself.

Shizuko, Fina, and the three girls from the training club all took out their prepared recording equipment and recorded Meteorite's nearly half-hour 'declaration of repentance'.

"Having committed so many mistakes..." Shizuko's eyes were deep and unfathomable. "President... I'll call you President one last time. How do you intend to repay this debt?"

With a pale face, Motenmaru lowered his head and answered without hesitation: "I intend to resign from my position as president of the shopping district... and donate all the ill-gotten gains I have obtained through other means to contribute to the future celebrations of the Hyakki Yagyō (Night Parade of One Hundred Demons) and the preservation of traditional culture."

"We... will try to rediscover our original aspirations, starting from the very beginning as merchants..."

"Furthermore... in order to protect more dreams, we plan to... try to sponsor some of the students from the Demon King's Hall and help them reform..."

After saying all this, Miaotianmaru kept his head down and said no more.

It's obvious... it's already been 'appointed'.

As for its so-called 'repayment of wrongdoing,' that can only begin after it has been taken away and formally accounted for its crimes through the channels of the Valkyrie Police Department, and is punished accordingly.

Amamiya gestured to the girls traveling with him to deal with the temporarily unconscious members of the Chimei Ichi, while he himself dialed the Valkyrie Police Station.

'The greedy destroyers have been defeated.'