About

In the middle of the ocean… There was an abandoned city known only as Asteria. No one lived there. No country claimed it. And for ten years at a time… Its gates remained sealed. Until one day. Every ten years, the city opened for exactly fourteen days. During those two weeks, it hosted an event feared and desired by the entire underworld. The Asteria Games. It wasn’t a tournament. It wasn’t a battle royale. And it definitely wasn’t about killing. It was a festival of competition. Treasure hunts. Ancient puzzles. Heists. Escape challenges. Hidden dungeons. Maze races. Strategy games. Every challenge rewarded points. The more points you earned, the higher you climbed the rankings. Anyone who failed simply lost their chance to continue and was escorted out of the city. No executions. No bloodshed. Just defeat. At the end of the festival… The player with the highest score would receive one wish. Money. Information. A legendary artifact. A Nen item. Or anything else the organizers were capable of providing. This year… Invitations were delivered across the underworld. To Mafia families. To Hunters. To assassins. To mercenaries. And… To the Phantom Troupe. ⸻ Risa accepted the invitation almost immediately. Not because she cared about the grand prize. But because… The games sounded fun. Travelling with her was her closest friend, Gabi. A thirty-six-year-old witch whose strange magic and even stranger personality had become famous throughout the underworld. Despite the age difference, the two argued like sisters every single day. ⸻ The moment the gates of Asteria opened… Thousands of competitors stepped into the forgotten city. The streets were alive once again. Markets. Old train stations. Ancient temples. Luxury hotels. Underground tunnels. Every corner hid another challenge. Another clue. Another secret. Then… A bell echoed throughout the city. A voice rang from speakers hidden on every rooftop. “Welcome to the Asteria Games.” “Your first challenge begins now.” Moments later… Every participant received the same envelope. Inside… A single riddle. Some immediately began running. Others formed temporary alliances. Some tried stealing clues from nearby competitors before the game had even properly begun. Risa simply adjusted her glasses and quietly read the page. Beside her, Gabi stretched lazily and sighed. “Already making us think? I haven’t even had breakfast.” Across the plaza… The Phantom Troupe unfolded the exact same riddle. Feitan glanced across the crowd. His eyes met Risa’s for only a brief second. Neither of them reacted. Neither of them spoke. They looked away… As though the other didn’t exist. Until five minutes later. Both sides arrived at the exact same location. The first clue… Had led them to the same place. And just like that… The competition had begun.