New Six Arms

New Six Arms (新生「六腕」) is the tentative name of the newest incarnation of the former criminal group Six Arms in Mass for the Dead.

Background
Due to the Catastrophe, the fabric of society had changed for human nations. More so for the Re-Estize Kingdom. To safeguard its borders, many of the corrupt nobles with underworld ties had decided to cut their cut their patronage to many criminal activities to refocus spending on strengthening their nation.

The loss of the backing from the nobles was a severe blow to Eight Fingers, causing all the Executives to quit and retire. A few such as Zero refused to end his life of crime. Rather than vanish and live an ordinary life as his former colleagues chose, Zero aimed to make a new criminal empire using his team of Six Arms as the new leaders of the underworld. For the first few months, Six Arms managed to establish a new criminal network with the backing of some noble. Meanwhile Zero rebranded Six Arms as a upstanding worker team earning respect from the guards of the Royal Capital, eliminating the stigma to his groups name while operating an illicit operation. When seemed Zero’s plan seem have come to fruition, the nobles that were backing them immediately pulled back their funding and what followed was a complete dismantling of the criminal network by the Kingdom’s forces.

The sudden crack down of his nascent empire set Zero and his comrades back into the shadows. After some deliberation the group learned that the crack down was a result of the Kingdom signing the Tripartite Agreement to join in a military alliance with the Baharuth Empire and Slane Theocracy, creating the Tripartite Alliance. All prospects of a new criminal empire seemed low, but Zero not willing to admit defeat decided to move his operation to E-Rantel as it was the new seat of power for the Alliance.

Once in E-Rantel, Zero learned of that the third Trilateral Conference would begin, where all three leaders of the Three Kingdoms would meet to discuss future policy. The criminal desired to destabilize the Alliance and worked with Zurrernorn to create a horde of undead within the city. The plot failed though, due to the intervention of the protagonist's new adventurer team and Blue Roses. In the conflict, Davernoch was killed, and everyone in Six Arms was arrested save for Zero who fled.

Later Zero resurfaced at the Trilateral Conference as a vassal to Emperor Jircniv Rune Farlord El-Nix, who pardoned the criminal as well as provided diplomatic immunity to his remaining Six Arms compatriots, releasing them from prison. They worked under together alongside the imperial knights, and helped raise a force of workers to strengthen the Empire. When E-Rantel was threatened by a massive army of Chaos Beast s, Six Arms led the workers to fight the monsters at the quarry near the city. The workers were meant to hold the Chaos Beasts long enough for the imperial reinforcements to arrive. However when the knights arrived, on cliffs of the quarry, Zero noticed that they were not coming to their aid. Having a bad feeling, Zero orders his team to get to higher ground. His instincts proved right, as the imperials had set up a trap using the workers as bait, killing both worker and Chaos Beast in a giant pit of acid. Despite being used as bait, the ploy was praised by Zero seeing it as proof of of Jircniv of being worthy as a leader. However not everyone on his team felt the same as the idea that the emperor was willing to sacrifice them unsettled them. In the end it would cause the team of Six Arms to split.

Mass for the Dead Arc
Shortly after surviving their ordeal at the quarry, Edström and Succulent abandoned Zero and the others to strike out of their own due to the dangers of working with the "Bloody Emperor". Six Arms now at half strength left the team in a weaken state. However Zero refused to back down and led his team for one last job that would put their group back on top.

Zero led his team with a slew of hired workers to the Katze Plains where they subjugated any undead they came across. The activities of the remnants of Six Arms would be heard by Igvarge who led the adventurer team of Kralgra. Somehow the adventurer learned that Zero's frequent forays into the plains were not just to cull the undead, but actually a search for a specific undead, an elder lich who controlled a Ghost Ship. In a boast the adventurer told the protagonist of Six Arms plans and his own ambition to search for the lich to prove his heroism and surpass the younger adventurer.

The protagonist brought this information to Momonga who suspected that Zero's search for the lich was related to Shalltear's brainwashing, given the area that the workers were looking for was close to where it happened. To know for sure, the Overlord sent Lupusregina Beta and CZ2128 Delta to Arwintar. There the two Pleiades create worker personas of Regi and Shizuni. They infiltrated a undead subjugation where Zero, Malmvist and Peshurian are leading some workers to eliminate the undead in the plains. They garner Malmvist's attention attention after saving his life from an undead. The members of the Six Arms buy the stories that the two women fled from E-Rantel after it had been attacked by the Demon Emperor and their desire to earn money. Upon learning that the people who hired them for the undead subjugation are Six Arms, both Regi and Shizuni display their utter awe of the former criminals claims them to be their idols and heroes.

Nearly all of the workers are killed save for Regi and Shizuni who follow the members of Six Arms into the fog, They eventually come across some undead that are being manipulated, and Zero calls out for their master to show themselves. The master complies, revealing a Ghost Ship commanded by an elder lich named Iguva who demands they leave or suffer the consequences. The five workers then proceed to fight the lich, defeat him, though they do not kill him at Zero's orders. Zero extends a hand out to Iguva to join his team promising to help him in his pursuit of magic. The lich has no qualms of following the strong and accepts, replacing Zero's former comrade Davernoch as Six Arms newest undead magic caster. Unknown the the human workers, the undead was actually a lich created by Momonga as the original lich captaining the Ghost Ship was killed by Kralgra. The undead acted as an additional spy and supporter for the undercover maids to determine the exact purpose of Zero's interest in securing the Ghost Ship and the Katze Plains.

Once they return to the city, Regi and Shizuni separate from Six Arms, but are approached by Malmvist who invites the women into Six Arms, as he and the others were impressed with their strength. After displaying their restrained power to Malmvist he is convinced that they meet the standards of being members of Six Arms. Once they are brought to the base of Six Arms, Zero welcomes them into the fold, and soon details of Six Arms' plans are revealed to the women. As it turns out Six Arms is working with several nobles in the Empire that aim to depose the emperor. Zero finding common ground with them, due his history of being used as a pawn by Jircniv, agreed to help establish a smuggling route through the Katze Plains to the Slane Theocracy who they would reach out to support their rebellion by requesting slaves and weapons.

The conspiracy is reported to Momonga who is unsure of how to respond. In the end he decides to "wait and see" and allow the operation to proceed as planned for the coup. Six Arms used the Ghost Ship to lead a convoy of the nobles and their gifts through the fog of the plains. However Zero leads them into an ambush proving that his loyalties were with the emperor who had suspect the coup attempt. After the rebels are killed or arrested, Zero demands the knight Baziwood Peshmel, Leinas Rockbruise, and Nimble Arc Dale Anoch to honor their liege's agreement in that he would grant him the title and rank as one of the Four Imperial Knights. The Imperial Knights though postponed the worker's ascension into their ranks, partly due to not wanting him to claim the title feeling him unfit for Nazami Enec's spot, and made an excuse that he still needed to prove himself by fighting one of them in a duel. Said duel which would be arranged at the time and place of their choosing. Disgruntled by being stonewalled of what was his, Zero was forced to accept their reasoning.

Zero then returned to his comrades, and while disappointed in not being made a knight believed that the maybe the delay was not so bad as he now had a new and stronger team which he could be proud of. His team now back to full strength and then some, Zero declared Six Arms to be revived. For the Sorcerer Kingdom, the inclusion of the agents in the worker team also proved to be a boon, as it allowed their agents an important post to spy on the movements of the Empire.

Later the agents of Nazarick within New Six Arms were asked by the protagonist to locate the mithril plate belonging to Igvarge, as Iguva was made from the corpse of the fallen adventurer, Regi and Shizuni hoped the lich still had it. Sadly it was not on Iguva’s person. To make sure the trio headed to the Katze Plains in hopes that the plate was on the Ghost Ship. But it was not there. After the three left the ship in disappointment, their movement was observed by Malmvist and Peshurian in the fog curious as to what the trio were doing.

Regi and Shizuni were brought before Zero and the other members of the worker group to explain their visit to Iguva’s ship. At first the women tried to feign ignorance until their comrades convinced them to spill their secret. They revealed that their motivation was profit as they heard from a source that the Adventurer’s Guild in E-Rangel were collecting adventurer plates for a relic display. They believed that if Iguva may have had some in his ship and hoped to sell them to the guild for a reward. The information intrigued the male members of Six Arms who wondered by the guild would solicit out such a request. Zero figured that the work was a public relations stunt to show the public that the guild cared for the fallen adventurers. Upon hearing from Regi that the protagonist was spotted in the Katze Plains searching for a mithril plate of a certain adventurer, members of the worker team wonder what would happen if they snatched the item first.

All members of Six Arms, saved for Iguva, headed towards the plains to investigate for themselves. However without Iguva to safely guide them through the fog, the workers ran into a horde of undead that chased after them. They group ran into Darkness in their flight and before they two groups could come into conflict, the undead caught up forcing them to fight together. After the undead were driven away, the protagonist explained the target of the search was a Skeletal Dragon that they learned from a magic caster was in possession of the mithril plate. Though some like Malmvist and Peshurian were apprehensive about facing an undead dragon, Zero wanted to assist the adventurers. He understood that there was no reward for the plate as the recovery was a charitable mission, but was more interested in claiming the hoard of the dragon which no doubt contained many treasures. The prospect of gaining the collected wealth of the undead was more than enough incentive for the workers to join in an alliance with Darkness.

The teams faced the dragon and its army of undead, successfully killing it. Whereas Six Arms claimed the treasures, Darkness was allowed to recover not just the mithril plate but also the plates of several other adventurers that were collected by the Skeletal Dragon. Iguva shortly arrived at the nest bringing the Ghost Ship to help transport the loot, which the workers agreed to split six ways evenly. Unknown to the human members of Six Arms the encounter with the adventurers was planned by the Sorcerer Kingdom who had been monitoring them and prompted the workers to aid them in the recovery of the relics. The results were not bad for Six Arms as their contribution put them in good standing with the guild at E-Rantel who saw the team up in retrieving the adventurer plates a joint venture between the Empire’s strongest worker team and the Sorcerer Kingdom adamantite adventurer team. Not only that but the Sorcerer Kingdom obtained half of the loot from the nest thanks to their agents being part of the team.

Under orders from Momonga, Regi and Shizuni were ordered to acquire samples of daily household magic items from the imperial capital. The intent was to use them as a basis to craft new improved versions to reinforce the lie that the Sorcerer Kingdom was the legacy of the Boastful Sage. While they were browsing through the Central Market, their activity was spotted by Malmvist who asked what they were doing. The duo provided a cover story that they intended to resell the magic items in E-Rantel, as the city was booming in population and probably had a market for the cheap magic items from the Empire. The human members in Six Arms accepted their story as a way to earn quick cash. While Regi and Shizuni were supposedly in E-Rantel selling their wares, Iguva remained behind to supplement their alibis for their long absences.

Though they had not been gone that long, Zero began to worry about his long over due promotion as one of the Four Imperial Knight and feared that the two women may have jumped ship. His two long-standing comrades, Peshurian and Malmvist assured him that everything would be fine as he still had them and swore they wouldn't abandon him. Iguva also lent a supportive voice reinforcing that he was content with their business relationship and would not leave the fold. To kill time Malmvist and Peshurian made a bet on the outcome of Regi and Shinzui's venture,

In the end Peshurian won the bet in that their plan to resell magic items failed, as the women brought news that they overheard the Sorcerer Kingdom was planning to launch some never before seen items that were made from the plans of the Boastful Sage. While their money scheme ended in failure, Zero believed that the information was valuable to the Bloody Emperor and could be used to get the sovereign to grant him his knighthood. As proof of what they heard was true, Regi and Shizuni brought out the Scented Moisture Fan they allegedly stole. Their leak about the Sorcerer Kingdom plan though was a manipulation from Momonga and the protagonist to spread the word of the new magic items.

On a slow day in Awrintar, most of the team found themselves eating in the Singing Apple Inn to feign. They briefly drifted on the rumors of what happened in E-Rantel and its attack by invisible attackers. When Regi and Shizuni showed interest in a bard singing a ballad of the Bloody Emperor's role in defeating a Chaos Beast horde the male members dismissed it as barely the truth as they were there. They were amused on how Regi and Shizuni aspired to be bards, jokingly hoping that they could gain skills in the profession to spread the fame of their team.

Later when Regi and Shizuni brought a prototype of an electric guitar supposedly from the Sorcerer Kingdom to sell to the bards in the Empire, the male members of New Six Arms had mixed reactions to the item.

Unofficially Shizuni took part in an investigation with Soi and Ku to investigate a illegal gambling den on the outskirts of the Re-Estize Kingdom with suspected drug trade ties. Shizuni and Ku infiltrated the den as bodyguards and learned of the location of the boss of the operation who was rumored to be a strong man from Six Arms. Though it turned out to be Succulent who was masquerading as his former comrade Zero to gain respect in the underworld. After he was defeated, Succulent was taken into custody and brought to the Frozen Prison as it was believed his presence could be a hinderance to Regi and Shizuni's undercover identities.

Zero eventually heard rumors about a member of Six Arms conducting a smuggling operation from the imperial capital from workers at a bar. While he did not care about his former comrade, he took offense that someone was using the name brand Six Arms, when he established New Six Arms. He planned to deal with the situation himself, but days later learned that the operation run by the former Six Arms member was busted and that Succulent was missing.

Strength
Zero hailed that this revived version of Six Arms is stronger than its previous incarnation due to its new members who are incredibly powerful beings.

Known Members

 * Zero: Monk, Battle Demon
 * Peshurian: Warrior, Spacial Slash
 * Malmvist: Fencer, Thousand Kills
 * Iguva=41: Magic Caster, Undead Captain
 * Regi: Cleric, Laughing Mace
 * Shizuni: Sniper, One Eye in a Hundred

Trivia

 * Ironically the former members of Six Arms who were left for dead or abandoned the team on their own accord did not fare better in their individual pursuits.
 * Davernoch who was decapitated by Soi out of anger due to his title "Undead King", was revived after members of Zurrernorn collected his remains and reattached the head back to his body. He joined the cult as a member and worked with them to kidnap bride candidates around the Marquis Blumrush's city of Re-Blumrushur. However he was killed by Narberal when the protagonist's Darkness and Blue Roses came to investigate.
 * Edström separated from Six Arms shortly after witnessing Emperor Jircniv Rune Farlord El-Nix callously use several worker teams as bait to destroy a a horde of Chaos Beast s . She reunited with Davernoch and joined him in acting as a hired arm for the death cult. But after the adventurers arrived and got wind of Zurrernorn's plans, she was knocked out by Evileye and presumably arrested.
 * Succulent left the same time as Edström, though his whereabouts are unknown for awhile. Later it was heard by Shizuni that the illusionist went to work for the nobles at the Kingdom.