The penthouse of Vayne Tower was no longer a room; it was a wind tunnel of shredded money and glass.
In the center of the chaos, two monsters clashed.
Kaelen, the Fallen Hero, moved like a blur of violet light. His Void-sword slashed through the air, carving deep gouges into the adamantine pillars. He was fueled by madness, by the raw, corrupting power of the Leviathan.
Nero, the Shadow General, met him with silence and brutality.
CLANG.
Nero caught the Void-blade with his bare gauntlet. The metal hissed as the void energy tried to eat through his shadow-armor, but Nero didn't flinch. He punched Kaelen in the chest, sending the Anarchist crashing through a mahogany desk.
"He bought you!" Kaelen screamed, scrambling to his feet, blood leaking from his eyes. "You were a General of the Empire! Now you're just a dog on a golden leash! You are a slave!"
Nero stepped forward, the shadows of the ruined room coiling around him like serpents.
"I am not a slave," Nero rumbled, his voice shaking the floorboards.
He grabbed Kaelen by the throat and slammed him against the balcony railing.
"I am an investment."
Outside, the sky turned black.
The Void Leviathan hovered directly in front of the tower. Its skeletal jaws opened wide. A sphere of Null-Fire—energy so dense it warped the light around it—began to form in its throat.
It was charging a breath that would vaporize the top twenty floors of the building.
"Boss!" Seraphina yelled, clutching the terminal as the building swayed. "Impact in ten seconds!"
I stood behind the wreckage of my desk, gripping the Star-Fall Beacon.
The crystal was vibrating violently. It was blindingly white.
[Charge: 100%.]
[Status: Ready for Targeting.]
I looked at the Dragon. It was fast. It was erratic. If I aimed the orbital strike at the beast, it might dodge. I only had one shot.
I needed a target that couldn't move. A target big enough to ensure a kill.
I looked at the floor beneath my feet.
"Seraphina," I shouted over the roaring wind. "Target Lock: Current Coordinates. Vayne Tower."
Seraphina froze. She looked at me like I had lost my mind.
"Lucas! That's a Tier-10 Orbital Strike! You'll destroy the headquarters! You'll destroy us!"
I looked at the dragon. The Null-Fire was seconds away.
"The building is fully insured!" I yelled. "Do it!"
Seraphina slammed her hand onto the console.
[Target Locked: Self.]
[Orbital Railgun: Firing.]
"NO!" Kaelen roared.
He broke Nero's grip with a burst of Void magic. He didn't run for cover. He lunged at me, his sword raised to execute me before the sky fell.
He was fast. Too fast for me to dodge.
But not too fast for a shadow.
Nero didn't try to block the sword. He tackled Kaelen.
The momentum carried them both past me, toward the shattered edge of the balcony.
Nero slammed into the Fallen Hero, driving him over the ledge.
For a split second, time seemed to freeze. Nero looked back at me, his helmet torn open, revealing a glimpse of the human face beneath the shadow.
"Survive, Boss," he whispered.
Then, they both fell into the abyss.
"Activate Protocol: Golden Parachute!" I screamed, grabbing Seraphina and pulling her close.
I slammed a button on my watch.
CLANK-HISS.
From the floor, walls, and ceiling, panels of heavy Adamantine-Plating slammed shut around us. In less than a second, a perfect, reinforced sphere formed around us—a panic room designed to survive a nuclear event.
Then, the sky opened up.
Location: Ground Zero
It wasn't a sound. It was a pressure.
A pillar of pure, concentrated magical light—thick as a city block—slammed down from the stratosphere.
It hit the Void Leviathan first.
The dragon didn't shriek. It didn't fight. It simply disintegrated. The bones, the void-flesh, the ancient magic—all of it was scrubbed from existence in a millisecond.
Then, the beam hit Vayne Tower.
The top fifty floors of the skyscraper vanished in a cloud of superheated dust. The structural integrity failed instantly.
Inside the Panic Sphere, the world was a violent, tumbling nightmare.
We were free-falling inside a metal ball, bouncing off debris, spinning uncontrollably as the tower collapsed around us.
BANG. CLANG. CRASH.
Alarms screamed inside the sphere. Gravity dampeners whined as they fought to keep us from turning into paste.
"Hold on!" I yelled, bracing against the padded walls.
We fell for ten seconds. It felt like ten years.
BOOM.
The sphere slammed into the foundation of the tower, burying itself under a mountain of concrete and steel.
Then... silence.
Time: 10 Minutes Later Location: The Ruins of Vayne Plaza
The dust cloud hung over the city like a shroud.
The Vayne Tower, once the symbol of the new world, was gone. In its place stood a jagged, smoking stump of twisted metal.
Surrounding the plaza, the armies of the First Prince and the Second Prince stood in stunned silence. Their weapons hung loosely in their hands. They stared at the devastation.
Nobody could survive that. The Merchant King was dead.
Then, movement.
In the center of the rubble pile, a massive metal sphere hissed.
Psshht.
Steam vented from the seams. The adamantine doors groaned and slid open.
I stepped out.
My suit was torn. My face was covered in dust. I was coughing, waving away the smoke.
Seraphina stumbled out behind me, clutching a datapad, looking shaken but alive.
I climbed up a slab of concrete, rising above the wreckage. I looked out at the sea of soldiers, nobles, and citizens who were staring at me as if I were a ghost.
I checked my VayneCom. The screen was cracked, but the signal was strong.
[ System Notification: Target Eliminated. ]
[ The Void Leviathan: Liquidated. ]
[ Kaelen (The Fallen Hero): Status Unknown/MIA. ]
[ Vayne Tower: Total Loss. ]
[ Insurance Claim: Filed (Payout: 500,000,000 Gold). ]
I brushed the dust off my shoulder. I straightened my tie, though it was cut in half.
I raised my hand.
A hush fell over the crowd. The Princes, watching from their command tents, held their breath.
"Tell the Princes," I shouted, my voice cutting through the silence.
I pointed to the smoking crater where the dragon used to be.
"That the subscription price just went up."
A cheer erupted from the workers in the distance. The soldiers lowered their weapons. They knew who had won.
[ Volume 2: The Maritime War - COMPLETE. ]
[ Achievement Unlocked: The Unkillable. ]
[ Reward: Title [Disaster Capitalist]. ]
[ Effect: You gain +50% Gold from catastrophic events. ]
I looked up at the sky, where the clouds were finally breaking.
The tower was gone. The dragon was dead. My shadow was missing.
But the ledger?
The ledger was balanced.