The snap of Silas's fingers was not loud.
Yet, in the dead silence of the ruined ballroom, it echoed like a judge's gavel slamming down on a wooden block.
The air instantly froze. The ambient temperature, previously superheated by Kael's devastating fire magic, plummeted to a suffocating, unnatural chill.
[Executing Absolute Foreclosure.]
[Target: Baron Kael.][Active Debt: 890 Karma Points.][Net Worth: 320 Stat Points.]
[Status: Bankrupt. Initiating asset seizure.]
Spectral chains of blinding, neon-blue light erupted from the scorched marble floor. They shot upward like vipers, wrapping tightly around Kael's ankles, wrists, and throat.
Kael let out a terrified shriek. He thrashed wildly, but the chains were not physical. They were woven from the absolute laws of the cosmic ledger. They bypassed his muscles, sinking directly into his soul.
"What is this?!" Kael screamed, his voice cracking as he clawed desperately at his own throat. "Get these off me! I command you! I am a Baron of the Azure Empire!"
"You were a Baron," Silas corrected smoothly.
He stepped over the bubbling slag of melted stone, his ruined midnight-blue suit doing nothing to diminish the terrifying, glacial authority he radiated.
"Now, you are a delinquent account."
Kael's eyes bulged with primal, unadulterated terror. He could feel it. The very foundation of his existence—his mana core, his vitality, his memories—was being forcefully pulled upward, preparing to be ripped from his body.
"No!" Kael roared, spit flying from his lips. "I am a Bronze-Tier Elementalist! I will not lose to a talentless piece of trash!"
In a desperate, panicked frenzy, Kael reached into the inner lining of his charred coat.
He pulled out a heavy, crimson medallion carved in the shape of a screaming demon. It was an illegal, single-use artifact, strictly forbidden in sanctioned duels.
At the edge of the arena, Duke Valerius's eyes narrowed sharply. He recognized the item immediately. A Blood-Burn Talisman. It forcefully drained the lifeforce of the surrounding area to generate an absolute, B-Rank magical shield and a lethal counter-shock.
Kael crushed the medallion in his fist.
"Die!"
A shockwave of blood-red energy exploded outward. The sheer force of the B-Rank artifact threatened to tear the blue chains apart and vaporize Silas where he stood.
The crowd screamed, diving for cover behind the remaining pillars.
Silas didn't even blink. He didn't raise his arms to block. He didn't retreat.
He simply looked at the rushing wave of red destruction and spoke to his System.
"Audit."
[Appraising foreign asset...][Asset: Blood-Burn Talisman (B-Rank).][Status: Illegally obtained. Unregistered magic.][Resolution: Asset qualifies as unsanctioned collateral. Overriding defenses.]
The wave of blood-red energy hit Silas—and shattered like cheap glass against a brick wall.
It didn't explode. It didn't burn him. It simply unraveled into harmless, grey static the moment it touched the neon-blue domain of the Absolute Debt System.
Kael froze, his hand still outstretched, bleeding from the crushed medallion. His mind simply could not process what had just happened. A B-Rank artifact, capable of leveling a city block, had been deleted from existence by a mere glance.
"You tried to pay a cosmic debt with counterfeit currency," Silas whispered, stopping barely an inch in front of the kneeling, paralyzed noble.
Silas reached down. He placed his bare palm directly flat against the center of Kael's chest, right over his mana core.
"That is a felony."
Kael looked up into Silas's glowing, neon-blue eyes. He saw no mercy. No hesitation. Only the cold, mechanical inevitability of a foreclosure.
"Wait," Kael sobbed, his aristocratic pride completely broken. Tears streamed down his ash-covered face. "Please! I'll pay! I have gold! My father has vaults of imperial credits! I'll give you everything!"
"You already did," Silas said.
[Finalizing Foreclosure.]
Silas closed his fist and pulled backward.
A sound like tearing silk echoed through the ballroom. Kael let out a scream so agonizing, so fundamentally harrowing, that several nobles in the crowd covered their ears and turned away.
It was the sound of a soul being ripped at the seams.
A swirling, blinding sphere of crimson and gold energy was forcefully extracted right out of Kael's chest. It pulsed with wild, untamed heat, fighting to escape, but the blue chains of the System dragged it mercilessly into Silas's waiting hand.
[Foreclosure Complete.]
[Asset Seized: Bronze-Tier Fire Affinity.][Asset Seized: 320 Raw Stat Points.]
[Target's Net Worth adjusted: 0.]
The blue chains vanished, dissipating into the air.
Kael collapsed forward, his face hitting the scorched marble with a sickening thud.
Silas stood over him, holding the sphere of pure, swirling fire in his palm. The flames licked at his fingers, but they didn't burn. They submitted.
"System," Silas commanded silently. "Integrate the Affinity. Liquidate the stats."
[Processing Transaction...][Fire Affinity successfully integrated. Host now possesses Bronze-Tier Elemental generation.][Stats Liquidated.][Strength +15][Agility +20][Mana +30]
A massive, intoxicating rush of power flooded Silas's veins. The scorching heat in the air no longer felt oppressive; it felt like an extension of his own body. His muscles coiled tighter, his senses expanding sharply.
He had entered this gala as a Level 4 Mortal. He was now standing at the absolute peak of human physical limits, armed with stolen elemental magic.
On the floor, Kael groaned.
He weakly pushed himself up onto his elbows. His face was pale, his eyes sunken and dull. He looked like an old, dying man.
Kael reached out a trembling hand. He opened his mouth, trying to chant the most basic ignition spell. A spell he had known since he was a child. A spell that was as natural to him as breathing.
Nothing happened.
Not a single spark. Not even a wisp of smoke.
The mana in the air ignored him. His core was an empty, shattered void.
"My... my magic," Kael gasped, his voice a pathetic, reedy wheeze. He clawed at his own chest, tearing his shirt open. There was no glow. No warmth. "I can't feel it. I can't feel the fire! What did you do to me?!"
Silas looked down at him with absolute, glacial indifference.
"I repossessed it."
"Give it back!" Kael shrieked, crawling toward Silas, his bloody fingers grasping at Silas's shoes. "Give it back! I am a Baron! I am an Awakened! You can't do this! I am nothing without my magic!"
Silas flicked his wrist. A spark of crimson-orange flame—Kael's exact signature flame—ignited on Silas's fingertips.
"You were nothing with it, either," Silas stated calmly.
He stepped back, letting Kael fall flat onto the floor.
The ballroom was dead silent. The high nobility of the Azure Empire stared in absolute, unadulterated horror.
Death in a duel was common. But this? This was a nightmare. The "trash" noble hadn't just defeated a Bronze-Tier prodigy. He had permanently stripped him of his magic. He had turned an elite Awakened into a crippled, powerless mortal in the blink of an eye.
At the edge of the circle, Duke Valerius's face was an unreadable mask of fury and shock.
Silas turned his glowing, neon-blue eyes away from the sobbing, broken mess on the floor and locked his gaze directly onto the Duke.
Silas held up his hand, the stolen fire dancing obediently across his knuckles.
"One account settled," Silas projected, his voice carrying effortlessly to every terrified aristocrat in the room. "Who's next?"