Chapter 62: Liquidation

Chapter 62: Chapter 62: Liquidation

The private VIP elevator descending to the arena’s underground garage was dead silent.

Sterling stared at his reflection in the polished steel doors. He looked like a corpse. His expensive gray suit was covered in dust and dotted with blood from the shattered observation window. He was breathing in short, shallow gasps.

He held his phone to his ear.

"The number you are trying to reach is no longer in service," the automated voice repeated for the fifth time.

Sterling crushed the phone in his massive grip, the plastic and glass snapping into sharp pieces. Damian was gone. The moment Kaelen’s head hit the dirt, the secretary had erased his digital footprint and vanished into the Genesis City underworld.

"Guild Master," one of the two C-Rank bodyguards standing in the elevator said nervously. "The Association Enforcers have locked down the upper levels. They’re bringing in anti-magic squads to investigate the blood-relic. If we don’t get to the SUV now..."

"Shut up," Sterling snarled, his A-Rank aura flaring in a chaotic, terrified pulse. "Just get me to the safehouse. I have offshore accounts. I have leverage. I can buy my way out of this."

The elevator hummed as it reached the bottom floor. The steel doors slid open.

Sterling stepped out into the dimly lit, concrete parking garage. His black, armored SUV was parked twenty yards away.

But he couldn’t reach it.

Evelyn Vance was leaning casually against the hood of the SUV.

She had wiped the worst of the dirt off her face, but her urban combat gear was still singed from the celestial fire. She didn’t have her sword drawn. She didn’t have her wings out. She just watched Sterling approach with eyes that looked entirely, terrifyingly empty.

Donald stood a few feet to her left, his hands tucked into his jacket pockets. The barrel of his Thunderclap Pile Bunker was still venting thin wisps of blue smoke into the damp garage air.

Sterling stopped dead in his tracks.

"Kill them," Sterling ordered his guards, his voice shaking. He shoved the man nearest to him forward. "I’ll pay you ten million credits! Kill them!"

The two C-Rank guards stumbled forward. They looked at Donald. Then they looked at Evelyn.

They had just watched Evelyn cut a mutated S-Rank Berserker in half. They could still feel the residual, crushing weight of the Valkyrie’s holy mana pressing against their lungs just by standing in the same room as her.

The guard on the left slowly reached down to his belt. He unclipped his stun baton and dropped it onto the concrete floor. It clattered loudly.

The other guard did the same.

Without saying a single word, both men turned around, walked past Sterling, and headed for the emergency exit stairwell. They didn’t look back.

Sterling was completely alone.

"Ten million credits doesn’t buy what it used to," Donald noted dryly.

Sterling’s gray eyes went wide with pure, cornered panic. He fell back on his deepest instincts. He roared, his A-Rank aura erupting into a violent, red haze around his body. He lunged forward, raising his massive fists, trying to close the distance and crush the squishy support before the Valkyrie could react.

Evelyn didn’t even draw a weapon.

She stepped off the hood of the SUV and vanished.

Her S-Rank speed was so high she didn’t just move; she teleported. She appeared directly in front of Sterling before he had taken his third step.

She raised her hand and casually slapped him across the face.

The impact sounded like a gunshot. The kinetic force of the slap instantly shattered Sterling’s A-Rank mana shield, broke his jaw, and lifted his two-hundred-and-fifty-pound frame entirely off the ground. He spun violently in the air and crashed onto the concrete floor, sliding ten feet before hitting a concrete pillar.

Sterling groaned, spitting a mouthful of blood and a molar onto the floor. He tried to push himself up, but his arms wouldn’t support his weight. The aura was completely beaten out of him.

Evelyn walked over and looked down at him.

"Three years," Evelyn said softly. Her voice was cold enough to freeze the room. "You threw me in a dungeon to die so you could save a few million credits on Guild insurance. You destroyed my party. You took my home."

Sterling looked up at her, blood pouring from his nose. The charismatic, untouchable Guild Master was entirely gone, replaced by a terrified, broken old man.

"Evelyn... please," Sterling begged, his broken jaw slurring the words. "I’ll give you everything. The Vault. The private accounts. You can have it all. Just let me walk away."

"I don’t need your permission to take your things, Sterling," Evelyn said.

The sound of heavy boots echoed from the elevator bank.

A dozen heavily armored Awakener Association Enforcers flooded into the garage, their anti-magic rifles raised. Walking calmly in the center of the squad was Lady Aris Thorne, holding a sleek digital tablet.

"Stand down, Guild Master," the lead Enforcer barked, leveling his rifle at Sterling. "You are under arrest for the possession, deployment, and concealment of a Class-1 Demonic Blood-Relic. Your Awakener License is hereby permanently revoked."

Sterling didn’t fight as two Enforcers hauled him to his feet and slapped heavy, mana-dampening cuffs onto his wrists. He just stared at Donald.

Aris walked up to Donald, looking completely unbothered by the violence. She handed him the tablet.

"The escrow condition triggered the moment Kaelen died," Aris said smoothly, offering a polite smile to Evelyn. "The Iron Guild defaulted on its thirty-eight million credit wager. As the primary holder of the Guild’s debt, all remaining assets have been legally seized to cover the deficit."

Donald looked at the tablet.

The screen displayed the official digital deed to the Iron Guild Headquarters, the training grounds, and the official Guild Charter. Below it, a line of text confirmed his 38,000,000 System Credits had been returned to his private account, having secured the victory.

He pressed his thumb against the screen, signing the digital transfer.

"It’s over," Donald said.

Sterling, being dragged toward an Association transport vehicle, let out a hollow, manic laugh.

"You think you won?" Sterling spat, blood dripping down his chin. He glared at Donald. "You made a public spectacle. You showed the whole world an S-Rank Valkyrie. The Capital is going to see this. The Royal Guilds will see this! They don’t let anomalies exist outside their control. They’ll come for you!"

"Let them come," Evelyn replied calmly. She turned her back on him. "Genesis City is taken."

The Enforcers shoved Sterling into the back of the armored transport and slammed the heavy doors shut. The vehicle’s tires squealed as it drove up the exit ramp, disappearing into the city streets.

Aris watched the truck leave, then turned back to Donald. "He isn’t entirely wrong, you know. An independent S-Rank is going to draw a terrifying amount of political attention from the Capital."

"I’ll handle the politics, Aris," Donald said, handing the tablet back to her. "Just make sure the transition paperwork is filed by morning. I want the Iron Guild’s board of directors completely dissolved before lunch."

Aris bowed her head slightly. It wasn’t the polite nod of a business partner; it was a gesture of genuine submission to the new apex predator in the city. "Consider it done, Investor."

She turned and followed the remaining Enforcers out of the garage.

The underground lot was quiet again.

Donald pulled up his internal interface. The golden text was waiting for him, flashing brightly.

[CRITICAL MILESTONE: HOSTILE TAKEOVER COMPLETE.]

[Asset Acquired: Iron Guild Headquarters & Charter.]

[Wager Returned: +38,000,000 System Credits.]

[Current Balance: 38,000,000 System Credits.]

[Investor Rank Up Imminent. Calculating New Permissions...]

Donald dismissed the screen. He looked over at Evelyn.

She was staring at the empty space where Sterling’s transport had just been. Her shoulders finally dropped. The heavy, suffocating burden she had been carrying since the alleyway was completely gone.

Donald walked over and gently bumped his shoulder against hers.

"So," Donald smiled behind the mask. "What does the new Guild Master want for dinner?"

Evelyn looked at him. The cold, lethal Valkyrie melted away, leaving a blinding, radiant smile in its place. She threw her arms around his neck, pulling him into a fast, fierce kiss.

"I want to go home," Evelyn whispered against his lips.

"The penthouse?" Donald asked.

"No," Evelyn smirked, pulling back and looking toward the exit ramp. "The Iron Guild Headquarters. Let’s go see our new office."