Chapter 64: The Investment Guild

Chapter 64: Chapter 64: The Investment Guild

The private elevator of the Zenith Spire penthouse chimed softly.

Donald was standing at the kitchen island, pouring a second cup of coffee. He stopped. He set the glass pot down. That chime was impossible. He had manually locked the lobby bio-scanners last night. The elevator was programmed to only accept his or Evelyn’s thumbprints.

On the couch, Evelyn didn’t even blink. She just set her datapad down and stood up. The ambient temperature in the living room immediately spiked as her S-Rank core spun to life.

The glass elevator doors slid open smoothly.

Three people stepped into the penthouse.

The man in the center looked like he had just walked off a royal yacht. He was in his late thirties, with sharp features and perfectly styled silver hair. He wore a pristine white suit, completely untouched by the smog of Genesis City. Pinned to his left lapel was a heavy gold badge: a roaring dragon wrapping around a bleeding heart.

The two men flanking him were massive, wearing matching white combat armor. They didn’t look like standard Guild guards. They moved with absolute, terrifying synchronicity.

Donald’s [Valuation Eye] flickered to life.

[Target: Julian Vane]

[Class: A-Rank Enchanter (Level 61)]

[Affiliation: Dragonheart Emissary (Capital City)]

"The wards on this building are charmingly outdated," Vane said. He didn’t sound out of breath or aggressive. He sounded profoundly bored. He looked around the ruined living room, stepping over a piece of broken glass. "Though it seems you’ve already had a pest problem."

"We usually do," Donald said, stepping around the counter. He kept his hands out of his pockets, completely relaxed. "But the exterminator just left. Who are you?"

"Julian Vane," the silver-haired man said, stopping a few feet from the couch. He didn’t look at Donald. His eyes locked entirely onto Evelyn. "I represent the Dragonheart Guild. The Capital sends its regards."

Evelyn crossed her arms. "I didn’t invite the Capital into my living room."

"You didn’t have to," Vane smiled. It was a cold, practiced expression. "You incinerated a mutated A-Rank on a national broadcast, Miss Vance. You updated your registry file to S-Rank. You set off a flare that every Royal Guild in the country saw."

Vane casually reached into his white jacket and pulled out a heavy, gold-leafed document. He tossed it onto the coffee table.

"Genesis City is a puddle," Vane stated, looking at Evelyn like she was an expensive piece of art he was preparing to buy. "You are a very large fish. S-Ranks do not belong to independent, street-level operations. You belong in the Capital. Dragonheart is prepared to offer you a seat at the high table. You will be a prime Champion. You will have a private estate, a dedicated support division, and a salary that dwarfs this entire city’s GDP."

Evelyn looked at the gold-leafed contract sitting on the table. Then she looked back at Vane.

"And what happens to the Guild I just won?" Evelyn asked quietly.

"It gets dissolved, naturally," Vane said, finally shifting his eyes to Donald. He looked the Investor up and down, clearly unimpressed. "Which brings us to you. The backer."

Donald took a sip of his coffee. "I prefer the term ’majority shareholder’."

"Whatever you call yourself, you are out of your depth," Vane said smoothly. "You played a clever game against Sterling. You bought his debt and seized his charter. Very resourceful for a civilian. But you are holding a piece of paper you cannot defend."

Vane gestured to one of his armored guards. The guard pulled out a solid black data-card and held it up.

"We are not unreasonable," Vane said to Donald. "Dragonheart will reimburse your expenses. Fifty million credits for the Iron Guild charter. You sign the deed over to us, you walk away with a massive profit, and you go back to playing corporate raider somewhere else."

Donald stared at the black card. He let out a short, genuine laugh.

"Is fifty million the standard going rate for trying to buy me off?" Donald asked, shaking his head. "Sterling offered me the exact same number two days ago. You Capital guys really need to get more creative with your math."

Vane’s polite smile vanished. The air around the Enchanter grew heavy, laced with quiet, threatening magic.

"This is not a negotiation, boy," Vane said, his voice dropping into a hard, aristocratic register. "You do not say no to Dragonheart. If you refuse the buyout, we will simply take the girl and crush your little startup before it even opens its doors."

Evelyn took a single step forward.

BOOM.

She didn’t throw a punch. She just stopped suppressing her aura. The pure, suffocating weight of an S-Rank Valkyrie crashed down on the room like a collapsing building.

The two massive Dragonheart guards actually stumbled backward, their hands flying to their weapons. Vane flinched, the color draining from his face as the celestial heat washed over him.

"I’m not a piece of property," Evelyn said. Her blue eyes were burning. "I don’t belong to the Capital. And I don’t take orders from men in white suits. I already have a backer."

Vane gritted his teeth, fighting against the sheer atmospheric pressure of her aura. He glared at Donald. "You have no idea what you are doing. You have a building and a charter, but you have no staff. No supply lines. No political allies. The Iron Guild is dead."

"You’re right," Donald agreed. He set his coffee mug down and picked up a digital tablet from the counter.

He tapped the screen twice.

"The Iron Guild is completely dead," Donald said smoothly, turning the tablet around so Vane could see the screen. It displayed the official Awakener Association registry. "I filed the restructuring paperwork at dawn. It’s called The Investment Guild now. TIG. And we are absolutely not selling."

Vane stared at the new registry name. His silver hair ruffled slightly in the heat rising off Evelyn.

"You think you can operate an independent S-Rank Guild without our permission?" Vane hissed, his aristocratic composure completely shattering. "You think you can play king in this city?"

"I think you need to get out of my apartment," Donald said. His voice was calm, but there was a razor-sharp edge to it. "Before my Guild Master decides to test her new sword on your expensive suit."

Evelyn casually reached for her wrist, her fingers brushing the glowing tattoo of the winged blade.

Vane looked at the tattoo, then at Evelyn’s glowing eyes. He realized instantly that if he pushed the issue right now, she would cut him in half, and his A-Rank level wouldn’t mean a thing.

"You are going to starve," Vane promised, his voice dripping with venom. He backed away slowly toward the elevator. "You think taking Sterling’s crown makes you safe? By tomorrow morning, every supply line, every contractor, and every elite Guild in this city will freeze you out. We will turn your new headquarters into a tomb."

The elevator doors slid open behind him. Vane and his two struggling guards stepped inside.

"We will be waiting for your unconditional surrender," Vane said.

The doors slid shut. The elevator shot downward.

The heavy, suffocating pressure in the room vanished as Evelyn reigned her aura back in. She let out a long breath, rolling her shoulders.

"Well," Evelyn said, looking over at Donald. "They seemed nice."

"The Capital," Donald muttered, picking his coffee back up. "They think money and a fancy name makes them untouchable."

"He wasn’t bluffing about the supply lines, Donald," Evelyn warned, walking over to the island. "Dragonheart has infinite political leverage. If they put an embargo on TIG, no one in Genesis City will do business with us. We won’t be able to hire guards, buy weapons, or even get the power turned on at the new headquarters."

Donald pulled up his internal SSS+ System interface.

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

[Investor Tier: Silver.]

[Guild Infrastructure Investment: Unlocked.]

He looked at the flashing gold text, a slow, confident smile spreading across his face.

"Let them embargo us," Donald said, tapping his temple. "They think they can starve us out because they think we rely on the city’s economy. They don’t know I have my own supply line."

Evelyn tilted her head, looking at him curiously. "What are you talking about?"

"Pack a bag, Evie," Donald said, grabbing his dark jacket off the chair. "We’re moving out of the penthouse. We have a headquarters to renovate."