Chapter 171: Consider It Done

Evren turned back from the glass wall, looking over at Director Mikay.

Mikay was already tapping on his tablet, his finger hovering over the escrow authorization screen. "The court escrow channel is open, Chairman. Should I send the thirty million now?"

"Hold on," Evren said, walking back toward the marble coffee table. "Before we send thirty million dollars, I want someone on the ground first. What if Vance’s people stripped the wiring or wrecked the distillation towers before the court locked the doors?"

Mikay paused, lowering his tablet. "That’s a very good point, Chairman. The court bailiffs locked the outside gates, but nobody has done a technical check inside since the foreclosure."

"Go down to District 2 yourself," Evren directed. "Take the court rep, walk the cleanrooms, and check the distillation columns with your own eyes. Make sure the whole setup is clean before we release the funds."

"Understood," Mikay said, nodding. "What about the hunters?"

"Have Walter come up," Evren said, glancing at Amber. "Let’s settle their bonus before Mikay heads out."

Amber reached over to the wall-mounted console beside the sofa and pressed the internal intercom button. "Security desk, is Guild Master Walter still downstairs in the lobby?"

"Yes, Lady Amber," the desk guard’s voice crackled through the speaker. "He just arrived with his squad leaders."

"Send Walter up to the eightieth floor," Amber instructed.

Two minutes later, the private lift chimed, and Guild Master Walter stepped into the Sky-Palace. His combat duster was dusty from the road, and he looked around the luxury penthouse with wide, uncertain eyes.

"Chairman Evren, Lady Amber," Walter said, standing straight with his hands clasped behind his back. "You asked for me?"

"Sit down, Walter," Evren said with an easy smile, pointing to an armchair across the marble coffee table. "What is Iron-Thistle’s registered guild account number?"

Walter blinked, looking confused. "Our guild treasury? Did the court file another penalty against our license, Chairman?"

"No penalties," Evren replied calmly. "You and your men held the line at the conservatory and have been safeguarding the tower. I don’t let anyone bleed for me without being properly paid."

Evren opened his banking app, entering the twelve-digit Iron-Thistle Guild commercial number Walter recited. With a quick thumbpress, he authorized a direct transfer of five million dollars from his primary account.

A second later, the terminal on Walter’s utility belt let out a loud, high-pitched chime:

[APEX NATIONAL BANK - WIRE CONFIRMED]

[PAYEE: IRON-THISTLE GUILD TREASURY]

[DEPOSIT AMOUNT: $5,000,000.00 USD]

[STATUS: SETTLED IN FULL]

[SENDER: EVREN - UNRESTRICTED LEVEL-ZERO SOVEREIGN]

Walter pulled the terminal from his belt, staring at the screen. The color drained from his weathered face, his jaw dropping open.

"Five... five million dollars?" Walter’s voice cracked as he stared at the glowing digits. "Chairman, this has to be a mistake. Our entire quarterly guild budget isn’t even up to this."

"No mistake," Evren said smoothly. "That’s a hundred thousand dollars for every single one of your forty-nine hunters, and a hundred thousand for you. Disburse it to their accounts today."

Walter stood up abruptly, his eyes glistening with raw, unvarnished emotion. He bowed deeply from the waist, his voice thick with gratitude.

"You gave us our lives back in the rift, and now you hand my men a future," Walter replied. "Iron-Thistle is yours, Chairman. Whatever you ask, wherever you point, we will march."

"Assign two of your senior squad leaders to escort Director Mikay to District 2," Evren instructed. "Then meet me down on seventy-four in ten minutes, Walter. We need to go over our defense strategy for the sky breach."

"Consider it done, Chairman," Walter replied with a nod, stepping out toward the lift to give his men their orders.

Amber stretched her arms over her head, rolling her shoulders with a satisfied grin. "Sitting around reviewing paperwork is making me stiff. While Mikay checks the plant and you talk with Walter, Zephyra and I are going down to seventy-five to sweat a little."

Zephyra looked up from her phone, a faint smirk touching her lips. "Don’t cry when you end up on the mat."

"In your dreams," Amber laughed, standing up from the sofa.

Evren turned toward Calista, leaning down slightly beside her magitech chair. "Are you going to be alright up here, or would you prefer to come down with us?"

Calista smiled softly, resting her hand over the leather-bound grimoire beside her tablet. "I won’t be bored at all, Evren. I want to spend some quiet time with the grimoire and just go over our ancestral recipes while researching new developments."

"Take all the time you need," Evren said, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. "If you need anything, use your new direct line."

Ten minutes later, Amber and Zephyra stepped out onto the seventy-fifth floor.

The entire level was an open combat training arena built specifically for high-rank fighters. Shock-absorbent gray mats covered the center floor, surrounded by reinforced force-field barriers that could take the impact of full-power blows.

Both women had changed into simple athletic gear. Amber wore a dark crimson sports top and black compression shorts, her dark hair tied up in a high ponytail.

Zephyra stood opposite her in a fitted black tank top and athletic leggings, rolling her wrists with practiced ease. Her violet eyes gleamed with sharp focus.

"Standard hand-to-hand," Amber said, raising her wrapped fists into a tight guard. "No lethal skills, just reflexes and speed."

"Whenever you’re ready," Zephyra replied, dropping into a low, fluid stance.

Amber moved first.

With a sudden burst of speed, Amber closed the distance in the blink of an eye. Her right fist shot forward in a clean jab, cutting through the air with a sharp snap.

Zephyra tilted her head just enough to let the knuckle graze her ear. In the same motion, she slipped inside Amber’s guard, driving an open palm toward Amber’s ribs.

Amber twisted her hips, blocking the palm with her forearm while throwing a sweeping low kick. Zephyra hopped backward, vanishing into a blur of dark shadow as her foot tapped the mat.

She reappeared instantly on Amber’s flank, sweeping her leg in a hook kick aimed at Amber’s shoulder.

Amber caught the kick against her shoulder, spinning with the momentum to deliver a spinning back-fist.

The strike met empty air as Zephyra ducked underneath, lunging forward with a double-leg takedown. The two of them tumbled across the padded floor, grappling and reversing positions in a flurry of limbs.

For fifteen minutes, the arena was filled with the rhythmic thud of strikes against pads and the squeak of shoes on the mat. Neither held back, pushing each other’s agility to the limit.

Finally, after a wild exchange where both landed a clean counter on each other’s guard, they broke apart and collapsed onto the edge of the mat, chest heaving and laughing.

"You’ve gotten faster," Amber panted, wiping sweat from her forehead with the back of her arm. "That shadow slide is annoying to track."

"And your footwork is heavier than it looks," Zephyra replied, catching her breath with a grin. "You almost caught my jaw on that spin."

They got to their feet and walked over to the observation railing overlooking the open terrace on seventy-four below. Amber grabbed two cold water bottles from a small cooler and tossed one to Zephyra.

Down on the lower terrace, Evren’s phone chimed with an incoming video ping from Mikay.

Evren answered, tapping the speaker as Mikay’s video feed appeared on the terrace screen. Mikay was standing inside a massive, gleaming white cleanroom surrounded by stainless steel distillation towers.

"Chairman, the inspection is complete," Mikay reported, panning his camera across the pristine equipment. "All five distillation lines are fully sealed, the vacuum reactors have never been fired, and the automated bottling suites are intact. The court bailiff has the master biometric keys ready."

"Release the escrow," Evren said smoothly. He pulled up his banking app, entered the court reference number, and pressed his thumb to authorize the thirty-million-dollar wire.

The transaction cleared instantly, and a bright golden screen flashed across Evren’s vision:

[HEROINE #3 INVESTMENT CONFIRMED: CALISTA VESPER (STARLIGHT PHARMACEUTICALS MANUFACTURING COMPLEX)]

[QUALIFIED EXPENDITURE: $30,000,000.00 USD]

[1,000x GLOBAL MULTIPLIER APPLIED]

[REBATE DEPOSITED: +$30,000,000,000.00 USD ($30 BILLION USD) -> SYSTEM SOVEREIGN VAULT]

[CURRENT REAL-WORLD LIQUID BALANCE: $16,283,543,992.00 USD]

[CURRENT SYSTEM SOVEREIGN VAULT: $302,800,000,000.00 USD ($302.8 BILLION USD)]

Evren closed his phone and leaned against the railing. His suit jacket was off, and his white shirt was unbuttoned at the collar with the sleeves rolled up to his forearms as he resumed discussing flight tactics and monster patterns with Walter.

Even from a floor above, he looked completely calm, radiating steady authority in the face of the coming storm.

Up on seventy-five, Zephyra rested her chin in her hands, her violet eyes fixed on him. A soft, quiet expression softened her usually sharp features, her gaze lingering on the line of his shoulders and the relaxed curve of his jaw.

Amber took a sip of her water, watching Zephyra from the corner of her eye. A knowing smile curled the edges of Amber’s lips.

She leaned in, nudging Zephyra’s shoulder playfully with her elbow. "You like him, don’t you?"

Zephyra stiffened, her violet eyes widening as the water bottle paused halfway to her lips. "Uhhn?"