Kael walked through Sector 3's edge, where the auctions used to spill over into trade streets.
Now there were no bids, no dealers, no balance to haggle over. Just silence.
And coins.
Not in stacks.
Not in chests.
They fell from the sky in shards, spinning down like broken promises.
---
He caught one mid-fall. It was cracked, its surface scorched with old value.
> [Coin Type: Vault Reserve]
Status: Expired
Burn Risk: Low
Value: None
---
Kael turned it over in his hand. No weight. No glow. Just a memory of worth, trying to matter again.
He dropped it.
Coins like that didn't spend.
They clung, to systems, to balance, to people desperate to be worth something again.
---
The wind carried more.
Coin slivers. Auction seals. Melted trade tokens.
The sky wasn't natural. It was spilling.
---
Jace's voice buzzed in, static laced.
"You're in the vaultfall zone. Sector 3's taking the worst of it."
Kael: "Define worst."
Jace: "Three vaults just collapsed above you. Coin density's spiking. System can't control the spill."
---
Kael looked up.
He saw them... massive coinforged vaults, once anchored in place above each sector, now breaking apart like overloaded safes.
Their contents, reserve coins, auction debts, all of it, raining down without control.
---
Kael: "System always had backup supply chains. Deep vaults."
Jace: "Yeah. You burned the ledger. Those vaults just lost their anchor."
Kael: "Now they're unloading everything."
---
> [System Alert: Reserve Coinfall]
Zone Impact: Sector 3 – Severe
Coin Risk: False Value Proliferation
Burn Threat: Moderate
---
Kael pushed through a pile of shattered coin slabs.
Each step echoed in the empty trade hall... once lined with stalls, now just ash and scattered vault debris.
---
He stopped at a melted trade kiosk. Its terminal still glitched, trying to process a sale.
> "Offer: Skill Mod [Expired] – 4,000C"
Transaction Status: Ledger Not Found
Resolution: Failure
---
Kael stared.
Even now, the system tried to complete trades, but with no ledger, no balance, the code just looped, begging for resolution.
---
He punched the terminal. It snapped in two.
---
Jace again.
"Coinflow's not just dead. It's contaminated. Players are picking up vault coins... and those coins are trying to assign them value."
Kael: "Fake value."
Jace: "Yeah. And if they buy into it? It starts again."
---
Kael walked faster.
Not to escape.
To find whoever had the nerve to try rebuilding off the spill.
---
He passed more players... a few scattered scavengers, picking up coins, stuffing them into pockets, arguing.
One shouted, "Balance is back! I've got a thousand C!"
Another screamed, "They're real! System says they count!"
---
Kael stopped.
He pulled a coin from one man's hand... looked at it.
> [Coin Type: Reserve]
Value: Simulated
Burnable: Yes
Ledger Claim: None
---
He crushed it in his fist.
The man backed away, horrified.
Kael: "Fake balance buys fake power."
---
Another coinfall rained down, harder now.
Kael's HUD flickered, for the first time in hours.
---
> [Balance Status: Null]
Nearby Coin Flow: High
Warning: False Value Detected
---
Jace whispered.
"They're gonna rebuild, Kael. Off false worth."
Kael stared at the storm of coins.
"Not if I burn it first."
Kael moved fast now.
Not running... that implied fear.
This was targeted motion, steps sharp and deliberate through streets buried in worthless coin.
The sound underfoot wasn't metal. It was failure.
---
He passed what used to be an auction hub... now just a coin pit, its floor sunk under the weight of reserve coins no one had earned.
And still, players gathered.
Not many.
Just enough to start a problem.
---
Three were arguing over territory.
Two more had rigged a trade screen, live... trying to spin deals with vault spill coins.
---
Kael stepped into the pit.
No one noticed... until his foot crushed a terminal under boot.
Then silence.
---
One player turned... a trader type, high-tier gear, balance cloak flickering faint.
"Hey! Watch it, we're running a deal here!"
Kael didn't answer.
He grabbed a handful of the coins they'd stacked, examined them.
> [Vault Coin – Simulated Value]
Active: Yes
Risk: Coin Decay / Burn Contagion
---
Burn contagion.
Kael's jaw tightened.
These coins didn't just pretend to be valuable.
They infected other balances.
---
He tossed the stack aside.
"You're selling rot."
The trader stepped forward, aggressive now.
"System logged these. We scanned them. They burn. They pay. They count."
Kael: "They lie."
---
A pause.
Then another player... a woman... pointed.
"You're Null-13."
Whispers broke out. Fear flickered.
The trader stepped back, hands raised.
"We didn't know. Look, we're just trying to survive."
Kael's eyes narrowed.
"By rebuilding what should stay dead?"
---
No answer.
---
Kael didn't wait.
He burned.
---
> [Coinburn Strike – Activated]
Burn Cost: 100C (Simulated)
Impact: Asset Disintegration
Risk: Contagion Cleanse
---
The trade rig melted. The coin piles lit up like kindling.
Screams echoed as players ran... the trader shouting, "You've doomed us!"
Kael didn't respond.
He burned the last pile, then walked.
---
Jace crackled in.
"That pit was only one of twenty. Players are spreading coinfall across sectors. No one's questioning the value."
Kael: "They never did."
Jace: "There's something else. A name's resurfaced."
Kael stopped.
"Who."
Jace hesitated.
"Serin Ashveil."
---
Kael froze.
Not fear. Not hate.
Just memory, sharp, unwanted.
He spoke flat.
"She's dead."
Jace: "So's the ledger. But rumor says she's buying vault coin. In bulk."
---
Kael's fists clenched.
Serin wasn't just another player.
She was coin-born... balance elite, one of the first to wield auction-based skills before the Sync.
And she didn't just survive off value.
She created it.
---
Kael: "She'll rebuild the economy."
Jace: "Unless you stop her."
---
Kael turned toward the next sector.
His hands burned.
Kael didn't run.
He didn't need to.
The coinflow led him.
Every street he crossed was laced with vault spill... coins stacked in crates, rigged terminals flickering with illegal auctions.
---
Sector 7 had changed.
Not ruined.
Claimed.
---
He passed banners... black fabric, edged in silver.
Not system-issued.
These were markings of private authority.
One name repeated.
Ashveil.
---
Jace's voice snapped in.
"She moved fast. Auction control is already up. Vault coins are circulating."
Kael: "She set this up before the fall."
Jace: "Exactly. She was waiting."
---
Kael reached the main square.
The auction tower still stood, restored.
Not by the system.
By coin.
By players willing to believe value had returned.
---
Guards waited at the entrance.
He didn't stop.
Their weapons lifted. One recognized him... balance scanner flickering.
"Null-13… you're not cleared..."
Kael burned.
---
> [Coinburn Strike – Minimal]
Burn Cost: Simulated 50C
Effect: Shield Melt / Crowd Disperse
---
The guards ran.
Kael stepped inside.
---
The auction floor pulsed with activity... traders, buyers, masked dealers. Vault coins changed hands like water.
Screens displayed balances.
False balances.
---
Kael's HUD pinged.
> [Local Coinflow: Stabilized]
Source: Private Anchor – Ashveil Control
Effect: Value Reintegration – In Progress
---
He clenched his fists.
Not again.
---
A figure approached.
Not Serin, but a representative, cloaked, armed, balance hidden behind mask code.
"Kael Rivenhart. She anticipated your arrival."
Kael: "Where is she?"
The figure nodded toward a screen.
---
Serin appeared on the live feed.
Calm.
Poised.
---
"Kael. You shattered the ledger. I'm simply filling the gap."
Kael: "With lies."
Serin: "With worth. People need balance."
Kael: "No. They need to let it die."
---
She smiled.
"You can burn a system. But you can't burn need."
---
Kael crushed the feed.
Coins around him burned.
---
> [System Warning: Coinflow Destabilizing]
Burn Detected – Anchor Resistance
Result: Coin War Initiated
---
Kael whispered.
"Let's see what your value costs."