Kael didn't leave the auction floor.
Not yet.
The screen Serin had used to broadcast her vision of restored balance still sparked underfoot, her voice glitching as it tried to play again.
"Balance brings… order. Worth must be…"
Kael crushed it under his boot. The feed died. The auction didn't.
---
Around him, the room held its breath.
Dozens of players stood frozen in the wide chamber, coin dealers, private guards, scavengers who'd traded in their loyalty for vault coins with Serin's mark.
No one reached for weapons.
No one dared the first move.
Kael had earned silence.
---
He stepped to the nearest trade platform... a polished steel counter stacked with reissued vault coins, each one gleaming under artificial light.
Serin's seal was stamped into every surface... a silver "A" wrapped in chain, as if that symbol gave the coins value.
It didn't.
---
Kael picked one up.
It was cold. Not metallic, synthetic.
Not a real coin.
A replica of worth, crafted to hold shape long enough for someone to believe in it.
---
> [Vault Coin – Ashveil Registry]
Coin Status: Simulated Balance Support
Trade Validity: Recognized (Private Flow)
Burn Risk: Active
System Note: Coinflow Fabricated
---
Fabricated.
Kael let it fall back to the table.
The dealer behind the counter tensed. "You're disrupting a private sale."
Kael didn't answer.
---
A second man stepped forward, balance cloak flickering, chestplate etched with Ashveil coinflow sigils, weapon holstered but unlocked.
"This is auction ground. Protected flow. You can't interfere."
Kael glanced at him.
"You think this is interference?"
He stepped back from the table.
And burned.
---
> [Coinburn Activation: Localized]
Target: Vault Coin Stack – Zone 1
Burn Cost: Null (Balance: ∅)
Result: Coin Disintegration / Flow Contamination Triggered
---
The coins on the table lit in black flame... no heat, just the sound of value dying. The stack collapsed. Smoke curled. Sparks scattered.
The dealer screamed.
"You can't do that! Those were priced!"
Kael stepped through the fire.
"No. They were printed lies."
---
Panic hit the floor.
Traders grabbed crates, dragging them back. One yelled for reinforcements. Two guards drew weapons... not to attack, to cover the exit.
Kael ignored them.
---
He stepped to the next trade post... more coins, more fake value.
Burned those too.
---
Jace's voice buzzed through comms, sharp.
"You're hitting their reserve coins. Serin's flow in this zone just dropped thirty percent. Players are logging off. Systems can't process the fallout."
Kael: "Let it collapse."
Jace: "It will. But you've got company coming."
Kael didn't stop moving.
---
He reached the auction core terminal, the hub controlling private trades, coin validation, and value assignments.
It still ran.
Still processed trades as if balance wasn't dead.
He placed his hand on the control panel.
It hissed.
---
> [Warning: Unauthorized Burn Detected]
Private Flow Control: Compromised
Result: Coinflow Severed
Auction Rights Revoked (Sector 7 – Ashveil)
---
The screen shattered under his hand.
---
Kael turned to the room.
"To anyone still holding vault coin... drop it. Leave."
No one moved.
He didn't repeat himself.
He stepped away from the terminal.
And the auction's center crate... Serin's prime issue...burned last.
---
> [Vault Coin Reserve: Destroyed]
Trade Network: Offline
Serin Ashveil Holdings: Down 42%
Player Trust: Declining Rapidly
---
Jace whispered.
"She'll see this."
Kael: "Good."
---
He left the floor behind him in smoke.
Kael didn't walk away from the smoke.
He moved through it, deeper into Sector 7's trade grid.
Behind him, the auction floor burned. Ahead? More of Serin's setup.
Coinflow wasn't just controlled by auctions.
It spread through everything.
---
Side streets were lined with pop-up stalls... traders hawking reissued vault coins, discount mods, and burn-safe gear, all stamped with Ashveil approval codes.
The system didn't authorize it.
Serin didn't need it to.
She was running a private economy, and players were buying in.
---
A group of three dealers spotted him... flinched, but didn't run.
One, braver than the others, stepped forward.
"You can't burn every coin in this zone, Rivenhart."
Kael stopped.
"You willing to bet your balance on that?"
---
The dealer hesitated.
"I've got clients. Orders filled. These coins hold."
Kael picked one off the dealer's display rack... light, freshly minted.
> [Vault Coin – Reissue ID #7785]
Validity: Private Flow Only
Burn Risk: Moderate
System Recognition: Null
---
Kael: "This doesn't hold. It mimics."
The dealer swallowed hard.
"You destroy these coins, you ruin lives."
Kael: "Good."
---
He dropped the coin.
And burned.
---
> [Coinburn Strike – Wide Arc]
Burn Radius: 5m
Target: Private Vault Assets
Effect: Coin Disintegration / Balance Shatter
Result: Trade Stall Collapse
---
The rack incinerated. Flames spread to crates behind it. Mod chips sparked and failed. The dealer fell back, coughing, clutching burned trade gear.
Kael stepped past him.
---
Jace's voice hit the comm, urgent.
"Sector 7 isn't the only zone under burn now. Serin's moving coin into Sector 5. Larger market. More guards."
Kael: "She's trying to outscale the burn."
Jace: "Exactly. You break this sector, she scales to the next."
Kael: "Then I escalate too."
---
He cut through another alley, headed for the coin transfer station... a hub that redirected Serin's vault coins to outer zones.
Two guards blocked the door.
Both armed. Neither moved.
---
Kael didn't stop.
The first guard spoke.
"This is neutral ground. You don't have to do this."
Kael: "No such thing as neutral when you're trading poison."
---
They drew weapons.
Kael burned them out.
---
> [Coinburn Spike – Piercing Mode]
Burn Cost: None
Result: Shields Overloaded / Coin Cache Destroyed
---
The door blew open.
Inside? Stacks of crates, transfer screens glowing, balances logged. A team of five players moving coin.
Kael stepped in.
---
One player raised a weapon.
Kael raised his hand.
---
> [Coinburn Domain – Focused]
Burn Radius: 8m
Effect: Coinflow Detonation / Gear Meltdown
Result: Player Withdrawal – Forced
---
The crates lit first. Then the gear. Then the nerve.
The players ran.
Kael stood in the wreckage, breathing slow, eyes locked on a single line of text still burning on the transfer screen.
> "Ashveil Flow – Coin Movement Pending…"
Kael smashed it.
---
Jace came through.
"You just cut Serin's main transfer. Coinflow collapse: 61%. She has to respond now."
Kael: "Let her."
---
> [System Alert: Flow Collapse Reached Critical]
Serin Ashveil Status: Engaged
Warning: Counter Burn Imminent
---
Kael turned to the street.
"Let's see what she brings."
Kael didn't move fast.
He didn't need to.
Word had spread.
Sector 7's coinflow was dead. The auction burned. The vault reserve wiped.
And yet… someone was still buying time.
---
He walked through the remains of the transfer hub... crates shattered, vault coins charred black, trade rigs melted into slag.
Smoke clung to everything.
Kael didn't care.
---
> [Balance: ∅]
Local Coinflow: Severed
Threat Level: Rising – Private Forces Mobilized
---
That wasn't a system warning.
That was instinct.
---
Jace's voice snapped through.
"Serin just put a bounty out... not public. Private contractors. Balance hunters."
Kael: "Let them come."
Jace: "They're not after your head. They're after control points. Vault coin caches in Sector 5, 9, and 12."
Kael: "She's buying the city."
---
Kael stepped into the outer ring of the trade zone.
Waiting for him?
Not Serin.
Not system.
Debt hunters.
---
Four of them... armored, faces masked, weapons glowing faint with coin-burn upgrades. Their gear wasn't new.
It was paid for, in vault coin, in loyalty, in fear.
---
One spoke.
"You broke her auction. She wants compensation."
Kael didn't flinch.
"You came to collect?"
The hunter nodded.
"Your burn's expensive. Someone has to pay."
Kael: "It won't be me."
---
They moved.
Kael burned.
---
> [Coinburn Spike – Wide Cast]
Burn Radius: 6m
Cost: None
Effect: Armor Melt / Coin Gear Failure
---
The first two went down... gear seared, weapons gone.
The others circled.
One pulled a chain weapon laced with coin-mark nodes, burn-resistant.
---
Kael advanced.
Burn lit his hands.
The chain lashed. Kael caught it... flame racing up the links.
The hunter screamed... coin nodes popping, balance shields failing.
Kael stepped in close, dropped him with a strike.
---
> [Coinflow Status: Stabilized – Local]
Threats Remaining: One
---
The last hunter ran.
Kael didn't follow.
---
Jace: "She's watching. This was a test."
Kael: "She's wasting coin."
Jace: "No. She's buying time."
---
Kael stared at the city beyond, coin banners rising again in Sector 9, trade stalls restocked.
The economy refused to die.
Kael whispered.
"Then I burn time too."