The escape from the Lower City was frantic, silent, and measured in heartbeats. Seraphina moved with the raw, desperate speed of a hunted animal, the bag containing the Ward Crystal and The Grand Executor's Ledgers heavy against her side. Her victory was absolute, but she knew the cost had been paid by Rian himself.
"Thorne! Report! I heard the snap!" Seraphina hissed into her comm stone, sprinting through a dark, narrow market alley, the muffled sounds of the Guild patrol boots pounding far behind her.
Back at the Undercity Headquarters, Rian lay slumped over the folding desk. The pain from the forced mana channel—the fraction of power he'd drawn from his latent Archmage Core—was blinding. It felt less like a wound and more like a massive, internal debt.
[INTERNAL WARNING: ARCHMAGE CORE INTEGRITY: SEVERELY COMPROMISED. MANA RESERVES: DEPLETED. TIME TO RECHARGE: UNKNOWN.]
Rian pushed the comm stone closer to his mouth, fighting the nausea. "The Arcane Magnetism Pulse was successful, Commander. Target neutralization achieved. You have a clean window. Return to the Undercity HQ immediately. Do not engage."
"You used magic, Thorne," Seraphina's voice was rough with disbelief and a flicker of something close to terror. "That was not simple physics. What did you do to yourself?"
"I made a necessary capital expenditure, Seraphina," Rian gasped, focusing only on the numbers. "Your mission success rate increased to 100%. The cost is justified. Garl, Varya, clear the extraction point."
The team gathered hours later in the dim, stale safety of the Undercity HQ. Seraphina immediately slammed the heavy bag containing the crystal and the ledgers onto the folding table. She didn't look triumphant; she looked furious.
"We succeeded," Seraphina stated, stripping off her ruined tunic. "But your price was too high, Thorne. You risked crippling your own potential for a bag of money."
"Potential is worthless if the operation goes bankrupt," Rian countered, already recovering slightly. He pointed to the bag. "Varya, Garl, inventory the haul. Varya, your first task is to analyze the Ward Crystal. Garl, secure the ledgers. They are our political weapon."
Varya, exhausted but galvanized by the success, rushed to the crystal. It was massive, beautifully faceted, and pulsing with cold, raw Tier 4 mana.
"It's worth far more than 500 Gold Marks, Lord Rian," Varya whispered, tracing the surface. "It's a perfect stabilizing crystal. On the open market, it could fetch 800 Gold Marks easily, perhaps more from an independent collector."
"Eight hundred Gold Marks," Rian repeated, a genuine smile of satisfaction touching his lips. He pulled up the Ledger.
[DEBT LIABILITY: 1,500 G.][CAPITAL INJECTION: +800 G (Ward Crystal Sale).][REMAINING DEBT: 700 G. DAYS REMAINING: 5 DAYS, 2 HOURS.]
"We have cleared more than half the debt in a single night," Rian announced. "We are solvent enough to survive the next week."
Garl, who was carefully cleaning the dirt off the leather-bound ledgers, looked at Rian with newfound respect. "You're a madman, My Lord. But you delivered. I'm charging triple for the Golem distraction, but I will admit, that was worth it."
Rian nodded, the pain in his core a necessary reminder of the cost. "The profitability is high. Now, Seraphina, the cost of my expenditure must be managed. I need to know the damage. Lia, analyze the financial impact of The Grand Executor's Ward loss."
Lia, still chained, looked at Rian with an expression of pure, professional admiration. "The Grand Executor is furious, Thorne. He lost the largest single power source in his Lower City network. That Ward was a symbol of his unchallenged power. The cost of replacing the crystal and the damaged power matrix is over 2,000 Gold Marks. You inflicted a massive Negative Equity Event on his organization."
"Excellent. We are dealing with a competitor who now has to spend heavily on damage control," Rian confirmed. "Seraphina, Garl, we need to move the crystal. Lia, you will direct Garl to the most secure, untraceable independent fence—the one with the least connection to the Black Scythe Collective."
The sale of the Ward Crystal was completed within the hour. Garl, driving the smelly cart with Lia providing navigation, returned with a bag full of actual, physical Gold Marks—a sight that settled Rian's nerves more than any potion.
[REMAINING DEBT: 700 G. CASH ON HAND: 850 G (Post-sale and Garl's wages).]
"We are profitable, My Lord," Varya whispered, her voice filled with awe, looking at the Ledger's green numbers.
"We are financially stable, Varya. Profitability begins when the debt is cleared," Rian corrected. "Now, we focus on the political kill. Garl, secure the ledgers in the deepest part of the hideout. Varya, analyze them. I need evidence of the Grand Executor's crimes—something that will lead to his political ruin."
Rian turned to Seraphina. "Seraphina, you risked your life for this operation. Now, your debt is manageable. I am reducing the price of your loyalty. You are free to pursue your personal objectives, provided they do not conflict with the stability of this domain."
Seraphina straightened, surprised by the speed of his offer. "You release my personal debt so quickly?"
"I want your loyalty based on respect for my power, Seraphina, not on a financial chain," Rian stated simply. "Your new contract is purely performance-based. You will receive fifty Gold Marks for every successful Tier 4 operation you complete for this domain. Your debt is cleared. Now, serve as my Chief of Security, or leave."
Seraphina gave a curt, fierce nod. "I will serve, Thorne. The man who breaks the Tower's most secure prison with a wire and sacrifices his own strength for the mission is worth fighting for. And my vengeance requires your unique resources."
The new command structure was finalized within the hour. Seraphina was released from her debt and immediately began establishing security protocols for the Undercity HQ. Varya was intensely focused on the ledgers, her eyes tracing the lines of financial conspiracy.
Rian, however, was focused on the biggest, most immediate problem: the state of his Archmage Core.
He retreated to a small, isolated corner of the hideout, pulling up the Ledger's hidden internal diagnostics—the stats he hadn't shown Varya or Garl.
[ARCHMAGE CORE INTEGRITY: DANGEROUS. LATENT MANA OUTPUT: 0.0001%. RECOVERY METHOD: HIGH-TIER MANA INFUSION (EXTERNAL). TIME TO RECHARGE: YEARS.]
Years. His ultimate advantage, his Tier 4 Archmage core, was effectively shattered. He had the knowledge, but he had lost the power. He was truly just a sickly noble boy now, reliant entirely on his brain and the assets he commanded. The cold dread returned, sharper than before.
I have a window of opportunity while The Grand Executor is focused on the chaos I created. I must act now, before he realizes his mistake.
Rian returned to the table, his face a mask of focus. "Varya, status on the ledgers."
"Lord Rian, these are not just simple finances," Varya reported, her voice hushed with awe. "These ledgers detail a massive political conspiracy. The Grand Executor has been using illegal contracts to buy up the debt of dozens of minor noble houses. He plans to seize control of the Royal Economic Council through debt accumulation."
"He's running a hostile takeover of the entire governing body," Rian concluded, nodding. "We need to expose him. Lia, where is The Grand Executor most vulnerable to a public demonstration of his corruption?"
Lia, who had been listening intently, finally spoke up, a cruel, cold gleam in her silver eyes. "He is giving a major address at the Royal Economic Forum in three days. It is his moment of ultimate political vulnerability. If you expose his ledgers there, his entire structure collapses."
"Three days," Rian repeated, running the numbers. "Varya, Garl, Seraphina, Lia. We are changing the objective. We are going to publicly execute The Grand Executor's career."
A/N: The debt is manageable, the team is set, and Rian has sacrificed his own power. Now, he's going for the head: a public assassination of the Grand Executor's career at the Royal Economic Forum! Chapter 15: The Grand Collapse.