The digital ledger screens wrapping around the towering glass spires of the Capital Core District began to fluctuate wildly at precisely 12:05 AM.
Deep inside the high-security bunker of the Aurelius Central Banking Node, the automated systems were entering a catastrophic failure loop.
Rows of holographic terminals blinked a frantic, warning red color block as the siphoned asset data streams from Vault 09 didn’t just stop—they began to cascade backward, infecting the secondary liquidity networks of the entire House of Aurelius.
The five-hundred-million-dollar global bounty they had placed on Grant Cross hours ago had inadvertently cracked open a back-door security vector that Grant was now systematically exploiting.
Grant Cross walked calmly through the marble-floored lobby of a secure, automated data transit station located two blocks south of his penthouse.
His hand remained pressed firmly against the glass face of a primary server array, his fingers channeling a steady, low-frequency pulse of Primordial Dragon Qi directly through the silver-and-jade Bureau Executive Command Token.
His golden draconic pupils expanded to their maximum boundary line, tracking millions of encrypted financial routing paths flashing across his retinas as he willed his thoughts deep into the system’s database core.
« SYSTEM NETWORK EXPLOITATION HIGH QUANTUM »
• Interface Tool: [Bureau Executive Command Token] (Root Override)
• Linked Asset Matrix: Aurelius Primary Liquidity Node (Vaults 01 through 05)
• Security Array Status: Completely Suppressed via Sovereign Domain (150m)
• Capital Siphoned: $600,000,000.00 Unrestricted Cash Value
• Total Consolidated Master Vault Balance: $1,800,000,000.00 Cash
• Tactical Status: Complete systemic collapse of the Aurelius market index initiated.
“Liquidate their secondary reserves and wipe the ownership logs,” Grant commanded silently, his expression completely indifferent to the chaos he was unleashing across the imperial economy.
Ding!
« SYSTEM TRANSACTION SECURED: SYSTEMIC OVERDRIVE »
• Experience Points Generated: +700 EXP
• Current Experience Progress: 1,300 / 2,500 → 2,000 / 2,500
• Target Entity Status: Financial Core Balance of the House of Aurelius has plummeted below the critical capital threshold, triggering automated debt liquidation arrays across the province.
Inside the executive boardroom of the Aurelius monolith, Lord Marcus Aurelius stood frozen before his central terminal desk.
His tailored charcoal suit felt suffocatingly hot as his dead black eyes recorded the real-time financial destruction of his lineage.
Every single multi-billion-dollar stock index tied to his clan’s name was plummeting in a clean vertical line, dropping forty percent in less than three minutes.
“The secondary vaults are empty!” the chief technology officer screamed, his hands tearing at his hair as his holographic interface violently glitched out. This chapter is updated first at novelping dot com.
“Vault 01, Vault 02, Vault 03…
they’ve all been drained clean!
The ledger codes are being rewritten to a single, soul-bound master profile!
We’re losing thirty million dollars every ten seconds!”
“Trace the terminal signature!” Marcus roared, his Stage 10 internal energy flaring aggressively, melting the silver trim of his executive desk into liquid slag.
“Mobilize our clan’s remaining financial enforcers!
Freeze the global master account code!”
“We can’t freeze it!” the operator shrieked, collapsing backward into his leather seat in absolute, unadulterated terror.
“The signature has high-level First-Class Prosecutor clearance backed by an ancient, overriding draconic core array.
If we try to block the path, the system view treats our entire banking grid as a hostile entity and liquidates our remaining assets automatically!
Marcus…
the market is entering a complete, unmitigated panic!”
Across the capital’s public electronic billboards, the numbers continued to turn blood-red.
The ordinary corporate tycoons and mid-level martial sects who had trusted their fortunes to the House of Aurelius began frantically liquidating their own assets, desperate to withdraw their wealth before the pillar completely collapsed.
The core district’s private networks were completely jammed with millions of automated panic-sell orders, creating a literal economic blackout across the commercial avenue.
Two miles away, Grant slowly withdrew his hand from the glowing server terminal box, the silver-and-jade token sliding smoothly back into his dark linen shirt pocket.
The air pressure inside the data vault stabilized as his Sovereign Domain retracted, the intense thermal heat generated by his baseline 25,000 Combat Strength slowly dissipating from the slate floor.
At a massive $1.8 Billion liquid reserve inside his soul-bound Spatial Vault, his economic dominance had officially eclipsed the liquid cash holdings of the first Supreme Pillar.
The heavy glass security doors of the data station suddenly slid open with a smooth hiss.
Violet Vance stepped onto the white marble floor, her face completely deathly pale as she clutched a secure digital ledger tablet that was flashing thousands of real-time market warnings. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
Her beautiful eyes were wide with a mixture of profound shock and a strange, desperate fascination as she looked at Grant’s calm, unblemished silhouette.
“You…
you didn’t just survive the bounty hunters, Grant,” Violet whispered, her voice shaking violently as she stepped closer to his position.
“You are completely erasing the House of Aurelius from the capital ledger.
Their central banking node has just defaulted on its imperial reserve loans.
The stock market is entering a total freefall because of your singular terminal override.”
“Marcus Aurelius believed he could buy my skull for five hundred million,” Grant said smoothly, his low voice carrying the faint, terrifying resonance of distant thunder.
“I simply showed him that his entire family legacy isn’t worth the cost of the ink on my black card.”
“The remaining two Supreme Pillars have already noticed the shift,” Violet continued, her fingers flying across the tablet to display a secondary, blood-red tactical map of the Capital Core.
“The House of Crimson has just activated their inner clan syndicate.
They are deploying three hundred elite Tier 2 combat masters to secure the financial district gates before you can leave this sector.
My father is trying to negotiate a ceasefire, but Lord Crimson has declared this a total war of attrition.”
A cold, deadly smirk touched Grant’s lips as he willed his thoughts into his inventory matrix.
“Extract: Obsidian Dragon Blade,” Grant commanded silently.
With a heavy, resonant ring that made the data vaults vibrate, the light-devouring black steel weapon materialized smoothly into his right hand, its edge pulsing with the dark, hungry frequency of the Soul Bleed attribute.
His golden draconic pupils ignited once more with an incandescent radiance that cut right through the dim neon shadows of the lobby floor.
“Tell your father to cancel the negotiations,” Grant whispered, his broad shoulders relaxed as he walked past her toward the exit doors, the black blade dragging across the polished marble, leaving a faint trail of golden magma in its wake.
“The economic face-slap was just the opening move.
Tonight, we are going to see how long the House of Crimson can stand against an actual dragon.”
Chapter 21 complete!
Grant just utilized his looted token to execute a massive six-hundred-million-dollar counter-hijack, causing a complete market panic across the Imperial Capital and forcing the House of Aurelius into a legal default!
His cash balance has skyrocketed to a staggering $1.8 Billion!
The House of Crimson has deployed three hundred elite combat masters to block his exit, but Grant is marching straight toward them with the Obsidian Dragon Blade drawn!