It didn't start with a system alert.
It started with a voice.
---
Deep.
Measured.
Final.
---
> "Null-13 has burned Drift. Broken the Auction. Defied balance."
---
The voice echoed across Coinverse — not through system channels, but through coin feeds, through every vault, gate, and trade terminal.
---
> "The economy bends to my will. And I will not let it break."
---
Kael stood alone in the Black Auction's ruins.
Ash still clung to his coat.
Balance ticked downward, slow and steady.
---
> [Balance: 800C → 790C → 780C]
Ash Form: Stable – Burn Active
Skill Cooldown: None
Death Variant – Ready
---
Then the alert hit.
Not a warning.
A command.
---
> [Global Directive: Coin King Order 01]
Target: Null-13
Status: Kill-on-Sight
Bounty: 500,000C + Coin Vault Access
New Title: Ledger Breaker // Zone Killer – Confirmed Threat
---
Kael smiled faintly.
"They're finally scared."
---
Jace's voice broke in.
"Kael — the King's personal squad is active. I saw the feed."
Kael: "Let them come."
Jace: "No. These aren't bounty hunters. These are Collectors."
---
Kael's HUD flickered.
New marker.
---
> [Collectors Deployed – 3 Elite Units Active]
Skills: Unknown
Balance Reserves: Unlimited (Vault-Linked)
Response Time: 2 minutes
---
Kael's fingers twitched.
"I'll test their balance."
---
He walked into the smoke — Death Variant burning in his hands.
Let the Coin King gamble.
Kael never lost a bet he was willing to burn for.
---
The street was quiet.
Too quiet.
Players watched from rooftops, behind cover, weapons ready — not attacking.
Not yet.
---
They were waiting for the Collectors.
Letting them do the work.
Kael didn't care.
He was hunting coin.
---
> [Balance: 760C → 750C]
Ash Form: Active – Suppressed
Death Variant: Charged
Burn Feedback: 5% per use – Unstable
---
The first Collector arrived without sound.
No footsteps.
No alert.
Just coin pressure in the air — like a vault had cracked open.
---
Tall. Masked. Cloaked in Vault Gold — armor that shimmered like currency itself.
Balance feed?
None.
System couldn't track it.
---
Kael stepped forward.
"You here to collect?"
The Collector raised a hand — coins spun in the air, forming a blade.
---
> [Skill Detected – Vault Edge]
Effect: Every strike steals 100C
Target: Null-13 – Active Threat
---
Kael smiled.
He moved.
---
> [Death Variant – Activated]
Cost: -500C
Target: Collector Unit #1
Effect: Drain all coin reserves on contact
---
Kael struck.
Ash flared, blade to blade — balance erupted.
The Collector's vault glow snuffed out instantly.
---
> [Vault Link Severed – Coin Burned]
Coin Drain: 5,000C → 0C
Reward: 2,500C absorbed
New Balance: 750C → 3,250C
Burn Feedback: +10%
---
The Collector staggered.
Flickered.
Vanished — system forced shutdown.
Dead.
---
Kael stood in the smoke.
"I'm expensive."
---
Above, players gasped.
Some ran.
Some moved in.
Kael smiled.
"Next."
---
Coins still shimmered in the air — not spent.
Stolen. Burned. Broken.
Kael walked through the aftermath — balance ticking upward, but corruption rising.
---
> [Balance: 3,250C → 3,200C]
Burn Feedback: 10%
Corruption: Locked – Permanent
Skill Cooldown: None
---
Jace's voice hit comms.
"You can't keep burning like this. You're bleeding out."
Kael: "I've bled before."
---
Ahead, a vault gate rose — tall, gold-threaded, glowing with system light.
Coin King's property.
Untouched.
Unbreached.
Until now.
---
> [Coin Vault – Sector 9]
Balance Reserve: 1,000,000C (Distributed)
Security: Active – Collector Units En Route
---
Kael stepped toward it.
Hand on Death Variant scroll — fingers twitching.
"You control coin," he whispered.
"But I control burn."
---
He struck the gate.
---
> [Death Variant – Activated]
Cost: -500C
Result: Coin Vault Link Severed
Burn Feedback: +15%
Reward: 10,000C drained
---
The gate collapsed.
System code failed.
Kael walked into the vault's core.
---
Coins spun in the air — free, unclaimed.
Kael reached out.
Balance poured in.
---
> [Balance: 3,200C → 10,000C]
Burn Risk: MAX
Ash Form Mutation Pending
---
Jace: "Kael… you broke a vault."
Kael smiled.
"Let's see what the King does now."
---
Coins floated in the air.
Not falling. Not spinning.
Just waiting.
Kael stood at the center of the ruined vault — floor cracked, balance bleeding out of the walls like light turned liquid.
---
> [Balance: 10,000C → 9,800C → 9,500C]
Ash Form: Overclocked – Drain rate: -50C/sec
Warning: Skill Mutation Imminent
Burn Feedback: 25% – System Suppression Failed
---
He didn't stop absorbing coin.
Didn't try to.
Each second inside this vault was a wound in the economy — and Kael wanted it to bleed dry.
---
> [Vault Integrity: 12%]
Coin Reserve: Draining
Risk: Total Vault Collapse – 2 Minutes
---
Jace's voice hit his comm.
"You've done it now. The King's watching. I've got system pings everywhere—he's re-routing vault feeds."
Kael: "Let him. I want him to see."
---
He stepped deeper into the vault.
Coins burned beneath his feet — turning gold to ash.
---
Then the vault locked down.
Not system code.
A voice.
The same one that had spoken to the world.
---
> "Null-13."
---
Kael turned.
No figure.
Just sound — and coin pressure that pressed against his chest like debt owed.
---
> "You've stolen from my vault."
"Burned what was not yours."
"But I offer a final contract."
---
Kael didn't speak.
The Coin King didn't wait for agreement.
---
> "You will cease all burn."
"Return the Death Variant skill."
"And accept balance transfer: 1,000,000C."
---
Kael laughed.
Genuine.
Raw.
---
"One million coins?"
He clenched his fists — Ash Form flared, vaults flickered.
"I'm worth more than that."
---
> "Then you accept the debt."
Kael: "I am the debt."
---
> [Contract Rejected – Coin King Directive Finalized]
Effect: Global Kill Warrant – Uncapped
Bonus: Title Reward for Kill – "Balance Breaker"
Vault Collapse: Initiated
---
Kael's HUD blinked.
Not system failure.
Mutation.
---
> [Ash Form Mutation Triggered – Spike // Ash Hybrid]
New Skill: Coinburn Domain – Ash Form: Spike Surge
Effect: All enemies in radius lose 10% balance/sec
Kael's Balance Drain: -100C/sec
Passive: Cannot be stopped
---
Kael roared.
Ash exploded outward, consuming the vault.
---
Coins dissolved in mid-air, balance ripped from the world, and Kael stood at the center — burning, alone, and unbought.
---
> [Balance: 9,500C → 8,000C → 7,000C]
Vault Status: COLLAPSED
Coinverse Impact: Economy Instability +20%
Bounty: 750,000C
---
Jace's voice cracked again.
"You burned the vault… it's gone."
Kael: "Good."
---
And from the ash, Kael whispered:
"Let the King pay."
---
The vault didn't collapse.
It detonated.
Not in fire — in value.
Coins erased from the system, balance burned from ledgers, and Kael stood in the epicenter — Spike Surge ignited, body a conduit of raw imbalance.
---
> [Balance: 7,000C → 6,500C → 6,000C]
Coinburn Domain: Spike Surge – ACTIVE
Effect: 10% balance decay/sec to all within 100m radius
Self Burn: -100C/sec – Unstoppable
Burn Risk: Catastrophic
---
The world responded.
Not with containment.
Not with reset.
With panic.
---
> [Global Trade Halted – Drift Sector Offline]
Auction Network: Crashed
Vault Linkage: Interrupted
Coin King Response: Immediate
---
Players screamed across zones — balances flickering, skills disabled, coin traps failing.
Not because of Kael.
Because of the debt wave his burn triggered.
---
> [Coinverse Debt Surge – Ripple Detected]
Cause: Vault Collapse + Spike Surge Burn
Effect: Global instability – System Debt Compounding
---
Kael stood alone.
Burning.
Alive.
Uncontainable.
---
Then the Coin King's voice returned — not through systems.
Through coins themselves.
Any player holding one heard him.
---
> "Null-13 has burned balance."
"I offer this — 1,000,000 Coins to whoever ends his ledger."
"Bring me his mask."
---
Jace's voice broke through.
"Kael. You just triggered a Contract War."
Kael didn't flinch.
"What's one million coins to me?"
---
Jace: "It's not just the money."
"Guilds. Black Syndicates. Vault Hunters. Everyone wants a piece now."
---
New alerts flooded Kael's HUD.
---
> [New Factions Active]
• Guild Sovereign – Contract Value: 1,000,000C
• Syndicate Zero – Contract Bonus: Black Coin Skill Access
• Vault Hunters – Offer: Immunity + Coin Vault
> Total Contract Killers Active: 1,200+ Players
World Status: Bounty War Escalation – Tier II
---
Kael's balance bled downward — every second, coin burned to fuel his power.
---
> [Balance: 6,000C → 5,000C]
Corruption: MAX
Burn Feedback: Irreversible
Mutation Risk: Ongoing
---
Jace: "You need to stop. The system's collapsing."
Kael stared at the ash swirling in the air.
"I didn't come here to stop."
He lifted his hand — Spike Surge burned gold and black, light warping around him.
"I came here to burn the system."
---
And so he did.