The Sahara Desert was no longer a sea of sand; it had become a crucible of white heat and localized gravitational distortions. Above the Eye of the Sahara—the Richat Structure—the sky had turned the color of bruised parchment. There was no rift of swirling violet energy, no jagged tear in the fabric of reality. Instead, a single, perfectly vertical pillar of white marble, three hundred feet tall, floated a few inches above the dunes.
It wasn't a dungeon. It was a Courtroom.
Han Jue stood at the edge of the dunes, his Void-Breaker Suit humming as it neutralized the 140-degree heat. To his left, Selas leaned on her staff, her silver hair whipping in the unnatural wind. To his right, Garrick sat inside a localized repair-drone, his iron armor still scarred from their previous encounter.
"The readings are off the charts, Jue," Elena Sol said into the comms from the Aegis-7, which was hovering five miles out to avoid the gravitational wake. "This isn't a mana-signature we've ever seen. It's not 'Abyssal' or 'Celestial.' It's... it's the System's root code."
"I know," Han Jue said, his eyes fixed on the marble pillar.
[Warning: You are entering a 'Foreclosure Zone'.] [Status: Sovereign of the Ledger (In Violation).] [The Master Creditor has issued an 'Emergency Repossession Order'.]
"Garrick, Selas," Han Jue said, his voice cold. "The moment the gate opens, stay back. This isn't a fight for 'Sovereigns.' It's a fight for the person who owns the debt."
"You talk like you're not one of us anymore," Garrick grumbled, his mechanical eyes whirring as they scanned the pillar. "You're Level 55. Whatever is in that pillar is likely Level 150. You're going to get liquidated, and then we're going to be left with the bill."
"If I get liquidated, you get your freedom back," Han Jue countered. "Isn't that what you want?"
Selas looked at the black collar around her neck, then at the marble pillar. "Freedom is useless if the world is foreclosed on, Han Jue. We're here. We'll do our jobs."
The Bailiff Appears
The marble pillar cracked down the middle. There was no explosion, only the sound of a heavy book being slammed shut.
A figure stepped out.
It wasn't a monster. It wasn't a dragon or a kraken. It was a man—or the shape of one—standing ten feet tall, draped in robes made of shimmering, golden ledgers. His face was a featureless mask of polished silver, and in his right hand, he carried a gavel that pulsed with the light of a dying star. In his left, he held a scroll that trailed down to the desert floor, covered in the names of everyone Han Jue had ever "audited."
[Target: The Bailiff of the Void (Executioner-Class)] [Level: ??? (Scaling to Target's Sin)] [Status: Authorized for Repossession.]
The Bailiff didn't speak with a mouth. His voice echoed directly inside the data-streams of Han Jue's brain.
"HAN JUE. AUDITOR OF THE ABNORMAL. YOU HAVE SEIZED ASSETS BEYOND YOUR CLEARANCE. YOU HAVE MANIPULATED THE BALANCE OF THE PRIMARY LEDGER. YOUR ACCOUNT IS DEEMED 'FRAUDULENT'."
The Bailiff raised his gavel.
"THE COURT ORDERS THE IMMEDIATE RETURN OF THE PACIFIC TRENCH AND THE DISSOLUTION OF YOUR SOUL. DO YOU COMPLY?"
"I've got a counter-offer," Han Jue said, drawing the Sovereign's Quill. The black ink on the blade was boiling, sensing the presence of its 'Parent' code. "I've reviewed the System's original contract with humanity. Section 4, Paragraph 12: 'The Auditor shall have autonomy over all seized assets provided the Debt remains in active collection.' My debt is active. My collections are higher than any Auditor in history. You're the one in violation, Bailiff. You're trying to seize a solvent business."
The silver mask of the Bailiff tilted slightly.
"LEGALISTIC DEFENSE... REJECTED. THE MASTER CREDITOR IS THE LAW. PREPARE FOR LIQUIDATION."
The Bailiff slammed his gavel against the air.
BOOM.
The shockwave didn't just move air; it moved the desert. A five-mile radius of sand was instantly turned into glass. Han Jue felt his Sovereign Immunity scream as it struggled to calculate the damage.
[Vitality: 98%... 92%... 85%!]
One strike. One indirect shockwave, and he had lost 15% of his health.
"Garrick! Selas! Now!" Han Jue roared.
The Sovereign Defense
Garrick didn't hesitate. "IRON PROTOCOL: TOTAL EMBARGO!"
The Sovereign of Iron slammed his wrench into the glass floor. Hundreds of mechanical spires erupted from the ground, forming a cage of reinforced iron around the Bailiff. These weren't standard barriers; they were 'Nullification Rods' designed to absorb kinetic energy.
Selas followed up, her staff glowing with a terrifying, white-blue intensity. "STORM PROTOCOL: DEBTOR'S WHIPS!"
Lightning didn't strike from the sky; it erupted from the sand. Thousand-volt whips of electricity lashed out, wrapping around the Bailiff's golden robes, attempting to ground his mana into the planet's core.
For a moment, the Executioner was pinned. The two Sovereigns were pouring every ounce of their Level 90+ mana into the containment.
"Move, Jue!" Selas screamed, her face turning red from the strain. "We can't hold the Law for long!"
Han Jue didn't run away. He ran at the Bailiff.
[Skill Activated: Hostile Takeover.] [Target: The Bailiff's Robes (Asset: Armor).]
Han Jue's hand touched the shimmering golden ledgers of the Bailiff's robes. He didn't try to cut them. He tried to claim them.
"EXTRACT!"
The Bailiff's silver mask looked down at Han Jue.
"UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS DETECTED. APPLYING LATE FEES."
The Bailiff didn't swing the gavel. He simply released a pulse of pure, white data. Han Jue felt his entire history—every kill, every point earned, every moment of fear—being read and judged.
[Penalty: 1,000,000 Soul Points Deducted.] [Penalty: Strength -20.] [Penalty: Agility -20.]
"You're taxing me?" Han Jue hissed, his teeth gritting as he felt his power being drained. "You're trying to bankrupt me in the middle of a fight?!"
"THIS IS NOT A FIGHT," the Bailiff echoed. "THIS IS AN AUDIT."
The Reverse Audit
Han Jue was being pushed back. The Bailiff's presence was a vacuum, sucking the very concept of "The System" out of Han Jue's body. Garrick's iron spires were melting into slag, and Selas's lightning was being absorbed into the Bailiff's gavel.
"Brother!" Han Ling's voice cut through the chaos. She was standing a mile back, her violet-gold aura flared to its limit. "The Bailiff... he's not a person! He's a walking contract! You can't kill a contract with a sword!"
"Then how do I kill it, Ling-er?!" Han Jue shouted, dodging a beam of white light that turned a sand dune into a localized black hole.
"You find the loophole!" she screamed. "Look at the scroll! Look at the bottom of the scroll!"
Han Jue activated Debt Sense at 100% capacity. His eyes turned into burning white orbs of data. He looked at the long, trailing scroll the Bailiff held. At the very bottom, beneath the billions of names, there was a single line of text written in a language that predated the System.
Through the Sovereign of the Ledger class, the text was translated:
'This Executioner is funded by the 'Stagnation' of the World. If the World's Productivity exceeds the Debt, the Executioner shall be deemed redundant.'
Han Jue's mind raced. Productivity. The System wanted growth, but it fed on debt. If he could prove that the world was growing faster than the debt he had accrued...
"Ling-er! Activate the Global Audit Council's secondary function! Distribute the 45 million Soul Points!"
"What?!" Selas and Garrick shouted in unison. "You're giving the points away?!"
"Do it now!" Han Jue commanded.
Han Ling didn't hesitate. She tapped her tablet.
[Global Notification: The Sovereign of the Ledger has issued a 'Universal Stimulus'.] [45,000,000 Soul Points distributed to the bottom 90% of all registered Hunters.]
Across the world, millions of D-Rank and E-Rank scavengers suddenly felt a surge of power. Rusted knives turned into enchanted blades. Faint mana-pools tripled in size.
[World Productivity: +400%!] [World Debt Ratio: PLUMMETING!]
The Bailiff stopped. His gavel, which had been raised to crush Han Jue, began to flicker. The golden ledgers of his robes started to turn into plain, white paper.
"ERROR... PRODUCTIVITY OVERFLOW DETECTED... TARGET 'HAN JUE' HAS ACHIEVED 'ECONOMIC STABILITY' FOR THE SECTOR... THE REPOSSESSION ORDER IS... UNJUSTIFIED."
"I told you," Han Jue said, breathing hard as he stood up. He walked toward the flickering Executioner. "I'm not a thief, Bailiff. I'm a venture capitalist. I just invested in the one thing the Master Creditor forgot to account for: The People."
The Liquidation of Law
The Bailiff's silver mask cracked.
"THE MASTER CREDITOR... WILL NOT BE... SATISFIED."
"Tell him to send me a formal letter," Han Jue said. He raised the Sovereign's Quill and drove it directly into the Bailiff's chest.
This time, there was no resistance. The Bailiff was no longer "The Law"; he was an outdated piece of legislation.
"TOTAL LIQUIDATION!"
The Bailiff exploded into a storm of golden light and white paper. But this wasn't an explosion of mana; it was an explosion of Information.
[YOU HAVE DEFEATED THE SYSTEM'S EXECUTIONER!] [Reputation Gained: 'The System Hacker'.] [Hidden Shop Tier: 'GOD-LEADER' Unlocked.]
Harvested: 20,000,000 Soul Points (Refund of the Stimulus). Harvested Item: 'The Gavel of the Void' (Rank SSS). Harvested Item: 'The Master Ledger' (Fragment).
Han Jue stood in the center of the glass wasteland, the golden light of the Bailiff's death raining down on him like dust. He felt his level jump again.
[Level: 55 \rightarrow 75]
He looked at the gavel in his hand. It was no longer a weapon of the Bailiff; it was his.
[Item: Gavel of the Void (Rank SSS).] [Effect: You can now 'Overrule' any System-generated mission or penalty once per week.]
"Jue..." Selas walked over, her face pale. She looked at the stimulating light still fading from the sky. "You gave away 45 million points... and you got them back?"
"The stimulating effect of a massive capital injection," Han Jue said, a witty spark returning to his eyes. "The System rewards growth. By giving away the points, I forced the world to grow, which made the Bailiff's mission obsolete. The 20 million I just got back is the 'Management Fee'."
Garrick walked over, kicking a piece of the Bailiff's broken mask. "You're a dangerous man, Han Jue. You're not just fighting the monsters anymore. You're fighting the math."
"The math was rigged from the start, Garrick," Han Jue said. He looked at the Master Ledger Fragment in his other hand. It was a single page of dark, heavy vellum.
On it, a single name was written at the very top of the 'Global Debt' list. A name that made Han Jue's blood run cold.
[Primary Debtor: The Creator of the System.] [Total Debt: [ERROR - DATA CORRUPTED]]
"The one who made the System... is the one who owes the most," Han Jue whispered.
Suddenly, the desert floor vibrated. A hologram appeared in the air, but it wasn't from Han Jue's System. It was a broadcast from the Holy Alliance.
The Sovereign of Light, a man in golden plate armor with wings of pure mana, was standing in front of the Vatican.
"People of the World!" the Sovereign of Light proclaimed. "The man known as Han Jue has attacked the very foundation of our reality! He has slain the Heaven's Messenger in the Sahara! He is no longer a Hunter; he is the First Great Calamity! The Holy Alliance officially declares war on the Sovereign Audit!"
Han Jue looked at the broadcast, then at his own blood-stained hands. He looked at Selas and Garrick, who were now standing firmly behind him.
"Well," Han Jue said, a dark smile spreading across his face. "It looks like the 'Holy Alliance' wants to audit my books."
He raised the Gavel of the Void.
"Ling-er, send out a global memo. Tell the Sovereign of Light that I'm coming to the Vatican. And tell him... I don't accept prayer as a form of payment."