The asteroid belt was no longer a ring of silent stone. It had become a factory floor.
As the Sovereign Venture dropped out of its localized warp-bubble near Ceres, the crew fell into a stunned silence. The "Foreclosure Engine" was not a ship, nor was it a station. It was a gravitational funnel, a structure of impossible geometry constructed from the compressed husks of millions of asteroids. It looked like a titan-scale tornado made of pulverized rock and dark matter, stretching for thousands of kilometers, its wide mouth pointed directly toward the blue marble of Earth.
"It's not attacking us," Garrick whispered, his mechanical eyes whirring as they struggled to process the scale. "It's... it's pre-processing."
"Processing what?" Elena Sol asked, her face illuminated by the sickly violet glow of the Engine's core.
"Us," Han Jue said. He stood at the center of the bridge, the Void Gavel hanging at his hip, its hum now a frantic, high-pitched warning. "It's a planetary-scale grinder. It creates a localized gravitational imbalance to pull the target world toward its center. Once Earth enters that funnel, the crust will be stripped away by the centrifugal force, leaving only the 'Liquid Assets'—the mana-core and the soul-mass—to be collected by the Void."
Han Ling stepped forward, her tablet displaying a series of frantic calculations. "The gravitational pull is already starting to register on Earth's tides. If we don't stop the ignition of the primary core, the 'Event Horizon' of the foreclosure will be reached in exactly forty-eight hours."
Han Jue looked at the Black Key in his hand. It was pulsing in sync with the Engine's heart.
"We don't have forty-eight hours," Han Jue said. "Because the moment the Engine senses an 'Auditor' in the vicinity, it's going to move from 'Collection' to 'Defense.' Garrick, prep the boarding pods. We're going into the eye of the storm."
The Eye of the Storm
The approach to the Foreclosure Engine was a pilot's nightmare. The Sovereign Venture was buffeted by "Debris Shields"—millions of jagged asteroid fragments held in a high-speed orbit around the Engine's core.
"I can't get us closer!" Selas yelled from the pilot's seat, her hands glowing as she tried to use her natural affinity for currents to navigate the gravitational eddies. "The pull is too strong! If I move any closer, the ship's hull will be stripped like a grape!"
"I'll handle the shielding," Han Ling said. She closed her eyes, activating her Chancellor of the Abyss authority.
[Skill: Non-Disclosure Agreement (Domain Silencing)]
A bubble of absolute, velvet darkness expanded from the ship. Within this zone, the laws of the Engine—the "Rules of Foreclosure"—ceased to apply. The debris didn't hit the hull; it simply slid around the ship as if the Venture didn't exist in the Engine's ledger.
"Now! Launch!" Han Jue commanded.
Han Jue, Garrick, and Elena Sol launched in a specialized "Auditor's Pod," a sleek, black dart designed to penetrate high-pressure environments. They slammed into the Engine's central structure—a solid spire of "Contract-Iron" located at the very center of the funnel.
As the airlock hissed open, the group was greeted not by robots or soldiers, but by a heavy, suffocating silence. The walls were covered in billions of names, etched in a glowing, white script—the "Records of the Liquidated."
"These aren't just asteroids," Elena said, her voice trembling as she touched a wall. "This thing is made from the remains of every world that ever defaulted on its debt."
"A monument to failure," Han Jue muttered. "And we're the next chapter."
The Guardians of the Assets
As they moved deeper toward the core, the "Auditor's Insight" passive—the gift Han Jue had given to humanity—flared with a white-hot intensity.
"Watch out!" Han Jue yelled, pulling Elena behind a pillar of compressed bone-ash.
Three figures emerged from the floor, rising like mercury from the metal. They were the Guardians of the Assets—Level 120 entities that looked like faceless, multi-armed statues. Each arm held a different instrument of liquidation: a saw made of static, a blade of pure vacuum, and a torch that burned with the heat of a dying star.
[Target: Asset Guardian (Rank: SSS)] [Condition: Indestructible until 'Default' is proven.]
"Indestructible?" Garrick growled, his mechanical arm unfolding into a massive, steam-powered pile-driver. "I've never met a machine I couldn't break!"
"Wait, Garrick!" Han Jue shouted. "You can't fight them with force! They're protected by the Status Quo clause of the Universal Law. As long as the Foreclosure is 'Legal,' they cannot be harmed."
"Then make it illegal, Jue!" Elena screamed, ducking as a blade of vacuum sliced through the pillar she was hiding behind.
Han Jue slammed the Void Gavel against the floor.
"AUDIT: EQUITY CHALLENGE!"
The world around them shifted. The metallic walls dissolved into a digital landscape of spreadsheets and flowing data. Han Jue wasn't fighting with a sword; he was fighting with a Forensic Audit.
"You claim these assets are 'Defaulted'!" Han Jue's voice carried the authority of the Sovereign. "But look at the depreciation rates! You've been over-valuing the debt of the target worlds by 400% to justify the liquidation! This isn't a foreclosure; it's an Asset-Stripping Scam!"
[Evidence Provided: The Black Key (Source Code Analysis)]
The Guardians paused. The white script on the walls began to flicker and turn red.
[AUDIT RESULT: PREDATORY LENDING DETECTED] [Guardians' Protection: REVOKED]
"Now, Garrick!" Han Jue roared.
Garrick didn't hesitate. He slammed his pile-driver into the central Guardian's chest, the force of the impact shattering the faceless statue into a million pieces of dull brass. Elena followed up, her disruptor pistol firing bolts of silver energy that dismantled the remaining two Guardians at the molecular level.
"The law of the ledger is the only thing keeping this place together," Han Jue said, breathing hard. "But we've just alerted the CEO."
The Equity Core
They reached the heart of the Engine—the Equity Core. It was a massive, pulsing sphere of white mana, suspended in a cage of dark-matter chains. This was the engine that generated the gravitational pull.
But as Han Jue stepped closer, he saw something that made his blood run cold.
Inside the sphere, there wasn't just mana. There were thousands of souls, frozen in a state of eternal agony. They were being used as "Fuel-Mass" for the Engine.
"They're burning people," Elena whispered, her hands over her mouth. "To pull Earth toward its death, they're burning the people from the last world they destroyed."
[Target: The Equity Core (Void-Sovereign Level)] [Mass: 4.5 Billion Souls]
"It's a perpetual motion machine of despair," Han Jue said, his eyes darkening. "They use the 'interest' from one world to fund the destruction of the next."
A voice echoed from the shadows behind the core—a voice that sounded like the dry rustle of a thousand bank notes.
"It is efficient, is it not?"
A man stepped out. He was dressed in a suit of pure, shimmering gold, his face a perfect, youthful mask of handsomeness. He carried a cane topped with a diamond the size of a human heart.
[Target: The High Liquidator (CEO-Class)] [Level: 150] [Current Debt: NONE (He is the Creditor)]
"I am Lucian," the man said, bowing slightly. "The Void Emperors grew tired of your petty audits, Han Jue. You've become a 'Negative External' to our bottom line. This Engine was built specifically to settle your account once and for all."
"Lucian," Han Jue said, his hand on the Void Gavel. "I've read your reports. You've been Cooking the Books for ten thousand years. This Engine is a violation of the Entropy Accords."
Lucian laughed, a bright, chilling sound. "The Accords only apply to those who can't pay the fines. I own the court, Auditor. I own the laws. And soon, I will own your world's core."
He raised his cane, and the Equity Core began to spin faster. The gravitational pull intensified, and Han Jue felt the floor beneath him groan.
[Foreclosure Progress: 85%] [Earth's Crust Integrity: CRITICAL]
The Final Audit of the Engine
Han Jue looked at the Equity Core. He looked at the souls trapped inside. He knew that even if he killed Lucian, the Engine was already in a self-sustaining cycle. He couldn't stop the gravity by force.
He had to Insolvent the Engine.
"Garrick, Elena," Han Jue said, his voice dropping to a whisper. "Keep Lucian busy. I need to get to the 'Secondary Ledger' inside the Core."
"On it!" Garrick roared, charging the High Liquidator with a burst of steam. Elena provided cover fire, her silver bolts dancing around Lucian's golden shield.
Han Jue ran toward the pulsing sphere of the Core. He didn't use the Gavel. He used the Black Key.
He shoved the key into the white mana-sphere.
[System Warning: Unauthorized Access to the Core Ledger!] [Penalty: Life-Force Siphon Initiated!]
Han Jue felt his very soul being pulled out of his chest and into the sphere. His hair turned more white, and his skin grew pale. But he didn't pull back.
"You think you own these souls, Lucian?" Han Jue screamed over the roar of the Engine. "But a soul isn't an asset! It's a Liability!"
He channeled the Auditor's Insight—the collective will of the humans back on Earth—into the Black Key.
"I am declaring a Universal Dividend!" Han Jue roared. "I am releasing the 'Potential' of every soul in this core! You didn't buy their lives, Lucian! You only leased them! AND THE LEASE IS UP!"
"NO!" Lucian screamed, abandoning his fight with Garrick and charging toward Han Jue.
But it was too late.
The Black Key shattered, and the white mana-sphere didn't explode—it Liquidated. The souls weren't destroyed; they were "Paid Out." They turned into a torrent of white energy that rushed outward from the Engine, creating a massive, reverse-gravitational shockwave.
[Skill Activated: The Great Payout] [Effect: The Foreclosure Engine has been declared Bankrupt.]
The gravity tornado collapsed. The asteroid fragments that were being pulled toward the center were suddenly blasted away. The "Contract-Iron" spire began to disintegrate into dust.
The Third Key
Lucian stood in the middle of the crumbling chamber, his golden suit torn, his diamond cane shattered. His perfect face was twisted in a mask of absolute fury.
"You've destroyed the harvest..." Lucian whispered. "The Emperors... they will take your world apart stone by stone for this."
"Let them come," Han Jue said, standing tall despite his exhaustion. "But they'll have to do it without their favorite Engine."
He reached into the center of where the Equity Core had been. Floating in the debris was a new object: a White Key, glowing with the light of the souls he had freed.
[You have recovered the Second 'Asset of the Source'.] [Current Key Progress: 3/12]
"Garrick! Elena! To the pod!" Han Jue yelled as the spire began to buckle.
They launched just as the Foreclosure Engine vanished in a final, brilliant flash of white light—not a violent death, but a peaceful settlement of ten thousand years of debt.
The Aftermath: The Ghost in the Ledger
Back on the Sovereign Venture, as they limped back toward the Moon, the atmosphere was somber. They had saved Earth, but they had seen the true scale of the enemy.
Han Jue sat in his cabin, staring at the White Key and the remains of the Black Key.
"Jue," Han Ling said, entering the room. "The tide reports are stabilizing. Earth is safe."
"For now," Han Jue said. He looked at his hand, which was still trembling from the life-force siphon. "But Lucian mentioned something. He said he owns the court."
"What does that mean?"
"It means the Void Emperors aren't just collectors," Han Jue said, his eyes narrowing. "They're the Judges. And we've just committed 'Contempt of Court'."
Suddenly, his ledger pulsed. A new notification appeared, but it wasn't a mission. It was a Summons.
[SUMMONS: THE HIGH TRIBUNAL OF THE VOID] [Case: Earth vs. The Accords] [Representative: Han Jue] [Date: Immediate]
"They're taking me to court," Han Jue whispered. A dark, witty smile touched his lips. "Good. I've always wanted to see the Supreme Court of the Universe. I wonder what their 'Late Fees' are like."
He looked at his sister.
"Ling-er, get my best suit ready. I'm going to go sue the Universe."