Chapter 5: The Glass Fortress
The Central Bank of Nigeria loomed over the Lagos business district like a monolith carved from the night sky. In the "real" world, it was a symbol of financial power. In the Cradle, it was a literal fortress of greed.
"The Governor doesn't just manage the currency here," Emily whispered, her back pressed against the cold concrete of a nearby skyscraper. She adjusted the strap of a high-tech pulse-rifle slung across her shoulder. "He harvests it. Every 'Construct' in this city pays a tax of soul-essence. He keeps it all in the vault, along with the Breath of the Wind."
David stood beside her, his eyes closed. He wasn't looking at the building; he was listening to it.
Badum... Badum...
"The Neutral Pulse is heavy here," David muttered. "It's like the building itself is breathing. Can your coin get us past the gate?"
Emily held up the jade coin. It spun on her fingertip, emitting a faint, green distortion field. "It's a Silence Sigil. For sixty seconds, we'll be invisible to anything mechanical. But the human guards—the Level 20 Enforcers—they'll see us just fine. We need a distraction."
David looked at his status screen.
[Rank: 19]
[Status: Target of the 'Heavens Alliance']
"I'll be the distraction," David said. "My heart... I can make it louder."
"What?"
David didn't explain. He stepped out from the shadows and began walking toward the main entrance. The two Enforcers at the gate—men with skin like polished chrome and eyes like red LEDs—snapped their heads toward him.
"Candidate 19 detected," one droned. "Unauthorized proximity. Commencing removal."
David ignored them. He focused inward, reaching for the obsidian stone merged with his heart. He didn't just let it beat; he commanded it to roar.
[Skill Trigger: Heart-Beat Overload]
BOOM.
A physical shockwave erupted from David's chest. It wasn't loud to the ears, but to the electronic systems of the Enforcers, it was a localized EMP. The red lights in their eyes flickered and died. The automated turrets on the ceiling began to spin wildly, unable to lock onto a target.
"Now!" David hissed.
Emily moved like a shadow. She blurred past the disoriented guards, her jade coin humming as it suppressed the sound of her boots. David followed, his chest burning with the effort of the overload.
They burst through the lobby. The interior was a nightmare of architecture—staircases that led to ceilings and floors made of liquid gold.
Pitter-patter. Pitter-patter.
"Left!" David shouted, his Rhythm of Fortune kicking in. "Through the elevator shaft. The stairs are a trap!"
"How do you know?" Emily asked, even as she leaped into the dark abyss of the shaft, her fingers digging into the cables.
"The stairs have a 'Thump of Dread' so loud it's giving me a headache," David replied, sliding down the cable behind her. "The Governor is waiting at the top. But the Blessing... it's at the bottom."
They slid past thirty floors in seconds. As they reached the basement level, the air changed. It became cold—violently cold. The wind was howling inside the enclosed space, whipping David's hair across his face.
[Warning: Entering 'The Eye of the Storm']
[Boss Territory: The Governor (Level 50)]
They stepped out into a massive, circular vault. The walls were lined with millions of safety deposit boxes, all of them vibrating. In the center of the room sat a man.
He was morbidly obese, his skin a translucent white that showed the glowing blue "tax-essence" flowing through his veins like ink. He sat at a desk made of compressed diamonds, eating what looked like a golden apple.
Beside him, floating in a pressurized glass sphere, was a silver feather that seemed to be made of pure hurricane.
"The Breath of the Wind," Emily whispered, her eyes wide.
The Governor didn't look up from his meal. "Rank 12 and Rank 19," he rumbled. His voice didn't come from his mouth; it vibrated out of the walls. "A partnership of the desperate. Do you know how many Candidates I've digested this week?"
He pointed a bloated finger at a pile of discarded, grey rags in the corner. David recognized the patterns. Those were Candidate uniforms.
"Three of them," the Governor sighed. "The Rank 17 was particularly salty. Too much Void-grit in his soul."
THUMP.
David's heart gave a warning so sharp he nearly fell.
"Move!" David screamed, lunging at Emily.
He tackled her just as the Governor slammed his hand onto his desk. A wave of compressed air, sharp as a guillotine, sliced through the space where their heads had been a second ago. The concrete pillar behind them was sheared clean in half.
[Beat Sync: Initiated]
[Combat Mode: On]
"He's not just Level 50," David panted, pushing Emily behind a pile of gold bars. "He's the one who controls the physics of this room. Emily, if you can fold the space around that sphere for five seconds, I can grab the Blessing."
"Five seconds?" Emily looked at the Governor, who was standing up, his massive body unfolding like an opening umbrella. "David, if I do that, my Jade Coin will shatter. I'll be defenseless."
David looked at his Rank 19. He looked at the Governor. Then he looked at the obsidian pulse in his own wrist.
"Trust me," David said. "I've survived the Void. A greedy bureaucrat isn't how I'm going out."
The Governor let out a roar, and the wind in the room turned into a cyclone of blades.