The grand ballroom of the Apex Spire felt like the inside of a furnace.
Baron Kael swung his rapier in a sweeping, horizontal arc. A crescent of crimson-orange fire erupted from the blade, roaring through the air with enough kinetic force to shatter solid stone.
Silas didn't attempt to block. He couldn't.
His Mortal-Rank body, even with its newly acquired twenty stat points, would be incinerated the moment that Bronze-Tier magic touched him.
He locked his eyes on the deep shadow cast by a towering marble pillar to his right. He pushed ten units of mana into his core.
Shadow-Step.
The world lost its color. Silas dissolved into the darkness just as the wave of fire washed over the spot where he had been standing.
BOOM!
The flames slammed into a buffet table, instantly vaporizing crystal glasses and reducing roasted mythic-beasts to blackened ash.
Aristocrats screamed, scrambling backward as the shockwave of heat hit the crowd.
Silas materialized perfectly in the shadow of the pillar, five meters away. He brushed a stray ember off the shoulder of his midnight-blue suit, his expression terrifyingly placid.
[Host evaded hostile transaction. Applying 25% Combat Interest.]
[Target's Active Combat Debt: 30 Karma Points.]
Kael whipped around, his fiery rapier leaving a trail of smoke in the air. His aristocratic sneer twisted into a mask of pure rage.
"A movement skill?" Kael spat, his chest heaving slightly. "You think teleporting like a frightened rat will save your life, trash? I am a Bronze-Tier Elementalist! My mana reserves are a hundred times yours!"
"Quantity does not equate to efficiency," Silas replied smoothly, stepping out from behind the pillar. "And right now, your expenditures are highly unsustainable."
Kael roared. "Die!"
He lunged forward, his rapier transforming into a spiraling vortex of flame. He didn't just swing the sword; he unleashed a torrent of localized fire magic that turned the center of the ring into a literal inferno.
Silas's eyes darted rapidly, his enhanced Agility and Perception reading the trajectory of the flames.
He didn't retreat. He danced.
He ducked beneath a horizontal slash, feeling the blistering heat singe the tips of his hair. He sidestepped a vertical thrust, the fiery blade missing his cheek by a fraction of a millimeter.
[Host evaded hostile transaction. Applying 15% Combat Interest.]
[Target's Active Combat Debt: 65 Karma Points.]
"Stand still!" Kael bellowed, his strikes growing wilder, faster, and infinitely more destructive.
"Why? You're doing all the heavy lifting," Silas taunted, his voice perfectly even.
He willed another pulse of mana into his core.
Shadow-Step.
He vanished from a lethal thrust, reappearing in the shadow of a terrified noblewoman holding a folding fan.
Shadow-Step.
He blinked again, avoiding a blast of fire that melted the marble floorboards into bubbling slag.
[Host evaded lethal transaction. Applying 30% Combat Interest.]
[Target's Active Combat Debt: 140 Karma Points.]
In the crowd, the initial mockery had completely evaporated, replaced by stunned, breathless silence.
"Impossible," an Imperial Knight whispered from the front row. "He has no aura. He is a Mortal. How is he tracking a Bronze-Tier's movements?"
Duke Valerius stood at the edge of the circle, his hands gripped tightly behind his back. His murderous gaze was locked onto Silas. The Duke's eyes narrowed. He was looking for an artifact, a hidden talisman—anything to explain how this discarded garbage was humiliating a trained noble.
He found nothing.
Inside the ring, Silas was beginning to feel the strain.
His lungs burned. His muscles ached. Using Shadow-Step repeatedly was draining his limited mana pool dangerously fast. He only had five mana points left. He could only teleport one more time.
Kael, however, was in a much worse state.
The Baron was panting heavily, sweat pouring down his face, his red hair plastered to his forehead. The flames coating his rapier were no longer a roaring crimson; they were flickering to a dull, unstable orange.
"You... you coward," Kael gasped, his chest heaving as he gripped his sword with both hands. "You have no magic to fight back. You're just delaying your execution!"
"I'm not fighting," Silas corrected, his neon-blue eyes glowing brightly in the smoky ballroom. "I'm auditing."
He looked at the translucent interface hovering above Kael's head.
[Target: Baron Kael][Net Worth: 320 Stat Points][Active Combat Debt: 140 Karma Points.]
It's not enough, Silas calculated coldly. His Debt hasn't breached his Net Worth. I need him to make one final, massive investment.
Silas deliberately lowered his hands. He let out a harsh, ragged breath, faking a stumble. He leaned heavily against a scorched table, looking entirely exhausted.
"You're right," Silas wheezed, wiping fake sweat from his brow. "I'm out of mana. I can't run anymore."
Kael's eyes lit up with sadistic, triumphant glee.
"I knew it!" Kael screamed, raising his rapier high above his head. "You are nothing! You are trash! Witness the true power of the nobility!"
Kael drew upon every single drop of his remaining mana. He burned his lifeforce, forcing his magical core into overdrive.
The air in the ballroom was instantly sucked toward his blade.
A massive, terrifying serpent made of pure, white-hot fire materialized above Kael's head. The heat was so absolute that the crystal chandeliers above began to crack and shatter from the thermal shock.
"Burn to cinders! Flame Serpent's Wrath!"
Kael swung the blade down.
The massive fire serpent roared, diving directly toward Silas with the force of a falling meteor.
There were no shadows left in the room. The blinding white light of the attack erased them all. Shadow-Step was useless.
The crowd screamed. Some looked away. Camilla, watching from the floor, smiled with vicious delight.
Silas didn't move.
He stared directly into the maw of the incoming inferno, his neon-blue eyes flaring with cosmic authority.
The fire serpent slammed into him.
A deafening explosion rocked the Apex Spire. A massive cloud of black smoke and ash swallowed the entire corner of the ballroom.
Kael dropped to one knee, using his rapier to prop himself up. He was completely drained, his mana core totally empty. He was gasping for air, but a hysterical, manic laugh bubbled from his throat.
"I won..." Kael panted, looking at the smoke. "I killed him. The Barony is safe."
"You made a critical miscalculation, Kael."
The voice was crisp. Calm. Completely unharmed.
The manic laugh died in Kael's throat.
The smoke slowly parted.
Silas Vance walked forward.
His midnight-blue suit jacket was ruined, the sleeves burned away. His white shirt was scorched, and a harsh, bleeding burn marked the left side of his jaw.
But he was alive.
Floating just inches in front of Silas's chest was a small, cracked, glowing orb.
The Aegis Core.
The Holy Shield artifact he had looted from the assassin's employer files? No, he hadn't looted it yet. He hadn't received it from the Academy yet either.
But Silas had something better. He had the fifty units of raw mana he had liquidated earlier, and he had poured every single remaining point of his vitality into bracing for the impact.
More importantly, he had the System.
[Major Lethal Action Detected. System Defense Protocol engaged. Applying 500% Penalty Interest to Target.]
Silas swiped a hand through the smoke, clearing the air. He looked down at the kneeling, paralyzed Baron.
"You spent capital you didn't have," Silas whispered, his voice echoing in the dead silence of the ballroom. "And now, your account is deeply, irrevocably overdrawn."
He focused on the glowing blue screen hovering above Kael's head.
[Target: Baron Kael][Net Worth: 320 Stat Points][Active Combat Debt: 890 Karma Points.]
[Alert: Active Debt grossly exceeds Net Worth. Absolute Foreclosure Authorized.]
Kael looked up, his eyes widening in primal, unadulterated terror. He tried to lift his sword, but his arms wouldn't obey. His mana was gone. His strength was gone.
"What... what are you?" Kael choked out, trembling as the neon-blue light reflected in his eyes.
Silas stood over the broken noble, his expression colder than the Abyss.
He raised his right hand.
"Your bill is due."
Silas snapped his fingers.