The white void did not end.
It stretched for light-years in every direction an infinite warehouse of consciousness.
Millions of pods hung suspended in the air like glass cocoons each one glowing with the soft blue light of a life being harvested for data.
Adrian Vane once the king of a global empire was now a shivering man in a tattered lab coat.
He looked at his hands which were fading into a translucent grey.
"What have you done Kaelen?" Adrian wheezed his voice sounding like a dying transmission.
"I've just performed a Repossession of Authority" Kaelen Thorne replied.
Kaelen stood in the center of the void his hospital gown fluttering in a conceptual wind.
Despite his physical weakness he felt an immense pressure radiating from the [Chronos Core] in his chest.
It was the weight of every soul in the server farm.
"You called them a resource Adrian" Kaelen said walking toward the floating pods.
"You told me Earth was just a sub-directory."
"But you forgot the most basic rule of a server farm."
"If the hardware is local the Liability is Absolute."
[SYSTEM MESSAGE]
[ROLE UPDATED: RECEIVER-GENERAL OF THE MULTIVERSE]
[CURRENT ASSETS: 4,000,000,000 SOUL RECORDS]
[CURRENT LIABILITIES: TOTAL SYSTEM DEBT]
Kaelen looked at the Administrator who was now barely the size of a child.
"Now Intern Adrian" Kaelen whispered his eyes glowing with a sharp gold light.
"Log me into the Prime Directory."
"I want to see the people who are receiving the dividends from this farm."
Adrian Vane shook his head his face a mask of pure terror.
"You can't go there Kaelen! They aren't humans!"
"The True Owners... they are Trans-Dimensional Conglomerates!"
"To them we are just a line of code in a quarterly earnings report!"
"They will delete you the moment you step onto their floor!"
Kaelen Thorne adjusted his tie an imaginary gesture that still carried the weight of his power.
"Good" Kaelen said.
"I've always found that the biggest clients are the most vulnerable to a Bad Audit."
Kaelen grabbed Adrian by his collar and slammed his hand against the air.
The space didn't shatter; it opened like a digital folder.
[COMMAND EXECUTED: ASCEND TO PRIME MERIDIAN]
[WARNING: EXTERNAL SECURITY PROTOCOLS DETECTED]
[INITIATING: THE HOSTILE LOGIN]
Suddenly the void vanished.
Kaelen and Lia were pulled through a tunnel of raw binary code.
It felt like being shredded into a trillion pieces and then reassembled by a blind artist.
When the light finally stabilized Kaelen Thorne found himself standing on a floor of liquid gold.
The sky was a deep pulsing violet and the buildings around them were not made of stone or steel.
They were made of Solidified Mana.
This was the Prime Dimension.
The place where the "System" was born.
Lia Sinclair stood at Kaelen's side her violet aura erupting in a roar of hunger.
"Mr. Thorne... the air here... it's delicious."
"It's pure mana Lia" Kaelen said his eyes scanning the horizon.
"This isn't a world. It's a Central Bank of Existence."
In front of them stood a massive skyscraper that reached into the purple heavens.
The sign at the entrance was written in a language that Kaelen's system translated instantly:
THE PRIME BOARD OF DIRECTORS: DEPARTMENT OF REALITY MANAGEMENT.
"Wait!" Adrian Vane shouted his voice small and high-pitched.
"The Risk Assessment Team is already coming!"
Suddenly three figures descended from the purple sky.
They were not angels or demons.
They were tall slender beings with skin made of shifting marble and eyes that were spinning numerical wheels.
They were wearing suits made of pure light and carrying briefcases that hummed with the power of a supernova.
THE RISK ASSESSORS.
"Subject: Kaelen Thorne" the lead Assessor spoke his voice a perfect harmonic chord.
"You have triggered a Systemic Default Event."
"By demoting the Administrator you have breached the Terms of Service for Earth 01."
"We are here to perform a Forced Deletion of the Variable."
The Assessor opened his briefcase and a beam of grey light shot toward Kaelen.
It was a "Deletion Beam" the same power the Original Architect had used.
But Kaelen Thorne didn't flinch.
He didn't use a shield.
He opened his Sovereign Ledger in the air.
[SKILL ACTIVATED: THE COUNTER-AUDIT]
[TARGET: RISK ASSESSMENT TEAM 01]
[NOTICE: ANALYZING CORPORATE COMPLIANCE...]
The grey beam hit the Ledger and was instantly converted into a list of numbers.
"You're using a 'Version 4.0' Deletion Beam" Kaelen said his voice echoing with a chilling professional calm.
"But according to the Multiversal Labor Act of the Prime Dimension that technology was recalled three cycles ago."
"It's a Defective Tool."
The Assessor paused his numerical eyes spinning faster.
"Calculation Error. The technology is proprietary."
"It's proprietary and Uninsured" Kaelen countered.
"I've just checked the Prime Board's insurance records."
"Your department has been cutting corners on 'Variable Management' to increase the profit margins."
Kaelen stepped forward his hospital gown beginning to transform into his charcoal suit as he siphoned mana from the golden floor.
"By using defective tools to delete a Sovereign Asset you have just made the Prime Board liable for Civil Damages."
Kaelen raised his hand and the golden threads of the Ledger lashed out.
They didn't grab the Assessors.
They grabbed the Briefcases.
"I am the Master Liquidator" Kaelen roared his voice shattering the mana glass windows of the nearby buildings.
"And I am declaring your department Under-Capitalized!"
[SYSTEM MESSAGE]
[ASSET SEIZURE SUCCESSFUL]
[YOU HAVE ACQUIRED: PRIME RISK ASSESSMENT TOOLS (RANK SSS)]
[INFLUENCE GAINED: +1,000,000,000 (PRIME CREDITS)]
The Assessors began to flicker and turn grey as their power was sucked into Kaelen's Ledger.
They weren't being killed; they were being Fired.
"This... this is impossible!" the lead Assessor gasped as he dissolved into ash.
"No one audits the Board!"
"I just did" Kaelen said adjusting his new silk tie.
Kaelen turned to the massive skyscraper.
He felt the Alpha Heart in his chest thrumming with a new cold authority.
He was no longer a Rank F clerk.
He was the Biggest Creditor in the Multiverse.
"Lia. Silas" Kaelen commanded.
Silas Vesper emerged from the shadows of the liquid gold floor his form now more solid than ever.
"Yes Master."
"We're going to the Penthouse" Kaelen said.
"I want to meet the CEO of Everything."
"And I want to see his face when I tell him that the Multiverse is under new Management."
Lia Sinclair grinned her violet eyes bleeding black ink into the golden floor.
"I hope he's tasty Mr. Thorne."
"He's not tasty Lia" Kaelen said walking toward the entrance.
"He's Profitable."