Jera read the anonymous message from "S" three times.
[...They are listening. But you have the key. I have the lock. The Auction Master holds my contract. He won't sell. Find me. Please. -S...]
His cold, calculating mind processed the variables.
Asset: Seraphina ("S"). She is a unique specialist, an "Oracle" according to The Vault. Resonance: She can feel his Runestones. He can feel her. This makes her invaluable, not just as a person, but as a tool to find more fragments. The Problem: "He won't sell." This means a standard transaction is impossible. The Auction Master, the ruler of this entire dimension, holds her contract. Conclusion: Acquisition requires force.
Jera looked down from his black-glass booth. On the stage far below, Seraphina was being led away by two heavily-armored guards. She cast one last, desperate look at the anonymous booths before disappearing through a reinforced vault door.
She was just like his new Runestone fragment: a priceless, one-of-a-kind object, vital to his new mission of uncovering the truth.
And he had just paid 100 billion credits for the first item. He would not be asking for the second.
He opened his private comm to his broker.
To: The Vault
From: C.W.
I am acquiring the specialist, Seraphina.
Prepare my exit.
The reply from The Vault was instantaneous, and for the first time, it was not calm. It was pure, unfiltered panic.
To: C.W.
From: The Vault
NO! WALKER, ARE YOU INSANE?!
That is not a simple slave. That is SERAPHINA, THE ORACLE OF THE RIFT! She is the Auction Master's personal property! She is the source of his information, the reason he can find these relics!
You cannot buy her. You cannot take her. Stealing from the Auction Master, inside the Auction, is suicide. It violates the one neutral ground on Earth. Every S-Rank here will turn on you! Lord Valerius, Kenji Tanaka, all of them!
You just made a statement with that bid. Don't throw it all away! Get your fragment and leave!
Jera read the panicked message. It changed nothing.
To: The Vault
From: C.W.
He won't sell. So I'm taking her.
Have my fragment at the exit portal. 60 seconds.
Jera closed the comm, severing The Vault's connection. The decision was made.
He stood up and walked to the door of his private booth. The two attendants in silver masks, who were waiting outside, bowed.
"Sir, the auction is not yet over. Is there something we can get—"
Jera walked past them, not even acknowledging their existence. He walked to the edge of the grand balcony, 100 feet above the main auction floor.
His movement was not lost on the crowd.
"Look! Booth #7! Bidder #7 is revealing himself!"
"Is that... him? Is that Cain Walker?"
Lord Valerius and Kenji Tanaka stood up, their eyes locked on the dark figure in the mining rig.
Jera looked down. Seraphina had been taken through a massive, S-Rank vault door on the far side of the chamber.
He stepped off the balcony.
Jera fell 100 feet in total silence.
He landed on the white marble floor in a three-point stance.
THOOM.
The sound was not a crash; it was a deep, resonating impact, like a meteor strike. The entire auction hall shook. A spiderweb of cracks radiated from his feet, shattering the pristine floor.
Every S-Rank and Guild Leader in the room was instantly on their feet. The room exploded into chaos.
"It's WALKER!"
"He's on the floor! What is he doing?!"
A figure in a brilliant, golden mask and flowing robes appeared on the main stage. This was the Auction Master.
"Cain Walker!" the Master's voice boomed, magically amplified and filled with disbelief and rage. "You have violated the Neutral Ground! This is an act of war against the Conclave! SEIZE HIM!"
From every door, dozens of A-Rank and S-Rank guards—the Auction's private army—poured into the room. They activated their skills, and the air filled with the light of a dozen different attack spells.
"Fire!"
A wave of plasma, ice lances, and kinetic bolts surged toward Jera.
Jera stood up straight. He did not dodge. He did not run.
He simply walked toward the vault door, his [Aetheric Shield (L512)] active.
The S-Rank attacks, enough to level a small city, splashed against his invisible barrier. They sizzled, popped, and dissolved into harmless light, like raindrops on a hot stove.
Jera walked through the barrage, his heavy boots crunching on the broken marble, his focus absolute. He was a god of war walking through a hailstorm, completely untouched.
"He's... he's ignoring them!" Kenji Tanaka whispered in horror.
"His shield... it's... it's absolute..." Lord Valerius breathed.
Jera reached the S-Rank vault door. It was 10 feet thick, forged from dimensionally-hardened steel.
He did not look for a key. He did not try to hack the lock.
He pulled back his fist.
[Action: Structural Breach. Strength Multiplier Roll: $\times 100$.]
He punched the vault door.
The sound was not a clang. It was a deafening bang that shattered the ears. The 10-foot-thick steel door imploded, blowing off its hinges and flying 50 feet into the chamber behind it.
Jera walked through the smoke and twisted metal.
Inside, Seraphina was standing with two S-Rank personal guards. They were staring at the destroyed door, their minds unable to process the event.
They lunged at Jera, their mana-katanas drawn.
Jera was tired of this.
Store.
Store.
The two S-Rank katanas, priceless artifacts in their own right, vanished from the guards' hands, mid-swing.
The guards froze, their hands empty and shaking.
"Messy," Jera's digital voice said.
He moved, a blur too fast to see. He tapped each guard on the helmet. Tap. Tap. The two S-Rank warriors crumpled to the ground, unconscious.
Jera was now alone in the room with Seraphina.
She was not afraid. She was staring at him, her violet eyes wide, her entire body shaking with a mixture of terror and, impossibly, relief.
"You... you're the one," she whispered. "I felt your key. It's... it's beautiful."
Jera looked at the magical collar on her neck. It was glowing bright red, preparing to detonate and kill her for her "betrayal."
"You are a high-value asset," Jera stated, his voice flat. "I am acquiring you."
He reached out and placed one gloved finger on the S-Rank collar.
[Action: Disarm Trap. Multiplier Roll: $\times 444$.]
He didn't just break the lock. He pushed multiplied, corrosive mana into its core. The "unbreakable" slave collar sizzled, smoked, and fell to the floor in two dead, blackened pieces.
Seraphina gasped, her hand flying to her neck. She was free. For the first time in her life, she was free.
"Who... what are you?" she whispered.
"I am Cain Walker," Jera said. "And you are coming with me."
Jera grabbed Seraphina's arm and pulled her back into the main auction hall.
The entire S-Rank army was waiting, forming a half-circle. The Auction Master was floating above them, his body glowing with S-Rank power.
"You will DIE here, Walker!" the Master screamed. "You have stolen my Oracle! You have spat on our laws! You will be erased!"
"He's right, you know," Seraphina whispered, her voice surprisingly calm. "They've sealed the dimension. The portal you came through... it's one-way. There's no way out."
"There is always a way out," Jera said.
He looked at the portal he had entered through—the painting of the moonlit sea, still hanging on his private balcony, 100 feet up.
He pulled Seraphina close, his arm wrapping around her waist. She yelped in surprise.
"Vault," Jera sent his final comm. "My item. Now."
On the balcony, the terrified attendant appeared, holding the [Runestone of the First War].
"FIRE!" The Auction Master roared.
The entire S-Rank army, led by Lord Valerius and Kenji Tanaka, unleashed their strongest attacks. A tidal wave of white-hot energy, a storm of magic and power, surged toward Jera.
"Hold on," Jera said.
[Action: Vertical Ascent. Agility Multiplier Roll: $\times 818$.]
Jera did not run. He launched.
He pushed off the marble floor, his multiplied power cracking the entire foundation. He shot 100 feet straight up, a black-armored missile, pulling Seraphina with him.
They moved so fast that the S-Rank attacks hit the empty floor where they had been, causing a cataclysmic explosion.
Jera and Seraphina landed perfectly on the private balcony. He grabbed the Runestone from the stunned attendant's hand and stored it in his Inventory.
He had the woman. He had the fragment. Mission complete.
"Walker! You cannot escape!" the Auction Master shrieked, flying toward them.
Jera turned, Seraphina in his arms, and stepped calmly back through the painting.
They were instantly back in the cold, dark, and blessedly silent art museum.
Behind them, the painting still glowed. Jera could see the furious, enraged face of the Auction Master pressing through the illusion, trying to follow.
Jera let go of Seraphina. He turned to the portal.
"A cage," he said.
He pulled back his fist.
[Action: Portal Destruction. Strength Multiplier Roll: $\times 1000$.]
He punched the S-Rank portal.
He didn't just punch the painting. He punched the dimension it was linked to.
The painting exploded. A wave of pure, temporal shock blew the museum's wall out. The portal screamed—a sound of tearing reality—and then collapsed in on itself, the link between worlds permanently severed.
Jera stood in the dust and rubble, his black helmet unblemished. The Midnight Auction, and all of its S-Rank members, were now trapped in their own pocket dimension, with no easy way out.
He turned. Seraphina was on the floor, staring at him. She was free. She was safe. And she was in the presence of a being more powerful than any god she had ever met.
"You..." she breathed, "you really are the key."