Free Web NovelChapter 128: [128] : The Executive Offer, Unwanted Loyalty
Nova could not stop staring at him.
She was a Level 55 Arcane Splicer. She was the best independent hacker in Sector 7. She operated completely off the grid and relied on no one but herself. She was arrogant, cold, and entirely pragmatic.
But right now, standing in the same room as Declan Vance, she felt an overwhelming psychological weight pressing down on her shoulders.
It was not just fear. It was worse.
His new Abyssal Sovereign aura was literally demanding absolute submission. The raw digital code of the game engine recognized him as a divine anomaly. It was actively trying to force her avatar to kneel in his presence. The heavy red runes glowing on his new ear-cuff only made the pressure worse.
Nova felt a strange completely unwanted sense of loyalty bubbling up in her chest. She actually wanted to follow his orders! She wanted to stand behind him and let him dictate her every move.
She hated it!
Nova raised her left hand and violently slapped herself across the face.
Smack!
The sharp sound echoed in the quiet server room. A faint red mark appeared on her pale cheek.
Morgan jumped back, her newly looted Ascendant-tier daggers raised. "What is wrong with you?" the assassin hissed.
"I am an independent asset," Nova breathed heavily, glaring at the floor. Her icy blue eyes were narrowed in sheer frustration. "I am a contractor. I am not a submissive follower."
Declan stopped walking. He looked at Nova with a highly confused expression. He tilted his head slightly.
"Did you just hit yourself?" Declan asked.
"Your aura is leaking," Nova snapped, pointing a shaking finger at him. "You are projecting an administrative suppression field. Turn it down before I uninstall myself."
Declan looked down at his hands. The dark purple energy was rolling off his pitch-black Predator’s Coat like heavy smoke. The air around his head was still glitching into squares of static from the +20 Abyssal Neural Interface.
He did look a bit too flashy.
"Fair point," Declan said casually. "We need to walk back through the physical slums. I don’t need every low-level player in the sector staring at me."
He pulled up his system interface. He toggled the visual light effects on his gear to ’Off’.
Instantly, the dark smoke vanished. The red runes on his ear-cuff dulled to a matte black. The static distortion around his head smoothed out. He just looked like a tall guy wearing a dark tactical trench coat and heavy boots.
But the stats were still there.
"While I have the menu open," Declan muttered to himself. "I need to clean up my skill list. Having too many buttons is annoying."
He had Absolute Execution, which dealt instant death to targets under twenty percent health. He also had Gravitational Annihilation, the massive black hole attack tied to his halberd. Using them separately was inefficient.
He did not bother looking for a skill-fusion NPC. He was the Warlord. He had root access.
He used his Abyssal Sovereign administrative authority and dragged the two skill files directly on top of each other in his menu.
The system interface flashed an angry red.
[Error: Skill fusion requires matching elemental affinities.]
[Error: Incompatible code types detected.]
"Force it," Declan commanded, his voice rumbling with a heavy bass.
His Boundless Enhancement talent crushed the error boxes. The two skill files violently merged together, flashing with a blinding gold light.
[Skill Fusion Successful.]
[New Skill Created: Event Horizon Annihilation]
↳ Tier: Sovereign Grade
↳ Description: The user generates a massive gravitational singularity that pulls all targets within a 100-meter radius into a central point. Any target pulled into the event horizon that possesses less than 30% of their maximum HP is instantly executed and permanently deleted from the server.
Declan smiled. A massive crowd-control vacuum that instantly executed anything weak enough to get sucked in. It was perfect for clearing out armies.
"Alright," Declan closed his interface. "Let’s go home."
They walked out of the Ten Thousand Demon Palace. They crossed the dark empty transit tunnels and climbed the fleshy corrupted stairs back up to the surface.
When they stepped out of the subway entrance, they were back in the ruined slums of Sector 7. The toxic rain was falling heavily, splashing against the broken asphalt.
But they were not alone.
Hovering just a few feet off the ground, right in the middle of the ruined street, was a sleek pristine white corporate AV. The aerial vehicle had no visible thrusters. It hummed quietly with high-end anti-gravity tech.
Standing in front of the AV was a man in a perfectly tailored white suit. He held a glowing blue umbrella over his head. A dozen heavily armored Apex Paradigm guards stood in a perfect perimeter around him, their plasma rifles resting on their chests.
The man smiled warmly as Declan walked out of the subway.
"Player V," the man called out. His voice was smooth and practiced. "You are making quite the name for yourself."
Morgan tensed up immediately. Her hands dropped to her daggers. "That’s Executive Lorin," she whispered to Declan. "He’s a senior board member of Apex Paradigm."
Declan did not stop walking. He did not put his hands up. He just strolled right up to the corporate elite, stopping a few feet away.
"You guys really like standing in the rain," Declan noted casually.
Lorin chuckled. It sounded entirely fake. "We are businessmen, Player V. We recognize a shifting market when we see one. You wiped out the Apex Hounds. You stole a Relic-tier siege cannon. You claimed Sector 7 for yourself." free𝑤ebnovel.com
Lorin took a step forward. "Apex Paradigm wants to buy you out. We want you on the payroll. You keep the Iron Bastion, but you run it under our corporate banner."
The executive reached into his tailored jacket. He pulled out a glowing gold card. It pulsed with heavy encrypted data.
"This is a sign of good faith," Lorin said, holding the card out. "An Ascendant-grade Admin Access Keycard. It grants limited access to our Master Treasury. Think of it as a signing bonus."
Declan looked at the glowing card. He looked at the dozen heavily armed guards. He looked back at Lorin’s fake smiling face.
Declan reached out and took the gold card from Lorin’s hand. He slipped it into his coat pocket.
"Thanks for the key," Declan said smoothly.
Lorin’s smile widened. "Excellent. So, do we have a deal?"
Declan shook his head slowly. "No. I don’t do leashes."
He stepped right past the executive, completely ignoring the billionaire. He started walking down the street toward the Iron Bastion.
Lorin froze. His smile shattered. The corporate guards instantly raised their plasma rifles, aiming right at Declan’s back!
Lorin raised a shaking hand. "Hold your fire!" he hissed at his guards. He knew exactly what this guy did to the last squad that shot at him. "Let him go."
