Chapter 178: [178] : The Tax Collector, Sector 1 Invasion
Declan stood on the high stone balcony of his central keep. He rested his hands on the cold iron railing and looked out over his sprawling and heavily fortified city. The massive purple forges roared in the distance. They cast long and shifting shadows across the clean pavement.
Thousands of players were busy running around down in the courtyard. They were organizing their newly acquired loot, forming fresh hunting parties, and preparing for the next wave of monsters that might spawn outside the energy dome.
The Iron Bastion was operating exactly like a well oiled machine.
Declan turned his head and looked at the sleek metallic AI standing right next to his heavy iron throne.
Aegis stood perfectly still. Her dark metal chassis seemed to absorb the dim light of the room. The glowing purple energy lines pulsing across her robotic body hummed with a quiet lethal power. She didn’t fidget. She didn’t breathe. She just waited for orders.
"Aegis," Declan said smoothly.
"Yes, Boss?" the Level 80 System Defense Entity replied. Her synthetic voice was completely calm and highly responsive.
"I need exact coordinates for Sector 1," Declan ordered. He cracked his neck, feeling his dense mythical alloy bones pop loudly. "Specifically, I want the main headquarters for the Proud Sword Megacorp."
Aegis did not ask questions. She didn’t ask why he wanted to go to the most heavily guarded corporate zone on the server. Her bright blue optical sensors flared for a fraction of a second as she tapped directly into the global server registry.
Because Declan had completely broken the local firewalls and possessed Ascendant tier administrator privileges, his AI easily bypassed the corporate security blocks of Sector 1.
"Coordinates acquired," Aegis reported a moment later. "Sector 1 is currently operating under a localized reality bubble. The corporate guilds pooled their resources to purchase a massive environmental filter from the developer shop. It is a highly pristine zone. They are entirely unaffected by the toxic weather patterns of the Great Convergence."
"Of course it is," Declan sneered. "They sit in a clean and sunny city while they send hit squads and server wiping bosses to delete the rest of us in the mud."
He shoved his hands deep into the pockets of his pitch black Predator’s Coat.
"They dropped a Level 100 Eradicator on my house today," Declan muttered. "I think it is time we return the favor."
Declan pulled up his system interface. He navigated to his active skill tab. He looked at the Sovereign tier teleportation skill he had just looted from the developer’s stash in the Blacksite Vault.
"System," Declan commanded in his mind. "Activate Abyssal Warp Gate. Target: Sector 1. Proud Sword Megacorp Central Bank."
The system chimes rang out instantly.
[Skill Activated: Abyssal Warp Gate]
↳ Tier: Sovereign (Divine Anomaly)
↳ Mana Consumed: 500
↳ Target Coordinates Locked: Sector 1, Central Financial District.
↳ Warning: You are initiating a cross sector jump into a highly hostile corporate zone.
Declan ignored the glaring red warning box. He had a hundred immortal shadow clones standing by in his skill slots. His body possessed the raw physical density of a collapsing star. He was the hostile zone.
He raised his right hand and snapped his fingers.
The air directly in front of the balcony violently tore open. It sounded exactly like thick canvas ripping perfectly in half. A massive and towering portal made of swirling black dark matter materialized out of thin air. It was easily forty feet high and completely ignored the physical stone of the keep, phasing right through the floor.
"Let’s go collect some taxes," Declan said.
He stepped right through the dark matter portal. Aegis followed silently right behind him.
Down in the courtyard, the one hundred pitch black shadow clones of the Eclipse Legion moved in perfect synchronization. They didn’t make a sound. They just leaped into the air, crossing the distance in a blur of high Agility, and flew straight into the massive black rift.
The transition was completely instantaneous. There was no loading screen. There was no freezing cold wind or nauseating vertigo.
Declan’s heavy +10 Spiked Striders hit solid and pristine white marble with a loud crunch.
He stood up straight and looked around.
Sector 1 was completely ridiculous.
There was no toxic rain here. There was no dark, smog choked sky or ruined pavement. The megacorps had literally bought a fake atmosphere with real world money. High above the towering and sleek glass skyscrapers, a massive holographic projector painted the sky a bright and cheerful blue. A fake digital sun cast warm and comfortable light over the spotless streets.
There were no destroyed cars. There were no piles of trash. The streets were lined with neat rows of expensive cybernetic trees and high end merchant stalls that looked like luxury boutiques.
Players were sitting at outdoor cafes. They were wearing spotless and highly customized cosmetic armor that cost thousands of real world dollars. They were laughing and drinking digital coffee out of fancy porcelain cups.
They thought they had beaten the apocalypse just by throwing their credit cards at the screen.
The massive black portal hovered right in the middle of the central financial plaza, directly in front of the towering white glass building of the Proud Sword Megacorp Bank.
The players at the cafes stopped talking. They lowered their cups. They stared at the giant and swirling black hole that had just ripped their perfect blue sky in half.
Then, one hundred towering shadow demons dropped out of the portal.
The clones landed heavily on the pristine marble plaza. They wore the exact same dark trench coat as Declan. Their purple eyes glowed with pure and unadulterated violence. They all held shadowy replicas of the +40 Eclipse Severance halberd in their hands.
Absolute panic erupted instantly.
"What is that?!" a player in a shiny gold suit screamed while dropping his cup. It shattered on the marble floor.
"Monsters! Monsters are inside the barrier!" a woman shrieked, scrambling backward and falling over her expensive cafe chair.
The plaza turned into a chaotic mess of screaming and terrified billionaires. They didn’t have weapons equipped. They didn’t know how to fight. They just turned and ran blindly down the streets, shoving each other out of the way to escape the dark matter invaders.
Declan did not care about the low level rich kids. He looked at the massive glass doors of the bank.
Dozens of heavily armored corporate guards rushed out of the building. They wore the exact same white and gold tactical armor that the streamer Cipher had worn. They raised heavy plasma rifles and aimed them directly at Declan’s chest.
A tall and broad shouldered man pushed his way to the front of the guard line. He didn’t wear armor. He wore a perfectly tailored black business suit. His floating name tag read CEO Grant.
Grant looked furious. The veins in his forehead throbbed.
"Who are you?!" Grant barked as he pointed a finger at Declan. "This is a premium safe zone! You cannot bypass the spatial locks here! I will have the developers permanently ban your IP!"
Declan just laughed. It was a cold and empty sound that carried perfectly across the plaza.
"The developers don’t own this game anymore," Declan stated flatly. "I do."
Grant’s eyes narrowed. He looked at the pitch black coat. He looked at the terrifying purple energy swirling in Declan’s eyes. Then, he looked at the hundred dark matter clones standing in perfect military formation.
"You," Grant gasped as the color instantly drained from his face. "Player V. The glitch from Sector 7."
"I prefer Warlord," Declan corrected him smoothly. He shoved his hands into his pockets. "You guys sent a hit squad to my city. You tried to drop a satellite on my head. That violates my local noise ordinances."
Grant took a step back and hid behind his heavily armored guards.
"Kill him!" Grant screamed, his voice cracking with pure terror. "Light him up! Do not let him near the bank!"
Ohh, the new Grant just made a mistake.
The fifty corporate guards pulled their triggers. A massive volley of bright pink plasma slugs tore through the air and aimed directly at the invading force.
"Legion," Declan commanded calmly. "Clear the street."
The shadow clones blurred forward. They didn’t dodge the plasma fire. They didn’t raise shields. The heavy blue energy slugs slammed directly into the dark matter chests of the clones and simply phased right through them! The clones did not have physical hitboxes!
The guards realized their mistake a second too late.
The first wave of shadow clones crashed into the frontline. They swung their massive halberds horizontally. The Spacetime Laceration trait triggered perfectly.
The dark blades ignored the heavy gold armor. They ignored the energy shields. They literally severed the spatial coordinates the guards were occupying.
There was no clashing sound. There was just the wet noise of thick canvas tearing.
Ten guards were instantly cut in half. Their avatars froze, split down the middle, and violently dissolved into a massive shower of bright blue digital pixels.
"They’re immune to damage!" a guard shrieked as he dropped his rifle and tried to run away.
A clone grabbed him by the back of his neck, lifted him off the ground, and casually crushed his helmet into a tiny metal cube using pure physical force.
Declan didn’t join the fight. He just strolled right through the middle of the massacre. The blue pixels rained down around him like snow. He walked up the pristine marble stairs, heading straight for the massive glass doors of the corporate treasury.
It was payday.
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