Chapter 62: No Leverage Left to Pull

"An S-rank secret realm?"

Kael’s eyebrow rose a fraction, genuine interest cutting through the routine grind he’d been running all evening.

Ascension’s world held more than its public leveling grounds tucked beneath the surface of every region sat hidden instances, locked behind specific keys or triggers, populated by monsters that ran considerably stronger than anything roaming the open map.

The payout scaled with the difficulty. This early into the game, an S-rank instance counted as about as rare and valuable as dungeons came.

Still, he didn’t commit on the spot. "What level range are we talking?"Alexis answered honestly, a little sheepish about it. "Monsters inside are reading thirty-two to thirty-six."

Kael’s mouth curved the moment the number landed. "Your studio’s current roster isn’t clearing that on its own, is it."

"I want this cleared fast," she admitted, skipping past the obvious dodge. "Good gear, a real strength boost, before anyone else even knows the map exists."

"So you’re asking me to carry you through it."

"...That’s blunt." She exhaled, clearly not thrilled at having her actual angle read back to her so cleanly. "Fine. Yes. That’s exactly what I’m asking."

"The map’s a legitimate S-rank instance, though. Whatever drops in there, it’s going to be worth having."

"I can be talked into coaching," Kael said, amused. "Just know I don’t come cheap."

"Ninety-ten split on everything that drops. Mine, the ninety."

"What? You carry us through the whole thing and you only want wait, you want ninety percent?"

"Don’t play dumb. Ten’s yours. Ninety’s mine."

Alexis went quiet for a beat, jaw tight.

Ruthless old man. But the math worked out in her favor regardless bring Kael’s drop rate into an instance like this, and total output might climb well past what her own roster alone could ever pull out of it.

Even at ten percent of an inflated total, she’d likely walk away ahead.

"Fine," she said finally. "One step at a time. Nine tomorrow morning, we open it together." She sent coordinates through a moment later, and the call ended on that note.

Alone again, Kael let a flicker of real anticipation show. "An S-rank instance ought to have a boss or two worth remembering."

Maybe something worth keeping.

Tonight’s advancement had opened a fresh companion slot, and he had absolutely nothing lined up to fill it.

Instance final bosses tended to run hot the Skeleton General waiting in that starter-zone hidden map had proven exactly how far a single overtuned boss could outstrip its stated level once contracted properly.

An S-rank final boss might carry the same kind of ceiling.

That possibility alone was worth more to him than the loot split either way.

A ninety-percent cut of gear he didn’t strictly need was still just gear. A new companion with the right bones underneath it could compound for the rest of the game.

He kept grinding a while longer before logging off at eleven, the day’s business thoroughly wrapped.

Living out of a valley with no store for miles had its complications, but between gold and the extraction system, none of them were serious.

Before logging off, he’d stopped by the general store for a tent, bedding, and a lamp, then picked up a proper hot meal from a restaurant menu four dishes and a soup, extracted whole into the real world the same way everything else moved between the two sides now.

Setting up the temporary camp took the better part of half an hour. Once it was done, Kael settled in against the rock with his meal and a small pour of wine, content enough with how the night had gone.

Partway through eating, his phone buzzed an unread MMS notification sitting at the top of his lock screen.

Something made him open it rather than let it wait.

The images were exactly what he expected the moment Ashley’s name crossed his mind. Bound, surrounded by several men built like enforcers, her expression caught somewhere between fury and real fear.

The accompanying message was short and unambiguous she was in their custody, and if he wanted that to stay the extent of it, he’d meet them at the location they’d specified, nine the next morning.

A thin, humorless smile crossed Kael’s face.

He’d already been turning over exactly how he wanted to settle things with her.

Looked like someone else had volunteered to start the process without being asked.

He didn’t have hard proof of who was behind this. He didn’t need it.

Living in Ironport City, with the merge barely days old and already reshaping who had real power in it there was only one organization with both the motive and the nerve to try something this direct.

Ironclad Esports.

"Persistent bunch," he murmured, something cold settling behind his eyes. "Still haven’t learned when to stop."

He picked up the phone and typed a reply without hesitation.

Back in the windowless room, a phone buzzed against the table, and every head turned toward it at once.

Sterling snatched it up first, scanning the screen. Ashley watched him with wide, desperate eyes, hope flaring for the first time all night maybe this ended cleanly after all, maybe Kael actually cared enough to walk into their trap.

Sterling’s expression curdled the longer he read.

Without a word, he turned the screen around and let her see it for herself.

Idiot. You think tying up that woman buys you leverage over me? Do whatever you want with her. It changes nothing.

Ashley stared at the words like they’d physically struck her, color draining out of her face in one long wave.

"KKael, you absolute bastard!" The fury came out shaking, more panic in it than heat. "You think you can just"

Sterling’s hand closed in her hair before she finished the sentence, and whatever defiance she had left evaporated the instant she registered the look on his face.

"Please," she managed, voice cracking. "What are you going to do?"

"Relax." His smile carried no comfort in it at all. "Killing a face with this many followers would be wasteful. I’m not in the business of wasting things."

He straightened, nodded once toward the men stationed near the door, voice gone flat and businesslike.

"She’s no use as leverage anymore. Make sure she understands exactly what that costs her."

The men didn’t need telling twice.

What followed wasn’t quick, and it wasn’t quiet. Ashley’s voice carried through the thin walls of that room long into the night, no one in the building troubled enough by it to intervene.

Kael woke the next morning well-rested, stretched the stiffness out of his shoulders, and ate a simple breakfast before logging back in and heading for the coordinates Alexis had sent him the night before.

Whatever had happened in that room overnight wasn’t his problem to carry.

He’d made his position clear, and the consequences of ignoring it belonged entirely to the people who’d thought threatening him was ever going to work.

If anything, the whole exchange had settled something useful in his mind Ironclad Esports hadn’t learned a single lesson since the merge began, and sooner or later that was going to cost them a great deal more than one failed attempt at leverage.

For now, though, there was an instance waiting, and a boss somewhere inside it that might be worth a great deal more than anyone currently chasing him.