Chapter 308: Diplomacy Sucks

"I put their heads on pikes like you asked," Wraith said casually, dropping the heavy box onto the grass with a loud *THUD*. "But I found this sitting in the center of their camp. It was wired into a car battery and a pile of Source Code shards. It felt... wrong. So I brought it back."

Sebastian frowned, stepping away from Valerie and approaching the iron box.

The moment he got within three feet of it, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. It didn't feel like the natural, unbound magic of the new world. It felt rigid. It felt sterile. It felt exactly like the Ethereal Plane.

"What is that thing?" Valerie asked, her corporate instincts flaring. She stepped up beside him, her blue eyes narrowing at the glowing red crystals.

"It's a localized server anchor," Sebastian whispered, a cold, heavy knot forming in his stomach.

Suddenly, the red crystals on the box violently flared.

*BEEEEEEP!*

A harsh, jagged red holographic field projected upward from the top of the box, painting the grass and the front of the cabin in a sinister, bloody light.

Sebastian's brain, permanently altered by his time as the Sovereign of Laws, instantly recognized the data stream. But he didn't even need his glitched brain to read it, because the box actively projected a glowing red system prompt into the open air for everyone to see.

`[Bootleg Server 001 Online.]`

`[Scanning Local Entities...]`

`[Warning: Physics Engine Override Initiated.]`

"Get back!" Sebastian roared, throwing his arm out to push Valerie behind him.

*WHOOSH!*

The gravity in the front yard abruptly, violently shifted. It didn't reverse entirely, but it suddenly increased by a factor of ten within a twenty-foot radius of the box.

"Guh!" Wraith grunted, his knees instantly buckling. The assassin hit the dirt, pinned to the grass by the sudden, oppressive weight.

Aelion and the Elves shrieked in terror as the invisible force slammed them into the dirt. Their natural magic was instantly suppressed by the localized, artificial physics engine the box was projecting.

"Seattle!" Valerie cried out. She was forced down onto one knee, her hands pressed against the grass, gasping for air as the gravity crushed her chest.

Sebastian didn't fall.

His thirty-percent biological steel density groaned in protest, his muscles burning as the artificial gravity tried to flatten him. He planted his heavy combat boots into the dirt, leaving deep, two-inch craters in the soil.

He stared at the glowing red text hovering in the air.

`[Establishing Warlord Domain: The Blood Steppes.]`

`[Applying Status Effects: Fear, Sluggishness, Mana Drain.]`

`[Error: Anomaly Detected. Suggested Action: Terminate.]`

"You've got to be shitting me," Sebastian snarled, his silver-tinged eyes burning with absolute fury.

He understood exactly what was happening. The System was dead, but the hardware from the old world still existed in the Juncture. The Warlords hadn't just come to Earth to scavenge; they had brought bootleg server anchors. They were trying to forcibly overwrite Earth's natural physics with their old, tyrannical game rules. They wanted to turn Earth into a dungeon all over again.

"I didn't break the universe just so you could plug a router back in!" Sebastian roared.

He didn't draw the iron broadsword. A sword wouldn't break the heavily reinforced iron casing of the anchor.

He forced himself forward. Every single step required the kinetic force of a car crash.

*CRUNCH.*

He lifted his right boot, the muscles in his thigh bulging, and stepped toward the box. The red holographic field violently flickered, the bootleg system desperately trying to process the sheer, unadulterated physical mass moving through its localized domain.

`[Error! Kinetic Overload! Error!]`

"Fuck your Wi-Fi," Sebastian growled.

He reached the box. He didn't use a spell. He raised his heavy right boot high into the air and brought it down with every single ounce of his hyper-dense, biological steel strength.

*KRA-SMASH!*

His combat boot drove entirely through the top of the rusted iron casing. The heavy metal crumpled like cheap tin foil. The red crystals completely shattered, exploding outward in a shower of useless, sparking glass.

*BZZZZT... pop.*

The red holographic text violently glitched, scrambled into a mess of unreadable code, and permanently died.

The ten-times gravity instantly vanished.

"Haaaaah!" Valerie gasped, collapsing fully onto the grass as the oxygen rushed back into her lungs.

Wraith coughed, slowly pushing himself up from the dirt, rubbing his neck. "Well. That was incredibly unpleasant."

Sebastian stood over the ruined, smoking box. He pulled his boot out of the crushed metal, shaking a few loose wires off his laces. He stared down at the broken machinery, a dark, heavy realization settling over his mind.

"They're trying to terraform the planet," Sebastian stated quietly, turning to look at Valerie.

Valerie stood up, brushing the dirt off her jeans. Her corporate demeanor locked instantly into place. "If that scouting party had one, it means the other rifts opening around the globe are bringing them too. They want to turn Earth into a patchwork of bootleg servers."

"Not on my watch," Sebastian grunted, cracking his knuckles. He looked over at Aelion, who was still trembling in the grass.

"Hey, sparkles," Sebastian called out.

The Elf scrambled to his feet, bowing his head. "Yes, Sovereign?"

"If you want to live on my planet, you're going to have to pay rent," Sebastian said, pointing a thumb over his shoulder toward the town below. "Go find Galleon. Tell him to start building a wall around the lake. And tell him to set up a toll booth. If these Warlords want to visit Earth, they're going to have to go through Customs."

Aelion blinked, thoroughly confused by the terminology, but he bowed deeply anyway. "At once, Sovereign!"

Sebastian looked at the smashed box one last time, letting out a long, exhausted sigh.

"So much for my vacation," he muttered.

"Look on the bright side, Seattle," Valerie smiled, walking over and slipping her arm through his. "At least we get to make the rules this time."

"Yeah," Sebastian smirked, a dark, dangerous light flashing in his eyes. "And rule number one is: No trespassing."