Chapter 78: Severed Leash

Chapter 78: Chapter 78: Severed Leash

The air in the Aegis Detention Block felt like breathing wet cement.

The suppression field wasn’t just an ambient enchantment; it was bleeding directly off the massive, chained man blocking the vault door. The heavy iron links wrapped around his torso clinked as he slowly lifted the executioner’s scythe. The blade was seven feet long, glowing with a sickly, draining gray light.

[WARNING: Extreme Magical Suppression Detected.]

[Target: Aegis Warden (Level 75) - Abyssal Corruptor]

[Status effect ’Mana Siphon’ is active. All magical outputs reduced by 60%.]

"He’s a void-walker," Sylvia whispered, her breath misting in the freezing air. She tried to sink into the shadow beneath her boots, but the darkness actively resisted her. "The suppression field is destabilizing my [Shadow Well]. I can’t flank him."

"Then we go straight through the middle," Evelyn said.

The Valkyrie didn’t hesitate. She surged forward, her urban combat boots cracking the titanium floor. She swung the Bloodhound’s Fang in a brutal horizontal arc.

The Warden didn’t dodge. He swung the massive scythe to meet her.

The impact rang out like a cracked church bell. Instead of the usual cataclysmic explosion of celestial fire, Evelyn’s S-Rank aura flickered and dimmed violently. The gray light of the scythe was literally eating the holy mana off her blade.

Evelyn grunted, her boots sliding backward across the metal floor under the Warden’s immense physical weight.

"His physical density is augmented," Evelyn called out over the grinding steel. "He’s converting drained mana into raw strength!"

"Not for long," Donald said smoothly.

He tapped his shoulder. Nyx didn’t need a verbal command. The winged black cat shot forward, a streak of absolute darkness that completely ignored the Warden’s suppression field.

The Warden saw the feline blur and tried to sweep his heavy chained arm to swat her out of the air. Nyx didn’t even try to evade. She flew straight into his massive forearm, phasing entirely through the flesh, bone, and iron chains, before diving directly through the center of his chest.

The Warden gasped, a horrifying, wet rattle escaping his throat as his heavily augmented muscles instantly locked up.

[Familiar (Nyx) engaged target: Aegis Warden (Level 75).]

[Skill Triggered: Phantasmal Siphon.]

[Nyx has stolen: +30 Strength, +20 Speed, +25 Mana, +15 Stamina.]

[Transferring stats to Investor...]

Donald exhaled sharply as the violent surge of stolen stats flooded his Level 20 baseline. His newly upgraded base stats—85 Strength and 85 Speed—shattered the triple-digit ceiling instantly.

His Strength spiked to a monstrous 115. His Speed vaulted to 105.

The world around Donald slowed to a crawl. The freezing air rushing past Evelyn’s struggling blade looked like paused static.

Donald stepped forward. With 105 Speed, he didn’t run; he simply appeared inside the Warden’s guard.

The corrupted giant’s eyes widened in slow-motion terror.

Donald didn’t even power up the Abyssal Impact gauntlet. He didn’t want to risk collapsing the subterranean ceiling and burying Sylvia’s brother in the rubble. He just relied on the absolute, crushing kinetic superiority of 115 Strength.

He drove a standard right hook directly into the Warden’s jaw.

The sound of the impact was sickening—a localized sonic boom of pure kinetic trauma. The Warden’s neck snapped backward at an impossible angle. His massive body was lifted completely off his feet, soaring backward down the corridor until he slammed violently into the solid steel wall next to the vault. The reinforced metal buckled inward from the force of his body, and the Level 75 Corruptor slumped to the floor, instantly dead.

With the Warden dead, the suffocating gray suppression field violently shattered.

Evelyn stumbled slightly as her S-Rank aura roared back to life, the ambient temperature in the corridor instantly spiking from freezing to boiling.

Nyx fluttered back, landing gracefully on Donald’s shoulder and rubbing her head affectionately against his cheek as the temporary stats began to slowly bleed out of his system.

"Show-off," Evelyn smirked, resting her silver sword on her shoulder.

"Just maximizing the return on investment," Donald replied, walking down the corridor toward the heavy vault door.

Sylvia sprinted past them. She reached the vault, her hands desperately feeling the cold steel. There was no keyhole. No digital keypad. It was locked via a massive, internal magical deadbolt.

"Donald," Sylvia’s voice cracked with rising panic. "It’s sealed from the inside. We don’t have the codes—"

"Step back, Sylvia," Donald ordered calmly.

Sylvia stepped away.

Donald planted his boots in front of the twelve-foot-tall vault door. The stolen stats were still coursing through his veins. He wedged his fingers into the microscopic seam between the two massive steel doors.

He took a deep breath, anchoring his footing, and pulled.

The titanium flooring groaned. The steel doors shrieked as 115 points of raw, unadulterated Strength fought against the internal locking mechanism. For a second, nothing happened. Then, with a deafening CRACK, the internal deadbolts sheared completely in half.

Donald ripped the vault doors open, tossing the heavy steel slabs outward like they were made of cardboard.

Inside the sterile, brightly lit cell, a small figure was huddled in the corner, clutching a thin blanket. He couldn’t have been older than ten. He had the same dark hair as Sylvia, but his face was gaunt, his eyes wide with absolute terror as the massive doors were torn off their hinges.

"Leo!"

Sylvia dropped her B-Rank tungsten daggers to the floor. The lethal, cold-blooded A-Rank assassin completely vanished. She tore off her black half-mask and ran into the cell, falling to her knees and wrapping her arms around the trembling boy.

"Sylvie?" the boy whispered, his voice hoarse. He gripped her jacket, burying his face in her shoulder as he began to violently sob. "You came. They said you were never coming."

"I’m here, Leo," Sylvia cried, burying her face in his hair, rocking him back and forth. "I’m right here. I’ve got you. Nobody is ever locking you in the dark again. I promise."

Evelyn stood in the doorway, her celestial wings instinctively wrapping slightly forward in a protective stance. The Valkyrie’s fierce blue eyes softened as she watched the siblings reunite.

Donald stood silently in the corridor, letting the stolen stats fully bleed out of his system. He pulled down the cuffs of his dark jacket, ensuring the Abyssal Impact gauntlet was fully concealed.

Suddenly, his internal interface flared with blinding, unprecedented golden light. The text scrolled rapidly, filling his entire vision.

[Hidden Scenario Cleared: Severed Leash]

[Condition Met: You have successfully rescued a high-value hostage from an Abyssal-compromised Guild territory, directly defying the influence of a Demon King.]

[Evaluating Impact...]

[A-Rank Asset ’Sylvia’ has achieved absolute Loyalty (100%).]

[Calculating Rewards...]

[Massive Experience Awarded.]

[Level Up!]

[Level Up!]

[Current Level: 22]

[Free Stat Points: +8]

[Hidden Scenario Rewards Dispensed:]

[Reward 1: 5,000,000 System Credits.](Current Balance: 15,000,000)

[Reward 2: Unique Title Acquired - ’Breaker of Chains’.]

(Effect: The Investor and all recognized Guild Members are permanently immune to magical contracts, forced loyalty bindings, and environmental suppression fields.)

[Reward 3: S-Rank Skill Scroll (Targeted Selection).]

Donald stared at the glowing golden scroll materializing in his inventory. The System wasn’t just rewarding him for a successful raid; it was heavily arming him for the war it knew was coming.

He dismissed the screens as Sylvia gently pulled back from her brother. She wiped the tears from her eyes, picking up her daggers and sheathing them. She stood up, holding Leo’s small hand tightly in hers.

Sylvia walked out of the cell and stopped directly in front of Donald.

She didn’t say a word. She just dropped to one knee on the titanium floor, bowing her head in an absolute, unquestioning pledge of fealty.

"Get up, Sylvia," Donald said gently, reaching out and pulling her back to her feet by her shoulder. "You don’t bow to me. We’re partners."

He looked down at Leo, who was staring up at Donald’s gold mask with wide, awestruck eyes.

"Hello, Leo," Donald said, his voice warm and steady. "I’m Donald. I’m your sister’s boss. We’re going to take you home now. Is that alright with you?"

Leo looked at Sylvia, who nodded tearfully. The boy looked back at Donald and gave a tiny, brave nod.

Red emergency lights suddenly began flashing down the length of the corridor. The blaring sound of the Spire’s primary breach alarms echoed through the subterranean block.

"Julian Vane is probably mobilizing every Sentinel left in the Capital," Evelyn noted, cracking her knuckles as her S-Rank aura flared brightly. "We need an exit strategy that doesn’t involve carrying a ten-year-old through a hundred floors of heavily armed elites."

"We aren’t walking out," Donald said.

He pulled out his burner phone and dialed a secure line.

"Aris," Donald said over the blaring alarms. "Did you secure the transport?"

"The Guild’s new heavy carrier is in the airspace directly above the Dragonheart Spire," Aris’s voice came through, crisp and professional. "We are holding position at five thousand feet. Do you have the package?"

"We have the package," Donald confirmed. "Evie is going to blast a vertical shaft straight up through the center of the building. Drop the extraction tether down the hole the moment she clears the roof."

Donald hung up the phone. He looked at Evelyn.

"Evie," Donald smiled behind his mask. "Do you feel like doing some remodeling?"

Evelyn’s smile was blinding. She gripped the Bloodhound’s Fang with both hands, pointing the silver blade directly at the reinforced ceiling above them.

"Hold on to something," Evelyn laughed.

The S-Rank Valkyrie unleashed a pillar of pure, cataclysmic star-fire directly upward. The holy energy vaporized the ceiling, tearing a massive, glowing vertical tunnel straight through the heart of the Dragonheart Spire.