Chapter 38: I Invest in People

"You really shouldn’t have done that," Evren said with a sigh.

His calm voice broke the silence of the colosseum, echoing off the cracked concrete walls.

Behind him in the iron cage, Zephyra was still frozen in shock, her breath catching in her throat as she stared at the crushed remains of the fifteen-foot Gore-Hound twitching in the rubble.

Across the sand pit, the two remaining Level 45 Abyssal Gore-Hounds let out furious shrieks.

Seeing their pack leader down, the two monsters spread out, lunging at the same time toward Evren from the left and right, their acidic fangs glistening under the red neon lights.

With a subtle thought, Evren’s spatial storage ring flashed with faint silver light.

The frosted steel of the S-Rank Frost-Bane Cleaver materialized into his right hand.

The instant the blade appeared, the temperature in the entire colosseum dropped below freezing. Frost spread across the blood-soaked sand as Evren swung the giant cleaver in one single horizontal crescent.

A wave of absolute-zero glacial energy surged through the 80% mana-suppression barrier as if it didn’t even exist.

The blue frost wave ripped through the air, bisecting both charging Gore-Hounds cleanly at the torso.

Before their severed bodies could even hit the ground, the intense cold flash-froze their blood and flesh solid, turning the two massive beasts into crystallized ice sculptures that shattered into thousands of harmless shards upon impact with the sand.

The entire colosseum fell into silence.

Hundreds of underworld spectators stood frozen in their seats, staring down at the solitary young man in the center of the pit.

Under an 80% mana-suppression field, he had annihilated three Level 45 beasts in less than fifteen seconds.

Evren lowered the Frost-Bane Cleaver, letting the frosty mist settle around his boots.

He turned toward the center of the pit and walked calmly up to the iron birdcage.

Inside, Zephyra was pressed tightly against the back corner, trembling from the cold and the dark necrotic poison in her veins. Her violet-flecked eyes watched Evren closely, flickering to the giant blade in his hand.

She expected him to open the cage, grab her by the hair, and imprint an unhackable master slave-brand onto her soul.

Instead, Evren raised the Frost-Bane Cleaver and sliced the iron cage bars in half like butter.

In the same fluid motion, the tip of the cleaver clipped the titanium suppression collar around her neck, severing the enchanted metal and its blinking detonator cleanly in two without grazing a single strand of her hair.

The collar fell to the sand with a dull thud.

Zephyra gasped, her hands flying up to touch her bare, bruised throat.

For four agonizing months, that cursed titanium band had choked her mana circulation, sending electric shocks through her spine whenever she resisted.

Now, the suffocating mana-lock was completely gone.

She coughed softly, staring down at the broken pieces of titanium at her feet in disbelief.

Around the arena was completely silent. Not a single spectator dared to breathe. In less than twenty seconds, this young man had cleaved an enchanted cage and broken an unhackable syndicate slave collar as if they were made of brittle glass.

Evren willed the Frost-Bane Cleaver back into his spatial ring with a subtle mental command.

With another thought, he materialized his S-Rank Glacial Wyvern Mantle, a thick, charcoal-black runic mantle lined with warm, insulating dragon-wool and gently draped it over her shivering shoulders.

Zephyra flinched instinctively, her body tensing as if preparing for a blow.

But no blow came.

Instead, the warmth of the dragon-wool mantle instantly wrapped around her shivering frame, bloating out the cold of the arena. For the first time since her dungeon betrayal, she felt a soothing warmth sink into her aching muscles.

She looked up into Evren’s calm eyes, her raspy voice trembling with confusion and suspicion.

"You... you didn’t imprint a slave seal..." Zephyra whispered, clutching the warm fabric tightly against her chest. "You paid twenty million dollars... why didn’t you bind me?"

Evren looked down at her. "I don’t buy slaves, Zephyra. I invest in people."

The moment his words left his lips, the familiar golden light exploded directly behind his retinas.

[DING!]

[MAXIMUM-PRIORITY RESCUE QUEST COMPLETED!]

[TARGET RESCUED: HEROINE #2 — ZEPHYRA NIGHTSHADE (SHADOWBLADE ASSASSIN)]

[EXPENDITURE VERIFIED: $20,000,000.00 USD SPENT ON BUYOUT]

[CALCULATING CRITICAL RESCUE MULTIPLIER...]

[ONE-TIME 10,000x MULTIPLIER ACTIVATED]

[REBATE CALCULATION: $20,000,000.00 × 10,000 = $200,000,000,000.00 USD]

[REBATE REWARD: $200,000,000,000.00 USD DEPOSITED TO SYSTEM VAULT]

[SYSTEM NOTICE: TO PREVENT REAL-WORLD CENTRAL BANK ALARMS AND GLOBAL FINANCIAL PANIC, FUNDS ARE SECURELY STORED IN TRANSDIMENSIONAL SYSTEM STORAGE. ACCESSIBLE AND WITHDRAWABLE ON-DEMAND WITH 100% SOVEREIGN DIPLOMATIC CLEARANCE]

[BONUS QUEST COMPLETION REWARDS: 1x S-RANK SHADOW SOVEREIGN SKILL CORE (UNLOCKED); 1x ABYSSAL SHADOW-LOTUS RADAR COORDINATE (UNLOCKED)]

[HEROINE STATUS UPDATE: ZEPHYRA NIGHTSHADE]

[PHYSICAL CONDITION: Severe Necrotic Shadow Poisoning / Paralyzed Primary Mana Conduits

[TRUST & DEVOTION: -10% ➔ 5% (Deeply Shocked & Guarded)

A small smile touched the corners of Evren’s lips.

Two hundred billion dollars in sovereign credit line, an S-Rank skill core, and the first step toward curing Heroine #2.

"You arrogant little bastard," a harsh roar shattered the silence of the arena.

Up on the high suspended catwalks, Ringmaster Balthazar gripped the railing with trembling, furious hands.

"You killed my prize beasts! You broke my cage! And you think you can just walk out of my arena with my merchandise and all that wealth on your card?"

Balthazar raised his mechanical arm, signaling the shadows above.

From every upper catwalk and steel beam surrounding the pit, fifty heavily armored enforcers stepped forward, aiming high-caliber mana-cannons and armor-piercing rifles directly down into the sand pit where Evren and Zephyra stood.

The red targeting lasers dotted Evren’s chest and Zephyra’s shoulders.

Zephyra’s face turned pale. She tried to push herself up, gritting her teeth in pain as her paralyzed mana veins flared.

"Run..." Zephyra whispered, trying to push Evren away with her weak, trembling hands. "They have... fifty armed awakeners... you can’t block that much concentrated fire..."

But Evren didn’t run.

He placed a gentle hand on Zephyra’s shoulder, keeping her steady behind him.

"Stay behind me, Zephyra," he said calmly.

Up on the podium, Balthazar sneered through the microphone. "In Sector Four, my word is the only law!" he yelled, dropping his arm in a downward slash. "All units! Ready... aim..."

Evren reached calmly into his inner coat pocket, pulled out the obsidian token and raised it high beneath the bright arena floodlights.

"Fir..." Balthazar’s voice choked mid-sentence.

The bright floodlights hit the black token, illuminating the silver runes and the ancient crown crest carved into its surface: The Umbra Sovereign Medallion.