Chapter 93: They’re Sending Me Money Again—and a Legendary Blood Chalice

Kara’s next message explained what Black Banner was paying.

[Kara Voss: Three Member Regions have confirmed compensation terms. A fourth is still negotiating.]

[Kara Voss: Resources, replacement Recruits, and outside compensation. I don’t have the exact price.]

Veyra stood beside Cassian’s table, reading the same messages.

"They agreed to hand them over?"

"They’re being bought out," Cassian said.

That made the order clear. Sable March’s War Lords would kill the Heroes and Troops supplied by those Regions. Every death would count for ten times the Kill Points of an equivalent Wild Monster.

The sellers could rebuild their forces with the compensation. Those who no longer wanted to stay could take the money and withdraw.

Their Heroes and Troops would not be going with them.

Veyra’s fingers tightened around Crimson Oath.

"Fight beside them. Sell them when the price is right."

Her voice was cold. Cassian glanced at her, then returned to Kara’s channel.

[Cassian Vale: How many Regions can they buy?]

[Kara Voss: Three should be enough to put Sable ahead under their current estimate. The fourth is insurance.]

[Kara Voss: Beyond that, the compensation is too expensive.]

Four at most under the current arrangement.

Cassian leaned back. Even ordinary Troops became a substantial score when there were entire Regions supplying them. Black Banner was willing to pay heavily for first place.

Five Region Fortune was worth fighting for.

But the Ranking was not the only place where those points mattered.

He opened the public Rank-1 Wager.

Riftward. Ironwake. Sable March.

The three names held nearly all the attention. Riftward had just climbed to first, yet the daily refresh could only show what had already happened. It could not show what the three Regions would collect before the final settlement.

If Varek kept this arrangement secret, Black Banner could place its money before anyone else understood how much Sable’s score was about to rise.

Cassian’s mouth curved.

"Send it out."

Veyra looked at him.

"The order?"

"The method. Leave Kara out of it."

He removed the identifying details from the report and opened Tobias’s channel.

[Cassian Vale: Put this in the Shattered Marches Channel. Three Member Regions confirmed. A fourth negotiating.]

[Cassian Vale: Make sure they understand the tenfold points.]

Veyra studied the Wager beside him.

"You want people betting on Sable."

"Of course."

Cassian tapped its name.

"If only Black Banner knows, they can take most of the winning pool. If everyone knows, everyone who thinks Sable will win puts money in."

"And their share gets smaller."

"While our odds get better."

Tobias’s message appeared almost at once.

[Tobias Reed: For everyone wondering how Sable March plans to take first: Black Banner is buying Heroes and Troops from its own Member Regions and handing them over to be killed.]

[Tobias Reed: Three Regions confirmed. A fourth is negotiating. Every kill goes to Sable at 10× Kill Points.]

The Channel stalled, then filled with replies.

[Anonymous Lord: They’re paying their own people to stand there and die?]

[Anonymous Lord: The Lords take the money. Their troops do the dying.]

[Anonymous Lord: Does that actually count?]

[Darian Frost: The rule checks the kill. It doesn’t ask what the two Lords agreed beforehand.]

[Anonymous Lord: My Hero fights beside me. I couldn’t even make that offer.]

[Anonymous Black Banner Lord: They’re being compensated. What business is it of yours?]

Cassian watched the wagered amounts begin to change.

Disgust was one reaction. Believing Sable would win was another.

Some Lords managed both.

More Aether flowed beneath Sable March’s name. The first few large stakes drew smaller ones after them, and the odds shifted again.

Kara sent another message.

[Kara Voss: The fourth Region has raised its compensation demand. They know how much Sable needs the points now.]

Veyra gave a short huff.

"That was quick."

Cassian barely glanced away from the Wager.

"Let them negotiate."

The seller asking for more was useful, but it was the money entering the public pool that held his attention.

Veyra watched the figures with him for a moment.

"And if Sable does take first?"

Cassian drew a gold-patterned Writ from his Inventory.

[Region Fortune Duel Writ]

He still had two. Neither had been used.

"Then there’s this."

"They choose the Category when you challenge them."

"I know. I set the Stake afterward."

He put the Writ away.

There was no need to activate it now. The final Ranking had not even settled.

"First, let them keep sending money."

——

The two controlled Lords who had entered Riftward after Kara still held the Lures attached to their original relocation requests.

Cassian called them over and completed the transfers.

[Wind Lure | Rare]

[Gloom Lure | Rare]

Both entered his Inventory. He placed them beside the Blood Lure he had already bought.

Three Lures.

Veyra looked down at the complete set.

"All from Black Banner."

"Mm."

"They really do bring useful things when they visit."

Cassian picked up the blood-red crystal.

"Especially when they don’t know it."

He sent the recall order through the Lord’s Heart.

The Crystal Bastion run paused. Aurelia and Celia returned through the Warden Gate, followed by Sigrid and the other eleven Stormlance. The twenty Rocketiers finished recovering at the Fountain and brought their launchers out again.

All twelve Crystal Maidens assembled at Level 20.

The cracks they had carried home from Duskmoor were gone. Crystal One stood with the five other Physique-oriented Maidens; the six Spirit-oriented Maidens gathered beside them.

Veyra took the nine Eclipse Praetorians to the Shrine’s defensive line. The two hundred Legionnaires remained in the Deep Layer. She stayed on the Domain side, where her Temporary Covenant allowed her to fight.

Ten minutes after the recall, Cassian looked over the assembled force.

Aurelia and Celia were both Legendary Level 20. So were all twelve Stormlance and all twelve Crystal Maidens. Behind them waited twenty Level-20 Dwarf Rocketiers with loaded launchers.

The Blood Lure had been worth saving.

Now it was worth using.

Cassian tossed it toward the open ground ahead.

The crystal broke, and dark-red mist spilled across the slope. It spread until the lower ground disappeared beneath a rolling sea of blood-colored fog.

Then someone stepped out.

She was tall, with a finely shaped face and golden wings that stretched wide behind her. Her gaze passed over the defensive line and settled on Cassian.

The corner of her red mouth lifted.

"I am Katerina Revan, a Prince of the Bloodkin."

She looked him over without hiding her interest.

"A handsome, strong human Lord. Become my servant, and I can show you pleasures you’ve never known."

Cassian opened her record.

[Katerina Revan]

[Race: Bloodkin]

[Level: 35]

[Quality: Legendary]

Before anything else, he checked the Core Trait field.

[Core Trait: None]

Nothing to take with DEVOUR. He would not reserve this final blow.

Katerina waved one hand. Winged Bloodkin poured from the mist behind her, their colors and auras ranging from the weaker masses to Rare and Epic. More kept coming after the first ranks had cleared the fog.

Cassian’s attention stayed on her wings.

A Legendary target was good. A Legendary target that fled before dying was less useful.

"Six Spirit Maidens. Cover her escape."

All six turned toward Katerina.

"Aurelia, finish her. Everyone else, clear the wave. We still have two Lures and Crystal Bastion waiting."

"Understood, Lord."

Aurelia’s sword came free.

Beside the Praetorians, Veyra’s expression had cooled further. Her eyes stayed on the Bloodkin who had just made that offer to Cassian.

"She’s certainly confident."

"Won’t last," Cassian said.

——

While the Bloodkin wave struck Forgotten Shrine’s line, Tobias’s message kept spreading.

Within an hour, Sable March’s share of the public stakes had surged past Ironwake’s. More money was still coming in.

[Anonymous Black Banner Lord: Four Regions’ worth of troops. How is anyone supposed to catch that?]

[Anonymous Black Banner Lord: Varek found the way to win. At least we can support him in the Wager.]

[Anonymous Lord: A thousand on Sable.]

[Anonymous Lord: I don’t like it either. I’m still betting on them.]

Inside Sable March, Varek stared at the growing total.

"Who asked them to support me like this?"

Nadia stood nearby, the same Wager open before her.

The plan had needed secrecy for only one more day. Black Banner could have collected its points and kept a much larger share of the money.

Now outsiders were crowding in before the pool closed.

"Too many Lords were involved," Nadia said. "We couldn’t seal every conversation."

"They agreed to keep quiet."

"Someone didn’t."

Varek’s jaw tightened. The points were still being collected. That part of the plan worked. It was the return on their own stakes that was being squeezed.

After a moment, he said, "Then we’ll have to put more in."

——

Katerina had discovered her mistake as soon as the fighting began.

The line in front of her did not buckle under the Bloodkin rush. Crystal weapons smashed through the attackers, Stormlance drove into the gaps, and Celia’s sword cut down the stronger units trying to force a way through.

Then Aurelia came for her.

Katerina spread her wings and pulled back.

Six hands rose together.

[Crystal Ray]

Pale-gold light crossed the space around her. Rays struck from several angles, scattering bright fragments through the blood mist. Crystal grains formed across Katerina’s arms and shoulders, then spread over the membranes of her wings.

She beat them hard.

The movement shook loose a glittering shower. It did not clear the growing weight.

The next volley caught her before she could climb. Her body lurched downward, one wing dragging lower than the other.

Aurelia was already above her.

[Thunder Crown]

Lightning slammed into the blood mist. Katerina raised her head, and the gold-white blade came down through it.

[Skyblade Descent]

The impact drove her into the slope.

When the light cleared, the golden wings lay motionless against the earth.

[Your Hero Aurelia Dawnwing has killed Katerina Revan | Legendary.]

[Battle Essence +4,550,000]

[Aether +400,000]

[Kill Points +900,000]

Cassian’s gaze passed over the rewards, then stopped on the item that appeared beneath them.

A dark-red goblet settled into his hand. Light ran along its slender stem and deep, smooth bowl.

[Blood Chalice | Legendary]

Special Legendary equipment.

Cassian turned it once, smiling.

"This one stays with me."