Chapter 70: Domain of the Sovereign

Chapter 70: Chapter 70: Domain of the Sovereign

"To every action there is always opposed an equal reaction." — Isaac Newton

•••

Hall Nine welcomed Joel back in silence.

He immediately began putting everything away, refusing to think about what had happened until his work was finished.

First, he stored the satchel in his vault, alongside the cipher ledger, letters, vial, and research folio.

Professor Malakor had finally been dealt with.

Joel hung his battered coat on its hook and washed the blood from beneath his fingernails.

By the time he sat at his desk, the aquarium’s soft blue glow was the brightest light in the room. The water inside continued moving in slow circles.

Nyx rested in the shadows between the reclamation pipes, her crown pulsing with quiet satisfaction.

"Architect," she said. "You smell like a cremation."

"Forty of them," Joel replied. "I’ve recorded every one."

He opened the ledger he kept inside his mind and began reading the remaining entries aloud.

After all, Joel knew that leaving things unrecorded was the easiest way to lose track of them.

"First item: Seven days until the UNDERTOW shipment. Twelve units meant for one reservoir, but the man responsible for delivering them was now dead."

"Second item: The people behind Malakor. For the first time, Joel had documents identifying the buyers connected to the Eclipse Syndicate. Their levels were unknown, but their addresses were real."

"Third item: Inquisitor Thomas. Level 60. Truth-Seeker. A man who had released Joel despite his suspicions and was determined to discover the secret behind his incredible luck."

Joel paused before reaching the final entry.

"Fourth item: Joel Carrow. Level 34."

The situation wasn’t looking good.

Malakor had been Level 50, and defeating him had required all three members of his legion, two minutes of taking brutal attacks, and a powerful compressed strike that destroyed his heart.

And the enemies ahead were likely to be even more dangerous.

The Eclipse Syndicate wouldn’t send just one or two people after discovering Malakor was dead. They would probably send an entire team of powerful fighters.

Thomas was another problem. The Level 60 inquisitor wouldn’t remain patient forever.

And although the Wheel of Fate had given Joel incredible rewards, it couldn’t directly increase his level.

Still, seven days was enough time to prepare something powerful.

Joel had overcome worse situations before.

During the fight with Malakor, he had earned six Fate Points. Three came from surviving the brutal attacks, while another three were awarded for killing the professor.

Combined with his previous savings, his balance now stood at twenty Fate Points.

Until now, Joel had always been careful with his wagers.

He usually spent just one Fate Point at a time, relying on the Wheel’s multipliers to obtain valuable rewards.

He had already experienced multipliers of twelve thousand, twenty thousand, and even twenty-five thousand, once obtaining a Mythical trait.

Joel stared at his remaining Fate Points.

Then he thought about the seven days he had left.

And finally, he made a decision that went against everything a careful businessman should do.

He was going to gamble his emergency savings.

The idea made sense, and that was what worried Joel.

The Wheel rewarded bigger risks, and he had never tried betting so much at once.

Small wagers had already given him an Epic body, a Mythical mind, and a resurrected oracle.

But against Level 60 enemies and an entire syndicate, playing safe might be just as dangerous.

He decided to wager five Fate Points.

"Nyx, if this goes badly, the vault combination is your birthday."

"I don’t have a birthday," Nyx replied.

"Then it’s perfectly secure."

[Ding!]

[The Wheel of Fate accepts the stake: 5 Fate Points. Balance: 15.]

[The Wheel notes, for the record, that it has never seen you braver.]

The air above Joel’s desk twisted, forming a large wheel with pale golden sections and an empty center.

Even the room seemed to react to its appearance.

TK-TK-TK-TK-TK!

The wheel began spinning.

Joel sat perfectly still, watching as the pointer passed over different multipliers.

Gradually, the wheel started slowing down.

The pointer moved past x3,000.

Then x11,000.

It even passed x25,000, the multiplier that had once rewarded him with his Mythical mind.

But it didn’t stop there.

The wheel continued turning, reaching multipliers far beyond anything Joel had seen before.

Then, finally, it stopped.

TCK!

[Ding!]

[The Wheel of Fate stops. Multiplier: x40,000. Unprecedented.]

[Application routes available:]

[A) Skill Proficiency.]

[B) Cellular Regeneration.]

[C) Body Evolution.]

"A," Joel said. "Skill Proficiency."

A targeting prompt appeared before Joel, waiting patiently for his choice.

[Ding!]

[Application A selected: Skill Proficiency. Target the mechanic of your choosing.]

[Warning: stake scale and multiplier exceed all prior precedents on file.]

Joel didn’t choose a skill.

Instead, he targeted the most important part of [Aegis Juggernaut], the ability that had defined it from the very beginning.

Every attack he received could be absorbed and stored.

"Absorption," Joel said. "The core ability. Every part of it."

[Ding!]

[Target confirmed: kinetic absorption, the class keystone.]

[Routing 40,000 proficiency units to target.]

[Trait ceiling exceeded. Override engaged.]

[Reality compliance in this room is suspended pending revision.]

The trait had been designed to absorb hundreds of attacks.

Now, it was being forced to handle an unimaginable amount of energy.

Gravity was the first thing to fail.

Joel suddenly floated out of his chair, his feet leaving the floor.

His inkwell rose from the desk. Cold tea floated out of its cup in tiny droplets. Coins lifted from their drawer, while dust swirled upward from the shelves.

Even the water inside the aquarium rose into a tall column, refusing to fall.

Nyx watched from the shadows near the pipes. Her shadowy hair drifted upward, and her crown pulsed with a slow violet glow.

VMMMM!

Silver light began pouring from Joel’s body.

Raw kinetic energy escaped through his knuckles, spread across his chest, and shone through places where no openings should exist.

On the desk, the Folding Rule gave a single click against its shelf, almost as if it had sensed the strange distortion around Joel.

[Ding!]

[Evolution in progress: Kinetic Bastion → designation pending.]

[Hold still, Sovereign.]

"Sovereign," Joel repeated as he floated three inches above his chair, energy pouring from his body. "That’s either a promotion or a lawsuit."

The overflowing energy reached its peak.

The limit of his trait, which had struggled to contain the force he had absorbed since entering the Deep, suddenly disappeared.

KRUNCH!

But the limit didn’t simply shatter.

Instead, something new opened within the trait.

[Ding!]

[Evolution complete. Pinnacle ability acquired: Domain of the Inertia Sovereign.]

[Passive floor: all impacts against the Sovereign bank as Charge, as ever.]

[Active authority: project a spherical domain, radius 50 meters.]

[Within the domain, all kinetic energy is subject to the Sovereign’s ruling.]

[Rulings available: inert. Absolute.]

The silver light stopped pouring from Joel’s body, but the objects around him remained floating.

He slowly settled back into his chair, no longer entirely trusting gravity.

Joel raised one hand.

"Domain," he said quietly.

WHUMM!

An invisible force spread out from his body, covering everything within fifty meters.

Instantly, every floating object froze in place.

Drops of tea hung motionless in the air. Coins stopped rising, dust remained suspended, and the column of water inside the aquarium froze halfway through its movement.

Even the sounds disappeared.

No ticking. No dripping. Not even the humming of the pipes.

Beyond the fifty-meter range, the pipes continued making noise.

But inside his Domain, nothing could move unless Joel allowed it.

He stood and walked through the frozen room. The droplets of tea moved aside as he passed.

"Release."

Everything suddenly began moving again.

Plip! Plip! Tink! Splat!

Coins dropped onto the desk, dust settled back onto the shelves, and the suspended water collapsed into the aquarium.

GLUK!

[Ding!]

[First activation logged. Radius: 50 meters. Cost: negligible.]

[Advisory: what the domain rules inert, the domain holds. Every ruling stands until the Sovereign releases it.]

Joel decided to test both sides of his new ability. After all, a power he didn’t understand could easily become a problem.

He picked up a coin and flicked it toward the far wall.

Halfway across the room, he commanded it to stop.

The coin froze instantly.

It hung motionless in the air, no longer spinning or moving forward.

Joel studied it carefully.

Any attack entering his Domain could be stopped the same way. A sword, an arrow, or even a powerful punch could lose all its momentum before reaching him.

"You can keep the change," Joel told the coin.

He brought it back down and placed it on his desk.

Then he touched it with one finger, applying the smallest amount of amplification his new ability allowed.

THAK!

The coin shot halfway into the thick wooden desk.

The entire desk jumped, and the aquarium rang from the impact.

Somewhere on the floor below, a first-year student heard a sudden knock against the ceiling.

Joel stared at the coin buried in the wood.

That had been the lowest setting.

His Domain didn’t just stop movement. It could also amplify momentum to devastating levels.

And once he decided how much force an attack would carry, even powerful defenses might struggle to withstand it.

Joel looked at his finger, then at the damaged desk.

’I’ll blame the termites.’

Nyx emerged from the shadows near the pipes and slowly circled him, studying him with obvious curiosity.

"What are you now, Architect?"

"Level thirty-four," Joel replied.

It was the truth.

But it didn’t come close to describing what he had become.

Until now, his fighting style had depended on taking attacks, absorbing their force, and returning that power to his enemies.

He had been a fortress that waited for enemies to strike first.

Not anymore.

Within fifty meters, Joel could now control momentum itself.

He could stop attacks, amplify their force, and decide how objects moved inside his Domain.

The normal laws of motion still applied everywhere else.

But not within his Domain.

[Ding!]

[Class keystone reclassified. [Aegis Juggernaut] now supports a Pinnacle authority.]

[Standing updated: you are no longer merely fortified. You are the local management of motion.]

Seven days remained until the shipment.

Joel now had the names of the people behind Malakor, a dead syndicate handler, and a Level 60 inquisitor determined to uncover his secrets.

There were also twelve dangerous units heading toward the reservoir, and Joel intended to stop them.

The Wheel of Fate had taken five Fate Points and rewarded him with complete control over momentum within fifty meters.

The house always wins.

And as of this morning, Joel had become the house.