[Current Stack: 1 Mythic Chest, 6 Fragments, 2,700 Tokens, 1 Hydro-Core, 1 Mermaid's Tear, 3 Dev-Strings.] [Multiplier: 1.30%] [Vault Pressure: 18%. Warning: Synaptic overload imminent.]
Isabella collapsed onto the grey, unrendered floor, coughing violently as the red slave-collar dissolved into dead pixels. She was free. The Babel System could no longer track her, tax her, or force her to fight.
She looked up at Yuto. His right arm was glowing a terrifying, radioactive red, the bandages completely soaked through. He had just physically snapped a digital contract with his bare hands.
The Auditor, however, was not finished.
Its cracked, golden-eye halo spun frantically, emitting a high-pitched screech of dial-up static. [CRITICAL FAILURE. Local Hostile Object YUTO_KUROSAWA is immune to standard deletion protocols. Mass is too dense. Escalating to Premium Asset Recovery Division.]
"Premium Asset Recovery?" Shion echoed, her bat-wings twitching nervously as she hovered near Yuto. "Master, the Bank is outsourcing our murder!"
Above them, the green-and-black wireframe sky violently tore open. Three golden, heavily encrypted portals materialized, dropping three figures onto the grey plane.
Unlike the static-filled anti-virus programs, these men were entirely rendered, hyper-detailed, and dripping with wealth. They wore sleek, obsidian combat suits etched with glowing gold serpents eating their own tails.
The Ouroboros Guild.
The man in the center slowly drew a blindingly bright, diamond-edged greatsword. His armor hummed with the oppressive weight of a high-80s Floor Boss. He looked down at Yuto with an expression of absolute, aristocratic disgust.
"Executive Director Vance," Shion gasped, instantly recognizing the insignia on his chest. "He runs the Guild's lending division on Floor 50!"
"Ryūzen was an incompetent, middle-management clown," Vance sneered, his voice echoing cleanly through the unrendered void. "But you, little Ash-Tribe rat, have officially crossed the line. Do you know how much paperwork you caused when you bankrupted our Floor 13 branch?"
"Not enough," Yuto rasped, wiping blood from his chin.
"The Bank gave us temporary Admin privileges to enter the Backrooms and liquidate you," Vance continued, raising his diamond sword. "Everything you own, everything your little vanguard has equipped, is legally our property. We financed the Tower. We own the Tower."
Kurenai snarled, stepping forward despite her nodachi having been deleted by the anti-virus programs earlier. "You don't own us, suit!"
"Oh, really?" Vance smirked. He snapped his fingers.
[System Override: Admin VANCE has frozen the Vanguard's localized mana.]
Ayase gasped, falling to one knee as the silver ki completely vanished from her body. Kurenai roared as her Oni-fire flickered and died out, leaving her feeling incredibly heavy and weak.
"We control the flow of stats in the Tower," Vance laughed, his two Elite Enforcers flanking him, their weapons glowing with stolen Code Fragments. "Without the System's mana, your girls are just fragile, mortal flesh. Kill them."
The two Enforcers blurred into motion, completely bypassing the physical friction of the grey floor, their blades aimed directly at Ayase and Isabella's necks.