[Current Stack: 1 Mythic Chest, 6 Fragments, 2,700 Tokens, 75,000 Vita-Fragments, 1 Hydro-Core, 1 Tear, 3 Dev-Strings, 1 Platinum Keycard, 1 Soul (Rin), 1 VIP Ledger.] [Multiplier: 1.65%] [Vault Pressure: 50%. WARNING: Complete server wipe in 30 seconds.]
The Penthouse was tearing itself apart. Massive chunks of the infinite white ceiling were dissolving into red error codes, raining down around the Vanguard. Behind them, Kazuma Vane lay on the shattered glass, sobbing as his negative net worth anchored him to the dying server.
Yuto didn't look back. He dragged his heavy, agonizing right arm toward the massive, glowing blue Exit Terminal at the edge of the void.
"Master, hurry!" Shion shrieked, her bat-wings flapping furiously against the digital hurricane pulling at them. "The Chapter 11 wipe is deleting the physics engine! If we don't log out, our avatars will be uninstalled permanently!"
Yuto slammed his bloody left palm onto the terminal scanner.
The screen flashed green, reading his assimilated VIP Ledger. The exit portal—a swirling vortex of beautiful, natural sunlight—hummed to life. Isabella gasped, staring at the portal. She hadn't seen the real sun since she was conscripted into the Colosseum years ago.
But as Yuto stepped forward, a final, glowing yellow prompt popped up directly over the portal.
[System Notification: Processing VIP Mass-Exodus.] [Warning: Host is carrying an unprecedented volume of localized mass. To safely convert assets into physical reality, a standard dimensional exchange rate applies.] [Exit Convenience Fee: 500 Vita-Fragments. Pay now? (Y/N)]
The entire Vanguard froze.
The server was literally seconds away from collapsing. The floor beneath them was actively turning into a black void. And the Babel System had the absolute, corporate audacity to ask for a five-hundred fragment convenience fee at the door.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me," Isabella groaned, dropping her head into her hands.
"Yuto, just pay it!" Ayase urged, abandoning her usual calm demeanor. "It is five hundred fragments! You have seventy-five thousand! This is not the time for asceticism!"
Yuto stared at the glowing yellow prompt. The 50% Vault Pressure was causing blood to leak from his tear ducts, making him look like a weeping demon.
"A convenience fee," Yuto whispered, his voice trembling with a rage so pure it stabilized his vitals. "For a portal I opened myself. To exit a server I already bankrupt."
"Master, please!" Shion sobbed, clinging to his leg. "The void is ten feet away! Pay the toll!"
"I am the Bank," Yuto growled, his eyes narrowing. "And I don't pay exit taxes."
Yuto didn't click Y. He pulled back his violently glowing right fist. He didn't punch the prompt. He punched the physical dimensional barrier of the portal itself.
He channeled the 75,000 Vita-Fragments, the Mythic Chest, the Boss Cores, and the 1.65% compound interest into a single, offline strike, completely ignoring the System's conversion protocols.
CRACK.
The yellow prompt shattered into a million pieces. The blue portal violently short-circuited, turning a chaotic, blinding white. The terminal exploded.
"Hold your breath!" Yuto roared, grabbing Isabella by the waist as the collapsing void finally consumed the Penthouse floor. The Vanguard was violently sucked into the shattered, tax-free rift, tumbling out of the digital dimension and into the unknown.