[Internal Ledger: YUTO_KUROSAWA (Admin)] [Total Liquid Assets: 75,000 Vita-Fragments, 1 Mythic Chest, 1 Hydro-Core, 1 Tear, 3 Dev-Strings.] [Multiplier: 1.65% (Locked - Real World Physics overriding server tension)] [Real Estate: 1x Sector 4 Slum Complex (Assimilated)]
"Master, this drywall is exquisite," Shion mumbled, her mouth full of chalky white plaster. "It lacks the nuanced flavor of premium digital mana, but it has a wonderful, earthy crunch."
Yuto sat cross-legged on the bare mattress, his right arm radiating a low, terrifying hum of contained kinetic energy. He was trying to manually regulate his breathing. The real world didn't have a UI to manage his 50% Vault Pressure, so he had to physically concentrate to keep his bones from micro-fracturing under the weight of his own net worth.
Rin sat beside him, watching Ayase peacefully sweep the dusty floor with a broom she found in the closet, treating the mundane chore like a sacred martial art.
"Yuto," Rin whispered, "are we really safe here? The people who built the Tower... they run this city. Omni-Corp owns the police, the military, everything."
Before Yuto could answer, the single, flickering lightbulb hanging from the ceiling violently shattered.
The entire apartment plunged into darkness. Outside the single, grimy window, the neon signs of Sector 4 simultaneously flatlined. A heavy, unnatural silence fell over the building, followed by the distinct, high-tech whine of a localized EMP field.
Isabella's twin water-blades flared to life, casting a rippling blue glow across the cramped room. "They're here."
"Kurenai, Ayase," Yuto ordered, his voice echoing in the dark. "Hold the stairwell. Do not let them damage the property. I just acquired this building and I refuse to pay for repairs."
"Understood, Alpha!" Kurenai grinned, her Oni eyes glowing a predatory yellow in the dark. She grabbed her massive nodachi and kicked the front door open, stepping out into the hallway with Ayase gliding silently behind her.
Down on the ground floor, the heavy steel doors of the complex had already been blown off their hinges.
Entering the building was Omni-Corp's Hostile Takeover Division. They were not standard thugs. These were six elite corporate assassins clad in active-camouflage stealth suits, wielding monomolecular thermal blades designed to slice through tank armor.
"Target is on the fourth floor," the squad leader, Director Graves, whispered into his comms. His cybernetic eye scanned the stairwell, trying to read heat signatures. "Lethal force authorized. Secure the assets."
They moved up the stairs with terrifying, synchronized precision. But as they reached the second-floor landing, the shadows shifted.
"Excuse me," a serene voice echoed from the darkness above.
Graves looked up just in time to see Ayase drop from the ceiling. She didn't use a thermal blade or a cybernetic enhancement. She simply used the offline, biological perfection of a Level 90 Samurai.
Clang.
Ayase parried three monomolecular blades simultaneously with her unrendered katana, the sheer physical technique completely baffling the assassins' combat algorithms.
"What kind of augment is that?!" one assassin shouted, stepping back.
"I am unaugmented," Ayase replied softly.
Before the assassin could process that, Kurenai dropped down the stairwell like a concrete block. The Oni bypassed the stealth camouflage entirely by just grabbing the assassin by his helmet and casually throwing him through the cinderblock wall of the stairwell.
"Hey! The Alpha said no property damage!" Ayase scolded gently.
"Oops! My bad!" Kurenai laughed, cracking her knuckles as the remaining five assassins stared at her in absolute horror.