[The Abyssal Academy - The Grand Dining Hall]
The scent of roasted Griffin meat and spiced wine wafted from the kitchen doors, cutting through the damp rot of the dining hall. The stomachs of two thousand villains growled in unison.
But nobody moved. The massive, steel-plated Chimera paced in front of the buffet, its golden barcode blazing on its forehead, growling at anyone who stepped too close.
"This is an outrage!"
A figure stepped out of the crowd. It was Lord Sterling, a High-Vampire noble. He wore a velvet crimson coat, his pale face twisted in aristocratic fury. "I am the heir to the Blood-Moon Clan! I do not pay for meals! I command the food to be brought to me!"
Sterling's eyes glowed with hypnotic, scarlet magic. He raised his hand, casting a Tier-4 Blood-Puppet spell directly at the Chimera, intending to bend the beast's mind and force it to serve him.
The scarlet magic hit the monster's forehead.
BEEP.
The golden barcode flashed. The Chimera didn't even blink. Under Victor's corporate ownership, the beast's mind was legally classified as private proprietary software. The vampire's mind-control spell bounced off the financial firewall.
Before Sterling could react, the Chimera pounced.
With a deafening roar, the steel-plated beast slammed the vampire into the stone floor, its massive venom-dripping jaws stopping a millimeter from Sterling's pale throat.
"Get it off me!" Sterling shrieked, his aristocratic pride shattering instantly.
Up on the balcony, Victor Thorne calmly turned a page in his Tycoon's Ledger.
"Lord Sterling," Victor's voice dropped the temperature in the room. "You have just attempted to hack a corporate security asset and bypass a commercial paywall. That is theft of services."
Victor looked at Seraphina, who was already running the calculations on her clipboard.
"Assaulting a security officer carries a fine of ten thousand Gold," Seraphina announced coldly, her voice echoing perfectly off the stone walls.
"I don't have ten thousand Gold on me!" the vampire panicked, struggling under the crushing weight of the Chimera's paw. "My family's wealth is in the Blood-Moon vaults!"
"Liquidity is a common issue for students," Victor said smoothly. He tapped the ledger. A glowing, golden contract materialized out of thin air and floated down, hovering directly over the pinned vampire's face. A quill made of light floated beside it.
"Sign the micro-loan," Victor commanded. "The Academy will cover your ten thousand Gold fine, plus the hundred Gold for your premium lunch. In exchange, your bloodline magic and noble title are held as collateral, at a compounding interest rate of thirty percent per week."
"Thirty percent?!" Sterling gasped. "That's extortion!"
"That is the cost of doing business," Victor checked his gold Rolex. "You have ten seconds to sign, Lord Sterling. Or I will instruct the Lunch Lady to liquidate you for spare parts."
The Chimera growled, a drop of highly acidic venom sizzling on the stone inches from the vampire's ear.
Trembling with humiliation, Lord Sterling grabbed the golden quill and signed his name.
The golden chains of financial law instantly wrapped around the vampire's wrists, securing the debt. The Chimera immediately stepped off him, returning to its post by the buffet.
Victor looked out over the remaining 1,999 terrified, starving students.
"The line for micro-loans forms to the left," Victor adjusted his cuffs, his Tycoon's Aura fully dominating the room. "The line for paying customers forms to the right. Do not hold up the queue."