The numbers on the CRT monitor inside Kaelen's mind were no longer ticking.
They were blurred.
The speed of the countdown was so violent that it felt like a physical weight pressing against his chest.
09:45... 09:30... 09:15...
Every breath Kaelen took cost him nearly an hour of Earth 01's existence.
The Eternal Emperor stood on the ivory balcony his diamond eyes shimmering with a cold immortal arrogance.
He held the Scepter of Stasis like a conductor's baton.
This is the weight of eternity Auditor the Emperor said his voice echoing through the decaying garden.
You come to my home to steal my years?
I will make you spend your entire life in the span of a single conversation.
Kaelen Thorne did not run.
He did not scream for mercy.
He adjusted his glasses and felt the heat of the [Crown of the Debtor] digging into his temples.
The golden blood ran down his face but he did not wipe it away.
Silas Kaelen whispered his voice strained but steady.
Lia.
Engagement protocols. Now.
Silas Vesper blurred into a streak of grey mist but as he moved he slowed down.
The Emperor's scepter was creating a field of 'Temporal Viscosity'.
To Silas it felt like swimming through wet cement.
Lia Sinclair however did not slow down.
She stepped forward and the violet void around her flared into a jagged aura of nothingness.
Time has no value to the hungry Lia said her voice sounding like the end of a mountain.
She raised her hand and a sphere of violet darkness shot toward the Emperor.
The sphere did not travel through time.
It ate the path it took.
The Emperor's eyes widened as the sphere consumed the 'Static Air' of his palace.
He raised his scepter and a wave of golden light collided with the void.
The two forces gritted against each other like grinding gears.
[SYSTEM MESSAGE]
[CONFLICT DETECTED: STATIC TIME VS THE VOID]
[RESULT: TOTAL ANNIHILATION OF LOCAL PHYSICS]
Kaelen looked at the countdown.
07:40... 07:20... 07:00...
He had seven minutes left to bank a century of time or his world would vanish.
He looked at the Emperor's palace.
The ivory was turning to grey dust as Lia's aura expanded.
Your Empire is a bubble Kaelen shouted over the roar of the mana explosion.
You've kept your people undying by suppressing the 'Natural Decay' of the universe.
But energy cannot be created or destroyed Emperor.
You haven't eliminated death.
You've just been putting it on a credit card for five thousand years.
The Emperor snarled and the scepter glowed with a blinding brilliance.
It is my right! I am the Emperor of the Bloom!
I am the one who stopped the winter!
Kaelen activated his [Forensic Liquidation] skill.
He didn't aim it at the Emperor.
He aimed it at the Foundation of the Palace.
[SKILL ACTIVATED: DEBT RECOGNITION]
[TARGET: THE EMPIRE'S COLLECTIVE MORTALITY]
Kaelen's Ledger appeared in the air turning into a massive book made of black smoke.
The pages began to flip at a speed that matched the Emperor's acceleration.
I am officially calling the debt Kaelen declared.
The five thousand years of 'Idle Decades' you've hoarded are no longer yours.
The Multiversal Market has declared this Empire Technically Bankrupt.
[SYSTEM MESSAGE]
[LIQUIDATION IN PROGRESS]
[TOTAL DEBT FOUND: 50,000,000 YEARS OF HUMAN LIFE]
[INITIATING MASSIVE RECLAMATION]
Suddenly the screaming harps in the distance went silent.
The thousands of nobles in the palace who had been young for centuries began to age.
Their skin turned to parchment.
Their bones turned to dust.
Their expensive robes fell onto piles of grey ash.
The time they had stolen was being pulled out of their bodies by the golden threads of Kaelen's Ledger.
NO! the Emperor screamed as his own diamond eyes began to crack.
My time! My beautiful static world!
The Scepter of Stasis shattered in his hand.
The wave of acceleration hitting Kaelen stopped instantly.
[SYSTEM MESSAGE]
[TIME RECLAIMED: 500 YEARS]
[TIME RECLAIMED: 5,000 YEARS]
[TIME RECLAIMED: 50,000 YEARS]
Kaelen felt a massive surge of power flowing through the Crown of the Debtor.
The countdown on his CRT monitor began to spin backward.
05:00... 50:00... 500:00...
EARTH 01 COUNTDOWN: +6 MONTHS
Kaelen exhaled a long breath of steam.
He stood in the center of the ruined garden surrounded by the remains of an empire.
The Ever-Bloom was now the Ever-Grave.
Lia Sinclair landed beside him her violet aura slowly receding.
She looked at the piles of ash and her stomach growled.
That was a very heavy meal Mr. Thorne she said.
I feel like I just ate a whole century.
You did Kaelen said looking at the palace.
But we aren't done yet.
Kaelen walked toward the fallen Emperor.
The man was now a shriveled husk of his former self.
His white hair was thin and his skin was covered in age spots.
He was finally mortal.
Why? the Emperor wheezed.
Why destroy perfection?
Perfection is stagnant Kaelen replied his eyes glowing with the gold of the Master Liquidator.
And stagnant assets are a waste of space.
Kaelen reached down and grabbed the shattered remains of the scepter.
Inside the core was a small glowing seed.
[THE HEART OF THE BLOOM].
[ITEM ACQUIRED: THE HEART OF THE BLOOM (RANK: CONCEPTUAL)]
[VALUE: 100,000 YEARS OF POTENTIAL]
[REMARK: CAN BE USED TO 'FERTILIZE' A DYING UNIVERSE]
Kaelen tucked the seed into his pocket.
This will keep Earth 01 green for a long time Kaelen said.
But as he spoke the sky above the Empire began to change.
The dawn was gone.
The grey mist of Saturn's office was leaking into the world.
[SYSTEM MESSAGE]
[WARNING: SECTOR COLLAPSE DETECTED]
[THE EVER-BLOOM EMPIRE HAS NO REMAINING TIME]
[TOTAL DELETION OF THIS UNIVERSE IN 60 SECONDS]
Kaelen looked at Silas and Lia.
Time to leave Kaelen said.
We've taken everything of value.
Kaelen tapped his golden card to return to Saturn's office.
But the card didn't glow.
It flickered and turned black.
[ERROR: DEBTOR INTERFERENCE]
[THE PREVIOUS OWNER OF THIS WORLD HAS FILED A 'LITIGATION BLOCK']
Kaelen looked up at the grey mist.
A man in a suit exactly like Kaelen's stepped out of the fog.
He wasn't the Crowned King or the Ghost.
He was wearing a name tag that said: THE UNDERWRITER.
Nice work Kaelen the man said with a cold smile.
You've just collected the biggest debt in the sector.
But unfortunately I've decided to Freeze the Assets.
I'm taking the fifty thousand years and I'm taking your World-Eater.
The Underwriter raised a hand and a set of white handcuffs appeared on Lia's wrists.
She screamed as her void began to be drained into the mist.