The [Heart of the Bloom] did not shatter.
It detonated.
One hundred thousand years of pure potential energy erupted from Kaelen Thorne's fist in a tidal wave of golden light.
It was not a physical explosion.
It was a chronological one.
The grey mist of the Underwriter's reality was instantly incinerated by the sudden influx of five millennia per millisecond.
Kaelen stood in the center of the storm his charcoal suit whipping around his frame as the [Crown of the Debtor] glowed a blinding white.
The Underwriter's cold smile vanished.
He raised his hands to shield his eyes but the golden light was already soaking into his skin.
What are you doing?! the Underwriter roared his voice cracking with sudden panic.
You're wasting the asset! You're burning the capital!
I'm not wasting it Kaelen shouted back his voice resonant with the authority of the Master Liquidator.
I'm performing a Forced Capital Injection.
You wanted the assets of this world?
Fine.
You can have all of them.
At once.
[SYSTEM MESSAGE]
[SKILL ACTIVATED: HYPER-INFLATION BOMB]
[TARGET: THE UNDERWRITER]
[EFFECT: FORCING 100,000 YEARS OF UNUSED POTENTIAL INTO A SINGLE ENTITY]
[WARNING: TARGET'S TEMPORAL CAPACITY IS AT 99%... 150%... 400%...]
The Underwriter began to scream.
It was not a sound of pain but a sound of Overloading.
His body began to grow and shrink simultaneously his hair lengthening to his feet and then vanishing as his cells tried to process a hundred thousand years of biological history in a single breath.
His neat corporate suit tore as his muscles expanded and then withered into bone.
He was experiencing a million life cycles every second.
You... you're insane! the Underwriter gasped his voice fluctuating between a child's high pitch and a dying man's rattle.
The Bank... will erase you for this!
The Bank requires a stable market Kaelen said stepping forward through the golden storm.
And you just became a Toxic Asset.
Lia! Kaelen barked.
The handcuffs!
Lia Sinclair let out a guttural roar as the white light binding her wrists began to flicker.
The Underwriter was too busy trying not to explode into starlight to maintain the Litigation Block.
Lia's violet void surged forward shattering the white metal like brittle glass.
She didn't stop there.
She lunged at the Underwriter her hand reaching into his chest where his "Corporate Core" was glowing a frantic red.
Should I eat the surplus Mr. Thorne? Lia asked her voice distorted by the void.
No Kaelen said.
Don't eat it.
Short it.
Kaelen tapped his golden card which was finally beginning to glow again as the Litigation Block dissolved.
[SKILL ACTIVATED: DEBT ARCHITECT]
[NEW CONTRACT: THE UNDERWRITER'S INDEMNITY]
Lia Kaelen commanded.
Siphon the excess time from his body and route it directly into the Earth 01 countdown.
Don't let him keep a single second.
Lia's violet eyes widened in understanding.
She buried both hands into the Underwriter's chest and began to pull.
It looked like she was pulling golden silk out of a dying god.
The Underwriter's form began to stabilize as the 100,000 years were drained out of him.
But he wasn't returning to his human form.
He was becoming a hollow shell.
[SYSTEM MESSAGE]
[TIME TRANSFER INITIATED]
[EARTH 01 COUNTDOWN: 04:30... 10:00... 50:00...]
[EARTH 01 COUNTDOWN: +25 YEARS]
Kaelen looked at his watch.
The numbers were finally steady.
He had just secured a quarter of a century for his world in a single afternoon.
But the Underwriter was not dead.
He slumped to the jade floor gasping for air his eyes now hollow pits of grey ash.
You... you've stolen from the Bank Kaelen the Underwriter wheezed.
You've diverted the audit fee.
I didn't steal it Kaelen said looking down at the fallen official.
I reclassified it as a Disaster Relief Fund.
And since you were the one who 'authorized' the injection by trying to seize the asset... the liability is entirely yours.
Kaelen turned to Silas Vesper.
Is the sector stable?
Silas appeared from the mist his daggers sheathed.
The Ever-Bloom Empire is gone Master.
The deletion is complete.
We are the only things left in this coordinate.
Then it's time to go home Kaelen said.
He tapped the golden card and the swirl of emerald light returned.
The return to Saturn's office was quiet.
The fluorescent light was still buzzing.
The CRT monitor was still flickering.
Saturn was sitting at his desk holding a cup of lukewarm coffee.
He looked at Kaelen's torn suit and the golden blood on his face.
He looked at Lia whose violet eyes were now flecked with gold from the time she had siphoned.
He looked at the empty seat where the Underwriter should have been.
Twenty five years Saturn noted looking at his screen.
That's a very impressive first quarter Kaelen.
Most Auditors barely manage to bring back a few months.
But you... you nearly blew up a Senior Underwriter.
He was interfering with the recovery process Kaelen said sitting in the guest chair.
I merely performed an emergency liquidation of his ego.
Saturn smiled and set his coffee down.
The Bank is furious Kaelen.
They've officially labeled you a High-Risk Speculator.
But because you brought back the time they can't fire you yet.
In fact they've decided to give you a promotion.
Kaelen narrowed his eyes.
A promotion from the people I just robbed?
It's a 'Keep Your Enemies Closer' strategy Saturn explained.
They've assigned you to the Distressed Realms Division.
Your next mission is not a simple collection.
It is a Restructuring.
Saturn handed Kaelen a new card.
This one was made of cold black iron.
WORLD 09: THE GEAR-CITY OF CLOCKWORK.
A world where the Sun has stopped moving Saturn said.
The people there have traded their souls for mechanical parts to survive the eternal night.
They are currently three million years in debt to the Abyss.
And the Abyss is preparing to foreclose.
Kaelen took the card.
He felt the weight of it in his hand.
Three million years Kaelen whispered.
If I reclaim even ten percent of that...
Earth 01 would have enough time to last for millennia.
Exactly Saturn said.
But be warned Kaelen.
The Abyss doesn't use Underwriters in suits.
They use Arch-Demons of the Treasury.
And they don't care about litigation.
Kaelen stood up and straightened his blazer.
I'm an Accountant of the End Saturn Kaelen said his eyes glowing with a cold obsidian light.
I don't care if they have horns or briefcases.
If they're in the red... I'm going to collect.