The sound was not a heartbeat.
It was a rhythmic grinding of tectonic plates.
Kaelen Thorne looked down at his right hand and watched as his skin turned into a dull weathered brass.
Small interlocking gears were erupting from his knuckles spinning with a frantic mechanical energy.
His fingers felt heavy and cold as the "Forced Mechanization" signal surged through the cage.
Beside him Silas Vesper was struggling to maintain his form.
The grey mist that defined the assassin was thickening turning into a heavy oily steam that hissed as it touched the rusted bars.
Lia Sinclair stood in the center of the cage her violet eyes wide with a rare flicker of true alarm.
Her void aura was being compressed into a black sphere by the sheer gravitational weight of the Gear City's law.
[WARNING: SYSTEM OVERRIDE]
[YOUR SOUL IS BEING RECLASSIFIED AS: INDUSTRIAL SCRAP]
[CURRENT VALUE: 0.05 MANA UNITS]
Kaelen felt a sharp metallic tang at the back of his throat.
He looked up at the massive demon standing on the auctioneer's podium.
The demon was a mountain of obsidian muscle wrapped in a suit of pinstripe armor that looked like it was forged from the hulls of sunken warships.
His horns were capped with gold and a flaming whip coiled around his wrist like a hungry snake.
Welcome to the Great Foreclosure! the demon bellowed his voice sounding like a furnace blast.
I am Mammon's Clerk.
And today we are liquidating the latest batch of 'Failed Assets' to keep the Gear City's engine turning!
The crowd of clockwork humans let out a collective hiss of steam.
Their eyes were glowing red lenses that recorded every second of the auction.
Kaelen Thorne stepped forward his brass boots clanking against the rusted floor of the cage.
He did not scream for help.
He did not beg for mercy.
He adjusted his glasses which were now held in place by two small copper pins that had grown from his temples.
Mr. Clerk Kaelen said his voice clear and resonant despite the mechanical rasp.
I believe there has been a significant error in your appraisal.
The demon paused his flaming whip twitching with amusement.
An error? We've been liquidating souls for three million years little scrap.
Our valuation models are flawless.
Your models are based on the assumption that we are 'Unclaimed Goods' Kaelen said.
He raised his left hand which was still mostly human and tapped the digital seal on his chest.
But I am a Leased Asset of the Original Architect.
And my companions are currently held in a Sovereign Escrow.
[SKILL ACTIVATED: CONTRACTUAL IMMUNITY]
[DESCRIPTION: AS A LEASED ASSET YOU CANNOT BE SOLD OR MODIFIED BY A THIRD PARTY WITHOUT THE OWNER'S CONSENT]
The numerical eyes of the crowd began to spin in frantic circles.
The red light in the room flickered as the Gear City's local law collided with the Prime System's protocols.
The brass gears on Kaelen's hand stopped spinning.
The mechanization process froze at his wrist.
Mammon's Clerk narrowed his eyes his pinstripe armor glowing with a dull heat.
The Architect has left the server Thorne.
His leases are no longer recognized in the Abyss.
We are the primary creditors now.
If the Architect is gone then the lease has defaulted Kaelen countered his eyes glowing with a cold gold light.
And according to the Multiversal Bankruptcy Code a defaulted lease returns to the Public Trust.
I am currently the Acting Architect and the Master Liquidator.
You are not auctioning scrap metal Clerk.
You are attempting to sell the Infrastructure of the Multiverse.
Kaelen looked at the crowd of mechanical humans.
And you! You've been trading your souls for steam and gears because you were told the Abyss owns your time.
But I've seen the books.
Kaelen raised his hand and his Ledger appeared in the air turning into a massive book of black smoke.
The pages began to flip revealing the debt history of World 09.
The Gear City has been paying three million years of interest to the Abyss Kaelen shouted.
But the principal debt was paid off two million years ago!
The Abyss has been charging you for a loan that no longer exists!
The silence that followed was absolute.
Only the sound of escaping steam filled the arena.
The mechanical humans looked at each other their red lenses flickering as they processed the data.
You lie! Mammon's Clerk roared raising his flaming whip.
The debt is eternal! The engine requires the souls!
The engine requires souls because you are siphoning the mana to the Abyss Kaelen said.
He looked at Silas and Lia.
The chains Silas. The main conduit.
Silas Vesper did not need another word.
Even in his steam form he was a blur of lethal intent.
He slipped through the bars of the cage and reappeared behind the demon's podium.
His daggers found the massive power cable that fed the auction block.
Lia Sinclair lunged at the bars her violet void erupting in a sudden explosion of hunger.
She didn't break the rusted metal.
She ate it.
The cage vanished into a cloud of violet smoke.
Lia landed in the center of the arena her void aura expanding until it covered the entire crowd.
Mr. Thorne Lia said her voice echoing with the weight of the end of the world.
Should I liquidate the Clerk?
Not yet Lia Kaelen said walking out of the ruins of the cage.
I want him to witness the Dividend.
Kaelen tapped his tablet executing a global command for World 09.
[SKILL ACTIVATED: DEBT RECALL]
[EFFECT: RETURNING ALL OVERPAID INTEREST TO THE CITIZENS OF GEAR CITY]
Suddenly the red eyes of the mechanical humans turned a bright pure white.
The rusted gears in their bodies began to shine like new gold.
The three million years of stolen time were being pulled out of the Abyss and injected back into the city.
Across the arena people began to scream as their flesh regrew over their brass parts.
The "Forced Mechanization" was being reversed by the sheer volume of returned assets.
[SYSTEM MESSAGE]
[TIME RECLAIMED: 1,000,000 YEARS]
[EARTH 01 COUNTDOWN: +1,000 YEARS]
Kaelen felt the massive surge of time flowing through his Ledger.
He looked at Mammon's Clerk whose pinstripe armor was starting to rust and flake away.
You've just triggered a Total Withdrawal Thorne! the demon screamed.
The Abyss will not forget this!
They will send the Debt Collectors of the Seventh Circle!
Let them come Kaelen said his eyes glowing with a terrifying obsidian light.
I'm looking forward to auditing their department.
Kaelen turned to Lia.
Lia. Eat the podium.
Lia Sinclair didn't hesitate.
She opened her mouth and a torrent of violet darkness consumed the demon and his stage.
The Clerk didn't even have time to lash his whip before he was erased from existence.
[LEVEL UP]
[LEVEL: 45]
[YOU HAVE ACQUIRED: THE KEY TO THE ABYSSAL VAULT]
Kaelen stood in the center of the cheering crowd his brass hand finally turning back into human skin.
He had just secured a thousand years for Earth 01.
But he didn't feel like a hero.
He felt like a man who had just declared war on the biggest bank in the universe.
Master Silas said appearing beside him.
The city is stabilized.
But the sky...
Kaelen looked up.
The eternal night of the Gear City was being pierced by six pillars of red light.
They were not stars.
They were Foreclosure Drills.
The Abyss was not sending a lawyer.
They were going to drill into the planet and take the core itself as compensation.
[WARNING: PLANETARY LIQUIDATION IN PROGRESS]
[ESTIMATED TIME UNTIL WORLD DESTRUCTION: 15 MINUTES]
Kaelen looked at the red pillars.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the iron card Saturn had given him.
Lia. Silas. Kaelen said his voice cold and purposeful.
We're not leaving yet.
We're going to the Main Engine.
If the Abyss wants to drill into this world...
Then we're going to make sure they hit a Debt Trap.