The Imperial Palace was no longer a home for the living; it was a museum of the hushed. Under Kaelen's "Regency," the corridors were patrolled by guards whose eyes were perpetually glazed, their shadows unnaturally long and flickering even when the torches were steady.
Kaelen sat in the Emperor's private study, the heavy scent of old parchment and sealing wax filling the air. On the desk lay the Black Seal, a heavy ring of obsidian that pulsed with a faint, rhythmic heat. He didn't wear it yet. To wear it was to be a servant of the Empire. Kaelen intended for the Empire to be a servant to him.
"Master."
Elara stepped from behind a heavy velvet curtain. She was no longer wearing the mourning black of a victim; she wore the deep crimson of an Imperial Inquisitor. Her face was a mask of cold efficiency.
"The purge is moving according to schedule," she reported, her voice devoid of the warmth it once held for her brother. "Fourteen nobles who spoke in favor of Valerius have been 'quarantined' in the Black Tower. I've personally ensured they are being fed the 'Visions of the Void' incantations. Their despair is... stable."
"Stable isn't enough, Elara," Kaelen said, not looking up from the map of the Capital. "I want them peaking. I want their fear so thick it manifests as a physical mist. We need the mana for the [Despair Well]."
[System Notification: Passive Harvest - 'The Purge of Eldoria'.]
[Yield: 450 Points/Hour.]
[Current Balance: 2,780 Points.]
"And the Scribe?" Elara asked, her eyes darting to the shadows. "The one you mentioned?"
"He's here," Kaelen said, a thin, sharp smile touching his lips. "He's been standing in the corner for the last ten minutes, waiting for me to notice him. Isn't that right, Collector?"
The shadows in the far corner of the room didn't just move; they folded. Out of the darkness stepped the man in the grey hooded robe. He held a ledger made of human skin, a quill carved from a dragon's tooth hovering over the pages.
"Your perception has improved, Architect," the Collector said, his voice a chorus of dry whispers. "Most Players at Level 21 are still struggling to understand the difference between a sword and a soul. You, however... you are already trying to rewrite the tax codes of the universe."
Kaelen stood up, leaning his weight on his raven-topped cane. "I don't like being taxed. And I certainly don't like being watched while I work."
"The Administrators do not 'watch'," the Collector corrected, stepping into the light. His black, iris-less eyes fixed on Kaelen. "We audit. We ensure the Harvest is efficient. In your first life, you were a 'C-Grade' casualty—a bit of grit in the machine. In this life, you have become the machine itself. But even a machine must pay its tribute to the Factory."
The Collector tapped his ledger. "The Despair you have harvested in Oakhaven and Eldoria... 30% belongs to us. Hand it over, and I will leave you to your little 'Regency'. Refuse... and I will introduce a 'Global Event' that will make the Shadow-Stalkers look like household pets."
[System Warning: EXTREME THREAT DETECTED.]
[Target: The Collector (Rank: Administrator - Lower Tier).]
[Power Level: Unknown (Estimated Level 100+).]
[Requirement: Pay 5,000 Despair Points or Trigger 'Administrator's Wrath'.]
Kaelen felt the crushing weight of the Collector's aura. It wasn't just strength; it was the weight of the System itself pressing down on his lungs. Beside him, Elara fell to her knees, her nose beginning to bleed from the sheer spiritual pressure.
"5,000 points," Kaelen mused, his voice steady despite the pressure. "That's a lot of work for a 'Scribe' to take for free. Tell me, Collector... what happens if a Player kills an Administrator?"
The Collector paused, his quill freezing mid-air. A sound like cracking ice escaped his throat—a laugh. "Kill us? We are the ones who gave you the cane you lean on. We are the ones who programmed the 'star' on your puppet's chest. You are an ant dreaming of crushing a mountain."
"An ant on a mountain is still higher than a king in the mud," Kaelen countered.
He didn't pay the points. Instead, he activated [Umbral Puppet Master], but he didn't target the Collector. He targeted the Shadow of the Palace itself.
[Skill Active: 'Hollow Kingdom' - Domain Expansion (Partial).]
[Mana Expended: 3,000 (Overdraft Active).]
The room didn't just go dark; it ceased to exist. The walls of the study melted away into a void of purple flames and screaming faces. Thousands of "Despair Threads" that Kaelen had spent weeks weaving through the city's population suddenly snapped taut, funneling their collective misery directly into the room.
The Collector's eyes widened. For the first time, a flicker of something like surprise crossed his faceless features. "You... you're using the entire city as a lightning rod? You'll burn your own soul out!"
"I'm not the one being hit by the lightning," Kaelen hissed.
Kaelen pointed his cane at the Collector. "Leo! NOW!"
From the absolute darkness, a streak of white-and-purple light erupted. Leo, the "broken" hero, lunged forward. He wasn't acting on his own will; he was being piloted like a marionette by Kaelen's shadow-threads.
Because Leo was a 'Holy Hero' by design, his physical power was still massive. Combined with the Abyssal energy Kaelen was pumping into him, he became a living paradox—a holy weapon fueled by pure despair.
The Collector raised his ledger to block, but Leo's shield—the Shattered Star—slammed into it with the force of a falling moon.
CRACK.
The ledger tore. A shower of golden 'Data Particles' sprayed into the air.
[System Notification: You have damaged a 'System Key'!]
[Reward: 10,000 XP (Administrator Bounty).]
[Warning: The System is 'Destabilizing' in your immediate area.]
"You... little... parasite!" the Collector roared, his grey robe tearing as his true form—a mass of writhing, black tentacles and glowing runes—began to emerge. "I will delete your file from the multiverse!"
"Too late," Kaelen said, his nose bleeding, his eyes glowing a terrifying, incandescent violet. "You said I was a 'C-Grade' casualty. You forgot one thing about grit in a machine, Collector. If you put enough of it in the right place... the whole damn thing grinds to a halt."
Kaelen stepped forward, ignoring the pain of his Mana Circuits melting. He grabbed a handful of the golden particles floating in the air.
[System Query: Consume 'Administrator Essence'?]
[Warning: Risk of 'Soul-Corruption' is 99%.]
"I've been corrupt since the forest," Kaelen growled. "Eat."
[Essence Consumed.]
[Level Up! Level 21 -> Level 25.]
[New Title: 'System Glitch'.]
[New Skill: 'Code-Breaker's Touch' (S-Rank - Temporary).]
Kaelen felt his consciousness expand. For a split second, he saw the Palace not as stone, but as strings of code. He saw the Collector not as a god, but as a program.
He reached out and touched the Collector's chest. He didn't use a spell. He used a Deletion.
"Access Denied," Kaelen whispered.
The Collector let out a silent, vacuum-like scream as his form began to pixelate and dissolve. The grey robe fell to the floor, empty. The ledger vanished. The pressure in the room snapped, and the 'Hollow Kingdom' collapsed back into the reality of the Emperor's study.
Kaelen fell to his knees, gasping for air. His skin felt like it was on fire, and his mana pool was a dry, cracked bed.
Elara crawled toward him, her hands trembling as she touched his shoulder. "Kaelen? Is he... is he gone?"
"For now," Kaelen wheezed, looking at the spot where the Administrator had stood. "But I just declared war on the people who built the world. They'll be sending more than a 'Scribe' next time."
He looked at Leo, who was standing in the center of the room, his armor smoking, his eyes still vacant.
"But next time," Kaelen said, a dark, triumphant laugh bubbling in his chest, "I won't be using a cane. I'll be using their own heads as paving stones."
[System Notification: The '100th Harvest' has been 'Delayed'.]
[Current Objective: Locate the remaining three Administrators before they 'Reboot' the World.]
Kaelen stood up, using Leo as a crutch. He looked out the window at the city of Eldoria. The people were still sleeping, unaware that their "Saint" had just murdered a god in their name.
"The Field is mine," Kaelen murmured. "And I'm not sharing the grain."
[Status Update]
Name: Kaelen (The System Glitch)
Level: 25 (Exp: 50/80000)
Current Despair Points: 12,780 (Administrator Bounty)
Status: 'Unstable' - Your soul is vibrating at a frequency the world doesn't recognize.
New Skill: Code-Breaker's Touch (S) - Can ignore the 'Invincibility' or 'Holy Shields' of any target for 3 seconds.