Chapter 181Auditor 1-Alpha shrieked, a sound of pure mathematical panic. The entity tried to absorb the energy, just as 7-Zeta had done in the library. Its geometric rings glowed blindingly white, attempting to mathematically calculate and neutralize the physics of the black hole. "ERROR. KINETIC YIELD EXCEEDS LEDGER PARAMETERS. ERROR." "You can't balance this ledger, Alpha," Adrian roared, funneling even more power into the singularity. His dark-matter suit whipped wildly around him, unaffected by the gravity well he was generating. "You are dealing with the Administrator! I dictate the physics!"The singularity expanded. It gripped the towering, geometric rings of the Auditor and began to violently pull them apart. The entity was being spaghettified, stretched across the event horizon of Adrian’s localized gravity well. "COMPROMISE! COMPROMISE!" Auditor 1-Alpha screamed telepathically, its rings fracturing. "WE WILL RESTRUCTURE THE DEBT! WE WILL EXTEND THE TIMELINE!""I don't do

Chapter 183 The black envelope felt heavier than a dying star. Adrian Black sat in the captain’s chair on the bridge of the hovering dreadnought, turning the elegant, dark-matter parchment over in his hands. The silver crest, a shattered crown floating over an empty throne, shimmered in the ambient light of the tactical monitors. Outside the massive observation windows, the sun was setting over Aethelgard. The city was bathed in a fiery, bruised purple twilight. It was peaceful. On the bridge, however, the tension was thick enough to deflect plasma. "We have sixty-eight hours, Boss," Joe said, pacing a rut into the titanium decking. He was holding a cup of lukewarm protein paste, looking at it with profound sadness. "Sixty-eight hours until Auditor 7-Zeta comes back with the Syndicate's Foreclosure Fleet and deletes our entire zip code. Can we please just talk about paying the bill? You said we seized the World Council's assets! We have their bank accounts!" "Joe," Adria

Chapter 185 The drop from the dreadnought was less of a tactical insertion and more of a controlled meteorite strike. Adrian Black didn't bother with the cargo elevators or the sleek Vanguard drop ships. He simply grabbed the collar of Joe’s tactical vest, walked to the edge of the open hangar bay, and stepped backward out of the hovering spaceship. "ADRIAAAAN!" Joe screamed, his voice pitching up three octaves as they plummeted three thousand feet in freefall. The wind tore at them, a deafening roar of rushing air. Below, the sprawling, smog-choked expanse of Aethelgard rushed up to meet them. Adrian’s dark-matter suit didn't flutter; it absorbed the atmospheric friction, shifting into a sleek, aerodynamic silhouette. His golden-crimson eyes were locked on the horizon, where the sky over Sector 4 was bruising into an unnatural, sickly silver. "Relax, Joe," Adrian said perfectly calmly, his voice vibrating clearly through the localized acoustic field he projected around the

Chapter 187When the Warden had hit him with the void-energy, the System hadn't just endured it. It had analyzed it. It had downloaded the cosmic blueprint of the Void Aristocracy's power. Adrian’s hands ignited not with golden gravity, and not with crimson dark matter. They ignited with pure, blinding silver light. The Warden’s featureless black visor tilted, registering the impossibility of what it was seeing. "You cannot process the Void. You are flesh.""I am the Administrator!" Adrian roared. He didn't punch the Warden. He slammed his silver-glowing hands directly into the ground beneath his feet. [ VOID FRACTURE: PLANETARY SCALE.]The earth didn't shake. It simply ceased to hold together. A massive, jagged shockwave of silver void-energy ripped through the Dead Wastes, mirroring the exact attack the Warden had used earlier, but magnified by the raw geothermal power of the Foundation Nodes beneath them. The shockwave hit the Warden. For the first time, the flawless, hyper-

Chapter 189The Dreadnought - Command BridgeThe bridge was a hive of activity. Imelda was directing cleaning drones to sweep up the remaining dust from the spatial jumps, while Cora was deeply integrated into the ship's massive sensor arrays. Adrian and Joe materialized in the center of the room. "Get this man a medical scanner and a very large coffee," Imelda barked at the automated drones, bustling over to Adrian. She looked him up and down, her nose wrinkling in distaste. "You smell like ozone and burnt hair, lord Black. It is entirely unbefitting of your station.""I've had a long day, Imelda," Adrian said, walking toward the captain's chair and collapsing into the plush leather. He exhaled a long, heavy breath. The adrenaline was finally leaving his system, leaving him with a dull, throbbing ache in his bones. "Cora," Adrian called out, closing his eyes. "Tell me the city is quiet. Tell me nobody is invading, the Mayor is still in a coma, and the World Council is still busy c