Unlimited Transaction System

Alliance in the Darkness

The breath I had just taken caught in my throat.

The crimson text lingering in the corner of my vision continued to flicker faintly as I stepped away from the penthouse window, distancing myself from the reflection that had just grinned at me with something horrifying.

"Arkan? What's wrong?"

Elena's voice shattered the silence, sharp and probing. Her blue eyes shifted from the dashboard display to me, immediately noticing the drastic change in my posture.

I looked down at my wrist.

The hands of the analog watch were ticking normally again, as if those few impossible seconds of reverse motion had been nothing more than a hallucination brought on by extreme exhaustion.

But the cold that lingered deep within my soul was far too real to dismiss as a delusion.

The Competitor was already inside.

It had planted its seed.

"It's nothing," I lied, swallowing the anxiety churning inside me. I forced a predator's smile to conceal the fractures spreading through my mind. "Just... the lingering data waves from the Oracle. They're giving me a headache. We don't have time to rest. The monsters out there have already started smelling blood."

I shifted my attention to the tactical monitor.

While my soul was being wagered in the Competitor's supernatural game, my enemies in the real world were weaving a trap of their own.

The underground warehouse in Harbor District smelled of rust and seawater.

A stark contrast to the expensive perfume that filled the private chambers of the Dirgantara Family headquarters.

Yet here they were.

Or rather, the shadows born from the desperation of the people I hated most.

Brandon sat hunched over at a large, weathered wooden table. His face was gaunt, heavy black circles hanging beneath his eyes.

Siska stood beside him.

The intelligent ambition that had once sparkled in her eyes was gone, replaced by a cold, exhausted emptiness. A hatred that had never faded, despite how close she had come to dying just weeks ago.

Across from them sat the elderly patriarch of the Dirgantara Family, Mr. Wardana.

He didn't even look at them.

Instead, he calmly polished his reading glasses, treating Brandon and Siska's arrival as little more than an unwelcome interruption.

"That logistics network was mine!" Brandon suddenly hissed, his voice climbing an octave as uncontrollable fury shook every word. His fists clenched atop the table until his knuckles turned white. "Arkan stole it from me! He used some underhanded system, some ridiculous cheating method! You can't let him keep running wild. He's a parasite infecting Arkadia, and parasites have to be cut out!"

Mr. Wardana slowly set down his glasses.

The soft clink of metal against wood echoed like cannon fire through the silent room.

"Listen, Brandon," he said slowly, his tone dripping with contempt. "Business is about capability. If you lost everything because of one brat who only recently got his hands on capital, then you never had that capability to begin with. Don't come whining to me."

"Capability?!"

Brandon nearly choked on his own spit, his face flushing crimson.

"Enough, Brandon," Siska interrupted, her voice hoarse but steady.

She stepped forward, brushed aside Brandon's trembling hand, and stared directly into Mr. Wardana's eyes.

"I know how his System works, at least most of its patterns. I had access to part of its infrastructure before that bastard cut me off without warning. If you back us with your liquidity, we have a way to poison his database from the inside."

She smiled coldly.

"We destroy him at the foundation."

I watched everything through the hidden camera Elena had planted between the warehouse storage crates.

My heartbeat quickened.

Not because I feared their plan.

But because witnessing hatred transform people into something so pitiful was almost fascinating.

They thought they were safe.

They believed they could brew this rotten conspiracy without anyone watching.

How utterly wrong they were.

"Siska." Wardana let out a short, cynical laugh that chilled the room. "You're a woman who's already lost every ounce of status and reputation on the exchange. And Brandon? A man who lost control of his company overnight."

He leaned back.

"What do I gain by financing the personal revenge of two losers?"

The word losers struck Brandon's pride like a hammer.

He shot to his feet and slammed both hands against the table.

"We'll give you direct access to his properties and his backup distribution routes!" he shouted desperately, his voice trembling between rage and tears. "Arkan keeps illegal records covering taxes and government fund allocations. If you get your hands on that data, he won't be the only one finished. You'll be able to seize control of everything and turn that kid into your puppet!"

Watching from my penthouse, I let out an amused snort.

A complete lie.

There were no illegal records connected to me.

Because thanks to the System's integration, I was the law itself.

They were selling empty promises just to obtain the weapon they hoped would kill me.

Beside me, Elena casually spun her tactical knife around her fingers.

Her blue eyes radiated murderous intent.

She embodied absolute composure, while the three people on the screen calmly discussed the most efficient way to bury me.

"Should I send a team to clean out that room now?" Elena asked coldly, her eyes fixed on Siska. "I can make all three of them disappear before dawn."

I slowly shook my head.

"No. If we kill Brandon and Siska now, they'll die as martyrs for the other Great Families. Let them believe they've found a powerful alliance. Let them receive the support they're asking for."

I smiled faintly.

"The moment they're convinced they've found my weakness, that's when we'll close the trap."

Back on the screen, Mr. Wardana finally stood.

He never verbally accepted or rejected their proposal.

Instead, he signaled one of his subordinates, who placed a thick black briefcase on the table.

"Ten billion," Wardana said coldly. "Your advance payment."

"Use it to hire professional hackers from the black market and breach his System."

His expression hardened.

"But remember one thing. Not a single trace must ever lead back to the Dirgantara Family."

"If you fail again... don't ever come back to me."

A faint smile appeared.

"Unless you're apologizing at your own gravestone."

Brandon nodded obediently like a dog being fed.

His eyes gleamed with manic, hollow triumph.

"We won't fail, Mr. Wardana. This time, I'll make sure he has nothing left that anyone could call wealth."

Siska remained silent.

But as they turned to leave, she suddenly stopped.

Her head slowly lifted.

Her eyes sharpened.

Then they settled directly on the corner of the wall where the hidden surveillance camera was concealed.

She stared straight into the lens for three full seconds.

A faint smile curved across her lips, one filled with mystery.

Did she know?

Had she sensed my eyes watching from afar?

Or was she deliberately sending me a message?

If it was the latter...

Then she was far bolder than I had imagined.

"They've made their move, Arkan."

Elena's voice broke the silence after the warehouse transmission ended.

"I know."

I dismissed the holographic display.

Darkness reclaimed the room, leaving only the dim crimson glow of the System dashboard.

[ALERT: Class A Threat Detected!]

[Subject: Siska & Brandon Alliance, Funded by the Dirgantara Family.]

[Threat Level: High. Cyberattack and physical sabotage predicted within 48 hours.]

[Optional System Action: Activate "Proactive Protection" Mode or allow the enemy to walk into your trap.]

A faint smile crossed my face.

This war had grown beyond anything it once was.

It had started as a conflict over business, logistics, and small companies.

Now I was confronting a high-level conspiracy involving people wealthy enough to buy the law and every authority in Arkadia.

"Elena, withdraw every cent from the account we normally use for logistics operations," I said as I stood and straightened my shirt collar.

"You mean make the account look empty and vulnerable?"

She raised an eyebrow.

"More than empty."

I walked toward the balcony, gazing over Arkadia's endless lights shimmering beneath the lingering rain.

"Make it look like we're draining it in a panic because of internal collapse. Spread false information through black market intermediaries that yesterday's sabotage pushed me into a massive financial crisis."

I smiled.

"Let Siska and Brandon believe they've cornered a wounded animal."

"And when they move in for the kill?"

I turned to face Elena completely.

Within her eyes I saw pure loyalty.

The kind that couldn't be purchased with Wardana's ten billion.

"When they step into the gates of my 'empty company,' we won't confront them head-on."

I clenched my fist.

"We'll wait until they've handed over all their valuable assets and data to the infrastructure they've built themselves."

My smile widened.

"And at the very peak, when they're convinced they've already won..."

I tightened my fist until my knuckles cracked.

"...we reset everything."

"Let the System liquidate every piece of their financial existence into dust."

Elena bowed her head slightly, a cynical smile appearing on her face.

"That's going to be an expensive game for us in the beginning, Arkan."

"Wealth is only a number, Elena."

I stepped out of the penthouse toward the private elevator.

"I don't need the money in that account."

"I need it to become the noose waiting for everyone who tries to bring me down."

"Let Brandon dance across the floor."

"It won't be long before I open the trap beneath his feet."

Tonight, I could feel the winds of Arkadia changing direction.

My enemies' confidence had reached its peak.

And in the financial markets, that was both the most dangerous and the most satisfying moment to exploit.

They believed they could control the monster.

In reality, they were walking willingly into its jaws.

Their alliance existed in darkness.

But I possessed the System that illuminated every shadow.

Every move.

Every plan.

Every malicious intention they harbored had now become a debt they would repay with devastating interest.

Siska.

You were once my ally.

You know how I think.

You understand my heart.

But you forgot one thing.

My System never stops evolving.

You're still playing in yesterday's world.

I've already stepped into the one that's being built for tomorrow.

I took the car keys from Elena.

"Let's go. We need to give them a convincing performance that their prey is really dying."

"Where are we going?" Elena asked as she followed me through the silent corridor.

"To the party that hasn't begun yet," I answered calmly.

"We're planting the seeds of their defeat."

"Today marks the beginning of the day when there will be nowhere left to hide for those who want to steal my throne."

Inside my luxury car as it sliced through Arkadia's rain-soaked streets, I felt no fear of Wardana or Brandon.

For the first time since the System transformed my life...

I felt genuine enjoyment.

Not the thrill of making money.

But the satisfaction of watching the enemy's own chess pieces topple their king.

Brandon probably believed he was a predator rising from ruin.

But tonight, beneath Arkadia's silent darkness, he was nothing more than an insect wandering into a spider's web.

And by the end of this journey, he would understand just how foolish he had been to challenge a man who no longer had the word loss in his dictionary.

I pressed the accelerator, letting the engine roar through the night.

Then, as the car sped beneath the lights of Arkadia's financial district, the blood-red interface in my vision, the one I had believed had finally faded, suddenly flared back to life with blinding intensity.

This time, it wasn't an ordinary warning.

In the darkness stretching across the road ahead, a heartbeat graph made entirely of data suddenly projected itself before my eyes.

It wasn't monitoring the market.

It was monitoring me.

Beneath the erratically pulsing graph, a new countdown appeared, flashing in perfect rhythm with my rapidly accelerating heartbeat.

[CRITICAL WARNING: Soul Transfer Session 1 Initiated by the Competitor.]

[Siska Is Not Targeting Your Company... She Is the New Vessel Chosen by the Competitor System to Contain 11% of Your Consciousness Drained Tonight.]

[Time Remaining Before Permanent Soul Fragmentation: 23:59:58]

The car instantly lurched out of control, swerving violently to the right as my left arm went completely numb.

In the rearview mirror, I caught sight of my reflection.

Half of my left eye had turned a blazing crimson.

It was exactly the same eye as the reflection that had smiled at me with that terrifying grin.