Unlimited Transaction System

Elena on the Front Line

"Arkan! Grab the wheel!"

Elena's scream shattered the silence inside the cabin as the car suddenly spun out of control. The tires shrieked against Arkadia's rain-slick asphalt as the luxury sedan swerved violently to the right. My hands had gone completely numb. Every nerve in my left arm was dead, while the vision in my left eye twisted beneath a blood-red haze that burned across my retina. Inside my head, it felt as though a pair of invisible hands were ripping my sanity away by force.

Siska... Siska was draining my soul from miles away.

With the reflexes of a military veteran, Elena threw herself across the console, seized the steering wheel with one hand, and slammed the brakes with all her strength. The car lurched to a violent stop just inches from the highway's concrete barrier.

I gasped for air, clutching my chest as it pounded in sync with the flashing crimson countdown in the corner of my vision.

[23:54:12 Until Permanent Soul Fragmentation]

"We have to get back to the penthouse now! Your System signal is confirming an unexpected anomaly, Arkan. And that's not all... our headquarters' security sensors have just been breached!" Elena shouted. Her eyes, usually as cold as ice, were filled with unmistakable panic as she stared at the left half of my face, where my eye glowed an unnatural crimson.

We had no choice but to retreat, returning to our fortress above the clouds with our minds in ruins. This war was no longer being fought on the stock exchange. It had already shattered the boundary between life and death.

No blood stained the marble floor of my office, yet the air around us felt as heavy as molten steel. Three figures, professional infiltrators hired by Brandon, lay sprawled before me. Their bones had been twisted grotesquely out of place. They weren't dead, but they wouldn't be lifting a weapon again anytime soon.

Elena stood in the middle of the room. Her black blazer was torn across one shoulder, but her breathing remained perfectly steady, matching the relentless ticking of the wall clock. Only one thing had changed. Her eyes radiated the aura of a predator, freezing the atmosphere around her.

"It's over, Arkan. I interrogated three out of the four. The last one bit down on a cyanide capsule hidden in his tooth before I could strike the nerves in his neck," Elena reported. Her voice was flat, yet beneath it trembled an anger she rarely allowed anyone to hear.

I stepped past the men writhing in agony, hiding my violently trembling left hand inside my pocket.

"What did they say?" I asked. My voice sounded rougher and heavier than usual, drained by the side effects of my fading consciousness.

Elena walked over and handed me a data pad containing a raw encrypted voice recording.

"They were sent by Brandon. That bastard is working with a private mercenary syndicate called The Silencers. Their primary mission wasn't just to kill you, Arkan. They were supposed to plant a backdoor inside our mainframe so Siska could fully map your entire network."

I activated the data pad. The gravelly voice of the mercenary team's leader echoed through the room, promising Siska that once the system was compromised, Arkan would be completely crippled.

I crushed the data pad in my hand until its screen shattered.

"Siska..." I hissed through clenched teeth. "She doesn't just want my fortune. She wants to hollow out my soul and turn it into a vessel for the Competitor System!"

I turned toward Elena, and that's when I noticed the dark stain spreading across the sleeve of her blazer.

My heart dropped.

"Elena... your arm. That blood..."

"It's only a cut from a blade coated with neurotoxin," she interrupted quickly, taking a step back to hide the wound. "I've already injected myself with a neutralizing serum. It's nothing, Arkan. Focus on your condition."

"Nothing?!" I roared, my voice thundering through the silent room.

I grabbed both her shoulders and forced her to look at me. The emotions I had buried for so long surged violently to the surface.

"Look at me, Elena! I'm losing myself every second! And now you're... you're hurt because of my carelessness! I refuse to let the people standing beside me become sacrifices for those parasites and their pathetic ambitions!"

She froze.

For the first time, I saw a crack beneath her flawless mask of professionalism.

She looked at me from only inches away, close enough that I could feel the warmth of her breath despite the room's icy chill.

"Arkan," she said softly, her voice trembling with deep emotion. "They know your digital fortress can't be breached from the outside. That's why they targeted me. If I fall, your physical protection collapses. They want to separate me from you so they can tear you apart."

Her leather-gloved hand gripped my useless arm, somehow transferring a strength I never expected.

"As long as my heart is still beating, I won't let those bastards lay a finger on you. Let me finish this, Arkan. Not on the stock exchange. Not in some trading game. Let me use the law of the jungle to slaughter them."

I stared at her for a long moment, drowning in her blue eyes that burned with absolute loyalty, the kind of loyalty that could never be bought with Wardana's ten billion dollars.

"Take whatever resources you need from the emergency operations fund," I finally said, loosening my grip with great reluctance. "Destroy them, Elena. But for God's sake... come back in one piece. Don't make me lose the only person I trust in this world."

Elena snapped into a rigid military salute before turning sharply toward the exit, leaving me alone beneath the dim lights of the penthouse.

[NOTIFICATION: Physical elimination target for Level 4 Security Sector has been registered.]

[Warning: The consequences of your decision will increase your "Villainy/Dictator" score by 5 points.]

"To hell with the dictator score," I muttered.

I dragged myself back to my desk and opened access to the Market Oracle.

My fingers danced across the virtual keyboard as my anger reached its peak.

From this moment forward, diplomacy was over.

Tomorrow morning's target would be the Dirgantara Family's primary construction material distribution network.

I would inject rumors of a massive operational collapse into the market through the System's underground channels.

I would force Brandon, Siska, and Wardana to kneel atop the ruins of their own financial empire before dawn.

"Ready, Elena?" I whispered into the communicator on my wrist.

"Moving toward the target now, Arkan. Weapons are ready," her calm yet deadly voice answered over the radio transmission.

I took a deep breath, then slammed my palm onto the [EXECUTE] button on the System dashboard.

At that exact instant, every light across Arkadia outside the window flickered, as if the city's entire power grid had been consumed by the digital command I had just unleashed.

The financial storm had begun.

Yet just as a victorious smile was about to spread across my lips, an unbearable pain, far worse than anything before, exploded inside my chest.

I crashed out of my chair, collapsing to my knees on the marble floor while clutching my head as though it were about to split open.

Across the dark floor, the System interface projected itself once more, radiating an intense crimson glow that illuminated the entire room.

New warning messages appeared, flashing with terrifying speed.

[CRITICAL FAILURE: Market Sabotage Failed to Halt Soul Transfer!]

[Siska Has Just Absorbed an Additional 5% of Your Consciousness Through Activation of The Silencers Network.]

[Total Soul Drained: 16%]

[Time Remaining: 22:15:03]

[WARNING: Stage 2 Consciousness Loss Side Effect Activated. Left Leg Motor Functions Disabled.]

I tried to stand, but my left leg suddenly went completely numb, sending me crashing back onto the floor.

At that same moment, from the communicator still lying nearby, a burst of automatic gunfire erupted, followed by a deafening explosion from Elena's location.

"Arkan! It's a trap! They were already waiting... static...!"

Her voice was cut off by the deafening clang of metal smashing into the transmitter.

I lay alone on the cold penthouse floor, half my body completely paralyzed, listening to the endless hiss of static from the communicator while the countdown to my soul's death continued ticking mercilessly toward zero.