Demonic Po*nstar System Chapter 738: Crushing New Reality

All the fighters, directors, senior partners, accountants, and producers marched out from the buildings under Magnus's ownership, trailing behind the woman who had granted him those very structures.

She had bestowed upon him an empire filled with nothing but deserted chambers.

"Sir." Harlan remained behind. He swiped across his tablet as though examining the findings of his own postmortem. "There’s one more thing. I’ve been cross-referencing the financial commitments signed under the co-leader’s authority over the past four years. The accounting team flagged several long-term obligations."

Magnus’s fingers froze in place.

"A seven-year infrastructure development agreement with Moran and Castellan for facility upgrades across all guild-operated locations. Quarterly payment schedule. Three billion dollars total commitment, eleven installments remaining."

The figure lingered heavily in the atmosphere.

"A five-year exclusive equipment procurement contract with Sentinel Armaments at locked rates. Favorable bulk pricing, but minimum purchase volumes that assume full operational capacity."

Full operational capacity. The very capacity now departing through the exits.

"A training facility lease extension in the capital district. Fifteen-year term. Signed eight months ago."

Harlan lifted his gaze from the tablet.

"Each agreement benefits New Dawn on paper, sir. Long-term cost reduction, infrastructure investment, favorable rates. The terms are sound if the guild operates at projected headcount and revenue."

He left the thought unfinished. The reality showed plainly on his expression.

Magnus comprehended fully.

The assets remained untouched. The accounts stayed intact. The Chronos sat precisely where the records indicated. Vespera wasn’t some novice prone to blatant, punishable offenses.

Her move locked the cash into extended commitments, premised on a guild brimming with staff and steady income. Commitments that, merely three hours prior, spelled wise governance.

Today, they chained a vessel going under.

She inflicted deeper harm than simple theft; she guaranteed that retaining his prize would drain funds beyond his means the instant the personnel vanished.

And vanish they were.

Magnus’s chair slammed against the wall.

He had no recollection of rising. In one instant seated, the next the chair lodged into the plaster behind, one armrest broken off entirely. Magnus stood tall, fists trembling, mana surging through the space in a crushing surge that fractured his desk straight down the middle.

"That vile fucking woman!"

The bellow ripped from his throat so fiercely it demolished the final shred of restraint he’d held through the night. Harlan reeled back out the door. The young staffer had bolted down the hall the second the mana surged, her tablet tumbling away in the distance.

Magnus’s fist smashed onto the desk. Timber cracked apart. Documents flew everywhere. A monitor tumbled from the side, its display exploding on impact in shards of glass and fragments.

"Four years!" He prowled the room with savage steps, mana leaking in pulses that dimmed the ceiling lights. "Four fucking years she sat across from me, acted indifferent, and plotted!"

He seized the bookshelf by the window. Sturdy oak, secured to the wall, three hundred kilos of timber and metal supports. He tore it loose single-handedly. Volumes, trophies, encased honors burst outward as the unit toppled into the opposite wall, gouging out plaster.

"She gave it away!" His tone rose, fracturing, a mix of thunderous bellow and anguished wail. "She fed me an empty carcass!"

Mana intensity soared, and the room’s killing intent thickened into something tangible, straining the walls, tainting the air with metallic bite.

Magnus booted the desk’s ruins. The sections flew apart, sliding over the floor amid papers and wreckage.

"I will bury her!" He jabbed at empty space, at the vision replaying in his mind, his wife reclined against their boy with lids shut and that faint, inconceivable grin. "You think this is over?! You think you can do this to me and walk away?! I built New Dawn from NOTHING! I built it with my hands, with my name, with decades of my life, and you, you cold, manipulative, treacherous BITCH-"

His boot crushed a chunk of the monitor. Glass crunched underfoot.

"I will take everything back! Every fighter, every sponsor, every partner you think you stole! I will drag them back by their contracts or I will burn them to the ground and build new ones! You want a war?!" Now he raged at the ceiling, neck veins bulging, saliva spraying. "I will give you a war you’ll choke on! I’ll have you brought before the Association for fraud, for conspiracy, for criminal fucking destruction of guild assets! You’ll spend the rest of your life answering for what you did tonight!"

In the devastation of his office he remained, breaths ragged, encircled by shattered wood, strewn files, and a hush louder than his fury.

His hands quivered. Both, fiercely and without control.

Then Grace entered his sight.

She lingered near the window. Unmoved. Yet her guards had shifted.

Those three who’d blended into the backdrop all evening, mute and immobile and unremarkable, now positioned firmly between Magnus and their charge. Stances set, postures rigid, hands ready. They eyed him like combatants sizing up an uncommitted foe.

Amid the chair’s ruin, the shelf’s collapse, the outbursts, the killing intent, Grace had stayed put, palms clasped, observing the office’s demolition without a single flinch.

"Why are you still here?!" Magnus spun toward her. "The divorce is finalized! Your role as institutional witness is over! Get the fuck out of my office!"

Grace drew a sealed paper from her jacket’s interior. No desk remained whole to receive it, split as it lay. She placed it on the sill nearby.

"Guild Leader Morvane." Her tone stayed even and official. "I was not merely present today in my capacity as witness to your divorce proceedings."

The chamber fell utterly quiet.

"The Awakened Association has formally opened an investigation into New Dawn’s executive leadership on charges of criminal endangerment of awakened combatants during an officially sanctioned competition event, reckless deployment of veteran-tier fighters against a registered rookie team, and direct authorization of potentially lethal force against civilians under Association protection."

She delivered it verbatim. No paper required.

"Failure to cooperate fully with the Association’s legal division will result in the issuance of a formal warrant."

Magnus retreated a pace. His heel snagged the bookshelf debris, throwing him off balance, arm flailing for distant support. He crumpled. Back struck plaster, then slid down amid his chaos, legs splayed like a fallen victim.

"You..." Words stumbled from his lips improperly. "This is... you can’t... I am the guild leader of the largest..."

"You are the subject of an active investigation," Grace stated. "That is what you are."

She drew herself up.

"I trust you understand the seriousness of these proceedings. The sealed notice contains the full scope of charges and your obligations during the investigation period. I recommend you retain counsel immediately, assuming you can find some."

Her gaze swept the destruction: desk in halves, monitor in pieces, bookshelf toppled, chair wedged in plaster. Back to Magnus it went.

Grace rested against the sill and retrieved her phone. "Would you look at that? They’re also streaming on the internet for the first time. Damn, they have a crisp camera too." Her thumb flicked through the chat. "So many people have a spare hundred dollars... Maybe I should give this streaming thing a go as well."

The guards held position. Between her and Magnus they stood, observing him amid his office’s rubble.

Magnus Morvane slumped in the ruins of his guild’s heart, with the Association’s grip already closing in.

Within his interface, the broadcast neared its close.

"You’re right, internet wife. This has been a lot today." Kaiden’s voice carried exhaustion. "Let’s end it here for now. Thank you, everyone, for joining us tonight."

His eyes dropped to Vespera. Shut tight. That subtle smile lingered.

He pressed lips to her crown.

"And on behalf of my mother, I’m grateful for all the kind messages and good wishes I’ve seen sent her way."

Alice edged into view over his shoulder, grin wide, gaze sparkling. Both hands waved frantically and joyfully at the lens.

"Bye everyone!! Thank you for always supporting my big brother and treating Mom kindly!!"

Kaiden let out a chuckle as the feed went dark.

Magnus remained floor-bound, gaze vacant.