GLOBAL AWAKENING: My 10,000x Exp Multiplier-Chapter 82: []The Demon Duke’s Summoning, Waiting in the Circle

The physical reality of the penthouse violently rejected the unauthorized command. The moment First Minister Felix crushed the secondary catalyst gem, the air pressure in the room spiked. A horrific ear-piercing sound of tearing metal and grinding digital gears echoed across the marble floor.

"He’s overriding the localized physics engine!" Aria screamed. She gripped her wooden staff with both hands. She drove a blinding wave of pink-gold healing magic into the floor to keep the building’s foundational code from collapsing.

Felix wasn’t just casting a spell. He was acting as a human sacrifice.

The politician convulsed as a wet agonizing gasp escaped his lips. His physical avatar began to violently unravel. Jagged glowing red wireframes erupted from his chest. They actively bled his life force and experience points into the hardwood floor. The raw data rapidly formed a massive ten-meter-wide summoning matrix of corrupted crimson runes.

"Commander! The gravitational density is reaching critical mass!" Sia Vance roared. The silver-haired Vanguard didn’t retreat a single inch. She planted her heavy boots firmly into the floorboards and angled her Mythic-tier obsidian kite shield upward. The dark metal glowed white-hot as it tried to absorb the ambient kinetic force.

Behind her, Hana was frantically tapping at her holographic logistics terminal. "The Hourglass barrier is holding, but the internal spatial coordinates are fully compromised! Whatever he’s pulling through that rift is bypassing our outer walls entirely!"

"Crunchy snacks incoming?" Kora asked. The tiny dragon-girl tilted her head as her gold slit-pupils dilated with gluttonous anticipation. She stared at the swirling red portal forming above the matrix.

"Stand your ground," Vahn ordered.

He didn’t look worried. He didn’t look panicked. He simply rolled his shoulders. The faint comforting warmth of Aria’s residual healing magic kept his internal mana pathways perfectly stable. His deep purple eyes flared with the brilliant azure and emerald circuits of his Verdant Chronos-Sight.

The crimson runes on the floor pulsed with a blinding light. A massive geometric tear in space-time ripped open directly above the center of the living room. It wasn’t just a visual effect. Looking into the rift was like staring into the howling void of the Galactic Arena.

"You are too late, Ryker!" Felix choked out. His physical form was now entirely translucent. Half of his body had already dissolved into dead pixels. "The Duke’s avatar is too dense for your localized edits! He will shatter this entire sanctuary!"

From the depths of the void, a terrifying aura bled into the room. It was the unmistakable presence of Demon Duke Ethan. The sheer magnitude of his Level 90 data structure caused the reinforced glass windows of the penthouse to spider-web with deep cracks.

"I told you, little anomaly," the Duke’s grating tectonic voice echoed through the portal. "The Overlords do not tolerate glitches. I have come to collect the System Key."

A massive pale hand draped in shadow-woven fabric reached out from the darkness. It gripped the edge of the spatial tear to pull the rest of his colossal avatar into the physical world.

Vahn didn’t cast a defensive spell. He didn’t order Sia to intercept. He simply smiled!

"Sia. Aria. Maintain the perimeter. Do not let them touch my sister," Vahn commanded softly.

Before anyone could argue, Vahn engaged his base Agility. He didn’t just step forward. He bypassed the swirling vortex of corrupted wind and effortlessly navigated the chaotic gravitational pull of the rift.

He walked directly into the center of the blazing crimson summoning matrix.

"Vahn, what are you doing?!" Aria shrieked. Her heart hammered against her ribs as she watched him willingly step into the epicenter of a Tier-6 dimensional anomaly. "The ambient data density will crush your avatar!"

"I am securing the doorway," Vahn replied smoothly.

He stopped right beneath the hovering portal. The oppressive aura of the Demon Duke washed over him and tried to force him to his knees. But Vahn’s base stats were fundamentally broken. With 9,999 points of Endurance and Strength, the Duke’s passive intimidation mechanics felt like a gentle summer breeze.

Demon Duke Ethan’s glowing crimson eyes peered through the rift. He locked onto the solitary man standing in the exact center of his landing zone. The aristocratic alien paused as genuine confusion rippled across his flawless features.

"You dare step into the transit tunnel?" Ethan sneered. "You are a Level 1 primitive. My mere physical rendering will displace your atomic structure. Move, insect, or be erased."

"You have a terrible habit of relying on outdated system logs, Ethan," Vahn said casually. He rested his hands loosely at his sides. "You assume this summoning circle gives you the right of way. But you’re forgetting a fundamental rule of server management."

Vahn slowly drew the newly forged Voidpiercer Dagger from his hip. The blade looked like a crystallized slice of the night sky. It hummed with a violent hungry purple energy. The moment the weapon was exposed to the air, the spatial tear above him physically shuddered.

"I own the root directory," Vahn stated softly.

He didn’t wait for the Duke to fully materialize. Vahn reversed his grip on the dagger and drove the blade directly into the empty space of the portal’s edge.

He didn’t slash at the Duke’s physical body. He targeted the geometric wireframes holding the dimensional tunnel open. The Rift Carver passive ability of the Mythic dagger engaged instantly. The pitch-black blade easily sheared through the heavily encrypted spatial tethers and aggressively devoured the foundational code of the summoning matrix.

"What are you doing?!" Ethan roared. His arrogant composure shattered into absolute panic as the portal around him violently destabilized. He tried to pull his arm back but the collapsing physics engine caught his wrist in a vice grip. "You cannot sever a Tier-6 tether! It violates the rendering logic!"

"I don’t follow the logic. I edit the code," Vahn replied cleanly.

He twisted the dagger and applied a brutal calculated torque to the fabric of reality. The sound of shattering glass echoed so loudly it practically deafened everyone in the room. The glowing crimson runes on the floor instantly turned gray and dissolved into harmless dust.

The spatial tear violently imploded!

The portal didn’t just close. It collapsed in on itself and severed the connection with a cataclysmic snap of raw energy. The Demon Duke let out a horrific garbled scream of pure system feedback. The collapsing rift forcefully amputated his projected avatar and violently ejected his consciousness back into the Galactic Arena.

The heavy oppressive gravity in the penthouse vanished instantly. The roaring wind died down. The terrifying world-ending threat of the Abyssal invasion was erased with a single perfectly calculated flick of Vahn’s wrist.

Vahn casually sheathed the Voidpiercer Dagger. He dusted off his jacket as if he had just finished pruning a slightly stubborn garden hedge. He turned back to look at his team and his deep purple eyes were entirely relaxed.

"Doorway secured," Vahn smiled. "Are we all okay?"

Aria slowly lowered her staff. Her chest heaved with ragged breaths as she stared at him in absolute unfiltered awe. Sia Vance slammed her fist against her shield as a fierce victorious grin broke across her face. Hana just cheered loudly from the back of the room.

But as Vahn looked over at the fading glitching remains of First Minister Felix, he knew the encounter wasn’t quite over. The rat still had one last trick to play.

The luxurious penthouse of the Sovereign Bank was an absolute disaster zone. The plush velvet furniture was shredded, the pristine marble floor was scarred with deep scorch marks, and the lingering scent of ozone heavily contested Aria’s cherry blossom aura.

In the center of the devastation, First Minister Felix lay sprawled on his back. The politician was a pathetic sight. His attempt to sacrifice his own avatar to power the Demon Duke’s summoning circle had left his physical rendering completely mangled. His left arm and lower legs flickered continuously, fading in and out of existence as red wireframes exposed his failing digital architecture.

Vahn Ryker walked slowly toward the ruined man, his boots crunching against the scattered, gray dust of the shattered summoning matrix. He didn’t draw his dagger. He simply looked down at Felix with the cold, detached curiosity of a scientist observing a particularly stubborn cockroach.

"Your god didn’t answer the door, Felix," Vahn noted, his voice smooth and entirely devoid of malice. "It seems the Syndicate’s grand alliance with the Galactic Market is suffering from connectivity issues. Would you like to try another sacrifice, or are we ready to discuss your immediate surrender?"