I Killed the Hero and Took His Achievements-Chapter 33 - 10 Billion Gold Flex

[Location: The Auction Hall - Zimara]

[Event: The Auction of Nations]

The auction hall was built inside an inactive volcano. The walls were lined with gold, diamonds and all sorts of luxury. The floor was blue mana ore vein marble, which accentuate extravagance.

Sylvia sat next to me. She wasn’t wearing a gown, she was wearing her Dragon Scale Armor that was formed from her own skin. Her eyes were glowing blue sapphire, a faint aura of absolute zero radiated from her, keeping us cool and reminding everyone that nearby a Level 60 Dragonkin was in the room. "Master," Sylvia whispered, her voice pulsated with draconic vibration. "The Dragon Lord of the South keeps glaring at me."

"He’s threatened," I said while adjusting my bowtie to symmetry. "You’re possibly higher on the food chain now."

We sat in Box 1: The VIP Suite.

To our left: The Dragon Lords. (Ancient lizards in human suits).

To our right: The Church of Light (Cardinal Benedict, my spy agent, sweating apprehensively).

Below us: The Merchant Princes.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" The Auctioneer; a Jinn floating on a carpet announced. "Welcome to the Decade Auction! Rules: No Fighting and Magic. If you can’t pay, we feed you to the snakes. Let the bidding commence!"

[Lot 1: The Phoenix Egg]

[Starting Bid: 10 Million Gold.]

"15 Million!" shouted a dwarf king.

"20 Million!" countered a dragon.

That was a lot for a normal person. But here? It was like spare money. The Dragon Lords sitting next to me probably had been accumulated compound interest for years from public.

I yawned. "Boring. Ahri, buy me some snacks."

"Snacks cost 500 gold here, Master."

"Put it on the expense account."

We waited patiently. Items came and went.

Finally.

[Lot 10: The Titan’s Key]

[Description: Access to the Deep Core / World Engine.]

[Starting Bid: 1 Billion Gold.]

The room went absolute silent. This was the main event. The key to terraforming the planet.

"One Billion," The Head Merchant Council said calmly.

"Two Billion," The Dragon Lord roared.

"Three Billion," Cardinal Benedict called out (on my orders, to inflate the price lol).

"Five Billion!" A mysterious hooded figure in the back shouted.

I scanned him with Void Eyes.

[Target: The Shadow Broker.]

[Identity: Agent of the Hegemony (Interstellar Species’ Faction).]

The Interstellar Species. They wanted to secure the World Engine before the Truce expired. They had another World Engine on their hand, it’s called ’Planet Engine’ for this planet, but they didn’t anticipated another clone exists.

"Seven Billion," The Prince countered. He was sweating profusely. That was half of the Zimara’s GDP.

"Eight Billion," The Shadow Broker said slowly.

"Nine Billion!" The Councillor screamed like a madman. "I am Zimara! I will not be outbid in my home!"

The Dragon Lord folded. "Too rich for my blood. I will not be bidding."

The Shadow Broker hesitated for a while. Then, he checked his comms. "Approved for Nine point Five Billion."

"Nine point Five Billion," The Broker said eagerly.

The Prince collapsed in his chair. "I... I’m outta here."

"Going once!" The Djinn shouted. "Going twice!"

The Shadow Broker smirked under his hood. He had won.

I stood up menacingly. I walked to the balcony railing while holding up a data drive.

"Ten Billion," I said arrogantly.

The room gasped.

"Ten Billion?!"

"Who is that?!"

"That’s Cain Cross! The Tyrant Emperor!"

The Shadow Broker glared up at me. "You... you possess that much liquidity? Impossible. Your audit shows that you are cash-poor!"

"Cash is for peasants," I said. "I pay in Assets."

I tossed the drive to the Jinn. "Appraise this drive."

The Jinn caught it. He plugged it into his terminal interface.

[Item: The Technocracy Database (Full Decryption).]

[Contents: Shield Frequencies, Spy Agent Lists, Interstellar Species’ Weaknesses.]

The Jinn’s eyes widened open. "This... this contains the defense schematics diagram for the entire Foreign Fleet that was orbiting the planet."

"So, what’s the value?" I inquired.

The Jinn wiped sweat from his blue forehead. "To the Resistance? Billions. To the Interstellar Species who want it back? Trillions. I value this at 50 Billion Gold."

The Shadow Broker screamed resoundingly. "NO! THAT’S OUR DATA! YOU CAN’T SELL OUR OWN DATA BACK TO US!"

"I just did," I smiled.

"Sold!" The Jinn slammed his gavel. "To The Tyrant Emperor Cain!"

The Shadow Broker drew a plasma pistol. "I’ll kill you!"

Sylvia didn’t even stand up. She just looked at him maliciously.

[Skill: Dragon Fear (S-Rank).]

The sheer pressure of a Level 60 Predator hit the Broker.

"Hey!" The Jinn roared. "I said No Magic!"

"It’s not magic," I said arrogantly. "She’s just breathing menacingly. Are you going to ban breathing?"

The Jinn hesitated, then shrugged. "Yeah, fair point."

He solidified. His gun vibrated in his hand.

"Sit down," Sylvia decreed.

He sat. He wet himself.

"Anyone else want to object?" The Jinn asked cheerfully.

Silence.

"Excellent. Congratulations, The Key is yours, Emperor."

————————————————————

[The VIP Room - Post Auction]

I held the Titan’s Key. It was heavy. It was made of stone and starlight.

"We secured it," Sylvia said gleefully, retracting her wings to fit in the chair. "But you just sold the Interstellar Species’ Weakness data to the Auction House. Now everyone has it."

"Exactly," I grinned evilly. "Now they have to patch their shields. It buys us some time."

"And the 40 Billion change?"

"Store credit."

On spur of moment, the door burst open. Cardinal Benedict walked in. He looked extremely panicked. "Emperor. We have a problem."

"What is it, Benny?" 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

"The Church... they know that you want to access the Deep Core."

"So what?"

"So they activated the Crusade Protocol."

Benedict laid a map on the table.

"The Holy Army is marching on Zimara. 100,000 Paladins. Led by the Grand Inquisitor. And..." Benedict paused. "They broke Kenji out of the dungeon."

I froze. "Kenji?"

"Yes. The Hero. A Church Spec-Ops team infiltrated Oaklan last night. They obtained him. And since you stole his Infinite Growth... The Church gave him a new one."

"What did they give him?"

Benedict shuddered.

"The Church embed a Forbidden Artifact in him," Benedict uttered. "They call it the [Parasite of Martyrdom]. It acts like a System, but it eats his life force to trigger the respawns. Every time he takes damage, he gets stronger. Every time he dies, he resurrects with double stats," He added.

I stared at the map. "So he’s basically like a buffed Phoenix."

"Exactly."

I laughed maniacally. "Fine. We can’t proceed yet. If we start the World Engine while fighting a Crusade, the reverberation will eventually collapse the hole."

I stood up menacingly. "Change of plans," I decreed "We aren’t going to the Core for now. We’re going to meet the Crusade. Sylvia, ready the ship. Seraphina, get your propaganda camera. Ahri, buy more ammunition. I’m going to show the Church why you shouldn’t give a Hero a second chance."