Chapter 538 – Firewall Knight
"That the look you usually wear if you want to kill soone or bankrupt a lord," Corvus’s voice ca.
Lux didn’t look up.
Didn’t need to.
The shadow shifted behind the velvet couch as a slick ripple of mana bent space just slightly, and then the black bird erged. Sleek feathers. Shining beak. He hopped once, talons clicking on the backrest before settling like he owned the place.
Corvus always did have a flair for the dramatic.
The room was quiet otherwise. Lullaby still asleep, breathing soft on his lap. Steam curling from his mostly forgotten coffee. His hologram screens flickering like high-speed ghost scrolls.
Lux didn’t tilt his head. Didn’t blink.
"Corvus," he said flatly. "What did you find?"
"Hmmm," the bird drawled, ruffling his wings. "Not much. You’re welco, by the way."
Lux exhaled through his nose.
Corvus took that as permission to go on.
"I found that lamia lover of yours," he said with gleeful venom.
Lux’s fingers stilled.
"She isn’t my lover," he corrected, voice clipped.
Corvus snorted. "Could’ve fooled . The way she circles you like you’re a prize she already licked. Obsessed doesn’t even cover it. It’s like watching soone try to bedazzle a nuke."
Lux finally looked up. His eyes glead, not with amusent, but with that sharp, analytical gleam that ant soone was about to regret sothing.
Corvus kept going anyway.
"She’s spreading her influence," he said, now pacing across the sofa back like a shadow in motion. "Not the flashy kind. The slow-drip, economy-crawl kind. Her fingers are moving through mortal realm infrastructure. Right now? Her targets are gem and artifact collectors."
Lux narrowed his eyes.
"Go on."
"You know the type," Corvus said. "Mana crystalization specialists. The rich hobbyists who wear necklaces that pulse like a heartbeat. Custom spell-sinks. Bloodline-stored runes. Magic that doesn’t co cheap."
He paused.
And his tone shifted.
Darker. Sharper.
"People who can create things like... pearls."
Lux’s head turned slowly.
Corvus stopped pacing. Just looked at him.
Like he knew he’d just thrown a match into oil.
"Avariel," Lux said.
It wasn’t a question.
Corvus nodded. "Specifically that rmaid. Your shy little rescue fish. Ariel."
Lux sat up slightly, making Lullaby mumble and curl tighter into his lap, but he didn’t move her. His voice dropped.
"What did she do?"
"Lylith?" Corvus asked. "She tried to bankrupt the Avariel estate. Quietly. Piece by piece. Asset drains. Digital liquidity cracks. Interest spike spells. I traced her hacks. She was looking for ’the source.’ Not just the pearls."
Lux’s breath stilled.
"She wanted the mine," he muttered.
"Bingo," Corvus chirped. "Apparently, little Ariel’s unique trait isn’t common. Most rmaids lose the ability to shed magical pearls after twenty. Ariel still can. Rare. So Lylith doesn’t just want her product. She wants her. The factory. The stream. The source of tears that shine in moonlight."
Lux’s hand clenched.
"And?"
Corvus grinned, all beak and sharp smugness. "And I hacked her hackers. Hard. I let them think they got in. Let them poke around for maybe five seconds before I flipped their own code into confetti and slamd their access tunnels shut. I added a note too. Wanna hear it?"
Lux arched a brow.
"I signed it ’Firewall Knight reporting for duty.’ Caw!"
The bird flared his wings proudly.
Then promptly hopped off the couch back and onto Lux’s shoulder with a little flourish.
"Cool, huh?"
Lux didn’t answer.
He just turned to the hovering screens in front of him.
"System," he said. "You heard Corvus. Show the status. I want Avariel family wealth integrity and Lylith Seravelle’s linked activities."
[Affirmative. Compiling.]
The screens flickered.
Then glitched for half a second.
Then showed red.
Not warning red.
Breach red.
[Avariel Wealth Network Status:
93% intact.
5% under active scanning.
2% recent breach attempt from encrypted external source.
Source identified: Seravelle Ltd. Masked routing.]
[Initiating counterasure: Corvus Protocol: Already deployed.]
[Result: Breach repelled. Data integrity maintained.]
[Current status: Secure.]
Lux’s jaw tightened.
Lux’s hands moved before he even thought. A few flicks. A few swipes.
The system adjusted.
[Lylith Seravelle]
[Status: Active]
[Location: Mobile]
[Assets: 132 Registered under Seravelle Holdings. 14 under fake aliases. 3 unknown.]
[Flagged activities: 27 manipulative contract cycles. 18 seduction-based power exchanges. 7 confird economic assaults on mid-tier mortal collectors.]
[Personal Goal Tag (Tracked): "Secure the Sea Source."]
"She called Ariel Sea Source," Lux muttered.
Corvus made a noise like dry choking. "Yuck."
"She wants to own her."
Corvus nodded. "Like a pet. Or a vault. Probably both." He grinned. "And she probably wants you too for the sa reason, boss."
Lux exhaled. Slow. Heavy.
He didn’t even feel the anger this ti. Just sothing colder. Deeper. A pressure that wrapped around his spine and whispered of numbers, war, and retribution.
He looked at the screen again.
His voice dropped.
"She tried to buy her family."
"Correction," Corvus said. "She tried to collapse them. Then planned to swoop in and save them. Classic asset freeze technique. Seduce the desperate heiress. Play the savior."
Lux leaned forward.
"She forgot one thing."
"Oh?" Corvus asked.
Lux’s eyes flicked to Lullaby. Still asleep. Still warm.
"She’s not alone."
[What would you like to do, sir?]
Lux stared at the screen for a long mont.
Then smiled.
Not the charming one.
Not the flirtatious one.
But the CFO smile.
Cold.
Precise.
Deadly.
"I want all her mortal realm assets blacklisted. Reverse every buy-in contract she’s snaked her way into over the past fiscal quarter. Tag her with a transparency curse. Let every board know who they’re really dealing with. Subtly."
[Subtly, sir?]
"Yes," Lux said. "Make it look like they figured it out first. Let the market humiliate her."
[And the artifacts board?]
"Sa treatnt," Lux said. "Leak her connection to two failed enchantnt disasters and the corrupted gemstone trade. Ruin her luxury ratings."
[Understood.]
"And one more thing," Lux said, gaze darkening. "Make sure Ariel’s na never appears in any trade docuntation again. Lock it. Seal it. She’s not a resource."
[Of course, sir.]
Corvus whistled. "Damn. You’re really gonna war over a rmaid."
Lux didn’t look away from the screen.
"She’s mine."
He said it so flatly it didn’t sound possessive. Just factual.
Corvus tilted his head. "Like... harem ’mine’ or ’under-my-protection’ mine?"
Lux shrugged. "Sa thing."
The bird cackled. "You’re getting soft."
"I’m getting efficient," Lux corrected. "And Lylith? She’s about to learn that when you ss with a devil’s heart, it costs more than gold."
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