Started with a 10,000x Multiplier in a Game World

The staging plateau of Mount Ignis was thick with tension, sulfur, and the suffocating egos of two desperate Guild Masters.

Ryujin stood with his Gold-tier katana pointed aggressively at Dante. He waited for the anomaly to accept the childish and humiliating bet.

Silas stood nearby. A smug eager smile was plastered across his face, and he fully intended to use the race to salvage his ruined reputation.

Dante didn’t accept the bet.

He didn’t politely decline. He didn’t even draw a weapon.

[Skill Executed: Phantom Dash]

Because of his [Chrono-Shift] talent, the Zenith-tier mobility skill had zero cast time and zero mana cost.

Dante simply vanished from his position at the head of his squad.

He didn’t teleport to the portal to start the race.

He materialized exactly one foot in front of Ryujin.

The transition was so violently instantaneous that the Guild Master of the Black Dragon Syndicate didn’t even have time to blink, let alone attempt to dodge or parry.

BOOM.

The sonic boom of the materialization of Dante detonated point-blank against the premium crimson samurai armor of Ryujin.

[Guaranteed Stun Applied. Duration: 1 Second.]

Ryujin locked up completely. His avatar froze mid-breath, and a bright yellow stun icon violently flashed above his helmet.

The katana in his hand remained pointed harmlessly at empty air.

The thousands of players watching the confrontation didn’t even have time to gasp.

Dante didn’t use [Voidsever]. He didn’t activate [Blood Sacrifice] to multiply his attack power. He didn’t need to.

He simply gripped the [Dawn-Breaker Blade] with his dark purple gauntlets. He executed a flawless, brutal, and horizontal slash directly across the paralyzed neck of Ryujin.

The Gold-tier broadsword backed by the monstrous Level 72 baseline stats of Dante and the guaranteed 100% Critical Hit Chance from his [Asura Vanguard] class passive connected with devastating finality.

[-48,000! Critical Hit! OVERKILL!]

The massive red damage numbers exploded above the head of Ryujin and completely overrode the yellow stun icon.

The Guild Master of the Sakura Nation didn’t even get a chance to register the pain or process the betrayal of the mechanics of the game.

His health bar, already fragile from his previous humiliating deaths, vanished in a single frame.

Ryujin violently exploded into a massive shower of blue and silver polygons.

Because he was standing in an open-world staging zone and had his weapon aggressively drawn, the PvP penalty of the system triggered instantly.

A heavy glowing item dropped from his deleted avatar and clattered loudly against the ash-covered stone of the plateau.

Dante calmly sheathed the [Dawn-Breaker Blade]. He didn’t bend down to pick up the loot. He just looked at the empty space where Ryujin had just been standing.

"I do not make bets," Dante said flatly. His voice carried perfectly across the completely silent staging area.

Silas stood just a few feet away and staggered backward in absolute unfiltered horror.

The smug smile was entirely wiped from his face and replaced by pure instinctive terror.

His elite highly paid mercenary squad immediately formed a tight defensive circle around him. They raised their massive shields and drew their weapons.

They weren’t preparing to attack Dante. They were preparing to defend against him.

The entire Black Dragon Syndicate raid team, currently missing their Guild Master, stared at Dante in complete paralyzed shock.

They didn’t retaliate. They didn’t draw their swords.

They had just watched their leader get casually and instantly deleted for the fourth time in a week.

"Anyone else want to race?" Dante asked and turned his head slowly to look at Silas.

Silas swallowed hard, and his Adam’s apple bobbed visibly above his pristine silver collar.

He didn’t say a word. He just shook his head frantically and actively shrank behind his mercenary wall.

"Good," Dante nodded.

He didn’t activate [Phantom Waltz] to wipe the rest of them.

He wasn’t here to farm player kills. He was here to clear a dungeon.

He turned around and walked back to his squad.

Mei was leaning against her massive frying pan and shaking her head.

"Boss, you really need to work on your negotiation skills. You did not even let him finish explaining the rules."

"The rules were stupid," Dante replied.

Lila sighed and leaned heavily on her Dark Demon staff.

"You know he is going to throw an absolute fit when he respawns, right? He is going to flood the global API with complaints."

"Let him complain," Dante said and waved his hand toward the glowing purple portal of Fire Roc’s Last Wish. "Let us move. We have a timer to beat."

The twelve-man squad moved efficiently, stepped past the terrified frozen players of the rival guilds, and marched directly through the portal.

***

Back in the Capital city of Aethelgardia, the central resurrection plaza was a flurry of activity.

Ryujin materialized in a flash of bright blue light and stumbled slightly on the pristine white marble.

He didn’t calmly brush himself off.

The Guild Master of the Black Dragon Syndicate let out a roar of absolute unadulterated fury that echoed across the entire plaza.

He violently kicked a nearby decorative marble bench to shatter it into digital pieces.

"HE IS A HACKER!" Ryujin screamed and ignored the stares of the hundreds of neutral players loitering in the square.

"He ignored the parry frames! He ignored the dialogue prompt! He is manipulating the systemic code!"

Ryujin was hyperventilating, and his face was flushed an ugly mottled purple.

He had just been humiliated again, but this time it was worse.

He hadn’t been killed in a dungeon or a massive siege.

He had been casually swatted like a bug while trying to initiate a formal public challenge. He looked like an absolute joke.

He opened his system interface, and his fingers practically shook with rage.

He didn’t care about the cost. He didn’t care about the consequences.

He needed to destroy the reputation of Dante completely.

Ryujin accessed the premium cash shop and purchased a customized Global Broadcast token.

He didn’t hesitate to pay the exponentially increasing anti-spam penalty fee and drained the last dregs of his personal corporate funding to secure the megaphone.

He aggressively typed his message and intended to weaponize public opinion and force Dante into the challenge.

[Global Broadcast - Sender: God-King (Sakura Nation)]

[Message: To the entire Overture server! The anomaly known as ’Dan’ is a coward! He refused a formal synchronized raid challenge and resorted to an exploitative stealth execution in a staging zone!]

[Message: He knows he cannot compete against true organized skill! The bet stands! If Aegis Vanguard does not clear ’ Fire Roc’s Last Wish’ faster than the Black Dragon Syndicate, they admit defeat! I demand a formal systemic validation!]

Ryujin hit send.

The bright obnoxious pink text violently hijacked the sky above the entire global server and blared loudly across every single zone.

Ryujin stood in the center of the resurrection plaza. He panted heavily and waited for the public reaction.

He expected the independent players to rally behind him to demand fairness and systemic integrity. He expected Dante to be forced into the race out of sheer social pressure.

He didn’t get the reaction he expected.

***

Deep inside the entrance tunnels of Fire Roc’s Last Wish, Dante read the pink broadcast hovering in his peripheral vision.

The environment was a sweltering jagged tunnel carved directly through active volcanic rock.

Rivers of molten magma flowed sluggishly beneath heavy iron grates to illuminate the path with a harsh aggressive orange light.

"Boss," Casanova laughed and walked slightly behind Dante. "He actually bought another broadcast. The guy has more money than sense."

"He is trying to force a narrative," Sera noted and adjusted her merchant robes in the intense heat. "He wants the server to think you are afraid to race him fairly."

"It is a desperate play," Nyx added and pushed her dark glasses up.

"But it might work. If the public perceives you as a coward who relies on exploits, our guild recruitment will stagnate."

Dante stopped walking.

He didn’t look annoyed. He looked profoundly and genuinely tired of dealing with the Sakura Nation leader.

"I am not playing his game," Dante said flatly.

"You cannot just ignore a global challenge, Dante," Sera warned. "The optics—"

"I am not ignoring it," Dante interrupted. "I am canceling it."

Dante opened his infinite inventory.

He scrolled past the massive piles of Gold-tier weapons, the Dark Demon armor, and the glowing stat crystals.

He bypassed the [Primal Chaos Token] and the [Legion Summons].

He was looking for a very specific administrative consumable he had completely forgotten about.

He had looted it off the [Seven Evils - Sloth] after casually vaporizing the Celestial Beast in the crater.

He pulled it out.

It was a heavy square tablet forged from dark unreflective obsidian.

It was etched with glowing deep red systemic runes that pulsed with aggressive restrictive authority.

[Item Appraised: Blockade Order]

[Tier: Divine]

[Type: Administrative Override Consumable]

[Description: A highly restricted system command item. Upon activation, the user can target any designated Geopolitical Faction on the server.]

[The targeted faction will be hit with a mandatory un-skippable 24-hour server lockout. All affiliated players are forcibly disconnected and barred from logging into the Zenith Protocol until the timer expires. Limit: One use per tablet.]

It was significantly more powerful than the [Zone Lockdown Token].

It didn’t just lock a zone. It locked the accounts. It literally banned an entire nation from playing the game for a full day.

"Is that what I think it is?" Nyx asked and recognized the heavy administrative aura radiating from the tablet.

"It is a mute button," Dante replied smoothly.

He held the obsidian tablet in his left hand and opened the administrative interface.

The massive holographic globe of the Overture server materialized in front of him.

He quickly panned across the map and zoomed in on the crimson-marked territory of the Sakura Nation in the far east.

[Target Selected: Sakura Nation Faction]

[Warning: Activating this tablet will initiate a forced global disconnect for all registered members of the targeted faction. This action is absolute and cannot be reversed by player intervention.]

[Confirm Activation?]

Dante smiled.

"Confirm," Dante said.

He crushed the heavy tablet in his gauntlet.

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