Season 3 chapter 91
The Sovereign's Blind Spot
Miles away from the grimy industrial sector, in the absolute center of Seistain's elite aristocratic district, a towering high-rise building made of pristine white stone and heavy brass overlooked the capital.
Inside the lavishly decorated penthouse office, Leon Debestez sat behind a massive, hand-carved mahogany desk. The sovereign head of the Ninth Family was quietly reviewing a stack of wax-sealed intelligence ledgers, his expression cold, calculating, and entirely unbetted.
A sharp, respectful knock echoed from the heavy oak doors.
"You may enter," Leon commanded smoothly, not looking up from his papers.
The heavy doors opened, and a high-ranking aristocratic intelligence officer stepped into the room. He wore a flawless, tailored uniform adorned with royal insignias. He bowed deeply, showing absolute reverence to the Patriarch of the shadows.
"My Lord," the officer greeted carefully. "I beg your pardon for the interruption."
"Why are you here?" Leon asked, his voice a quiet, dangerous purr. "What do you want from me?"
The officer swallowed hard, stepping closer to the desk. "Sir, I am reporting on the specific inquiry you ordered regarding the religious territories. I believe you are aware of the mysterious foundation that recently purchased all the destroyed land from the religious cities across the entire country?"
Leon finally stopped writing. He slowly set his fountain pen down on the desk and looked up, his dark eyes locking onto the officer.
"Yes. I know about this thing," Leon replied coldly. "A massive, sweeping land acquisition following the civil war. So what? Have you actually found any actionable intelligence related to them?"
"Sir, unfortunately... we were unable to find anything concrete," the officer admitted, his voice trembling slightly. "The foundation is a strictly private organization, and they are entirely mysterious. My Lord, they bought a humongous amount of sovereign land under the radar. Our financial analysts estimate the total buyout cost approximately twenty-eight trillion credits."
Leon's eyes narrowed slightly.
"And yet, nobody noticed until the deeds were already filed," the officer continued nervously. "I do not know how this kind of organization acquired so much liquid funding. There is nothing visible on the public front. There are no registry filings, no board of directors, no tax manifests. We do not know who created this foundation or who contributed these massive funds. All we know is that they successfully bought every single acre of religious land in the Republic, and we possess absolutely zero data beyond that."
A terrifying, suffocating silence descended upon the opulent office.
Leon Debestez leaned back in his leather chair, steepling his fingers together. The polished, aristocratic composure he maintained was suddenly laced with pure, lethal malice.
"Well," Leon whispered softly. "If you do not have the data... why are you standing in my office telling me this absolute shit?"
The officer flinched, instinctively taking a half-step backward.
"I want this data right now," Leon commanded, his voice rising in volume, cracking like a whip across the quiet room. "It is highly required! Twenty-eight trillion credits does not just physically manifest out of thin air! Bribe the clerks! Threaten the local magistrates! Torture the bankers who processed the land deeds! I do not care what you have to do, just make the public records available to me!"
"Yes, sir!" the officer bowed frantically, sweat forming on his brow. "We will do that! We will deploy the extortion units immediately! We will ensure we extract some kind of data! But my Lord, the main problem is that it is a highly secure private organization, and tracing private capital—"
"I do not pay you to explain your problems to me," Leon interrupted ruthlessly. "I pay you to solve mine. Find out who holds the deeds to the religious land. If you fail to bring me a name by the end of the week, I will replace you with someone who can."
The Territory 774 Complication
The heavy, suffocating silence in the penthouse office remained unbroken for a few moments. Leon Debestez stared coldly at his intelligence officer, his fingers still steepled together.
The officer swallowed hard, nervously clearing his throat.
"My Lord, if I may," the officer requested respectfully, desperate to change the subject away from his massive failure regarding the religious lands. "There is one more critical matter that requires your immediate attention."
Leon gestured slightly with his hand, permitting the officer to speak.
"It is regarding the ruins of Territory 774," the officer reported, his posture straightening. "As you predicted at the end of the civil war, the new Presidential Council is actively preparing to launch a massive, extensive investigation into the island near the blast zone."
Leon's eyes narrowed slightly.
"We intercepted their initial deployment orders months ago," the officer explained quickly, eager to show his competence. "We immediately funneled heavy bribes into the Ministry of Defense and extorted several key admirals. With our influence, we were successfully able to delay their investigation by several months, exactly as you commanded. But that grace period is rapidly expiring, my Lord. The federal armada will set sail for the territory very soon."
Leon stood up from his mahogany desk, slowly walking over to the massive floor-to-ceiling glass window overlooking the capital.
The impending investigation was a direct threat to the highly classified royal island located just outside the 774 sector. That unmarked fortress held the absolute bulk of the aristocracy's liquid wealth and untraceable gold reserves.
"You did well to delay them and buy us this crucial time," Leon stated smoothly, staring out at the city smog. "I gave the order to evacuate that island the very night the war ended. What is the current status of Plan 3674B?"
"The Leviathan Transit Protocol has been operating in the shadows for months, my Lord," the officer confirmed with a deep bow. "We are just waiting for your final authorization to move the last shipment."
"Excellent," Leon said, his voice dropping into a cold, uncompromising register. "Send the operational commander in. I need to meet with him immediately."
"Yes, my Lord," the officer bowed, turning on his heel and exiting the grand office with obvious relief.
The Leviathan Transit
A minute later, the heavy oak doors pushed open again.
A tall, heavily scarred man walked into the room. He wore a dark, heavy naval coat and thick leather boots, carrying the distinct, lethal aura of a commander who moved absolute fortunes in the dead of night.
He stopped a few paces from the desk and bowed his head respectfully.
"My Lord," the commander greeted quietly. "You called for me?"
Leon turned away from the window, his dark eyes locking onto the commander.
"The federal military's delay has expired. They will be sweeping the sector soon," Leon stated, the absolute weight of his sovereign authority filling the room. "I want to know if the Leviathan Transit Protocol is complete. Has every single ounce of the Royal Family's wealth been extracted from that island?"
The commander didn't hesitate. A dark, confident gleam flashed in his eyes.
"Yes, sir," the commander answered firmly, his voice steady. "I am totally ready for the final phase. For the past two months, our heavy freighters have been quietly stripping the island vault empty. We will initiate the final transit of the remaining assets in a few days. By the time the government ships arrive, they will find nothing but empty rocks and dirt."
Leon gave a slow, terrifyingly calm nod.
"See that you do," Leon whispered. "Because if a single federal soldier lays their eyes on our remaining gold, you will not live long enough to regret it."
The Alloy Heist
The Northern East wing of Kavilson Steel was operating at maximum industrial capacity. Inside the newly reinforced R&D laboratory, dozens of workers were actively welding massive, high-grade alloy components for the eastern refineries. Bright blue sparks showered across the concrete floor as Shuntesh Hawada walked down the central aisle, sharply dictating orders to his engineering staff.
"Hey, you two!" Shuntesh yelled, pointing at a massive, thick iron cylinder resting on a hydraulic pallet. "Move that primary cooling pipe over to sector four right now!"
Two soot-covered workers grabbed the edges of the pipe, straining violently before giving up.
"But sir, it is incredibly heavy!" one of the workers complained, rubbing his lower back. "We literally cannot lift that!"
"Don't make jokes around me!" Shuntesh snapped aggressively, completely devoid of empathy. "Just lift that fucking pipe up before I permanently deduct your caloric intake from your salary! You need to get a big net thing on it and move it!"
But as the workers groaned and went back to pushing the heavy iron, Shuntesh's sharp eyes suddenly locked onto the far corner of the supply bay.
One of the junior lab technicians was frantically shoving a highly expensive, custom-machined steel alloy pipe into a heavy canvas bag, actively trying to silently sneak out through the side access door.
Instead of yelling right away, Shuntesh calmly reached over to his workbench and picked up his heavy, custom-built Stone Assault Rifle. Without a single second of hesitation, he racked the heavy steam-bolt, aimed down the sights, and pulled the trigger.
THOOM!
A hyper-compressed stone bullet screamed across the laboratory, violently whizzing exactly four meters past the thief's left ear before absolutely shattering against the reinforced concrete wall in a massive cloud of dust.
The technician froze dead in his tracks. The heavy metal pipe clanked loudly inside his canvas bag. He turned around, his face completely pale, violently shaking with the absolute terror of being caught.
Shuntesh lowered the smoking rifle and marched directly over to him, his eyes narrowed with pure managerial fury.