[The Underworld - The Pantheon Sorting Center]
With the River Styx successfully privatized and blocked by corporate turnstiles, millions of souls were currently bottlenecked in the newly constructed Pantheon Sorting Center.
Thanatos stood on the frozen river, his scythe drooping in his skeletal hands. He watched in absolute, helpless horror as Seraphina directed a team of undead interns to herd the souls toward a row of glowing, neon-blue kiosks.
"You have broken the cycle of reincarnation," Thanatos rasped, his voice trembling. "Souls must be judged by their mortal karma! The righteous ascend to Elysium! The wicked are cast into the Abyss! This is the cosmic law!"
Victor Thorne stood beside a kiosk, pulling a golden receipt from the Tycoon's Ledger.
"Karma is an outdated, intangible metric," Victor said smoothly. "We have replaced the Karma System with the Pantheon Credit Score. It is far more objective."
A newly deceased soul—a legendary Paladin who had spent his entire life saving orphans and slaying monsters—stepped up to the kiosk. His soul glowed with pure, blinding righteous light.
[SOUL APPRAISED. ALIGNMENT: PURE GOOD. PANTHEON TOKEN BALANCE: ZERO.]
"Congratulations on a virtuous life," Lord Sterling, acting as the Afterlife Sales Director, smiled from behind the kiosk, his vampire fangs glinting. "Unfortunately, as you died penniless, you only qualify for our 'Ad-Supported Basic Afterlife' tier."
The Paladin's soul blinked. "Ad-supported? But I was promised paradise!"
"Paradise is a premium service," Sterling tapped the kiosk screen. "In the Basic Tier, you will be placed in a generic gray waiting room for eternity, and your consciousness will be interrupted every three minutes by holographic advertisements for Pantheon Mutual Insurance."
"No! Please!" the Paladin begged. "How do I upgrade to Elysium?!"
Victor stepped forward, his midnight-blue suit a stark contrast to the glowing souls.
"You are dead, so you lack purchasing power," Victor explained, tapping his gold-nibbed pen. "However, we offer a 'Legacy Benefactor' program. Your living descendants back in the mortal realm can pay a monthly subscription fee of five thousand Tokens to maintain your Premium Afterlife access."
Thanatos dropped his scythe. It clattered uselessly against the frozen river. "You are holding their ancestors hostage! You are extorting the living to pay for the dead!"
"I am fostering family values," Victor smiled a ruthless, predatory smile. "If a mortal truly loves their deceased grandfather, they will happily pay the subscription fee to keep him out of the Ad-Supported Abyss. And if they default on their payments..."
Victor slashed his pen across the Ledger.
"The soul is immediately downgraded to the 'Labor Tier', where they will be sent to the Elven Crystal Sweatshop to mine crypto-mana until their debts are cleared."
The Paladin wept as he was forced to sign the contract, officially shackling his living family to a perpetual subscription fee. Victor Thorne had just monetized heaven, ensuring the Pantheon Group would generate infinite recurring revenue until the end of time.