Chapter 132: Chapter 132: A Public Shaming

The Level 15 Dark Demon Sword rested on the velvet cushion. Its jagged bruised metal absorbed the spotlight.

Sera stood behind the podium, and her professional smile was completely unwavering.

"The starting bid," Sera announced, "is set at three million credits."

Before any of the major Guild Masters could raise their hands, a player in the third row violently shot out of his velvet seat.

It was Aurelius.

He was the top-tier rogue Dante had casually executed with a single thrust of Voidsever in the plaza earlier that day.

Aurelius had respawned, but the death penalty of the Zenith Protocol had stripped him of his primary weapon.

"That is my sword!" Aurelius roared and pointed a trembling furious finger at the stage.

The entire auction hall turned to look at him. The murmured conversations stopped completely.

"That belongs to me!" Aurelius continued. His voice resounded loudly to project an authority he no longer possessed.

"Dan killed me and stole it! This auction house is selling stolen goods!"

Sera didn’t flinch. She didn’t look to the VIP suite for guidance. She handled it flawlessly.

"The rules of engagement of the Zenith Protocol are absolute, Aurelius," Sera replied smoothly. Her voice carried a polite but firm edge.

"If an item drops in a sanctioned duel, it belongs to the victor. The Astral Emporium legally acquired this asset. Do you wish to bid on it, or are you just here to disrupt the proceedings?"

Aurelius was vibrating with rage.

He glared around the hall and tried to intimidate the hundreds of players staring at him.

He was a top-100 player known for his relentless PvP aggression in Aethelgard.

"Nobody bid!" Aurelius threatened and puffed his chest out.

"That is my weapon. I will pay the minimum three million to retrieve it. If anyone bids against me, you make a permanent enemy of me. I will camp your spawns until the cycle ends."

The crowd hesitated.

Aurelius was a notoriously petty solo player. He didn’t have a massive guild army to back him up.

But he was incredibly persistent and highly skilled at stealth assassinations.

Nobody wanted to draw his ire over a single sword. It was especially true for a Level 15 weapon that was currently outclassed by the Gold-tier gear the major guilds were hunting.

Dante leaned forward in the VIP suite. He looked down at the arrogant player who had tried to execute him with an ’Absolute Dodge’ buff.

"Mei," Dante said softly.

"On it," Mei grinned, ready to tap her interface and ruin the day of the rogue.

But before Mei could trigger the proxy bidder, a voice rang out from the middle rows.

"Four million."

Aurelius whipped his head around, and his eyes were wide with shock.

Sitting casually in the center aisle, her red leather armor contrasting sharply with the opulent surroundings, was Lyra.

The Guild Master of the Crimson Lotus didn’t even look at Aurelius. She was examining her manicured fingernails with an expression of profound boredom.

"Lyra!" Aurelius snarled and gripped the back of the chair in front of him.

"What are you doing? Your guild does not even run heavy warriors! You do not need a greatsword!"

"I am diversifying my portfolio," Lyra replied and offered a sharp completely unapologetic smile.

"And I do not like being threatened in an auction house by a man who could not dodge a single thrust."

Up in the suite, Dante raised an eyebrow.

Lyra wasn’t just bidding for an item she didn’t need. She was intentionally driving the price up to help bleed Aurelius dry.

She was honoring their unspoken truce from Outpost 404.

She was actively assisting the anomaly player from the floor while keeping her own hands relatively clean.

"Five million!" Aurelius yelled, his face turning an ugly shade of purple.

"Seven," Lyra countered smoothly and did not miss a beat.

"Ten!" Aurelius screamed and completely lost his temper. He pointed at her. "You are doing this just to spite me!"

"Fifteen," Lyra said lazily and inspected her other hand.

Aurelius looked like he was going to have a digital stroke.

He was a solo player. He didn’t have the massive corporate backing of a Guild Master like Silas or Leonidas.

He was currently spending his own personal real-world savings to buy back a sword he already owned.

"Twenty!" Aurelius roared. His voice cracked with sheer desperation.

Lyra paused. She finally looked up from her nails.

She glanced up at the VIP suite and caught the gaze of Dante through the darkened glass. She offered a tiny almost imperceptible nod.

She had pushed him as far as she could without risking winning the bid herself and getting stuck with a massive bill for a weapon she didn’t want.

Lyra remained silent.

"I have twenty million," Sera announced from the stage. "Going once."

Aurelius let out a massive ragged sigh of relief.

He slumped slightly and the tension left his shoulders.

He had overpaid massively and completely wiped out his liquid savings, but he was getting his primary weapon back.

"Twenty-one million," a cheerful automated voice announced from the darkened proxy booth.

Aurelius froze.

The entire auction hall erupted into poorly stifled laughter.

"Who is that?!" Aurelius shrieked and spun around to glare at the proxy booth. "Show yourself! This is extortion!"

"Twenty-one million from the proxy," Sera stated calmly and ignored the outburst. "Aurelius, do you wish to counter?"

Aurelius was trembling. He looked at his interface. His bank account was practically empty.

"I cannot," Aurelius whispered and his voice was completely broken.

"Twenty-two million," Lyra chimed in suddenly. A vicious predatory smile spread across her face.

Dante stared at Lyra through the glass. He hadn’t expected her to jump back in after the proxy bid.

"Twenty-three," the proxy of Mei countered instantly.

"Twenty-four," Lyra shot back.

Aurelius stood in the aisle completely ignored. He watched two billionaires play financial ping-pong with his stolen sword.

He was functionally invisible now. The bidding war had entirely moved past him.

"What is she doing?" Lila asked nervously and watched the Crimson Lotus leader. "She is bidding against our proxy. If she wins, she is going to be furious that she overpaid."

"She knows exactly what she is doing," Nyx said. A slow smile formed on her face.

"She is not trying to buy the sword. She is artificially inflating the final sale price to pad the payout of Dante. She is paying him a massive compliment."

Dante watched Lyra.

It was a brilliant and incredibly subtle political move.

By driving the price up against the proxy, Lyra was securing goodwill with the most dangerous player on the server without ever formally declaring an alliance.

"Twenty-five million," the proxy of Mei announced.

Lyra finally lowered her hand. She offered a small polite nod toward the proxy booth to concede the bid.

"Sold," Sera struck the podium. "To the anonymous proxy, for twenty-five million credits."

The pedestal sank into the floor and carried the Dark Demon sword away.

Aurelius didn’t sit back down.

He turned around and walked out of the auction hall with his head hanging low.

He had lost his duel, lost his sword, and completely humiliated himself in front of the entire server. He was functionally bankrupt and entirely irrelevant.

"I almost feel bad for him," Casanova chuckled and completely failed to sound sympathetic.

"He threatened the auctioneer," Dante said flatly. "He earned the invoice."

The atmosphere in the massive hall shifted again.

The petty squabbles and personal grudges were cleared from the docket. The air grew noticeably heavier.

Sera took a deep breath. Her professional facade hardened into absolute serious focus.

The pedestal rose slowly from the stage floor.

The lights in the hall dimmed slightly to focus a single brilliant spotlight onto the velvet cushion.

Sera didn’t need to announce the item immediately. The visual impact was enough to completely silence the room.

Resting on the velvet was a pair of heavy pitch-black wings.

They weren’t forged from metal or leather. They were composed of shifting iridescent dark matter.

They pulsed with a terrifying cosmic energy that actively devoured the bright stage lights to create a shadow that seemed to swallow the pedestal itself.

The entire auction hall collectively gasped.

"The [Wings of the Void]," Sera announced and her voice echoed perfectly in the absolute silence.

"Dark Demon tier flight equipment. This artifact grants the user unrestricted sustained aerial mobility completely independent of mana costs or stamina drain."

Silas, Valerius, Leonidas, and Xerxes all leaned forward simultaneously.

Unrestricted flight.

It was the ultimate tactical advantage in the Zenith Protocol.

A player with sustained flight could bypass complex dungeon traps, effortlessly scout massive enemy formations, and rain magical artillery down from complete safety.

It fundamentally altered the rules of engagement.

"The starting bid," Sera said slowly and let the tension build until it was almost suffocating, "is set at fifty million credits."

The silence held for exactly one second.

Then, the true battle for the skies of the server officially began.