The city had not known peace since Victor Draemont rose as the Tycoon's Shadow. His hand was everywhere, his influence reaching into every bank, every boardroom, every whisper of gold exchanged in the dark. But wealth was never left unchallenged. The surviving magnates, desperate and cornered, struck back with a ferocity born of fear.
The first salvo came quietly. Foreign investors suddenly froze Victor's overseas accounts, while local magnates bribed city officials to stall his expansion. A dozen corporate towers united, forming what they called The Alliance of Steel. Their banner was money, and their oath was vengeance.
Lucius read their declaration of resistance in silence, seated upon his throne. The firelight flickered across his crimson eyes, his lips curling into that familiar, cruel smile. "They believe wealth will save them," he said softly. "They forget that in my hands, wealth is a weapon sharper than any blade."
Victor adjusted his tie calmly, standing beside his master. "Then allow me to break them, my lord. If they bring war into the boardroom, I will make them bleed their fortunes dry."
Darius leaned against the wall, his hands gripping the handle of his axe. "If they step out of their towers and into the streets, I will break them myself."
Adrian Crowe laughed quietly, his voice thick with venom. "Let them bribe their judges, let them bend their laws. I will twist the very system they rely on until it strangles them in front of their allies."
Ravenna clapped her hands together like a child at play, her knives glinting in the firelight. "Oh, I do hope they resist. Their screams will make the nights so much sweeter."
Lucius raised his hand, silencing the room. "Victor, this war is yours to lead. But you will not stand alone. My council will move as one. Show these so-called kings that no coin is heavier than fear."
The first battle of the corporate war erupted in the financial district. Rival magnates unleashed waves of lawsuits, injunctions, and hostile takeovers against Draemont's empire. For a moment, it seemed the Tycoon's Shadow was cornered.
But Victor's response was ruthless. With Silvio's guidance, his operatives infiltrated rival banks, leaking sensitive documents that exposed fraud and corruption. Stock values plummeted overnight, panic sweeping through the city like wildfire.
Adrian struck next. In the courts, he dismantled every lawsuit with chilling precision. Judges bent under his arguments, while witnesses vanished or changed testimonies under mysterious circumstances. By the third week, the law no longer protected Lucius's enemies.
On the streets, Darius and Cain moved silently. Mercenaries hired by the Alliance of Steel began disappearing, their corpses later found hung from bridges or left in alleys as warnings. Fear spread quickly among those who thought gold could protect them from steel.
Ravenna carved her way through corporate security forces, slipping past guards like a shadow. Executives who thought themselves safe in penthouses awoke to find her at their bedside, smiling as she whispered promises of death.
Victor watched it all unfold with quiet satisfaction. Every piece of resistance was met with overwhelming retaliation. Yet he remained calm, precise, never allowing rage to cloud his judgment. His moves were not just business but war, and he played it as though the boardroom were a battlefield soaked in blood.
By the second month, the Alliance of Steel began to fracture. Rival magnates accused one another of betrayal, convinced that spies infested their ranks. Silvio fanned the flames with carefully placed rumors, ensuring their unity crumbled faster than Victor's strikes could destroy it.
Lucius observed from his throne, his laughter low and haunting. "They scramble like rats, gnawing at one another while the shadow closes in. This is not war. This is slaughter."
Yet even in victory, the enemy fought desperately. The remaining magnates pooled their gold into a final stand, hiring foreign mercenaries armed with weapons far beyond what the city had seen. Their plan was simple: storm Victor's holdings and kill his people in the open.
The city held its breath as armored convoys rolled into the streets. For the first time, it seemed Victor's empire might bleed. But Darius and Cain were already waiting in the darkness.
The mercenaries never reached their targets. Streets ran red as the Butcher of Shadows and the Silent Executioner tore through their ranks. Cain's axe fell like judgment itself, while Darius vanished and reappeared in sprays of blood. Their brutality left even hardened killers broken and trembling.
When the last mercenary fell, Ravenna stepped over the corpses, laughing as her blades dripped scarlet. "This is what resistance buys. Pain. Screams and Death."
Victor entered the boardroom of the last surviving magnate the following night. He did not raise his voice, nor did he draw a weapon. He simply placed documents on the table—papers that proved every crime, every scandal, every weakness.
"You have nothing left," Victor said coldly. "Your allies are dead, your fortunes gone, your armies scattered. Sign your empire to Lucius, or I will take it from your corpse."
The magnate, broken and defeated, signed. His hands trembled as the pen scratched across the page, his soul already crushed.
Victor returned to the estate and knelt before Lucius. "The Alliance of Steel is shattered, my lord. Their wealth is yours. Their legacy is dust."
Lucius rose from his throne, his crimson eyes glowing like fire. "Then let the city see. Wealth belongs to me. Power belongs to me. The world itself belongs to me."
The council bowed deeply, each one silently awed by the scope of their master's rule. But outside the walls of the estate, new whispers spread. Foreign powers, wealthier than any the city had known, had begun to turn their eyes toward the Devil.
And this time, they would not come with lawyers or bankers. They would come with empires.