Demonic Po*nstar System

Chapter 754: Guild Leader Ashborn

”Go on.”

”Eclipse replaces Runewoven in the competition standings effective immediately. All accumulated points transfer. Lineup changes are locked, though, so you can’t swap in any new fighters.” She swiped through the ruling on her tablet. ”It’s cosmetic, basically. Same team, same points, new name on the board.”

”Perfect. That’s all I wanted.”

They walked.

Kira and Rika had been right about one thing. His life had changed drastically overnight, and the time and energy he used to pour into editing thumbnails at two in the morning was now better spent elsewhere.

The twins had been hired that same night, becoming the dedicated media personnel and personal assistants for Valhalla’s Sinners.

Seemingly they’d split the workload between themselves with the efficiency of two people who’d been dividing tasks since the womb.

Kira shadowed Kaiden like a secretary while Rika stayed with the girls.

The guild hall was different now.

Kaiden had been moving through this building since the competition began. The hallways were the same. The doors were the same. But the people in them had changed overnight, and so had the way they looked at him.

A group of young fighters rounded the corner ahead. Two men and a woman, all in their early twenties, all wearing the new Eclipse insignia on their gear. They saw Kaiden and their conversation stopped.

”Good morning, Guild Leader,” the woman said. She was trying very hard to sound casual and succeeding about as well as someone could while making eye contact with the son of the Shadow Monarch.

”Morning.” Kaiden nodded as he passed.

The two men bowed their heads. One of them was visibly starstruck. They pressed against the wall to give him room.

Kira grinned but said nothing.

It was still strange. The streamer who’d built a following by flirting with his girlfriends on camera and making fun variety content was now the guild leader of an organization with institutional backing, veteran personnel, and the Shadow Monarch’s name on the charter.

People who’d watched him goof around on the Awakened Media Platform were now saluting him in hallways.

Valhalla’s Sinners as a registered mercenary group had been formally dissolved. There were no more mercenaries. Kaiden, Aria, Nyx, Luna, Calypso, and Bastet were all founding members of Eclipse, each granted equity stakes in the guild’s holdings.

What had previously been Kaiden’s money that he shared with his girls at his discretion was now their money, legally. Five women who had followed a broke nobody now had personal net worths that would make most S-tier awakened fighters deeply jealous.

Valhalla’s Sinners as a content brand, however, remained untouched. The streams, the videos, the adult content, the media platform page - all of it continued under the same name, operated by the same people, funded by its own revenue. Eclipse was a guild. Valhalla’s Sinners was a business. The two shared a leader and a roster, but the money stayed separate.

Kaiden activated the wrist artifact and the hologram shot up. The competition standings materialized in pale blue light as he walked, Kira matching his stride.

Rookie Track Competition Standings - Day 26

1st — Eclipse: 128,380

2nd — Iron Halo: 98,390

3rd — Ashbound: 72,360

4th — New Dawn: 68,180

5th — Silver Talon: 57,730

First place. A thirty thousand point lead.

The stampede had been the separator. When monsters had flooded the basin and torn through the lower zones, every guild with fighters in those areas had paid in blood. Iron Halo lost three members. Silver Talon lost four. Thirty and forty thousand points erased in minutes, careers ended, lives lost.

Ashbound and New Dawn had been conveniently absent from the field when it happened. Their rookies ’were tired, deserving a break’ and thus hadn’t entered the basin the day when the stampede hit, as if someone had known exactly what was coming.

Kaiden’s team had barely managed to escape themselves, while Vaelira’s squad hadn’t lost a single person either, automatically giving them a giant lead in the standings.

’She held them together,’ Kaiden thought. ’Rest well, Vaelira. You did great.’

The woman was currently in the hospital ward, recovering from the numerous wounds and crippling exhaustion that resulted from her heroics, all in the name of not disappointing the man who held her life in his palm.

Kira glanced at the standings over his shoulder and perked up.

”Oh, that reminds me. Both Iron Halo and Silver Talon have filed formal complaints with the Association. Legal proceedings against New Dawn.” She tapped her tablet. ”They’re accusing New Dawn of deliberately engineering the stampede. Intentional endangerment of competing guild members, reckless manipulation of monster migration patterns, something about Section 22 of the competition charter.” She looked at Kaiden. ”If the Association rules in their favor, New Dawn is looking at disqualification from the rookie track at minimum. Criminal charges at worst.”

One more blow. The pile was getting tall.

He dismissed the standings.

”A few more days,” he said. ”We just keep going as we have been.”

Kira glanced at him. ”The gap is pretty wide. You could probably coast.”

”We don’t coast. This is still a great opportunity to get stronger, which was the reason we came to the mountains to begin with. Nothing changed.”

She smiled at that. ”I understand.”

They turned into the private wing. Kaiden could hear voices behind the door before he reached it, the familiar warmth of his girls getting ready for the day.

”Are they set?” he asked Kira.

Kira giggled. ”Rika’s been at it since you left. Your moon lady is whipping my sis like a slave. Every promise we made during the pitch? Aria is making sure we deliver. On time. To spec. With zero margin for error.”

”Sounds like her.”

”Your girlfriend is terrifying, boss.”

”Yeah.”

He opened the door.

The private wing had been converted into a staging area. Gear was laid out across the long table. Weapons checked, supplies packed, the organized chaos of a team that had done this a hundred times and could prep for a hunt in their sleep.

Aria sat in a chair near the window, morning light falling across her silver hair, a phone pressed to her ear. Rika moved around her in quick, focused circles, brush in one hand, palette in the other, applying foundation along Aria’s jawline with quick, practiced strokes.

”Mm,” Aria said into the phone, her voice soft and warm. ”I know, Mom. Don’t worry. As always, Kai takes good care of me. I’ll call you tonight.”

She caught Kaiden’s reflection in the window and her silver eyes brightened. Her free hand lifted in a small wave, her fingers curling once.

Across the room, Luna was sitting on a crate, legs swinging, handheld device flashing in her hand. Calypso leaned against the wall behind her, axe already on her back, grinning the moment Kaiden walked in. Nyx was on the couch with her phone, and Bastet was draped across the other end, eyes closed, tail swaying, soaking up a patch of sunlight.

”Did Tessa accept?” Nyx asked.

”Is that even a question?” Luna grinned without looking up from her game. ”That woman pulled off one of the most legendary hustles in awakened history. She saw a level-nothing nobody, put her money down before anyone else at the table even knew there was a game, and rode that bet all the way to a founding seat in the guild of the year. She’s the greatest opportunist alive. There’s no way she doesn’t pounce.”

Kaiden did not even need to reply. The answer was obvious.

Instead, he stepped inside and clapped his hands once.

”My beautiful angels. It’s time for us to head out.”