by Katlego Molale(Orpheus)
In the post-rift metropolis of Sector 9, Arthur lives a double life. To the high-spire nobles and the students of Phoenix Academy, he is the slouched, perpetually tired loan shark of Suite 4B—the "Jade Cube"—charging a ruthless 30% compounding interest on off-the-books loans while complaining that everything is a drag. To history, however, he is a living ghost: the direct son of Gin, the Will Monarch, accidentally hurled centuries into the future by a volatile time-displacement spell at ten years old. Unable to ever return to his own era, Arthur keeps his true bloodline dead secret while using his loan-sharking empire to keep his adoptive lower-district family fed. Alongside his inner circle—Kaiser (the card-shark tactician and son of Cloud Kingdom's strict manager, Ricky), Rose (the optimistic quarterstaff vanguard and Cloud Kingdom waitress), and Marshall (the "Corn King," an aspiring electro-kinetic trauma medic running a high-voltage fast-food hustle)—Suite 4B enters the prestigious Ace Tournament at the Grand Glass Coliseum to clear their remaining academic and dorm debts. Standing in their way is Castor ("The Ogre"), the corrupt Dean's son who uses Arthur’s loans to fund his debauched high-spire lifestyle while extorting lower-tier students. Flanking Castor is his best friend Brent, a near-unkillable regenerator who acts as Arthur’s cold, transactional debt collector—working strictly for his 5% interest cut regardless of friendship or noble status. However, as the Zenith Order enforces a surprise military lockdown over the coliseum, a far darker shadow falls across the city. Broderick, a tragic zealot cursed with a fatal, corrosive Miasma Gas that rots everything around him, dons the bone mask of The Reaper. Driven by the agony of watching everyone he ever loved decay from his own curse, Broderick embarks on a blood-soaked crusade to erase all religious worship, divine icons, and false idols—starting with the legendary monuments of Gin, the Will Monarch. When Broderick sets his sights on destroying the coliseum and executing anyone who walks in the Will Monarch's shadow, Arthur is forced to balance his covert moneylending operations, squad rivalries, and his own hidden legacy. To protect Suite 4B and the city that took him in, the son of the savior must step out of the shadows, face his arch-nemesis, and show the world why the Will Monarch's bloodline was feared in the first place.
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