Crowned by Code - Chapter 2: A Prisoner's Past ~ (3/8) The Heist That Changed Everything

He never forgot the lesson: Sarren didn’t just control Erevania’s economy. He had Athena on his side.

And now, Athena had chosen him to lead.

The irony made him laugh, but the memory left a bitter taste in his mouth.

As Cipher, Darius began targeting systems that represented the inequities he despised—corporate vaults, government databases, and the hidden networks of Erevania’s elite. Each breach was a statement, a way of exposing the fragility of the structures that perpetuated inequality. Yet, even as he celebrated these victories, a part of him questioned the morality of his actions. Was he truly dismantling injustice, or was he merely perpetuating a cycle of chaos?

It was this internal conflict that eventually set the stage for the heist that would change everything. The Crypt’s ambitions had grown, and so had Darius’s. The line between rebellion and recklessness blurred, and the consequences of his choices would soon spiral beyond anything he could have imagined.

The turning point came during a job that was meant to be a statement, not a catastrophe. The target was Erevania Central Bank, the nerve center of Erevania’s AI-managed economy, where Athena monitored every digital transaction in real time and ensured financial equilibrium across the nation.

The Crypt’s plan was audacious: infiltrate the bank’s digital vault, expose the hidden accounts of corrupt officials, and redistribute their wealth to the impoverished districts. But this was more than just hacking into a vault—it was a direct assault on Athena’s economic algorithms, a disruption that could send shockwaves through the nation’s Universal Basic Income system and destabilize financial markets overnight.

“Robin Hood with a keyboard,” Darius had joked, masking his nerves with bravado.

The operation started flawlessly. Darius navigated through layers of firewalls with precision, bypassing security protocols as if they were child’s play. Each click and keystroke brought him closer to the vault, the glowing lines of code painting a surreal dance on his screen. As the seconds ticked by, adrenaline coursed through his veins. The thrill of the heist made him feel invincible, as though he was rewriting the rules of Erevania’s corrupt society.

But success was short-lived. Unbeknownst to the Crypt, the bank’s systems were monitored by Athena, who flagged the breach within seconds. The counterattack was swift and merciless. What had started as a coordinated effort soon devolved into chaos. Members of the Crypt frantically scrambled to sever their connections, each trying to escape the digital dragnet Athena had deployed.

Darius had rehearsed the plan a hundred times. Every fail-safe, every contingency, accounted for. Or so he thought.

When the first firewall failed faster than expected, he should have seen it as a warning. Instead, he pressed forward. By the time he realized Athena had laid a trap, it was too late.

The screen blinked red, a single error flashing across his HUD—TRACE INITIATED.

In less than five minutes, his apartment door would be broken down, and the legend of Cipher would become a cautionary tale.

His heart raced as he hastily attempted to wipe his systems, but the authorities were faster. Armed officers stormed in, their voices echoing commands as he was wrestled to the ground. The reality of his capture hit him like a sledgehammer, the gravity of his mistakes sinking in as he was hauled away in handcuffs.