The captain threw his head back and laughed, the sound echoing through the luxurious chamber as he looked at Drax’s motionless body buried in the metal floor. “Hahaha! As expected, you did not disappoint me, Ragnar. I knew bringing you here was the right decision.” He glanced at the enormous man standing over Drax before relaxing into his seat, his earlier tension completely gone. “My work here is done.” Ragnar slowly turned toward him, his expression remaining calm as though what had just happened was nothing more than routine. “What do you intend to do with his body?” the captain asked, his eyes briefly returning to Drax.Ragnar looked down at the unconscious Warlord before answering. “The Black Covenant gave me specific orders. I’m not supposed to kill him.” His voice carried a strange calmness considering the condition Drax was in. “I’m to bring him back alive. They want to experiment on him and find out what makes a Warlord different from ordinary humans.” Ragnar glanced at the b

Ragnar slowly stepped out of the crater in the wall, his massive body now covered in faint red veins that pulsed beneath his skin like glowing lines of fire. With every step he took, the metal beneath his feet began to darken from the heat radiating off his body, while thin streams of steam escaped from his shoulders and chest and disappeared into the air. Blood was still dripping from his nose, yet instead of showing pain, Ragnar wore a wide, almost delighted grin. He looked more alive than he had at any point since the battle began, as though Drax’s attack had finally given him a reason to stop holding himself back.Drax stared at him with a mixture of confusion and unease. His eyes moved from the glowing veins to the blackened metal beneath Ragnar’s feet, then down to his own fists, where the faint burn marks were still visible. He could not understand how a human body could become something like this. Ragnar noticed the expression immediately and chuckled before wiping the blood b

Emily’s thoughts were shattered by the captain’s voice.“Emily!”She turned toward him, finally pulling herself out of the strange trance she had fallen into while watching Drax fight. The captain was already moving toward the exit, and Emily quickly followed, glancing over her shoulder one last time. Drax and Ragnar were still locked in combat behind them, their bodies colliding with enough force to shake the room, but the sight no longer fascinated her the way it had moments earlier. There was something terrifying about the way Drax continued fighting despite everything Ragnar had done to him, as though his body had stopped mattering to him entirely.The captain reached Charlotte first and grabbed her roughly, throwing her over his shoulder before she could resist. Charlotte immediately began struggling, kicking and screaming as she tried to free herself.“Let me go!” she cried. “Help! Somebody help me!”“Move!” the captain barked at Emily.Emily hurried after him, and together they

“Big Brother!”The excited voice immediately caught the young man’s attention. A much younger Drax turned around and saw a little girl of about eight years old running toward him, her school uniform slightly untidy and her small backpack bouncing against her back with every step. The moment she reached him, she threw herself into his arms, and the twenty-year-old Drax caught her easily before lifting her off the ground.“Slow down, Loretta,” he laughed as she wrapped her arms around his neck. “What if your big brother drops you?”“You won’t,” Loretta replied confidently, as though there was no possibility in the world that Drax could ever let anything happen to her.Drax smiled at that certainty and carried her for a few more steps before finally putting her down. He reached out and gently straightened her messy hair. “So, how was school today?”“It was great!” Loretta’s eyes immediately lit up. “Teacher gave us a test, and I got almost everything right. And during break, Sarah gave m

Drax leaned back in his chair and remained silent for several moments after James told him about the job. Five hundred thousand dollars was an amount of money he could barely comprehend. For someone like Drax, who had spent most of his life worrying about where the next meal would come from, it sounded almost unreal. That kind of money could pay Loretta’s school fees for years, move them into a better home, clear every debt hanging over his head, and leave enough behind for him to start a legitimate business instead of constantly searching for temporary security jobs.Yet the excitement that briefly appeared in his eyes quickly disappeared.“But we’re talking about criminals,” Drax finally said. “Human trafficking and illegal organs aren’t some small offense, James. Those people are destroying lives.”James sighed and leaned back in his chair. “I know what they do, but we’re not being asked to participate in it. We’re being paid to provide security during one operation. We escort them