The shard went in deep. Victor’s grunt turned into a scream. Blood poured between his fingers as he ripped it out. He staggered, swayed, but his eyes still burned hate.Ares could barely breathe. His chest was caved with bruises, ribs screaming every time his lungs tried to work. His jaw throbbed, one eye half-closed, but he stayed on his feet. He had no choice.Victor spat blood. It ran down his chin, mixing with sweat. “You… think this ends me?” His voice cracked but didn’t break. “I am Lin City. I built it with my hands. With blood.”Ares’s teeth were red. He coughed, spat, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “No. You bled everyone else. Tonight, you bleed out.”Then they slammed into each other again.It wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t skilled. It was two animals trying to rip each other apart.Fists smashed bone. Elbows cracked teeth. Their boots gouged stone, their roars drowned out the chaos outside. Blood hit the walls in thick sprays. The Resistance pressed themselves back, w

And Lin City, for the first time in years, felt the weight of its crown break.But broken crowns cut deep, and their shards never vanish cleanly.The roar of victory shook the shattered hall, but beneath the noise, the God of War’s body trembled. Ares had fought beyond the point of human endurance, driven only by rage, love, and the weight of every fallen name carved into his memory. Now, as Mira pressed against him, Elijah’s tiny hand curled around his scarred fingers, he felt the storm inside his chest twist tighter.The soldiers and survivors surged forward, voices breaking with gratitude. Reyes pushed through, sweat streaking his brow, eyes locked on his commander. “Ares,” he said hoarsely, his hand gripping his shoulder. “You did it. He’s finished. Lin City is free.”Ares’ gaze flicked past him. Victor Wu still knelt in chains, head bowed, body shuddering. No longer a king, no longer a tyrant - only a man stripped bare. But Ares’ gut twisted. Wu’s silence was too calm, too delibe

The storm was coming.Ares felt it long before the first whispers reached the city. The air carried weight, as though the sky itself pressed down on Lin City. He stood on the rooftop, watching as dawn cracked faint light over broken streets, knowing it was only the calm before another war.Behind him, Elijah stirred, clutching his blanket. Mira rose silently, wrapping arms around their son. Her eyes flicked to Ares, searching his face for answers he could not give.When Hawk climbed the stairs a moment later, his expression confirmed what Ares already knew. “Scouts brought word at first light,” Hawk said. “The eastern gangs are uniting. A man - no, something more than a man - has them bending knee. They call him the Crowned One.”Mira stiffened. Elijah’s small fingers clutched at her shirt.Ares’ jaw tightened. “How many?”Hawk shook his head. “Enough to make Lin City tremble. Men who bled under Victor Wu are crawling back like dogs. They’ve found a new master.”Ares turned back to th

Chapter 160 – No More ChainsThe war wasn’t finished. But tonight, a crown had fallen.Dust still hung in the air, drifting through broken shafts of light like ash after a fire. The hall was a graveyard of stone and silence. Men who had fought against each other hours before now lay scattered in the same ruin, their breaths ragged, their eyes searching. Not for orders. Not for a master. But for meaning.Ares stood among them. Blood ran down his arm, soaking into the cracks between his knuckles. His chest rose and fell like a bellows, every breath scraping fire down his throat. He didn’t hide the exhaustion. He didn’t pretend to be untouchable. He let them see it - that even the God of War bled.The fallen man at his feet groaned, clutching ribs that no longer answered his will. His crown - the weight he had tried to wield - lay shattered with him. No one rushed to help him. No one called his name. Whatever hold he had once claimed had broken when his fists failed.Slowly, Ares turned.

And he would be there to meet it.The vow lingered in Ares’s chest like the burn of steel fresh from the forge. He stood at the crest of the ruined boulevard, the wind carrying ash and salt from the river, eyes scanning the horizon where Lin City’s skyline cut jagged against the storm-gray sky.Behind him, the city still smoldered from the night’s battles. Whole blocks lay in ruin - shops with shutters ripped apart, broken glass crunching under bootsteps, the acrid tang of smoke refusing to lift. Yet amid the destruction, life stirred. Men and women crept out from hiding, their faces pale but alive, clutching children, leading the wounded. They looked toward him, not as a stranger, not as a soldier, but as something heavier. A promise. A shield.Mira came to stand at his side. Her coat was torn at the sleeve, hair tangled, but her gaze was steady. “They’re waiting on you,” she murmured, her voice low, almost reverent.Ares didn’t look back at her. His eyes stayed fixed on the east, whe