Henry placed one hand on Master Frank's shoulder and turned to address the room with the reverence of a man introducing a living weapon."Gentlemen, let me be clear about what we have in this room tonight," Henry said. "Master Frank is not an ordinary fighter. He is a grandmaster of martial arts. An expert in advanced Qi techniques. The kind of practitioner who appears once in a generation."Henry's voice carried a weight that surprised even himself. He had spent the last week hiding in this basement like a rat in a drainpipe, watching his empire collapse around him.After Ethan destroyed the Black Tiger Crew headquarters, his followers had scattered like cockroaches under a flashlight.His territory, the streets and alleys and back rooms he had controlled for over a decade, was being carved up and swallowed by rival gangs who smelled blood.The underground emperor of Chicago had been reduced to a man with a handful of loyal guards and a borrowed basement.Henry had always known what

"Six months ago, Victor Harlow Sr. fell mysteriously ill," Ian said. "The doctors could not identify the cause. His family spent millions on specialists and treatments, none of which worked."He folded his hands in front of him."That illness was caused by a Venom Bug implanted by the Shadow Venom Order," Ian said. His voice did not change in tone or volume. "It was the lowest grade insect in our inventory. The mildest tool we possess."He let the implication settle over the room like a cold blanket."The lowest grade," Ian repeated softly.Thompson Sr. broke first. He pressed both palms flat on the table and nodded once, quickly, the way a man nods when he has already decided to hate himself in the morning."It is just business," Thompson Sr. said. His voice was hollow. "Money has no nationality. If things go wrong, I can always emigrate."The first pharmaceutical head followed immediately. Then the second. Then the third. One by one, all nine companies gave their agreement, each man

Master Frank stepped out from under his umbrella. He let it fall to the side, where the current in the alley caught it and swept it away into the dark. The rain poured down on him, and then it didn't. Just like Ethan, the water repelled itself above Master Frank's head, curving away in every direction and leaving a dry space around his body that extended three feet in every direction.Two men stood in the flooded alley. Two dry circles in the middle of a storm. The rain hammered everything between them and around them, but where they stood, the ground was bone dry.Gary stumbled backward into the clinic. His legs felt like they had been filled with wet sand.Master Frank looked past Ethan and into the clinic. His reptilian eyes locked onto the sleeping mat where AJ was now sitting upright, wide awake, his face white with terror."That young man," Master Frank said. His dry, sandy voice cut through the roar of the rain without effort. "Abdullah Bulger. Youngest son of the Emperor of Sh

The rain hammered the alley like a drum beaten by a thousand hands. Master Frank stood in his soaked black coat with blood dripping from his hairline, his chest heaving, his fists trembling at his sides. The grandmaster who had arrived expecting to swat a fly was now standing in three inches of filthy water staring at the fly and wondering if it was something else entirely.Ethan did not move from his dry circle. His voice cut through the storm without effort."I have a question for you," Ethan said. His eyes locked onto Master Frank with an intensity that made the air between them feel solid. "Seven years ago, the Shadow Venom Order planted the Seven Core Lotus Toxin in a young man. A poison so lethal that surviving it was considered impossible."He paused. The rain roared. Thunder split the sky."Why?" Ethan asked. "Why target a boy who had done nothing to your Order? And why was the Ingram family of New York nearly destroyed in the same year?"Master Frank's gaunt face twitched. Re

Ethan looked down at Master Frank's prostrated form and then at the ring on his own hand. The rain continued to bend around him, and the thunder had faded to a low rumble in the distance as though even the storm was waiting to hear what he would say."You are mistaken," Ethan said. His voice was measured and careful. "This ring was a relic from my mother. A grandmaster gave it to her years ago. I do not know anything about a Human Tower."Master Frank lifted his head from the ground. Mud and blood streaked his gaunt face, but his eyes burned with absolute certainty."There is no mistake, Young Master," Master Frank said. "The rule of the Crimson Phoenix Tower has stood for over a century. Recognize the ring, not the person. It does not matter how you came to possess it. Whoever holds the Crimson Phoenix Ring is the Human Tower Master. That is final."Ethan exhaled heavily. He turned and looked at the clinic, then at the two men shivering in the doorway, then at Richard's bloody heap ag