An Extremely Overpowered God Of War

Chapter 2

Hearing what Raymond just said, the war gods were completely dumbstruck, their minds scrambling to catch up with what had just landed in the room. They looked at one another just for a second and something shifted between them all at once.

So this was the real reason Master Raymond had called them here. Not to wave them off. Not to say goodbye and send them away with nothing but the memory of his face and an empty road ahead of them.

They wanted to cry not from grief this time, but from the kind of relief that rushes in so hard and so fast it almost knocks a person sideways. But they held it back and pressed it down, kept it behind their eyes where Raymond wouldn't have to see it, because he had trusted them with something real and they weren't going to embarrass themselves in front of him again.

Of course his gift had to be ten times better than anything anyone else could put together.

 Twenty times, even. Master Raymond deserved nothing less than the very best, and every one of them understood that without it needing to be said out loud.

David Kings was the first on his feet. He rose with a look on his face that hadn't been there a moment before something firm, something decided and bowed his head before speaking.

“Master, I genuinely believed today was the day you were going to say your farewells and send us away.” His voice carried both relief and something heavier beneath it. “Instead, you've placed something this important into our hands. I am honored. Truly.” The lightness faded from his face as he pressed on. 

“But Master, time is not on your side. You're in the East. The capital is not close not even by air. If you don't move soon, you will miss your anniversary, and I know that is not something you are willing to let happen.”

He paused just long enough to let that land.

“Finding a gift worthy of your name with the time you have left should be nearly impossible.” A slow smile worked its way onto his lips. 

“But I didn't walk in here today empty-handed.”

David reached into the inner pocket of his jacket with steady, careful hands and pulled something out.

It was a bank card. But not the kind a person pulls out at a restaurant or swipes at a counter without thinking.

 This one was solid gold not gold-colored, not gold-plated, but pure gold, custom made, carrying a weight in the hand that a regular card simply didn't have. There was no name printed on the front. No bank logo that anyone outside of the highest financial circles in the world would ever recognize. Just a quiet, understated shine that said everything it needed to say without a single word.

Harvey and Gabriella went completely still the moment they saw it.

Their eyes opened wide. The color left their faces all at once not slowly, not in stages, but completely, like something had been knocked clean out of them. Their mouths parted without sound.

 Because they both knew exactly what that card was. They knew the number loaded onto it. And that knowledge sat on both of them like a weight they couldn't shift no matter how straight they tried to balance themselves.

David stepped forward and presented the card to Raymond with both hands and his head bowed low.

“Master,” he said, his voice dropping just slightly, taking on the kind of tone that only comes out when a person means every syllable of what they are about to say. “One hundred billion dollars. Loaded in this Global bank card . No spending cap.” 

He paused for just a breath. 

“I held onto this from the moment the war ended, waiting for the right moment to give it to you. I thought today was goodbye so I brought it with me.” He kept his head down. “It belongs to you, Master. It always did. Every cent of it.”

Raymond looked at the card resting across David's palms and said nothing for a moment.

“David.” His voice was even and unhurried. 

“With that kind of money sitting in your hands, there is nothing in this world you couldn't buy for yourself. So tell me why are you placing it in mine instead of keeping it?”

David didn't hesitate. He went straight down onto both knees, and when he lifted his face, there were tears on it that he didn't bother hiding.

“What would money do for me that you haven't already done, Master?” His voice cracked slightly at the edges but held. 

“The day you came to my aid when I had nothing left, no strength, no backup, nothing you didn't have to. But you did. Without asking what it would cost you. Without waiting to see if I deserved it.” He shook his head slowly. 

“No amount of money changes what that meant. No amount of money replaces what you are to me. I would rather stand beside you with empty pockets for the rest of my life than spend a single day rich and away from your side.”

Something moved through Raymond's expression at that — quiet and warm, and just a little knowing. He reached out and took the card from David's hands.

David rose back to his feet with a brightness on his face that he couldn't have hidden even if he wanted to. He stepped back to where Harvey and Gabriella were standing, still glowing, still grateful.

But Harvey and Gabriella were not sharing in any of it.

Their faces had gone somewhere uncomfortable. The kind of embarrassment that doesn't announce itself loudly but settles in slowly and just keeps getting heavier sitting right in the middle of the chest where a person can't ignore it. 

One hundred billion dollars on a single gold card, was huge but if they need to impress, then they have to provide something more than this.

Harvey felt it more sharply than Gabriella did. He could already see how this was going to look the moment he opened his mouth, and the thought of it sat badly with him. But he wasn't going to say nothing. He wasn't going to stand there and let David be the only one who showed up for Master Raymond today.

His jaw tightened. He pulled in one slow breath, straightened where he stood, and went down onto his knees in a single firm movement.

“Master,” he said, his voice steady even with everything pressing down on top of it. 

“I also have a gift.”