Asura God of War: Awakening of the Ghost

CHAPTER 2: The Coin of Death and Betrayal

BANG!!!

The front door of the apartment was smashed open. Clara screamed in shock, waking up from the worn-out sofa in the living room.

Inside the dark bedroom, Ares did not panic in the slightest. His trained ears recorded the sound of splintering wood, quickly counting the number of approaching footsteps. Three people.

Two giant-sized men barged in, followed by Julian Valerius. Julian's wrist was still wrapped in thick bandages due to Ares's grip at the party earlier, but the bastard had not learned his lesson. He smiled cynically while carrying a gallon of industrial bleach.

"I brought bleach, Clara!" Julian mocked, his voice echoing harshly. "Since your husband is a cripple, let me help wash away your shame permanently!"

Julian stepped into the bedroom. The pungent smell of chemicals immediately filled the air. Instead of causing fear, the smell actually awakened the killing instinct of the God of War.

"Wake up, trash," Julian sneered, preparing to pour the gallon.

Ares looked up. Under the dim shadows of the room, he smiled. Not a friendly smile, but the cold smirk of a grim reaper.

"Who told you to come in?" Ares said flatly. His voice was not loud, but it was enough to cleave the silence and freeze the air in the room.

Julian's hand suddenly stiffened. The room was dead silent.

"W-what... what did you just say?" Julian stuttered, unable to believe his ears. His eyes bulged as he stared at the man who for eighteen months could only remain mute.

Ares leaned his body forward. "I said... GET OUT!"

An overwhelming aura of intimidation exploded from Ares's body. Julian trembled in fear until the gallon of bleach slipped from his hands. The harsh liquid spilled, hissing as it ruined the rotting wooden floor. However, what made Julian break into a cold sweat was not the destroyed floor.

Ares reached under his pillow, pulling out a black obsidian coin engraved with a red skull—the Death Warrant of the Shadow Legion. With a flick of his finger, the coin shot out and landed with a clink right at the tip of Julian's shoe.

"Look at that coin, Julian," Ares threatened, as cold as ice. "That is a sign that your life is hanging by a thread."

"A-Ares?!" Julian's voice shrieked in panic. He staggered backward until his back hit the doorframe. "You... you can speak?! This is impossible!"

"Even holding a gallon makes your hands tremble," Ares said dismissively, destroying the remnants of his enemy's courage. "Was the gallon too heavy, or are you just too afraid of me?"

From the corner of his eye, Ares noticed the two thugs behind Julian exchanging anxious glances. They were used to beating people up, but the piercing gaze of the man on the mattress made their courage shrink.

"Boss? You said he was in a coma?" Leo whispered, gripping his baseball bat tightly. "His eyes don't look like a sick person's at all!"

"Shut up, Leo!" Julian snapped, trying to cover up his fear. "This must be just a trick! A nerve reaction right before he dies! Beat him up now! Shatter his jaw!"

Clara, who had just hurried into the bedroom, instantly froze. Her eyes welled up with tears seeing her husband sitting upright. "Ares... you really can speak?!"

"Stay there, Clara," Ares commanded absolutely. The weak demeanor he had shown all this time vanished without a trace, replaced by the authority of a tyrannical ruler.

Feeling humiliated in front of his subordinates, Julian's face flushed with anger. "Attack, you idiot!" he pushed the back of the other thug. "Hit him!"

Mickey, the fierce-faced thug, gritted his teeth. "Sorry, Boss. We were just ordered to."

The giant man lunged forward, his hands aiming straight for Ares's neck.

In the eyes of a war veteran, the street thug's movement was like slow-motion. Ares did not dodge at all. His hand shot out as fast as lightning, catching Mickey's middle finger and twisting it backward mercilessly.

CRACK!

The sound of a breaking bone was heard crisply. Before Mickey could process the pain, two of Ares's fingers struck hard against a lethal nerve point on the man's wrist.

"Aaaaargh! My hand is numb!" Mickey immediately collapsed to his knees, rolling around clutching his arm, which was now completely paralyzed like jelly.

"The human wrist is very fragile," Ares said, looking at the groaning thug on the floor without mercy. He shifted his gaze to the trembling Leo. "Take your friend and get out of here. Before I break your neck."

Leo immediately threw away his baseball bat. His face was drained of blood. "I'm out of here! This guy isn't a normal human! He didn't even hit hard, but Mickey's arm was instantly paralyzed!"

"Damn it! Both of you are fired!" Julian shouted in panic. He stepped backward into the living room. His gaze remained fixated on the black coin on the floor. The skull on the coin seemed to be laughing at him. "This isn't over, Ares! I'll call the police to drag you to a mental asylum!"

"Julian," Ares called out, making the man's steps halt instantly. "Leave that coin there. Every time you feel safe, look at that black coin and remember carefully... The Ghost is watching you."

Julian did not dare to reply. He turned around and scrambled out of the apartment, followed by Leo dragging Mickey's body. Ares let his prey escape. Destroying the Valerius family slowly would be much more satisfying.

The room fell silent once again.

Clara leaned weakly against the wall, staring at the man she had been caring for with a look of disbelief. "Ares...? What just happened? In the car earlier... I thought I was just dreaming."

Ares's murderous gaze instantly softened as he looked at his wife. "Clara..."

Ares got off the bed, standing tall on his two feet. Although the residual poison was still trying to damage his nerves, the General's internal energy easily suppressed the effect until it became meaningless.

"Don't move! You're still injured!" Clara immediately approached, intending to support her husband. "I don't understand... The doctors at the military hospital said your motor nerves were severely damaged by the bomb explosion. They said you were brain dead!"

"The doctors lied," Ares said with a clenched jaw. "Or they were intentionally paid to lie."

"What do you mean?" Clara looked at him sharply. "Ares, answer me. Have you just been pretending all this time? You let me suffer every day while you pretended to be paralyzed?!"

Ares immediately gripped both of his wife's shoulders tightly. "Never, Clara. All this time, my consciousness was truly force-locked. I could see and hear all your suffering, but my body couldn't respond at all. Tonight... when Julian dared to pour wine over you and push you, my anger managed to destroy the poison blocking my nerves."

Clara sat on the edge of the bed, digesting everything. "The military said you were a hero. You saved your troops in the Great Sand War. Then there was news of an explosion during the troop withdrawal, and you were found in a coma buried under the rubble."

Ares smiled cynically. His eyes radiated a deep-seated vengeance ready to explode. "That was not a bomb accident at all. I still remember clearly. At that time, inside the medical tent... someone injected me."

"Injected you? A military doctor?"

"No. A man in a black suit." Ares stared straight ahead, replaying the memory of that betrayal in his head. "He looked at me and whispered, 'Sleep, General. Your combat power is too dangerous for the peace plans we have arranged.'"

Clara covered her mouth with both hands, incredibly shocked to hear the conspiracy. "Injected? What drug did they use to completely paralyze a General like that?!"