Asura God of War: Awakening of the Ghost

CHAPTER 3: The Greatest Betrayal

"I don't know exactly when," Ares said, his eyes staring sharply at the medicine bottle on the nightstand. "But the chemical smell Julian brought earlier... triggered my memory of that laboratory. That smell released the final seal in my brain."

Clara fell silent. A heavy burden instantly fell upon her shoulders. "They will hunt us down, right? If Julian reports to Grandpa, or if those people find out you are awake..."

"Let them come," Ares replied, his jaw clenching. The God of War's combat dictionary never knew the word retreat. "The Valerius family will use the excuse of my 'recovery' to accuse us of deceiving them. But we will not run."

"What are we going to fight back with, Ares?! Grandpa just took away my position. Tomorrow, my bank accounts will be frozen. We'll become beggars on the streets! I even sold my last pieces of jewelry to buy those military nerve supplements for you!"

Ares's eyes narrowed. His sharp instincts immediately caught a fatal discrepancy. "Those supplements... Clara, where is the bottle the military sent last week?"

"On the kitchen table. Why?"

"Bring it here."

Clara ran to the kitchen, then returned carrying an unlabeled brown glass bottle. Ares took it. His hands moved with speed and precision, just like when he assembled deadly weapons. He opened the cap, poured out a single capsule, and crushed it with two fingers.

The pungent smell of chemicals immediately wafted out.

"Viper-7," Ares hissed.

"What is that?"

"Military-grade nerve poison," Ares answered with a cold stare. "They never intended to cure me, Clara. This medicine you've been giving me every day... is designed to kill my nerves permanently."

Clara covered her mouth, her face deathly pale. Her body trembled violently as she held back her sobs. "Oh my God... I... I did this to you? The military hospital said the medicine was a donation because you were a hero!"

"They just wanted to make sure the General would never be able to stand again to uncover the truth," Ares said. He pulled Clara into his embrace, providing an absolute sense of protection. "This is not your fault. On the contrary, you are the reason I survived. My subconscious used your determination to suppress the effects of this poison every day."

"I have to report to the police!"

"The police won't dare to interfere," Ares cut in firmly, mapping out the enemy's network in his head. "If they could control military high-ranking officials to use a special poison, they must have already bought out this city's authorities. If you report it, we will both be eliminated tonight."

"Then what should we do? I'm bankrupt, we're kicked out..."

"Go to sleep, Clara," Ares whispered in an absolute tone. "All this time, you were the one fighting for me. Now, it's my turn. Trust me."

After coaxing his wife to sleep from emotional exhaustion, Ares sat cross-legged on the floor. His anger boiled, but his mind remained as cold as ice.

Starlight Global's funds. His giant corporation managed by Elias. He had the financial power capable of collapsing a continent. But before he made a move, he had to clear out the last remnants of this poison.

Ares closed his eyes. He circulated his Internal Energy to the maximum point, breaking through the remaining Viper-7 blockades in his nervous system. Hot air billowed from his body. The veins on his temples bulged.

BAM!

The clash of energy inside his brain was so tremendous. The excruciating pain felt as if it was forcibly prying open the safe of his deepest memories. A drop of fresh blood flowed from the corner of his lips, but at the same time, the missing fragments of memory exploded out.

Suddenly, his vision changed.

The hot air and the smell of gunpowder stung. The sound of machine-gun fire and artillery explosions was deafening. He stood on a hill, staring at a ruined city. He wore a combat uniform with ten silver stars on his shoulders. Behind him, a hundred thousand elite soldiers of the Shadow Legion knelt, awaiting his command.

"We have taken over the capital, General," reported Elias, who was still young and covered in dust, kneeling before him. "The enemy is destroyed. The world awaits your orders."

Ares stared at his hands. He was not just a hero. He was The Ghost. The disaster-bringing General who won the war even before the war officially began.

Then, the flash of memory shifted violently.

The battlefield vanished, replaced by a cold, white laboratory room. A man in a black suit appeared in his vision. There was a compass tattoo with a single eye on his wrist—a symbol of a secret syndicate.

"You are too dangerous for one country, Ares," the man whispered coldly. "If we cannot control you, we must eliminate you."

A syringe pierced his neck. Ares struggled, but his body was locked.

Suddenly, another figure stepped out from the dark corner of the room. An old man with silver hair leaning on a cane. The man smirked cunningly.

Silas Valerius. Clara's Grandpa!

"Let him live, Director," Silas said in a calculating tone. "Clara must marry a national hero so that the Valerius company's image skyrockets in the eyes of the government. Make him a cripple for life. A trophy hero who cannot fight back, so I can slowly take his wealth."

ZRAASH!

The memory shattered instantly.

Ares opened his eyes. He was back in his run-down apartment. The murderous aura radiating from Ares's body was now a hundred times more terrifying. The pressure of his aura was so heavy that the wooden floor beneath him could be heard creaking and cracking.

He wiped the blood from the corner of his lips. His eyes glowed red in the darkness.

Silas Valerius. That old bastard didn't just look down on him, but was the mastermind who sold out his own grandson-in-law for the company's profit!

"Ares?" Clara's hoarse voice was heard from the bed. The woman woke up, shocked to see the cracks on the floor and her husband drenched in sweat mixed with blood at the corner of his lips. "Ares! Snap out of it! What happened?!"

Ares turned his head, looking at his wife who had been cruelly used by her own family all this time. He stood up, his steps now as solid as steel, without any more hesitation or weakness.

"It's nothing, Clara," Ares said as cold as ice, his jaw clenched tight holding back a storm of vengeance. "I just remembered the face of the person I'm going to destroy tomorrow morning."