Asura God of War: Awakening of the Ghost

CHAPTER 4: Counterattack

Ares stared at Clara. His eyes were no longer empty, but sharp, focused, and as cold as ice. The internal clash and his anger became the trigger that restored all of the General's memories.

He remembered everything. The Architect Organization. The betrayal on the battlefield. He also remembered that Silas Valerius—Clara's grandfather—was the bastard who sold him out to a criminal syndicate just to save the Valerius company from bankruptcy.

A rotten business tactic exchanging a General's life for money, Ares thought furiously.

"I'm fine, Clara," Ares said. His voice was no longer hoarse, but deep, stable, and full of oppressive authority.

Ares immediately sat upright without needing to lean on any furniture. His military instincts made him able to ignore the pain easily. He took the towel from Clara's hand, then wiped the remaining blood on his own temple with tactical movements.

"My legs are not important right now," he said flatly. "What's important is that I remember everything. I remember that laboratory. I remember Silas. I remember why I was set up in that explosion back then."

Clara held her breath, staring at her husband with a trembling body. "You... you remember everything?"

"Silas never intended to save me," Ares said, his eagle eyes staring straight ahead. "He paid people to make me a cripple so he could continue to control you. He intentionally destroyed your life because he couldn't control me. All your suffering for these eighteen months... the insults from Julian, the debts, the confiscation of the apartment... that was all your grandfather's doing."

Clara sat stiffly on the cold marble floor. Her face was deathly pale. "Grandpa? He was the one who planned this? Why would he go that far?!"

"Because a crippled hero is very useful to raise his company's prestige in the government's eyes. Meanwhile, a healthy Asura General is a threat to them," Ares answered. He reached out, gently holding his wife's cheek. "Clara, forgive me. I made you bear all this oppression alone for eighteen months."

"You were in a coma, Ares! Don't blame yourself!"

"Everything ends today," Ares cut in firmly.

He glanced toward the worn-out bag near the sofa. "Your laptop with the broken screen, is it still here?"

"Yes, but it's completely dead!"

"Bring it here."

Clara immediately ran to get the severely cracked silver laptop. Ares received it, then reached into a secret compartment under his wheelchair to pull out a special black USB device—a high-level military eavesdropping and encryption tool.

Disregarding the completely dead laptop screen, Ares's fingers moved as fast as lightning across the keyboard. His fingers danced with the muscle memory of a high-level hacker. He had already memorized all the network security codes of Oakhaven City by heart.

It only took three minutes for the USB indicator light to turn bright blue. The military satellite transmitter was active.

"What are you doing?" Clara asked in confusion.

"Making Julian know what it feels like to be a beggar," Ares said coldly. "He's at the bank right now to take your money, right?"

"Yes. At eight o'clock this morning, he's going to withdraw all my company's funds into his personal account."

Ares glanced at the system clock on his device: 07:54 AM. Six minutes before Julian launched his plan.

"Good." Ares smirked coldly, his thumb ready over the Enter key. "Let's give him a surprise."

CLICK! Ares pressed the key.

At the same time, inside the VIP room of Oakhaven First Bank.

Julian Valerius sat leaning back with his legs crossed, smiling arrogantly as the Bank Manager handed a digital tablet in front of him.

"Everything is sorted, Mr. Julian," the Bank Manager said submissively. "As per Chairman Silas's orders, all funds from Clara Valerius's account will be transferred to your personal account. Please sign on the screen."

"Finally," Julian muttered with a triumphant laugh. He glanced at the balance number on the screen: 240 million dollars. "Goodbye, Clara. Enjoy living on the streets with your crippled husband."

Julian touched the screen, scribbling his signature.

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Suddenly, the tablet in his hands let out a shrill warning sound. The screen blinked bright red. The figure of 240 million dollars spun rapidly, plummeting drastically until it turned into a horrifying negative number.

[BALANCE: -$1,200,000,000]

"What the hell is this?!" Julian shouted, jumping from his chair while slamming the table. "Your system is broken! Why do I suddenly have a debt of 1.2 billion dollars?!"

The bank manager instantly went deathly pale. His fingers trembled violently as he checked the central computer. "M-Mr. Julian... this is impossible! All assets, properties, and shares belonging to the Valerius Family are being forcibly siphoned overseas! Our bank's security system has been breached by a hacker!"

Julian immediately lunged forward and fiercely grabbed the manager's collar. "Stop the transfer right now! That's all my grandfather's company money!"

"I can't! Entire bank access is completely locked down!"

WHOOSH!

All the monitors inside the VIP room suddenly went dead. A second later, the screens simultaneously lit up again, displaying a single line of bold, blood-red sentence:

[PAY YOUR DEBT.]

Julian staggered backward, dropping his tablet to the floor. His face was drained of blood, paralyzed by an overwhelming sense of shock. The Valerius Family... bankrupt in a single second!

Inside the run-down apartment, Ares closed the laptop slowly.

"Done," he said flatly.

"Ares, what just happened?" Clara asked, still engulfed in confusion.

"The Valerius family has nothing left," Ares answered.

He held the back of the wheelchair, then with a strong burst of internal energy, Ares stood upright on his two feet. His calf muscles hardened, his skin color returning to normal as his blood circulation destroyed the remnants of the Viper-7 poison.

Although his body still felt a little stiff, Ares's large and tall posture now stood tall like a supreme ruler.

Ares stared at the black skull-engraved coin on the floor. "Julian will definitely panic and hire assassins to come here after this."

"Then what about us?" Clara asked anxiously.

Ares reached into his pants belt, pressing a small transmitter device until a blue indicator light turned on.

"My subordinate, Elias, has already locked onto our location," Ares answered, his general aura fully reawakening, filling the cramped room with a dominating pressure. "Ares Thorne does not deserve to live in a run-down place like this. Tonight, we move to the main headquarters."

Ares turned his head toward the window, staring into the darkness of Oakhaven City with a murderous gaze.

"I will make sure they pay in full for every drop of tear you shed, Clara."