FROM PRISON TRASH TO GOD OF WAR

Chapter 6: Blood Debt

Robert Thompson clawed his way upright, one hand pressed against his bruised ribs. His face twisted with pain, but something darker burned in his eyes—desperation mixed with vicious triumph. His fingers found his phone, and he pressed a button.

The back entrance of the ballroom crashed open.

Dozens of men flooded through—massive, scarred thugs in leather and denim, each one built like a linebacker. They carried tire irons, chains, and brass knuckles. These weren't corporate security guards. These were street enforcers, the kind of men who made problems disappear permanently.

The crowd gasped, pressing even further against the walls.

Robert straightened, wincing but grinning through the pain. His reinforcements formed a wall of muscle and menace between him and Alexander. The balance of power had shifted, and Robert knew it.

"Well, well, well." Robert's voice regained its arrogant edge. "Not so tough now, are you, nephew?"

Victoria scrambled to her feet, her earlier terror transforming into renewed confidence. "You're finished, Alexander! Completely finished!"

Jason limped forward to stand beside his father, emboldened by the small army at their backs. "You think you can just waltz in here and threaten us? You're nothing but a prison rat!"

"A dead prison rat," one of the thugs growled, slapping a metal pipe against his palm.

Robert laughed, the sound growing stronger as his confidence returned. "You're going to die tonight, Alexander. Right here, in front of everyone. And when they find your body, it'll be ruled self-defense. After all—" he gestured dramatically at the coffin, "—you brought a corpse to my celebration. You assaulted my family. What choice did we have?"

"That's right!" Victoria clutched her torn dress theatrically. "You forced us to defend ourselves! Everyone here will testify!"

The guests nodded reluctantly, their faces pale. They knew how this worked. The Thompsons controlled too much of the city to cross.

Margaret Ashford cleared her throat nervously. "Robert did seem quite threatened. It was self-defense, clearly."

"Absolutely," another guest agreed quickly. "We all saw it."

Alexander stood perfectly still, his expression unreadable. His cold gaze swept across the assembled thugs with something that looked almost like pity.

"These men?" His voice dripped with contempt. "This is your grand solution? Trash?"

Robert's face flushed red. "TRASH? These are the most dangerous men in five states! Each one of them has—"

"Has what?" Alexander interrupted. "Beaten up shopkeepers? Shaken down small businesses? Impressed you by crushing people weaker than themselves?" He shook his head slowly. "They're not fighters. They're bullies. And bullies break easily."

The lead thug—a mountain of a man with a shaved head and a scar across his throat—stepped forward. "Big words from a skinny pretty boy. Let's see if you can back them up."

"I'm giving you one chance," Alexander said calmly, directly to Robert. "Call everyone you have. Every enforcer. Every corrupt cop on your payroll. Every favor you've ever bought. Call them all. Now."

Robert blinked, confused. "What?"

"Because once I start moving, you won't get another opportunity." Alexander's voice remained level, almost conversational. "This is the only warning you'll receive."

The ballroom erupted in laughter.

"He's completely insane!" Jason howled. "Father, he's actually insane!"

Victoria doubled over, cackling. "Oh my God, he thinks—he actually thinks—" She could barely speak through her laughter. "Forty men, Robert! He's asking you to call MORE!"

"This is the funniest thing I've ever seen," Margaret gasped, dabbing at her eyes. "He's so delusional he doesn't even realize he's about to die!"

"Someone film this," a younger businessman called out. "I want to watch him beg for mercy on repeat!"

"He'll be crying for his mommy soon enough!"

"Mommy can't help him—she's dead! They're all dead!"

Robert leaned against a table, shaking with laughter. "You know what, Alexander? I almost feel bad for you. Prison must have broken your mind completely. You can't even see reality anymore."

"Yeah," one thug jeered. "You're gonna be begging us to kill you quick once we start breaking bones."

"We'll make it last hours," another promised. "Real slow. Real painful."

Alexander didn't respond to the mockery. Instead, he reached into his jacket pocket and withdrew something small—a fragment of weathered stone, no bigger than his palm. Part of a gravestone.

The laughter faltered slightly as Alexander walked to a nearby table. He cleared the champagne glasses aside with one sweep of his arm, the crystal shattering on the floor. Then he placed the stone fragment down with infinite care, adjusting its angle so it faced the entire ballroom.

The crowd watched in confused silence.

Alexander stepped back and bowed deeply—a full, formal bow of respect and sorrow. When he straightened, his voice was soft but carried to every corner of the room.

"Mother. Father. Watch closely. Every debt will be paid. Every crime will be answered. I promise you this."

Something in his tone—something ancient and terrible—sent ice through Victoria's veins. She found herself taking an involuntary step backward.

Robert felt it too—a primal urge to run screaming from the room. But he crushed it down, angry at himself for feeling fear of one man.

"He's lost his mind," Robert announced loudly, convincing himself. "Talking to a rock. He's completely—"

"Kill him," Alexander said.

His voice was calm. Almost gentle.

Robert laughed nervously. "What? We're the ones with—" He stopped, realizing Alexander wasn't talking to him. "Wait. All of you! Take him down! NOW!"

The thugs charged as one mass—forty men moving with coordinated brutality. Chains whipped through the air. Tire irons swung for Alexander's head. They came from all sides, a wave of violence meant to overwhelm through sheer numbers.

Alexander moved.

His first kick shattered a kneecap. The second crushed a throat. His elbow broke a nose, drove bone fragments into a brain. A palm strike caved in ribs. A finger thrust punctured an eye.

No wasted movement. No fancy techniques. Just brutal, surgical efficiency.

The lead thug swung his metal pipe in a massive overhead arc. Alexander sidestepped, caught the man's wrist, twisted. The crack of breaking bone echoed like a gunshot. Before the pipe hit the ground, Alexander had already moved to the next target.

Blood sprayed across marble floors. Screams filled the air—not from Alexander, but from the men trying to kill him. They fell in heaps, bones shattered, joints dislocated, faces destroyed.

Seven seconds.

Eight.

Nine.

Ten.

Silence fell like a curtain. Alexander stood in the center of a circle of broken bodies, not a hair out of place, barely breathing hard. Every single thug lay motionless or writhing in agony. Blood pooled beneath them, spreading slowly across the expensive flooring.

The ballroom guests stood frozen in horror, many with their hands pressed over their mouths.

Victoria's legs gave out. She collapsed to the floor, her entire body shaking uncontrollably. A wet stain spread across her red dress as her bladder released.

"No," she whimpered. "No, no, no..."

Jason had gone completely white, his earlier bravado evaporated. He tried to speak but could only produce a strangled wheeze.

Robert stared at the carnage, his mind refusing to process what he'd just witnessed. Forty men. Ten seconds. Impossible.

Alexander walked calmly back to the stone fragment, his shoes leaving bloody footprints. He adjusted its angle slightly, making sure it had the best view of the room.

"One debt paid," he said softly to the stone. "Many more to go."

Robert's hands shook as he fumbled for his phone. His fingers could barely work the screen. He had one more card to play—one final ace.

"You... you think you've won?" Robert's voice cracked. "You have no idea who you're dealing with!"

"Robert, don't!" Victoria sobbed from the floor. "Please, just let him—"

"SHUT UP!" Robert screamed at her, then turned back to Alexander with desperate fury. "I have connections! Real connections! Not street trash—MILITARY connections!"

Alexander tilted his head slightly, the gesture almost curious.

"That's right!" Robert found his phone number, dialing frantically. "General Bradley Hawthorne! Four-star general! He's the one who arranged this whole banquet! He specifically wanted to honor the War God, and you've RUINED it!"

The phone rang. Once. Twice.

"General Hawthorne will have you executed for disrupting a military function!" Robert's confidence grew with each ring. "You can beat thugs, fine! But you can't fight the United States military!"

The call connected.