GOD OF WAR: THE SYSTEM OF VENGEANCE

Chapter 3- The system awakens

"FREEZE!"

Time slowed. The police officer's finger tightened on the trigger. Damon could see the man's pupils dilate, could hear his accelerated heartbeat somehow. What the hell?

[EMERGENCY PROTOCOLS ACTIVATED]

[INITIATING EVASION SEQUENCE]

His body moved without conscious thought.

Damon rolled left as gunfire erupted, bullets sparking off the brick wall where his head had been a split second before.

The movement felt fluid, impossibly fast—like he was watching someone else control his limbs.

"Jesus Christ, he's fast!" One officer shouted.

Damon vaulted over a dumpster in a single bound, landing silently on the other side.

Since when could he do that? He'd barely passed gym class in high school.

[PHYSICAL ENHANCEMENT: 12% COMPLETE]

The voice in his head wasn't going away. If anything, it was getting clearer, more insistent.

"Spread out! Cut off his exits!"

The alley was a dead end, but somehow Damon spotted a maintenance ladder hidden in shadows twenty feet up the wall.

He leaped, fingers finding rusty metal rungs that should have been impossible to reach.

Behind him, flashlights swept frantically.

"Where'd he go?"

"Check the fire escapes!"

Damon hauled himself onto the roof, chest heaving. The city sprawled below him—millions of lights, millions of people who had no idea their world was about to change.

[LOCATION SECURE. BEGINNING FULL SYSTEM INTEGRATION.]

"What are you?" he whispered to the empty rooftop.

[I AM THE WAR GOD'S SUCCESSOR PROTOCOL. YOU HAVE BEEN CHOSEN.]

"Chosen for what? I'm nobody. I'm—"

[YOU ARE DAMON BLACKWOOD. DESCENDANT OF ARES. HEIR TO POWERS BEYOND MORTAL COMPREHENSION.]

A laugh escaped him, harsh and bitter. "Ares? Like, the Greek god? You're telling me I'm descended from a myth?"

[MYTHS ARE TRUTHS FORGOTTEN BY WEAK MINDS. YOUR BLOODLINE HAS BEEN DORMANT FOR GENERATIONS. TONIGHT'S BETRAYAL HAS AWAKENED WHAT WAS ALWAYS YOURS.]

The heat in his chest intensified. It felt like molten metal flowing through his veins, rewriting him from the inside out.

[FIRST QUEST PARAMETERS LOADING...]

A translucent screen materialized in his vision—impossible, but undeniably real. Like a video game interface superimposed on reality.

QUEST: RECLAIM YOUR HONOR Objective: Slap the one who spat upon you within 24 hours Target: Adrian Blackwood Failure Penalty: Death Success Reward: War God's Strength Level 1 Time Remaining: 23:47:32

"You want me to slap Adrian?" Damon stared at the countdown timer. "That's it?"

[THE FIRST STEP IN RECLAIMING POWER IS RECLAIMING RESPECT. THOSE WHO HUMILIATE YOU MUST FACE CONSEQUENCES.]

"And if I refuse?"

[THEN YOU DIE. THE POWER CONSUMING YOU WILL BURN YOU FROM WITHIN. YOUR CHOICE, SUCCESSOR.]

The heat pulsed stronger, almost painful now. He could feel something changing in his muscles, his bones. Like his entire body was being rebuilt.

"This is insane." He rubbed his temples. "I'm having a psychotic break. That's what this is."

[TEST THE REALITY OF YOUR SITUATION.]

A brick from the roof's edge caught his eye. Damon grabbed it—solid, heavy, real. Without thinking, he squeezed.

The brick crumbled to dust between his fingers.

"Holy shit."

[STRENGTH ENHANCEMENT: 25% COMPLETE. SPEED ENHANCEMENT: 18% COMPLETE. TACTICAL AWARENESS: 31% COMPLETE.]

His reflection in a nearby window stopped him cold. Same face, same brown hair. But his eyes...

They were glowing. Faint red light pulsed behind his pupils like dying embers.

"What am I becoming?"

[WHAT YOU WERE ALWAYS MEANT TO BE. BUT FIRST, YOU MUST CHOOSE.]

The quest timer ticked down: 23:46:17.

Damon's phone buzzed. A news alert: "Blackwood Heir Warrant Issued. $50,000 Reward for Information Leading to Arrest."

His own photo stared back at him from the screen. They'd used his Harvard graduation picture—back when he'd believed the world was his oyster.

Another message followed. James Chen: "Sorry man. Had to do it. Kane's offering serious money. Nothing personal."

The betrayal hit like a physical blow. His workout partner. His friend. All for money.

Heat flared in his chest again, stronger this time. The phone screen cracked under his grip.

[ANGER AMPLIFIES THE AWAKENING. GOOD.]

"This isn't good!" Damon hurled the broken phone across the roof. "This is madness!"

But even as he said it, he could feel the truth.

The power was real. The system was real. And Adrian—smug, entitled Adrian who'd stolen everything—was sleeping peacefully in his stolen victory.

[24 HOURS TO CHOOSE YOUR PATH. RECLAIM YOUR HONOR, OR ACCEPT YOUR DEATH.]

The quest screen pulsed insistently in his vision.

Slap Adrian. Simple enough. But the way his hands were tingling, the way strength was building in his arms like pressure in a boiler... would it just be a slap?

What if he killed him by accident?

[THE SYSTEM PROTECTS VALUABLE TARGETS. YOUR COUSIN WILL SURVIVE. THE QUESTION IS: WILL YOU?]

Below, sirens wailed as police swept the streets. Above, storm clouds gathered like an omen. And inside his chest, something ancient and violent was waking up after centuries of sleep.

The countdown timer glowed in the corner of his vision: 23:45:03.

Damon walked to the roof's edge, staring down at the city that had rejected him. Every light represented someone who would turn him away, someone who'd chosen Kane's

money over their friendship.

But Adrian... Adrian was different. Adrian had taken everything and laughed while doing it.

His reflection in the window grew clearer as clouds parted around the moon.

The red glow in his eyes was brighter now. Like looking at a stranger wearing his face.

[THE TRANSFORMATION HAS BEGUN. THERE IS NO RETURNING TO WHO YOU WERE.]

Thunder rumbled overhead. Rain began to fall again, washing the dried blood from his face but doing nothing to cool the fire building inside him.

Twenty-three hours and forty-four minutes to find Adrian.

In the window's reflection, his eyes flared brighter red, and for just a moment, Damon could swear he saw something else staring back.

Something that looked hungry for war and…..Revenge