2025-09-02 03:55:58Kane Blackwood's office overlooked Central Park, but tonight he wasn't admiring the view.
His nephew's transformation at the hotel had reached his ears within hours, along with video footage from three different phones.
"Impossible," he muttered, rewinding security footage on his tablet. "No one moves that fast."
The man across from his desk wore scars like badges of honor. Viktor Kozlov specialized in problems that required permanent solutions.
"You want him crippled or dead?" Viktor's accent carried the weight of Eastern European winters.
"Crippled. For now." Kane's gray eyes were cold as winter steel. "I want to understand what we're dealing with before we eliminate it permanently."
"Cost?"
"Whatever it takes." Kane slid a briefcase across the mahogany desk. "But make it look like street crime. No connection to the family."
Viktor smiled, revealing teeth that had seen too many fights. "My boys know how to send a message. Your nephew won't be walking straight for months."
Meanwhile, Damon was discovering that money couldn't buy peace of mind.
The Imperial Suite's luxury felt hollow when you had nowhere to go after checkout. He'd extended his stay another night, but eventually he'd have to face the real world again.
[NEW QUEST PARAMETERS AVAILABLE.]
"Let me guess," Damon said, adjusting his new Armani suit in the mirror. "More family members to slap?"
[NEGATIVE. ESCALATION PROTOCOL INITIATED.]
[TARGET: KANE BLACKWOOD.]
[OBJECTIVE: ESTABLISH DOMINANCE.]
"What kind of dominance?"
[DETAILS PENDING. FIRST, YOU MUST SURVIVE THE NIGHT.]
"Survive?" The words sent ice through his veins. "What's happening tonight?"
[EXTERNAL THREATS DETECTED. RECOMMEND HEIGHTENED VIGILANCE.]
Damon left the hotel at eleven PM, enhanced senses scanning for danger. The system's warnings felt like spiders crawling up his spine.
He'd made it three blocks when they hit him.
The first attacker came from behind—silent as death until Damon's battle sense screamed a warning. He spun just as a crowbar whistled through the space where his head had been.
"Fast reflexes," the man grunted in accented English. "Won't help you."
Four more men emerged from the shadows. Professional killers, not street thugs. These guys moved with military precision, surrounding him in a perfect formation.
[HOSTILE COUNT: 5.]
[THREAT LEVEL: EXTREME.]
[RECOMMEND IMMEDIATE ENGAGEMENT.]
"Gentlemen," Damon said, surprised by how calm his voice sounded. "I think there's been a misunderstanding."
The leader—a mountain of muscle with Slavic cheekbones—laughed.
"No misunderstanding. You are Damon Blackwood. We are here to break your legs."
"Kane's work?"
"Kane pays well for quality results."
The man with the crowbar swung again. This time, Damon didn't dodge.
He caught the weapon mid-swing.
The metal bent in his grip like soft clay. The attacker's eyes went wide as Damon crushed the crowbar into a twisted pretzel, then dropped the ruined steel at his feet.
"Impossible," someone whispered.
"New plan," Damon said conversationally.
"You walk away. Pretend you never found me. Live to see tomorrow."
In response, they pulled out weapons. Knives, brass knuckles, a telescoping baton that gleamed under the streetlights.
[MERCY REJECTED. INITIATING COMBAT PROTOCOLS.]
The first attacker lunged with a switchblade aimed at Damon's kidney. Fatal intent—this wasn't about crippling anymore.
Time slowed.
Damon sidestepped the blade, grabbed the man's wrist, and twisted. The snap of breaking bone echoed off the alley walls. The attacker screamed, dropping the knife.
Before the echo faded, Damon had moved to the second man. His palm strike connected with the thug's solar plexus, lifting him off his feet and sending him crashing into a dumpster twenty feet away.
The man didn't get up.
"What are you?" The leader backpedaled, pulling out a pistol.
"Something you can't afford." Damon advanced, and the remaining two attackers broke formation.
One ran. Smart choice.
The other—younger, probably trying to prove himself—raised his baton and charged.
[FURY PROTOCOL AVAILABLE.]
[ACTIVATE?]
"What does it do?"
[DEVASTATING POWER FOR 30 SECONDS. RECOMMENDED FOR MULTIPLE OPPONENTS.]
The kid with the baton was almost on top of him. The leader was raising his gun, finger tightening on the trigger.
"Activate."
[WAR GOD'S FURY: ENGAGED.]
Fire exploded through Damon's nervous system, but this time it didn't hurt. It felt like pure energy, like lightning contained in human form.
His vision shifted to pure predatory focus. Every movement became calculated destruction.
The kid with the baton swung down hard enough to crack skull. Damon caught the weapon, ripped it from the attacker's hands, and drove his elbow into the boy's ribs. The crack was audible three buildings away.
The kid collapsed, gasping like a landed fish.
The leader fired twice. Center mass shots that should have dropped anyone.
Damon moved between the bullets like they were thrown in slow motion. His hand closed around the gun barrel, crushing steel and plastic into scrap metal.
"Bozhe moy," the leader whispered in Russian.
"English, please." Damon's voice had changed. Deeper. More dangerous. "I want to understand your last words."
"Please... I have family..."
"So did I." Damon lifted the man by his shirt collar until his feet left the ground. "Until your employer destroyed them."
[FURY DURATION: 15 SECONDS REMAINING.]
The power was intoxicating. He could feel every heartbeat, smell every drop of fear-sweat, hear every prayer being whispered in multiple languages.
He could kill them all. Easily.
[10 SECONDS.]
Instead, Damon threw the leader into the brick wall hard enough to crack mortar. The man slumped unconscious, but breathing.
[5 SECONDS.]
[FURY PROTOCOL DISENGAGED.]
The enhanced state faded, leaving Damon standing in an alley full of broken men. All alive. All breathing. But none of them would be walking normally for months.
[COMBAT ASSESSMENT: FLAWLESS VICTORY.]
[NEW SKILL UNLOCKED: WAR GOD'S FURY LEVEL 1.]
[TRANSFORMATION: 63% COMPLETE.]
Damon looked down at his hands. No blood on them, despite what he'd just done. The system had given him perfect control—enough force to neutralize without killing.
Unless he chose otherwise.
His reflection in a broken storefront window showed the truth. His eyes weren't just glowing now—they were blazing like red stars. And his smile...
His smile looked hungry.
[UNCLE KANE WILL ESCALATE. NEXT ATTEMPT WILL INVOLVE LETHAL FORCE.]
"Let him try." The words surprised Damon with their confidence. "I'm not the same man he threw out two days ago."
[CORRECT. YOU ARE BECOMING SOMETHING MUCH MORE DANGEROUS.]
Sirens approached in the distance. Someone had called in the sounds of battle.
But Damon didn't run this time. He walked calmly out of the alley, stepping over unconscious bodies like they were sleeping drunks.
In the reflection of a passing car window, his eyes flared brighter red than ever before.
What was he becoming?
And did he even want to stop it?
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
Chapter 15- Ex REGRET
2 Days later Claire first spotted him at the Met.She'd been there with Adrian…some charity gala for children's literacy that she'd stopped caring about the moment they walked through the doors. Adrian was still healing from his encounter with Damon's newfound strength, his jaw wired shut making every social interaction awkward and painful.But across the marble hall, near the Egyptian wing, stood a man who made her forget about Adrian entirely.Tall. Confident. Moving through the crowd like he owned not just the room but everything in it. Designer suit that fit him like it was sewn directly onto his body. And that face..."Jesus," she breathed, wine glass trembling in her hand."What?" Adrian mumbled through his dental hardware, following her gaze. His good eye went wide with recognition and something that looked suspiciously like fear.It was Damon. But not the Damon she'd betrayed six days ago.This version looked like he'd stepped off a magazine cover. His shoulders were broader
Chapter 14- War has come
The attack came six blocks from the Crucible.Damon had just turned into a deserted industrial alley when his enhanced senses picked up the ambush. Twenty heartbeats hiding behind dumpsters, in doorways, on fire escapes. The metallic scent of gun oil mixed with cheap cologne and nervous sweat."Professional," he muttered, impressed despite himself.[HOSTILE COUNT: 20 CONFIRMED.][WEAPON SIGNATURES: MIXED. HANDGUNS, BLADES, BLUNT INSTRUMENTS.][TACTICAL ASSESSMENT: OVERKILL FOR SINGLE TARGET.]"Volkov really doesn't like being told no."The first gunshot came from a rooftop sniper. The bullet sparked off a metal pipe inches from Damon's head, but he was already moving.[COMBAT MODE ACTIVATED.][BATTLE AWARENESS: MAXIMUM.]Time dilated. Every shadow, every reflection, every possible angle of attack mapped itself in his mind like a three-dimensional chess board. The system wasn't just enhancing his physical abilities now – it was turning him into a tactical computer made of flesh and
Chapter 13- City Underworld
Four hours later, Damon stood outside a converted auto shop in Long Island City. His ribs had healed completely, leaving only pink lines where Viktor's spear had carved him open. The gauntlet was invisible beneath his leather jacket—just another rich boy looking for thrills.The bouncer looked him up and down with professional skepticism. "You sure you're in the right place, prep school?""I'm sure."Money talked. A thousand-dollar "entry fee" got him past the door and into a world that smelled like sweat, blood, and desperation.The main floor had been cleared to create a fighting pit surrounded by metal bleachers. Maybe two hundred people packed the space….construction workers, off-duty cops, Russian immigrants with prison tattoos, society types getting their kicks slumming with the criminal element.A fight was already in progress. Two heavyweights trading sledgehammer blows while the crowd screamed for blood. Cash changed hands with every exchange."First time?" A woman appeared
Chapter 12-Assasin?
Viktor's spear moved like liquid silver.Damon barely got his gauntleted hand up before the celestial bronze punched through his defenses. The weapon sliced across his ribs, drawing a line of fire that made him stumble backward."Too slow." Viktor spun the spear in a perfect arc, the butt end catching Damon across the temple. Stars exploded behind his eyes. "Too predictable."The Iron Strike that had pulverized concrete earlier? Viktor sidestepped it like he was dodging raindrops. His counter-attack sent the spear's point straight toward Damon's heart.Desperation triggered something primal. Damon twisted, caught the spear shaft with both hands, and channeled every ounce of his enhanced strength into snapping it in half.The bronze didn't even bend."Interesting." Viktor's voice held clinical detachment as he drove his knee into Damon's stomach. "You're stronger than the last three. Still pathetically weak, but stronger."Damon hit the ground hard enough to crack the ancient stones be
Chapter 11- Awakening the first war relic
"You're not sleeping tonight."The system's voice jolted Damon awake at 2:47 AM. He'd been dreaming of Claire…not the betrayer from three days ago, but the woman who used to trace patterns on his chest while whispering about their future.[EMERGENCY PROTOCOL INITIATED.][PROCEED TO COORDINATES: 40.7829° N, 73.9654° W.]"What's there?" He rolled out of the hotel bed, muscles still humming with residual power from tonight's family reunion.[ANSWERS.]Twenty minutes later, Damon stood before a chain-link fence surrounding what looked like a construction site. The sign read "Future Home of Riverside Condominiums," but his enhanced vision picked out details the darkness should have hidden.Ancient stone foundations. Weathered marble columns half-buried in decades of debris. The remains of something far older than any modern building.[CLIMB.]The fence posed no challenge. His new strength made the twelve-foot barrier feel like a speed bump. Damon dropped silently on the other side, follo
Chapter 10- The night of reckoning
Sunday evening at the Blackwood estate meant one thing: family dinner. Sacred tradition stretching back four generations, where Kane held court in the grand dining room and reminded everyone exactly who controlled their fortunes.Tonight, twenty-three family members gathered around the mahogany table that could seat forty.Empty chairs served as monuments to those who'd fallen from grace(Dead), or pushed (Exiled)."To prosperity," Kane raised his wine glass, silver hair gleaming under crystal chandeliers. "And to family loyalty."The toast echoed around the table, but Adrian's voice was notably absent.His jaw was still wired shut from what the doctors called "traumatic displacement." He glared hatred through swollen eyes."Poor Adrian," Aunt Margaret clucked sympathetically. "Attacked by that homeless man. These streets aren't safe anymore.""Homeless man?" Kane's laugh was sharp as broken glass. "That was my nephew. My blood. And now he's declared war on this family."Claire shifted
You may also like
Incredible Oliver Storm
Dragon Sly101.2K viewsThe Ex-Billionaire Husband
Sunny Zylven76.6K viewsBillionaire in Disguise
Faith122.1K viewsThe Return of the War Legate
Celestial Clouds677.4K viewsThe Rightful Heir
Tam1.2K viewsThe Return of Don Denver
VKBoy30.7K viewsRISE OF ALEXANDER CAGE
Miraukwuma950 viewsI Activated The Three Master Systems
Mh_Ummi (Styles)18.7K views