Hand of God

What is your Cultivation Level?

“Depends on the scenario,” Kade said. “For now, sovereign level is sufficient.”

George studied him for a moment, he was being given a partial answer but decided to accept it. A faint smile crossed his face.

“Don’t disappoint Master Zucker.” He inclined his head slightly and walked away.

Zia waited until he was out of earshot then stepped closer. “That was remarkable, Young Master.” Her eyes moved briefly over him with professional assessment. “Are you hurt?”

“No.” Kade was already moving toward the exit. “I’m leaving for the south today.”

Zia fell into step beside him. “The south?”

“The old man left me an assignment.” A brief pause. “An awkward one.”

“What kind of assignment?”

“I’m going to meet my fiancée.”

Zia stopped walking.

Kade didn’t.

She caught up quickly. “Your… what?”

“Apparently it’s already arranged.” He said it with a casual tone.

She processed that for two seconds. “And your coronation? That’s tomorrow morning.”

“I’ll be back.”

“I can arrange a private jet. You’d arrive within the hour and have enough time to—”

“Don’t need it.”

“At minimum you’ll need funds. You can’t arrive at a formal introduction without—”

“Don’t need that either.” He pushed through the exit door.

Zia followed him into the corridor. She opened her mouth.

Kade slowed slightly. “Actually.” A short pause. “Maybe a little.”

Zia closed her eyes briefly. Then reached into her jacket and produced a sleek black card, and held it out without a word.

Kade took it. “How much is on this?”

“One hundred million.” He looked at the card. Then at her. Something crossed his expression that was almost… not quite, but almost surprise.

He didn’t argue. He slipped it into his pocket and kept walking.

“One more thing.”

He turned slightly.

Zia held out a smartphone. “My number is saved in it along with key contacts in South City. You’ll need it.”

Kade took it. Turned it over in his hands. Looked at the screen. Turned it over again.

“I don’t know how to use this.”

Zia blinked. “At all?”

“I went to prison at fourteen.” He held it back out to her. “I didn’t own a smartphone.”

She takes the phone back. “Alright then. When you arrive at South City station a car will be waiting. The driver will give you something more suitable.”

“More suitable.”

“A modified device,” she says. “Simple interface, and easier to navigate.”

She looks at him once more.

“Try not to use it in public.”

Kade didn’t understand her last statement but he nodded and left.

Zia watched him disappear around the corner.

She stood there for a moment in the empty corridor.

Then pinched the bridge of her nose.

Meanwhile at the Medical wing.

The nurses had finished their work and filed out, leaving monitors beeping softly and the smell of antiseptic hanging in the still air. Reign lay unconscious against white sheets, his face having visible damage.

Chad sat beside the bed and said nothing for a long moment.

Then he reached into his jacket and pulled out his phone. He dialed. It rang once.

“I need everything you can find on Kade Hollow. Background, history, cultivation records, associates. Everything.” A pause. “As soon as possible.”

He ended the call without waiting for a response.

His eyes moved to his son’s face. The steady rise and fall of Reign’s chest. The bruising already darkening along his jaw.

Reign had never lost. Not once in forty seven sanctioned duels. Chad had made certain of that…had dedicated years to his son’s cultivation personally, had pushed him beyond every reasonable limit, had built him into something Azure had never produced at his age.

And a twenty-four year old ex-convict had dismantled him in under ten minutes.

Without breaking a sweat.

Chad’s fist closed slowly in his lap. His knuckles whitened.

“Thirty years,” he said quietly to the empty room. “Thirty years I helped built this organization from the inside. Bled for it. Sacrificed for it. Buried men who stood in its way.”

His jaw tightened.

“And that foolish old man hands it to a boy who crawled out of a prison cell.”

The heart monitor kept its steady rhythm.

“You will not sit on that throne, Kade Hollow.” His voice was low and absolute. “I don’t care what Zucker decreed. I don’t care about the code or the law or the other Elders and their principles.”

He stood slowly.

“You will die before your coronation.“​​​​​​​​​​​​