Sovereign of the Seven Armies

The Vanguard Answers

"You are completely out of your mind." Preston spat a mouthful of blood onto the polished floor. "You expect me to believe you just bankrupt the Wu Group?"

Preston cradled his mangled wrist against his chest. His face was pale but his eyes burned with pure malice.

"You have been eating through a tube for three years," Preston sneered. "You do not have the power to order a pizza. Let alone command a military financial strike."

Evelyn stepped out from her corner. Her initial shock was quickly replaced by deep disgust.

"Are you proud of yourself?" Evelyn screamed at Ryker. "You broke a billionaire's arm. You just signed your own death warrant."

She pointed her manicured finger directly at his face.

"I knew you were a violent brute. My father was an absolute fool to let you into this house."

"Do not speak about Grandpa Lin like that," Chloe shouted back.

Chloe stepped in front of Ryker. She spread her arms out widely to shield him from her mother.

"He was defending me," Chloe said. Her voice shook heavily but she held her ground. "You were going to kill him today. You both crossed the line."

"The line?" Preston laughed maniacally. "I own the line."

Preston struggled to his feet. He leaned heavily against the table to keep his balance.

"My family controls every shipping port in this province," Preston bragged. "We have the chief of police on our personal payroll. We have private security contractors waiting right outside."

He glared intensely at Ryker.

"I am going to peel the skin off your bones," Preston threatened. "I am going to make your wife watch while I do it."

"You talk too much," Ryker said coldly. "Your time is already up."

Ryker gently placed his hands on Chloe's shoulders. He moved her behind him again.

"You do not need to stand in front of me anymore," Ryker said softly.

He took her right hand in his. He traced the rough broken skin along her palm.

These were the hands of a woman who had given up her entire youth to keep a corpse alive.

"I heard you crying on my birthday," Ryker said. His voice dropped to a gentle whisper meant only for her.

Chloe gasped softly. Fresh tears welled in her eyes.

"I heard you begging the hospital director for an extension on the medical bills," Ryker continued. "I felt you wrap your own coat around me when the winter storm hit last year."

He looked up from her bruised hands. He locked eyes with his wife.

"You kept me warm for three years," Ryker said. "Now it is my turn to keep you safe."

Chloe covered her mouth to muffle a heavy sob. The massive burden she had carried alone was finally being lifted.

"Stop this pathetic display," Evelyn scoffed loudly. "You are acting like a romantic hero. You are just a violent stray dog."

Evelyn crossed her arms over her chest.

"I paid for those hospital bills," Evelyn lied smoothly. "I kept you breathing. And this is how you repay me?"

Ryker slowly turned his head toward Evelyn. The sheer killing intent in his eyes made the older woman take a sudden step back.

"You did not pay a single dime," Ryker stated. "You froze her bank accounts. You forced her to sell her wedding ring to buy my medicine."

Evelyn opened her mouth to argue but the words died instantly in her throat. She had never seen such a terrifying expression on a human being.

"You starved your own daughter to force her into this man's bed," Ryker said. "You are not a mother. You are a broker selling human flesh."

The sharp ringing of a cell phone shattered the tense silence in the room.

It was coming from Preston's pocket.

Preston flinched. He fumbled with his good hand to pull the sleek device from his tailored trousers.

"This is probably my security team," Preston smirked. "They heard the commotion. They are coming to scrape you off the floor."

Preston answered the call and put it on speakerphone. He wanted Ryker to hear his own doom.

"Get in here right now," Preston yelled into the phone. "Break this cripple's legs."

A frantic voice screamed back through the speaker. It was not a security guard. It was Preston's father.

"Preston what did you do?" Chairman Wu roared. His voice was completely hysterical. "Who did you offend today?"

Preston frowned. His arrogant smirk faltered slightly.

"What are you talking about Dad?" Preston asked. "I am at the Lin estate. I am dealing with that trash husband."

"Shut your mouth and listen to me," Chairman Wu screamed. "Our stocks just dropped to zero. The market regulators suspended all our global trading."

Preston froze. The color drained completely from his face.

"That is impossible," Preston stammered. "We have billions in reserve."

"The reserves are gone," his father cried. "The military just raided our corporate headquarters. They seized every single server."

Evelyn gasped loudly. She stared at Preston's phone in absolute disbelief.

"The southern ports cancelled our contracts ten seconds ago," Chairman Wu continued. "The banks called in all our loans. We are utterly bankrupt."

Preston dropped his phone. It clattered loudly against the hardwood floor.

The voice of his father continued to scream from the floorboards.

"They said we provoked a supreme commander," Chairman Wu sobbed. "Preston who did you touch? You just killed our entire family."

The call abruptly disconnected.

The dining hall fell dead silent.

Preston dropped to his knees. He stared blankly at his broken wrist. The reality of his complete destruction was crashing down on him.

He looked up at Ryker with wide terrified eyes.

"You," Preston whispered. His voice trembled violently. "You actually did it."

Before Ryker could respond a different phone began to ring.

Evelyn jumped in surprise. She reached into her designer purse and pulled out her phone. The caller ID showed the chief financial officer of the Lin family trust.

Evelyn answered the phone with shaking hands. She did not dare put it on speaker.

She pressed the phone to her ear. She listened for exactly five seconds.

Evelyn let out a bloodcurdling scream. She dropped the phone as if it had burned her skin.

"My accounts," Evelyn shrieked. She grabbed her own hair in pure panic. "They froze everything. The family trust is completely locked."

She looked at Ryker. The disgust in her eyes had been entirely replaced by sheer primal terror.

"Who are you?" Evelyn demanded. Her voice cracked with fear. "What did you just do to my money?"

"I warned you," Ryker said coldly. "Everyone in this room was the target."

Chloe watched the chaos unfold with her mouth slightly open. The wealthy arrogant monsters who had tormented her for three years were now crying on the floor.

It felt exactly like a fever dream.

"Ryker," Chloe said softly. She tugged gently on his sleeve. "How are you doing this? The Vanguard? What is that?"

Ryker looked down at her. He knew he could not hide the truth from her anymore. He did not want to hide it.

"I am not just a soldier," Ryker told her quietly. "I command the northern borders. The Vanguard is my personal legion."

Chloe blinked in confusion. The words were too massive for her exhausted mind to process.

"You are a general?" Chloe asked.

"I am the Dragon Sovereign," Ryker answered. His voice held absolute authority. "I answer to no one but the heavens."

Preston suddenly began to laugh. It was a broken wet sound.

The young master had completely snapped under the pressure of losing everything. He glared at Ryker with murderous psychotic rage.

"I do not care what titles you invent," Preston spat. "I do not care about the money anymore."

Preston reached into his jacket with his uninjured hand. He pulled out a small black radio transmitter.

"I still have fifty armed men surrounding this estate," Preston screamed. "I am going to kill you right here."

Preston pressed the red button on the transmitter.

"Get in here and kill this bastard," Preston roared into the device. "Shoot him in the head."

Evelyn scrambled backward. She crawled under the heavy mahogany table to hide from the impending violence.

Chloe grabbed Ryker's arm in a panic. She tried to pull him toward the back exit.

Ryker did not move a single muscle. He stood firmly in the center of the room.

Heavy footsteps thundered down the main hallway of the estate. It sounded like an avalanche of combat boots hitting the marble floors.

"They are here," Preston laughed hysterically. He pointed his good hand at Ryker. "You are dead. You are both dead."

The massive double doors to the dining hall burst open. The heavy wood splintered and shattered outward.

Dozens of men in tactical combat gear flooded into the room. They carried heavy assault rifles and wore black masks over their faces.

Preston smiled through his bloody teeth. He had won.

"Shoot him," Preston ordered the mercenaries. "Tear him apart."

The lead mercenary stepped forward. He completely ignored Preston.

The mercenary looked at Ryker standing calmly in the center of the room.

The mercenary immediately dropped his weapon to the floor. The heavy rifle clattered loudly against the wood.

The man fell to one knee and bowed his head deeply.

Every single armed man in the room followed his exact movement. They dropped their weapons and knelt in absolute unison.

The collective sound of fifty men kneeling echoed like a thunderstrike.

"The Vanguard answers your call," the lead mercenary shouted. "Awaiting your orders Sovereign."

Preston stopped laughing. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and he collapsed onto the floor in a dead faint.

The lead mercenary kept his head bowed. He pulled a radio from his tactical vest.

"Sovereign we have secured the immediate perimeter," the mercenary reported. "But there is a massive problem outside."

Ryker narrowed his eyes slightly.

"Speak," Ryker commanded.

"The regional military commander just arrived at the front gates with a thousand armed troops," the mercenary said. "He is demanding you surrender the estate immediately."

Ryker slowly stepped over Preston's unconscious body.

"Let him in," Ryker said coldly. "I want to see who dares to point a gun at my house."