THE ALMIGHTY WAR GOD

Unforgivable Sins

The long-haired friend and the thick-bearded friend also stood up, turning toward Magnus.

“Who am I? I’m the older brother of the innocent girl whose life you tried to destroy!” Magnus said, his voice raw with emotion.

“Don’t try to fool me! Tell me who the hell you really are!”

Julius’s brain was telling him that the person in front of him was indeed Magnus. Although Magnus's physical appearance was vastly different from three years ago, his face and gaze were the same, as was his voice. But Magnus was dead. Magnus was supposed to have died three years ago.

Instead of answering Julius’s second question, Magnus pulled something from his pocket and threw it at Julius.

Julius struggled to catch it—a cell phone. When he realized it belonged to one of the friends he had sent to terrorize Jasmine, his eyes widened.

“There’s no point denying it, Julius. Everything you ordered those two bastards to do is recorded in your chat history on that phone,” Magnus said.

Julius looked up, his face filled with rage. “What did you do to them?”

“They’re no longer in this world,” Magnus said coldly.

Fire instantly blazed in Julius’s eyes. His three friends stared at Magnus as if they wanted to tear him apart.

“You fucking bastard! The three of you, beat him to a bloody pulp!” Julius ordered his friends.

Without hesitation, the three men surrounded Magnus from three sides. One of them—the long-haired one—grabbed a bottle of liquor that was still half-full.

Knowing a fight was about to erupt, the people at the nearby tables scrambled away, and those on the dance floor stopped their frantic movements.

The music, however, still thumped loudly, serving as the backdrop to the fight scene.

“Die, you dog!” the silver-haired man yelled, trying to punch Magnus to avenge the slap he’d received earlier.

At the same time, the long-haired man raised his right hand high, ready to smash the bottle over Magnus’s head from the other side. And the thick-bearded man unbuckled his belt, aiming to whip it at Magnus’s legs.

Ambushed like this, Julius and the club-goers expected Magnus to crumble. But that’s not what happened.

Magnus moved so fast that his movements were barely caught by the naked eye. One second later, the three men who had ganged up on him were sent sprawling in three different directions, slamming into tables and chairs.

Julius was stunned. His three friends were seasoned fighters who were used to causing trouble. They shouldn't have been defeated that easily.

‘Who the fuck is this motherfucker?’ Julius thought.

The longer he looked, the more Julius was reminded of Magnus. But he couldn’t accept that this man was Magnus.

“Julius Barbosa, you have to face the consequences for what you did to me three years ago, and what you’ve done to my family these last three years,” Magnus said, staring intently at Julius and walking toward him.

Julius’s eyes widened. ‘Is this really Magnus? Am I hallucinating?’ he thought.

“Stop right there!”

Julius pulled out a gun he had concealed on his back and aimed it at Magnus, directly at his face. The sexy women who had been servicing Julius and his friends instantly bolted away. People in the club screamed—especially the women.

“Take one more inch closer, and a bullet from this gun will be lodged in your skull!” Julius threatened.

Magnus did stop, but not out of fear. He was calculating his best option.

“I can’t believe what I’m seeing. Are you really Magnus? The useless, poor Magnus?” Julius taunted.

Magnus didn't reply. He was waiting for the right moment to strike. The trick he used on the red-haired man wouldn't work here because it would be too conspicuous. There were too many people. Some of them might be recording what was happening on their phones.

“What the hell happened three years ago? How did you survive? I was sure you couldn’t walk with those wounds,” Julius asked.

Slowly, Julius’s three friends began to get back up. When Magnus hit them earlier, he had deliberately held back most of his strength. If he hadn't, the three of them would be dead already.

“Let’s say I was lucky,” Magnus said. “I was lucky enough to get out of that goddamn forest in time.”

Julius raised an eyebrow. “Hard to believe. But whatever. It doesn’t matter anyway. Now, what are you trying to do? You suddenly show up after three years. I bet you’ve planned something, huh?”

“Yeah. I came back to take revenge,” Magnus replied.

Silence hung in the air briefly, then Julius burst out laughing.

“Revenge, you say? What can you possibly do? Did you forget that I’m a member of the Barbosa family? Did you also forget that the Barbosa family is one of the ten richest families in this city? We have enough wealth, power, and connections to squash a small, shitty fly like you!”

Magnus was silent. Julius saw him as a small, shitty fly. If only he knew that the richest and most powerful person in Merseyvale right now was no match for him.

“Julius, let’s settle this outside,” said Julius’s friend, the long-haired one.

“That’s right. Let’s finish him off outside. Not here,” the silver-haired one chimed in.

“I remember there are no surveillance cameras behind the bar. Let’s take him there,” suggested the thick-bearded one.

Julius considered his friends’ suggestions, then nodded.

“You said you want revenge, right? How about we settle it behind the bar? We’ll see who dies tonight,” Julius said confidently.

Calmly, Magnus answered, “Okay.”

Magnus turned around, walking toward the front door of the bar first.

“Don’t try anything or I’ll shoot you,” Julius warned. “You know I won't hesitate.”

Magnus knew Julius was still aiming at him. And he knew that Julius's three friends were pulling out their respective weapons—a knife, an iron chain, a stun gun.

It didn't matter. Even if they used a rocket launcher, the winner was already clear.

Leaving the bar, they walked around the building until they reached the back. Through the thick-bearded friend, Julius bribed two bar employees who happened to be on duty there to stay out of it and pretend they didn’t see what was about to happen. The two employees then moved to the front of the bar.

“See? This world is run by money. As long as you have money, you have the power to control what people around you can and can't do. That’s the difference between you and me. Do you understand now, scumbag?”

Julius’s mocking tone was thick, but it wasn't surprising at all. Three years ago, when Magnus was a housekeeper at the Barbosa residence’s main home, Julius made a point of mocking him every single day.

“So, how are we going to settle this? Are you going to challenge me to a one-on-one fight again?” Julius asked, still in a scornful tone.

Magnus glanced at the three men with Julius, then looked back at Julius and said, “No need. I’ll take on all four of you at once.”

Julius frowned, looking at his friends in astonishment, then all of them burst into booming laughter.

“He’s truly gone mad, Julius. He can't properly gauge his own strength,” the long-haired man said.

“I don’t know how you managed to survive three years ago. But what’s clear is that you’re going to die tonight,” the silver-haired man stated.

“Yeah. This time we’ll make sure his heart stops beating,” the thick-bearded man added.

Julius’s smirk widened. Magnus immediately remembered the moment when Julius and his five friends hunted him in the forest three years ago.

“I hope you don’t regret this stupid decision,” Julius said. “Just so you know, I didn’t say we’d attack you with our bare hands.”

Magnus shrugged. “I don’t care. If you want to attack me, then just attack. Stop running your mouth.”

“Ugh! He’s trying to act tough!”

“It’s getting sickening. Should we just break both his arms and legs?”

“And let’s strip him naked later. Then we’ll dump his body in the forest.”

That’s how Julius’s friends reacted. Julius himself widened his sneer, his gun still pointed at Magnus.

“The three of you, attack him with everything you’ve got! Don’t fucking hold back!” he shouted.

The three men charged at Magnus with loud yells, each raising the hand that held their weapon.

“Die, you fucking loser,” Julius muttered softly, his smirk returning.

But a second later, his smile vanished. Magnus had effortlessly neutralized the three of his friends. Not only that, he saw all three of them vomit blood and their eyes bulge. And they weren't moving anymore.

“W-what is this? W-what is happening?” Julius stammered.

Magnus turned to face him. His blue eyes were blazing.

Suddenly, Julius felt an overwhelming fear, causing his hands holding the gun to tremble violently.

“D-die!!” Julius shrieked, pulling the trigger.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Magnus was in his range, and Julius was an expert marksman. There was no way he could miss. That’s what he believed.

But strangely, Magnus looked fine. There were no bullet wounds. No blood. Where did the bullets go?

“Three years ago you tried to kill me. An hour ago, your fucking friends tried to rape my sister. You know your sins are unforgivable, Julius Barbosa?”

Magnus didn't shout it, but Julius felt something heavy and solid slam into him, making him sway.

Magnus stepped forward, his eyes locked on him.

“W-wait, wait...” Julius held up one hand, while the other hand put the gun on the ground. “I-I can give you a lot of money. Yeah... I can give it to you. How much do you want? Just name the amount. I’ll...”

CRASH!!

“Ugh!!”

...