The God of Endless Revenge

2

The heavy iron blade came down with a wet, sickening thud.

The steel bit deep into Lucas’s shoulder, cutting through flesh and grating hard against his bone.

Boss Kael twisted the blade with a cruel grin, leaning close until Lucas could smell the sour liquor on his breath.

"Look at that stubborn jaw," Kael sneered, spitting right onto Lucas’s bloody chest. "You think biting your tongue makes you a hero? Let’s see how quiet you stay when I start peeling your skin."

Lucas clenched his teeth so hard blood trickled from his gums, staring back with cold, steady eyes. He refused to give the butcher the satisfaction of a single cry.

A tall thug stepped up from behind Kael, laughing as he drove a jagged hunting knife straight into Lucas’s thigh.

"Look at him, boss," the thug mocked, twisting the knife in his leg. "He still glares like he owns the city."

Pain rushed over Lucas in hot, blinding waves, tearing through every nerve in his ruined body.

Yet the tearing agony of the steel was nothing compared to the terror clawing at his chest.

Lily.

His blind little sister was out there in the dark, helpless and alone.

Celeste’s cruel laugh echoed in his mind like poison: She is already where trash belongs.

What had they done to her? Was she shivering in some freezing ditch right now, crying his name with nobody to hear her?

Just three days ago, Lily had woken up blind and unable to speak a single word. Lucas had rushed off to seal the breach, trusting Damien to protect her, blind to the vipers in his own home.

"Lily..." Lucas choked out, his fingers curling into tight, bloody fists against the stone pillar.

"Still mumbling, trash?" another thug laughed, stepping forward to drive an iron spear into Lucas’s side.

Lucas’s head fell forward against his chest. The heavy iron spikes groaned under his weight as dark blood poured down his legs into the dirt.

Kael grabbed Lucas by his hair, yanking his head up to face the wide, heavy blade.

"Lord Blackwood said to finish you off," Kael said with a low chuckle, resting the cold steel against Lucas's throat. "Time to die, commander."

The heavy blade swung through the torchlight, aimed straight for his neck.

Lucas’s heartbeat gave one final, shuddering thud. His vision blurred, slipping into cold, empty blackness.

Then, right in the center of his fading soul, a crisp blue light flared to life.

A clear sound like a ringing bell echoed in his mind, cutting through the silence.

[Heavenly Fate-Reversal System Activated: Level 1.]

[Destiny Script Detected: Host dies tonight at age twenty-three as an unremembered traitor.]

[Fate Value: 0.]

[Will you accept death, or break your fate?]

Lucas opened his bloodshot eyes in the dark, the memory of Lily’s sweet, blind face flashing before him like an unquenchable fire.

I am not dying in this cellar, Lucas roared in his soul. Not while those two monsters walk free!

He spat a thick mouthful of blood directly into Kael’s face.

"Break it!" Lucas roared at the top of his lungs.

A blast of pure black lightning detonated from Lucas’s chest with the force of an exploding mountain.

The shockwave tore through the stone pillar, blowing the four iron spikes into flying metal splinters.

Kael and his five men were hurled across the cellar, crashing violently against the damp stone walls.

Black fire wrapped around Lucas’s body like a living cloak, burning away the cold numbness and stitching his torn flesh in seconds.

The bleeding hole in his chest sealed smooth and clean, his broken ribs snapping back into place with crisp, painless pops.

[Destined Execution Defied!]

[Fate Broken: +800 Fate Points Acquired.]

Lucas dropped lightly onto his feet, standing tall in the puddle of his own blood.

He rolled his shoulders, feeling the steady rhythm of his breath and the cold strength returning to his limbs.

Kael scrambled up from the rubble, coughing dust as he wiped the blood from his eyes.

"What is this?!" Kael screamed, staring at the empty, shattered pillar in pure disbelief. "How did you break runic iron with no magic core?!"

The five thugs pushed themselves off the floor, their hands shaking as they raised their weapons.

"Boss, his wounds are completely gone!" one of them yelled, panic cracking his voice. "He was half-dead two seconds ago!"

"Shut your mouths!" Kael snarled, backing away a step while raising his heavy blade. "His core was carved out! He is just burning his last drop of life force to scare us! Cut him down!"

The five thugs charged forward together, shouting loudly to drown out their own fear.

Lucas did not retreat an inch. He focused his mind inward, opening the system's vision.

[Eyes of Destiny Activated.]

When Lucas looked at the five rushing men, glowing red numbers appeared over their heads, displaying their short, violent lifespans.

System, Lucas asked in his mind. Is my cancelled death fate stored?

[Ding! The host's averted death script is securely held in the system buffer.]

Can I alter their destiny by transferring my own death script onto them?

[Level 1 Privilege Confirmed: Host may transfer the averted death fate to up to five targets.]

Lucas looked at the five thugs rushing toward him, his eyes turning cold and dead.

"You wanted to take my life?" Lucas whispered. "Take my death instead."

Lucas moved like a shadow through the torchlight, his speed far beyond anything a coreless mortal could fathom.

Before the two lead thugs could even swing their daggers, Lucas’s bare hands clamped onto their throats like iron bands.

A chilling black mist surged from his palms straight into their flesh.

The two men could not even let out a gasp. Their skin shriveled into dry, grey wrinkles, their hair turned white as snow, and their eyes rolled back into their skulls.

Within two seconds, their lifespans dropped to zero.

Lucas opened his hands, letting the two dried-up husks drop to the stone floor like empty sacks of bones.

The remaining three thugs skidded to a halt, their weapons falling from their hands in absolute, paralyzing terror.

"Monster..." one of them whimpered, his knees buckling under him. "Run! Get out of here!"

Before they could turn around, the black mist lingering in the air wrapped around their chests.

The transferred death script took their lives instantly. All three men collapsed to their knees, their hearts stopping on the spot as they hit the floor dead.

[Fate Interference Complete: 5 Destinies Altered.]

[+500 Fate Points Acquired. Current Balance: 1,300 Fate Points.]

The cellar fell dead silent, save for the crackle of the wall torches.

Boss Kael stood alone against the far wall, his jaw hanging open as he stared at his dead men.

Cold sweat drenched his shirt, his knees knocking together so hard he could barely keep his balance.

"What kind of devil are you?" Kael stammered, his yellow teeth chattering. "You were the Vanguard Commander... you never used dark magic!"

Lucas stepped over the dead bodies, his eyes locked onto Kael.

"I used to believe in honor, Kael," Lucas said softly, his voice chilling the air. "Honor got my core carved out and my sister locked in a cage. Now, I only care about blood."

Terror drove Kael completely out of his mind. He knew with absolute certainty that begging was useless.

"If I am going to hell, I am dragging you with me!" Kael shrieked.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a jagged red stone carved with twisted demon faces—an illegal Abyssal Blood-Talisman.

Kael crushed the stone against his chest, snorting the bloody red dust straight into his nose.

The dark mist from the five dead bodies on the floor was suddenly sucked into Kael’s skin, swelling his veins with foul, rotten energy.

A sickening sound of stretching flesh echoed through the cellar as Kael’s body expanded to three times its normal size.

His skin hardened into thick, jagged black scales, his muscles tearing through his shirt as an overwhelming pressure filled the room.

"Die!" Kael roared, lunging forward with terrifying speed.

Lucas threw up his arms to block, but the raw, unnatural force of the strike hit him like a charging bull.

The massive, hardened arm caught Lucas by the throat, lifting him off his feet and slamming his back against the stone ceiling.

Dust rained down as rock cracked behind Lucas’s head, Kael’s heavy grip choking the air from his lungs.

The mutated beast grinned with jagged, blackened teeth. "Where is your power now, commander?! I will crush your throat!"

Inside his mind, Lucas remained completely calm, his thoughts moving with razor-sharp precision.

System! Give me the options to tear this beast apart!

Two clear choices appeared in his vision:

[Option 1: Fate Disruption (Destroys target instantly). Cost: 300 Fate Points.]

[Option 2: Destiny Siphon (Absorbs target's life force and power into host's veins). Cost: 600 Fate Points.]

Lucas looked at the two options. Option 1 was cheaper, but it would leave him coreless, empty, and weak.

He needed raw strength right now to fight through the capital and rescue his sister.

Option 2! Lucas commanded. Drain him dry!

[600 Fate Points Consumed. Remaining Balance: 700 Fate Points.]

Black stygian fire erupted from Lucas’s palms, sinking directly through the beast's thick, scaled arms into his blood channels.

A bloodcurdling scream tore from Kael’s throat as the black flames devoured the demon talisman inside his heart.

"My power! What are you doing to me?!" Kael wailed, his eyes bulging with unbearable agony.

The dark energy inside Kael reversed violently, pouring through Lucas’s hands straight into Lucas’s empty channels.

The thick black scales on Kael’s arms cracked and crumbled away like dry dirt, his swollen muscles shrinking back down to pale, sagging flesh.

Lucas felt an ocean of wild, heavy energy flood his chest, a dark, swirling aura wrapping around his body like a violent cloak.

With a final pathetic whimper, Kael shrank back into a skinny, shivering human and slipped from the ceiling.

Lucas dropped smoothly onto his feet, catching Kael by the collar and slamming him down onto the bloody stone.

He planted his heavy boot on Kael's chest, pressing down until the butcher could barely draw breath.

Kael wept tears of blood, clawing desperately at Lucas’s boot leather, shivering like a drowned rat.

"Wait! Do not kill me!" Kael cried out, his voice cracking with sheer panic. "You cannot kill me! I am the only one who knows where your sister is locked!"

Lucas leaned down, his eyes glowing with dark, dangerous fire as he pressed harder, making Kael's ribs groan.

"Talk," Lucas said, his voice dropping into a lethal whisper. "Before I tear your tongue out of your mouth."

"She is in the iron pens beneath the outer slave bazaar!" Kael shrieked, tears and snot running down his face. "In the deepest underground cells!"

Lucas’s eyes narrowed with cold fury. "Why is she chained in such a secure place?! What are Damien and Celeste planning to do with her?!"

"I do not know! I swear to the gods I do not know!" Kael sobbed, shaking his head frantically. "Lord Damien and Lady Celeste kept everything completely secret! They never told us why she was put there, only that she must be heavily guarded!"

Lucas stared into Kael’s terrified eyes, seeing the unmistakable truth of a coward facing death.

"Thank you," Lucas said softly.

Kael gasped, a desperate glimmer of hope appearing in his face. "You... you will spare me?"

"No," Lucas replied coldly.

With a sharp, merciless twist of his boot and wrist, Lucas snapped Kael’s neck.

The butcher went completely limp, his head rolling to the side as his lifeless eyes stared into the dirt.

Leaving an enemy breathing in this world was the surest way to end up dead.

[Target Killed: Underworld Boss Kael.]

[Corrupted Fate Purged: +400 Fate Points Acquired.]

[Current Balance: 1,100 Fate Points.]

Lucas grabbed a burning torch from the stone wall and hurled it straight into the wooden weapon racks and oil barrels behind the pillar.

Orange flames exploded across the back of the cellar, devouring the dry timber and spreading toward the corpses on the floor. Within minutes, the entire room would burn to white ash, leaving Damien and Celeste to believe their dirty work was done.

Lucas pulled Kael’s heavy black hooded cloak off a wooden peg, threw it over his shoulders, and kicked open the iron exit door.

Cold wind and pouring rain slammed into his face as he stepped out into the dark, stormy streets of the capital.

Lucas pulled his hood low over his burning eyes, his hand gripping the hilt of his stolen dagger.

"Hold on, Lily," Lucas whispered into the roaring rain. "Brother is coming for you."