2025-04-28 23:48:08The hall fell silent after Jack tore up the check and contract. Emily's scoff echoed through the room, her confidence unbroken. "You'll regret this," she muttered.
Not likely, Jack thought, his eyes scanning the room with practiced calm. Then the doors opened. William Thompson entered—a name that made even the wealthiest guests hold their breath. Beside him stood Sarah Thompson, the woman Jack had saved from kidnappers, and Daniel Thompson, their equally formidable family member. The Wilsons' reaction was instantaneous. Michael and Patricia Wilson practically tripped over themselves, rushing to welcome the Thompsons. But William ignored them completely, his gaze fixed solely on Jack. He's been looking for me, Jack realized. William approached, and to everyone's shock, he bowed slightly. "Mr. Parker," he said, "would you honor us with a drink at our home?" The crowd watched, breathless. An invitation from the Thompsons was not something anyone refused. Jack's response surprised everyone. "No," he said simply. "I don't enjoy social visits." Gasps rippled through the room. The most powerful family in Harmonfield had just been casually rejected. Ryan Brooks, still seething from his earlier humiliation, couldn't contain himself. "Apologize!" he screamed, face red with anger. "Apologize to Mr. Thompson, or I'll break your legs!" What happened next was so fast that most guests didn't see the details. Jack's hand moved. In one fluid motion, he grabbed Ryan by the hair, yanking him down. Three precise slaps echoed through the hall—each one a public humiliation that stripped away Ryan's dignity. Emily exploded. "How dare you!" she shouted. "You're just a poor man using violence to seem powerful! Apologize to Ryan immediately!" She still doesn't understand, Jack thought. Sarah Thompson stepped forward, her voice cutting through the tension. "Shut up," she told Emily bluntly. "You spoiled, pathetic little girl. If anyone from the Wilson or Brooks family touches Mr. Parker, the Thompson family will destroy you both." Silence. Michael Wilson tried to regain control. "Are you certain?" he asked William. "This man could be tricking you." William's cold glare silenced him instantly. "Mr. Parker," he announced to the entire room, "is our honored guest." Then, turning to the Wilsons, he added, "I suggest you control your people and teach them some manners." Old Joe would find this amusing, Jack thought, remembering his mentor's lessons about power and respect. William turned back to Jack, his voice low but carrying throughout the hall. "Just say the word," he said, "and we'll make both the Brooks family and the Wilsons disappear." The meaning was clear. This was no idle threat. Jack studied William for a moment. No surprise. No fear. Just a calm acknowledgment of power. The guests looked at Jack differently now. The man they'd mocked, the supposed "nobody" in a simple jacket—was someone completely unexpected. Someone with connections that could make entire families tremble. Sarah stepped closer to Jack. "Are you alright?" she asked quietly. "I'm fine," Jack replied. Daniel Thompson watched the scene, a slight smile playing on his lips. Something about Jack intrigued him—this man was more than he appeared. Emily stood frozen, her world suddenly turned upside down. The man she'd dismissed, the fiancé she'd rejected, was now being honored by Harmonfield's most feared family.
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Chapter 290
The cavern quaked beneath their charge. Emerald and crimson streaks collided mid-air, a shockwave cracking a fresh fissure through the crystal floor. Dust geysered upward, momentarily swallowing them in a sandstorm of red grit and shards.Out of the haze, Khar’zek’s Bloodfang Saber slashed downward, a blazing comet-stroke. Jack pivoted, the tip grazing his helmet and carving a molten groove across his visor. Alarm lights danced across his HUD: VISOR DAMAGE – VISIBILITY COMPROMISED. His next breath tasted of metal and frost.“Close your eyes,” Old Joe’s voice urged inside his skull. “Feel the rhythm, not the light.”Jack obeyed—sliding sideways blind, dagger sweeping in a green crescent that carved a shallow line across Khar’zek’s chest. Blue acid spattered, hissing where it hit stone. The warlord snarled, twisting his saber in a reverse grip and driving forward with bone-crushing speed. Jack dropped to one knee, let the blade scream past his ear, and sprang upward with an elbow that c
Chapter 289
Jack’s HUD pulsed a frantic crimson: O₂ 1.8 %… 1.7 %… Every breath rasped like sandpaper over raw lungs. Frost hissed on his cracked visor with each exhale. By all rights, his body should have been shutting down. But Old Joe’s voice thrummed inside him—steady, commanding, alive. Ignore the numbers. You’re more than bone and breath now. You are the storm. Emerald light flared from Jack’s eyes, bright enough to stain the fractured crystal floor green. The Dragon Dagger vibrated in his palm, a living thing hungry for the fight. Across the collapsing cavern, Khar’zek—the Smilodon warlord—hauled his massive frame upright, blue acid still hissing from half a dozen wounds Jack had carved. Yet the alien’s golden gaze burned hotter, undimmed. The surrounding Smilodons ringed the battlefield in silence, their guttural growls suppressed by awe. Even wounded, their warlord inspired reverence. Even bleeding, he looked immortal. Khar’zek’s translator rasped, static-laced: “Your defiance shame
Chapter 288
The cavern shuddered like a living thing. Red dust sifted down in lazy spirals, catching the glare of emerald lightning and flickering plasma. The Smilodon leader’s claws glowed brighter—sparks dancing across its massive forearms as energy coiled inside it like a storm. The other aliens froze in a wide circle, their snarls hushed to low, guttural rumbles. Even wounded, their warlord commanded their respect.Ryan, breathing hard and clutching his plasma spear like a crutch, staggered two steps back. “It’s… drawing power from the cavern… Jack, it’s about to—”Jack cut him off with a raised hand, never taking his eyes off the beast. “Stay back, Ryan. This one’s between me and him.”The alien’s translator hissed, carrying its venomous words through the static: “You desecrate sacred ground. Mars belongs to my bloodline. I am Khar’zek, Warlord of the Crimson Sands. You will die before you steal our sky.”Jack’s lips curved into a grim smirk. The Dragon Dagger pulsed in his grip, its emerald
Chapter 287
Emerald light and alien roars filled the collapsing cavern—and Jack kept fighting.A blur of movement darted through the dust. Before Jack could pivot, one of the smaller Smilodon-like aliens vaulted over a fallen pillar and locked its sinewy arms around his throat from behind. Its claws dug into the seams of his chest plate, crushing his windpipe. The sudden pressure made spots dance at the edges of his vision.It yanked him backward, snarling in a deep, guttural voice that somehow carried a sharp, venomous clarity through his comms translator: “You will not claim Mars… It is ours… generations of dominion… You will die here, Earthborn thief!”Jack gagged, his boots scraping across the fractured crystal floor. The alien’s acidic breath steamed against his bare cheek where the visor had shattered. For a fleeting heartbeat, panic threatened to swamp him.But Old Joe’s echo cut through the haze: Stay present. Stay moving. You’re not prey.Jack snarled, twisting violently. With his free a
Chapter 286
Jack met the charging giant head-on, emerald light spilling across the cavern like a second sunrise. Their collision sent a shockwave through the crystal floor, shattering smaller spires and spraying shards that hissed in the acidic air.The leader’s claws came down in a blur—one overhead, one sweeping low. Jack vaulted sideways, feeling the gust of displaced air as the claws smashed where he’d stood. He used the momentum to roll onto his feet and slash upward. The Dragon Dagger bit deep into the giant’s bicep. Acid blood splattered his chest plate, eating a sizzling groove through the armor.Old Joe’s voice boomed inside him, steadier than his own heartbeat: Don’t give ground. Not to them. Not to fear.“Not planning on it,” Jack hissed, twisting away as another swipe narrowly missed his helmet.Two of the smaller Smilodons flanked him, snarling. One lunged for his left leg while the other leapt for his throat. Jack dropped to a knee, ducking beneath the high attack and driving the da
Chapter 285
Jack’s lungs burned like twin furnaces, every breath a ragged scrape against his chest as the cracked visor whistled precious oxygen into the Martian void. The Dragon Dagger pulsed in his grip, emerald fire lacing his veins. The two surviving Smilodons circled, their claws dripping acid that hissed against the crystal floor. Four more stalked from the shadows, their alien eyes flaring like distant stars.A low growl rolled through the cavern, vibrating the shattered pillars. Jack’s vision wavered—green lightning streaking across his sight—then steadied. A warmth, old and familiar, flooded him.Old Joe’s voice echoed from somewhere beyond the physical world: “You’re not alone, boy. I told you, when the blade sings, I’ll be there.”Jack gritted his teeth. “Then sing louder, Old Man.”The Dragon Dagger’s fire blazed brighter, swallowing the dim cavern light. His pain dulled, replaced by a savage, otherworldly focus. His stance shifted—no longer just Jack Parker the soldier, but Jack poss
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