They Betrayed a God: My Rise to Absolute Power

The Crimson Lotus

The masked assassin did not waste time with monologues. He simply vanished from where he stood.

The air was filled with the pungent and sweet aroma of poisoned blades cutting through the air. My right side was instantly met by the Tier 2 cultivator, who was standing back up by my side, with his twin curved daggers directly at my throat and Aria's unprotected chest.

He was fast. He was just a blurry mess of deadly crimson to any mortal eye.

To me, he was swimming under water.

I didn't panic. I didn't even pick up my wife. I just moved all of Aria's weight to my left arm and pulled her tight against my chest. With my free right hand, I reached out and casually caught the assassin’s right wrist in mid-air.

Behind his red mask the assassin's eyes opened wide. He was trying to thrust his left dagger into my ribs, but I was in his guard, and I struck my knee hard into his stomach.

There was a thunderous echo in the office.

The assassin choked on his own blood, and his body bent in half from the force of the hit. The magic surrounding him was as delicate as thin glass. I tore the dagger from his frozen fingers, turned it in my own, and thrust it straight through his left shoulder, trapping him against the thick oak desk with the poisoned dagger.

He was screaming, a wet and painful noise, as he beat against the wood.

With a blood-soaked grimace, he spat onto the carpet, his eyes filled with utter fear. He glared at me with total fear as he spat blood onto the carpet. You... you broke my Qi barrier with brute force! What type of monster are you?!"

"A quiet one," I replied, my voice completely devoid of emotion. You made two mistakes tonight: first, assuming I was prey; second, shooting a blade at my wife.

With fanatic hatred in his eyes, he hissed, "The Crimson Lotus... will skin you alive!" "We own Ravenwood! We are the owners of the Cross family! Do you believe that killing Julian is a big deal? An army of mortals will come from his father Arthur Cross and our elders from our sect! You and this bitch will—"

I grasped his throat, and I stilled his threat.

I didn't have time for his prideful barking. I needed his power.

I closed my eyes and triggered the Abyssal Devouring Art.

This time it was not just a whiff of black smoke. From my palm a swirling, pitch-black, roaring energy storm came, violently twisting around the assassin's head and chest. The room went into a dead freeze, and frost covered the mahogany desk.

The assassin's eyes were rolling back in his head. He was screaming, but it was muffled.

Eating a mortal was as if it were a raindrop. But devouring a Tier 2 cultivator? This was akin to being in the presence of a waterfall.

The pure concentrated spiritual energy surged up my arm like liquid fire. It crashed through my chest and filled the black emptiness that was my Divine Core. The broken pieces of my golden heart devoured the power. I felt a dozen shards snap back together, and it fused with a blinding, terrifying crimson light.

However, there was more than power that came into me.

My mind conjured up memories behind my eyes. I witnessed the assassin's last days. I visited the secret temple of the Crimson Lotus Triad under the city. I noticed their great old man negotiating with Arthur Cross, Julian's father.

Then I saw the truth. They were not only looking for company, they wanted her. They wanted her blood! They were convinced that the bloodline of Sterling could unlock the secret of an ancient ruin under the city of Ravenwood. Julian was only their tool, their mortal idiot, to break Aria for their own ends.

I withdrew my hand.

The assassin fell to the floor with withered, unrecognisable grey skin and bone.

I took a deep breath, then opened my eyes. Now the red light in my eyes was more intense; it was like the smoke in the air. My body was twice as strong. My senses grew, and I was able to see everything in the entire skyscraper. We were alone.

I gazed at Aria. Still unconscious, breathing regularly, securely nestled against my chest. She was not a fan of the supernatural horror, and for now, that was a good thing.

Prior to leaving, I walked over to Julian Cross's lifeless body. I opened his tattered jacket and retrieved his gold-plated phone. Cracked and working.

I opened the camera and took a clear and brutal photograph of Julian's snapped neck by the withered corpse of his supernatural bodyguard. I went to his contacts, typed in 'Father' and sent the image.

After 10 seconds, the phone began to ring.

I answered it, putting the speaker to my ear.

"Julian?!" Arthur Cross's voice boomed through the line, filled with a rage and a complete horror. "What is this?! Where is my son?! Who is this?!"

"Your son failed," I said, my voice as cold as the grave.

"Vance...?" Arthur gasped, "Who is that? I know that voice. “Who is that? I know that voice,” said Arthur. You filthy little shit! If you touched a single hair on him, I would have you torn apart! I'll burn the Sterling family to the ground!

I interrupted, "Arthur. “Arthur,” I said quietly. He stopped when I spoke with such a harsh, icy voice. “Your son crossed a line, and now the whole family will pay for it. Purchase your coffins; you have 24 hours until I come to collect.”

I broke the gold phone in my hand and dropped the metal bits on Julian's chest.

I took hold of Aria and held her bridal style and walked out of the ruined office. I ghosted through the stairwell, avoiding the security cameras, and out into the chilly night.

When I arrived at our little isolated villa on the outskirts of the Sterling estate, the drug seemed to be finally wearing off in Aria's system. I carefully placed her on the large bed, which was covered with black silk sheets, and pulled the sheets over her shoulders.

I was standing by the bed and watching her chest rise and fall. She was safe. The Cross family was missing their heads. Soon the Crimson Lotus Triad would discover that their shadow had disappeared.

But as I was about to exit the room, Aria suddenly shrieked.

She arched her back off the bed. She was as red as a beetroot before, but suddenly as white as a sheet of paper. The bedroom got very hot.

I turned around, my eyes opening wide.

A huge, stifling presence burst from Aria’s sleeping form. It was powerful, ancient, raw and terrifying—far more powerful than the Tier 2 cultivator that I had just killed. The air in the room distorted, and a light, shimmering silver crest appeared on her forehead and burnt through her skin.

She wasn't just drugged. Julian's attack had broken the secret seal Old Man Sterling had placed on her.

My wife was not only a mortal CEO but also a mortal mother.

She was a ticking supernatural bomb, and every predator in Ravenwood City had just felt her detonate.