They Betrayed a God: My Rise to Absolute Power

The Matriarch Awakens

The thick glass windows of the bedroom began to spiderweb with cracks.

The burning silver crest on Aria's forehead wasn't a problem anymore; it was a scream. The pressure of the wave was the old pressure that had been here before, and it was suffocating the room, pushing the heavy oak furniture back.

If that aura crossed the walls of this villa, all the secret societies, all the supernatural predators, and all the corrupt sovereigns within a thousand miles would feel it. They would come together like locusts to take her to themselves at Ravenwood City.

I couldn't let that happen. Never when my heart was still broken.

I moved. I scrambled onto the large king-sized bed, straddled her waist, and pinned her flailing body down. The heat from her skin was so hot that it would melt steel.

I whispered, "Hold on, Aria," my eyes glaring a cruel crimson.

I slapped my right hand right on the burning silver crest of her forehead. As soon as my skin brushed against hers, the old energy rebelled, jamming my arm. It was as if he were holding a live power line.

But I was the Asura. Before this energy was at all, I ruled oceans of power.

The Abyssal Devouring Art was summoned, and black mist erupted from my hand, swirling around Aria's face and shoulders. Her silver light was blinding, but her dark void was in opposition. I didn't simply take her energy away from her; I used my void to consume the energy leaking from her, to contain it inside me as a flesh-and-blood shield.

The stolen power of the Tier 2 assassin I had killed earlier burned through my veins and was the fuel I needed to force Aria's power back into submission.

I pushed all that strength I had into the seal, growling, "Down!"

The silver light was completely devoured by the black mist. A crest that arched over her forehead flitted, faded, and finally sank down beneath her pale skin. The air pressure in the room was immediately reduced to near suffocation. The broken windows ceased to shake.

I took a quick breath out, withdrawing my hand. My palm was blistered and smoking, but it was healing.

Aria was gasping for breath under me.

Her eyes snapped open. Her irises for a split second were glowing pure silver. After that, they quickly returned to their usual dark brown color, with piercing eyes.

She stared up at me. I was still on top of her, my hand resting on her face, as the black smoke gradually faded away.

Fear and panic struck her. She pushed with her hands against my chest, forcing me back with a sudden surge of frenzy. Let her push me, and I calmly got off the bed, raised my hands, and didn't look like a threat.

Aria's chest heaved as she scrambled backwards against the headboard. She walked around the broken-down bedroom, the shattered windows, and the toppled nightstands, and then her eyes met mine.

After that, the memories of the office came back to her.

Her breath hitched. She glanced at my hands. She whispered, "Julian..." her voice shivering. “Julian is dead, you... you took his neck out of his body.”

I did," I replied evenly. My voice was completely composed; there was no regret in it.

She choked up, clutching the silk sheets tightly. "You moved like a monster. The icy, commanding CEO was cracking, and he was being replaced by a woman looking at a stranger. " The bodyguards... you crushed them in seconds. You killed Julian with one hand. Who are you? What are you?!"

My posture was relaxed, and I said, "I'm Kaelen Vance. I'm the man your grandfather picked out for you to marry.

If you're not going to play the fool with me, now! Suddenly, Aria's fear became raw and desperate anger. She pointed a shaking finger at me. My grandfather took a beggar off the street! A coward who was unable to stand up for himself against verbal abuse! But tonight, you slaughtered three men before my eyes without flinching! Have you been lying to my family this whole time?!"

I approached the bed, and I told myself, "I never lied about my name, Aria. She flinched, but I didn't stop until I was standing right at the edge of the mattress. I peered into her eyes, scared and angry.

I said quietly, "I'm not a coward; I didn't do anything when Julian poured water on my shoes. A lion doesn't bark at a rat, Aria. I didn't want to kill them all on the first day; I let them insult me because if I didn't, I would have killed them all. I stayed quiet so I could keep you safe.

Tears of sheer stress welled in her eyes. "Keep me safe from what?

I answered, "From the real world." From the real world,” I answered, my eyes turning cold. “Julian Cross was nothing. He was a pawn for those much darker and much stronger. They didn't want your company, Aria; they wanted your blood.

Aria froze. She stretched out her hands to her forehead, where the silver crest had only been burning for a moment. "My... my blood? What have you done to me?"

There's a power in you, and it's trying to manifest. If I hadn't bottled it up, monsters you could not imagine would be tearing this house apart now.

Aria looked at me and attempted to see a lie in my face. She found none. All that she had known for twenty-three years was shattered. The normal reality she had lived in was very fragile.

Just as I was about to ask another question, I heard a distant and rumbling noise.

It wasn't coming from inside the house. It was coming from the private road that leads to the Sterling estate.

Three miles away, at the boundary of the industrial area of the city, Arthur Cross was facing two hundred heavily armed men.

They weren't simply thugs on the street. They were underground mercenaries, enforcers for the cartel, and killers for the Cross family. They were armed with assault rifles, machetes, and heavy iron chains.

Arthur was standing in the rain, gazing at the broken gold phone in his hands. The image of his son’s twisted neck was burned into his mind.

“It's crossed the final line, the Sterling family!” His voice was loud and fierce, filled with raw emotion and anger. My boy was killed by that piece of trash, husband! I want to burn the estate to the ground! I want Aria Sterling dragged to me while she's still alive! And I want Kaelen Vance's head on a spike!"

The army of mercenaries roared, all in a convoy of armored black SUVs and heavy trucks.

They believed they were going to kill the weak CEO and the live-in b***h. They were unaware that they were driving straight into the jaws of the God of War.

The quiet was broken abruptly by the high-pitched sound of the villa's alarm system, which sounded a loud, piercing cry around the villa's perimeter.

Emergency red lights were flashing outside the broken windows.

Screeching tires and roaring engines rang out from the front gates, and Aria jumped, her eyes wide with terror. “Kael... what is that??”

I glanced down at her and out the window. Down below, dozens of headlights were violently smashing through the iron gates of the estate. Guns were being discharged, and armed men were emerging from the vehicles, like a swarm of angry ants on a manicured lawn.

“That,” I said, calmly, casually rolling up the sleeves of my cheap dress shirt, “is Julian's father.”

“An army...” Aria whispered in terror, stripping off the covers and running towards the window. Kael, we need to call the police! We have to run!"

The police won't come, Aria, and I am done running.

I went towards the door of the bedroom.

“Where are you going?!” she shrieked. "They have guns! They'll kill you!"

I stopped at the doorway and glanced back over my shoulder. My eyes now glowed red, and the light was so faint that I could barely see anything.

"Wait here, Aria," I said, a cruel, blood-lusted smile finally breaking across my face. "I have some trash to take out."