They Betrayed a God: My Rise to Absolute Power

The Price of Arrogance

Four minutes and forty seconds.

That's all the time I had until the drug in Aria's body completely paralyzed her.

I didn't bother to search for a taxi. My flesh was already dead, but the raw life that I had just sucked from Julian's thugs was burning through my veins like a liquid fire. I directed that stolen energy right down into my legs.

The world blurred. I ran out of the alley as if I had been fired from a gun and left a hole in the pavement. As I ran through the busy evening traffic of Ravenwood City, the wind howled in my ears as I zigged and zagged between the vehicles, a silent killer.

Three minutes.

The imposing glass skyscraper of Sterling Corp was in the distance. With a force I couldn't have measured, I pushed through the front double doors, breaking the glass with my power.

"Hey! What the hell?"

The two security guards in the lobby immediately grabbed their batons. I recognized them. They were the ones who would make fun of my cheap clothes when I would drop off Aria's lunch. Today, they had been bought by Julian Cross.

The taller guard stepped in my way. "Mr. Cross said no one goes up!"

I didn't stop. I didn't stop even for a second.

I took his long arm, stepped into his guard, and twisted his elbow back, making a sickening CRACK. I punched my knee into his chest before he even had the chance to flinch, and he collapsed with three ribs broken and flying across the shiny marble floor.

Prior to impact with the ground, both were unconscious.

Two minutes.

The VIP elevator was located on the top floor. Too slow. I pushed the door to the emergency stairway open.

Forty floors. It was a hard ascent for a normal man. It was just a warm-up for the old God of War who stole his lifeforce. My breathing was cool and steady; I took five steps at a time and rushed up the concrete steps.

One minute.

I pushed through the thick steel door to the fortieth floor. The executive hallway was dead silent. Apart from the two big, cloaked bodyguards outside Aria's private office.

"Is that the trash husband?" one of the giants laughed, pulling his hands out of his pockets. Julian told me that I would be in the hospital with broken legs by now.

I said, "You have three seconds to move, you hear me?" My voice was extremely calm.

"Or what, loser?" The guard sneered and raised his pistol in his jacket.

He was not able to draw it.

I closed the ten-foot gap between us in no time at all. I punched him in the throat. He was crushed by the impact in his windpipe and fell like a rock, choking on his own blood.

The second guard was in panic and lost his gun. I took him and hit his face into the sturdy oak doors of Aria's office, then kicked the doors open with my skull.

The solid wood shattered and splintered inwards.

Julian Cross was so cold inside the lavish office.

He had his jacket off. Aria was pushed up against her mahogany desk. Her skin was red, her breathing was rapid and shallow, and her legs were shaking. Fighting the drug in her blood, she was clinging to a silver letter opener.

She was so shocked to see me step through the broken doorway and drop the bleeding bodyguard on her carpet that her beautiful eyes went wide.

"Kaelen...?" she whispered, her voice feeble.

Julian looked at me, his face going white. "You? How the hell are you here? Where are my men?!"

I stepped over the threshold and said, "Dead. I stepped over the threshold and said, "Dead.

"Y-You're lying! You're nothing but garbage!" Suddenly, Julian's pride gave way to fear, and he screamed. He took a silver revolver from his pants and aimed it squarely at my chest. "Stay back! I'll kill you! I'll shoot you in the back of the head!

"Julian," I whispered.

The temperature in the room dropped. My eyes met his, and the absolute, blood-soaked killing intent of the Asura swarmed over him.

Julian’s hands shook violently. He fired the gun.

BANG.

The office was a small one, and the sound of the gunshot was loud and clear.

I was already away, though.

My movements were like water; I darted to the side before the bullet could cross the room. It was as if I stood in front of him.

Julian choked, his eyes on me as if he saw a ghost.

I took the barrel of the revolver in my hand and squeezed. My hands bent and twisted the metal, and the gun was useless.

"Impossible..." Julian whimpered.

I whispered in his ear, "I told you. I will wipe out your whole family.

I seized his right arm and twisted it in half.

Julian let out a blood-curdling scream. I didn't let him complete it. I struck his knees, and he fell on the ground, and I seized him by his throat.

I noticed, from the corner of my eye, that Aria was slowly crawling down the wall. The medicine was finally taking hold of her. But her eyes were still open and watching me. She was observing the passive, quiet man she hated become a demon.

I couldn't use the Abyssal Devouring Art to absorb him in front of her. Not yet. However, I could ensure he would never threaten her again.

I gripped Julian's throat and brought him up with one hand. His eyes were bulging and his legs kicking in the air.

His pride was all but lost, and he was begging, "Trash... please..."

CRACK.

I snapped his neck.

Julian Cross’s lifeless body hit the floor like a sack of garbage.

There was a hush in the room. Taking a deep breath, I suppressed my killing intent and went over to Aria. I saw her as she was about to hit the ground. Her skin was scorching hot, but her pulse was even. The drug was a strong sedative but not lethal. She was safe.

“Kael…” she mumbled, her eyes battling to stay open, looking at the dead bodies and then at my face. "You... who are you...?"

She finally rolled her eyes back and fell unconscious in my arms.

I touched her dark hair, brushing it out of her face. I'm just your husband, Aria.

I picked her up, with the intention of carrying her out of the building.

However, a slow, taunting clap came from the corner of the office.

A sinister voice came from the corner of the ceiling, "Well, well, well…"

I didn't flinch. I slowly turned my head.

One man was hanging upside down from a wall wearing a dark crimson mask as if it were a spider. There was a ghostly presence in him.

Tier 2. A member of a secret cult.

The masked man sneered, "Julian was a pathetic mortal fool," and he fell to the floor, pulling two curved daggers from his waist. But I never thought it would be the trash of the famous Sterling family that would do the job, and now that it has, it seems you have some secrets, Kaelen Vance, the Crimson Lotus Triad will enjoy finding out what they are.

My eyes narrowed. The crimson glow flared in my pupils once more.

Julian was just a pawn. The real hunt had just begun.