My Godly Ascension

Book 2 of the Dragon Lord Series. (Can be read as standalones, but better yet read the first book so you can have a better understanding of the book’s storyline) Everything was taken away from me, my wife, my son, the few people I care about were all stripped away from my grip. I lost them all. I lost everything, my world was turned upside down. Yet my enemies lived, they doubled and craved nothing more than my downfall, my permanent demise. However, I promise to rise once again and regain my strength, assert my dominion and make them all pay. I will take and have back everything that I have lost. My name is Avon Barksdale. They’re going to come back for me, to usurp my dominance, and to cease the existence of my loved ones. I don’t plan on just giving them a hard time, I intend to give them their hardest time. Because, I’m going to protect what is mine, and mop the ground with those that seek to harm them.

My girlfriend humiliated me, exposed my identity, and turned the internet against me. Then I awakened a mysterious System that pays me for every viewer on my livestream. Suddenly, my haters are making me rich. But with powerful enemies targeting me and dangerous secrets unfolding, I must fight to rise above everyone who broke me.

Seven years ago, a dark giant shadow visited my house and killed my mother. It changed me, forever. Four years later, after the Mega Human experiment 2.0 went wrong, I became a mutant. I became.... "Shadow Man!" "The boy behind the shadow has been identified as..." "Jude Rutherford! Seventeen year old high school boy..." "Is he Shadow Man?" When the mutant who killed my mother appeared again to destroy me, I knew being Shadow Man was not just my hobby. It was my destiny. Now I must protect everyone I love. And I must find out why my mother died. Who was the dark shadow? And why did he come for her? I must find out all these while hiding my second identity.

My peaceful short life had been quickly cut off by a band of bandits that had raided my village, killing my father and capturing my mother. The bandit leader took a fancy to me and decided to make me one of them because of my face, for reasons unknown to me, but this was only the start of my journey. The more I grew up the more I realized that I had no talent, I was as ordinary as I could be, with no inherited memories, no old masters to help me improve my talent, no legacies left behind, no locked bloodlines that would burst into activity when I was in danger. But I still had something that most people didn't have. A stubbornness that many wouldn't possess, the stubbornness and sense of danger that I got for life after I saw my father die in front of me. And with that, I shall predate upon those that are more talented than me. I shall walk forward and reach the apex of the world, not because I want to protect anyone, but because that's simply what I want to do! Regardless of the methods that I have to use or the people that I have to push out of my way!

I have worked hard for my wife and her family. I ignored the bad treatment from my in-laws. For me, my wife's happiness came first. However, she betrayed me. She had an affair with my boss! That was the reason why I was often assigned out of town. Apparently, her family found out about the affair, and even encouraged them to be together. My wife asked for a divorce, and I was unceremoniously kicked out. However, a miracle happened. A new life as a tycoon was about to begin!

I was a disgrace to the Prestwick family—a poor, unwanted son-in-law they wished their daughter had never married. She had chosen me for my looks, but now, even that wasn’t enough. She wanted out. A divorce. To erase me from her life and marry into wealth like her family had always intended. But I loved her. Despite the insults, the humiliation, the way they treated me like dirt beneath their feet—I refused to let go. That was my biggest mistake. Frustrated by my defiance, my brother-in-law took matters into his own hands. He killed me, tossing my body into a cold, dark river, leaving me to sink into oblivion. I should have died. I did die. But before I took my final breath, a man appeared before me, cloaked in shadow, his voice like a whisper from the abyss. "What is your last wish?" I should have begged for revenge. I should have cursed their names. But all I wanted was one more chance. One more chance to live. And so, I was granted life again. But I was no longer the same. My soul was no longer my own. My body was no longer mine to control. Because I had been reborn as something far more powerful. I was no longer John Prestwick. I was the Devil himself.

I design adult toys for a living, but my own love life has been on hold for two years. Now my boss needs me to save our careers, a wealthy client takes a personal interest in me, and another is determined to end my lonely nights. Keeping business and pleasure separate is about to become my hardest job.

"You are nothing without this city, and this city is done with you." My uncle's voice cut through the rain as his men threw me onto the deck of a boat headed nowhere good. I was eighteen, cut out of my father's will, and left to freeze on the harbor while men like Marcus carved up everything my family had built. Aethelgard Bay used to feel like home. Now the Iron Syndicate owns the night, and nobody with a badge or a business card does anything to stop them. The night they came for our fishing fleet, I thought that was the end of it. Then three strangers in armor dropped out of the storm and tore the raid apart before it could finish us. Their leader put something in my hand before he vanished: a keycard to a vault my father built and never told me about. It's supposed to be the key to taking my city back. So far all it's done is put a target on my back and put me in a car with the one woman in Marcus's empire I can't decide whether to trust. I'm done running from my uncle. Whatever it costs, I'm getting my family's name back.

Fifty thousand fans screamed my name the night I won my third world title. MONARCH. MONARCH. MONARCH. The next morning, I disappeared. Three years later, I'm the useless son-in-law of the Lockwood family. My mother-in-law calls me a lazy bum who plays phone games all day. My wife's cousin laughs in my face. Even her own players call me "the house pet." None of them know who I really am. None of them know why I quit. My eyes are dying. Soon, I'll be blind. But someone is destroying my wife's team with my own stolen moves, and it's someone I once called my brother. So I'll step back into the arena one last time, and I'll make every person who laughed at me watch. The king is back. And this time, he's playing in the dark.

I have conquered nations, subdued entire populations. Everyone from the Eastern plains to the Northern colonies fear me. But they don't know me. My name is Lloyd Bishop, and I am the Dragon Duke, The greatest enforcer of the kingdom of Tekka. 10 years ago, I watched from the closet, where I witnessed my entire family be gunned down in the city of Hilburg. My father and uncle, shot by a man with a dragon tattoo on his arm, who then burned down our home. I managed to escape, but I died from smoke poisoning. My life would be saved by a young girl, Lisa Francis, who brought me back to life and showed me the way out of the city. That was a decade ago. I left everything behind that day, my 3 childhood friends, and Lisa, a girl I didn't even know yet. In the time since, everything has changed, I was now more powerful than ever before, but the rage of my family's murder hadn't been quelled. And now I have returned to this city that took everything from me, and my mission is clear. Reconnect with my childhood friends, repay the girl who saved my life. But most importantly, I will show those responsible for my parent's death… THE WRATH OF THE DRAGON DUKE!