Alex stepped into the ruined shell of Logan''s mansion.<fn6a77> N?w ?ovel chapt?rs are published on find[?]ovel</fn6a77>
"Logan! You jerk!" Alex shouted.
"Don''t tell me you''ve already died inside this rubble, you weak bastard. How can you crave the throne when you fall apart over a pile of stones?"
Logan wasn''t Samuel the old monster - nobody was.
Still, he ranked among the country''s top five fighters. He rose from the wreckage, dust and torn fabric clinging to him, half his shirt shredded, chest exposed like a dare.
"Who the hell are you, destroying my house?" Logan bellowed, voice rough with anger and something close to fear.
"You know me." Alex took a step forward until they were face to face.
"Alex?" Logan sneered, wiping dirt from his lip.
"Aren''t you the man who wiped out the Guise family
—
part of Kingwell? You''ve
been banished. What are you doing here?"
"Say the king found you intolerable and sent me back to Kingwell to teach you a lesson," Alex replied, slow and cold.
"I''ve also got a personal score to settle - Charles Kingston. That bastard wrecked my life and lit a fire in me. You happen to support him, so I came here to p your face."
"You''re insane!" Loganughed, too loud.
"I''ve got hundreds of thousands of soldiers ready. I knew the king would send someone. I''m prepared."
"Really?" Alexughed, low and sharp. "I''ll give you twenty minutes to call every one of them. Twenty minutes to bring your army here. I''ll open your eyes to what Kingswell really is."
Logan barked augh that tried to be fearless. "Twenty minutes? You think that''s enough to gather Kingswell''s forces? I''ll give you ten minutes instead."
He believed in his power the way men believe in armor — blindly, stubbornly.
For ten years he''d stacked men, money, and promises. In his head, a hundred thousand soldiers would answer his call and crush Kingswell-then the king himself.
That army would be enough to lift him onto the throne.
"I''ll wait ten minutes, then," Alex said, crossing his arms as he stared up at the ck sky filled with stars.
He''d been here too long. He''d let his mission-to find his parents-slip through his hands.
This country had chewed at him and held him down.
He needed to leave-to find a way to the Earth Empire, the ce where real power began.
He''d heard his father came from there, and he needed to uncover the truth.
Yet the Empire didn''t wee outsiders. Only citizens of the top two nations were allowed entry-either as residents or servants.
Estoria, Alex''s country now, was the poorest of the seven nations on Earth.
They weren''t just banned from the Empire-they weren''t even allowed to set foot in the fifth or sixth-ranked countries.
Estorians were treated like unwanted immigrants, rejected everywhere they went.
If Alex wanted to reach the Earth Empire, he''d have to start from the bottom. Be a citizen of a second-tier nation.
That meant slowly climbing his way up-sixth, fifth, fourth, third-changing his citizenship step by step.
But everyone knew it was nearly impossible. Every country thought their citizen was the best.
Every country despised outsiders, especially immigrants from Estoria-they were banned everywhere.
The few Estorians who managed to slip into other nations lived as illegal migrants, without citizenship or protection.
They were treated like ves, stripped of dignity and human rights.
"Ten minutes are up!" Loganughed.
Alex stood alone in the open field.
Around him, nearly a thousand soldiers raised their guns.
Military helicopters circled overhead, their floodlights slicing through the night. Fighter jets roared above, targeting him from the sky.
"Where are your Kingswell soldiers now?" Logan taunted,ughing with arrogance. "I''m going to wipe them all out and show your precious king what real power looks like!"
"I never needed to call the Kingswell army," Alex said with a faint smile. "Do you even know why the battles between kings are settled through duels instead of military power?"
Logan''s grin faltered.
Confusion spread across his face.
"Yeah," Alex said, stepping closer. "You really don''t know."
A surge of energy burst from Alex''s body, raw and crushing.
The air trembled. The ground cracked beneath his feet. Logan felt it first-the
invisible pressure mming into him, forcing him to his knees.
He struggled, teeth grinding, muscles shaking under the weight.
All around them, soldiers began copsing one by one. Their eyes rolled back, bodies dropping like puppets with cut strings.
The helicopters lost control, spinning wildly before crashing into the earth with thunderous explosions.
The fighter jets veered off-course, disappearing into the dark horizon before erupting in distant mes.
From a hundred thousand men, only two were left standing or rather, one standing, and one crushed to the ground.
Alex walked over slowly. He stopped beside Logan, who was gasping, his knees buried in the dirt.
"Let me tell you something, Logan,” Alex said quietly, cing a firm hand on his shoulder.
The pressure grew heavier, driving Logan''s body lower until he could barely breathe.
"In front of the king," Alex said, voice t as a de, "a million soldiers are just ants. What can an army do against a single human who knows how to use insecticide? Spray ?nce ; and they''re gone. All of them-dead." s
He pointed to the fallen soldiers around them. "Kingswell could release a single
gas cloud and your hundred thousand would wake up in hell."
Logan''s face went white. "Who are you?" he asked, the bravado gone thin as smoke.
"Alexander Leonhart," Alex answered.
Logan''s body trembled. "Are there many like you in Kingswell?"
Alexughed, low and dangerous. "My master has many disciples. I''m one of them-far from the only one."
He let the words hang. “The king belongs to our order. He has brothers and sisters like me. Each of them stronger than thest."
Slow and deliberate, Alex smacked Logan across the cheek-once, twice-each strike a measured warning.
"You really want to face the king and all of them? I alone am enough to ruin you. Tell me again what you''re so arrogant about."
"We let you prepare for ten years," Alex said, voice low and hard.
"Not because we feared you, but because we were toozy. Think you''re powerful
and untouchable? To us you''re just ants scurrying around. We could crush you any time we wanted."
"We were too bored to bother-until tonight. I want to smash your face because of Charles."
"Because of Charles?" Logan asked, still shocked.
"Yeah he stole the girl I was going to propose to." Alex kicked him hard. "You
know! A single betrayed heart can start a war."
Logan had poured every ounce of power into bracing himself, but it wasn''t enough. The blow snapped bone; his arm cracked under the force.
“I... I—” Logan stammered, color draining from his face. He''d never taken a strike that violent—one kick and a bone was broken. He swallowed hard. "I apologize."
"You''re apologizing?" Alex''s hand came down harder this time. Logan''s teeth cracked beneath the blow. Blood spattered his lip.
"You dared to marry Jasmine Kingston. You dared to back Charles Kingston." Alex kicked him, hard.
Logan braced, folding every ounce of his inner strength into his frame, but he copsed under it.
"Please—" Logan gasped, "forgive me. I''ll fix this. I''ll make it right."
"Make it right?" Alex spat. "Charles stole my girl. How do you fix bread
after you''ve already baked it?" He stomped on Logan''s ribs. A sickening crack told him a bone had given way
s
"You... you—" Logan coughed blood. "Did youe on the king''s orders or because your girlfriend dumped you?"
"Of course I came because my heart''s broken." Alex''s voice snapped.
"I see your face and I want to wipe it clean. You parade around, boasting about your power, picking at the king''s rule. You deserve to be pped!"
"The king told me I could kill you whenever I wanted. So what?" Alex shoved his
boot into Logan''s chest. "Don''t you like being hit? I can end you right now and walk away."
"No-no!" Logan screamed, small and raw in the dirt-once a superhuman fighter, now a gasping child. "Hit me if it helps you sleep," he rasped. “But one thing before you finish."
Alex stopped, expression unreadable. "What?"
Logan forced a breath, voice t and shockingly steady.
"If your heart''s broken, I know a cure-good wine. Sit with me and finish a bottle. Then do whatever. you need to do to settle it. After that hit me until you''re satisfied. won''t stop you." s
His smile was a grim, crooked thing against the blood on his lip. He spat, nodded
once—an absurd, desperate offer flung like a lifeline into the wreckage of his
pride.
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