The glass doors slid open with a whisper of precision engineering, and Einstein stepped into the climate-controlled cool of the kitchen. He didn't look like a student anymore. The sweat-dampened shirt clung to a frame that was now lean and hard, defined by the "9th-level War God" conditioning that had finally been allowed to manifest.
Felicity stood her ground, though her pulse was visible in the hollow of her throat. For years, she had dictated the rules of their existence. Now, she felt like a trespasser in a world she didn't understand.
"The guest suite is comfortable, I hope?" Einstein asked, his voice neutral. He bypassed her to grab a bottle of alkaline water, moving with a fluid grace that made Felicity feel suddenly clumsy.
"Einstein, we need to talk," she said, her voice regaining a sliver of its corporate edge. "You can't just... hijack my company, move me into a fortress, and then go back to hitting sandbags. Who are these people coming for you? What is this 'Council'?"
Einstein paused, the bottle halfway to his lips. He looked at her, and for a fleeting moment, Felicity saw the heavy burden of secrets in his eyes. "The Council is an organization that believes power belongs only to those they choose. My grandfather was their greatest asset—and their greatest enemy. He stole a legacy from them, a set of combat techniques and a seal of authority. They've spent twenty years waiting for him to die so they could reclaim it."
He stepped closer, the aura of the 12th-level Ascendant causing the fine hairs on Felicity's arms to stand up. "They didn't realize he had passed it to me. And they didn't realize my mother was still watching from the shadows."
The Boardroom of War
While Einstein spoke, his phone chimed. It was a secure line from Lucy. He put it on speaker.
"Chairman," Lucy's voice was crisp, but there was a tremor of urgency. "The news of the takeover has hit the city's elite. The Bradley family is furious. They've frozen the local permits for Vanguard's new billboard campaign. But more importantly... a man arrived at the office ten minutes ago. He didn't use the door. He walked through the security sensors without them even chiming."
Einstein's eyes narrowed. "Description?"
"Tall. Wearing a traditional charcoal kimono over a modern suit. He left a calling card on your desk, sir. It's a coin... made of black bone."
Einstein's grip on his water bottle tightened until the plastic groaned. "The Black Bone Coin. A War Lord's invitation. Lucy, evacuate the top three floors of the building. Tell the staff there's a gas leak. Do not let anyone near that office."
"Understood, sir."
Einstein turned to Felicity. "You wanted to know why I'm doing this? Because the man in your office right now is a 'War Lord.' He is a 10th-level master. If he catches you, he won't just fire you—he'll use you as a bargaining chip to get to me."
The Preparation
Einstein turned to Nick and Simon. "I need you two to stay here. The villa's security is top-tier; the glass is reinforced with poly-carbon fibers that can stop a sniper round. If the alarm sounds, go to the basement vault. Do not come out for anyone but me or Lucy."
"Ein, wait!" Nick stood up, finally dropping the dragon fruit. "You're going there? Alone? You just fought that guy yesterday!"
"The man yesterday was a scout," Einstein said, his voice dropping to a low, resonant frequency. "A War Lord is a executioner. But they've made a mistake. They think I'm still at the 9th level."
He walked toward the armory room hidden behind the kitchen's pantry. With a thumbprint scan, the wall slid back to reveal a collection of traditional weapons and modern tactical gear. He didn't take a gun; a true War God's weapon was his own body, but he grabbed a pair of weighted bracers—ancient artifacts left by his grandfather that helped focus internal Qi.
"I'm coming with you," Felicity said suddenly.
Einstein stopped. "No."
"It's my company, Einstein! Those are my employees you're 'evacuating.' If this man is there because of your family secrets, I deserve to see what I'm up against."
Einstein looked at her. He saw the stubbornness that had made her a successful businesswoman, but he also saw the fear she was trying so hard to hide. He realized that if he left her here, she might try to handle it her own way—and that would get her killed.
"Fine," Einstein said. "But you stay in the car. You don't step into that building until I say the floor is clear. Do you understand?"
Felicity nodded, though her face was pale.
The Arrival at Vanguard
The matte-black SUV tore through the city streets, Einstein driving with a cold, mechanical precision. When they arrived at the Vanguard headquarters, the street was eerily quiet. The "gas leak" excuse had worked; the lobby was empty, and the revolving doors were locked.
Einstein didn't use his key card. He walked up to the reinforced glass, placed a palm against it, and sent a pulse of internal force through the frame. The lock shattered internally with a dull thump, and the doors swung open.
"Stay here," he told Felicity as they reached the elevator.
"Einstein—"
"If I don't come back down in fifteen minutes," he said, looking her in the eye, "take the SUV and drive to the international airport. There's a private jet registered to E.J. Holdings waiting. Go to London. My mother will find you."
Before she could argue, the elevator doors closed.
The Battle for the Crown
The top floor of the Vanguard building was silent. The air felt heavy, as if the oxygen had been sucked out by a giant vacuum. Einstein stepped out of the elevator and saw him.
The man was sitting in Einstein's new chair, staring out at the city. The black bone coin sat on the mahogany table, which was still cracked from Einstein's strike the day before.
"The old man taught you well," the War Lord said without turning around. His voice sounded like grinding stones. "To hide in plain sight for five years... that takes a discipline most men don't possess. But wealth has made you soft, Einstein. You've moved into a palace. You've bought a company. You've given yourself things to lose."
"I haven't lost anything yet," Einstein replied, his Qi beginning to swirl around his feet, kicking up the dust on the carpet.
The War Lord stood up. He was a mountain of a man, his presence so suffocating that the lightbulbs in the ceiling began to flicker and pop. "I am General Kael of the Council. I took your father's arm twenty years ago. Today, I take your head and the $100 billion your mother thinks she can hide from us."
Kael moved. He didn't run; he vanished.
Einstein's 12th-level senses flared. He felt the displacement of air to his left and threw a high block. BOOM. The collision of their forearms sounded like two cars crashing at high speed. The shockwave shattered the remaining glass partitions in the office.
Einstein was pushed back three steps, his boots carving furrows in the expensive rug. Kael was fast—faster than the scout, and his strikes carried the weight of decades of killing.
"9th level?" Kael laughed, launching a flurry of palm strikes that targeted Einstein's vitals. "Is that all the Jacob family has left?"
Einstein didn't answer. He absorbed the hits, his body vibrating with each impact. He was measuring Kael. He needed to see the limit of a 10th-level War Lord.
"You're slow, General," Einstein said, a drop of blood trickling from his lip.
"What?"
Einstein's eyes suddenly shifted from brown to a piercing, metallic gold. "I said you're slow. You're fighting a memory of my grandfather. You aren't fighting me."
Einstein's internal energy exploded. The "Second Gift" his mother had mentioned wasn't just money—it was a digital trigger that had unlocked a secondary seal on his nervous system.
He moved. This time, Kael was the one who couldn't see the strike. Einstein's fist buried itself in Kael's solar plexus, the 12th-level force bypassing the man's muscular armor and striking the internal organs directly.
Kael gasped, his eyes bulging. He tried to retreat, but Einstein caught his wrist, twisted, and delivered a knee to his chest. The War Lord—the man who had terrified the hidden world for decades—was sent flying through the office window.
He didn't fall to the street. He caught the ledge of the floor below, his fingers digging into the concrete. He looked up at Einstein with pure, unadulterated terror.
"You... you aren't a War God," Kael wheezed. "You're an Ascendant... the legend is true..."
"Go back and tell them," Einstein said, standing at the edge of the broken window, the wind whipping his hair. "The inheritance is mine. The city is mine. And if you send another 'Lord,' I'll send him back in a box."
The Aftermath
Einstein walked back to the elevator, his knuckles bruised but his spirit soaring. When he reached the lobby, Felicity was standing outside the car, her face pressed against the glass.
When she saw him walk out, alive and relatively unharmed, she didn't say a word. She ran to him and, for the first time in their marriage, she didn't look at him with disdain. She looked at him with a mixture of awe and something that looked suspiciously like respect.
"Is it over?" she whispered.
"No," Einstein said, looking up at the skyscraper he now owned. "It's just getting expensive. I need to hire a cleaning crew. And Felicity?"
"Yes?"
"Tomorrow, you start the Iron-Core negotiations. And you're going to do it as the CEO of a company that just defeated a War Lord. Don't let me down."
As they drove away, Einstein's phone rang again. It was a text from his mother: "Kael was a test. You passed. Now, check the basement of the villa. There is a third gift. It's time you met your father's elite guard."
Einstein looked at the balance on his phone. $100,000,000.50. He realized he wasn't just building a company or a home. He was building an empire.
Next Step: Would you like me to continue with Chapter 5, where Einstein explores the villa's basement to find the "Elite Guard," and Felicity has her first high-stakes meeting with the Bradley family?