The sound of Marcus Vance's slow, sarcastic clapping echoed like a death knell through the silent, terrified ballroom.
I gazed at the VIP balcony to see my uncle standing there, while he remained hidden in the darkness to smoke his thick Cuban cigar. The cigar's cherry burned an angry, hellish red, which matched the violent, murderous intent that took over the entire room.
Three years. The three-year period since this man organized the ambush that resulted in my parents' deaths and the theft of the Vanguard headquarters has been a long and painful experience.
Marcus asked Kaelen if he actually thought he could return to the city. He exhaled a thick cloud of grey smoke over the velvet railing. I discovered that Richard Sterling's empire suffered financial losses because his son-in-law had finally escaped his control. Your excessive pride has always worked against your best interests.
I told Marcus that he had always been a coward while I spoke in a dangerously quiet voice that could shake the glass chandelier above us. "You hide in the shadows while you pay other men to do your killing.
Marcus laughed as he threw his head back. His laugh made a sound that was both harsh and annoying.
He made a finger snap gesture.
The grand ballroom's floor-to-ceiling windows experienced a sudden explosion, which caused the windows to shatter and create a deafening sound of glass breaking.
Five hundred wealthy elite people started screaming while hundreds of soldiers wearing heavy tactical boots walked on the marble floor. The room became flooded with heavily armed men who entered through the main doors, emergency exits, and broken windows. The Underground Syndicate had five hundred elite mercenaries who formed a complete circle of death around the ballroom while they wore heavy Kevlar and carried suppressed assault rifles.
The terrified crowd of bankers, investors, and socialites became targets of hundreds of tiny red laser sights that moved across their bodies.
Marcus grinned as he rested his hands on the balcony railing and declared that he no longer needed to hide from me. "I brought an army. And tonight, I am going to drain every last drop of that legendary Dragon King blood from your veins.
A state of total chaos started to exist in the world.
The same wealthy elites who had spent the entire night mocking me now saw that I was the only thing preventing them from dying at violent hands.
Richard Sterling dropped to his knees because he was hot and his suit was ruined, and he moved across the floor toward me.
Richard sobbed while he begged me to help him protect his family. "You need to protect us because you made a promise to my father that you would protect the Sterling family. I'll give you anything! I will give you half my company.
I looked down at him with absolute disgust. "Your company is worthless, Richard. "Your daughter handed me those divorce papers, and my vow to your father ended.
Chloe crawled toward my boots while she faced forward, and her cake frosting and dirt-covered designer dress were ruined.
Chloe wailed hysterically about wanting to grab my pant leg as she yelled, "Kaelen, I'm sorry! I was wrong! I love you! I'll take you back! Just don't let them kill me!
I used my legs to create a small Qi pulse, which sent Chloe backward across the marble floor.
I told you to stop touching me as my golden eyes emitted dangerous brightness. The pathetic Sterling family made me turn my back on them.
The woman stood still while wearing her elegant black dress. Her emerald eyes watched my every move with complete faith. She faced a situation where five hundred armed soldiers stood around her, but she showed no fear.
I used my voice to shout "Vanguard!" and my voice destroyed all remaining panic in the area.
The eight elite commanders shouted "Here, my King!" at the same moment.
I commanded the soldiers to "Form a steel wall around Seraphina Thorne" because I wanted to protect her. "If a single bullet, a single drop of blood, or a single speck of dust touches her dress tonight... I will execute you all myself.
The eight massive commanders created an unbreakable defense perimeter that formed a circular barrier of Kevlar and muscle around Seraphina. The soldiers readied their heavy tactical blades for battle while they stood guard against the Syndicate army.
Marcus yelled from the balcony, "Kill them all! He became furious and ordered all soldiers to avoid leaving anybody alive.
The Syndicate mercenaries raised their rifles.
I took a single deep breath after I completed my eye-closing.
I maintained control of the beast for three complete years. The world perceived me as weak, but I had let the world believe I was weak. The world had disrespected my dignity, but I refused to stay defeated.
CRACK.
The ancient seal inside my core reached its final point of destruction when it completely shattered.
I opened my eyes. They were no longer dark brown. They had turned into glowing pools of liquid gold.
My body released a shockwave of golden Dragon Qi, which exploded outward with the strength of a bomb. The overwhelming concussive force created a massive wave that struck the first two rows of Syndicate mercenaries before they could pull their weapons.
A group of armed men became airborne after they lost control of their bodies. Their bodies crashed into the walls and columns with bone-breaking impact. The marble floor beneath my boots cracked into a spider-web pattern, and the marble floor buckled under the terrifying power of my aura.
I waited until everybody had recovered. I threw myself into the area where deadly armed killers operated.
A dark, blurry streak of violence moved so fast that human eyes could only see it. A mercenary swung his rifle butt at my head. I caught the solid steel barrel with two bare fingers, snapping it in half like dry wood. I struck his body with an open palm to his sternum, and his body flung backward into five other men who had come at him.
Rat-tat-tat-tat!
The bullets fell all around me, shattering the buffet tables, ice sculptures, and marble pillars. But none of them touched me. My golden Qi surrounded my body with a vibrating energy dome that created an invisible barrier. The high-caliber rounds struck the barrier, but they transformed into lead discs that fell to the ground without causing damage.
I moved through the gunfire as if I were a demon who walked through a quiet rain.
I seized a mercenary by his tactical vest, and I hurled his complete two-hundred-pound body across the space, driving him into a group of snipers who were establishing themselves by the doors. I executed a low leg sweep, which broke the knees of four men simultaneously. I punched both of my fists down to the ground while they were falling. A controlled earthquake shook the floor tiles, causing a dozen men to be launched into the sky.
The confrontation was not a battle because it represented a total one-sided slaughter.
The wealthy elites huddled in the corners of the room, covering their ears and screaming in absolute terror as they watched the "useless trash" tear apart an entire private army with his bare hands.
A Syndicate captain yelled, "Shoot him! He is just one person!" while he fought to empty his gun so he could shoot again.
I appeared directly in front of him, my golden eyes burning into his terrified soul.
I softly whispered, "I am the Dragon King."
I seized him by the throat and hurled him thirty feet straight up to crash into the massive crystal chandelier. The entire glittering fixture tore free from the ceiling, crashing down onto a cluster of twenty mercenaries in a devastating explosion of glass and metal.
More than two hundred expert assassins crashed to the ground within three minutes, suffering from broken bones, and their weapons were destroyed. The remaining mercenaries started to retreat because their hands were shaking uncontrollably. They regarded me as death itself, not as a target.
Marcus Vance shouted "Cowards!" from the balcony while he showed his total disbelief through his facial expression. He slammed his fists against the velvet railing. "Stay where you are!"
I stood in the center of the ruined ballroom, surrounded by groaning bodies and shattered marble. I slowly wiped a single drop of an enemy's blood from the cuff of my midnight-black suit and looked up at my uncle.
You brought five hundred men to kill me, Marcus, I said with my voice carrying above the noise. You should have brought five thousand.
I bent my knees, preparing to launch myself up to the thirty-foot balcony to rip his head from his shoulders.
Marcus had lost his angry expression, which he had displayed earlier. His scarred face broke into a slow, deeply psychotic smile.
You are correct, Kaelen. Marcus laughed while he took out a heavy metallic remote control from his crimson suit pocket. Standard mercenaries cannot kill a Dragon. But I didn't bring them here to kill you. I brought them here to distract you.
My golden eyes narrowed. My heart skipped a sudden, violent beat.
Marcus pressed the large red button on the remote.
A deafening, high-pitched mechanical whine echoed from directly beneath the floorboards. It wasn't coming from beneath me.
The sound came from the area that was situated directly below the Vanguard shield wall.
The sound came from the area that was located directly underneath Seraphina.
I yelled, "Seraphina, move!" while I left the balcony and crossed the space at an incredible speed.
But it was too late.
A massive hidden concussive charge, which had been placed under the hotel floor several days before, now exploded with earth-shattering power.