Ascendant Among All

Chapter 154 (Terror)

James stirred in the rubble, the sharp sting of pain dragging him back to consciousness. Blood trickled down his face, pooling beneath him, and his entire body felt as though it had been shattered and pieced back together. His breaths came in shallow gasps, each one a struggle against the suffocating weight of debris and exhaustion.

“Damn it,” he thought bitterly, his mind swimming in a haze of fragmented memories.

"Since I was young, I knew I was different. Special." James’s thoughts drifted to a distant past, a time when the world had been simpler. "I was born into wealth, into privilege. My family wanted for nothing, and from the moment I could walk, it was clear I wasn’t like the others."

By six, James wasn’t just strong; he was superhuman. His punches could break walls, and his reflexes were unmatched. But with that strength came isolation.

"I terrified the other kids," he thought. "They couldn’t understand me. My silence, my ferocious gaze, the way I always got what I wanted—it