"What did you just say?" James inquired in such a manner that got Vincent confused.
He could easily tell that something was happening there but he seemed to be the only one in the dark."He simple language, you lost." Xander interpreted with a smirk that was enough to get anyone angry but instead, Mr. James was still imprisoned in the dark realms of his shock. As a loud drum sucked deep down into his body system, he could hear the faint banging of his heart growing louder with an increased velocity.Neither was he ready to accept defeat either way. But it seemed this Xander of a kid just found a way to gag it down his throat.This increased his anger and hatred towards Xander who he now saw as a force to reckon with and do away with as soon as it was possible."I'm sure that he cheated, there is no way that he could have gotten the answers correct, I made sure of that." Mr. James quickly sprouted out.Not only was he going to be disgraced by losing a bet to such a slimy punk. But also, he was going to lose one of his assets and the herb that he had worked so hard to get.There was no way that he was going to allow that to happen. Not when he was still alive. And it seemed as though Xander could read his thoughts, as the next words that he spoke confirmed it."Mr. James." He threw away all the formalities because a man like him certainly didn't deserve it."Do you have a problem with me cheating?" His facial expression was emotionless."No punk, I only have a problem with you cheating." He replied with a fierce look.The expression that was pasted on Xander's face initially suddenly disappeared. After living with such a man for a while, she could see through his act."Cheated? You know that only our family knows about this herb?" He thundered."What's going on here?" Vincent was already tired of watching his head go rounder among the two parties.Either way, it didn't seem like none of them was ready to tell him what was going on until Lina finally decided to speak up."Uncle here made a bet that Xander would not be able to know about this root but too bad you came right in time to confirm that you knew the answer right," Lina replied in a way of stalking Vincent."And not only did Vincent win, but Uncle also lost the herb plus also an asset in the process.""But how is it possible that he was able to get the answers?" Vincent inquired knowing that the details of the herb were confidential.At the moment, even Lina wanted to know because she never thought that he would be about to get the answers herself.There was no way that he could tell them that tons of information relating to the herb just stormed through his head.He drew a really deep breath, deeper than he had drawn all his life. The only way that he was going to escape being called mad was by lying to them."Just some random books that I saw on the streets." He quickly replied."Since I work as a servant, I always love reading during the night time as a hobby." He replied.Immediately he spat these words, and the hopes of Mrs. Jane splashed down. She had thought initially that the young man before her was indeed knowledgeable.But it turned out that the only thing that he had was the cute face and exactly what he used to deceive Lina and nothing other than that.Mr. James quickly jumped on this statement so that he was going to use it to chase Xander away but Lina was not buying it even for a moment."See, he is not intelligent, he just knew about the herb randomly." He added but Lina was not going to fall for that even for a moment."It's one thing to read and it's another thing to give back what you read. Mr. James, it's not alone staying, you will have to give him what you have promised."Vincent's head kept on spinning as words went around between them, still not having a grasp of what was going on.Her father quickly burst out into a loud chuckle as he went ahead to say."And what were you thinking, that I was going to fall for that?" He inquired staring right into her eyes.Lina knew that her uncle was an unreasonable man but never thought that he was going to back down from her promise right at the dying minute.Even Xander was disappointed in him.Finally, Vincent went ahead to say his eyes bulged with confusion."Wait, is this the guy in the photos, the one that you fought for at the hotel and also got you into trouble?""Why?" Lina raised an eyebrow.When Lina first heard about it, he thought that it was just a rumor or a photoshopped photo but there it was, right before his eyes.He opened his mouth to speak but words seemed to fail him all of a sudden and he was still stiffened with shock."How could you Lina?" Vincent is finally able to get a grip of himself and he goes ahead to say."What do you mean by that?""You know that you have already been bethroaded to someone else. Leaving aside the fact that he looks like the takeout trash when compared to everything that's here." He added.Lina was already flaming up with so much anger. She could have anyone insult her guest but not someone like Xander who was on the same level."Another word from you and I am going to silt off that throat of yours."In the real sense, he wasn't speaking because he was in favor of Lina. He only wanted her to get married to Jace who under the shadows was his friendsHe had already made contact with Jace. Lina was the most beloved of their grandfather and soon, he would want to choose who was going to be the next president of the company after him.There was a possibility that he was going to choose Lina so he had already informed Jace that he had to dissuade her by any means possible.And also with the herb, his immediate family was going to be top of the Fantastic Four, which was a name given to the most powerful families within the extended family.Lina alone made a name as a family of her own and made it to this top group even at a young age and as a lady.One of the reasons that she was hated so much by so many persons in the family. It seemed the only person that was close to her was the Patron of the family.But getting hooked up with someone else was going to cause major damage to his plan and that was something that he could not afford.He drew a really deep breath, his hands clenched into a big ball and his stiff hatred for Xander only seemed to increase by the minute.He turned over to Xander, knowing that Lina could be such a stubborn person and he said afterward with a really deep frown that was enough to pull anyone off their feet."You will have to leave this place right away." He had an imposing air around him. And if there was anything that he hated most was to be threatened by anyone."Or what are you going to do?" Xander replies.Lina quickly came forward to them, separating the both of them from tearing themselves apart into two halves..."Vincent, this has nothing to do with you, you will have to leave this place right away." She fired"I don't have to be involved. I am not going to watch anyone bewitch a cousin." His words didn't sound as though he cared.He brought his cell phone from his pockets. Each member of the family had their guilds and he was the strongest apart from that of the family.With Mr. James also put together, there was no way that Lina's guild would have anything to do about this.Just then, a loud cry came from the door as it flew open. Everyone turned around towards the door to see who it was.Lina's face immediately broke into a smile while the rest of them were drenched away from the initial excitement of victory that they had initially expressed.Hearts raced.It was Mr. Anderson Hopkins, the Patron of the Hopkins family.He had a few guards behind him and he was looking perfectly fine with his built look as he walked into the crowd."Nobody is going anywhere." He announced."Why now?" Was the definition of the expression that was written all over their faces.It would have been easy to deal with Xander and Lina together but with the patron around, that was going to be close to impossible.With glares left in their faces, there was nothing left to be done apart from them to welcome him off course.Staying away from their deadly stares as though none of them existed, Mr. Anderson walked over to his favorite with a great smile on his face, and without being told, Lina walked up to him.He was beaming with comfort that he didn't feel when he was with the rest of them and they got into a tight hug.They were like two lovers who just got together after being separated for just a short time, even though it had been just for a few hours."I am so glad to see you, Grandpa." Her smile was enough to clear the whole room from the tense aura that he had encountered when he had walked in the first instance."Too bad that I am not as happy to see you as you are to see
"But he isn't part of the family, he can't join us for a family dinner since it's traditional right?" Vincent quickly chimed in but Mr. Anderson's eyes knitted out the sound of the words.Mr. Anderson wasn't the type of person to be argued with and Vincent knew exactly that the boundary had been crossed.He quickly retracted his hands realizing the mistake but the did had been done already."Do you intend to start arguing with me at this point? Maybe you want the post of the family's Patron?I am sure that you are going to do a better job than I am doing." He said with a deadly frown on his face."I.." Vincent was suddenly short of words. Even though the old man's decisions were always ahead of him, there was nothing he could do about it this time.Vincent sipped in a really deep breath to bottle up his rising anger and went ahead to say."I apologize for my mistake." Mr. Anderson was not too old to catch a glimpse of his mouth-knitted apology.Seeming as though no one had spoken, he
Vincent who had been searching for every possible way to disregard Xander wouldn't let a chance that was presented before him on a platter of Gold slide away so easily as he quickly leaned forward and said.Underneath his frown was a grin that made his chest pop with full pride as he went ahead to say."I said it right from the very beginning, he was nothing other than a scammer.Now that he is revealing his true colors, are you now going to believe me, Grandpa?" He quickly chimed in.Chatters soon filled the hall, some were cursing him while others kept making fun of him.Even Lina and Mr. Anderson could not help but frown this time. At first, Mr. Anderson thought that he was a genuine person but it turns out that he was wrong altogether.Because he just came back from a medical checkup done by one of the best doctors in the city.It was obvious that he had made this thing up so that he was going to ask for some sort of reward afterward.But why would he fake such a terrible attemp
Lina's face was beyond washed up with embarrassment. That was supposed to be the most happy part of the year for most people in the family but she seemed to have ruined everything.Xander intended to keep mute and accept defeat but his reflexes suddenly kicked in the worst possible way that it could ever.It was as though there was a strange surge of energy running through his vines, bringing out emotions and pieces of information that he could not even tell who it belonged to or where it came from.All he knew was that this force was so powerful that he could hardly tell where exactly it came from.Before he could put a stop to these words that were forcing themselves out of his mouth, the deed had already been done."You call yourself a doctor and can not even diagnose when your patient has an Internal injury or not. And you dare to be called one of the best?I wonder how rusty regular members of your association would be if you can't even diagnose such a small issue." He jerked bac
The hall went on in a rampage as the patron of the family passed out right before then. Everyone seemed to have forgotten that they had a powerful doctor right before then.Doctor Gerald smiled to himself as he watched them run around in panic like a little sovereign watching his subject. Then, they were finally able to calm down. Their reflexes jerked back to normal as they turned around towards the miracle doctor."Doctor Gerald, you are here. Grandpa is going to be fine right?" One of them quickly said..."Yes doctor Gerald, you have to save Grandpa." He finally said.But again, he smiled at them, pushing his collars backward and straightening up himself, swelling up with so much pride."Don't worry everyone. This is just a small issue that would be taken care of in a matter of seconds." He finally replied.He walked up quickly to the old man and felt his pulse. It seemed to be doing fine apart from the part that he was.He only needed to give him a few pressures down his pressure
Xander walked away with a long face. He has other things to do anyway, maybe he was going to get a job.Even though he had been wrong, Hopkins still didn't have the right to act the way that they acted to him.But where does he go now?While he continued to walk, he was about to storm off to the other end of the road when two guards came before him.The fact that he was making at the moment spoke of total disgust."What exactly do they want from him?" The frown on his face only grew deeper as the minute went by."What exactly do you want? You want to beat me up or what?" He Inquired with a stale look on his face."Lady Lina ordered us to get you back." He said."Get me back?" Xander turned with a furrowed brow.His first instinct was to reject it. They were going to see him as a cheap fool if he returned to that place.But after giving it a thought for a while, calling him back could only mean that she felt remorseful after everything that she had done.It wasn't nice to punish her wh
Doctor Gerald didn't say anything for quite a while. His eyes were just focused on him without saying another word.Everyone thought that it was already over for Xander but before they could distinguish what was going on next, a slap was the next thing that was heart in his face.The fine lines of Doctor Gerald's hands were finely imprinted on his face. Everyone was still stunned.The apprentice could not believe what was happening. He thought that Doctor Gerald was going to support him had he had always done but this time, it was differentThe pain was already welling up through his face. His attention was all confused on Doctor Gerald whose anger was out of this world."Are you crazy? Sir Anderson is dying and you dare to obstruct his treatment?You have been a stain on my reputation but I have always overlooked it because I had taken you off from the street and swore that I was going to tend to you no matter what.Is this how you repay kindness? This time, you are crossing the lin
Doctor Gerald was already ready to turn around and leave. His head turned towards the door and his apprentice packed his things.Vincent groaned angrily. There was a place for sympathy in his heart for the old man. Besides in his opinion, the old man had only been standing in his way ever since.But now that he is gone. It was going to make things a lot easier for him.The board were now going to be the ones that would be doing the choosing and now that Mr. Anderson died in the hands of someone that Lina had brought to the family, there was no way that she was going to be elected."Cough! Cough!" A loud cough was soon heard throughout the hall like the loud sound of a horn.And from the direction that the sound came from, it looked like it was coming from Mr. Anderson.But after what everyone in the hall had seen just a while ago, it was difficult for them to believe this.Their hearts were still frozen.For a while, there was a pause in the hall. Nobody moved. Then the sound came aga
The news of his demise spread like wildfire, a whisper of tragedy that soon turned into a public lament, his name etched in the annals of local heroes, a hero who had fallen in a quest to save a friend, a hero who had died in a blaze of glory.Back at the ballroom, Lina stood by the window, her eyes fixed on the cityscape, her face pale and drawn, her body wracked with sobs. The wedding cake, a testament to the dreams they had shared, now sat in the corner, a bittersweet reminder of a love lost, a life shattered.The sun, a cruel and mocking orb, peeked over the horizon, casting a pale, sickly light over the sprawling cemetery. It seemed to mock the sorrow etched on the faces of the mourners gathered there. The air hung heavy with grief, a tangible weight pressing down on their hearts. It was the day of Xander's burial, a day that had been so eagerly anticipated just weeks before; a day of celebration, of vows, of a lifetime together. Now, it was a day of mourning, a day of tears, a d
The warm morning air carried the scent of jasmine and wisteria, a sweet, heady fragrance that danced around Xander as he stood on the balcony with Lina. He held her hand, her fingers slender and cool against his palm, and his gaze swept across the bustling city below. The vibrant lights of the city throbbed like a giant, pulsing heart, a constant reminder of the life he had built, the life he was about to build with Lina.The ring, a band of polished silver etched with intricate symbols, sat comfortably on his finger. It was the ring that had shielded him from harm, the ring that had made him feel untouchable, a beacon of power that he could draw on. The ring was a constant reminder of his escape, his journey from a humble, forgotten corner of the city to the heart of its power, a rise that was as unlikely as it was exhilarating.But as he watched the twinkling lights and felt Lina's closeness, he felt a different kind of power, a warmth that spread through him like a gentle flame. It
Xander sat awkwardly on the plush armchair, its soft cushions offering little comfort. Across from him, Mr. James, a man whose face usually held a gloomy expression, sat with his shoulders slumped and a worried frown etched on his brow.'Where is Lina?' Mr. James finally asked, his voice a low rumble.'She's resting,' Xander replied, his voice tight with worry. 'The poor girl had suffered too much.'He couldn't bring himself to say more, not after the past few weeks. The events had been a whirlwind of betrayal, pain, and a chilling realization of the true depths of the Dragon Group's influence.Mr. James, as if sensing Xander's feelings, leaned back in his chair and sighed. 'It's all my fault,' he whispered, his eyes flickering to the floor. 'If I hadn't joined the Dragon Group, none of this would have happened.' He looked at Xander, his face breaking into a heart-wrenching expression of regret. 'I was so naive. I thought they were just a business group, a powerful engine of progress.
The rage that had been simmering inside Xander since the first encounter with Scarface, the man with a face etched with cruel scars, bubbled over. The scene in the cellar replayed in his mind – the fear in Lina’s eyes, the taunts of Scarface, the taste of his own blood, the desperate fight against the Dragon Group. But then, the words of the old man, his mentor, echoed in his mind. The old man had said, 'Sometimes, forgiveness is the hardest choice, yet the strongest. It lets the poison go, not just for them, but for you too.'Xander turned to Lina, who was still trembling, her eyes wide with fear and disbelief. He knelt before her, his gaze lingering on the bruises that dotted her arms and the scratch on her cheek, his heart a knot of anger and concern. He wanted to tear Scarface limb from limb, to punish him for the pain he had inflicted on her, on him. Yet, the old man’s words resonated, a soothing balm on his burning rage.“I’ll let him live,” Xander said, his voice hoarse with th
The rage that had been simmering within Xander for years finally boiled over. A raw, primal hunger for vengeance consumed him, leaving no room for reason or caution. He watched as Tobias, his face contorted with smug disdain, casually tossed Lina aside as if she were a discarded rag doll. The movement was a spark igniting the inferno within him, fueling a fury that had no bounds.“Tobias,” Xander snarled, the word heavy with unspoken threats. His body, taut with pent-up energy, launched itself forward like a guided missile, aimed directly at Tobias. The air crackled with anticipation, the silence punctuated only by the thudding of his own heartbeat. He saw Tobias, his eyes widening in alarm as the inevitable collision drew near, raise his hands in a futile attempt to ward off the assault. The impact was brutal, a sickening crunch as their bodies collided with the force of a battering ram. They went down hard, the ground groaning beneath their combined weight.It was a dance of pure fe
The cellar, once a dank and shadowed space, had become a crucible of raw magic and chilling fear. The air hung heavy with the lingering scent of burnt flesh and ozone, a silent testament to the fiery ball unleashed by Scarface, lieutenant of the Dragon Group. Everyone present, with the exception of Xander, had braced for a gruesome spectacle. They envisioned a scene of charred flesh and bone, the young man reduced to nothing more than a smouldering husk. Instead, they were met with a stillness that felt almost unnatural, a quiet defiance that spoke volumes.Xander stood amidst the wreckage, his clothes unmarred, his face serene. A soft smile played on his lips, a smile that held a hint of victory, of an inner knowledge that was unsettling in its calmness. The silence stretched, punctuated only by the ragged gasps of those who had witnessed this impossible display of immunity. Even Scarface, his face still contorted with a mixture of disbelief and rage, faltered, his eyes fixed on the
The dimly lit room, once a den of gambling and illicit pleasure, was now a battleground painted in crimson and laced with the groans of the fallen. Xander, a whirlwind of fury and determination, moved through the chaos with the grace of a predator. His movements, a blur of fists and feet, were a symphony of violence, each strike delivered with the precision of a well-oiled machine. He fought like a man possessed, fueled by a primal rage that defied description.His opponents, initially a horde of thugs, were now a scattered, demoralized mob. Their bravado had evaporated like mist under the unforgiving glare of the sun. They stood frozen, their faces etched with a mixture of terror and disbelief. Some lay sprawled on the floor, their bodies contorted in ungodly positions, silent testaments to Xander's relentless assault. He danced around them, his eyes gleaming with a dangerous light, his muscles taut with coiled energy, a predator circling its prey.The air crackled with an electric t
The oppressive weight of the iron door, thick as a tomb slab, pressed against Tobias's heart, a physical manifestation of the fear that had begun to gnaw at him. His mind, usually so sharp and calculating, was starting to scramble, his carefully constructed plan unravelling. He had anticipated every possible contingency, every threat, yet here stood Xander, a whirlwind of fury and determination, ready to shatter the illusion of Tobias's absolute control.A sickening thud echoed through the chamber, the sound of a man's body collapsing against the unyielding stone floor. Tobias's grip tightened on Lina's hand, his fingers sinking into her soft flesh, the pain a distant, irrelevant sensation. The man, a loyal soldier, had been a mere pawn in Tobias's grand scheme, a sacrifice to buy him precious seconds – seconds he was now desperately clinging to.He watched, frozen, through the intricate screen set into the door, as Xander, his face a mask of raw fury, gathered the raw power of the ri
The acrid scent of clay hung thick in the air, a miasma interwoven with the faint tang of fear. Xander, his fists clenched, couldn't stand there any longer, a caged beast watching his prey chant insults. The man, a hulking form, stood by the racks, his gaze fixed on Xander, but his eyes, darting nervously, betrayed his vigilance. He was a watchman, a sentinel, placed there by the dragon group, the shadowy organization that had snatched his fiancée, Lina.Xander's anger was a roaring furnace within him, fueled by a desperation that gnawed at his sanity. He had tracked them, followed the slithering trail of clues, leading him to this ramshackle pottery shop, a facade cloaking a dark secret.With a roar, Xander lunged, a blur of fury. His fist connected with the man's jaw with the force of a battering ram, sending the watchman reeling backward. He crashed against the wall, but before he could find his footing, Xander was upon him again, his grip like a vise.'Now,' Xander growled, his vo