Chapter 86 The Gala Massacre
Chapter 86 The Gala Massacre
The heavy, ornate gilded doors of the Monte Carlo ballroom didn't just swing open. They were violently, explosively blown entirely off their massive hinges.
The loud crack literally shattered the crystal chandeliers hanging overhead and sent thousands of sparkling shards falling on the paralyzed billionaire elites. The exquisitely rich sea of costly champagne and confectioned gowns quickly turned into a frenzied, unrelenting frenzy of shrieking hysteria.
We didn't move an inch, Julian and I.
Two dozen Praetorian harvesters came through the smoking shattered entrance. They had cast off all image of pomp, revealing their bulky, spiked ancient armor and terrible featureless steel masks. There were no broadswords this time, though. They held sleek, cutting-edge biometric extraction blades that gave off a localized frequency exclusively set to completely stop my fixed heart.
With absolute chaos, the lead harvester roared, “Take the Consort's chest! ”
Julian Vance unleashed the beast entirely and totally.
If you take one step towards him, I'll rip your souls out! The roar was a deafening, piercing, demonic, pure and unfiltered hellfire from Julian.
The frightening ruler of the underworld didn't pull out a gun. He sprinted straight to the onrushing tide of armor. Julian was a god of pure, effective, alpha annihilation. He seized the lead harvester by his armored throat and lifted the man up off the marble floor, entirely. Julian's crack was enough to crush the assassin's windpipe, throwing the lifeless body into a massive, lavish champagne tower, that was deafening with the crack.
I didn't stay behind him. I took my twin tactical combat blades from the hidden sheaths at the small of my back and fully armed the ballroom.
No armor was used. Went out in perfectly white silk.Out in perfect, white, silk. And like the ice I moved with blinding speed:
The dance floor was fisted with cool, smooth, shiny marble—my kingdom, my domain! My hips slipped just right under a shimmering biometric sword that was deadly. As I forced my way into the unguarded joints of the harvester's armor with the explosive rotation of a triple lutz, I turned my body violently on my heel and thrust my twin blades straight up through the unguarded joints of the harvester's armor.
Suddenly, he fell and his blood splashed across the immacate white silk of my suit like a sea of blood, which was quite different from the dark, dark crown tattoo on my chest.
Our daughter's cold, incomprehensible voice crackled through my earpiece, "I have your blind spots, Papa!Our daughter's voice was cold and assertive, "I have your blind spots, Papa!
CRACK! CRACK!
Her heavy, specially-made sniper rifle eradicated everything from the high-rise balcony above the sparkling Monaco street. The ballroom's reinforced glass windows broke in much the same way as a window breaks in the wind—perfectly, when her rounds were at high velocity, destroying the featureless steel masks of two harvesters who were trying to flank me.
Our son's icy-blue mind sent out a shock of frigid logic from the stealth chopper circling thousands of feet overhead: The biometric frequencies are always changing. "Keep moving, Papa! Avoid letting their blades touch your skin!"
I didn't slow down one bit. I was a gorgeous, terrible piece of moving butcher machinery. I channeled their sheer power—with no hesitation, I broke tendons, I destroyed their tactical structure. Julian took part in the battle by my side, crushing down, crushing down, with terrible force the old assassins, leaving a swirl of slaughtered flesh on the marbled ground.
In just four minutes, the beautiful ballroom was turned into a bloody graveyard.
I was in the middle of all the broken glass, my chest collapsing and the white silk of my suit was crimson. Then Julian sprang to my side, his pitch black tuxedo torn, his dark eyes blazing, his protective feral gaze so far out of control it was like he was watching the world pass while the car drove by.
The harvesters are dead, Julian growled darkly in his perfect jaw, his adrenaline palpable.
No, Julian," I whispered again, my battered heart beating once again in my throat, yet hard and dangerous. The pawns are all deceased and the King only just arrived!
In the smoky gloom of the ballroom entrance, one figure, one person stepped exactly into the light.
He didn't wear a mask, He didn't wear heavy armor. He was wearing a dark suit that was perfectly tailored to him, and it was the same suit that I was wearing. He had pale, aristocratic features and eyes of shattered, freezing steel; he was very young, in his mid-twenties at most likely.
It was Valerius.
The old world was entirely lacking when you heard him speak, with its smoothness and absolute arrogance that seemed to pierce the heavens and reached out to Julian Vance. The Fallen King, he didn't look at. A full 100% of his eyes were on the dark crown tattoo that was on my chest. "Oh, and Kaelen Frost. Your biological makeup is even more stunning in real life.
Julian went totally crazy. Then, with a vicious growl, Julian was out like a lion, his massive combat blade swinging down in a swirl of death meant to clear the new leader of the Shattered Crown off his head.
However, Valerius shied away.
He moved.
I now saw a physical velocity completely dismiss the alpha momentum of Julian, for the first time in fifteen years. Valerius didn't just miss a strike, he blotted one out. I had never seen a man move so perfectly and so fearsomely like he was moving like a kinetic being except in the mirror. He managed to get under Julian's blade enough to hit the ribs of the Ice King with a well-thought-out, hard punch and physically receding half a step.
There was a total freeze in my icy-blue eyes.
He's a skater, I breathed perfectly, and I knew perfectly what he was doing hands down.
“You are the finest piece of ice, Kaelen,” Valerius said coldly, pulling out a sleek, shiny biometric dagger from his suit. Cassius hired thugs, I hired apex predators, and your heart is mine.
Valerius charged at me.
He struck not with might nor with force. He flew at you at supersonic speed. I lifted up my twin blades and stripped my Olympic agility down to its bare tools to thwart his attack.
When I saw our blades hit, it caused a tremendous vibration running up my arms.
It was an amazing, fearsome reflection match. Valerius perfectly matched every flawless turn I had. With the same precision of kinetic energy that struck me, he moved across the blood-stained marble, his glowing dagger, with its biometric imprint, swiping a millimetre away from the surgical scar on my chest.
He was completely, physically as the Golden Boy.
You can't outrun me, Frost! Valerius mocked and then twisted and twisted and kicked me on the butt with a giant rotational kick which I tried to deflect with my crossed blades, but it was no go.
Julian roared and sprang from the dead, and attacked Valerius from the sidelines, but the old man was already on the move.
Papa" he said, "He's about to set off a localized EMP! “A bomb is about to go off in the room!” shouted our son in a frenzied tone over the comms.
Valerius gave a grim, deadly smile. He let go of a heavy, spherical object from his hands and it fell on a marble floor.
"This was just an introduction, Kings," Valerius whispered flawlessly. I shall come back for my masterpiece.
It burst open into a flash of bright white light and loud noise that was deafening. The shock of its impact threw me backward and knocked me on the marble floor.
A microsecond later, when my vision returned to normal, the entire ballroom was empty. Valerius was completely gone.
I was immediately grasped by Julian's gigantic hands, his shoulders being gripped and he was wrenching me into his chest. His pitch-black eyes raced around, looking for any damage to the dark, dark crown tattoo.
I said to Julian, "I'm perfect, Julian.I said to Julian, "I'm flawless, Julian.
I gazed at the broken glass on the shattered ballroom doors, and a cold, hard thought rushed through my veins. The Vance Syndicate had found themselves facing a foe who not only fought in shadows. We had met an opponent who was my same deadly speed.
The true war for my heart had absolutely just begun.