Chapter 3 The First Drop of Blood

The wedding ceremony ended with no applause and no celebrations. As soon as the legal documents were signed, Vivienne turned around and walked out of the church without looking back, Ares followed her calmly.

They got into a large black car. The drive was completely silent, the air inside the vehicle heavy and thick. Vivienne stared out of the window, her jaw set tight, while Ares simply relaxed against the seat, watching the city lights pass by.

The car eventually pulled up to a large, gated estate located on the quiet outskirts of the city. High walls surrounded the property, and guards in dark uniforms patrolled the perimeter.

This was Vivienne’s private residence, a heavily secured mansion built like a fortress.

Once inside the front doors, the guards bowed and left the couple alone in the expansive main living room.

Vivienne immediately went to a small table, picked up a white folder, and threw it down on the surface. She turned around to face Ares, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Here are the rules of this house," Vivienne said, her voice cutting through the quiet room. "You will sleep in the guest wing at the far end of the hall. You will stay completely out of my corporate affairs. We will maintain this false arrangement for exactly three years, and then we will divorce quietly. Do you understand?"

Ares walked over to the table. He did not read the document. Instead, he casually picked up the folder, tossed it onto a nearby counter, and looked directly into her eyes.

"I do not follow rules," Ares said softly, his voice full of a calm, heavy authority. "I make them."

Vivienne stared at him, her chest rising and falling with anger. She had spent weeks studying the file on Ares Vane. He was supposed to be a broken, weak coward who shook whenever someone raised their voice.

Yet the man standing in front of her right now was completely different. He was arrogant, completely relaxed, and his dark eyes held a frightening depth.

"You think this is a game?" Vivienne stepped closer, her voice tight. "You are a bastard son who was kicked out by his own family. You have nothing. You will do exactly as I say."

Ares merely smiled, a slow, dangerous expression. "You think you are the one holding the power here, Vivienne. But you are just a mortal playing with fire. Go to sleep. The night is going to be long."

Infuriated by his calm attitude, Vivienne let out a sharp breath, turned on her heel, and marched up the stairs to her bedroom, slamming the door behind her.

Midnight arrived, bringing a heavy silence over the estate.

Suddenly, every light in the mansion clicked off. The hum of the air conditioning died instantly, plunging the entire house into absolute darkness. Outside, the security monitors and perimeter lights went completely dead.

Vivienne woke up immediately. Her room was pitch black. She reached for her phone on the nightstand, but there was no signal. A cold feeling of dread settled deep in her stomach.

Her elite security team should have switched on the backup generators within seconds, but nothing happened.

Clang.

The distant sound of shattering glass echoed from the lower levels.

Vivienne slipped out of bed, her heart hammering against her ribs. She quietly opened her bedroom door and stepped into the long upstairs hallway, intending to run toward the reinforced panic room at the end of the corridor.

As she reached the top of the stairs, three dark figures materialized from the shadows. They wore black, and the long barrels of silenced firearms caught the faint moonlight filtering through the high windows.

Julian Vane had broken the contract before the ink was even dry. He had sent professional assassins to eliminate Ares in his sleep, planning to blame the murder on Vivienne’s enemies to take total control of her company.

"Don't move," one of the men whispered, raising his weapon directly at Vivienne's chest.

Vivienne froze, her breath catching in her throat. She closed her eyes, waiting for the sound of gunfire.

She did not hear a shot. Instead, a dark blur moved through the corridor like a ghost.

Before the first assassin could pull his trigger, Ares appeared right beside him. Moving faster than any human eye could track, Ares reached out and grabbed the man's wrist.

With a sickening crack, he snapped the bone instantly. The assassin did not even have time to scream before Ares ripped the weapon from his hand and used the man's heavy body as a shield.

The other two assassins reacted quickly, firing a rapid succession of silenced bullets. The rounds thudded heavily into their partner's chest as Ares pushed the dead weight forward, crashing into the second attacker.

Vivienne watched in absolute, breathless horror as Ares displayed a level of raw, monstrous physical dominance she did not think was humanly possible.

Ares drove his bare fist straight into the chest of the second attacker. The force of the blow was massive, throwing the man backward through the railing of the staircase. He crashed onto the floor below, completely still.

The third assassin tried to turn and run, but Ares was already there. He reached out, his hand wrapping around the man's throat, lifting him entirely off his feet and pinning him violently against the wall.

The assassin's legs kicked wildly in the air, his chest heaving as he whimpered for mercy, staring into dark eyes that burned with a terrifying, bloody light. Ares slowly tightened his grip until the whimpering stopped, and the man went completely limp.

Within less than a minute, the entire hallway was silent again, the floor covered in blood.

Ares loosened his fingers, letting the dead body slide down to the ground.

He casually pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and began to wipe the dark blood from his knuckles, his breathing completely steady as if he had just taken a casual walk.

Vivienne stood paralyzed against the opposite wall, her body shaking violently. Her eyes were wide, staring at the corpses and then at her new husband. The weak, useless bastard she thought she could control was gone. Standing before her was a literal monster.

"Who... what are you?" she whispered, her voice cracking with pure terror.

Ares did not answer her right away. He walked over to the large windows at the end of the hall, looking out at the City.

In his vision, the blue system screen flared back to life.

[Conflict Resolved. 3 Elite Assassins Defeated. Reward: 300 Conflict Points. Current Total: 800 Points. Warning: Host physical body is currently too weak to handle advanced divine skills. Universal restriction applied.]

Ares stared at the screen, a cold frown touching his lips. His mind was vast, but this mortal body was still a heavy limitation. He needed resources.

He needed to build a foundation in this world before he could even think about finding a way back to the heavens.

“Just watch my Lysandra, how I tear this city apart piece by piece—because you all who

threw me from the heavens are next."