The hospital room grew unnaturally cold but it wasn't the air conditioning that made the place cold.
It was the kind of cold that seeped into the bones and the quiet warning that something dangerous had arrived.
Alexander didn't need the System to confirm what his instincts already told him. The two men lying unconscious on the floor were merely scouts.
Disposable pieces.
The Dragon King never sent negotiators.
He sent cleaners.
And cleaners never left witnesses.
A faint blue light flickered across Alexander's vision.
[WARNING: HOSTILE BIOMETRIC SIGNATURES DETECTED
COUNT: 12
THREAT LEVEL: HIGH
CLASS: Tactical Assassins
ESTIMATED POWER: Mortal (Peak)]
Alexander exhaled slowly.
So his father had already decided to erase him completely.
How efficient.
How predictable.
"Mom," Alexander said calmly.
His voice carried a strange authority, something deeper than sound, like a command encoded directly into reality itself.
"Get behind the bed."
It wasn't a suggestion or a request but it was rather an order the world itself obeyed. His mother moved without even realizing she had done so.
The hallway outside went silent.
Then,
BOOM!
The reinforced hospital door didn't open. It exploded inward.
Four flashbang grenades rolled across the polished floor before detonating in a blinding storm of white light and thunder.
To a normal person, the world would have dissolved into chaos, searing brightness, ringing ears, panic.
But Alexander was no longer normal.
[ACTIVE SKILL: NEURAL OVERCLOCK
PROCESSING SPEED: 10,000 CYCLES / MICROSECOND]
The explosion became a slow ripple of expanding light and smoke.
Dust particles floated through the air like tiny frozen stars.
Alexander could see everything.
The lead assassin stepping through the shattered doorway.
He was in Matte-black ceramic armor.
Silenced submachine gun.
Finger tightening on the trigger.
A cold, professional killer.
To Alexander, he might as well have been standing still.
[ACTIVE SKILL: TIME-DILATION FIELD (LEVEL 1)
COST: 50 STAMINA / SECOND]
Alexander moved.
To his mother, he vanished.
To the assassins, he became a blur of impossible motion. A phantom made of speed. He appeared in front of the first attacker and casually grabbed the barrel of the man's weapon.
The reinforced steel twisted in his grip like soft clay.
The assassin's eyes widened behind his visor. Alexander didn't even look impressed.With a lazy backhand strike,
BOOM.
The armored killer flew across the room like a cannonball that was shot during the World War I.
His body smashed through the reinforced hospital window, glass exploding outward in a glittering storm before he disappeared into the night forty stories below.
The remaining assassins reacted instantly. They were professionals.
They opened fire. The room filled with the muted rhythm of suppressed gunfire.
Thwip. Thwip. Thwip.
Bullets streaked toward Alexander like a deadly rain.
Alexander raised one hand.
[GEAR ACTIVATED: GRAVITY-PLATING ARMOR
KINETIC ABSORPTION: 100%]
The bullets stopped.
Mid-air.
One inch from his palm.
Invisible gravitational force crushed them flat, turning lethal rounds into harmless discs of deformed metal.
They clattered softly to the floor.
Alexander sighed.
"My father's aim is as poor as his loyalty."
The assassins hesitated. Just for a moment with knowing what to do or say. It was the last mistake they would ever make, for they wouldn't get this opportunity to make a mistake again.
Alexander stepped forward.
Each movement carried terrifying precision. A punch shattered an armored chest plate. An elbow crushed a throat.
A kick launched another killer into the ceiling hard enough to crater the concrete.
Within seconds, the room looked like the aftermath of a warzone in the Call of Duty mobile game.
Only one assassin remained.
Alexander reached out, his fingers glowing faintly with cobalt light.
He pressed them against the man's forehead.
[SYSTEM SKILL ACTIVATED: SOUL-SCOUR
FUNCTION: MEMORY EXTRACTION / REWRITE]
Data flooded into Alexander's mind.
Orders.
Locations.
Bank accounts.
Secret identities.
The Dragon King's hidden network.
Alexander absorbed everything in less than a second.
Then he rewrote the man.
Not his body.
His mind.
The assassin's eyes became glassy.
Empty.
Obedient.
Alexander leaned closer, his voice vibrating with a hypnotic frequency.
"You will return to your dragon master."
The assassin nodded slowly with a dead eyes.
"Tell him the dragon he thought he buried has grown powerful wings."
Alexander paused.
Then he grabbed the final attacker behind him and snapped the man's neck without even turning around.
The crack echoed through the ruined room.
"…Tell him I'm coming for the Academy and I'm going to start creating my legacy there."
He stepped back.
"And tell him…"
Alexander's lips curved into a faint smile that was full of cunningness.
"…that I've already spent his first billion."
The System chimed softly.
[QUEST UPDATED: THE ACADEMY ENTRANCE
OBJECTIVE: Enroll in the S-Class Martial Arts Stream
REWARD: Dragon-Slaying Manual (Fragment 1/3)]
Alexander finally turned toward his mother. She stared at him with wide eyes.
Not fear.
Not exactly.
More like awe… mixed with the unsettling realization that her son was no longer the boy she once knew.
Alexander glanced down at himself.
The hospital gown was torn and covered in dust.
Unacceptable.
He opened the System interface again.
SYSTEM SHOP OPENED
PURCHASE: Nano-Fiber Executive Suit (Black)
A swirl of dark digital particles enveloped his body.
In an instant, the tattered gown vanished into the thin air.
Replaced by a flawless black suit woven from carbon nanotube fibers which is stronger than steel yet light as silk.
It fit him perfectly without a doubt nor a question. Like it had been designed for a king.
Alexander adjusted the cuff of his sleeve.
Now he looked less like a patient…
…and more like a young billionaire who owned the world.
He walked toward his mother and gently offered his arm.
"Come on, Mom."
His voice softened slightly.
"We're leaving."
He glanced toward the shattered window where the city lights stretched endlessly across the night.
"I believe…"
A faint smile crossed his face.
"…we have an orientation to attend."