Willy laughed. "The fact that you showed up here means—"Smack!Frank said nothing as he slapped Willy resoundingly across the face, leaving him stunned.Seizing Willy by the neck, his eyes flashed murderously as he bellowed, "I asked you a question, so answer it!"Willy could barely keep up—he touched his face and felt the sting, finally realizing it was no dream.His face contorted with rage and humiliation as he looked up and glared at Frank. "Y-You hit me?! In my house?! Do you know what you're doing?!"Smack!"I told you to answer my question!" Frank bellowed as he slapped him again, leaving Willy seeing stars as his lips bled.It actually took Willy seconds to recover."Frank Lawrence, you—""Answer my question!"Seeing Frank's fury, Willy actually felt a pang of panic.He had no idea how Frank got inside his own house, but Frank was going to keep slapping him if he kept being stubborn. As such, he had to hold back his own rage and bellowed, "If you're talking about t
Frank did not even flinch as he watched Willy cackle hysterically, and he asked calmly, "So, are you done?""Eh?" Willy was taken aback by Frank's unaffected reaction, even asking blankly, "Aren't you scared? I know everything about you and your family in Riverton—Oof!"Willy could not even scream as Frank punched his lower jaw, pulverizing everything including his teeth into mush.All he could do was writhe around the floor in sheer pain."Maybe…"Frank remained impassive as he watched him convulse, speaking calmly, "Maybe my family will suffer like you threatened, but I'll do all I can to stop it before that. If it's a war you Soranos want, I wouldn't mind showing my chops and bathing your house in blood.""Insolence!"An elderly man in a white suit emerged from the door behind Frank just then, glancing at Willy before glaring furiously at Frank. "Bathe my house in blood?! Such bold words! Now state your name!"Gus Zeller then entered as well and did a double take in confus
"I bear you no ill will, Mr. Sorano," Gus retorted firmly at Willy. "Why would you mistreat you in any way? If anything, it does the Sorano family no good to start a fight without knowing why. After all, we're talking about a martial elite who's clearly outraged enough to charge into our own turf.""Fine. In that case, I'd like to hear the brat's story."Tony nodded, withholding his rage as he turned toward Frank with a cool glare. "What's your beef with my family, Mr. Lawrence? We should at least understand why you're trying to start a war here.""That's right." Gus nodded. "Hmph. Finally, someone who speaks like a human being." Frank snorted as he eased his foot over Willy's kneecap.Turning toward Gus darkly, he asked, "When you consulted me, we agreed that I'd bring you medicine to treat your recurring condition, didn't we?""Is that true?" Tony turned to Gus."Yes, it is." Gus glanced at him in turn, nodding solemnly and frowning.Frank then bellowed, "I happened to be bu
"Gus Zeller…!!!" Willy hissed furiously, but there was nothing he could do."Willy," Tony said quietly just then, "Gus is right. You haven't been found innocent of Zam's death, and now, you've brought more trouble to our doorstep. You're in the wrong here, so apologize to Mr. Lawrence now.""What?!" Willy's eyes widened so much they could pop out, and he shrieked even as he looked up at them, "Am I hearing this wrong?! This… This Frank Lawrence barged into our home, killed our bodyguards, and hurt me! And you're letting this slide?! When has our family become this weak?! Or do we not fight back when others shit on us these days?!""Silence!" Gus bellowed icily as he strode a step forward. "Let me make this clear—you've only ever been causing us trouble, and you're a suspect in your own granduncle's death! Don't try to cry your way out of this!"Then, pointing at Frank, Gus laughed despite himself. "Frank Lawrence sent a courier to deliver a medicine, but forget stopping him—you'd
Willy struggled violently even as he bawled, "Save me, Granduncle!!!"Tony promptly strode up and bellowed at Frank right then, "Stop! We were being reasonable here, but you'd hurt Willy instead?! Would you rather we not be reasonable?!""Calm down, Mr. Lawrence," Gus reasoned as well, reluctant to fight Frank."Heh…" Frank chuckled nonchalantly in spite of Tony and Gus' wary stances. "You're the ones who should be begging. Even before I came, there were only two options I was going to offer Willy."As he spoke, he crushed Willy's other kneecap with his foot—the man was in so much pain that he drifted in and out of consciousness, but all he could do was curse and yell Frank's name."I'll kill him if you come closer," Frank said just then, seeing that Tony was ready to attack.His warning promptly left Tony straightening warily—he could already tell that Frank was strong, and that killing Willy was a matter of will for him."Then what do you want?!" Tony bellowed, glaring at Fr
Frank sneered. "If you want him to live, you'll bring him over to Loggins Apothecary and have him kowtow to Nash in apology… It's either that, or you can wait until he dies screaming in three days. And you can trust me when I say he'll regret being alive then."With those words, Frank leapt off the second floor before anyone could respond, landing on top of one of Willy's luxury cars.As the Sorano bodyguards around him looked on in shock, he leapt into a dome car and drove off."Stop him! Stop him!" Emilio Sorano—Willy's father—bellowed manically at the bodyguards downstairs, having rushed to the scene after hearing what had happened."Oh… Okay!"The bodyguards finally came to their senses and finally gave chase.However, Frank had already put a considerable distance between them, and they had no hope of beating him even if they caught up.As such, they merely looked busy chasing after Frank but were actually doing it half-heartedly.None of them were eager to die anyway.And
Just as the Soranos' executives and retainers almost came to an agreement, an authoritative voice barked from the doorway, "What's going on here?!"Silence quickly ensued, with most of them keeping their heads down in reverence while an old man shuffled inside.His back was hunched and his visage ancient, but he carried himself with authority.He stood in the middle of the crowd, his eyes piercing studying everyone.It was none other than Zico Sorano, the head of the Sorano family, himself."Brother." Tony approached him and told him everything that had happened, keeping his narrative neutral as he reported the facts of what he had seen."Hmm… an Ascendant rank named Frank Lawrence?"Zico was focused on Frank, barely paying the writhing Willy any attention as he thought to himself in silence.Soon, he smiled enigmatically, with even the wrinkles on his face smoothening. "Well, that's decided." He chuckled. "Come tomorrow and send an escort with Willy to apologize to Frank Law
"Oh, you needn't worry."Zico smiled. "I've heard that there's been issues with Turnbulls and Lionhearts' arranged engagement, and it all revolved around Frank Lawrence."Emilio realized with a start. "Are you saying…" "Yes." Zico snorted. "We'll stay behind the scenes and let the Turnbulls and the Lionhearts deal with him. Ideally, his identity stays hidden and all of them get hurt in their conflict. That's when we come in…"Laughing coldly, Zico sighed. "The Five-Peat Archaeus is a discipline said to lead one to Transcendent rank, a path to immortality. What are the opinions of mortals in comparison?""I understand now… Thank you for your guidance, Father." "D-Dad? Save me… It hurts so much… Everything hurts…" Willy held out a hand to Emilio even as he rolled around.However, Emilio was already fantasizing about obtaining the Five-Peat Archaeus and did not have any attention to spare.Eventually, he shot the boy with a calm look and said coolly, "If you want it to stop hurt