Chapter 30: Ray’s Demise

Within minutes, Liam arrived at the abandoned factory warehouse. The sight that greeted him was one of desolation, broken glass crunched beneath his feet while twisted steel beams hung precariously overhead. Rust-stained concrete pillars struggled to support what remained of the roof, and debris littered the floor like the aftermath of an explosion. Red shipping containers sat forgotten in the corners, their paint peeling away like old scabs. The machines were long gone, the workers vanished. Only empty space remained, filled with the acrid smell of decay. Wind whistled through shattered windows, creating the sole soundtrack in this graveyard of industry.

“Good. You showed up,” Ray’s voice echoed through the cavernous space. Liam, now inside of this warehouse, turned toward the sound and found Ray standing with a diabolical grin plastered across his face. In his right hand, he gripped a short axe that pulsed with golden, glowing patterns along its surface.

But Liam wasn’t listening. His eyes had already found what truly mattered—Yaela. She sat slumped against one of the red containers, her back pressed against the cold metal. Blood had soaked through her shirt where a knife protruded from her side. Bruises and cuts decorated her unconscious form like grotesque artwork.

Her breathing was shallow, labored. Ray positioned himself between the siblings, continuing his monologue. “You know, when I saw you fly earlier this evening, I figured you were at best maybe an A-tier with some talent—”

His words became background noise. Liam’s perception stat screamed a single, terrifying truth: his sister was dying. Without hesitation, Liam blitzed past Ray as if the man were nothing more than air. Ray’s mouth hung open mid-sentence. Did he just move past me like I was nothing? Ray’s shock quickly transformed into rage. A devious frown twisted his features as he bellowed, “How dare you?”

Ray spun around, bringing his glowing axe down in a vicious arc. But in that instant, an invisible force slammed him into the ground with bone-crushing impact. Before he could recover, the same force launched him upward, pinning him against a steel beam as if he’d been nailed there by an unseen hand. Ray gritted his teeth and struggled against the invisible bonds, but there was nothing to fight against, no physical restraint to break.

[Skill Active → Sovereign Hands]

“I’ll come back to you,” Liam said in a low, rage-filled tone. He barely glanced at Ray before lowering his hand and turning his full attention to Yaela. The potion materialized in Liam’s palm: Tears of the Undying.

With gentle hands, he supported his sister’s head and slowly fed the liquid into her mouth, watching as it disappeared drop by precious drop.

“Please, Yae…” he whispered, his voice breaking. Minutes stretched like hours until she coughed once, then again. Warmth returned to her once-cold body, and her eyes fluttered open to find Liam’s tear-filled gaze.

“Oh my God, Yae, I’m so sorry,” he chuckled through his tears, relief flooding his voice.

“It’s fine, Liam. It’s fine,” she whispered before her eyes closed again, but this time, it was merely exhaustion, and not death. Liam carefully moved her away from the pool of her own blood, ensuring she could rest safely while he dealt with the threat that had nearly stolen her from him.

…

Meanwhile, in her hotel suite, Serafina Jackson sat at a large table with a cigar between her fingers, making notes on important documents. Suddenly, she raised her head, her senses tingling. “Hmm…” she muttered, crushing the cigar into an ashtray. Whenever Serafina felt something was off, something truly was off. Her intuition had never failed her.

“Get me Ray,” she commanded one of her subordinates positioned near the exit. The man nodded and disappeared through the door. He returned minutes later with troubling news. “Boss, Ray isn’t in his room or anywhere in the hotel.”

“What?!” Serafina barked, rising from her chair. Her oversized coat swayed as she stalked toward the exit. “Did I not make it clear that no one leaves this place until the jet is ready to depart Michigan?” The subordinate nodded as he fell into step behind her.

They headed for the elevator while Serafina’s bad feeling intensified. “Call Emelda,” she ordered. “Have her track Ray’s phone immediately.”

“Yes, boss,” came the swift reply. Recently, only Ray could give her such concerns, and that worried her more. He had become her most problematic operative, valuable but unpredictable.

…

Back at the warehouse, Liam gestured casually, and Ray’s body descended from the steel beam he was pinned to, floating down and settling a few meters in front of Liam. Another gesture brought Ray’s fallen axe into Liam’s grip, the golden patterns still pulsing with magic energy. Ray remained helpless under the effect of Sovereign Hands, able only to move as the invisible force dictated. He couldn’t even speak.

Liam’s eyes began to glow with electrical energy. “Strike.” A single lightning bolt descended from above, engulfing Ray’s captive form. His scream echoed through the warehouse as electricity coursed through his body.

“Strike,” Liam repeated without pause. Another bolt fell, causing Ray’s eyes to roll back from the intense pain. Blood had been flowing from his head since being slammed against the beam, and now the lightning began shredding both his clothes and skin.

…

Serafina sat in the passenger seat of their SUV as it pulled away from the hotel premises. Her subordinate ended his call and turned to face her. “Boss, Emelda tracked his device. She’s sent the coordinates to your phone.”

“Good.” Serafina pulled up her device, tapping the link and zooming in on the location before passing the phone forward to the driver. “Get there quickly!” she commanded. The vehicle lurched as the driver floored the accelerator, speeding onto the highway toward the tracked location.

…

This was the fourth lightning bolt striking Ray’s suspended form. Blood covered his face, his clothes hung in tatters, and smoke rose from his burned flesh.

“I reckon at the seventh lightning strike, you’d be dead,” Liam said, his voice devoid of emotion. “So I’ll stop at the sixth and kill you myself.” The rage on his face was so intense it appeared almost serene, a terrifying calm that suggested he’d become someone else entirely.

Liam began circling Ray’s floating body slowly. “I did nothing to you. I owed you no money. We had no territorial disputes. I barely even know you except that you’re a pathetic excuse for a human being!” His voice rose before he continued with bitter sarcasm, “But for some reason, you decided to make me your target.”

Liam stopped, placing his palm over his face as he laughed, a sound completely devoid of humor. When he pulled his hand away, something had changed. A fang had appeared over his grin, but this wasn’t borrowing Ragar’s features or any of the Lycans, no, this was something else.

This transformation was purely Liam, but not Liam. His irises had narrowed to predatory slits, glowing with ember and lightning. When he spoke again, his voice was cold as winter death: “I will make sure it’s the very last thing you do.” Lightning flashed in the gathering storm clouds above, and thunder rumbled ominously.

Serafina and her team were already racing toward their destination when she spotted the unnatural storm clouds forming ahead, lightning dancing within the darkness. The sight only intensified the gnawing feeling in her gut.

When Liam’s intended sixth thunderbolt fell, visible even from their distance, there was no mistaking it now. Whatever was happening out there, it had everything to do with Ray. Without hesitation, she kicked the car door with explosive force. The impact tilted the entire vehicle and sent the door flying across the road behind them.

In the same instant, she launched herself into the air, flying toward the source of the supernatural lightning with such speed that the clouds themselves seemed to part in her wake. The driver struggled to regain control of the tilting vehicle while her subordinate, who had been thrown forward by the sudden shift, shouted, “What the hell?!” But Serafina was already gone, racing against time to reach the warehouse where this lightning fell and where her most unpredictable subordinate faced a power far beyond anything she had anticipated.

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