"DAMIEN! YOU BASTARD!!!" Edward roared in rage as he swung his fist towards the man who had dared to lift his hand on a woman, closing the distance to just a meter from Damien.
'Here it comes,' a visible smirk formed on Damien's face as he watched everything in slow motion. His pupils ignored the slowed punch and fixed on a small metal projectile entering his sight, passing between him and Edward.
BANG!
A sharp gunshot sound reverberated as the bullet that had just passed between them collided with something nearby, causing a ruckus without harming anyone.
"Kyaaaah~!!"
"No!...It's an attack!"
Panic surged inside the place, with individuals not understanding how someone had infiltrated and started shooting despite the presence of bodyguards outside the hotel.
"Move!"
Unbeknownst to these high-profile individuals, Damien had intentionally provided a secret path to Gabriel and his goons to enter with guns, ensuring that none of the sounds from this place escaped.
This was evident in his choice of this particular 7-star hotel.
Indeed, there were several other hotels under the name of Ramphian Groups, but this was the only one that provided complete soundproofing in its hall to enhance the experience for their customers.
With the sounds of bullets, men carrying weapons entered the hallway, causing a ripple of chaos throughout the place.
"Where are you, Damien Raphael!" yelled a masked man, crying out the name of the one who had forgotten his limits and crossed the line by sending that letter.
Holding AR-15 semi-automatic rifles, Gabriel and his men instantly searched for the man who had called them but they don't forget to wear masks, knowing that the one they were dealing with today was none other than Damien Raphael, heir of Raphael Industries.
Even with 25% control over the underground, Gabriel wouldn't had acted today if he hadn't heard that Damien Raphael was not declared the official heir; instead, it was his stepsister.
Not known to many, but only a few in the country's high circles were aware that the company and everything else would soon be led by an orphan adopted by Damien Raphael's grandfather.
After all, it was a known fact that Damien, instead of focusing on his business, was always after a woman from the Crimwell family, pursuing her for more than five years.
Thus, he was declared unfit to handle the Raphael empire, worth 9.8 billion NR.
An enormous amount for anyone.
"Hey fucker, are you hiding behind a woman—?!" Gabriel lifted his gun, pointing it towards the man he aimed to kill today. Suddenly, the man held a woman in front of him, causing Gabriel's finger to hesitate when he recognized the woman as his niece.
Not that he cared, but the issue was that the woman had recognized his voice.
'Damn it!' Gabriel thought. He had planned to kill everyone present after getting support from a few of Damien's enemies who had helped him enter the hotel room secretly.
By killing everyone, he would have erased all the evidence.
But now, his own niece had recognized his face, complicating his plan to kill everyone present.
"You? No... Why?" Emilia, who had recognized the voice of Gabriel Blake, felt her eyes widen with anger slowly filling them.
Her hands, which were already holding two hands on her waist, tightened as her nails dug into Damien's hands flesh.
Damien, who was clenching her from behind, looked towards Gabriel with squinted eyes, analyzing the situation.
A smile formed on Damien's face as in a split second, his body seemed to vanish and reappear with a knife in his pocket.
"You bastards! How dare you?" Edward yelled, seeing dozens of men entering the place. The guy in front, who appeared to be the leader, was immersed in thought, his hands not on the trigger. Edward, charging his internal energy, closed the 10-meter distance in the blink of an eye.
"Ugh?!" Gabriel's men tried to react, but their response was too slow. Edward's hands clenched Gabriel's face before throwing his whole body to the floor.
CRACK!
Edward's strength, enhanced by his internal energy, shattered the floor beneath Gabriel into pieces.
"KHUGHH?!" Gabriel coughed out saliva mixed with blood, his widened pupils reflecting the immense pain he was experiencing. His bones were broken, a rib bone had punctured his lungs, his intestines were completely messed up, and his skull was cracked.
'Now it's your turn, bastards!' Edward thought, instantly backflipping to dodge the bullets fired by the dozen other men.
BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!
Edward's body moved swiftly, avoiding each bullet. Blood was seeping from his wounds due to some of the bullet's grazing his physically enhanced body, but he continued to evade the attacks.
"It's end for you all!" He reached for his pocket to take out his knife and realized it was missing.
'Where's my knife gone?!' He thought. If it were just a few people, hand-to-hand combat wouldn't be hard for him, but he couldn't recklessly fight while dodging bullets, making everything much harder.
'Where the hell is my knife?!!!'
BANG!
"Kughh!"
.
.
.
.
.
"Can you hold this knife for a second?" Damien asked, arriving at the end of the hallway after secretly moving from the hall to a safe place, bringing two women with him.
One was Emilia, who was being pulled by his hand. The other was Amelia, whom he carried in a princess hold.
Amelia appeared lost in another world, her closed eyes and the red mark on her cheek from a slap indicating she was in a trance.
Of course, he could have simply left her there, but he couldn't let her die given her recent heroine status. It was likely she would have survived, but he chose to utilize this moment to the best of his ability.
"You, why did you run away? You could have killed that man!" Emilia's whole body burned with rage, remembering those eyes and the voice she wanted to erase from existence. She didn't care about the situation; at least the man was out in the open instead of hiding inside underground auction houses.
"Hey," Damian halted in his path and turned towards Emilia, who flinched before glaring back at him, wanting to know about the promise he made to kill her uncle today. Damian, looking at her with a smirk, added, "Do you really want him to just get this peaceful death?"
"Wh-what?" Emilia, slightly bewildered, looked at Damien, whose face carried a devilish smile and whose voice sounded like a whisper. Her eyes blinked as she tried to understand the meaning behind his words. Slowly, they widened as she realized—no, she didn't want to give that man a simple death.
'How naive,' Damian thought, looking at Emilia. Her face no longer showed pure anger but rather a hint of desire, falling for his trap, which would eventually lead her to fall in love with him.
He would give her what she wanted—Gabriel's death—and she would give him what he wanted—her everything.
"Mmm....wha....doing...Dami," came a mumbling sound from his embrace. Damian turned towards the woman sleeping in his arms. Her hand rested on her cheek, her eyes closed, as if she were dreaming.
Seeing her like this, Damian understood it was a Vasovagal Response—a combination of emotional and physical shock triggering a sudden drop in heart rate and blood pressure, leading to fainting or a strong urge to sleep.
Seeing her like this just made it easier for him to take her from there and proceed to his next step.
A simple move of slapping her had caused things to become much easier prompting him to turn his eyes towards a pillar standing adding," Is this really right way to keep an eye on people secretly, Miss...."