The heavy, suffocating silence inside the Orionis Hotel was broken by a sharp, pathetic cry. Chris Mackay clutched his bruised face, his eyes wide with a mixture of betrayal and disbelief as he looked up at his father.
"Dad! Why?" he stammered, his voice trembling with a frantic, high-pitched indignation. "Why are you hitting me for the sake of this nobody, this... this absolute failure? He’s a parasite! Eddison Flynn told me everything—he’s just a house-pet who got lucky because the Five Star Battle God felt like throwing a charity wedding! He’s nothing!"
The color drained from Alexis Mackay’s face, replaced by a deep, frantic crimson. The "Tiger of Duskhaven," a man who had clawed his way to the top of the city's trade unions through sheer ruthlessness, was now vibrating with a primal
