Infinite Wealth System: Crazy Tasks, Insane Rewards!-Chapter 233: Real Sovereign War (XIII)

The closer Jayden moved toward Melinda’s apartment complex, the heavier his chest felt.

The district had not been spared during the invasion. Entire sections of the street were cracked open like broken ribs. Vehicles lay overturned and burned. The once familiar skyline of her neighborhood now looked distorted, wounded, barely recognizable beneath smoke and dust.

Her building stood ahead.

Or rather, what remained of it.

Half of the upper floors had collapsed inward, the structure leaning at a dangerous angle as though one more impact would send it crumbling completely. Concrete slabs hung precariously. Glass littered the ground like frozen rain.

Jayden slowed as he approached.

For the first time since the invasion began, hesitation touched him.

He did not call her name.

He did not want to hear silence answer back.

Instead, he stepped forward and lifted a fallen beam with one hand as if it weighed nothing. He moved carefully through the unstable structure, navigating broken staircases and fractured hallways with unnatural balance. Pieces of ceiling groaned above him, threatening to give way at any moment.

Her apartment door was still there.

Crooked... Cracked.

But intact.

He pushed it open slowly.

Inside, the room was dusty but largely untouched. A window had shattered, allowing ash to drift lightly across the floor. Furniture remained in place. The small couch near the wall. The framed pictures she had never bothered to take down. The desk by the window.

Jayden stepped inside quietly.

"Melinda," he said softly.

No response.

He walked further in, checking the bedroom first. The sheets were unmade. Her closet was partially open. No sign of struggle. No sign of her.

He returned to the main room, his gaze scanning every corner carefully, as if she might step out from behind something and scold him for worrying.

Then he saw it.

A book resting on her desk.

It was placed deliberately at the center, not shoved aside, not half hidden. The cover was slightly worn, one he vaguely remembered seeing her read before.

Something about the way it sat there pulled him closer.

He picked it up.

Dust slipped from its edges as he opened it.

The first page was not printed text.

It was handwriting.

Bold.

Intentional.

His eyes fixed on the words.

IF YOU WILL EVER SEE THIS, AND I HOPE. I LOVE YOU, JAYDEN.

EVEN THOUGH I NEVER GOT THE CHANCE TO PROVE IT. BUT I BELIEVE SOMEDAY I WILL.

For a moment, the world around him disappeared.

The distant rumble of battle faded. The instability of the building ceased to matter. Even the system within him felt silent.

He read it again.

Slowly.

As if the meaning might change.

His fingers tightened slightly around the edges of the book.

He had faced fleets. He had torn warships from the sky. He had stood unshaken against overwhelming destruction.

But this.

This struck deeper.

Images began to flood his mind without permission.

The café back in Sky High.

The first time she had spilled her drink because she was nervous around him.

The way she had pretended not to recognize him at first, even though everyone on campus knew who he was becoming.

That evening when they had stayed longer than planned, talking about simple things that had nothing to do with power or survival.

And that moment.

That quiet, intimate moment not long ago when she had rested her head against him, believing for once that the world might allow them something normal.

He had felt it then.

But he had never said it.

He had always assumed there would be time.

His chest tightened painfully.

"She wrote this expecting..." he murmured to himself.

Expecting that he might find it after something had happened.

Expecting that she might not return.

He closed the book slowly, pressing it against his chest for a brief second.

"I was going to prove it too," he said quietly.

The building creaked above him, reminding him that time was not frozen.

His communicator vibrated sharply.

Jayden snapped back to the present and answered immediately.

"Charlotte."

"We traced her," Charlotte said quickly, relief and tension tangled in her voice. "She is in Dominion City."

Jayden’s heart dropped.

"Dominion City?" he repeated.

"Yes," Charlotte confirmed. "She is with Harper and Esta."

His breath steadied slightly.

"That is not the worst of it," Charlotte continued.

Jayden’s tone shifted instantly.

"What."

"They are facing the leader of the Sovereign Protocol army."

Silence hung for a second.

Charlotte added carefully, "Do you want to guess who it is."

Jayden’s voice lowered.

"Who."

There was a pause before she answered.

"The goddamned forgotten Prince of Nortasia."

Jayden’s mind did not need further explanation.

Kael.

The name alone carried history, tension, unfinished Chapters.

"You gotta be kidding me," Jayden said under his breath.

"He is alive," Charlotte continued. "And he is very active."

The line crackled faintly as explosions echoed faintly in the background on her end.

Jayden did not respond immediately.

Then he moved.

"I am on my way," he said, already turning.

He dashed out of the collapsing building, leaping from fractured floor to fractured floor before landing hard outside. The pavement cracked beneath him.

He sprinted toward where his helicopter remained stationed, moving with urgency that surpassed even his earlier rush.

The crew barely had time to react before he was inside.

"Dominion City," he ordered sharply. "Now."

"Sir, the airspace is unstable—"

"Fly."

The intensity in his voice left no room for hesitation.

The helicopter lifted violently, accelerating forward as fast as its systems would allow.

Inside, Jayden stared ahead, jaw clenched.

Hold on.

On the other side of the battlefield, Dominion City was far from holding.

Kael moved like a shadow cast by destruction itself.

After rising from the explosion, he had approached Melinda with chilling focus. Harper and Esta had stepped directly into his path without hesitation.

"You are not touching her," Harper said firmly, raising her weapon despite knowing it was useless.

Esta’s hands glowed faintly with restrained energy.

Kael did not slow.

"You persist," he said quietly.

The next second, he moved.

Harper fired instinctively, emptying her rifle as she had before. The bullets flattened against Kael’s skin and fell uselessly to the ground.

Esta launched forward, channeling her power in a concentrated strike aimed at his torso. The impact forced him back a step, cracking the pavement beneath him.

But it was not enough.

Kael retaliated with brutal efficiency.

He struck Esta first, his palm colliding with her midsection and sending her flying across the street into a broken vehicle. Metal crumpled around her.

Harper charged immediately after, refusing to retreat. She swung the rifle like a staff when it jammed, striking at his head, his neck, anywhere she could reach.

He caught it mid swing and shattered it effortlessly.

"You are loyal," Kael observed coldly.

Harper lunged at him bare handed.

He backhanded her.

The force lifted her off her feet and hurled her into a nearby wall. The concrete cracked around her as she collapsed to the ground.

More soldiers rushed forward in desperation.

They fired. They shouted. They tried to swarm him from multiple angles.

Kael moved through them like a storm.

He broke through their formation, knocking them aside one after another. Bodies hit the ground hard. Armor crumpled. Weapons scattered.

Still Harper rose again.

Blood ran from the corner of her mouth, but she stood between him and Melinda once more.

"You will have to kill me first," she said through clenched teeth.

Kael’s eyes flickered with something almost resembling respect.

"That can be arranged."

He struck her again.

This time harder.

The blow echoed through the street. Harper’s body went limp as she crashed against the pavement, unmoving.

Esta tried to rise once more, but Kael’s next wave of force sent her sliding across the ground, leaving her stunned and struggling to breathe.

Melinda stood frozen.

Everything around her felt unreal.

The smoke. The fallen soldiers. Harper lying motionless.

Kael turned fully toward her.

She stepped back.

Then panic took over.

She turned and ran.

Her breath came in broken gasps as she sprinted down the fractured street, dodging debris, slipping on loose rubble.

Behind her, Kael did not hurry.

He appeared in front of her in a blur.

She screamed, trying to change direction.

His hand shot out.

He grabbed her by the neck.

Her body lifted from the ground as though she weighed nothing.

Her hands clawed at his wrist instinctively.

"You dared to kill me," he said, his voice dark and steady.

Her eyes widened in terror.

"You had no idea you were signing your death warrant."

She struggled, her feet kicking uselessly in the air.

"Now go rest in pieces, soft princess," he continued coldly. "Do not worry. Every one else of your kind are coming after you as well."

His grip tightened.

Her attempts to pull free grew weaker.

Her vision blurred.

The power radiating from him intensified, dark energy coiling around his arm.

There was a final, terrible surge.

Then silence.

Her body fell to the ground.

Still.

Empty.

Dead...

Kael looked down at her briefly, expression unreadable.

In the distance, the sound of an approaching helicopter began to grow louder. The blades cut through the air, echoing across the shattered city.

Kael lifted his gaze toward the sky and then to the two almost lifeless ladies on the floor.

If one looked at his face, one could believe that he was satisfied with that one.