Top Notch War God

"Mommy, I don't want to die. I miss daddy. Can you tell me who my daddy is? Will daddy come see me? I'm not an orphan! I'm not a bastard!" In the leukemia ward of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Maisy, a pitiful four-and-a-half-year-old girl, lay on the hospital bed, coughing up blood and crying for her father. Beside the bed, Ariya Willis tightly held her small hand, tears welling in her eyes. "Daddy will come! Daddy will come!" Ariya sobbed as she comforted her daughter, who was nearing the end of her life. Then, in a hurry, she pulled out her phone and dialed a number she had been trying to reach for five years without success. "Talon! It's Ariya. Our daughter has leukemia and is dying. Please, can you come see her? She's been wanting to see you. Where are you, Talon? Say something..." On the other end of the phone was a man in a command room on the Middle East battlefield. Watching the war scenes with piles of corpses and rivers of blood on the screen, Talon Stormy, the youngest general in U.S. history, frowned. "How many casualties do we have?" he asked, unaware of the incoming call. "General, we have seven lightly injured and two severely injured! Thirty thousand enemy in the Middle East have been completely annihilated by the Dragon Nest! After this battle, there will be no more war in the Middle East!" The five hundred soldiers, covered in blood and holding steel rifles, saluted Talon. "The three thousand souls guarding the Middle East, you can rest in peace now," Talon said, raising his right hand to salute the battlefield after hearing the frontline commander's report. Talon joined the army at twenty and became a general at twenty-two. He commanded five hundred elite soldiers of the Stormy Legion, dominated the Middle East, remained undefeated in thousands of battles, and terrified the enemies. He was known as the Dragon Lord! "Message from your wife, General." At this moment, a military officer in the command room approached Talon with a cell phone sealed for five years. "Read." "Your daughter has late-stage leukemia... She's about to die! Your wife, Ariya, is going to marry the son of the Gray family tomorrow." The message was short, but Talon, who had never trembled amidst bullets and bombs, shook all over upon hearing it. Memories of humiliation from five years ago rushed back to him, and he roared in anger, "Nightwing, Steelclaw, Flamestrike, and Azureblade, you four guards, follow me to Philadelphia!" Two minutes later, three F-22 Raptors streaked across the sky like lightning, heading straight for the northern United States. *** In the hospital ward, after a brief chemotherapy session, Maisy had fallen into a deep sleep. Beside the bed, Ariya knelt in front of a noblewoman, pleading desperately, "Mom, Maisy's condition can't wait any longer. If we don't do a bone marrow transplant soon, she will die. Please lend me one million dollars. I promise I'll pay you back!" The noblewoman was Ariya's mother, Norah May. She arrogantly replied, "You'll pay me back? With what? Let me tell you the truth. I've already taken three hundred thousand dollars from the Gray family. You're marrying into the Gray family tomorrow!" "Three hundred thousand dollars? What does that mean?" Ariya looked puzzled. "It means that I've already signed a contract with the Gray family, selling you to them! It's the price of your marriage!" "What? Are you even my mother? I'm a human, not a slave to be traded!" Ariya shouted, her blood boiling. "And Maisy is undergoing treatment. How can I remarry when I already have a husband?" "Husband!? How dare you mention your vagrant husband!" Norah pointed at Ariya, unable to suppress her anger. At the same time, their memories from five years ago flooded back. Back then, Ariya was the most beautiful woman in Philadelphia, with countless suitors. Norah picked the son of the prominent Wright family in Philadelphia as her daughter's husband, but Ariya refused adamantly. This infuriated Norah, who secretly laced Ariya's drink and had the Wright family's son take her home. On the way, Ariya's drugs kicked in. Just as the Wright family's son was about to rape her, a vagrant suddenly appeared and knocked him out! One day later, Ariya returned and brought that homeless man with her. And then, in just a few days, she found out she was pregnant! Once the woman who had all the men in Philadelphia crazy about her, Ariya now became the biggest laughingstock in the city, getting pregnant with a homeless man's child without her family's consent. On a rainy night six months later, the vagrant left a note and disappeared: [Wait for my return. I will make up for these years of regrets and make you the most radiant and happiest woman in the world!] But there was no news after that! Now, the son of the Gray family didn't mind Ariya's past and gave her three hundred thousand dollars. Marrying into the Gray family would ensure a worry-free life for her. Was it really unfair to her? Compared to local families like the Willis family, the Gray family ranked among the top ten prominent families in Philadelphia! "Norah, Ariya is a sensible person. She know the rewards of the marriage. Why are you forcing her like this?" Seizing the opportunity, a tall and slim man with a lecherous face pushed open the ward door and walked in. This man was Bertie Gray. "Mr. Gray!" Norah trembled all over and immediately hurried to Bertie's side. "Mr. Gray, why did you come here? Don't worry, the wedding will definitely proceed as planned tomorrow!" Bertie nodded, walked to Ariya's side, and pulled out a check. "Ariya, as long as you agree to marry me, Maisy will be my daughter. I can arrange the surgery for her right away!" "They are my wife and daughter. It's not your job to take care of them!" Just then, an Apache helicopter touched down on the hospital's helipad. Moments later, the ward door swung open with a commanding voice! Norah suddenly turned around, seeing five people standing outside the door. They were all dressed in uniforms, bloodstained as if they had just come down from the battlefield. They all had dark faces, and the lead soldier was like a fierce lion, seemingly capable of tearing people apart at any moment! "Who the hell are you?" Bertie, full of rage, walked up to them. If it weren't for these bastards barging in, Ariya would have been forced to agree. "Get lost!" Talon grabbed Bertie and threw him several meters away, slamming him against the wall. Then, he walked step by step to Ariya's side, his gaze gentle yet tinged with remorse. "I'm sorry, Ariya! I'm late!" Ariya quietly looked at the man in front of her. Her heart almost stopped beating. Despite five years apart and a blurred face in her memory, she could never forget this man... her husband, who had disappeared for five years! With that familiar face in front of her, all of Ariya's emotions—grief, heartache, love, and anger—came pouring out in tears. She slapped him hard across the face. "Five years! Maisy and I waited for you for five years! Do you have any idea what those years were like for me?" Talon could have dodged, but he didn't. He let Ariya's slap land heavily on his face, then hugged her tightly as she cried in his arms. He knew he had let this woman down. Despite having countless reasons, abandoning his wife and daughter and disappearing for five years were facts. "Oh, it's you, you wastrel!" Norah strode up to Talon and jabbed a finger at his nose. "You vanished without a word for five years. You show up now? Perfect! Let me make this clear: Ariya has agreed to marry into the Gray family. You have no place in her life anymore, and you're forbidden from contacting her again!" "Shut up!" Azureblade, the muscular man standing behind them, said with sudden fierceness as he heard Norah insult the general. Norah was shaking uncontrollably, terrified by the intense stare of Azureblade, and could barely remain standing. Talon hugged Ariya, glanced at Bertie, who was knocked against the wall, and ordered, "You're Bertie, right? Listen carefully. The wedding tomorrow is canceled! Leave immediately, and I won't kill you!" "Won't kill me? Just who do you think you are? Dare you kill me?" Bertie clutched his chest and looked fearless. He had already figured out that this man was Ariya's vagrant husband, who had been missing for five years. What abilities might a vagrant man, absent for five years, possess? What he didn't expect was the following scene. Suddenly, a soldier behind Talon pulled out a pistol, flipped off the safety, and pressed the black muzzle against his head. "Scram or die!"