***Thirteen Years Ago***

The path forward was a long and bloody one. From enforcers to private security. Bodies littered the floors of the tall building.

The Mundo Zaibatsu Headquarters was closed today.

The heavy rain pelted against the glass windows while thunder’s roar drowned out the sounds of gunfire and terror.

Lawrence and Aries reached the top floor.

Lawrence took the ceramic plates from the tactical vest of a dead gunman. Two mercs were on lookout while the two sworn brothers readied themselves to storm the Zaibatsu head office.

The sound of gunfire caught the group’s attention.

The two mercs returned fire.

Aries went to shield Lawrence until he could finish platting his vest.

While the two mercs held suppression fire, Aries and Lawrence moved around the halls, blindsiding the assailants.

With the firefight done, Aries looked across the hall to see one of the mercs shaking the other as if a dead person was going to wake up.

Lawrence pushed the thought out of his mind as he moved up to double doors to the head office.

The company logo was emblazoned on the door, an emblem of Earth with the name Mundo wrapping across it. Beneath it was the words Encompassing Collective Human Existence.

Lawrence did his best to override the keypad to force the doors open.

Aries wedged C4 between the crease where the two doors met the best he could.

With the C4 in place, Lawrence gave up on the keypad and took cover with Aries.

The floor was set ablaze, and the glass panels all shattered. While the explosion was still ringing in the air, Aries moved first, and Lawrence followed.

“I didn’t think you kids would get this far. I can almost say I’m proud of you.”

Leo Julian Mundo. Aries’ grandfather finished his glass of wine and turned from his gilded office window to face the two young men.

“Shut up! It ends here, Gramps!”

Aries unloaded his KRISS into his grandfather.

Lawrence wanted to believe his cousin was being excessive. Lawrence wanted to believe that once the flares of smoke and bullets cleared, there would be a corpse where a man once stood.

His gun stopped. Not because he let go of the trigger but because his clip was empty.

“Mundo style. Body of the Empty Void.”

“Shit!” Aries began reloading.

Aries finished reloading just a moment too late.

“Mundo style. Empty Step through the Void.”

Before Aries could point his gun forward and faster than Lawrance could move his eyes, Leo’s hand completely covered Aries’ face.

Leo was old, but seventy-five was nothing but a number to the bear-sized martial arts master.

Lifting Aries by his head, Leo began slamming the boy into the floor, making the crater deeper each time.

Lawrence jumped onto the monster, trying to pull him off his cousin, grappling Leo as he tried to strangle the old man.

But it was like trying to flex his arm around a solid iron pipe. Lawrence locked his arm tighter, but it was only hurting his arm more than slowing down Leo.

Lawrence took out his handgun and began firing rounds against Leo’s head.

The bullets did little more than scratch skin.

Irritated, Leo grabbed Lawrence by his hands, gun and all, and threw the two boys against the office floor-to-ceiling windows, causing them to crack and bullseye.

“Is that all you got? When our great ancestor, Hannibal Parthenos Mundo, obtained true knowledge, he challenged the world and claimed divinity!

His children would go on to create an empire spanning the world over. Feasting on the defeated and claim the Earth for themselves.

But now… humph… You, weaklings, are a disgrace to his memory.”

Lawrance crawled across the shaggy carpet to pull his cousin to cover behind the desk. Aries was still trying to get his brain to stop rattling.

“You’re delusional—living in a false paradise! You make it sound like theirs something to be proud over.

Manipulating others into a sadistic happiness. Killing anyone you think is inconvenient. You stand on an empire stolen from people who had no choice!”

“They were weak. That’s what they were.”

Aries was finally getting his clarity back. “Weak? You think fathers who just wanted their children to see another day weak?!”

Lawrence looked toward his cousin. Aries checked to make sure his handgun was still usable before pulling out a baton while Lawrence armed himself with duel pistols.

“You took advantage of a ruined world!”

“You can blame human greed and bureaucrats for that! And how are you two even any different? You’re out to kill an old man just to take his things.”

Leo grabbed his desk and threw it against the wall, splintering the Australian Buloke against the wall.

Aries lunged from the floor and took to fighting his grandfather in melee.

The young master of Mundo-style martial arts and CQC had Leo on the defensive. Lawrence didn’t leave the old man much room to move, either. As the two flanked against him.

But the two young men were still too inexperienced. Taking a low stance and bringing the two into his pullback, Leo let out a double side punch knocking Lawrence and Aries to either side of the room.

Leo turned to face Aries. “Is this your best? I haven’t even broken a sweat!”

“Fuck you! This is all your fault!”

While Leo was focused on Aries, the remaining merc changed through the door with an FGM-148 Javelin and fired a rocket into Leo.

Quick to react, Leo caught the rocket mid-flight, but not without being knocked off his feet for a moment, pushing him back against the glass windows.

Before Leo could redirect the missile, Aries found his strength again, landing a clean hit into his uncle’s gut.

“Mundo style. Fist of the Empty Void.”

Leo lost his grip on the missile, causing it to slam and detonate against his chest.

After the dust settled, Lawrence pushed the desk he used as a makeshift shield off himself.

Aries had been thrown back. His body armor and helmet were destroyed. The left side of his face was now covered in third-degree burns.