Saintess's Worthless Husband Turned Dragon Commander novel Chapter 113

CHAPTER 107 PART 1

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Cosmo’s hand tightened on her scimitar’s hilt, her knuckles going white with suppressed tension. The casual way Marcus Steel had exposed her greatest secret-the flaw in her Nine-Turn Heavenly Spirit Needles that she’d hidden from the entire Shadow Warrior world-sent ice through her veins.

“How do you know that?” Her voice carried barely controlled fury mixed with something else she refused to name: unease. “The poison coating is a secret known only to me. No one-NO ONE-outside my training should understand the Nine-Turn technique well enough to—”

“To recognize when a practitioner is compensating for incomplete mastery?” Marcus interrupted, his dragon eyes still glowing faintly in the darkness. “Please. The technique leaves specific energy signatures. You’re good, Cosmo. Very good. But not perfect.”

He turned his back to her-actually turned his back-and began walking toward Fujita Tooi’s corpse as if the legendary Empress standing behind him with a blade posed no threat whatsoever.

“You—you dare turn your back on me?!” Cosmo’s voice climbed with genuine shock. “Do you have any idea who I am?! I’m the Empress! I’ve killed men twice your size for half the disrespect!”

“Then kill me,” Marcus said without looking back, his tone utterly unconcerned. “Or stop making threats you don’t intend to follow through on. We have more immediate problems.”

He gestured toward the tree line with casual precision. “Five observers. Hidden in the woods at ten o’clock, thirty yards out. They’ve been watching since before Fujita attacked. Probably hoping we’d weaken each other enough for them to swoop in and claim easy bounty money.”

Cosmo’s breath caught. She’d sensed nothing-no presence, no killing intent, no disturbance in the natural energy of the area. Her cultivation-enhanced perception, honed through years of deadly survival, had detected exactly zero threats beyond Marcus himself.

And yet he’d known. Precisely.

How?

Rather than dwell on impossible questions, Cosmo acted. Her hand blurred, unleashing three silver needles toward the coordinates Marcus had indicated. The projectiles whistled through darkness with lethal accuracy—

And were intercepted mid-flight by throwing knives that knocked them off course.

Five figures emerged from the woods with professional synchronization-the kind of coordination that came from years fighting as a unit. Each one moved with controlled aggression, weapons visible, postures radiating competent threat.

Vincent “Apex” Taylor led them, his scarred face carrying grudging respect. “Impressive detection, Steel. Most targets never know we’re there until the bullets start flying.”

“Most targets,” Marcus replied calmly, “aren’t worth a hundred million dollars. You’re the Five Tigers. James Patterson, Derek Morrison, Kyle Anderson, Brian Hughes, and Vincent Taylor. Combined record of seventy-three confirmed kills. Solid reputation for completing contracts even when complications arise.”

“You’ve done your homework,” James acknowledged, his hand resting casually on his holstered pistol.

“Unlike your intelligence on me,” Marcus observed. “Which was clearly deficient.”

Cosmo whirled on the Five Tigers, her earlier unease transforming into cold fury. “You were watching? The entire time? Waiting like vultures to scavenge what others earned through actual combat?”

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“We prefer the term ‘tactical positioning,” Derek said with a slight smirk. “Why take unnecessary risks when-”

“Because you’re COWARDS!” Cosmo’s voice cracked like a whip. “Hiding in shadows, waiting for others to bleed, then swooping in to claim glory you didn’t earn! This is why solo operators like me have reputations while teams like yours are forgotten footnotes!”

“Forgotten footnotes don’t complete seventy-three contracts,” Vincent replied evenly. “And legendary solo operators don’t coat their signature weapons with poison to compensate for incomplete mastery.”

The barb struck home. Cosmo’s face flushed with rage, but underneath that, Marcus detected something else through his dragon senses: embarrassment. Shame at having her weakness exposed so publicly.

Kyle stepped forward, his tactical mind already calculating angles. “Look, we’re all professionals here. Steel is clearly stronger than intelligence suggested. Fujita Tooi was no amateur, and Steel dismantled him in under two minutes. Fighting separately only benefits the other hunters watching from wherever they’re positioned.”

“Other hunters?” Cosmo’s eyes scanned the darkness with renewed wariness.

“You think we’re the only ones who came?” Brian laughed. “Phantom Blades, Ghost Protocol, Silent Death-every major Shadow Warrior team within a thousand miles is converging on Grayson City. A hundred million dollar bounty doesn’t stay secret long.”

“So here’s the proposal,” Vincent said, his voice carrying the weight of command. “We work together. Take Steel down as a unit. Split the bounty six ways-sixteen point seven million each. Better than risking injury fighting alone in unfamiliar territory.”

Cosmo’s jaw clenched. The tactical logic was sound-fighting Marcus alone, especially given his apparent abilities, carried significant risk. Being wounded in a foreign city with multiple hostile teams nearby would leave her vulnerable.

But accepting help meant admitting she needed it. Meant acknowledging that the legendary Empress couldn’t handle one bounty target without backup.

Worse, it meant killing Marcus before she could extract answers about how he knew techniques that few masters understood. Before she could identify why his power felt so hauntingly familiar-like echoes of training she’d received three years ago from a master who’d vanished without explanation.

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