

Clare was the woman Axel begged and coaxed for—writing 99 love letters—before finally winning her hand in marriage. By their fifth year,however, Axel grew restless and began spending time with a young nurse. The girl, Emma, came from a poor family yet carried herself with quiet pride. When she firmly rejected the black card Axel offered,declaring she would never be anyone's kept woman, he became obsessed. Axel started appearing around Emma more and more,drawing the attention of all their friends, while briefly forgetting the wife he had once courted with 99 heartfelt letters. Clare neither cried nor argued. Instead, each time Axel broke her heart, she burned one of those letters. And when the last of the 99 was reduced to ashes, it would mark the day she left him for good.

Wilson Zander's family was massacred during his childhood. Before dying at the hands of the traitor Peter, Wilson's father imparted his lifelong martial arts mastery and entrusted him with the Dark Iron Token. Fifteen years later, Wilson concealed his identity and toiled as a lowly worker at Logan's Martial Arts School. There, he witnessed the lackey Quinn brazenly humiliating Shanok's martial traditions, subjecting his fiancée, Rose Logan, to unimaginable torment. Unable to endure any longer, Wilson's long-buried memories resurfaced. Unleashing his true strength, he defeated Quinn—only to draw the attention of Musah Yagu, a formidable warrior from the Eastern Isles. With the unparalleled power of the Tai Chi Thirteen Fist Forms, Wilson overwhelmed Yagu. Soon after, he uncovered Peter's sinister conspiracy and exposed his treachery to the world. In the final confrontation, Wilson defeated Kuma Amano and ascended as the Martial Lord of Shanok. He vowed to defend Shanok's martial legacy and stand against the impending threat of the Eastern Isles.