All Chapters of The Shadow God Of War Returns: Chapter 201
- Chapter 210
212 chapters
CHAPTER 200
As he reached the bottom of the stairwell, the heavy basement air thick with iron, sweat, and stagnation hit him like a physical weight. Shaw stayed in the shadows for a heartbeat, watching Vance through the gap in the heavy steel door. The Director was back in his trousers, but he was huddled near the bars of Robert’s cage, his hand closed tightly around his prize.Shaw stepped into the light, his shadow stretching long and jagged across the floor."You guys are awfully chatty for two men who haven't had a cracker in twenty-four hours," Shaw said, his voice a low, dangerous drawl.Vance jumped, nearly dropping the micro-syringe. He shoved his hand into his pocket with a violent jerk, his face turning a shade of grey."Shaw," Vance wheezed, struggling to steady his breath. "We... we were just discussing the Board. Robert thinks they've forgotten us. I was telling him he's wrong."Shaw walked right up to the bars, stopping just out of arm’s reach. He tilted his head, his blue eyes
CHAPTER 201
Vance froze, his heart dropping into his shoes. He turned slowly, staring back toward the dark maw of the basement stairs.Shaw was leaning against the foyer’s doorframe, looking remarkably upright for a man who should have been in full respiratory failure. He was casually wiping the tiny bead of blood from his jaw with a thumb, a wide, mocking grin splitting his face."You guys," Shaw chuckled, the sound bubbling up with genuine amusement. "You really are special, aren't you?"Robert’s eyes widened in dawning horror. "The toxin... the Sting... it’s enough to kill a bull elephant...""Yeah, well," Shaw said, pushing off the doorframe and taking a slow, predatory step forward. "A bull elephant doesn't have a Riggs-funded internal filtration system and a metabolic rate that burns through neuro-toxins like they're cheap tequila."Shaw’s laugh grew louder, a sharp, barking mockery that made the hair on Vance's neck stand up."You really thought I’d let you prick me without a reason? I n
CHAPTER 202
Robert sat paralyzed on the threshold, the line between the golden foyer and the cold stone portico feeling like the edge of a cliff. The screams echoing from the bottom of the stairs were wet and primal, the sound of a man who had finally realized that a ‘Director’ title didn't make his bones any harder than a common street thief's."You didn't shoot," Robert whispered, his eyes fixed on Shaw’s empty hands. "You didn't even move.""Told you," Shaw said, finally looking up from his manicure with a long, bored sigh. "I’m the nice one, Robert. I’m the one who makes bone broth and stitches wounds. My job was to keep you entertained until the automated perimeter woke up."Robert’s head whipped around, scanning the treeline. He saw no guards, no hidden snipers. Then, he looked up at the ornate stone gargoyles perched on the roof of the portico. Their eyes weren't stone; they were darkened glass lenses, tracking his every tremor with a soft, electronic hum."Vance was right about one t
CHAPTER 203
Shaw leaned his back against the mirrored wall, looking down at Vance with a pitying smirk.He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small silver tin. Popping a mint into his mouth, the scent of wintergreen filled the small space."You guys in the Chimera are so proud of your labs," Shaw said. "You think you’re the only ones playing with chemistry?""My boss spent five years in a hole in Siberia with nothing to do but study how to make the human body do things it isn't supposed to. You injected me with a 'Sting.' I've had worse reactions to bad shellfish."He stepped over Vance’s mangled legs, the tip of his boot barely an inch from a jagged piece of bone."The thing about you, Director, is that you believe in your tech more than you believe in the people who use it. You saw me collapse because I wanted you to see me collapse.""I needed to know what you’d do with a five-minute head start. And look at you… you didn't even make it to the driveway before the house decided it didn't l
CHAPTER 204
Vance’s head lolled against the cold surface of the table, his breath coming in shallow, ragged stutters. The room reeked of ozone and the sharp, copper tang of the blood pooling beneath him. Even through the haze of agony, the Director’s eyes flickered with a final, desperate spark of defiance, the kind of stubbornness reserved for a man who knows he has lost everything except the secrets in his head."I’m... not saying... a damn thing," Vance rasped, his teeth stained pink as he forced the words out.Shaw stopped, a pair of surgical shears in his hand. He tilted his head, watching the way Vance’s pulse throbbed erratically in his neck. "Is that so? I thought the 'Sting' was supposed to make you a survivor, Director. Survivors usually talk when the alternative is a body bag.""You... you let me get shot," Vance wheezed, his fingers twitching against the metal. "You watched me... walk into those snipers. You let them... tear my legs apart. You want information? You want the names?
CHAPTER 205
Vance tried to lunge off the table, but his shattered knees buckled instantly, sending a fresh wave of agony through him that made him howl like a wounded animal."YOU BASTARD! I'm a Director! You can't do this!"Shaw didn't even flinch. He stood in the doorway, framed by the dim hallway light.He looked at the two broken men, one screaming in a pool of his own blood, the other sitting in the corner, and felt nothing but boredom."See ya, boys," Shaw chirped. With a mocking, two-finger salute, he stuck out his tongue at them like a petulant child. He stepped into the hall and slammed the steel door shut.Thunk-clack.The sound of the heavy deadbolt filled the room like a coffin lid closing."HEY! OPEN THE DOOR! HEY!" Vance’s screams hit a fever pitch, his fists feebly pounding against the metal table as the realization set in: the mercenary truly didn't care if he lived or died.Outside, Shaw whistled a cheerful tune, his footsteps fading into the distance. He left the Director and
CHAPTER 206
It wasn't a nightmare; Zarek didn't have nightmares, he had memories, but this was different. It was a phantom sensation, a sudden, jarring prick at the base of his neck that didn't exist."Zarek..." he whispered to the dark, his own voice sounding foreign to him.With a violent motion, the covers were flung aside, bare feet hitting the heated marble floor with a soft slap.Shaw’s name went uncalled. The monitors received no attention.Instead, Zarek moved with a frantic, uncharacteristic urgency toward the en-suite bathroom.The main lights stayed off. Only the dim, recessed amber glow illuminated the space, catching his reflection in the mirror, a man who looked like a king but felt like a casualty.His eyes were bloodshot, the pupils blown wide as if he were still staring into the barrel of a gun that had fired years ago.Both palms slammed onto the edge of the vanity as the cold-water tap twisted open to its limit.There was no waiting for the water to cool.Cupped hands plunged
CHAPTER 207
Shaw didn't turn around, but his head tilted slightly as Zarek entered the room."You're up early, Boss," Shaw chirped. His voice was as light as if he hadn't just spent the last hour breaking a man's kneecaps. "Or late. Hard to tell with the way you've been burning the candle at both ends."Zarek didn't answer. He watched Shaw’s left hand, the one that had been twitching in the basement, now holding a wooden spoon with rock-steady precision. The mercenary looked entirely revitalized, his skin glowing under the warm kitchen lights, the 'Sting' long since processed by his lethal biology."The Director is dying in the basement, Shaw," Zarek said, a low rumble vibrating in his chest. "And you’re... cooking?""I'm multitasking," Shaw corrected, flipping a thick cut of ribeye with a pair of tongs. "Vance is stewing in his own stubbornness. Robert is watching him. And I realized that if we're going to hunt a ghost today, we’re going to need more than just spite and caffeine."Shaw final
CHAPTER 208
He paused at the kitchen’s threshold, the warm light of the master suite catching the jagged edge of his grin one last time before he stepped back toward the service elevator."Don't choke, Boss. It’d be a shame to go out on a ribeye after surviving the Garden."With a jaunty tilt of his head, he disappeared into the hallway. The light, rhythmic whistle of a nursery rhyme trailed behind him as the elevator doors hissed open to take him back to the blood and the dark. He descended into the bowels of the house, the air turning colder and more metallic with every floor.When he reached the heavy steel door of the interrogation room, the silence inside was thick, broken only by the Director’s ragged,
CHAPTER 209
Shaw took a slow sip of his water and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand."Oh, yours is right here, Director," Shaw replied, his voice dropping to a low, cold hum. "But Robert just proved he’s more useful than you." His eyes narrowed. "He knows how to follow instructions. If you want a bite of this steak, you’re going to have to trade a name for it. And I’m a hungry man, Vance. I might just finish your portion myself."Shaw sat comfortably against the hallway wall, the sound of his own chewing the only noise in the corridor. He finished his meal with a calm, predatory patience. Inside the room, Vance had gone deathly quiet.
Last Updated : 2026-03-11Read more