All Chapters of The Shadow God Of War Returns: Chapter 21
- Chapter 30
79 chapters
CHAPTER 20
Aurelia and everyone else in the room froze as the bottle flew through the air.He tilted his head to the side, and the bottle brushed past him. It missed Zarek by an inch, whistling past his ear before smashing into the wall behind him.Crash!The bottle exploded into countless shards, fragments of glass scattering across the floor.The sharp sound of breaking glass echoed through the room, followed by the faint clatter of pieces rolling across the marble.Everyone flinched, everyone except Zarek. He barely blinked; his expression stayed the same. As the pieces rained down, one sharp shard sliced through the air and grazed his arm.He felt the sting a second later. A thin line of blood appeared where the glass had cut him, trickling slowly down his forearm.The room went completely silent. No one spoke a single word.They looked stunned, like someone had taken the words from their mouths.Zarek’s gaze shifted slowly to the man who had thrown the bottle. His jaw tightened, and he
CHAPTER 21
The first man, a mountain of muscle with a scar slashing through his eyebrow, lunged forward with a guttural roar.He swung a heavy, calloused fist aimed straight at Zarek’s jaw.Zarek didn’t step back. He didn’t even raise his arms to guard.At the very last millisecond, he tilted his head. The fist whistled past his ear, the rush of air ruffling a stray lock of dark hair.Before the brute could recover his balance, Zarek’s hand shot out like a viper. It wasn’t a punch, but a precise open-palm strike to the man’s solar plexus.Whoosh.The air seemed to be forced out of his ribs.The giant collapsed instantly, his knees slamming into the floor with a heavy thud before he rolled onto his side, gasping for breath that wouldn’t come.“One,” Zarek said softly.The other thugs hesitated for a heartbeat, their greedy smiles faltering. But the lure of triple pay was too strong.Two more charged from either side, one wielding a broken bottle, the other a heavy wooden chair.Zarek moved with a
CHAPTER 22
The air in his lungs turned to lead.He recognized that ring; he had seen it on his father’s hand every day of his life. He recognized the small, jagged scar on the knuckle from an old hunting accident.Zarek leaned down slightly, his voice a low, melodic thrum that vibrated in the silence of the room.“Does this look familiar?”The silence in the bar was no longer just quiet; it was heavy, suffocating, like a shroud.Damien stared down at the severed finger.For several long seconds, he didn’t move. He didn’t even seem to breathe.His mind raced, trying to find any excuse, any reason why that ring, the eagle clutching the serpent, would be on the floor. But the jagged scar on the knuckle was the final blow.It was a mark he had seen every time his father raised a glass, every time he pointed a finger in command.The color drained from Damien’s face so fast it was as if his very life force was leaking out. His skin turned a sickly, translucent gray.“No…” he whispered, his voice a pat
CHAPTER 23
For a fleeting moment, it almost looked as though Zarek might show mercy.Then he straightened fully.He gazed down at the broken man at his feet with a look of utter boredom, an expression more degrading than any slap.“Then you’ve outlived your usefulness,” Zarek said, his voice flat and terrifyingly calm.He moved without warning.Zarek’s leg snapped forward in a blur. His boot slammed into Damien’s chest with the force of a battering ram.CRACK.The sound of ribs snapping echoed through the hollow bar.Damien was hurled backward, his body skidding across the floorboards like a stone skipping over water. He crashed into a stack of heavy wooden crates near the service entrance, the impact shattering the wood into splinters.Aurelia let out a strangled sob, clapping her hands over her mouth.Zarek did not spare her a glance.He walked toward the wreckage, each step measured and unhurried, his long coat swaying behind him. He looked like the embodiment of an approaching storm, beautif
CHAPTER 24
Aurelia’s eyes went wide.The cold logic of his threat pierced through her panic. She looked at the charred remains of the service entrance, then back at Zarek’s icy, perfect features.“I… I can’t,” she whispered, though her resolve was already crumbling.“You’re a beautiful woman, Aurelia,” Zarek said. It was the first time he had used her name.The way it rolled off his tongue made her heart skip, a sickening mix of raw fear and twisted, terrified attraction.“It would be a waste for you to die in a dark alleyway for a man who is already ash. If you take me there, you walk away. If you stay here, you are just another piece of evidence.”He had already done his research. He knew exactly who she was before he had even stepped into the bar.He reached out, his gloved hand hovering near her cheek. He did not touch her, but the sheer heat of his presence was overwhelming.“The choice is yours. Do you want to die, or do you want to live?”Aurelia swallowed hard, a single tear tracing a pa
CHAPTER 25
Malina Darian’s eyes sharpened into icy daggers as she turned slowly, her silk gown trailing across the marble floor like a serpent’s tail.The hard face she had worn coming off the helicopter was replaced by a stillness far more terrifying. The guard stumbled back a step, the air in the room suddenly feeling twenty degrees colder.“Explain,” she commanded. “Now.”“The report came in just minutes ago, Madame,” the guard stammered, sweat beading on his forehead. “A man. A stranger. He took down the Elder’s son’s men in seconds. Then there was a grenade. The entire back of the bar was leveled. We sent a recovery team, but there was nothing left but ash and a signet ring.”The woman walked toward him, her movements so elegant that it looked like she was dancing. She stopped inches from his face, her presence overwhelming.“A stranger?” she asked softly. “A stranger walked into my territory and erased my son from the earth?”“He was not alone at the end, Madame,” the guard added, his vo
CHAPTER 26
The interior of the matte-black SUV felt like a pressurized chamber.The engine’s heavy thrum vibrated through the floorboards, a low, predatory growl echoing the man behind the wheel. Zarek drove with clinical detachment, one hand resting loosely on the gearshift, the other guiding the wheel with effortless precision. He looked perfectly composed, his profile as sharp and unforgiving as a mountain ridge carved by moonlight.In the passenger seat, Aurelia was falling apart.Her hands clamped her thighs, knuckles white. Despite the air conditioning blasting frigid air, sweat dampened her hairline, leaving her blond curls limp and clinging. Oxygen seemed to be siphoned from the cabin by the sheer weight of Zarek’s presence.She stole a glance at him. He didn’t look like a man who had just committed a massacre. He looked like a god who had finished a chore. His beauty was a cruel joke, a flawless mask stretched over a monster who had tossed a grenade back into a man’s lap without a
CHAPTER 27
The silence that followed the shattering of bone was absolute.The guard on the ground was a thrashing mess of crimson, but Zarek didn't spare him a glance. He stood in the center of the floodlights, his shadow stretching long and jagged toward the mansion. He looked entirely too calm for a man surrounded by rifles.The remaining five guards stood frozen. The transition from mockery to visceral horror had been too fast for their brains to process.‘What is he doing?’ Aurelia ducked, pressing herself against the floorboards to escape the line of fire."Kill him!" the guard on the ground wheezed through a mouthful of blood. "Kill this bastard!"The spell broke. The guards scrambled to raise their weapons, but Zarek was already moving. He didn't run… he blurred. To Aurelia, it looked as if the air itself had rippled.Zarek closed the distance before the nearest man could find him in his sights. With a hand as fast as a striking cobra, he seized the rifle barrel and wrenched it upward.
CHAPTER 28
Zarek stopped just as he stepped inside the gate. He had a feeling something was wrong.Since Malina had asked them to come in and speak to her, he might as well do what she had asked. However, as he moved, he couldn’t help but wonder what she was thinking.She had not only asked them to come in, but she also didn’t even seem a bit bothered by what might have happened to her men.It felt less like an invitation and more like a trap. What she wanted was for him to go in, and that alone was suspicious.Aurelia, on the other hand, was still trembling. She could barely open her eyes, terrified of what she might see in front of her, terrified that whatever it was would shatter what little control she had left to keep walking.What she wanted now was to run and never return to the mansion. After all, Damien was dead, and there was no use for her in the house anymore.“Why… why did you stop?” Aurelia’s voice was a frantic, thin thread in the dark. She stood a few feet behind him, her arms
CHAPTER 29
The blinding glare continued to pour over them, a searing wall of white that turned the world into a flat, featureless void.Zarek kept his hand raised, fingers splayed to block the worst of the radiation, but his vision was still a mess of swimming black spots and jagged light flares.He could hear them clearly now.Four sets of boots.Four different weights.‘Idiots, Zarek thought, his lip curling into a faint, arrogant sneer. ‘They think because I cannot see, I am a corpse.’He had spent his life dismantling the best the underworld had to offer. To him, these Shadows were likely more of the same overpaid thugs in expensive gear who relied on gadgets and lights because they lacked real skill.He stood his ground, intentionally keeping his posture relaxed, almost bored. He was counting on his superior speed to overcome the disadvantage. He was waiting for the first one to get close enough to kill.“Hey, handsome man, they’re coming! I can hear them!” Aurelia shrieked, her voice muff