All Chapters of The Shadow God Of War Returns: Chapter 361
- Chapter 370
469 chapters
CHAPTER 360
Thump-thump-thump!The Vulture’s kinetic cannons roared, spitting heavy slugs into the vacuum. The lead drone didn’t just explode; it shattered into a cloud of jagged shrapnel that shredded the two units flanking it. But for every drone Zarek swatted from the sky, three more surged from the Iron Sovereign’s belly."General Krov, this is the God of War, Zarek Riggs!" Zarek flipped the comms to a wide-broadcast frequency, his voice slicing through the static of the electronic warfare suite. "You’re assisting in the illegal kidnapping and human experimentation of a citizen. The data drive in this ship contains proof of Veldra’s war crimes. Stand down, or you’re complicit in genocide!"There was a pregnant pause. Then, Krov’s voice returned, stripped of its previous military formality."You overstep your bounds, Riggs," Krov’s voice crackled, ice-cold and laced with venom. "The title God of War carries weight on a battlefield, but here? In high orbit? You’re just a man in a stolen tin
CHAPTER 361
"They left the God of War alive in a graveyard," Zarek’s eyes flashed in the dark. "And I’ve always been best at digging graves."The Iron Sovereign’s engine glow faded to a pinprick, then vanished as the dreadnought jumped to hyperspace, leaving the silent moon behind. In its wake, the cockpit of the Vulture-6 became a sub-zero tomb. Frost began to spider-web across the reinforced glass."Zarek..." Tinny’s voice was a fragile rasp. "The oxygen... the scrubbers died with the main power. We have... maybe twenty minutes.""We won't need twenty," Zarek said.He wasn't looking at the life support gauges; he was staring at the jagged data drive slotted into the auxiliary port. It pulsed with a faint, rhythmic amber light. "Tinny, that code…. 'HOME'.... it wasn't just a shield bypass. It was a beacon.""A beacon? But we’re silent," Tinny coughed, the sound wet and heavy. "If we broadcast, the Sovereign will turn back around and—""Not a radio broadcast," Zarek interrupted, his fingers d
CHAPTER 362
"The neural cascade has been halted, General," a medic whispered, approaching Zarek with a data tablet. "But the 'HOME' file... it’s doing something we’ve never seen. It isn't just a bypass. It’s a rewrite. It’s purging the Veldra hard-coding and replacing it with encrypted biometric data."Zarek didn't take his eyes off his brother. "It’s his soul, Doctor. Dad didn't just save a copy of Veldra's secrets. He saved a copy of who Tinny was before they took him."Leaving the med-bay, Zarek’s demeanor shifted. The exhaustion vanished, replaced by the sharp, terrifying precision that had earned him his moniker. He entered the bridge of the Nomad’s Wrath, where Hela and her lieutenants were huddled over a holographic projection of the Southern Defense Web."We have three light-freighters and a dozen converted mining skiffs," Hela said, her cybernetic eye whirring as she zoomed into the Spire’s coordinates. "If we approach, the automated turrets will vaporize us before we can even hail th
CHAPTER 363
Inside Tinny’s mind, the Veldra’s Protocol Nine was a crumbling fortress of black obsidian. Every time a wall of brainwashing code fell, a memory rushed in to fill the gap.It wasn't a clean narrative. Tinny had been only five when the Veldra tore him away, and a child’s mind doesn't store data in chronological files. Instead, he was hit by a sensory tsunami, shards of a life he wasn't supposed to remember. The smell of burnt flour in a warm kitchen. The rough, comforting texture of a wool blanket. The way the floorboards used to vibrate when a heavy storm rolled over their house.Then, the 'HOME' file collided with the fragments.It was a violent integration. The drive wasn't just a diary; it was a biological blueprint. It flooded his toddler-aged memories with cold, adult tactical data. Structural schematics of the Spire’s reactor core overlaid a memory of a backyard garden. Encrypted kill-codes wove themselves into the sound of a fading lullaby."Doctor! The patient’s bra
CHAPTER 364
"The security grid pulses every four seconds. If we cross the junction now, the thermal sensors will mistake us for a heat spike from the engines."Zarek followed, his combat boots silent against the titanium grating. He kept his rifle leveled, but his focus remained anchored to his brother’s back. Tinny was shivering, the medical sheet clinging to his damp skin, yet his movements were fluid, more Riggs than Veldra."The drones are behind the bulkhead," Zarek noted, hearing the high-pitched whine of servomotors echoing from the corridor ahead."They won't see us," Tinny said. He reached out, his hand trembling as he touched a junction box. Instead of ripping it open, he simply pressed his palm against the metal.For a second, the amber in his eyes flared. The lights in the shaft flickered, and the sound of the approaching drones stopped abruptly. A series of metallic thuds followed, the sound of a dozen machines losing power and crashing to the floor."You shut them down?" Zarek
CHAPTER 365
The silence didn't just fall; it suffocated.General Krov’s hand remained frozen mid-air, his finger still pointing toward a triumph that had just evaporated. Before him, thousands of elite guests, the architects of the Veldra’s oppression stared in a collective, paralyzed shock. Under the harsh, clinical glare of the Grand Hall’s chandeliers stood two ghosts.Zarek Riggs looked like a phantom of the old world. His black combat gear was singed and coated in the iron grit of the Shattered Rings. But it was Tinny who held the room’s breath. Draped in a medical sheet that clung to him like a shroud, his skin was unnaturally pale, his eyes burning with an unstable, amber light. He looked less like a returned Prince and more like an avenging angel."The report said you were vaporized," Krov stammered, the color draining from his face until it matched his starched white uniform. The crystalline podium beneath his hands began to hum, vibrating with the frantic rhythm of his pulse. "I
CHAPTER 366
The Grand Hall, once a monument to Veldra’s absolute grip on the star system, had become a slaughterhouse of reputations. As Hela’s soldiers fanned out, their heavy mag-boots cracking the expensive marble, the Council members, the self-styled Architects of Order, began to scramble."Secure the perimeter!" Hela barked, her cybernetic eye pulsing a fierce, rhythmic red. "Anyone who reaches for a comm-link or an exit gets a thermal bolt to the chest. We aren't here for a debate."General Krov backed away from the vaporized podium, his boots slipping on the slick stasis gel Tinny had trailed across the stage. He looked through the reinforced glass at the sky, at the thousands of rusted, groaning ships of the Ghost Fleet, and realized his tidy battlefield had become a graveyard for the living."You can't do this, Riggs," Krov wheezed, his booming authority thinning into a desperate whine. "The automated defense grid... the orbital rings... they’re hard-locked to the Council’s life signs
CHAPTER 367
The transition from the clinical, oxygen-rich air of the Spire to the cramped, oil-scented interior of the Nomad’s Wrath felt like crossing a border between universes."Med-bay is prepped, General," Hela said, catching up to Zarek in the corridor. She glanced at Tinny, who was fast asleep in Zarek's arms, his breathing heavy and rattling. "The HOME file has finished the primary overwrite, but his biometrics are a mess. His brain is trying to reconcile two different lives; the kid and the killer are fighting for space."Zarek didn't stop. He bypassed the med-bay entirely, heading straight for the crew quarters."He's had enough machines for one lifetime, Hela. Put a guard at the door. I don't want anyone in there unless they're carrying food or a blanket.""Where to now?" Hela asked, stopping at the bridge entrance. "The fleet is waiting. Krov is in a holding cell screaming about war crimes, and the rest of the sector is waking up to the news that the God of War is alive. You have a
CHAPTER 368
"General," Hela’s voice came over the internal comm, softer than usual. "The High Council has been processed. The families of the Southern Rings... they didn't wait for a jury. They opened the airlocks to the mining colonies and let the people decide. Krov is... no longer our problem."Zarek didn't ask for details. He didn't need them. "And the fleet?""They’re dispersing," Hela replied. "Word got out. The HOME file is being broadcast on every civilian frequency from here to the Core. The Veldra myth is dead. People are walking out of the factories, Zarek. They're going home."Zarek looked at Tinny, who had fallen into a deep, natural sleep, the first in ten years that wasn't induced by a chemical cocktail or a stasis pod."Good," Zarek whispered. "Let them."*****Three days later.The neon hum of the city was a jarring contrast to the silence of the nebula. Deep in the heart of the capital, the Grand Aileron Hotel stood as a monolith of old-world luxury, its gilded halls now swar
CHAPTER 369
“The war is over for now, Shaw,” Zarek replied, settling back into his chair."And the house?" Shaw asked, glancing toward Tinny."Zarek says we're building it by a stream," Tinny said, his brown eyes bright with a newfound sense of belonging. "With flour. And wool."Shaw let out a low whistle as he looked out at the city lights. "Sounds quiet. Boring. Almost... peaceful." He turned back to Zarek. "Need a hand with the heavy lifting? I’m surprisingly good with a hammer for a guy who’s spent ten years breaking things."Zarek looked at his brother, then at the man who had literally crawled through fire to stay loyal. He didn't say thank you; it wasn't the Riggs way, but he did slide the tablet across the table."The North Star is in the fourth quadrant," Zarek said. "Find us a plot of land that Krov never touched."Shaw caught the tablet, his smirk returning. "Consider it done, boss."The blue light of the screen reflected in Shaw’s eyes as he pulled up the topographical maps. His fi