The Illegitimate Heir Returns

Chapter 2 - Novak’s Hall

Novak’s Hall.

One of the most dangerous places to be in all of Ashbourne.

Once a home belonging to Grace Frost, a woman whose laughter had once filled these walls as she raised her two children before her sudden disappearance, had now been claimed by Lord Corvin and built into a hall where all sorts of vile deeds took place.

Calling it an ordinary hall would have been an insult.

Built originally as a two floor story building, it had been expanded into a four story structure, with a luxurious penthouse at the top.

It was known across all of Ashbourne as an exclusive spot for prostitution and pleasure.

Both the rich and powerful went there to indulge in their desires and blow off some steam.

It didn’t matter who you were or where you came from. As long as you had the money, the doors were always open for you.

Beautiful, curvaceous women from across Asia were brought in daily, ensuring that the hall was rarely ever quiet. Underground bosses who couldn’t sustain their lust for sex went there all the time.

More than one hundred elite guards from the Briarwoods protected the hall every night.

However, tonight, the gates were sealed shut. Only invited guests were allowed inside.

Golden lights illuminated the entire hall as luxury vehicles lined the entrance. Laughter, music and celebration fill the air. It was Cassian’s engagement party. He was to be officially engaged to Elena Graystorm, the young mistress from the Graystorm household, and the Briarwoods spared no expense.

Politicians. Tycoons. Military contractors. Underground bosses disguised as respectable businessmen. All were present here tonight.

Laughing. Smiling. Drinking. Conversing with men who secretly ruled the city from the shadows. Most had come under the pretense of attending the engagement party, but beneath the false smiles and conversations, many had come to scout potential allies, forge connections, and establish relationships with people who could benefit them in the future.

Outside the hall, several feet away, a lone man walked toward the entrance, his stride quick and purposeful.

The heavy wind whipped around him as he approached, his hair still dripping from the rain.

The blood on his hands had long since been washed away by the relentless rain, his boot cleaned. But outside the gates, the earth still remembered the destruction he had left behind.

He was spotted several feet away before he could even reach the entrance.

Unlike the guards stationed at the main gates, these guards were different. Dressed in black tactical gear, their massive frames protected by reinforced armor, they held long rifles, their faces sharp and hardened with the precision of men who had undergone heavy training.

Red laser dots crawled across Jake’s chest as they fanned out instinctively, forming a semi circle around him.

Jake came to a stop, his face expressionless.

“Hey!” One of them barked. “Who the hell are you? How did you get through the gates? Do you have any idea where you’re standing?”

Jake slowly lifted his head, his eyes darkening.

“Where is Cassian?” He asked, his voice calm but deadly, like a snake hissing at its prey.

“The fuck!”

“Foolish kids these days, thinking life is a movie. Finish him off and feed his body to the dogs.” The guard with a deep scar running from his left eye all the way down to his mouth waved him off with a bored smile.

The guards didn’t wait to be told twice.

Bang!

The gunshot rang out. But the bullet never reached the target.

Jake tilted his head to the side with ease, the bullet whizzing past his ear by mere inches.

The guard’s eyes widened in shock, years of training warning him of the danger before him.

Before he could react, Jake vanished.

In an instant, he appeared directly in front of the shooter, his left hand already moving.

The guard’s face filled his palm with ease. He lifted him off the ground and brought him down against the earth in a single motion.

The ground cracked upon impact. The guard’s skull shattered, his body going limp instantly.

Dead.

Jake straightened slowly. “I hate bullets,” he muttered.

Chaos erupted.

“OPEN FIRE!”

Bullets tore through the courtyard like fireworks, the sound blending with the rain in perfect synchronization. Jake moved through them like a ghost, twisting, turning, leaping, dodging each single one of them as though he had done this countless times before.

He grabbed one man by the arm, ripping it out from the socket before he could even scream. Using the severed limb as a weapon, Jake smashed it against the man’s skull, sending him flying several feet away.

He turned to the next, shattering his legs with a low kick before finishing him off with a punch to the jaw.

Another guard approached with a baton.

This one tall, massive, towering over him like a tree. He tossed the baton aside, cracked his knuckles, before throwing a punch.

Fast. Quick.

Jake answered with a punch of his own.

BOOM!

Their fists collided as lightning flashed across the sky, the ground trembling beneath their feet.

“ARGHHH!”

The man’s screams tore through the storm, his arm twisted and bent at an unnatural angle. Broken bones jutted out through his skin as blood poured from the wound.

Jake finished him off with a brutal punch to the mouth, shattering his jaw before sending him crashing to the ground.

“HE’S JUST ONE MAN!” The scar faced man yelled. “FINISH HIM!”

A hundred men stepped forward, these ones wielding axes, daggers, machetes and charging towards Jake.

Jake’s upper body shifted, his breathing even. An axe head sliced through the space his skull had occupied a fraction of a second ago. He caught the handle mid swing, wielded it with expertise, and plunged it straight into the guard’s head in one motion.

THUD!

The axe pierced through his helmet and skull with ease, sending him crashing to the ground before he could even register what had happened.

The rest of them came at him at once. Jake dodged through their attacks, twisting, turning, shattering bones, throwing punches faster than their eyes could follow.

Blades slashed through empty air. Bones snapped like balloons popping. He was like a one man army. Every movement calculated, every strike devastating.

One by one, the guards fell.

Within minutes, the courtyard fell eerily quiet, leaving only the scar faced guard standing behind.

Fear gripped his chest instantly, his entire body trembling.

He reached into his belt, attempting to pull out a gun. However, with fear overwhelming every part of his body, his movements were slow.

Jake appeared before him in an instant, his hand already moving.

TOOM!

The sound echoed through the rainy storm with a bang.

The guard’s head shattered upon impact, his lifeless body crumbling to the ground.

Jake stood in the midst of the carnage, his chest heaving.

The entrance door loomed before him.

Beyond it, the banquet was in full swing. Men and women dined, laughing, celebrating, completely oblivious to the chaos outside.

Jake took one glance at the doors before stepping forward, his boots leaving bloody footprints as he stormed into Novak’s Hall.