The Warlord They Called a Grunt

Chapter 001

December.

The depth of winter had descended upon Harbor City, bringing with it a biting chill that gnawed at the bones.

Snow fell in relentless, suffocating sheets, painting the sprawling metropolis in a monochromatic palette of grey and white. The wind howled through the canyons of steel and glass, a mournful dirge for a city that had forgotten the meaning of mercy.

Atop the Zenith Hotel, the wind was a violent force, but Shane Cross stood unmoving at the roof's edge. Anchored by an internal gravity, he was a statue of granite, his coat whipping around a mask of cold indifference.

Below, the city sprawled like a luminous circuit board. A procession of luxury vehicles crawled toward the entrance, depositing Harbor City’s elite. Dripping in diamonds and bespoke suits, the city's predators hurried into the golden lobby to feast.

Shane ignored the spectacle. His focus remained on the sleek digital recorder in his palm. His thumb, calloused from weaponry, brushed the play button.

The voice that emerged was tinny, distorted by the wind, but the agony within it cut through the noise sharper than any blade.

"Shane... they set me up. The board, the investors, the partners... it was a coordinated hit. Sterling Corp... the legacy... it’s gone. It’s all gone."

There was a pause in the recording, filled only by the sound of ragged breathing.

"I don't want to die. God, Shane, I don't want to die. But there is no other way out. Lily is still so small. They made it clear... only my death buys her safety. If I’m gone, they have no reason to hurt her."

The recording dated back two months.

Two months ago, Julian Sterling, heir and Shane's sworn brother, stood on this precipice. He faced the drop, heartbroken not for his lost billions, but for the daughter he was leaving behind.

The recording played, punctuated by the child’s cries. "Vanessa Vance... I’m doing what you asked. Keep your word. If Lily suffers, I will drag you to hell." He addressed the vultures seizing his company, declaring his daughter off-limits. Finally, his voice settled into sorrow. "Shane... brother. Lily is yours now. Protect her."

Silence followed. Julian had leaped before his weeping daughter, shattering his body and the Sterling dynasty instantly. The empire was devoured by rivals overnight.

"I... I came back too late." Shane stared into the abyss, looking like a god gazing into hell.

"The Sovereign. The dossier is complete." A striking woman materialized from the shadows, draping a heavy coat over Shane’s shoulders with reverence. "Sir, you must not blame yourself. When Julian fell, you were deep in the Northern Trenches under an absolute blackout."

For five years, Shane had been a ghost. He had ascended from a nameless grunt to The Sovereign—a living legend and warlord commanding armies capable of leveling nations.

He had returned home a conqueror, ready to share his glory with his brother. Instead, he found a grave.

Julian Sterling, the man who had shared his last loaf of bread with Shane when they were street rats, had been hunted to death like an animal. The Sterling Corp bloodline had been all but extinguished.

"They will all pay," Shane Cross said. His voice was devoid of inflection, flat and terrifying. "They will accompany Julian to the afterlife."

The thick dossier in his hand crinkled as his grip tightened. The paper tore, unable to withstand the pressure of his fingers.

Scarlett Byrne, codenamed Scarlett, watched him with concern. "Sir, given your current status, crushing these families would be beneath you. It would be like a dragon stepping on cockroaches. A single word from you, and the military police will sweep them away. Or, give me the order. I will handle it tonight."

Shane Cross raised a hand, silencing her.

"No," he said. "Julian was my brother. This is not a military matter. This is personal. I will handle this myself. Slowly."

"Understood," Scarlett Byrne replied, lowering her head.

Internally, she felt a tremor of fear—not for herself, but for Harbor City. In five years of service, through the worst combat zones on earth, she had never seen The Sovereign this angry. His rage was not a fire that burned hot; it was a glacier, grinding everything in its path to dust.

The sky over Harbor City seemed to darken further, as if sensing the impending slaughter.

"Where is Lily?" Shane asked, his eyes never leaving the glittering lights below. "Have you located her?"

"She is in the building," Scarlett replied quickly. "However... she is not in a guest suite. Our intel places her in a storage utility room on the ninth floor."

The ninth floor. The Grand Ballroom.

It was the dedicated floor for the city's most extravagant events—weddings, galas, corporate mergers. It was the floor where Sterling Corp used to hold its legendary jubilees.

Now, the hotel and the glory that came with it belonged to Vanessa Vance. She had organized a gala tonight to celebrate the consolidation of the Sterling assets into her own portfolio.

And Lily? The last living heir of the Sterling bloodline? She was being kept like a discarded broken toy in a closet, just meters away from the people drinking champagne paid for with her father's blood.

Shane Cross’s expression froze. The temperature around him seemed to drop ten degrees. He reached up, brushed a snowflake from his collar, and then shrugged off the heavy military coat Scarlett had just placed on him.

It was a simple gesture, but to those who knew him, it was a declaration of war.

On the battlefield, Shane Cross had a rule: he never let his uniform be stained. Tonight, he expected filth. He would not wear the symbol of his authority to slaughter pigs.

"Wait here," he commanded.

In a blur of motion that the human eye could barely track, he was gone.

The ninth floor of the Zenith Hotel was a different world.

While the roof was a frozen purgatory, the Grand Ballroom was a paradise of warmth, light, and excess. Crystal chandeliers the size of small cars hung from the ceiling, casting a golden glow over the polished marble floors. The air smelled of expensive perfume, truffle oil, and old money.

Shane Cross stepped out of the service elevator, his heavy boots making a rhythmic, ominous thud against the floor. His stride was measured, precise, like the ticking of a doomsday clock.

Despite wearing simple civilian clothes, he radiated an aura of command that made the air feel thin. He moved through the periphery of the ballroom, a shark swimming through a school of oblivious tropical fish.

At the center of the room, the crowd parted.

Vanessa Vance had arrived.

She was a vision of calculated seduction, draped in a custom-made violet evening gown that clung to every curve of her tall, statuesque frame. Diamonds glittered at her throat and wrists, cold starlight against her pale skin. As the spotlights swept across the room to find her, she smiled—a practiced, predatory expression of triumph.

Hundreds of eyes locked onto her. Men looked with lust; women looked with envy. She drank it in, the queen of the ashes she had created.

However, Vanessa Vance’s eyes wandered.

From her elevated position near the stage, her gaze drifted over the sea of admirers and snagged on a solitary figure moving near the back of the hall.

It was a man, tall and broad-shouldered, walking with a military bearing that cut through the languid, drunken crowd like a knife. He was handsome, with features that looked like they were chiseled from stone, but his eyes were pitch black, focused on a destination far beyond the glamour of the party.

He didn't look at her.

Not once.

In a room where every soul was desperate for her attention, this man treated her, the star of the evening, as if she were part of the wallpaper. He walked past the sensory overload of the gala—the jazz band, the clinking glasses, the radiant Vanessa Vance—without a flicker of acknowledgment.

Who is that? Vanessa thought, a frown marring her perfect forehead. He looks familiar...

The memory danced on the edge of her mind, elusive. But before she could place him, a wave of sycophants surrounded her, offering toasts and flattery. She dismissed the thought. He was probably just some bodyguard or a nobody crashing the party. Tonight was her coronation; nothing else mattered.

On the other side of the ballroom, Shane Cross had reached the service corridor.

He stopped in front of a heavy steel door marked ‘Storage - Staff Only’.

Two burly security guards blocked the entrance. They were thick-necked men in ill-fitting suits, smelling of stale tobacco and arrogance. When they saw Shane approach, they puffed out their chests, their hands drifting to the batons at their waists.

"Hey, pal," one of them grunted, stepping forward. "Eye exam time. The party is that way. This is a restricted area. Staff only. Get lost."

Before Shane could respond, a shrill, cruel voice leaked through the heavy door.

"Drink it, you little rat! You refuse? You think you're special? You're a Bastard with no father and no mother. If Ms. Vance hadn't taken pity on you, you'd be freezing in a gutter right now!"

Then, a small, defiant voice, trembling but clear:

"I am not a Bastard! My daddy isn't gone forever! Vanessa Vance hurt him! She's a bad person!"

"You little wretch!" the woman’s voice inside screeched. "You dare slander Ms. Vance? She was right. We should have cut your tongue out weeks ago. You want to blame someone? Blame your useless, coward of a father! He knew he was beaten, so he jumped. He didn't even have the guts to take you with him!"

The sound of a slap echoed, followed by the scuffling noise of a small child struggling against an adult.

Outside, Shane Cross’s eyes went black. The temperature in the hallway plummeted.

"Move," he whispered. The word carried the force of a physical blow.

"I told you to beat it!" the guard snarled, pulling his baton. "You deaf? You want to interfere in the Vance Syndicate business? You have a death wish?"

The guard raised the weapon, looking to crack Shane’s skull.

Shane didn't even break stride. He simply waved his hand, a casual, dismissive motion, like swatting a fly.

BOOM.

An invisible wall of compressed air—pure kinetic energy—slammed into the two guards. It was as if a grenade had detonated silently between them. Their bodies were lifted off the ground and hurled backward, smashing into the concrete walls with a sickening crunch. They slid to the floor, unconscious before they even felt the pain.

CRASH!

The shockwave didn't stop there. It hit the heavy wooden door of the storage room, shattering the lock and blasting the door inward off its hinges.

Inside, the scene was a nightmare.

The room was damp, smelling of mold and harsh chemicals. In the corner, a morbidly obese middle-aged woman had a small, terrified girl pinned against the cinderblock wall. The woman held a bowl of dark, foul-smelling liquid in one hand, her other hand pinching the girl’s jaw to force her mouth open.

"Help... Uncle, help Lily... Lily doesn't want to be a mute..."

The little girl was fighting with every ounce of her strength. Her face was flushed red from exertion, her large, innocent eyes swimming with tears that she stubbornly refused to shed. She looked so much like Julian.

She didn't know Shane Cross. She had been an infant when he left for the war.

But looking at the tall silhouette in the doorway, amidst the dust and splintered wood, she knew he was her only hope.

The fat woman froze, the bowl hovering near Lily’s lips. She spun around, her face twisting into a grotesque mask of fury.

"Who the hell are you?" she screamed, spitting saliva. "Do you know whose orders I'm following? This is the Vance Syndicate's business! This is the East End! If you don't want to end up in a landfill, turn around and walk away right now!"

Since the fall of Sterling Corp, the Vance Syndicate had ascended to the throne of Harbor City. In just two months, they had consolidated power so brutally that even the police turned a blind eye to their activities. In this city, the name 'Vance' was a license to kill.

The fat woman was merely a servant, a low-level thug, but she wore the Vance name like armor. She wasn't afraid of being caught abusing a child; she was offended that someone dared to interrupt her.

"The Vance Syndicate?"

Shane Cross stepped into the room. The dust settled around his boots. His face was a void, stripped of all human emotion.

"A gathering of clowns performing for a dead audience."

He moved.

It wasn't a run; it was a teleportation. One moment he was by the door, the next he was standing directly in front of the woman.

Before the fat woman’s brain could process the movement, she felt a gust of wind, and her hands were empty.

Shane Cross stood back in the hallway, Lily securely cradled in his left arm. He held her gently, as if she were made of fragile glass, shielding her face from the sight of the room.

From the shadows of the corridor, Scarlett Byrne emerged, her eyes locked on the fat woman inside the room.

"The Sovereign," Scarlett asked, her voice low. "Orders regarding the target?"

Shane looked down at the small, trembling child in his arms. He felt the heat of her tears soaking into his shirt. He didn't want Lily to see blood. Not today. Not ever again if he could help it.

But mercy? There was no mercy left in him.

"She has the face of a human, but the heart of a viper," Shane Cross said, turning his back on the room and walking away.

"Kill her."