Kayden’s tone was calm, but his words carried undeniable weight. “I’m not interested in your affairs. But if you push my friend into doing something against her will, I’ll stop you. I don’t care who you are. I’ll get involved!”
The young man holding the saber had already slid the blade partway out, the steel within the sheath catching the light with a cold, menacing glint.
“So, you stubbornly wanna meddle in our business, right?” Sophie’s uncle spoke, and his voice dropped into a low growl.
The tension was palpable. It wasn’t just the man with the saber; the bodyguards around him began flexing their hands and cracking their knuckles. Their threatening postures made it clear they were ready to pounce.
Sophie froze in her tracks when she heard the change in her uncle’s tone. Quickly, she spun around and met Kayden’s gaze. Her eyes turned red, betraying the emotions she struggled to suppress. She shook her head vigorously and said in a trembling voice, “No! Kayden, they’re my family. I’m leaving with them of my own free will.”
She dared not look at him for long, afraid the tears brimming in her eyes would spill over. “Uncle, let’s go.”
Sophie’s uncle cast one last piercing glance at Kayden. After a moment’s consideration, he raised his hand, motioning to the young man who had partially drawn his blade. “Stand down, White Wolf. Let’s go.”
“Yes, sir!” The young man pushed the blade back into its sheath. Then he turned to step into the car.
But before the car pulled away, the young man shot Kayden a sharp, hostile glare!
Moments later, the convoy of cars sped down the street until the taillights dissolved into the distant dark.
Night descended, and its shadow enveloped everything. Kayden didn’t return to Dragon Hold Resort. Instead, he made his way toward the hillside villa Wood had given him. Wood had said the villa was her private residence, not tied to the Henderson family, and Kayden was welcome to stay whenever he wanted.
After a simple dinner, Kayden went back to the villa.
The night had the chill of late autumn, the kind of cool that crept under the skin.
A gust of wind brushed against Kayden’s face, giving him goosebumps.
He reached up and tugged at his collar, pulling it snugly around his neck. His steps remained steady as he strode forward.
The road to the hillside villa was silent, eerily so, with not another person in sight. The neon lights lining the path blinked intermittently, casting patches of muted light along the ground. The fragmented glow spilled over Kayden, casting his shadow into elongated shapes that seemed to stretch endlessly behind him.
Just then, Kayden’s phone buzzed. He pulled it out and glanced at the screen. It’s a call from Coleman.
It had been a while since Coleman last reached out to him. Their only recent interaction was when Kayden was in Inassea, and since then, they had been out of contact.
“What’s the matter, Old Mr. Vincent?” Kayden asked in a calm and measured tone.
By contrast, Coleman’s voice crackled with unease and urgency. “Defender, we’ve got a major issue! Remember the foreigner you killed in the ring last time? Turns out his brother is some kind of high-ranking leader in their country! And now he’s sent his deputy to negotiate with us.”
“By the sound of it,” Coleman continued, “he’s gearing up to declare war on us.”
Kayden let out an indifferent snort before replying, “Are you sure? He wants war?”
“I’m quite sure, Defender. Right now, we’re confronting them in a conference room next to the arena from last time. If you’re in Inassea, I suggest you come here in person!”
Coleman rarely lost his composure. Yet now he sounded unusually rattled, which suggested that a big trouble was on its way.
If anyone had the nerve to stir trouble in Seclela, there was no way Kayden would let them off easy. After hanging up, Kayden immediately dialed Greedy Wolf. Situations like this didn’t warrant his personal attention, and Greedy Wolf alone was enough to handle it.
Once the arrangements were in place, Kayden kept walking down the path to the villa.
He still hadn’t recovered his full strength, and only half of his abilities had returned so far. Thus, proper rest was essential.
He walked quietly for several minutes until, all of a sudden, he halted. Standing motionless, his eyes lifted to the empty sky above. “Stop skulking in the shadows like a thief. Come out!”
If anyone were here, they’d definitely believe he’s out of his mind. The path was deathly silent, devoid of even the faintest hum of a bug. There wasn’t a person in sight, and it seemed like he was talking to nothing but thin air. If that wasn’t madness, what was?
But then, something happened. As the last echoes of his voice dissipated, the peace broke. From the leafy canopy above, a figure jumped down. It’s a man with flowing long hair and dressed in a plain, white robe. His feet touched the ground without a whisper of sound. He looked as though he could fly.
The man stood about fifteen meters away, cradling a saber in his arms. His expression was as cold and sharp as the weapon he carried. Like Kayden, his figure was thin and wiry, and when the two stood facing each other, their similarities became striking. But the air between them rippled with tension. An oppressive, suffocating killing intent seemed ready to burst at any moment.
“It’s you!” Kayden’s eyes narrowed as he recognized the man. It was none other than Sophie’s uncle’s personal bodyguard.
“Yeah.” The cold indifference on the man’s face remained utterly unchanged, like a frozen mask.
“What do you want?” Kayden’s voice was laced with chilling indifference, as ever.
A glint flashed in the bodyguard’s eyes, the only sign of a shift in his expression. He drew the saber from its scabbard. His voice was frigid as he boomed, “You made Miss Walsh cry. I’ve come to take one of your hands as the price.”
Such a curt and merciless tone! Clearly, he was a professional killer, a seasoned bodyguard with no room for hesitation.
Kayden gave the man a once-over. “Just you? Go back. You’re no match for me.”
Without waiting for a response, Kayden continued forward.
The young man’s expression darkened for a fraction of a second. A subtle flicker of disbelief flashed through his eyes. “No match?” he thought in his heart. “Who does this arrogant jerk think he is?”
His gaze swept over Kayden’s slender frame. A doubt niggled at him. “He looks like a mere student, not someone who even looks the part of a Warrior!”
“Where did his unshakable confidence come from?”
A low, mocking laugh slipped from the young man’s lips. “Do you even know who I am?”
“I don’t know, and I don’t care.” Kayden shook his head.
“The Blade Master of Western Frontier. You’ve heard of me, haven’t you?” the young man asked, his voice hard as steel.
Kayden only shook his head again. “Never heard of it.”
The man’s sneer deepened, his patience thinning. An outsider, that was how he summed up Kayden’s identity. Thus, there was no point in explaining further. With a tone colder than death itself, he asked one last question. “Before I strike, I want to know… Are you Miss Walsh’s boyfriend? Or do you just have feelings for her?”
Kayden didn’t answer. He didn’t even glance at the man. He just kept walking!
The gap between them shrank like a tightening noose. Only ten meters remained now!
The young man had already seen through Kayden’s arrogance and disregard. With a sharp metallic clank, he drew the entire blade from its sheath, and its polished surface gleamed ominously. “Still playing it cool, huh? Fine. Today, I’ll show you the power of me, the Blade Master of Western Frontier. Your arm will be severed by my blade, but consider it the greatest honor of your life.”
With that, he gripped the hilt firmly, letting the tip of the blade scrape against the ground. The blade angled sharply as he strode forward. The blade scraping the ground left a trail of sparks that skittered across the floor like fireflies scattering in panic.
White Wolf’s every movement brimmed with murderous intent. Yet Kayden stood motionless, and his eyes gleamed with razor-sharp focus as they locked onto the fast-approaching man.
Their gazes met like clashing steel, and White Wolf’s confidence blazed even brighter. In his mind, there was no doubt that one strike would suffice and that Kayden wouldn’t stand a chance to counter back. He would chop off Kayden’s arm with just one strike!
Five meters. Three meters. One meter! Suddenly, White Wolf heaved the blade upward, slicing through the air toward Kayden with devastating precision.
The blade swept through like a storm capable of cleaving through steel and shattering stone!
This strike carried a force so oppressive it felt as if it could even split apart the sky!
The blade swept past Kayden’s body in one devastating motion.
Certain of victory, White Wolf prepared to savor the sight of Kayden’s bleeding arm flying through the air. But then, the unexpected happened.
The blade had missed. Instead of shearing through flesh, it swept upward, biting into the sky.
It severed nothing but a slender branch from a tree above. The branch fell, tumbling to the ground like the closing punctuation of this failed attack.
“What?!” White Wolf froze, disbelief written across his face. A deep frown formed on his forehead.
This man-this mere unarmed man-had dodged his strike? White Wolf couldn’t believe his eyes.
Wait! Something was wrong!
A cold, prickling sensation crawled down White Wolf’s spine, like the icy breath of an unseen predator at his back.
Every instinct screamed at him. Heart pounding, he spun around and froze in place. Kayden was standing behind him.
Calm and eerily composed, Kayden’s eyes bored into him. Yet it was the atmosphere around Kayden that sent a chill searing through White Wolf’s core because a ferocious killing intent was radiating from Kayden’s very being.
What the hell…
White Wolf was stunned into silence as he stared at Kayden. This wasn’t the battle he’d anticipated. It wasn’t supposed to unfold this way!