Fast. Too fast.
No one saw how he made the move. All they saw was the rusty blade piercing straight through Sterling Harrison’s body.
Closest to Kayden stood Goldie Alfredson. His mouth was wide open in shock-wide enough to fit an egg. Staring at the scene before him, a scene that completely upended his worldview, he was dumbfounded, frozen, and utterly speechless.
What just happened? His master-his invincible master-was killed so easily?
Who was his master? Sterling Harrison was a Grand-level fighter, a peerless expert!
In Goldie’s eyes, Sterling Harrison was a god-like figure, someone who could obliterate heaven, earth, and air itself. He had always believed that as long as his master appeared, everything would be fine.
But now? Now his master had been slain-instantly.
He didn’t even have the chance to fight back.
It was shocking. Unbelievable.
Too absurd. Was this even playing by the rules? Was this how the game was played?
Goldie wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, swallowing hard. His body felt ice-cold, as if it didn’t belong to him anymore.
He thought back to yesterday. His subordinates had been defeated the same way-no chance to resist, flattened in an instant.
And now, his master had met the same fate.
Did this mean, in Kayden’s eyes, that his master was on the same level as those underlings?
The conclusion alone nearly made Goldie faint on the spot.
It wasn’t just Goldie who was shocked. Even Coleman was stunned. He had thought Kayden wouldn’t be able to beat Sterling Harrison. At best, he imagined an earth-shattering battle lasting hundreds of rounds.
But this?
This was too easy!
One move. Just one move, and the blade pierced Sterling Harrison’s chest.
Sterling Harrison was a Grand-level expert! Coleman had fought him before and knew how powerful he was. Even knowing Kayden was strong, he never imagined he’d be this strong.
So young, so powerful-had he already reached the Master level?
If that were true, then Kayden was truly a once-in-a-lifetime prodigy.
If Coleman had known this earlier, he would have immediately told Sterling Harrison that the person who killed his apprentice was Kayden.
Now he felt like an idiot, stubbornly clinging to his pride and acting like he was ready to die. The most ridiculous part? He had almost made a catastrophic mistake-his granddaughter had nearly been defiled.
Thinking about it now, he felt utterly foolish. So stupid!
Thankfully, Kayden had arrived just in time to save the day.
As Coleman’s gaze shifted to Sterling Harrison, his tense expression relaxed.
Blood poured from Sterling Harrison’s chest, his eyes wide with disbelief. Unable to accept what had happened, he coughed up blood with a loud splurt.
Falling to one knee, his head shook in denial. “No, impossible. How… how could a blade penetrate my Vajra Shield? How could this happen?”
Sterling Harrison couldn’t believe it. He couldn’t believe that this young man’s blade had broken through his ultimate defense.
The Vajra Shield was his protective barrier, making him nearly invincible-immune to blades and bullets. Yet, this rusty, battered blade had pierced through it.
He couldn’t accept it.
“You… you ambushed me! You attacked me by surprise!” Sterling Harrison shouted at Kayden, his face full of indignation.
Hearing the accusation, Kayden couldn’t help but laugh. His brow furrowed as he repeated the words, “An ambush?”
Raising his right hand, Kayden gestured as though summoning something. The rusty blade, still embedded in Sterling Harrison’s chest, flew out and returned to his grasp as if pulled by an invisible force.
An ambush? Very well.
“Are you ready now?” Kayden asked coldly.
His icy voice cut through the air as the blade flew again.
Swish!
The blade pierced Sterling Harrison’s chest once more, this time just beside the previous wound. Blood gushed out.
“This time, I didn’t ambush you, did I?” Kayden asked, his face youthful and handsome yet twisted with a cruel edge.
Sterling Harrison tried to respond, but Kayden interrupted him.
“If you still think I ambushed you, I’ll give you another chance to prepare. This time, I’ll give you more time.”
With those words, Kayden summoned the blade back to his hand once again.
“I’ll give you three seconds to prepare. Be ready.”
“Three.”
“Two.”
“One.”
Swish!
The blade flew out a third time, piercing Sterling Harrison’s chest again.
By now, Sterling Harrison had coughed up so much blood that he didn’t even know how much he had lost. His eyes were wide, as if he wanted to speak, but no words came out. His lungs had been punctured-he couldn’t make a sound.
“Three strikes,” Kayden said coldly. “It seems the issue isn’t whether you were prepared or not. It’s that you overestimated yourself.”
With a wave of his hand, the blade flew back into Kayden’s grip.
Sterling Harrison’s eyes lost focus. His body collapsed to the ground, lifeless.
Sterling Harrison was dead. Even in death, he couldn’t understand how he had died this way.
To Kayden, killing him was as easy as slaughtering a pig or a dog. No effort at all.
No one in this world could challenge him. No one could threaten him. If anyone tried, they were either already dead or on their way to dying.
Goldie Alfredson stared at Kayden, feeling as though the man standing before him wasn’t human but a demon-a demon who existed solely to kill. Kayden was terrifying. To him, killing was as simple as eating or breathing.
Too cruel.
Goldie had thought his master was ruthless. But after witnessing Kayden, he finally understood what true cruelty was.
“Master!” Goldie dropped to his knees, trembling as he begged. “Please don’t kill me! I’m nothing but trash. I’m not worth your time!”
Kayden lowered his gaze to look at Goldie. With an annoyed tone, he said, “I won’t kill you. Get up.”
Hearing this, Goldie let out a deep sigh of relief. “Thank you, thank you!”
“But…” Kayden’s tone shifted.
Goldie had barely begun to rise when he dropped to his knees again. These powerful men always loved to toy with people’s emotions. That single word-“but”-almost gave Goldie a heart attack.
“But you’ll work for me.”
“To work for someone as great as you is the blessing of a lifetime! I’ll do anything-risk my life if I must!” Goldie replied, his voice filled with trembling excitement.
Kayden raised his hand and tossed the rusty blade. It flew through the air, slicing cleanly through the ropes binding Coleman.
Falling to the ground, Coleman struggled to speak. “Thank you… thank you for saving my life!”
Kayden didn’t reply. Instead, he walked over to Erika, removing his shirt to cover her exposed body.
“Master!” Erika called out, her face flushed with embarrassment as tears of grievance streamed down her cheeks.