The King Of War Returns (Jaden Rift) novel Chapter 76

Stanwell’s body was still twitching where Jaden left him, his face bashed in beyond recognition. The blood hadn’t even dried yet, but the stadium had already exploded into pure chaos. Fans screamed. Some were scrambling over seats, others rushing toward the exits like animals running from fire. Even the underground bosses were slipping through the chaos, dragging their armed escorts with them.

Jaden didn’t move in a rush. Calm. Still. His hands in his pockets.

He stepped off the ring like nothing happened. But then, just before he could make it past the VIP railing, he noticed something.

One man stood up.

Then another.

Then five more. Ten. Fifteen.

Like shadows peeling off the crowd.

Jaden’s eyes scanned them all. They weren’t ordinary viewers. They weren’t scared. They weren’t running.

They were moving in.

A circle was forming around him.

One of them, tall and ugly with a crooked jaw and a scar slicing down his left brow, stepped out from the rest.

He was holding a semi-auto in one hand, a silver machete in the other.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going, kid?” he sneered. “There’s fifty million on your head. Dead or alive.”

The others started fanning out. Thirty. Forty. Fifty. All armed. Knives, guns, brass knuckles. Some had tasers, some had chains. All killers. All greedy.

The tall man clicked his neck.

“You ain’t leaving this stadium.”

Jaden tilted his head slightly. Calm. Not a single blink of worry on his face.

“So this is how it’s gonna be,” he muttered. “Tonight just keeps getting louder.”

Then he looked up, addressing them all.

“I’ll give you one chance,” he said, loud enough to echo through the burning tension. “You either leave now, or you leave here in body bags.”

A few of them chuckled.

One of them spat. “Cocky little prick.”

Another yelled, “Kill him already!”

Just as the circle began to close in—BOOM!

The entrance doors to the stadium flew open with a crash. Metal slammed on concrete.

Everyone turned.

A huge shadow stood there.

It was Drax.

He walked in slowly, dragging something heavy behind him. Then he lifted it.

It was a massive sledgehammer.

Silence fell.

Jaden walked up, hands still in his coat pocket, a small smirk on his face.

“Took you long enough,” he said.

Drax grunted, still catching his breath. “Saw everyone running out. Figured something was wrong.”

“So you came in with a hammer?” Jaden said.

Drax nodded. “Couldn’t risk bullets in your direction. Hammer’s cleaner.”

Jaden chuckled. “Appreciated.”

They walked out together, stepping over bodies like they were speed bumps.

But somewhere high above, near the shadows of the VIP box, a pair of eyes were watching.

A woman. Slender. Dressed in a tight black coat, face half covered. Her phone screen glowed in the dark.

She didn’t look shocked. She looked… amused.

She lifted her phone and pressed record, catching the last frame of Jaden walking out with Driggs beside him.

Then she typed:

"We found him."

And hit send.