The Queen Who Fights Back (by Lily Hastings) novel Chapter 136

Chapter 136

“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”

Aiden’s voice tore through the hall like a whirlwind, commanding attention in an instant.

With the unflinching coldness of a killer, he stepped through the blown–open doors, his arrival sending a chill down everyone’s spine.

Trailing behind him was a squad of Shadow Sanctum assassins, decked out in black night gear, each one muscle–bound and imposing.

They swept in at lightning speed, flickering through the hall like light and shadow, too fast for anyone to

react.

They moved like phantoms, slipping through the darkness–completely invisible, completely undetectable.

In less than thirty seconds, they’d swept into every nook and cranny of the castle hall.

The Bluewing Squad might’ve been powerful, but when stacked up against master assassins of the Shadow Sanctum, they were hopelessly outmatched.

Before the squad knights could even blink, the Shadow Sanctum assassins had knives and guns pressed to their foreheads.

There was a chasm between the Bluewing knights and the Shadow Sanctum assassins–a gap so wide, it couldn’t be ignored.

And with that, the brutal truth was revealed for all to see.

“What?!”

Duff listened intently to Aiden’s every word and move.

He could only watch as, in less than thirty seconds, the Shadow Sanctum assassins crushed the Bluewing knights–the force he was most proud of.

In an instant, Duff’s furious glare morphed into sheer terror.

It was the terror at the cold, undeniable truth.

It was the fear of death itself.

“You’re the master of the Shadow Sanctum!” Duff blurted out.

Duff had always been the rock among the four elders, cool–headed and never rattled.

But now, his eyes bulged so far out they looked like they might fly right out of his skull.

He practically screamed at Damien, his voice shaking with a terror he’d never felt in his life.

Compared to Duff, Dean–Damien’s own father–was every bit as shaken.

‘My son… Dean’s thoughts tumbled in turmoil.

‘The boy Wendy and I watched grow up in the underworld–after all those years surviving the shadows, he’s somehow risen to become master of the Shadow Sanctum! How could this even be possible?‘

Dean turned toward Damien, his old eyes brimming with tears.

Even though the truth was already dawning on him, Dean’s voice trembled as he asked, “Is it… is it really the Shadow Sanctum I know?”

The Shadow Sanctum–the name that sends shivers down the world’s spine, the number one assassin syndicate that could plunge the entire underworld into chaos with a single move.

Damien’s silence was answer enough.

Everyone gasped–the sound cut through the tense air like a knife.

All across the hall, the Greslin family members huddled in their hiding spots, holding their breath, nerves frayed and twisted with disbelief.

The Shadow Sanctum!

That was a power so far out of their league, not one of them ever dreamed they could measure up.

And now, to their utter shock, the creator of the Shadow Sanctum was none other than Damien Thorn–the guy they’d all looked down on, treating him like a nobody just because of his brown hair and Zorian heritage, the “weird outsider” in their Greslin clan.

“Sorry, I’m so scared I’m gonna faint–please, someone call an ambulance.”

From the shadows.

Right after saying that, someone clutched their chest, their eyes rolling back as they fainted on the spot.

Meanwhile, Cruz, Kurt, and Eskin stood there completely shell–shocked.

Cruz’s ugly mug twisted up even worse, like it had been smashed flat by a dozen rolling wheels–and somehow, he looked even more hideous than before.

Looking at him from the outside, nobody could even begin to guess what was happening behind those eyes.

As Kurt and Eskin clutched at their chests, so freaked out they were almost delirious, suddenly a disgusting stench wafted through the air–so foul, it was like someone had dropped a sewage bomb in the room.

“Cruz!”

“Dude… did you seriously just crap your pants?”

Kurt, Eskin, and their three girlfriends recoiled in horror, clapped hands over their faces, and shot away from

Cruz like they’d just been launched by a catapult.

But Cruz was so out of it he didn’t even realize what was happening–he just kept babbling under his breath, totally oblivious to the disaster around him.

‘Sius… He’s the boss of the Shadow Sanctum? Seriously?

“The Shadow Sanctum I was dying to team up with… turns out it’s Sius’s crew?!

‘Why… how is this even possible… Did I get this whole thing wrong somehow?!‘

Nova didn’t look surprised at all as everyone lost their minds.

She sat there calm and composed, eyes narrowed in satisfaction, her gaze fixed on Aiden down below.

She was the one who called Aiden here.

Everything that happened was just as she’d expected.

As Aiden stepped through the main doors, another figure landed with catlike agility–a man who had just leaped down from the third–floor landing of the castle’s spiral staircase.

He stood tall at 6’2“, his face almost entirely concealed beneath the hood of a black sweatshirt, save for a chiseled, unmistakably attractive jawline. You could tell from that alone–this guy wasn’t just good–looking, he was striking.

This was the commander who had led the Shadow Sanctum assassins–moving with ghost–like speed–to seize every inch of the Greslin Castle hall in mere moments.

It was under his command that the assassins managed to overwhelm the Bluewing knights in less than thirty seconds, toying with them like ants trapped in his palm.

They called him “Shanlock“.

Shanlock held just as much clout in the Shadow Sanctum as Aiden did.

He was, hands down, the mastermind behind the assassins–the one everyone feared and followed without question.

Whenever the Shadow Sanctum rolled out for a big job, he was the man in charge, running the whole show from start to finish.

Under his leadership and masterful planning, the Shadow Sanctum’s success rate for missions was a jaw- dropping 90.8%!

Just so you know, the Shadow Sanctum wasn’t some one–man show–it was a full–blown organization with

tens of thousands of killers on the roster.

With tens of thousands of operatives handling over ten thousand missions a year, and still managing to keep a 90.8% success rate? That was unheard of in the world of assassins.

Shanlock was the linchpin holding it all together.

“Bluewing Squad–all under control.” Shanlock spoke in a cold, detached tone as he turned toward Aiden, his hooded face giving nothing away.

There wasn’t a trace of emotion visible in his expression.

“Nice job. Leave the rest to me,” Aiden said, giving Shanlock a brief, approving tap on the shoulder.

With that, Aiden coolly turned and strode up the spiral staircase.

Aiden’s presence was a whole different ball game compared to Shanlock’s cold, tactical commander energy.

Acting like he owned the place, Aiden slipped one hand into his holster, whipped out a pistol, and aimed it straight at Duff’s head–Duff, collapsed on the floor, too terrified to even twitch.

“Ms. Blake, what do you want to do with this old geezer?”

Aiden was clever–he could always read people and size up the mood in a heartbeat.

Even though his actual master, Damien, was right in front of him, Aiden didn’t hesitate to bypass him and wait for Nova’s decision.

That alone spoke volumes.

In Aiden’s eyes, Nova already held way more authority than his own master could ever hope for.

Even Shanlock–normally impossible to distract–found himself turning his attention to Aiden, intrigued by the bold move.

Assassins always kept their faces unreadable, the ultimate poker faces—nobody could ever tell what they were really thinking.

The fact that Shanlock shifted his gaze over was shocking in itself–it was written all over him: he honestly couldn’t believe Aiden would put Nova’s word above their own master’s.

It was like witnessing something out of a nightmare—like blood pouring down from the sky itself!

Nova tapped her chin, looking totally relaxed, like she was casually weighing her choices.

After a moment.

Her lips parted in a smile, sweet as sugar–but her words cut colder than ice.

“Kill.”