Chapter 194: Into the Ashborn Residence

Words : 1038 Updated : Sep 23rd, 2025

Chapter 194: Into the Ashborn ResidenceAs Kaiden stepped through the grand archway of Ashborn Manor, the heavy doors groaned open, revealing the vast interior beyond. The manor’s entrance hall was a spectacle of nothing but pure pride and power. Vaulted ceilings stretched high above, painted with gold-trimmed murals of the Ashborn bloodline’s victories and the achievements of their high-tier guild, New Dawn. The floor was an immaculate black marble, so polished it reflected the entire party like a mirror. Twin staircases curved upward, framing the main corridor that led deeper into the estate. Lining the sides of the hall stood a formation of maids in crisp black and white uniforms, all standing straight-backed in a line. Their postures were flawless, eyes lowered, but not a single one bowed to Kaiden as they should to a direct line heir of the family. Not a single one greeted him properly. They bowed to him as if he were any other guest the Ashborn family decided to entertain in their home. It didn’t matter that he was the oldest male child of the Ashborn family. Not after being disowned. Alice’s arms tightened protectively around him, her gaze sharpening as she caught the coldness in the air. If her body language could scream, it would’ve threatened the maids and their whole lineage with brutal execution. Then the atmosphere shifted. From the upper staircase, three new figures emerged. Descending with predatory elegance came the rest of the Ashborn siblings. Twin brothers flanked a tall, imperious woman at the center; with each step they took, they oozed disdain. The two men were mirror images of each other, tall and sharp-featured. Both wore dark formal combat robes lined with crimson, their lean frames made for speed and grace rather than brute power. They moved with the precision of hunters. Their eyes were red, and their hair was pure black. These were Calix and Cassian Ashborn, the family’s twin prodigies. And between them walked Selena Ashborn, the firstborn child. Taller than even the twins, her presence alone could command the room. Her long black hair flowed over her crimson-decorated shoulders. Her expression was calm but icy. Her eyes, which were akin to twin rubies, locked on Kaiden, and her lips curled into a smirk of superiority. Selena spoke first, her voice a sharp, venomous blade. "Well, well, well. The generational failure returns." Cassian snorted. "I simply can’t believe that Mother allowed you to enter after what you’d done." Calix added with a nod, "The stench of a loser alone is proof enough he doesn’t belong in these halls. And look at what he’s brought. Four whores and a parasite hanging off his neck." Alice’s body flinched. A low crack echoed in the hall as Alice slammed her heel into the marble floor hard enough to fracture it. Her glare turned murderous, fangs bared. Alice’s body burned with fury, but before she could lunge, a hand settled on her shoulder. She gasped. Not from the touch, but from the impossibility of it. ’Impossible...!’ Because the pressure that suddenly blanketed the hall did not come from the twins. It came from him. Kaiden’s aura shifted in an instant, the gentle warmth she once knew drowned beneath a maelstrom of raw malice. His once-calm expression darkened into something terrifyingly still. The eye of a storm right before the world is torn apart. His eyes changed. No longer the simple red of an Ashborn outcast. Now, they swirled, a violent, chaotic storm of crimson and orange, twin infernos coiling in opposite directions within his gaze. The red bled with seething wrath, the orange pulsed with insatiable gluttony. Alice’s thoughts swirled. ’Big brother...? You never stood up to them before... You never fought back... You always endured. But now...’ This wasn’t the Kaiden who smiled gently through cruelty. This wasn’t the powerless man who let others hurt him. This was someone new. Someone with power. With conviction. With the desire—no, the will—to protect himself and those he loved. But before Kaiden could even open his mouth... The world changed. The light in the hall vanished. Shadows didn’t slither in. They outright exploded forth in all directions. Like black ink bleeding into every corner of existence, they flooded down from the ceiling, across the walls, and up from beneath the marble floor, devouring all light, all warmth, all sense of safety. The grand murals? Gone. The polished floor? Replaced by a churning abyss of shadow. The chandeliers hanging overhead dimmed to flickering whispers before being consumed entirely. Vespera had arrived. But not like a human woman. Like a curse. Her presence alone warped the very air. Maids, who were highly trained elite servants used to enduring magical pressure, quaked. Their knees buckled. Some whimpered without meaning to. Their breaths came shallow, panicked, as if the shadows themselves reached into their lungs. A chill rippled down Bastet’s spine, every primal instinct in her felinid blood screaming in alarm. Something apex had entered the space. Something that made the air feel thinner, tighter. Not even when she’d faced Grace and her two elite bodyguards had the pressure been this suffocating. But this wasn’t just raw power being let loose. Luna, Aria, and Nyx each reacted differently. Luna crackled with unformed electricity. Aria’s eyes gleamed silver as she stepped protectively closer to Kaiden. Nyx’s telekinesis shattered a nearby vase just from her reaction alone. She didn’t even notice. But all of that—all of that—was nothing compared to what Calix, Cassian, and Selena experienced. Their bodies shuddered. Veins bulged across their foreheads and necks as their mana roared with all their might just to keep them upright. Sweat poured down their brows. Their red eyes widened. Not in surprise that something like this was happening to them. No. What they were experiencing was nothing but pure, unadulterated fear. Cassian’s nose cracked with the strain. A stream of blood ran down his lip. Calix followed seconds later. His breath came out ragged. Panicked. And Selena, who never trembled for anything, did now. Her poise cracked, knees buckling as she bit down on her lip hard enough to draw blood. Then her voice came. Low. Bloody. Impossible to resist. "Who gave you permission to speak?"

Chapter 194: Into the Ashborn Residence

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