CHAPTER 71: FELIX

"Evidence of a pattern. Someone’s been eliminating threats systematically. And you must be on their list. I think they have a hold in this academy. He looked at me with frightened eyes. "But that’s not all. I traced the payment method through one of the anonymous drops, always in the same location. I went there today."

"You did what?"

"I had to know! I found...." He pulled out a small metal token from his satchel. It was circular, marked with five interlocking symbols. "This was left at the drop site. Like someone wanted to be found. Or wanted to send a message."

That symbol. The same one the dying guard had shown me.

The League of Fallen Heroes.

What the....they were the ones behind my poisoning attack and not the Council of Fates? What that means made my head to throb. Have I been preparing for the wrong enemy all this while?

"Felix, you can’t....."

The window exploded inward.

Something whirled through the shattered glass. Time seems to slow down. Someone had thrown an alchemical explosive directly through it!

I grabbed Felix and dove left.

Damian went right.

The next moment, it went off.

The explosion filled the room with fire and concussive kinetic force.

When the smoke cleared, three figures stood in the wreckage.

All wearing dark armor. All radiating oppressive power.

And each one bore that same symbol, five interlocking circles, emblazoned on their chests. Those bastards are not even trying to hide it!

"Felix Goldleaf," the center one said, voice distorted by a helmet. "You asked the wrong questions."

They attacked then.

Damian met the first one, blades clashing with a sound like thunder.

I pushed Felix behind me, then I made sword with shadows andvengaged the second.

The third went straight for Felix.

"No!" I shouted.

I used Shadow Step and appeared between them, I took the dagger meant for Felix in my left shoulder.

Pain exploded through my arm but I only grunt and gritted my teeth.

But Felix was safe. "Run!"

My counter-strike took the assassin across the chest. Enchanted armor absorbed most of it, but the impact threw them back.

"Ravenna!" I screamed. She was next door, would hear the explosion...

....the assassin recovered faster than should be possible. He came at me again, this time with both daggers. I parried one, missed the other and it scored my ribs, shallow but bleeding.

Felix scrambled backward, trying to reach the door. The third assassin ignored me, and oved after him with cat like efficiency.

"FELIX, RUN!" I shouted again.

He ran.

The assassin was faster.

Ravenna burst through the door, void magic crackling around her hands. Distorting the space around her. "What the....."

"Three assassins! Protect Felix!"

She didn’t hesitate. Void tendrils lashed out, catching one assassin, yanking them away from Damian.

The fight descended into chaos.

These weren’t normal mercenaries. They were trained and highly coordinated. Every move they made are efficient and lethal, they had to be league operatives!

I engaged two simultaneously while Damian fought the third. My shoulder screamed where the dagger had pierced, but I pushed through. Shadow Blade extended my reach. Shadow Step let me control positioning.

But they adapted fast...

Felix’s scream cut through the chaos.

I turned.

The lead assassin had caught him in the hallway. Had him by the throat, lifted off the ground.

Ravenna had been caught in a spell that made the space around her extremely heavy, dragging her down to the ground below.

"No!" I charged.

But it was too far, and I was too slow.

The assassin’s blade moved almost casually.

One strike.

Felix’s throat opened and his face twisted in disbelief as blood sprayed into the air, warm and coppery with smell.

"FELIX!"

Seraphina crashed through the other window, holy wings almost taking form around her. "I heard explosions....." She saw Felix. "Oh gods."

Her entrance tilted the odds and gour against three.

The assassins realized their window had closed.

The leader dropped Felix’s body and threw a smoke bomb. "Retreat! Target eliminated!"

They vanished through the broken windows, using some kind of speed enhancement to clear the building in seconds, at the same time they made the air in the room so heavy that we found it difficult to breathe for a while.

By the time we got to them, they were gone.

Felix lay in the hallway, blood pooling beneath him.

I dropped to my knees beside him and pressed my hands to his throat, trying to stop the bleeding. "Get a healer! Now!"

"Hadeon..." His voice was barely a whisper. "The notebook... my research..."

"Don’t talk, shut the fuck up! Save your strength. You’re going to be fine."

"No... I’m not..." He coughed, blood bubbling at his lips. "They got me. Just like... like they’ll get... everyone else..."

"Felix, please...."

"Promise me..." His hand found mine. Weak. Shaking. "Promise you’ll... use my research. Find them. Stop them."

"I promise. Just hold on—"

"Tell... tell Marcus... his enchantments worked. The tracking crystal... in my satchel..." His breathing was getting shallower. "I’m sorry... couldn’t be... braver..."

"You were brave. You were....."

His hand went limp.

The light left his eyes.

Felix Goldleaf. The enthusiastic alchemist who’d joined us. Who’d been researching poisons to help us. To help me.

Who’d found evidence that got him killed.

Was dead.

I knelt there, hands covered in his blood.

Distantly, I heard Damian calling for the medical team. Heard Ravenna cursing in the old language. Heard Seraphina’s prayer for the dead.

But all I could see was Felix’s face. Pale and empty.

I stood slowly and gently closed Felix’s eyes.

Damian had arrived with Professor Helena and two medical staff. They stopped when they saw the body. Confirmed what we already knew.

"He’s gone," one said quietly.

"I can see that," I replied, voice flat. "Get him to the medical wing. Prepare him for cremation in the qcademy tradition."

"Ezra....." Ravenna started.

"Not now." I picked up Felix’s satchel. "Damian, gather everyone. Every faction member. Every ally. Everyone who stands with us."

"Young Master, you should rest. You’re injured....."

"I said gather everyone." My voice was cold and hard. "Now."