Chapter 101: Midnight Chase
Leon slowly released the tape and stepped back offering her a charming wicked smirk.
Before Seraphina could compose herself and deliver a highly flustered reprimand a sudden sharp metallic thunk echoed through the quiet room.
A sleek black arrow shattered the glass of the large balcony window flying through the air with terrifying speed. It buried itself deeply into the wooden frame of the tailor’s clothing mannequin sitting just a few feet away from them.
Pinned to the wood by the jagged black arrowhead was a single dried black lotus flower.
The Eclipse Syndicate had found them.
The sharp metallic thunk of the arrow hitting the mannequin caused the elderly tailor to shriek loudly and collapse onto the dusty floor in a dead faint while Leon reacted with terrifying speed pushing Seraphina down behind the heavy wooden bedframe before her hands could even reach for her steel broadsword.
His sharp dark eyes tracked the trajectory of the black arrow straight back to a tall clocktower standing roughly three hundred yards away from their balcony where a faint shifting shadow betrayed the sniper’s position.
"Stay down and watch the door," Leon commanded his voice dropping into a lethal chilling register that brooked no argument.
He did not wait for her fierce rebuttal knowing the Eclipse Syndicate assassins operated in highly coordinated teams and staying inside the suite would only invite a secondary barrage of explosive runes.
Leon vaulted effortlessly over the shattered balcony railing dropping two stories into the dark ruined courtyard before his boots hit the cobblestones with a heavy booming thud.
He instantly channeled his Vanguard Foundation Breathing technique flooding his muscular limbs with a massive surge of dense kinetic mana.
He blurred into motion utilizing his monstrous two hundred and thirty five points of Agility to launch himself over the high iron gates and directly into the winding streets of the eastern noble quadrant.
The cold night air whipped fiercely against his face as he bounded up the side of a nearby merchant building treating the vertical brick wall like a flat running path.
He reached the tiled rooftop and activated his Aura Step skill folding the spatial distance between himself and the clocktower in rapid blinding flashes of dark energy.
The Syndicate assassin was a slender figure clad in form fitting black leather who realized their target was aggressively closing the distance and immediately began fleeing across the precarious skyline.
Leon chased the shadowy figure across the rooftops leaping over wide alleyways and shattering clay tiles beneath his heavy boots while slowly narrowing the gap.
The assassin possessed a highly refined movement technique wrapping their legs in swirling dark mist to glide smoothly over obstacles but they simply could not outpace a man boasting stats that rivaled seasoned grandmasters.
"You are severely testing my patience," Leon murmured softly projecting his deep voice across the empty rooftops utilizing a dense wave of raw kinetic energy.
The fleeing assassin panicked upon hearing the heavy magnetic voice right behind their shoulder and spun around in midair drawing a pair of glowing jagged daggers dripping with lethal purple venom.
The Syndicate killer threw the twin blades with blinding speed aiming directly for Leon’s heart while simultaneously forming a complex hand seal to detonate the hidden explosive runes carved into the metal hilts.
Leon did not bother dodging the treacherous attack because his active Danger Intuition calculated the exact velocity and impact point of the incoming weapons. He casually raised his right hand and activated his Grandmaster tier Kinetic Shockwave unleashing a devastating invisible wall of raw force that violently collided with the poisoned daggers.
The sheer concussive impact shattered the enchanted blades into a thousand harmless metallic splinters before the shockwave continued its destructive path to slam directly into the airborne assassin’s chest.
The shadowy figure let out a garbled wet gasp as the brutal kinetic force crushed their ribs and launched them backward into the sturdy stone chimney of a wealthy diplomat’s estate. The heavy impact cracked the brick structure leaving the assassin slumping heavily onto the sloped roof groaning in sheer agonizing pain.
Leon walked slowly toward the defeated killer his dark eyes flashing with a ruthless calculating light as he reached down and gripped the front of their leather tunic.
He hoisted the injured assassin into the air effortlessly holding them over the terrifying drop to the hard cobblestone street below.
"Who gave you the exact location of the Sterling manor?" Leon demanded his voice echoing with heavy intimidating authority.
The assassin coughed up a dark splash of blood and offered a weak defiant sneer refusing to answer the interrogation while secretly attempting to bite down on a cyanide capsule hidden in their back molar.
Leon anticipated the suicidal tactic and simply squeezed his large hand activating his Kinetic Weight skill to aggressively force massive magical gravity directly into the assassin’s jaw.
The intense crushing pressure instantly locked the killer’s mouth open snapping several teeth and completely preventing them from triggering the hidden poison.
"I am not asking you a second time," Leon stated coldly applying just a fraction more weight until the assassin’s eyes bulged in pure unadulterated terror.
"The Chamberlain," the killer choked out barely managing to push the words past their paralyzed jaw. "He fed the coordinates to the Syndicate because his patron wants the Sterling daughter eliminated before the royal banquet begins."
Leon absorbed the valuable political intelligence realizing the upcoming martial exhibition was not just a diplomatic hurdle but a highly orchestrated death trap designed to permanently wipe House Sterling off the map.
He casually tossed the unconscious assassin onto the flat roof of a nearby guard barracks knowing the local patrols would find the broken Syndicate agent by morning.
He turned around and began the rapid journey back to the manor dropping smoothly into the dusty courtyard a few minutes later expecting to find the estate locked down in high alert.
Instead he found a tall familiar woman standing elegantly near the ruined entrance gates wearing a pristine glowing emerald uniform that radiated a deep suffocating magical presence.