CHAPTER 75: YOU CAN’T JUST COME AND GO AS YOU PLEASE!

He looked at the guards with hatred burning behind his mask. "We’ll drag you all into the dirt with us."

The other three Shadows chuckled darkly, their voices distorted by the pulsing energy in their bodies. Their veins glowed faintly, their muscles twitching unnaturally as the pill surged through them.

"Kill them all!" Jack roared.

The courtyard erupted.

Clang! Clang! Thoom!

Jack hurled himself forward, faster and heavier than before, his arms bulging unnaturally as he tore a spear straight from a guard’s grip. He snapped the weapon across his knee and rammed the broken shaft into the man’s armor, sending him sprawling with a scream.

"Too easy!" Jack snarled, his chest heaving with drugged frenzy.

Crowe Redhand lashed his wire, the steel line cutting through three spears at once. "Snare Lash!" He yanked hard, dragging a guard off his feet and slamming him into another like sacks of grain. "You dogs can’t hold us forever!"

Silas Veilmist blurred forward, his Phantom Slice even more vicious with his boosted speed. The twin-image slash cut through a shield and sank into the arm behind it, spraying blood. "Hah! You can’t block shadows, fools!"

And Veyra Nightpetal, poison gleaming along her daggers, slipped past two guards with snake-like grace. She carved shallow cuts across their legs, her venom burning instantly. The men staggered, slowed. She tilted her head with a cruel smile. "One touch is enough... watch your strength drain away."

For a moment, the tide shifted. Guards fell back, some bleeding, some crying out in pain.

But then the Berserker roared, his fiery aura blazing again. "Don’t falter! Hold the line!"

The guards bellowed as one, slamming their shields together with a thunderous crack. "For Lady Seraphina! For the Goddess!"

They pressed forward.

Despite their wounds, despite their fatigue, the soldiers’ numbers weighed heavy. Blades cut into the thieves’ drugged flesh, shallow wounds stacking with every exchange.

Jack growled, throwing a guard back with a savage punch. "Damn pests! Why won’t you die?!"

A guard, bleeding from his temple, spat blood onto the ground and raised his sword again. "Because unlike you... we fight for something greater than coin."

Crowe cursed, his whip recoiling after another failed lash. "Tch! Numbers... their numbers are choking us!"

Silas hissed, his breathing ragged. His Phantom Slice struck another shield, but this time the guards didn’t break. Their locked formation absorbed the strike, forcing him back a step. "Damn it... the effect’s... wearing off..."

Veyra’s arms trembled faintly as her daggers dripped slower. She staggered after dodging a spear thrust, her eyes narrowing in frustration. "The poison... not biting deep enough anymore..."

Jack looked around, chest heaving, sweat dripping down his brow beneath the mask. He saw his comrades slowing, their movements less sharp, their breathing harsher.

"No... no, no, no! This was supposed to be smooth!" He slashed wildly, forcing a guard back, but his voice cracked with fury and despair. "We were supposed to take the offerings and vanish! Now look at us — rats cornered by fodder!"

Another guard lunged forward, driving his blade across Jack’s chest. The thief staggered, roaring.

"Persistent bastards!" Silas cursed, his mask cracked, blood trailing from his mouth.

"You’ll break!" Crowe spat, voice shaking. "You have to!"

But the guards only pressed harder. Even wounded, they refused to yield. Their shields pushed, their blades stabbed, their voices rose together:

"For the Goddess!"

The thieves faltered, the pill’s effects burning away their stamina faster than they could kill. Their chests heaved, their muscles ached, and despair began to creep into their eyes.

Jack stumbled back, clutching his chest. "Damn it... it’s slipping... I can feel it... my body’s failing..."

Silas’s sword arm trembled. "It’s... wearing off too fast."

Crowe panted, dropping to one knee for a heartbeat before forcing himself up again. "We can’t... keep this up..."

Veyra bit her lip, fury burning in her eyes, but beneath it was fear. "No... this can’t be where it ends..."

The guards closed in, blades raised, ready to finish it.

And then—

A shadow fell over the battlefield.

The air shifted. Every instinct screamed danger.

The thieves froze mid-breath, their ragged bodies stiffening, their heads turning as one.

A calm, cold voice cut through the haze like a blade.

"...What are you four going to do now?"

The silver glow of moonlight spilled across the courtyard as Xavier stepped into view, his eyes sharp, his presence heavy as stone.

"Your leader is dead."

Xavier gave the bloodied guards a nod, his smirk calm.

"I thought you guys would be needing my help," he said evenly, "but it looks like there’s no need for that."

He lifted a hand, and moonlight shimmered.

In an instant, the guards’ wounds closed, their fatigue washed away. Muscles eased, strength returned. Their eyes widened in disbelief as stamina surged back into their veins, as if they had just stepped fresh onto the battlefield.

"You all did well," Xavier said simply.

The thieves’ eyes narrowed.

"...Tch." Jack clenched his teeth.

A glance passed between the four of them — a single, silent signal.

And then, without warning—

Swoosh!

Their bodies blurred into motion, breaking free from the ring of guards with explosive speed. Their footfalls barely touched stone as they dashed for the shadowed exit at the far end of the courtyard.

"After them—!" a guard shouted, but he knew they couldn’t keep up. The speed was monstrous, each of the thieves vanishing like streaks of shadow into the night.

Their boots hit earth, their breath sharp and heavy. The pills burned through their blood like fire, every muscle screaming, but still they pushed forward.

"Damn it!" Jack hissed between ragged breaths. "That guy... that Xavier... he’s strange."

Silas grit his teeth, his blurred form streaking beside him. "His aura—it’s erupting even stronger than our leader’s ever did! How the hell is that possible?"

Crowe spat blood, his wire bouncing at his hip as he ran. "As expected... the personal guard of Lady Seraphina isn’t as simple as Sir thought. The royal family must’ve gone all out on her...!"

Veyra’s voice was sharp, bitter, her breath shaky. "To think... the target of our next operation has already obstructed us in this one. If the nobles planted a man like him at her side... damn it, this changes everything!"

"Enough!" Jack barked, his mask cracked, blood trailing from his lips. "It doesn’t matter now! We’re alive, and that’s all that counts. We regroup, report back—then stronger blades will be sent. We’re not the end of this mission."

Their speed doubled, the talismans flaring faintly on their bodies. The wind howled past them, stone and shadow blurring.

But as they tore around the final bend toward the exit...

Their hearts stopped.

Their faces drained of color.

Because there — standing casually in the open archway, bathed in silver moonlight — was a lone silhouette.

Hands loose at his sides, posture relaxed.

A faint smirk curling his lips.

Xavier.

"...No... no way." Silas stumbled, his body twitching. "How... how is he already here?!"

Crowe’s voice cracked with disbelief. "Our speed-boosting talismans— they should have made us untouchable! No one—no one—could’ve outrun us!"

Veyra’s legs nearly buckled as a cold realization ran through her veins. "...He didn’t outrun us. He was already waiting."

Jack’s breath caught, his rage crumbling into dread. "Impossible. Impossible!"

Xavier tilted his head slightly, his eyes glowing faintly with moonlight. His voice was calm, cold, cutting through the silence like a blade.

"Running already?" Xavier’s voice was smooth, cold, dripping disdain.

His eyes sharpened, silver light rippling faintly over his form. "This premise isn’t a place you can come and go as you please..."

And then he moved.

Swoosh!

A blur of silver.

Before the thieves could even raise a weapon, Xavier’s boots slammed into their joints — knees, ankles, shoulders — each kick precise, devastating.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

In a heartbeat, all four were driven down to the ground, forced onto their knees. Painful grunts echoed in unison as the assassins clutched their limbs, their bodies convulsing from the sudden agony.

Jack’s masked face tilted up, veins bulging on his temple. "W-what... what the hell are you...?"

Silas coughed, spitting blood onto the stone floor. "No... no way... how could he..."

Crowe hissed, his voice trembling as he held his broken leg. "We... we couldn’t even see him move..."

Veyra’s lips trembled beneath her mask, fury and dread mixing. "...Not human... he’s not human..."

Xavier stood before them, arms folded, his gaze as calm as still water. "That’s all? You four made such a spectacle a moment ago, tearing through trained men... and now look at you. On your knees."

The silence that followed was broken by the sound of armored boots.

The guards surged into the courtyard, weapons raised, their eyes widening at the sight before them: the infamous Shadows, broken and kneeling.

One of them spat to the side. "So much for the great assassins."

Another barked out a laugh, relief and pride mixed in his voice. "All that boasting, all that poison and shadow play... and in the end, Sir Xavier didn’t even let you run ten steps."