A Dagger In The Heart

"Ding"

[You have killed 4 E rank Espers and gained 7000xp and 3000 system points]

"Shit, did you just eat all the meat?" Felix shouted angrily.

"Yes, what are you going to do about" James said with a taunting smile.

"Nothing" Felix answered with an indifferent expression as he searched the D rank esper and found nothing so he took his storage ring.

"What?" James said in shock as he stared at Felix, he had taunted Felix in hope that he would attack him but it turned out that Felix had already seen through his plans.

"Wow, this guy has probably killed and looted several weak espers and had managed to gather a small fortune.

"Hmm, there are some weapons here which are totally useless to me, some beast cores and a pill bottle, huh, how did he obtain a pill bottle, doesn't matter anyway" Felix said as he searched through the items in the ring.

"Hey James, I am going to loot the others, I will be back in a while" Felix said as he disappeared into the trees.

"I don't actually care so yeah" James said indifferently as he sat on a rock near the fire.

"Tsk, what a proud guy" Felix said with disdain as he searched for the dead Espers one by one and looted them before disposing of the body.

After some minutes, he had finished looting all the bodies and was about to leave when he heard sounds of battle coming from behind him so he decided to take a look.

'Huh, a girl but she's a D rank esper and a strong one at that, she must be pretty close to the D+ rank' Felix thought to himself with wonder as he observed the battle between a very beautiful girl and a E+ rank Brown Skinned Rhino, which had strength comparable to a D rank.

"Wow so beautiful" Felix said as he admired her beauty, he had to admit that her beauty was comparable to the top beauties on earth.

'Wait a minute, she must be the third rank, I can't remember her name, no wonder she's so strong, even I won't last a few rounds with her' Felix said as he remembered what Connor had told him at the Martial meet which she didn't attend.

"Hmm, time to end this" The girl said as she created distance between her and the Rhino before waving her hand which caused a bow and an arrow to appear.

'Wait, she's an archer, Connor didn't tell me that she was an archer' Felix thought in surprise because Connor had never mentioned that she was an archer.

'So she's good on close and ranged battles, no wonder she could obtain the 3rd rank' Felix thought to himself in admiration, it was rare to find someone who was skilled in both ranged and close battles.

As Felix was observing the battle, he saw the girl take on a strange stance as she stood at one point while she took aim.

"This stance!" Felix blurted out in shock then discovered what he had just done as he turned invisible.

"That stance" Felix said to himself in shock as he remembered the stance she had just taken, as an archer how could he not possibly recognize that stance, it was called 'Dragon's Breath".

This was because it looked similar to when a dragon was about to breath out flames, the archer draws the bow and takes aim while standing at one position in particular, although to normal onlookers, they would only see the archer standing at one point but they would never imagine that the archer was sending most of the power in his body to his hands to release a terrifying shot.

As most of the power accumulated at the Archer's wrist, the archer becomes immobile which is one of the cons of the skill, to use this stance, it requires one to have a near perfect control over their strength because one mistake and it could cause serious injuries to the body.

"Is the battle over?" Felix said as he deactivated the camoflague skill and glanced at the battleground.

"What the?, where is she?" Felix said with surprise because the girl had disappeared along with the body of the Rhino.

"So you are the pervert" A cold voice sounded behind Felix and as he turned he could feel the intense killing intent radiating from the source which was the girl.

"What?, wait it's not what it seems" Felix said as he tried to clarify the situation.

"Oh really, so you weren't spying on me" The girl said coldly as she glared at him with anger.

'Why does she look so angry?' Felix asked himself with confusion.

"Well, um I did but I won't call it spying" Felix said with an awkward smile.

"Oh really, too bad I don't believe you" The girl said as an arrow suddenly appeared and flew towards Felix.

"Wow, you are one fierce girl aren't you, too bad I am not interested" Felix said with a smile as he appeared on a tree some distance away.

"How did you?" The girl asked in shock as she stared at Felix.

"A gentleman never reveals his secret, bye" Felix said as he immediately left.

"Wait, I haven't punished you for spying on me, arrg" The girl said as she stomped her leg on the tree which caused it to tremble.

"Yeah maybe next time" Felix's voice sounded which caused the girl to tremble in anger.

"Oh you are back" James said as Felix appeared from the trees.

"Yeah encountered some trouble on the way" Felix said with a smile as he walked over and took a seat.

"Good, rest well, we start training early tomorrow" James said as he teleported to the top of a tree and laid down.

"Yeah whatever" Felix said as he laid a cloth on the ground and put out the fire then went to sleep.

Some hours later, a figure with a silver cloak appeared near James as the figure glanced at Felix.

"You are not asleep are you?" The figure asked as he kicked James lightly.

"What is it brother, can't you see I'm meditating" James mumbled as he glanced at the figure.

"You started training today right?" The figure asked as he sat down next to James.

"Yeah, we did" James answered with a serious expression.

"How did you find him" The figure asked.

"He is still not ready, he can't use even 5% of his bloodline power but in terms of combat skill, he is very good, he has good co-ordination, his control over his strength is top-notch, he is able to adapt to different situations in battle, he analyzes each opponent's skill during combat and quickly creates moves to counter them and best of all, his speed is something else" James summarized with a relaxed expression.

"Hmm, then why did you say that he isn't ready yet?" The figure asked curiously.

"His opponents in the upcoming tournament aren't weak either, they each have strengths that surpass his especially the top 10, I heard that they are all strong D ranks while the top 3 are even stronger, add up all this and you can see that he has a low chance of success against them" James analyzed as he gave out the information.

"Hmm, that is true but time is of essence here, the demons have already started infiltrating the continent, we will have to act soon and as you know, he plays a very crucial part in our plan, without him and we can't succed" The figure said as he pointed at Felix who was fast asleep.

"I know but we can't push him too much, I mean he has agreed to this training but I can see that he doesn't trust me that much plus we haven't told him anything which makes me look even more suspicious" James said as he glanced at Felix.

"We have no choice, it's what Master would have wanted" The figure said with a sad tone.

"You think I don't know that, Master left me in charge for a reason" James said coldly as the temperature in the environment started to drop then went back to normal.

"It's not your fault, you had no choice" The figure said.

"It is my fault, if I had tried harder, I could have resisted" James said with blame.

"Blaming yourself will only make things worse, you of all people should know that little brother" The figure said.

"How is the situation with the others?" James said as he changed the subject.

"They are all doing their things, the plan will be set in motion in a few days, sooner or later you are going to have to confront the truth" The figure said.

"You need to leave before someone sees you" James said as he stood up.

"You know I'm right, goodbye little brother" The figure said as he vanished.

"Master, I am sorry" James said with a sad smile as he stared at the moon.

**********************************************

"There he is, kill him" Felix was suddenly awakened from his sleep by several angry voices.

"What the?, where am I?" Felix asked himself in shock as he glanced at his surroundings, he was currently in what looked like a battlefield, corpses were littered around him, his body was soaked in blood, injuries were all over him and several people were rushing towards him with killing intent.

"Is this a dream?, no it feels too real, how did I get here and where is James?" Felix asked himself all these questions with confusion.

"No matter what it is, I need to take care of the current matter first" Felix said as he stood up from the ground and stared at the five people approaching.

"System, system are you there?" Felix asked but didn't get any response.

"That's strange, it feels like the system is directly avoiding me" Felix said with even more confusion, what was going on, this was the question going through his mind at the moment.

"Stop!, wait!" Felix shouted to the men but it fell on deaf ears.

"Attack, for the king" The men shouted as they attacked Felix from all sides.

"What?, their attack pattern is flawless, I can only depend on my speed to disrupt their co-ordination" Felix said as he grabbed a sword from the ground and erupted with speed as he slashed one of the men, turned blocked another's attack

"Arrg, shit their speed increased and they changed their tactics" Felix said as he was bombarded from all sides once again.

"These guys are all E rank but their co-ordination makes them able to suppress a E+ rank like me, thank God they are not Espers" Felix said but as soon as he finished, he suddenly saw an earth wall appear in front of the man he was about to kill.

"Shit, is this a coincidence or just my shitty luck" Felix cursed under his breath as he was forced to halt his attack but as he was about to retreat, he suddenly realized that an earth wall had been erected on each of his sides.

"What are they trying to do?" Felix asked himself as he leapt into the air.

"Shit, damn it, wind blades?, really?" Felix said in anger as he saw several wind blades coming towards him from his rear.

FIREBALL

"These guys are experienced, I have to change my strategy.." Felix said as his turned threw several fireballs at the wind blades but then he suddenly stopped as he felt extreme danger coming from behind him and so he tried to dodge but was too late as an ice spear pierced through his left arm.

"Arrg, if I was a little bit slower, It would have pierced my heart, this is not a dream, the pain is real, these people are really trying to kill me, I almost died, I need to take this seriously and use my most powerful skill, light hand" Felix said with panic and fear, he had come this close to death and it frightened him.

"Spiderweb formation now " A rough voice sounded as Felix suddenly felt the gravity around him reduce sharply which caused him to fly up and slam into an earth wall which slammed him into the ground.

"Arrg, their attack pattern changed again, I think I figured it out, their attack pattern changes every 10 seconds in order to confuse their enemy and cause confusion but since I know that this battle should become easier, their attack are too fast for me to use 'light hand' so I have to disrupt their formation" Felix said as he discovered their secret.

"Now you will pay" Felix said as he waved his hand and a bow and several arrows appeared which he nocked.

"The first attack usually comes from behind me so..." Felix said to himself as he suddenly turned and jumped into the air then fired five arrows, at the same time, several fireballs were also fired from that location but the arrows had been infused with mana so they were able to easily pass by the fireballs and reach the attacker, killing him instantly.

"The next attack comes from my left side" Felix said as he fired three arrows at his left side before firing another two, the first three struck the earth wall that had been erected before the second attacker, demolishing it allowing the last two to strike the second attacker, killing him.

"Two down, three to go, this should have disrupted their pattern, it should give me enough time to plan my next line of action" Felix said as he landed on the ground, this had only taken 5 seconds.

"I can't use light hand, my energy reserve is almost exhausted and the strain from the skill is too much, If I use it and it fails, I will be too exhausted to move which will give them the opportunity to end my life" Felix said as he caught his breath, his energy was almost exhausted, his injuries were severe, his left arm was almost paralyzed and he still had three enemies left, the situation wasn't looking good for him.

"Wait I can just use the camoflague ski.." Felix was saying when he suddenly felt a huge force knock into him from behind which caused him to fly forward and crash into a pile of bodies.

"What was that?" Felix asked in shock as he struggled to stand up but as he did he saw a huge figure racing towards him which caused him to raise his hands to cast a skill.

"Fireballs have no effect on me" The figure laughed as he continued his advance towards Felix.

"Who said it was a fireball" Felix smiled as he cast several wind blades which blocked off every point of escape for the figure and due to the distance being too close, it managed to slice his head off cleanly.

"Two more left" Felix said in pain as he coughed out blood while staring at the two figures standing some distance away from him.

"You can't kill me so let's call it a day" Felix said as he fell to the ground then struggled to stand back up but as he glanced at them once again.

"Where's the second one?" Felix asked in shock as he noticed that one of the figures had disappeared.

"Right here punk" A voice sounded behind Felix as he felt a sword pierce through his chest.

"Right where I expected" Felix said with a bloody grin as he suddenly turned and stabbed a dagger into the man's neck, he had expected this to happen so he had sacrificed a hit to end the man's life.

"You are the only one left, come on let's end this" Felix said as he continuously vomited blood.

"In your state, it's a wonder how you are still moving, you can't kill me with this amount of injuries" The last figure said with a laugh.

'This person is stronger than the rest, I have to take him seriously and find a chance to use light hand on him' Felix thought to himself as he stared at the last cloaked figure who had a good covering his face, since the beginning of the battle, he had observed that this particular figure hadn't participated in the previous battle.

"You are probably analyzing me right now, well now you should know that you are not a match for me" The figure said as he disappeared from his location.

'Too fast, where is he' Felix thought with panic as saw the figure disappear.

"Looking for me, hahaha" The figure's laugh sounded as Felix glanced above him.

'Shit, the distance is too close, I can't dodge it' Felix said as he raised his hands to block the attack but the force was so much that it directly penetrated his left hand, only stopping halfway.

"Arrg, I can't stop now" Felix said on pain as he grabbed onto the figures hand with right hand dragged him down before slamming his head into his.

"Stupid idiot, arrg" The figure cursed as he retreated after receiving the headbutt.

"My left arm is completely paralyzed" Felix said as he felt his left arm go limp.

"Don't you want to know who I am?" The figure asked.

"At first I did, but now I don't give a shit" Felix said as he cut off his left arm completely.

"You...you just..cut off your arm" The figure stammered in shock.

"Yeah, I knew it would hold me back" Felix said with a painful grin.

"Hahahaha, this means you can't use your bow, this makes things easier" The figure said with a menancing laugh.

'Damn it, he realized it instantly, he is sharper than I thought' Felix thought as he stared at him in caution.

"Hey ready to die" The figure said as he rushed at Felix with lightening speed, arriving in front of him instantly but Felix was ready as he blocked the attack and slashed at him with equal speed.

'He got faster' The figure thought with shock as he blocked and switched to using dual weapons which caused the strain on Felix to increase as he tried his best to block each attack.

'His attacks seem strangely familiar, I am sure I know them from somewhere but where, wait...these skills are the same as mine' Felix exclaimed in his mind with shock.

"How do you know my skills?" Felix asked the figure who in return increased the speed of his attacks.

'Hehehe, this idiot doesn't know a thing, since it's my skills then I know all my flaws' Felix laughed in his mind as he suddenly stabbed towards a point on the figures body.

'He recognized my flaws' The figure thought in shock as he tried to block it but what happened next shocked him.

Felix abandoned the dagger as he went for a leg sweep which caught the figure by surprise, he was able to knock the figure off the ground and immediately respond with a barrage of punches before he even reached the ground.

"Get ready to die" Felix said as he brandished the dagger to stab the figure in the heart when he caught sight of his face which caused him to freeze.

"How is this possible?" Felix asked in shock as he paused his attack.

"Now you see me" The figure said with a grin as he plunged a dagger into Felix's heart.

"I..I" That was the last thing he said before his vision went dark.