Sofia gazed toward Felix with worry but was relieved to find him looking unconcerned. It had only been mere moments following the announcement, and sounds of battle could already be perceived near the compound's gate. The clash of steel soon drowned out the stomps and hustle she had noticed on the other side of the stronghold.

Felix paid no heed to the cacophony of sound, opting to scour through the remains of the mangled corpse lying at his feet. He squatted over the body, perusing through the cadaver's possessions until he found a peculiar object within a hidden pocket of his inner shirt. He held the spherical object in his hand when it started to emit a faint warmth. The orb pulsated at irregular intervals, radiating a dull glow. He wrapped leftover fabric around the item before stuffing it into his leather satchel.

"What are you doing?!" Sofia said, finally noticing his odd behaviour.

Felix turned toward her, his face displaying a look that said, "Isn't it obvious?"

"We don't have time for this. What do we do? Those are probably the reinforcements he talked about. How can we get out of here?!"

"Relax. Do you think I came in here without a plan? Right now, they are too busy to care about us."

Sofia looked unconvinced. Felix ignored her and endeavoured to search the corpse once again. On closer look, he noticed a large scar on the man's chest. The scar was narrow and straight, as if made with a blade, but it seemed too deep and slender to have been made during battle.

Felix took out one of his knives and plunged it into the cadaver's chest. Sofia flashed a look of horror when she saw Felix's action. Although she hadn't led a sheltered life and knew how vile some people may be, she still wasn't used to such a display of gore. Felix, on the other hand, had killed too many people to be disturbed by such a small amount of blood.

Although the knife was sharp, it was still difficult for him to break through the rib cage. He had to use the butt of the knife to break the man's bones. The bones cracked from the impact, ejecting beads of blood in the process. Once wasn't enough to open a path to its depths; therefore, Felix slammed the knife down again. The sight was gruesome, but Felix was determined. Sofia had the urge to vomit. She averted her gaze and took deep, long breaths to calm herself.

Felix finally found what he was looking for: a small metallic disc. He took out a small gourd on his waist and washed the bloody disc with the water it contained. The disc was silver with a tinge of gold. The specific metal it was made of eluded Felix, but he was sure of what the object was. He then put it securely in the inner pocket of his clothes. Sofia was so busy trying not to vomit that she missed the motion.

Felix rose to his feet and quickly searched the other corpses in the room. Once Sofia finally felt better, she turned towards Felix. She was stunned again and couldn't help but blurt out, "Is it the time for this?!"

As Felix rummaged for valuables, he replied, "Why do you think nobody came to investigate? We made such a huge commotion here, even in their boss's bedroom, and no one came to check? They're just too busy to care."

Just as Sofia was about to reply, smoke started to fill the room. She wondered what was happening, and then a loud explosion sounded not far away. The tremor even caused her to lose her footing. The building creaked, and the ceiling came down piece by piece. Felix took her by the arm and led her out of the room, running.

"What did you do?" she asked in disbelief. Felix, judging by the calm look on his face, knew what was happening.

"I set the place on fire," he replied dismissively as if it had nothing to do with him.

"You, WHAT!"

"I mean, there were simply too many people in the way. So, I had to find something to occupy them with. Fire just seemed the easiest."

"You're mad."

"Says the girl who agreed to this plan. Besides, it worked, didn't it?" he said with a smile.

Sofia was shocked but tried her best to maintain calm as they travelled through the hallways. The place wasn't that big but was built like a maze. The hallways wound and bent, leading intruders in a circle. Stairwells were scattered haphazardly around the compound, allowing for a three-dimensional labyrinth. Every corridor was built similarly, using the same materials, making them unrecognizable. Numerous holes large enough to allow passage were spread along the walls, denoting the fortress's disrepair.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Dark, opaque smoke slowly filled the hallways from the ceiling down, obscuring their vision while also counting down toward their eventual suffocation. Sofia had only been here a handful of times and each time, she had to be led by somebody else. Despite her every effort to remember the way, she drew a blank. She was totally lost. Anxious, she looked towards Felix, tightening her grip on his hand. Felix, however, was leading her confidently through the maze.

"How do you know where to go?" she asked.

"I don't. I'm just going away from all the shouting."

She was speechless. She felt an urge to slap him rise in her heart but resisted, opting to simply sink her nails in his hand. Felix chuckled, aware of her inner turmoil. A small humph escaped her lips before she opened her ears to the world around them. Indeed, although faint, the bandit's firefighting efforts could still be heard outside.

"I'm surprised they are still here," Sofia said after pondering. "I would have imagined most of them would have fled by now."

"As long as they don't know the head is gone, the body can still function. Their middle management isn't totally useless. I wonder how they'll deal with the new arrivals, though."

As he finished his sentence, the noise outside changed drastically. A clash of steel overtook the previous firefighter efforts. Despite their hurried pace within the narrow corridors, the battle inched closer with each moment.

"Weren't they allies?" she asked puzzled.

"The gang's boss and the governor may have reached an agreement, but that doesn't mean they are allies. I doubt the other won't jump at the opportunity if one shows weakness. Besides, I don't think they are likely to tell anyone besides their closest subordinates. The leader on the knight's side may know something, but all the higher-ups of the gang were probably in that room just now. When middle management saw the knight company, they probably attacked first, forcing the knights to retaliate. Even if the knight's leader wanted to avoid the fight, once swords are drawn, it is almost impossible to reverse the flow of a river."

Felix's explication makes sense, but some things don't add up, she thought.

Her thoughts were interrupted as they finally reached a crossroads. Unfortunately, both sides led to hallways with multiple rooms on each side and ended in dead ends. While looking through every door for a path would take too much time, Felix opted for a more direct approach.

He approached the nearest window and kicked it. Although the walls seemed sturdy enough, the windows were cracked in several places, spanning the whole width of its frame. As Felix's foot made contact with the wooden window, the latch holding it close gave way, ripping from its anchor while compelling the surrounding stone to follow.

The window revolved on its hinges at an astonishing speed before ending its journey on the backside of an unsuspecting individual. The man was tall and robust, adorned with mail and plate armour. His head was covered in a full helmet, obscuring his facial traits. Once the wooden window met the steel armour, it shattered into splinters, rattling the soft flesh nestle inside the helm. The man fell to the ground limply, unconscious.

Not far away, a group of knights were engaged in battle with bandits. Sparks flew from the clashing steel while blood flowed from their wounds. The sound of the man falling attracted the attention of his knightly comrades. One of them disengaged from battle before looking toward Felix, dumbfounded.

"Don't mind me," Felix said as he jumped through the window and landed on the fallen man below.

Once he saw Felix trampling the unconscious man, he charged right at him, his sword high in the air. His charge, however, was interrupted by two bandits who probably mistook Felix for one of theirs. The knight swung his weapon in anger, pushing the two bandits back. His blows were fierce, but the bandit stood their ground, preventing the man from advancing further.

Sofia followed quickly after, landing on the fallen knight and bending the already damaged breastplate further. She was well known within the gang, and if the bandits had seen her, they would have stopped her from leaving. Fortunately for her, they both had their backs to them and were otherwise too preoccupied to bother turning around.

Despite the battle raging nearby, Felix calmly scanned his surroundings. It would be foolhardy to run around blindly only to end up closer to the main battlefield. He tried to locate where he was, but his gaze was attracted to the knight fighting in front of him. Although he seemed hesitant, which showed his inexperience in battle, his movements were simple yet effective, denoting his extensive training.

If the knight can survive long enough to accumulate experience, he might make for a decent opponent, Felix thought.

Felix then let his gaze wander until he noticed a small staircase leading to the top of the wall. On the other side of that wall lay the dense Acrean Forest. The wall was made of carved stone, joined together intricately and held in place using gravity alone. Although the wall seemed imposing, it made for a feeble construction as any siege equipment could easily topple it down.

The sound of the battle grew fainter as more individuals were cut down. Felix took Sofia's hand and led her towards the stairs. They hurriedly climbed while avoiding their position from being known by crouching behind a small lip on the stairs. Once they reached the top of the wall, Felix turned around to look at the situation in the middle of the compound.

The knights had already defeated most of their opponents and had converged on the remaining bandits. It was only a moment of time before the stronghold fell. Without most of their elites to lead the battle, it was obvious that mere bandits were no match for well-trained and equipped knights.

The battle reached its outcome, and most of the remaining bandits chose to turn and run, only to be quickly apprehended by the knights who surrounded them.

Felix looked further, noticing that the fire had already died down considerably despite the previous explosion. He wondered how they managed it but didn't dwell on it too much as there were so many bizarre things in this world that this situation was relatively low on the list.

He looked down below, observing the knight who caught his eye. The man swiftly bested his two opponents, cutting them down through sheer force. Before checking up on his comrade, he had already started running toward Felix. Both of their vision met. An urge to battle rose within him, but he repressed it. Time was running out.

Felix looked down the other side of the wall. The drop was farther than he thought. He wasn't sure about the landing as it was too dark to see. He turned to Sofia and saw the look of worry on her face. Felix smiled, held her close and jumped.