Chapter 71: Assassination
Zephyr raised his head slightly from where he lay, face half-buried in the loamy soil and leaves. His eyes stung—not from tears, but from the fire roiling deep inside him, burning slow and hot. His breath hitched again, but then—
"Well. Well, what do we have here?"
He blinked away the haze and turned his head, pushing himself up with trembling arms.
A girl stood at the edge of the clearing, half-shadowed beneath the swaying branches. Her black hair shimmered in the filtered sunlight, and her uniform was rumpled, like she’d been running—or hunting. One hand was behind her back.
And then he remembered. Back before they fought the mutated Ant...
They’d gone around introducing themselves, listing their Arts like names in a roster.
"My name is Kola," she’d said, voice calm but certain. "My first Art induces paralysis. My second... encourages allies."
At the time, none of them had cared. Strangers thrown together, barely teammates.
But now she was here. And she was looking at him like a problem she’d already solved.
"Not your best day, huh, Bloodhound?" Kola said as she stepped into the clearing, the venom in her tone was unmistakable. And then she moved.
A glint of silver—Zephyr’s instincts screamed. He twisted, throwing himself aside as her dagger whistled past, slicing through the space his throat had just occupied.