Shortly after the attempt on my life, I decided to be a bit more proactive in searching for the Shadow Legion or League of Shadows.
"No point waiting for them to attack me," I reasoned. "I would rather go out there and attack them instead."
"Even if you say that, do you even know where the League of Shadows or Shadow Legion are?" Eleanor pointed out.
"Honestly?" I shrugged. "No. But I think I know how to find out. And I'll only find them by taking the fight to their home ground."
"And how do you intend on doing that?" Stella asked, hands on her hips. I smiled mysteriously.
"If everything goes according to plan, then they will be the ones leading me to their home base."
"Huh? How?"
"Come now, you don't really expect me to reveal my hand now, do you?" I glanced around me meaningfully. "You never know who might be listening."
"I'm sure everyone here can be trusted," Larson said confidently. I sighed.
"I know. But you've never heard of the phrase, the walls have ears? Or doors have eyes?"
Everyone stared at me in bafflement, which was all the answer I needed. Throwing my hands into the air in exasperation, I explained further.
"Bugs. Surveillance spells. Spies. I don't mean you guys, but as you saw, these guys can move among shadows."
"That's right," Billy Cantwell confirmed, crossing his arms as he leaned against the wall. "We can sniff them out, but there's no telling where they might appear."
"We'll take measures against them," Stryker vowed. He glanced at Claude, who nodded.
"We already cast wards and other defensive enchantments over the castle. They shouldn't be able to infiltrate this place through the shadows again."
"As much as I trust you guys, I'm not taking any chances. We don't know what other spells or skills they are capable of. We can't afford to underestimate the foe."
"True," Stryker allowed. "Underestimating the enemy is often a fatal mistake."
"So what do you propose we should do?" Eleanor asked. I smiled.
"Like I said, I'm going to track them down…my way."
"Do you know where to start?" Stella asked skeptically. "Randomly wandering about isn't going to flush them out, you know."
"Oh, I actually have an idea." I raised a scroll that I had printed just earlier today. "I received some news from my friends across the border. I'm going to the Havan Kingdom."
*
"Klein! You've come!"
Chris Redfield jumped up when he saw me. I nodded a greeting, also sweeping my gaze across Wilson Willard, Rose Gardenia and Lance Turner.
"It is an honor once again." Marquis Mowbray rose to his feet and approached me respectfully. I also bowed.
"The honor is all mine."
"Stella!" Rose was approaching my aide and Chris and the others left the girls to their reunion. Wilson smiled wryly and patted my arm.
"It only feels like yesterday since we last met." He then turned serious. "I assume this means you received the news?"
"Yeah, I did," I admitted. "Thanks for informing me about this."
"We thought you would want to know," Lance explained with a laugh. "And to be honest, we weren't the ones who found him. It was Rafaela."
The knight nodded from her seat, having chosen to stay in it. She was out of her armor, which was a surprise. Then again, there was no reason for her to be wearing armor 24/7. If she was out of combat, she would stay unarmored.
"Actually, I didn't find him. He found me."
"Who?" I asked. "You mentioned someone in your communique, but you didn't specify who he is."
"I'm Duke Bryce Wayne. It's a pleasure to meet you."
I turned around and caught sight of a handsome young duke emerging from the shadows. For a moment, I watched him, stunned. I didn't even sense his presence.
He reminded me of…the assassins.
"Uh, I'm Klein Pearson." I quickly bowed after a few seconds of awkward silence. "As you probably already know, I'm currently fighting against the League of Shadows."
"I've heard." Bryce Wayne's lip curled up in amusement. "And you even fought them off and defeated them. Impressive."
"Duke Wayne was targeted by assassins from the League of Shadows," Tony Mowbray explained. "He narrowly escaped with his life."
"The fuckers broke my back," Bryce muttered darkly. He reached out and rubbed his spine, which seemed completely healed by magic. Either that or he had the help of a doctor trapped inside an underground prison somewhere, known as hell on earth.
I wouldn't be surprised if he had to climb his way out of an underground pit to escape the prison. Not that I was going to ask him if that really happened. Stella was watching me carefully right now.
"Duke Wayne will prove to be a valuable ally in our fight against the League of Shadows," Tony said. "He has vast resources and wealth at his disposal."
"Didn't they all get frozen?" I asked without thinking. Everyone stared at me. I cleared my throat. "I mean…confiscated. Or burned by the assassins.'
"They are assassins, not thieves or robbers," Bryce replied. "They didn't touch my wealth. I still have all of it."
"As well as a few toys, I suppose?"
Bryce grinned at that. "Oh, I like this kid. That's right. Especially this little aircraft that I've taken to calling the Bat."
Stella and I exchanged glances, but we were sure he didn't know anything about our relation to vampires.
"The point is that…" Chris cut in. "If the League of Shadows know that Duke Wayne is still alive, they'll definitely send a hit on him again."
"And you too." Wilson regarded me seriously. "I heard they had an attempt on your life as well."
"We were so worried!" Rose exclaimed, holding Stella's hands tightly. Stella smiled reassuringly.
"As you can see, nothing happened. We're all safe. Don't worry, we are pretty strong. The assassins are no match for us."
"That's probably because they didn't send out their big guns," Bryce warned. "You didn't meet Alan Assam. He's not a former member of the strongest Hero party for nothing."
Well, on that topic, I was also a former member of the strongest Hero party…but I didn't like boasting, nor did I want to be reminded of my tainted relationship with those hateful fellas, so I didn't say anything.
On the other hand, I couldn't help but smile.
"Oh, I look forward to meeting Alan again."
"They will definitely send him again," Lance agreed. "Their pride at being renowned assassins who never fail will take a hit. There's no way they will let you or the duke go. They will attempt to complete their mission, no matter the cost."
"It even happened twice!" Chris laughed. "Twice in a row! They must be feeling pretty humiliated right now!"
"This isn't a laughing matter!" Rose snapped.
"I don't think anyone is treating this as a joke," Wilson assured her. "But they are right. This is a blow to their pride. Surely they will attempt to rectify this…and we can use this opportunity to counterattack!"
"We'll destroy them!" Lance vowed, raising a fist.
"We shall see." I pushed my glasses up my nose and contemplated. Honestly, I didn't plan to kill all the assassins they sent. I needed to track them back to their home base…then only I could wipe them all out.
"Before then, I need to tell you something." Bryce Wayne cleared his throat. "I once trained under the League of Shadows."
"WHAT!?"
Almost everyone jumped to their feet to stare at him in shock. Bryce looked sheepish.
"Now that I think about it, that wasn't a good idea."
"Why did you even do that?" Tony Mowbray demanded, annoyed.
"My parents…they were murdered by robbers shortly after we left a theater," Bryce explained. "To prevent such tragedies from ever happening again, I vowed to clean up my city…to get rid of the corrupted officials and to exterminate the gangs and mafias who operated underground. In order to achieve that, I needed to learn how to fight…how to move around stealthily in the underground, and how to eradicate them."
"Why does this sound so familiar?" I whispered to Stella, only for her to kick me in the shin.
"So I trained under Ralph Da Ghoul himself. He personally taught me how to fight, how to blend into the shadows…everything." Bryce sighed. "But after many years under his guidance, we parted because of a disagreement."
"What sort of disagreement?" Chris wondered out loud.
"The League of Shadows is an organization of assassins," Bryce explained. "In other words…they exist to kill. I refused to take the lives of others. That caused a split between us, and so I left."
"But one never truly leaves the League of Shadows," I said. Everyone turned to stare at me, probably wondering why I was being so dramatic. Bryce, on the other hand, nodded.
"Just so. That is why Ralph Da Ghoul commissioned a hit on me. He even sent his strongest assassin, Alan Assam."
"Why didn't Alan Assam attack us the other night?" Stella asked with a frown, glancing at me. I shrugged.
"He probably thought I was trash and thus not worthy of his attention."
No, that wasn't true. If anything, Alan was the only one in the Hero party who valued my abilities and didn't look down on me. There was probably another reason, but at that time, I didn't know what it was.
*
The reason, as it turned out, was actually very simple.
Alan Assam had stayed behind because this was his best chance to usurp Ralph Da Ghoul and become the new leader of the League of Shadows.
"My lord, are you feeling okay?" he asked, approaching the master of the League of Shadows. Ralph Da Ghoul reclined in his seat, as if drained. Alan smiled inwardly. This was a sign that the poison he had slipped into his lord's drinks was working.
A slow-acting poison that couldn't be traced. Almost couldn't be traced. Perhaps those still loyal to Ralph Da Ghoul would eventually discover the poison after his death, but by then it would be too late. Right now, it only appeared as if Ralph Da Ghoul was ill.
The leader of the League of Shadows appeared to be in his late forties or early fifties, with his dark beard and close-cropped hair streaked by silver. Slight wrinkles crinkled the edge of his eyes, which continued to shine with a vigor that surpassed youths half his age. Alan noted that even when poisoned, the master continued to show strong signs of life in his eyes.
The guy resembled Liam Neeson, for some reason. In some other universe, he would probably be a Jedi Master training padawans, but in this incarnation he resembled an immortal assassin from the League of Shadows who inadvertently mentored a vigilante.
Not that Alan knew any of this. He wasn't reincarnated from another world, after all.
"Just a little bit under the weather, my disciple," Ralph Da Ghoul replied. He coughed and wheezed. "Ugh…I might have caught a cold. I hope it's not Covid-19."
"What?" Alan blurted out. "Co…what?"
"Never mind." Ralph Da Ghoul coughed again and waved Alan away. "A little rest should do it."
"I will help you," Alan quickly offered and hurried toward his master's seat. Ralph Da Ghoul frowned.
"No, I said…"
"You misunderstand me, Master." Alan finally revealed a cold grin. "I'll be helping you rest…in peace. Forever."
His daggers scythed out, intersecting toward Ralph Da Ghoul's throat. For a moment, Alan thought it was over, his blades bisecting Ralph Da Ghoul's neck and beheading the leader of the League of Shadows.
As he paused triumphantly, he realized something was amiss.
There was no blood.
"How…?"
"Huh…I was wondering when you would show your true colors." Ralph Da Ghoul's form shimmered for a moment, and then a totally unscathed lord of the assassins smacked Alan away. Alan reacted on instinct, jumping back as far as he could, only for blood to spurt from his midriff.
"Gah!"
Screaming in pain, he sank to his knees, clutching at his eviscerated abdomen and doing his best to keep his intestines from spilling outside. Bile rose to his throat and he glanced up at Ralph Da Ghoul, not comprehending.
"I enjoyed our little game, but…you were too impatient, young Alan. Too complacent." Ralph Da Ghoul sighed, as if disappointed. "I thought I trained you well…and indeed, you have achieved much. Perhaps that was why you lost sight of what I taught you."
"What…?"
"Never underestimate your opponent. I drilled that into your head over and over again. Did you think you could forget that just because the other party is me?" Ralph Da Ghoul scoffed. "I've been fighting off usurpers to my throne for centuries now. You're not the first, nor will you be the last."
"The…the poison." Alan shook his head, even as the blood dribbled from his mouth. "How…? You shouldn't be able to…"
"Ah, the poison. A nice touch, I admit." Ralph Da Ghoul rose from his seat and stretched himself. "I almost didn't catch it. It would have worked…if I was human."
"Human?" Alan's bloody jaw dropped.
Ralph Da Ghoul merely smiled before closing in on his errant disciple.
"I guess I should show you the truth before your death, my dear disciple."