Blood pooled beneath as I lay broken on the forest floor. Each shallow breath felt like fire in my chest. The world around blurred, dark spots dancing across my vision.
"Get up, Liam!" Michael's voice sounded distant, muffled.
I wanted to. God, how I wanted to. But my body refused to obey.
Snyder lood over , his face twisted in a cruel smile. "Ti to finish this," he sneered, raising his dagger.
With a groan, I forced my body to move. Every cell scread in protest as I pushed myself to my knees. Blood poured from a dozen wounds, staining the earth crimson.
"Still fighting?" Snyder laughed. "Admirable, but pointless."
I managed to stand, swaying on unsteady legs. My golden armor had completely faded, leaving vulnerable. But I couldn't let Michael die. I had promised Isabelle.
"Leave him alone," I rasped, positioning myself between Snyder and Michael. "Your quarrel is with ."
Michael grabbed my arm. "Liam, don't! You're too injured!"
Snyder's eyes narrowed. "How touching. The dying protecting the dood." He gestured to his remaining assassin. "Hold the old man. I want him to watch this."
As the assassin moved toward Michael, I gathered what little strength remained. With a guttural roar, I launched myself at Snyder.
My fist connected with his jaw, the impact sending shockwaves up my shattered arm. Snyder staggered back, montarily surprised by my attack.
Taking advantage of his shock, I pressed forward. My movents were slow, clumsy—nothing like the fluid precision I normally possessed. But desperation drove onward.
I struck again, aiming for Snyder's throat. This ti, he was ready.
He caught my wrist mid-strike, his grip crushing. "Enough gas," he snarled.
With a vicious twist, he snapped my arm at the elbow. The pain was blinding, white-hot agony that threatened to drag into unconsciousness.
But I refused to fall.
Even as Snyder released my mangled arm, I remained standing. Blood stread down my face, mixing with sweat and dirt.
"Why won't you die?" Snyder demanded, genuine frustration in his voice.
I spat blood onto the ground. "Because I promised."
Behind Snyder, I saw Michael struggling against his captor. His eyes t mine, filled with horror and guilt.
"Stop this madness!" Michael shouted. "Take instead! I'm the one Corbin wants!"
Snyder glanced back at Michael, his lips curling into a cruel smile. "Oh, don't worry, old man. You'll join him soon enough."
In that brief mont of distraction, I summoned my last reserves. Focusing every ounce of remaining energy, I channeled it into my good arm.
A faint golden glow enveloped my hand—a re shadow of the power I'd wielded minutes before, but enough for what I needed.
With a savage cry, I swung my glowing fist in a wide arc. Snyder turned back just in ti to see my attack but too late to dodge.
My fist connected with his outstretched arm, severing it at the elbow.
Snyder's scream echoed through the forest. He staggered back, clutching the bloody stump where his right arm had been.
"You!" he roared, his face contorted with rage. "YOU!"
His remaining hand shot out, grabbing by the throat. The elixir-enhanced strength of his grip crushed my windpipe. I clawed weakly at his hand as he lifted off the ground.
"I was going to make this quick," Snyder hissed, "but now I'll ensure you suffer every second until your last breath."
With terrifying strength, he slamd into the ground. My back hit the earth with such force that I felt several vertebrae crack. Pain exploded through my body, so intense that I couldn't even scream.
Snyder knelt beside , drawing a smaller blade from his boot. "Let's see how long I can keep you alive while removing pieces of you."
I tried to move, to fight back, but my body had finally reached its limit. The golden glow flickered and died completely.
"No!" Michael's voice rang out. He had broken free from his captor and was running toward us. "Take ! Kill instead!"
Snyder barely glanced at him. "Patience, old man. You'll get your turn."
He pressed the tip of his blade against my chest, directly over my heart. "Any final words, Liam Knight?"
Through blood-filled lungs, I managed to whisper, "Isabelle... I'm sorry."
With savage force, Snyder drove the blade into my heart.
The pain was imdiate, overwhelming, then... nothing. A strange numbness spread through as darkness closed in from all sides.
I heard Michael screaming, his voice breaking with anguish.
I heard Snyder ordering his n to prepare to take my head as proof for Corbin.
And then, cutting through it all, I heard sothing else—a woman's voice, cold as winter and sharp as steel.
"Touch him again, and it will be the last thing you ever do."
The voice seed to co from everywhere at once, filling the clearing with an unmistakable aura of power.
Through dying eyes, I saw a figure step from between the trees. Tall and elegant, draped in flowing jade robes embroidered with silver. Her face was partially hidden behind a delicate jade fan, but her eyes burned with an intensity that made even Snyder take a step back.
Behind her, a dozen figures erged from the shadows, each wearing the distinctive green and silver of the Celestial Apothecary Guild.
"Pavilion Master Valerius," Snyder's voice cracked slightly as he acknowledged her.
Mariana Valerius, the legendary head of the Celestial Apothecary Guild, snapped her fan closed. "Mr. Snyder," she replied, her voice glacial. "You appear to be attacking one of my elders."
Confusion flickered across Snyder's face. "Your elder? This man is Liam Knight, a—"
"A newly appointed elder of the Celestial Apothecary Guild," she cut him off smoothly. "And you have just driven a blade through his heart."
She stepped forward, and though Snyder towered over her, he retreated like a scolded child.
"I... I was acting under orders from Corbin Ashworth," he stamred. "This man defied the Ashworth family and—"
The sound of her palm striking his face echoed through the clearing. Snyder's head snapped to the side from the force of her slap.
"I don't care if you were acting under orders from the heavens themselves," Mariana said, her voice deadly quiet. "You have attacked a mber of my Guild. If Corbin Ashworth has a grievance, he can bring it to personally."
She turned to one of her attendants. "Elder Wei, take Liam Knight to the Healing Pavilion imdiately." Chapter source: My Virtual Library Empire (*).
"But Pavilion Master," Snyder protested, regaining so of his confidence, "this man is our prisoner. By order of the Ashworth family—"
His words died in his throat as Mariana fixed him with a stare so cold it seed to drop the temperature in the clearing.
"Are you presuming to tell , the Pavilion Master of the Celestial Apothecary Guild, what I can and cannot do with my own elder?" she asked softly.
Snyder swallowed hard. "No, but—"
The elder she had addressed moved toward . I couldn't move, couldn't speak. I was barely clinging to consciousness, aware only of the blood still pumping weakly from my chest wound and the strange, peaceful acceptance of death that had settled over .
"Take him," Snyder suddenly barked, finding his courage. "Corbin Ashworth will not be denied!"
A blurred movent, too fast for my failing vision to track. A sickening crunch. Then Snyder was on the ground, blood pouring from his nose and mouth, his eyes wide with shock.
One of Mariana's attendants stood over him, fist still extended from the punch he had delivered.
"Forgive the interruption, Pavilion Master," the man said calmly, "but I felt this one needed a lesson in respect."
Mariana nodded slightly. "Well delivered, Elder Liu." She turned her attention back to as Elder Wei carefully lifted my broken body.
Through the haze of pain and encroaching darkness, I saw Michael step forward, his youthful face lined with concern that belied his apparent age.
"Will he live?" he asked Mariana.
She studied him curiously. "Michael Ashworth, I presu? Your grandson speaks highly of you."
"Please," Michael pressed, "can you save him?"
Mariana looked at , her expression unreadable. "His injuries are severe. The blade pierced his heart. Even with our best dicines and techniques..."
Her voice faded as darkness finally claid . The last thing I felt was being lifted, carried away from the bloody clearing as Mariana's voice issued one final command.
"Take him to the Sacred Healing Chamber. Use the Nine-Petal Lotus Elixir if necessary."
Then nothing but darkness, deep and complete.
Was this death? This floating, weightless sensation? This absence of pain?
No light at the end of a tunnel. No departed loved ones waiting to greet . Just peaceful nothingness.
But sowhere in that void, a voice called to . Faint at first, then growing stronger.
"Liam... Liam Knight!"
The darkness receded slightly, just enough for to feel again. And with feeling ca pain—distant but unmistakable. I was alive, sohow.
The voice continued, insistent, pulling back from the brink. "Fight, Liam Knight. Your journey is not over. She still needs you. Isabelle still needs you."
Isabelle.
Her na was an anchor, tethering to life when everything else pulled toward oblivion.
I had to live. For her.
For the promise I made.
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