Keifer's POV | On the Way
Everything was set.
Routes locked. Timers synced. Earpieces tested. Weapons checked and rechecked—clean, quiet, efficient.
The convoy moved out without drama.
Two black SUVs in front. One armored van behind. No sirens. No headlights beyond regulation. Just engines humming low, like they knew better than to make noise.
I sat in the middle seat, staring straight ahead.
Angelo was beside me, calm as stone. Rory in the front, eyes switching between the road and the tablet in his hand. Edrix's voice came through the earpiece every few seconds, steady and controlled.
"Signal stable." "Cameras looping." "No tail."
Perfect.
Too perfect.
From the back seat, Percy broke the silence.
"You know," he said thoughtfully, stretching his fingers, "if this turns into a firefight, at least let the enemies see my face first."
No response.
He continued anyway.
"I mean, it would be cruel to die without appreciating this level of handsomeness."
Aries snorted. "Focus, idiot."
Percy leaned forward, inspecting his reflection in the tinted window. "I am focused. On my jawline. It's sharp enough to cut glass."
Angelo finally spoke, without looking at him. "Percy."
"Yes, sir?"
"If you alert the village with your voice alone, I will personally leave you there."
Percy grinned. "Wow. Threats. Foreplay."
I exhaled slowly, rubbing my temples.
Yuri sat across from me, silent, hands clenched, eyes fixed on nothing. His leg bounced nonstop.
I caught his gaze. He stopped.
"Almost there," I said quietly.
He nodded, swallowing hard.
Edrix's voice cut in again. "Three minutes to outer perimeter."
Rory adjusted his grip on the wheel. "Positions in thirty seconds."
Percy cracked his knuckles. "Alright, world. Prepare yourselves. The handsome one has arrived."
Aries shoved his shoulder. "If we die, I'm haunting you."
Percy smiled, completely unbothered. "Please do. I'd still look good in your nightmares."
The vehicle slowed.
The joking faded.
Engines dimmed.
Outside, darkness swallowed the road ahead.
Angelo's voice came through the comms, calm and absolute.
"Showtime."
And just like that—
We crossed the line.
Keifer's POV | Inside the Village
The village looked asleep.
That was the first lie.
Mud houses, dim lanterns, narrow paths twisting like veins—too quiet, too controlled. No dogs barking. No kids running. Even the wind felt held back.
Angelo raised his fist.
We stopped.
Edrix's voice whispered through the comms. "Heat signatures. Rooftops. Six. Maybe more."
So it wasn't asleep.
It was waiting.
Angelo pointed—two fingers left, one right.
We split without a word.
I moved with Rory and Aries, hugging the shadows, feet silent against dirt. Percy followed behind, unusually quiet for once—only his breathing gave him away.
The first attack came without warning.
A figure dropped from a roof.
I twisted, grabbed his wrist mid-air, slammed him into the wall before he could shout. Rory knocked the rod out of his hand and Aries finished it with a clean hit to the neck.
No blood. No noise.
Smart work.
Then chaos.
A whistle cut the air.
From every direction—men. Rods. Knives. Some guns, badly handled.
Angelo's voice snapped in our ears. "Engage."
Everything exploded.
I ducked as a rod swung past my head, countered with my elbow to ribs, felt bone give. Another rushed me—I kicked his knee sideways and he went down screaming until Rory shut him up.
Percy burst in from the side, swinging a rod like he was born with it. "I told you! Handsome AND dangerous!"
"Percy—left!" Aries shouted.
Percy turned just in time, blocked, grinned. "See? Reflexes."
Gunshot.
Too close.
I spun, heart hammering, but it wasn't us.
Edrix had disarmed a man mid-reload and slammed his head into the ground. "Clear!"
More came.
We didn't rush blindly.
Hard work—holding ground. Smart work—using the layout.
We pulled them into narrow lanes where numbers meant nothing. Angelo coordinated from the center, voice steady even as he fought.
"Rory—roof." "Keifer—two behind you." "Aries—don't chase. Hold."
I trusted his voice more than my eyes.
Sweat burned down my neck. My knuckles hurt. My breath came sharp and fast—but my mind was clear.
This wasn't rage.
This was precision.
Then I saw it.
A symbol carved into a wooden post near the inner houses.
Not local.
Not Hanamichi.
My stomach tightened.
"Angelo," I muttered, moving closer. "This mark—"
"I see it," he replied instantly. "So I'm not crazy."
That's when it hit me.
These men weren't just guards.
They were placed.
Someone had prepared this village long before tonight.
We fought harder.
Not louder—cleaner.
One by one, they fell back.
Retreated.
Ran.
The silence returned, heavier than before.
Bodies unconscious. Weapons scattered.
We stood there, breathing hard, surrounded by the wreckage.
Yuri stumbled forward, eyes wild. "My mother—she should be inside. Back house. Red door."
Angelo nodded. "Move."
As we advanced, one thought burned through my mind, cold and sharp:
We planned this like billionaires.
Executed it like soldiers.
But this—
This felt like someone else had already softened the ground for us.
And whoever it was…
They were very, very good.
We were still on the move when Rory spoke.
"Wait."
He reached into his jacket and pulled out a small black device.
Dropped it on the table between us.
Everyone leaned in.
It was flat. Matte. No logo. No blinking light. But I knew tech well enough to recognize expensive silence when I saw it.
"A tracker?" Edrix asked.
Rory shook his head. "Not exactly. More like a relay.
Short-range. Military grade."
Angelo's jaw tightened. "So someone was watching."
Percy scoffed, trying to sound casual. "Great. Because today was way too easy. I didn't even break a sweat. That's suspicious."
Nobody laughed.
Because he was right.
Aries crossed his arms. "This was a Hinamichi-controlled village. On paper, this place is untouchable."
I turned to Yuri's mother, who was sitting wrapped in a blanket, color slowly returning to her face. "Auntie… how was the security usually?"
She didn't answer immediately.
Then she said quietly, "Heavy."
All of us looked at her.
"Armed men everywhere. Same faces. Same routines. No one moved without permission," she continued. "Even breathing felt watched."
Angelo frowned. "And today?"
She hesitated, searching for words. "Today felt… wrong."
"Wrong how?" I asked.
"The guards were fewer," she said slowly. "Some faces were new. Some posts were empty. And the men who stayed…" She looked at Percy, then at me.
"They were strong, but distracted. Like they were told to stand down."
Silence fell.
Edrix muttered, "That matches what I felt."
Rory nodded. "Their stance was sloppy. Big bodies. Poor coordination."
Percy snapped his fingers. "Exactly! Thank you. They looked scary, sure—but they weren't fighting like killers. More like… actors."
I felt a chill crawl up my spine.
Angelo spoke slowly, carefully. "So the village was secured. The guards were loyal. And yet today—security drops, people change, and resistance weakens."
Aries finished the thought. "Which means someone higher up ordered it."
Yuri's mother gripped the edge of the blanket. "I don't know who helped you," she whispered. "But someone did."
My mind went somewhere I hadn't voiced out loud yet.
Elara.
The precision.
The timing.
The way things moved without chaos.
I looked at the device again.
Rory followed my gaze. "This wasn't placed by amateurs."
Angelo exhaled slowly. "We didn't break into that village."
We all understood it at the same time.
"We were let in."
And whoever opened that door—
Was still watching us.
We drove away from that village.
No one said anything, but everyone was thinking the same thing.
It was too easy.
Angelo stopped the car in front of a familiar house—Sir Alvin's house.
This was where Yuri had been living, and from now on, his mother would live here too.
I don't know when these problems will end. Or if they ever will.
We all went inside and explained the situation to Sir Alvin. He listened carefully, didn't interrupt even once. Security was increased immediately. Guards were placed everywhere. Only then did Yuri look like he could breathe.
It was already 1 a.m.
I checked my phone.
There were messages from Jay.
I already knew what they were about, so I didn't open them. I decided I'd meet her in the morning instead.
I drove back home.
That device Rory had found was still with me. I kept looking at it while driving, trying to understand what exactly we had walked into tonight.
Keigan and Keiren were already asleep when I reached. The house felt unusually quiet.
I was exhausted.
Tired enough to sleep, but my mind refused to slow down.
Still, tomorrow was our exam.
So I forced myself to lie down.
And somehow, I slept.
Author's Note:
I know this chapter is somewhat boring but..... No choice.