The Fallen Hero

CHAPTER-1

"Big Brother!" shouted a small girl with black hair at an older boy with blonde hair. "Look who's here," said another girl standing next to the boy, with platinum blonde hair and ruby eyes. The little girl started running towards them, then suddenly tripped. Before she could hit the ground, the boy caught her in the blink of an eye with unnatural speed.

"You should be careful, Chloe," said the boy, now identified as Leon, in a worried tone.

"Sorry, Leon," said Chloe in an apologetic tone.

"Every time you repeat the same thing over and over again, what am I going to do about you? You are a fast learner, but you still somehow manage to mess things up. You are so shy with others, but you would tell Diana that her cooking sucks, even though it's true, with a smile on your face."

"HEY!" said Diana, the girl with platinum blonde hair, as she started hitting the boy. However, he effortlessly dodged every single one of those attacks.

"Damn you, Leon!" said the angry Diana.

"What's the matter?" said Leon with a very innocent smile on his face.

Suddenly, little Chloe jumped between them. "No one bullies big sis," declared Chloe, standing between the pair in a T-pose.

"Chloe," said Diana with teary eyes.

"That's right. This idiot is bullying me. Thank you for saving me," added Leon.

"Hmpf! I won't let you bully big sis, big bro," declared little Chloe with determination on her face.

"But I just stated the truth. Besides, she attacked me first. I am the victim here," said Leon with a deadpan face. "Also, how are you going to save your big sis?" he continued.

"Well...," stuttered Chloe, unable to find an answer.

"Don't pick on my Chloe. You're just jealous that I am her favorite, not you," taunted Diana.

"Is that so, then Chloe?" asked Leon, turning his attention to the little girl.

"Hm?"

"Why don't you eat your big sis's food for the next week? I am sure she will be pleased."

With that comment, Chloe's face turned pale. "Isn't that a good idea, Chloe? I will cook all your favorite dis...," before Diana could finish, Chloe ran behind Leon and peeked from behind. This froze Diana, as her confidence shattered while Leon still had that smile on his face.

That's how the day went in what seemed like an orphanage. All the children were sound asleep, except for a single one who was wandering around. This was Leon. He was walking in the cafeteria, the rightmost corner from the entrance to be precise. He twisted the photo frame with the map of old France, then he pressed a certain brick in the wall and knocked on the wooden floor seven times. Suddenly, a certain square-ish part of the wall pushed back, revealing a passage. He then entered the passage, and the entrance closed, making every inch of the passage pitch black. However, Leon navigated through the passage without any problem.

After a few minutes, a dim light source is seen, and when he comes near it, we see three men and one woman mostly covered from head to toe with black clothing.

"You are on time as always, 117," said a man with dirty blonde hair. Leon didn't reply; he just nodded his head.

"Okay, so this is your task. Some people are planning on stirring some conflict in the capital to affect a certain business. Although we would do something like this, the owner of the franchise is an influential individual with a strong connection with the minister. The minister is currently of no use to either us or the nation, but we have to do his bidding for now, even though we were planning to kill both of them in the future," said the bald, well-built man standing in front of Leon.

"You have to be inside their hideout marked on this map in two hours. Analyze the situation, and if there is suspicion, you know what to do. Any questions?" said the black-haired man to which Leon just shook his head in denial.

"Okay, then follow me; I will give you your gear," said the woman in an ice-cold tone, taking the lead and leaving the room with Leon.

"He's as cold as ever; it creeps me out, and the fact that he can show emotions in front of others is even more creepy," said the blond-haired man in disgust.

"What do you expect from 'L'Enfant de l'Ombre' ('The Child of Shadow' in French)? He is the best there is, the best there was, and may be the best there will be. The masterpiece of 'L'Ordre du Crépuscule' ('The Order of Twilight' in French)," said the bald man.

"Still, he is just a brat, but they value him a lot," said the blonde man.

"Don't underestimate him, or you would be dead," said the masked man cleaning his gun.

"He is here for a reason, so don't question it. And if I were you, I would be way more cautious of him," continued the man as he kept on cleaning his gun.

"You can't be serious; even if he is the masterpiece or, as you say, 'A generational prodigy,' he's just a child, and we are no mediocre soldiers or mercenaries. We are 'Compagnons de la Lys' ('Companions of the Lily' in French), the most elite group of knights in all of Europe," boasted the blonde man. "Also, it's just a simple assassination, nothing special." He continued.

"There are at least fifty guards there ready to kill anyone they see before someone can reach their leader, who is the ex-member of Compagnons de la Lys who betrayed the empire ten years ago," said the masked man, resulting in dead silence.

"It can't be," said the blonde man. "Are you serious?"

"Little man should be the correct way to call him than brat," said the masked man, done cleaning his gun. "Leon is a man of focus, discipline, and sheer will. His physical stats are inhumane; his intellect is beyond comprehension. It is as if he is something more than a human," said the masked man in astonishment as he sat on the ground. "Last year, to test his limits, we hired a group of trained mercenaries with the order to kill," said the masked man.

Both of their eyes widened in horror. "We saw him kill every last one of them one by one with anything that he could use. I saw him kill five people with a pencil, a fucking pencil," said the masked man with both horror and admiration in his voice. Both of them were horrified by the revelation.

We see Leon moving at inhuman speed, slashing a mercenary's neck. Before another could react, he jumped on top of him and stabbed his head through his eye. Suddenly, another man showed up with a gun pointing at him. But before he could pull the trigger, his point of view inverted as Leon twisted his neck 180 degrees.

"So, keep that in mind before getting some funny ideas. He is the best product of our resources, the perfect killing machine, the perfect weapon in flesh, THE MASTERPIECE, or as the public says, L'Enfant de l'Ombre," concludes the masked man before leaving the two terrified in their spots. They could never see Leon the same way again.

We see Leon in front of the leader of the group, who is scared for his life as he mutters "L'Enfant de l'Ombre" to Leon. Covered head to toe in blood, Leon is as calm as he could be as he swings a big axe at great speed, splitting the leader's head in half.

Word count-1287