Didn't Tell Him
Fate snarled when he saw the assassin's eyes. They weren't apathetic, instead full of cheer and warmth as if he was at a tavern drinking with his buddies and not trying to kill someone.
Increasing the tempo of his attacks, he rained down strikes on the assassin with all the fury of the storm above, only for each strike to be effortlessly deflected with so little effort that not a twitch could be seen.
With the futility of his actions on full display, Fate didn't stop. It was the only thing he could do against someone like this, an untouchable Master that only kept Fate alive right now to teach him a lesson.
Fate was under no illusions as to the power gap between the two. He couldn't run, couldn't fight, couldn't hide. Attempts to do all three were met with failure. The assassin hadn't yet used his Skill, and the disparity was so large.
As Fate's face turned blue and his vision darkened around the edges, he heard a voice.
It was the voice of a mature woman, a hint of seductiveness buried under mountains of malice and rage. While her tone was that of a demon from the deepest pits of hell, all Fate heard was an angelic woman displaying her righteous fury.
It tickled his ears and lessened the pain of the stranglehold he was under, loosening the grasp around his neck and allowing him to suck in a merciful breath as he dropped to the ground and landed on his hands and knees.
"What do you think you're doing?" Lady Alessandra growled.
"None of your concern, Puppeteer," the assassin replied smoothly. "Go back to your books."
"It is my concern, murderer. Look where you're standing."
The assassin did so, his smile finally dropping, replaced by simmering anger at his own foolishness. He was twenty feet from the Academy gates, Fate a mere five feet from where he stood.
What Venden didn't know, what many noble children didn't know, was that Lady Alessandra and the Black Dragon had an agreement. This occurred shortly after she rose to the position of principal three years ago, and was one of the many reasons the Empress had hired her.
What was this agreement? It was simple. One, the Black Dragons could not attempt to murder anyone within thirty feet of Academy grounds, something the assassin was in clear violation of.
Two, the Black Dragons couldn't accept hits on Academy students. This one was more difficult to enforce, as each member handled their own contracts and deals for the most part except major targets.
While the assassin wasn't technically in violation of the second one as far as Alessandra knew, as Fate wasn't his target and he was hired purely to capture Venden and not kill him, the first rule was broken in a way he couldn't deny.
"Now I suggest you run along and rethink your decisions," Alessandra said in a low voice, her black eyes as calm and clear as a cloudless day.
An interesting switch, seeing as how the previously calm and collected assassin now looked like he was about to blow a fuse and the principal had walked in with all the ferocity of a tiger that had its tail stepped on, but Fate was too busy sucking in air to notice.
"And if I find out that you're here for one of my students, I'll be sure to return your head to the Dragon as a reminder of our deal."
"I'll get my target one way or the other, Puppeteer," the assassin whispered. "The Black Dragon does not allow failure."
The man disappeared just as Fate stood, massaging his neck as his breathing exacerbated the soreness within. He gave Alessandra a long look, who returned it in kind.
"Puppeteer?" he asked after he felt he wouldn't explode his vocal cords just from speaking.
"No 'thank you?'" she replied, raising an eyebrow. "How rude."
"Thank you, Lady Alessandra," Fate conceded with a smirk. "Now… Puppeteer?"
"Don't worry about that." She waved her hand, and Mana flooded into Fate's body, kicking his natural healing factor into overdrive as his stomach settled and his neck lost its tenderness. "Was he after you?"
"Surprisingly, no," Fate told her. "He's after Venden. According to the ex-noble, the Grendevens put a hit out on him for emancipating himself."
The principal scowled, tilting her head to look up at the pouring sky above. Raindrops that packed as much punch as a small stone dropped from above fell, and yet could not even shake the huge, witchy hat she wore.
"You should've said something sooner," she said. "That's grounds for termination, and I let a would-be killer of my students go free."
"I was too busy not dying."
That got a snort of laughter from the woman. "Let's get you inside. You can be busy 'not dying' where it's nice and warm. No need to risk hypothermia."
"Hypo-what?"
Fate held the door open for Principal Alessandra, ringing Venden on his crystal ball and telling the emancipated noble to meet in Alessandra's office.
Venden took a seat next to Fate behind the principal's desk as Alessandra scrutinized him. Her gaze lingered on the faint green marks under his skin and his irregular paleness.
"They nicked you with an arrow, I see," Alessandra said.
"They did," Venden nodded. "But why do you care? I was always told that the Academy didn't stick its nose in the affairs of the Black Dragon."
"Before I obtained this position, yes," Alessandra explained patiently. "But the Empress hired me to, among other things, make this school safer. Part of that was arranging a deal with the Black Dragons to not kill our students or near our grounds, in exchange for the Empress not wiping them out like the weeds they are.
"But never mind that. We need to get you cured before the arrow dissolves."
"Where is the arrow?" Venden asked Fate.
"I… left it at Jkn-ala's house," Fate grimaced. "But it wasn't entirely my fault. She practically dragged me out before I could protest."
Venden groaned, his skin growing slightly paler from a mixture of the poison and dread. "Well, I'm doomed."