Blood pooled beneath me as Iy broken on the forest floor. Each shallow breath felt like fire in my chest. The world around me 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 loomed over me, his face twisted in a cruel smile. "Time to finish this," he sneered, raising his dagger.


    With a groan, I forced my body to move. Every cell screamed in protest as I pushed myself to my knees. Blood poured from a dozen wounds, staining the earth crimson.


    "Still fighting?" Snyderughed. "Admirable, but pointless."


    I managed to stand, swaying on unsteady legs. My golden armor hadpletely faded, leaving me 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 me."


    Michael grabbed my arm. "Liam, don''t! You''re too injured!"


    Snyder''s eyes narrowed. "How touching. The dying protecting the doomed." 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, Iunched myself at Snyder.


    My fist connected with his jaw, the impact sending shockwaves up my shattered arm. Snyder staggered back, momentarily surprised by my attack.


    Taking advantage of his shock, I pressed forward. My movements were slow, clumsy—nothing like the fluid precision I normally possessed. But desperation drove me onward.


    I struck again, aiming for Snyder''s throat. This time, he was ready.


    He caught my wrist mid-strike, his grip crushing. "Enough games," he snarled.


    With a vicious twist, he snapped my arm at the elbow. The pain was blinding, white-hot agony that threatened to drag me into unconsciousness.


    But I refused to fall.


    Even as Snyder released my mangled arm, I remained standing. Blood streamed 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 met mine, filled with horror and guilt.


    "Stop this madness!" Michael shouted. "Take me instead! I''m the one Corbin wants!"


    Snyder nced 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 moment of distraction, I summoned myst reserves. Focusing every ounce of remaining energy, I channeled it into my good arm.


    A faint golden glow enveloped my hand—a mere 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 time to see my attack but toote 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 me by the throat. The elixir-enhanced strength of his grip crushed my windpipe. I wed weakly at his hand as he lifted me off the ground.


    "I was going to make this quick," Snyder hissed, "but now I''ll ensure you suffer every second until yourst breath."


    With terrifying strength, he mmed me 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 me, drawing a smaller de 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 diedpletely.


    "No!" Michael''s voice rang out. He had broken free from his captor and was running toward us. "Take me! Kill me instead!"


    Snyder barely nced at him. "Patience, old man. You''ll get your turn."


    He pressed the tip of his de 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 de into my heart.


    The pain was immediate, overwhelming, then... nothing. A strange numbness spread through me as darkness closed in from all sides.


    I heard Michael screaming, his voice breaking with anguish.


    I heard Snyder ordering his men to prepare to take my head as proof for Corbin.


    And then, cutting through it all, I heard something else—a woman''s voice, cold as winter and sharp as steel.


    "Touch him again, and it will be thest thing you ever do."


    The voice seemed toe 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 emerged 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 cial. "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 de 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 stammered. "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 p.


    "I don''t care if you were acting under orders from the heavens themselves," Mariana said, her voice deadly quiet. "You have attacked a member of my Guild. If Corbin Ashworth has a grievance, he can bring it to me personally."


    She turned to one of her attendants. "Elder Wei, take Liam Knight to the Healing Pavilion immediately." <i ss="ref-7c2aa4">Chapter source: My Virtual Library Empire (*).</i>


    "But Pavilion Master," Snyder protested, regaining some 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 seemed to drop the temperature in the clearing.


    "Are you presuming to tell me, 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 me. 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 eptance of death that had settled over me.


    "Take him," Snyder suddenly barked, finding his courage. "Corbin Ashworth will not be denied!"


    A blurred movement, 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 me 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 presume? Your grandson speaks highly of you."


    "Please," Michael pressed, "can you save him?"


    Mariana looked at me, her expression unreadable. "His injuries are severe. The de pierced his heart. Even with our best medicines and techniques..."


    Her voice faded as darkness finally imed me. Thest thing I felt was being lifted, carried away from the bloody clearing as Mariana''s voice issued one finalmand.


    "Take him to the Sacred Healing Chamber. Use the Nine-Petal Lotus Elixir if necessary."


    Then nothing but darkness, deep andplete.


    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 me. Just peaceful nothingness.


    But somewhere in that void, a voice called to me. Faint at first, then growing stronger.


    "Liam... Liam Knight!"


    The darkness receded slightly, just enough for me to feel again. And with feeling came pain—distant but unmistakable. I was alive, somehow.


    The voice continued, insistent, pulling me back from the brink. "Fight, Liam Knight. Your journey is not over. She still needs you. Isabelle still needs you."


    Isabelle.


    Her name was an anchor, tethering me to life when everything else pulled me toward oblivion.


    I had to live. For her.


    For the promise I made.