The Duke painfully laid against the bloodied wall. His arm and head stung with intense pain as his men moved the would-be assassins to one of the many side rooms purposely left empty. All the intruders were wearing black for blending into the shadows. They wore very little armor just a chest plate, shin and forearm guards, and some chainmail around the stomach and head. Their blades were short and unnaturally sharp, meant for slicing through throats and exposed joints. Despite those disadvantages, they had still fought bravely and nearly succeeded at killing him and his highly train armigers.

He could still remember the thrill of the fight as both sides pushed and were pushed. He fought away his battle-crazed expression pushing it down and out and stood up. He no longer felt tired so he would go back to work looking through his governor's expenses.

It was unfortunate the battle took so little time…

Felix yawned as he was escorted out of his carriage and into the main mansion. He made his way up the marble steps and through the iron tree doorway leading to the inside of a spacious main hall that had splintering hallways each much narrower than the lavishly decorated main hall.

He was walking towards the bedroom when the hairs on his neck stood up and started to burn. The duke dropped into a widened stance and drew his ceremonial saber. Using his hips he flipped his body around in an instant and bisected the lunging figure in half leaving his entrails to fall and pour onto the embroidered carpet.

There were no other assassins visible but the Duke knew better than to just rest his guard. In just a few moments he had constructed two spell circles one inside the other in front of him. He filled the space between the rings with certain runes and shouted the release word.

“REVEAL!”

The Duke's men already formed a circular defense around him when the magical blast was blown out tearing away the intruder's invisible safety blanket. The assassins slithered out from their various hiding spots slowly surrounding the tense guards. For a second or two- it was like the assassins weren't for Felix at all due to their lack of bloodlust, but that assumption was gone the next moment.

The assassins assaulted with an eerie level of coordination. The Duke's guards held for just barely a moment before a flying blade was sent through one of their heads. Immediately the Duke knew through experience that they would not win this battle by defending. He caught the guard's sword midfall and pushed an attack on the nearest assassin catching her off guard and engaging in a vertical chop which was quickly parried by the skilled warrior. The Duke backed off an inch and got away with a light nick across his neck before pressuring the assassin back. She lunged for his neck to kill but he countered with a swift kick to her side sending the assassin into the wall. The Duke closed the distance and put his foot right through her ribs, caving into her body.

The Duke's neck burned again and he dropped to the floor and swung wide catching an assassin's ankles and cleaving them off. He popped up and brought his blade back separating the armpits and above from the rest of the body spouting more blood as the body fell away.

His guards were not faring as well, already two more had fallen and the other three were not faring much better. Felix moved to support them, firstly O'Brian. He attacked the assassin's back but the small figure drew a second blade and blocked the Duke's blade. The little assassin held both the Duke and O'Brian blades for a few seconds. The assassin let out a magnificent roar and threw Felix's blade out of his hands before twirling around and slicing cleanly through O'Brian's left hand. Keeping the momentum the assassin brought both his blade to face Felix and thrust forwards.

In a moment of sheer desperation, the Duke caught both blades between his forearm and broke those devious tools with a vicious twist of his wrist. The warrior didn’t last much longer as O'Brian tore his skull from his head with his right hand digging into skin and foot on the assassin's back keeping him in place. The remaining assassins tried to retreat but several of their blades to their backs stopped any chance at survival.

The Duke stumbled into the wall and rested there. He brought himself out of his focused breathing and wide yet focused eyes to his regular expression.

“Here is one of their outfits, master. We have cleaned only the blood off, as requested.”

The Duke looked up from the mounds of paperwork on his desk and motioned with his head to one of the chairs across from him.

“You may leave it there.”

The older maid set the dark clothes down in the chair and moved back in front of her master to await further orders. She stood there for tens of minutes before the Duke looked up from his busy work.

“Fetch me some tea. Hot, one spoon of sugar.” He looked back down at the documents. “That will be all.”

The maid bowed,

“Yes, right away master.”, with silent footsteps, she left the room to complete her master's orders.

After she left the room the Duke rubbed his temples in irritation. He moved his chair back slightly and stood up slowly. His body still ached somewhat from the fight but had been mostly alleviated from most damage with healing magic. He made his way around the large silkwood desk and took the black outfit into his hands. The Duke raised the clothes and allowed them to wholly unfold revealing their encompassing size. Unlike normal clothes, one would wear under armor the set was made to cover the body from the toes to the neck.

The fine fabric and been gashed in several areas but that did not stop the Duke from spotting the somewhat hidden symbol on the back. It was practically the same color as the fabric but was slightly more reflective making the symbol barely stand out at certain angles in the light. The Duke could tell what it was, and how much of a pain it would be getting them out of the way.

They were a type of open secret in the backrooms of high nobles. They were not specifically assassins but prided themselves on how versatile they were. The Duke knew they would be coming for him eventually but he never thought it was going to be so soon. If they were to be taken care of…

He dropped it back onto the chair.

The Duke sat at his desk and pulled out a special sheet of paper from a hidden drawer and began to write a letter. Firstly he needed to pinpoint where they were located, then scout, and finally to send in the winnowers to thoroughly rid the world of weeds like them.

A knock came from the door, the Duke closed the secret drawer and looked up to the door.

“Come in!” He said.

Softly and smoothly the maid opened the doors wide and rolled in a caster table. She poured and mixed his drink to perfection before giving it to him. The Duke downed the beverage in a moment and motioned her to leave.

He quickly resumed writing his letter. Once he was done he rolled it tight and rung a bell calling in a special maid from a hidden room.

“Take this and deliver it to hawk master. He will understand the rest.”

The lightly dressed maid bowed and swiftly left the room from the way she came. The Duke looked back at the dark garb laying on his chair.

He looked at the Dark Daisy on its back.