Fate To Fake: Loved by the Fallen; Fated to Kill the Divine
Chapter 28: Thief Rule: 1&2 [Bonus]

Chapter 28: Thief Rule: 1&2 [Bonus]

[Author’s note: Thank you so much for the gifts right after I mentioned it! A special shoutout to ’Lathel’ for the Dragon — these two Chapters are dedicated to you.

And of course, heartfelt thanks to ’LexieFrazier’ and ’Destroyer_s_Love’ for your love and thoughtful gifts. No matter the size, every gesture means the world to me.I’m truly grateful for all your support — it motivates me to keep going and create more for you!

One last thing: if you’d prefer not to have your name mentioned, just let me know. I completely respect my readers’ privacy.]

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Slashhh!

Pride’s wooden blade cleaved through the fireball, headed straight for Leo, splitting it in half. The flames burst outward to either side, missing him by inches. The heat licked at his face as he raised an arm instinctively to shield himself.

The explosion left scorch marks on the nearby ground and sent embers floating around them like glowing fireflies.

Leo turned to her, lightly patting her shoulder. "Remember, just keep Envy busy. Hold him down. I’ll take care of the rest."

Pride gave him a small nod, her voice calm but firm. "I believe in you, Leo. But the moment you sense danger—"

"You shouldn’t talk during a fight," Envy’s voice suddenly echoed from the shadows.

An arrow whistled through the air, narrowly missing her neck. She blocked it just in time, her wooden sword catching the shaft with a sharp thock that sent sparks dancing in the air.

Leo didn’t wait. The moment the arrow clashed, he broke into a sprint away from the two of them, ducking low and zigzagging as he dashed into the surrounding street. Valra narrowed her eyes, watching him.

"Running?" she said with a disappointed sigh, shaking her head slightly as her fingers curled with flame. She stepped off the rooftop with fluid grace, landing without a sound before following after him at a casual pace.

She already understood his plan.

Separate them.

Divide the battlefield.

And defeat them one by one.

It was a clever tactic... if he were a mage.

But he wasn’t.

And that was going to cost him.

While Valra followed Leo deeper into the narrow streets, meanwhile...

Pride squared off against Envy as he emerged slowly from the veil of shadows, his figure materialising with eerie calm. His eyes glinted beneath the faint moonlight as he twirled another arrow between his fingers, already drawing it toward his bowstring.

"You know this war isn’t yours to win, right?" he said, voice smooth, almost sympathetic. "At the very least, stop that foolish Master of yours. He actually believes he can win? That we’ll just let him walk out alive? You and I both know how bloody this path is."

Pride didn’t answer. Her eyes remained sharp and locked onto him. She raised her sword silently, her stance composed, ready.

She wasn’t here to debate philosophy.

She was a weapon—his sword. Whatever Leo decided, she had no choice but to follow.

That was her role.

"Stop talking," Pride muttered under her breath.

Then she moved.

With a heavy stomp that cracked the ground beneath her foot, she launched forward, vanishing in an instant. A gust of air burst outward from her position, and she reappeared mid-air, her wooden sword gleaming unnaturally with a faint green hue.

Clang!

The arrow Envy had just loosed was split in mid-air, cut cleanly in two by Pride’s blade. The shattered halves spiraled away as she landed hard, the pressure of her strike fracturing the stones beneath her feet.

She didn’t hesitate.

Her form became a blur—rushing forward again, faster than before.

Fwish!

Envy reacted quickly, twisting his body and releasing three arrows in rapid succession. Each arrow bent in mid-flight, curving at unnatural angles, seeking her from impossible directions.

But Pride was already spinning—her sword cutting through the air. One arrow clanged off her blade, the second grazed past her cheek, and the third—she caught between two fingers, glowing faintly white.

A flick of her hand, and the arrow disintegrated in a burst of green flame.

Envy’s eyes narrowed. His foot slid back, dragging a curved symbol into the dirt behind him with the heel of his boot. From that sigil, black vines erupted like snakes, slithering toward Pride’s legs in a blur of motion.

Without a flinch, Pride stabbed her wooden sword into the ground.

BOOM!

A shockwave rippled outward from her position, sending dust, debris, and the dark vines flying. The vines turned to ash mid-air as the energy blast tore through them. The battlefield was momentarily engulfed in a swirling cloud of dust.

Envy stumbled back, using his bow to balance himself, his jaw clenched as he skidded over the cracked earth.

Through the rising haze, Pride emerged—step by step, her presence unwavering. The faint green energy still danced around her blade, her breath calm, her expression utterly composed.

Their fighting styles couldn’t be more different.

Pride, the sword—direct, unrelenting, a storm given form.

Envy, the arrow—elusive, patient, deadly from afar.

One needed to close the distance. The other needed to keep it.

While they battled, elsewhere...

"Where the hell did he vanish to?" Valra muttered, standing at the end of a dimly lit street, her eyes scanning every corner. She had been following Leo closely. He was right in front of her moments ago, but the second he turned into this narrow street—he vanished.

She stood still for a moment, arms crossed, flames flickering faintly across her fingertips.

"Playing hide and seek now?" she muttered dryly.

Step.

She turned sharply at the sound, eyes narrowing.

No one there.

Step.

Again from behind.

She turned again—nothing.

Valra’s expression hardened. Her body turned slowly, scanning the alley with a heightened sense of alertness. Her ears strained, her eyes sharpened.

"The longer you keep playing this game, the closer you are to losing," she said aloud, her voice echoing down the empty road. "Not that you had a real chance to win in the first place... but really, what’s the point of hiding now?"

A voice whispered near her ear, too close.

"Who said I was hiding?"

Valra’s eyes widened in shock. She spun around, but no one was there.

But... she had felt it.

The tap on her shoulder.

That voice.

Her heart beat faster, not from fear—but from surprise.

’How...? He’s human. I didn’t hear a single step. No sound. Not even a breath,’ she thought, scanning the shadows.

Leo stood hidden behind a nearby power pole, crouched perfectly in the shadow where the streetlight couldn’t reach. His expression was calm, confident, a quiet smirk playing on his lips.

There were three rules to being a thief.

The first rule? Never be flashy.

Move quietly. Breathe softly. Make even silence jealous of your presence. Whether footsteps or heartbeat—everything had to be quiet.

As long as he didn’t move or breathe too loudly—he became invisible in the dark.

That was the first law of survival in his world—

"There you are, you little rat!"

"Shit!" Leo muttered, jerking upright as Valra turned, locking her eyes on him.

She had found him faster than expected.

’I guess mages are built different,’ he thought, amused even as he turned and sprinted down a side alley, diving over a rusted fence into the backyard of an abandoned house.

"You’re not going anywhere!" Valra’s voice boomed with authority as she pointed her flaming hand toward the dilapidated wall ahead.

BOOOOM!!

The wall exploded in a shower of fire and debris, sending Leo flying through the air like a rag doll. Shards of wood and dust trailed behind him as he hit the ground with a painful thud, the force knocking the wind from his lungs.

He coughed violently, trying to suck in air as heat licked at his back.

But he didn’t pause—not even for a second.

Without giving his body time to complain, he rolled to the side just as another fireball crashed down where he’d been lying.

BAM!

BAM!

BAM!

Explosions erupted around him as Valra launched fireball after fireball in relentless pursuit. The ground blackened and split under the scorching assault, but Leo managed to slip through the barrage, pulling himself up and running again, bruised but gritting through it.

Valra grinned, her eyes burning brighter than her flames. "You can’t escape from me!" she shouted as she chased after him with sharp urgency.

Just as she turned a sharp corner at full speed—

Slip!

Thud!

"Agh!"

Valra’s body smacked the ground hard. Her breath hitched as she winced, her butt aching from the fall. Groaning, she pushed herself up slightly, looking down in disbelief.

The entire ground under her feet was littered with marbles—smooth, round, colourful marbles.

"A mage... brought down by marbles?" she muttered through clenched teeth, her pride stinging more than her body. Her eye twitched. ’Did he seriously...?! No. I won’t even think about it.’

From farther ahead, Leo turned and laughed, his voice echoing with amused satisfaction. "Hehe... what’s the matter? Slipped, Miss Magic Girl?"

Valra gritted her teeth, her face darkening. "You’re really starting to get on my nerves, Leo!" Her flames intensified, melting the marbles instantly as steam hissed around her boots. She rose with slow, smouldering fury.

But Leo was already moving again, eyes sharp and focused.

’Almost there... just a little more...’ he thought, running toward a hidden setup he’d prepared earlier.

Whoosh!

A shadow passed overhead, and then—

Thump!

Valra landed from the sky in front of him, her body still radiating heat. Her eyes burned with frustration, her patience long gone.

"You’ve played enough," she said sharply, thrusting her fingers toward him.

In an instant, a golden fireball surged forward.

Leo’s eyes widened. The fireball was too close.

But before it could strike—

Snap!

Valra’s fingers twitched, detonating the fireball mid-air.

BOOM!!

The resulting shockwave flung Leo back like a leaf in a storm. He tumbled across the street, hitting the ground hard before slamming into a nearby wall. He slumped to the floor with a groan, pain wracking his entire body. Blood trickled from his lip, and his shirt was torn at the shoulder, revealing bruised skin.

"Shit... that hurts..." he muttered weakly, clutching his abdomen.

Before he could move, a heavy step brought Valra in front of him again. She towered over him, unfazed and unblinking, one hand extended toward his forehead.

"Do you have anything left to say?" she asked coolly, her tone emotionless, almost mechanical.

Leo gasped for air, his whole body heaving.

"...Ha... ha..." he panted, lifting a trembling hand slowly into the air in a show of surrender.

Valra smirked but... Then he smiled.

A slow, cunning smile.

"I’ve seen your magic..." he breathed hoarsely. "...Don’t you want to see mine?"

Valra blinked once, then frowned. "What are you even—"

Then she saw it.

His hand jerked. A glint of light flashed between his fingers.

Flick!

A single card.

Flick!

Then two.

Flick!

Flick!

Then four.

Playing cards materialised from his sleeve and fanned out perfectly in his hand with magician-like precision. But his smirk wasn’t just for show. There was something dangerous about how calm he was, even on the ground.

He snapped his wrist.

The cards shot forward like darts.

Swish!

Valra reflexively jerked back, the edges of the cards grazing her cheeks. Her eyes widened, but the cards didn’t hit her. They weren’t even aimed at her.

They swirled past her and zipped toward the poles behind her—toward something she hadn’t noticed in the dark.

Thin threads.

Taut strings that shimmered only under close inspection.

Slice.

Slccicc.

Snap.

Three tight wires snapped, cut precisely by the flying cards.

Valra’s body tensed as she turned. Her instincts screamed danger.

She dropped into a fighting stance, fire building in her palms, ready for an ambush.

But nothing happened.

She waited a few seconds... five.

Nothing.

Everything was still.

"...Nothing?" she muttered, eyes darting around. She glanced back and forth, frustrated. "What kind of trick was that supposed to be—?"

Then it hit her.

"Decoy," she snarled, turning quickly.

Leo was gone.

Exactly as she expected.

Except...

CRACK!

Her jaw snapped sideways as Leo’s fist slammed into her face.

"Good night!" he quipped.

Valra’s body staggered from the force, completely taken off guard.

Leo had faked the decoy—then used the confusion to strike.

She stumbled back, eyes wide in shock, before collapsing onto the ground, dazed.

Leo stood above her, barely holding himself upright. His knuckles stung. His legs were trembling. His breath came in broken gasps. But his grin remained.

"Rule number two..." he muttered, clutching his sore ribs with one hand, "...If you ever get caught... fake it till you make it out."

He exhaled a shaky breath, still smirking despite the pain.

"And tonight... I made it out."