*Hey everyone. I didn't think I'd get the last 2 chapters out so quickly, but here we are. It's more than possible that this chapter will also go up before 2021 ends. Happy holidays once more!*

...

The whole room fell silent for a few long moments before Kane finally spoke up.

"A piece of Eden...?" He spoke in a serious tone as he quickly turned towards everyone else. "Are we all aware of what a piece of Eden is?"

Ashley and Luka shook their heads from side to side.

Hugh stood there for a little while deep in thought.

"Wait, I think they've been mentioned around before. Aren't they related to grandmaster Altair and Ezio?" Hugh finally spoke up.

"That's pretty much all I know, as well. To us, they're just objects that had something to do with them," Kane turned back towards Ryo. "Is this really one of them?"

"I believe that's just a fragment of Eden, a smaller part of the piece. Anyhow, it has something to do with the piece of Eden. I think it'd be best if I bring this back to the current masters of the guild." Ryo stashed the ring into a pouch.

"Of course, whatever you need to do. But does this mean John Smith was related to the Templars, as well?" Hugh crossed his arms and questioned.

"Apart from the ring, do we have any proof of that? He could have just stolen that off of someone." Luka joined the conversation and crossed his arms as well.

A few seconds of silence occurred.

"I would say we do."

Kane broke the silence.

"I need to tell you what happened during my contract. After eliminating John Smith and taking his ring, I got ambushed by three men dressed in usual Templar clothing."

Everyone's expressions turned into confusion or shock.

"I'm assuming they weren't that good, brother," Hugh noticed it instantly. "I mean, look at you, you are untouched."

"You are assuming correctly. They weren't that tough for me, but they were skilled enough to qualify as Templars. Their timing was also remarkable. Right after I took the ring and stashed it, they appeared."

"So the Templars are aware of the ring?" Ashley asked as Kane turned towards her.

"Again, we can only assume that that is true. But we still don't know the importance of the ring itself. I believe the correct course of action is to let Ryo bring it to the masters." Kane maintained eye contact with everyone in the room and looked for confirmation signs. Everyone managed to nod or shortly reply.

"Well, if nobody else had anything special on their missions, why don't Luka and Ashley show us their new equipment?" Ryo lightened the mood as he extended his arms towards the two young assassins.

Ashley and Luka looked at each other and grabbed their bags. They quickly put their gear on and demonstrated their weapons.

"A retracting billhook, eh? And that bow folds so nicely. Rae must have been feeling creative." Hugh chuckled through his comment.

"My attention is focused more on their armour. You can tell its quality is of the highest order." Kane inspected both juniors as he smiled brightly.

"It's gonna take a bit until you guys get used to it all, so why don't you guys get busy for a while?" Ryo mentioned as he hopped off his chair. "After all, I doubt you'd have any major contracts for at least a little while."

Kane walked over to a desk, grabbed his pipe smoke and lit it.

"It was nice to have a contract again, especially ones where we all had a good time. However, you're right. Proper training is now in order!" Kane shouted after lighting his pipe.

"We can worry about this stuff tomorrow, but for now, I think we should all hit the hay. Well done, everyone! You all made the Creed proud tonight!"

Hugh exclaimed as raised his fist in the air and everyone quickly did the same.

...

Somewhere in Germany...

A corporate tower was built on a lonely island in the middle of a water surface. The tower reeked of dark and depressing energy which was completely different to what the Templar Order usually displays themselves as to the public eye. This was the most secure tower in all of Europe, rivalled only by the monstrous castle of the Creed. There were countless buildings, statues and monuments built in honour of the Templar Order, and all of them were happily advertised to the general public.

However, this tower was completely inaccessible to the public, making it the Templar's private quarters.

It would take a long time to go through the entire tower, but luckily, the main focus of today's interactions within the tower was in the meeting room near the top of the tower.

Three people were sitting at the massive table inside of the room all surrounded by a few servants and other important people.

The three chairs the figures were sitting on were all custom made to represent their respective families.

You could determine what the leaders looked like based on the shape of their shadow.

The biggest man you've probably ever seen or will ever see had the biggest chair just so the symbol of the chair could be revealed.

His symbol was that of a dragon, representing his power.

The other two chairs were relatively normal-sized, but still bigger to indicate the power of the individuals.

One of the two chairs was occupied by a slender, but strong woman, who looked like she could break both of your arms while having a casual conversation with you.

Her symbol was a few lines that formed a tower with a fist inside of it, representing how powerful the woman is, business or otherwise.

The final chair contained a slim, tall and sneaky-looking man. He occupied the space of the shadows most effectively, due to his clothing, his mannerisms and his face being relatively hidden.

His symbol was a dagger inside of a pouch, representing his sneaky and dark nature.

"So, are we gonna hear why you called us all in here at such short notice?" The dark man spoke up with a Russian accent in his raspy voice.

"If this is another meeting about your businesses failing or something, I'm gonna personally make one of them fail. Get on with it." The big man was

clearly not having a good day.

"Calm down, calm down," An Italian accent could be heard from the woman. "This is pretty important. Three of my agents had an interaction with an assassin last night. He managed to wound all of them severely."

The big man rolled his eyes as the dark man tilted his head and raised an eyebrow.

"Get to the point." The dark man quickly stated.

"My agents jumped him whilst he was murdering someone. But, that's not what matters. What matters is that he grabbed a fragment of Eden from the dead body."

The rest of the people in the room all darted their vision towards the woman.

The big man stood up and slammed his fist on the table.

"Eliminate this assassin and get the fragment IMMEDIATELY! I don't care what kind of target he is or where he is, figure it out!"

The woman looked back towards the dark man who nodded slowly, agreeing with the big man.

"I think that's enough for today, everyone. I have shit to do."

The dark man raised his voice, waited a few moments for everyone to confirm his exit and got up.

He left the room with his servants quickly following him.

"We need to figure out where this assassin is," The dark man snapped his fingers, indicating for one of his servants to step closer to him. "Do me a favour and find him, would you?"

The servant quickly nodded as the dark man left the long hallway.

...

Meanwhile, in England...

The sight of the Creed's castle is completely different from the Templar Order's private quarters. It looked incredibly tidy and beautiful, almost holy under the light of day. This is England, after all.

This time we take a look at the current master of the guild's office. It was as big as you would expect it to be with a large desk and chair positioned in front of a giant window. The man occupying the desk was as big as Hugh was, with a neatly shaven moustache and haircut. If you were to talk to him, you'd basically be talking to the Royal Family.

An assassin walked into the room and took his hood off. He looked like a classic assassin. He wore white robes with leather and helmschmied paddings and a classic European sword.

The master assassin looked up towards him and stopped skimming through his paperwork on his desk.

"You know I'm busy, Barton, what is it?"

"Well, I'll have you know, Kingston, that I have quite a big announcement." Barton made it to the front of Kingston's desk and quickly sat down. "You know I'm in charge of Ryo Galler? He's currently in Croatia."

"Yes, I've heard of him. What of him?" Kingston took a moment to remember as he lit a cigar.

"He has just sent me a report. You know the White brothers that have been stationed in Croatia for years now?"

Kingston nodded in confirmation. "They're one of the finest assassins we got around those parts."

"Well, according to him, Kane White got jumped by three templars after he found a fragment of Eden on one of his contracts."

Kingston's eyes widened. "That's huge news! Have Galler bring it back immediately! We need that piece!"

Barton stood up immediately and nodded firmly. "You don't have to tell me twice!"

He walked off and waved behind him as he closed the door to the office.

Kingston got up and walked over to a massive shelf on the left of his desk. He quickly found a section labelled "Croatia" and went through a few files before finding Hugh's, Kane's, Luka's and Ashley's all after one another. He grabbed them all and placed them on his desk as he sat down and started reading through them carefully. It looked like his paperwork was gonna have to wait.

...

The next morning occurred similarly to the few previous ones. Our assassins were doing their usual morning activities. Luka got back from his morning run and managed to land a pretty good landing which was supported by Ashley's clapping from the main hall.

"Looking good, Luka!"

"Look who's talking, you're the embodiment of looking good, Ashley."

The two young assassins shared a happy smile.

Hugh walked into the main hall as proudly as he could. "You're adorable, kids!" He quickly scanned the main hall before turning towards them. "Where's Kane at? I thought we had things planned for today."

"And I thought today was the day we *didn't* have plans for at all. Are we going somewhere?" Luka questioned as he lit a cigarette.

"We are when Kane decides to show up. Have you seen him, kids?"

"Unfortunately not," Ashley responded. "I got up earlier than usual, too, but I never saw him come out of his office."

Hugh raised his eyebrow, crossed his arms and turned back towards the hallway he came from.

"Doesn't hurt to check. Don't go far, kids!" He waved behind him as he walked through the hallway.

Kane's office wasn't too far from Hugh's, so it wasn't an issue to check on him. Or at least check if he was there or not. Hugh still had his manners, even if he was extra energised that morning, so he knocked on the door and waited for a response. After a few seconds, he was about to knock again, but Kane's voice stopped him.

"Come in."

And so, he did. Hugh slowly opened the door and entered the room. All of his attention was focused on Kane who was sitting in front of his computer. The only light source in the room was that of Kane's computer.

Hugh closed the door and stepped forward.

"What are you researching now, brother?"

Kane quickly darted his vision towards his brother and paused his research. He stood up and lit his pipe smoke.

"The usual subjects."

"So, I shouldn't be worried?"

"No, don't be. It's just my usual way of dealing with new information. Plenty of research."

"Keep it healthy, though."

Kane quickly nodded in confirmation.

"You ready to head out soon?" Hugh walked up and brushed Kane's hair.

"Yeah, just need a cup of coffee and a shower. I'll be done within 30 minutes." Kane corrected his hair.

Hugh smiled towards his little brother as he started walking towards the door to the hallway.

...

Luka, Ashley and Hugh were standing outside of a now-closed church, which wasn't far away from the sanctuary.

Their breath could be seen in the cold air, even if Luka was smoking.

"You haven't smoked in a few days, have you?" Hugh asked.

"Oh, I have. You just haven't seen me smoke, I guess," Luka took another puff of smoke and exhaled as he turned his head towards the street. "On that note, Kane's coming, everyone."

Kane's silhouette came out of the massively dense fog in front of them. He kept his head down until he was completely visible.

"Let's head out, everyone. We're taking the rooftops." Kane pointed his head towards the roof of the church.

Everyone turned towards the church as Kane sprinted right past them and started climbing the walls. All three of our assassins just stared in awe for a moment.

"Well, kids, we can't let Kane leave us behind! Let me see your energy!" Hugh shouted as he sprinted almost as fast as Kane did. Ashley kicked it up a notch and kept up. Luka took a moment, inhaled some fresh air and threw away his cigarette. He leaned on one leg and launched himself off the ground sharply. The image of four assassins climbing the church wasn't something you see every day, but the sight was as great as it was rare.

Kane quickly made it up the wall and managed to instantly climb himself over the edge of the roof. After not even a moment, Hugh followed and made it up the roof himself. Once again, a second later, Ashley climbed up, with Luka following shortly after. Kane patiently waited for Ashley to climb up and started sprinting across the church's roof. Hugh just scoffed loudly and sprinted alongside his brother as he quickly waved backwards, indicating for the kids to keep up.

There was a thick wire connecting the church's roof with an apartment building across the street. A huge water tower was overlooking the church on top of the tall apartment.

"THE WATER TOWER!" Kane suddenly shouted as he climbed the wire.

Everyone quickly followed in the same order.

Once they made it to the apartment roof, Kane started climbing up the water tower.

"I didn't know you were literal!" Luka shouted after jumping off the wire.

"It's Kane, that's as literal as you would get!" Hugh shouted back as he grasped the metal poles of the water tower.

As soon as Kane made it to the top of the water tower, he grasped the edge of it and launched himself off the tower. He spread his arms and legs for a moment until he prepared himself to grasp an edge of a building. There was a balcony he was aiming for on the building next to the apartment complex. He managed to cling to the balcony, climbed onto it and paused for a moment to catch his breath. Suddenly, a shadow covered the entire balcony. Kane raised an eyebrow and slowly turned back towards the rooftop and all he could see was his big brother flying through the air and gripping the balcony.

"My lord, Hugh, sometimes your size frightens me."

"You'd be surprised we came out of the same womb."

Kane and Hugh shared a laugh as they looked back towards the kids.

"Go on, juniors, no fear!"

Ashley managed to balance herself on top, but she struggled to get herself to leap off of it. Luka grasped the edge of the water tower and lifted himself enough so he could reach Ashley. He gently tapped her hand which she grasped firmly. They shared a look of determination and Luka firmly nodded. Luka slowly got into position to climb the water tower as Ashley closed her eyes, took a deep breath and leapt off of it with all the strength she could muster. She extended her arms as much as she possibly could, but she just couldn't reach it. A quick moment of fright and shock embodied her until she found her upper body in Hugh's arms as he tightly gripped her.

"I got you, Ashley, don't worry!"

She opened her eyes and witnessed Kane holding Hugh back so he wouldn't fly off the edge. Hugh quickly placed her on the balcony as she instinctively walked up to Kane and extended her arms. He embraced her for a moment and tapped her on the back.

"It's alright, Ashley. It happened to both of us at one point, as well."

Hugh quickly looked over at Luka and whistled. "Get down here, dumbass!"

"Just making sure you're prepared, dickhead!" Luka shouted back as he grasped the edge and stepped in as far as he could. He managed to cleanly land on the balcony's edge. As soon as he saw Ashley, he straightened his back and dusted himself off. They exchanged a hug as Luka tightly gripped her.

Hugh stood there, arms on his hips, smiling. "You've gotta appreciate Luka's step-in speed and the power in his legs."

"He's always had the natural advantage of stamina due to his unique boxing training. Good stuff, Luka." Kane patted him on the shoulder as soon as the hug broke.

Luka did a small bow towards both of his mentors and placed his hand onto his chest. Hugh inspected the juniors and noticed they could use a break, so he spoke up.

"Right, that was a decent warm-up! We can make it to the ground floor now and tour around town for a little bit."

Luka and Ashley's moods lifted and their faces brightened with relief.

They made it to the ground without much effort. It was a trivial task compared to what they just had to go through. This portion felt more relaxing as the assassins walked around the open streets near the town centre. Casual conversation flew in here and there.

Ashley seemed to have something on her mind, but she awaited a quiet moment so she could speak up.

When the chance presented herself, she spoke.

"I've been wondering, right?" Everyone's attention was fixated on her. "I know the general stories floating around about Hugh and Kane since you're both British, but why exactly did you guys come to Croatia?"

Kane and Hugh, who've been leading the group, have slowed their walking speed and looked at each other.

"Well, it's not that big of an origin story. It's actually similar to what you went through." Kane spoke up first.

"We went through our training and our first contracts in England and we were stationed there for a while. Eventually, we got transferred. It's as simple as that." Hugh followed up his brother's start to the story.

"Is that really it? Surely you have more impactful or interesting stories..." Ashley shook her head with slight disappointment.

"Another time, kiddo. Another time." Kane quickly looked over towards Luka and pointed at him. "Luka's story might be a bit more interesting to you."

Luka raised his eyebrows and smiled.

"Why are we switching so soon? I know at least a dozen stories from both of you." Luka said through a chuckle. "I guess mine isn't boring, though."

He quickly winked and started his story.

"My parents are huge political activists. They both own their separate businesses, so you can imagine how excited I was for them to argue over which one I'd be a part of. One day, during my teenage years, a massive fight broke out between us and my father slugged me in my face. He kicked me out of the house and cast me out of my family," Luka clenched his fist as he continued. "I spent weeks surviving on the streets until I came across Hugh. It was kinda hard to miss him, to be honest."

Everyone shortly laughed at that.

"Hugh sheltered me for the night, but I had to prove my worth to stay any longer than that. I'm here now, so you can connect the dots from there." Luka turned his head towards Ashley and winked once more.

"You skipped a few details, knucklehead!" Hugh lightly punched Luka in the back of the head.

"I just told a story about you doing a good thing, dumbass!" Luka shouted back as he held the back of his head.

Kane and Ashley shared a laugh as Hugh and Luka went back and forth.

...

They ended up walking for a while until they made it to a pretty open park area.

"Alright, kids. Our first training session for today went well. The parkouring wasn't bad for either of you, but you still have holes to fill, both of you." Hugh crossed his arms and scoffed.

Luka crossed his arms as well. "That doesn't surprise me, to be honest. I noticed some errors, as well."

Kane was intrigued, so he let Luka speak. "Do tell, do tell."

"Well, my issue was my speed," Hugh and Kane lowered their heads slightly but still maintained eye contact with Luka. "I was catching up with Ashley, but that was only along the thick wire we had to climb over, which is a straight line. If the terrain was rougher, I couldn't have kept up."

"But, you have your stamina to make up for it. You can run so much more than I can!" Ashley tried to highlight Luka's big advantage he had.

"Stamina doesn't mean much when the terrain is rougher."

Kane jumped into the conversation with a blunt comment.

"While it is true you can run for longer and probably faster than Ashley in a straight line, Ashley more than makes up for it with her ability to traverse through building rooftops and up walls. She uses loads of tools to her advantage whenever she parkours. For example, she used the unique stone markings on the outside of the church we climbed up more effectively than you did. Another thing she used back there was the edge of the rooftop when she was finishing her run along the wire. Instead of just landing on the rooftop, she launched herself off of the edge of the wire when she knew she was in range to land on the rooftop itself. Rather than relying on her physical strength to move through the terrain, she uses the terrain to her advantage," Kane pointed his head towards Luka. "And she does it far better than you can. That's one major advantage she has over you, Luka."

Hugh nodded firmly and grasped his brother's shoulder.

"Yeah! Ashley, you probably thought we all focused on your failure to grab the balcony's edge rather than your biggest advantage, but don't worry, we noticed it! You're truly something else."

Ashley bowed after her face lit up with happiness. Luka smiled happily for a moment.

"Raise your face, Ashley," Ashley quickly followed Kane's instructions. "Because what Luka did was equally as impressive, I'd say." Kane quickly turned his head towards Hugh for approval. Hugh firmly nodded.

"Luka was able to use the power in his legs to generate a better leap from the water tower!"

Luka's face suddenly lit up, too. Ashley's expression remained the same. She felt happy for both of them.

"It was done from a smaller surface he could stand on, the very top of the water tower, so you could probably not even see or feel the amount of energy and strength he put into that jump. It would be a lot more noticeable if Luka were to sprint to the edge of a building and leap as far as he could. If he were to do that, he'd be able to reach most rooftops across from the one he'd be leaping off of. He'd mostly be using the power in his legs for that, which is what he's good at." Hugh spoke for a bit with determination in his voice.

"Great explanation, brother!" Kane clapped a few times for his big brother. "Do you get it now, kids? You have advantages, but you also have disadvantages we have to work on. Because of that, we're going to be doing a little test for each of you."

Both Ashley and Luka's faces lit up with intrigue.

"Luka, you'll be competing against me in a one-on-one race across this huge field!" Hugh shouted at his junior as he spread his hand across the sky in the direction of the field. "We'll be doing three laps across the field, and whoever does them first wins! I'll give you a minute to warm yourself up."

Hugh walked a few metres in front of Luka and drew a long line in the dirt. He stretched as Luka walked up and did the same.

Kane turned towards Ashley and lowered his voice. "We'll get to your challenge, love, Don't worry."

Ashley sat down, crossed her legs and put her arms on her cheeks. This should be interesting.

Kane walked in between Hugh and Luka with his arms behind his back.

"You ready, lads?"

Hugh and Luka both looked at Kane with determination.

"Yeah."

"Let's go."

All they had to do was wait for Kane to signal a start.

A few thoughts went through Luka's mind, but he knew one thing for certain. He was faster than Hugh.

There was no way someone of his size could be as fast as Kane, Ashley or even Luka himself. He had confidence he would be faster and he put high hopes into his stamina training to pay off.

Once Kane raised both of his arms straight in the air, they got into position.

Without a warning, Kane sliced his hands through the cold air as he lowered them.

"GO!" He quickly shouted as both Hugh and Luka took off.

The start of the race was tame enough. Hugh and Luka kept up with each other with similar speed levels, but the main thing was neither of them seemed to be losing a lot of energy, so they were off to a good start.

"Who'd you think will win?" Ashley curiously asked Kane.

"It's not about who will win. The real question is...is Hugh going to try at all?"

They made it past the halfway point of the first lap and neither of them seemed to be slowing down at all. Luka had a slight advantage, mostly due to him being so much smaller in comparison to Hugh. Both of them finished the first lap within a second or two of each other.

Luka heard something behind his back as he started the second lap.

"I guess it's time to kick it up a notch!" Hugh yelled out suddenly as he sprinted past Luka and gained a massive lead.

"You fucking bastard! You're not the only one who can shift gears!" Luka sped up severely as well, only lagging behind Hugh a few short metres.

This kept up until the end of the second lap where Hugh slowly started gaining a bigger lead on Luka.

"This is the big leagues now, junior! You won't be able to keep up!" Hugh shouted as he kept up the same speed the whole way through.

At this point, Luka was panting severely. It wouldn't have been a problem for him to do this repeatedly, but these kinds of speeds were very intense. Most people wouldn't last a single lap.

Hugh finished the race with a severe lead with Luka arriving around 15 seconds after him. Hugh casually took a few deep breathes as he did a few squats to stretch himself. Luka collapsed as soon as he crossed the line in the dirt that Hugh made at the start.

"That's where you're at, Luka," Hugh walked over towards him and hovered over Luka's face which was pointed towards the sky. "But look up there, towards the clouds. That's where you could be. You got the guts and the potential. Let this be a motivator for you!"

Hugh helped him up and everyone patiently waited for both men to gather themselves before Kane started leading everyone towards the centre of town.

...

The group stopped themselves in front of the biggest cathedral in town. The sheer size of it would frighten anyone, let alone trying to climb it.

"It used to be a lot smaller, you know? Maybe half the size it is now."

Luka spoke up as everyone looked up towards the top of the chapel which was barely visible.

"Here's where the second test comes in, Ashley," Kane exclaimed as he put his fists on his hips. "We're gonna have a parkour race. Whoever makes it to the top of the tower with the giant bell in it wins."

Ashley's eyes widened, but her shocked expression turned into a determined one after a few moments. She lightly slapped herself a few times and took a few deep breaths.

"I'm ready, Kane!"

Kane firmly nodded and walked up to the chapel's front wall. Ashley did the same.

They both grasped a sigil that was built into the wall decoration as they prepared to begin climbing.

"You can start it off," Kane looked towards Ashley as he placed his foot against the wall.

"Appreciate you!"

Ashley quickly smiled as she took another deep breath and launched herself off the floor. She managed to grasp the second sigil which was a few metres higher than the starting one. Only positive thoughts clouded her mind as she grasped the pace and began climbing smoothly.

Kane closed his eyes for a few moments. He suddenly opened them as he also launched himself off the floor.

...

"So..." Hugh spoke up.

"Yeah..." Luka responded.

"How about we take the elevator?"

"I second that."

They both started walking into the church.

...

There was only so much area the decorative sigils could cover as both Ashley and Kane were climbing near the end of the patterned walls. Kane had a slight lead, but Ashley followed quickly. It was a reverse case of how the race between Hugh and Luka started.

Kane made it to the very last sigil, grabbed onto it and leapt up several metres before grabbing a statue that was directly above him. He managed to climb up using it, even if the statue wasn't the best leverage on the chapel walls. He was met with a wall full of bricks. It seemed unclimbable, but Kane focused his vision on the wall and quickly started climbing it. He noticed several holes in between certain bricks which could be grasped. Even if they were holes as big as a nail, he could grasp it. This was something he has worked on for most of his life.

Ashley managed to climb up the statue, but she was met with the sight of Kane climbing a brick wall that looked completely flat.

"Nope."

She whispered to herself as she looked to her left and noticed that she could make it over to an oval-shaped roof if she could carefully sneak across a very thin ledge. She took the challenge and started moving very slowly. She eventually found a pace she could consistently keep going at and made it over to the roof. There were stair-like objects on the roof, so she used them to climb on top of it. Whilst she was climbing it, Kane was sprinting across a stone path above her. Their eyesight connected as Kane quickly saluted. He managed to jump up and grasp another decorative wall that would lead him straight towards the bell tower. He'd just have to climb for a very long time.

...

Only a few priests accompanied Luka and Hugh inside of the elevator. The massive size of Hugh was more than noticeable, so the assassins tried to keep it cool.

"Good plan, Hugh." Luka genuinely said.

"Sometimes my genius is almost frightening." Hugh sharply exhaled.

...

Ashley made it onto the stone path Kane was running on a few moments prior. Although she enjoyed herself, she started to get tired. That wouldn't stop her, however.

She looked up at the giant wall she had to climb, took a deep breath and sprinted up the wall until she grasped it well enough.

At this point, it was a race along that single wall. There weren't any other ways of making it up there that would take less time than climbing the wall.

Ashley was making some good progress climbing up the huge wall, but she didn't see Kane above her anymore. She wasn't fixated on him before because she didn't wanna be distracted, but she couldn't even see him. Kane comedically looked over the edge of the wall and noticed Ashley climbing up it. He waved as Ashley looked at him with a confused expression. Kane patiently waited for Ashley to climb up, which took another minute or two. He even grasped her hand to ensure she would climb up safely.

"Just like Hugh said to Luka, this is where you're at right now, Ashley."

Ashley couldn't even hold herself up as she collapsed on the solid stone floor. Kane ensured she was not close to the edge at all.

"But don't worry, you're actually really good. It'll just take time before you can do what I can do. Don't feel discouraged, but rather make this your goal!"

Kane helped Ashley stand up and walked her over to the bell on the tower. Hugh and Luka were already leaning against the walls of it.

"We took the elevator." Luka quickly waved.

"It was really awkward to hang around the priests, though. That's the last time we're taking the church's elevator!" Hugh shouted with vigour in his voice.

"Wasn't that your idea?"

Hugh quickly darted his vision towards Luka as they laughed it off.

Kane walked up towards the bell as he let go of Ashley. He signalled with his hand for everyone to join him near the edge of the tower. Everyone looked down towards the ground and noticed a few carts full of hay right beneath them.

"Kids, it is true you're officially a part of the Creed now, but there's one last thing you need to do."

Kane waved backwards and everyone gave him some space.

"The leap of faith!" He shouted as he jumped off the edge with his arms spread and his legs connected.

Ashley and Luka hurried to the edge to see Kane successfully landing inside of a hay cart. He got out of it and quickly waved upwards.

"Go on, kids. I'll follow you."

Hugh reassured them as he crossed his arms. Ashley and Luka looked at each other and nodded.

Ashley went first and Luka followed after a few moments. Their forms weren't perfect, but they got the job done. They managed to land into separate carts. They got out after a few moments and waved up towards Hugh.

"Make some room, juniors. He's a big boy."

Kane was standing further back as he said that.

The juniors looked at Kane and quickly looked back up as they saw Hugh's massive body diving through the air. They quickly leapt backwards as Hugh landed into a cart safely. He got out of the cart and dusted himself off while he shared a laugh with the group.

It was another successful day.

...

The last thing the Begucci brothers wanted or needed in that current moment was a lecture from their boss. But they got one, alright.

Radanov wasn't happy with their performance at all. Radanov was a huge man, but not quite as big as we have seen other men be. Nonetheless, he was still able to disrupt the entire atmosphere of the room with just his voice. His Russian accent was clear, and his tone matched his fierce nature.

"Ain't that a fucking pleasure, ain't it? You three failures want to be professional Templars, but you can't do a simple task I ask of you?! I'll keep this lecture small, but remember these words, you Italian dogs! I'm not gonna be so nice next time. Get the hell out of my hideout!"

And so, they quickly picked themselves up and hurried out of Radanov's hideout.

The Begucci who was injured the most was the oldest brother, so his two younger brothers supported him out of Radanov's field of vision and sound.

The oldest brother gritted his teeth and spat on the ground beside them.

"It's no use, big brother, I wish we could argue with him, too, but he's just a brute."

"I'm aware, it's fine. We should be used to it at this point. But, we've learned our lesson, correct?" The two brothers nodded in agreement. "Next time, we don't go for the biggest threat. We attack the juniors, instead!"

...

*End of chapter 4. YAY, I got it up before the New Year!

Hope you enjoy your holidays and I wish everyone a great 2022!*