The council room was a large area. The walls were draped with the banner of Noxus and lit only by candle-light, shadows forming and disappearing as the candles flickered. The centre of the room was dominated by a massive table and surrounding the table was ten magnificent thrones, each the colour if purple and decorated with a family crest. Nine of the seats were occupied; each occupant was a Noxian general who had proven his worth in hundreds of battles. With the addition of the League of Legends, each nation's military were no longer needed as all conflicts were fought on the League of Legends battlefields. Now, the council's job was the management of Noxus, and ensuring that when the League of Legends failed, Noxus would be ready for the inevitable wars. The council members were not the only ones inhabiting the hall, all ten members of the Crimson Elite were present dotted around the room and the council members had their own private security forces that had taken positions. Marcus Du Couteau and his daughter Cassiopeia were also present. While Cassiopeia's appearance would have caused a normal man to stare in fear, now that 3 years had now passed since the transformation happened, it had been accepted into daily life by most Noxians, especially when she fought in the League of Legends for Noxus. The grand double doors at the entrance suddenly flung open and Grand General Swain entered the room, accompanied by his bodyguard, Darius. He took his seat at the end of the table and looked at his fellow council members. "Gentlemen." He said. "Thank you for coming, we have a lot to discuss."

Outside the Council hall, Talon and Katarina prowled the hallways of the Noxian high command. They had spent the past hour interrogating guards and clerks for information of the Black Rose. Talon was certain that the guards knew nothing and any clues to Leblanc's location would come from documents before Swain became the Grand General. As such, they were on their way to the archives to see if there was anything of interest there. Katarina was playing with a dagger as they walked. She flipped it round her finger before throwing it into the air and caught it with her other hand. She flipped it in the air again, where it was promptly caught by Talon. He glared at her before continuing down the hall. Katarina sighed inwardly; it was going to be a long day.

"As you are probably aware," said Swain, "recently, documents containing our defensive plans were stolen a few days ago. One of my assassins tracked down the one who stole the documents and killed him. We also identified several men in the high command who had helped him obtain these documents and they were dealt with accordingly. However, the documents themselves were not recovered and were sold to a third party." Swain glanced at the council, "We believe that the documents are now in the possession of the Black Rose." The council simply stared at him. As far as they knew, the Black Rose had been disbanded years ago. "As you know, General Du Couteau has retuned today. He has spent the last two years inside the Black rose and has information that you will find interesting. Swain nodded his head and Marcus stepped towards the table.

"Is he in position?"

"Yes m'lady, he and his men are ready to strike on your signal." The woman chuckled and stood up, leaving her throne and signalling the man to accompany her. They walked on into a massive chamber that was illuminated only by a few lamps, dotted around the room. She came to a halt and turned to her companion.

"What about our other allies, are they prepared?"

"We haven't heard from them since they left to prepare, I imagine that..." He stopped mid sentence as the woman turned to him placing her hand on his chin. She was wearing a very revealing purple outfit with a black and gold cape flowing behind her. As she gripped his chin, she whispered "Are you telling me that you have no idea where our biggest liability is? The ones most likely to turn against us? Is that what you are saying, Allirn?" The words were spoken with a seductive nature, but her eyes were glaring like hellfire at the man in question, who gulped and responded.

"I-I'll go and see if they are still waiting for us." He said, panic clearly written in his eyes.

"Good boy, run along now." The woman said and he scrambled away. She turned around and glanced at the 50 armoured men that stood in attention in front of her.

"How much longer m'lady?" Said the lead warrior. Leblanc smiled,

"Come with me, it is time."

Draven had a smile plastered to his face as he swaggered down the hall towards his room that he had obtained after he became head executioner. It sure made a change from his past life when he and Darius lived on the streets. He winced as he remembered what they went through, but quickly cleared his thoughts as more recent memories swept through his mind. He loved his job. He loved seeing his axes bounce of his targets as they tried to escape from him, blood spraying from there wound as they fell. However, this would not be enough if it wasn't for the crowds cheering him as he took each prisoner fell before his axes. He was a few steps from his door when he heard a creaking sound behind him. Instincts from his past took over as he dived behind a pillar. He turned his head and saw a slight dent in the wall. Suddenly, the wall opened from the dent and a man entered from where the wall was. He was dressed in full body armour apart from his face. On the front of his armour, an indent of a black rose was engraved. His face was pale and short dark hair covered his face and his brown eyes darted around the corridor. Seeing no one around, he signalled and more men followed him. These ones were different in that they wore helmets that completely covered their face, in an attempt to look at menacing as possible. Draven counted at least 20 before he turned and crept to his room next to him. He grabbed his axes and waited a while before leaving again. He had to find Darius...

Darius stood next to Swain as General Du Couteau informed the room about his experience. Both he and the grand general had already heard the story in his office and his eyes wandered round the room in boredom. He glanced at the other generals who were listening to Du Couteau's story. Each one had a look of fear in their eyes as they heard that Leblanc was back. As his eyes passed over the last member, something caught his attention. The man's shadow seemed to have a mind of its own, it was moving slowly. Across the room, Du Couteau was finishing his speech.

"... are still dangerous..." The shadow moved faster. "They could strike at any time..." Darius's eyes widened, the shadow was getting bigger. "... and anywhere" As he finished the statement a figure leapt from the shadow, blade shining as he rammed it into the council members heart. Darius whirled his axe around and met a blade of another man as he was about to kill the Grand General. The man wore armour on the upper part of his body and tight fitting trousers. He was wearing a helmet with thin lines in front of his mouth. His eyes seemed to glow red in the candlelight. The blade that his axe had met was attached to a gauntlet on his right arm. Darius noticed another blade attached to the seconded arm as the man swung it towards his chest. Darius drew a knife with his left hand and barely deflected the strike. Holding his axe with his right hand, he pressed it on the man, the weapons weight giving him an advantage in a grappling situation. As they pressed together, Darius felt a projectile narrowly miss his face and imbed itself into the man's helmet. Behind him, Kelik charged forwards, his Hextech revolver hot in his hands from firing. The man leapt away, growling. He surveyed the room.

"Close enough," he muttered before being swallowed by the shadows and disappearing from sight. Darius spun around; the Grand General was being assessed by Kelik for injuries. Darius froze, every member of the council was dead, a knife piecing every man's heart. Their respected bodyguards tried desperately to awaken them. The only two members not killed were the Grand General who was saved by Darius, and General Du Couteau, who was in the process of removing his scimitar from an assassin's body.

"What the hell was that?!" cried one of the bodyguards as he inspected his dead master.

"The black rose." Swain muttered as he waved Kelik off him. "Marcus!" he shouted. "What was their plan?"

"I have no idea Grand General." He said. "But this was obviously an assassination attempt on the whole council. These men had the ability to use the shadows to get in here, kill their targets then leave." From outside, the sound of steel crashing into steel was heard.

"Everyone on me." Snapped Kelik as he approached the door. Darius turned to the bodyguards.

"Stay here." He stated and he followed Kelik. The crimson elite reached the door, checked they were ready, and flung it open. They were met with a heavily armoured man being kicked into the door, smashing into the ground with a knife imbedded in his helmet. Du Couteau looked round and saw a red headed girl fighting another man, blood oozing from a gash in her forehead.

"KATARINA!" screamed Marcus as he charged out the door, stabbing his scimitar through the man's back. Another man appeared from out of nowhere, sword aiming at Marcus's throat. Before it reached, the man made a gurgling sound and fell to the floor, a knife stuck in the back of his neck. Talon retrieved his knife and met Marcus.

"What's happening?" asked Katarina.

"Most of the council have been assassinated," Marcus said, "We survived. What's going on out here?"

"I don't know, we were ambushed by these men in armour."

"Marcus, look here." Marcus went over to Swain and saw what he was looking at. Engraved on the front of the armoured men was a black rose. "I knew it." Growled Swain. "It's the Black Rose." He looked up at the people stood there, Darius, Marcus, his daughters, talon and the Crimson Elite. "We should be careful, who knows what is happening. The party proceeded onwards. Everywhere they went, they found dead bodies. They were either more of the Black Rose warriors, or men loyal to Swain. There was a lot more of the latter.

They approached the great hall, and heard a voice behind them, "Brother!" The group turned and saw Draven limping towards them. There was blood creeping from under is shirt and there was a nasty cut in his left leg.

"Draven." Darius stated. "What happened?"

"Never mind." He growled, approaching faster now. "There are about 20 people following me. They are being led by some chick."

"Shit." Hissed Marcus, "it's her!"