Leo noticed two new opponents walking down the corridor.
This time, it was a duo: a broad-shouldered man with mismatched armor and a brutal spiked flail slung over his shoulder, and a woman with piercing green eyes and a set of throwing knives strapped tightly across her chest.
Leo recognized her instantly—she was the dangerous one he'd spotted outside the prison during the pair-up phase. The one he briefly considered as a potential partner.
Her cold, calculating gaze had stood out to him even then, and now, seeing her up close, he knew she wasn't just dangerous; she was deadly.
Their footsteps echoed faintly, their voices low but growing louder as they neared.
"...I'm telling you, I heard someone mumbling down here," the woman said, her voice sharp and clipped.
"Probably just a couple of weaklings hiding in the dark," the man replied with a chuckle. "This'll be over quickly."
Leo's jaw tightened. He turned toward Felix, who was still slumped against the wall, half-drunk and muttering under his breath.
"Felix," Leo hissed, his voice sharp but quiet. "Be quiet. They're coming."
But Felix either didn't hear him or didn't care. He muttered louder, something incoherent about how he hated this damn test.
"Shut up!" Leo snapped, his voice barely above a whisper.
But, it was too late.
The duo stopped in their tracks, their heads snapping toward the source of the sound.
"See?" the woman said, her lips curling into a smirk. "Told you."
The man grinned, hefting his flail in one hand. "Guess we're having some fun after all."
Leo's fingers tightened around his daggers. He'd hoped to avoid another fight so soon, especially with his body still aching from the last one. But now, there was no choice.
'Great. Looks like it's up to me again,' he thought, preparing to step out of the shadows.
But before he could move, Felix stood up.
Leo froze, staring in shock as Felix staggered to his feet, his face flushed and his expression twisted in drunken fury.
"Hey!" Felix bellowed, pointing an unsteady finger at the duo. "Who the hell do you think you are, huh? Coming down our corridor, acting all smug and shit?!"
The woman raised an eyebrow, clearly amused. "Well, this is unexpected."
The man laughed, his deep voice booming. "Look at this little drunk pig. He thinks he's a tough guy."
Leo's instinct screamed at him to pull Felix back, to do something, but he hesitated.
'What the hell is he doing? Can he actually fight?' Leo wondered, as he wanted to see what Felix was capable of, but also did not want to be eliminated because of Felix's idiocy.
But before he could make a decisive decision, Felix's eyes narrowed, his lips curling into a sneer.
"Tough? Oh, you don't know the half of it, you overgrown bitch." He shot back, as even the large man looked surprised at the sudden comeback.
Then, to Leo's utter disbelief, Felix charged.
********
Felix moved with a speed and precision that defied his drunken state. His first target was the man, whose mocking laughter turned into a startled grunt as Felix closed the distance faster than expected.
The man swung his flail in a wide arc, but Felix ducked under it effortlessly, his movements erratic yet deliberate.
"Too slow, you big bastard!" Felix snarled, slamming his short sword into the man's thigh.
The man howled in pain, stumbling backward as blood poured from the wound. But Felix didn't stop. He yanked the sword free and stabbed it into the man's shoulder, driving the blade in deep before twisting it viciously.
"You like that?" Felix hissed, his voice low and menacing. "How about this?"
He pulled the sword out and jammed it into the man's neck, blood spurting in a gruesome arc as the man gurgled and collapsed to the ground.
The woman, no longer smirking, threw a knife at Felix with deadly precision. But Felix swayed drunkenly to the side, the blade missing him by inches.
"You missed, sweetheart," Felix taunted, his grin feral. "Try again."
The woman didn't hesitate. She drew her twin blades and lunged at Felix, her strikes fast and ruthless.
But Felix was faster.
He parried her first strike with his sword, the clang of steel echoing through the corridor. His other hand shot out, grabbing her wrist and twisting it until she dropped one of her blades with a cry of pain.
"You think you're scary?" Felix growled, his voice dripping with venom. "You don't know what scary is."
With a savage roar, he slammed her head into the wall, the sickening crack of bone reverberating through the air.
Blood streamed down her face, but she wasn't done. She lashed out with her remaining blade, slicing a deep gash across Felix's arm.
The wound was gnarly, a brutal tear that sprayed blood across the floor. But Felix barely flinched.
"You bitch," he snarled, grabbing her by the throat and slamming her into the ground.
She gasped, clawing at his hand as he pinned her down, his sword hovering over her chest.
"Beg," Felix whispered, his grin widening.
"Beg me to let you live." He demanded, as if deriving some sadistic pleasure by making her feel powerless, but the woman did not play by his rules.
"Go to hell." she replied defiantly, her green eyes burning with passion, as her response made Felix's grin fade away.
"Wrong answer." Felix said, as with a brutal thrust, he drove the short sword into her chest, twisting it until her body went limp.
It was a brutal end for the woman, but thankfully for the man struggling on the floor, his partner's death meant he was teleported out of the test area immediately, where hopefully the medics could try and save his life, despite all the blood he had already lost from his neck.
*********
As the rush of the fight left his body, Felix stood over the pool of blood he had extracted from his opponents, grinning maniacally at his handiwork.
His chest heaved as he turned to Leo, his grin widening.
"Well?" he said, his voice casual. "What do you think? Pretty badass, huh?"
Leo stared at him, his mind reeling. The Felix who had cowered behind a pillar during the last fight was gone. This was someone else entirely—someone unhinged, dangerous, and terrifying.
"You... killed them," Leo said, his voice low.
Felix shrugged. "Yeah. What, you think I was gonna let them kill us?"
Leo didn't respond. He couldn't.
Felix laughed, wiping the blood off his sword with his sleeve. "Don't worry, partner. I've got your back."
But as Felix turned away, Leo couldn't shake the feeling that he was looking at a stranger.
Drunk Felix was nothing like the usual cowardly Felix, and although his drunk version was useful in combat, Leo felt it in his bones that he couldn't trust this deranged killer the same way he trusted the coward Felix.