Chapter 253: The 'Hero' Falls Deeper

Third Person POV:

"The Illuminati?"

Leonardo asked, his face filled with confusion, Austin maintaining his hidden persona nodded his head, his 'serious' demeanor in play,

"Yes, we the Illuminati have been fighting against them for a long time, several blood and death have been filled due to our hidden war and now the time is imperative"

"Wait! is it fine to tell me all this here?"

Leonardo questions as he looks around the cafe, he looked serious, seemingly trying to feel for any enemy, Austin seeing it smirked as he spoke,

"Don't worry, this shop is just a front of ours, what we are speaking here is safe, plus the ones in the restaurant right now are our people"

Hearing Austin's words Leonardo's eyes widened as he started to look around, noticing that the number of people have heavily dwindled since they have entered, plus there was no one close to them, it was as if a protective cocoon was built around them, seeing such power Leonardo once again became sure that this was not a play,

'Durandal, have you ever heard of this Illuminati?'

'No but the person in front of you is not lying, I can see it, everything he told you is the truth but make sure of it your self'

Hearing his partner's words Leonardo's expression became serious, knowing about the things that the organization had done were making his blood boil, it went against everything he believed in, focusing his gaze on the disguised Austin he spoke,

"Tell me more about your organization"

"Sure, we operate across the entire world, we came together about 1000 years ago when the truly powerful people in the world started noticing the hidden devil, deaths and dangerous this world faced seemed to be controlled by something or someone, to get deeper the most influential and the most powerful got together"

"Like this the Illuminati was born to bring light to darkness, to fight against the evil the desires to plunge the world into darkness"

"Wait, then why didn't you make all this public"

Leonardo asked, to this Austin showed a 'bitter' smile,

"How could we? this power was too much to come to light, the moment it did mass panic would arise, plus when all the leaders got together, they weren't all exactly friendly, even in the case of the mass end of the world, they all had the interest to look after, justice was not always easy"

"I see...."

Leonardo nodded his head, portraying his sympathy towards Austin, who just wanted to start laughing at the idiot in front of him, god knows how he was sitting so serious but he held himself as he continued the play, leaning forward Austin put on a 'serious' look as he spoke,

"That's why Leonardo, we want you to join us, with your power and kind soul, we will be able to get stronger"

Leonardo paused as he started to think, silence filled,

'What do you think Durandal?"

'I think he's telling the truth but don't agree to join yet, watch and see how things go'

'Okay'

Getting his answer Leonardo too sat up straight as he spoke after the one-minute silence,

"I am sorry but I can't join so easily, first I want to see how things go with you and then I will decide, I want to see everything with my own eyes"

"Sure that's natural"

Austin calmly agreed, hiding his happiness, by now he already has Leonardo in his hand, all he had to do is give a little more push and he will be playing right in his palms. After Leonard gave his answer the tense atmosphere faded, as Austin gave Leonardo a bright smile,

"Good, I am sure that you will grow up to be a hero in the future"

"Thanks"

Leonard spoke with a shy smile but then a question filled him,

"So why did you say that you need my help?"

"Oh, that's simple, there are some things that I need you to take care of inside the academy and sometimes outside, you could mainly deal with it using the academy points has cover, Oh! also take this"

Saying so Austin forwarded a badge to Leonardo who took it, looking at it with keen eyes, the badge was inscribed with golden lining, a beautiful jewel-like structure filled it and a 'holy' aura leaked from it, on the center a word was written 'Illuminati',

"This is the badge that the members have, and you aren't the only one from the academy, as I said before, our power runs worldwide, once you completely accept it, you will be let into the true circle"

"Amazing...wait! there are others?"

"Well, yes you aren't the only one here whose heart shines with brightness, plus isn't the world's greatest academy the best place to find students to join our cause?"

"That makes sense"

Saying so Leonardo started to drink his coffee and so did I, it was during this silence that I forwarded another field towards Leonardo who took it,

"Here you go"

"What is this?"

"You're first mission"

Hearing it Leonardo started to go through the file with gusto but the moment he started to read it his face widened in disbelief,

"This! we must warn her!"

He spoke his voice unnaturally loud, Austin shook his head at this display as he spoke to Leonardo,

"Calm down, don't act irrational, you must first deal with these people"

"But Elda could be in danger!"

Leonardo protected, Austin held his head-shaking it, while truly holding back his smile, the file that he gave contained the evidence of the movements against Elda, of course, he has no desire to make Leonardo stand closer to her or protect her, no what he wanted was for him to run in circles and deal with the little guys while pulling the attention towards himself.

The best thing is that his 'good' deeds won't be known at all, instead, Austin will be the ones taking all the benefits that he needs, moving forward he held Leonardo's shoulder as she spoke,

"Calm down, don't overreact, she's safe for now, they won't do anything and right now your only focus should be dealing with these people"

"Bust isn't it better to tell her that? maybe protecting her won't be that hard"

"We can't do that, it will only endanger her life, her bloodline is too attractive to them, they won't stop, plus our existence can't come out, you don't have to worry, Elda is a prospective member of the Illuminati, we will be contacting her, who knows maybe your valiant effort might win her heart"

"Wa-What, n-no I"

Soon Leonardo started to stutter from Austin's words, his face red with embarrassment, in front of him Austin has a 'mischievous' smile but on the inside, he was just getting more irritated at Leonardo's behavior, just what kind of guy just starts blushing like this for a tease? fuck he was reminding him of girls,

"Your interests aside, do you get it? this must not go out"

"Okay"

Finally reeling himself Leonardo nodded,

"Plus there's another reason why you can't go to Elda"

"What's that?"

"Austin Lionheart"

"Austin? why?"

"We believe he might be part of this dark group"

"..!!.."