Ishiki gulped through his dry throat staring blankly at the corpse of the monstrous beast, the same thing that moments ago had been trying to... well, do something horrific to him. Who knew what, exactly?
The messages erupted across his vision like the world's most poorly timed advertisements.
[Admin 81 - What the hell was that?]
[Admin 292 - Great. Just survive like that and complete your objective]
[Admin 97 - No way this is real...]
[Admin 70 - What happened just now?]
[Admin 77 - I think I just saw a shadow...]
Ishiki's lips twitched as he scanned through their panicked commentary. He wasn't particularly fond of their constant blabbering—honestly, it was like having a chatroom plastered across his eyeballs.
But occasionally they dropped useful insights. Like just now, when one mentioned an objective.
'What objective? I didn't see anything like that.'
He also noticed something peculiar: the messages only appeared when his mind drifted into a trance, vanishing the moment he focused on something concrete.
Some kind of mental trigger, maybe.
But nonetheless... he needed to move. but his body refused to, something has just killed the monster.
'Something like that can easily kill me too.'
Ishiki turned around and looked beyond the exit... he had reached it. And just as he'd expected, on the other side where the great hall sprawled...
A brutal battle raged between the grotesque beasts and human figures cloaked entirely in red from head to toe, wielding a series of different weapons that sang through the air with deadly precision.
The beasts too... while most of them were insane, some it seemed were intelligent and he even noticed a few which were just sitting around and enjoying the heelish scene with a smile. Their bodies too were different from the normal beasts.
But something was off... and something was very, very much wrong here.
'Wait... how can this be.?'
He was shocked, beyond words. There were more number of these beasts than the humans... how could that be? Surely enough, there couldn't be about twenty thousand people infiltrating this fortress.
The realization sent cold shivers down his spine.
'The... the people here have turned into those monstrous things rather than the ones who have attacked.'
It was nothing sort of horrifying, the people who were waiting for him to be executed were each an hideous monster....
'No... no there must be something else.'
He bowed his head, mind racing through impossible calculations about his survival chances—which were looking grim at best. When suddenly he saw someone and his soul almost ran away from his body.
There was a man prostrated in front of him... he was covered in black cloths from top to bottom, but where the cloths of other men were simply black... his attire felt like an armor.
Ishiki took a step back, eyes wide. He'd been so engrossed in mental calculations that he'd completely failed to notice someone crouching right next to him.
How long had this person been there? Lurking like a shadow.
"Uh... who... who are you?" The words came out slow, barely audible even to his own ears.
The man answered without hesitation, without a single hint of doubt coloring his voice. "I am the third general of my Lord, the Emperor of this land."
A pause.
"By his order, I have come to save you from the rebels."
Ishiki was stunned to silence... then something clicked. His attribute, that useless attribute [Half Royalty].
Maybe not so useless after all.
He studied the shinobi still prostrated before him, noting the formidable aura radiating from the man. This wasn't some ordinary soldier.
"Did... did you perchance kill that thing?" Ishiki asked, pointing at the two parts of the beast.
"Indeed. I killed it." The shinobi's voice held the nonchalance of someone discussing a normal thing, as if cleaving monsters in half was a routine.
'How... just how much strong is he? Figures he is a general.' With a sigh, Ishiki blinked and discarded the dozen other questions clamoring for attention in his mind.
"So, how exactly will you protect me?" he asked.
Even if he had formidable power, no matter... there were thousands of these beasts out there. Even if he sliced a hundred or more, there were always more to replace them.
After all there were 20,000 people inside this damned castle.
"You don't need to worry." The shinobi's half-hidden face remained impassive, indifferent even. "We're going to run and meet the Emperor's army along the way. None of the parties currently engaged in battle are our allies. I've been waiting for the war to commence before slipping inside."
The explanation however simple, sent Ishiki's eyes to a pinprick. 'Does... does he mean that he is alone?'
Ishiki wasn't a fan of dangerously reckless plans—and in his current state, battered and barely functional? 'Hell, even Bruce Lee would think twice about this insanity.'
But, hey... he wasn't thinking. He was going to do it. For better or worse. Ishiki hated the idea, and he hadn't had anything better. So he found himself standing behind the mysterious shinobi, who towered almost double his height.
He was still awe struck by how easily the man had sliced through his chains and cuffs.
The messages of the 'Admins' flew in front of his face.
[Admin 273 - This trial is taking unexpected turns.]
[Admin 81 - This is not right, his status is still not visible.]
[Admin 97 - Can this Shinobi even get him out of here?]
[Admin 292 - Complete your objective fast kid.]
Ishiki gave a mental nod and forced his attention back to reality. These messages weren't going to save his skin.
He peeked from behind the Shinobi, who was already peeking from behind the wall to look at the situation outside and it was nothing short of a scene from hell itself.
Countless humans, covered in red cloths from head to toe, wielding different kinds of weapons were fighting against the monstrous abominations, which were in fact humans too.
But for some reason, their bodies had bloated and turned large and fearful abominations of green blood flowing within. He didn't had much time to survey before a voice entered his ears...
"Let's go..."
Without ceremony, the shinobi scooped Ishiki up like a sack of rice and launched into motion— so fast, that everything in his vision was just a blur of motion.
All he could process were sounds—screams of agony, steel cutting through flesh, inhuman shrieks, guttural growls that raised every hair on his body.
They passed through the most dangerous sections of the battlefield without drawing a single enemy's attention. The shinobi truly moved like his namesake—a shadow slipping between shadows.
Passing through the enormous hall... they reached a smaller tunnel like structure, which lead to a large gate.
At some distance from the gate, the shinobi stopped behind a low wall and set Ishiki down with surprising gentleness.
"From here, you will have to move on your own." His voice was matter-of-fact as he reached back and unsheathed two blades—one Tachi, one Kodachi.
Ishiki looked at his hands... he didn't have anything. And the fact that the person had drawn his weapon meant only one thing—They were going to fight something.
As if the universe wanted to prove him dumb, several arrows came whistling down from above the gate ahead, arcing through the air with lethal intent.
'I guess we're going to fight... many things.'