Chapter 10: Demons

’Shit… shit, this is hell for sure. I knew running wasn’t going to help.’

Ishiki clutched his hand as he staggered towards a tree, trying to drag himself as far from the battle as he physically can.

CLANG!

Behind him, deep in the woods, a battle raged. Furious and utterly beyond anything his gamer brain could categorize.

Its been about 20 or so days, since the shinobi and Ishiki had run away from the castle, but that wasn’t enough after all. The five tattooed persons eventually caught up with them and the Shinobi was currently engaged in a ferocious battle against one of them.

’They are not humans… can’t be.’

Ishiki was injured heavily… left hand probably broken.

He sat under a tree, the symphony of battle still bleeding in his ears, he wasn’t much farther away just a few wrong steps and the two of them would be upon him.

’Darn this whole trial…’ he gritted his teeth looking up at the sky.

The moon hung slightly off-center—not quite overhead, it was casting everything in cold, ethereal light that made the forest look beautiful and terrifying in equal measure.

Well… it didn’t matter it still provided them with enough light to look around. But to Ishiki, it was one of the best things he had seen here.

A moon, that hung high above in the sky casting everything in ethereal, cold and somber light. Wasn’t it just so beautiful.

CRASH!

Something fell to the ground with a blast, sending a tremor through the earth. From what Ishiki had witnessed so far… he presumed that, it must have been a tree.

’No way one of those damnable monsters would loose yet… and even if the shinobi kills this one, the other four would soon find us.’

The messages of Admins floated in front of him, there were now more of them…

[Admin 42 – The kid is so weak]

[Admin 81 – Why don’t you just accept your death kid]

[Admin 164 – The Trail is weird, how is it taking place in ▬▬▬▬▬]

[Admin 292 – Now that you mention it, its weird]

Ishiki’s eyes narrowed, another piece of information… or no.

’What the heck is this blocks now?’ But he gave up, he wasn’t going to waste energy like that.

Anger and frustration, these two feelings dominated everything else right now. Anger at his own pathetic state, at being powerless and broken.

Frustration at the Admins treating his suffering like entertainment. Frustration at these absurd things happening with him all of a sudden.

“Please… get up. We need to move.”

The shinobi’s voice startled Ishiki, pulling him violently out of his spiral. Ishiki almost declared this an hallucination, but it wasn’t.

’I will be damned… how the hell?’

He stared at the shinobi standing before him, casually cleaning his tachi with his sleeve like he’d just finished a light workout instead of fighting someone with skin as tough as steel. The man was breathing heavily, bruised slightly, but mainly intact.

“Is that thing… dead?” Ishiki asked, his voice full of disbelief.

The shinobi looked at him for a second before confirming that indeed he had killed one of those five persons. Ishiki couldn’t believe it, how could he?

That man was a monster in human flesh, his body so tough that Ishiki’s blade chipped and broke on contact. uprooting trees and using them as weapons… it was anything but humane.

And this slender looking shinobi, he had killed something like that. ’Absurd… its all absurd.’

The shinobi helped him up, supporting him for a few steps. But it quickly became clear this wouldn’t work. Ishiki’s broken body was dead weight, and speed mattered more than dignity right now.

“One of my hands is broken and I think one of my legs… it has minor cracks,” Ishiki reported.

The Shinobi was silent for moment as if trying to think of what to say… then he simply sat down in front of him. “Get up… there is a temple nearby. We will hide in there for the time being.”

Ishiki hesitated, but every rustle sent shivers down his spine so he decided to take a piggyback ride.

Even after a brutal fight, the shinobi was as fast as ever. Even with Ishiki on his back, he ran through the forest in a blur and soon they were both staring at a lonely temple in the center of the forest.

’Spooky… who would built a temple in such a place?’

It was a big shrine… almost like the ones they had on earth.

Almost.

As soon as they slid open the gate… the old monk stood and bowed down as if welcoming some guests.

“Welcome… May the God of Valor be with you.” the monk said… as if he had been expecting them.

’Wait… did he knew we were coming?’

The shinobi bowed down too and greeted him with the same line, “May the God of Valor be with you.”

Ishiki felt awkward standing there staring at this religious exchange like a tourist who didn’t know the customs. So he followed suit, bowing and repeating the words, hoping he wasn’t accidentally pledging his soul or something.

After that, the monk led them inside a room where he first provided them with hot water to wash themselves and then even made tea for them.

’Isn’t this a little too convenient? But then again…’ He took a quick glance at the shinobi who looked like he was meditating with his eyes closed. ’he is the general, of the Emperor. And yeah i am the… son, its weird to say but… it is what it is right now.’

However weird it may be… but it was all real, at least for now. The pain of broken bones wasn’t something you could fake.

“Excuse me!” Ishiki slowly spoke, looking at the shinobi who opened his eyes and looked at him with a calm gaze.

“Please wait a little… the monk has gone to bring the sacred maiden… she will be able to heal you.” he replied with a lucid and composed tone.

Ishiki’s eyes widened, ’Heal me… like with magic powers! So this world has Magic? Well… i guess that explains those brutes and all.’

But that wasn’t what Ishiki wanted to ask… he was lost after all. He had no memory of this body’s past. It was as if this vessel had been born the exact moment Ishiki woke up in that prison cell. Everything before that moment—how he came to exist here, his history, his childhood, it was all just… absent.

“Actually… I wanted to ask about those five men. What are they?” He locked eyes with the shinobi, deadly serious.

The shinobi lingered for a moment, then looked around cautiously before speaking in a low voice, as if the walls themselves might be listening.

“They are the Tainted Demons.”

Ishiki’s heart skipped a beat. ’Demons? like actual demons from those games and comics?’

“The Tainted Demons serve the Eclipsed Ruler—the Shogun you saw. Our Empire… no, actually the entire world has been corrupted by the Daemons and their vessels called the Demon Lords.”

The words hung in the air like a death sentence.

Ishiki was speechless.

’Uh… so I get that… I didn’t understood shit from that!’

SLID!

Their conversation was interrupted as the door slid open and closed again after the old monk and a beautiful young maiden entered the room.

She held a particular stone in an open ceremonial box. The stone pulsed with a faint, sickly light.

Ishiki’s face twisted with disgust as he looked at the rock… and the maiden.

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