Chapter 8: Brace Yourself

Before Ishiki could form another coherent thought, a barrage of arrows fell from the skies.

They appeared as nothing more than indifferent shadows against the dark sky—thin lines cutting through the night. If not for the moon’s pale glow catching their tips, Ishiki wouldn’t have spotted them at all.

More than half sailed overhead, arcing toward the castle’s upper battlements where they’d been aimed. But some fell short, whistling down directly at them

’Shit…’ Panic seized Ishiki’s heart. But before the arrows could touch them, they were deflected.

The shinobi used the blunt edge of his tachi with surgical precision, not a second’s hesitation, not a wasted movement. Each arrow that came close simply… changed direction, clattering harmlessly against stone.

Ishiki was awe struck, for a second until the shinobi’s warning pulled him out of his trance.

“Get ready.”

Motivated shouts erupted through the air, battle cries filled with bloodlust and fury. Soon, dozens of men cloaked in crimson burst through the gate ahead, weapons raised high.

The invasion had reached its second phase.

But numbers meant nothing here. No matter how many warriors poured through those gates, they stood no chance against the monsters that resided inside this damned castle. By now, Ishiki couldn’t hear a single voice from inside.

’Did those monsters finish every single one of those men…’ A shiver ran through his body.

’Scary!’

But the more pressing issue was this: how exactly were they going to escape? Surrounded on all sides by enemies.

BLAST!

The shouts flooding through the gate stopped, cut off as if someone had severed a vocal cord. An eerie sound replaced them… wet thuds, sickening, followed by screams of pure terror.

The shinobi’s eyes were shaking, his body frozen as if the scene before him had triggered some chilling revelation.

Ishiki was… confused. ’What just happened?’ he slowly peeked from behind the wall and What he saw made his very soul recoil in horror.

Hundreds of bodies lay scattered like broken dolls, limbs twisted at unnatural angles. A literal pool of blood collected beneath them, spreading outward in dark crimson rivers.

Their abdomens… they were gone, there was just a gaping hole, and the cloths around the hole were burning.

Huff, huff

Ishiki’s breath turned ragged, shallow. His heart pounded so violently it made him nauseous and sick to his core. Was it fear? Or something like the recognition that he could end up just like them?

’Wh… what could have done something like that?’

“We must run…” The shinobi spoke without warning, his voice carrying an urgency that couldn’t be captured in mere words.

“HEH… DID I USE TOO MUCH FORCE?” a nonchalant voice, pierced the dead silence.

Ishiki suddenly felt a bad premonition. He was sure, it was the same kind of strange pressure he felt from that man on the throne. But something was different.

It was burning, the air, the very pressure. It was as if he was breathing near an open furnace. Heat radiated in waves that made his eyes water.

Before he could process what was happening, the shinobi scooped him up. And in that wild, spinning moment, Ishiki saw him.

A man, that stood at the edge of the tunnel-like passage.

He had eerie markings over his arms, his face and even inside his eyes. They were like tattoos, but ominous and strange like some kind of patterns. He was smiling, as though the massacre scene before him was nothing more than mildly amusing entertainment.

’God… what in the world is that?’

The man suddenly twisted his neck towards them, for a mere second. Their eyes met and Ishiki felt his entire body seize up. Paralyzed.

He didn’t just see danger—he felt death itself staring back at him.

“Where do you think you are taking that boy, huh?” The man exclaimed, looking bored.

SWOOSH!

A blast of scorching air brushed past Ishiki’s face, so hot it singed his eyebrows. He didn’t even see where it came from or what happened.

Then his gaze snapped to the man, who held one fist extended toward them.

And the realization, made his very soul shiver. The patterns on his arm were burning bright.

’Did… did he just send a punch of hot air? Ridiculous… everything here is ridiculous!’

“Brace yourself!”

The shinobi, who’d been silently leaping from rooftop to rooftop, evading enemy arrows with impossible agility finally spoke again, then dove straight down into the woods below.

By some stroke of fortune, the man with the strange patterns had become occupied with the fresh barrage of crimson-clad warriors flooding through the castle gate.

Ishiki was set down once more, bare feet hitting solid ground. They were now deep in the woods surrounding the castle, and from here, beneath the ethereal glow of the moon, the fortress looked majestic.

Truly breathtaking…

But the beauty was a lie, a gorgeous mask hiding the fact that hideous, dangerous beasts prowled within those elegant walls.

Without delay, the shinobi retrieved a horse that had been concealed in the shadows and mounted it in one fluid motion, pulling Ishiki up behind him.

“You think you can run?”

A soft, slithering voice entered Ishiki’s left ear. He could feel cool breath brush against his skin, raising goosebumps. Something was close… dangerously close.

STAB!

Before Ishiki’s mind could catch up, the shinobi’s short sword had already pierced whatever lurked behind him. His body was frozen still.

“You really think i would die with that?” The voice was suddenly amused.

’Crazy… what kind of lunatic gets happy after being stabbed?’ Ishiki’s mind was a whirlwind of thoughts and calculations.

’I need to move!’

Ignoring the screaming pain in his battered arms, Ishiki drove both elbows backward with every ounce of force his broken body could muster. His strikes connected with something hard, followed by a surprised thud.

“Ouch… why are both of you so rude?”

What kind of being toppled over that easily? Ishiki didn’t have that much power left in his body and yet despite being stabbed through and shoved off a horse, this thing talked as if nothing had happened.

Ishiki wasn’t going to look at what it was… his instincts told him not to.

Before long the horse started moving, the Shinobi hadn’t said a single word since their encounter with that weird thing, and so did Ishiki.

But the horse came to an abrupt halt after only a short distance.

’Huh? what happened?’

“We are surrounded.” The shinobi dismounted in one smooth motion, both blades already unsheathed and gleaming in the moonlight.

“I won’t be able to protect you much, you will need to fight.”

Before Ishiki had the luxury of speaking or even thinking. Figures began materializing from the shadows all around them. Dozens of eyes glowing faintly in the darkness.

They were trapped.

And Ishiki didn’t even have a weapon.

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