Shadows from the Past
I stood staring at Jin, who had fainted. Now I understood the reason for their weakness; it seems that the humans in this world had relied solely on magic, unaware that elemental magic is merely secondary magic.
Magic is divided into ten levels, with the first being the strongest and the tenth the weakest. A person cannot reveal their true strength until they reach the fifth level, but even then, they remain weak compared to the rulers.
And if one wishes to reach the level of the rulers, they must be at least at the third level.
It may sound easy in theory, but in reality, it's impossible; even Yusuko, who spent his entire life fighting, could only reach the seventh level. This explains why they struggle against the Yokai.
And if they were to fight a monster at that level, they wouldn't last a single second; for monsters are close to the level of the rulers in terms of power, so even if ten like Yusuko gathered, they wouldn't stop a single monster.
While I was thinking about it, I felt a terrifying power and headed to its source, only to find that one of the empires had been covered by a dome of complete darkness. It was terrifying—the energy was dense, and the atmosphere was suffocating. I tried to back away because I realized something horrifying was about to happen. Then, within seconds, a deafening explosion occurred, obliterating all the mountains, and the snow vanished from its force.
The explosion was so powerful that both empires' populations felt it. It was a massive explosion.
I went to investigate the cause of the explosion. The place was covered in dust, making it hard to see, but once the dust cleared, I looked and saw that the second empire had been entirely consumed, leaving only lifeless bodies lying on the ground. It wasn't because of the explosion; it was as if the darkness had absorbed their life energy, causing them to die in the most horrific way; for when a person dies due to having their life energy absorbed, it is a slow death, where in every moment their soul is drained, they feel their memories being taken from them.
It was as if some entity had absorbed the life energy of all the residents to grow stronger.
Before the incident:
The weather was sunny, and the place was in its best state. The people were happy because it was the anniversary of the empire's founding and its contribution to defeating the Yokai. At that time, the three empires had united to defeat the Yokai and push them off that continent.
But then the darkness began to surround the place, at first in the form of mist. Suddenly, a child approached, only to find the darkness beginning to devour him. The same happened to all the people—the darkness began consuming the cities and devoured the capital entirely.
It even reached the faraway towns until the darkness covered the empire's sky, and all of this happened within minutes.
In one of the dark forests, there was a group of samurai heading on a mission, having heard of people going missing in the forest. It was as if a hidden Yokai was feeding on them.
Leading that group was a samurai with wavy green hair streaked with black lines, and his eyes were yellow. That person's name was Haru, and he was the only one whose face was visible; the rest wore armor.
Haru:
Haru looked at the sky and saw that night was approaching. I looked at everyone; I had seen a village and said, "Night will fall. We should head to that village, and tomorrow we will continue the mission."
Everyone agreed with my suggestion, and when we reached the village, it looked somewhat strange—the villagers were giving us odd looks.
As we wandered around, I found an old man who seemed to be the village chief, so I approached him and asked, "Can we stay here for the night?"
He answered with a smile, "Yes, you can stay, but in this hut, it's for guests."
I thanked him and went.
At night, I began to sense a strange energy, and it was powerful. I woke everyone up, and they put on their armor, but suddenly, the energy disappeared.
I decided to put my sword back, but then the door was violently broken, and one of the villagers attacked. He looked truly bizarre—he looked like a Yokai.
One of the samurai tried to strike him with his katana, but the man caught it with his teeth. He was feral. I tried to help kill him, but he broke the sword with his teeth.
Everyone was shocked. We left the hut to find all the villagers in the same state.
Everyone tried to fend them off, but I heard their screams, and everyone was killed. No one was left but me.
I drew my sword and, with all my might, cut everyone in half. Their bodies and heads fell to the ground, and the land was soaked in their blood. It was a disgusting sight, but I was used to such things, for I had participated in many wars.
But what terrified me was what happened next. I heard terrifying laughter. I took a combat stance, but the sound was close.
Then I found it was coming from the severed heads I had cut. Their dismembered bodies began to laugh eerily, then stood up and carried their heads.
I realized that if I stayed, I would die. I ran as fast as I could, trying to escape, but every time I ended up in the same place.
Every attempt felt like someone was pulling me back to them, as if there was a looping cycle.
I drew my sword in despair and wrote a report on what had happened to me and my squad.
I was surrounded on all sides. I knew it was the end.
My sword was enveloped in energy, and I rushed toward them. They attacked all at once. When the collision happened, Haru fell injured.
They began devouring him while he screamed alive until his entire body was torn apart.
End of Chapter