“Emperor Erwin, I’ll go ahead and take care of the enemy.”
“Wait—”
Before Emperor Erwin could finish, the Oni-masked man simply walked off.
Several people tried to stop him, but his movements were far too fast for anyone to keep up.
Meanwhile, the LED-masked puppets prepared by the Oni-masked man moved in perfect rhythm.
Their speed made them nearly impossible for ordinary beings to track, especially the bull-headed humanoids.
Suddenly, a labyrinth materialized right in the middle of the forest.
That was when the Oni-masked man put his heirloom to use.
The LED puppets hurled kunai from every direction, each rigged with explosive tags.
A series of massive detonations shook the bull-headed creature, drawing a low grunt of pain as it charged blindly toward the source.
But because the shifting labyrinth kept altering its layout, the monster continuously lost its way.
Realizing that the greater the distance, the more energy his techniques drained, the Oni-masked man dropped down from the trees.
He sprinted toward the labyrinth, though he clearly preferred to avoid entering it himself.
His shadow clone flashed a hand signal, offering support.
“I’ll leave it to you,” he muttered.
With that, the Oni-masked man kept pulling forward while nimbly manipulating his fingers.
Fatigue was starting to set in.
Unwilling to end up like before, he knew he had no choice but to push past human limits.
Crossing his arms vertically and horizontally at the same time, his sharp gaze locked straight ahead as he concentrated.
“[Acceleration]!
[Shadow Movement]!”
The [Shadow Movement] skill belonging to the dark element allowed him to halt an enemy’s movements entirely through their shadow, though it came at a massive cost to his stamina.
Estimating he could only maintain the skill for five minutes, the Oni-masked man conserved his strength for the impending clash.
His shadow clone leaped over the labyrinth wall, tossing another explosive kunai.
Anticipating the attack, the bull-headed beast hurled its axe straight at the shadow clone.
Realizing he had been read, he dodged with a swift kick, though his movements felt sluggish.
Taking advantage of the opening, the creature struck from above, kicking up clouds of dust.
Confusion hit him.
In the heat of the moment, he had forgotten one crucial detail: the Oni-masked man’s shadow was right behind him, and before he knew it, he was snared by his own silhouette.
“Got you, you demon!” the creature barked.
The Oni-masked man clapped his hands together, directing the LED puppets toward the trapped target.
The bull-headed beast thrashed wildly, but its movements were completely locked down.
The LED puppet popped open automatically, revealing hundreds of sharp spikes and needles.
As the creature shrieked and begged for mercy, a faint smile crossed the Oni-masked man’s face.
The puppet snapped shut, sealing the monster inside.
Screams and gurgling wails echoed as blood began to seep through the seams of the puppet, spilling out from both the sides and the top in a grisly torrent.
Cutting off the flow of internal energy, he allowed himself a moment to rest.
He was panting heavily, utterly surprised by how much stamina that barrage of simultaneous skills had drained.
“Looks like I need to step up my physical training and meditation,” he whispered.
Catching his breath, the Oni-masked man set off on foot to find some shade and raw provisions.
By the time night fell, he had only managed to secure a small lizard and a wild rabbit—barely enough to get by for the day.
He built a campfire, roasting the skewered lizard and rabbit meat over crackling wood.
The hoot of an owl echoed through the darkness as the Oni-masked man took off his mask and dug in ravenously, accompanied by the steady chorus of crickets and nocturnal birds.
Suddenly, a rustling in the bushes put him on high alert.
Slipping his mask back on, he drew a kunai and a knife, his eyes narrowing sharply to track the movement.
The rustling sounded again.
With a flick of his wrist, he hurled the kunai straight into the foliage, followed by a sharp, piercing squeak.
Rushing over to check, he found a bloodied rabbit.
“Just a rabbit, huh?” he murmured.
“Not bad practice for a ninja.”
Suddenly, a resonant voice broke the air.
The very air pressure shifted.
A shadowy figure materialized, lunging to stab him.
Caught off guard, he parried instinctively, triggering a flurry of close-quarters weapon clashes.
The attacker’s weapon wasn’t a standard sword or kunai; it looked like a knife with strange holes drilled through the middle and the tip.
The shadow pointed the weapon right at him.
Sensing a lethal intent, the Oni-masked man executed a triple backflip to create distance.
As he came down to land, his right hand whipped out a shuriken, though it missed the target and embedded itself deep into a tree trunk.
“What?”
“A shuriken?
So ninjas really do exist,” a voice grated against his ears, disrupting his focus.
He tried to invoke the dark element to cast [Black Hole], but his magical capacity was nearly tapped out from managing the puppets.
The spell flickered and collapsed after barely a minute.
“Ah, the [Black Hole] skill?
No mistake about it.
You’re the one who fought those otherworlders,” the voice deduced.
“If that’s true, what does it have to do with you?” the Oni-masked man asked.
“Naturally, I want to see just how far your strength goes.”
The Oni-masked man offered no reply, tightening his guard instead.
He leaped backward, tossing a smoke bomb as a diversion.
The shadow sliced straight through the smoke, aiming a weapon directly at his forehead, but he narrowly ducked out of the way and countered with another flurry of shuriken.
“Useless.
You won’t be able to—” A faint smile crept onto the Oni-masked man’s face.
Puzzled, the shadow hesitated for a split second—just long enough for the Oni-masked man to trigger the LED puppets.
A blinding beam of light washed over the shadow, instantly freezing it in place.
With a swift stroke, the Oni-masked man sliced the shadow clean in two.
“I see.
Using a flash of light to bind me?
Not bad at all.
Though…
I haven’t even unleashed my full power yet.”
The warning made the Oni-masked man raise his guard even higher.
The shadow reassembled itself, radiating an entirely different, suffocatingly dark aura that swallowed the surrounding area in pitch blackness.
Hands began to sprout from the ground, grabbing at his ankles.
More and more materialized, clawing up his legs.
He tried to wrench himself free, but the grip was terrifyingly tight.
Slashing wildly with his knife yielded nothing; the blade simply phased through the ethereal limbs.
“You’ve killed hundreds…
no, thousands of lives have faded because of your assassinations.
Can you truly take responsibility for the deaths of those you killed, and those who tried to protect you?”
“Unfortunately, I have no interest in your nonsense,” the Oni-masked man retorted coldly.
“Really?
And here I thought you were just joking,” the voice replied with a mocking tone.
Realizing the shadow’s words were meant to provoke him, the Oni-masked man forced himself to maintain a deadpan expression.
He threw another smoke bomb directly at the entity.
While the physical smoke did little against a gaseous form, it bought him a crucial opening to search for a weakness.
He repeated the maneuver.
Exasperated by the repetitive tactics, the shadow snapped, “Stop wasting your time and supplies.
It won’t buy you what you’re looking for in this world.”
“I think you’re the one making a mistake,” the Oni-masked man replied.
“A mistake?
What, are you going to use those puppets again?” the shadow taunted.
“Yes and no,” the Oni-masked man smiled.
Before the shadow could process the vague reply, the LED puppets flared to life.
Instead of trying to blind it with light as before, the puppets simply let it pass—straight into a trap.
“Now!”
A massive net shot from the mouth of the LED puppet.
Unable to dodge in time, the shadow was caught as the puppet blasted point-blank light once more.
“[Shadow Movement],” the Oni-masked man murmured, activating his skill.
Realizing too late that the net, the LED lights, and the spatial skill were all part of a coordinated trap, the shadow tried to break free, but the combined restraints held fast.
“You—”
“I honestly didn’t expect the effect to be this massive, seeing as my strategy was pretty basic,” the Oni-masked man muttered to himself.
It was true—he had merely improvised by combining the net and [Shadow Movement] with the LED puppets on the fly, yet somehow, it had actually worked.
Surprisingly, the shadow didn’t fly into a blind rage like most creatures.
Instead, its tone remained entirely relaxed.
“Looks like I lost,” it chuckled casually.
“Very well.
I suppose I’ll reward you with a special skill.”
“A special skill?” the Oni-masked man asked.
The shadow dissolved into dozens of dark fragments that surged directly into the Oni-masked man’s body.
A heavy shroud of darkness enveloped him as he let out a sharp cry, absorbing the mysterious power.
Before him, the spirit of an elderly man wielding dual pistols materialized.
The spirit casually stored his weapons within his own form as the pitch-black darkness merged with a brilliant, shining light.
“What is this?” the Oni-masked man asked.
“My legacy.
Use it well,” the spirit smiled.
“A…
legacy?”
The figure began to fade, a broad smile gracing his face until he vanished entirely.
Slowly, the radiant light dissolved into the sky, leaving behind a profound sense of peace.
Standing in silence, the Oni-masked man nodded in quiet understanding, tucking the newly acquired power into his belt.
He prepared to return to Emperor Erwin with his answer, though a lingering regret remained that he hadn’t found the specific person he was originally looking for.
Still, walking away with the prize he sought was a fair trade.
Elsewhere, a thick-bearded man stroked his chin upon hearing reports that one of his assassins, Vladimir Konovalov, had been swiftly defeated by the Oni-masked man.
“I can’t believe the killer I dispatched was dealt with so quickly,” the bearded man muttered.
“Can’t be helped.
That guy is an old friend of mine, Yusuf Karamanli.
I just needed to test him.”
“Test him, you say?” Yusuf frowned.
Suddenly, a figure stepped forward wearing an identical Oni mask—though this one was cracked, replaced instead by a traditional Noh mask.
His nod felt somewhat unconvincing.
“Still, I never expected you to fight your old friend.
Did he even recognize you?”
“Hard to say.
But I’m sure he’ll remember me if we cross paths again.
Especially once he sees this Noh mask, he’ll figure out my identity.”
And he wasn’t the only one.
Another historical figure from the Heian era, Hasetsukabe no Koharumaru, was lingering in the same timeline, waiting for the day they would reunite as shinobis.
Yusuf Karamanli cast a sidelong glance at a man holding an LED puppet inscribed with the kanji Tsumugu.
Meanwhile, Emperor Erwin was utterly dumbfounded by the Oni-masked man’s prowess, feeling as though he had just witnessed a primeval monster breaking out of its cage for the very first time.
I can’t believe this…
is this truly the power of an Otherworlder?
Yet what fascinated him even more was how effortlessly the man had dismantled human forces.
Could we ever hope to surpass them?
Emperor Erwin thought to himself, biting his lip as a fierce desire to recruit the warrior burned within him.