The people who just so happened to be around Viktor were thrown backward by the sheer force behind the warbeast warrior's takeoff — which should've naturally included the two young men, but they found that they were completely unaffected.

In the next instant, they noticed that they were now completely surrounded by men dressed in black cloth, holding swords at the ready. The black-clad men had their backs facing Ken and Hector as the eyes that peeked out of their masks glared in the castle's direction, the same way Viktor had.

'Ninjas!?' Ken's eyes widened as he immediately recognized what the men were. For a moment, his excitement rose, but then he shook his head to snap out of it.

Even though ninjas were super cool, the strange situation at hand was obviously more important. From the context, Ken understood that these men were all tasked to follow him around and protect him.

"You there..." Ken waved to catch the attention of the ninja to his left. "What is happening...?"

The ninja seemed to hesitate for a moment before begrudgingly spitting out the answer. "We've lost control of the portal, Your Highness..."

"The portal...?" Ken didn't know anything about a portal, but the moment he heard the ninja's words, a feeling of despair and panic overcame him. The booming beats of Ken's heart echoed throughout his body as blood rapidly surged through his limbs.

The glimpse of eternity is shaking!

Warning!

You must resist!

Meanwhile, Hector was even more panicked than Ken. "How can that be!? What happened to the Sword Star!?"

"That's..." The ninja swallowed his words. But he ultimately decided to reveal it anyway. " According to the report, he was assailed by multiple transcendent nightmare spawns... Although he managed to take out two and the Saintess has headed over to help, there are still four more. And he's barely holding them off while a horde of ascendant spawns rushes through... the other ascendant knights are doing their best to hold them off, but..."

"Why are you stopping?" Hector impatiently tapped his foot on the ground. "Speak!"

The ninja cowered, hesitating. But another ninja to the front spoke up to defend his comrade. "Know your place, brat. Our loyalty is with the crown, not to one of the Mercer house's bastard."

"You dare!?" A spear manifested in Hector's hand as he began to stomp forward.

Ken held back his friend as he dipped his head toward the first ninja. "Please, could you tell us?"

"Y-Your Highness, please don't bow!" The first ninja panicked. "That's... well, there was a strange monster that snuck through the knights' defenses, destroying the protective formations around the portal on our side... and the crown prince and princess just happened to be there at the time..."

Boom!

An explosion that came from the castle shook the air while the ninja's words shook Ken's mind.

His brother and sister-in-law were there? In a place where some monster was? Were they okay? Where were they now? If whatever the monster was got into the castle, then what about his father? His mother seemed strong, but was she okay?

The glimpse of eternity is shaking!

You MUST resist!

Questions plagued Ken's mind but his body had frozen over with anxiety and indecision. He wanted nothing more than to rush back to the castle and help Roland and Stella out, but what could a weakling like him even do? Wouldn't he be more of a hindrance if he went?

But he didn't want to stand around doing nothing either.

"Hey!" Hector shook Ken's shoulder as he pulled him back. "First thing's first, let's get away fr—"

BOOM!

An earth-shatteringly loud explosion that far-surpassed the first one interrupted Hector's words.

Ken instinctively cupped his ears as his face screwed up in pain. He turned toward the direction of the castle, only to see a creature that Ken could only describe as the "stuff that nightmares were made of".

'Wh-what the fuck...?'

"Wh-what the fuck...?" His thoughts unconsciously escaped from his gaping mouth as he gawked at the fear-inducing entity.

It was massive.

Not the everyday sort of massive, but the type of massive that messed with your perception of distance. Its grey ball-shaped body floated above the castle, but Ken's eyes must've been deceiving him since the monstrous enigma looked like it was bigger than the castle — even before it was destroyed.

"A-are those..." Hector pointed a trembling finger at the planet-like creature. "Arms?"

Prompted by his words, Ken squinted his eyes, but they quickly widened as he realized what his friend truly meant.

Arms.

There were numerous little — relative to the creature itself — arms growing out of the creature's skin. Millions? Perhaps tens of millions? Ken didn't know precisely how many there were, but it felt like the thing replaced every single strand of fur with human arms.

Countless, squirming, grey-skinned arms that appeared as if they were rotting.

It was a bit hard to notice if you looked at the creature as a whole but upon closer inspection, one could easily see the arms' disgusting movements. It was huge, after all.

Suddenly, a massive clenched hand sprouted out of the creature, bursting out of its flesh. The phenomenon sent countless tiny arms flying out in every direction.

Including Ken and Hector's area.

"Excuse me, Your Highness!" A ninja grabbed Ken by the back of his collar and threw him to the back.

"Ack!" Ken cried out in pain as his back dragged across the stone-paved street. He cried out another time when Hector was thrown on top of him. Frantically, Ken shoved his friend aside as he tried to look upon the ninjas' fates.

Luckily, they seemed mostly okay. All of them had floating arms grabbing their limbs, but as expected of a force tasked to secretly guard the prince, the strange arms were quickly destroyed. Ken couldn't even see how it happened — the monstrous appendages just disappeared after the ninjas lightly swung their arms.

But the ordinary citizens all around them weren't so fortunate.

The grey arms freely grabbed at the peasants. Being ordinary people, they couldn't resist being strangled to death or fingers shoved into their eyes. The dead citizens quickly turned into mummified corpses through some sort of blasphemous ability.

Seeing this, those who weren't killed yet ran toward the ninjas, who were obviously quite strong. But very few of them made it; most falling into the rotten arms' clutches.

Despite how inappropriate it would sound, It would've been great if that was all that happened.

"Oh, shit..." A curse escaped Ken's lips. He gulped a mouthful of spit as he looked upon the scene that the arms caused.

The peasant carcasses that the arms had sucked dry started moving — albeit, only their arms. Their arms then started twisting off from their bodies, floating alongside their killers.

What was more horrifying were the spine-chilling death throes that continued to sound out all around the city, filling every alley with screams.

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

More arms were coming. Every person who was still alive knew this.

"We're getting out of here." One of the ninjas appeared behind Ken and lifted the prince onto his shoulder like a sack of rice. "My apologies, but I shan't accept any argument. I'll accept any and all punishments afterward."

Soon, the other ninjas surrounded Ken as well, with one of them hefting a struggling Hector onto their shoulder as well.

"W-wait!" An old man raised a shaky hand toward one of the ninjas, his face a mask of unease. "Aren't you knights of some kind...? P-please save us!"

The ninja's fist clenched in frustration before he dipped his head. "My apologies, brother. I'd like to stay here and help you all, but my duty lies with the prince's safety."

"The prince...?" The old man turned toward Ken in disbelief. Other people also followed his gaze and stared at the young man being carried like an object.

Ken's eyes met with the old man's. For a few seconds, Ken could only look back, but before he knew it, he'd already averted his gaze. The guilt he felt toward these people was too intense.

"I see... so that's it." Nodding in understanding, the old man smiled in acceptance. "Please take the prince to safety! We'll hold them off!"

"Yeah!" A man with curly brown hair raised his fist in agreement.

"It's time to pay back what we owe the royal family for all they've done for us!" A pregnant woman also voiced out as tears fell from her eyes.

"Thank you, brothers and sisters." The ninja turned away. "With citizens like you, our country will definitely rise up from this disaster! Farewell!"

Ken gulped, knowing that the ninjas intended to completely abandon the citizens. In a flash of inspiration, he called on the not-so-little black serpent that he'd met first when he came to this world. He wasn't able to do it at first, but he eventually learned how to communicate with it, albeit he needed quite a bit of focus.

Zoro-chan manifested into the world and took an enlarged form, understanding its master's will. With swift movements, it slithered forward to take out as many arms as it could.

'That's all I can do for now...'

Suddenly a streak of lightning zigzagged through the streets, turning all the arms that it passed through into scorched fragments.

With the massive serpent and the bolt of lightning working in tandem, it only took a few seconds before all the arms in sight were eliminated.

The streak of lightning stopped in the air in front of Ken's group and an ethereally captivating young woman with black hair framing her blank expression as she looked down upon them. Electricity sparked from her dark eyes and gusts of wind surrounded her armor-covered body; all while her right hand gripped a longsword and her left hand held a ...meat skewer?

"Helen!?" Hector exclaimed. "What're you doing here!?"

"Food trip," The young woman — Helen — replied nonchalantly.

"Oh. That makes sense..." Hector nodded in understanding before tapping the shoulder of the ninja carrying him. "Hey, let go!"

"Hector...?" Ken frowned as he looked at his friend in puzzlement. "What're you..."

"I'm gonna stay here and fight together with Helen... oh, wait." Hector turned toward his sister questioningly. "You are going to stay here and fight, right?"

"Mhm." Helen nodded before she pointed a finger at Hector's mount. "It's my duty."

"Ah!" The ninja jumped in shock as his arm was struck by a tiny bolt of lightning, forcing him to let go of the young man.

"Alright!" Hector lightly stretched before a glaive appeared in his hand for the second time today. With a flourish, a sharp blade of wind cut apart a few hands in the distance. "It's my duty too!"

Armor surrounded Hector's body as a current of air snaked through his limbs and the edge of his glaive glowed with green energy.

Hector twirled his polearm with a huge grin on his face as he glanced at Ken. "I'm staying, Rein! This is where a knight like me is supposed to be! Saving damsels and their families from terrifying monsters!"

Wasting no time, Hector charged into an alley, where the cries of Aizen's citizens had yet to cease.

Helen's eyes met with Ken's for a moment before she turned away and disappeared in a different direction, no doubt aiming to save more people.

The glimpse of eternity is shaking!

Ken's chest tightened as he watched them go, a vague feeling that he should be there, fighting alongside them. A sharp pain that only lasted for an instant made him wince eliciting a worried look from his protectors, but he waved off their concern with a crooked smile.

"We've wasted enough time here." The ninja who'd admonished Hector earlier spoke with a deep voice as he gathered all of their attention. "Let's go."

A rush of wind blew past Ken's ears, and before he knew it, they were already in the skies; the capital was far behind them.

Ken's eyes naturally went over to the monster, who was just as big as it was before. When he saw it, he swore without thinking. "Fucking hell..."

The creature's massive arms now numbered seven — each of them had their fists clenched tightly, the veins along them pulsating in irregular intervals. But what elicited Ken's curse was the fact that all of the hands suddenly opened, revealing glassy black eyes with glowing blue-green irises.

All of which were staring right at him.

"Uh, guys..." Ken tapped the ninja carrying him on the back. "I think we have a problem!"

The ninja strained his neck to look back for a moment before his eyes widened. "What in the Sun God's name is that..."

Before he got his answer, the colossal creature's eyes burned with even brighter light, seemingly activating some sort of ability.

Ken's mortal instincts told him that whatever it was going to do would kill him, perhaps in a more horrible way than he could ever imagine.

"HOW DARE YOU STAIN THIS CITY WITH YOUR FILTH!?"

Following a soul-shaking bellow that reverberated in his mind, Ken watched as four of the creature's arms evaporated, vanishing just like the shredded clouds behind it. The raw power unleashed severed the very fabric of the sky, unveiling a realm beyond comprehension.

"It's the Sword Star!"

"He triumphed over the other transcendents!?"

"As expected of the kingdom's Eternal Guardian!"

The ninjas clamored, their voices animated.

But it was too early to cheer. Perhaps because it didn't have a mouth, the monster didn't shriek in pain at having more than half of its arms cut off — but its eyes certainly expressed the anger it felt as they glowed red. One of the remaining arms reached down at the castle and scooped something up before throwing it at Ken's group.

The Sword Star must've tried to stop it, since an overwhelming pressure swept past the sky, significantly eradicating a substantial portion of whatever the monster launched at Ken's group. Perhaps he would've destroyed it completely... if only the enormous monster hadn't interrupted him by growing two new large arms.

There must've been an immense amount of power behind the spherical monster's swing since whatever it had pitched was quickly made visible to Ken, who'd been quite far away from the monster — or at least he thought he was far; his sense of distance was really getting fucked over by the sheer size of the thing.

"Take evasive action!" A ninja commanded. But he didn't even need to say it since the others had moved even before he'd said anything. They all flew in different directions, trying to dodge as many monsters as possible.

Yes, monsters.

The massive monstrosity had thrown a clump of monsters at them.

As Ken was being dragged around haphazardly while on a ninja's shoulder, he had enough leisure to inspect the monsters. And he swiftly realized that none of the monsters were the same.

Each one was unique in its own way.

A human-faced fish the size of a small van, its face twisted in malice and its scales made of human nails; a tree with squid-like tentacles instead of branches; a worm with eyes covering its entire body; there was even a giant millipede with human legs instead of insectoid ones

There were many more, and every single one was different — but equally repulsive and horrifying.

"Your Highness, we'll flee toward that forest in the distance!"

"Wha— wait, what about the others!?" Ken glanced at a black speck in the distance that he assumed was Hector and his ninja.

"They're aware of what's most important!" Without even asking for his permission, the ninja carrying him zoomed off into a copse of trees on the horizon.

'This place...' Ken immediately recognized where they were. His uncle would take him to this forest from time to time, saying that it was a great place to run around in. Apparently, he'd taken Reivan here regularly as well.

The ninja crashed into the forest's soft soil and gently placed Ken on the ground before taking out multiple stones with runes engraved on them from his spacial ring, crushing them one by one; a flash of light accompanied every pulverized stone. "This is all I can do at the moment. We'll stay here and wait for reinforcements."

A circle that shone with blue light surrounded them before Ken perceived a veil of transparent energy forming a wall that shrouded them from all sides.

"Phew..." The ninja heaved a tired sigh before his butt collided with the floor, his breathing rough and uneven. He turned back, and through the cloth mask, Ken thought he could make out a reassuring smile. "Please rest as well, Your Highness. I'm sure this has all been quite an ordeal for you. And please have peace of mind, None of them will get past me as long as I live."

'That's a death flag, man. Don't say shit like that...'

Ken nodded and followed his words, squatting on the leaf-strewn ground as well as he tried to appear calm. He didn't want the ninja to consume his mental stamina by worrying about him.

The young man and his guard sat on the forest floor in silence, anxiously wishing for salvation. Conversation could have made the wait more bearable, but the ninja was on full alert for enemies while the young man didn't want to disturb him.

And so, they waited.

----------------------------------------

Ken wasn't quite sure how much time they spent in stifling stillness but if he were forced to make an estimation, his best guess would be around thirty minutes. If he hadn't lost his watch at some point, he could've had a perfect way to spend time; by constantly checking the damn thing. With that said, he had nothing to wile the minutes away, except for his uneasiness and the occasional breeze that blew past; a song of rustling leaves playing when one flew through.

There were also thoughts of crippling guilt born from memories of the citizens they'd left behind to die.

Boredom and emotional anguish aside, this situation was way more preferable to the chaos he and everyone else experienced earlier. If it meant never experiencing that again, Ken was happy to spend a few years just like this.

However, it seemed the stagnant state of affairs had now come to an end.

A figure with hair as white as snow and clad in a special shrine maiden outfit penetrated the roof of leaves as she flew down from the heavens. Ken couldn't help but wonder why the parts of the shrine maiden outfit that should be red were blue instead, but he shrugged it off as an "other world" kind of thing.

'Mother!'

Seeing the gorgeous woman's fluffy ears and tail, Ken heaved a long sigh of relief before his lips curled up into a big smile. Having her around really did wonders for his spirit.

"Reivan? Are you here?" Vianna raised her chin and sniffed the air a few times before beaming. "You're around here somewhere, I'm sure! Come out, okay?"

"Mothe—mmph!"

Just as Ken stepped forward and called out to Vianna, the ninja he was with suddenly covered his mouth and signaled for him to be quiet.

'Wh-why though...?'

Ken really couldn't understand. Wasn't this precisely what they were waiting for? Why would the ninja deliberately stop him? He had plenty of questions but the ninja had already proven his loyalty to Ken, so he chose to do as the man said for now.

"Reivan~ I said come out!" Vianna cutely made a megaphone with her hand as she strolled about. "I really want to see you... won't you come out, please?"

Silently, Ken strained his head to face the ninja, trying to convey his puzzlement through eye contact.

Luckily, it seemed that the ninja understood his intent. The loyal guardian began tracing words on Ken's arm, apparently unwilling to even communicate through whispers.

Ken's brows furrowed while he focused on feeling the surface of his skin — he absolutely didn't want to misinterpret it in a situation this serious. As the ninja wrote, Ken's face gradually fell in horror as he understood its implications.

{I am in contact with the queen. She is still in the capital.}