Assessing the gravity of the situation, Lucius decided retreat was his only option. He hastily ordered a group of sentinels to stay behind, their energy blades raised in trembling hands, buying him enough time to escape. Without a word, the remaining sentinels gathered around Lucius, forming a protective barrier as they moved quickly toward safety. Behind them, the haunting sounds of combat echoed, each clash a reminder of the danger they fled. Lucius’s grip on Jack tightened, his every step fueled by a growing desperation to survive the chaos.
His ornate attire, once a symbol of unshakable authority, now felt suffocating under the weight of his fear. The echo of his boots on the metal floor rang hollow, a faint tremor betraying his attempt at composure. The dim lighting cast long shadows across the corridor, distorting their shapes as if mocking the illusion of control Lucius so desperately clung to.
As the elevator came into view, Lucius froze. Sitting on a jagged piece of debris, the Oni Shogun awaited him, his posture radiating an eerie calm. The Shogun’s armor, etched with glowing crimson runes, pulsed faintly in the dim light, casting flickering, unsettling patterns on the surrounding walls. His blade rested casually across his lap, the edge gleaming with a faint, unnatural hue that seemed to drink in the surrounding light rather than reflect it.
Lucius’s chest tightened as the Shogun slowly lifted his gaze to meet his. The Shogun’s eyes, glowing like embers, seemed to pierce through him, stripping away the veneer of his Noble arrogance and exposing the trembling core beneath. The air around them was thick, charged with an oppressive energy that made each breath feel heavier than the last. It was as if the very atmosphere bowed to the Shogun’s presence.
The Shogun tilted his head, his voice breaking the silence in a language foreign yet resonant, each syllable a low, commanding hum. “Ikarai moshin taorai.” The words reverberated through the corridor, as though the walls themselves carried their weight. Then, switching to the common tongue, he added with a faint smirk, “Finally, you’ve arrived.”
Lucius’s grip tightened on Jack’s chains, his knuckles white with tension. “Step aside,” he demanded, though his voice wavered slightly. “You have no authority here.”
The Shogun let out a soft, humorless chuckle, the sound sending a chill through the air. “Authority?” he echoed, his tone dripping with disdain. “Do you think your titles matter here, Noble? This elevator—it requires a key, doesn’t it? That pendant on your chest… hand it over.”
Lucius stiffened, his free hand instinctively moving to the pendant that hung against his chest. “You think I’ll just give it to you?” he spat, though the tremor in his voice betrayed his bravado.
The Shogun leaned forward slightly, his blade tapping gently against the metal floor with a hollow, metallic ring that seemed to reverberate far longer than it should. “You misunderstand,” he said, his voice calm yet laced with menace. “I’m not asking. Give it to me now, or I’ll take it—and I assure you, I won’t need your permission.”
Jack watched silently, his mind racing as he analyzed the scene. Every movement, every word, was a thread in the web of chaos he needed to escape. Lucius’s fear was palpable, his arrogance crumbling under the weight of the Shogun’s presence. Jack’s gaze shifted to the elevator controls, noting the mechanisms and potential vulnerabilities. 'If I play this right, this could be my way out,' he thought, suppressing the faint flicker of hope rising in his chest.
Lucius stood paralyzed by the Shogun’s words, his mind racing with conflicting thoughts of defiance and fear. The Shogun sighed deeply, leaning back with an air of feigned boredom, though the tension in the air crackled with his latent menace. “Your kind always disappoints,” he muttered, his voice heavy with disdain, each word laced with contempt that pierced Lucius’s fragile composure. "So proud, so fragile," he continued, his glowing eyes narrowing as if dissecting Lucius’s every thought.
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Lucius’s breath hitched, his confidence crumbling under the weight of those words. The Shogun’s gaze was unrelenting, stripping away any pretense of control. The oppressive silence felt like a noose tightening around Lucius’s neck.
The Shogun’s tone turned sharper, more final. "You can make this easier on yourself," he said, each word delivered like a blade slicing through the tension. "Or I can end the charade right here and now. Either way, the outcome doesn’t change." His voice dropped to a dangerous low, the promise of violence hanging heavily in the air, leaving Lucius frozen in the grip of his own dread.
He struggled to mask the fear creeping into his expression, but his trembling hands betrayed him. Suddenly, the faint hum of the elevator shifted, growing louder as the platform began to descend. His eyes widened in confusion, then narrowed in suspicion. The elevator was moving—but his pendant had not been used. Panic laced his thoughts. 'Did my father send reinforcements? Or is this something worse?'
Before he could fully process this, the sound of hurried boots echoed from behind as a group of sentinels caught up to him, their weapons drawn and energy blades humming ominously. They halted abruptly, their eyes locking onto the Oni Shogun standing before Lucius. The sentinels’ postures stiffened, their fear palpable as the Shogun tilted his head slightly, a cold, amused smile tugging at his lips.
One of the sentinels, braver or perhaps more foolish than the rest, stepped forward. “By order of the Noble Houses, stand down!” he barked, his voice betraying a hint of tremor.
The Shogun rose slowly, his movements fluid and deliberate, the sound of his armor shifting like the ominous crackle of a distant storm. “Order?” he repeated, his tone almost mocking. “You think your decrees mean anything here? This place—this moment—belongs to me.”
In an instant, the Shogun moved. His blade flashed through the air with deadly precision, a blur of motion that seemed to defy logic. The lead sentinel fell, his armor clattering to the ground, split cleanly through as a sickening silence descended upon the corridor. The remaining sentinels froze, their weapons faltering in their hands as the Shogun turned his gaze upon them.
With a swift, calculated motion, the Shogun advanced on the sentinels, his movements a blur of deadly precision. The sentinels, shouting commands and firing their advanced weapons, unleashed volleys of energy blasts that illuminated the dark corridor. But the Shogun weaved effortlessly through the chaos, his blade a streak of crimson light as it met its mark with unerring accuracy.
Blood splattered across the metallic walls, the air thick with the acrid tang of charred metal and the suffocating weight of death. The Shogun stood amidst the carnage, his posture unbroken, as the last sentinel fell, his weapon clattering uselessly to the floor. The faint crackle of discharged energy lingered in the air, a grim testament to their futile resistance.
Lucius, equally shaken, stumbled back as the chain connecting him to Jack slipped from his grasp. His trembling hands fumbled for the pendant at his chest, his mind racing for a way out. Jack, noticing the sudden slack in the chain, felt a glimmer of hope pierce his fear.
This is my chance, Jack thought, his eyes darting toward the darker recesses of the slum’s corridors. The chaos had created an opening—one he couldn’t afford to waste. Suppressing his terror, he edged backward, ready to slip into the shadows and disappear. But before he could take another step, the Shogun’s eyes snapped to him, their crimson glow locking onto his retreating form. In a blur, the Shogun dashed forward, his blade slicing through the air with lethal precision.
Jack froze, his heart hammering as his body screamed for him to move, yet he remained rooted in place. The Shogun’s blade descended with terrifying speed, the air around it whistling sharply, promising certain death. But just as the killing strike was about to land, the Shogun faltered. His gaze snapped toward the elevator, his battle-hardened instincts flaring at the faintest hint of movement. A shadow passed in the dim light, a subtle but unmistakable shift that drew his attention like a predator sensing new prey. The flicker of curiosity—or perhaps recognition—flashed in his glowing eyes. The blade’s edge barely grazed Jack’s back, leaving a searing, shallow wound that sent white-hot pain rippling through him, the near miss a chilling testament to the Shogun’s lethal precision.
The strike missed by inches, but its force was enough to knock Jack off balance. He stumbled forward, his knees giving way as he fell onto a pile of lifeless bodies, the cold and blood-soaked remains cushioning his collapse. The acrid stench of death filled his nostrils, but his senses dulled as his head struck something hard. Pain blurred into numbness, and his vision darkened, the last thing he saw being the Shogun’s still figure, his attention fixed on the descending elevator, as though anticipating something far more dangerous than himself.