"...Tsukuyomi."
Touma's calm voice sounded, signaling the activation of one of the strongest genjutsus, Tsukuyomi, a genjutsu that casts an illusion on the opponent's consciousness, trapping them in your own realm, a realm where you are the equivalent of a god.
And inside this realm, was a world of red and white. This realm was currently housing a maze. The maze's walls were white colored, meant for disorienting the victims as well as consistently damaging their eyes due to the white space all around, but the red floor.
Soon enough, the shadowy figures faded in out of nowhere, right in the center of the maze. Their eyes were lifeless before they regained their consciousness, but once they did, they broke out in fear.
"W-Where is this?" a shadowy figure asked fearfully.
"M-Maybe a different dimension?!" another shadowy figure answered unconvincingly.
"T-That's not possible! Creating your own physical dimension is impossible! That is only but a legend!" another denied.
"N-No, this is the Soul Dimension," the weaponless cultivator said after taking a cold breath. He had the highest cultivation level and was naturally more knowledgeable, but because of that, he was more fearful.
Hearing what the weaponless cultivator said, the others seemed to nodded in understanding, but were confused about his fearful expression.
"Only cultivators at the very peak of the Soul Reformation Stage with extensive mastery of the soul could bring other people's awareness into their own. The pulling of others into one's own Soul Dimension can be considered a pseudo-legend as cultivators at such a level could only be counted with one hand, even within the Empire," he explained anxiously.
But the weaponless cultivator experiencing such a situation for himself now fully believed in the ability to drag other's souls into one's own Soul Dimension.
However, this knowledge only seemed to make their analysis of the situation worse. After all, if you were to be in someone else's Soul Dimension, you were essentially in their territory where they have more power.
Fortunately for the shadowy figures, although the owner of such Soul Dimensions may be a whole realm stronger, the ability to maintain the consciousness of others would take a large amount of energy.
"Don't worry guys. He won't be able to kill us as long as we stick together and survive until he runs out of energy," he assured.
But little did they know, Touma's ability to maintain Tsukuyomi was near infinite.
---
It has been a few weeks, at least for the shadowy figures within the maze. They were exhausted, starved, and dehydrated and confused. How could that mysterious youth maintain this Soul Dimension for so long and how did he hide his prowess from the begin so well?!
Normally, cultivators at their levels would be able to last months and even years without the need to replenish on such needs, but while in this Soul Dimension, they felt as if all their whole cultivation base was restricted.
The shadowy figures walked aimlessly, sliding along the maze walls for support while mumbling words of the insane.
"Hungry…" a shadowy figure groaned.
"Sleepy…!" an extremely fatigued voice wailed.
"I need water…" a rasping voice called out.
The shadowy figure with the bow, seemingly the sanest out of the whole group decided to halt his steps. Everyone else was too tired to notice.
He lifted the arm that carried the bow shakily. Whether it was from exhaustion, fear, or rage, he continued to lift it until he could aim straight.
He shakily, yet steadily knotched an arrow and pulled the string back…
And he fired.
Thump.
A shadowy figure slumped over with a thump. Hearing the sudden noise, the group instinctively glanced over in fright and were shocked to see an arrow sticking out of the now-corpse's head.
Seeing the arrow, they naturally thought it was from the shadowy figure with the bow and was about to look at him and question him, but were stunned to see him run over to the corpse with an insane expression.
"W-What are you doing?!" the shadowy figure with a rasping voice asked in fear.
The shadowy figure leapt towards the corpse with a psychotic expression as if seeing a divine treasure. Throwing away his bow, he immediately grabbed the corpse's leg and bit into it, tearing a piece of flesh off and swallowing it down viciously.
The surrounding cultivators could only watch in shock and fear.
"C-Cannibalism…" one of them whispered out in despair.
'Cannibalism,' the others soon realized how desperate the situation was and looked at each other in wary, fearing that the other would jump on them, killing them for their meat.
If one were to die in the Soul Dimension, it would be tantamount to their soul dying, so they would not be taking any chances.
However, they were conflicted. If they were to separate from the group, it would be equivalent to killing themselves through natural means such as starvation or dehydration, but if they stayed together, they were at risk of being attacked.
---
Within the Tsukuyomi world, an average looking yet mysterious youth floated in the air above the maze. His form seemed to be transparent, making it hard to spot him from below.
He looked down towards the maze as if a god surveying mortals.
His deep mesmerizing red eyes that had a black spiraling triangle in them were coldly inspecting the shadowy figures down below in mockery.
"Not letting me kill you and survive you said? Well, it's not like I would need to do anything. After all, you're already killing yourselves."
He laughed coldly before his mysterious transparent figure faded into the red atmosphere.