After discovering the enemy base, what Hayate should do is either wait for reinforcements, or go back and report his findings.
Hayate knew this better than anyone as this was one of his main roles when working with his original master. Not only he had heard this from Negi multiple times but even the knowledge given by the System reinforced this idea to the point it should have became a second nature to him.
Unfortunately today's Hayate was not exactly in his most stable state of mind. Many of the fail safes mechanisms included in his body had failed to activate or they were simply not enough.
A organic being is quite different from a machine, while it's possible to suggest and induce their behavior to some degree, because the brain works in a non binary system, as long as there is enough stimulus unexpected behavior are sure to follow.
While the mechanisms inside their bodies were able to sedate a servant's emotions to a certain degree, this required specific substances to be produced beforehand. Of course the production of this substance was an automated process that happened inside each servant's body all the time, but when the consumption is bigger than the production and all reserves run out... well, you can already guess what happens.
Putting it in simpler words: Strong emotions can break any brainwashing, leading to crazy actions. To prevent this, servants get doped whenever emotions reach a certain degree of intensity. But if the servant continues to feel strong emotions again and again, the medicine keeping the servant's sanity will run out, and then all rules will be thrown out of the window at least until they calm down again.
What was happening here was not exclusive to Hayate. No, the enemies before him were experiencing exactly the same as well and even in other parts of the Planet there were plenty of groups showing signs that their limit had been reached and things were starting to spin out of control.
Funny that this break time had been planned not just because the organizers needed to finish preparing the next battleground, but also to give time for the new servants to grow and adapt slowly to their new lives, but in the end it ended up doing the complete opposite, forcing these new born lives into one bloody battle after another, as their Masters competed for a better starting position in the next round.
You may think that all this made the researchers worried, but actually to them this was a blessing in disguise! The stress data that they so much wanted to collect and test out was arriving at their hands faster than ever! This data would enable them to calibrate the next generation of servants to a whole new standard!
As for how many lives were lost and what was happening below, they cared nothing about such matters! Everything was for the advancement of the project! Everything was for Science!
Then why would they plan the break, you may ask. The answer is simple: Every data is valuable. Data from peaceful times. Data from stressful times. Everything needs to be analyzed and compiled. So it doesn't matter which data arrives first, as long as all data arrives in the end. As surprising as it was, in the end this was just a little change of plans, the order of the data collection was reversed, but nothing changed at all.
So as the researches had their fun high above in the sky, Hayate proceeded with a crazy smile one step at a time.
-/-
A small flame danced inside the lantern illuminating it's surroundings, producing seven shadows as it's rays of light extended to the opposite wall.
"The plan was successful! They will never know how they died!"
"Great! I wish I was there to see their last moments! Unfortunately I'm stuck here mixing these herbs!"
"Don't worry, you will have you chance! Our next target will require all of us working together."
"So you have decided? Are we finally striking him?"
"Not yet! First we need to create a distraction."
"And how are we going to do that?"
"I'm thinking of using the leftover Oni who are still alive in their base."
"You think he will respond?"
"Of course he will. That hypocrite will never let go a chance of making himself look good! Where is Venus? Wasn't that coward with you?"
"She stayed behind to ensure all Oni had eaten the food. She should arrive soon... Oh! There she is!"
"Venus, what took you so long?"
"I was watching them eat, getting ready to leave, when someone appeared."
"What!?"
"It was that damn butler from Negi's camp!"
"Fuck! What the hell was he doing there!? Did that bastard join the hypocrite!?"
"I'm not sure, but he came from the other side, so maybe he was heading there to join them."
"Hmm... Then, did he also ate the soup?"
"Actually no. He started talking to one of the Oni. The two talked for some time and he entered one of their tents for a minute and then, on the moment he come out, the poison started having effect."
"Damn it! So close!"
"As I saw the poison starting to take effect, I knew we failed to get him, so I tried to get away as fast as I could, but he detected me, and as he was chasing me, I quickly turned around and shot him a poisoned arrow from the shadows and I was able to hit his arm."
"So, is he dead now?"
"You wish! The bastard mercilessly cut off his own arm to get rid of the poison!"
"Then what happened!?"
"I was not going to stay there and wait his counter-attack, so I turned around and run away!"
"You coward! Why didn't you finish him off! Another arrow would do the job!"
"You say that because you never saw him fight! That arrow only hit him because he was not prepared! Now that he had a weapon in hands, there was no way I would be able to hit him!"
"Bullshit! If it was me, I would be able to hit him even if I was blind!"
As the fight among sisters started to escalate, a new voice arrived from the cave's entrance, surprising all eight girls inside.
"Is that so? Then I will give you a chance to prove it!"
A small shadow flew above their heads, striking right in the middle of the lantern, breaking it in pieces and extinguishing it's flame.
""Kyaaa!!!""
Hayate moved fast! He had already memorized the location of each girl inside the cave and knew exactly where to strike! Taking seven silent steps forward, like a shadow he arrived in front of his first target and with a single swing of his hidden dagger a deep cut appeared on her neck.
(1!)
"Don't panic! He is alone!"
"Quickly, light your torches! Ugh!"
Hayate quickly ran to the next target, stabbing his weapon right through her back, while using his arm to silence her mouth.
(2!)
"Take this, you bastard!"
"I'm out of here!"
Panic started spreading. Some people started attacking randomly around them, while others used their quick feet to run to the exit. The lack of coordination ended up causing friendly fire, where one of the two girls trying to run away was hit by the random attacks of the one attacking everywhere.
"Augh!"
"Got him!"
"You got me, you bitch!"
"What are you doing here!?"
"Get away from me!"
"That's what I-!!!"
(3!)
"No! No! No! I don't want to die!!!"
(4!)
The lights of live continued to be extinguish one by one as Hayate dealt accurate attacks in each girl's vital point before proceeding to the next.
"Light! Light! Light! Why is this not working!?"
(5!)
"Hahahahaha! You will never caught me aliv-!!!"
(6!)
By now all planning had been turned meaningless, but because they were making so much noise, Hayate was somehow able to locate them even in the darkness and deliver the ticket to hell.
(7! Only one left!)
Hayate stopped and concentrated his senses to find the last hidden piece, but no matter how long he waited, no sound reached his ears.
(Did the last one ran away?)
It was then that he heard something move toward the entrance. Like a jaguar he jumped on it with his dagger in hand, but as he swung his dagger, he only hit empty air, and then, without any sound, something pierced his back.
"Ugh!"
"Two can play this game, Hayate!"
(It was a trap!)
Hayate turned around, piercing his dagger through the ear all the way inside the head of enemy who had just backstabbed him, finishing her before falling down.
"Cough!"
Blood spilled from his lips, leaving a mark on the floor as all strength vanished from his body.
"Damn! It seems she got me!"
Feeling the poison spreading inside of him, he knew it was over, and with a smile still on his face, he closed his eyes.