(NOTICE: Shawn will be changed to Uehara from now on)
Uehara flared his aura even more as he ran through the forest much faster than before. It didn't take him long before he started seeing less and less trees. He continued running, pumping his muscles full of chakra. While running, he caught a scent of blood and immediately changed directions.
[Clotted blood, and not from any animal I know of. Judging by how heavy the scent is and how the blood is of the same scent, I wouldn't be surprised if I stumbled upon a recent skirmish between humans.]
He soon reached a huge expanse of land that immediately tingled his vampiric instincts. The place was full of corpses that stretched into the hundreds.
"I was right. Humans had fought here. Typical. Seems like only a few hours had passed judging by the freshness of the blood. Unfortunately, their adrenalin-fuelled blood is useless."
Uehara had developed a distaste for blood with adrenalin already in it. It was like pouring salt in tea. He just couldn't bare consuming it after the blood has been tainted by adrenalin. It's why he had trained his stealth as well so that he can kill his prey in an instant without causing it to be afraid.
He hovered over the battlefield, observing everything.
[Kusarigamas, Gunbais, Shuriken…I had guessed but this confirms I'm in Japan. I can also sense the repulsive feeling of ki in the air. Looks like those humans used it. Shinobi perhaps, or maybe martial artists?]
His eyes turned into golden slits as he looked around for any sort of lifeforce that isn't detectable through normal means. He spotted a man that seemed to be floating around, appearing to be in a foul mood.
[A lingering soul? That's interesting.]
He slowly flew over to it. It was a young man wearing maroon light armour fitted with shoulder pads.
"What were you humans doing here?"
The man was surprised that someone could see him. After all, even the others who came to scavenge the battlefield couldn't notice him. But then he noticed how the kid in front of him seemed to be levitating and once it clicked how the kid said "humans", his face paled more than before. But he pushed aside all those thoughts aside and bowed 90 degrees in respect, nervousness threatening to throttle him.
"F-forgive my lack of decorum my lord. My name is Hiroshi Mangetsu. As for why we were h-here…"
Uehara listened to Mangetsu give his explanation. They were regional troops that had just returned from quelling bandits in the region. While they were camping, they were suddenly ambushed by an enemy army.
"After I died, I couldn't let myself cross over. So, I stayed and I followed them. I then saw the ones who were supposed to be our lookouts eating and drinking with the enemy! THEY BETRAYED US! ALL OF THIS WAS ORCHESTRATED FOR REASONS I DON'T KNOW WHY!"
Uehara let him vent out his anger.
[He smells foul. Is it because of how his soul is a chaotic mess of chakra and ki?]
As soon as Mangetsu calmed down, he spoke, his eyes devoid of any emotion.
"Do not yell in my presence."
All traces of anger disappeared from his face before he bowed again.
"F-forgive my disrespect."
"Your story is mildy interesting, though nothing I haven't heard of before. This is nothing new. Humanity has always been like this. Although I am now interested in finding out why you were killed."
"Forgive me but even the soldiers themselves were clueless. They just followed orders according to my observations my lord."
Uehara processed what Mangetsu said before looking at him with genuine curiosity in his childish eyes.
"Alright. Now for my final question. You obviously can't do anything anymore. You soul is weak to the point that you can probably only possess a rabbit. So why don't you let yourself dissipate? Free yourself from this world?"
Mangetsu sighed in sadness.
"My little sister Sakura. I can't bring myself to leave her alone. I'm all she had and now I'm dead."
Uehara tilted his head, his childish innocence relieving Mangetsu of his nervousness, but he didn't dare raise his head.
"How old is she?"
"Seven years old this year my lord."
"I see."
Mangetsu then suddenly knelt down, his forehead on the ground.
"I-I know I'm being impudent by asking this and I don't have much to repay you with but please will you protect my sister?! I'll hand over my soul to you willingly. I'm willing to live as your slave. Just please-"
"Not interested."
Mangetsu banged his head on the ground repeatedly.
"Please! I'm willing to do anything. She is all I have left! I'm willing to do absolutely anything! I'll even become your dog if you want me to."
Uehara was about to refuse when he began to think.
"I will think about it if you give me complete access to your soul."
Mangetsu was about to ask what Uehara meant but chose not to think about it.
"I have no qualms about that my lord."
"Do you have anything on your corpse that she would recognise?"
Mangetsu's eyes brightened up at my question.
"Y-yes my lord. I have a necklace right here."
He pointed to his corpse and Uehara took the necklace from his neck with his chakra strings.
"Here's what will happen. I'll protect your sister for let's say…ten years. In exchange, you will be my servant and I shall call upon you in the future, say maybe…a few decades from now. For now, you'll allow me access to your soul.. Do you accept this deal?"
Mangetsu quickly bowed again.
"YES! I GRATEFULLY ACCEPT MY LORD!"
"Good."
Uehara stretched out his hand and touched Mangetsu's ethereal head. After recalling how he would usually sift through the souls of the animals after killing them, he closed his eyes as strands of chakra slowly manipulated their way through Mangetsu's ethereal body.
[Since he is dead, I can access his memories much easier because I'm in contact with his essence. Practicing on those beasts really paid off.]
For 15 minutes, Uehara was sifting through Mangetsu's memories, filtering out any sentimental memories.
[Chinese and the Japanese at war? It doesn't seem to be naval warfare. The maps, oh? Now I get it. It seems in this world, Japan isn't separated from Asia.]
He lifts his hand while Mangetsu looks up. A triskele symbol could be seen on Mangetsu's head.
"I'm done. I will fulfil my side of the deal now."
Mangetsu visibly teared up.
"Thank you, my lord."
Uehara turned around and started floating away, the necklace floating along with him.
"MY LORD! If-if it's not too disrespectful of me, I would like to know your name."
Uehara looked at Mangetsu with scrutiny.
"You're too weak to know my name."
"I understand my lord. Forgive me for overstepping my boundaries."
Uehara didn't give him any further attention and continued floating away, uttering one last sentence…
"Rest in peace."
…before he vanished in a burst of speed. Mangetsu gave a nod as he started fading from existence.
A Few Minutes Later
[I really need to find fresh clothes from one of the villages.]
He soon stumbled upon quite a large village that seemed to be prospering in trade. There were streets full of merchants with their carriages and the like. He spotted a crate full of silk in a sort of warehouse and discreetly made it sink into the ground. It soon appeared besides him and then he started taking pieces of silky white cloth.
[I'll find someone to weave them into clothing for me later.]
He summoned a lump of gold ore from deep in the ground and placed it into the crate as payment.
[After they smelt it, it should be enough if Mangetsu's memories serve me right.]
He returned the crate back to its original place and then he disappeared under ground.
[I saw a military academy west from here. Hopefully I'll get some good quality sandals my size there.]
He resurfaced at the courtyard of the academy and started walking around. He wasn't particularly concerned about stealth at the moment since he was hidden under an illusion. With his past life as an assassin of the highest calibre, imagining an illusion that would make people ignore his presence was relatively easy.
It was now night time so almost everyone was asleep. He took his time walking around the place, following the faint clustered sandal-like footprints until he happened upon a large shoe rack. He looked around until he finally found sandals around his foot size. He skilfully burnt the shoe to remove any impurities and dirt it has collected. The sandals soon returned to their pristine blue.
[Good enough, I suppose.]
He wore them, took a black robe and pants and vanished from the school. Before he could fully leave the village, he caught a scent of blood so sweet it almost threatened to drive him into a frenzy. The blood affected his instincts so much he became slightly disoriented.
He calmed himself down and followed the scent. After walking for a while, he spotted a woman who looked to be in her early 20s that was crying in the woods, crumpled up with her face buried in her knees while leaning against a tree.
His eyes glowed from their midnight black to crimson red in an instant.
[Her blood…it's like, it's singing to me…begging me to drink it. It's unlike the others in the village.]
He instantly appeared above her. Uehara started to grow canines, his instincts screaming at him to take her exposed nape then and there, and he didn't refuse them.
Before the woman could react, Uehara lunged forward and sunk his canines into her, suppressing any movements with his chakra. A faint scream escaped the woman before she fell silent, her eyes seemingly glazed over. Little by little, Uehara savoured the blood, enjoying every cell of it.
He soon stopped as he felt the disgusting taste of adrenalin seep into her blood, prompting him to remove himself from her. The woman stared at Uehara with bloodshot eyes like she had just woken up from a nightmare. She tried to stand up and run but the loss of blood made her feel weak. Uehara simply stood there, not making any moves whatsoever.
[Should I have killed her first?]
At that moment, the woman seemed to regain her courage and spoke.
"W-who are you?! What do you want from me?!"
He replied monotonously.
"Your blood tastes good."
He extended his finger towards her forehead.
[I'll leave my mark on her. If I can't find someone who has such high-quality blood like her, I'll come back and take her. Hopefully she'll have offspring by then. If not, I'll coerce her.]
The woman didn't move out of pure fear, her body refusing to listen to her. She closed her eyes as she didn't want to see what she assumed would be her death, only to feel to fingers touch her forehead and her body suddenly feel very energized, calming her down.
"Huh?"
Edited by: Mr X