Once the masked man finished speaking, the crowd of corrupted ones stood there silently.
"Your legion? I don't belong to anyone." Aiqor Derlona, a corrupted Barbaric Warblood snarled.
Head Cleaver, a corrupted swordsman, looked at Shalra. "Miss Avesin, do you know this man too?"
"Yes, he gave me my abilities when I was still weak." Shalra nodded. "There's no way I can mistake him for someone else."
"What a coincidence." Head Cleaver laughed. "How could I forget the man that gave me the opportunity to escape enslavement? You never gave me the opportunity to express my gratitude."
The masked man looked at everyone. "You've all experienced how the heroic faction treated you. Even though you weren't corrupted before, they treated you worse than rats. Now that I've given you your abilities, I would like to ask a favor from all of you."
"What if I refuse?" Adre Colt, a Shadow Inducer who killed many heroic awakened ones asked with a frown. "Honestly, I would like to work for myself only. I am against the idea of working under someone."
The masked man held his chin and nodded. "They said that strength rules over everything, maybe some of you would like a demonstration as to why you need to lower your heads from time to time." The masked man then glared at Adre.
"Are you threatening me? I didn't ask to be awakened by you to begin with." Adre spat on the floor.
"You don't understand." The masked man shook his head. "How pitiful."
"What do I not understand?" Adre coldly replied. "You wish to kill me? Sure, I've done what I have always wanted anyway."
The masked man laughed in a chilling and sinister manner.
"All of you received your awakening when you're at death's door. Your souls are long gone. I replaced it a long time ago." The masked man muttered with an unsettling but calm tone.
"Seriously?" Someone from the crowd gasped.
"There's no need for me to lie. That means that your lives are no longer in your hands. You can choose to obey, or die forever in torment." The masked man gave them all a choice.
Everyone became silent.
Even Adre, who was usually arrogant, didn't talk back. They all knew what this meant.
If they didn't obey, they would suffer for a very long time before they die. Of course, no one would be stupid enough to disobey now.
"Why didn't you just command us like a puppet?" Someone from the crowd found it suspicious that the masked man would let them keep their psyche.
"Mindless dolls can fight for me, but they cannot grow stronger by themselves. I need powerful minds who can stand alone without hindering others. Your ideas and insights are very valuable for a legion to grow. That's why I kept your mind working." The masked man replied. "But for now, we must leave. We can't stay here for long."
Hearing this, despite being hesitant, the corrupted ones knew that they had no choice but to follow his orders.
The corrupted ones broke through the steel walls of the prison. The masked man led them to the prison's armory, alerting the guards in the process.
"Hey! Stop right there!"
"It's the corrupted ones!"
"Quick! Call for reinforcements!"
The guards from the armory saw them approaching quickly. The masked man waved his hand and all of their heads turned 180 degrees as if they were human bottles that had their caps twisted by an invisible force. Of course, they were all dead now, there's no way for them to survive such a fatal attack.
The corrupted ones following behind felt awe, fear, wariness, amusement and many more. But there was one thing that was certain, they didn't want to mess with him.
The masked man snapped his finger and the steel door of the armor crumbled in a few seconds.
"Get your desired weapons. You need a way to protect yourselves." The masked man gestured towards the vault filled to the brim with different types of weapons.
The corrupted ones didn't hesitate. They ran forward and grabbed anything that they found suitable for them.
Of course, as corrupted ones, they fought for it.
"This is mine!" A corrupted one was pulling a sword away from a corrupted Steel Armorclad.
"Hey! Grab your own sh#t!" A Barbaric Warblood grabbed a greatsword and pulled it away from the other people who wanted to grab it.
"You're a summoner! Why do you even need arrows!?" A corrupted crossbowman shouted.
"Come back here you thief!" A Warborn was chasing a nimble Thief who grabbed a scimitar that he fancied.
Shalra was minding her own business when Head Cleaver approached her.
The handsome swordsman who was locked up for slaughtering an entire noble family including their daughter, their two sons and unborn daughter. Despite being just a slave, he managed to suddenly awaken his corrupted Divinious and use it to attack them when they least expected it.
He is a man with fair skin and a decently muscular body. He had sharp black hair and deep green eyes. His face had a confident feel to it, it was as if he was made to be a womanizer in the first place.
That was the reason why the noblewoman who he was under, used his body for her own desires. Of course, when he got his abilities, she was the one he enjoyed torturing the most.
"Here, I got you good blades and some armor." Head Cleaver passed a light set of armor and two steel blades.
"Hm.. Why did you go through that much trouble?" Shalra took the weapons and armor as she asked.
"Let's just say, I would rather build good connections than to antagonize anyone." Head Cleaver winked.
Shalra misunderstood this gesture and said, "Alright, so you want to spread your connections? Fine by me." She left and ignored him after this.
Head Cleaver rubbed his nose and walked away. Feeling a bit uncomfortable being ignored like that.
After the corrupted ones finished gearing up, they heard hundreds of guards coming for them.
"Prepare for battle." The masked man looked in the direction where the guards were approaching.
Many of them looked forward to this.
After being locked up for months and even years, they were craving for some blood.
"Kill!" The corrupted ones attacked.
The prison guards charged forward. They have no intention of letting these monsters loose.
The two sides furiously clashed against each other and they had no intention of letting anyone live through this. It was a kill or be killed situation.
Arrows, spells, illusory beasts, bombs, spears and various attacks were being received by the guards. The large variety of attacks was almost impossible to guard against.
The corrupted ones fought with greater ferocity. They never felt so alive before!
The mist from the masked man was enhancing their abilities so much that the guards were slowly being overwhelmed. The summoners were able to summon much more beasts than usual, the necromancers strengthened their undead troops so much that one undead could take on nine guards by itself.
The arrows shot by the archers, crossbowmen, and explosive archers were so piercing that they only stopped after penetrating through five bodies covered in steel armor. The aerialist archers were providing air support that disrupted many formations of the guards.
And of course, the melee type awakened ones did their job very well and became the spearhead of the formation. The assassins danced around the battlefield, leaving a trail of blood everytime they reappeared to attack.
It was hell for the heroic faction.
As the battle between the two forces continued, four powerful auras could be felt from the back of the guards.
The masked man saw four people from afar. This was the only time that he felt threatened. It was the four supreme guardians of the Great Ironmountain Prison.
He knew that the corrupted ones were too weak to handle the four of them. So, he stepped forward and decided to give them a proper welcome.
He also knew that those men in silver and gold armor are going to be difficult to face.
He dissipated into black mist and reappeared a few meters in front of the four supreme guardians.
"..." The four supreme guardians scrutinized the man in front of them who appeared like it's nothing.
They all became extremely alert the moment they felt the masked figure's terrible and wicked aura.
Cidere Rookvelt, Asiral Blugius, Algos Lapmia, Dinetri Sigtere, the four supreme guardians unsheathed their swords and attacked the masked man.
"Corrupted one, this is your end." Asiral muttered as he used a mystical ranked ability called Light of Divine Slashes. His sword glowed with pure heroic Divinious and slashed towards the masked man. Creating a massive wave filled with pure destructive energy.
Black mist formed behind the masked man, the mist shaped themselves into tentacles and they shot forward in a blink of an eye.
The wave of energy was quickly dispelled at the cost of a numerous portion of the black mist holding it back like a dam preventing the flow of water.
Meanwhile, Asiral sliced the black tentacles and dodged the attacks he couldn't slice.
Dinetri lifted up his huge hammer and ran towards the masked man as he shouted vigorously. "Die, you monster!"
The masked man reached his hand into the mist and took out a scythe. He parried the huge hammer without even budging a bit.
"Hmph!" Dinetri raised his hammer again and smashed it down with greater force.
The masked man dodged the strike by rolling back and he managed to block an arrow that was aimed for his head using his scythe.
Algos shot another arrow with his mystical ranked ability called Thorns of the Blazing Sun. The masked man was holding his ground against a Magic Armorclad, a swordsman, and an archer.
Cidere lunged forward with his spear and struck the masked man from behind.
"Enough!" The masked man covered his other hand with black mist and punched the spear, redirecting its course.
The masked man parried arrows, a hammer, dodged strikes from a spear and used a sliver of his concentration to control the black mist, keeping the swordsman busy. If it was anyone else in the masked man's place, they would've died by now.
The masked man was barely surviving though, he thought he could continue dodging until he took a misstep and he got shot by an arrow in his left collarbone. And after being shot, he made another mistake and he got hit by the hammer in his head. And finally, he was hit by the spear in the back with a force so great that he was launched back into a steel wall.
Boom!
The steel wall crumbled under the sheer force of the launch. The masked man stood up from the hole in the wall and looked at the four supreme guardians with a calm gaze.
There was no anger nor hatred. Just pure tranquility.
The supreme guardians didn't waste any time and attacked once again. For being able to handle the combined effort of the four of them, they knew that this man needed to be eliminated.
The masked man's scythe dissipated into black mist. From his back, four more arms sprouted like a plant using the black mist.
When the supreme guardians were about to unleash their attacks once again, the masked man's six hands pulled something out of the black mist.
It was a hammer, a bow, a sword, and a spear.
The masked man held the spear and the sword with his main hands. The hammer with two of his hands on his back, and the bow with the topmost hands.
"Let's start again, shall we?" The masked man raised his spear and parried Cidere's spear with nine consecutive jabs of his spear.
Cidere widened his eyes in shock. "The Nine Strikes of the Northern Dragon Emperor!?" This was his most powerful spear technique, how did this man learn how to use it!?
The seemingly powerless jabs sent Cidere flying backwards. The spear moved in such speed that it looked like it merely vibrated and moved slightly.
Algos shot arrows with his ability, but the masked man shot his arrows in return with pinpoint accuracy! And not only were his arrows knocked out from their trajectories, the masked man's arrows were still accelerating towards him! Algos tried to dodge but he was impaled by fifteen arrows.
"Agh!" Algos couldn't believe that even his armor failed to stop the arrows.
Dinetri growled and smashed his hammer down. In response to this, the masked man retaliated with his own hammer.
Boom!
The two hammers collided and Dinetri was forced to take three steps back while the masked man didn't even budge.
"Impossible!" Dinetri was filled with disbelief. The previously fearless fighter lost his confidence, but he kept attacking with his hammer. However, the masked man's hammer was filled with more force and speed! He made a mistake and he was sent flying with his own attack.
The masked man copied his exact moves and used it against him. His trust in his own abilities started to wane.
Asiral stood his ground. He looked at the masked man with extreme levels of alert. He took a deep breath and used the mystical ability, Formless Blades of Glorious Spirit.
"Begone!" Asiral's sword blurred and he slashed the masked man 15,000 times in one second!
"Hmph." The masked man only moved the arm holding the sword.
Peng! Peng! Peng! ...
All 15,000 slashes were blocked!
Asiral looked at him with disbelief. That was his prided sword ability, how was it easily countered like that?
"Now it's my turn." The masked man executed the same sword ability, but this one has 30,000 sword slashes!
Shwing!
All 30,000 slashes came down on Asiral and he was killed instantly.
His body turned into meat cubes before falling dead on the ground.
Algos, Dinetri and Cidere looked at this scene with shock.
This man..
Isn't someone they could take on.
The battlefield was filled with screams.
Dread, pain, agony, and hopelessness.
The masked man walked towards the remaining guards while holding the heads of the four supreme guardians.
Seeing this, the guards exclaimed in fear.
"The four supreme guardians!"
"Impossible!"
"This is a trick, a trick!"
The guards panicked and they were eventually killed by the corrupted ones.
With the masked man joining the battle, they weren't able to hold for long.
Two minutes later…
The corrupted ones rejoiced after killing the last man standing.
"Awesome! I can't believe we won!" A spearhurler bashed his fist into his chest.
"Let's get out of this place." A martial artist sighed and looked at his injuries before deciding to leave the prison.
They were about to leave through the exit when suddenly..
Lirgius Alcanar blocked their exit.
"You filth... you don't deserve to live." Lirgius lifted his axe and swung it. Killing fifteen corrupted ones with one strike.
Despite seeing their own kind get killed, there was no fear among all of them.
The corrupted ones sneered. They knew how the masked man destroyed the four supreme guardians all by himself. What can a single person do?
The masked man obviously responded to this. The arms in his back and his weapons dissipated into black mist.
He leisures walked towards Lirgius.
Seeing this arrogant monster walk towards him, Lirgius lunged forward and brought his axe to the masked man's head in under a second.
The masked man dodged and took off his mask. His left palm was touching Lirgius' hand that held the axe.
When Lirgius saw who the man was, he almost lost his balance. He couldn't help but whisper, "Asimi...?"
He didn't manage to finish his sentence when Asimi's hand glowed with a red light and turned him into meat paste.
Lirgius' flesh flew everywhere. Leaving only his armor and his axe untouched. The body was the only thing that received damage.
Asimi stood there silently before collapsing on his knees.
Asimi covered his mouth as he coughed out a mouthful of thick blood.
He slumped down on one knee as he tried to recompose himself.
The corrupted ones stood from afar. Not knowing what to do, Except for Adre. He unsheathed a knife and slowly approached Asimi from behind.
"Hey what are you doing?" A corrupted archer spoke with a hushed tone.
Adre didn't respond and slowly approached Asimi with the intention to kill.
The other corrupted ones didn't warn Asimi because they were curious about what would happen if Asimi was killed. Of course, they wouldn't do it themselves, so when someone was going to do it, they didn't do anything and decided to watch.
That was just how they are.
When Adre was two steps away from Asimi, he heard a man sneer.
Asimi then said, "You've made a mistake, my child."
"Huh?" Before Adre could react, a black tentacle penetrated his chest.
Adre slowly bled out while his soul was being absorbed by Asimi. A purple energy was clearly being sucked from Adre's body and was entering Asimi's. Healing him slowly but surely.
After Asimi was done absorbing his energy, he threw the body down the floor as if it was a fruit peel that had nothing else to offer.
Asimi picked up his mask beside him on the floor and put it on, before speaking, "If any of you tried something like that again, I won't be merciful."
After this incident, an unspoken rule was formed between them and Asimi.
They all escaped the prison.
"..."
Shalra looked at the night sky with glittering eyes. She muttered with a smile after tasting freedom once again.
"I'm back…"