The Slugs of Hysteria. Large, black, sticky worms that attach to the souls of any ordinary human are unfortunate enough to encounter someone who is a vassal of someone with a Spiritmark.
The Lord of Spirits commanded the Lords of Hysteria to watch over the orphanages and bring over the orphans with vast potential to the Manor to be trained. And, of course, the Slugs of Hysteria would be forced into their bodies and attached to their souls, making it impossible for them to disobey those with a Spiritmark, but also granting them a form of longevity.
And, the young crook, who was buried by Kyōji and Hinote, was one of them. Once the Slug of Hysteria was activated suddenly, he was granted temporary strength and was able to claw his way out of the ground.
"Something… bleurgh… something is finally happening again. The Black Dragon Manor rarely calls me back like this."
"Ha… ha… it's been a while since I've had the chance to get serious," He muttered, "I've been acting like a 'kid' for so long, that I've forgotten my instincts."
"I would like to play with the group that buried me a little longer, but now…"
The young crook tore a strange face mask off of his face. And, there he was. His face looked significantly older now, as if he was in his mid-twenties now, and his hair seemed to have grown longer, while small scars appeared on his face, but they were healed over as if they had been there for a long time.
As an orphan of the "Black Orphanages" who was "picked" at a young age, he had a very grim childhood, and acting as if he was just a young charlatan was his way of coping with his reality. But, who he was in actuality, was almost a devil.
"What was it again?" He asked himself, as he fished out something from his pocket.
"Ah, yes. Puppeteer. That was my codename." He smiled, as he brought out a tight ball of string from his pocket,
"Now, how do I get back to the Darklands from here as quickly as possible?"
•••
The sound of the waves splashing onto the shore entered Shuku's ears. But, as he opened his eyes, he only saw pitch-black darkness. It was midnight. Or, at least, the skies resembled that, as the sun was covered by clouds as dark as night itself.
And, the sand beneath his feet was similar to ash.
"This is the Darklands region…" Shuku murmured, before looking around and barely spotting the others, grouping up amidst the darkness around Rei's flame.
"-Lilac and I will help. We've been with you guys for most of your journey, so it wouldn't make sense to call it quits now."
"But, where do we even start?" Nuru said, "I mean, even I'm not that familiar with this region, and if we're going to subdue a cult that almost has this entire region in the palm of its hands, then..."
"We don't need to worry about the location," Lilac replied, "The Black Dragon Manor is already very close nearby. It is vehemently possible that they have already learnt of our arrival."
"Then, we will just have to attack them in the way they will expect the least!" Kyōji informed the others.
"And how are we going to do that?" Bōshi inquired of him before Kyōji answered,
"Don't worry, I think I have the perfect plan for this!"
"Aha, so, Hinote, the Moon Lady and I will enter through the courtyard and start a big massacre, killing everyone that we can, as well as causing a huge distraction."
"This will allow him to enter through," Kyōji said, referring to Shuku, "And, with Bōshi, Seiji, Rei and the Tiger guy, you guys will make it as fast as you can to the cult leader after clearing through the guys inside the Manor."
"Tiger guy?" Nuru asked, taken aback, "Also, moon lady?"
"Yes. You guys will hold him off before I, Hinote and the moon lady join up to finish him off," Kyōji finished off, "Good?"
"…Hm," Bōshi said, shaking his head, "Nope. There is not a single world where that is a…"
"Wait."
"This is… surprisingly, an actual useful plan," Seiji spoke out, "Let's go with this."
"What did you just say? A useful plan?" Bōshi replied, dumbfounded, "How in the heavens…"
"No. We can truly make it work," Seiji spoke, "Though, there surely will be a few big obstacles to push through, like subduing those directly under the cult leader…."
"But, pushing through the Manor's main gates is best, because, what should happen won't be able to without the extremely high stakes."
Bōshi seemed incredibly hesitant but reluctantly nodded his head. And, eventually, so did the others.
So then, as raindrops began to fall, thunder clapped and the weather grew darker than ever, the plan commenced.
•••
Six men stood side by side in front of two tremendously large metal gates, dressed in leather tunics and iron armour, with insignias engraved on their metal chest plates, resembling the body of a dragon in a resting position.
In front of them, many windy steps, carved out of stone and rock, led down a small mountain, which was not apparent at all during this time of day. But, as if to show the might of the Black Dragon Manor, even the gate they guarded was massive and even held a name, as the "Great Guardian Gates of the Black Dragon's Divine Scales."
This was the entrance of the Black Dragon Manor, not truly a manor, however, but a large castle, that once belonged to a lord.
"Who… who could that be, this late at night?" One of the guards asked, noticing a figure climbing the mountain steps.
That was before another one of them realised, and yelled,
"They're here! Stop him from-"
With bestial speed and strength, Kyōji tore out their throats and tore apart their bodies. Then, he was followed by the others, who all seemingly appeared out of nowhere.
"We must do this as fast as possible," Kyōji warned, "Let's all try and get into the Black Dragon Manor as fast as possible."
They all nodded in response, and the Great Guardian Gates of the Black Dragon's Divine Scales opened, to reveal a grand audience.
"Shit… they've been waiting for us!" Bōshi yelled.
"No matter!" Kyōji replied, "Let's just kill them all!"
Just less than one thousand of them stood in the courtyard of the Black Dragon Manor, and, as soon as they caught sight of them, they all charged at them at once, shouting and screaming to forewarn those still inside the Manor.
But, of course, since most of them were "ordinary" warriors and assassins from the Black Orphanages, Shuku, who was at the forefront, stepped forward, and unleashed his crimson might. His eyes glowed redder than they ever did before, and a Crimson Moon arose before the skies.
Crimson Fire spewed from that ball of red and with one powerful slash imbued with red fire, blood split from the majority of the one thousand that had gathered there.
And then, using the blood split to fuel the Crimson Moon further, he imbued his blade with the Crimson Fire again and unleashed a second slash, leaving just a small minority alive.
This was the true power of the Bloodmark, with destructive capabilities comparable to that of the Lightmark.
"Haha… it was certainly worth it bringing him alongside!" Bōshi grinned, "Now I see how we can defeat the Black Dragon Manor!"
"HAHAHAHA! Defeat us?! The forces at our disposal are far beyond that of what you can imagine!" A voice proclaimed, belonging to one of a few people who seemed completely uninjured.
It was from the small minority that was still alive, and it had turned out to be the elites sent from the Black Orphanages. They were dressed in raven-black cloaks and silk cloth and carried sufficient weaponry.
The group got ready to fight as they said,
"The Lord of Spirits won't even be able to catch a glimpse of who dared to cause such a ruckus on his territory, because, you'll all be buried by the time the sun's rays can be felt again!"