Silence.
The cavernous hall was instantly enveloped in silence, and only the crackling sound made by the dancing flames of the torches could be heard.
The prisoners could barely believe their ears, Ryuji included.
"Elixir of Immortality?"
"Immortality?!"
"In order for us to gain our freedom, we must find an elixir of immortality?"
"Does something like that even exist?!" Ryuji exclaimed internally, and the hope he felt from being offered freedom instantly vanished into thin air.
"Elixir of Immortality? What kind of bullshit is this?" The gaunt prisoner beside Ryuji was the first to react, a look of clear disbelief and incredulity on his face.
"This is madness!" the burly prisoner with scars running down his face spat angrily. He clenched his fists tightly from rage, his chains clanking loudly due to his exaggerated movements.
"You expect us to find something that doesn't even exist?! You're just sending us to our deaths!" The burly prisoner bellowed loudly, his voice surprisingly filled with strength despite the amount of time he had spent in prison.
"Immortality? That is nothing but a myth. It's a fairytale. It doesn't exist." The female prisoner with a pale face and blank expression said in a hollow voice.
"You send us on some fool's errand? Elixir of immortality? You're no better than a butcher. You might as well execute me here and save me the misery!" the burly prisoner with scars etched on his face added angrily, his voice low and seething with rage.
The dissent in the cavernous hall spread like wildfire, and in a few seconds, the entire hall was in a state of frenzy. Ryuji watched fearfully as the condemned prisoners pounded the floor with their bare fists and yelled obscenities and vulgar words, their eyes filled with terror.
Just as the situation was about to get out of hand, Ryuji witnessed something harrowing.
The high-ranking warrior suddenly unsheathed his gleaming odachi, the blade singing silently and reflecting the dancing flames of the torches before slicing through the air.
It was a single, fluid motion. It was as silent as a falling snowflake, but it was extremely cruel, and the next sound was a dull, sickening thud.
The burly prisoner, who had been mid-shout, suddenly fell silent, and his head detached cleanly from his body. It fell to the ground with a dull thump and rolled for a few feet before coming to a stop. Almost immediately, a large amount of blood gushed out from his neck where he was decapitated, and the blood sprayed everywhere.
Ryuji, who had been watching the situation with fear, suddenly felt his breath catch in his throat. His body ceased to work, his weak muscles locking firmly in place as cold sweat drenched his back, his eyes unable to look away from the lifeless body crumpling to the floor.
What followed was a bone-chilling silence.
"Dead?"
"He's dead? Just like that?" Ryuji thought, his mind a complete mess.
He couldn't believe his eyes.
'Is this the kind of world I've been thrown into?'
He couldn't wrap his head around his death. There was no remorse or hesitation in his strike.
It was heartless.
At that moment, he wished that everything that had happened so far was a dream.
He wanted to wake up in his room once more.
He wanted to go to school, despite how much he hated it. At this point, he would rather be bullied by his seniors than remain here!
'I want to go home!' Ryuji screamed internally, the terror gripping his body and crashing over him like a tsunami. His heartbeats quickened, hammering against his frail ribs as an intense wave of nausea churned in his stomach.
Ryuji swallowed hard and suppressed the bile rising in his throat, his entire mind filled with fear.
It wasn't just Ryuji who was shocked. The rest of the prisoners were shocked as well. Although they were used to death and violence, which was how they ended up as death row prisoners in the first place, the burly man's death was still too shocking.
As the prisoners were stunned into fear, the high-ranking warrior who committed the deed suddenly spoke up.
"Know your place, fool." He uttered coldly, and with a single yet fluid motion, he swung his odachi once, removing the splatter of blood on it before sheathing it calmly.
With that statement, every single prisoner, including Ryuji, felt a wave of danger envelope them. They swore not to step out of line; otherwise, it would be their head rolling on the damp, cold floor.
The high-ranking warrior swept his cold gaze across the trembling prisoners, each one of them shrinking away from his gaze. Only when he was satisfied did he retract his gaze and speak.
"Remember that you are in the presence of the shogun. Submission is absolute." He uttered coldly. His voice was low, but the authority in his words was undeniable.
The prisoners remained still, silently agreeing with his words. None of them wanted their heads to roll, Ryuji included.
Satisfied, the high-ranking warrior continued to speak.
"Like I said earlier, the task you are given is to find the elixir of immortality, and these are your instructions." He declared, his tone filled with disgust and contempt as he addressed the prisoners.
"You will enter an otherworldly portal to the Tower of Eternity, and deep within the tower, there is rumoured to be the Elixir of Immortality. Find it, and you will earn your freedom. Of course, that is if you can come back alive." The high-ranking warrior declared coldly.
The hall fell into silence for the umpteenth time, but this silence was the most oppressive of them. None of the prisoners could find it within themselves to speak, despite how wronged they felt.
Elixir of Immortality? Tower of Eternity? What good was it to them?
They would countlessly prefer to remain in their disgusting cells for the rest of their terms till they were executed!
Sadly, they could not speak.
Ryuji's throat was dry, and his quickened heartbeats did not seem to be slowing down anytime soon.
'No matter how I look at it, this is simply jumping from a frying pan into the fire…' Ryuji lamented bitterly in his heart as he knelt on the damp, cold floor.
The high-ranking warrior took a step back, his presence as ominous as ever, as he glanced over the group of prisoners.
Just before the warrior could leave, a hoarse but resolute voice echoed in the hall. It was the voice of the middle-aged prisoner.
"When are we to leave?" he asked, his voice trembling.
The warrior halted in his steps and looked back at the prisoner before smiling menacingly before giving his response.
"You will be escorted to your quarters, where you will prepare for the journey. Also, you leave at dawn."
With that statement, he and the shogun turned and exited the cavernous hall, their footsteps echoing menacingly, leaving the condemned prisoners and Ryuji behind in a thick and oppressive silence.