Master of Myths

Alarms were going off everywhere, the heavy steps of armoured guards filled the halls in their search of the suspected intruder, unaware he was right under their feet

"I didn't think it would be an easy escape anyway"

Utilising the underground prison as a temporary hideout YuJu planned out their route in his head while Ellis warmed up 

"Ellis, what are you doing"

"Getting ready for battle?"

"This is not your fight, our focus is to help you escape, Abbadon and I shall take care of the rest"

"But I am capable of fighting Master, only that woman who defeated me was somewhat capable, the rest I could handle"

"Maybe a one on one, being besieged with your current injuries and lack of armour? I doubt it"

In fact he knew she couldn't fight more than five of them at a time but he spared her pride

"Just follow the escape plan and reciprocate faster, you're a much needed asset for the upcoming war"

The sudden mention of war put a frown over her face

"War? Are there more of them?"

"I hope not"

With how quick everything was going he wasn't quite sure about this new group, one thing was for certain, he didn't want a war to happen and would do everything he could to prevent it from erupting

"We should get out now"

Peeking from under the tiles after another set of footsteps sounded he motioned for her to follow him out, which she did, but they did not run away from their place, instead jumping up to cling to the high ceiling

Soon one more trio of guards started walking through here to check for anything abnormal, that's when he motioned her to attack one while he handled the other two

Ellis nodded and waited for the leading guard to arrive close enough, that's when she jumped down, pinning the guard's neck between her legs and spinning to give the neck a good crack

Compared to her loud failure of an assassination attempt the other two guards were dropped silently to the ground with one slice from YuJu's now bent dagger

"Hmm, their skin is so hard I doubt the need for armour"

Throwing away the useless daggers he stored two of the bodies in his spatial storage and had Ellis gear up the third's armour before storing its owner as well

"Is Master certain they won't catch onto me just because of the armour?"

"Certainly not, emulate their energy with your illusion aura and it should be fine"

"Oh"

Following his suggestion she covered herself in that tacky golden light, not stopping there but covering her skin with gold in case someone saw a hint of it

Disguised to the teeth she strode her way through the halls confidently, unbothered by all the other guards, almost blending in like her invisible master

"Turn right at the second juncture"

Came his whisper, to which she followed letter by letter, knowing he scouted ahead to guide her away from any troublesome fellows

The castle was huge and many were roaming it, taking the two quite a few minutes to find an easy enough passage through all of the mess, everything was going smoothly however, until the alarm intensified in frequency along with an unknown rigid voice sounding through the halls

"Ōra kaitai sōchi o sōbi"

A couple of guards near Ellis at the time heard this and pulled out a round disk from their armour, fiddling with it and ending glances toward her who did nothing of the sort

Once they were done a pulse of sorts emitted from them, under its effect Ellis felt the same thing from her last battle, the thing that rendered her illusory tricks exposed 

"!!"

Alarmed she was about to try and silence the just as surprised guards but a knife sliding under their helmets beat her to it, it seems her master was prepared the second he saw the weird item

"What was that?"

"I am unsure Master, It doesn't seem to counter my dignity aura but they can somehow see through the illusory one"

"See through it? Hmm…"

That was indeed weird, if they could do that then what stopped these people from killing the Aura Beasts back then? Were they not an advanced race as he suspected?

'I shouldn't get hung up on the matter every time'

Shoving it aside for the umpteenth time he stored the bodies and led the way once more, now choosing empty halls or scarcely populated ones so disposing of them would be easy, that sacrificed their already slow speed, it seemed like every hall was taking almost a minute to pass now

"Sooner or later they will know and track down where the guards are disappearing, we won't make it to the gate Master"

After taking a peek and seeing that they were still on the third or fourth floor Ellis warned her master

"Who said we are going for the gates?"

Revealing a smirk he led the way up, only now did she realize they weren't even heading down all this time

'Are we going to jump?'

She thought to herself, what other exit was there after all?

Little did the redhead know, they weren't using a normal exit, they were making their own…

'Anput, call Abaddon now!'

Receiving her master's command Anput, who lay in his shadows, sent the order to her follower hiding in Abaddon's shadow, a telepathic network he started utilising since he couldn't directly use his own yet

Up on the creek, above the noisy palace, the hungry Abaddon saw its shadow move and smiled with razor sharp teeth, not waiting another second before jumping down with its maw wide open

"!!"

Noting the deciding monstrosity the flying birdmen wanted to warn the others but got chimped before they could utter a word, as for the others? They so no need to say anything when the beast crashed down on their palace, breaking down a good chunk of it while roaring to announce its entrance

Among the wreckage of Abaddon's crash a huge shadow emerged, rising on it was one of their own, or so they thought, but the person took off their helmet to reveal the human, a member of the new race caught this day

"??..."

Finally, the pieces clicked together, an expression of wrath forming on all those present

'They destroyed our palace for an insignificant creature such as that?!'

'Who do they think we are'

'Unforgivable!'

Pulling back their spears to strike at the escaping prisoner the birdmen looked livid, keeping that expression for a long time as they fell from the sky, a dagger lodged in each of their necks at some unknown point in time

When everyone was looking left and right a slow clap quieted the messy place

"Marvellous, such talent, mind I ask your name, hidden one?"

Walking forward from her kin the armoured woman who brought Ellis here looked toward the wreckage, she couldn't see anyone, her trinkets didn't help her do so either, but the position of the knives all seemed to have originated from that place

Instead of staying in stealth YuJu exposed his gloomy figure before all spectating eyes, even so he wasn't the one who felt a chill upon being watched, it was they who felt like this man was watching them

"Hmm, great aim and great stealth, such a waste for you to be on enemy side, human"

"You know my race yet I know not yours, mind enlightening me?"

"Oh how rude of me, the name is Kasha, only a lowly servant to the grand and glorious Gacha race"

"...."

"Speechless? I could not blame you, were are after all quite the famous race"

No, well, he never heard of them but the name was too…yah

"What of your name, human?"

"Pride"

Without missing a beat he replied, knowing not whether someday these people would come into touch with Hortus and expose his identity

"Pride? If I understand your language correctly then it refers to the ruling sin?"

"Yes"

"Heh, hahaha, arrogant, truly so, no wonder you dare defy our race"

Speaking of it Kasha's face turned dim, as dim as a golden face could be

"And for that you earned a spot on our list, noted loud and clear, as a threat"

In her hand suddenly manifested a skull, a human one at that

"And every threat we note, we-" Crack! "-Crush without mercy"

Allowing the bone dust to scatter with the wind Kasha stared into his eyes, a deadly look about her

"And who said your race has taken notice"

Smirking YuJu decided to top her dramatic introduction with one of his own

"The way I see it you and the few here are the only ones who know of us, and that's how I shall keep it"

Smoke filtered with him as the center, so dark no one could see through it, no physical attack or energy one could block it, within seconds the smoke spread so far and wide it encompassed the entire palace and its surroundings

"? What have you done"

"Cut you off from sending anything to the outside, your only way of doing so is to physically get out of here and send it"

He smiled, clearly goading her to follow his words

"Hah! We shall see who's running human!"

Bursting forth with twin swords equipped Kasha beelined toward him with every intention to finish him off herself, a valiant choice, for a muscle head

'Who's the prideful one now?'

Chuckling inwardly at their own prideful attitude he shot forward to meet this brave yet stupid woman head on