Master of Myths

Below a nameless valley's creek lay the same desolate fortress YuJu had once slew those who inhabited it

And now the death bringer was back, except this time he did not have to make his own entrance, for the gates were wide open

"This could be a trap my King"

Spoke his shadow, yet he seemed unconcerned, walking through the halls casually 

"No scouts, no guards, and no one attacked the human settlements yet, is it possible that they retreated?"

He muttered, feeling like the Gacha race was a little too careful

"If I knew I would have taken my time prepping the alliance rather than rush into things"

It all worked out in the end, but there were a few unnecessary close calls

"I do not believe they would retreat my King"

Kasha once more voiced her opinion

"Neither do I, your people appear to be the type that invites disaster"

'Especially since I have no recollection of such a race in my memories'

He added in his thoughts, this advanced race seemed like it never existed, a peculiar matter given their unique artisanry

Just when he started going over the possible scenarios that could have led to their sudden demise he heard voices coming from upstairs

"I believe they are in the command center"

Kasha remarked to which YuJu nodded and sneaked up to the room

The door was ajar, giving view to two drunken armored guards, merrily laughing and exchanging light punches

'That's it? Only two guards stationed...'

He was sure this was no trap, after all, he could not feel any gazes on him thus they knew not of his arrival

Rather than guessing their intentions he snuck inside and stabbed one through the eye, with another dagger already logged in the other's throat

The choking guard flailed, hands moving uselessly toward their weapon, then a resolute glint passed through those dying eyes

The gauntlet they were wearing suddenly lifted off their hand and shot toward the complicated panel before YuJu could react fast enough

Bam!

Smashed down a dark greave, disrupting the last effort of the owner's former comrade

YuJu stood there with a brow raised, clearly not expecting the guard to survive his attacks

"Should've hit a vital"

"It did my King, but she had the last stand skill"

"Oh, I see, could have been quite bothersome if you did not act there"

Thankfully Kasha knew of this guard making things go much smoother

Meanwhile, the war shadow wasn't feeling too sure of herself, not because she was going against her race and comrades, but because YuJu was getting too powerful too quickly

'And it is not a natural increase in power, it is like the Mistress sensed, Pride is influencing the world through my King'

Naturally, her mistress being the absent Anput

"You're thinking about my power spike are you not?"

<br/>Commented YuJu out of the blue

"...Yes my King, I am afraid it is going to get out of control if you keep giving in to the lust of power"

Her grave words were met with a chuckle

"Don't fret over the matter, I am no longer clueless about my condition, as long as I am aware of Pride's influence I can keep my thoughts clear, using its power would only speed up the rate at which the sin would awaken"

This gave Kasha no rejoice for the result of his actions was a whole problem on his own

'When the sin awakens it takes hold of the host….'

Would he be as uncaring as he was now when an old age original sin fought for his body? She believed not, despite how powerful and overreaching this man was

But, since he told her not to fret it would be out of place to say any more, thus she walked up to the panel she protected and started looking through the latest data

"...This is weird"

"Anything abnormal?"

"Yes, all the present data seem to be what I input last, there is no message sent from the brigade that arrived at all"

"That does seem odd, is it not possible that they would delete them? Perhaps after taking note of the possibility of us manipulating the infirmation sent"

"That is not possible, everyone knows no one other than our own people can use these devices, and a necromancy art like the one the Mistress uses…I do not believe we have met one yet to plan around its existence"

That left one question spinning in the head of the two, where exactly did the brigade of elites…actually go?

"Switch with Anput and see if she can make these two into war shadows that can talk, if not then keep them here as our eyes"

"I assume my King shall look for their traces?"

"No other option, can't remain blind to your enemy's moves after all"

YuJu vanished while Kasha called for her mistress

In the immediate area of the valley he tried to seek out any energy traces or hints of recent activity, when none could be found the search area was expanded, over and over until three fruitless days passed

"They are not here"

He concluded, and as doubtful as it might seem his search result revealed no one other than the two guards came to the fortress

"Did they retreat before even arriving? Otherwise where would they go..."

Feeling like this pointless chase was taking him around in circles YuJu decided he would cease his search and shore up on the defenses instead

"The Capri should arrive soon, same goes for the demons, I should be there to settle them in so we could receive the living armours next"

After that he had to go to Hortus and tell them the history of Genus Insania, then put up defensive measures for the Frozen Sanctuary

"!?"

Alarm signals came from his connection with Ellis all of a sudden, promoting him to use the tattoo and gain sight through her

What he saw was her hands weaving one illusion after the other, camouflaging herself and the humans she took to level in the Aura Beasts' land as they presumably escaped from something beyond their power level

He needed to see no more as his feet shuffled about, rushing toward her at breakneck speed

On the way he sent a blood message to Mia telling her to have the Witness and Abaddon lurk about the human settlements, meanwhile Kasha was to inform Sofia that they be ready for war

'I don't feel good about this'

It was a hunch, but his intuition never failed him, something was afoot and he was not ready for it