The castle was in chaos, word spread out that they were under attack. The commanding officer of the forces at the castle, Katsuo, was awakened from his slumber by the loud blaring alarm bells. Strangely, he was not awakened by the chaos itself that supposedly occurred; any castle-wide commotion could have woken him up. The moment he was told that they were under attack by a nearby soldier, he found it strange that he heard less chaos than he would expect. No, it was strangely quiet.

  Who would attack us?

  He first thought it would be another state. They would be the only ones that would be capable and brave enough to attack a castle that consisted of many fighters, and where the lord of the island resided. As it was an emergency, he hadn’t had time to change into a proper combat outfit as he quickly left his room, only having his weapon. He was met by his first lieutenant, Minori.

  “What’s the situation?” he asked as they rushed down the corridor.

  “I’m still trying to work it out.” It would appear the Minori also woke up in a rush, as she was still in her sleeping outfit. Both her weapons were at her waist. “I’ve requested the soldiers to bring us their commanding officer to give us a report.”

  When they arrived outside the castle, Katsuo was ready for a battle. However, it was surprisingly peaceful. He looked around. There was no commotion on the walls, which should be the first line of defense for the castle. There was also no fighting on the castle grounds. He frowned in puzzlement.

  It was then that a high-ranking soldier arrived. “My lord!”

  “What’s going on? Where’s the fighting?”

  “The threat has been driven away from the castle by Lord Seiji.”

  Katsuo was surprised to hear that. “Lord Seiji?” The master ninja was the last person he expected to personally fight off the enemy. But then he noticed something… “The threat?”

  One threat?

  “Yes, my lord. We’ve discovered one enemy so far.”

  “You sounded such an intense alarm for one enemy?” One enemy should be something they can take care of so easily. Hell, they should have been able to prevent one from getting in. If it was an enemy ninja, the ninjas of the castle were supposed to take care of them.

  “Well…” The soldier had a conflicted expression on his face. “I believe you should see it for yourself.”

  With a frown, he followed the soldier, and they arrived at a surprising sight. No, it was almost unbelievable. On the outside, there were bloody corpses scattered all over. Both from soldiers and ninjas. The soldiers guarding the castle may be average, but they were fine in most cases. The ninjas, on the other hand, were reliable, excellent. Seeing so many dead in one place was shocking. Just like the one recently.

  “Was this done by a single person?”

  “By the others’ accounts, yes.”

  “What kind of person did this?”

  It was then that a ninja checking the corpses came up to Katsuo. “We don’t know. From what we’ve seen, it was a woman with the skill set of a ninja, like us.”

  Katsuo felt like it was a familiar person, and an icy chill ran down his spine.

  It couldn’t be her…

  There was no way she would go and do something like this. It should not be in her interest. She was from another land, so whatever was happening here should be none of her concern. First she helped Miyako, and now this?

  What is she doing?

  To be in conflict with her and her team was the last thing he wanted.

  “I learned that Lord Seiji is fighting her. Why are you here?”

  “The master ordered us not to face her. He said he’d face her alone.”

  “Where are they now?”

  “They should be fighting around the city right now. But… the level that they’re fighting at is beyond us.”

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Just as he expected, that girl was incredibly dangerous. If Seiji himself had to go and face her, then her might was something to be feared. And that was just her. So what about the rest of her team? He dreaded thinking about making an enemy of them.

  Why did she come here?

  Why infiltrate the castle?

  As he began to mull that over, Jin arrived, walking towards Katsuo with a grave expression. He walked up close and whispered something curious.

  “Lord Katsuo, there’s something you need to see.”

  Katsuo felt worried. But he nodded and followed Jin through a hole in the wall. Ninjas were lined up, keeping a tight perimeter. They jumped ?through the hole, and Jin led them to a body on the floor. Katsuo’s eyes widened, gasping loudly.

  What…?

  He was in complete disbelief.

  “No…” He rushed to the corpse and kneeled beside it. “Lord Yoshio…” He was struck several times. Making sure he was actually dead. “Fuck…” He couldn’t help but curse.

  All kinds of scenarios appeared in his mind, none of them were good.

  Minori walked up to them, speechless as she saw it. “...”

  First it was Yuki, and now the lord of the island.

  It was utterly insane. Both leading figures of the entire island were dead. No leader, and no one to inherit it.

  “So this was what she was after. To assassinate the lord.” He clenched his fist. “Did you tell anyone else yet?”

  “We’ve yet to make any announcement,” Jin answered.

  Katsuo nodded. They were now on an island without a clear leader.

  “What are you going to do?” Minori asked in a low voice.

  Katsuo took a deep breath. “For now, we keep it quiet. At least until everything settles down.”

  “... If it even settles down at all,” Minori said. “The clan leaders will learn of this eventually.”

  How would the common people of the city even react to this? Katsuo was unsure.

  “... I know. Let’s just… keep quiet about this for now.”

  Until I can figure out what to do. Lord Seiji, I hope you win.

  ***

  This was one of Seiji's worst days of his life. Not only was the son of the lord murdered, his close friend Yoshio, the lord of this island, was killed as well. He never imagined everything could fall apart in just a short amount of time. He regretted ever having left his friend’s side. If he hadn’t, he might have been there to fend off the threat.

  Yoshio was a stubborn man, so Seiji urged him to rest for the night and sleep on a proper bed. However, Yoshio couldn’t bear to leave his dead son’s side. Seiji could do nothing about it. It was Yoshio’s way of grieving. It was not Seiji’s place to force him to do otherwise.

  And thus, he left, leaving the castle men to guard the room outside. But in hindsight, perhaps he didn’t put enough people to guard the lord. No, on any other occasion, it would have been completely fine. The soldiers and the ninjas were competent, it was just different this time. Furthermore, Yoshio was an excellent warrior, among the very best. He shouldn’t have been bested that easily. Even ninjas shouldn’t be able to sneak up on him except those at the peak.

  Seiji only noticed something was strange when he was returning to the training hall and to do final checks on the ninjas to make sure they were doing their job well. On the way, he sensed it was strangely quiet. He would normally sense the ninjas guarding in the shadows. And ultimately, there was just this strange feeling inside. It felt as if something was wrong. Therefore, he checked around the castle.

  It didn’t take long for him to discover the dead bodies scattered all over the place. They were hidden, and without even any blood. Whoever did it wanted a clean job. It was then that he recalled the strange sensation he got as he was leaving Yoshio. He thought he was just mistaken. It wasn’t unusual that there would be eyes watching from the shadows around here, and he thought at the time it was the same thing, nothing unusual. However, upon seeing the dead bodies, it was certain that something terrible was going on. And it went through many excellent ninjas.

  And thus, he quickly returned to Yoshio, only to discover the dead bodies in front of the door. When he entered, he was already too late. His friend was already dead, assassinated. It was unbelievable that his friend would fall that easily, and silently. Just who was the one that killed him?

  To his surprise, it was a young woman. A person who possessed excellent skills that shouldn’t be possible for a person her age. She was as skilled as Seiji. But seeing how she killed Yoshio too easily, Seiji faced her seriously. He realized this was the person that both Katsuo and Jin were so wary of.

  His opponent was skilled in martial arts, the use of a weapon and magic. She was like everything in one. How she managed to attain such skills in her short life was beyond him. Seiji was not completely ignorant of the outside lands, and this one shouldn’t be possible. But there was no time to think it over.

  All that mattered now was eliminating this great threat, the one who had committed such a grave crime. One that doomed Hokunoa. And someone who killed his friend.

  In direct combat, they may as well be a match. However, Seiji had a trump card up his sleeve. It was a spell that he had worked on in order to face a difficult enemy. It was his illusion magic, a magic that leaves an image of himself, and he could even control it however he liked. It was easy to slip away and let his illusion take over by distracting the enemy for a brief moment — like during dodges, or as she withdrew. Any moment the enemy’s eyes were off him, it was a window.

  With silent movements, as the enemy attacked the illusion, he would strike. Normally, it was a guaranteed win with any other enemies. However, this girl was able to escape his grasp multiple times. He may have been able to scratch her, but that was far from useful. And it only served to displease her.

  She had shown her face completely, displeasure evident on her face. She was indeed a beauty. A woman such as her would expectedly be mad when someone damaged her skin whatsoever. However, Seiji intended to win this. If he couldn’t kill her right away, then he had to be patient and tire her out.

  This illusion magic was something he had refined his entire life. A great misdirection. Even someone as skilled as her wouldn’t be able to win against it.