The sun had finally surrendered to the horizon, painting the beach in bruises of purple and black. Below, the Tanaka Clan squires and apprentices were marching into the village.
"Where is the headman?" a Tanaka squire shouted. He was young, perhaps nineteen, wearing a high-collared purple tunic that stood out against the drab wood of the village. He kicked a fishing basket, sending dried fish scattering into the dirt. "We have a victory to celebrate, and this village smells like rot!"
A group of villagers huddled near the well, their faces pale in the flickering torchlight. A woman clutched her child, pulling them back into the shadows of a doorway.
"Please, Master," an elderly man stammered, stepping forward with trembling hands. "The Mizunori... they took most of our stores last week. We have very little left."
The Tanaka squire sneered. He didn't use a weapon. He simply looked at the old man. Merun, watching from above, sensed a faint ripple in the air—a subtle, shimmering distortion of light focused entirely on the old man's mind.
The headman's eyes rolled back. He began to claw at his own throat, gasping as if the air had turned to glass. He collapsed, sobbing and babbling nonsense.
"Pathetic," the squire laughed, his companions joining in. "Your 'Mizunori' masters are gone. We are the Tanaka. Your minds belong to us now. Start bringing the sake, or I'll make you all dream of your own funerals."
The Tanaka squires were busy dragging a young girl out of a house when the leader stopped. He frowned, rubbing his temples. "Do you hear that?"
"Hear what, Brother?"
"Nothing," the leader whispered, looking around. "That's the problem. The birds... the insects... it's all gone quiet."
A shadow fell across the well. The squires looked up.
Perched on the edge of the roof was a silhouette that shouldn't have been there. The moonlight caught the jagged edges of a white cape and the terrifying, white-and-red snarl of a demonic mask.
"Who are you?" the Tanaka leader demanded, his hand hovering near his brow as he prepared a sensory strike. "A Mizunori remnant? Identify yourself before I melt your consciousness!"
Merun didn't answer. He simply hopped down, landing with a heavy thud that cracked the cobblestones. He didn't drop into a stance. He just walked forward, his arms folded beneath the cape.
Several martial apprentices immediately pounced, each utilizing their own lesser hypnosis and mental enhancements, planning to catch him off-guard.
BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM
Merun effortlessly swatted away and knocked out them all, landing several hits in less than a second. He then leisurely folded his arms across his chest as if nothing happened.
"Idiots. He's clearly a Martial Squire!" the leader hissed. "If you want to rise in the ranks, use your fucking brains. Our clan is proud of our brains!"
The Tanaka leader didn't wait for Merun to respond.
He snapped his fingers, and three Squires in purple tunics fanned out, their movements rhythmic and swaying, like cobras mid-dance.
"Trinity Hypnosis," the leader whispered, his voice vibrating with a frequency that bypassed the ears and hummed directly in Merun's skull.
Merun put on his scouter.
[EDO : 2,200 LOW-TIER MARTIAL SQUIRE]
[MAPPU : 2100 LOW-TIER MARTIAL SQUIRE]
[PUDO : 3,400 MID-TIER MARTIAL SQUIRE]
"Weak," Merun muttered as he placed his scouter back in his pouch, stepping forward to crush them. But as he moved, the world suddenly tilted forty-five degrees to the left. His inner ear screamed; his brain insisted the horizon was vertical.
"Sensory Sabotage: Seismic Vertigo," the Squire on the left chirped, his hands weaving a complex pattern of non-verbal cues that anchored the suggestion of a shifting world into Merun's subconscious.
Merun stumbled. For the first time in this world, his legendary balance started failing him. Before he could compensate, the air around him grew heavy. To his eyes, the Squires' movements became blurry and staggered—his mind felt a slight delay in processing their positions, a common Tanaka art known as "Delayed Perception." It wasn't the absolute time-warp like of Rui's future techniques, but a sluggishness that made his reactions feel a fraction of a second late.
Suddenly, a searing heat erupted in Merun's chest. The third Squire hissed, "Split Pain." He started projecting an image of the most painful experienced by the user onto the enemy. He channeled the image of the brutal Squire evolution procedure—the breaking and remaking of flesh and bone.
Merun felt the heat… and then he blinked.
The pain was there, but it was hollow. It didn't "hook" into his soul. His subconscious had no memory of the Squire evolution. He never underwent the operation.
"Is that it?" Merun asked, his voice hollow through the mask. "How weak."
The Squires froze. Their "Spirit Tracking"—the clan's technique to sense danger—suddenly went haywire. The masked demon before them wasn't reacting to their most potent hypnosis.
He continued to walk in their direction. In panic, they applied all the hypnosis and mental techniques they knew to slow him down.
Inside the "void" of his own mind, Merun's 36-year-old soul stirred. He wasn't just a child of Gaia; he was an Otherworlder with a mind that had matured twice.
Still, this was far too much for his unprepared mind as he struggled to even walk at some point.
Once again he reached for one of the pillars of his self.
His Overwhelming Suppression.
...
If the world is a lie...
...
then I will suppress the lie.
"Enough!" Merun growled.
His Ki didn't just flare; it exploded in a crimson-edged wave of energy. The sheer density of his killing intent acted as a barrier, giving immense tension to the metaphorical threads of the hypnosis.
Merun stood up, once more. His body emitted a deathly killing intent as he slowly walked toward them once more. The Tanaka Squires recoiled, their instincts screaming at them that they were not facing any typical martial squire. Their leader specifically was beyond horrified. "H-how is this possible?! He's still under the effects of our hypnosis! I'm sure of it!"
"Die," Merun whispered.
He didn't use a technique to break free. He simply suppressed the active, conscious part of his brain that struggled to fight with hindrance to his senses. Right now, it was his sub-conscious and rage-filled battle instincts piloting his body. As a result, he lacked the control and hesitation he usually had when fighting weaker opponents.
But on the flip side, he also became a warrior who fought with full instincts. One who only cared for battle, no matter what his mental state was. He became a blur that the Squires' minds couldn't even process, let alone sabotage.
BAM!
The first Squire was launched into the well, his "balance" as well as several bones permanently shattered to dust by a single elbow.
BAM!
The second Squire was hit by a knee to the gut so fast his mind didn't process the impact until he was already twenty feet in the air. Merun appeared above him mid-air and struck him with downward slam, sending him into a deep crater on the ground.
BAM!
Merun appeared before the leader, his hand coiling around the man's throat as he laughed maniacally behind his mask.
"You said your clan is all about brains?" Merun asked. He squeezed just enough to let the man feel the real pain of a crushed windpipe—a physical sensation no hypnosis could match. "You should have known better than to try and trap a monster in a daydream."
The Martial Squire flailed and struggled the best he could. While Merun continued laughing, cheering, and chanting:
"WAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"Struggle! Struggle! Struggle!"
Eventually, the wailing stopped as the leader's arm went limp. He tossed the unconscious leader aside like trash.
He inhaled and exhaled several times to calm himself down. His conscious self was back on the wheel as the hypnotic effects wore off.
Merun looked at his trembling hands. His body was fine, but his mind felt frayed.
Was he actually such an evil guy?
What the fuck was that about, sub-conscious?!
You're making me look extra fucking evil?!
Suddenly, the village wasn't as silent anymore. There were soft crying, whispering, creaks of doors opening just a fraction.
Merun headed toward the old man near the well. He was still lying there, body twitching slightly, breath uneven. He crouched beside the headman and placed a hand lightly on his chest.
"…You're still in there," Merun said quietly.
He closed his eyes. He felt the disruption in the old man's mind.
This wasn't like healing a wound. There was no blood to stop, no bone to mend.
This was the mind.
He focused inward, disciplining his chaotic ki into something gentle. Carefully, like holding water in his hands without spilling it, he pushed.
A thin stream of gentle, white ki flowed from his palm into the old man's forehead.
At first, nothing happened. Merun adjusted, narrowing the flow. He wasn't trying to overpower anything. Just… stabilize it. Smooth out the distortions left behind by the Tanaka's techniques.
"…Come on," Merun murmured.
Finally, the trembling lessened, his breathing evened out. Slowly, the old man's eyes fluttered open.
Then they locked onto Merun, giving him Immediate fear. The old man recoiled slightly, his body still too weak to move properly. "D-demon—"
Merun paused.
Then he reached up and removed his mask, replacing the demonic visage with a young, handsome face. He looked little tired, but not at all cruel.
The old man blinked. "…you…"
Merun gave a small shrug. "Not a demon."
The old man stared at him for a few seconds longer, trying to reconcile what he had seen earlier with what was in front of him now. His expression softened. "…You saved us?"
The old man pushed himself up with effort, "Thank you," he said, voice rough but sincere. "For taking care of those bandit-like martial artists, but now you're in danger!"
Merun looked back at him.
"The Tanaka Clan will go after you!" the old man continued, panic creeping into his voice. "What you did tonight—this won't go unanswered!"
Merun walked back over and gave the old man a light pat on the shoulder.
"I'll make sure the village is safe for next three days."
"Thanks for caring about me," he said. "But I've got this figured out."
The old man opened his mouth to argue, then stopped. There was something in Merun's tone. It was absolute certainty.
Merun slipped his mask back on as his demeanor completely changed.
Without another word, he moved through the village, dragging the unconscious Tanaka squires and apprentices one by one. He tied them together near the center, making sure none of them could escape easily.
When he was done, he started dragging them. He started walking past the last row of houses and toward the beach where the distant glow of torches marked the presence of the larger forces.
It brought back bad memories.
The sound of waves grew louder. The wind picked up slightly, tugging at his cape. And he began to whistle.
"Man, this is gonna suck. I'm bad at first impressions."
.
.
.
If you're reading this someplace else, I'd recommend you read this on Webnovel so I can read your comments. Thanks!