Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes

Oshima followed the two with unsteady steps.

He was released from prison very soon.

At this moment, a group of people stood outside. The leader was wearing crimson armor with a pair of huge horn-shaped protrusions on the top of his helmet and a mask on his lower jaw, making him look ferocious.

An adjective came to mind.

Fiery red cockroach.

"Is it him?" Red Cockroach looked Oshima up and down, his unkempt appearance causing him to frown slightly.

"Yes, Lord Ii, it's him. We bring him food every day, we remember it clearly." The two jailers knelt on the ground and said obsequiously.

Seeing that Oshima refused to kneel, they were eager to force him down.

"Alright, I'm in a hurry. Get him into the prison van." Jingyi shook her head, waved her hand, and her men drove the prison van over.

"Yes Yes!"

The two men dragged Oshima onto the prison van, the kind where he could only stand and was shackled.

Oshima silently endured the pain emanating from all parts of his body, watching the plot unfold.

"Alright, let's set off. The General is waiting."

Ii Naomasa mounted his horse and led the Red Guards on their way.

Oshima, sitting in the prison van, gazed at the unknown road ahead, filled with doubt.

What exactly is his important identity that he is being personally escorted by Ii Naomasa, who is known as the Red Demon?

Thank you to "Gerahiarabos" for the donation.

Chapter 144: The Blade of Slaughter

"Hurry up, let's get to Otsu before dawn and then rest."

"Yes!"

It was a bit cold outside. Oshima thought of the beginning of a certain game, where he was a prisoner being escorted to an execution site, and there was a rather long opening animation.

The difference is that at least you can hear what other prisoners are saying and learn about the background of the story; now you can only guess.

He wanted to leave the game running in the background, but there was no such function, and he didn't even know how to exit the game.

The fact that everything around him was so realistic made him feel disoriented and unable to distinguish between reality and the game.

Could it be that I really am a serious criminal, and everything I experienced in my life before was just a fantasy before I died?

No, no, at least he couldn't remember anything about this person's life.

All I know is her gender; her name, age, and identity are unknown. In contrast, my memories of the modern world are smooth and clear. Yes, this is the fake one; it's a game, all a game.

Suppressing his self-doubt, the group had already traveled some distance.

As darkness fell, he could only vaguely see the outlines of the surroundings changing from buildings to hills and forests, and the roads were no longer as smooth.

Oshima was feeling sleepy and was about to stand up and take a nap when a loud shout suddenly came from ahead.

"Halt! Who's blocking the way!"

The team stopped and went on high alert.

Click click click.

A sound like bones clashing rang out, causing some commotion within the group.

"A monster! A monster! Form a protective array—"

At Ii Naomasa's command, the environment instantly became noisy, and the numerous torches that ignited each other made the surroundings slightly brighter.

Oshima saw ahead of the column a group of skeleton warriors surrounded by cold, ghostly flames, charging towards the Red Guard with swords drawn. Ii Naomasa, on horseback, led his personal guards to fight them, while the troops behind him formed ranks to prepare for engagement.

These people didn't seem to be too afraid of monsters or anything like that, and they even seemed to have some experience.

At this moment, another group of skeletons emerged from the side of the forest, wielding broken, rusty knives, and charged towards the Red Guards.

In the chaos, an arrow struck the horse in front of the prison cart, and it neighed. The horse kicked aside a foot soldier beside it and, without regard for anything else, dragged the prison cart toward the dark direction where there were no monsters.

"Stop the prison van!"

At the front of the battle line, Ii Naomasa cleaved a skeleton samurai in two with a single blow. He turned to chase after the prison cart, but then heard a chuckle behind him, and a toad's tongue shot towards him.

His expression changed, and he quickly grabbed the guards beside him to shield him.

With a swift movement of its tongue, it encircled the terrified guard, pulled him away abruptly, leaving behind a sharp scream and the sound of gulping.

"brute!"

Now Ii Naomasa dared not be distracted any longer, and could only keep a close eye on the monster hiding in the shadows, gritting his teeth. Even so, he was still seriously injured, and he had not brought many people with him on this mission, and he was about to be surrounded by skeletons.

"Namo Myoho Renge Sūtra".

A Buddhist chant rang out, and the skeletons instantly froze.

Ahead on the road, in the farthest distance illuminated by the firelight, a simply dressed monk appeared on the battlefield, his hands clasped together, chanting Buddhist mantras.

However, Oshima could no longer see these things at this time.

He was being carried along by the frightened horse, and before he had gone far, the horse did not take into account the momentum behind it when it turned a corner, and the prison cart suddenly plunged down the slope.

With a horse's neigh, the prison cart plummeted with such force that it couldn't hold on and was dragged down, crashing into trees. By the time it landed on level ground, it was already on the verge of death.

The prison van was of good quality; it didn't fall apart completely even in this condition and maintained its basic shape. However, Oshima felt like his brains had been flung out.

He felt like he was going to die in the cutscene before the game even officially started.

salsa.

This is the sound of shoes stepping on the ground, crunching through fallen leaves and mud. You can tell that the owner of the footsteps is slowly approaching him.

Oshima barely managed to lift his head. In the pale moonlight, he could only see a human figure standing in front of him.

Clang!

The light of the knife flashed.

The prison van and the shackles on Oshima were broken.

"Cough cough."

Oshima fell to the ground, enduring the pain, and tried to stand up by supporting himself with his hands.

Sudden!

A cold glint flashed, and the long sword was planted in front of Oshima, almost touching his face.

When Oshima looked up again, the other person had vanished, leaving only a long sword.

He got up and unconsciously gripped the hilt of the knife with both hands. A strange sensation spread throughout his body, and even his wounds began to heal rapidly.

It feels very familiar; there must be some connection between this knife and the character he's controlling.

The longsword had no guard (similar to a hilt), and the tang was bare without a wooden handle. The inscriptions on it could be vaguely seen in the dim moonlight.

[The Lotus Sutra] [Muramasa]

Before he could examine the situation more closely, he heard shouts behind him.

"I see him! He's right there!"

"lay down your weapon!"

Oshima turned around and saw a group of foot soldiers belonging to the Red Guard chasing after him.

In his eyes, each of these people had seven red dots inexplicably appear on their bodies, and these dots were slowly moving within their bodies.

They held knives or guns, and cautiously surrounded the island from both sides, preventing it from escaping.

"If you try to resist, we can kill you on the spot!"

"Put down your weapons and come back with us."

The foot soldier threatened.

As they spoke, they cautiously approached, taking the opportunity to observe their surroundings for any accomplices.

Oshima did not reply; his severed tongue forbade him to speak.

In the field of view, a knife-shaped accumulation bar appears in the upper left corner, and a person-shaped accumulation bar appears in the upper right corner.

Suddenly, he felt an overwhelming urge to chop the people in front of him into tiny pieces, an urge he couldn't suppress.

Ever since he took the Myōhō Muramasa into his hands, his brain felt as if it had been forcibly filled with countless negative and extreme emotions, diluting his original will.

Kill kill kill!

Blood, blood, blood!

I want to see rivers of blood!

His breathing grew heavier, and in the darkness, he moved.

"careful!"

"You beast—die!"

Time seemed to move incredibly slowly to the big island.

Those who attacked him with weapons looked like comical clowns, trying their best to perform in slow motion to win his favor.

Then so be it.

The red dots on their bodies are like weaknesses; the more they connect, the more damage can be inflicted.

If three are connected in a row, they can break through the weapon's defenses.

Five of them in a row can break through armor and cause serious injury.

If you connect them all, you can achieve an instant kill.

He can also attack using ordinary methods instead of targeting weaknesses, but without the bonuses from those incredible effects.

These thoughts seemed to have become instinctive to him, and with excitement, he raised the Myoho Muramasa in his hand.

Swah——

By the time Oshima's self-awareness regained its advantage, the knife had already been swung.

This coward, who even withdrew from the courage test halfway through out of fear, actually got into a real fight with others.

Perhaps because his mother forced him to practice kendo, he wielded the sword with exceptional smoothness.

Of the five foot soldiers, three were instantly killed, one had his armor broken, and one had his weapon broken.

Even after he had done all that, the three people who had been instantly killed were frozen in place, their eyes wide open, their bodies still standing, just like the exaggerated duels between warriors in sword movies.

"Ahhhhh!!"

The foot soldier, whose armor had been pierced, fell backward to the ground, looking at his piercing wound, blood gushing out, and letting out a shrill cry of pain.

Bang bang bang.

The three foot soldiers, who were already dead, finally collapsed to the ground, completely still.

"Ghost! Ghost!" Only one person was the luckiest, whose weapon was broken and whose tiger's mouth was injured by the shock.

But he was the one who suffered the most psychological impact, and he turned around and ran away in terror.

Run! Run back to the adults! Only adults can deal with this monster!

This escape activated the cruel nature of the Mystic Demon Blade. Oshima, with a sinister smile, caught up with him in a few steps and beheaded him with a single strike.

The moment his brain flew out, his body's nerves couldn't react in time, and he continued running a few more steps before collapsing from exhaustion.

Blood splattered, but he didn't stop. He turned around and plunged his sword into the open mouth of another heavily wounded foot soldier, driving it through the ground.

The surroundings suddenly became quiet.

The tranquility of the forest has been restored.

Hehe.

Oshima gasped for breath, his mind slowly breaking free from Myōhō Muramasa's control.

'Did I do this?'