Master Of Myths

Under the terrace's canopy of trees two figures were jumping across branches, one a jackal the size of a bear chasing the lanky human who turned out to be none other than YuJu, more precisely, the parasite taking his form 

'What the hell is Master waiting for!!'

After running for hours on ends, easily going over a day and a half, the parasite was utterly exhausted, what's worse was that YuJu was already here as it could feel him through their bond, only he did not lend a hand in any way at all for the entire three hours that he'd been watching

'Even if he wants to switch with me without anyone noticing it's impossible for me to do something about it, I'm already at my wit's end just trying to survive'

At this point it just wanted to throw itself at the beast to end the darned chase and have him give rescue, and considering how valuable their bond was it took the thought seriously

'Oh? Master is coming close! Guess he finally decided to intervene'

Inwardly sighing in relief it slowed slightly, just enough for the beat to come closer for a bite, something not to Fret about with YuJu near

"??"

Something, not visible to the eyes, tripped it, with YuJu being right next to it means it must be his foot! At which point the parasite wondered whether it really was that disposable to him, perhaps he could replace it anytime?

Munch!

A maw proved it right, teeth sinking into both sides of its body as mercilessly as its master had let it be bitten

'That little!'

Tsssss

Were its last thoughts before a beam of gray fire tore away its lower body, the rest being shoved into the remained of the also burnt away creature by the unseen YuJu

WHat it felt next was the body shoving it in being blown away by the fire too, crashing straight into the large tower like a cannonball while it was hidden inside the dead beast

Boom!

The tower didn't even shake as YuJu was blasted into it, sliding down leaving a trail of flesh on it from the friction

"Finally, took all that to lure you out, I almost thought you actually didnt exit for a moment there"

YuJu smiled as he wiped the trail of blood next to his mouth, speaking toward the Witness disappearing under the gray flames, but truly intending for the two factions watching to hear his 'reasoning' for being chased around like a weakling

"Come on, trying to hide away like before?"

He spoke to empty air, eyes following the hidden Witness like a magnet

"Perhaps if you've remained hidden I would never be able to find you, now that you've shown me your energy however…"

His body shimmered with every word, slowly fading out of existence just like the other

"You can never hide again"

That was the spark of a horrifying battle, one where neither side could clearly be seen, only explosions meeting flying daggers appeared without notice, scaring the inhabitants of the terrace to run to other regions only to still get mixed in the crossfire of the unknown enemies

Under Aminta' and her general's eyes as well as the secretly watching Genus Insania the terrace which they were so proud of as the first line of defence was quarter burned to the ground by flames that spread fast but  disappeared just as quickly, smoking patches of land into barren earth

"Tell me I did not just witness a, well, Witness"

"No my friend, what you saw was no ordinary Witness, whatever flames that creature bears must have been found through beholding a true treasure, otherwise it wouldn't be able to help it disappear from even our very own eyes"

Verbrand grimly answered Latvia who was paler than a vampire, something that could not be located having such great power was truly a nightmare for people like her who soly depended on vision

'Wasnt the real reason for his absence supposed to be that mist? Actually, isnt he supposed to be absent?! Then what the hell is going on??'

Her mind was filled with questions, many of which could only be suppressed as YuJU was undoubtedly fighting something of horrible caliber right now, something only he could fight with his special ability to track things

'DId he say that he could track it just because he felt its energy once?....That man is the real monster here'

Her mind, like everyone else, keys on that phrase rather quickly, finally getting a clue to how he actually did things

'Or he could be misleading us? Wouldnt put it past him'

She knew him too well to take those words at face value, considering the possibility of him wanting to confuse their enemy, perhaps this clue was far from the truth, she could only know after trying to ask once he was done battling, hopefully coming out uninjured

Her belief in him, doubtful as it may be, was actually more than he deserved, especially with how all this 'fighting' was actually a show too

'There, and there and there, a few more there'

Throwing his knives out carefully YuJu tried to avoid areas where some useful beasts live, decimating the otherwise useless beast's nests by having the Witness blast it as soon as the knife appeared while they had a alow walk around

'Okay, I think this is enough'

Once enough damage was caused to the land he turned to the follower who was tagging along quietly, moving his eyes then toward the WItness

"Blast it from the back, leave a hole tearing through where the center eye should be, make sure to cover the land with your camouflaging fire so no one can see you doing this"

He spoke to it, making all the eyes turn red in anger as it had to kill its own follower like it was putting down a dog, but what could it do other than follow the command like a dog itself

Thus with some guilt, it flew behind its follower, charging up for an attack that would inevitably show its form, which it countered by detonating a smaller explosion around to cover both it and the smaller devolved Witness who was stabbed in the back, or blasted to be more accurate, without even realizing that its commander was the one who betrayed it

The flames of the first explosion died down quickly, revealing no trace of the WItness but instead YuJu standing above a dead one with a hole bore through its middle, ragged his breath and burnt his skin, burnt as he bore the explosion fire for some make believe wounds

"That was, disappointing to say the least, thought there would be more of a fight from you"

His tone was condensing, looking unbothered even as his very flesh was burnt charcol, lifting a hand to stow away the dead body, claiming the body of his enemy, or at least that was what he had others believe, it was mostly to avoid them further looking at it and making out the difference with the first creature that appeared

So, under the watchful eyes of everyone, he made way into the tower, body battered but spirit high

"Isn't this burnt guy that new"

"Shh, don't just call him guy, you might have not heard but the sound of battle outside was him fighting off some deadly beast which the eys couldn't trace, they say half of the terrace was burnt down and no one came in to help or intervene"

"Half is too exaggerated but it's true that they caused too much damage without anyone butting in, I wonder why"

As he walked up the floors there was chatter all around him, their conversation unsurprisingly being his earlier fiasco, giving to show just how fast word traveled in this place

Finally, when he arrived at the fifth floor the guards greeted him with a  salute, more respectful than ever, strength wasn't the reason for that either but because he defended Hortus from such a dangerous unseen threat that might have taken their lives as well as that of many, only generals and high ranking officials have made such contribution proving his position wasn't just for show

He did not get the leisure of going home to prep up before a servant came along with a summoning order from Aminta, which he naturally headed without delay

Entering the hall his body was met with wandering gazes, lingering on some of the ghastly burns but finding nothing wrong otherwise, still Aminta asked if he needed aid

"Do you require healing?"

"Not at all, ti's but a scratch"

Given his previous record of injuries, they chose to believe that

"Then mind sharing your information on this Witness?"

"Well, honestly, I know just as much as you do, if it wasn't for my scouts bearing witness to it flaming away some creatures and taking their treasure I wouldn't believe it to exist, doubted the information after luring it for so long too"

"Hmmm"

That was unsettling, knowing nothing about the enemy, but something told her he just wasn't willing to share with everyone still around, mainly the two traitors

"Then you are all dismissed, report back here in a week's time for deploying extra defensive measures against creatures like that, in the meantime Latvia and YuJu are to stay here and gather as much information as they could to brainstorm those measures"

She ordered, giving a good reason for him to stay without having to sneak back in like a rat, it wasn't good for Latvia's heart that he popped out of thin air every moment

The generals left the hall, followed by Latvia calling forth a drone that would allow Verbrand to tune it from his residence

"So, really no information friend?"

He asked, expecting something this time

"Of course not"

YuJu snapped his fingers and out came the Witness, scaring the living roots out of Latvia and putting Aminta on edge for a second, meanwhile Verbrand was already by the door ready to make his way into the hall and protect her

"Chill it's my servant, newly acquired but I assure you very tame"

He patted it on the side, getting his hand burnt by its rising temperature

"Hmm, well, somewhat tame"

"...."

Latvia didn't even have words, just trying her best to calm down as a new person found a way to pop out like this creep

"So, it was all fake in the end"

Aminta didn't appear shocked, mostly because she had a good grip on her emotions, but also because she had some doubt of this being the case from the beginning, otherwise he would have informed them of the creature when he told them about the horde

"Yes, wasn't it a well made show?"

"....Haah"

Verbrand only sighed, this man was a hopeless case