Just as the Suzu, Miyu, Reina, and Seloria clashed with the ogres, Rage was already rushing past them, heading straight for the main building, moving before the first strike had even landed.
He pushed the heavy doors open.
The moment they parted, arrows flew. A barrage, swift and precise. Enemy soldiers were waiting inside.
But Rage barely needed to move. A few efficient steps let the arrows pass by his silhouette. Some he deflected mid-air, his sword and dagger redirecting them to the sides.
The formation ahead tensed.
Digital Renegade was still active.
Rage vanished.
Then he was in front of them. One blink, and he was already weaving through their ranks, his blade carved through flesh and armor alike.
By the time the last body dropped, Rage's eyes locked onto the far end of the hall.
Renshiro.
The warlord was seated on a makeshift throne. His posture was casual and his chin was rested on his fist. The remaining spearmen hesitated. They watched the massacre unfold. Then they did the only thing they could. They pointed their spears at Rage and refused to charge. Fear had set in.
Renshiro finally spoke, his voice was level. "I see. So, you chose death."
Rage tilted his head and smirked. "So did your soldiers outside."
Renshiro exhaled and stood from his seat. The air shifted. Then he lowered into a stance. One foot was forward. His left hand rested on the sheath. His right hand lightly gripped the hilt. The sword was not yet drawn.
"Come here, Traveller from Abyssal Tides," he said, his eyes gleaming. "Show me your strength."
Rage did not hesitate. He vanished and reappeared inside Renshiro's range. For an instant, nothing moved. Then Rage felt it. An unseen slash came. It was a near miss. But he avoided it.
His vision locked onto Renshiro's hand and caught just a tiny movement. The attack was too fast to see. Another attempt came. This time, Rage focused. Time seemed slower. Renshiro's right hand barely touched the hilt. The next strike was instantaneous.
Rage moved. It looked like a thrust. Mid-motion, he twisted in a feint. His dagger left his hand and spun toward Renshiro. Renshiro reacted. His blade flashed and met the thrown dagger with a precise slash. But in that same instant, Rage was gone. For a fraction of a second, Renshiro could not feel him.
Then a presence came from behind him. Rage was already coiling into his next strike. Renshiro felt it. He slashed backward, turning fully as his blade cut through the air. Rage met the motion, but instead of clashing blades, he shifted. His katana hilt slammed into Renshiro's jaw. The warlord's head snapped back from the impact.
Rage landed lightly and remained in stance. Renshiro staggered. His grip on his blade tightened. Then he exhaled and reset his stance. A small grin tugged at his lips.
"Good. Again."
Rage tilted his head. "I have already... disarmed you."
Renshiro's smile stopped as blood sprayed from his shoulders onto the stone floor, his sword fell from his fingers. He tried to speak but could not, and his body fell forward, dead.
Rage's eyes moved across the room and stopped at a strong door near the throne that led downward. He went through it without stopping.
The stairs were wide enough for three people, worn from many years of use.
***
At the bottom, there were holding cells.
Rows of them.
People. Elves. Dwarves. Beastmen. Animals.
Men, women, and children were caged like livestock in what looked like a slave trade.
All were captive, shackled in chains, their eyes were empty.
But Rage's attention snapped to one particular cell.
A woman screamed.
A guard was on top of her, forcing himself against her struggling form.
Her voice was raw. Begging. Pleading.
Rage's vision blurred red.
He activated Digital Renegade.
He blinked.
In the next instant, his katana was through the guard's skull.
The body slumped, lifeless.
The woman flinched, pressing herself against the wall. Her face was wet with blood. She trembled, her breath ragged, eyes filled with pure fear, not of the dead guard.
Of him.
Rage stepped out of the cell, giving her space. He did not say a word.
Another set of guards rushed in.
He moved through them.
They did not live long enough to react.
Then, a presence.
A large man stepped forward, dragging a woman in a ruined white dress by the hair.
Her body trembled, too weak to resist. Her skin was pale. Dark stains of fresh blood marked the fabric between her legs.
The man's grip tightened, pressing a knife to her throat.
His lips curled into a greasy smirk. "Don't come near me, or she dies."
Rage barely reacted, his eyes was locked onto the woman's condition.
The man licked his lips, adjusting his grip. "You know who my father is?"
Rage tilted his head. "I don't know. Did you ask your mom?"
The man's eye twitched. "I can make you rich. Let me go, and you'll never have to fight for scraps again."
"I hate these kinds of people."
The woman's cracked lips parted. Her voice barely a whisper.
"Please... kill me. Along with him."
There was no hesitation.
Rage disappeared.
The next moment the man saw that his hands were empty.
The woman was gone.
His eyes opened wide. His smirk disappeared and he looked confused.
"W-What?"
Rage slowly lowered the woman so she could lean against the side.
Then he stood up. His voice sounded casual, almost like he was having fun.
"I'm going to enjoy this."
He disappeared again.
This time his fist hit the man's stomach.
The man shook and bent forward. He vomited on himself.
Rage tilted his head. "You should save your vomit."
The man barely had time to move before Rage's hand covered his face.
Codes shot into the contact area. It was not the usual. It was a loop of data that ate at the mind.
The man felt a pressure behind his eyes. Thoughts slipped away. Names lost meaning. Faces turned blank.
He tried to scream but the sound came out thin. He tried to focus but the loop forced him back. His hands shook. His knees gave.
He collapsed. His body twitched on the cold stone floor.
Then silence.
Whatever horror ran through his mind, it stayed there.
Rage's eyes fell on a door at the end of the holding cells.
That had to be it.
Before he could move, footsteps echoed behind him.
He coiled, ready to strike whatever came next.
Then a voice called. Familiar.
"Rage-sama!"
He looked back. Seloria, Miyu, Suzu, Reina, and Hirotaka stood there with the guards carrying spears. They had followed him.
Something was different. The guards were not hostile.
Rage relaxed. "Help the captives."
The guards lowered their weapons, their faces were tense. One of them stepped forward. "Forgive us. We feared for our lives under Renshiro. We had no choice."
Rage did not answer right away. His eyes narrowed. Hirotaka spoke. "They were taken long ago. They were forced into his army after a raid on a trade route."
Rage let out a slow breath. "We're cool."
He reached the door at the end of the corridor. He expected to find the Empress inside. He pushed it open.
A wave of rot and decay hit him. It was not a chamber. It was a cave. Bodies, half-rotted and discarded, lay on the ground in twisted piles. The stench was unbearable.
Rage closed the door without a word.
Then his eyes caught something. A cell stood right beside the door of death.
[SYSTEM] Kazumi Lv.78
[SYSTEM] class: Swordswoman
[SYSTEM] neutral
She sat motionless, her blank eyes stared forward. She wore a white wedding kimono that was untouched.
Beside her, an attendant combed her hair in slow strokes, as if this was normal.
Nanako, her name as shown in the interface, spoke in a hollow voice. "Your Highness, the time has come to surrender yourself to the Emperor."
She did not pause her strokes. She did not even look up when the cell door opened.
Rage frowned. "Hey, wait--"
There was no response.
It was as if they hadn't heard him at all.
Then, the trio arrived.
"Your Highness!"
But Kazumi did not respond.
Her gaze remained unfocused, as if their voices never reached her.
Whatever happened to her, Rage had to find out.
But Nanako caught Rage's concern.
She was a beautiful woman. Her delicate face and noble posture showed she came from a high place in life.
Her long black hair flowed down her back. It was clean, untouched by the dirt of the dungeon.
Her kimono was ruined. The cloth was torn and dirty, leaving parts of her body bare. She did not seem to care.
A trail of dried blood ran from her legs to her thighs. It led somewhere it should not.
She sat still. Her blank eyes did not change as she kept combing Kazumi's hair.
Rage narrowed his eyes. He did not know if it was trauma, a curse, or something worse.
He did not wait.
He reached out and pulled the fabric away from Nanako's neck, showing the pale skin on her back.
The trio tensed. Their disgusted looks turned on him again.
Before they could speak, Seloria and Hirotaka came in.
Hirotaka lifted a hand to stop them. "Don't worry. But don't speak of this."
Rage did not answer. He looked into Nanako's code.
It showed trauma and drugs.
He let out a slow breath. He never liked doing this. He never liked looking into memories.
But he had no choice now.
He deleted one line of data. It removed the memory of what had been done to her.
The drugs were still there. He could not fix that. But the trauma was gone.
He did not change her stats. He was not sure if she would use them well.
Then he activated Eclipse Requiem.
The changes were made.
Nanako's body went limp. She fell into a deep sleep.
Seloria moved at once. She pulled a cloth sheet over Nanako, covering her body.
***
Next was Kazumi.
The trio stopped for a moment. Their eyes moved to Hirotaka, asking without words if this was truly all right. It was the Empress, after all.
The noble gave a single nod. It was a small gesture, but it showed them trust.
Rage stepped closer. He pulled the back of Kazumi's robe aside, showing her bare skin.
He placed his hand on her.
Then he noticed something.
Her stats.
[SYSTEM] Agility: 120
The rest ranged from twenty to fifty. Mariselle had one hundred twenty in Intelligence. It was a pattern he had noticed with queens or an empress, like Kazumi.
But that wasn't what bothered him.
If Kazumi had 120 Agility, how did the Warlord capture her?
For Rage, the man was easy. He wasn't that strong.
Something wasn't adding up.
But Rage had no time to think about it.
He checked what was affecting the empress.
There were drugs in her system and some broken memories, likely caused by trauma.
He could not delete her memories. She was the empress. She needed to remember everything.
He switched to the user-input interface.
With a thought, he ran a command he remembered from his past life.
[INPUT] target:~$ sudo apt-get install--reinstall back_up_memory
Then he activated Eclipse Requiem.
Kazumi's body swayed, then slumped. Before she could fall, Rage caught her and steadied her limp form.
Hirotaka hesitated before speaking. "What happens next?"
Rage shrugged and adjusted his coat. "She's just sleeping. She'll wake up soon."
Without another word, he lifted Nanako onto his back. Her body was light.
Beside him, Hirotaka did the same with Kazumi. He adjusted his grip, and they began to climb the stairs.
Step by step, they moved upward. The air grew easier to breathe as they rose higher.
At last, they left the underground and entered the main building. The smell of blood still hung in the air.
As they walked, they passed the lifeless body of Renshiro.
Rage saw something beside the corpse.
A sword.
Now that he could see it clearly, the weapon was finely made. Its steel gleamed faintly in the torchlight. The hilt was wrapped in deep red, woven with gold threads. The sheatg carried carvings of a dragon twisting among clouds.
Still holding Nanako, Rage bent down and reached for the sheath. His fingers traced the patterns, feeling the careful work beneath his touch.
Then he picked up the sword.
[SYSTEM] Kurogiri
[SYSTEM] durability: 84%
[SYSTEM] attack: 240
Rage looked at the trio, Seloria, and Hirotaka.
No one reacted.
The sword seemed unimportant to them, just a weapon that once belonged to a man they hated.
He muttered, "Dibs."
They continued walking toward the large open doors that led outside.
A group of soldiers waited for them.
Their armor and weapons showed they served the warlord, but their name tags no longer showed hostility.
One soldier stepped forward and bowed slightly. "Thank you for freeing us, Ryu-sama."
Rage blinked. "Ryu...sama?"
Hirotaka laughed and shifted Kazumi on his back. "They honor you, Rage-sama."
Rage looked around at the bodies lying across the bloody street.
He turned to the soldiers. "Can you take care of the dead?"
One soldier hesitated, then nodded. "We can build a pyre."
Rage let out a slow breath. "That would help a lot."
He looked toward the main building. "Burn everything, even what's left below."
The soldiers nodded and hurried to follow his order.
The noble smiled. "You sound like a commander now, Rage-sama."
Rage tilted his head. "They asked for it."
Then he saw movement nearby. A crowd had gathered.
The captives.
Their name tags showed neutral standings, and some had low loyalty.
But one stood out.
A short, broad figure stood among them, covered by a heavy hood. Her sturdy build made her easy to recognize as a dwarf.
Without the system's tags, she would have looked like anyone else in the group.
But to Rage, convenience had a name.
[SYSTEM] Talwyn Lv.90
[SYSTEM] class : Berserker
[SYSTEM] loyalty : 60%
Rage narrowed his eyes.
What was she doing here? Why was she captured with the other dwarves? A better question came to mind. Why did she have loyalty numbers?
A dwarf stepped forward. His stance was firm even though he looked tired. He was probably one of Talwyn's retainers.
"What of our fate?" His voice was steady, but there was something behind it, something like resignation. "Will we be sold as slaves once more?"
Another dwarf clenched his fists. "If so, please sell us to good-hearted people at least."
Rage sighed and rolled his shoulders. "You're free."
Murmurs spread through the captives. He spoke louder so all could hear.
"You're all free."
A group of elves stepped forward. They placed their hands over their chests and bowed. Then they left without a word.
The dwarves stayed.
The retainer hesitated before speaking again. "We have nowhere to go, sir."
Rage raised a brow. "Don't you have a kingdom to return to?"
The dwarf's jaw tightened. His voice was heavy. "Our homeland is in turmoil. The throne is uncertain. Those in power sold us as slaves to secure their own future."
Rage looked at Hirotaka.
Hirotaka met his eyes without fear. "They can stay in Tenzan Skyhold."
Rage clicked his tongue.
They were really forcing queens on him now.
But he did not refuse. He did not complain.
Before he could think more about it, a soldier came forward.
"Ryu-sama, we wish to guard this fortress."
Rage raised a brow and looked at Hirotaka again.
Hirotaka gave a small smirk. "They're under your command now."
Rage sighed and rubbed his temple. "Alright. Do whatever you want."
He and Hirotaka walked back to the building where he, Seloria, and the trio had stayed before the battle.
The structure was still standing. It was one of the few places that had not been damaged during the night.
Inside, they placed Kazumi and Nanako on the floor and made sure they were comfortable.
A Tenzan Skyhold soldier stayed behind to watch over them.
***
The cleanup went on through the night, but there was still much to do.
The smell of burning bodies filled the air. A large fire turned the dead to ash, its light making shadows dance on the fortress walls.
Rage, Seloria, Miyu, Suzu, Reina, Hirotaka, and the others who survived worked without rest. They moved bodies, sorted supplies, and watched over the burning.
No one spoke. There was only work, fire, and the smell of death.
When morning came, the fortress was quiet. The air still carried the scent of ash and blood.
Outside the gates, a row of carriages waited. Their wheels creaked as the last tasks were finished.
Kazumi and Nanako were still unconscious and were gently placed inside one of the carriages.
A soldier came and bowed. "Ryu-sama, please return to Tenzan Skyhold safely with the Empress."
Rage gave a nod and stepped into the carriage.
The dwarves boarded one of the carriages as well. They had no other place to go. Their path was now the same.
[SYSTEM] Empress Kazumi : Loyalty 42%
[SYSTEM] Queen Talwyn : Loyalty 65%
[SYSTEM] Corruption : 38.4%