My Kitsune System-Chapter 42: The Escape

"You know, after all our numerous meetings, I actually never got to use this.... So, how about you give me a souvenir?"

"So, which of your fingers can I take then?... Or don’t worry, I’ll help myself to your pinky," it smiled as it began to approach Dan with the saw.

As it was before Dan, it wanted to reach for Dan’s fingers when it was like he heard Dan say something.

"What? What was that? You want to start talking now?"

"Come on, it’s too early to break now."

But then he saw Dan’s lips move slightly.

"You want to tell me something?" the demon’s face began to dark.

"I hope it has nothing to do with what the demigods are up to."

The demon began to get closer to Dan, bringing his ear closer to hear what Dan had to say.

But then nothing...

"If you are going to talk, you know you’d have to be fast; we don’t have all day, " he said as he caressed the saw in his hands.

And then he noticed something amiss..

He had not noticed it before because of Dan’s bloodied hands. But now he could see a hole through Dan’s hand that he had pierced.

But the blade?

His eyes widened... Where was the blade?

And Dan helped him answer the question. With his other hand that had not been pierced, Dan drove the blade into his eyes. Dan also made it twist inside his eye.

A roar erupted from the vocals of the demon. It was so loud that it shook the very cells of the dungeon.

Not even giving the demon a chance to escape, Dan immediately struck at the demon’s foot with his leg.

This got the demon’s tibia to snap in half. But the demon didn’t even get the chance to continue wailing in pain. Due to the fact the demon lost balance and landed straight on the blade, pushing it deeper into its skull and that was the end of its cries.

Dan stared at the demon’s body as blood oozed out of its eye. Dan then tilted his head upward to look at the shackles. Though they had held his hand in place, it had just enough room for Dan to twist and break his fingers.

He let out a stifled scream. His hands shook as he finally pulled them out of the shackles.

All his fingers were mangled and dislocated. But at least he was free of the shackles.

His fingers burned, and some part of his skin got peeled while some got stuck on the shackle. If he was to survive this he needed to get healed and be in peak condition. With his mind, Dan then reached out to the shadows within the cell. And they curled toward him in response.

"Finally"

Closing his eyes, Dan willed the system to heal him.

[Self-Regeneration Activated]

63%...60%

58%

55%

More cracking sounds could be heard within Dan’s cell. This went on for a while before the cracking sounds stopped. A new notification from the system popped. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Warning: Life Essence Critical – 40%

Dan then called unto the shadows, they began swirling all round the dungeon, heeding his call.

Dan, using the shadows, decided to use them to sense the life essence of the remaining demons in the cells.

All of their life essence seems very weak. With the demons barely clinging on to life.

Dan turned to also look at the warden, he wasn’t dead yet. The shadows still sensed his life essence, but it was going down at a steady pace.

"I wish I could kill you, but that would only be mercy to a being such as you," Dan said, with his hands barely staying still in one place.

Finding it hard to tear his gaze, Dan then strode toward the table with the keys and armor.

Taking up the keys, Dan unlocked his cell and stood in the hallway.

"Come, Soul Reaper."

The shadows began to swirl, and from within, the handle of a blade could be seen coming out.

With that, weak screams and groans filled the dungeon.

****Fortress: within the inner chambers of the fortress.

The room was quite lightless; only a few candles flickered every now and then. The room seemed quite empty with no one in it.

A throne could be seen situated at the other end of the room. And all within the room remained still.

From the shadows, a movement could be seen. A being that had been sitting on the throne moved. Its head that had slightly rested on his palm rose.

And then it opened its eyes.

"It seems we have a crafty one," the being said as it rose up from the throne and began walking towards the exit of the throne room.

All the flickering lights within the chambers died off one by one as he passed them.

****Fortress: dungeon

The whole dungeon is now quiet with no other being moving, except one. Dan the only last living being within the dungeon, now adjust the armor of the demon he had taken.

Making sure it was well worn and in place, he took up Soul Reaper and sunk it back into the shadows.

Making sure everything was in place Dan then headed out of the dungeon.

As he did, he had expected to be met with a blinding radiance that would shake him to the core. And burning heat that he would want to take off the armor. But he met none of that.

Instead he realize he had just resurfaced on a hall way within fortress. It was quite a bit empty as he had expected the fortress to roaming with demons.

At least this makes it a bit easier. Now how do I escape this hell hole?

Dan watched as the laps to the side of the walls flickered, as if they were about to go off.... but then they never did.

With gradual steps Dan began moving forward within the fortress. He had no destination in mind. All he knew was that he was just walking allowing his instincts take charge.

Leaving hall way Dan came out at an intersection. With a road to the right and another to the left.

Which way to go?

They had both looked the same, with nothing in particular making one distinct from the other.

Closing his eyes for a bit Dan thought of which road to follow. Was it the left? or the right? One of them may most likely lead to his freedom out of here, while the other may just lead him deeper into the castle.

His heart shook, its beat began getting faster.

The image of his skin on the shackles on his memory. The endless torture, the warden’s laugh that resounded in the hall. The jiggle of his keys when he approached Dan’s cell. He couldn’t go through that not again.

His life was on a thread. He doesn’t know how long before they notice the warden isn’t back from his interrogation. So he need to move fast.

Stepping onto the intersection, he started heading toward the left, going deeper in fortress. It’s light flickered and he couldn’t see much really.

All he could hear was his breathing within the castle walls. Until he couldn’t.

Just in front of him he could some beings marching toward him at an alarming speed.

The air around him began to grow things. Turning back, he noticed as though the hallway had grown longer and he couldn’t go back anymore.

His chest rattled with the sound of his beating heart. The world had now begun to spin.

His palm burned to the reminder of the pain he had just gone through. It was possible to fight them, but then that would cause a commotion. And led to more demons knowing his location and possibly even the high-tier demon to him.

Probably months ago, death might not have looked so bad, but now in the face of real death. He was not sure it was appealing anymore.

Calling unto the shadows, he reached out to pull Soul Reaper. Dan gripped it tightly and stuck to the wall. His body sinks into the shadows.

"If we are actually going out, we are going out with a bang!!!" he chuckled.

He began feeling himself sinking deeper into the shadows.

What?... what is this?

Dan’s eyes widened as he tried to pull himself back and not sink deeper. But it was like the shadows had held him tight.

Pulling him with them.

With a loud thud, Dan landed on a cold, hard floor. Opening his eyes, Dan noticed he was in a kind of a hall. It was kind of bright compared to the other rooms he had seen and been in the fortress.

The room was empty, too. It had no guards or doors or windows, either. Dan couldn’t find out from where he had passed through to get there.

But that wasn’t the most eerie thing. The shadows shivered within the room, and they wanted to run away.