The five of them were wearing the same outfit. They were wearing a ronin straw hat, a bright black kimono, a coat, and a cape. Their boots were colored dark violet, and they all appeared to be dead serious.
They were running in the middle of a dark forest. The light was getting blocked by the giant leaves and the giant, thick branches of the giant trees around them. The trees around them were at least seven hundred feet tall. It was thick with giant trees, and they were heading to an abandoned cave and village. They were on a mission.
As they ran, they could hear the birds chirping and the wind blowing around them. They could also hear the leaves of the giant trees around them being gently blown by the air.
"Hey! Kuragari, do you really think it's a good idea going there? I heard no one returned except for a swordsman named Kyoyurkona Gakure." Kurina spoke as all of a sudden they all slide to the ground and stop after seeing an obsidian line in the distance.
"We'll walk from here, Kuragari said as he walked. He ignored her as he showed a calm presence. She went silent as she shook her head left and right, worried. They see the obsidian line on the ground in the distance that goes on forever to the far left and far right, like circling a whole big region.
"This place is unknown and our enemies. That obsidian line is where we start to throw everything away and focus on only one mission. Retrieve that thing and at least one of us make it out alive. Kuragari spoke again, making every single one of them worry for a split second, then nodding at him and taking a deep breath.
"I guess this would be it, huh? The last mission of ours and the first five superiors. Such a fancy name. I can't believe I was tasked to do this kind of unbelievable mission that will really challenge us, oof... I wonder what kind of hell are they?" An unknown swordsman spoke menacingly while smiling. They were wearing a black and white demon mask on the inside while wearing the Ronin straw hat.
"Watch yourself, Arthur. We don't have time for such things; this is life and death and a mission with one purpose. Retrieve that thing that the General said," Kuragari stated in a serious tone, making everyone look at him with their normal expressions.
Oh, come on, you're stressing too much. Do you even smile before you die? Such a painful death for you, Kuragari." Another unknown swordsman spoke, giggling. That caught Kuragari's attention, making him turn to his left.
"Don't talk to me, McRan. You're starting to become more like Kurina. I don't like it," Kuragari said in a serious tone as Kurina and McRan looked at each other with an expressionless face.
"You're comparing us?" They both said furiously as the last unknown swordswoman to their far right looked at them both with sparkling eyes. That made Kuragari look at her with a smirking face behind the mask. The sparkling eyes vanished in the unknown swordswoman's eyes after they went silent.
They reached the obsidian line. They all came to a halt as they looked around in the distance, seeing another giant tree. They see that the giant trees in front of them that they were seeing were the same trees that were behind them. The five of them began to walk as they looked around on guard.
"Watch your steps," Arthur stated, making every single one of them avoid stepping on the obsidian line. It was bigger than their shoes, and they were surprised because the giant obsidian line was bigger than their shoes.
"That goes on forever, huh. I wonder if it's the same as those obsidians. I wonder if it goes on forever beneath us," Kurina stated, making every single one of them curious. Arthur cleared his throat and nodded. He stared blankly into the air in front of him as he walked. They all started stepping on dead leaves on the ground, and they saw that the trees were spread out in the distance and around them, making light coming from the sun even more visible.
"We were told to be careful. The details that were told to us are to watch our steps and don't step on those obsidians because it triggers something underneath us. More on that list, there are mysterious details that worry me: the hidden undead sorcerers and a possibility of fighting ourselves. If we fight ourselves, there's a high possibility we can't complete this mission if we can't go above the copied version of ourselves," Arthur stated menacingly as he took a deep breath. It made everyone around him worried, and Kurina got shivers when she remembered that it was not the only thing on the list; there was more.
"I was curious, Kuragari. What was that thing we needed to retrieve? Why was it important that we needed to risk ourselves just in order to retrieve it?" Kurina asked in a low, terrified voice. It made Kuragari stop and turn to his left to take a look at her, seeing her lower her head.
"That is, I cannot say yet. Only I know it personally, but don't get the wrong idea. My mission here is to retrieve that thing and all of us make it out alive, whatever it takes, Kuragari stated as they looked at each other, their eyes trying to convince them.
That made every single one of them put their trust in him except for Arthur, who remained unfazed and didn't care. They continued to walk as, in the distance, they started seeing giant vines scattered all around the area.
After a couple of hours of walking. They've reached a giant, decaying gate in front of them. And in front of them, in the distance, were the bones of a human still intact near the decaying gate. On the sides of the decaying gate, there were two hundred-foot-tall concrete walls. It was old and had massive cracks and small holes.
There were destroyed weapons on their sides, and they could see more of them on the inside. It didn't terrorize the five of them since they are used to it. They began to walk as they saw dried blood on the ground that had been there a long time ago.
"It's crazy here; no wonder they call it a grave of far worse than death. The soldiers here didn't even have a chance and had a burial place. Tsk, such a horrible way to die. I wonder what they called this place in the first place," McRan stated as he took a deep breath, and everyone seems to be understanding what he said. They began to walk as, all of a sudden, the decaying gate that was still standing began to fall up front into them because of the blowing wind.
The five of them immediately jumped backwards to avoid the gate. It was the two gates that fell, and they made a loud metal noise as soon as they hit the ground and crushed the bones of a human. They glanced as they slid on the ground, and all of their eyes widened.
They see a single dead swordsman to their left leaning on the wall, heavily wounded. They see that he is long dead, and it gives off a bad smell. They were terrified for a moment when they saw his horrible wounds all over his body. They ignored him, but they lowered their heads. They began to walk as they slowly realized that it was a swordsman who had almost escaped a deadly place.
"He's long gone. Probably more than a month or so, Arthur stated, not bothered as they entered the unknown region. They all looked around as they walked past more bones on the ground. They glanced and saw fewer decaying, destroyed houses.
As soon as they saw it, they all stopped. Arthur turned around and looked at the walls from the inside. As soon as he turned around, sweat started dripping from the side of his forehead behind the mask. He started to see claw marks in the walls and blood stains that looked like someone got dragged down in the walls. It gave him shivers to the bones for a moment as he turned around and saw them have already begun to walk in the past couple of seconds. He immediately hurried towards her as he became finally worried.
"Don't be fooled by anything. There's only the five of us here and the only five of us sent here to retrieve that thing, no one else, and every single one of us has its own code name stated by General Rui. In case another one of us shows, ask the code. If he or she stated the wrong code, just straight up go for the kill," Kuragari stated menacingly as every single one of them behind him remained silent and didn't react to what he just said, but they nodded.
There were no birds in the sky, and there were stains of blood everywhere they looked, and a bunch of bones all over the place. They kept avoiding it as they saw holes in the ground in the distance, which made them curious. The sky above them suddenly started to turn dark, indicating that it would soon rain.