The Ghost King's KeeperCh78 - Ruzen’s Message

~ Regular pending Update ~

“Attack! Keep attacking. Divert attention, the musical support would stay, while the beasts will follow us for extra support.”  61HrKe

A chorus of ‘yes senior’ resounded as the hooded robes forced the massive creature to trail after them, and the beasts of the parade followed, their howls furious and their bodies coiled in tension. They were to attack when commanded, but seemed to know that they couldn’t do much against such giant creature. 

Ruzen kept moving forward as per instruction because he couldn’t do anything else. Even when diverted and led away, the creature’s huge body still blocked their path. Something solid… a leg maybe, was right above the carpet, and it was not known when the creature would remove that limb. But Ruzen was already before the leg, exactly how… was he supposed to move forward if the leg interrupted his walk? He did stop for a breather so maybe he could stop again… 

Chrysanthemum Garden.

“You can only stop twice in one day,” one of the helpers reminded, his voice tense, and that certain tone made Ruzen worried. 

“Can I blast through this thing?”  FGr94N

“…if you are able, but the creature will come back to you if you disturb it…” 

“Noted.” 

Ruzen wasn’t stupid, he knew if he did anything to stir the creature, the whole plan executed by the robbed folks would be in ruins. 

But he also couldn’t keep standing. So, resolving his nerve, he summoned Ghost hands, as phantom solid drilling limbs sprouted from his tail bone and upper spine. He could feel the strength in them and could also hear the low buzz that his enersym let out. 

The ‘beings’ captured his every move, as the parade shuffled behind in accordance to his stance. The innocents who had followed him were strangely quiet, which he felt could be a resultant of fear and caution.  

The roars that he kept hearing, the vibration from them were enough to crack the ground with small fine lines. Seeing the result was rather daunting, but Ruzen stiffened with resolve and let his ghost hands pierce the solid limb in front. He didn’t falter once, while walking, and let his core empower his attack, as a soft blue glow erupted right where the attack hit the creature. 

A loud, deafening screech rendered his ears numb, but he didn’t back down, he kept drilling until the leg moved away and the creature’s humongous body shifted towards him. 

In the dark it was impossible for Ruzen to tell if his attack was damaging, but there was no blood on his ghost drills after they fragmented and vanished, so it was not a good sign.  d9XY3g

The helpers didn’t help, and Ruzen felt they weren’t doing anything because they actually couldn’t. Ou’Ni didn’t seem to be in the crowd, and Ruzen was aware that he had stopped following the parade for quite some time, yet his attendants were there, and they took over defending Ruzen when a huge tail like appendage rushed to strike him. 

He would have been K.O.ed if he hadn’t been shielded by the suddenly emerging attendants.  

A flaring red barrier had saved him and he blinked as the barrier fell just after one strike. 

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

But Ruzen could see that the tail was coming back, and this time even the attendants wouldn’t be able to protect him. Instead, all of them would be crushed if this kept going on.  GZFjVd

The ‘beings’ were faltering as the heavy aura of the creature assaulted them, but they seemed to be the better versions of last time, so they were guarding well against whatever attack came their way… in a way, they were completing their duty as if their life depended on it. 

The crowd behind him had been silent for too long it seems, because they were now panicking as the tail came back full force. 

Realizing the sudden danger, the hooded men had rushed back, the beasts also in tow, so they produced another red shield, which seemed to be a collective group magic. This stronger red shield lasted a while this time, as more people helped produce the result.  

But the crowd of locals behind Ruzen were getting restless, they were panicking even more now. Ruzen could see them, could feel and could hear them, but he couldn’t do anything, couldn’t think of anything to save them. He had to keep walking since he couldn’t stop, but the creature was hindering them and the locals couldn’t just follow him on with this creature hovering above them.  tL4XDc

“Those who joined the parade out of their own will, run back to your villages, you won’t be attacked, two of my men would follow you.” The commanding leader was hard to pin-point since he was dressed like the rest, but Ruzen could see the bearded figure and he felt relieved that the villagers would be safe. The creature was after Ruzen and the team, so it won’t get attracted to some mere locals. 

“Commander, you can’t, someone called this creature here, we know these creatures won’t linger on their own, you cannot let these people leave, it could be anyone!” 

Chrysanthemum Garden.

Ruzen was startled when he heard one of Ou’Ni’s attendants arguing. Although a bit rude, it was a valid argument, and Ruzen knew it would be so easy to disguise as a civilian. 

The commander didn’t respond, but the words of the attendant was loud and clear, so many of the locals started to search among themselves, moving after Ruzen in fear that they would be targeted if they leave the safety of the red barrier even by mistake.   97HPJL

And leaving now wouldn’t be a good choice. Because if one of them was suspicious, then who was to say that person wouldn’t kill all others for whatever reason.  

The locals were strong enough to dodge if an attack came the first time, at least the second time some official would save them if they were following behind the keeper, within viewing range, but if they had to fight alone… against someone strong enough who could summon such a huge creature, they wouldn’t be able to handle the consequences. 

Ruzen bit his lips, when he saw the barrier crack under pressure, and saw another ‘leg’ block his way. The situation was not good. 

“Reinforcements are on the way, keep moving, keeper.” The commander spoke aloud, as his men constructed another barrier, since they couldn’t find enough time to retaliate in between the tail strikes. And the tail was huge, it flattened the trees around them and almost span 20 meters or so in width. The length was unimaginable. At least the ‘legs’ had a limited span, but the tail seemed to go for infinity.  8wDKsb

Another reason why the villagers were afraid to leave. Because the tail could reach them till far, even if they ran to avoid the strike. 

Only the current barrier kept them protected. 

“Brother,” Ruzen called for the helper, who he knew was attuned to him. Uncaring of what or who was listening in, he asked, “I can save everyone, but I need to ingest something, a cheat. I am reluctant, but there are locals… they need to be saved first.” 

“…the ritual will fail; you will have to do it again then.”  4uYrqw

Ruzen laughed drily, “I will have to do it again in any case, at least now -” 

“Please don’t worry Keeper, the reinforcements are almost here.” 

Seeing how the commander was desperate to call off his choice, Ruzen didn’t keep pestering, but he also couldn’t watch as the creature roared and screeched, attacking the barrier shield in vehemence. 

Ruzen took the slowest walk of his life as the barrier moved along with him. He could hear whispers of prayers from the locals but they looked somewhat calmer after they heard there would be reinforcement, and they also silently praised Ruzen amongst themselves, evaluating his attempt at trying to break the ritual in order to save them. They were almost murmuring, but Ruzen heard it anyway.  FsJKTL

He didn’t know if he should be proud of his choices or he should face palm himself since he hadn’t tried to save the locals for gaining praises in return.  

He wasn’t a very caring person, but even he couldn’t ignore the faithful worshipers as if they were canon fodder. He felt ‘something’ for them, whatever that feeling was, and the way they looked at him, he couldn’t let anything bad happen to them under his sight. 

“They are almost here!” The commander spoke loudly to raise everyone’s morale. But even his intervention was meaningless, since the creature doubled its ardor and attacked from two sides. One tail and one leg, attacked mercilessly, but due to resistance of the shield in the way, the attacked had thankfully ended abruptly, yet, it was enough to squish the barrier and even harm the weaker ones.  

Ruzen had to bend down while walking in order to avoid being hit on the head, but he felt his eyes widen as he heard screams from the villagers, who were forced on their knees since the other end of the barrier was more damaged and pressed upon them almost squishing them to the ground. He didn’t see them bleed, but they must have been hit hard.  jM4iUr

There was no time for ingesting herb ash and no time for thinking of spells, as another attack came in. 

Ruzen felt a sudden raw energy rush out of him as his core in reaction became enlarged in its expanse and a strong wave of aura unleashed itself outwards, undirected but thankfully focused on the threat. A hounding storm caught the creature and the energy that Ruzen had unleashed, razed over it. 

Read more BL at chrysanthemumgarden (dot) com

The creature only shifted backwards, as Ruzen kept walking ahead, but the tail and the limbs were still there, they had again halted but didn’t fall back. The danger had faltered, but Ruzen knew the creature would attack again. 

And just when he felt the need to revamp his attack method, a strong flare of energy indicated the arrival of reinforcement. No, reinforcements.  AIqte3

There were many, almost five to six of them, and neither of them showed faces. But from the looks of it, they were the enacting commander’s seniors. 

They didn’t say anything, ask anything, but bright energy ropes erupted from their palms, and they captured the creature. 

The creature roared angrily, yet the floating reinforcements were strong enough to carry the creature away from Ruzen and his parade… somewhere far, who knows where.  

They were so quick!  OwZaq5

Still, the danger wasn’t gone as Ruzen stiffened again when the commander, rushed over and struck a sword, like cleaver, at a woman in the crowd. 

She looked like a plain local, but anyone with eyes could tell she was not normal, because she easily avoided the attack and floated backwards. A shift occurring in her, as her figure morphed and, in the woman’s place appeared a cold male ghost, pupilless in the eyes and shifty in form. 

Noticing him, Ruzen was reminded of Ah’Hen suddenly, and it wasn’t good how the relation gave him trouble each time.  

Was this male ghost also part of that scheme?  rU6ODY

“I will handle him, protect the keeper and proceed.” 

Listening to the commander, the robbed men started to follow Ruzen’s slow pace ahead, and the musical support also did the same, only the beasts stayed behind with the commander who was confronting the male ghost. 

Ruzen was worried about the commander, and even the seniors who took the creature away, but he felt he could trust them, so he continued onwards. He was not in a good mood but also couldn’t break the ritual. 

The locals, he noticed, looked reluctant to go back to their villages now… after what happened, as they worried, they will be attacked by something on the way. The night was still dark and heavy, not even the glitter of stars and galaxies could lessen the fear. The torches were still blazing, so the villagers followed along, their whispers louder as they discussed why this was happening, it seemed to surprise Ruzen when he heard how they hadn’t seen such creatures before, ever. Some were even saying that they feared the King was very ill, if his protection was no longer keeping them safe. They worried about their families and they worried about their future. They were worried… about Ruzen as well, even if not strongly, remembering Ruzen’s attempt at saving them. Still… they feared.  KneuB1

“The King is fine,” Ruzen spoke loudly, interrupting the people’s whispers and even surprising his protectors, as he carried on, facing forward, chin help up high, being very careful with what he said, “no need to worry. These beasts were led here to attack me, someone planned it well, so they were able to sneak in. The King’s barrier is still holding and the protection will stay strong. The enemies are trying to find ways to kill me, but they aren’t targeting you all. You also saw how the male ghost never attacked you, he was trying to command the creature to attack ‘me’.” 

When he heard no one speak, he said more boldly, trying to muster up confidence when he could, “The enemies are afraid that if the ritual is complete, the King would be stronger than ever, they fear my presence and the King. Do you all not see that the protection would never cease until the King is strong and in power?” 

Looking ahead, Ruzen smiled at the ‘beings’ that were still floating somehow after all the happenings, and seeing their red gazes, he was sure they recorded everything they could. 

“The King is strong, the world fears him still for a reason, he is not just any ghost, he is the Ghost King,” he hoped this message would go everywhere, as Ruzen stared at the red dotted gaze of the ‘beings’, “so doubting his protection, doubting me… is not going to do anything. I am not here for show, I am here to support the King for the rest of my life, and I am not a person who would cower away from enemies or fear retribution. I am young and reckless, but not a fool, not a weakling, and neither a polite person. I won’t waste my life on someone who is going to fall in future… I am supporting the King, I am going to be his keeper not because he chose me, but because I also chose him. He would be my only owner, my only kept and my only family whom I would not doubt, and would certainly die for.”  I8bKB0

Ruzen certainly hadn’t thought of dying before, neither fighting for someone who wasn’t himself, but he reasoned, that if he ever did want to die for someone, it would certainly be for the King. Because until now, the King was the only one who deserved his attention and devotion in this world. The king couldn’t love, yet, his actions didn’t fall short of love. 

Glaring at the unknown, Ruzen laid it on thick, because he wanted to show just who he was, and who these ‘enemies’ were dealing with. If he was going to be a Keeper, he would be the best one this world had ever seen. “Enemies can test me all they want but they would never break me or my values. I will protect the King as he does me. My life is his from now, because he is the only being who is worthy of my loyalty. A person who is strong enough to protect so many people, a King who worked for his people… he is not someone who would go down in a fight. I will become worthy of the King, of his people and his court, I pledge my life to this cause… so have faith in me. I will do my best as the Ghost King’s Keeper.” 

Chrysanthemum Garden.

~~ 

A/N – Tada~ How was the chapter?   38KHW7

~ I will upload one chapter every week, but the thing is, I changed the schedule of ‘Wednesday’ to ‘sporadic’ because I get ideas at random hours, at random days, and I can only write something good when I am in the mood to write. I know I sound spoiled, but my mind cannot conjure up plot when I want it to, it only comes after a certain period of time, I need to go into some sort of ‘story mode’ when I am writing my plot, and that ‘mode’ is not adjusted to a fixed schedule, it turns on at random. BUT I WILL UPDATE EACH WEEK AND THAT WON’T CHANGE. (I was a bit sick so I was taking it easy for a while so you probably saw even more random updates. That won’t happen from now on, unless I get sick again)  

I will also update bonus chapters whenever I have time, it can be two-three bonus chapters at once, or just a single bonus chapter each week. Hope you can understand dear readers, I try to be punctual, but my writer’s mindset cannot work up to the schedule despite how hard I try 🙁