Ethereal Paradigm: Arcadia of Darkness 69 UNO Reverse Card

"Sometimes, the strong and the weak can switch places just like that. But, staying in a strong camp, that is the hardest thing to do."

-Asano Gakuhuo

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"We said, move!" Without any hesitation, all of them came to me all at ones. They are quick as fit for an assassin, but, not fast enough.

"You guys never learn... I can feel you also disliked school huh. I guess that's what we all have in common... but, I can see you all have no intention of making me your friend."

"Not until you free our great hero from your unseen trick!" An aggressive lancer replied.

Then with all of their might, they hacked their weapon from where I stood, breaking the ground and causing it to sink half a meter. Such strength...Good thing I was able to dodge it and as to how I did it is not that intricate.

Before they could even hit a strand of my hair, I already threw my pen towards a random direction, and there, just like Minato Namikaze and his special kunai, I teleported without buffers and any delays.

"Hey, where are you all hitting at?" I tapped an assassin in his shoulder asking that very apparent question...

Seeing their failed reckless incursion, another then followed up an attack but as easy as it is, I'm able to teleport myself back to the bound greatsword hero who now, is experiencing major difficulty in breathing as the bind gets stronger by each passing second.

The assassins were ready to again attack me, but all of that moving around is very irksome. So how about a little sanction.

"Behave, if you want this man alive." I declared while pointing two or three sharp ink-made weapons in the bounded pile of muscles. One for his head, one for his heart, and another...as you guessed it... for his balls.

"Sh*t...okay okay. Just please don't kill our kingdom's hero... without him, our kingdom is bound to suffer even more!" They then stopped in the hasty. consecutive and violent attacks while putting their weapons on the ground.

But, why would I even care about their kingdom though?...

"Hey, monsieur priest... Please do follow the lead and put your scepter down, now."

"Hmmm... Such ingenuity. How did you know that we have those amulets?" Taking heed of my instructions, he let go of his active weapon on the ground without any questions and neither a grieving face of seeing their leader grovel.

"Hunch," I exclaimed.

"Pure hunch huh..." he replied, still with confidence.

What's with the undaunted look anyway? Well, I think I know the reason, judging from how he is treated by this man.

There currently are two plausible reasons for that confident face: Reason number 1) He is confident of the hero's ability, or here we have Reason number 2) He hates this guy with every bit of his life and seeing him get killed upfront might actually be a fulfilling reward. I choose to believe the second option, although I can't offer lenience on the first one.

But more importantly, how quickly the tables have turned... UNO Reverse Card?

"Hey now, are you okay? How does it feel to see your servants beg for your own life?" I asked the breath-gasping bound man as he was busy catching as much breath as he could while his lackeys stood from afar gritting their teeth, seeing me humiliate their sire, kneeling and weaponless.

"No answer? I take that as a 'Yes'"

"PH..."

"Hmmm??? Is that your last word? Then say it aloud to let your lackeys hear it."

"PARADIGM SHIFT!"

What?

Instantly, the suffering man was able to talk again as his muscles tensed up to let some air enter the recently oxygen-sabotaged body. So, Reason number 1 turns out to be the correct explanation as to why the priest is very calm huh... How unfledged of my mind to balance probabilities without any apparent data.

"SUMMON! IMMORTAL GORGON, EURYALE!" The still-shackled man called out.

And then, the ground started to shook in a magnitude that I never experienced before...

Ah right. The monster moving beneath us... how could I forget? So that's really under the command of this fool, but I guess this would also be his last resort... I hope. Well, he did call it his 'Paradigm Shift' right?

And then, came out a very monstrous visage, although it's nothing compared to the grotesque giant gargoyle which carried us all here. Its lower body is without a doubt, is of a snake, but it has these innumerable legs of a centipede, the upper half is as ugly as ever, with a human's head with live snakes as its hair, and with long saber-tooth fangs brimming with its potent purple-hued venom. It is very enormous to behold, and up above our heads is the same full moon... An even more clarion mark that something deranged is about to take place.

I really do hate the moon's presence, especially in this realm that made it seem thrice the size when I gaze at it back from Earth only to remind me of my past. It's almost like, I can see my brother's demented smiles in its vile brilliance.

The moon should just explode already.

Seeing how ugly the gorgon is, I took some time to look at Shiro as I speculate that she, once again, is afraid and she needs a pat on the head, which is implausible to be done in this kind of situation, and turns out I'm correct, as she looked back at me with the facade that I envisioned for her to have.

While the little girl did have a very brave-stature whilst holding her personal weapon tightly between her fragile arms, I can clearly see in her eyes that tears would burst out at any second... So, as a way to alleviate her fear, I let out a very forced yet one jumbo smile and a little thumbs-up that would somehow reassure her that everything's gonna be fine, yet again.

And the little kid, seeing my frivolous and obligatory demeanor, then replied with a cheering face that says it all...

The hope that I can beat this monster...

The hope that I'll be able to handle this truly unfair scenario of one against a few...

The hope of me, obliterating this predicament.

I surely can't die right now... Well then, what should I do with you, you putrid monstrous creature?

Chapter end