Warsaw City · City Center.
The towering malls and buildings plunged into darkness. Shoppers screamed, and then they saw figures in gray and black cloaks, "rats," crawling up from underground.
This was Warsaw's most prosperous commercial street. People who could walk here freely could easily afford an outfit that would take a rat ten years to earn.
Normally, they wouldn't pay attention to these losers, not even with contempt or discrimination; they were just like specks of dust.
In the world of the rich, creatures like rats simply didn't exist.
But in this night devoid of light, the rats standing on the street made the rich feel an indescribable pressure, like...
Seeing a pack of wild beasts with bloodshot eyes, driven mad.
"Samurai! Security!"
A woman screamed, unable to accept sharing space with rats, and even more unable to accept fearing them. She just wanted these people gone immediately.
Her voice pierced the night.
The next second, a kunai pierced her throat.
Her body thudded to the ground.
The rat leader, Kurosaki, retracted his hand that had thrown the kunai and said coldly:
"Those who exploit the bottom, suck blood, and eat people, all must die."
Behind him, the eyes of the rat followers were lit up with fire.
Within the flames were hope, resentment, excitement... a mix of complex emotions that coalesced into an extremely potent killing intent.
"We have waited too long. Today, our great leader Linto has arrived in Warsaw City. This will be our only chance."
Kurosaki spread his arms.
"Land of Wind is rotten, Warsaw City is rotten, and as for Daimyo Tokugawa Shingen, he's rotten to the core.
We have only two paths before us: one is death, and the other is victory. And death does not belong to us. It belongs to—"
He gestured to the street, to the richly dressed wealthy people.
"It belongs to them!"
"To these damned parasites!"
"Today's fallen will be heroes."
"Today's survivors will witness history."
The rats' breathing quickened.
If one looked closely, not all of them were "rats."
Many had fair skin, delicate fingers, and an air of scholarship, clearly students.
Kurosaki looked at the eager eyes and a smile touched his lips.
"Everyone, put on your armor."
They took out puppet armor from their backs and donned them.
Kurosaki waved his hand, his voice transmitted through the wireless communication headsets everyone wore, reaching every corner of the city:
"Move out!"
"The old regime has fallen, a new world shall rise."
"The time is now, bloodshed for the Daimyo!"
This armor was Kurosaki's "special" equipment. They didn't understand how it worked, only that after putting it on, an endless stream of power flowed through them. Their eyes turned red, they drew their waist swords, and charged forward, slashing.
At this moment, the samurai guards finally arrived, and fierce combat erupted between the two sides.
As soon as they engaged, the samurai felt something was wrong. The enemies' movements were rigid but possessed immense strength, and they fought like madmen, fearless of death.
"What on earth... is going on?"
Similar questions arose in many parts of Warsaw City.
On one side were samurai working for meager wages, and on the other, rebels filled with surging passion and a bizarre state.
The battlefield quickly became one-sided. The rebels, shouting and roaring from all directions, surged towards the Daimyo's mansion in the heart of Warsaw City.
*Clink.*
Kurosaki switched off his wireless communicator:
"There's nothing left to command.
The momentum is unstoppable now. They will continue to charge towards the Daimyo's mansion and fight Tokugawa Shingen's household guards to their last breath.
And Linto..."
Mukade sneered:
"He'll have to make a move."
This was the plan devised by Kurosaki, Mukade, and Monk Hoichi.
Kurosaki was a man who refused to be ordinary. So, in his youth, he left his homeland and came to Warsaw City, the capital of Land of Wind, seeking to carve out a name for himself.
But he quickly recognized a reality.
With Kurosaki's skill, intelligence, and background, the chance of truly reaching the pinnacle and becoming a "dragon" overlooking all beings was almost zero.
Until Kurosaki heard about the Awakened Ideation.
He saw it as an opportunity.
An opportunity to overturn the old rules and establish new ones. As long as he got in early, he could hitch a ride and become one of the rule-makers.
That's right, Kurosaki was a staunch supporter of Linto...
Until Tokugawa Shingen decided to concede and cede territory.
Because on the night this news leaked, people from the consortium approached Kurosaki and offered him another choice, a safer and more tempting one—
When Linto arrived in Warsaw City, initiate an uprising against Tokugawa Shingen.
"This uprising is bound to fail,"
Kurosaki said. "With these disorganized rabble, even with the puppet armor you created, it's impossible to defeat Tokugawa Shingen's samurai forces."
"But it doesn't matter. Humans are like a flock of pigeons; if one flies right, the others will follow."
"The rat army will be the vanguard of the rebellion. As they slaughter, the common people in Golin City, who are already harboring many thoughts of independence, will also rise up."
"When the whole city is in chaos, Linto will only have two choices."
"Suppress the rebellion."
"Or kill the Daimyo."
If Linto chose to help the Daimyo suppress the common people, the halo surrounding him would crumble overnight, which would be good for the consortium.
And if Linto killed the Daimyo...
It would also be good for the consortium.
Tokugawa Shingen wanted to stabilize Linto and buy time, so he would concede and constantly cede territory.
But where would this territory come from?
Naturally, from the consortium.
But was there another way to buy Linto time?
Yes.
Kill the Daimyo.
With Land of Wind's extreme centralization of power, it would fall into chaos in a short period. And the chaos in Land of Wind would be different from other countries.
In other countries, even without central coordination, regions could be self-sufficient.
But where were they?
The desert!
With the large-scale capitalization of Land of Wind and each region specializing in different industries, after losing central management and allocation, many towns would soon erupt in riots due to lack of water.
People would die.
Many, many people.
Given Linto's personality, he would spend a lot of time dealing with these matters after killing the Daimyo.
During this time, the consortium of Land of Wind could secretly migrate assets and resources.
After all, as long as there was money, resources, and manpower, the world was vast, and where couldn't they go?
Most importantly, they had bought enough time.
Anyone could see that the conflict between Linto and the Akatsuki organization was becoming increasingly serious. The consortium, Daimyo, and various major powers were all waiting for this battle.
As long as Linto died.
All problems would be solved.
Tonight was the turning point.
Mukade chuckled, his bulging eyes, like those of someone with hyperthyroidism, darting around:
"You're truly heartless. They trusted you so much, yet you ruthlessly betrayed these subordinates who saw you as their faith, treating them as expendable."
The fact that an ordinary person who had not undergone sword or ninjutsu training could fight samurai after putting on puppet armor was a fantasy that must have come at an equivalent price.
Mukade had placed a large amount of prohibited drugs in the puppets. Once worn, the drugs would be injected into the user's body, consuming their life force to enhance their strength.
Kurosaki chuckled, "I haven't betrayed them.
They followed me because I promised them that one day, these rats would stand between heaven and earth as 'humans.'
Now, I have achieved that."
Mukade shook his head.
Humans?
Driven by the drugs in the puppet armor, they had long lost their human reason.
Rather than standing up as humans, they were more like...
"Ghosts" crawling up from underground.
But whether they were humans or ghosts,
Kurosaki wouldn't care.
All he knew was that the corpses of these people.
Would help him ascend to the peak.
"Only one last step remains."
Kurosaki said, "The timing is almost right. Go help Monk Hoichi. I'm always worried something might happen."
Mukade patted his butt and stood up from the ground.
"Okay."