Chapter 164

Peishan Jo had trained hard to reach level 37. He’d been lucky his talents had been recognized early. That had allowed him to secure a place in the Jigon-Sai, and he was one of the youngest soldiers ever to be promoted to unit captain. Those in charge expected great things from him, but that also put him under greater scrutiny than the other captains.

Whatever else they might say about him, nobody had ever accused Peishan of being stupid. He’d made the connection between these two foreigners having no aura of power and the demons feeling the same immediately. Though there had been no rumors of shape-changing demons who walked and talked as of yet, Imperial Command received new information every day about new types of demons and their strange abilities. It certainly wasn’t outside the realm of possibility that some infiltration-type monster would appear and attack his great empire from the inside.

That was why he’d secretly flashed the hand signal to prepare for combat well before his unit had gotten close to the two demons. The worst part of fighting one was how difficult it was to gauge their true power, but it was rare to find a demon Peishan couldn’t put down himself. With ten of his companions with him, he didn’t expect to have any trouble with this pair, if that’s what they truly were.

No one was making any overtly threatening moves, but they were all prepared for combat if it came down to it, and they all knew that the demons were to be captured alive if at all possible. Talking demons could provide valuable information about where the horde had come from, what their purpose was, and, most importantly of all, how to send them back.

Of course, the demons weren’t content to just be taken. They didn’t attack though, which made sense if they were going to display greater intelligence than the average murder machine the empire had been fighting back. They tried to talk their way out of trouble.

“Easy there,” the male demon said. “We’re not demons. I just have a skill that lets me hide our… er… power, I think you called it. We call it an XP presence.”

“Such a skill does not exist,” Peishan said. “There are skills that may reduce it, but not eliminate it completely. And does your companion also have such a skill? It would be highly suspicious, as I can think of few reasons a pair of foreigners traveling these lands would have for hiding themselves.”

“If we were trying to hide, why would we be walking on the road?” the male demon asked. “And besides, I can turn it off. Here, see?”

Suddenly, power erupted out of both demons. He could feel their strength, and he was no longer quite so certain that his team would be able to capture them. The small female demon was only a few levels behind Peishan himself, and the male demon was far ahead. The female was wounded, but that could just be a trick. He’d personally killed a few demons who’d been able to recover from all but a fatal wound at will.

Perhaps the aura of power surrounding them was also a trick. Peishan knew of no skills that could artificially inflate the amount of power a person projected, but then, no one knew every skill. There were just too many, even for scholars who’d devoted their lives to cataloging them. That wasn’t even considering that the demons seemed to somehow exist outside the system. There had been no recorded instances of any demon having an aura of power, nor of the system rewarding someone for killing one.

That these two could display such an aura was a point in favor of the two not being demons, but Peishan was hesitant to believe the male demon’s claim. People had been searching for centuries for a skill such as he claimed, and to have it affect another person besides himself? Even if they weren’t demons, knowledge of such a skill would be beyond valuable. Peishan could smell a promotion in his future if he returned with the two foreigners. It wasn’t the purpose of this mission, but he knew his superiors would be pleased.

Perhaps sensing his story wasn’t believed, the male demon said, “Look, I can extend it to you as well. All you have to do is allow it.”

“You… can?” Peishan hadn’t expected that.

“Sure, just… like… this. There we go.”

Gasps sounded from the men behind him, but Peishan barely heard them. He didn’t have the words to describe what he’d just experienced. It was like someone had blinded and deafened him. He glanced around, wide-eyed, and saw his men returning his stare.

“Oh, right. I forgot to mention that part,” the demon said. “No one can feel your ‘aura of power,’ but in exchange, you can’t feel anyone else’s either. Here, you’re not looking so good. Let me switch it back for you.”

Just like that, everything returned to normal. “Emperor save me,” Peishan gasped out. “That was… it was terrifying. And you’re just walking around half-blind like that?”

The demon shrugged. “You get used to it eventually.”

Both demons’ auras disappeared again as Peishan exchanged an uneasy glance with his second in command. They were both thinking the same thing, that they’d come across something beyond their ability to explain. The best solution was probably to capture the two demons, regardless of whether they actually were demons. If the aura of power around the male was accurate, and especially if he’d devoted his strength to the sublime arts, it would be a rough battle.

The only way to avoid a fight that Peishan could see was to take them at their word, that they weren’t demons and that they had some previously-undiscovered skill. In that case, all he needed was the name of the skill and a list of prerequisites. If someone in his command could find it in the system’s skill store, then Peishan would consider this a fortuitous meeting.

“What is this skill called?” Peishan asked.

“Ah, well. It’s called [XP Mask], but… It’s a bloodline skill.” The demon rubbed the back of his head and gave an apologetic smile.

Peishan grimaced. Of course it would be. The worst part was that it made sense. A skill like this being locked to a specific bloodline was the perfect way to hide its existence. No one outside this man’s family could ever learn it, and even if it was spread around by a few illegitimate children, within a few generations the bloodline would die out unless they could get access to a ritual master.

That brought Peishan right back to his initial problem. He had no way to confirm this strange power hiding skill was really a skill or that the two foreigners weren’t demons. The only correct move was to capture them for questioning, but he was well aware of the power different between someone like himself and someone with a level in the mid-forties. Just 5 levels at that range were worth more than the first 20 levels combined.

If they tried to capture these two foreigners, some of his men were going to die. Maybe most of them would die. As the highest level Jigon-Sai there, he would likely be the first person targeted. If they won, it would be at great cost, and Peishan was by no means certain of victory.

All that was only if he believed the auras he’d felt off the two foreigners was accurate. If they could hide it completely, it stood to reason they might be able to manipulate it in other ways. There were no good answers to be had here, and it might all be for nothing if it turned out that it really was a simple bloodline skill. Getting half of his command killed over something like that would be the end of Peishan’s career.

If force was out, perhaps authority would work. Foreigners as a whole were remarkably insusceptible to following the lawful orders of the Imperial Law Enforcement’s various organizations, but so far, this pair had been accommodating. Peishan could scarcely imagine it working, but he might try just asking for their cooperation.

“I apologize for the inconvenience, but I will need you to come with me. Understand that it is not Imperial policy to detain travelers who’ve committed no offense, but with demons roaming the lands and your skill mimicking their ability to hide their own power, we’ll need to confirm that you aren’t demons in disguise before you can leave our custody.”

The two demons, or maybe not demons, Peishan honestly couldn’t tell at this point, exchanged glances and started talking in rapid-fire sentences using a language he didn’t recognize. The male turned back after a few moments of chatter and asked, “Would you have anyone on staff who can fix her arm? We don’t mind paying.”

“Er… Yes. The Jigon-Sai employs healers to keep our soldiers in top shape, though there may be a bit of a wait. With all the demon activity we’ve been trying to contain, every healer has dozens upon dozens of patients every day.”

The two demons said something in that other language again before the male added, “And your healers will work on someone who isn’t part of your Jeegon Say?”

“Jigon-Sai,” Peishan corrected.

“Right, that’s what I said.”

“No, you said- never mind, it’s not important. Yes, I can request under my authority as a captain-ranked officer to have your friend’s injury treated.”

Peishan did not add that just because he requested it didn’t mean it would happen. There were a lot of injured coming back from the front lines, and a request for healing on a non-life-threatening injury for what would technically be a prisoner was not likely to be a high priority.

“Right,” Peishan said. “Lieutenant, select two men to accompany you to the next rendezvous point so you can explain my absence. I will return to Heishin with the foreigners so we can get this whole mess sorted out. With any luck, we’ll only be a day behind you.”

“Sir,” his second said with a salute. He picked out two men and they set off down the road in a jog.

“Alright, form up and reverse course, half in front and half behind our foreign guests. They are in our care until we return home, and if anything happens to them, I will personally flay the hide off the man who lets an attack through.”

Within moments, the unit had reformed into two groups of four with the demons sandwiched between them and started off. Peishan was relieved to see that the two demons kept up without him having to slow the pace. It was one less thing he needed to worry about.

* * *

“This is going to blow up in our faces,” Zea said.

“They’re just doing their jobs. I completely get why the guy thinks we might be demons,” Luke told her.

“Small comfort when we end up having to fight our way out of whatever prison cell they try to throw us into.”

“Oh come on. They didn’t even try to take our weapons, and they sent three of their men off to do go something else. That’s a show of trust right there.”

Zea rolled her eyes and focused on putting one foot in front of the other. Everyone around her was running in rhythm, but her legs were just a bit too short to keep up if she ran in lockstep with them. The speed was also just a little bit too fast for her to comfortably maintain, but she knew if she said anything about it, Luke would just offer to carry her again. That was humiliating enough when it was just the two of them; no way was she going to let him do it in front of a bunch of other people.

“So, uh, just in case things do go south, you think we should discuss having a plan?” Luke asked.