The first light of dawn crawled over the hills like a hesitant blessing. Mist coiled around the trees, and the grass glistened with dew that smelled faintly of salt and smoke. Somewhere far off, a gull screamed above the surf, echoing through the quiet valley. It should have been peaceful, but the air carried a nervous tremor—the kind that comes before something breaks.
Nick Yamato—known to everyone here as Jin Sakai—stood by the stream, fastening the last buckle of his light armour. His reflection shimmered back at him, half human, half legend. Each morning he hoped to see his own face again, but the water insisted otherwise. The eyes that stared back belonged to a man who had already fought, failed, and died.
He exhaled slowly. "Still you, dude," he muttered under his breath. "Just… DLC edition."
Behind him, Yuna was already awake, rolling up a mat of reeds and tucking her daggers into her belt. She moved with the quiet rhythm of someone used to being hunted. "You talk to yourself more than any samurai I've met," she said without looking up.
"Therapy's expensive," he answered. "This is cheaper."
She glanced at him then, a small frown crossing her face. "Nervous?"
"Wouldn't you be? I'm about to crawl into a fortress crawling with Mongols. That's not a healthy morning routine."
Yuna tied the bundle and straightened. "Good. Fear keeps you alive. Overconfidence gets you dead."
Nick smirked, but it faltered when her gaze drifted eastward. The fog was clearing, revealing the faint outline of Kaneda Fortress—a scar of black stone on the coastline. Banners of Khotun Khan fluttered along its ramparts, the red sigils catching the early light like bleeding suns.
"That's where your uncle is," Yuna said. "And if the scouts are right, they plan to execute him soon. Maybe today."
The words struck deep. Something inside Nick's chest rippled—an emotion that wasn't his own. A heartbeat of memory flashed behind his eyes: a wooden bridge, the clang of steel, the cold shock of water rushing up to meet him. A roar—Khotun Khan's laughter—before darkness. Then silence.
He blinked. The vision vanished, leaving his pulse hammering.
"Jin?" Yuna's voice snapped him back.
"Yeah," he said quickly. "Just… dizzy. Probably didn't eat enough pixels."
She gave him the look she reserved for things that made no sense. "Eat what?"
"Forget it. Let's move before I embarrass myself."
They hiked along the ridge, wind biting through the trees. Every step seemed to stir whispers in the leaves, voices too soft to catch but heavy with warning. Nick couldn't shake the feeling that the island itself remembered the first failure—the real Jin's fall—and was holding its breath, waiting to see if this one would do better.
By mid-morning they reached a cluster of burned huts. The air stank of ash and iron. Charred beams jutted from the ground like ribs from a corpse. A mother fox darted out from the ruins, three kits trailing after her. Yuna's eyes hardened.
"The Khan's men did this last week," she murmured. "Anyone left alive was taken to build siege weapons."
Nick swallowed hard. "In the game, this kind of side quest usually gives you XP."
She shot him a glare sharp enough to cut bamboo. "If you joke to hide fear, fine. But don't make fun of what they lost."
He nodded, shame flickering across his borrowed face. "Sorry. Won't happen again."
They kept moving until they reached a hollow sheltered by reeds. There, Yuna crouched and drew a rough map in the dirt with her dagger. "Main gate's impossible. Too many archers. But there's a drainage tunnel here." She tapped the sketch. "Narrow, but it leads under the wall."
Nick leaned closer, scanning the lines. "Looks good. Unless they've filled it."
"That's why we check before we risk it." She reached into her pouch and pulled out a small clay sphere, its surface etched with faint runes. "Take this."
He turned it over in his hand. "Is this… a smoke bomb?"
"Something like that. A thief's trick. Smash it, and the dust blinds everyone for a few breaths. Enough to disappear."
Nick's grin returned. "Now we're talking."
"Don't grin," she said flatly. "You'll burn your fingers if you throw it wrong."
He weighed it carefully, then tucked it into his belt. The faint thrum of Chi brushed against his senses—the same pulse he'd felt when focusing his resolve to heal. Except this time it flowed through the bomb itself, as if the island's spirit had marked it. The knowledge of how to use it settled into him like a forgotten reflex.
"Right," he whispered. "Smoke bomb unlocked."
Yuna blinked. "Unlocked?"
"Never mind."
They moved again, the terrain sloping downward toward the sea cliffs. From here, the fortress loomed in full—walls of black timber, spikes of iron, and banners snapping in the wind. Soldiers marched along the ramparts in precise rows. The sound of their drums rolled across the fields like thunder.
Nick crouched behind a boulder, scanning through the shifting haze. His gamer brain catalogued everything: patrol routes, weak spots, guard rotations. It was all there, just like he remembered, except now it was terrifyingly real.
Yuna crouched beside him. "We wait until dusk," she said. "Then move through the tunnel."
He nodded, though the weight in his chest tightened with each heartbeat. The longer he stared at Kaneda Fortress, the more the world around him felt… unstable. The light bent strangely; the air hummed, as if the island itself was holding its breath.
A whisper threaded through the wind—soft, ancient, almost tender.
You walked this path before.
Nick froze. For a heartbeat, the world dimmed. The ridge became that same bridge again. Khotun Khan stood before him, axe dripping red. The ghost of the first Jin screamed in his head, a memory of defeat wrapped in rage.
"Not this time," Nick muttered.
Yuna looked at him. "What?"
"Nothing. Just… déjà vu."
Thunder growled above them. Clouds, thick and gray, rolled in from the horizon. The sea turned the color of bruised steel. Wind whipped through the reeds, carrying the scent of salt and oncoming rain.
They waited in uneasy silence until dusk bled across the sky. The fortress torches flickered to life, hundreds of orange eyes in the dark. When the first raindrops began to fall, Yuna motioned him forward.
They crept along the cliffside until they found the tunnel entrance—a narrow stone opening half-hidden by vines and rubble. Cold water trickled from within.
"After you," Yuna whispered.
Nick crouched and slipped inside. The passage was slick and tight, forcing them to crawl through mud that smelled of rust. Rats scattered ahead. The sound of distant footsteps echoed from above—the Mongols changing shifts.
Halfway through, a faint metallic click snapped the silence.
Nick froze. "Uh… please tell me that wasn't—"
The explosion was muffled but powerful. Dust and smoke filled the tunnel, choking the air. Rocks collapsed behind them, sealing the entrance. Nick coughed, covering his mouth.
"Trap," Yuna hissed. "They knew someone would try this way!"
He groped for the smoke bomb instinctively. The memory of how to use it flooded him—the twist of the wrist, the focus of Chi, the breath before the throw. He slammed it against the ground. The tunnel filled with white mist, glowing faintly with blue sparks. The collapsing debris slowed, deflected as if the Kami themselves had intervened.
When the haze cleared, the tunnel behind them was blocked, but the path ahead remained open.
Yuna stared at him, wide-eyed. "How did you—?"
"Trade secret," he said, forcing a grin despite the trembling in his hands. "Let's move before round two."
They crawled out into the outer moat, gasping the damp night air. Above them, lightning split the sky, painting the fortress in stark white light. For a moment, everything froze—the rain, the wind, the breath in his chest.
Kaneda Fortress stood waiting, thunder rumbling like the heartbeat of destiny.
The same place the first Jin Sakai had fallen.
The same day.
But not the same Ghost.
Nick tightened his grip on his katana. Somewhere in the dark, the crow with the glowing eyes watched again, feathers rattling in the storm wind.
This time, fate whispered differently.
The Ghost will rise again.
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