The Wandering Samurai and his Beloved General (BL)

It was early afternoon, and the sun had yet to set, but night seemed to fall upon the swamp prematurely, an oppressive, ominous pressure gripping the area.

The ground trembled with the thunder of a distant horde.

Animals fled the swamp in a frantic stampede, as if staying even a moment longer meant certain death. Their first witnesses were the Silver Dragons stationed on the outskirts.

Some of the soldiers struggled to summon the willpower not to mirror the animals' panic.

Old Jin sat rigid atop his black stallion, one hand gripping the hilt of his sword while the other clenched the reins tightly enough to nearly crush them. His bloodshot eyes were fixed on the imp before him, waiting for the creature to speak the word.

The imp's skin was a glossy, blood-red, its small frame mismatched with oversized ears and eyes. Cloaked entirely in black with a hood obscuring most of its features, it was impossible to tell if the creature was male or female.

Only the tips of its pointed ears twitched as it turned to face him. Dull yellow eyes met Old Jin's gaze, and a sharp-toothed grin spread across its face, brimming with an unsettling, almost mocking confidence.

"Master says it's time to flank them and leave the black creatures alone," the imp declared in its childlike, innocent voice.

No matter how many times Old Jin heard it speak, that voice always felt deeply unnatural, an eerie mismatch to the calm and calculating presence the imp carried.

"Black creatures?" Old Jin frowned, his tone skeptical. "Is that it? What type of black creatures?"

The imp fell silent for several minutes, its delicate features unreadable as Old Jin and four other commanders directed the army to ready their weapons.

"They don't know what it's called," the imp finally said, its voice carrying a strange detachment. "Master said… it's a black mass with large claws and a crocodile head."

Old Jin sighed at the sparse description but passed the information along to his officers nonetheless. With nothing more to discuss, the army began its march—not too fast, not too slow, prioritizing their formation above all else.

It wasn't until they reached the enemy's backlines that Old Jin finally understood what the "black creatures" were.

The words to describe them were difficult to grasp.

A large, amorphous black mass drifted through the swamp, shifting between mist and solid form with terrifying ease. From the mass, enormous clawed hands with grayish-green scales would erupt without warning, seizing unlucky soldiers and flinging them deeper into the swamp's unforgiving depths.

And sometimes—without any clear pattern—a full crocodile would materialize at their feet, snapping its jaws with vicious precision and throwing everyone nearby into utter chaos.

Old Jin almost faltered at the sight, but through countless self-hypnosis techniques, he steeled himself.

"Charge!" His voice rang out steady and loud, cutting through the soldiers' anxious minds. "Don't be afraid. Think of that thing as a friend." An ugly smile spread across his face, acknowledging the absurdity of his own words.

But the strange reassurance worked. The army found its footing again, pushing forward with renewed determination.

Their actions were tenacious, brutal—almost as if they no longer valued their lives. Technically, that was true. In the face of a creature so bizarre and horrific, the only way they could obey their commanders was to believe it was suicide.

Far deeper into the swamp, Haruki gripped Lanling's left hand, his gaze wary of the man who had suddenly appeared before them.

Every fiber of his being screamed to take Lanling and flee, but then Lanling's reassuring smile appeared—quick and gentle. The soft caress of his thumb against Haruki's sparked a sudden, almost invincible sense of calm.

His tense shoulders relaxed, and he loosened his grip, instead catching Lanling's thumb, caressing it back in response.

"Are you not afraid of betrayal?"

The man opened his mouth, revealing teeth like a crocodile's. His long, wet black hair obscured most of his features, save for a sharp nose and grey skin. His tattered black robes seemed to merge seamlessly with the black mass behind him, and his nails were thick and blackened.

"Is that not part of nature?"

Lanling replied, meeting the terror-inducing figure with an eerie calmness. His gaze held a strange familiarity, as if he had encountered a far more horrifying creature in the past.

The man's laugh echoed, almost as if it were the voices of multiple people speaking in unison.

"I'll give you the time it takes for me to eat the town to leave."

He smiled, his lips stretching unnaturally from ear to ear, as if the grin could never stop growing.

"Don't let me catch you."

His figure caved in on itself, disappearing into the black mass. The claws that had been randomly appearing now seemed more eager and energized, making Lanling frown.

"Baili!"

"Yes, general!"

Baili's voice grew louder as he descended from above.

"In a few minutes, we're falling back. Get ready."

Baili froze, confusion washing over him.

Weren't they winning? The Black Pythons had been flanked on all sides, and the boss of all the crocodiles was incredibly powerful! He felt that the boss could take on all six thousand soldiers by himself.

But even as he thought that, Baili couldn't shake the feeling that they should help the crocodile boss, just to be sure.

"General, what about that?" He pointed hesitantly toward the black mass, unsure of how to address the crocodile leader.

"That won't be satisfied with this." Lanling waved his hand impatiently. "Go. Or we'll be next."

"Understood!"

"Have everyone converge on the north road. We're heading home."

Lanling subconsciously turned to look at Haruki, only to find that the man had been distractedly pinching, caressing, and scratching at Lanling's hand playfully, his attention not on the problem looming over them.

"You..." Lanling's exasperation was evident. "Here I am, working diligently, and you're actually playing."

Haruki looked up at the sound of his name, his cheerful grin spreading wide.

"I'm just a wife accompanying my husband. What else can I do?"

Lanling pursed his lips, his ears reddening, but his eyes narrowed in response to the teasing. Without warning, he leaned in and placed a quick peck on the corner of Haruki's lips.

"Naturally, you're here to cheer me on," he said with a teasing smile before pulling Haruki forward by their held hands. "Come on, dear wife. I have a job to do."

Haruki's face exploded in embarrassment.