It's both the world of manga and not the world of manga.
In the real world of manga, no matter how cruel the war is, no matter how melancholic the rendering was before, people don't easily die.
Almost everyone has an almost immortal body, like Kinnikuman, who can't die even after being hit in the head by Kaido, making the so-called world's strongest creature look like a clown.
However, such miraculous things don't happen here in Kenshin Himura's world.
When you're dead, you're dead...
Kenshin stood on the desolate plain, blood staining the world beneath him red. There were some dried bloodstains on his body, so he left there, heading towards a river to clean up.
And behind him were eight fallen people, eight corpses, with blood flowing from their bodies.
A battle...
Easily said, easily done, yet somewhat troublesome battle ended like this.
From start to finish, Kenshin didn't even receive any injuries.
And those eight people, even though they were quite strong in the Land of Wano, seemed weak and feeble before Kenshin.
As Kenshin gradually moved away, they could no longer move. In the face of absolute disparity in strength, their so-called beliefs couldn't save their lives.
The sky gradually darkened, and rain began to fall, as if to wash away the blood on the ground, to cleanse the world of its sins.
However, some sins cannot be washed away.
Because the source of sin still exists, the dark core has not been extinguished.
In this world where the blood was gradually diluted, a man walked over.
He seemed to emanate infinite darkness and evil. His aura was chilling, as if he were evil incarnate, his soul completely devoid of any light.
He was a parasite of the remnants of Kaido, he was Kozuki Oden.
After receiving the message from them, Oden ordered them to keep an eye on Kenshin. He then hurried over, but he was still a step too late.
These eight idiots must have been discovered, so they wanted to use their lives to buy time, but even at the cost of their lives, they still couldn't stop Kenshin. They were truly a useless bunch.
Disgust appeared on Oden's face, but there was nothing he could do now. His subordinates had no one stronger.
"Hmph, then you shall become undead and return to my command."
He stretched out his hand, and suddenly darkness fluctuated. A dark power emanated from him, causing the shadows of the eight corpses to start moving.
In their movement, they changed from two-dimensional to three-dimensional, becoming the new shadow corps of Kozuki Oden.
Since they became the shadow corps, they were ultimately dead. Although they retained their martial skills from their lifetime, they had very little intelligence. Oden felt that he needed to make his shadow army more 'intelligent'.
If they could only act specifically on his commands, then they would be of little use.
If his shadow corps had some intelligence, then he could turn all the people of Wano into his army of shadows!
The shadow corps knew no fatigue, felt no fear, and absolutely obeyed his commands. Such soldiers were a hundred times better than those samurai who pretended to be loyal but secretly plotted their own agenda, weren't they?
"Kenshin Himura..."
He looked at the traces of Kenshin's sword on the ground, a cold smile appearing on his face.
"You flee in panic, the longer you run, the stronger I become in the future, and the more desperate you will be when you face me."
"Hate me, hate the murderous intent you have towards me!"
Oden did want to kill Kenshin, but now he could feel that he was in a period of transformation.
From the moment he possessed that dark power that made people loyal to him, then later possessed the power to create a shadow army, and next, he would continue to transform.
However, this transformation might take some time this time.
Not like before, where he transitioned over two months, but this time, it might take longer.
Six months? A year?
But no matter how long, Oden looked forward to his next abilities.
Now, his hatred towards Kenshin was even surpassed by his anticipation for the growth of his own power. Oden suddenly burst into laughter, ignoring the bodies of these eight subordinates who had lost their shadows, letting them be washed away in the heavy rain.
And he left here laughing.
He wanted to accelerate the speed of his own strength, and a world full of chaos, fear, and evil was exactly what he wanted.
Therefore, he wanted to turn Wano into hell!
Those who were disloyal to him, those who dared to betray the Kozuki clan should all die.
The Kozuki clan was the master of Wano, destined to rule this country as generals since hundreds of years ago. Those commoners dared to resist him, they were simply not worth living!
So he wanted to create the most terrifying world for those who dared to resist him.
Oden returned to the Flower Capital, ordering the daimyos of various regions to suppress the rebellions within their territories.
And he even began to take action personally, with his first target being the Black Charcoal clan, who had ruined his plans before and had even shown signs of rebellion long ago!
Originally, they had all been wiped out, but unexpectedly, there were still two or three people who survived, and they even dared to raise the flag of rebellion now. Such people were unforgivable to Oden.
Oden took action himself, easily crushing the rebellion of the Black Charcoal clan. The rebel army of the Black Charcoal clan originally numbered over ten thousand, with the most elite being those fierce prisoners who had escaped from the Rokuro Prison.
However, under Oden's attack, the Black Charcoal clan was almost completely wiped out!
Even the powerful ally that the Black Charcoal clan had called for, Kaido, was seriously injured and had to rely on his Barrier Fruit ability to escape the battlefield, but the remaining people weren't so lucky.
What had been a tumultuous rebellion, even showing signs of overthrowing the Kozuki clan just a few days ago, had been almost completely annihilated, dealing a severe blow to the morale of the rebels.
But because of this...
These originally scattered rebels gradually united, especially with the former Flower Capital guard, Goroubei, raising his arms, causing more and more people to move towards the stronghold of Tsukumogami Shogunate.