Amatori Biba ascended to the second floor, where a little girl, no more than five or six years old, sat in the corner, hugging her knees.
She was small and cute, with short black hair tied into a braid with a yellow ribbon. A blue bow adorned her neck, and she wore a red-and-white combat outfit. Her amber eyes were filled with confusion.
Hearing footsteps on the stairs, the girl instinctively looked up.
"Big brother!"
Upon seeing Amatori Biba, she quickly got to her feet, her babyish voice filled with happiness. She rushed over and clung to him tightly.
Biba stiffened momentarily, seemingly unaccustomed to such close contact. But he quickly composed himself and patted Mumei's small head.
"Mumei, how are you feeling?"
"Very well! I'm ready to help Big Brother kill those bad guys anytime."
A mysterious smile appeared on Biba's face.
"Is that so? How reliable. I'll be counting on you later."
"Mm! Big brother, Mumei will do her best!"
She nodded vigorously. To her, Amatori Biba, who had saved her and taught her how to survive, was everything. Killing, even slaughter, brought her no guilt.
Satisfied, Biba admired his handiwork. Then, without warning, he pulled out a syringe filled with a thick, black, oil-like fluid.
"Mumei, stay still. Don't move."
He aimed the syringe at her heart and, without hesitation, pushed the plunger.
The concentrated power of the Kabane curse surged into Mumei's body, spreading rapidly through her blood vessels and causing havoc.
"Ugh! It hurts, big brother!"
Despite her resolve, she was still just a child, unable to bear the excruciating pain. She cried out loudly, her small body writhing.
"Quiet! It'll be over soon."
Biba tried to soothe her, though his expression remained cold and indifferent. He held her still, forcing the black liquid into her heart.
Suddenly, a faint blue light emanated from her chest. Mumei had already lost consciousness by then, but the light grew brighter, eventually flooding the entire room.
Seeing this, Biba burst into triumphant laughter.
"Hahaha! Success! Mumei, destroy everything and make them feel your pain and anger!"
Following his orders, the soldiers dispersed. Despite being a military port, Yokosuka still housed civilians who provided essential supplies. Amatori Biba's soldiers targeted them without mercy, stabbing them with short blades smeared with Kabane tissue.
The infection spread rapidly, like a snowball gathering momentum. By the time the port's soldiers received the alarm, the number of Kabane had swelled to nearly a thousand.
The port commander, Shinjirou Konochi, hastily organized the troops to fight the Kabane and evacuate civilians. But before they could handle the Kabane threat, an even more terrifying monster emerged.
Steel tendrils shot out from the corpses, pulling them into a heap. Soon, hundreds of bodies fused into a massive creature.
Someone aptly named it, Black Smoke.
From a distance, the creature looked like a swirling mass of black fog, hence its name. This artificial Fused Colony began tearing through the port, reducing solid buildings to rubble with a single blow.
The soldiers, trained for human enemies, were no match for this monstrosity. Chaos erupted as Yokosuka descended into complete disarray.
Taking advantage of the turmoil Mumei had created, Biba and Sahari infiltrated the admiral's residence. The guards—ordinary soldiers—stood no chance against the Kabaneri. In minutes, they had slain the guards, knocked Ayame unconscious, and carried her out.
They headed for the hidden boats to make their escape.
As for the rest of the soldiers, everyone aside from Mumei knew this was a suicide mission. They attacked recklessly, stabbing anyone in sight with weapons laced with the Kabane curse.
Though the port was in chaos, there were simply too many soldiers stationed there. Soon enough, someone noticed the strange behavior of Biba's men. One by one, they were apprehended or shot down.
Before long, all of Biba's forces had been wiped out—except for the rampaging Fused Colony, Biba, and Sahari.
The two reached the shore, but just as Biba was about to board a small boat, a cold gleam flashed behind him, and a blade pressed against his neck.
His eyes widened in shock.
"Sahari, you're betraying me!?"
"Apologies, young master. The Queen ordered me to infiltrate your side."
Sahari's tone was emotionless, cold as ice.
"You mean Shingu Sakura? That woman tricked me!"
Biba gritted his teeth, furious at being outplayed.
"Forgive me, young master."
Without further acknowledgment, Sahari pulled out a syringe and injected a transparent liquid into Biba's body.
"Damn it, Sahari! You… ugh…"
Before Biba could finish, he collapsed, unconscious.
A fleeting expression of conflicted emotion crossed Sahari's face. After serving Biba for over five years, even a pet would inspire some affection, let alone a person. But for the sake of reviving his deceased wife, he had betrayed Biba without hesitation.
After sedating Biba, Sahari quickly loaded him and the unconscious Ayame onto the boat and disappeared into the night.
Yokosuka was still in chaos, and no one noticed their escape.
Meanwhile, the Fused Colony couldn't last much longer. Under relentless gunfire, the creature, with Mumei at its core, began to fall apart.
Mumei, at the core of the Fused Colony, was ejected and landed among a cluster of residential houses.
Dazed, she slowly rose to her feet, only to be met with a boy's furious shout.
"You! Look at what you've done! I'm going to kill you!"
Standing about five meters away, a boy with grass-green hair, dressed in an apprentice steam mechanic's uniform covered in oil and dust, glared at her with intense hatred.
In his arms was a small girl, lifeless and covered in blood. A thick steel rod had pierced her heart, and she had already passed away.
This boy was none other than the original protagonist, Ikoma. And the tiny, lifeless body in his arms was his beloved little sister, Hatsune.
"Hatsune, just wait a little longer. Your brother will avenge you soon."
Ikoma gently kissed his sister's forehead, then took a piece of green jade from her hand and placed it around his neck. Gripping a steam gun tightly, he slowly approached Mumei.
Ikoma's eyes were hollow, lifeless—like a broken puppet.
Mumei, paralyzed by the Kabane curse coursing through her veins, could only watch as Ikoma drew closer. He placed his foot on her stomach and aimed the steam gun directly at her heart, which glowed with a bright blue light.
"Die, monster!"
Bang!
Ikoma pulled the trigger, his face twisted with rage.
The first shot sent sparks flying off Mumei's heart, but it didn't pierce through. Frustration contorted Ikoma's face further.
"Why won't you die?!"
Ikoma pulled the trigger again and again.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
A series of bullets slammed into Mumei's heart. Finally, one bullet penetrated the steel casing and lodged itself inside. The blue light began to fade—just like Mumei's life.
Her once lively eyes slowly dimmed.
Still, Ikoma didn't stop. He kept pulling the trigger until the gun was out of bullets, producing only empty clicks.
His shoulder was swollen and bruised from the gun's recoil, and Mumei's heart had been reduced to a mangled mess.
Throwing the gun aside, Ikoma limped back to his sister's body, knelt, and let out a heart-wrenching wail.
"Ahhhhh!!!!"
Ikoma had worked tirelessly to give his sister a better life. He'd graduated early from technical school to become an apprentice steam mechanic, with a promising future at the Yokosuka shipyard. His plan was for Hatsune to move to a safer island in Asia, but Ikoma couldn't bear the thought of her living alone, and she didn't want to be separated from him either. So, they stayed together in Yokosuka.
A seemingly small decision, but it had led to their eternal separation.
Meanwhile, Amatori Biba, after killing his father, had become increasingly ruthless. He knew that with only a small team, he couldn't cause much of an impact in Yokosuka, where hundreds of thousands of soldiers were stationed. Yet, he aimed to kidnap Ayame, the daughter of the city's lord, during the chaos.
With no moral boundaries left, Biba devised a cruel plan. He coerced Mumei into injecting a concentrated cellular extract of the Kabane curse into her heart, artificially creating the Fused Colony. While the garrison was distracted by the monster, Biba kidnapped Ayame.
But Biba's arrogance led to his downfall. Betrayed by his most loyal subordinate, Sahari, he lost both his men and his plan.
Most importantly, he had provoked the wrong enemy.
Boom!
A figure with massive glowing wings descended from the sky—it was Nguyen Ryou.
At a moment when morale was crumbling, Ryou didn't hesitate to make a dramatic entrance, adding special effects to his appearance. The sight of the god-like figure descending into the chaos rallied the garrison, and they broke into loud cheers.
Ryou didn't disappoint. Drawing his katana, he charged into the Kabane horde. His silver-white slashes gleamed like moonlight, beautiful yet deadly.
The Kabane fell like wheat being cut down at harvest, and soon, they were almost completely exterminated.
However, his work wasn't over.
If this disaster wasn't handled properly, the faith he had painstakingly built could collapse. More than 5,000 people had died in the chaos, with many more injured. The collective grief and resentment of the survivors posed a serious threat to his influence.
People are easily swayed. When their lives are peaceful, they worship you fanatically. But when tragedy strikes, they quickly turn their dissatisfaction and hatred toward the very figure they once revered.
"I believed in you, but you didn't protect me!"
That kind of irrational blame can destroy even the strongest systems of belief.
Ryou knew he had to channel this negative emotion, and the best way to do that was to create a common enemy for everyone to focus their anger on.
Luckily, two perfect scapegoats were available.
A cold, calculating glint flashed in Ryou's eyes.
As the garrison and surviving civilians worked to recover from the disaster, a booming voice echoed across Yokosuka.
Everyone instinctively looked up and saw the divine figure with glowing wings standing beneath the heavens.
By now, it was late at night, and Ryou's wings were fully unfurled, glowing brightly and visible to the 300,000 soldiers and civilians below.
"My faithful followers!
I am saddened. I arrived late because I was purging a great evil.
And I am furious!
The suffering you've endured today was no accident. It was the result of a conspiracy by two wicked souls.
They slipped through the defenses of this sacred land and unleashed their vile curse upon you.
These two evildoers are none other than Amatori Biba, son of Shogun Okimasa Amatori, and the Emperor!"
As Ryou's voice carried through the air, the crowd gradually stopped what they were doing.
When they heard that the culprits behind the catastrophe were the son of the Shogun and their once-revered emperor, the crowd erupted.
Given Ryou's prestige and power, no one doubted his words.
Their grief swiftly transformed into a deep, burning hatred.
Ryou had achieved his goal.
Indeed, the quickest way to resolve internal strife is to create an external enemy.
In an instant, the crowd's fury was directed at the two figures he had identified. And his speech—calculated and manipulative—continued to fuel the flames.