Centuries ago, the world teetered on the brink of despair. Shadowy beings called Shadeborn emerged from the depths of human corruption, entities born from fear, anger, and despair. These creatures thrived in a liminal realm between light and darkness, feeding on the negative emotions of their hosts and transforming them into conduits of destruction. Desperate to confront this rising threat, the Emperor sought the most skilled artisan of the age, a blacksmith named Akihiro Masamori.
Akihiro was no ordinary craftsman; his blades were renowned for their unparalleled sharpness and strength. Yet even he knew that steel alone could not combat the ethereal nature of the Shadeborn. To forge a weapon capable of severing their ties to humanity, Akihiro embarked on a perilous journey to the Spirit Realm. There, he encountered the Spirit of Balance, a powerful entity tasked with preserving the equilibrium between light and shadow.
The Spirit offered Akihiro a fragment of its own essence to forge the blade, warning him of the consequences. Such a weapon, the Spirit explained, would not only pierce the fabric of realms but also demand an unyielding heart to wield it. Akihiro accepted, and with this fragment, he forged Kagekiri, the Shadow cutter. The blade shimmered with an unnatural light, its edge honed to slice through both physical and spiritual barriers.
The first wielder of Kagekiri successfully vanquished the Shade-born, restoring peace to the land. Yet peace was fleeting. As generations passed, Kagekiri became an object of greed. Kings and warlords sought its power for conquest, and the blade's whispers sowed discord among those unworthy of its strength. Recognising its potential for harm, a sect of monks intervened. They performed a powerful ritual to seal the katana beneath the roots of a sacred tree, chosen for its ability to neutralise the blade's malevolent whispers.
Over centuries, the tree grew into a colossal guardian, its roots entwining with Kagekiri. The monks believed they had succeeded in hiding the blade forever, but Kagekiri was no ordinary weapon. It was sentient, its essence bound to the Spirit of Balance, and it waited patiently for the day it would be freed.