It was the year 1600 when the 'The Land of The Rising Sun' was at its knees as the most influential lords of the lands waged war upon each other.
It was a war to determine who would be most fit to be the next Shogun and rule the lands as the supreme ruler. Among the lords, 5 lords stood out as the closest to attaining the seat of Shogun.
This civil unrest broke out when the previous Shogun Takatami Udou was assassinated on a cold night along with his whole family. The lords were at each other's throats as soon as the Shogun dies.
Though history remembers this war as the 'The War of The Wolves' but this was all orchestrated by a single lord who was more cunning than a fox and more underhanded than a rodent.
His name was Hakashita Eishin. He was one of the closest retainers of the previous Shogun and one of the five strongest lords participating in the war.
It was public knowledge that people who defied Eishin would be dealt with immediately and not even their families would be safe from Eishin's wrath. As the war went on more and more local lords started joining his side and his influence grew more and more.
Even the strongest lords feared Eishin and pulled out from the war and allied with him. Karasawa Monji and Sakaki Hairo were two of Eishin's biggest allies. Eishin proposed an alliance to Haraki Saiburo but he denied and went on to fight him in the 'The Battle of the Sullied'.
It was more of a slaughter than a battle. Haraki's army of 30,000 strong were defeated by only 2,000 soldiers sent by Eishin. Haraki was decapitated by one of Eishin's generals.
Eishin's soldiers possessed abilities that were beyond human and this made it easier for Eishin to secure his victories. Now one of the five lords were defeated and the other three were allied and Eishin along with his 2,000 extraordinary soldiers and with an allied force of 3,00,000 moved towards the castle of the last standing lord.
The previous Shogun was a man of few words but he would always speak his heart out when he was with his closest retainers. Among his retainers, the man the Shogun was fond of the most was Masahiro Souzen.
He was a loved lord among the general people as well. He governed over a vast land where prosperity and peace prevailed. The Shogun would personally visit his castle to have talks with him.
Masahiro Souzen was kind and brave. He was loved for his sternness and shrewd judgement but his only weakness was he could never stand up against people he deemed his family.
When the war among the lords first started he was opposed to it as this war made him stand against people he called his brothers.
Even when Eishin was closing in on him he stood his ground and was hoping for peace talks. He sent multiple letters proposing the cancellation of the war but the other side denied it.
The first general of Souzen's army repeatedly reminded his lord about the rumors that Eishin may have orchestrated the assassination of the previous Shogun.
Souzen's first general was the most capable warrior in his army who was repeatedly invited by the Shogun himself to join the Imperal Army for his feats.
Souzen always listened to him but this time he was conflicted since going to war against someone like Eishin, whom he considered his brother along with the strange rumors going on about Eishin having soldiers who become demons in the battlefield.
As a result Souzen ordered a scouting party which would be lead by his first general Akira Tenzen. Their job was to find out potential weaknesses, structure and an estimation of the overall strength of the allied army under Eishin's command and report back to their lord.
Akira met Eishin only once during a large gathering in the previous Shogun's castle. Eishin always harbored an inept persona so people could never read him but when Akira first laid his eyes on him, he sensed something twisted, almost malevolent inside him. He could never figure what he felt but this made him wary of Eishin for a long time.
When the rumors about Eishin assassinating the Shogun started to spread Akira immediately advised his lord to take actions against Eishin but Souzen could never believe those rumors.
It did not much for Akira to believe the rumors as he was always inclined to believe that Eishin is not the man he shows to the world. Akira also heard strange things about Eishin and his battles
As Eishin was achieving victory after victory against the other lords with only a handful of soldiers, weird rumors started to spread. The remains of the fallen soldiers who fought against Eishin's handful of soldiers were never found after the battles.
All the battlefields were stained with blood but the bodies of the fallen soldiers were never found. Soldiers who fled from the battlefields were found in hiding in nearby villages scared out of their wits. The soldiers would speak about demons and monsters and other weird experiences that could not be explained.
When they were trialed for desertion and given a death sentence their faces had an expression of relief. Akira never thought much of these rumors and only thought about defeating Eishin.
As Akira along with the scouting party of 200 soldiers reached the Douto hill closest to Eishin's camp they got off their horses and slowly started to climb the hill.
They could easily get an overview of the allied armies from the top of the hill. When they reached the top they saw things that were not of this world. They saw an army which did not consist of humans but towering humanoid figures with horns and fangs. These demon like soldiers were feeding on something.
Upon a closer look Akira saw that they were feasting on the corpses of the soldiers who fought against Eishin's soldiers. This horrifying view made one thing clear that the rumors about Eishin using demons as soldiers was true.
The whole scouting party along with Akira did not waste a second and quickly ran down and got up on their horses to notify their lord.