Lord Riken, Returned from the Abyss

When the kitsune from the Scarlet Forest clan began to unite the Sunrise Isles, they did not stand in ceremony with other clans. Those who did not rise under the banner of Amaterasu were destroyed or sent into lifelong exile. The surviving warriors fled to dense forests, to remote small islands. But that didn’t help either. An elite squad of kitsune guards called the Children of Inari hunted down and punished the renegades. So, not out of a whim, but out of necessity, a new alliance was formed – the clan of dark samurais the Dark Moon Fangs. Samurais managed not only to survive, but also to get stronger. Moreover, the underachievers declared themselves onryo – vengeful spirits that direct their anger at the foxes.

The war of the samurais from the Dark Moon Fangs with the Children of Inari went on for more than one month. There were hot phases and periods of calm in it, but the foxes invariably turned out to be stronger. Even the leadership of the two-headed wolfen Lord Riken did not allow the dark ones to gain the upper hand. The death of the leader in one of the battles put the clan on the brink of destruction. But then the demons appeared. The creatures of the Abyss not only resurrected the wolfen into a mighty winged monster, but also offered the Kuroba clan what its members craved most – revenge.

Shortly after his resurrection, Lord Riken, given the name Returned from the Abyss, gathered all the samurais in one place to say something “very important”.

– Damned foxes! – A massive rhino with a heavy war hammer snorted so that the curtains fluttered on the windows. The trio of wolf archers looked at him disapprovingly. – How many more times are we going to retreat? When will we be able to kill these red upstarts ?!.

– Hush, my horned friend, hush. – The she-wolf in the flat amigase gently stroked the huge shuriken. – Today we are not gathered here to whine and complain about fate.

As confirmation of her words, the clan leader stepped into the center of the room. With the appearance of Lord Riken , everyone present fell silent at once.

– My clan! – The two heads of the wolfen spoke at the same time, so the speech came out loud. – We have suffered ignominious defeat many times at the hands of the cursed Children of Inari. But now everything has changed. The Abyss gave me strength, brought me back to life, I tell you – soon we will defeat vile kitsune! We will become suzumebachi for them, driving a poisoned sting under a thin fox skin! We waited and endured for a long time, but now I can say with confidence that we have enough strength to win! From tomorrow we will show these shabby foxes who are the real masters of the Sunrise Isles!

– Alas, mighty Lord Riken, the spirits of the Abyss say otherwise.

A rhinoceros stepped out of the crowd of samurais. Instead of weapons, he was hung with amulets, and his eyes were covered with a bandage made of dense fabric. Nevertheless, the blind man walked confidently and firmly.

– Seer… Kosame… A blind man who sees the war. – A light whisper could be mistaken for a gust of wind.

A rhinoceros named Kosame did not reach Riken with half a dozen steps and froze. It seemed that his thick legs were rooted to the floor, and he himself swayed slightly, like a sacred cedar in the wind. After long minutes of silence, the one who was called the seer finally spoke.

– The spirits tell me a lot. Yesterday they told me about the tiger and the wolf, which will be the death of our clan. – On a cord around the neck of a rhinoceros, wooden figurines of animals really hung. – The white wolf will feed the white tiger, together they will bring victory to the kitsune and trouble to us.

– How dare you! – Lord Riken, who was clearly infuriated by the words of the rhinoceros, came close to the Warseer and froze above him as a tsunami wave. – We are invincible! We have weapons, we have magic, we have gold! The Dark Moon Fangs clan has waited too long to now crawl into a hole because of the words of some cripple.

The wolfen fluttered its wings in rage. A spike on the crook of the wing scratched the shoulder of the rhinoceros, drops of blood splashed onto the figurine of the wolf. The Seer, who did not even seem to notice the demon wolf’s threats, took the red wolf in his hand, raised the figure to the level of the blind eyes, and quietly said:

– It looks like a new path is opening up before us.