Mitsuhide Akechi

“Lord Mitsuhide,” alerted one of my retainer’s men, “we request reinforcements at the Black Samurai’s quarters, he’s inherited the Will of the Sixth Demon!”

“Takenou couldn’t handle one man,” I questioned as I sat on top of my horse, “if you want something done, one must do it themselves.” I commanded my mount to advance forward as me, and a group of my men made our way into the forest.

The Black Samurai’s skill with a katana is mediocre at best compared to the elegance of my swordsmanship. Since I was a child, Nobunaga and I trained vigorously together with the blade, becoming brothers. However, when that man, that black man, came into his life, everything changed. The Brother of the Blade that I once cherished, had been ripped from me, the fact that it had to come to this, I sat on the thought.

My party approached a cliff where we could observe Honnō-ji Temple from a distance; “Lord Mitsuhide,” one of my subordinates alerted, “there appears to be some movement in the trees ahead.”

I did an overhead scan of the trees to confirm The Black Samurai’s position, deep within the forest between Honnō-ji and Yasaka, I saw a few trees’ branches rustling from something that clearly wasn’t wind. What is this fool doing, he’s practically giving us his position on a silver platter, I thought as I pulled an arrow out of my quiver and had one of my men light it on fire. “Let’s see how much you like swinging in trees when they’re on fire,” I said before drawing and shooting my flaming arrow.

The flames danced in the air as the arrow soared into the forest, setting the trees ablaze. The cheers from my men left me with a sense of bliss, “Lord Mitsuhide took him down! No way he survived that attack!”

I almost pity the man, back against the wall with no one to call a true ally, but alas, you caused my brother’s descent into treachery. As my men praised my attack, I noticed one of them had a look of pure horror plastered on his face. “Lord Mitsuhide,” the soldier stated, “there’s still movement in the trees, except this time is at least two clicks east of your previous attack—…”

I retrieved my spyglass and peered in the darkness of the forest, there was the area I just set ablaze and exactly two clicks east from that position, was more rustling. How is he moving this fast, I wondered as I drew back another flaming arrow and shot it in his direction, but this time instead of the area catching fire, it looked like the flames were smothered somehow. “Did you see that,” shouted one of my men, “the flames, they just disappeared!”

He was right, as if the flames were swallowed up by darkness itself, there wasn’t even a trace of smoke or soot from the extinguished fire, “what is going on?”

The same subordinate had alerted me again, but he was getting increasingly more worried and flustered, “m’Lord, three clicks south of that position!” I looked in that area and to my surprise, there was more rustling, something doesn’t seem right here, I thought.

There was a loud screeching noise followed by the Black Samurai chanting something, “Mi ʋu agboa loo kalɛawo, Agbadza tomevio be mi ʋu agbo loo kalɛawo!” It must have been his native tongue, seeing as I had no idea what he was saying; immediately after he chanted that phrase, however, what I could only describe as a mechanical biwa began to permeate our ears. The mechanical biwa’s sounds were both rhythmic and melodic, and oddly satisfying to hear, what’s happening, who is responsible for this, I wondered.

Nobunaga Yasuke

Moments Prior

As I made my way through the dense Japanese forest, I received several signatures, they each appeared one after another. There were four in total: the first spell I received was called ‘ShangoSubayaki’ or ‘Space God Whisper.’ This signature allows me to sever the space between me and an individual to allow me to have a one-way form of communication with them, as though I were right next to their ear. What makes the ability terrifying isn’t that, however, it’s the fact that there isn’t a limit on how many people I can use it on at once.

The second signature I gained was ‘Shango-Taberu’ or ‘Space God Eat’ and the basics of the skill allows me to sever and manifest “The Mouth of Shango” and anything that gets caught in its jaws, will me erased from this reality. Myrlin recommended that I use this signature sparingly as it has immense destructive capabilities, although I did want the chance to use it on those that wronged me. The third signature I developed was rather interesting, ‘Shango-Step’ and it allowed me to travel to my destination in a blink.

“You’re approaching your targets,” Myrlin rang in my head, “if you want, I can send you something else I think will help you out,” at this point, refusing him would be a mistake.

“Oh, is it some mystical enchantment,” I pondered.

“Something like that,” he responded with a slight chuckle. There was another revelation in my head, this one was different though, it felt more like an ancient memory was being resurrected from a deep slumber. “One of my most important and mastered job-class skills is my ‘Bard’ skill,” he began, “and a long time ago, I found this glowing blue rock with all these songs and memories; they were my memories. This song I’m sending you is one of my favorites, and it reminds me of you a lot. It’ll feel weird at first but trust me, you’ll get the hang of it; here’s the plan.” •••

I stood in the trees to get a better look at my enemies, they found themselves atop a cliff that overlooked the forest and to my surprise, Akechi was with them. It was a bit hard to make out, but it would have appeared that he was drawing back a flaming arrow and aiming it in my current position. “Aspect of Time: Sever Signature: Shango-Step,” I said as I scribed my name in the air, the ability engulfed me in purplish-white light and slung me the nightmare image I saw when I first met Myrlin, and it eventually spat me out two clicks east from where I was.

There were more arrows fired in my direction, and I was forced to think fast by using my other new signature, “Aspect of Time: Sever Signature: Shango-Taberu!” I slashed a hole in the fabric of space and a mouth with a tongue and teeth began to manifest from it. The impending danger that was once in hot pursuit of me, ceased to exist.

“Okay Yasuke,” Myrlin’s voices chimed in my mind, “it’s ready, just say whatever comes to mind. Don’t worry about what to say, it’ll come to you naturally.”

Keeping in mind with what he said, I took a deep breath in and as I exhaled, I began to chant and sing a song that sounded both familiar and foreign, “Mi ʋu agboa loo kalɛawo, Agbadza tomevio be mi ʋu agbo loo kalɛawo!” As my chant cry echoed through the dense forest, I began to hear what I could only describe as music, mechanical music, but heavy, rhythmic music, “Myrlin, what is this?”

“This is a genre of music called ‘metal,’” he began, “and this group is called Arka’n Asrafokor, they’re from The Gold Coast, rather they will be from The Gold Coast—. The name of this song is called ‘Return of the Ancient Sword’, and Yasuke, it’s about you,” Myrlin’s words empowered with a sense of strength and ferocity, and I felt like I could do anything. With the music playing, I found it easier to maneuver the trees and dodge my opponent’s attacks. They continued to shoot flaming arrows my way, this is growing increasingly bothersome, I thought. “Then why not single out the boss,” Myrlin asked, and he had a good point, if I singled out Akechi, I’ll have a better chance of winning.

I stopped and landed in a small clearing a half of click north from my starting position, closed my eyes, and stabbed my Ryuko into the ground, “Shango-Step,” I roared as the space between me and Akechi’s men was severed and placed me right at the base of the cliff.

“What’s this—?” yelled Akechi, “come to die or beg for mercy?”

“Shango-Step,” I commanded once again, this time stabbing the blade into the cliff’s side, causing me to appear in front of my foe. “Hi, Akechi, you seem surprised, dare I say scared even,” The look on the man that my former Lord once called a Blade Brother, held a face that was petrified in shear terror. That feeling was coming back, that ‘bloodlust’ feeling Myrlin told me about was starting to flare, and the longer I stood here, taunting Akechi, the more I wanted to end his life.

“Mercy—,” the traitor whimpered, “Black Samurai, please have mercy—.”

I spat at the ground, “I have a name, Yasuke,” I said, “Nobunaga Yasuke—.”

Akechi’s face began to twist in anger once he registered what I said, “You dare make a mockery of my dear brother’s name?! I’ll kill you myself!” Akechi unsheathed his blade and began his advance towards me. I found it quite amusing, how I can perceive information at a much faster rate now, my enemy’s movements were slowed to practically a halt and they couldn’t even comprehend anything I was doing even if they could perceive me.

In this state of time, where I can move faster than my opponent can understand and see, I began to carve the Ryubá characters for my name before chanting, “Aspect of Time: Sever Signature: Shango-Sakura; Ni—.” I slashed the air in front of me and the same energy that once engulfed my blade, now emitted from its edge, and said energy began to break off into smaller fragments that shot toward Akechi’s men, ending all of them, except Akechi.

“This cannot be,” he cried in terror, “You monster! You barbarian—!”

“Sever Signature: Shango-Taberu; Ni: Will Eater—,” I drew my blade and swiftly severed the air in front of Akechi. The wind from my attack manifested itself as purple blades of energy that shot towards my foe, however it didn’t end his life, “I’ll show mercy on you Akechi, however, I won’t make it easy for you to come after me and seek revenge. I just severed your will to come after me, nothing too serious, but if you were to ever muster the courage to come after me, the jaws of Shango will devour you and you’ll cease to exist.” The signature marked Akechi’s left breast with the Ryubá character for “Shango,” his skin burned, and the traitor let out a screech that could be heard for miles.

“Black Samurai—,” began Akechi, “I mean, Nobunaga, I won’t forget what happened here today, what you did to my men, and though I can’t explain, I know that you are not the same man that served my brother.”

“Maybe you’re right,” I said as I saw the sun starting its ascent, “Farewell.” I leaped off the cliff and used my Shango-Step signature to make my way back to Myrlin at Yasaka Shrine.

To be continued...