Notes of an unknown historian, from the archives of Rai San'yō

It is the burden of the historian to sift fact from legend, to pluck out each polished grain of truth and set it carefully aside. Bit by bit, piece by piece, they form a picture of the past. Only then is it proper to publish one’s findings. Concerning the Bloodcursed Blade, a few grains are all I can discern, despite many years of research. It is said that the sword has had many bearers, each one chosen by the blade itself—but I can verify only a few.

The story begins in the early years of Toyotomi Hideyoshi’s reign, in a tiny village in the Aomori prefecture, little more than a half-dozen huts clinging to the side of the mountain like stubborn barnacles. The local blacksmith was betrayed by those he trusted most, and in a terrible rage he plucked a sword from the forge with his bare hands and quenched it in the blood of his betrayers. Of the smithy, nothing remains save a patch of soot-stained dirt and blackened debris. No one dares speak the smith’s name, and no one will build anew on that charred earth.

Years later, a katana with a blood-red blade surfaced in Kyoto, in the hands of a ronin called Demonblade whose cruelty and depravity shocked even his own men. The blade itself seemed to thirst for blood, and with it he carved a swath through the underworld and brought the city to its knees. Finally, the Imperial Regent dispatched an elite unit of samurai to the city. Led by Takanawa Kaiga, they smashed the syndicate and claimed the sword—though most of the samurai perished in the fight.

Kaiga himself was the next to bear the blade, and by all accounts it drank well under his care. He wielded it throughout the Konohe rebellion, apparently like a man possessed. He personally slew two dozen men at the gates of Konohe castle before coming under fire from a squad of rebel arquebusiers. When the heavy smoke cleared, Kaiga was gone.

Though I have scoured the records of the battle and interviewed many survivors, the trail ends there. Neither Takanawa Kaiga—nor the blade—ever appeared again.

Takanawa Kaiga is available in the Crooked Crew of the Clockwork Combine army expansion. Pre-order now for a July release!