"We are victorious!"

His council cheered, as did the soldiers around him. They had fought for their nation of Fuji against the Empire of Taiyang. And their elation was such that His Majesty stood from his dirtied seat, and uplifted his sword.

"We stand here, defiant against the rule of the Golden Dragon. Because of the hardness of our armor, the sharpness of our blades, and the hearts of those who wield them. Now raise them again, sons and daughters of Fuji, for the day is yours!"

The soldiers' chorus thundered across the field. But one voice was missing, and His Majesties' eyes widened at its absence.

"Where is Nobunaga?"

His advisors looked about each other, and found nothing.

"We do not know."

Ignoring all around him, His Majesty ran to the eastern side of the field, where his friend had last been seen. All he found were corpses, strewn across browned and crimsoned grass. Finally though he found a body clad in violet armor, the color of Nobunaga's house.

"No..."

His Majesty turned the body over, and looked into the open and horrified eyes of his greatest warrior, and oldest friend.

"You reckless Bastard. I would have had you leave the battlefield then your wife without a husband, your daughter without a father, and me without a right arm."

He almost wept, but then saw something in Nobunaga's other hand: a golden band with an amethyst stone. Nobunaga never displayed this ring, but as his Majesty reached to bring it closer-

"Away from that!"

His Majesty and all his train turned, to find the form of a Bellos. A great and four legged monster of demonic flesh and power, which tilted its head and spoke again.

"That spoil is mine, and was stolen by the corpse you now hold."

"Did you make him so?"

"Indeed, but now the true catch is revealed."

"Foul demon, you will take nothing!"

The Bellos snarled.

"Fool mortal, look into its depths and tell me whose ring that is."

His Majesty stood defiant, but looked into the stone all the same. Within it he saw a multitude of torn and imprisoned phantoms, Nobunaga among them. Horrified,His Majesty looked towards the Bellos.

"What devilry is this?

"That ring takes the souls of those the bearer kills, and transfers their power."

"You lie."

"I am no schemer of petty deceptions, how else would your friend fight so long?"

Nobunaga had never shown magic before now, yet the ring did not lie. Even now, His Majesty could hear the voices within, even Nobunaga's, crying for freedom...Sinful as his friend may have been though, His Majesty would not hand him to the Beyond.

"It doesn't matter, he was my friend. And you are my foe!"

The armies of Fuji charged forward, only for the Bellos to tear through both master and train, claiming the ring from their corpses. Fuji was left open to the armies of Taiyang, who promptly conquered it in the name of the Golden Dragon Emperor.