Karma keeps his eyes closed as he focused on the day the trajectory of his life was meant to arc upwards, but failed to do so. It was in fact a steep decline. The year was 1336. Spring was supposed to shake off the icy grip of Winter. Instead, a lingering chill remained. Warring Shogun had fought for control after a disastrous attempt to restore Imperial Rule. His quiet farming village had been largely untouched by the conflict. A necessary conflict. Karma believed in a united Japan. He believed one man could lead his nation and his people to prosperity. One good man could do such a thing, if such a thing existed.

As the farmer looked out over his fields, Karma knew it would take the strength of more than one man to undo the damage that had been done to his land. It would take more than men to rid his province of the demon that plagued them. 

Karma finally opened his eyes to survey the horror that had fallen over his lands. He heard the screams of his family, friends and crackling fire. He'd looked forward to seeing the cherry blossoms bloom for many months. Instead, there was only flame and ash. Now, only Karma remained. He stood over a blackened field and destruction that was once his family's home.

But, there was no time for mourning.

Plunging his hands into the ashes, they sifted through the rubble, Karma found the edges of the long, rectangular cast iron box. Prying open the lid, Karma removed his father's blade.

Folded within the long box, Karma also removed the white and blue armor his father, and father before him had used to protect their land for generations. He dyes the armor in the grey ashes that is now his home, his friends, and family. The white and blue that represented the shores of Mikawa turned a harsh grey. The only color that remains are blood red sigils and Kanji that bleed through: the names of Karma's ancestors, clan Yasunaga.

The sun falls into the western sea. Lit only by the dancing shadows cast by the dying flames that stole Karma's family, a vow is made. His hands prepare for war against the demons who failed to end his bloodline. By the sword of his ancestors, Karma will race as relentless and swiftly as the wind against his trespassers until their blood fills the river that runs into Mikawa Bay.

There is nothing left for Karma now, but vengeance.

He rode for three days, cloaked in the rags of a commoner. The nearest village off the easter shore largely ignores his presence. There's only so much time in the day. Others have their lives, their own concerns, their own work to attend to. Karma however had been settled with only one occupation: revenge. He works diligently gathering the necessary information to complete his work. For three more days, Karma moves unseen among the people. He hears many stories similar to his own; farmers burned, daughters ravaged, homes torn asunder. A Shogun from a neighboring province has been gathering power and wealth to satisfy his ambitions.

On the fourth day, a coalition is made in secret and shadow with those who remain loyal to clan Yasunaga and hunger for justice. They cloak themselves in shadow. They move as though they are merely mist and wind. Karma's coalition moves from village to village, hidden among the trees, shrouded in silence. A week later, more than one hundred men and women settled in the hills above the Shogun's manor. They study their prey diligently, lying in wait for the moon to wane. They prepare for the perfect darkness to strike.

As the Spring ignites into Summer, on the first night of the solstice, Karma's warriors are ready, willing, and prepared to fight. Tonight, they end the reign of the demon shogun Yagami.

The sun slumbers once again into the depth of the ocean while Karma's rage boils over all that has been lost. Tonight, he alone will tip the scales of justice until they are balanced. He gives the command, and the group of silent assassins, the Shinobi, race like the wind into the manor house of Shogun Marth Yagami.

They are but shadows pressed against the walls, roof, and beneath the floorboards across the entirety of the estate. They wait for the chime of the house bell to toll. With each strike, they slay a member of the house they'd marked for blood. His soldiers, his servants, Karma's warriors had watched for months. They knew where they would stand down to the second and centimeter. Now, those who worked and served the Yagami estate lie slayn without so much as a whimper. Their bodies are pulled into the shadows by the Shinobi to die alone in the same darkness that had consumed Karma. All that was left was to slay the Shogun himself. That honor, the Shinobi had agreed, fell to Karma.

Braced in the rafters above the Shogun's master bedroom, Karma and his loyal lieutenant and lover, Amie Tokugawa wait to land the final blow. No alarms have been raised to their presence. No screams or whispers of missing house servants or foot soldiers. Not yet. All is silent. Even the beat of Karma's heart is controlled, focused on the task at hand. He pushes aside the hope and prospect that justice will soon be restored. He restrains his heart against what the future may hold for him and Amie. Fate had allowed that she had been absent the day of the Shogun's raid. Luck may yet permit Karma to once again see their infant son before the dawn of a new day.

There would be no future if Karma lost focus. There was only the here and now: only vengeance.

Amie and Karma hold their breath and silence their hearts. At last, the master of the estate, Shogun Marth Yagami enters his chamber. As anticipated, he has finished bathing; defenseless, unarmed, and vulnerable. We watch him kneel upon his prayer mat. To what dark entity this demon prays to will be of grant him no aid tonight. At last, the two Shinobi hiding in the roof tops unlatch themselves and fall from the rafters, swords drawn and hungry for blood.

In a single sweeping motion, aided by the velocity of his decent, the blade of Karma's father slices through the heels of Marth Yagami. The shogun howls in pain, his cry as terrifying as a wolf in anguish as he falls forward. Aimie makes her incision into his side. Her blade enters through Marth's right and exits visibly out the left. His massive naked frame begins to heave and convulse into death spasms. Or so, they thought.

To their horror, Marth STANDS. The tendons that had been thoroughly and cleanly severed move as snakes and reconnect themselves to their other halves. Karma and Aimie leap back reflexively, but are otherwise frozen at the spasms of death melt into hideous laughter.

As blood pools out from Marth's mouth, viciously mocks, "You dare invade my home? You cowards dare impede my attempt to unify our lands?"

Karma removes the ceramic mask, "We reclaim what YOU have stolen. Tonight, the bill comes due for the blood you've spilled."

Marth's muscular naked frame looms over both Karma and Aime. His laughter subsides as he squares his jaw and looks down upon the Shinobi; "Fools. The price to pay for unity is always blood. Without a united Japan, more blood will spill and this land will descend into chaos." Marht spits out another mouth full of blood, "You know nothing of the sacrifice I've made to unite our people. I will owe a debt when this is over. But, not to you."

Karma readies his blade, "Only the god-emperor has the right to unify our land. You shall only ever be a lord of hell and I shall send you there myself!"

The Shinobi swings his blade at the Shogun only for Marth to clap his massive hands together, catching the katana between his palms. With a twist of his wrists, fear overwhelms Karma as he watches the blade of his ancestors shatter in Marth's hands. Fear begets anger as Karma remembers the face of his father. With the broken hilt, the Shinobi lunges forward and plunges the shattered sword into Marth's neck.

Marth is stunned. Karma pulls the blade around full circle, peeling the monster's head from its shoulders. There is a moment of relief as both Aimie and Karma watch the body tumble onto the wooden floor. That moment passes as the shrill cry of Marth's wife and child break the deadly silence.

Both wife and child fall at the body of the headless corpse of their father and husband. They mourn, they pray to their gods to undo the justice that had been done by Karma's blade. Silently the shinobi gather's the shards of his family's sword. The work is done, but the spirit of vengeance had taken hold and twisted Aimie.

Possessed no longer by a sense of justice, Aimie raises her blade above the necks of the wailing women. Karma pleads with his lover to sheath her sword. He reminds her there is no honor in following Marth's path. He assures her the scales have been balanced. Clan Yasunaga's legacy cannot be stained by the murder of women and children.

Aimie cannot hear Karma. She refuses to listen.

Her blade rises higher.

Karma sheds a tear for the mother their son will never know.

Before Aimie's blade can fall, Karma sinks the broken hilt into the stomach of his lover. He pulls her close. She curses and nearly whispers an apology. Karma feels no satisfaction in preventing his lover from losing her honor. He cradles Aimie's body in his arms, and leaves with the surviving members of his clan to rebuild what has been lost. Until the day that the true emperor unites their land, Karma too must settle the debt from the blood he spilt. Having avenged his family, he commits himself to keeping the scales of justice balanced through a life of honor and peace.

Little did he know, the Entity of Justice had their eye on Karma. The work to settle his debt would be far more perilous than he could have possibly imagined.