Three figures strode through the polished marble halls of the Imperial Palace. The first was a man dressed in robes as dark as night and a half mask of nearly transparent porcelain. The second was a woman in a kimono as white as death. The third was a samurai in armor of deepest obsidian who moved without making a sound. Behind them, the palace’s mighty gates hung open at an awkward angle. Daigotsu, Lord of the Shadowlands, had arrived.

The palace was silent, though deeper in the city they could hear the roar of oni and the clash of steel. With a sudden shout of defiance, a band of miharu guardsmen charged around the corner with their katanas raised. The dark-robed man made a precise slash with his ebony blade, leaving a bleeding wound in the air. Jagged rays of electricity spiraled forth from the wound, tearing at the flesh and bodies of the defenseless guardsmen. They toppled lifeless as quickly as they had appeared. The dark samurai stepped forward and began methodically beheading the corpses.

"Nicely done, Daigotsu-san," the woman said. Her blood-red lips curved in malicious amusement.

"Be sure not to miss any, Kyoden," Daigotsu said, his pale eyes scanning the halls. "We do not have time to animate them properly. Uncontrolled undead are only a liability."

Kyoden only nodded, continuing his work.

"It is almost a shame," Daigotsu said, gesturing at the ruined silken paintings and the mutilated bodies of Imperial courtiers. He sheathed his sword and looked at the woman. "So much beauty lost, Shahai-chan."

Shahai laughed. "Truly," she said wryly, "a shame."

Daigotsu fixed the Dark Daughter with a serious expression. "I mean no humor, Shahai," he said sternly. "I truly regret what we have done here today. Many of these men and women might have joined the Lost willingly, had we offered, and destruction such as this..." he touched the edge of a scorched painting depicting the final duel on the Second Day of Thunder, "is a terrible loss."

"You sound almost like a Crane," Shahai said with a small chuckle.

"The Crane have great vision, great imagination. That is their strength," Daigotsu replied, glancing down at the fallen body of a Seppun guardsman. The man groaned weakly and tried to crawl away, leaving bloody handprints. "I can appreciate the strength of my enemies, even if I despise their weakness." Daigotsu pressed his boot against the back of the dying man’s neck and leaned forward with a sickly crunch. The samurai twitched and lay still. The Dark Lord’s face, what could be seen of it, never changed. Wiping the blood from his foot on the dead man’s kimono, Daigotsu continued down the hall. Kyoden and Shahai followed only a step behind. A pair of great doors, set with a complex mosaic of emerald, gold, and jade stood before them. They seemed to glow from within as the trio approached. Shahai winced at the light, and even Kyoden seemed to shrink somewhat. Daigotsu only waved his hand negligently, throwing the doors open with a thought.

The Dark Daughter inhaled sharply. "Those wards have stood for generations," she said. "I feared even we would not be able to sunder them. How did you break the spell?"

"I did not," Daigotsu said. "The wards against the enemies of the Emperor are still there." He stepped into the throne room. Clearly, he did not intend to explain further.

"You are so much more interesting than Jama Suru," Shahai said with a throaty chuckle.

An explosive sound echoed somewhere outside the palace. The battle cry of the Lion and Crane echoed, coming closer.

"They approach," Kyoden said simply, looking back the way they had come. He drew his long blade and took up a defensive position near the doors of the throne room. Shahai hurried inside.

"The armies of the clans?" Shahai asked.

"And the Winds themselves, no doubt," Daigotsu said. "They will find the Onisu waiting for them." The Dark Lord paced across the empty place where the Steel Throne had once stood with a thoughtful expression.

"The Onisu will stop them, of course," Shahai said.

Daigotsu shrugged. "Anything is possible," he replied, studying the ceiling intently. "The Winds still feud among themselves. Perhaps Sezaru has not told them how to defeat my Nightmares. Perhaps they did not listen. Even so, our enemies are strong. I expect they will take losses, but the Onisu will die. It is no matter, so long as I live, the Onisu can be reborn. They will have served their purpose, and only the strongest will make it to the throne room."

"Where we will destroy them," Shahai snarled, "and show them that the Imperial City is ours."

"No," Daigotsu said.

The Dark Daughter peered at him curiously.

"Otosan Uchi is strategically insecure," he replied. "No army could hold it for any meaningful length of time against the combined forces of the Great Clans."

Shahai looked worried. Perhaps Daigotsu was truly insane after all. "Then why conquer the city if we cannot hold it?" she asked.

Daigotsu turned to look at her, and smiled. He leaned backward, as if to be seated. With a ripple of darkness, the Steel Throne appeared behind its master. "I did not come here for the city," Daigotsu said.

"Then why?" she asked.

"Perhaps I am, as they no doubt already assume, simply as insane as every other ruler of the Horde," Daigotsu said. "Then again, perhaps I have come here to show the Winds the true importance of family." He looked about the throne room with a wide smile, as if seeing something that she could not. Shahai looked at Daigotsu, and could not help but suppress a chill. There was something new in Daigotsu’s character, an odd excitement that unnerved even her.

Perhaps, she reflected, she would be safer outside where countless samurai wanted her dead than in here...

"No," Daigotsu said, and the doors closed. "I think that you should witness this."