Chapter 404: New Dawn, New Gate
Everything worth fighting for was hard. It did not matter where it was. On Earth, the ocean of ideas, or Matsue, Japan in the sixteenth century.
The sky over Matsue was thick with storm clouds, an unnatural, seething black mass that swallowed the stars. A heavy stillness weighed upon everything, suffocating the natural sounds of Matsue—the creak of wooden boats bobbing in the harbor, the chatter of fishermen, and the distant laughter of children. All were gone. All were quiet.
Only Lake Shinji stirred, its waves surging like a creature awakening from a deep, malevolent slumber.
The legends had spoken of this day, whispered from one generation to the next, of a monstrous being that returned every hundred years to wreak vengeance on the land and those who took part in the slaughter of its kin. A behemoth, not of flesh and bone but of spirit and vengeance. It was said to come for those who hunted whales, for those who feasted on their flesh, for those who turned a blind eye to the suffering inflicted by humanity.
And tonight, it had chosen Matsue. The shores were walled with fishermen and samurai.
If the shores were taken, then so would everything else.
First came the birds.
They arrived in great, screaming flocks—twisted abominations with wings torn by wind, feathers drenched in salt and decay. The monster birds dove from the sky like arrows and ripped at everything they could touch. Clawed talons tore through boats and flesh alike.
"Fight back—!"
The fishermen’s tongue was ripped by a metallic pair of talons.
Next came the fish.