Before Seiichi and the others ever met the Guardian Deity, Yaiba, events were already unfolding in the Eastlands. At the very center of this region stood its most prosperous city, Eikyō, the capital. Within Eikyō rose the largest structure in all the Eastlands: the colossal Sun Castle.
If Seiichi were to see it, he would probably think it looked like a five-story pagoda fused with a traditional Japanese castle. That was the impression it gave.
Inside the castle’s grand hall, a single man sat in elegant repose, leisurely drinking sake.
The hall itself was laid with tatami mats, and the surrounding décor evoked the aesthetics of Japan’s Sengoku period. Yet scattered throughout the room, almost jarringly so, were high-tech platforms, faintly glowing circuits, and unfamiliar mechanical frameworks woven into the architecture.
The result was deeply incongruous.
It was as though someone had forcibly embedded future technology into the heart of the Warring States era, a strange, unsettling space that defied common sense.
Just then, one of the man’s subordinates approached him.
“P-Please accept my report… The kidnapping of the Yamato house’s head… has… failed.”
“Mm?”
The man responded with a single word, his voice glacially cold.
Still bowing deeply, the subordinate began to tremble.
“T-The thing is, we were counterattacked by the one remaining member of the Heavenly Blade. During that opening, the head of the Yamato house—”
“So you came all this way merely to inform me of your own incompetence?”
“N-Never! I would never dare—!”
The subordinate pressed his forehead against the floor again and again, offering nothing but frantic apologies.
The man looked down at him with icy disdain, then slowly curled his lips into a cruel smile.
“Very well. I am magnanimous. I shall grant you one more chance.”
“…”
“Bring Mu-Yu before me at once.”
“Y-Yes, sir!”
The subordinate bowed one final time, then hastily withdrew from the hall.
The man did not bother to watch him leave. Instead, he quietly turned his gaze toward the outside world.
“Hehehe… To think such an existence would be found on a backwater planet like this…”
The instant his grin deepened, his body twisted grotesquely. From his back, writhing tentacles burst forth, and his face warped into something no longer human, something else entirely.
It resembled the so-called “grey” aliens of Earth, tinged with faintly piscine features. Whatever it was, one thing was certain: it was not human.
In that transformed state, the creature’s smile widened even further.
If I obtain that being, I shall become the ruler of the universe. Ku he he… Ga ha ha ha ha ha!
So utterly convinced of his plan’s inevitable success, the man failed to imagine even a single thing that awaited him beyond this point.