Toshiro the Bloody

To many, Toshiro the Bloody was once one of the Shadowkin rebellion’s finest warriors. A master of guerrilla warfare, he was zealous in his hatred of the Autocracy and the merciless slaughters he inflicted on the Mikage earned him his moniker. He had a potent detestation of Demonspawn in particular, how they twisted and corrupted what he saw as good and natural. He was also deeply frustrated that the Demonspawn could not truly be killed. At best, they could be banished, often in clashes that claimed the lives of many of his irreplaceable warriors, and then return. In this way, they rendered so many sacrifices made in fighting them futile. Toshiro swore to change this, but found no way of dealing a true blow to the Demonspawn infesting Yakai until he encountered Zezo, a dark sorceress in league with the Autocracy. When a force of Toshiro’s warriors captured her, she pleaded for her life, claiming that she had been possessed by a Demon that had fled her body when it realized she was going to be taken. Toshiro had heard traitors lie many times and raised his great, two-handed sword to strike off Zezo’s head, but her next words gave him pause. She said that she had heard of his quest to permanently end the Demonspawn threat, and that during the years of her supposed possession, she had learned of ways of shriving a Demon from its mortal host. Provided such an act of powerful magic was performed with enough skill, the Demon could be bound to something – rather than someone – else, before it was banished to Anathraad. In this way they might be trapped for eternity, without the need for them to be continually monitored if they were taken prisoner. Such a claim was too good for Toshiro to ignore. While he threatened Zezo a painful death if she deceived him, he spared her life, and employed her arcane abilities against her former masters. Their first attempt yielded hopeful results – the sorceress successfully rent a Demon’s essence from the body of the mortal it had claimed, but it was banished to Anathraad. Toshiro ordered the experiments to continue. Even as the rebellion neared its final victory, he pursued his increasingly single-minded quest for a lasting triumph over the Demonspawn. The rebellion’s leaders were disturbed by his cooperation with Zezo, yet Toshiro ignored all their pleas he desist. He slipped into obsession, recusing himself from strategic meetings in favor of capturing more Demonspawn. Even his veteran warriors were disturbed, coming to only follow him out of fear that the slightest misstep would see Toshiro kill them. Not long after the rebellion’s victory, Toshiro captured a powerful Demonspawn named Vornspore and subjected him to Zezo’s magics. The creature roared as the sorceress mumbled her incantations, the combined sound making Toshiro's teeth itch and nose bleed. She wove her arms in ways that seemed beyond the capabilities of Human physiology, yet gave her no visible discomfort. After two hours of ceaseless struggle, Zezo bound the Demon to Toshiro’s sword. He took the weapon, and was awed by the power within. It – Vornspore – whispered to him, saying that the might was his to wield. Something in the voice told Toshiro not to trust it but, elated and overconfident, he embraced it nonetheless. The mortal host Vornspore had possessed lay on the ground, catatonic, nothing remaining of his own self. Toshiro raised his sword and brought it down upon the man. He felt strong, agile, fast, more alive than ever before. Cuts from the possessed steel never healed and the blade absorbed the enemy’s blood, draining their very life-force, which empowered Toshiro’s muscular vigor. The more he killed, the more he wanted to kill. He told no one of the whispers. When rebel leaders heard what Toshiro had done, they decided he had gone too far. Meddling in dark magics and enlisting the aid of a Demon, even if it was seemingly unwilling – it all pointed toward his corruption. The rebels sent warriors who demanded Toshiro surrender his sword and leave Yakai for good. Had he not been such a hero to the cause, he would have been executed. Furious, Toshiro refused to submit. When those sent to punish him drew their blades, he drew upon all of Vornspore’s power and cut them down. He saw reflected in the flat of his blade, the transformation he went through, to some dark form of himself, and was horrified. Had he made a mistake all along? He shook it off. He had found a way to thwart the Demonspawn, yet his once-allies had made him the enemy. Clearly, only he was willing to take the action necessary for complete victory. He fled Yakai, accompanied only by Zezo. Toshiro stalked the Cloudspire Mountains, brooding over his fate. As years passed, Zezo died, but Toshiro lost none of his youth and strength, something Vornspore gladly took credit for. From afar, he watched as Yakai settled into a new era of relative peace and prosperity. Vornspore taunted him with claims that Demons yet ruled Yakai in secret, and Toshiro’s bitterness over his mistreatment gnawed at him. He became convinced that there were dark forces still at play within the kingdom, which he had to expunge. Toshiro soon returned to Yakai, with the goal of ending the Demonic conspiracy he is sure lies at the heart of the realm. Yet this noble goal stands in contrast to a figure who now seems steeped in dark magic and hears the whispers of a Demon wherever he goes. Perhaps Vornspore had intended to be captured all along – certainly, Toshiro’s belief that he is the Demon’s master is looking more misguided with every passing moment, and each time he summons its power to aid him, its hold over him grows. For Vornspore's part, once he has fully claimed Toshiro, he will have no need for a new host body, and will be able to claim Yakai for himself in the chaos of the once-rebel's 'reckoning'.