The Bloody Sacrifice and the Awakening of an Ancient Formation

"For the Land of Fire... for the glory of the Daimyo Residence..."

Hojo Tokugawa's voice echoed through the Underground Palace, cold as a snake's hiss.

His once dignified face was twisted by madness and despair. The grin stretching across it was more chilling than the fiercest demon's.

"My lord... what... what are you saying?" The guard captain's hand was no longer merely resting on his sword hilt. His knuckles had gone white from gripping it so hard.

The guards behind him tightened their grips on their weapons and instinctively leaned back into defensive stances. They were no fools. In Tokugawa's clouded eyes, they could see what he considered them: sacrifices.

"I said..." Tokugawa's smile widened. He slowly rose from the altar, the jeweled dagger in his hand still dripping with his own blood. In the firelight, it gleamed with an eerie red glow. "...I want you to become the foundation of my revenge!"

The instant he finished speaking, he moved!

He did not lunge at the captain. With agility wholly at odds with his bloated figure, he spun around and kicked a raised rune on the altar behind him!

Boom!

The entire Underground Palace shook!

Alarm surged through the captain. "It's a trap! Scatter!" he shouted.

But it was too late.

Almost as he shouted, countless blood-red runes lit up across the seemingly smooth stone bricks beneath their feet! Glowing like red-hot brands, they spread and connected before their eyes, forming an enormous cage that mirrored the formation on the altar!

Hiss—

A suffocatingly powerful suction erupted from the formation beneath them!

The guards had no time to cry out. It was as though invisible hands had seized them. The Chakra within their bodies instantly went out of control, sucked relentlessly into the formation underfoot!

"Ahh! My Chakra!"

"Captain! Save