Niwa Nagahide

Niwa Nagahide, one of Oda Nobunaga’s most loyal generals, carried a sword feared by all who knew its name: Kagekiyo Azamaru. The blade was said to be cursed, forged with the hatred of the dead sealed within its steel. Wherever Nagahide went, whispers followed him, warning that the sword demanded suffering from its owner.

As the years passed, Nagahide began to lose his eyesight. Day by day, the world around him faded into darkness, and he became convinced that the curse of Kagekiyo Azamaru was consuming him. Desperate to save himself, he brought the sword to a remote temple and abandoned it there. Soon after, his vision slowly returned, convincing him that the legends had been true all along.

For many years, the cursed blade remained sealed away. But when war finally cornered Nagahide and defeat became inevitable, he returned to the temple to reclaim the sword one last time, as he felt it calling for him. Surrounded by enemies and with no hope of escape, he chose to give the sword what it wanted, his own soul.

With a single motion, Nagahide plunged Kagekiyo Azamaru into his own stomach.

The earth trembled. Bones cracked and twisted as his body grew into something monstrous. From the darkness rose a towering Gashadokuro, a giant skeletal yokai born from rage and death itself. The countless souls trapped within the cursed blade poured out into the night, screaming with hatred and vengeance.

No longer human, Niwa Nagahide marched across the battlefield as a living nightmare, leading the dead against the living in one final act of revenge.