Rebirth of the Exiled Shinigami Prince

<p>"All this is abandoned power. Beloved prince, return home and put all of it in your hands." Alto heard the hushed echo of a familiar and gentle female voice, interrupted by the incessant sound of crashing waves.<br/>The wide empty ash-covered plateau that lied ahead of him transformed into a rampaging bay, in the center of which a massive fortress began to grow into shape. A single flight of unstable stairs led to the fortress, which was composed of countless towers, meanders and walls, across the untamed sea.<br/>At the opposite end of the stairway, a beautiful woman with charming features, pale skin, long obsidian hair and a corsage that tightly embraced her feminine contours awaited Alto. "The Soul Realm demands its rightful sovereign. Come back to Shionoyosai and take what is yours" she invited him anew.<br/>"Be quiet for good!" Alto replied annoyedly and shook his head. "Kuragari, keep trying. I will not fall for your silly games." The water calmed and sank into the ground along with the castle and the girl.<br/>"If Kuragari sends me a vision, it is a sign that a Summoning Gate must be nearby. But where?" Alto looked over and recognized the ruins of an ancient archway. "This must have been one of the first portals. Let's see if it's still intact, maybe I can get a small lead over Kuragari's hounds."<br/>For four cycles, Alto had been on the run from his pursuers across the Droughtlands.<br/>As a Shinigami, a deity of death, Alto belongs to the most dominant creatures of the Soul Realm. In former times he was part of the undisputed ruling family of the Soul Realm second in line to the throne until a Taijiya warrior was able to enter it and massacred over a hundred Shinigami in the Tide Fortress Shionoyosai within an instant and Alto was merely able to escape with his life.<br/>After the disappearance of the bloodthirsty Taijiya invader, Kuragari, a subordinate of Alto's family, seized power through a revolt amidst the chaos. The usurper's ultimate objective was to imprison the entire former dynasty to consolidate his power.<br/>Nonstop Alto fled from Kuragari's haunters, using the summoning portals to overcome large distances in the Soul Realm. He continued to hope for the day he could return to Shinoyosai and capture the dominion. But for now, Alto had to continue his getaway.<br/>In order to utilize a Summing Gate, Alto required a Yokai Core, known as Chukaku. Almost every Yokai carries a specific Chukaku in its torso, but some can store them outside their body. A Chukaku is an organic component used for forging the Shinigami's war scythes. Some Shinigami are Yokai Collectors storing the Chukaku in Toro Lanterns to evoke Yokai at appropriate times.<br/>In the inside pocket of his long grey coat, Alto kept a Chukaku of a Yokai that he had previously slain. It belonged to a Kappa, a primitive salamander-like beast that counts among the weakest Yokai. "Hopefully the Chukaku's power is strong enough to activate this antiquated gate" Alto wondered.<br/>Prince Alto approached the dusty archway. On the floor below the gate, he found a circular platform with runic characters engraved. Just as Alto was about to insert the Chukaku into the platform, he noticed unusual fluctuations in it. The runes began to glow amethyst and shrouded themselves in wafts of mist which slowly spiraled around Alto. Swiftly he leaped back. Yet the mist did not release him, instead it grasped at him like a tendril. From the hem of his right sleeve, it crept upwards to his shoulder and held him in place.<br/>"Bloody hell, a detainment spell? Kuragari is stronger than I expected. I am not in the mood for carnage." As Alto had expected, a dozen of Kuragari's turncoat guards materialized in a spearhead formation in front of him. They wore a massive shiny coal-black armor in which Alto's haughty countenance was reflected.<br/>Alto's right arm was already completely engulfed by the mist and he could sense it expanding further. His arm started to go numb and he was unable to move it.<br/>One of the guards ridiculed him: "Well, well, well. Seems like the prince went into Kuragari's clutches. Let's have a good romp on him now. Tell me, your Grace, how does it feel to be at one's mercy?"<br/>Alto's demonic face suddenly started to laugh fervently: "Ku-ku-ku. Let's see who is at the mercy of whom. I am disappointed that Kuragari didn't even bother to come out of his hole himself. Anshin was so eager to tear him apart. Too bad, I guess I'll have to settle for you fellas then."<br/>Determined, Alto reached for his Oogama Anshin on his back. The handle of the giant war-scythe was decorated with ancestral ornaments. Anshin's double-edged blade was divided by a crack through which an inhomogeneous liquid swirled. The rarity of a fluent Chukaku belonging to an unknown Yokai resulted in numerous myths revolving around the Oogama. The smooth pearly half was believed to symbolize vitality and the slate wine-red half decease, while no one has yet been able to achieve balance between both.<br/>Anshin was preserved as a relic in Shionoyosai, where it had been patiently waiting for its master to arrive. Alto didn't think much about it, although he was curiously fascinated by the brute weapon since he first entered the Imperial arsenal. In the confusion of the Taijiya attack, he took the war-scythe in no time, as he considered it the mightiest of all weapons in the inventory.<br/>In the battle against the Turncoat Guards, Alto planned to use Anshin against other Shinigami for the first time.<br/>Trapped by the mist binding Alto knew that he was running out of options and had little time remaining to consider them. „Desperate times call for desperate measures " Alto said as the guards were closing in on him. Abruptly he whirled his scythe around and sliced cleanly through his arm in a straight line to free himself from the mist binding.<br/>In shock, the Turncoat Guards watched as Alto's arm dropped onto the dusty ground. <br/>Immune against pain, Alto impassively closed his ruby eyes concentrating on manifesting a series of Shinigami Powers. Initially he drove Anshin into the ground, bursting it apart. The liquid Chukaku floated through the rupture and created an unstoppable vortex that knocked up the guards. Alto dispatched his scythe with one quick, controlled hand gesture to the Turncoat Guards, who were being pulled together by the vortex. The vortex wielded the scythe faster than eyes could trace it, shredding umimpededly through the guards.<br/>The shattering screams from the guards sounded like music to Alto's ears and the darkening of the light-coloured turbid liquid with the blood of the Shinigami warriors looked like a work of art to his eyes. After a while, he exhaustedly finished channelling. <br/>He tried to recall Anshin, but he could not control it that easily anymore. "What the heck is that?" Slowly the vortex subsided and the completely frazzled Guards collapsed to the ground. Behind the vortex, a Shinigami with a sinister sunken face appeared hovering slightly above the ground, while long ribbons of his robe dragged across the ground. His shoulder armor was covered with protruding thorns.<br/>Alto recognized this vestment. It belonged to Kuragari, the usurper and ruler of the Soul Realm.</p>