[center][h2]Kensei[/h2][/center][center][b]Miyamoto Musashi[/b][/center][hr]
[center][b]Early 18th Century[/b][/center][center][b]Japan[/b][/center]
	Miyamoto Musashi, now going by the codename Kensei, had traveled far and wide to vanquish the various yokai and oni that have plagued the island of Japan for far too long. One such journey lead Kensei to the Satsuma Province on the island of Kyushu. On his way to Kagoshima, Kensei stumbled upon a small cottage nestled in the mountain pass into this region. A beautiful, young woman, maybe a little too unnaturally beautiful, was accustomed to offer lodging for travelers to rest their sore limbs from a long day’s travel. When this woman approached Kensei, he immediately sensed an evil aura surrounding her, just like a cloud of miasma. If any normal person knew of this, he would have fled in terror long ago. However, Kensei was no normal man. His mission was to eradicate all evil that he came upon. Therefore, he could not turn back.

	After he had accepted the woman’s hospitality, she led Kensei into her abode. He took a seat on the floor beside a small wooden table. The woman poured out a cup of tea for Kensei, although he politely declined, since he was unsure whether it had been laced with some sort of poison. The woman then began to play the biwa, a short-necked fretted lute. While she was occupied with her instrument, Kensei drew the Kusanagi, the blade bestowed upon him by Amaterasu, and slashed horizontally at the woman, felling her in one swift blow. When he approached to examine the corpse, Kensei discovered that a dead giant spider remained where the woman had fell. It was a jorōgumo, an arachnid yokai who tried to seduce young men before devouring them.

	When the jorōgumo had been killed, the illusion that concealed the true form of the cottage was broken. Cobwebs covered almost the entire surface of the internal of the abode, while the skeletons of the jorōgumo’s previous victims were scattered across the floor. Content with his victory, Kensei turned to leave the cottage behind, but he failed to notice a webline wrapped around his leg. An abrupt tug on the silk robe pulled Kensei to the ground and yanked him through a small hole at the rear of the house. Since he was taken off guard from the suddenness of this trick, Kensei lost his grip on the Kusanagi, which he dropped as he was pulled through the hole. Once through, he found himself in a dark, dank cave that was also masked by cobwebs, much like the house had been.

	Before Kensei stood a second jorōgumo, although this one was much larger than the first. The jorōgumo that Kensei had already slain was about the size of a large canine. This jorōgumo, on the other hand, could have been compared to an elephant in size, much like the giant arachnid Shelob from the [i]Lord of the Rings[/i] books. The webline that had pulled Kensei into the cave were in the claws of its forelimbs.

	[i]“Your reputation proceeds you, Kensei.”[/i] The giant spider taunted the samurai whom she had snared in her webs. [i]“I shall have the honor of killing the one called the Demon’s Bane.”[/i]

	The giant jorōgumo continued to pull Kensei towards herself. She believed that Kensei was a sitting duck because he had been separated from his divine blade. However, like many yokai and oni before her, she would learn that she was sorely mistaken. While the jorōgumo continued to drag Kensei to what she thought was his imminent death, the stoic samurai focused his thoughts on the divine blade, Kusanagi. As the chosen of the gods, he had a special link with this sword. And through his willpower alone, the sword mysteriously slid its way from where Kensei had dropped it in the cottage into the cave and into his outstretched hand.

	Terror and panic filled the jorōgumo’s mind as it lurched forward to fell Kensei before he was prepared for her attack. However, Kensei was ready for this assault, as he rolled to the side, dodging the giant spider’s attack. He then pulled himself to his feet and slammed his blade into the arachnid’s side like a hammer, spilling the sizzling green blood from her body. He continued launching furious blows with the Kusanagi against the jorōgumo until it too received the same fate as the first one.

	Victorious for the second time, but now covered in green arachnid blood and spider silk, Kensei emerged from the cave. Before he left, Kensei made sure to set the cottage afire so as to rid this place of any future jorōgumo infestations. After he had cleansed himself of the grim of battle, Kensei continued on towards Kagoshima.

[hr] [center][b]Modern Day[/b][/center][center][b]Japan[/b][/center]
	More than 370 years had passed since Kensei had supposedly died. Even though the modern era had come, the stoic samurai always remained vigilante, as one man could never eradicate the entirety of evil by himself. Those that he had not vanquished have learned to hide themselves away so as not to draw his attention. Evil will always remain, although it might take on new forms and shapes. Therefore, his task would never fully be done.

	While Kensei was strolling through his secluded estate, he noticed from afar that a large sea creature had washed ashore. On further examination, the creature that had been beached was an oarfish. In Japan, the appearance of an oarfish, especially one as large as the one laying before Kensei right now, was considered to be an ill-omen: an earthquake would hit soon. Mere minutes later, Kensei experienced a massive earthquake. This earthquake was not just local, but somehow it was felt globally. However, even though every man, women, and animal felt the shockwaves of this event, no physical damage appeared, almost as if it had not happened. Scientists around the globe were puzzled at this occurrence, as the earthquake had not been picked up on any of their instruments, even though they themselves experienced it.

	Kensei only took one thing from this event. That some great evil must have caused this massive earthquake. That the world still needed Kensei.