The main bailey stood eerily empty and dark. No guards flanked the heavy wooden doors to the keep. No servants hurried about their duties. Wrong. Something was very wrong. A wet gurgle leaked through Tamiya's door. "My lord!" Akio called, breaking into a run. His armor clattered with each step. "Tamiya-sama! Tamiya-sama!" He reached the entrance, heart pounding against his ribs. A sound came from within—movement, Lord Tamiya's voice, something scraping against wood. Relief loosened the knot in his chest. They were alive. He pushed the door open. "Apologies my lord, I—" Pain erupted in his right shoulder—sharp, sudden, tearing through muscle and bone from above. Akio staggered, looking down at the object protruding from his body. Not an arrow. Longer. Jagged. Like a— Like a bone. A wet, gurgling sound came from somewhere above him. Akio raised his eyes to the ceiling. The thing clinging there wasn't Lady Oiwa. Not anymore. Before he could scream, the bone slashed down— faster than his eyes could track. No pain this time. Just a curious lightness, a sudden shift in balance. Akio watched his right shoulder collapse to the floor. He lost balance. As he hit the floor, darkness crowded the edges of his vision. Through the ragged tear in the door, he saw movement. Faces—or things that had once been faces—emerged from the shadows. Distorted. Hungry. Eyes that reflected no light. One of them wore Lord Tamiya's armor.