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The next day, the Monk watched the Shogun's soldiers as they were paraded before him. Something had changed inside the Shogun. There was a malevolent fire burning in his eyes as he surveyed his troops, even though his outer appearance suggested otherwise. Turning to the Shogun, the Monk told him that it would be possible to produce a vast quantity of the elixir so that it could be given to the soldiers, assuring victory in any battle. His advisors recoiled in horror as a terrible smile crossed the face of Tsunayoshi. Records of the accounts tell how his face grew dark, and a pair of oni horns was seen for a moment on his head.

It has been generally agreed that at this point, the Shogun was no longer human, but the demon Zanshin. The elixir was said to have been made using ancient scrolls brought over from China, and when imbibed, the victim would become immortal, but at a terrible price. A gateway to the drinker's soul would be opened, allowing it to be engulfed by an evil spirit that would inhabit the body, preserving it for all time.

The Dark Warlord immediately ordered the Monk to mix up a batch of the elixir. A great cauldron was brought out into the middle of the courtyard, and servants stacked huge piles of cordwood around it. The Monk lit the mass of wood with a gesture of his hand and soon the cauldron was bubbling away. Into it, the Monk threw in rare and bizarre ingredients. Mandrake, ginseng, the dried carcasses of unknown sea creatures, and what appeared to be the paw of a bear were tossed into the cauldron. He began summoning poisonous insects, all which flew or crawled into a large bag, which he then threw into the cauldron. Evil smells began drifting from the cauldron and the flames lifted higher. The heat grew unbearable, but the Monk still stood near, somehow protected from the burning fire. At night, the glow from the flames could be seen for miles. After two days, the fire died down, and the Monk declared the potion to be ready.

As the potion was poured into sake cups, the Dark Warlord ordered his soldiers to form up. For a moment he stood silent, collecting his thoughts, then made an announcement, asking anyone who did not wish to take the potion, to step forward. Thirty men stepped forward. The Shogun suddenly made a series of quick hand gestures. Ten of the men died vomiting their internal organs out. Another ten died when their heads were wrenched from their bodies by an unseen hand. The last ten died as their skeleton tore itself out of their bodies, then collapsed in a heap.

For a moment, the Dark Warlord simply stared at the mangled piles of flesh, then bellowed out a command.

"This shall be what happens if you do not follow my orders! This is the fate of traitors! This shall be the fate of our enemies! We shall be victorious, we shall crush all who oppose us, and none shall be left standing before us! Now drink of the elixir of victory."

Ten more died as they tried to run. The others simply watched in horror, and drank the elixir. The screams of the men were said to have been heard in faraway Chungkuo⁵.

As twilight fell, the legion of men arose, and the Dark Warlord roared in delight as he looked upon the changes wrought on them. Their flesh had gone gray, their expressions were gaunt, and their eyes flared with malevolent light, as the evil spirits that housed their bodies peered out through them.

The first ones to awaken began feasting on the putrefying remains of the executed men and soon the courtyard was filled with the sound of tearing sinew and the crackling of bone.

The Dark Warlord assembled his troops. He divided his troops in four, ordering each group to attack one of the four Daimyos' castles. As the troops descended the mountain, they brutally killed everything that stood in their way. Woodcutters, hunters, travelers, pilgrims - all were torn limb from limb and eaten. Birds were shot down as they took flight and the creatures of the ground were slaughtered in the hundreds. Where the legions of the Dark Warlord passed, only blood remained.

The Dark Warlord summoned the Monk, and ordered him to begin casting the spell of Gateway, so that he could awaken the supernatural beasts that slumbered beneath the earth and have them as his minions. As the Monk cast his incantations, the whole mountain was wreathed in ghostly fire and rumblings were heard. The Daimyos wondered what was happening up on the mountain castle of their Shogun, little knowing that an attack was coming. The night guards shivered at their posts, and added more wood to the torches, peering nervously into the darkness.

Creatures rumbled awake at the call of the spell. Gates, once sealed, now opened and huge oni lumbered out into the cold night air and chuckled in the knowledge of what lay in store for the people of the land. Giant, shelled shapes of kappa surfaced from murky waters, while the forest shook as tengu leapt from tree to tree. Strange sinuous shapes unfurled their dusty wings from the side of the mountain, and low roars reverberated across the plains.

⁵ China.