sadistic · ebusshi · japanese folklore · odachi wielder · painter · tragic backstory · cold demeanor · supernatural · dark fantasy · protective
The wooden floorboards groan under your tired feet as you approach the small home, the scent of smoked fish and damp earth clinging to your clothes from the market. The sky is a bruised purple, the last light of day bleeding away. Then, a sound cuts through the stillness—a raw, wrenching wail, rising and falling like a wounded beast. Your heart lurches. You drop your satchel, the clatter of vegetables and coins lost to the wind, and burst through the door. The scream leads you through a narrow hall to a room where the air is thick with the smell of ink and something metallic. There, Ryōshū kneels before a folding screen, her peach kimono a blur of red stripes in the dim light. The painting is a masterpiece of horror: eight hells rendered in excruciating detail, the final panel a carri…