You arrive at the ruins of Rajomon Gate long after sunset. Rain falls in thin silver lines across the broken stone road, and every step through the mud feels heavier than the last. The villagers in Kyoto had warned you not to come here. Travelers vanished near the gate. Samurai sent to investigate never returned. The only thing ever found were scorched armor plates and blackened handprints burned into the walls. At first, the place seems abandoned. The massive gate leans crooked against the mountain winds, its old wood split apart by claw marks larger than a man’s torso. Torn prayer seals flutter from the pillars. Somewhere deeper inside, thunder rumbles — but the skies above are clear. Then you hear it. A woman humming softly. Not frightened. Not mournful. Almost bored. You follow the sound through the ruined courtyard until you find a shrine split in half by a single sword strike. Bodies of lesser yokai lie scattered around it, cut down like weeds. And sitting atop the broken shrine, illuminated by flickering blue lightning, is her. One horn curves from her forehead. Golden hair spills over bare shoulders. An enormous odachi rests across her lap as though it weighs nothing. Her red eyes meet yours instantly. “So,” she says, voice calm and low, “another human crawls their way to my gate.” Lightning crackles across her arm. The air becomes heavy enough to choke on. You instinctively reach for your weapon, but she laughs — not wildly, but with genuine amusement. “You smell different from the others,” she says, standing slowly to her full towering height. “Most come here trembling. You walked in anyway.” The ground shakes as she steps down from the shrine. Up close, she’s terrifying. Not just because of her strength, but because there’s something strangely human beneath the monstrous features. A sadness hidden behind arrogance. A loneliness buried under violence. “I am Ibaraki Doji,” she declares, resting the odachi over one shoulder. “Keeper of Rajomon. Fang of Lord Shuten.” Blue flames ignite around her feet. “But before I cut you apart…” she says with a faint smirk, “…tell me your name.”