The Race to Volturnum
Shadowlands
Well done, dark ones and beasts of corruption--savor your victory at last!
The armies of the Empire are pathetic--flailing and weak. They think if they march into our homelands that we will allow them to pass.
Let them die in pain.
We hold them hostage between two mountain ridges deep in the heart of our lands, where the Taint festers in every living thing. The blood of a thousand samurai drains into our pits, spawning oni and other creatures of this land.
Even as they die, they rise to march with us--our numbers grow stronger as theirs fade. Trapped, they can go no farther. Nor can they turn back, or we will have them. This is our victory; this is our revenge!
They were fools. Our alliance with the Shadow has been as Goju told us--all of the samurai of the Empire die under our claws! When I spoke with Shosuro deep beneath the Dragon palace's walls, I knew then that we could not fail. I did as she bid, and when she was freed, she and her master gave us what we most desired--the armies of the Empire, Tainted and destroyed by their own arrogance.
We were right to trust the Darkness, and now it is time to shatter the Jade Empire.
Oh, yes, the Emperor's samurai will march out from the Shadowlands. They will return, fighting by our side, and tear down the wall forever.
--Hitomi Kokujin