It has been two years since Melanios was defeated in a duel with Ryuzen and was transported to Kyushu when his time marker malfunctioned when the blood of Ryuzen mixed with Melanios blood and he was not able to rewind back to before Ryuzen made the final strike and to make matters worse he had inadvertently allowed Ryuzen to become the perfect error and now able to use the same power as Melanios. Melanios realized since that time that he cannot just directly grab and take Isabell and he would need help to counter Ryuzen and his growing power in Kai. So, he decided to start where his time marker transported him and that was at the home castle in Satsuma province the home province of the Shimazu clan. Melanios arrived in Japan in 1550 after a storm took him off course and instead of landing in China, he ended up here in Kyushu and by chance ended up in southern Kyushu in Shimazu clan territory. Melanios soon discovered he was not the first foreigner to arrive in these lands as they were speaking Portuguese in an attempt to talk to him and his men. Melanios decided to meet the local lord which was the head of the Shimazu clan by the name of Takahisa Shimazu. When Melanios arrived, he noticed right away this was a very weak clan and the town surrounding the castle was just some simple huts and not much else and at the center of town where the castle called Ijuin Castle stood on a very small hill was not impressive at all, it was surrounded by a simple wooden palisade at the base of the hill and one small wooden gate that could easily be scaled. The castle was just a two-story wooden structure that looked like a small mansion designed to try to look like a castle, and it looked like it was falling apart and been attacked in the past and not yet fully repaired. In Melanios estimate this was a clan was on its last legs and a strong disciplined army could take this stronghold easily. He was brought into a small hall and seated at its entrance was who Melanios assumed was the leader and looked to be in his mid-thirties with young disposition on his face with a thin mustache and a thin layer of facial hair on his chin, and a very fierce look in his eyes like they were on fire, his was skinny and lean dressed in simple orange robes but has the look of someone who has seen a lot of fighting in his life and had not given up yet but was still fighting. This man intrigued Melanios by his look and wondered if he might be a worthy disciple that he could help and use for his own purposes in pursuit of power and disrupting fate. Melanios gave a formal bow to this lord and the lord then spoke, "Greetings foreigner I am Takahisa Shimazu and leader of the Shimazu clan and I welcome you to our land, you have strange look about you even for a foreigner. You have the look of a hungry tiger. What is the reason you are here in my land?" As Melanios was about to speak a large drum was beating somewhere outside and guard came running into the hall and approached Takahisa and whispered in his ear and Takahisa eyes widened and then the guard left and Takahisa rose and said, "Well foreigner it seems your arrival did not go unnoticed and my enemies are currently trying to take your ship, as you have landed on my shores and I have invited you to my hall you are my guests under my protection and I must defend your ship" Melanios spoke, "I thank you for your aid lord and my name is Melanios and I will join you in your efforts to save my ship" Then as Takahisa and Melanios with his group of men who had accompanied him exited the hall and castle and just outside waiting for them were about 100 men carrying spears, katanas, and to Melanios surprise there are 6 men carrying arquebuses. Melanios men which totaled 20 had not brought any arquebuses and just had swords with them. Most of Takahisa men appear to be peasant militia and only a few samurai. Takahisa raises his katana in the air yells for his men to follow him to the nearby beach where the ship was located. Melanios was interested to see how his men will do in battle and follows with his men and Melanios was looking forward to fighting as he has been at sea for several weeks and was itching for a fight.

  As Melanios and Takahisa with their men made their way to the beach they began to hear the sound of battle and gunshots could be heard in the distance and when the beach came into view they could see a couple hundred samurai attempting to board the ship beached in the sand and were so far being held back by the men on the ship with cannon fire, spears, and shooting arquebuses at their attackers. Already at least a dozen dead samurai lay dead on the beach. As soon as the relief force arrived Takahisa commanded his men with their guns to come forward and all 6 of his men lined up and aimed at the enemy samurai and Takahisa said, "Fire at the Hishigari clan scum" They fired and four enemy samurai instantly fell and then Takahisa and his men charged forward at the enemy followed by Melanios and his men. Even though the Shimazu were outnumbered they slammed into the Takahisa samurai with a ferocious speed and instantly several more enemy soldiers fall to their blades and Takahisa easily cut at least 6 enemies in quick sucession with his katana. Melanios pulls out his black blade and instantly cuts one samurai in half and as another samurai tries to stab Melanios from behind Takahisa sees Melanios move in an instant to avoid the blade from behind and cuts the head off of the samurai who tried to stab him from behind. Takahisa could not believe his eyes but then another samurai tries to slash at him and he blocks the blade in time and curses himself for getting distracted refocuses on the task at hand and will investigate this strange barbarian later. At this point the Hishigari clan has given up on trying to take the ship and they are now trying to withdraw as they cannot fight these strange barbarians and the Shimazu clan at the same time and are finally being pushed off the beach and retreat back to their domain in southern Satsuma. Once the battle was over the Shimazu shout in victory and Melanios was extremely impressed with this small clan. Melanios then thought he may have misjudged them and would speak to their leader soon.

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  After the beach was cleared of the dead and the enemy samurai looted, Melanios returned to his ship and rested for the rest of the day. The next morning a court attendant approached the ship to escort Melanios back to the Shimazu castle. This time Melanios went alone and left his men on the ship. Once he arrived at the hall and the hall doors were shut and it was just Melanios seated on a comfortable seating pillow on the floor of the hall and Takahisa staring at him intensely from his small seat at the end of the hall and trying to figure out who he was, and for several minutes neither person spoke. Melanios already knew he would make him the offer but wanted to know what this samurai wanted to accomplish in life and how far he would be willing to go to acquire it. Takahisa finally spoke, "My lord you are something I have never seen before, I saw you cut a man in half like his was just a thin piece of paper, you avoided a strike from behind so fast it seems like you almost disappeared. How did you accomplish such skills, and can I learn from you to acquire these skills" Melanios then replied, "Unfortunately, you cannot learn my swordsmanship because it is a skill set that I was born with, but I can offer you a way to change your clans fortune. However, how far would you be willing to go to accomplish that goal? What would you sacrifice to see everything you have dreamed of become reality?" "I would sacrifice anything to see my clan rise to rule all of Kyushu and to see all my rivals dead" Melanios grinned in an unnatural way almost like a tiger baring its teeth before a meal and spoke, "Good that you are willing to sacrifice anything to get what you want as I will put that statement to the test. What you saw when I avoided the stabbing from behind was me changing my fate from being killed but reversing a few seconds in time to move and then kill my opponent. That is but a small taste of what I can do with fate. I can change the fortune of a battle or nations fate to go from being defeated to becoming a conqueror. I can do the same for your small clan, but you must pay a heavy price and become my disciple to be used for my purposes when I call on you. Understand once the sacrifice is made and you are a given a gift to change you fate you and your clan will become a nation of the damned. When you die you will have no afterlife only the void and you will cease to exist any realm but in life you will rise to the greatest heights you could ever desire and once the agreement is made there is no going back" Takahisa was silent and contemplated everything that was explained to him and even scratched his chin for minute and finally nodded his head said, "I agree to become a lord of the damned" "Good, now approach me and give me your left hand with the palm open" Takahisa obliged and stepped forward and offered his hand. Then Melanios pulled out a small dagger and cut a small cut in Takahisa hand and then Melanios pricked his left index finger squeezed one drop of blood into Takahisa small cut and instantly he fell to the ground shaking and convulsing while Melanios just stared at him until he stopped. Takahisa finally stopped moving and arose with him feeling much stronger and his color of his eyes changed to all black as night. Melanios then spoke, "You have now a tiny drop of my blood in your system and with that you will now become stronger, but you must complete the final ritual and make a sacrifice of an innocent close to you. I have heard you have a younger brother has fought with you all his life and is a fine young man. Kill him with this dagger and once complete you only need to state what you want fate to change, and it will begin to happen and battles with your small army that you should not win will now become amazing victories and in time you will become the ruler you always wanted to become that fate tried to stop" Takahisa nodded and without hesitation left the small hall and went to the armory where his younger brother was sitting and reading a scroll and his brother looked at him and smiled. Then instant Takahisa stabbed him in the throat, and his brother looked him with a mix of surprise and fear and his brother fell to the floor Takahisa pulled out the bloody dagger and recited, "I Takahisa daimyo of the Shimazu clan wish to become ruler of all lands over Kyushu and to defeat and kill all of my clan's enemies" Then a current of electricity from the blade began to spark and burn into Takahisa hand and leave a black mark in the middle of his hand and then the ritual was finished. Over the next four years the Shimazu began a steady expansion of power in Satsuma province and by 1554 with a single arquebus shot that was fired by Takahisa into the fortress and instantly igniting the gun powder room and destroying the fortifications in that fort he easily took over the fortress of a 1,000 men with a small Shimazu army of 300 men and giving them control of over half of Satsuma province. With Melanios guidance they became the strongest clan in southern Kyushu and were the favored henchmen of Melanos when he wanted someone killed or blackmailed to further Melanios aim of causing chaos to fate. The Shimazu began to worship Melanis and called him the Dark Monk of Fate. They recruited criminals, other ruthless daimyo, corrupt court officials, and shinobi from all over Japan and very soon Melanios army in Kyushu began to swell. By 1565 they were poised to take all of Satsuma and would begin to expand into other provinces in Kyushu. Melanios then convinced Takahisa to move his base from Ijuin to the new site where Uchijo castle was built in a much grander scale with a strong stone base and it was a three-story castle made of stone with stone walls to surround the castle with Melanios own private chambers and comfortable accommodations. By the rise of Ryuzen ascendency in power in Kai, Melanios was doing the same in the island of Kyushu, and both knew they would have to eventually stop dancing around each other finally begin to start trying to attack each other in some way in this war of the fates.