Wartime. The Hakkenshi warriors serving the Satomi clan are facing a great ordeal: the abduction of Satomi Yoshinari's son Yoshimichi is only the first in a series of baffling incidents that threaten to pull the province of Awa into chaos. The long-deferred reckoning with Tamazusa has finally arrived. At the center of everything is a bewitched sword that responds to one thing—justice, or love—though no one yet knows which.