Nobitsura Kage

For a replica of this sword, see Nobitsura Ka-ge.

Nobitsura Kage is a legendary blade that Lo Wang sets out to find in Shadow Warrior (2013). The sword returns in Shadow Warrior 2.

Description

The Nobitsure Kage is an ancient sword capable of killing the Ancients, immortal demon rulers of Shadow Realm. The Ancients cannot touch the Nobitsura Kage as just touching the weapon can kill them. The sword has incredible power, as just slashing with it unleashes a wave of energy capable of instant killing any lesser demon. For safety reasons, Nobitsura Kage was divided into three separate swords and hid all over the mortal world.

History

Creation

Thousands years ago Hoji using Itsuse no Mikoto's body, the brother of Emperor Jimmu, forged a powerful blade, that could hurt the Ancients. They used the blade to seal the forces of chaos, their eternal enemy behind a set of gates, called the Outer Gates. But the Ancients still needed the energy of their enemies to fuel their realm. To save this energy source, they used their sister's soul to act as a conduit, through which the power could still keep their world alive.

After the ritual was done, Ituse no Mikoto kept the sword in case Ancients broke the promise to never attack mortal world. He then split it into three parts, gave the parts to three horsemen and ordered them to hide them so no one could ever find them and use it for its own desires.

Before Shadow Warrior

After Ameonna is poisoned, Enra sees, that only the sacrifice of an Ancient could revive Ameonna and save the Shadow Realm, and thus searches for the Nobitsura Kage, the only thing in existence which can kill an Ancient. Enra brokers a deal with the mortal Zilla to find and assemble the sword, promising a cure for his paraplegia and the assistance of demons to conquer the Earth.

Shadow Warrior (2013)

Zilla sends Lo Wang to buy the Nobitsura Kage (or rather, one of its three parts), off a man named Mizayaki for two million dollars. The mission is foiled by Mizayaki, who has entered into an alliance with Hoji, and the old man easily defeats and captures Lo Wang. Enra sends the demons to invade the mortal realm after it is clear that Zilla's part of the deal between him and Enra is in danger. Mizayaki and a good number of his men are killed by the demons, and the sword is taken by a Whisperer, and Lo Wang, who frees himself from captivity, is forced to join forces with Hoji in order to survive and get his hands on the sword.

Over the course of the game, Lo Wang manages to reassemble the Nobitsura Kage and storms the Shadow Realm with the intent to kill Enra. Lo Wang corners Enra after a tense battle with Xing's headless body, Enra allows Lo Wang to slay him, since he is the only sacrificial candidate left. The sword is last seen laying near Lo Wang.

Shadow Warrior 2

After Wang used the Nobitsura Kage to kill Enra, the sword started to shrink in size and lose it's former power. When Master Smith finds out about this, he offers his help to fix the sword to it's former state. To do this, Smith asks Lo Wang to retrieve scrolls containing the information how to reforge the sword. Lo Wang agrees and goes to Smith's grandfather's house for ancient smithing scrolls. When Lo Wang gets there, the scrolls are missing, stolen earlier by looters.

Smith then sends one of it's pupils to dig for the information of the scroll location. When the pupil goes missing, Smith sends Lo Wang to find him. Wang finds him and finds out from Hideo that the scrolls were sold to four different vendors in town. Wang then sets off to get them back. He reaches a vendor named Saito who tells him that he already sold the scrolls and reveals the location of the buyer. He reaches the antique dealer and retrieves the smithing scrolls. Smith can't reforge the Nobitsura Kage and instead turns it into a medallion, which can be used on another sword.

Trivia

• The rough translation of Nobitsura Kage from Japanese would mean "Shadows Even Burn", Kage=shade, sura=even, Nobi=burning off the fields. This refers to the blades ability to burn shadow beings.

Gallery

Nobitsura Kage in the upgrade screen.

Nobitsura Kage concept art.

Ditto

Lo Wang holding the blade in the game.

Model

Handle