>>6137331>Alt-Text: Comic art of a traditional Japanese building complex, including a two-story pagoda.>Pencils & Inks: Alessandro Viti. Colors: IFS You are Yoshida Mariko of the Yoshida clan. For centuries, your family and the divine nation you call home have been linked.
From Emperors to Shoguns to Prime Ministers, Yoshida was the power behind the power—until the Americans came.
They burned the sky itself and turned your people into ash. When they took over, the mighty Yoshida Zaibatsu was humbled.
But it is a new day. The Americans' Cold War has transformed your people from monsters to be hunted to tools to be weaponized.
A capitalist rival in the East to China and the Russians is desired, so your household has reformed.
Where your weapon was once folded steel, it is now glittering coins. Your Uncle Shingen knows the family can do more.
With the bank's funds, he has allied with ancient enemies, and it seems he seeks to ally with further demons.
Magneto: Harada Shingen, thank you for your hospitality. I am Magneto, Horseman of War of the Mutant Nation. With me are the Beast, Horseman of Pestilence, and our leader En Sabah Nur, The Apocalypse.
Harada: You will address me as Lord Harada, mutant.
Magneto: I came here under the flag of peace and respect, but no bot be mistaken, no man is my lord.
The smell of Ozone fills the air. Power flows from this Magneto, a power you recognize within yourself.
Essex: Hey, hey, hey let’s calm down now. Any culture with respect for a good cuppa is one worth dealing with sand fisticuffs, isn’t it?
Harada: This fool is your leader?
Essex: Not exactly, our don is currently locked away in this amazing brain of mine. Something I’m working on a solution to by the way, which is why I am here.
Magneto: Yoshida Mariko. I know you possess the mutant gift of the Sun. Join our cause, we can build a better future, together.
Harada: You dare speak to my niece that way?! Mariko is loyal to the Yoshida!
Magneto: Loyal, or a tool? I know the Japanese are looking to expand into nuclear power, and the British reactor you imported can’t withstand the earthquakes your island is well known for. How convenient that you invested in the Japan Atomic Power just as you gained control of a source of infinite mutant energy.
Beast: Perhaps it would be best to de-escalate. Surely Mariko-San can speak for herself.
Soma: She has no need for words.
You feel them before you see them. They don’t have the inner light of the stars you can sense in every breathing thing on this globe. No.
Their hearts bear a foul and empty silence, they are walking death. They are--The Hand.
