can imbue an individual with limitless life force, grant them immortality, and even raise people from the dead. Zombie powder can only be obtained from the Rings of the Dead. These rings are dangerous magical artifacts that, individually, devour the life force of anyone they touch, rendering them comatose. This stolen life energy is converted into the zombie powder, which can only be extracted if twelve Rings of the Dead are brought together. The story begins with young pickpocket John Elwood Shepherd befriending powder hunter Gamma Akutabi after a botched attempt to rob him. Gamma is a highly wanted criminal who possesses one Ring of the Dead. Another member of the local gang for which Elwood works sees the two together and assumes that Elwood is harboring the criminal in hopes of turning him in for his substantial bounty. The gang attacks Elwood's home, and Gamma comes to the rescue, but not before Elwood's sister, Sheryl, is slain by the gang's leader. Following the gang attack, Elwood decides to accompany Gamma in his powder hunting in hopes of resurrecting Sheryl. After leaving Elwood's hometown, the pair meet up with Gamma's long-time partner C.T. Smith, another wanted powder hunter. Smith has infiltrated the ranks of Ash Daughter, a gang which has found a Ring of the Dead. The three challenge the gang's leader, Ranewater Calder, and Gamma slays Calder using his mastery of the fictional sword art karin zanjutsu, a martial art which grants its users pyrokinesis. Elwood, Gamma, and Smith thereby gain a second Ring of the Dead, concluding the first arc and volume of the series. The remaining three volumes concern themselves with the battle for a third ring, which has been embedded for years in the body of a comatose young man named Emilio Lufas Getto. Gamma and company learn of Emilio's existence from his sister Wolfina, a tabloid photojournalist and vigilante who does not believe in the Rings of the Dead. The group of hunters offer to restore Emilio to consciousness in exchange for the ring he contains. Before they can do so, however, Emilio is kidnapped by Balmunk the Mystic, a powder hunting magician who leads a circus-themed gang. Wolfina teams up with Elwood, Gamma, and Smith to retrieve Emilio, and they succeed in doing so after a number of battles with Balmunk's henchmen. The conflict culminates in a fight between Gamma and a giant golem