hell ― mbs

death (02) - starter

REGAIN YOUR HONOR ;

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THERE ARE ONLY TWO FORCES IN THE WORLD, THE SWORD AND THE SPIRIT. IN THE LONG RUN, THE SWORD WILL ALWAYS BE CONQUERED BY THE SPIRIT. . OR SO THEY THOUGHT !

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[ SETTING : 2018 ; SAINT CAPTURED DIMITRIY IN ORDER TO FULFILL HIS ORDERS GIVEN BY HYDRA AND BY DOING SO DIMITRIY MUST DIE. WHETHER HE SUCCEEDS OR FAILS IS UP TO YOU ! ]

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' OH COME ON ! YOU DON'T REMEMBER YOUR OWN BROTHER ? WELL LET ME REFRESH THAT MEMORY OF YOURS ' ; SAINTS' TATTOOED HAND WAS QUICK TO MOVE, SOON MAKING CONTACT WITH HIS OLDER BROTHERS FOREHEAD. THE MEMORIES IN WHICH WERE ERASED FROM DIMITRIYS' MIND WERE PAINFULLY RESTORED, AS HIS YOUNGER BROTHER MUMBLED WORDS WHICH ONE WOULD DEEM THE LANGUAGE OF THE UNKNOWN. . FOR HIS SCREAMS COULD BE HEARD FROM MILES AWAY AS THE FORGOTTEN YEARS FLASHED THROUGHOUT HIS MIND. . HE COULD NOT BARE THE IMAGES IN WHICH HE SAW, THE MEMORIES- ALONG WITH THE BRUTAL REMINDER OF HIS MARK ON THE WORLD FILLED HIS BROKEN MIND. . SAINTS' ACCENTED VOICE WAS SOFT AS HE SPOKE, AN AMUSED LOOK LINGERED UPON HIS DELICATE FEATURES AS HE INTERRUPTED THE OTHER WHOM WAS UNWILLINGLY REMINISCING, "ARE YOU TORMENTED BY MEMORIES, BURDENED BY GUILT ? NOW THE REAL QUESTION IS. . ARE YOU READY FOR MORE ? IF YOU ARE, THEN WE MUST TALK, DIMITRIY. . THIS SWORD. . YOU KNOW, ONCE CONTAINED MY POWER. . THE POWER IN WHICH YOU WERE BORN WITHOUT, THE POWER IN WHICH YOU YEARNED. . THE MAIN CAUSE OF YOUR BREWING JEALOUSY, LONG AGO. ." HIS YOUNGER BROTHER SAID BITTERLY AS HE SPOKE, HIS BRIGHT ORBS ONLY CONTAINING ONE EMOTION ; PURE HATRED. THE POWER IN WHICH SAINT PREVIOUSLY SPOKE OF WAS ONCE PLACED IN THE SWORD WHICH REMAINED BY HIS SIDE, HIS FREE HAND MOVED TO THE HANDLE OF THE SWORD, SLOWLY FREEING IT FROM IT'S SCABBARD, "LONG AGO, THIS . . . NAIVE, VESSEL OF A MAN WHOM WE LIKE TO TITLE AS OUR FATHER FIGURE. . . WELL, HE SPOKE ABOUT DEVISING NEW SPELLS. . THE FOOL OF COURSE, DREAMT OF BRINGING NEW FORMS OF MAGIC INTO THE WORLD. WHAT HE SOUGHT, WAS STRENGTH. . BUT INSTEAD, HE CREATED ME ; DEATH. . OH, I MUST SAY DIMITRIY. . YOU ARE TRULY INTRIGUING. . I WANT- NO I NEED TO KILL YOU. . MAYBE, JUST MAYBE IT IS A FORM OF REVENGE. . BUT I WAS ASSIGNED TO DO THIS, WHETHER YOU KNOW WHAT I AM SPEAKING OF IS UP TO THOSE MEMORIES IN WHICH YOU NOW ARE FIGURING OUT. . BUT HOW DO YOU KNOW ANY OF THEM ARE REAL. . MAYBE I AM JUST A FIGMENT OF YOUR IMAGINATION- MAYBE THIS IS TRICKERY OR POSSIBLY TORTURE. . ? EITHER WAY, YOU MUST PERISH. ." SAINT HAD UTTERED, THE WORDS ONLY FOLLOWED BY A SINISTER CHUCKLE, DIMITRIYS' HEAD WAS SPINNING, FOR A LOOK OF TERROR SPREAD ACROSS HIS FACE AS THE MEMORY OF KILLING HIS YOUNGER BROTHER RESURFACED, FOR HE KNEW THAT THE END OF THIS WAS NEAR- AND BOY WAS HE GETTING NERVOUS, A SLIGHT PING COULD BE HEARD OFTEN- FOR IT WAS HIS METAL HEART THUMPING AGAINST HIS RIBS," YOU'RE GETTING NERVOUS, HM ? . . WELL YOU MUST DEMONSTRATE ONE THING. . PLEASE TELL ME THAT YOU REMEMBER THE CODE IN WHICH YOU FOLLOWED. . ? B U S H I D O, PLEASE CORRECT ME IF I AM WRONG. ." SAINT ASKED, HIS HEAD TILTING SLIGHTLY AS HIS OLDER BROTHERS VOICE FAILED TO BE HEARD, FOR DIMITRIY DID NOT KNOW WHAT TO SAY. . HE ONLY REMEMBERED MINOR DETAILS OF HIS PAST, FOR HIS MIND WAS STILL HEALING. . SAINT WAS NOT TOO HAPPY WHEN DIMITRIY IGNORED HIS QUESTION, HIS HAND MOVED FROM HIS BROTHERS FOREHEAD, HIS FINGERS SOON INTERTWINED WITH THE OTHERS HAIR BEFORE FORCEFULLY YANKING HIM UP FROM THE GROUND, ANGER REMNANT IN HIS ACTIONS . "DAMMIT, WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO YOUR MEMORY. . FINE ! HERE'S A BIT OF A REFRESHER DIMI- BUSHIDO, IT WAS AN ETHICAL SYSTEM, RATHER THAN A RELIGIOUS BELIEF SYSTEM- ONE IN WHICH YOU ONCE FOLLOWED. IN FACT, MANY SAMURAIS BELIEVED THAT THEY WERE EXCLUDED FROM ANY REWARD IN THE AFTERLIFE ACCORDING TO THE RULES OF BUDDHISM BECAUSE THEY WERE TRAINED TO F I G H T AND K I L L IN THIS LIFE. NEVERTHELESS, THEIR HONOR AND LOYALTY HAD TO SUSTAIN THEM, IN THE KNOWLEDGE THAT THEY WOULD LIKELY END UP IN THE BUDDHIST VERSION OF HELL AFTER THEY DIED. . BUT THE IDEAL SAMURAI WAS SUPPOSED TO BE IMMUNE FROM THE FEAR OF DEATH. ONLY THE FEAR OF DISHONOR AND LOYALTY TO HIS DAIMYO ; FEUDAL LORD, MOTIVATED THE TRUE SAMURAI. . IF A SAMURAI FELT THAT HE HAD LOST HIS HONOR ; OR WAS ABOUT TO LOSE IT, ACCORDING TO THE RULES OF BUSHIDO, HE COULD REGAIN HIS BY COMMITTING A RATHER PAINFUL FORM OF RITUAL SUICIDE, CALLED, 'SEPPUKU'. IN FEUDAL JAPAN, THIS WAS AN ULTIMATE ACT OF BRAVERY. A SAMURAI WHOM HAD COMMITTED SEPPUKU WOULD NOT ONLY REGAIN HIS HONOR, HE WOULD ACTUALLY GAIN PRESTIGE FOR HIS COURAGE IN FACING DEATH CALMLY. . THIS BECAME A CULTURAL TOUCHSTONE IN JAPAN DURING WORLD WAR TWO, SO MUCH THAT WOMEN AND CHILDREN OF THE SAMURAI CLASS WERE ALSO EXPECTED TO FACE DEATH CALMLY IF THEY WERE CAUGHT UP IN A BATTLE OR SIEGE. . !" THE HYDRA AGENT SAID, HIS ACCENT ONLY INCREASING AS THE ANGER WITHIN HIM BOILED, HIS FINGERS UNWRAPPED THEMSELVES FROM THE OTHERS LOCKS, THE LOOK OF TERROR LEAVING DIMITRIYS' FACE SOON AFTER. SAINT TOOK A HOLD OF THE OTHERS HAND, WRAPPING IT AROUND THE HANDLE OF THE SWORD BEFORE MOVING THE TIP OF THE SWORD TO THE OTHERS ABDOMEN. SAINTS OTHER HAND LAID UNDER THE OTHERS CHIN, FORCEFULLY MAKING IT SO THEIR EYES MET, "DIMITRIY, I AM AFRAID THAT YOU MUST FOLLOW THE CODE IN WHICH YOU USED TO ABIDE BY, FOR YOU ARE ABOUT TO LOSE YOUR HONOR. . ROGER HOLLAND DID THIS, COLONEL SEAK YAICHIRO DID AS WELL. . NOW YOU MUST. ." SAINT SAID, HIS WORDS UNTRUTHFUL- FOR ROGER WAS NOT DEAD NOR WAS SEAK. . A PAINED LOOK WAS REMNANT IN THE EYES OF SAINT, ONE IN WHICH WAS TRULY BELIEVABLE. " REMEMBER THE YOUNG MEN IN THEIR PRIME WHO NEVER CAME HOME, AND WHO SUFFERED TERRIBLE CONDITIONS BEFORE THEY DIED, REMEMBER WHOSE SIDE YOU'RE TRULY ON―REMEMBER YOUR ORDERS, LIEUTENANT." IT WAS AS IF THOSE WORDS BROUGHT DIMITRIY BACK TO THE VERY MOMENT IN NINETEEN FORTY-SEVEN WHERE HE KILLED HIS FATHER WITH A MERE BULLET. . AND WITH THAT, THE SWORD PIERCED THROUGH HIS VERY SKIN WITH THE HELP OF HIS YOUNGER BROTHERS HAND. DIMITRIYS' HAZEL EYES SLOWLY LOST THEIR LIGHT AS THEY BEGAN TO DULL, AND AS THE MOMENTS PASSED ON HIS CHEEKS LOST THEIR COLOR. . FOR THE REALIZATION OF WHAT HE HAD DONE NOW HIT HIM, THIS WAS NO ACT OF BRAVERY ON HIS PART. . ONLY A MERE ILLUSION THE OTHER PLACED WITHIN IN HIS BROKEN MIND. . THE METAL HEART WITHIN DIMITRIY BEGAN TO SOFTEN WITH EVERY BEAT AS HIS BODY BEGAN TO SHUT DOWN. . HIS YOUNGER BROTHERS HAND TWISTED THE SWORD IN AN ATTEMPT TO GET A REACTION OUT OF THE OTHER, BUT ONLY A TEAR RAN DOWN THE OTHERS CHEEK- ONE IN WHICH WAS UNUSUAL; ONE IN WHICH WAS CLEAR INSTEAD OF ITS USUAL BLACK TINT. .

"SINCE NOW I MUST BE AT P E A C E . YOU CAN SIT AND WATCH THE WORLD T U R N, ALEXEI."

AND WITH THAT SAINT LEFT, LEAVING ONLY A TATTOOED OUTLINE OF A KISS UPON HIS OLDER BROTHERS FOREHEAD ; ONE IN WHICH WOULD FADE AS SOON AS YOUR EYES LAID UPON IT. DIMITRIY REMAINED IN THE POSITION IN WHICH SAINT HAD LEFT HIM IN, HIS EYES TRAINED ON THE SWORD LODGED THROUGH HIS BODY. . HIS HAZEL EYES BEGAN TO FLUTTER SHUT. . BUT AFTER FEELING THE PRESENCE OF ANOTHER, DIMITRIY PEERED UP TO SEE THE FIGURE STANDING BEFORE HIM BEFORE COLLAPSING ONTO THE PAVEMENT BENEATH HIM. . .YOU ?

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[ YOUR TURN ]

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