Shuzo
“Well, well, that was a whole ride and a half, wasn’t it?”
Shuzo’s eyes snapped open as a familiar and irritating voice suddenly rang in his ears, sharply rousing him from his slumber…. Or so he thought.
When he darted to his feet to locate the voice’s source, the former Paragon found himself standing… not in the hotel room he’d booked, but instead in the same swirling hellscape of planetary devastation he’d seen in his previous vision with the Void Father.
The destruction wrought all around him wasn’t foreign to Shuzo by any means; not the swirling and suffocating astral dust, the molten and cracked terrain beneath his feet that seemed it would cave at any moment, the atmosphere devoid of life or hope, not the palpable, crushing dark of the star-less sky above him. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say the former Paragon lived in this world of annihilation and dread in his every waking moment, and this world resided within him.
The sound of slow clapping finally alerted Shuzo to the presence of none other than Raikos, standing before him with the same friendly grin he’d carried when they first met. Unable to suppress an *tch* from escaping his lips, his fingers flexed and curled with annoyance upon the sight of the newer chauffeur chosen to lead him into the hell of his destiny.
“That unexpected little run-in with your big bro go down how you wanted? Or, better yet, did you enjoy spending time with your girlfriend? How’s Li doing?”
Shuzo’s glare darkened at the snarky mention of the Police Chief, his eyes burning with a deep crimson as he poured every possible ounce of venom into his next words.
“Keep her name out of your mouth. And I already told you my answer; don’t make this a recurring thing. Why did you bring me here?”
“Ah, who am I kidding?” Raikos continued, seemingly unfazed or just choosing to ignore Shuzo’s response. “I know how it went down, and I know you felt the nostalgia of working with your dear Police Chief just like old times. I’m not just some spirit or ghost in the clouds, you know. I just kinda… chill amongst you guys and hide in plain sight. Kinda funny how no one realizes, especially you. This charming place is just a vision of your memories drawn out by yours truly--a cozy little place to sit down and chat.”
“I don’t care where you are, or how much you think you know about what I’m feeling. I know you’re here to try and convince me again to succeed you and become your vessel, and I refuse.”
Shuzo was quick to fire a retort, increasingly irritated both at Raikos’ every word and his need to reiterate his refusal of the Herald’s offer. Taking a deep breath, the former Paragon let out an exasperated exhale, articulating his next response with both clarity and quiet ferocity to make sure Raikos understood every word.
“Do you need me to spell it out for you again? I know exactly what you and your kind are capable of; if you do keep an eye on me all the time, you should know what I saw, the carnage the other Heralds and Void Father wrought. I saw civilians literally get torn apart, frozen, their entire bodies shattered into a million pieces--innocent lives vaporized into cosmic dust, incinerated, burned alive from the inside. What makes you think I would ever risk putting another trace of that power back into the world?
Your kind nearly consumed the entire planet, and even after ten years, we’re still on a slow path to recovery. I don’t care what sort of peace or power you can offer me, I don’t care how long I have to endure your contingency plan. As long as I live, your plan will never come to fruition, and the legacy of the Void Father will die, along with any memory of the destruction he and the Heralds wrought on Earth.”
Raikos’ smirk persisted as he listened, but the longer Shuzo spoke, the more visible a vein in the side of the Herald’s neck grew. Silver lightning began to crackle quietly around his body, and each word continued to add to his concealed but growing irritation. It wouldn’t be long before….
“The legacy of the Void Father will die.”
...He snapped.
In less than the blink of an eye, Raikos lunged forward in a flash of bright, silver light, faster than Shuzo could even comprehend. Not having even a millisecond to think, the former Paragon found himself held in the air, a tight grip on his throat. He gasped for air and grabbed at the Herald’s hand to pry away his tight grasp, and as his eyes fell on Raikos, he saw the same grin now paired with crazed and enraged eyes. Raikos’ next words were clearly enunciated, but seething with barely restrained intensity.
“Who do you think you are, huh? You think you’re so high and mighty? Your little speech back at the hospital may have kept me just amused enough not to cut you short a limb or two, but I wouldn’t keep testing my luck.”
The Herald then flung Shuzo off to the side with ease, sending the latter tumbling to the ground and crashing into a nearby boulder before continuing.
“Spouting off about how ‘hawd youw wife was because the Hewawds attacked’, as if we’re the reason for your life going to crap? You really have the gall to say you’re above us?”
Lunging at Shuzo once again with incomprehensible speed, Raikos grabbed the mortal by the neck once more before jabbing two fingers from his free hand into his temple, channeling his lightning into both digits as he spoke.
“Then allow me to enlighten you: the truth that you’re no better than me or my kind.”
Shuzo gasped as he felt the sensation of electricity surging into his head, coursing throughout his entire nervous system and permeating through every cell in his body. His world went white, and when he came to, he found himself in a completely different place.
- - -
11:37 PM, New York City - 2023
It was quiet. The muffled sound of bustling streets just barely permeated the walls of Warehouse 18, an abandoned building near the outskirts of the city. Yes, it was quiet, peaceful….
...but the sight was much less so.
Just barely visible under the dim lights of the warehouse were bodies, strewn across the room in the dozens: some missing heads, others split in half either horizontally or vertically, a few still twitching in their dismembered state, bleeding out slowly and painfully. The same red liquid had been everywhere else, splattering the walls, pooling in several different areas on the floor, staining the clothes of one man standing above all the carnage.
This man was none other than Sparkblade, a vigilante whose name had just barely begun to reach the ears of most crime syndicates in the underworld of New York, standing tall in the central area of the building. His blades were drenched in blood, which he cleaned off with the inside elbow of his sleeves before sheathing the swords and removing his goggles. His eyes underneath were dark and dull, completely monotonous in the face of the vengeance he’d exacted upon his victims.
There had been no survivors. It was a horrid, gut-churning sight that could make even the toughest people weak in the knees. But the man standing over the bodies, breathing slow and deep....
He knew he’d never sleep better tonight.
“So, let’s talk about this hot mess, huh?”
A voice rang out, reverberating through the resonant interior of the warehouse, and Sparkblade turned to see Raikos step out of the shadows, the Herald’s grin as smug as ever. The former vigilante soon realized where he was, and as Shuzo regained his bearings and recalled recent events, his eyes widened, falling upon the gruesome sight before him.
“The earlier years of your life as a vigilante--more importantly, the bloodier ones. Remember this operation? Poor yakuza saps didn’t know what hit them, but I suppose it wouldn’t have been long before you eventually found the ones who killed your parents.”
Shuzo remembered: the explosion of an electrical plant that took his parents from him in childhood and had left him with newfound abilities was revealed to have been a premeditated attack, a sabotage specifically intended to target him and his family. Within the first few years of his occupation as a vigilante, Shuzo had found the group responsible: a yakuza function that reigned as one of the stronger crime syndicates poisoning New York City. What transpired soon after was the scene laid out before him now. His gaze darkened as he continued to recall his past, and he kept his gaze to the ground before speaking.
“Then you know they got what they deserved. I’m not below you if I put down guilty criminals and murderers.”
“And now that’s where you’re wrong,” Raikos responded, pacing back and forth behind Shuzo. “Are you really sure that everyone here was guilty? Because I know the truth about them.”
The Herald strolled over to a particular cluster of bodies, gesturing towards it before continuing to speak.
“Take this guy over here, for example. The poor chap whose heart you ripped out. This was Kiyoshi Kazutora, a husband and father of two children, stuck in crippling debt while holding up a family that was falling apart. He was coerced into joining the yakuza to make ends meet and protect his loved ones; too bad he was brutally killed in his first patrol and left his wife and kids when they needed him the most.
Oh, and here’s another: Taichi Yamamoto. Had a little brother taken hostage by the yakuza, forced to join in order to free him. No parents or relatives, the two were on their own. Poor Toru’s now all alone because shortly after Taichi joined, he was found with his neck snapped and midsection sliced completely open.
You want to talk about killing innocents? You want to take the moral high ground? You broke families apart and made widows out of wives, orphans out of children. Did any of them deserve it? Did you take up vigilantism as an excuse to kill whoever you wanted? You can run from Sparkblade all you want, but Shuzo Takeshi can never escape the bodies you’ve cut down. This is who you are. You can’t reconcile everything you’ve done with the ‘hero’ you so desperately want to think you are.”
Shuzo stood in silence, listening as Raikos continued to tear into him and challenge his morality. His mind began to swirl with memories: the bodies he put down, the criminals and filth of society he’d cut off the face of the earth. With each revelation regarding his victims’ pasts Raikos had brought upon him, his grip on his blades tightened, his knuckles white as the Herald’s every word continued to stab mercilessly at his conscience.
“Tell me, what do you think Li thinks of you? I know how you feel about her, how much you won’t admit. But she’s seen the bodies you’ve left in your wake. Do you really think you could have a chance at someone who’s seen you for who you really are?
A ruthless…
Cold-blooded….
Murderer?”
Crimson lightning suddenly surged to life with enraged intensity as Shuzo turned around and lunged at Raikos with a yell. The unexpected attack had caught Raikos ever so slightly off guard, but with an amused glint in his eye, his body began to crackle with his own silver electricity before he met Shuzo’s lunge head on.
Shuzo had aimed a charged right hook at Raikos, who caught the fist with ease, pulled the mortal in close, and slammed a palm into his gut, launching him back several feet. Sent tumbling back for the second time, he scrambled to his feet and dashed forward again, brandishing his swords and harnessing his lightning to their utmost limits. Shuzo wasn’t exactly sure about the ramifications of this ‘vision’ world he was in, but if he could face and defeat Raikos here, maybe he could earn a moment’s peace and put an end to the Herald’s temptations.
Raikos, meanwhile, had his smirk back in full force, lowering into a loose fighting stance as Shuzo approached. Who was this guy? Out of all the descendants of his that he’d considered as a possible future vessel, Shuzo seemed to have the most potential. Surely anyone would accept his offer of nigh insurmountable cosmic power. Why was he so intent on staying where he was?
Nevertheless, his grin widened as Shuzo came closer, waiting for the opportune time to strike. The vigilante swung viciously, slashing away at every possible exposed spot on Raikos’ body, but the Herald continued to make clear the overwhelming difference in strength, merely using his forearms to block and parry every incoming cut. Deciding to have a little more fun, Raikos’ eyes suddenly began to glow with a lustrous silver before he parried yet another strike and lunged forward, pressing the offensive for the first time. In the blink of an eye, Shuzo had been disarmed, both of his blades shattered the same way as they’d been in the hospital room. Before he’d had a chance to process what had happened, Raikos then spun once before nailing his heel into the side of Shuzo’s head and launching him back several meters.
The Herald was cocky, and for good reason; no matter how much his future vessel struggled, victory was impossible. Resist and try as hard as he might, it was only a matter of time before Shuzo took the deal.
…
And yet… he didn’t stop.
Shuzo came at him again. And again. The same, unbridled fury burning in his eyes as he pressed attack after attack. Every time, Raikos blocked and knocked the mortal away with ease, but as the fight continued, his cool smirk slowly began to fade, a slight frown of irritation beginning to take its place along with a vein in the side of his neck. Did this idiot not know when to quit? With a snarl of anger escaping through gritted teeth, Raikos snapped for the second time. But this time, he’d make his message loud and clear.
As Shuzo lunged at Raikos yet again, the latter’s next move abruptly had him taken aback, as he saw the silver lightning around the Herald fizz out. However, he remained undeterred in his attack, lashing out with a lightning-charged kick to Raikos’ head, his glare glued onto the Herald as he watched his foot make contact. A flash of bright red light filled the dimly lit warehouse upon making a direct hit, but when it faded, Shuzo found himself staring directly into Raikos’ unwavering, cold gaze. The Herald spoke quietly but intensely, his voice immediately sending chills down the mortal’s spine.
“That’s. Enough.”
Raikos suddenly knocked Shuzo’s leg aside, pushing the former Paragon off balance; he’d tried lashing out once again as soon as he’d regained his footing, constantly charging his attacks with lightning, but the Herald continued to tank through each strike, countering with force that easily surpassed Shuzo’s. A straight lunge was deflected and followed up with a vicious right hook, a kick to his side knocked away and followed-up with a push kick into the mortal’s gut. The sheer power behind every strike chipped away at Shuzo’s stamina, and when it finally seemed that his will to fight had ebbed, Raikos seized the opportunity.
What followed was nothing short of the most brutal of beatdowns, and in a matter of seconds that felt like grueling hours, Raikos stood, a broken Shuzo crumpled at his feet. The former Paragon heaved for air, choking on saliva and coughing up blood, feeling every injury in his body as he breathed, external and internal. While the mortal gasped for breath, the Herald stood tall and still, as if he hadn’t even broken a sweat. Raikos then bent down and took hold of Shuzo’s hair, dragging him up so that their eyes met. The kid’s face was bloodied and bruised, his nose broken, his left eye swollen shut; even a blind man could see that he was beaten half-dead, and the light had nearly left his eyes. Meanwhile, Raikos’ own silver irises remained sharp, piercing into Shuzo’s visage as he spoke once more.
“Just take my deal, Shuzo. Who else do you have? There’s nothing else waiting for you except death and regret if you keep being so stubborn. I’ve been gracious enough to give you a choice in this matter so far, but keep resisting, and you’ll only make it harder for yourself in the end. I’m offering you peace, something I know you can’t say you’ve had much of these past ten years; stop letting your past poison your future.”
Shuzo coughed as he stared weakly at Raikos, having no other choice than to listen to the Herald reiterate his offer. Everything seemed so foggy; how hard had he been hit? His entire *everything* was aching like it had never ached before. A shrill ringing tore through every possible part of his mind, and the voices were back, sending Shuzo into further disarray. The voices hadn’t been hushed, soft-spoken whispers, either; rather, they grew into desperate urges, their persuasions growing into frantic cries, their temptations all circling around one word.
Peace.
Come to think of it, why hadn’t he taken Raikos’ offer to begin with, again? He knew firsthand how frequently the visions and voices had been troubling him, how much he longed for just one good night’s sleep since the events of the Reaping.
As his head pounded like a drum and his injuries stung all over, memories flashed through his head, back to when everything ended and Shuzo’s personal hell began. The smug grin Warren had had on his face when first name-dropping the ‘Silverbolt’, the sight of the Heralds wreaking havoc on all corners of the planet, the colossal, imposing figure of the Void Father stretching his arm over the planet when it was at its weakest. Shuzo remembered what he’d felt: bewilderment and apprehension when Warren had first mentioned his heritage, the vulnerability he’d felt when the Heralds had attacked.
Maybe Raikos was right. Sure, Shuzo used to be a Paragon, a member of the planet’s strongest team of protectors albeit his short tenure. But as soon as everything happened and the world ended, he’d never felt more alone in his fight. His isolation had also been further exacerbated by the looming shadow of his apparent destiny weighing down his soul. After all, no one else understood. How could they? Even if they tried to, this would ultimately be Shuzo’s burden to bear. And he’d bear it, even if it killed him.
At least, that’s what he’d been telling himself until now.
Maybe Raikos was right. If these more recent events told him anything, it was that Shuzo was fighting a losing battle. All efforts to evade his troubles had been fruitless, maybe even worsened them. Was it really only a matter of time before he succumbed to his impending future? Was Shuzo only delaying the inevitable?
The longer he considered his ten years of hardship in his heavily-beaten state, the more he realized… Maybe Raikos was right.
As he came to this revelation, which had been mostly formulated and further strengthened by the disorienting haze pounded into his mind, Shuzo began to show signs of resignation, prompting a smirk to pull at Raikos’ corners once again. Finally, after generations of searching, centuries of waiting for a prospective vessel, and convincing Shuzo to accept, it seemed this stubborn kid was finally getting around.
Meanwhile, the former Paragon was now beginning to slip in and out of whatever this vision state was. What would happen if he took Raikos’ deal in this vision rather than in the real world? What would happen once he left? Was he still asleep? Where was he in the real world, again?
Then, he remembered.
He remembered her.
In a certain memory crashing down upon him, much clearer than the others, Shuzo remembered, a face flashing in his mind. A cold glare, a defiant scowl pulling at her corners at every waking moment. The face of someone who’d been nothing short of an irritating hindrance to his life since they’d first met. But two things were certain from the sparse details Shuzo could put together in his disorientation: she had been with him.
She was someone important to him.
As his gaze refocused back onto Raikos’ now smug and triumphant demeanor, Shuzo mustered up all the focus and concentration he could gather from his near-unconscious state, levelled as defiant a stare as he could level into the Herald’s eyes, and spoke.
“You’re wrong. I still have people. And I’ll do whatever I need to do, suffer as long as I need to suffer, as long as they’re safe.”
His words carried a newfound but shaky confidence, further exacerbated by the underlying desperation in his weak gaze. It wouldn’t take long for Raikos to notice how barely Shuzo was keeping it together, seemingly intent on struggling to the very end.
At this realization, the Herald’s smirk faded instantly, and his eyes went blank for the first time as he attempted to process what had just happened. A few moments of tense silence passed until Raikos finally inhaled deeply, stared up at the sky, then returned his gaze toward Shuzo. Heaving a sigh of exasperation and disappointment, he spoke one last time, his eyes and voice cold.
“Keep telling yourself that.”
Before the mortal could birth another thought, the Herald lashed out with a final, decisive right hook to his jaw.
- - -
Shuzo’s eyes snapped open for the second time that night as he woke with a gasp and in a cold sweat, and much to his relief, he soon registered his surroundings as the hotel room he’d booked a few days back. He now sat up in the chair he’d used to sleep, having relinquishing the bed to Li instead following earlier events at the yakuza-occupied warehouse, and as his consciousness gradually returned, he gingerly felt at the areas on his body where he’d received blow after brutal blow in his fight with Raikos, only to find no sign of bodily injury.
However, as the former Paragon watched the woman in front of him, her body rising and falling slowly as she slept, the events of his vision continued to claw their way into his mind, sinking their fangs into any modicum of mental sanity Shuzo could dare to search for, and the voices seemed to grow even louder than they’d ever been, piercing his soul with more force than Raikos’ attacks could ever muster. The peace he’d so longed for, the peace his ancestor had offered.
It wouldn’t come tonight.
But Yin Li… she’d been able to sleep. Granted, it may have been in a seemingly awkward position, as she now sat up against the wall in her unconscious state, curled and primed even in her slumber as if waiting for something to try and get the jump on her. Regardless…. She had the luxury of an even remotely quiet night’s rest, a slumber unhindered by any anxious thought of who she was or what her destiny might bring or impose on her.
Is there a difference between Shuzo and Sparkblade?
If only it had been that simple.
You can’t reconcile everything you’ve done with the ‘hero’ you so desperately want to think you are.
Shuzo continued to watch, a shaky exhale escaping his lips, and though he’d muffled the sound with a hand to his mouth, he felt his eyes begin to well up as he found himself at the mercy of a familiar and growing feeling, stirring in the depths of his heart. A feeling that he couldn’t shake, no matter how many tough words he used to scare it away, no matter how many empty assurances he told himself or others to make the nightmares stop.
Helplessness.
