Shirou was at one point an ordinary man, an ordinary boring man that you could find anywhere in the country of Japan. Being in his mid thirties without any particular aspirations, the man was fine to continue living his life just like that, sharing it with his wife and nine year old daughter. But one day when he came home from his ordinary and monotonous workday he discovered that his wife had left him a note on the kitchen table, detailing how she could not suffer through another day with his monotonous and boring lifestyle. She wanted to explore the world, and to that end she left him and her daughter, all for the dream that she wanted to experience so badly. Reading the note, the man was without a doubt disappointed, one could even say that he was heartbroken. But when his daughter asked him what was going on, the middle aged man only smiled at her and said everything was going to be alright, mommy was just going on a trip. All they had to do was to be patient and wait for her return. From that day the man was the sole provider for the family, as a result he had to work more and more overtime.

Barely spending any time with his daughter as she grew up, the two naturally became distant. The man who was barely getting enough sleep to function, his health deteriorating as a direct result. As the young girl grew into her late teens she entered her rebellious phase, openly opposing her fathers discipline. She began intentionally coming home late and hung out with the ‘wrong’ kind of people so to say. Although Shirou wanted to discipline his daughter, he believed that she would grow out of it eventually. Therefore, the boring and ordinary man wouldn’t say anything as his daughter came home later and later and began wearing more and more revealing clothes. While he wanted to be more involved in his daughter's life, being a force for the better, merely staying afloat economically was hard enough and the long hours he would put in at work left him without the energy to raise his child. As a result, his little girl that the man loved so dearly was raised by the city of Pandemonium. While the city was home to many upper-class citizens, it also housed a lot of criminals who were attracted to the city with its cheap apartment complexes. By pure happenstance, or perhaps fate, the girl happened to develop a crush on a particular blonde delinquent, his name was Oda Kaguri. In an effort to catch the boy's attention she would begin to hang out with him more and more. Eirin could not remember the first time she tried hard drugs, it was probably at one of those late night parties they threw in one of the abandoned buildings that littered the outskirts of the town. It didn’ take long until she was hooked.

The young woman realized that she couldn’t leech off her friends forever, as such she rummaged through her room, gathering the money she had managed to save up over the years. With the newly acquired funds she could finance her lifestyle for a bit, but it was not long until she ran low on money. Owing money to one's dealer was never a good thing, but if that was the price Eirin had to pay to keep up with Oda’s destructive lifestyle, then so be it.

Yet, the more she did to get closer to the blonde man the further away he seemed to get. Getting desperate and not paying back what she owed, she began to exchange sexual favors in return for drugs. This wasn’t something she wanted to do, but nevertheless she did it. After all, if that was the price she needed to pay for her love then she would gladly do it. It was a shame then, that her feelings weren't returned in kind. Despite being drugged out of her mind, Eirin could never forget that day. In her mind it was crystal clear just what had transpired. It was a cold autumn night and she was out partying with a select group of friends, halfway through the night Oda and a few of his friends showed up at the party.

Eirin who desperately wanted to make Oda notice her would try and get his attention by randomly leaning in for a kiss, it was a sudden movement that took Oda off guard and he pushed her back quite roughly as an reflex. Hurt mostly mentally by that move, Eirin ran away, mostly out of shame for trying something that stupid. Following her was her dealer who had also been at the party, seeing Eirin walk off on her own, without knowing the context, caused him to follow after and it was not long until the two of them were alone quite a bit away from everyone else. They were in one of the worse neighborhoods of Pandemonium, right at the outskirts of the town. As such, there was no one that came for her when she screamed and pleaded to the man to leave her alone. But he didn’t listen, barely being conscious he was little more than a slave to his carnal desires as he forced himself upon the young woman. During the tragic act, carried out inside a dirty back alley, Eirin resisted with all her might, clawing the man in the face, severely hurting one of his eyes. Almost falling over backwards, pure rage would consume the man, grabbing tightly upon Eirin's throat he would suffocate her until the color drained from her face.

It was not until the woman turned into a limp body before his eyes that the man realized what he had done, terrified by what he had caused he would flee from the scene, running as far away as possible. A few days later, after they had conducted a thorough investigation the police had detained the man they believed were the primary suspect of the murder attempt on Eirin Kawari, as his guilt hadn’t been proven any personal information was kept a secret from the public. At the same time, Shirou was visiting his daughter in the hospital, the comatosed woman looked just like she had when she was alive. Sitting next to his daughter in the empty room, the man whose skinny appearance had been directly caused by overworking himself swore that the one who did this wouldn’t be able to get away with it. After a few months, the police investigation was closed due to lack of evidence, or that was what the public was told. But Shirou had a friend within the police force that told him it was because the main suspect of the investigation was the son of a powerful political figure within Japan, not wanting to step on any toes the police chief had decided to close the investigation prematurely.

For the man who had been drowning himself in alcohol these past few months, this was like standing at a crossroad, he could either keep drowning his worries with poison; turning away from the world and refusing to see it for what it was. Or he could do the opposite, see the world exactly for what it was, a place filled with suffering and torment, a place that shouldn’t exist. Sitting next to his comatosed daughter once again, the man was unsure about whether the choice he was prevented with was truly something he was capable of going through with.

Sitting there, begrudging his options, the man would glance towards his daughter for a split second. In that instant, he could have sworn that he saw her smile at him. Like she was saying; “Everything will be alright dad, let’s meet on the other side.” Indeed, the doctors had told him that there was no hope left for his daughter and they were only keeping her on life support as an obligation. As he stood above the bed, he knew what needed to be done. A high pitched beep rang out through the room as the young woman's life support was unplugged from the wall socket. As long as he kept running away from reality, there was no way that he could ever call himself a man.

That night, a certain man who had been the primary suspect of his daughters assault and rape was beaten to death with a lead pipe. His wounds were so severe and numerous that the police first believed that he had been torn to shreds by the wheels of an eight wheeler, but when they found the murder weapon not far from the scene of the crime they could reach no other conclusion that it was a human that had done this. At the same time, the man known as Shirou Kawari had disappeared, or rather the weak and cowardly man who had let his daughter suffer for three months while her assailant lived in peace no longer existed. In his place, a swordmaster of justice and a knightrider of doom had been born. One of the seven angels, one who would turn all pain and suffering into nothing, one who would punish the wicked and grant those who had been discarded and forgotten the vengeance they so badly deserved.

With a sound that was more akin to thunder than anything else, the two forces would clash again and again within the desolate streets. As Oda’s claws blocked the blade time and time again, similarly the silver knight would be able to deflect any punches or kicks sent in his direction. As the two fought, the landscape around them became more and more akin to a scene out of the apocalypse, light poles had been cut in half, once beautiful fountains and monuments were little more than rubble and pieces of marble, the tall buildings that surrounded the two combatants had had their exteriors ruined by the two powerful forces. As he looked towards his opponent, Oda knew that this was a losing battle on his part, for although he could block his opponents attacks, and although he knew that the few strikes that managed to slip past his defense were healed soon thereafter, he could feel the exhaustion starting to creep up on him. It was barely noticeable at first like a faint buzzing, but between the intense clashes he could feel it grow stronger and stronger with each passing exchange. He looked towards his opponent, the knight's metal body was filled with scratches and dents, a few pieces of armor had been cracked badly and he had a nasty hole in his chest. Despite that, Shirou showed no signs of slowing down, in fact if anything his attacks had only grown even swifter and stronger since they began fighting.

Yeah, a body that could regenerate from having its heart stabbed, its lungs pierced and its limbs severed was great. With a body like that, you would never have to worry about getting hurt or crippled, no matter what happened you would always be able to keep going. But by going on like that, erasing past mistake after past mistake, would you truly ever learn anything? Glancing towards Shirou, Oda could see every mistake, every failure the man had ever experienced. Yet, despite that, he didn’t falter even in the slightest. It was like his very existence was mocking him, the more damage he dealt to the knight, the further away victory seemed to be. It was no secret that this was a war of attrition, could Oda destroy Shirou’s body before he ran out of steam? From the way things were looking now, the beast was the one losing this battle, being slowly but steadily forced on the defense against an opponent with seemingly infinite stamina. Therefore, every blocked swing, every parried fist, every flesh wound was a loss for Oda.

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Suddenly, the warrior would kick the armored beast's right leg, a loud snap could be heard as the tendon and bone broke at once, Oda losing his balance as a result and falling backwards. Capitalizing on the attack's success, Shirou would take a step forward, standing over Oda. The next instant he had plunged his sword into the ground where the man had been mere milliseconds earlier. Quickly getting back up and pushing off the ground with all his might, the young man would send himself flying backwards. But that wasn’t enough to shake his opponent as Shirou immediately began pursuit, kicking himself off the ground with enough force to follow Oda through the air. As they flew like that, it was clear that the armored knight was moving faster than his foe, and after one tenth of a second, which seemed like an eternity to the two, they were once again within melee distance of each other.

With a single, swift blow the warrior cut Oda's belly horizontally, golden blood spilling out for a split moment before the wound was healed by his regenerative prowess. If Shirou had waited another moment before attacking, the wound would surely have been much deeper but it was clear that he didn’t need to take risks like that. As soon as he had visual confirmation that his attack had hit the target, the armored individual would push his foot down into the ground and almost immediately come to a halt. At the same time, Kaguri Oda was flying through the air without a sign of slowing down. That was until he hit the broad side of a nearby apartment complex, shattering the wall before immediately coming to a halt inside. Looking out at the scene below him, the beast-like man would rise once again as his wounds began healing. He had but one ace-up his sleeve left, it was something that he had used against the armored man before, or rather it had been the monster who did that. Opening his mouth, a bright glow would emanate from within, the next instant a golden beam of energy was shot towards the knight.

Seeing the ranged attack launched towards him, Shirou used his sword as a makeshift shield in an attempt to block the attack, the force it carried being enough to push him back for several moments before the beam fainted. Although the beam had enveloped his entire body, it had traveled too far and lost too much power to deal any real damage, at most causing the man's metal body to glow faintly with an orange hue for a few moments. “Such feeble power, such a feeble will, Oda Kaguri, your convictions will never be able to overcome my justice!” Speaking loudly and clearly as he rushed towards the building that the beast-like creature was now within, it was clear that Shirou intended to attack the man once again. Oda would jump into the air in an attempt to attack his opponent from above. The warrior would do the same, as he launched himself in the air he prepared to face the beast head on, the two forces clashing once again and the resulting power was enough to launch them both like projectiles through the air. The both of them crashed into nearby buildings, debris and rubble being spread far and wide as a result.

Getting up almost immediately after the crash, Oda was ready to fight once again but before he was able to run out from the ground floor, the floor he had crashed into, an object soared through the air at insurmountable speed. It crashed into the nearby building, pinning a huge sheet of rusted metal to its gray wall. Although the piece of metal was easily enough to crush a normal person, it wouldn’t be able to affect their battle in any noticeable way, as such halting its fall seemed like a strange choice. Therefore, looking towards his opponent Oda would not be able to come up with a single reason for why he would give up his weapon like that, it being clear that he was not its intended target. It was not until another moment had passed and the adrenaline slowed down that he could hear the faint crying of a baby not far from him. Looking past the piece of rubble, there was a young mother holding her infant child, had the piece of sheet metal not been stopped it would surely have crushed them both. Oda had been so focused on the fight that he failed to realize that there were still civilians in this area, even if they were few.

“A lone mother wanders into the battlefield we have created, searching for her lost child, just to get brutally crushed by falling debris. Oda Kaguri, is that the reality you want?” He clenched his fist, the blonde man felt shame over what he had almost allowed to happen. If it hadn’t been for his opponent, his enemy, an innocent woman and her child would be dead right now. He looked up, his eyes meeting the black slits in the knight's helmet. Why did this man who wanted to end the world care about the life of random civilians to the point where he would give up his only weapon to save them. Quietly, Oda asked that question, although he did not expect the man to hear it and much less answer it, he was given a proper response nonetheless. “Because, even if the world is going to end, even if the person you are saving has their flaws and even if it means leaving you weaponless before the enemy. As long as you keep making excuses like that to run away from your responsibilities, you will never be a just person.” Slowly walking towards Oda now, the lone mother and her child had run away not long ago, leaving the two of them alone here. “Kigura was an honorable man, despite that he could not see the world for what it is. That’s why he died. Unlike Junsei, a man that's flawed but only because of those flaws was he able to see the world for what it truly is.” As Shirou spoke Oda would stand still, truth be told he did not feel like attacking his enemy anymore. In fact, he felt like giving up, the man was clearly more selfless than him, in terms of morals and convictions, he was superior. Yet, there was a thing bugging Oda that he could not get over. Therefore, he would ask the armored man a very simple question.

“Why do you want to end the world?” It was an honest question and it received an honest answer from the knight. “Because this world… it’s rotten. It’s filled with injustice, pain, suffering, it would be better off gone.” So that’s why the knight chose to fight for Junsei, their goals aligned. Even if they fought for different reasons, they fought to attain the same thing.

Slowly lowering himself into a fighting stance, Oda was preparing to attack his opponent once again. At the same time, a certain thought flashed up in his mind, the opponent he was fighting, he had already given up on this world. In a way, Oda was fighting a dead man walking, a moving corpse that was little more of a remnant of someone. “Even so, life is still worth living.” Launching himself off the ground with great force and towards the silver knight, Oda would claw towards his helmet in an attempt to pierce through it and incapacitate the knight. But although his claw pierced through the helmet, using the weak spot that was the eyes to pierce out on the other side as well. In an instant, Shirou would grab onto Oda’s head that was protected by black, armor-like hide, before applying immense force through his fist. The grip strength that created was enough to send pain surging through the entirety of Oda’s body as his head began to slowly cave inwards. Pulling out his black claws from the warrior’s head, it seemed like the transformed man had accepted his fate. After all, the very same grip strength that was now being applied directly to Oda was enough to bend space itself, regardless of how much of a monster he was there was no way he would be able to survive it.

The blonde man was scared out of his mind, he had no idea about how he would be able to escape from this situation. Just like that, he could see images from his past flash before his eyes. First he saw the first time he picked on a weaker boy in grade school, then an image of him skipping class to drink with a few of his buddies appeared. After that he could see the time he beat a guy bloody, the worst part was that the fella hadn’t really done anything that bad. After that everything just went downwards until the day he decided to turn his life around. From the moment he decided to apply to that damn government program to this day, he was certain that he had been doing everything in his power to come clean. He couldn’t just lie down and die here, not after everything he had been through, not after everything he needed to atone for. Oda could feel a golden energy building up in his mouth, yet he did not release it, as a blast of energy right into the knight's hand. Instead, he kept it in there while continuously adding more and more power to the attack. He could feel how the energy wanted to escape with each passing moment, yet Oda worked against it; he was certain that if he fumbled this attack he would be killed directly afterwards. When it felt like the energy was about to burst through his jaw in all directions, it was not until then that Oda opened his mouth to let out the energy beam towards his opponent.

The damage done to the surrounding landscape would have been enormous if Oda hadn’t managed to redirect the beam upwards in the last instance, instead of countless buildings being turned to trouble the only impact the beam had was a circular blast hole in an apartment building on the other side of the street. The knight, who had been practically right next to Oda, had the better part of his body destroyed. His entire head, along with his right arm and most of the right portion of his upper body was gone. The edges created were glowing with an orange hue from the great heat that they had been subjected to. As the steel hand who had been holding him upright was no longer in this world, Oda was now lying on the ground while looking up at the scene before him, on the destroyed knight and the ruined building. He lay there motionless for several moments, his monstrous form not reverting out of fear that the knight would somehow come back to life again and attack him, even with both his head and the better portion of his body blown to hell it did not seem implausible.

He did not know for how long he remained motionless like that, for Oda it felt like an eternity. He could see the morning sun slowly rise behind his opponent, not sure if he was truly defeated or only pretending. It was not until a strong gust of wind blew through the area, its force causing what remained of the knight to collapse into a pile of metal that he felt like he dared revert to his human form. Slowly standing up, the blonde man felt like every single joint and limb in his body was screaming out in pain, his head felt like it had been through a dry tumbler and he could barely stand upright. He didn’t know where to go, he couldn’t get his thoughts straight, but he had to go somewhere for he couldn’t stay here.