Through a rainy ruin, a man walked. Step by step, he climbed as visions of the previous battle flashed around him through the roaring thunder. His body was drenched in blood, while the torn and shattered exosuit covering it slowly fell apart. The blood-red pool that surrounded him carried a pungent stench, clearly coming from the endless corpses and broken mechanical parts laying in his path. Distant echoes, cries of anguish and desperation continuously called to him, haunting the back of his mind, but he didn't seem to care as he aimlessly wandered forward.

When he eventually reached a point where there were no longer any steps to climb, the man stopped, a deserted temple standing before him, in shambles, undoubtedly due to years of neglect. He liked to come here to think, not that it mattered anymore. The tree standing next to the entrance was his favorite spot. The man didn’t know what the tree represented or why it was there. All he knew was that it was a good place to rest. Leaning against it, he gradually let his body sink to the ground. And as the heavy rain began to wash away the blood, distant memories resurfaced in his mind.

“Did you hear what happened?” Asked a soft voice in between two rows of semitranslucent bookshelves. “Do you mean the incident that happened last night? The one where that kid ruthlessly killed…” not letting him finish his words, the woman interrupted him covering his mouth with her shaking hand. “Shh, he might hear you. You know he always hangs out in the library.” Then why are you here, he remembered thinking through his teary eyes.

It had always been like this. ‘Death Bringer’ they used to call him. Shinigami Karasu. The cold, ruthless killer, stranger to empathy and kindness. He learned to drown out the voices and glares with books. If there was one thing he liked more than training and fighting, it was reading about past warriors and generals. They motivated him to be better, faster, stronger. Every hour of reading inspired two of training. That’s how he became the best of his clan, ruthlessly striking down his opponents.

That’s how he got their attention. The men in suits came for him one day and nobody protested, in fact, they seemed relieved. They gave him his sword as a formality and sent him on his way. He thought things would be different, but it was only wishful thinking. Even after he got his suit, things didn’t change. Humans feared what they didn’t understand, and even those that showed interest would gradually grow envious or resentful. Although he didn’t care as long as he could continue wielding and studying the blade.

“Systems diagnosis fail…” he suddenly heard his suit breaking down. Raising his injured arm, he witnessed as the augmentations broke away from his chipped, ornamented katana. A shame, this suit had helped him a lot. Thanks to it, he learned to push past his own limits, as well as the limits of what was considered to be possible. It even allowed him to meet his match. What was her name again? Water lady? He couldn’t remember.

“Tell me, why do you fight for them?” She asked flirtatiously as he slashed through her like butter, a dark mist spreading from his blade to destroy the building behind her. He couldn’t hit her, her probability was skewed. Every time, she would simply reform herself.

“You should join us, you would make a great Bàn Shén.” He had no issues parrying the various liquefied attacks she kept throwing his way. However, his suit was constantly being damaged. Was this its limit?

“Don’t tell me you don’t know why they sent you here?” His unwavering determination was impressive. Despite all of her taunts and provocations, he never lost his composure, slashing his blade time and time again, barely giving her any room to counterattack.

“How dignified. This makes me want you even more, but unfortunately…” feeling a sense of danger emanating from his target, he hastily retreated. “It's time for me to go,” she grinned as pillars of various liquids rose around her.

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“Let's meet again, mkay?” she said as the pillars moved to collapse on him. Sheathing his weapon, he lowered his stance. Taking a deep breath, he gripped the tsuka and closed his eyes. Listening to the sound of the water, he counted down in his head. 3, 2, 1…

The sound of his blade slashing through the storm reverberated through their surroundings. And when he finally opened his eyes, the storm was gone. Only a large pool of water remained at his feet.

Despite how frustrated he felt about it, he had to admit this fight was the most fulfilling he’d experienced in a while. He’d left distraught and in thought. When coming here, he kept thinking about it. How could he have killed her? He’d been too distracted to notice the ambush lying in wait, or maybe he realized it but just didn’t care.

“So you came back… Karasu.” Figures emerged from the surrounding shadows. They were so numerous that it was hard to count them. The man at the helm stood confidently, but not all shared his outlook.

“We shouldn’t be here,” one of them whispered, nudging another. “Shut it, we're here now. He needs to die before he grows to become a threat to the nation,” the other replied through gritted teeth. “I’m sorry, Karasu, please understand.”

It was a terrifying scene. Despite him being surrounded, the ones on guard were his assailants. They all stood there waiting for him to move, but he never did until someone cried out.

“The mist! He’s not there. It’s an…” Before he could finish his sentence, blood gushed out from his throat. As his head rolled onto the ground, a few more joined it, and then the carnage began.

One by one, mercilessly, he killed his comrades. Some were apprehensive and some were reluctant about the plan to kill him, but he didn’t care for their pleas and their cries. He murdered them all without a care for his own safety. A cut to the arm for two heads, another to the leg for a heart.

Was this really the land of the rising sun he’d read so much about? Where were the heroes and samurais of legends, would this really be the place where he could achieve his dream?

“Piece of shit, just die already!” They were launching themselves at him like moths into a flame. By the end, he had almost no suit to speak of, but he still stood over his last assailant kneeling before him in a sea of blood.

“Monster,” he whispered as he collapsed and Karasu sheathed his blade, the black mist surrounding him creeping back into his glowing marked back.

And now he was here, leaning against this tree and looking up at the sun gradually revealing itself from behind the clouds. “Am I finally going to die here?” he asked rhetorically, chuckling to himself. Such an end wasn’t so bad, was it?

“No, you will not die here today.” He slightly twitched, surprised by a voice whose presence he hadn’t felt, something that had never happened before. Despite that, he didn’t move. There was no longer a reason for him to fight to his last breath.

“Who are you and what do you want?” Karasu might’ve been slow, but he wasn’t stupid. This woman didn’t simply come to send him off.

“I’ve come to pick you up,” she said as her golden figure came into view, “I can give you what you want, your dream, a source for your oath.” Hearing this, he froze, examining her from top to bottom. A divine slim figure enveloped in a golden light, walking elegantly, slightly above the ground, wearing a pure white exosuit, golden patterns lining its surface.

“You…” he said, speechless by her words and appearance. She was like them, like him, like the one he’d just fought. What the humans around him called the ‘tainted’. He’d never met someone so… bright. Even among the Demigods.

“No, I will guide you to the master you will give your oath to, but that master is not me.” He couldn’t understand what she was saying, but an incredible feeling swelled up from inside him. Was it true? After all these years…

“So are you coming?” she asked, looking back, the wind breezing past her as her hands lay clasped behind her back. Without thinking, Karasu stood up, his eyes fixed on her and the setting sun behind her.

“Good, now let me lead you to your destiny…” she smiled, turning back around and whispering the last word of her sentence, “Crow”.