| 85 | Akabane: | Shall we stop this circling about? |
| Semimaru: | That is my intent. I have you in the palm of my hand! |
|
| [They fight] | ||
| 86 | Hevn: | You say the Kiryudo and the Maryudo lived in harmony together... Seriously , Shido-kun!? |
| Shido: | Yes... Dividing the dark forest of this Valley of Hell between them, protected
by the bottomless Yomi Lake - once, they co-existed. In the "Palace of Insects", and "Palace of Beasts"... |
|
| Hevn: | Then what exactly... | |
| Shido: | The Maryudo and Kiryudo were a single race once. The Elder said, that the tribes united under one "god", holding the source of power "Kimera", and were divided into "insects" and "beasts". |
|
| Hevn: | God? Kimera? It's like some kind of cult... |
|
| Kadzuki: | No... When you get down to it, the origin of a people is indivisible from religious belief. Think about it. Even Christianity began as something very much like a cult. | |
| Hevn: | That's true... When beings with special powers descend to earth as gods, humanity undergoes great changes. If apes can become men, then men can become beasts and insects, I guess is the case... (This is a complicated topic...) | |
| 87 | Toshiki: | Come to think of it, he said the same thing. |
| Juubei: | He? | |
| Toshiki: | The one who was once called Lucifer. He said to me... |
|
| [flashback] | ||
| Lucifer: | [holding a wine glass] Humans are nothing more than vessels formed in
a certain shape. However, this vessel has no power to change its form. Whereas humans - were they to be given some "certain" power - are beings that can metamorphose freely, according to their own will. |
|
| [end flashback] | ||
| Toshiki: | To him, that "certain" power was a single card... | |
| Hevn: | And if "Kimera" were that power to the Maryudo and Kiryudo,
then-- What is "Kimera"? |
|
| 88 | Shido: | The heart. |
| Hevn: | Eh!? | |
| Shido: | "Kimera" comes from the sky, and makes its home in the left
breast of the one who is to unite the two tribes, and become Elder of both
Kiryudo and Maryudo. Many hundreds of years ago, a foolish battle was waged when a man named "Kabuto" was chosen for this. |
|
| Hevn: | "Kabuto"... it's the same name as the Elder of the Kiryudo! | |
| Juubei: | It's the same person, according to MakubeX. | |
| Hevn: | Then... he's been alive for hundreds of years!? | |
| Ryuuhou: | It's not really living. More like he just hasn't died. |
|
| Hevn: | What do you mean? | |
| 89 | Kaoru: | "It" has gained an existence beyond life or death. "Kabuto"
is no more than the determination to survive; it has no physical form. But that determination has remained, like an avenging spirit, to rule the Kiryudo for many hundreds of years. |
| Hevn: | No physical form!? | |
| Kadzuki: | That's ridiculous! | |
| Kaoru: | "Kabuto" should be destroyed. Anyone who's already lost the ability to weep for someone else should receive his own death. |
|
| Hevn: | But then, if "Kabuto" was chosen to lead both tribes, why did
war break out between the Kiryudo and the Maryudo? What does "Kimera" have to do with that? |
|
| Shido: | We took it by force. | |
| Hevn: | Eh...!? | |
| 90 | Shido: | What I heard from my Elder was this: the Elders of the Maryudo disliked Kabuto's ambition to conquer and rule the world, and so took his heart - "Kimera" - by force. |
| 91 | It is to wrest control of the ability to wield "Kimera" that this war began. | |
| 92 | Hevn: | His heart... |
| Shido: | From that point on, "Kimera" was passed on continuously from
generation to generation of the Shikizoku's Elders, and protected by them. If the Kiryudo are tracking down us survivors, it's for the sake of taking it back. If they hold "Kimera"'s strength, Kabuto will revive and come into a power great enough to become king over the entire earth. |
|
| Juubei: | And thus they kidnap Otowa Madoka in order to draw you out. How dishonourable... |
|
| Shido: | ...Sorry. For dragging you all into something like this... | |
| Kadzuki: | Shido... | |
| Hevn: | The important thing is that said heart doesn't get taken back, is all! ...So where is it now? |
|
| Shido: | Like I said, I'm not the one who holds the key to this matter. It's Amon, the descendant of the Natsuki, who does. |
|
| 93 | "Kimera" is placed in his left breast. | |
| 94 | [Akabane and Semimaru are still fighting] | |
| 95 | Semimaru: | Kuroudo, I ask you - what is this thing called death! |
| Akabane: | I told you, I can't picture it. | |
| Semimaru: | But I would know from you, and thus I question! | |
| Akabane: | Heh. Well then, let me define it like this -- | |
| 96 | It's "other people's business". | |
| 97 | There, I have a question of my own. You were once called the "Genocide Sargent", and dyed battlefields red with blood. But now you cannot even rejoice in our chance meeting, for the sake of keeping alive the leaders of some lowly bugs whose natural lifespan is at an end. Is what drives you now an unlikely thirst for glory? Or... Did you change with the death of your son? |
|
| 98 | [flashback] | |
| Semimaru: | Help my son, Doctor! Doctor Kuroudo! |
|
| Akabane: | I've done all that I can. But... |
|
| Semimaru: | Aaah... aaah... | |
| 99 | OOOOOOOHHHHHH!!! | |
| [end flashback] | ||
| Akabane: | After that I heard you turned your back on the world, to play the pipa
and wander the roads. To break your vows and return to what must weary you, and be named one of the Seven Elders - what are you doing? |
|
| Semimaru: | He will revive him. If Kabuto gains "Kimera"'s strength and is revived, then I will borrow that strength... |
|
| 100 | And with this lock of hair, my son will become flesh and blood, and resurrect from death to the bloom of health! | |
| Akabane: | ...Dilapidated stock drama. I expected a more incisive answer. That man Lucifer said the same thing: to return my child from heaven, so we can live together again... It's boring, truly. |
|
| 101 | Semimaru: | You cannot understand! |
| Akabane: | I don't even want to understand. I'm disappointed in you... |
|
| 102 | Semimaru: | Say what you like! !? |
| Akabane: | I'll transport you. | |
| Semimaru: | Hah! | |
| Akabane: | Our old friendship is fee enough. | |
| 103 | "Bloody Cross". | |
| Semimaru: | That's nothing! | |
| 104 | Akabane: | "Bloody Sagittarius"-- |
| I will meet you again in the underworld. | ||
| 105 | That is my offering to those who attack me. | |