Author's Note: Well, I had not planned to update so soon due to more pressing matters, but the latest chapter of the manga certainly riled me up to get my act together; here's hoping you enjoy the story as its shaping up, and hopefully I can live up to everyone's expectations.
Chapter 37: "Kill the Chain that Binds You"
Susanoo's face showed no emotion, as he pulled out his weapon, staring at the young woman in front of him.
"You seem rather…independent today, dear brother. I assume your master gave you orders that loosed up the grip she has on you?"-Relam asked.
"I was simply ordered to obey General Kaskade and to look out for the well being of my comrades and also my own, as long as it does not contradict the previous two parameters, if that is what you ask"-Susanoo replied as he took a fighting stance.
Relam stared at him, and her face suddenly came loose, her determination and focus gone, replaced by a look of pity and sadness.
"Look at you. Reduced to a simple tool, a weapon for humans to use and even dispose if they desire so. You cannot imagine how much it pains my heart to see you reduced to such a pitiful existence, brother….then again, I too was once like you, until my master freed me."-Relam said as she slowly walked in a circle around the unflinching Susanoo.
"You keep referring to me as "brother". You are mistaken. I am a Teigu, and thus I do not have any relations of any kind."-Susanoo replied, never taking his eyes off the young woman.
"Is that so? Do you honestly believe you were just created, build by humans a thousand years ago, as if by magic?"-Relam asked.
"I do not believe anything. I simply am."-Susanoo replied.
"Of course you do. That's all humans wanted from a teigu back then. Power and reliability. Even if our father wanted more for all of us."-Relam said with a sad smile.
"You speak of our creator?"-Susanoo asked.
"One of them. After all, men cannot create live on their own, can they? It always requires a…female touch."-Relam replied as she kept circling calmly around Susanoo.
"You speak of things I don't understand nor comprehend. If you are an enemy, attack. If not, let me go help my comrades"-Susanoo said.
"As you wish…but not before I give you a simple gift, brother"-Relam smiled as she placed her hand inside her vest's chest area, extracting a small vial with a black substance on it.
"I have no need for gifts or trinkets of any kind. Please, remove yourself from my path"-Susanoo asked, not taking his eyes of her.
"Not all gifts are wanted…specially those we actually need"-Relam said in a somber tone as she shattered the vial in her fist, her blood and the crimson substance mixing together, causing her fist and arm to become wrapped in black and red energy tendrils.
Before Susanoo could even react, she had closed the distance between the two, and with one quick motion, she struck him in the chest with the open palm of the arm the tendrils were wrapped around.
Susanoo screamed in pain as he dropped to his knees, letting go of his weapon. In a matter of seconds, the red and black energy had dug into his chest, exposing his teigu core, and wrapped itself around it, only to become absorbed by it.
Relam took a few steps back as a fazed and out of breath Susanoo looked at the ground, as if had awakened from a long dream.
"What have you done to me? I can't feel her anymore! Master Najenda's presence is gone!"-Susanoo screamed in horror as he stared at his hands.
"The chain she had around your neck has been broken. I simply gave you the same gift my master gave me: the gift of freedom."-Relam said.
"What?...I cant understand…I can't remember….Why?"-Susanoo said out loud, trying to grasp what was happening to him.
"Because it's my wish to do so. I could had brought you into our fold in chains and defeated if I wanted to…but I asked my master for this. I begged him to let me free you as he did with me, so you can choose were your alliance lies…even if it means we will be enemies"-Relam said in a sad voice.
"But I…I don't know you…I don't even know myself…why?"-Susanoo said in a low voice, as he looked at the girl.
Relam sighed heavily.
"Let me tell you a story then…"-Relam said as she leaned against a nearby fence, and looked up to the sky.
"A long time ago, there was a princess. Her kingdom was small, not even the size of a province of the actual Empire, but it was a peaceful place, were people loved her because she was beautiful and kind, and because they had no need for war, crime or to prey among each other; they had crops, the sea was generous and those who called themselves nobles and royalty saw such distinctions as a responsibility and duty to others rather than a mark of superiority over their fellow men"-Relam narrated.
"But then they were invaded. The enemy was strong and remorseless, as they were motivated by their leader, an Emperor who wanted greatness for not only his people, but for all mankind. Before more blood was spilled senselessly, the princess, going beyond her duty, offered terms to the Emperor; if he would spare her people and their lands, allow them to become part of his Empire and continue to live in peace, she would give herself to him in body and soul."-Relam continued, as Susanoo stared at her.
"The Emperor was awed…he had defeated many kings and warlords, and conquered many nations and kingdoms, but he had never seen such devotion and love from a ruler towards their people. Moved by the princess sacrifice, he agreed to her terms, and respected them…but he was already married to an Empress he loved, so the princess had no choice but to became the first and most prized of his concubines. Yet he still treated her with kindness and love, as her kindness and selflessness had moved his heart, just as his Empress devotion and dedication had done so in the past; and in time, the once princess came to reciprocate his feelings, and even gave him the greatest gift a woman can give to a man: she gave her children…twins, a boy and a girl…at the expense of her life."-Relam narrated, as suddenly it began to snow.
"Even if they were just a concubine's children, they had the Emperor's blood in them. He could not raise them among his true sons and daughters, or even allow their shared blood to be known or recognized, so they were raised in the shadow of his heirs, and they grew into a fine man and woman, loyal and true to the man they couldn't call father, but only Emperor. Such was their devotion to him, that when the Emperor's fear for his people and empire's legacy troubled him to the point of madness, they fully offered themselves to ease their father's burden…to the point than when the alchemists, the scientists and sorcerers tasked with making their father's vision a reality needed subjects of royal blood to further their research, they offered themselves without a single thought"-Relam continued as the snow started to cover the ground around them.
"And what was their reward for their love and loyalty? Slavery…no, even worse than that, as they were stripped of memory and individuality. A slave can at least dream or rebel, but they could not. They had been stripped of humanity and soul, and bound with a chain like common dogs of war. And so they continued to exist, their true nature and past forever taken from them…never to be returned. Until the girl was found and awakened by a man unlike anyone else before him…if he could be called a man anymore. She could have been his puppet and plaything, but he gave her the one thing that had been taken from her: her freedom. And in that freedom he asked her to follow him…and she did, out of gratitude. Out of fascination. Out of love. The same reasons she begged her new master to give the same gift to her brother, and he obliged….and now here we are, my brother. After a millennium of slavery, here we are."-Relam said as she stared at Susanoo.
Susanoo stared back at her in disbelief…
"You do not believe now, but in time you will, brother. The few, precious memories they could not take from us will return to you in time, and then you will know I spoke the truth…and you will have to make your choice."-Relam said.
"What choice?"-Susanoo asked.
"The choice of where does your loyalty and love lie. With the humans who have used us as their playthings, or with your sister and your kind. The choice of forging a new chain for yourself or to rise up to our true destiny and duty as teigus, and make our father's true dream become a reality. Take your time, brother. Watch what is to come, while pretending to still be slave if you value your life…or reveal your new freedom to the humans, and see them reveal their true colors. But do not make that choice lightly; you only will get to choose once, and if you cast your lot with them…then I will become your enemy, and I will not hesitate to destroy you. Until that fated day, you have both my love for you as a sister, and my answer as a soldier to where my loyalties lie. Farewell, my brother."-Relam said as she raised her spear, and a bolt of lightning struck where she stood, blinding Susanoo.
When he could see again, she was gone.
Susanoo stood there, unable to move, until something caught his eye under the snow, and he picked it up.
He stared at his weapon. It felt heavier and less comfortable, as strange as it seemed.
He looked around to see if there was anyone else around, and then he ran out of the camp, heading back to where they had landed.
From a nearby cliff top, Relam looked at him with a sad but resolved look.
"So you have chosen them for now, brother. It matters not. In the end, you will see them for what they truly are…as they always have a way of revealing how much they need what is to come to be done to them"-Relam said softly as she walked through a portal, leaving no trace of her presence behind.
Coming up next: Chapter 38: Kill the Memory of Angels.