The Golden Man and the Heart Stained Black

Kazuya had defeated one of his greatest enemies (despite knowing him for such a short time), Lung, by tearing apart his heart and crushing his head. He doubted that he could regenerate from that. The mere thought was tempting fate, of course, but Kazuya had more reasons to believe it than just wishful thinking.

That stupid yet powerful creature had been kind enough to explain how his powers worked. The longer he endured in a fight, the stronger he became. Faster, bigger, more scaly. More of everything, in short. That included his regeneration powers naturally.

He had come back to square one after believing he had won, so there was no way he could survive those two lethal blows. He didn't know any monster that could survive something like that. At least he had gotten rid of that problem.

He had even managed to evade the cavalry. They didn't seem like Lung's friends, but they weren't his either, as they were dedicated to stopping the conflict. And, he supposed, the resulting deaths as collateral damage.

But misfortunes never came alone.

As expected, misfortune was waiting around the corner. There was no corner in the endless blue sky, but it still managed to surprise him, as if it had turned a corner. A man with golden skin, a cloak, and dressed in such pure white that there wasn't a speck of dust. That man wasn't human. He was different from Lung, who was merely a transformed human. Kazuya vaguely understood that fact with the first glance for some reason.

That's fine. He wasn't the first inhuman being he faced. The only strange thing was his vacant gaze, as if his heart were made of stone. One could be filled with rage, with hatred, one didn't need to be a person to have a burning heart. But that being? There was nothing there. Absolutely nothing.

That didn't matter.

What threat could a creature be that had no instinct for survival?

"Get out of my way."

But, despite his bravado, Kazuya...

Kazuya's heart shook for the first time since he was a child. That terrible day when he challenged Heihachi only to be torn apart and thrown off the cliff. Left for dead. He almost brought his hands to the scar on his chest, as it suddenly hurt.

Instead, he stopped the nonsense. He dashed towards the new obstacle, even though he hadn't recovered yet. He would manage, as he always did. About to strike the first blow, suddenly...

A gasp.

Kazuya fell to the ground, split in half.

And if that were all. A golden light was penetrating deeper and deeper into his wound. Devouring him, as if splitting him in half wasn't enough. He hadn't even seen the movement that had...

Ended him? No, no way!

He fell to the ground and felt the darkness engulfing him to claim him. Kazuya knew that if he allowed himself to lose consciousness, even for a second, he wouldn't return. He would die, this time for real. Deep down in his mind, he was aware that there wouldn't be a G Corporation to bring him back, that this wasn't his world.

So he crawled with one arm, the only one left, towards the nearest safe place. A sewer. A dirty sewer.

Normally, they couldn't even pay him to step on such a thing (of course, he didn't need anyone's money, but even leaving that aside, he wouldn't do it anyway), but what could he do?

Split in half, leaving a thick trail of blood behind him like a snail's slime.

His entrails were crawling too.

Being scratched by the asphalt as he passed.

What could he do?

He had to accept the circumstances.

"I'm not going to die here. I can't. Ridiculous."

The circumstances of his momentary weakness, not something like this. He couldn't die. Not here, no way, it was too soon to die! Not even death had been able to stop him once, so he couldn't let things end like this.

He kept crawling towards the sewer, slowly.

To hide from the eyes of the golden man.

"Ridiculous!"

But, it wasn't. This was the only way he could hide, embarrassing as it was. He had to admit it. The impossible had happened. He had been defeated in a single blow. No, I'm alive, so the fight goes on. Nothing has ended as long as I'm alive.

He reached the sewer and hid in the darkness. In the silence of the grave. There, time felt frozen. Time always passed, for better or for worse. No one could stop it.

Even breathing was difficult for him.

His broken ribs stabbed him everywhere with each inhalation and exhalation. His existence was just pain.

Regeneration was even worse than the injury. Of course. Everything in this world had a price. It was natural that putting things back in place would be so agonizing.

But at least, there was no other incident.

The golden man hadn't seen him. Or at least he had left too soon, thinking him dead.

His lost arm regenerated.

When his legs began to regenerate too...

Kazuya!

A voiceless voice, echoing directly in his head. A ghostly voice that could be the product of his imagination, but it wasn't. He recognized it perfectly.

"You again," he spat. "Is it really possible? Here, in this other world? Could you have followed me this far?"

The answer came quickly, as if it could read his thoughts. It wouldn't surprise him if the creature were capable of such violation. He gritted his teeth, filled with rage... helplessness. How he hated that word. How he wished he could never apply it to himself under any circumstances.

"My power still flows through your veins. Why would it be impossible? As long as you depend on the power of the Devil Gene, you will always depend on me. You will always keep me alive."

Kazuya rejected his words without a second thought.

"This power is mine. Mine alone."

"You foolish boy. Open your eyes. You are nothing but my puppet, you and your son have the role I desire."

Jin. Why did he mention him? He had to admit he was surprised when he started the Third World War, but ultimately, unfortunately, he was too weak, although not lacking in power, quite the opposite.

He resembled his mother too much.

"My son has nothing to do with this! He is insignificant. He doesn't have the power to defend anything, nor to destroy it."

"That's why you're still alive despite being so pathetic." So Azazel knew even that. That Jin had had the chance to kill him in the past, as well as Heihachi, and had let it pass. At least he hoped he regretted it now. In any case, that disgusting creature had been watching the Mishimas for a long time, huh? "But everything can be remedied. Die, Kazuya. And let me in."

A wet crunch. A sliding sensation. The feeling was his organs, which had returned to their place, coming out again. A huge arm protruded. The freshly spilled blood made it feel like it had been drying for hours compared to the gleam of the sharp crystals on the arm.

"A new world full of wonders to discover. And even more poisoned than ours. I have to Rectify everything."

Kazuya screamed in agony.

The Golden Man and the Heart Stained Black: FIN

—

For anyone who doesn't know much or at all about Tekken, more will be explained later ofc. For now the things explained in this chapter should be enough: Azazel's power is the source of the Devil Gene, he's a monster and a manipulator of the verse in the shadows. Honestly, I'm taking things in my own direction as well so it's not that important. Azazel can't do this in canon after all.