literature

The Heavens split again for Hokuto! (part one)

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The Heavens cry! Rosalia's irrational end justified by ambition! 

I
 trotted along, mounted to my ginormous horse like usual, glancing around the place moments at a time. I found myself in a village leading up to a small capital of sorts, tagged with a tall flag, Rosalia's flag. The people looked on at me as my horse paced through. My horse was a jet black beauty with well cared locks, and of an enormous proportion comparable to an elephant. The saddle was a fine Elven craft, much like my robes, but unlike my robes, had a good comfort balanced with battle efficiency and durability.  

My robes, on the other hand, were ceremonial. They were mourning robes. I was mourning the needless death of Rosalia. I still pitied her. I knew there was something wrong with her, that there was something more to it than an ambitious woman with an artificial arm, and a forbidden martial arts style.  

Rosalia's martial arts style was Hokuto RyuKen, a branch of Hokuto ShinKen, my style. Hokuto ShinKen carried an awful legacy, Isshi Soden, where as the style can only be passed down from one master to one student. Which lead to many competitions for the title of Successor throughout the many generations of the two thousand year history of the name Hokuto. This means there shouldn't be separate branches either, Hokuto is supposed to be just Hokuto ShinKen. Hokuto RyuKen is a heresy to the name Hokuto.  

The biggest problem about it is that it teaches an evil principle, and some masters have been known to teach multiple students at a time, or another student after already mastered students have left. It's generally desperate attempts to keep the style alive no matter what, so a lot of the students are occasionally taken from their parents. However, as masters, Hokuto RyuKen practitioners wielding Matoki, a demonic fighting spirit aura, will lose themselves to the Makai, a state of being that turns a master into a Majin, a magical demon, and is driven insane by the essence of its evil. They are extremely difficult to exercise, and save, and require the power of a martial arts practitioner on par with the name of Hokuto. There are some speculation that Hokuto RyuKen masters can undergo therapy instead, mainly to focus their uncontrollable Matoki until they come to wake from the Makai, or until they've calmed down.  

Medicines aren't going to help exercise a Majin either. All that can be done is that they are exhausted to the brink of death, and break.  

Approaching the capital, I am confronted with guards. "Hold! This is the origin of Lady Rosalia, any trespassers without business with her select governors or her herself, will be apprehended, and imprisoned!" 

"I am here to pay respects to Lady Rosalia. Allow me to pass, please," I leveled my gaze over them with a sorrowful look in my eyes. It was a heavy moment of eye contact with the two. 

"Respect? I will not say this again, without consent with her governors, or the Lady herself, you will be imprisoned for trespassing! Now go away!" One of them rose their voice at me, scowling now. 

"I don't think anyone's expecting a pointy eared, tree hippy on a ginormous horse, so get out of here quick." The other glared at me. 

I just went onward to walk past them. It would be wise that they stay out of the way, otherwise they'll be crushed by the hooves of my horse. They stayed their distance, but held up their weapons to attack me, only to be yelled at by someone above the gate. An early aged man with some decent complexion, but shared sorrowful eyes. 

"You two let her pass. She said she's here to mourn for our Lady." 

"But Governor Vindreil!" 

"No excuses. Besides... That's the woman who killed our Lady. If you got in her way, you'd be dead before you know it, and she wouldn't get a spec of blood on her robe." He narrowed his eyes. 

"W-What?! An Elf--" 

"He said move," I shouted lowly at the two. They stammered, and moved away. The gate peeled open, allowing me passage into the capital. 

Once inside, my horse was given rest, as was I given a place to be seated with the man who allowed me in. I found myself in a room with a coffee table in the middle, and a doorway that lead out to a high balcony. I was seated at the table in a throne-esque chair, across from another. The man appeared again, and sat down. 

"You're Doctor Vindreil, I presume?" 

"...Yes... you must be here for more than paying respect to our Lady. You're Bethena then... the Seventieth Successor to Hokuto ShinKen," He started "What do you seek, Madame?" 

"I wish to know more about Lady Rosalia. When I fought her, I found out she was a Master of Hokuto RyuKen, one who was apparently already exercised of the Matoki. And her body was not purely human. Please, this is my payment of respect for her—To understand her, her sorrow, and her ambition. If I didn't go through with this, I would never be able to sleep, nor could I be simply forgiven for taking Rosalia's life away," I demanded. 

"… Is that so... . Thank you then, for asking. I need... counseling, and this will do well for it. I can see your sincerity in your eyes. In fact, you had just shed tears recently," He would notice, and accepted my request "I'll go ahead and confess... I fell for our Lady—I loved her. She had charisma nearly as great as her ambition. What she had in mind was to lift our era of reconstruction and survival. Rise it back to the days before the great war long ago. I was her personal medical assistant, I helped keep her health in check, and offer assistance as best as I could. Until she started self-harming habits. It was all to destroy her feelings." 

"Self-harm...? Why though..." 

"She saw that feelings were something that makes humanity biased. It's partly true. Her point was that she needed to judge freely without being biased, or she could never lead a new era," He explained, a bit of regret weighed in on his voice "I was asked to provide artificial parts, synthetic replacements, and surgery. I hesitated, but I had no choice. If I didn't want to do it, I would have denied her in the first place. That's the one thing I regretted. I didn't want to harm that elegant beauty of her majesty, but she left me no choice. She wounds herself too severely, every time she felt emotion. She even went too far, and cut off her left arm. The part was expensive, but it was justified." 

That explained the synthetic tissues that appeared on her body when I fought her. They were patches for wounds that went too deep. It explained her stoic poise, but raises eyebrows still about her apparently zealous ambition. 

"She learned Hokuto RyuKen in her childhood, and was being exercised when she started this organization. We saw her struggle, to fight the Makai. She was strong, and eventually won all by herself. That was when we believed in her strength without doubt. We would have never doubted her strength, ever. Until she came home from her first encounter with you. I will admit, I was frightened. Worried. I would have done anything to stop her from getting hurt like that ever again, but who am I to say I could do everything? Now..." He stopped briefly "I want to know, if you killed her this time, why didn't you finish her the first time?" 

"I couldn't. She defeated me that time, but my friend stepped in and wore her down with ease. I'm pretty sure Rosalia spoke of him as a "bug man", or "caseda monster"?" I explained. 

"Ah... I see... I was dismissive about it, but... hoh well. Is there anything else you want to know, Madame Bethena?" He rose his head. 

"Do you know why she performed Sekkatsu-Ko on herself?" 

"Do what?" 

"Sekkatsu-Ko. A Hokuto ShinKen technique that allows the practitioner to trade the target's life for strength. Basically Sekkatsu-Ko shortens the target's life, in order to give them extraordinary strength." 

"Hm... not really..." He lowered his head, pondering. 

"...Did she see the star adjacent to the Big Dipper constellation?" 

"...Actually she mentioned something about it the night before. I didn't see anything up there, but she said something about having seen it herself." 

My shoulders sunk as I lowered my head "I see...," I sighed below my breath.

So she was destined to die, and knew that she was going to die from confronting Niall, and I again.
The star adjacent to the Big Dipper constellation is known as the Death Omen Star, named for being the cause of many to 
die. The lot of people who have seen this star and know of its infamy generally rush to their death out of desperate escape from it. Some people rush toward it right away, knowing what awaited them. Rosalia is one of them, and she refused to go down quietly. 

Tears streamed down my cheek for a moment, but I wiped them away, and lifted my head "Do you know where she learned Hokuto RyuKen?" 

"Hm? Erh... Why do you ask?" 

"Hokuto RyuKen is a heresy among martial arts styles, and it teaches an evil principle. It must be exterminated, or the world will be doomed once more!" Despite mourning, I had my eyes set to the horizon, to ensure Rosalia was the last ever master of Hokuto RyuKen. She knew just as well as I did that it was an evil fist, and she wouldn't rest anymore than I would in the hunt for Hokuto RyuKen, and its essence of the Lapis Lazuli. 

Hokuto RyuKen means "North Star Lapis Lazuli fist", for its fist to outshine all others, and Hokuto ShinKen means "North Star God Fist", for its successors being the likeness of a God of Death. 

"… I see. She wouldn't forgive me if I neglected to pass down this information. You must head to her homeland, a well preserved forest with a town at its heart. It's known as "Witch's Brew", for its unnatural population, and heavy supernatural influence. It's further down South, past the Southern border of Brazil." 

"Witch's Brew... Southern border of Brazil—I was just there." 

"You were? You must be lucky to have come back alive. No—A miracle must have saved you. For Lady Rosalia's sister visits that place three times a month." 

"What?! She has a sister?!" 

"Yes. She can be called a witch all the people want, but she is a true devil. Nothing can justify the evil heart within her—She's anything but human. She too has mastered Hokuto RyuKen. She is also the reason why Lady Rosalia had us move so far away from here." 

"How far gone is she into the Makai?" I stood up immediately. 

"I'm not sure, it's been two years, and last we heard of the devil, Lady Rosalia was waking up from her slumber, screaming. When the guards came in, they complained about smelling something god awful. That was the night before we moved all the way to Europe. I'm assuming the stench was her." 

"Nothing of an enormous, bone chilling shadow?" 

He shook his head. 

"Hm..." I sat back down, crossing a leg over as I lowered my head. "Then all I can do is head back, and stay for a month until she appears..."


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