MARTYR

†CROWN OF THORNS†

I feel my body begin to store energy, this is still a battle, nonetheless, I must keep my composure, and use my power. "The fuck is the kid doing?" Steph turns to Hoshi and questions, to which she shrugs and answers "I don't know." They both stare at the boy named Izuya Suiichiro. "Prepare to meet your doom, Izuya!" I laugh and cackle, "Do you seriously believe that?! You're so imputent, so fucking unknowledgeable! You might as well consider yourself an actual god if you think that you can beat me!" I recite a phrase that I taught myself in the desert, "Mortem Tempus." He pauses, "Do what?" I smiled "Death of Time, The Roses of Thanatos grin, and to the chagrin of a buried man, the dawn of time will soon begin again." The Roses of Thanatos rings better than what I had in mind originally. The vines that wrapped my body, the ones that awaken from a forsaken, the ones that create life after death, begin to move around, as if migration is a good thing. "What is happening this time?! The last time he mentioned Roses and Gunpowder he went overboard!" I smirk at his comment "But guess who's back? You know him very well, please welcome me, the Death Saint!" HAHAHAHAHA, a simple pause to a masquerade of bullets, the type that kills millions. I feel the infinite move too! As if it's a snake, the face scar, everything besides Auro doesn't matter to me anymore! The announcer comes on the mic, "A VERBAL ARGUMENT HAS BEGUN!" I glare at the announcing booth, and they quickly shut it. "Are you ready, Mister Undead?" Valour huffs and quickly nods, "Good." The Roses and Vines surround my body. "..." I can feel and embrace everything….my face scar…it too feels similar to a mask….as if it's identifying me as a murderer. Roses bloom in front of me, and the encasement is gone. "Goodbye, once again, Wonderland."

††ROBES OF GREED††

A stain..of blood….A prick from a thorn that only lasts as long as you let it bleed. It runs down my Robes of Greed, simply plead, this world I'm in isn't [Reality], [Dream] or a [Dreamscape], it's a funeral parlor, the home of the dead, a black liquid seeps, seeps through this coffin of Roses that I lay. I begin to move around in this "place" between ours, I sense another being, one not found. Killing me with stares, the room opens itself to tears, a man lay dead in a room, a family crying with plea to the gods who don't find themselves able. I walk forward, and then look down. I'm in a suit of vivid crimson, a colour reminiscent of the blood that was spilt on a ballroom floor after a woman was shot. I can see a man in the coffin he lay, not awake and afraid, but asleep and un-afraid. A coffin is a dead man's best friend, or at least, those who don't rebirth believe. "Can you kill god?"I hear, "Depends." I say with a wide grin. To the response of "An answer untold, you intrigue me, child!"A black liquid seeps through every crevice imaginable. A man, drenched in the ink he arose from, asks me the familiar question "can you die?"I feel another prick...a warning? I don't bleed...instead, I feel the presence that had begun to ask me questions morph...into...a different...form. "Who are you?"The Man laughs, "For you boy, I am known as an Ankou, for outsiders, whomever, I am a Reaper."An Ankou? A servant of Death?"My name boy, is Cù Sìth."The man, or, the dog, as he's known, speaks once more. "I've been summoned by Thanatos to help you and your unknown skills, some of which I will achieve with you as one."I question my head, my heart, and my eyes. "'as one'? Do you mean as a familiar?"There was a laugh, cold silence, and then the response of the century, "YES!"I smile, "WHEN DO WE BEGIN?" Cù laughs, turns back into a voice, and begins speaking again. "Before we begin, boy, you must experience death, Death like that of your family." I pause "Do wha—"

†††DOG OF DEATH†††

GO TO HELL, FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE ❶

There was an abrupt pause to my conversation with Cù, an abyss overturns the funeral parlor, what is this? I can't identify the type of plain…. "Boy, why must you talk to yourself?" Cù questions, "How could you interpret that as speech and not as a mere thought?" I say back. He pauses and answers "Well, because the simple truth is that your 'thought' is just you and your brain conversing." I stare into the black, empty abyss. "Cù, quick question, where are we?" He laughs, "You cannot see me. correct?" I look around, Pitch Black. "Correct." He answers "We are in a plain not known, it is known by those who travel it as 'The Home of Death,' however, it is just a plain of nothingness, nothing resides here, it is a [Travel] plain." I pause, "A [Travel] plain?! How many of these 'plains' exist?!" He laughs again, "There are only around 10. There aren't as many as you'd think." I rethink…. "So, you're saying that there's more than [Reality], [Dream], [Dreamscape] and [Reality Breaker]?" He answers "Correct, there is [Reality], [Dream], [Realm], [Dreamscape], [Travel], [Abyss], and [Reality Breaker]." I pause and ask "I thought you said there was 10? You only listed 7." He chuckles, "The other three are unknown, even to us Gods." EH? I'm confused at his words, even the gods don't know about three of the "10" plains? I begin to see a light at the end of the [Travel] plain. I can feel my body...my hand….becomes..that of a black form… an amalgamation of skin. This pain...is like something I've never felt, it's not like a pain that "hurts" but moreso, doesn't. The pain doesn't consist of anything, moreover, a sort of pain relief. Before I can even blink, we're in a new plain..and for once, I can see a sky, and grass..but it's not an environment similar to my own. "Cù, what is this?" I don't see him, "This is my [Realm]."I pause, "If there is [Realm], then why does [Dreamscape] exist?" He laughs "I couldn't tell you, I didn't create them." I question myself, and ask again "Did anyone really create them?" He pauses, "I don't know, I'm just a dog, after all." I don't think I understand, but I go along with it anyways. "I hope you understand that you're about to face death in a way you've never faced before." I nod, "Good, now let's get started."

GO TO HELL, FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE ❷

I awaken in a room, strapped to a chair. I hear footsteps. Silence. "Who's there?" A laugh. Silence. "CAN YOU KILL GOD?" Echos the room. A man in black walks forward and holds a gun in his hand. "Goodbye." Shoot. Death. Reload. Disappearance. Another room, another phrase. One marks the system "EYES OF THE WEAK, REVENGE IS WHAT THEY SEEK, ARE YOU THE MARKSMAN?"I receive death. I cultivate death. I am Death. "Kill me and make me the play toy to your petty games, bastard." The man in front of me laughs at my remark. "You're a fun one. Unlike the others." I smirk, "I don't need that shit, if you're gonna kill me, kill me now." A turn of heads in an audience, they all clap their hands. "I don't need the bullshit response from a petty man!" He takes out a gun and shoots. Legs. Hands. Dead. DO IT AGAIN, DRIVE ME INSANE! DO IT! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!! THERE'S ALWAYS A CRIMINAL! KILL ME, PURGE ME, ERASE ME! MORTEM TEMPUS. Faint. Return to reality. A man in a suit approaches, I face death once more. "Who has come to kill me?" The man sets down a briefcase. "You aren't dead yet." I smile, "'yet' must be your favourite word." He laughs, "Maybe so." I stare at him. "Cù Sìth, ever heard of it?" I chuckle, "No." He smiles, "You're lying, I can see it in your eyes." I smirk, "You must be Greed." He puts his hand on his chin, "You must be Death." I laugh, "We must know each other." He grins, "Is that so?" I nod, "Gluttony wouldn't even let me get a word out, Pride just wanted me to die, And yet, you, Greed, allow me words, why so?" Greed smiles, "Because you and I are one in the same." I raise an eyebrow, "I've yet to meet Sloth, Lust, Envy, or Wrath, how do they take to ideologies like mine?" Greed chuckles, "Lust and Envy dislike ideologies like yours, meanwhile Wrath and Sloth are just unbeknownst." I grin at that answer,"You have something in common with death, and yet, you have no idea who I am, do you?" Greed nods, "Yes, I believe that you must overcome." I pause "Come again?" He laughs, "You must overcome, you are oblivious, Death." I smile, "Greed, the Sin Greed, is telling me to overcome, I must be dead!" Greed smirks and pulls the gun out from the briefcase. "Goodbye, Death." Aim. Shoot. Dead. Lust awaits me, it does so obliviously.