"What?" Heracles glared at Tetsuya, who gripped his blade with a fierce and intense grip that it started to smoke.
"I'm asking you... What does life mean to you...? You gods just trample on life as it means nothing to you... I always considered myself a solemn person... never have I ever gotten mad... but... I'm beyond pissed at you." Tetsuya gritted his teeth before the mark on the right side of his forehead spread to his eye.
"I'm... trembling... with how much I want to kill you... And how much you don't remember me!" Tetsuya gritted his teeth as his blade just kept on smoking.
In the spectator stands.
A woman with long, blue-purplish hair and starry eyes rushed into the stands, accompanied by her two small children, before staring at the massive screen.
"Tetsuya... don't lose... You promised me... that you'd show me... what love is!" The woman yelled at the screen while Tetsuya was glaring down at Heracles.
"Um... isn't Tetsuya the one in trouble? Why is he... so calm in being able to kill Heracles?" A spectator questioned while Tetsuya's eyes glowed.
In the arena.
"You son of a-" Heracles started before a glare from Tetsuya made it feel like the Earth was shaking, unbridled rage, so much so that even a god... cannot escape from this bloodlust.
"You must've already forgotten me... and how... my wife and child died..." Tetsuya glared down at Heracles before he took a breath and steadied himself.
In the spectator stands
A man with eyes that said "Upper Moon 2" leaned against the rails before glancing at the fight.
"How amusing, this is quite intriguing. So this monstrous strength is what got Lord Muzan to run away." The man smiled while waving fans.
A man with pink hair and eyes that said "Upper Moon 3" stared at the screen with wide eyes.
"Technique, strength, speed, he's... the ultimate demon slayer... there's no one more fit to be one than him."
The man with six eyes just stared at the screen with envy before tears came to his eyes. His eyes, which said, "Upper Moon 1", were now dripping tears onto the floor.
"Just stop... stop... stop trying so hard.. you'll just die in the end... just stop... fighting that god... Tetsuya..."
Flashback, Sengoku Era, 1467, Japan.
"Someone who never had feelings of jealousy... they've simply never met someone like him. Someone who lives with the favour of gods lavished on him... someone who burns so brightly like the sun... my younger brother... Tetsuya Akio..." Tetsuya was standing beside a man with the exact same white hair as him, but instead of the bright red haori that Tetsuya was wearing, the man was wearing a purple haori instead.
"Our upbringing was completely different. Rooms, education, clothes, even the food we ate were varied differently... perhaps that was why... he never smiled and was unable to leave Mother's side... whenever I could see Tetsuya, he always stuck by Mother's side. A little brother like that... how could I see him as anything but pitiful?" A 7-year-old Tetsuya walked solemnly into the field where the boy was training with a while the two of them were holding wooden swords.
"Brother, your dream is to be the strongest samurai in the land?" Tetsuya spoke slowly, his face emotionless, to the boy, who gasped in shock before dropping his wooden sword. Tetsuya slowly smiled at the boy, making his hand shake with unease.
"My breath halted in surprise, and my wooden sword slipped from my hands. And then, he began to proclaim that he was going to become a Samurai. And for the first time, Tetsuya's mouth turned into a smile. It unnerved me... someone who ran to his mother and clung to her side... the moment he saw her, he wanted to be a samurai? It would never happen." The boy went back to training with the blade before picking it up from the floor and swinging it down to the floor.
"Nonetheless, the next time I trained, Tetsuya stood to the side expectantly, hoping to receive some instruction. One of our father's men, who was instructing me in the blade, decided to humour Tetsuya and hand him a bamboo sword. He told him how to hold it, how to stand with it. Just a simple verbal instruction." Tetsuya held the bamboo sword before his instructor took place. Tetsuya immediately rushed towards the instructor and struck him in the stomach, neck, arm and torso before sweeping the guy off his feet with the sword.
"No matter how I tried, I have never taken a point against the man. But Tetsuya, in the blink of an eye, had scored four points and knocked him flat. A 7-year-old child had struck his neck, stomach, arm, torso and foot. After that... Tetsuya had never wanted to become a samurai; he didn't enjoy seeing others suffer." Tetsuya now sat beside the boy before the boy kept on hounding Tetsuya for the answers, as to how he was able to defeat the man.
"Before you go to strike, take a really deep breath. Then you take a good look at your skeletal alignment, muscle contraction, blood flow and that sort of thing." Tetsuya stared at the floor before the boy widened his eyes, slowly realising that no matter how hard he tried, he could never beat Tetsuya, who was someone... blessed by the gods.
"He was born with the mark, and with that mark came an extraordinary sight. The people's living bodies were transparent to him. And an extraordinary physical ability. The person whom I had, until that point, looked down on... had far outstripped me. I wanted to master the blade... but compared to the miraculous child's prodigy who was gifted by the god, I was moving at a turtle's pace. Our positions had swapped in an instant. I had little to no doubt that our father's man had informed him about Tetsuya." The boy lay down on the futon in a three-tatami room while he stared at the roof with nothing but envy and jealousy in his eyes.
"Brother? Mother has passed." Tetsuya's voice rang throughout the door before the boy approached the door.
"What did you say?" The boy immediately rushed towards the door to find Tetsuya sitting there with a solemn expression.
"Forgive me, I beg that you hear me out as your retainer. I plan to leave tonight. My only wish... is to say goodbye to you." Tetsuya slowly took out a flute and smiled before wrapping it in a piece of cloth.
"This flute... I will strive, day after day, no matter how far from home I drift, I will not lose heart. Because I will think of my older brother who gave me this flute." The boy's eyes widened at Tetsuya's fulfilled expression.
"Tetsuya then took that flute, which could produce nothing but off-key notes... wrapped it around a piece of cloth as if it was some sort of treasure... he smiled once more, it was garbage. I didn't understand how garbage brought him such joy. It set my teeth on edge, I said nothing in edge." Tetsuya bowed down to the boy before running towards the gate of the house before smiling at the boy again.
"It was only by my mother's diary... did I realised that Tetsuya had known that he would usurp my place as heir. Apparently, he set off before the decision could be made. And it seems like Tetsuya had learned about everything... about mother's illness. When she would die. For years, she had suffered as the left side of her body grew more impaired. The left side of her body... the left..." The boy's eyes widened as he remembered the scene of Tetsuya supporting their mother on the left side by hugging her and letting her lean on him.
"Tetsuya had not been clinging to our mother's side. He had been supporting Mother's body as she grew more feeble." The boy gripped the diary before ripping each page off, bit by bit, before rage clouded his heart.
"It was then. I could hear it. My body is being consumed by the flames of jealousy, from the inside out. From the very bottom of my soul, I blazed with hatred for the genius known as Tetsuya Akio, my younger brother. I'm begging you, please die. I wish you had never been born; your existence defies the laws of nature." The boy ripped more pages out of the diary before throwing the book into the wall and crying out in despair.
"Then, it was a peaceful time for fifteen years, I got married, had children. Every day was tranquil and somewhat boring. However, a demon had attacked where I camped. There it was... when we had a surprising encounter." Tetsuya slashed the demon's head off as it was ready to eat the man. Tetsuya now had a tall, lean, muscular build, shoulder-length white hair that he kept up in a bun, violet color eyes that could stare into other people's souls.
"The moment I saw Tetsuya, my stomach burned with jealousy and hate... he was no longer the same Tetsuya I had known. He had mastered the blade... and could now defeat inhumane opponents." The man just shivered in his foot as Tetsuya got down on one knee.
"I'm sorry, my brother... I should've arrived earlier."
"Tetsuya was strong and was a person of faultless character... no matter what, I wanted to make his strength and swords skill my own... I abandoned my wife, home and children... and chose the path of a demon slayer. Tetsuya would teach everyone his breathing techniques, but not a single person could match him. To each person's physical abilities, Tetsuya changed the technique as he taught; thus, derivatives from the Sun Breathing came one after the other. Before long, I had manifested a mark, the same mark as Tetsuya's. but in the end... I couldn't even use Sun Breathing... I could only use a derivative later called "Moon Breathing." I thought I could catch up to Tetsuya if I continued training." The man gripped his sword with anger before stabbing it into the ground while gritting his teeth.
"There was no future for someone like me, who was born to be in Tetsuya's shadows." Suddenly a man with black hair, pupils that was like a cat's and a standard haori walked towards the man.
"Then you should become a demon. If you become a demon, you can live forever. You want to master breathing techniques. And I want to make a demon out of a swordman who can use them. What do you say?" Tetsuya's brother's eyes widened as he immedately bowed to the man.
"The path I had hoped for from the bottom of my heart had opened. I would be free of all fretters. Or so I thought. You now appear before me again, fighting a god. You transcended the laws of nature and is now... fighting... with what most humans can only of dream of fighting." Tetsuya's brother gritted his teeth before glaring at the screen.
"No one, not even lord Muzan... could defeat you... no single person was able to harm you. Why? Why do you always make me so miserable? Hate! Hate! Hate!" Tetsuya's brother gritted his teeth as he kept glaring at the screen.
In the Arena
Tetsuya rushed towards Heracles and slashed down at his neck, only for Heracles to swing his club at Tetsuya's stomach and making him vomit up blood. The flute that he was carrying all this time fell out of his pockets.
Tetsuya's brother's eyes widened as the flute fell and hit the ground, Heracles completely ignored it before stomping and crushing it.
"I think of this flute you gave me... as you..." Tetsuya's voice rang throughout his brother's head as a singular tear fell down each of his eyes.
"Enough already, I hate you... just seeing your face again makes me sick... even after... living hundred of years what I remember the most vividly is your face... the thing I want to forget this most... no... that's not what I wanted to say... I just... wished I could be you... Tetsuya... why in the world... was I even born? Tell me... Tetsuya." Tetsuya was seen with blood dripping down his head as Heracles stomped towards him.