Kapitel 229: CHPT 229: The difference between You and Me.
Time is odd.
Its inner workings and definition is set in stone. Yet, when you're somewhere you really don't want to be, seconds feel like minutes.....minutes feel like hours and so on. It becomes very relative.
Something Claude became very aware of while inside the Library with Ronin and his legion of morally questionable Detectives.
Time felt like it was on the verge of freezing-- a rather odd word to use since he'd describe his time in the Library as hellish at the very least.
A hellish experience, ran by a hellish kingpin and his imp-like followers on a payroll that would probably catapult Claude into a life similar to that of a Noble.
The interrogation went different than he'd experienced before. Where Det. Cyrene conducted hers like a starving monster just barely restrained by a leash, Ronin was calm, precise-- and inhuman. He came in waves with his attacks, something made worse when Claude realized how talented Ronin was at reading people. He'd apply pressure, watch Claude squirm and fight, and then he'd relax. Something that inadvertently coaxed Claude to do the same. Which was a mistake.
Any time he relaxed in any way, Ronin came back swinging-- poking and prodding, finding any weak-point in Claude's defenses or story to exploit. His style of interrogation probably mimicked his fighting style. Unnaturally patient offense that exploded into a hurricane of violence at the first sight of weakness.
It was a nightmare.
Something made worse when he realized Ursula told Ronin of his fabricated partially truthful story.
This left Ronin agitated. Agitated at being confused and in the dark for the first time in decades probably. Claude could smell the anger spewing from him like smoke billowing from a burning house.
That's also what made him so confident in Claude being what he's accused of. If Samuel and Tai had left the Tangent as Monsters...then Ronin believed Claude did as well.
The interrogation continued like this-- in varying styles, for an unreal amount of time. Claude constantly against the wall under Ronin's pressure, while Detectives lurked in the shadows with their weapons ready and eyes filled with barely restrained violence.
It felt like it would last forever. Until it suddenly ended. Claude felt like that was a good sign, but something else deeper within his consciousness screamed otherwise.
***
For the first time in the interrogation, Ronin's head slumped. For the first time, his chilling cobalt eyes weren't slicing through Claude's face like metal spikes.
"You've done well in keeping your guard up. But you doubt my experience, child." Ronin said in an icy tone.
Claude stayed silent, at this point he wasn't sure if speech was something he could manage without his words slurring and deepening into growls.
Ronin continued while his eyes burned holes into the table below him, "You're not the first Shape-Changer i've encountered.....not even the thousandth. The first one I encountered as a boy, worlds from here. A place where orphans like myself didn't make it to adulthood. The Akuma seemed to develop a taste for children in those days. I wouldn't have been the exception if not for meeting a certain someone that took me in.....a pacifist." He said, ending the last words in disgust.
"He wore scarring....like me and you. Yet, he held no sword. He had no level. He was a calm man, spouting his ideals while he aimlessly walked the lonely streets from dawn till dusk. You see, he often told me. A man who grabs hold of a sword, commits himself to a life of violence in that very moment, he places a curse upon himself." Ronin laughed, a dark and lifeless rendition of the originally cheerful sound as he finished.
"In a world like this. Who the fuck would say something like that? Life in this world IS violence." A cold rage crept into his smooth voice. "That's what I thought as a homeless child yearning to kill the Akuma. His words were pointless. He was a stupid old man. But when applied to a different context-- when you read between the lines, it fits.....like a glove."
His head rose to meet Claude's eyes, they brimmed the intensity of something that can only be described as unparalleled power. "When applied to humans, it works. When I grab ahold of my many swords, yes, I do promise to one day come face to face with violence. But the part I never caught onto was that there is a choice. Humans have to reason with whether violence is called for or not. Sometimes it isn't. Sometimes it is. All it takes, is the touch of a blade...."
Claude's eyes flashed in response to the sudden burst of movement.
Ronin's left arm raised in a flash, held out at his side as if he was waiting to catch a ball. Only a ball wasn't what came.
FWOO!
CRK!
A sword flew from across the room and landed straight in his hands as if the two were connected by an invisible string. As soon as it fell into his hands, a chill rumbled down Claude's spine and beads of sweat cluttered his forehead.
He sat up and held the sword in front of himself as if he was presenting it to Claude.
It looked like a basic katana. A simple handle with strong leather cord wrappings that rose up to a circular guard with its blade hidden in a shining black sheath. Ordinary katana, thats how it looked at first glance, but then the runic engravings along the sheath and handle pulsed with an ominous and dark glow-- like it was alive. Thousands of engravings in a language read far from here, pulsed and beat with an otherworldly magic that caused goosebumps to ripple along his flesh.
"[Oh....shit..]"
"Wha--" Before he could question Arne's awestruck tone, Ronin started to speak again.
"Ironic isn't it. Raised by a man who spoke of swords as curses, only to one day wield the last cursed blade on earth." He continued observing the blade through cold eyes, "Its almost poetic..."
"What the hell are you doing?" Claude questioned.
"I'm showing you. I have a choice. I can choose violence.....and this is all it takes."
Chk!...SCREEEEEAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!
Following Ronin's words, he placed a hand on the sheath of his sword and pulled it free. All it took was a inch of movement, and the shining silvery- red sword became visible to the world. An otherworldly scream emanated from the blade, followed by a wave of power that shook the floor and sent the papers on the table flying chaotically.
Claude snarled in pain before his arms flew up to his ears.
All he did was show an inch of the sword, and it felt like a hurricane had spawned inside of the Library.
At the eye of the storm, Ronin sat as calmly as before. Only he looked different.
Black smoke split by steaming red fissures spewed from his eyes, causing the blue glow of his irises to pop out like balls of lightning within the heart of flaming storm-clouds. His graphic change didn't end there. The pale scarred hands that once held his sword were now lined with glowing black veins that squirmed and slithered like leeches beneath his skin all the way up to his neck.
He looked horrifying. And his sword screamed endlessly with the cries of a thousand tortured souls.
"Mura Masa Blades. Like most Hallowed Weapons, they affect their holder-- transform them. But you see, i'm different. I've seen too much death to feel the need to be coaxed into committing the act. The voices no longer speak to me, because they know I'll do what they desire. I am the only Hero to wield the Cursed Katana and not be tainted by its bloodlust, because I have no more left. I've seen enough."
"WHY! Why are you doing this?!" Claude roared over the screaming sword at Ronin-- who looked less like a man and more like something beyond human limits.
"To show you. The difference between you and me. The difference between me and those that are like you...and the man who raised me. He had no choice when he took on the Fera-Form of a Silver Cursed Tiger and ate away at everyone in sight once a month. You see, I understood that he had no choice. I understood that running him through with a silver kitchen knife was the only way to put him at peace. He was sick! He had no control. The call to blood and flesh was too strong. He couldn't avoid its call, because he was tainted.....And so are you." Ronin explained before throwing the sword at Claude.
FWOO!
"[No WAIT!]"
It all happened too fast, the blade moved too quickly, his reflexes moved at an even faster pace-- causing him to grab hold of the sword before he could even consciously make the decision. All he knew was, once he had it, the world went silent.
All that was left was to witness the affects the last Cursed Katana would have on the last Lupine of Romulus.
AUTORENGEDANKEN 
_Avatar0FFury_
_Avatar0FFury_ Hey! THANKS FOR 400K!!!!!!!! Man, its insane-- didn't think I was gonna get here tbh, but now that we are its time to keep it pushing. Hope you enjoyed the chapter, I got the next one written so once I work out the minor details I'll upload again today as a show of thanks. Thanks for the powerstones frenandoi, alexx99, WarriorWolf, TheLucidParagon, Arameus, Lucas_Gommes_1300, twm0909, NLinCH, train_master Deadra606, Aaron_Lobo, Krissch_, AnnabelleXP, omeroford, Amith_Sydney, Ominous_Reader, and Demosura !!!
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