• Prologue: The Crimson Angel Appears
    The year is 1853; it is the end of the Edo period also known as the Bakumatsu era. The government has drastically changed from a land ruled by the samurai and their discipline to a land ruled by politics, science, and, revolution. During this time the world of samurai was crumbling, the newly formed government issued a ban on all swords that came with a strict penalty if a samurai was caught with a displayed sword, the dojos that had so faithfully turned out amazing samurai full of honor and pride, were turned into pachinko parlors whose managers only saw dollar signs, and would do anything to payback their “debt” whether it was by stealing the property or even using the wife or family, and to make matters worse, the samurai were being hunted by the very people they took up their swords to protect. The only people nobody would touch were former revolutionaries standing in high position and usually paid hired mercenaries to protect them stating they needed the protection because they fought and survived the “hell-hole” and became the “saviors of this country”, the respect and honor they contained in their soul completely destroyed. The newly created police force was no different, it consisted mainly of former criminals and blood thirsty samurai who only wished to kill or bully around the weak using the badge they had and the fact they were allowed to wield their swords and use them, legally.
    Through this world of chaos came a man, no, not a man…a monster. He was simply known as The Crimson Angel. Legend says he appeared in a battle between samurai and police officials, he was on neither side. It goes on to say he slew millions of men that night, police and samurai alike, the blood from their wounds spraying out over him gave it the appearance of crimson wings splayed behind him, his hair dark as night flew around his head like a pitch black halo as he moved soundlessly through the victims and the mix of his blood thirsty smile as he slashed open his victims and his laughter, dark and sinister as the depths of hell, carved fear deep into even the most hardened survivors.
    He was known for killing ruthlessly and for months he killed samurai and government officials alike. His trademark was two slits in the back piercing the lungs from behind and ripping it open, opening the stomach and their sword puncturing them showcasing the slits, eye witnesses say the slashes look like “angels who had their wings sliced off down to the bone”, and all the medics stated the slashes were created “specifically for a long painful death and if the cuts didn’t kill them the infection would.”
    Weeks after he first appeared Angel had taken the heads of several well known officials and a bounty of 1,298,000 yen was put up for his bounty and his name had become synonymous with the very demons parents tell their children occupy the darkness. The suddenly without a sign the Crimson Angel, the Angel from Hell himself……vanished…. And this is where our story begins










    Chapter I: Enter Kyoshi Miyamoto
    “Man that man looks uuuuugly” said a young man bursting out laughing in front of a ramen shop. It was apparent to any passerby that young man was not local of Saito, Miyazaki, possibly a “tokaijin” or city person. He was slightly taller than average with black hair down to his waist, with a slightly baby looking face, high cheek bones and full lips with a small prominent nose. His most prominent feature seemed to be his eyes, they were the color of the ocean during a sunny day, the mix of blue and green that makes any person long to gaze deep into its depths wishing you could see into its secrets at the bottom, whether it be the gates to Heaven or the very depths of Hell. The only thing setting him apart from all people other than his eyes was the nagamati strapped on his back. “Young man do you have a valid reason for that sword? “Excuse me?” The Young man turned around to see a kind looking old man in a “nakajubin “ or robe with a badge stitched into the fabric. “Young man will you please follow me?” asked the old man with a kind smile. “Yes sir, just lead the way” said the young boy wary of the old man and his sudden kindness towards a stranger. “Sir where are we going if you don’t mind me asking?’” asked the young boy after a few minutes of silence when he noticed they were going deeper into the slums of the town. “Just taking you somewhere safe, you don’t want the Sword Corp seeing you” said the old man looking over his shoulder as they came up to an old building, most of its windows broken and the door gaping and empty. “This is my home so please stay here for a bit nobody will expect a kind old man to be protecting a swordsman” said the old man walking up to the door, motioning for the boy to follow. “Oh I forgot to introduce myself my name is Kyoshi Miyamoto, im a traveling aid, so I go around helping people with any problems they may have, im pretty much broke right now so I can’t pay you, sorry” said Kyoshi as he walked into the door.
    Kyoshi looked around as he walked in scanning the room. He was standing in the middle of a dirt floor, a futon at the corner of the room. He also noticed several portraits on the walls surrounding the room; upon closer inspection he noticed they were the same girl but different periods in her life. She was a short girl with black coarse hair flattened straight, dark eyes, but the one thing that caught his attention was her lips, and they were a soft pink and slightly heart-shaped. “That is my daughter Su Young; she has been missing since the rebellion began.” Kyoshi looked over at the old man noticing the sadness in his voice and could see tears begin welling up in his eyes. Kyoshi patted the old man on the back with a sympathetic smile and said softly “Hey I’ll try to do my best to find your daughter Gramps no worries.” He looked up at him the tears already starting to ebb away at the thought of this young stranger actually finding his daughter. W-What makes you believe you can find my daughter when the entire Miyazaki police force could not find them?” A smile spread across Kyoshi’s face and he puffed out his slim chest a look of confidence in his eyes. “Trust me Gramps you won’t be disappointed” Said Kyoshi as he hurried out the door, his sword swaying with each step. “Maybe he could find my Su Young, there is just something about him that makes him seem so trustworthy….and yet I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere.” The old man just shrugged and had just walked back into the house when a scream piercing the air caused him to turn around.
    Quite a ways down the street the Sword Corp. had surrounded Kyoshi and they all had their swords drawn, all but Kyoshi. The old man hurried to try to smooth talk them, knowing firsthand the cruelty the Corp. was capable of, considering they were all experts in Hyoho Niten Ichi Ryu, one of the deadliest sword styles created and they were all bloodthirsty criminals who cared solely for the exhibit of blood. He reached where they were but soon realized something was wrong, the Sword Corp had not moved a muscle and drops of cold sweat had begun to drip from their shaking bodies. “Don’t come over here Gramps.” Said Kyoshi in front of him but the old man couldn’t see his face, suddenly something wet caught his eye and he realized Kyoshi hadn’t moved because he was cradling the body of a small girl a deep gash along her torso. Carefully setting the girl down Kyoshi gripped the handle of his sword and suddenly a gust of hot air began blowing and he felt an awful presence, one he hadn’t felt in years, it was full of anger and malice and hatred, and he realized the presence was coming from Kyoshi. It took the old man a few seconds to realize he was speaking and another few seconds to figure out what he was saying and what he heard chilled him to the bone. “You damn bastards, you cut down a little girl merely to intimidate an opponent, you do not deserve to have the honor of wielding those swords!” Suddenly a high pitched laugh erupted from Kyoshi, a laugh full of delight yet anguish, a laugh so demented it made even the Sword Corp fall to their knees. Kyoshi lifted one of the officers into the air, the blood of the little girl still dripping on his blade and whispered something to him, the officer’s face quickly became ashen and he began screaming like a man possessed kicking and clawing at his captor. Kyoshi dropped him to the floor and the officer began babbling incoherently his eyes wide and full of fear as if he had just stared Death in the face. Suddenly a soft moan was heard and the little girl began to move, people looked from her to Kyoshi and watched in awe as he turned from the men and picked up the little girl to carry her to the nearest hospital. Only after he left did the people hear what the officer had been screaming ‘It’s him, the Crimson Angel, the Angel of Hell himself, he has come back!!!”







    Chapter 2: The Angel Reborn

    The old man found Kyoshi waiting on a futon at his house, by the time he had arrived Kyoshi had already packed up what little belongings he had, and his nagamati was strapped to his lower back. It was very clear he had been crying, the dry tear tracks were like dry river beds across the Sahara, and his shoulders were shaking as if they were holding up the weight of the very Earth they stood upon. “How could such a frail and sad looking child be the man everyone has feared for so long?” This was the first and only conscious thought before the old man realized Kyoshi was talking to him. “Excuse Me?” Kyoshi simply sighed and walked to check on the girl asleep in the corner of the room. “Please take care of the girl Gramps, I’m leaving before I put the two of you in any more danger then you already will be.”
    He old man watched him with tender eyes “Before you go, please grant this poor, fragile old man two short requests; the first, please stay one more night.” “What’s the second?” Kyoshi asked wary of the old man. “The second” said the old man with a heavy sigh, “is please tell me your story.”
    Kyoshi looked at him with a resigned look and simply said “You may not like the answer I give you.” The old man chuckled lightly and patted Kyoshi on the shoulder reassuringly, his eyes full of both concern and some emotion unbeknownst to Kyoshi. “Trust me, a young man’s story is not something I am unaccustomed to hearing.” He said almost urging him on. With a deep breath to gather his courage Kyoshi began his story.
    ” My name is Kyoshi Miyamoto, I am sorry to say I do not remember my childhood or my age….even my birthplace is elusive to me. My first conscious memory of my youth is being taken to Kakunodate in the Tohoku Region of Japan*.For some reason I met a man there; he was a tall man maybe 6 shaku (5’11) and 19 Kan (165 lbs.). He did not say much, merely smiled and patted my head before getting into a carriage and requesting me to sit beside him. The carriage took us to a mansion in the woods; it appeared to be the house of a samurai, full of lush sakura tree s and elaborate carvings all being meticulously taken care of by people in rough looking robes and wooden sandals. The lobbies were full of wooden carvings of warriors, and elaborate suits of armor all beautifully crafted. They led me to a room where the man was sitting behind a table and told me the reason for my presence: I was to be trained as his own personal bodyguard and soldier, but to others I was to play the innocent adopted son who loved his father. I do not remember much during this time, except….that I was forced to kill many people.” The old man put his hand on Kyoshi’s shoulder lightly and watched as he started trembling remembering his horrible past, Kyoshi continued but his voice had lost the airiness and trembled slightly. “After many years of service, the man I once called “Father” died leaving me his estate as reported in his will. The next few years were nice, I had a nice home, good food, and a warm bed, nothing was wrong. Then one day a messenger came with a letter, it was from a man named Shouta, my brother and said he needed me, our parents had been killed and they were now after him and his family.
    I dropped everything and went to where the letter said him and his family were hiding. When I arrived I found a massacre, the woman and little girl were murdered and pinned to the wall….the words YOU WERE LATE were scrawled on the wall and people were screaming outside as they were killed by rogue samurai. That was the first time I ever lost control. I don’t remember what happened, all I remember is waking up surrounded by people and a man stood above me and he was clapping! He praised me for being such a ruthless killer, a “true Miyamoto” as he called it and a wonderful son. He introduced himself as my brother Shouta, the man who murdered our family and destroyed our entire village. Then he just disappeared, I can still hear his voice in my head. After meeting him, I vowed to take the life of anyone who held a sword, whether it was samurai or police in honor of my family, I became a monster. I did not care who it was, they were all the same to me and I was rewarded for them all, it didn’t matter if they were innocent or guilty.
    Then one day, I met a young girl who changed my life forever. It was to be a routine job, nothing hard; I was walking down the street to meet my client for this job when I accidentally bumped into her. She was still a child, her raven black hair glistening in the sun and her eyes full of shock and awe. As I helped her up I asked her what her name was and where she lived, her house was the house next to my targets. Her smile glowed as she told me all about her family and she told me something I was not told, the target was a widower whose wife had just passed away and his daughter was all he had left. She also told me they were barely scraping by and he worked all the time so his daughter would be happy. As she was talking we arrived at her house and were greeted by a large family all with smiles on their face. She introduced me to each of them, and they all seemed so kind, and then I heard laughing from next door and looked to see my target, laughing and smiling with his daughter. I spent the entire day with the two families and began to ask myself questions: how many families like this have I ruined? How many widows have I created? How many orphans? Am I no better than my brother? It was towards the night when I finally introduced myself to the families and explained why I was there. The shocked fear on their face was plain to see and I felt isolated when suddenly the youngest child, the one I had met earlier, came up and hugged me! She told me it was ok and that I wasn’t a bad man. She said thank you for all the fun she had that day, after that all the kids came and hugged me, even the child of my target. I couldn’t help but cry. I spent the night surrounded by the entire family and when I woke up I was greeted as though I were a long lost relative coming home. At the end of the day I hugged each of them in turn and thanked them for such a wonderful time and shook the hand of the man, not as prey and hunter, but as mutual comrades in life. Not a day goes by that I don’t think of them and think of how lucky I was, because they showed me just how strong the bond of family can be.”
    He looked at the old man and realized he had fallen asleep beside the girl, with a soft smile that showed no traces of the monster that had begun to awaken just a few hours before; he pulled the blanket over both of them and went to lie down. The old man was suddenly awoken by the soft cry of the little girl, and for a second he thought he was still in a dream, because it was very hot. Then he realized he wasn’t asleep and that the reason the girl was crying was because the house was on fire and Kyoshi was yelling at him to wake up! “Hey Gramps wake up, I don’t think the Sword Corps enjoyed me kicking their asses yesterday!” He looked at Kyoshi and noticed he had drawn his sword, before he could ask what he was going to do he heard Kyoshi yell “Crimson Whirlwind!” and suddenly the room was full of a red hued wind that blew out all the flames. Then without a word Kyoshi left, before the old man could follow he heard Kyoshi yell over his shoulder “take care of the girl!” and then he was gone….














    Chapter 3: A Monster Unleashed
    The old man followed Kyoshi staying as quiet as he could with the little girl with him. He had been following him since Kyoshi left trying to and girl quickly hid, the old man preparing to go talk Kyoshi out of turning himself in when he heard him call out “Hey you worthless excuses for swordsman I’m here to pay you back for that little fire show you guys started!” The old man was momentarily stunned because he didn’t realize Kyoshi was coming here off all places to pick a fight by himself. Before he could stop him a group of swordsman came out of the building, the patches on their arms signifying they were elite and the smirks on their faces signifying their thirst for blood.
    “What are you doing here murderer, did you come to die?” asked one of the men, obviously the leader of the group. Kyoshi unsheathed his sword and eyed each of the men with a smirk and simply said “Nope, I’m here for payback for the little house fire you caused.” “Why do you care, it was an old fool nobody would even remember him if he died?!” With an animalistic growl Kyoshi seemed to disappear and reappear face to face with the swordsman. “That OLD FOOL was a friend of mine and I SWEAR to you if he’s not oks I’ll make you experiences the most agonizing pain imaginable. His eyes glowed red like coal and he suddenly threw the man doubling over in apparent pain. “You won’t come out damn you I won’t let you harm anybody!” he screamed, a sound full of both pain and agony as a dark aura began to surround him, and then he suddenly fell silent. The swordsman braced themselves for whatever might happen next but they were not prepared for what happened next, the little girl, who had been hiding along with the old man ran out from the shadows and stood in front of Kyoshi, her small arms spread out as if to protect him.
    “Please misters, please don’t hurt my friend!” pleaded the little girl as the men just watched in amazement. One of the men walked up to the girl, and smiled at her holding out his hand. “Alright young miss, we won’t hurt your friend.” The girl convinced, she lowered her arms and smiled back at the officer, but before she could thank him the officer grabbed her by the throat and hurled her against a wall. The girl slammed against the wall, her eyes wide in shock and gasping trying to regain the air that suddenly flew from her lungs. The swordsman laughed at the girl’s pain as if she was part of a freak show. “Stupid brat” they laughed, “the damn thing actually thought we’d show pity, even when she begged.”
    A sudden surge of cold air brought their attention back to Kyoshi, who was back on his feet. He started shivering and at first they thought he was crying but they suddenly realized with a cold realization that he wasn’t crying, but laughing. The air was suddenly filled with the air of his hysterical laughter and the men took a step back as he began walking towards them. “Stupid humans, well actually I should be thanking you, it’s because of that idiotic move you just made that allowed me to come out.” They looked for the person who was speaking but they realized the voice was coming from Kyoshi. He looked up at them and they saw his eyes had changed colors, they were now blood red, and the expression in them resembled that of a hungry animal, even his smile had changed to that of the very demons that haunt people’s dream. One of the men whispered almost inaudibly “Hell’s Angel has been awoken...” “Oh yes, im terribly sorry I forgot to introduce myself to you gentleman, my name is Zara.” The thing inside Kyoshi said with a smile and a bow. “W-why are you telling us your name?” asked one of the men who were now shaking so much he couldn’t hold his sword properly. “Oh that’s easy, it’s so you’ll know the name of your executioner when you’re getting judged.” Said “Zara” the smile that was on his face now gone replaced with a grimace as though the men were mere cockroaches that needed to be eradicated, suddenly one of the men screamed in pure terror and plunged his sword into his comrades chest. “S-see I’ll help you get rid of these idiots, I- im on your side!” the man’s eyes were wide with terror, his smile bordering hysteria as he grabbed at any chance available for survival. Zara just stared at him, a look of boredom and hatred burning in his eyes like a smoldering flame. “Pathetic human, you honestly think turning on your men to save your own worthless a** is going to help?”
    Within the blink of an eye Zara grabbed him, the man still trembling like a leaf, and lifted him high up growling loud. “You humans make me sick, you parasites will grab at any chance to save your own miserable asses!” With these words he threw him against a wall, the sound of his bones breaking on impact was almost deafening and the blood-curling scream erupting from his mouth sounded like a person in the very throws of agony. “Shut up you pathetic excuse for a creature!” yelled Zara in disgust as he slashed the man’s throat suddenly silencing his screams as he slowly died from a mix of blood loss and asphyxiation as he choked on his own blood. The remaining men watched in horror as Zara pinned the man against the wall with his own sword and sliced his trademark slashes on his back, effectively killing the man.
    Without a word he turned to face the remaining men and simply said “Go you ignorant pests, go and never pick up your swords or harm another creature….and if you do….you better hope God is on your side!” The men ran as hard as they could, as if running away would erase what had just happened, as if they could run away from the images of the monster they had just witnessed first-hand.
    After the men had left the old man, long since forgotten in hiding, watched in stunned silence as the very demon he had just watched butcher a human being as merciless as a young child ripping off the wings of a fly, walk over to the little girl and picked her up. ‘If I didn’t know better I would say I saw a hint of humanity?’ thought the old man with a soft smile before turning and heading back towards his house.