THEMIS DATABASE: HIKARU SHINTA

[geistnet]

HIKARU SHINTA

BIOMETRICS
FULL NAME: Hikaru Shinta
KNOWN ALIASES AND TITLES: Blade of the Storm Queen and General of the Stormguard, Weapon of the Methuselah, the Blade King, the Wolf of Zangyaku, Godhand Seth Mordechai, Toshizou Fukuzawa, Brother Wolf, Brother Death, High Lord Hikaru Shinta of the Seelie Court of Autumn, Blade King Izanagi of the Unseelie Court of the Lightless Lands
DATE OF BIRTH: September 5, 2042
AGE: 21 in this current cycle (29 out of 1,936); is actually 1,057 years old
NATIONALITY: Japanese
DISTINGUISHING MARKS:

• Has a full montage of a lake at night, with lotus flowers, higanbana, and a wolf resting by the water on his back. There is a full moon in the sky close to his left shoulder, and ravens in flight close to his right shoulder. All of it is done in the traditional Japanese style. Closer inspection of the lake will reveal that the entire montage was built around the transmutation circle that was branded on his body during the God Slaying Ceremony: it’s reflected in the water.
  
• Has a full montage of thorns, blades and roses wrapped around his left arm.
  
• Has a tattoo of a black Chinese dragon wrapped around his right arm.
  
• Has a Japanese tattoo of a kitsune, done in gold, resting on the right side of his belly. It is surrounded by higanbana.
  
• Whenever he activates any of Brother Death’s abilities or when he’s particularly emotional, a fiery crimson ring appears just within the inner ring of the irises of both of his eyes.
  
• Because of his Contract with Brother Death, Hikaru always retains the physical features that he possessed in his first life cycle.
  

HUNTER DOSSIER
CLASS: Bladian (Bloodsinger: Himself, formerly Sakura [Sumire]; Vessel of Brother Death)
HOME COMPACT/CONSPIRACY: Zangyaku
RANK: Oni-Tsukai {Ten}/ Gyoseisha {Ten}/Nami {Miki}/Daishonin {Ten}/Gishi {Miki}
POSITIONS HELD:

• Wolfborn
  
• First of the Searing Wind (pre-Zangyaku)
  
• Founder of Zangyaku
  
• Leader of Zangyaku
  

AFFILIATED COMPACTS/CONSPIRACIES:

• The Legion of the Phoenix, pre-dissolution (Ascended One, Japan)
  
• The Methuselah, pre-2012 (Weapon of the Methuselah; Inquisitor of Anino and Yugao; Blade: “The Malice Kings”)
  
• Aegis Kai Doru (Master Spear {Labyrinths in the Manila, Nara, Kyoto and Tokyo})
  
• The Brotherhood of Violence (Godhand of the Cathedral of the Twenty-Six; White Lion of St. Joan of Arc)
  
• The Methuselah (Senior Operative of Themis and Leto {Yamato})
  
• The Midnight Riders (Senior Myrmidon {Steel Wings, Asia}; Dullahan)
  
• Netsach (Inquisitor of Behemoth, Cerberus and Maenad {Falner and Yugao}; Blade: “The Malice Kings”)
  
• The Thrones (Honorary Number {the Oni Ward})
  

OTHER AFFILIATED GROUPS:

• The Changeling Court of Winter, the United States of America (High Lord)
  
• Ordo Daywalker (Companion to the Daywalker; Enforcer of Shin Yamatai)
  
• The Japanese Imperial Army
  
• The Japanese Imperial Family
  
• The Japanese Government
  
• The Japanese Yakuza
  
• The Rhiannon Group (Senior Partner {Rhiannon Towers, Tokyo})
  
• The Seelie Court of Autumn (High Lord)
  
• The Spirit Courts (Great Spirit of the Fifth World)
  
• The Underworld (Brother Death)
  
• The Unseelie Court of the Lightless Lands (King)
  
• Vice Enterprises (Senior Partner; Member of the Board of Directors)
  
  

TACTICAL DESIGNATION: Administrator, Tactician, Front Liner, Saboteur, Liaison
FAVORED WEAPONS: Himself
COMBAT ASSESSMENT: Extremely aggressive, close range fighter; focuses on maximizing his environment and using every means at his disposal, regardless of the situation, to dispatch his enemies as quickly as possible.

HISTORY
A Note from Mnemosyne: this section of the dossier has been divided into subsections based on the Life Cycle in question. The names listed beside each cycle refer to the “original” identity that Magistrate Shinta should have possessed had he reincarnated properly, as a part of the karmic cycle of the Fifth World. Please be guided accordingly.

CYCLE 1: HIKARU SHINTA (1185-1206)
Hikaru Shinta was the second child and only son of Mitsuoumi and Junko Shinta. Mitsuoumi was the Master Blacksmith of the ancient kingdom of Yamatai; Junko was a former courtesan of the Storm Queen’s Court, and was once one of the favored ladies of Marrigan herself. He spent the first six years of his life not knowing that he had an older sister, but constantly dreaming about a mysterious young woman who was always sad, and had violet eyes just like himself.

That “mysterious woman” ended up saving Hikaru’s life when he was six. The boy had been swept away during a storm, and had woken up behind a waterfall, shaken, bruised and a little broken, but otherwise alive. He found himself sitting beside a deep hole that had enchanted bars placed over its mouth. He recognized the woman’s voice, and learned who she was: his older sister Setsuna, and the “sinister witch” that the people of Yamatai always whispered about whenever they thought that their children were not listening. She explained what had happened (she had used her magic to bring her to him), and reluctantly told him what had happened to her, and why their own father kept her locked up. Suffice to say, their talk was interrupted the next morning, when Mitsuoumi finally managed to find his son. Mitsuoumi had to drag Hikaru away from Setsuna’s prison, and banned his son from ever speaking to Setsuna again.

Suffice to say, Hikaru did not listen. From that point, he snuck out every evening in order to keep Setsuna company, and tried, at every possible opportunity, to convince his parents to let Setsuna go. When it became clear to him that Mitsuoumi and Junko would never release Setsuna, Hikaru threw himself into training and becoming as good with a sword as he possibly could. He opened up about his frustrations to his sister on the evening of his twelve birthday, and also told him about her plan: two years from that point, he was going to join the Grand Battle of the Storm Queen in the hopes of becoming the General of her Stormguard. He believed that gaining such a position would help him convince the Storm Queen to free his sister. Setsuna was oddly silent about this plan, and expressed her disapproval. When it was clear, however, that her younger brother was not going to listen, she promised that if he succeeded, she was going to tell him a secret that “may” be able to grant him the power to see his plans through.

True to his word, Hikaru participated in the Grand Battle of the Storm Queen at 14. As testament to his resolve and his prowess, the boy engaged every other contender and won, becoming the youngest General of the Stormguard in the history of Yamatai. This marked his first face-to-face encounter with Marrigan Crowe, the Storm Queen. She asked him why he had fought so hard to stand at her side. His response was simple: “To free my sister.” He then swore to follow Marrigan without question, and let her do what she pleased with him on the pretense that she might one day consider his request, at her leisure. She told him, point blank, that she might not ever grant his wish. He did not care: that there was a chance that she might listen or that he might be able to convince her was enough. That marked the day that he officially turned his back on his family, and stayed in the Storm Court.

Suffice to say, Hikaru’s first year as Marrigan’s general, “blade” and consort was difficult. Beyond the fact that his duties for the Storm Queen kept him occupied, he also had to become the rather reluctant recipient of her advances and see, firsthand, both the remarkable kindness and terrible cruelty that she was capable of giving to her people, and the people she met. It did not help that he barely had the time to see his sister; in addition to this, paying a visit to his old home was often a tedious exercise because of his parents.

Hikaru finally broke down on Setsuna on the eve of his fifteenth birthday. The pressure was getting to him, and – in his opinion – it looked like it was impossible to convince Marrigan to release Setsuna regardless of what he did for his Queen. Setsuna listened to him in silence, and waited until he was finished before telling him about a sword that was buried beneath the Palace, in the Storm’s Labyrinth. Only the General of the Stormguard and the Storm Queen herself could enter such a place, and take whatever they found in it up to the light. He entered the Labyrinth that very evening, and emerged nearly a week later with the Godslayer sheathed at his side.

It should be known that at that point in time, the Godslayer had not awakened; it had, for all intents and purposes, appeared to be a sword of exceptional make, but no notably strange qualities. Hikaru attempted to ask his sister, at several points, what the sword was, and what he was expected to do with it. Setsuna never answered him. The later arrival of Aidan Clayce, Riley Falner, and Alistair Mordechai – the Voidseeker, the vampire that would become the Daywalker in the future, and the Seer of the Methuselah – ended up giving him the answers that he needed.

Naturally, Hikaru did not trust Aidan, Riley and Alistair in the slightest the moment he laid eyes on them. It did not help, of course, that Aidan struck him as arrogant (arrogant enough, in fact, to prompt Hikaru to draw his sword on the Voidseeker without regard for his own personal safety nor for the fact that Aidan was clearly above his level of skill), and soon viewed him as a threat to his sister’s safety after he learned that the Voidseeker had been speaking to Setsuna in their dreams. Alistair’s own attitude did not help: the Seer had accompanied Aidan in order to meet the “chosen wielder” of the Godslayer, and made it a point to be vocal of his disapproval of Hikaru. Riley was also suspicious in Hikaru’s opinion, in spite of the latter’s behavior: the vampire’s reputation preceded him, and it was obvious (at least to Hikaru) that Riley was trying to get under his Queen’s skin. It took about two months before Hikaru warmed up to Aidan and Riley, and perhaps the only reason why it had not ended up taking longer was because of the way the pair were obviously interested in having Setsuna released, and also seemed to command Marrigan’s respect. His relationship with Alistair took a bit more time, and only started to improve after a breakthrough on both their parts: Alistair finally pushing Hikaru hard enough for the boy, out of frustration, to reveal the real reasons behind his “blind” loyalty to Marrigan.

Hikaru finally agreed to join the Methuselah and participating in Project Deus Ex Machina at the age of 16, after Marrigan – acting out of genuine respect for Aidan and Riley – released Setsuna from her prison. Alistair then took charge of training Hikaru, and aiding him with his own preparations for the God Slaying Ceremony – that did, of course, include awakening the Godslayer, and bringing it under Hikaru’s control in as much as they could. Such experiences, along with the discovery of several common points that they shared (their love for their respective siblings, their devotions to their respective causes), ended up cementing their friendship.

The Methuselah initiated the God Slaying Ceremony when Hikaru was 17. They summoned an entity of incredible power into a ritualistic circle, and Hikaru proceeded to engage the entity in combat with the Godslayer at hand. Alistair and the other Methuselah Hunters in the area identified the “god” that they had managed to summon as one of the True Fae of Death. What Hikaru and many others would only discover much later in the future was that they had summoned the force of Death Himself.

Personal testimony from the Blade King is vague on the exact proceedings of the battle, along with the nature of the “curse” that Death placed upon him for defeating him in battle. The clearest details that continue to stand out in Hikaru’s memories are his final exchange with the being he had killed: the entity had, with its last breath, cursed him to die and be reborn “fourty-four times fourty-four times” (for a total of 1,936 life cycles), yet remain “outside of the karmic cycle”, something that no one in the Methuselah appeared to understand. Beyond that, the only other thing that was certain at that point was that Hikaru survived the encounter, and at least initially appeared to be immortal just as the Methuselah had planned.

It took Hikaru a few months to recover from his wounds, and shake off the after effects of his fight with Death and the Pattern scarring that had occurred as a result of wielding the Godslayer. Alistair watched over him during this entire period, and proceeded to stay in Yamatai in order to continue training Hikaru and monitor his progress for the Methuselah. They only ended up growing closer, over the next few years: Alistair was, in fact, the one who helped Hikaru find Sumire, the Bloodsinger that the boy would end up bound to for the next twenty-six life cycles.

Alistair and Hikaru proceeded to participate in several engagements over the next few years all around Asia, as Malice Kings of the Voidseeker. Their travels only stopped in 1206, when a Yama King manifested off of the coasts of Shin Yamatai. Hikaru rushed to rally the Stormguard and the armies of his Queen, and defend his homeland. Prior to that point, no other Keeper of the Vigil beyond Aidan, Orin and Riley were capable of taking such a creature on. However, both Hikaru and Alistair were confident that the latter would win, especially in light of the strength that he now possessed because of Deus Ex Machina and his contract with Sumire. Suffice to say, the failure of the Project came out, clear as day, with Hikaru’s death and the disappearance of the Godslayer.

CYCLE 2: SETH MORDECHAI (1226-1241)
Death’s curse on Hikaru kicked in twenty years after his first death. He ended up returning as Alistair and Fianna’s son and only child, and spent the initial years of this life cycle. This was because he was struggling with Sumire, who had been driven to temporary insanity due to the fact that the curse had bound her permanently to her host, and had infused her with far too much power. This only grew worse when Hikaru turned twelve, as the boy’s “original” persona – together with all of his memories from his original life – manifested and ended up destroying Seth, the boy that he should have been had he reincarnated properly.

All of Alistair’s attempts at healing him and finding some way of easing the burden of his condition failed. Hikaru died three years later, at the age of fifteen.

CYCLE 3: JIN GUI (1260-1268)
Hikaru’s next life began nineteen years after his second death, during the Song Dynasty in China. He was born to a pair of farmers who – frightened by their child’s markedly different appearance, violet eyes, and “demonic” temperament – locked up their own son in the basement of their home. He died in that basement eight years later, having succumbed both to the abusive treatment of his parents and to the damaging insanity of his bloodsinger. Methuselah Hunters, Alistair Mordechai included, arrived just in time to bury him.

Records state that Hikaru did not even survive this lifetime long enough to remember him. Personal word from the Blade King verifies this.

CYCLE 4: TAHIR SOLAK (1286-1305)
Eighteen years after his third death, Hikaru was born to a pair of minor Arabic nobles in Constantinople. Acting against the wishes of his mother, his father abandoned Hikaru at four years of age in order to protect his reputation: it had been clear to the man that his son was “possessed by demons”. In actuality, Sumire had been acting up, attempting to wrest herself free from her Bladian or taking him over for herself, even if it meant killing him in the process. This drove Hikaru completely insane by the time he was ten, and he wandered through Turkey, driven solely by the hunger of his Bloodsinger.

When Hikaru wandered too close to Israfil, then headquarters of the Methuselah, the Wiseman’s Committee ordered several of the Malice Kings – headed by Alistair – to destroy the “amrita” that had been terrorizing the area for the past nine years. The Seer realized, to his horror, that said mark had actually been Hikaru mere seconds after the killing blow. Hikaru only managed to recover all of the memories of his previous lives in his final moments.

CYCLE 5: ORIGINAL NAME UNKNOWN; ADOPTED THE NAME SETH MORDECHAI (1322-1342)
Seventeen years after his fourth death, Hikaru was born somewhere in Russia. By this point, Alistair had managed to figure out the pattern of Hikaru’s reincarnations, and had already been waiting in the wings for the boy to come back. He had already turned his back on the Methuselah in open defiance of the Committee’s decision to seek out and destroy the Weapon that they had created. The Seer moved in immediately, taking Hikaru away from his parents merely hours after he was born, and fleeing to the Black Cathedral. He and his brother Maes proceeded to raise Hikaru as one of their own, away from the conspiracy that they had once belonged to.

By this point in time, Sumire’s rage over her new “condition” with Hikaru had abated, as had the insanity brought about by their permanent binding. Because of this, Hikaru’s physical condition never declined, nor was he under any real threat of succumbing to Bladian Rapture. Hence, while his reawakening at 12 was difficult, the burden of the memories of his previous lives was lightened by the presence of the Mordechai brothers within his life, and Sumire herself was keenly interested in making sure that the both of them survived.

Hikaru became a full-fledged Brother in Violence at the age of 14, and immediately became a part of Maes and Alistairs’ Seven. By the time he was 16 years old, he was a Godhand of the compact, and one of the strongest Hunters within the Brotherhood. Unfortunately, Alistair passed away when only two years later: he had extended his lifespan only too many times, and had run out of means to make himself live any longer than he already had. Suffice to say, the loss of the man who had been there for him in spite of everything unhinged Hikaru. In spite of Maes’ best efforts to keep the boy grounded, the Bladian began to find every excuse to step out of the Black Cathedral and get himself killed. He finally succeeded at the age of 20.

CYCLE 6: YUN SONG / LITTLE WOLF (1358-1368, AND 444 ARCADIAN YEARS)
Hikaru was reborn sixteen years later, somewhere in Korea. He awakened “properly” at the age of 10, and immediately left his home in an attempt to search for Alistair. Sumire aided him to the best of her abilities, but there was no way that the two of them could have stopped what happened next: that Izanami, Faerie Queen of the Unseelie Court of the Lightless Lands of Arcadia, took an interest in him. She came to him in the guise of a Sister in Violence, and tricked the boy into thinking that she could help him find the Seer. Thus, for the next 444 Arcadian years (which, at that point, was equal to one hundred years in the Fifth World), Hikaru was a slave of Izanami.

It is now known that Izanami was fully aware of the uniqueness of Hikaru’s condition as the Weapon of the Methuselah, and wished to keep the Bladian close to her side in order to study him, and enjoy him as one might enjoy a pet. In fact, she took full advantage of his instability, and for the first two hundred years of his durance, Hikaru had been brainwashed into thinking that he was Little Wolf, the chosen blade, champion and consort of the Queen of Death. Sumire was the one who broke through the spells, and brought Hikaru back to himself. It was at that point that the pair finally decided to view each other as allies, as they both realized that in this situation and in every other lifetime that Hikaru would have to live through as part of the curse, they had no one else but each other.

Sumire and Hikaru both understood the need to be careful if they wanted to get out of Arcadia in one piece. They decided to continue with the farce – that is, go on pretending that Hikaru fully believed that he was Little Wolf – in order to keep Izanami from suspecting anything. They also realized the need for them to gain the aid of powerful allies within Arcadia, ones who could at least match Izanami’s influence or would find Hikaru’s case interesting enough to assist them. It was slow work, but – through doing favors and offering everything they had at their disposal – they eventually managed to “befriend” a few of the True Fae. Among them were Oberon and Titania (nobles of the Seelie Courts, and the King of Summer and the Queen of Spring), Enma (another noble of the Seelie Court, and the King of Autumn), Jack Frost (then a Fae of Winter) and Maria Makiling (then a Fae of the Mountain). It should be noted, however, that his “real” friends in this endeavor were Titania, Jack Frost, and Makiling: Oberon had strictly required Hikaru to serve as his lover and champion on every instance that the Bladian needed him, and the exchanges were hardly ever in Hikaru’s favor.

Their big break finally occurred nearly a century later, during one of the rare gatherings of the Seelie and Unseelie Courts of Arcadia. Unfortunately, before Hikaru could flee in earnest with Jack Frost’s aid (Oberon, Titania and Makiling had elected to serve as a distraction to Izanami during the proceedings), Izanami caught on to their plan and took her “Little Wolf” back. This time, however, she kept him prisoner within her own chambers, and the remainder of his years in Arcadia were spent suffering through a slow, terrible death over the course of several years as Izanami starved him of the fights that he needed in order to keep Sumire stable, and sucked him dry for herself.

CYCLE 7: AMADEO DE NUVOLA (1483-1500)
Hikaru was reborn to a pair of Venetian merchants fifteen years after his sixth death. He was abandoned at the age of seven soon after his awakening, as his parents feared (and rightfully so) that their son was, indeed, actually the son of a demon and not of their blood at all.

The trauma of his durance in Arcadia and his grief over failing to set himself free completely from Izanami left Hikaru incredibly unstable, which may explain why his own personal testimony of this particular life cycle is vague. Old records from Ius state that the Bladian wandered throughout the European country, killing whoever he happened to meet on the road in the hopes of abating Sumire’s hunger (and his own), until he finally succumbed to his condition at the age of 17.

CYCLE 8: VIRGILIO D’ANGELO (1514-1518)
Old records from Daguerro state that Hikaru was reborn fourteen years later, somewhere in Spain, and died at four years old. The cause of death that was listed in the census was the Black Death Sumire’s own testimony, however, states that the true cause of Hikaru’s death was a particularly violent manifestation on her part. Hikaru’s actions in their previous life cycle together had not been enough to bleed out the effects of her Rapture.

CYCLE 9: ORIGINAL NAME UNKNOWN; ADOPTED THE NAME HIKARU SHINTA (1531-1587)
Hikaru was reborn thirteen years later, somewhere in Africa. Setsuna Shinta – acting as one of Aidan Clayce’s Malice Kings and not specifically as a Hunter of the Methuselah – used Alistair Mordechai’s research, together with her own abilities, to locate her younger brother and bring him to Yugao, the Methuselah’s power base in Japan at the time. She took it upon herself to raise him, and eased the effects of his awakening at 12. By then, however, nothing Setsuna said or did could rid Hikaru of the resentment he felt towards the Methuselah. It did not help that he did his own investigation, and managed to uncover the things that Alistair had hidden from him during their time together in his fifth life cycle: that the Wiseman’s Committee wanted to have him killed, that Alistair himself had been targeted by the people he had chosen to serve.

These were the central reasons why Hikaru, at the age of fourteen, left Yugao and established the Searing Wind in Kyoto. He wanted to create a conspiracy of his own that stood for his beliefs rather than the Methuselah’s, and remove Asia from the Methuselah’s control in order to keep the conspiracy from creating more tragedies like himself. He also needed a means to fully look into what had happened to him during the God Slaying Ceremony, and have a conspiracy of unquestionably loyal Keepers of the Vigil who were both ready to aid him during the rest of his life cycles and be ready to destroy him on his own terms.

The Searing Wind originally started with Hikaru and only three others, with Setsuna and Sumire as his witnesses: Marrigan Crowe, who had recently achieved Golconda with the Daywalker’s aid, Maes Mordechai, who had been informed of Hikaru’s return by Setsuna, and the legendary Abe no Seimei, a powerful Thyrsus Mage who had influenced Japan’s history from the shadows since the 10th Century. Other members quickly followed, as news of the Searing Wind and the exploits of its Wolf traveled like wildfire across the Asian continent, through Oceania, and even into parts of the Middle East. Hikaru had, inadvertently, kindled the fires of deep resentment that many – supernaturals and mortal Hunters alike – were starting to feel towards the Methuselah. By the time Hikaru was in his twenties, his compact had become a full-fledged conspiracy, and it was renamed “Zangyaku”. The Searing Wind then became his intimate inner circle within the organization.

It should be known that this placed Zangyaku stolidly against the Methuselah, and – beyond running into more than a few spats with other circles of Keepers that were already in existence at the time – started a shadow war between the two conspiracies. Zangyaku was as openly hostile towards the Methuselah as their Wolf was, and did not hesitate to remove Methuselah Hunters from their territory by force. Eventually, the Methuselah was the conspiracy that ended up relenting between the two, and (unsurprisingly) this was only done on Aidan’s advice: they could not afford to lose more Hunters, and it would be more beneficial to the Vigil as a whole if the two organizations could find some sort of common ground. Unfortunately, while he was willing to stop trying to kill Methuselah Hunters whenever he found them standing on Zangyaku soil, Hikaru was not quite ready to come to the table and negotiate a proper truce.

In an interesting reversal of roles between them, Marrigan ended up being the one who provided a bastion of support for Hikaru as his second in the Searing Wind. The pair initiated a “proper” romantic relationship, and the former Storm Queen ended up being the one that Hikaru confided him with regard to the rage he felt towards the Wiseman’s Committee, the grief he felt over Alistair, the love and confusion he harbored for his own sister, and the alternating feelings of betrayal and bitterness and old loyalty that he still harbored towards Aidan, Orin, and Riley. She was the one who guided him, grooming him into the Blade King that the Fifth World recognizes at present and giving him the perfect individual whom he could be himself with.

Hikaru only started showing signs of decline due to his condition as a Bladian in his fifties, and began to make provisions for the plans that would have to be executed in preparation for his return. Once everything was ready, he joined his own Tengu – the suicide squadrons of Zangyaku – and took on exceedingly dangerous missions with little regard for his own personal safety until he was killed while battling Yama Kings in China at the age of 56. Zangyaku then swore that they would serve no leader but the Wolf until their own conspiracy was destroyed.

CYCLE 10: ORIGINAL NAME UNKNOWN; ADOPTED THE NAME HIKARU SHINTA (1599-1633)
In the twelve years prior to Hikaru’s tenth rebirth, Zangyaku created the Wardens of the Wolf, a special division of oni-tsukai who were solely devoted towards finding their leader, protecting him during his most vulnerable years, and taking charge of his education. These Wardens were first deployed during this life cycle, and successfully recovered their young leader from the family that he had been born into. He awakened to his “true state” at the age of 15, took control of Zangyaku from its “interim” leader at the time, and started his previous life’s work immediately.

As soon as they caught wind of the fact that Hikaru had returned, the Methuselah attempted to make contact with Zangyaku yet again and hash out the terms for a proper alliance between the two conspiracies. These attempts were coldly rebuffed, and the Wolf’s conspiracy continued to expand in power and influence around Asia, Oceania, and parts of the Middle East. This was the period where Zangyaku successfully entrenched itself within Japan’s political sphere, and began influencing Japanese history in earnest.

Something that nearly turned Hikaru’s life around was his first encounter with a woman named Katherine Stiles. Katherine’s father was a British trader that had fallen on hard times, and hoped to carve out a fortune for himself in the Far East. Their boat got swept up in a supernatural storm during an engagement with a Yama King off the coasts of Japan; Hikaru took it upon himself to save Katherine, her father and the entire crew of the ship. He was 20 at the time; she was 18. After a year of courtship, the two married each other. Their first child – Sara Stiles-Shinta – was born a year after that. Their second child – Andrew Stiles-Shinta – followed four years later.

It is important to note that while Katherine did not know about Zangyaku or about everything that lay beyond the Veil, she was aware of the fact that her husband was “different”, and had “something” in him that occasionally made him violent and dangerous. Hikaru had made it a point to tell her what he felt she needed to know, if they were going to spend the rest of their lives together. He oriented Katherine on the “danger signs” that she needed to be aware of, and told her that the moment she spotted any of them, she had to take their children and run. Not following these instructions was what killed Katherine and both of her children in the end, when Hikaru was 31 years old.

There is, perhaps, a valid reason behind Hikaru going into Rapture that night. About a month prior to that point, he had been in contact with his sister: Setsuna had informed him of the premature rise of Nyx, and how all of them – the Methuselah, Zangyaku, Aegis Kai Doru, the Brotherhood and every other Keeper of the Vigil – were fighting a losing battle against her influence. She knew, as well, that if someone did not step up, Aidan was going to be forced to ascend and fight her himself, which could very well spell the end of his existence. This knowledge left Hikaru conflicted: agreeing to her plan meant losing Setsuna, but stopping her meant losing Aidan, whom he still regarded as a brother in spite of everything. He begged his sister to reconsider, and promised that he would join the fight under the Methuselah’s standard if it meant keeping her from joining the battle. It is not known why Setsuna lied to him: she agreed to step back and wait for him to come before doing anything “hasty”, but ended up annihilating her human existence and becoming the Shield of the Fifth World anyway. Researchers from Mnemosyne speculate that she wanted to keep her younger brother off the battlefield for a bit longer, and also wanted to protect Aidan.

Either way, Hikaru received the news of his sister’s death just as he had managed to rally Zangyaku’s forces, and was leading his conspiracy’s oni-tsukai against the amrita that Nyx had summoned all around Asia. The tremendous amount of grief and despair he felt over Setsuna’s loss destroyed him, and he succumbed to the Rapture. He ended up killing both of his children, and came back to himself just as he ran his own wife through with his sword.

Hikaru never recovered from the loss of his sister, and the fact that his family’s blood was on his hands. This was something that the Wiseman’s Committee took advantage of (together with the fact that the Voidseeker himself was still in mourning, and the Daywalker – having succumbed to the Deep Slumber – was in no position to stop them) when they approached the 32-year-old Blade King with a proposition: that, with his permission, they would have their experts conduct alchemic experiments upon the bodies of their children in an attempt to bring them back. Suffice to say, Hikaru was forced to destroy the abomination that his son Andrew had become himself, and seal the creature that his daughter had become in the Philippine Islands, where the powerful leylines of magical energy could serve as the best sort of barrier against her ever rising up completely as a monster.

All of these personal losses drove Hikaru to an early grave. He declined sharply over the course of the next two years in spite of the support that he received from Marrigan, Maes, and the other members of his Searing Wind, and finally passed away at the age of 34.

CYCLE 11: KYOSUKE YAMAZAKI (1645-1673)
Hikaru’s eleventh life began twelve years later, when he was born into the Yamazaki Clan. The Yamazaki were a line of oni-tsukai, and the family was fully aware of the identity of their firstborn by merit of their legacy within Zangyaku. He was raised and trained with the full awareness of who he really was and what he was going to become, and awakened to his “true state” when he was 13.

Aidan appeared in Hirato (Zangyaku’s headquarters at the time) on the eve of Hikaru’s induction as the Wolf of Zangyaku. The two of them talked long into the night, and sorted out their differences while commiserating over Setsuna’s death. However, when Aidan attempted to convince Hikaru to ally with the Methuselah, Hikaru quietly and firmly refused: while he was willing to call Aidan his brother once again and serve as one of his Malice Kings the moment he was needed, the young Blade King could not bring himself to condone a conspiracy that had been so ready to take advantage of both of them. He also could not understand why the Voidseeker insisted on aiding them, and attempted to convince Aidan to leave. By sunrise, it was clear that neither of them were going to budge: Aidan wanted to stay with the Methuselah in the hopes of guiding them, and Hikaru still believed that his brother needed to stop distancing himself from humanity and take more matters into his own hands if he ever wanted to make a difference in the Vigil. Nevertheless, they parted ways quietly, and Aidan promised that he would stay in contact.

Beyond permanently cementing Zangyaku’s position as the most influential conspiracy in Asia and occasionally serving as a Malice King under Aidan’s command (while refusing contact with all other Methuselah Hunters save the ones that belonged to the Voidseeker’s inner circle), Hikaru spent this lifetime wrestling with his grief and studying his own condition: it had become increasingly clear, both to him and to Sumire, that something else lurked within his soul, something that neither of them could fully control, and something that was likely related to the entity that Hikaru had supposedly killed during his first life. Before his death at 28, the Blade King managed to come up with a means of inducing his awakening, and – with his dying breath – ordered his Wardens to perform the ritual during his next life cycle.

CYCLE 12: RENJI TATE (1683-1704)
The Blade King’s twelfth cycle began a decade after his last death within Japan; he was recovered by the Wardens of the Wolf mere days after his birth. Zangyaku acted upon their leader’s instructions, and took charge of raising the boy and training him in preparation for the ritual. They activated it in 1697, and while the ritual successfully “awakened” the Blade King, it drove Sumire over the edge, and also dealt untoward damage to the Blade King’s psyche. Hikaru was fourteen years old.

It was at this point that Alistair Mordechai stepped back into Hikaru’s life. Unknown to Hikaru, the Seer had returned in 1601; he had been monitoring things from a distance, focusing all of his efforts on finding a “cure” for the Blade King. The Seer’s own guilt over everything that had happened had made him reluctant to approach Hikaru sooner, but this new ritual had forced his hand. Alistair attempted to use his own research to repair the damage, but his efforts amounted to close to nothing.

Hikaru died, virtually insane, at the age of 21. Alistair joined Zangyaku, become a Warden of the Wolf, and participated in the Ceremony of Measuring against his own brother Maes. Suffice to say, he won: he has retained his position within the Searing Wind ever since.

CYCLE 13: ORIGINAL NAME UNKNOWN; GIVEN THE NAME HIKARU SHINTA (1709-1714)
Hikaru was born into his thirteenth life cycle five years later, and was recovered immediately by Alistair. Both Marrigan and Alistair agreed that it would be best to shelve the idea of ever “inducing” the Blade King’s awakening again, and settled for letting the awakening happen naturally.

Because Sumire was still suffering from the aftereffects of her Bladian’s induced awakening, Hikaru died at the age of five, ravaged by his bloodsinger’s hunger.

CYCLE 14: NAOE CROSS (CYCLE 1715-1734)
The Wardens of the Wolf only had to wait a year after their leader’s death before Hikaru resurfaced again as the firstborn of an enterprising British businessman and his Japanese wife in London. Zangyaku decided to follow Alistair’s advice, and – rather than recover Hikaru immediately – elected to watch his progress from a distance, monitor his progress, and find subtle means of guiding the boy towards Zangyaku. This, together with Sumire recovering her sanity within the first twelve years of Hikaru’s life, contributed to the “ease” of the Blade King’s awakening at the age of 14. The Wardens recovered him at this point, and he took control, once again, of Zangyaku. However, Hikaru and his conspiracy were fully aware of the fact that the damage from his previous life cycles was yet to bleed out of his system, and predicted, rather accurately, that this life cycle was going to be exceedingly short no matter what Hikaru chose to do.

Dialing down his activities for the Vigil gave Hikaru more time to reflect on everything that had come to pass. One of the things that occupied his time was Alistair, and the feelings he harbored for the man. Unfortunately, when he finally ended his romantic relationship with Marrigan and confessed to Alistair at the age of sixteen, the Seer could not bring himself to return the Blade King’s feelings. Beyond the fact that he still primarily viewed Hikaru as his son, brother in the Vigil and solemn charge, Alistair still wrestled with the guilt he felt over being responsible for the Blade King’s condition and his own perceived incompetence (he could not, in spite of all of his efforts, find a way to rid the boy of his curse). Note, of course, that the use of the word “primarily” is deliberate: the Seer was steadfast in his denial of his own growing feelings towards the Blade King, and reeling from the fact that he could have such thoughts or desires in the first place.

CYCLE 15: TSUKASA TOMOE; GIVEN THE NAME HIKARU SHINTA (CYCLE 1734-1755)
The Blade King’s fifteenth life cycle is significant for being the first marked shift in the pattern of Hikaru’s reincarnations: he was reborn immediately after his death, forcing the Wardens to mobilize even quicker than what they were accustomed to. He was recovered from his parents two weeks after his birth and brought into Zangyaku. He awakened to his “true state” at the age of 12.

Hikaru retained the safe pace that he had set for himself during his fourteenth life cycle in order to speed up his recovery, and place him in a better position to fight and Keep the Vigil during his succeeding life cycles. This left room for him to continue to pursue Alistair, in the hopes of changing the Seer’s mind. Things soured between them completely, however, when he was seventeen.

By merit of their long acquaintance and the close proximity between them, Hikaru was able to perceive the fact that the only thing that was really holding Alistair back was his principles and the burden of his guilt over the excessive way that he held himself accountable for what Hikaru had become. He confronted Alistair one evening, and tried to force the man to make a decision. Suffice to say, that night ended with the Blade King seducing his Seer.

Horrified, as he was, by how easily he had “fallen”, Alistair proceeded to take his emotions out on the very source of his frustrations. Unsurprisingly, Alistair’s relationship with Hikaru took an abusive turn, something that affected the very core of the Blade King’s conspiracy. The Wardens of the Wolf were forced to intervene for their leader’s welfare.

All of this naturally drove a wedge between Alistair and Hikaru. They did not speak to each other, all the way until Hikaru’s death at the age of 21. Interestingly enough, however, Alistair never followed through with any of his threats to leave Zangyaku: a standing testimony, perhaps, to the fact that he was actually in love with the Blade King.

CYCLE 16: FUYUHIKO MIDORIKAWA (1755-1778)
Hikaru was reborn immediately after his death, recovered on the morning of his birth by the Wardens, and eventually awakened to his true state at the age of 13. The bitterness and resentment he felt over what had happened between him and Alistair had died down, leaving nothing but regret. While it was clear to everyone that Alistair wasn’t about to become the abusive man that he had been towards the Blade King, his resounding silence was more than enough to affect the leader of Zangyaku.

Interestingly enough, Hikaru’s lack of hostility towards the Methuselah during this life cycle was as much an attempt at diplomacy between two bodies of Keepers of the Vigil as it was an attempt to reach out to Alistair. While it did little to improve their relationship, it did bring Hikaru back to the Malice Kings on an official level: prior to that point, he had assisted Aidan from a distance, and had only occasionally stepped in to handle matters that the Voidseeker would not directly interfere with. Zangyaku allowed the Methuselah to establish its power bases within Asia; the Methuselah, in turn, granted Zangyaku jurisdiction over immigrant communities within Europe and the Americas.

The Blade King passed away when he was 23, after a major engagement; he had pushed himself too far, and ended up succumbing to his injuries. Throughout this entire period, his relationship with Alistair remained turbulent in spite of several attempts on the part of the other Malice Kings to bring them back to a better place with each other.

CYCLE 17: IZUMI KUROSAWA (1778-1803)
Hikaru’s seventeenth cycle started immediately after his death – he was, interestingly enough, born to a pair of Brotherhood of Demon Wind Obrimos Mages who were closely allied with the Delacroix Family. Zangyaku acted on Aidan’s advice and – after informing the couple of the situation – allowed the boy to stay with his parents. Because of this, while he still believed that he was Izumi Kurosawa, Hikaru ended up meeting Liandrin Delacroix when they were children. The two of them were incredibly close all the way until the Kurosawas contacted the Searing Wind and sent their son to Japan when he was 13: they knew that they were being targeted by enemies of the Delacroix, and wanted to make sure that the future Blade King stayed safe. Hikaru ended up receiving word of their death when he was 16, a full year after his “reawakening”.

Because of the affection that he felt for Liandrin, Hikaru immediately informed Aidan that he wanted to see the girl: he had learned that the Voidseeker had taken his childhood friend in, and hoped to provide any support that he could for her. Aidan granted Hikaru’s request after a few months, but the reunion was far from happy. Liandrin was almost affronted by the fact that Hikaru had survived the mass genocide of her family and friends of the Delacroix by merit of his “condition”, and viewed Hikaru as a stranger that bore close to no resemblance to the boy that she knew. This became the seat of the “professional differences” between them for the first three years of their relationship with each other as Malice Kings of the Methuselah. It did not help, of course, that Liandrin was driven by the grief, helplessness and rage that she felt over the death of her family, and therefore hell bent on revenge. Hikaru, on the other hand, was vocal about his (rightfully) negative opinion on the entire matter. Aidan’s concern for them both actually aggravated this at first: he had tasked Hikaru to help Lorenzo Reyes monitor Liandrin, and make sure that she did not end up doing anything that she would regret.

Things changed between them after a fateful encounter with a powerful cabal of Fangs of Mara. In a direct defiance of Aidan’s orders, a 20-year-old Liandrin swooped in to destroy the cabal personally without calling for any support. She ended up getting captured by her enemies, and tortured by them constantly over the course of a week. Hikaru was the one who risked life and limb to save her, and bring her back to Tenebres safely. He also shelved all of the commitments that he had as the Wolf of Zangyaku in order to stay by her side while she was recovering both from her injuries and from the trauma of her capture. The two of them agreed to start on a clean slate with each other, and – by the time she was 21 and he was 23 – they were in love.

Interestingly enough, seeing Hikaru and Liandrin romantically involved with each other became a point of reflection for Alistair. His own relationship with Hikaru had improved enough to allow them to be professional with each other, but things were far from ideal. However, seeing the way that Liandrin handled Hikaru’s “condition” with grace and was willing to rise above her own sense of guilt for not being able to fully understand the stipulations of his curse and what it did to him lay in stark contrast to the way Alistair handled it for himself. These points were only driven home when Hikaru passed away at 25, and Liandrin simply elected to wait for him to return.

CYCLE 18: NAOKI SATOU (1803-1806)
The Blade King’s eighteenth life cycle started when he was born into a pair of Zangyaku oni-tsukai. Interference from the Unseelie Court of the Lightless Lands, however, got him killed when he was barely three years old. Alistair and the other Wardens of the Wolf arrived too late to save him.

The Malice Kings, acting in the defense of one of their own, extended their aid to Zangyaku. The conspiracy declared an open war against Izanami, with Liandrin – who was, by then, the first Methuselah Hunter to gain a license with the Wolf’s conspiracy – and Alistair at the head of the combined might of both conspiracies.

CYCLE 19: ORIGINAL NAME UNKNOWN; GIVEN THE NAME HIKARU SHINTA (1806-1824)
Aidan personally took charge of recovering Hikaru the moment he was born into his nineteenth life cycle. He and Setsuna (who had, by then, managed to return to the Fifth World as a powerful spirit) raised Hikaru together, and used their abilities to keep the boy from harm. In the meantime, Liandrin and Alistair continued to wage war in Arcadia against the Lightless Lands and their allied Courts. This was, in the history of the Vigil, the first time that Keepers of the Vigil went to battle against the Gentry.

Hikaru threw himself into the war after his awakening at the age of 15. He reestablished contact with the Gentry allies he had gained during his original durance under Izanami, and their might – combined with Keepers of the Vigil from the Methuselah and Zangyaku – eventually led all of them right to the Death Goddess’ doorstep. Hikaru made it a point to engage her personally, and destroy her with his own two hands.

The campaign into the Lightless Lands of Arcadia lasted for three years. During its proceedings, the Methuselah and Zangyaku managed to establish lay the groundwork for retaining stable footholds within Arcadia, which – prior to that point – had been a “No Man’s Land” for Keepers of the Vigil. Unfortunately, the rigor of the campaign drastically shortened Hikaru’s life. He died soon after he slayed Izanami.

CYCLE 20: ORIGINAL NAME UNKNOWN; GIVEN THE NAME HIKARU SHINTA (1824-1849)
Once again, Aidan and Setsuna personally recovered Hikaru as soon as he was born into his twentieth life cycle, and took charge of the boy’s safety until his “awakening” at 12. Their reason for this was simple: was Izanami had been killed, remnants of Izanami’s Court remained, and she still had plenty of allies among the Gentry who were keenly interested in exacting revenge upon the Blade King.

Hikaru’s first act the moment he returned as the Wolf of Zangyaku was to solidify the alliance between Zangyaku and the Methuselah. The two organizations continued working together in order to destroy whatever remained of Izanami’s influence: he and Liandrin (whom he was still romantically involved with) spearheaded the engagement, thus allowing the Malice Kings to focus on other endeavors within the Vigil.

Three years before the Blade King’s death at 25, Alistair finally mustered up the courage to approach Hikaru during one of his “shore leaves” from Arcadia and talk to him properly about their own relationship. The two of them managed to sort out their differences. Unknown to both of them, however, was the fact that Liandrin had been watching them from a distance the entire time, and listening in on their conversation.

CYCLE 21: ORIGINAL NAME UNKNOWN; GIVEN THE NAME HIKARU SHINTA (1849-1876)
For the first time since their joint operation against the Gentry, the Wardens of the Wolf took custody of Hikaru immediately after his rebirth, and raised the boy for themselves. Nevertheless, Setsuna remained close at hand for her brother all the way until he awakened to his true state at the age of 14.

Hikaru balanced his time between wiping up the last remaining traces of Izanami’s influence and disabling her surviving allies in Arcadia, attempting to maintain his relationship with Liandrin (who was starting to grow distant from him because of the things she had seen between the Blade King and Alistair) and serving as one of Aidan’s Malice Kings in Asia.

In the year 1863, after both the Wiseman’s Committee of the Methuselah and the Searing Wind of Zangyaku declared, with confidence, that their war against the Gentry had ended, Hikaru and Liandrin had the talk that would end up ending their relationship. Hikaru had spent the past two life cycles worrying over how his “condition” was putting an unnecessary strain on Liandrin, and was potentially holding her back. Liandrin, on the other hand, had had one too many opportunities to question her own worth with regard to being the kind of person whom Hikaru could be in love with, and feel safe with. The two of them decided to end their relationship on the pretense that while they still had feelings for each other, they could both afford to find people who could be better for them both. It was an amiable parting, but a painful one.

Hikaru passed away at the age of 27. He spent the last three years of his life serving as one of Aidan’s Malice Kings, and starting his practice of recording any “interesting” encounter he ended up having with another individual or phenomenon that he had noted in his travels, either through his own merit or through the advice of his Fatespinner older sister.

CYCLE 22: ORIGINAL NAME UNKNOWN; ADOPTED THE NAME HIKARU SHINTA (1876-1897)
Between Hikaru’s immediate rebirth and his “awakening” into his twenty-second life cycle at the age of 13, the Wiseman’s Committee of the Methuselah reviewed their position on the Blade King and former “Weapon” of their conspiracy. In spite of Aidan’s own opinion on the matter, and the opinions of the other Malice Kings, the upper echelons of the organization felt that it would not be in the best interests of the Vigil to “allow” Zangyaku’s leader to continue to Hunt “without careful monitoring”.

Naturally, Zangyaku took great offense to this ruling. The two conspiracies were supposed to be allies, equals in Keeping the Vigil of the Fifth World. Nevertheless, their trust in the Malice Kings and their acknowledgment of Hikaru’s close relationship with Aidan kept Zangyaku’s oni-tsukai from doing anything drastic. Their leader’s own reaction to the news years later definitely kept them at bay.

In an attempt to convince the Wiseman’s Committee that the Blade King was not a threat, Aidan had Hikaru join some of the other Malice Kings on their own engagements which were geared towards solidifying the Methuselah’s influence in the “New World”: the Americas, and former (or current) colonies of imperial powers. This put him in close contact with Rethe Kyriff (who was, at the time, the latest addition to the Malice Kings), and also deepened his relationships with the likes of Calintz Duskrider and Rilea Heartnet.

Hikaru died at the age of 21. He participated in an engagement against a trio of former Malice Kings who had turned against the Methuselah, and – after killing the lot of them – succumbed to his wounds before his comrades could heal him.

CYCLE 23: SEIJI TAKAYAMA (1897-1922)
The Blade King’s twenty-third life cycle began immediately after his death; he was born to a pair of Japanese immigrants who were based in Davao. Zangyaku monitored his progress from a distance, and aided his parents with raising the boy until he awakened to his true state at the age of 14, and took control of his conspiracy yet again.

One of the first things that Hikaru applied himself to was expanding Zangyaku’s influence properly within the Philippines. The archipelago had actually caught his eye during his first run as the Wolf of Zangyaku (or, more like, the First of the Searing Wind) because Allisandra Malaahas had been a part of his inner circle – a fact that she only rediscovered much later, during the Blade King’s twenty-ninth life. This also allowed him to serve as one of the Methuselah’s agents in the Philippines, which was another attempt, on Aidan’s part, to alleviate the fears of the Wiseman’s Committee.

When he was not in the Philippines or handling engagements within Southeast Asia and Oceania, Hikaru was assisting his fellow Malice Kings on the battlefronts in Europe and Russia during World War I. The Methuselah was, after all, going through several major upheavals due to the chaotic turns within the World of Light, and Aidan needed as many Malice Kings on board as possible to manage the situation.

Interestingly enough, this was also the life cycle where he and Alistair first attempted to pursue a romantic relationship with each other. A significant amount of time had passed since Hikaru and Liandrin had parted ways, and Alistair himself had been given only too many opportunities to process his own guilt through serving the Wolf of Zangyaku. Because of all of this, Hikaru passed away peacefully at the age of 25.

CYCLE 24: HIROSHI IWAMOTO (1922-1969)
Hikaru was reborn immediately after his twenty-third death to a distinguished samurai family in Japan. The Wardens of the Wolf took charge of introducing the Iwamoto to the World of Darkness in the interest of protecting their leader, and monitored their progress (together with the well-being of the young Blade King) until he awakened to his true state at the age of 12.

In a similar fashion to how he conducted himself as Seiji Takayama, Hikaru married his duties as the Wolf of Zangyaku and a Malice King of the Voidseeker’s with serving in the Japanese Imperial Army in order to manipulate world events in favor of Keeping the Vigil. Everything, we should note, was calculated, including Japan’s terrible loss during the Second World War: this was something that Zangyaku felt was “necessary”, for reasons that have been elaborated upon in other references. Suffice to say, he – like the other Malice Kings – played a major role in shaping the world in the aftermath of such tragedies.

On a more personal note, this was the life cycle where Hikaru – during his touring as a soldier of the Imperial Army – encountered a Promethean named Saitou Oyama. The Blade King had, over the course of his past two life cycles, established himself as a bit of a legendary figure for the Created because of his keen interest in walking them through the Saturnine Night towards their redemption. Saitou was stolidly in the middle of his Pilgrimage when they first met, and only a few Milestones away from acquiring the Philosopher’s Stone. Hikaru was one of the major reasons why he succeeded.

Hikaru passed away peacefully at the age of 47, thus marking his twenty-fourth life cycle as one of his “longest lived” lives in his history.

CYCLE 25: AKIHIRO YAMAZAKI (1969-1973)
Hikaru’s twenty-fifth life cycle began immediately after his death; he was born, interestingly enough, into the Yamazaki family yet again. Brother Death’s own full awakening within the Blade King’s consciousness, however, drastically affected this life’s awakening, causing him to wake up insanely powerful and quite definitely unhinged at the age of 4. Alistair Mordechai was forced to destroy Hikaru himself.

CYCLE 26: JUN NAGISA (1973-1988)
As soon as both Zangyaku and the Methuselah became aware of the circumstances of Hikaru’s upcoming rebirth, both conspiracies launched a full investigation into what had caused the Blade King’s violent awakening during his twenty-fifth life. Suffice to say, Alistair left Aidan to monitor Hikaru’s future parents and focused on traveling through the realms in search of answers.

Suffice to say, Hikaru awakened to his true state in an even more violent fashion than before at the age of 8. Aidan mobilized immediately, and managed to save the Blade King’s life by temporarily bolstering Sumire with his own powers as the Voidseeker, thus making her capable of mitigating the worst of the damage that had been done to Hikaru’s psyche. The ordeal, however, left him weakened. He ended up dying at the age of 15. Alistair did not arrive in time to be with Hikaru in his final moments.

CYCLE 27: MITSURU AOI (1988-2024)
Zangyaku remained on guard immediately after their leader’s twenty-sixth death, and were grateful for the fact that he was born to Kasumi Aoi – the latest head of the Aoi Clan, a long line of Rivers Hunters who had been in the conspiracy’s service since its beginnings – and her husband Akihiko. Fortunately, beyond the fact that they were keenly interested in Hikaru’s survival, Kasumi and Akihiko also wished to be proper parents to the boy that would eventually awaken to his “true state” as the Wolf of Zangyaku. While he was raised with the full awareness of who he actually was and what he was meant to become, the couple stressed that he was and always would be their son, and that they were always going to be family.

Tragedy struck when Hikaru actually remembered himself at the age of ten. The violence of the awakening drove him into Rapture, and he ended up going on a rampage, destroying a significant section of Tokyo. Several blades of oni-tsukai, led by members of the Searing Wind, engaged him in battle. When it was clear, however, that the boy was too strong for any of them to handle, Akihiko went on the field with the intent of doing whatever it took to bring his son back to them all. He ended up succeeding at the cost of his own life. Hikaru only came back to himself after he had fatally wounded his own father. Kasumi arrived just long enough to hold Akihiko in her arms and witness him slip away.

Suffice to say, the loss of her husband crushed Kasumi just as terribly as it ruined Hikaru. At first, the Rivers Hunter wrestled with herself, as it was nearly impossible to not blame Hikaru, in some fashion, for taking Akihiko away from her. Eventually, however, when she was certain that she could not fault her son for murdering his father, she lapsed into a deep melancholia that made her incapable of helping Hikaru process his own grief. Because he had little else to hold on to and because he had long since passed his breaking point due to the experiences that he had had with his awakenings in his twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth life cycles, the Blade King quietly decided that he no longer wanted to live. Barely a year after Akihiko’s death, the Wardens of the Wolf were forced to place their own leader under house arrest in a hospital that Zangyaku controlled, and monitor him constantly in order to prevent him from committing suicide.

Alistair, by this point, felt like he was running out of options. Kasumi was compromised; Hikaru had given up completely, and was perfectly content with wasting away, and had already attempted to order Zangyaku to focus their future efforts on killing him every time they managed to find him again (the conspiracy, as a whole, naturally refused to follow through). In 1999, then, he turned to Aidan Clayce with a single request: that the Voidseeker uses the powers at his disposal to make him a fixed point in time. If he wanted to find a cure and if he wanted to make sure that Hikaru always had at least one constant fixture in his life that he could lean on, he had to make sure that he could not die and could therefore never leave the Blade King behind. The next thing that Alistair did was visit Hikaru, and finally manage to convince the boy to hold on for a little longer. It should be noted, however, that he deliberately kept what he had done from his leader: beyond the fact that he did not think that Hikaru was ready to hear it, he also did not have any idea on how to bring the matter up properly.

During the next five years, Hikaru focused on regaining his bearings and serving as Zangyaku’s leader while carefully monitoring the Methuselah’s activities from a distance. It is interesting to note that he met a good number of the people who would end up compromising the members of his Searing Wind during this period: Tohru Fukuzawa, Rui Ishikawa, Feranen, Makoto Kuzunoha, Kalika Shinta, Yue Rukia and Nia Satou. He also reconciled with his mother Kasumi, met Gideon Reyes and Jessiah Vice (two men who would later have the privilege of counting themselves as Hikaru’s best friends), and had a hand in releasing Sawyer Mesch and her 443 “sisters” from Project Arachne. His activities in Japan, however, grinded to a halt when he finally found out what Alistair had done to himself. This angered him just as much as it angered him: while he was no longer suicidal, he firmly believed that Alistair was wasting his life away with trying to help him. Something that helped ground him in the six years that followed was Makoto, whom he engaged in a romantic relationship with. Nevertheless, it wasn’t enough to keep him from feel as though staying in his own country or within Zangyaku’s territory was too isolating, especially in light of the row that he was having with Alistair. The pair broke things off the day that Hikaru decided to leave for the Philippines, and have a more active role in assisting Aidan, Setsuna and the other Malice Kings with their own operations.

Hikaru was 24 when he, over the course of a year (that is, 2012), would end up meeting the members of three novice Methuselah blades: Wolf’s Choice (named, interestingly enough, due to their close associations with the Blade King), the Rockin’ Rollas, and the rest of the Pack (Gideon’s blade). Because of his “usual” practices, he either had an active hand in drawing these young hunters into the Vigil, or had some sort of influence on the course of their life due to some action that he had taken in the past. He grew particularly close to the likes of Elias Tagabigay (his future brother-in-law, and closest brother-in-arms), Kaizen Tempesta (someone whom he ended up “adopting” into his family due to Kaizen’s associations with Setsuna), Tala Vega (his first “daughter”), Aurora Santos, Cisco Montelibano-Profaci, and Aria Skye (the reincarnation of Katherine Stiles-Shinta).

This was also the year where the Vigil, as a whole, discovered that that the entity within Hikaru was actually the force of Death itself, embodied into a sentient creature due to Project Deus Ex Machina, and the year where the Methuselah finally ruled in favor of declaring the Blade King as a threat to the Fifth World – an unfair ruling that would result in the rise of Netsach. He was a major participant in Operation Nyx, Netsach’s battle against the Destroyer of Worlds. On a more personal note, this was also the year where he “lost” his Bloodsinger Sumire because of the stirrings of Death within his head, and had a fall out with Alistair that was worse than the row that had taken place between them during his fourteenth life cycle. It stemmed from Hikaru’s decision to let go of the possibility of him and Alistair being together for good, which is something that Alistair – still not quite secure, as he was, of the Blade King’s affection for him – took as Hikaru giving up on their relationship completely.

Although he made a big show out of keeping himself busy and looking like he was “fine”, the latter half of 2012 and the entirety of 2013 were incredibly difficult for Hikaru. For one, he and Alistair terminated their relationship “for their own good”, even though at the time it was obvious that they still harbored intimate feelings for each other. For another, Setsuna had become of the Great Spirits of the Fifth World, thus completely abandoning her earthly ties. He also did not know what to do about Aria. Furthermore, he ended up burying many of his own oni-tsukai, including several members of the Searing Wind. All of these events occurred on top of the already traumatic incidents that had occurred in 2012, with the biggest being his loss of Sakura and his Awakening as Death.

Suffice to say, Hikaru was true to his nature and ended up turning his grief, confusion, loneliness and resentment into a productive force that fueled his conspiracy forward. He extended his political influence within Japan, which ended up smoothing the country’s transition during the First Reforms and ultimately ensuring that the country remained stable in spite of the fact that the face of the Fifth World was changing. He tirelessly searched for a means to recover Sumire, and ended up finding one when he met Kendrick, a North American war shaman that helped him find Sumire and recover her from the Forgotten Shore. He expanded Zangyaku even further, thus cementing his organization’s position as Asia’s main conspiracy. He also provided an invaluable amount of support to Netsach, the Methuselah, Aegis Kai Doru, the Midnight Riders, and the Brotherhood of Violence. He also diffused more than a few of the serious political conflicts that occurred around Asia during the First Reforms. By 2017, he was the most powerful man in Japan, revered and respected just as much as the Emperor himself. But he was also very quietly dying, as the strain of serving as Death’s vessel was proving far too much for his body to handle. It did not help that he regularly over-extended himself, and – without Alistair around, and with all of his closest friends and family members busy with the First Reforms – there was no one to stay by his side and police him.

Things nearly turned around for the better in 2018, with Inquisitor Aria Skye’s return to Tokyo and induction as the new Mage of the Searing Wind. Hikaru was initially upset at this, as he still could not bring himself to get over his personal guilt and love Aria in earnest. Aria, however, proved to be far too stubborn even for Hikaru, and the pair attempted to work things out. Unfortunately, before they could go any further, the Black Christmas occurred in 2022, and the Darkest Vigil swept over the Fifth World.

Hikaru stayed in Japan, with the intent of guiding the Japanese government through the Darkest Vigil and sometimes single-handedly stamping out hostile parties and points of resistance around Asia. Suffice to say, the step up in Vigil-related activity, combined with Hikaru’s own bullheadedness, only hastened his decline. As a result, he was killed in 2024 during a massive Yama King uprising off the coasts of Japan. His funeral was the one and only time that Alistair returned to Japan during the Darkest Vigil.

CYCLE 28: ORIGINAL NAME UNKNOWN / DEATH (2024-2042)
The entirety of Hikaru’s twenty-eighth Life Cycle was spent serving as Death Himself. Death used this time to teach Hikaru how to fully utilize the new powers that he had at his disposal, and show him what his “true function” in the Fifth World was going to be for the rest of eternity. Hikaru was thus unreachable to any of his comrades for those eighteen years, as his consciousness remained “asleep” while Death took control of his body. Historical records contain morbidly detailed accounts of the battles he participated in during this period, and there are one too many personal accounts of one-on-one encounters with Death.

The Blade King died in 2042, the same year that the Phoenix War ended. He has not elaborated on the circumstances of his passing. Experts from the Bodhisattvas, Leto and Ziz have concluded that his physical body simply shut down, as he was not yet strong enough to handle the strain of being Death’s vessel.

CYCLE 29: TOSHIZOU FUKUZAWA (2042-PRESENT)
Interestingly enough, Hikaru’s twenty-ninth Life Cycle began with him being the oldest son of Tohru Fukuzawa. Tohru, during his turn as a member of the Searing Wind, had served Hikaru loyally, and was often seen by the Blade King as his surrogate father during his twenty-seventh life cycle. Some suspect that Death orchestrated this particular reincarnation out of respect for his vessel. He led a normal life in the Fukuzawa household until he was eight, when he re-entered Zangyaku and took command of his own conspiracy once again. By the age of twelve, he was already handling anti-Grendal operations beyond Japanese shores.

When he was fifteen, the Emperor of Japan requested for a private audience. The Emperor introduced Hikaru to the Princess Satsuki, his daughter, with the intent of offering Satsuki’s hand in marriage to the Wolf of Zangyaku. Hikaru attempted to politely but firmly decline. The Emperor, however, insisted that Hikaru at least consider it, and have a more solid answer for him after the Darkest Vigil ended. Hikaru chose not to answer rather than insist that he truly wasn’t interested, and went back to focusing on Zangyaku’s war efforts.

In a meeting that further complicated matters between them, Hikaru ended up being reunited with Aria in 2059. The two of them spearheaded an undercover operation in Moscow, which was one of the last major Russian cities under Grendal control. Once again, things were very tense and rough for the both of them in the beginning, but they managed to reach a sort of compromise soon after the operation. Unfortunately, only too much had changed since 2024; Aria was now completely uncertain about her previous decision to own up to her feelings for Hikaru. Furthermore, she was fully aware of the Emperor’s interest in marrying Hikaru to Satsuki, and while Hikaru had no interest in the girl whatsoever, it was clear to Aria that Satsuki was (at least in her opinion) someone who could do a lot of good for the Blade King. Suffice to say, things had gone completely sour between Aria and Hikaru by the end of 2062, with everything coming to a head after one last dramatic confrontation.


CURRENT STATUS
Although Hikaru spends most of his time in Japan now, he’s still traveling around the globe with notable frequency “on business”. The World of Light has also caught wind of the “arrangement” that the Emperor wishes to make between the Wolf and his daughter in spite of the Imperial Family’s best efforts at keeping things quiet, and more than a few parties have been noisy about how much they support such a move. Hikaru himself has not been vocal about the issue to the press, but has made his sentiments rather clear to some of his closest confidants: bitter as he is over Aria, he still wants to be with her, and cannot foresee himself being with Satsuki no matter how “helpful” their marriage might be to Japan.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE
Hikaru unabashedly fits the profile of a high-functioning sociopath. His condition allows him to retain the memories and skills of all of his previous lives together with the new range of abilities that he has been granted as the recognized vessel of Death, making him a formidable figure to deal with across the board. Furthermore, his ruthless pragmatism and perceived lack of empathy have made it clear, in the opinion of many, that there are few things that he cares about. All of this, however, may be a front that he uses to hide crushing insecurity, and a deep-seated belief that he should not exist.

A deeper study of Hikaru’s attitude and disposition point towards a strong tendency to martyr himself for his beliefs. He is self-destructive and fatalistic precisely because he believes that he has no inherent value, as if his entire existence is an affront to his own principles. His strongest defense mechanism is to keep other people at arm’s length; it is interesting to note, for example, that the “closer” he becomes to another person, the more actively he attempts to keep them away.


THREAT LEVEL
IMMEASURABLE/FACTOR (10%). Hikaru now possesses an unfettered amount of potential due to his soul bond with Death. Furthermore, he is, without a doubt, one of the strongest Keepers of the Vigil at present with the resources to influence the tides in his favor at any given moment. The real issue at hand, however, is not his loyalty to the cause nor his personality: it is the fact that Death continues to be a neutral force, and it has not been definitively proven that He is interested in the Blade King’s welfare.


ELIAS’ NOTES

• Establish formal meeting with the Blade King re: mobilizing Zangyaku within flagged territories.
  
• We have a plan. I will never let you fall, Brother.