Lust / Luxuria
Obsessive, unlawful depraved thought, or unnatural desire for sexual excitement, such as desiring sex with a person outside marriage or engaging in unnatural sexual appetites. In the Seven Deadly Sins, Luxuria was formerly defined as overindulgence of earthly pleasures, before taking on a more carnal nature in later renditions.
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4 / 15 / 2016
Of course Kamoshida's Shadow freaks out when we arrive suddenly into his chambers.
"Wh-what is this!?"
"Oh no."
Yoshizawa cries, "We didn't have to do this...!"
"That's the best part," I say as Takamaki wrenches Sakamoto's bag away from him.
"H-hey, Takamaki!"
"How do you put the gun together?" she says, dumping all the collapsed pieces of the shotgun from the bag onto the floor. Along with his notebooks and pens and crumpled-up pieces of paper.
"You can't just--!"
"It's now or never!" she shouts, eyes piercing through Sakamoto's own. "Tell me how to put it together!"
He acquiesces then, kneeling down and assembling it on the spot, as Yoshizawa continues, "You want to kill him. Oh my God, you just want him dead."
"Oh please, good sir, show mercy upon the pedophile. Don't talk stupid."
"What have you done!? What is this!?" the Shadow rises from his seat, fuming mad and looking ready to beat our asses even here. "I will not tolerate this assault on the castle of the King--!"
I rip the mask off my face and Satanael looms over the proceedings, large and proud, spreading his six wings wide and pointing his rifle right at the Shadow. Like a scolded child he sinks back into his seat, eyes wide and legs trembling.
Satanael fades and the real Kamoshida stirs from his slumber, prying himself up and off the ground, he sees his Shadow and he's obviously dazed, still prolly thinks this is all a dream. I kick him right in the face and he screams and cries and I feel the crack when my heel meets his nose again and he screams, " Wh-who are you...!? S-someone, help me!"
But no one will, no one's gonna stop me from kicking him in his stomach and shoving my boot between his jaw and his collarbone, and as he chokes and suffocates Takamaki pulls a gun to his head.
"Sometimes the school fucks back," I say, and the fear in his eyes is beyond anything I could have ever wanted. "We will make you lose everything. At least one of your parents will probably kill themselves out of the shame. This will follow you until the day you die."
His eyes blaze with fury and he finds it in himself to rise up out of his seat again, "How dare you!?"
I lift my foot off Kamoshida's neck and he coughs and splutters and his purple face starts going back to normal. "Wha--wha, what, what is this!?!"
"Touch me again and I blow your head off," shouts Takamaki.
He raises his arms, "W-wait! Wait, goddammit wait, no! Y-you can't do this to me!"
Takamaki presses the gun further into his skull, "Why not? We're stronger than you, so we can do whatever the hell we want. Isn't that how it works?"
"If you kill yourself, then I'll go after Shozo Kamoshida and Kirie Kamoshida." He and his Shadow share the same expression of horror, recognizing the names of their parents. "After them, I'll go after your other family members. I'll go after everyone you cherish. I'll make them know fear, just as you do. If you decide to take the easy way out, I will ruin everything and everyone you love."
"What is wrong with you...?" mutters Sakamoto.
"Y-you're bluffing...you can't be--!"
"497-1002, Kichijoji Minamicho, Musashino-shi, Tokyo. Olympic fucking medalist still lives with his parents."
"I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!"
"Fucking a girl who doesn't want it is called what?"
At once he burns with anger, even as Takamaki keeps the gun to his forehead, "I DIDN'T MAKE HER JUMP--"
Takamaki fires one round next to him, very nearly blowing off his arm. "Next shot goes between your legs. This is you. This is all you."
"Wh-what...!?"
"The school's your castle. And you're the king. This is all you are. At least until we tear it all down."
"I-I-I'm sorry, I--" suddenly he gets himself into a prostrating position, "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! Please don't kill me...!"
Takamaki groans, "Stop crying, you fucking--"
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'll make up for everything, I'll pay for all Suzui's expenses, I'll turn myself in, just please, I swear--"
"I said shut up!"
"I'M SORRY! I'M SO SORRY! I'LL NEVER HURT ANYONE ELSE!! PLEASE DON'T KILL ME, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!!"
He stares at the ground for the longest time. When he sobs he's inconsolable. I can hear him through the noises he makes, asking forgiveness from his parents, from all his victims. He says names I've never heard before, and in the end he starts praying. He starts begging for God to show him mercy, hoping He's listening.
The King stares at us with an expression I can't discern. But his whole body trembles with anger coursing through him like never before. "What do you want?"
"Give us your Treasure, or we shoot you low in the stomach. Your guts'll fill up with shit and you'll die of blood poisoning."
The only thing stopping Kamoshida's Shadow from calling his soldiers here is Takamaki's trigger finger. He knows that by making any move against us, he puts himself and his whole castle at risk. And if we do kill Kamoshida, we'll most be leaving his corpse trapped in the limbo that is the Vortex World; there'll be no body, no evidence, nothing. I'll get off scot-free for my crime, the Palace will disappear, and everything Kamoshida's built for himself will be thrown to the winds.
So I don't expect what he says next.
"You won't shoot him." And my hand trembles for a moment. But I keep myself still enough and keep my eyes on him. "Everything you've done here...you're putting on airs. Trying too hard. Making yourself more than what you really are, and for what? To scare me?"
I keep my eyes on him. He'll just rebut me if I say anything, twist my words. Can't let him get the upper hand. But that might not be my choice anymore.
"You've come in here, trying to take refuge in your own audacity. Making such a big commotion, shoving a gun in his face right in front of me, and for what? You're trying to scare me. You'd only do that, if you have nothing."
"You think we won't do it?" I snarl at him.
"Then do it. Shoot him. Right in his head."
Kamoshida's pride is such that he considers himself a king, regardless of the size of his castle, the number of concubines he has, or the lands he's conquered. What makes a king, is the love his people have for him. But it's not so much love, for Kamoshida, as much as it is adoration. Idolization. Desire, want.
All of that gets taken away, he becomes nothing. The Treasure would be a symbol of his kingliness, his power, his authority. Something that stands above all other things.
"Sakamoto, break his leg."
"What?"
"What!?"
"Summon your Persona and break his goddamn leg before I cut it off!"
"The hell're you--!?"
"Sorry I'm late!" Cat shouts, pouncing into the scene and grabbing Kamoshida's foot. "And a one and a--"
"NO DON'T NO I'M BEGGING YOU DON'T WAIT PLEASE STOP--" KKRACK "--AAAGHHH!!!"
In an instant Kamoshida's left leg is bent such that his foot could touch his waist. Sakamoto pukes again and Yoshizawa's screaming, even Takamaki rears back with the gun because holy shit and I tell the Shadow, "Got three other limbs and all the time in the world."
"WHY YOU GODLESS LITTLE--" KKRACK "--AAAGH!!"
That was because he tried to grab the Cat. And he ended up getting his forearm made into a V shape.
"Ya can lock me up, but ya can't take my freedom!" Cat laughs, twirling his bent knee around like he's stirring a pot, and the guy screams and thrashes and cries and pleads--
"Stop it! Stop it now!!!" cries Yoshizawa.
"Not 'til he gives us the Treasure."
"You could have killed me at any point. If you hated me that much you'd want to kill me, then why not just have me killed right now? Right here? Are you really gonna shoot me if I just say NO!? What's the point of trying to take my Treasure, even!? So you can still feel good about yourself!?"
"Takamaki, shoot him."
"Wh-what...?"
"Shoot him low in the stomach."
"Takamaki, stop!"
"Senpai, please don't!"
"The second she shoots you, you bleed like a pig," I seethe, glaring at him, watching his Shadow squirm and rage and froth at the mouth. "Takamaki."
"I-I know, I —"
"You won't shoot me, you —"
"Shut up, shut up, shut the hell up everyone—"
"Takamaki, please!!!"
"Senpai please no I'm begging you!!!"
The others grab her arms and she's not firing, not even looking at either of them and I see it now, I see her grip's shaky and how her teeth are chattering and how she knows she can't just stop now--
So I pull the shotgun outta her arms. "Kill you myself, you fucking —"
Shadow Kamoshida's arms balloon wide as his eyes begin to bulge out of his skull. I can't even pull the trigger before he whips an arm that's grown ten times its normal size at us, and it sends all of us far back.
Prying myself up from the floor I see the Treasure sitting atop his now gargantuan head. Spawning over him, in his rage. Because he's Kamoshida. He has to flaunt himself at every opportunity, make those opposing him feel as small as possible. It'll be his undoing.
The crown is golden, and its size is that of half a man. Ornamented with pearls and diamonds and rubies innumerable, a globe surmounted by a cross rests at the top. The moment my eyes meet it visions flash in my head of nude women, held down and tortured, their bodies strained and their wills thinned; it's when the women begin to look like Kana that I grit my teeth.
"Treasure..." The Cat practically salivates on the spot.
The Shadow growls, "I'll give you one last chance to turn back now. This is all a big misunderstanding."
"Misunderstanding? Misunderstanding!?" Takamaki's first to rise to her feet. "I'm gonna rip your fucking guts out!"
"Everyone around me kept it secret. Adults who wanna share in my accomplishments. Kids who have the drive to succeed. Hell, most o' my own students know what I do behind the scenes, but they don't dare snitch. Some even offered their friends and girlfriends to me so that I'd give 'em a good recommendation. They all willingly protect me, so they all may profit from my glory."
"Profit...?" Sakamoto couldn't believe his ears.
"Too many stupid little kids in this world. So many who don't understand the compromises we adults make to become Kings and rulers. That includes you five and that stupid little whore that jumped off the roof!"
"We don't need your permission to live our lives," Takamaki seethes. And we all rise up behind her. "I don't care what you've sacrificed or compromised. You're a sick goddamn demon and I'm gonna take that crown and smash it into a thousand pieces!"
"You're absolutely right. I'm a demon. And this is Hell."
His eyes are each as large as a small car, orange vortexes spiralling endlessly where his sclerae are supposed to be. His smile reaches from ear to ear and I see that he's gotten three rows of teeth, each tooth gnarled and serrated like that of a shark. His skin's become a feverish pink color, and he's grown the horns of a ram atop his head. He's got four arms, each as long as a bus and with callused fingers, and in each of his hands is a knife that's a person's height. He's completely nude as well, and where his genitals should be all I see is the color red; the warts and the lesions there simply overflow with blood, pus, or both, and pulsate as though there's more inside that wants to escape. Though he's muscular, I see that his stomach is strangely diminutive, giving the impression that his chest simply transitions into his waist. His long hair grows even longer, flowing out underneath his glowing crown.
He's become so massive that I merely measure up to his belly button by comparison. Throughout this time I hear a name burn in my mind, another demon, surely; Asmodeus, Asmodeus, Asmodeus.
He then picks up the broken and bloody Kamoshida in his hands —the man screams and cries and wracks his body around while tears gush from his eyes, "No, no God, wait, no, NO PLEASE NO, SOMEONE HELP ME, MAMA, MAMAAA —"
Asmodeus stuffs him in his mouth, swallowing him whole; his gut bulges with two hundred pounds of rapist and he roars with pride and hunger.
"I am a Shadow, the true self. Those who dare threaten the King deserve a fate worse than death! You want my Treasure, YOU PRY IT FROM MY CORPSE!"
"Dibs on the crown! Mercurius!"
The Two-Faced God spirals out the bobble head and charges at the crown immediately, but Asmodeus' two massive hands grip it and tear it in two, crumpling it into what would otherwise be a ball, but instead of shrinking in agony it shouts "I WILL TAKE WHAT IS MINE, FALSE KING--"
Asmodeus charges directly at me, drooling blood out of his mouth, delirious and mad and desperate—the madness in his eyes is familiar and his tongue laps up as he tries to reach me with his arms and bite down on my skull like a jawbreaker—
"Cendrillon!"
Her Persona twirls into the air and opens her arms, a blinding white light searing into Asmodeus' large eyes--
"—AAAAIIII'LL KILL YOU, I'LL KILL EVERY SINGLE LAST ONE OF YOU, I'LL EAT OUT YOUR KIDNEYS AND YOUR LUNGS AND YOUR HEARTS—"
"Salome!"
"I'LL GET MY HANDS ALL OVER YOUR MOTHERS YOUR FATHERS YOUR SISTERS YOUR CHILDREN KILL YOU EAT YOU STAB YOU CONSUME YOU—"
Salome flies from Takamaki's head, her robes flowing in waves as she soars upon Asmodeus' head, grips the sides of the crown and tugs. Asmodeus, still blind, tries raising his massive hands up to the crown, I put my hand to my mask but before I can do anything I hear Sakamoto shout "Blackbeard!!!"
Sakamoto's Persona spears its bowsprit right through Asmodeus' head like an arrow to an apple. Goes right through the eye and out the back of the head. We see all manner of fluids burst, his eye popping like a balloon; Asmodeus reels back, maddeningly afraid and screaming about how he'll have our heads, how he'll end our lives, how we're monsters, how we all deserve to be flayed and raped and tortured till we're seventy. In agony, Asmodeus' body flounders but Blackbeard shoves the face down into the ground and keeps it there as Salome keeps pulling.
"S-senpai...!"
"God damn you, Hikawa—"
"It won't come off," cries Takamaki. "She's trying with everything she's got!"
"--SHE WAS A BITCH AND SHE WAS A SLUT AND SHE WAS A WHORE AND SHE DESERVED IT YOU FUCKING--"
"Cat!" I shout. "Treasure doesn't need to be stolen, right!? As long as it's gone, so will the distortion disappear!?"
"Yeah, but, honestly I'd like to keep it intact as much as—"
"SATANAEL!"
Everybody's keeping it still. And as my Persona flourishes into the air, as Yoshizawa and Sakamoto cry out to me to just stop, as Salome and Blackbeard flee the scene I have the rifle pointed right at the crown that's far too big for its own good —
BLAM
—but he raises his head at just the wrong time.
The crown flies off twenty feet behind him, as does a sizable portion of his face.
"MINE MINE MINE," And he tries, even with the gaping hole in his skull he tries to get it back, he turns his back on all of us and tries to crawl over to the crown, "My Treasure, My Precious, Give Her Back To Me, I WANT HER BACK—" but Blackbeard stabs him through the neck and keeps him pinned to the ground. "—AAAGHHH!!!
"Oh my God, senpai—"
"I'm sick of this shit! Takamaki!"
"NOOOOOOO!!!!"
Salome picks up the crown, now dented from the blast, lifts it up high over her head, and throws it down in a motion similar to drying off a towel. Again and again and again. When she doesn't smash it, she burns it and when she doesn't burn it she tears it from the seams. Asmodeus doesn't scream as she destroys the Treasure. He doesn't throw his body two and fro, nor does he weep, nor does he plead. He watches it happen, watches as Takamaki's Persona rips and smashes and plunders the Treasure right before his very eyes. Takamaki herself doesn't smile, she doesn't laugh, she doesn't gloat, she doesn't even let herself see what her Persona does.
She just clutches at her shoulders, hating being alive.
Asmodeus' body begins heaving. Heaving very heavily; growling and hissing throaty noises.
"Wh-whoa...!"
Blackbeard pries himself away from the neck as Asmodeus coughs and splutters, and in one loud HRRRKK he expels himself from his stomach. Kamoshida's covered in all sorts of liquids that aren't worth describing. His leg and arm are still broken, and though his eyes are open his body's practically made of stone.
"Is...is he dead...?" asks Yoshizawa.
Cat goes near the seeming-corpse. "Nah. He's breathing. Not much more than that, but hey. Take what you can get."
It lays a paw on Kamoshida's broken arm and broken leg, and within seconds the bones snap back into place, along with the muscle and the veins and the arteries, as if they'd never been broken at all.
"What the hell...?"
"Been practicing healing spells," it says, blowing on its claws. "Good thing none o' you guys needed it."
Asmodeus' body starts shrinking. Two of its arms sink back into his flesh. The lesions and the diseased skin sears itself back into shape. Skin returns to its original color. Soon enough Kamoshida's Shadow has returned to what it once was, what it's always been.
It collapses to its knees. "You don't understand. You could never understand. All those goddamned hyenas forcing their expectations on me. Everything I did, I did for them...what was so wrong about wanting a reward for that?"
At that, Takamaki finds it in herself to approach him. "Now, you're making excuses. Like you've always been."
"I'm nothing without my Treasure. I've always been nothing without my Treasure. Go ahead and finish me off. My real self will go down with me. Just like you wanted."
Takamaki narrows her eyes, "You don't get to tell me what I want."
"It's your call," Cat says, folding its arms. "Let him live, or finish him off."
She could have Salome burn him alive in an instant. She could wipe him and his Shadow off the face of the world, and not a single soul would ever be able to tell. When she stares him down, so coldly and strongly, we all think she will.
"I want you to admit everything. I want you to toss your whole goddamn life down the drain. And that can't happen if you die."
"My life is over. Kill me. What the hell am I supposed to do now...?"
"I don't care. You live. You live with this hanging over your head for the rest of your life. And you die a disgrace."
"What a kind girl," Cat smiles.
He hangs his head low. A blue light forms around his body, and within moments he dissolves into glowing ash, scattering to the winds. Suddenly the walls of the castle tremble, the stones shake loose, the pillars crack and collapse.
"What the hell!?" cries Sakamoto.
"Time to go."
"Wh-what do we do!?" Yoshizawa starts freaking out.
"Don't worry!" Cat strikes a pose, "Morgana, transform!"
Leaps into the air, comes back down a bus.
"You for real!?"
"Can't teleport back to the entry way outside of a safe zone! We'll have to escape the ol' fashioned way!"
I grab the real Kamoshida by the scruff of his neck, "Let's get the hell outta here."
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.
.
The second we make it back to the alleyway in the real world, Sakamoto doesn't waste any time.
WHACK
Pain blasts across my left cheek, and the only thing cushioning me is the brick wall.
"Gonna make you piss red for the next three months--" He raises an arm up again, but Yoshizawa pulls him back. "--lemme go!"
"He's not worth it."
Sakamoto just growls and pulls his arm away, keeping his eyes on me, "Why? J-just...why!?"
"I'm sorry for terrorizing the pedophile rapist. There's your apology."
"I oughta bash your brains against a goddamn wall--"
"Mister I-Don't-Give-a-Shit-What-Happens-to-Kamoshida loses it when something bad might actually happen to Kamoshida. "
"Shut up, shut the hell up--"
"It's as if he rushed into this without really thinking it through. Wouldn't be the first time."
"Senpai," Yoshizawa steps in. "That's not fair. And you know it. We wanted him to confess his crimes. There was always a risk of him dying, but now we could've just--"
"We were gonna have to fight his Shadow one way or another. Someone with his goddamn ego wouldn't just let us leave with the Treasure."
"You didn't have to torture him!"
"Can't say it didn't feel good."
Her jaw drops, "You're just like him. You do horrible things but it's okay to you as long as it makes you feel good, huh!? That makes it so much better."
"You know what does make it better?" I narrow my eyes, approaching her slowly enough to cause her to back away. "The fact that the world's got one less asshole running around doing whatever the hell he wants."
Sakamoto grabs me by the scruff of my neck, "And the guy who took him out was another piece of shit who goes around doing whatever the hell he wants!"
"GUYS!" Takamaki cries. "Shut up for a second."
Kamoshida's body is laying in the heaps of garbage bags and shit. Eyes closed, barely even breathing. Takamaki leans in, but not close enough such that she'd smell the stench. "He's snoring. Meaning he's still alive."
"Still alive, for now at least," Cat says suddenly, licking itself. "You'll see a change in the next few days or so. Either he commits career suicide or actual suicide."
"And what was up with you back in the Palace, huh?" Sakamoto grabs him by the collar. "What the hell was all about snapping his legs and breaking his arm--!?"
"I healed him up, didn't I? Any confession he makes will be valid now."
He drops it. "That's not the point. God, it's like neither o' you get it-"
"Sakamoto. You canry about how shitty a person I am for the rest of your life. I don't care. But take pride in the fact that you finally did something worth a damn in all your sixteen years of living. Be satisfied you've come this far. At the end of the day, you helped take out a sick rapist son of a bitch that nobody in the school knew shit about. You did more for them in a few days than they'll ever do for each other their whole lives. Take whatever comfort you can derive from today. No matter what happens next, life goes on. And no matter what happens next with Kamoshida, to them you'll still be you. Not the hero who took out an evil King--just you."
I don't know why I snapped at him, right then and there.
When I unhand him, he's completely lost the will to say anything. Looks like he's on the verge of tears, despite the scowl crossing his eyes. He shuffles his bag over his shoulder and runs out the alleyway, Yoshizawa following him close behind. She wasn't angry, wasn't even disappointed, when she turned to face me before heading out. Whatever look she had then, I knew it was enough to tell me that she doesn't want to speak to me ever again.
"That was harsh," whistles the cat.
"Like it matters."
"True," it turns to face me. "As much as I'd have liked to obtain the Treasure, I'd say the mission was an overall success. It was nice working with you again, Kazuya."
"Now leave me alone, for the rest of my life."
It shrugs, "Alright."
Again, it leaps upon the steps of a fire escape and climbs, slithering into the shadows of Tokyo's rooftops.
"You didn't have to treat him like that," Takamaki sighs. "Ryuji's a good guy, deep down. He leaps before he looks most of the time, but he's more decent than most."
"That's why he should stay as far away from me as possible." I eye the snoring half-corpse lying in garbage, "What do you wanna do with him?"
Takamaki shrugs, "I don't wanna do anything with him."
"Stupid question."
"You wanna grab a bite somewhere before heading home?"
"Bad idea."
"You sure?"
I narrow my eyes at her, "I've a criminal record."
"I've heard. We're in the same class. But in the end, you helped me take Kamoshida down. Least lemme treat you out this once."
What the hell. "Sure."
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.
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Big Bang Burger, Shibuya.
"How's that spot where he punched you?"
I bite down into a few fries. "I'll live. Are you okay? First day I summoned a Persona, I felt terrible after the fact. Slept for like, ten hours."
She sighs, "Honestly...I'm thinking of just calling in sick for tomorrow. Maybe even for like, two more days. I feel like I could just stay in bed forever."
"That's about right."
"How'd you ever even find out about Palaces?" she sips from a large plastic cup of coke.
"Someone I knew. Terrible things happened to her. I don't like talking about it."
She nods, "Sorry for bringing it up."
"It's fine."
"Why did you decide to fight Kamoshida? You're a new student. Palaces seem like a sensitive issue for you. They said a whole lot of rumors about you. In and out our class. It's not like you had an obligation to help out. So why did you?"
I shake my head. "I hate him. And people like him. Besides, he leaked my record."
"He did?"
"Well, he had that Nishima kid do it. Would've preferred it if nobody knew. But whatever."
"I guess that's as good a reason as any," she sighs, and I actually chuckle a little at that. "What?"
"It's nothing."
"You sure?"
"Suzui asked the same thing, when I'd questioned her if the volleyball team was being abused. When I told her the answer, she also said that's as good a reason as any."
Takamaki smiles sadly. Her eyes are hazy and blank as she stares down at her tray. "I never apologized to you for barging in like that. She said you were trying to help her."
"She did?"
"I asked her, with what? She couldn't even look at me. She just pushed me away and ran so fast I couldn't catch up." She hangs her head low and her hazy eyes stare far past the table, past me, past the whole world.
I remember a girl with green eyes, her fingers digging into my hand as she tells me how much she wants me out of her life.
"When I first spoke with her, she asked if I was the transfer student from class D. I told her yes. She said I shouldn't let the rumors get to me. She helped with a similar situation before. Her best friend gets misunderstood often, because of her looks."
Takamaki's expression is frozen. The look she has in her eyes, I can only recognize as the same as I had after I found Kana in my bathroom.
"Do with it whatever you'd like. For what it's worth, I don't think she could possibly ever hate you."
She doesn't say a word. Without even finishing her food, she rises up from her seat, cupping her mouth. She's barely able to hold herself together, even as she leaves the restaurant. Through the windows, I see her run to the subway, melting into the crowds passing her by.
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NoRoleModelz Chapter Notes:
Added the second half of this chapter in post because I was stupid for leaving it half-finished in the first place.
Not gonna lie, I felt super uncomfortable writing for Kazuya these last few chapters. For as much as I love reading about morally ambiguous characters, it's certainly not easy to write one out. You gotta reach into a part of yourself that you probably wouldn't even wanna admit *is* a part of you :P
Writing him, I took a lot of inspiration from anti-heroic characters like The Punisher, Arthur Morgan, the Comedian, and Billy Butcher. Those characters can be pretty over-the-top in their own way but they always come from a real, dark place.
Will write out two to four chapters before taking a break from this story for a bit lol.