Chain 214: Luther Strode

Chain 214: Luther Strode

Location: The Amazon Rainforest
Age: 24
Identity: Drop-In
Drawbacks: [+300] The Pilgrimage, Red Handed Faith

[Free]      Limits
[100/1300]  Brutality
[500/1300]  Art Of Murder
[600/1300]  Repose
[1000/1300] Serenity
[Free]      The Tale of Luther Strode
[1300/1300] The Herculean Method

Well, I did not expect this world to be quite as disturbing as it is. Learning the methods of Cain is... interesting... but as is typical of hand-to-hand methods, it is filtered through my past experiences. Most primarily, through the lens of my training under Kenshiro. I may be doing self-study rather than having a master, and I will admit that the Herculean Method outstrips the raw potential of Hokuto Shinken, but... well, this world likely never saw anything more refined than this. It's all pure strength, no refinement. It encourages the practitioner to lose themselves in it and become its slave, instead of using it to grow as a person and be a better person.

Case in point, getting dropped into the thick of the idiocy and being neck-deep in Cain's disciples practicing human sacrifice in South America.

Unfortunately, for all its strength, the Herculean Method has notable weaknesses. With reasonable preparation, an ordinary human could handle them, at least in theory. But... I had something different in mind. Oh, learning the Method is fine, but I chose not to use that upon any of them. Instead, I used it as a proper test of what I'd learned so very long ago, what I'd refined since.

The Conspiracy did their work, most of them finding the practices of Cain's disciples as repugnantly wasteful as I did, and they integrated themselves into the society of various nations to arrange confrontations with such individuals. They didn't bother learning the Method, though, they took a more direct route. For all it can do, they seldom have a chance to cut loose, and they are each and every one of them able to be a comic book style hero if they choose. Sometimes they do choose to be.

Meanwhile, I carved my way through the South American cultists. Usually I met them and fought them on equal terms. Sometimes, however, it was more expedient to simply remove their heads with the slice of a wand to avoid further hassle. And often, I found signs that pointed me to my next destination. Eventually I left South America and began to travel the world, finding and eliminating more muscle-cults and growing closer to my goal.

The goal was underwhelming. Cain was bound in a prison under a mountain, and not long after I arrived, proved that he was only staying there of his own free will by tearing away his bindings. Which should have been impossible, but this was Cain. The showdown should have been a feast of violence, at least from his perspective, and instead... I just ignored him. He punched through my heart as I stood there, and it regrew. He tore my head off, kicked me in twain, and I simply remained standing there (if in multiple pieces) staring at him impassively. He backed away, wary but ready to strike again.

"Are you done throwing your little temper tantrum? Because if not, I'm going to feed you the sun," I told him as my body was regenerating, the various pieces returning to a cohesive whole. He charged at me again, enraged, and so I simply opened a portal in front of myself. The other end had already been prepared before I came down, and the plasma of the sun's corona poured into the room and washed over him for a full second before the portal snapped shut again.

I didn't expect Cain to be as intact after that as he was, but he was almost unharmed... the key to that being 'almost'. And he was MUCH more willing to sit down and speak like a civilized man. I learned a lot, over the course of that conversation.

I maintain that Hokuto Shinken remains better, however. Pure brute strength has its own weaknesses, and this world shows it well. Fortunately... ten years is more than enough time to completely eradicate the followers of Cain to a man, while leaving the very few who have the moral fortitude not to lose themselves to their blood lust. Those few men and women... I happily taught a different path.