Maximus Ariya stood in the middle of a wrecked building within the rukongai... He'd been there since the sun first reached forth into the sky painting everything in vibrant orange hues. His short choppy black hair wavered lazily in the hot breeze as his fierce blood-red eyes danced from wall to wall, seeing not the landscape before him, but rather what it had once been.
Max heard a familiar voice of deep bass speak and as he turned around he knew the words were from his memories. He sighed deeply and bowed before turning and leaving the place once known as the Ariya Yakuza's headquarters. He had not truly been the son of the lord, but close enough to it. the man had raised him, taught him to survive. Taught him honor is won by keeping promises and winning, how you accepted defeat, not how you fought in battle. Ariya Yakuza held honor high, but underhanded tactics in a fight was everything, because out here, if you lost, you were dead. Torn apart by other Yakuza claiming for themselves their own lands.
Ariya had been slaughtered while Max was away, arguing with a shinigami who'd come to tell him of his latent powers... After finally sending the shinigami away, the powerful warrior swearing to return for an answer tomorrow, Max had found his entire Yakuza dead, their blood shaped into the symbol of their closest allies... They'd been betrayed, Max had spent the entire night fighting within what to do until as dawn approached and he began his journey to avenge his yakuza, the shinigami stopped him with these words, "You say honor is held highest above all else to your family... Tell me, where is the honor in revenge? Let them have your pieces of the hell that is rukongai, join the shinigami, carry the name Ariya to the highest ranks of our order, gain honor in their memory, and when you believe you have enough honor, return to rukongai, tell them to be at rest for their final member has the power to erase rukongai at his whim, and then, when all is said and done, you will need no more blood."
Max had at first seen nothing in his words, but eventually saw the truth of them, had he made the right choice that day? Not dieing and sealing his fate alongside his brothers and sisters? In reality, he owed the man every breath he had, every day that passed belonged to the man whose name he'd come to discover was Draelin Sojorn. Max had trained with Draelin several times now throughout his time growing in the Shinigami Academy, he smiled, thinking of the man. He was a member of Squad Two, not even a man in his own Squad, that had been disheartening to Max, but still he pressed on. He had honor to gain in the name of Ariya Yakuza, and hell be to those who tried to stop him and his Three Headed Snake style which Draelin had helped him develop.
Max looked up, he had alot to do today, it was his first on the job afterall, and with that, he turned and left the Ariya Yakuza hideout behind, not to return for a very long time...
