ACCOUNTABILITY.

[blackmass]

[The sound of footsteps is slow, but deliberate and without hesitation. And as they echo through the room he walks into view lacking fear, lacking hesitance, lacking...much of anything at all.]

[He's tall--perhaps taller than his profile had implied--wide-shouldered and built like an unbreakable fortress wall, wearing the solid black of a priest; the light catches a gold cross around his neck to confirm the fact. And as he steps forward, his long coat (the deep purple of poisons and nightshade itself) trails behind him before coming to a stop as he does.]

[A smile cut across his gaunt and pale face, but it was far from a pleasant one. It was the enigmatic smile of someone witnessing a joke only they found humorous, and yet it did not reach the dark and emotionless eyes that scanned the room briefly as though the priest was carefully calculating what course of action to take.]

At last we meet face to face, my Apprentices.

[The voice that leaves him is recognizable as the same one that was heard only moments before, but clearer in person. Now it seems to ring like the largest, deepest bells of Notre Dame itself, no louder than an ordinary speaking tone--the result sounds more like distant thunder heralding an oncoming hurricane.]

[The real difference lies not in how he speaks, but what he says. The short, impersonal sentences of the weeks prior are at last discarded, and the man before them speaks as a true preacher--a true wordsmith--would address his congregation.]

Rejoice and be proud of your accomplishments. Each and every last one of your number, dead or alive, has truly exceeded all expectations I had for this group. And now you have clawed and scratched your way here, on the backs of your fallen friends' struggles and failures. You have proven that their own accomplishments would not be in vain simply by standing here before me--I do not doubt that your success is the wish most of them held in their hearts, at the very end of their lives.

[He places a hand over his own heart, taking on a tone that nearly sounds genuinely proud...until a patronizing current begins to run through each syllable like a deadly undertow.]

Do you perhaps feel satisfied? You would be right to, for making it so far. Your sorrow, desperation, joy, determination...all of it has been a magnificent thing to behold as you fought to reach this point in time. Each second of it has served its purpose, and served it very well. I am one who believes such struggling and effort deserves to be rewarded, and so this alongside my own endless gratitude is what I will grant you in return for all that you have done for me.

My name is Kirei Kotomine.

[He holds his arms out slightly to his sides, a gesture that would almost seem welcoming if 'Kageshirou' did not react and coil--completely harmlessly--around his arms like a black serpent. The smile he wore turned to a razor-edged smirk, the challenge set before the remaining Apprentices clear even without his next words:]

And now that we have properly met, tell me: shall we continue our discussion?

Comments

[matchbreaker]

[ Honestly, Elda agrees. Elda hates God, and she can say from the way this man walks, talks, dresses, the way he talks about his history, that's the same God... ]

So what, you realized that your God- or rather, the ones who supposed to speak for him, were wrong?

[blackmass]

God is infallible. Mankind, however, is not.

For a very long time, I dared suspect someone could be created wrong. And that...is why I started all of this.

Because I have a question that I need to answer.

[matchbreaker]

God is detestable. [ She corrects this. Assuming "God" even exists... but. ]

... Tell me your question, if you think I'll understand it, Kirei. You did say this ought to be explained in person.

[blackmass]

I know you will not understand it. Though perhaps...at this point, I may as well.

'Is it a crime to live as you are, when 'what you are' is so radically different from others?' If something is 'evil' from its very creation, and had no chance of ever being 'good' by standard morals...should it have existed at all?

Does Avenger, in fulfilling its purpose of destruction, have a right to do so because that is what it was made to do?

[matchbreaker]

[ ... Elda Marker doesn't understand, not entirely. And really, she finds the whole process that Estellise is going through down there sort of silly. But she puts her lips together for a moment. ]

The humans of my world killed my people because of what we are, off from their idea of what was "right" and because we were an affront to their "God." We had every right to exist, and for a long time I've thought that the humans and their God were the devils and demons.

[ . . . ]

That, of course, does not answer your question.

[blackmass]

It does not.

But I think you may, perhaps, see traces of my perspective. Do I not have my own right to exist, even if I am 'evil' and fulfilling my purpose as such?

[feistytrader]

You're really stuck on all this good and evil stuff, aren't you?

[Maybe he's just a simple person. Maybe he really is over-complicating things. Either way-]

Everyone's got a right to exist, but existing isn't the same as letting you run rampant and do whatever you want. You're allowed to do it just as much as we're allowed to stop you.

[blackmass]

Perhaps so. And by the same token I have just as much right to stop you as well.

[feistytrader]

Then we'll just have to have a stronger will than yours. For our sake, for the sake of our friends...

[He looks up at the dripping shadowy stuff from the ceiling.]

And for yours, too. You got that?

[blackmass]

You...

[Again, Kirei seemed as though he was having trouble processing that.]

You can not condemn me and spare Avenger in the same breath. Why would you even pretend to show it sympathy?

[feistytrader]

Anyone can do evil or good. It has nothing to do with our natures. You decided that you're going to do evil. Kageshirou- or Avenger- might be doing evil right now, but from what you've told us, I'm not even sure if it knows it has a choice.

[Which isn't a very solid reason, really, but Silver's a simple person that's ruled by his emotions.]

[matchbreaker]

[ Inhale... exhale. ]

Even if you do... Even then, I don't think that "evil" had a right to live peacefully, does it...?

[ But then, if vampires were "evil..." ]

Or at the very least, I'm too selfish to allow for that. [ . . . ] Now that you wronged me.

[ . . . ]

You did all of this for that question?

[blackmass]

Most of it, yes. But I will not deny I have enjoyed watching the results--for that is the true catch of the matter.

My only happiness...comes with the pain of others.

1/2

[matchbreaker]

[ . . . ]

[matchbreaker]

Kirei.

Did you enjoy killing that son of yours in this game?

1/2

[blackmass]

...

Without him...none of this was possible. I meant that, and I am grateful to him in my own way.

But when I am meant to care about someone...I find myself wanting to kill them. To see the misplaced trust in the person they believed 'Kirei Kotomine' to be shattered at my own hands.

[blackmass]

Shirou Kotomine was vital to all of this.

But I will not deny that I felt something like entertainment at his end.

[matchbreaker]

[ . . .

Okay, so.

SOMEONE. Hold her back because Elda's baring her claws and- ]

Kirei! I'm asking permission to hit you, as per your asinine rules!

[iaspis]

Why must there be "good" or "evil"?

If there's one thing humans have taught me here, it's that things are more complicated than that.

[blackmass]

...Because that is just the way the world works. I do not understand the question.

[iaspis]

Your thinking is flawed.

For there to be "good" and "evil", then in between there exists a third option.

[blackmass]

Such a third option means nothing to me, when I know my position is firmly on one side of the scales.

[iaspis]

It is a position built on ignoring the complexity of people.

"Good" people can do "evil" things, "evil" people can do "good" things. Hanyuu is right; things must be looked at subjectively. To claim people exist only as absolutes is foolish.

[oyashiromama]

We spoke of this. You believe black and white dominate a person, though shades of gray exist.

I've come to see everything is subjective.

[blackmass]

But there are absolutes. [He gestured slightly with one hand, Avenger still coiling along his arms.] This alone proves without any doubt that absolute evil exists.