Himura Battousai
Copyright© 2007 by Trojan_85
Chapter 137: Divine Providence
(Shishio pushes Kenshin away and wipes the blood from his mouth.)
Shishio: Bad taste. Like it won't do me any good, but it won't do me any harm either.
(Kenshin gets to his knees, hand over the fast-bleeding shoulder.)
Shishio: After all, in this world the flesh of the weak is the food of the strong. The strong live, the weak die.
Kenshin: Those words...
Shishio: They're the words I ground into Soujirou, but they don't just apply to swordplay. They're divine providence. The weak have a duty in life to become food for the strong. Scum that doesn't become food has no right to exist. The strongest of all gains the top. The Mejij government is weak and doesn't have the capacity to hold supremacy. I alone can. My coup will be a godsend for this country. The strong live, the weak die. That's why you, the Hitokiri, passed through the storm of blood that was the Bakumatsu. Can't you understand that when you disobey this law, all your effort is in vain?
Kenshin: I cannot! The people you call food are people who survived the bloodshed of those times and now live in a world at peace. They shouldn't have to sacrifice their lives to anyone or anything. If you want to plunge them back into violence, for whatever reason, I cannot accept that.
Shishio: I spoke not of reason, but of divine will.
Kenshin: I cannot accept that it's divine will!
Sanosuke (thinking): He's not gonna give in. Nobody could beat his spirit. But if he keeps being pushed like this, his body is going to give out sooner or later...
Shishio: You can't understand it with your mind or accept it in your heart. You're stubbornly clinging to your vow not to kill, but that foolishness only shows what the great Hitokiri Battousai has sunk to. Rather than bear the disgrace of living in shame, I think it better you die with glory here!
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