The Torch Goes Cold. [Azures Memorial/ Funeral Service]

Death...

What an interesting concept. Meant to be a sort of process in which a soul is separated from its decaying body, and is given the chance to be reborn at a new stage of "life". Yet for some reason, some would believe that life isn't where some go after "death". But that is all based upon what you believe in, even though the realms of Heaven, Hell, Soul Society, and so forth have been made aware to all, some would still believe in such things as a "Religion" for some false God, or even for some pathetic Demon who aligns with something called "Khalism" or whatever. Truth is, that in the end of things, we all end up in the same place...

The Funeral.

An ominous aura began to grow in the back of the room as a shadow which belonged to no one began to grow against the wall parallel to the empty casket to which onlookers would weep. Those who were used to seeing this type of entrance would know by now who was coming, and most should not be pleased. In place of the deceased's father, his partner and liason came instead to the public memorial of the fallen Vanguard leader, Azure Iramasha. Walking out, wearing his classic attire of black slacks, a white dress shirt with black blazer and red tie, Matthew Hinote entered the scene with his hands in his pockets, cigarette lit in his mouth, and a very foul attitude. Matthew was not pleased in the sense that he had to come to the funeral of someone he was in no way related to, but more of the fact that Ketsu himself didn't wish to show himself in public and asked Matthew to do so in his place. Now normally Matthew would just laugh his ass off and move on, since in a way, Matthew has NO RIGHT to come to the funeral of any fallen, nor of anyone's child, considering the man killed his own kids years ago. But not everyone would know such facts, seeing as the only ones really who would be aware of Matthew's true self would be Shadin Yuudeshi, since Matthew grew up in Karakura for a few small years during his development before falling to the curse of his breed.

Walking forward, Matthew paid no attention to those who surrounded him, as his attitude was radiating an aura of "Do not mess with me". Now while most within the Vanguard would most likely not dare attempt to confront Matthew, a couple would have the balls and the power to match the Demon Overlord, as he wasn't the only one there with a rousing sense of fame. Shadin Yuudeshi, while not direct allies, share some similar goals. Matthew and Shadin do not mess with one another, as they understand that each of them have their own objectives, and their own goals. These goals do not interfere with one another, and more over, if they had to deal with one another in which to complete their goals, it would only make things harder. Additionally, the silent truce Matthew made with the Yuudeshi in that he will not attempt to retake the Underground, leaving it for Zin was a sort of peace offer he made while he resides and grows on Devil Iramasha Island. The other potential objective in the room would have to be Radioactive, the giant hulk-like beast of their realm. Now while Matthew was indeed very muscular for his age, he was nowhere near in comparative bounds with Radioactive when it came to brute strength. Additionally with research, the speeds in which the Shark beast can top would prove to be a true test for Matthew's strategic genius, but once again, the two do not come to cross blades in their objectives. Instead, they merely stay out of each others ways in that Radioactive is a member of the Vanguard, which generally work with the Devil Iramasha, which Matthew is a sleeper agent for by those on a "Need to know" basis. But most know that Matthew and Kin work together, and thus the respect to understand Matthew's presence should be known that he is not there for himself, but instead for the dead.

Rudely bumping past whoever is in his way as he approaches the memorial, he feels the shadows in the room speak to him as the voices of his corruption and madness slowly speak in his mind the things he does not wish to hear. It was almost as if something was distracting Matthew, as if something recently happened and it bothered him, but whatever it was, had nothing to do with Azure. It was something that could be sensed as Matthew could feel Shadin Yuudeshi in the area, as well as Radioactive, and a few other beings in the surrounding parts. He could also sense someone else with an affinity to Darkness, and reeked of Demon Blood. Perhaps later Matthew would do research on the peon and see what they're capable of. If anything, Matthew might show the individual why he's earned the title of "Demon Traitor".

Finally reaching the memorial, and leaving a very rude presence in his wake of those he carelessly walked through to get there, Matthew looked at the photo of Azure, as well as the flower arrangements and decorations selected for such an occasion. The black casket was a nice touch, even with the pathetic wings on the side. A small smirk escaped his lips as he could sense from the empty darkness within the casket that it was empty. It was almost as though there was nothing left of him to bring back. Was he completely obliterated? Well, the truth is out there, but who knows what really happened to the body and soul of the Vanguard Leader. As he stood before the memorial with his hands still in his pockets, and carelessly dragging from his cigarette as he made the surrounding atmosphere fill with animosity, Matthew began to remember a couple interactions he had with Azure. The one in fact that Matthew remembers most, is the day that Azure had Matthew place his own gun against his head, and blow his own brains out because Azure thought it would be smart to have a major diplomatic meeting with the Sugiuran people, INSIDE A FUCKING IGLOO!!

The thought alone made Matthew sick to his stomach, as he didn't want to think too hard on the past event. Instead, Matthew was here to do a favor to the only one he really calls a friend in the realm, and that was to 'honor' his son at the public gathering.

Pulling his hands out of his pockets, Matthew summoned a shadow to appear beside him, as he reached into it and pulled out a single wine glass. The glass was filled with the Devil Iramasha blend, a specialty drink that the Devil Iramasha share in times of importance, as it was a blend of pure blood and the finest wines that the Iramasha can produce. Taking the glass into his hands, he held it over the black casket, and proceeded to pour the blend onto the casket. Matthew spoke out, but not too loudly for all to hear. Only those with good hearing, or those close enough would be able to make out the words he spoke.

"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. This ones for you kid..."

With the last drop coming from the glass, it was almost as though Matthew actually gave a shred of respect to Azure for having the balls to be a man in his fight, and not back out at any moment. Taking the empty glass, Matthew carelessly threw it behind him, where it would most likely land and break on the head of some poor onlooker within the event. Taking a deep breath with his cigarette, Matthew then turned and began to make his stage exit right. He did what was asked of him in regards to honoring the son of Ketsu by being a representative of the Devil Iramasha, even though Matthew is not a Devil Iramasha. Matthew is a pure blooded Demon, and he just did things his own way.

As Matthew made his way to the adjacent wall in which the casket faced, Matthew's eyes scanned the room for but a moment, as his eyes met Shadin Yuudeshi, and while words were once again never shared, it was almost as if Matthew was attempting to communicate with him. His eyes, which were always filled with a deep and sinister blood red glow, were almost trying to say "Be ready", as if Matthew was going to throw something his way, or even attempt to communicate with him again. Even so, what was it Shadin needed to be ready for? What was it Matthew was going to attempt to speak with him about? Was it related to the events of Azure's death, or was it possibly something deeper to Matthew in what was causing him grief? Either way, Matthew proceeded to turn his head back to the wall, and approach the growing shadow against the wall to make his exit. He didn't want to stay and talk to anyone, as almost everyone in that room wasn't worth his time or effort.

Instead, Matthew needed to get back to work. He needed to return to planning the death of the Demon God, and to get deeper to the meaning of a recent death within the Demon's ranks.

[[EXIT THREAD]]

It was amusing to the Sugiuran Prince as he gently strummed the case in his hands, the roughly three foot long wooden container laying across his lap. Not the idea of a funeral exactly, Kamui was not quite so sociopathic as to not understand the concept of honoring deceased love ones, but more how quickly after the first stone is cast did it become to cast the second, third, and fourth. Azure's death, while ultimately a pretty simple affair at the end given how mentally weak he turned out to be, was still a long one. It took six months to effectively infiltrate, destabilize, and then end the Vanguard on the moon and thus far, seemingly the Vanguard as a whole. The selection for a new leader was already tumultuous, Kamui was aware that selections and nominations had been made, interestingly only a single one of them bothered to show up to the funeral of their previous commander and thus far, it's quite possible that she was regretting that decision. He had been settled in the crowd for a fair while now, being unassuming was one of his many talents but in this setting, it had been increasingly hard to do so. Regardless of his true nature in these events, Kamui's official position was as an adviser from the Sugiuran Kingdom and that, while not drawing too much attention from some, certainly would draw attention from enough. It was as such that Kamui stuck to the side for the time being, watching as people far more content with being the center of attention stormed in and some doing so in the most offensive fashion possible. Of course, internally, Kamui found it highly amusing. It was completely and utterly unnecessary. Whoever the creature was who stormed through, arrogantly and rudely pushed aside those around him, dumped what looked to be wine on Azure's empty casket and then threw the glass out in to the sea of faces, while amusing, was far and away the least interesting person who had shown up. Well, at least comparatively to the actually important people.

He had cast the first stone, the stone that had resulted in this little communion, and in a stroke of fortune that stone had provoked two more to show up at his feet. So far, everything had been so, so very predictable. Azure had basically walked in to his own death and then two more were dragged right in to the cross hairs of their very enemy. People were fascinating. Logic and reason were fundamentally sound, but they were absolutely atrocious motivators. They were boring. Everyone in this room had something they needed to fight against before Azure's death, everyone had things they conceivably should be doing prior to the Iramasha's demise, but it was only when someone was ripped from them, someone they did not expect to lose, someone they did not expect to be taken, were they shocked in to action. Azure's death, Mana's conjuring of the Dark World, the turmoil in the aftermath of the lunar explosion...there had been more activity across the planet after these instances than there had been over the course of the last few years. He wondered which stone to throw now. He wondered just what he would be able to shock them in to next.

Kamui stood gently from his chair, slinging the case over his shoulder before elegantly weaving his way through the crowd toward the unfortunate for her, yet rather fortunate for him, recipient of the glass projectile. When Kamui had gotten close enough to attempt to assist her, he had waved him off before he even had a chance to say a word, prompting a patient smile to form across Kamui's lips as he watched the woman attempt to reorient herself. His motivations here were two fold. The first and most obviously blatant, Kamui moved to help a beautiful woman who had been slighted. There was nothing necessarily dishonest about that tactic, Kamui was very much an incorrigible individual and he simply was not going to pass up the chance to ingratiate himself to a charming woman. The second was a little less obvious, but probably for the wrongly obvious reason. The woman's last name was Yuudeshi. On the surface, the motivation would come from a sort of "royalty on royalty" interaction and that was Kamui's intended projection, but naturally it went a lot deeper than that. What Kamui actually wanted wouldn't be obvious until several moments after he already had it.

Kamui reached in his shirt and withdrew a handkerchief and held it in front of him. Normally he would have reacted to a woman waving him off with a little more patience, maybe with a little more finesse, but if what he had heard about Shadin he needed to direct his attention away from the man that threw the glass. The last thing they needed at the funeral was a physical fight to erupt, Kamui prompting a potential verbal one was a sacrifice he was willing to make. Then again, his understanding of a lot of people there were based entirely on Azure's accounts of them and that in and of itself was a somewhat romanticized view. Kamui had no way to be sure of how genuinely accurate it was, unfortunately it was also all he had to go on. Kamui's movements were fluid and displaying a gentle speed that Chifuyu was not especially likely to be able to track as Kamui's free hand would intercept the hand she was waving him off with, his finger lacing between hers as if she were being gently caressed by a cloud as he moved her hand away and raised the cloth to her forehead, aiming to wipe at the blood that would inevitably begin to trickle down her forehead.

"That's not the color of red I'd hope to see on a beautiful woman like yourself."