A Vengeful Ancestor

by

Boswok



Siao Lu was a righteous man, by all accounts. He took good care of his wife and daughter despite the constant illness of the former and his heavy duties as a judge of the court.

After the death of his wife, Siao Nhanh, his daughter, became everything to him. She was a stubborn girl, but she always supported her father in doing what he knew was right. His love for his daughter was common knowledge and would be his downfall.

At one point in his career, he began to take strong notice of the illegal activities of the Western underworld in his region of Hong Kong and set himself firmly against it. Kun Ruo and his allies had strong sympathies with these very same groups. When a large number of members were finally caught for their crimes, Ruo stood in the defense of a number of them, taking note of the judge and his actions.

Siao was insistent in his refutal of Ruo's typical sly approach to the process of the case, something that worried Ruo's associates. As the case progressed, the judge was watched at his home and in court, with Ruo being called upon to make his own judgments about his long-time superior's course of action.

In the third quarter of the case, Siao began receiving the treatment: single bullets propped up in his mailbox, pictures of himself with bulletholes through the forehead, the works. It was unprecedented for a judge to be so threatened, but the gangs in Hong Kong had that much sway and were a real threat.

But throughout it all Siao Nhanh reminded her father of his duty to the people, of his own pride and of the justice he knew to be true. It strengthened Siao visibly to the point of which all the wrong people noticed.

The attacks became bolder. When Siao was walking in the park near the court and a barrage of blank bullets were fired in his general vicinity, the press began to take notice. The conclusion of his attack source was easy to draw and he was asked pointedly about the case. He stated that nothing would sway him from dispensing justice as he saw it. His fate was sealed.

Ruo himself was chosen to take up the task, something that would bring him great prestige within the gangs, increasing the solidarity of the Eastern/Western gangs and making him a much more worthy underground member of the underworld system.

While court was still in recess and Judge Siao was returning from his park stroll he was hurriedly approached by his colleagues and told of the terrible news. Siao Nhanh had been murdered. Shot fatally and having died in the ambulance, after severe blood loss, the only light in Siao Lu's heavy-hearted life was dead.

Of course, Kun Ruo would be confirmed as having a council with his clients, something nobody even thought to doubt. Judge Siao never reached a verdict: instead he had a mental breakdown that lead to clinical depression and eventually suicide. His successor was not the idealist that he had been and the evidence was decided to be in favor of the syndicate's members.

Someone knew the truth, though. Ruo was murdered quite brutally after a small grace period, by a Devil-Tiger, no less. Ruo was surprised when he began to see Siao Nhanh, but it eventually began to make sense to him. The Siao lineage had some power in the underworld, but the skinlands were slightly different.

Lu and Nhanh were its greatest bastions of family worth in the land of the living, but now Nhanh was a martyr and Lu was one with Oblivion. He may have had a chance in the underworld if he had seen his precious daughter functioning as passionately as ever in her new circumstances, but before he ever could the great maelstrom had ripped him from his caul and sent him straight to the Void.

Nhanh became the family-appointed plague on Ruo's existence, stepping in every so often to show him just how much of a monster he truly was. Ruo himself began to agree with her. At one point he even allowed himself to be hired for a job hauntingly reminiscent of Nhanh's demise, just so that he could unleash his demonic fury on another victim under his new guise and try to understand what was happening between them.

Ruo came to the conclusion that he was, indeed, a monster and vowed to become a worthy monster. Siao Nhanh doesn't see his point of view, however, and thinks him even worse than when he began. Until he pays his penance to the Siao family and to Nhanh herself, she will not let him rest.

Ruo knows that he can not allow himself to destroy Nhanh whether or not she is correct because if he does he will only draw more ire from the Siao family and Nhanh will be replaced by a more powerful wraith to torment him. Besides, he has earned this torture fairly and enduring it is a part of who he has become.

Nhanh rarely speaks to Ruo, instead unleashing her power upon him in raw demonstration. She can speak though, despite the constantly weeping bullet wound in the hollow of her neck, and when she does she always comes across as curt and to-the-point, despite the small and melodic quality of her voice.

Ruo isn't certain of the extent of her power but has seen her use Pandemonium and Embody powers many times. He also believes that she may have access to Phantasm, but also acknowledges that his dreams of her family may just be of his own design.


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