Full Metal Daemon Muramasa – Tyrant (Muramasa’s route)

Part 1

Note: This project is a fairly old work of mine, written and translated back in 2012, when I was still just starting out as a fan translator — as such, it’s not exactly the highest quality work I’ve ever put out, to say the least. I would’ve deleted it long ago, but since people still seem to be interested in it, I decided to keep it, but felt the need to give this quick warning beforehand.

Note: This is a continuation of the story right after the end of Chapter 5. However, you should only read this after you’re finished with the other two routes of the game, Hero and Revenge. Also, Tyrant is the “canon” route which leads to the game’s True End.

(Before starting this, read the Muramasa route differences for Chapters 2, 3 and 4.)

So for the moment I’ve decided to translate the route’s title (魔王) as Tyrant. It is the word Kageaki uses to refer to the Ginseigou occasionally, so I think it sort of fits.

In any case, let’s begin.

We cut to Kageaki and Muramasa on the streets of Kamakura at night.

Muramasa: Let me repeat what I’ve told you before: seal away your emotions. Think nothing. Feel nothing. You are simply the one who uses me. Please, stop blaming yourself. And if you can’t bring yourself to do that, then hate me, and only me.

Kageaki: I’ll repeat my answer once again. You are but a tool – a weapon. My sins are all mine, and I carry them alone.

And that is how this conversation always ended – in silence. Neither of us wanted to yield to the other. And yet, today…

Kageaki: However…

Muramasa: H-huh…?

That single contradictory word abruptly left my lips.

I couldn’t finish the sentence. And yet, as if possessed by sorcery, I desperately wanted to say something.

“However…”　

What words could follow that single utterance…?

Kageaki then has a vision of sorts. He notes that during the time Aoe conjured up a vision of his own past (the entirety of Chapter 5), a certain other person’s memories also flashed through his mind, but he pretty much instantly forgot them. However, triggered by the above conversation with Muramasa, he is now recalling it from the depths of his soul.

So basically, he’s about to see a vision of Muramasa’s memories, fragments of her past life before becoming a Tsurugi.

We go several hundred years back to the Nanbokuchou period (the 1300s), a war between the north and the south.

We’re currently in the south, seeing things from Kageaki’s perspective, who is in turn seeing things from Muramasa’s perspective (she is still a child here, though). Kageaki is more or less reliving her memories by seeing everything through her eyes. As we find out, war rages across the land with no end in sight – young Muramasa asks her grandfather (elder dark elf in the screenshot) and her mother (2nd generation Muramasa aka the future Ginseigou) how long the war has been going on. They both reply that the fighting has already been going on when they were born.

We then cut to their hut, where a friend of the family, Akima (not-dark-elf dude in the screenshot with long black hair and clothes with horizontal stripes) is discussing the war, and urges the elder Muramasa to forge a Tsurugi to help them in the fight. However, the elderly elf replies that he’s not quite ready just yet. There is no such thing as a perfect Tsurugi, he says, since it needs to have a weak point as well, something to compensate for its strengths. Until he decides upon that, he can’t hurry the forging process, he says. Hurrying the process would be dangerous, since, as we all know, the ritual is irreversible.

The family then gets news that the capital (and the emperor) has been seized by the northerners due to betrayal and double-crossing. Child Muramasa’s father (Ginseigou Muramasa’s husband) was apparently stationed there, too. They fear for the worst.

We then cut to the village a few years later and the game switches back to full color from black and white. Akima is visiting the place, and is being welcomed by none other than 3rd generation Muramasa, the crimson spider we all know and love, who’s now grown into a fine young lady. She’s not a Tsurugi here yet, though – the female dark elf on the screenshot below is what she looked like when she was still mortal. (so yes, she is the dark elf you can see basically everywhere on the net when you do a Google search for this game.)

Just for future reference, to avoid confusion:

3rd generation Muramasa (Sansei Muramasa) is Kageaki’s Muramasa, the dark elf with the long hair. In the summary, she will be referred to as “Muramasa 3″ or M3.

2nd generation Muramasa (Nisei Muramasa) is the future Ginseigou, Hikaru’s Muramasa. She’s the one with the short hair and less revealing clothing. She will be referred to as “Muramasa 2″ or M2.

Elder Muramasa, father to M2 and grandfather to M3, will be referred to as simply Muramasa or Elder Muramasa for the time being. Anyway, let’s move on.

Muramasa 3: Welcome, Lord Akima.

Akima: Ah, my apologies, for a moment I’ve mistaken you for your mother. I should’ve known that you Emishi folk mature to adulthood in the blink of an eye! *laughing* At this rate, who will be able to tell which one is Muramasa’s daughter, and which one is the granddaughter?

Muramasa 2: Surely you exaggerate, my Lord. She is but a child, still busy studying the foundations of the art of smithing.

Muramasa 3: Although… I am already slightly taller than you, Mother.

Muramasa 2: …..!!

Elder Muramasa: Akima. It has been so long – you have seen many a battlefield since we last met.

Akima: Indeed. I have managed to partly restore things to how they were before Akamatsu’s betrayal. The late emperor can surely rest in peace now. And your son-in-law as well.

Muramasa 2 & 3: ……….

Akima then introduces Uramu, some sort of scholar/priest in a dark green cloak (see above) who had travelled with him previously. As it turns out, Uramu is interested in the art of Tsurugi forging, and has therefore come to seek out the counsel of old man Muramasa.

That night, Uramu introduces Arabic numerals to Muramasa and shows him how much easier mathematics and calculations can become by using those instead of kanji for counting. He also teaches Muramasa about the three most important things that are needed to forge a Tsurugi – the power of magnetism, gravity, and lastly, the very force that makes up all living beings. He likens it to the creative power of the gods. He concludes that he’s come to Yamato only to meet Muramasa, and that their meeting must’ve been fated.

Uramu:  And yet… I know nothing. What I long for is far beyond my reach still.

Muramasa: Madness. With your knowledge, there are still things in this universe that you do not comprehend?

Uramu: That is correct. Things that are still far, far beyond me – as if one was searching for a single grain of gold dust within the wild and vast sea.

Muramasa: I can barely imagine such a thing.

Uramu: I do not yet know what it is I am looking for, nor what form it will take. However, I firmly believe that Tsurugi are the wings granted to men by the divines themselves.

Uramu: I would like to ask for your guidance, Lord Muramasa – towards a brightly shining, golden dawn!

The next day, the village is attacked by the northern forces, and elder Muramasa is almost unable to believe his eyes.

Uramu implies that the only way the northerners could have attacked so quickly was for Akima to betray them. Elder Muramasa is devastated, having firmly believed that Akima was a loyal friend.

Muramasa: I realize that in this day and age, alliances are as fickle as the wind itself… however! Akima is different! He alone would never betray us… He would never….!

Muramasa 2: Father! Have you forgotten your duty?! You received an imperial order to forge the very best Tsurugi of the land! Until that duty is completed, you cannot allow yourself to be killed! We must flee at once!

They flee towards the outskirts with the other survivors, and we get this scene:

Muramasa 2: Only this many people managed to survive…?

M 3: Mother… I can’t see grandmother anywhere…!

M 2: If she is not here, that can only mean one thing…

M 3: *sobbing* No…

M 2: If you are going to cry, do it alone, away from the rest of us. You must hide your tears. Especially in front of Father…

Elder M: How could Lord Akima betray us…?! There must be some sort of mistake!

M 2: Those fleeing from Nagashima confirmed it. It is the truth, Father.

Elder M: Then… why?! Uramu, have I been mistaken to put trust in Lord Akima?!

Uramu: I do not believe that is the case. Lord Akima was a good person. However… even gentle hearts can be swayed. That is the sort of age we live in. A world devoid of all that is true and just.

A bit later, Muramasa 2 informs her father that the villagers are growing restless that Muramasa has still not forged himself into a Tsurugi yet, even though that should be the greatest honor an Emishi could be granted.

Elder M: I still cannot find the solution…

M 2: ……?

The elder replies, his voice clearly showing his disillusionment.

Elder M: The true form of the perfect Tsurugi eludes me still. Or rather… I have lost all hope. What sort of armor could it possibly be? What higher cause can I possibly believe in as I strike its steel into form?

M 2: Is it not supposed to be a merely a Tsurugi forged for the sake of the legitimate emperor, slaying all the rebels who oppose us? Would that not be sufficient?

Elder: And what if alliances shift?

M 2: How could they? Lord Kusunoki is a loyal subject of the Southern Dynasty. He would never betray the emperor!

Elder: I, too, believe in that. And yet… Lord Akima has bent the knee to the northern powers.

Elder: I simply cannot comprehend the ways of this world anymore…

The next day, another battle breaks out.

Elder M: What is the meaning of this?! There is no way Akima could have known about this location!

M 2: Father, look! That Musha over there… you… you recognize its steel, do you not?

Elder M: No… No!! Even my own wife has betrayed me, forging her body into a Tsurugi to serve the enemy?!

Elder: There is no hope left for such a world – a world where the bond of loyalty, family and bloodline cripple under the weight of corruption!

Screaming, he rushes at the Tsurugi that was once his wife, but as he is about to be struck down, Uramu leaps in in front of him, receiving the blow in his stead.

Uramu: Lord Muramasa… you must not forget your duty. There are still things in this world… that you must accomplish…

Muramasa: Uramu! We must tend to your wouds, quickly…!

Uramu: Worry not. My body will not yield to a wound such as this. Take the women and flee from this place, Lord Muramasa. I will handle the current situation by myself.

Muramasa: You speak madness!

Uramu: Naturally, I cannot possibly hope to best a Musha in combat. But it should be enough to buy you some time. Now, hurry…!

Muramasa: I refuse! I shall not flee like a coward!

Before they can fight, though, the yellow Tsurugi is shot down by Akima. He declares that the war situation has changed, so he’s switching sides once again, back to the Souther Dynasty.

Muramasa: Traitor! Is that the true worth of your loyalty – cheaper than dirt?!

Akima: That might be true. As I was overcome and cornered by the enemy, I have finally realized that. Why should I throw my life away for the sake of somenoe else…? And with that thought, my feelings of loyalty melted away like late-winter snow. It was but an imitation, a fake allegiance from the very beginning. Makeshift loyalty at best.

Muramasa: Filthy traitor! Have you no shame?!

Elder Muramasa then breaks down, his hopes completely shattered.

Before the scene ends, however, Akima urges Muramasa not to hate her wife for betraying him.

We are then back in the hut of Muramasa, accompanied by Uramu.

Muramasa: I just… don’t know anything anymore. Who is right, and who is wrong? Who’s my enemy, and who is my ally? Who can I trust…? What can I possibly believe in…? For whose sake am I forging my Tsurugi?

Uramu: Lord Muramasa. Listen well to what I am about to say. For there is one final thing that I have not taught you yet.

Uramu: My true name is Nicolas Flamel. I know it must be hard to pronounce for you, so feel free to keep addressing me as Uramu. I hail from a faraway country in the west, forever englufed by the flames of war. Seeking a world governed by peace alone, I set out on a journey. However, I soon realized that there exists no country that would be free from the menace of conflict. And eventually, I reached the land of Yamato, and thus met you.

Muramasa: And yet, here I am, unable to offer you my assistance… I am but a mere blacksmith who had lost his way.

Uramu: That is not the case, Lord Muramasa. Tsurugi are the offspring of the divines, forged from the very fabric of miracles. The birth of the perfect Tsurugi means the pardoning of all sins, the forgiveness granted to us by the gods, the coming of a true paradise. If the blacksmith takes hammer in hand with a soul that knows the truth of this universe, a world governed by suffering alone shall be no more.

Muramasa: I apologize… but I do not fully comprehend your teachings. What do you mean by… truth?

Uramu: Lord Muramasa, listen well – for I shall teach you that very thing. Once I have done that, I ask of you to grant me my dearest wish.

Uramu: Long, long ago, there lived a wise man called Empedocles. According to him, the four elements governing the world were fire, air, water and earth. These four elements are connected and separated by Love and Strife. Through Love we are born; through illness and injury, the power we shall call Strife, we die. Using his principles, the workings of the entire world can be explained.

(during the conversation he takes off the hood.)

Muramasa: Then whence comes evil? And what births justice?

Uramu: Hmm. Good and evil. Such concepts do not exist.

Muramasa: What…?!

Uramu: It is all a matter of perspective. Look at this pot. I shall pour water and salt into it, and cover it up with a lid. In it, there exists nothing but air and salt water. Let us now heat it up. As you can see, the water eventually turns to steam, while the salt remains in a crystallized form. Can you look at this pot from our world’s point of view?

Muramasa: Hmm… if Love is the power that unified water and salt into salty water -the preicous bonds of people-, then the fire that separated those two must be Strife.

Uramu: Yes. However, look closely, Lord Muramasa. The water and the salt might be separated – and yet, the water proceeds to mix into the air to produce steam. Their union, too, was due to Love. Therefore, the fire, thought to be evil, birthed something that we can call good. Let us now cool the pot down. As the steam cools down, it once again turns into droplets of water. Those droplets will then melt the salt crystals, and their union will result in salty water once again – the power of good. As you can see, the whole process is a mixture of good and evil.

Uramu: Have you finally understood what I was trying to teach you, Lord Muramasa?

Muramasa: What you are implying is that… good and evil are merely the two sides of the same coin?

Uramu: That is correct. When something is viewed from a certain angle, we call it “good” – however, viewed from a different angle, it might become “evil”. People approve of Love as it benefits them, and condemn Strife for it brings them no value. Such is the self-righteousness that governs the hearts of men.

Uramu: Have you finally understood, Lord Muramsa? Why peace is but a fleeting dream, and why conflict repeats itself time and again? It is because water sees only the Love of water, salt the Love of salt, and the air the Love of air.

Muramasa: In other words, to make this world right, I’ll have to…

Uramu: …destroy that very hypocrisy. That curse. By exposing the truth discovered by Empedocles to the entire world. Show the world how they are chained down by their own concepts of Love, and therefore commit violence over and over again. And the only thing in this world capable of accomplishing such a mission is a Tsurugi of the gods, forged by you.

Muramasa: Can I truly acommplish such a feat?

Uramu: Of course. You have the skill, I gave you the knowledge. And there’s this.

He takes out some stone.

Muramasa: I’ve never seen a mineral like this before…!

Uramu: That is only natural. Most likely it is one of a kind. This is the stone of gods, capable of granting immortality. Look…

He reveals his chest, seemingly petrified.

Muramasa: Your body is the same texture as that stone…!

Uramu: Ever since I came upon the stone, I have ceased to age. However, my body is gradually turning into… this. I wanted to meet you before my entire body was engulfed. I am glad that I was able to teach you everything that I wanted. I have finally accomplished my mission appointed to me by the divines…

And he collapses.

Muramasa: Lord Uramu!

Uramu: I have lived for so long… so, so long… I can finally rest in peace… Use that stone to create the perfect Tsurugi. I leave everything in your care. You must free humanity from its hypocrisy… and lead them towards a path that is ruled by the Love of all beings, a universal Love that connects all beings without distinction, and without waking the beast of Strife…

Uramu: I beg of you… let this world… bask in the love of god…!

He then shatters to pieces and dies.

Later, Muramasa calls his daughter and granddaughter into the room.

Muramasa: I will now teach you the fundamental law that governs the Tsurugi of the bloodline of Muramasa. Listen well.

M 2 and 3: Understood.

Muramasa: A Tsurugi’s place is at the battlefied. It is a tool used for the sake of war alone. It knows no virtue. It is bound by no morals. It is blind to justice. We follow our own desires to crush those of others.*

(“desire” here is pronounced by him as desire, but is written with the kanji of love.)

Muramasa: War is governed by such violence, such hypocrisy! Our Tsurugi will eradicate war itself, and make it vanish from the face of the earth.

Kageaki comments that the ideal world Muramasa and Uramu longed for was not created, as evidenced by the unprecedented massacre that came to be known as the “Nanbokuchou massacre”.

Then the two main functions of Muramasa Tsurugi are explained. One is the basic code they follow – kill one enemy, kill one ally. This needs no explanation, I believe. The other is their mind alteration ability, which tunes the minds of nearby people to the same “wavelength” as the user of the Tsurugi. So basically, Muramasa’s “killing everyone without distinction” mentality will be spread over to everyone. That is the cause of the massacre we’ve seen countless times caused by the Ginseigou. Basically, people will be killing their enemies and friends at the same time. Musha are protected by this wavelength due to their Tsurugi – at a time like this, Muramasa has the ability to implant an “egg” into her enemy. Once the egg “hatches”, the Musha will be affected by the waves as well. So that no clear superiority can arise, Muramasa arranged for two Tsurugi, one to be given to the north while the other to the south.

We cut to Muramasa 3 appearing before the emperor, who informs her that her bloodline will be doomed to die out as punishment for the sins committed by her mother and grandfather.

Another lengthy narration telling us about the Nanbokuchou massacre, which was ultimately caused by the “kill one enemy, kill one ally” rule of Elder Muramasa (in Tsurugi form). Apparently some commander used Elder Muramasa as his Tsurugi and killed an assassin who attacked him one night. However, the curse of Muramasa then forced him to slay his own beloved younger brother, sitting beside him that night. In any case, things escalated and the land was engulfed by uncontrolled massacre caused by the influence of Muramasa’s “waves” (or wavelengths, not sure what to call it). The Norhtern army had Elder Muramasa as their Tsurugi, while the South had 2nd generation Muramasa. Eventually Elder Muramasa was destroyed and the fighting stopped. However, scholars still remember those days as “times when corpses outnumbered living beings” in the land of Yamato.

So now we know why the emperor is pissed at poor old 3rd gen. Muramasa, or rather, her bloodline.

Emperor: I realize that your mother and grandfather bore no ill will towards any of us, and their ultimate desire was to put an end to strife. However… I cannot possibly overlook the sins they have commited. The Tsurugi that was once your grandfather has been completely destroyed – no trace of him remains. Your mother, despite receiving a grave wound in the battle, still lives. I will see to it that she is melted down and destroyed for good.

Muramasa 3: But, your Highness! Falling in battle is the greatest desire of any warrior! Reducing her to scrap metal, forcing her to live the last minutes of her life in a place that is no battlefield would tarnish that very desire!

Emperor: ……….

Muramasa 3: I care not if you bury her undergound. Nor will I say a word if you sink her to the bottom of the ocean! But… I beg of you, spare her from such a harsh death! Please, I will even offer my own life if that is your wish!

Empreor: All that is buried can be dug up once again. And all that is sank can be dragged back up from the bottom of the ocean. That way, the Tsurugi known as Muramasa will be able to return to unleash hell upon the land once again. However. Hear me, Muramasa. I take it that your words of selfless sacrifice were no lies?

Muramasa: They were not, Your Highness! I will do anything to recieve your forgiveness!

Emperor: Then hear the command of the emperor: I order you to forge your own Tsurugi! One that is equal to your mother’s. You will then be sealed away for all eternity alongside her. Should someone break the seal and lay their hands on your mother, it will be your duty to make a contract with a master of your own and observe her. Should she show signs of causing the same calamity that befell the land of Yamato recently, you will have to personally end her life. If you cannot do that… in that case, I will have to destroy her right here, right now, as I had previously suggested.

Muramasa: ……….!!

Emperor: Let me hear your answer, Muramasa! Are you prepared to turn against your mother, should the need arise?

Muramasa: I am!

However, due to its apparent danger, the emperor forbids her from forging her Tsurugi in the exact same way that her mother and grandfather did. He basically forbids her to use the ability of the “wave”, the ability that can sway the hearts of men. Now we know why Kageaki’s Muramasa never corrupted anyone the same way Ginseigou did.

And thus, the mortal life of Muramasa came to an end. The two Tsurugi, the crimson spider and the silver ant, slept for centuries, sealed away by the emperor…

…until that fateful day.

Continue to Muramasa’s route, Part 2