Prison of the Mind [Paradise Lost]

Admin Posts : 26 Join date : 2023-07-06

There are no walls where His light shall not reach, no shadows dark enough to obscure them, not even within the hellacious Steel Cage that you and I are destined to walk into, so that we may end this once and for all.

Believe it or not Target, I have come to respect you. After all, how could I not respect the man who has beaten me in that ring, not once now but twice? I shall not make excuses, or blame Nobi for that loss. If I cannot win two on two even with one deficiency on my team - no harsh disrespect intended to my complice - but it is true. Even someone as zealous as myself can at a most basic level, if nothing else, put my pride aside and acknowledge that he who was able to take my Prodigy Championship for my, my trophy that I held to the Heavens to refract the light of my God upon the world, I can acknowledge that you are a worthy competitor, and someone who has not just become a thorn in my side, but an obstacle I must conquer, an undying shadow that stands opposed not only to myself, but to my God.

But even the mightiest of dragons can be slain, Target. Not only because I want to, but because I have to. Because I will, because I MUST. Because by taking away my Prodigy Championship, you have not become just my rival, not just a competitor I must conquer in the world of wrestling, but the shadow that you cast over me, the shadow that you cast upon this world, blocks the burning luminescence of His dogma.

I intend to fight a war on all fronts in the name of my God. In my eyes, it is I, alone, against the world. Whether you call me a martyr, a soldier, a mercenary, a zealot, it is irrelevant to me, I know that I am His Holy Knight, my fists are my sword and my faith is my shield, the blood I shed in His name is my sustenance, the screams of the wicked are music to my ears, carnage in His name is art, and what I do to His enemies, MY enemies, that is not destruction, it is creation, for the vanquishment of the unpure shall give way to the most unfiltered beauty, the aesthetic of violence in the pursuit of purity.

I fight this battle myself. I expect no one else to understand. I expect to be alone in my conquest, in His conquest. This is my war, and I am ready to fight it on all fronts, in any capacity. If my arms are ripped off my body, then I will walk until my legs are broken. If my legs are torn asunder, then I shall scream with the rage and passion as His most fervent disciple so that even as a husk, He shall hear me in the Heavens.

So no, Target, I have no fear, no apprehension, about stepping into this Steel Cage with you. In fact, I am excited. I am excited that we need not worry about external factors as we did in our first two encounters. No Percival to worry about, no Nobi walking out to distract me from my goal, just you and I, two warriors. The man who fights for His God in the Heavens versus the man who seeks to discover who he truly is under his mask.

I have come to understand who you are, Target, above everything else. I know that under that mask, under that smile, there is a man who is just as driven, just as dangerous as myself. A man with no cause is as scary, perhaps even more demanding, than a man with a mission. Though my mandate is divine, though I fight for my God, what I do in his name cannot compare to you Target… A man who fights for nothing more than selfish impunity. I do not believe the words that come out of your mouth. All you speak of identity and finding yourself is cast aside when you step into that ring and that man under the mask becomes free. Your own base desires, your impulses, they override all reason in my perception.

I understand that you want to be a symbol for the weak. You are my antithesis in that regard. You seek to elevate those who stand in my way. You seek to inspire the spark of hope within those who lurk in depravity, those who cannot take off their own chains and step into the light of my God. I can understand, but I need not empathize. Whatever their reasons may be for existing within the shadows, whether it is through their birth over which they have no control, their circumstances which they are victim to, their own chances that have led them down the river of Acheron - it is irrelevant. Those in the shadows are my enemies, they are my enemies because they are the wicked… and they are the wicked because they are my enemies.

So imagine how I feel about you, Target, putting my facetious respect for you as a wrestler aside. I have said this to you already, so I need not repeat myself past saying that a man who hides his face from my God's light is a man that I must slay, it is not a choice, it is an obligation. First, I shall defeat you, soundly, in that Steel Cage. I must remind you that your victories over me which you so proudly parade, while earned, were circumstantial, because even I can admit that I have much to learn still, many ways to improve myself, as a wrestler, as a man, and as a warrior in my conquest. I won't excuse my defeat, but whereas your head is beginning to get too big for that decrepit mask, mine is cooler than ever. My burning rage after you took the Prodigy Championship has turned into the humble understanding that my God does not expect perfection, he expects results, and at Paradise Lost, I fully intend to deliver. I shall remind you that what you fight for is superficial, and that what I fight for is a divine, sanctimonious purpose that someone like you could never understand.

After I defeat you, after that Prodigy Championship is back in my hands so that I may raise it to the Heavens, I will rip off your mask. I will force you, in your barest form, like a child in the sun, to watch, witness, absorb the radiance of my God, you will have no choice, it won't be a contest, it will be an inevitability. You will be forced to understand, to learn, to appreciate, and by the end of it all you will have two choices. You will look up at me, without your mask, your bare face exposed to the world, your face of wickedness exposed to the judgment, but also the benevolence, of my God, and you will make your choice - accept him, succumb to his overpowering glory, bow to me as his warrior, as your better, learn to live in his light. That will be His grace in action, that will be the one and only chance of salvation for you Target, that will be the fruit of the respect you have earned from me by taking my Prodigy Championship and proving yourself as an equal warrior to myself.

Your other choice?

Complete and utter destruction.

Whatever choice you make, the burden shall be off my shoulders, my arms will be free to raise the Prodigy Championship once again to the Heavens, and I shall move forward in my conquest… My war. The light of my God will one day spread across this entire world and I will not stop until I achieve this goal or until I die, whichever comes first, and even in my death, I will inspire countless others to follow in my goal. You can be one of them, or you can find yourself as another victim, statistic, another stain of blood on the wrestling mat in my path.

The choice is yours, Target Smiles. This ends at Paradise Lost.

» The Forge of Destiny: The Iron Titan's Path to Paradise Lost
» Paradise Lost pt. 1: I have my eye on you
» Unyielding Resolve: Paradise Lost
» Gold in my Veins - Paradise Lost I
» while your paradise remains forever lost {02}