Every man walking this earth must learn to fight, must take up a blade and conquer his demons.- Excerpt from an interview Oswald gave following a press conference.
Black and white strobe lights flickered, flashed upon the haughty, arrogant facial expression belonging to one Oswald Knight. Such arrogance was not a rare sight, in fact it had become something of a trademark as Oswald embarked on this new line of work.
Oswald Knight: “Fate must be enjoying herself, having placed a foe in my path. An enemy for life. Regardless of how this foe came into view, this is just the start of a war, a fight that shall know no limits, my thirst for vengeance, for retribution will drive me to do whatever it takes to win the war.”
Oswald spoke thus, his tone thoughtful, a harsh bite lacing his every spoken word.
“Every hero has a fatal flaw, a weakness that can be exploited. Who is Lightning man under the mask? Is he a coward? Hiding his identity from the world? A villain masquerading as a hero?. I shall stop at nothing to unveil the truth behind Lightning Man.”- Excerpt from an interview with Oswald Knight, two days after his triple threat match with Lightning Man and Duc.
48 hours after the interview Oswald found himself considering who or what Lightning Man was as he sat in the nightclub he now owned. A scowl flashed upon his face, annoyance evident in his expression.
Oswald Knight: “That masked pretender, that faux hero, with his concealed identity, only a true coward refuses to show their face. From my perspective Lightning Man, you are the big bad. The villain, Irony. You claim the mantle of hero, but are you truly a hero?. That I do not believe for even a single solitary second.”
There in the depths of Oswald’s eyes lay hidden something beyond the veil, mysteries cloaked in daylight. Something that was derived from his fluctuating nature, the chaos overlaid like a second skin.
Silence stretched out in the hours that followed, Oswald sat alone with his thoughts, this Lightning Man had become something of an obsession. Thus Oswald’s fatal flaw had been revealed. The thirst for vengeance, tunnel vision, set upon a single target. It mattered little who else Oswald would fight, Lightning Man would always be his greatest and chief rival.
Downtown Japan, two hours later
Rain spattered down in thick relentless sheets, thus the ground became treacherous, slippery in any event. Dark clouds hovered high overhead, lightning flashed at thirty second intervals.
Oswald moved through the throng of people, his eyes narrowed and haughty as though he were looking around for something or far more likely someone. His search was hampered by the sheer amount of people obscuring his vision, preventing Oswald from locating the entity that he had strode out the night to find.
Five minutes later to the second, came a brief respite from the rain. A respite that provided Oswald a moment of clarity. How could it be so hard to find one man?. This lack of knowledge as to where Lightning Man was, was becoming bothersome, an annoyance beyond annoyances.
“For an individual so flashy, his whereabouts remain rather elusive. Only a true coward hides when someone is looking for him.” The grinding of teeth followed these words, Oswald’s annoyance reaching a fever pitch.
Turning down the street, Oswald’s facial expression tightened, a deep seated annoyance taking hold in the moment. If there was one irrefutable truth it was this, Oswald didn’t deal particularly well with roadblocks being thrown in his path.
Each step brought Oswald closer to a stage set up in the very middle of the city. A stage that evoked the memory of an open plan theater. The perfect place for Oswald Knight to broadcast a message with the aim of drawing Lightning Man out.
Clearing his throat, Oswald ascended the stage steps, low harsh laughter escaping from between his lips.
“Citizens of Japan, Open your eyes, I humbly request that anyone who knows of the whereabouts of Lightning Man speak now. Should any of you be hiding that faux hero from me, you’ll not like what happens to you. That I can promise you.”
Oswald let his words linger, the threat implicit in them. This was how Oswald chose to do business in pursuit of Lightning Man. Eyes narrowed as the silence stretched out into minutes, then into hours, a frustrating occurrence.
???: “Why should we tell you anything? What gives you the right to ask anything of us outsider.”
“You have a spine, have a backbone. That is good. It won’t save you. No one is coming to save you, your heroes have all abandoned you. Why should you answer me?. It’s simple, as soon as I get what I want, I’ll leave you to your mundane lives. Refuse and you learn the consequences of provoking my wrath.”
???: “I know not of this Lightning Man. I cannot enlighten you as to his whereabouts. Yet I know why you seek him, he embarrassed you didn’t he? He defeated you. Someone like you could never stand for that. This is why you seek him? To avenge that loss?. That at least is a warrior’s mentality.”
“Correct, I seek to extract vengeance for the embarrassment caused by the loss. A warrior’s mentality. That almost sounds like praise. Since no one here seems to know where Lightning Man is, I’ll resort to plan B.”
???: “What is plan B? What are you referring to?” a shakily spoken question from this unnamed person.
“I’ll take you all hostage of course” Oswald’s sneering response came. Dark brooding laughter slipped out mere seconds later. Flashes of sunlight shone down peeking out from behind white fluffy clouds, the inclement weather coming to a complete and total stand still as it were.
???: “You’ll take us all hostage? How do you plan to accomplish that as you are just one person.”
“I did not come alone, no I did not.” Oswald retorted smugly.
???: “You did not come alone? What do you mean?”
“I have brought those who serve me, my most noble of underlings. Arise my bird men and gather up our hostages.” Oswald bellowed, his voice resolute and unyielding, his aura that of a man who knew that he was in complete control of this situation.
???: “What the-” was all that was spoken as the area filled up with men clad in black and white suits, similar in nature to those worn by Oswald Knight.
Bird man #1: “Move now, all of you into the center, line up and remain still”
Bird man #2: “Look at all these poor helpless schmucks, it’s almost amusing to see how quickly they fall in line”
Bird man #3: “Mindless and naive every last one of them”
Bird man #4: “Lightning man won’t be able to resist this trap. Heroes never can resist the urge to play the role of white knight.”
Bird man #5: “No one defeats the boss, no one humiliates the boss and gets away with it”
Bird man #6: “Let’s hope that Lightning Man is less of a coward than the boss thinks he is”
Each of the six bird men carried a razor thin sword in their hands, a silver blade gleaming in broad daylight.
“Lightning Man, wherever you are hiding I implore you to arrive here at this very stage, arrive promptly and I may yet let these poor unfortunate souls go. Should you refuse to show yourself, the deaths of those same souls shall forever be on your conscience. What will it be hero, you or them? I await your decision. Time to step up hero” Oswald spoke darkly, his voice lethally serious.
Screams rose from the crowd as panic set in, now that they knew their fate lay in the hands of Lightning Man.
“You have one hour to choose Lightning Man” Oswald murmured as the clock tower overhead began the hour-long countdown.