Strength Through Strife

[Sailor Ryu]

---

"Part of me still remembers it...
The night Vdalion burned.
I was still young enough to forget, yet some things...
Well, they never leave you, do they."

"Still remember the screams. Albeit, hazily.
The torment and torture of men and women so desperate to survive as their worlds burned around them.
The ash that flooded the air for months after; blotting the sun out from the skies."

"I remember the famines; the farmlands that refused to grow.
The unnatural chill brought about by volcanic winter.
The cruelty that came from man and monster alike."

"A life of adversity; struggling from the days I learned to walk.
Even now, as I set out to grow, to become more than my family could ever have hoped...
I still feel it gnawing at me."

"'Why not just give in? So many others had.'
'Why bother? It'll all end again anyway.'
'What can one girl do anyway? You're not special."

"Words I've heard a thousand times.
Words every weakling who gave in utter, desperate to spread their plight of complacency to one others.
Desperate to find comradery in cowardice."

"Nah. Fuck that."

"Meranthe doesn't need more people like that, and I'm a stubborn bitch when I wanna be.
I don't care how much I have to suffer. How much torment I go through.
They can rip my flesh to shreds, break my bones, beat me over and over.
But they can't break my resolve."

"Adversity breeds two kinds of people.
The weak, who give up.
And the strong, who fight 'til the bitter end."

"All I've known is struggle and strife.
And without that strife, this raging inferno within would've quelled itself while I was still just a brat."

"So watch out, Meranthe."

"Because the pyres of progress are lit once more."

"Even if I don't succeed.
Even if I'm killed.
My seeds are already sewn."

"Even if you kill the woman.
You'll never kill the ideal."

"No Gods will guide me.
No Walls will contain me.
No Lords will rule me.
Only strength,
Through strife."

---

[Sailor Ryu]

"The Mountain calls.
Its flames burn bright.
Compelling me to burn brighter.
To sear my name into history."

"Grimjhall beckons me.
Compels me to shine brighter;
Brighter than my friends,
Brighter than my foes."

"So be it."

"If you want me to burn bright.
Then I'll burn the brightest.
My presence will engulf with the heat of a sun."

"Nothing will stand in the way of my progress.
Nothing will stand in the way of growth.
The challenges I face, will be just that.
Obstacles to overcome."

"I will be the will of the Volcano.
The harshest flames upon the land.
As you wish to see it."

"The flames I wield,
Empowered by the will of those who witnessed it.
Empowered by those who faced the ultimate adversity;
And the natural sprites that reside in its wake."

"I will embody the Volcano.
The undying flames of my fallen home."

"I will become the inferno."

[Sailor Ryu]

---

"It's tiring, but it has to be done.
The constant push on, to be more than I am.
What else would I do, if not this?"

"A leader, a warrior, a mercenary, an inspiration."
"A brute, a crook, a monster."

"So many don't understand what it takes to survive in this world.
They forget, what it is we went through, what it is we're fighting for."
"They forget what it is we lost."

"Too many reliant on others, relying on borrowed power.
I refuse to do that. I refuse to hold any strength but my own."
"Strength earned through glorious strife."

"Meranthe progresses best, in times of great calamity.
The strong rise, in times of great adversity..."

"If it's a calamity they need.
It's a calamity I'll become."

"Even as we stare down the end.
Even as we approach defeat.
I'll continue this climb.
I'll become more."

"For her.
For myself.
For all of those we lost.
And those, left behind."

"The Fires of Adversity burn brightly."
"No matter what it takes, I will reach new heights."