Episode 42: The Roar of the Ocean — The Emptiness of Takehaya Susanoo-no-Mikoto

Prologue

Raging billows.

Giant columns of water piercing the heavens.

In the middle of the dark ocean, enveloped in black clouds and roaring thunder, stood a single god, planting his feet firmly upon the crests of the raging waves.

Takehaya Susanoo-no-Mikoto.

Born from the water that washed the nose of his father, Izanagi, he was the fiercest of the Three Noble Children, a wild god harboring inexhaustible vitality and overwhelming destructive power.

OOOOOOHH!!

As Susanoo threw both arms toward the heavens, the surface of the sea rose as if exploding, and giant whirlpools churned in overlapping layers.

With a single roar from him, violent winds raged, and massive waves surged from the depths of the abyss.

He was the absolute ruler of this vast, rough ocean.

As if to test his own boundless power, he repeatedly raised waves, summoned storms, and dominated nature.

However, after the rainstorm passed and the waves calmed, what enveloped his robust body was neither a sense of accomplishment nor satisfaction, but a cold "emptiness" that froze him to the marrow.

Chapter 1: Overwhelming Power and a Bottomless Hole

Susanoo sat heavily upon the calm, ripple-less surface of the sea.

When he lightly struck the surface with his fingertips, that alone made the sea tremble for miles around, causing the fish to flee in terror into the deep.

...It's not enough.

A dry voice leaked out in a murmur.

"Even if I crush the waves, even if I summon storms, this gaping hole in my chest never fills."

Susanoo thrust a thick finger against his broad chest.

There was no physical wound there. But in the depths of his soul, like the dark deep sea, there gaped a black, cold hole.

No matter what or how much he obtained, no matter how much power he wielded, the sound of the empty wind blowing through that hole never ceased.

Chapter 2: The Perfection of His Sister and Brother

Susanoo looked up at the heavens.

Far above, in Takamagahara, his sister Amaterasu Omikami radiated a dazzling light, nurturing and ruling all creation.

And in the distance, he could see the cold yet beautiful silver light of his brother Tsukuyomi-no-Mikoto, who quietly ruled the world of night.

His sister as "Light," his brother as "Shadow"—each had a firm role and meaning for their existence in this world.

They were complete. They knew what they must do.
(Compared to them, what am I?)

Susanoo distorted his face reflected on the sea's surface.
(Just a ruffian with strong power. Ravaging the sea doesn't give birth to anything. I am the only one who has accomplished nothing in this world... I am decisively lacking something.)

Chapter 3: The Hunger for the Source of Life

While drifting on the sea, Susanoo intently observed the creatures of the earth.

Seabirds brought food to their chicks, whales swam as if shielding their young, and even nameless fish migrated through the sea with bonds between parent and child.

Every single life in the world had a "parent."

An existence that loved them, watched over them, and accepted them unconditionally.

"A parent..."

Susanoo muttered.

He had his father, Izanagi.

However, after the gruesome conflict in the Underworld, his father was completely exhausted.

After giving birth to the Three Noble Children, what reflected in his father's eyes was "relief" and an undeniable fatigue that said, "Now I can finally rest."

Weren't the existences of the three of them merely "tools to entrust the world to" for their father?

Such dark doubts swirled in Susanoo's heart.

And he had no "mother."

Both his sister and brother were born from their father's ablutions.

They had no mother.

However, his siblings accepted that fact and lived for their missions.
But for the pure Susanoo, whose emotions wildly fluctuated and who craved "love" more than anyone else, the sense of lack stemming from "having no mother" became a fatal starvation, beginning to devour him from the inside out.

Chapter 4: An Obsession with an Unseen Shadow

(The one our father absolutely refuses to speak of. Our mother, who is said to be in the Underworld... Izanami-sama.)

A dark flame flickered in the depths of Susanoo's eyes.

He had never met her. He didn't know her voice. He didn't know her warmth.

But, no, because of that, the existence of "Mother" swelled within Susanoo into an obsessive, maddening ideal as the symbol of absolute, unconditional love.

If Mother were here, wouldn't she fill this emptiness in my chest?

If Mother were here, wouldn't she embrace me not just as a "tool to rule the sea, but as a single "child?

Mother... Mother...!

Susanoo hugged his knees, curling his giant body up like a child.

A dark, cold aura gradually leaked from his body, staining the surrounding sea a sinister black.

The pure longing of a child starved for affection lost its destination, and was gradually transforming into a muddy, twisted obsession.

Chapter5: The Lead-Up to Madness

"Ahhh... AHHHHHHHHHH!!"

Suddenly, Susanoo looked up at the sky and let out a beast-like roar.

It was neither intimidation nor anger.

It was a cry of hunger and loneliness squeezed from the very bottom of his soul.

As if responding to that cry, the calm ocean began to surge violently once again, and ominous dark clouds gathered in the sky.

He did not yet know.

That the "too-pure sorrow" he harbored would soon turn into a mighty curse, physically destroying the world and triggering the greatest tragedy of the Age of the Gods, entangling his sister, his brother, and even his father.

In the middle of the vast ocean, a giant man was weeping and wailing all alone like an infant.

That lament rode the wind, failing to reach the sun of Takamagahara or the moon of the night realm, simply echoing vainly across the world.

KAMIYO Episode 42: "The Roar of the Ocean — The Emptiness of Takehaya Susanoo-no-Mikoto" - End