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| - And most of the characters are either magicians or avatars. Akio's pursuit of the occult lead him to channel the spirit-archetype known as Dios, who embodied the First Prince, the first love of all young women, while Anthy was herself possessed by the spirit Rose Bride, She-Who-Married-Flowers-Instead-Of-A-Man, who embodied those who could not find emotional or sexual fulfillment, Dios' constant companion. The presence of two powerful spirits attracted the spirits of the Swords of Hate, the embodiment of the outrage of the death of innocence. At first, the Swords of Hate focused their rage on Akio-Dios, taking on the collective anger of overly-concerned fathers outraged at the strange boys who deflowered their virgin daughters.
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| abstract
| - And most of the characters are either magicians or avatars. Akio's pursuit of the occult lead him to channel the spirit-archetype known as Dios, who embodied the First Prince, the first love of all young women, while Anthy was herself possessed by the spirit Rose Bride, She-Who-Married-Flowers-Instead-Of-A-Man, who embodied those who could not find emotional or sexual fulfillment, Dios' constant companion. The presence of two powerful spirits attracted the spirits of the Swords of Hate, the embodiment of the outrage of the death of innocence. At first, the Swords of Hate focused their rage on Akio-Dios, taking on the collective anger of overly-concerned fathers outraged at the strange boys who deflowered their virgin daughters. Akio-Dios managed to defend themselves, eventually helping a young Utena into finding a reason to live. But as Akio grew older and strayed from Dios' ideal form as the youthful boy-prince, his bond with Akio grew weaker and they faced annihilation at blades of Hate. To save their beloved, Anthy-Rose Bride directed the Swords of Hate at them instead, drawing on the resentment of parents against unfulfilled children. Dios then lost all connection to Akio, causing him to be obsessed with reuniting with Dios. Seeing that the Rose Bride was Dios' constant companion, Akio used magick to bind Anthy to the Rose Bride, keeping her subservient to him through demeaning acts, abuse, and rituals. Dios came to rescue his companion, and Akio in turn bound him to earth. In revenge, Dios shattered Akio's magical weapon, the Sword of Dios, preventing Akio from channeling Dios. Akio also began deluding himself, believing Dios to be a true god and that he could force Dios' into bonding with him again. Akio then spent the next following years gaining power and influence, ingratiating himself into the Ohtori school system. Using simple magick feats and trickery, Akio conned middle-school students into becoming Duelists, participants in his fairy tale-themed magickal rituals, the purpose of which was to reforge the Sword of Dios by passing it around, contained in the body of his sister, until it reached a strong mediums, that he might claim it once more and force Dios' power - the fabled "Power that brings the World Revolution" - onto himself. He also trained promising students in magick, that they might create rituals and dynamics of their own. At first, Akio thought Utena to be his final "reward" upon bonding with Dios, a "princess" to his "prince", but Utena was inspired to be a prince instead of a princess. Her mixing of gender roles made her both available channels for both the Rose Bride as well as Dios, which did not at all deter Akio. The first set of duels against the Student Councils introduced the players of the game as well as gauged their reactions towards magick. The second set of duels - against the Black Rose Society - had Akio manipulate his pupil Mikage into performing the Black Rose Rites with those close to Student Council members, forcing them to bond with the Swords of Hate. The third set revisited the first set, but with the aim of eliminating all other possible avatars of Dios' and the Rose Bride. Akio's schemes were going well, as even his eromenos lover and apprentice Touga (who had grown to be a magician powerful enough to challenge him) was defeated by Utena. But in the final duel, Akio defeated himself when he shattered the illusion of the castle in the sky, which in turn undermined his own magicks. Anthy betrayed Utena under Akio's instructions, Akio taking the Sword of Dios to break the "seal" which held the "power of miracles." As a last act of defiance, Dios chose Utena as his host, which gave her the strength to move despite being wounded. Instead of escaping, Utena chose to reach out one final time to Anthy, breaking Akio's magickal and emotional hold over her. The Rose Bride was freed but weakened by the ordeal, and bonded with the nearest available avatar, Utena, who was both boy and girl, male and female, prince and princess. This caused the avatar "circuit" to be completed, spiriting the Dios Bride gestalt into the metaphysical realm. Anthy, befeft of Utena's presence but left with the knowledge of her sacrifice, chose to reject Akio, rendering him magickally impotent as he had depended so much on her as both a vessel and a fixture.
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![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)