Chapter 39

## Chapter Chronology

**Forbidden Move** is the 39th chapter of the "*Shuumatsu no Valkyrie: Record of Ragnarok*" manga series.

## Summary

Shiva looks confused to see Raiden Tameemon smile. The Gods question if Shiva broke him while most of Humanity worry that Raiden has lost. However, the men who had fought Raiden in the sumo ring knew different. They assert that they know Raiden's strength better than most and that Raiden's title as the "Peerless Rikishi" isn't just for show. Kisaburo Onogawa points out that Raiden's smiling and Kajinosuke Tanikaze laughs since that means Raiden's finally happy that he's found the one place where he could go all-out. No Rikishi had ever loved sumo as much as Raiden yet not have sumo love them back.

When Tarōkichi was 5, he had witnessed the other villager boys play a mock game of sumo. Toraji, who was taller than the rest, kept winning and asked if anyone wanted to go up. Noticing how excited Tarōkichi looked, Toraji invites him up. After Tarōkichi enters the ring, the other boys wonder if he's any good since they've never seen him do sumo.

After the match starts, Toraji prepares to go easy on Tarōkichi since he's much smaller, only for Tarōkichi to headbutt Toraji's gut and send him flying out of the ring. Even with the **Hundred Seals** restricting most of his power, Tarōkichi was like a freak of nature. Tarōkichi celebrates winning but notices how scared Toraji looks.

He tries to help him up but Toraji calls him a monster and all the boys run away, calling Tarōkichi, "Deidarabotchi." Later on, when all the boys are playing together, Ken Seki asks her son why he doesn't join them. Tearily, Tarōkichi asks why he wasn't born like the others and why God made him a freak. Hugging him, Ken reveals to Tarōkichi that she's really grateful to God. Back when Tarōkichi couldn't even stand, she and Hanemon Seki went to the shrine many times, praying to God to let Tarōkichi be able to stand up and to let him grow big and strong. Noting he's gotten bigger, Ken assures Tarōkichi that God loves him.

Holding her son close, Ken asks Tarōkichi to use the power he's been given for the good of the weak. From then on, just as his mother wished, Tarōkichi grew up to be a kind-hearted child that came to eventually be loved by everyone in the village. However, disaster soon struck and changed Tarōkichi's life. In the year of Tenmei 3 (1783AD), Mt. Asama erupted, resulting in the volcanic ash wiping out all the crops along with plagues and famine spreading across all of Shinano, which led thousands to starve. That event would later be known as the Great Tenmei Famine. Witnessing an injured child beg for her dead mother to wake up, Tarōkichi reminds himself that he's supposed to protect the weak with his power. At the age of 17, Tarōkichi left Shinano and wound up in Edo, at the Urakaze Stable, choosing to become a sumo wrestler to earn money for the people back at home. Inside, Tarōkichi sees Yohachi Urakaze, who eats mounds of white rice.

Urakaze tells Tarōkichi to go up and show him what he can do but Tarōkichi passes, insisting if he went all-out, he'd wind up destroying them all. The sumo wrestlers present are insulted but Kajinosuke laughs. He offers to go up against Tarōkichi but Tarōkichi still refuses, out of fear of hurting him. The other sumo wrestlers point out that Tarōkichi is speaking to a great Ozeki and Kajinosuke tells Tarōkichi that if he doesn't fight, he'll send him back to his village. Knowing he needs the money, Tarōkichi reluctantly accepts. As they stand in the sumo ring, Tarōkichi tells Kajinosuke not to blame him if he sends him flying and attacks. He attempts to shoulder-charge Kajinosuke but is surprisingly unsuccessful.

Retaliating, Kajinosuke grabs Tarōkichi by the bands of his mawashi and flips him over. Wondering if that's all he's got, Kajinosuke tells Tarōkichi to pack his things and leave. Saying everyone is counting on him, Tarōkichi attempts to attack again but Kajinosuke knocks him down each time he tries.

After a while, Tarōkichi lies on the ground, exhausted. Smiling, Kajinosuke says this is sumo and asks Tarōkichi what he thinks. Also smiling, Tarōkichi calls it fun. Urakaze notes that Tarōkichi has guts to give history's strongest Ozeki a run for his money. As Tarōkichi drifts off to sleep, Kajinosuke requests to take him on as his pupil. Urakaze doesn't mind but asks why since he thought Kajinosuke didn't want to take on any pupils. With the imprints of Tarōkichi's hands all over his body, Kajinosuke says he's changed his mind. From then on, Tarōkichi devoted himself to learning the fundamentals of sumo, such as Shiko, Suriashi and Teppo. For the first time, sumo was a place where he could go all-out against his opponents. And so, in the year of Kansei 2 (1790AD), Raiden Tameemon debuted under the sponsorship of the Matsue Domain. In his first official fight, Raiden threw his opponent out of the ring in just one move. To his surprise, the crowd cheered for him.

Watching, Kajinosuke remarks on how he may have just raised a monster. Through a series of consecutive wins, where he beat his opponents with just one strike, the once feared "Deidarabotchi" was now hailed as a shining bolt of lightning for all of famine-stricken Japan. But that peak didn't last. During one match, Raiden throws salt into the air and gets the audience excited. He then sees his opponent is scared of him, which reminds Raiden of when Toraji initially called him a monster. After the match, Kajinosuke angrily asks why Raiden gave up. He says that was the equivalent of spitting in the face of the God of Sumo but he stops when he sees Raiden crying. Raiden recalls how his mother told him to use his powers for the sake of the weak but in the end, it seems like he's gone back to picking on them.

Dropping to his knees, Raiden says that sumo is all he has since this is the only way he can feed everyone back home.

From that point on, so that he wouldn't "break" his opponents or pick on the weak, Raiden sealed away his most powerful moves. Teppo, Harite, Sabaori and Kannuki. Together, these became Raiden's "Forbidden Four." But even after he did that, Raiden kept on winning and called it a pain. With a career spanning 21 years, Raiden had a record of 254 wins, 10 losses, 14 Akuzari, 2 Wake and 5 Mushōbu. The 10 losses and 2 Wake were all against lower-rank rikishi, meaning there was a reason why he couldn't fight them. Thus, people began calling this virtually unbeatable contestant a "Peerless Rikishi."

But no-one knew, that up until the moment Raiden left the ring for good, he could never go all-out again. Not even once. In the present, Kajinosuke apologizes to Raiden, admitting that they just couldn't handle him at his best. He then tells Raiden to show them all the sumo he's always wanted to display. Chuckling, Raiden admits it's been a while since he could wrestle without holding back. Shiva smiles as well and comments on how Raiden looks like he's enjoying this.

Once Raiden decided to let himself, or rather, decided to let sumo loose, his body began moving quite naturally. Raiden started his entrance procession and realizing this is his last resort, Shiva dares Raiden to come at him. After he finished prepping, Raiden decided to go with one of the sport's most fundamental and essential techniques: Teppo. Raiden draws back his right hand in preparation for a palm strike. Thanks to his **Völundr**, Raiden focuses all his muscles into his legs and leaps forward. As soon as he gets in front of Shiva, Raiden immediately shifts all his muscles from his legs into his right arm, which he then condensed and focused all of its destructive power into the heel of his right palm. Seeing the palm strike coming, Shiva raises his three remaining arms to try to block it, only for the palm strike to rip off two of Shiva's arms and hit Shiva's head, sending him flying back. This single, all-destructive blow was the highest form of Teppo, known as **Yatagarasu**.

## Characters in Order of Appearance

* Raiden Tameemon
* Shiva
* Kisaburo Onogawa
* Kajinosuke Tanikaze
* Yohachi Urakaze (Flashback)
* Toraji (Flashback)
* Ken Seki (Flashback)
* Hanemon Seki (Flashback)