Past[]
Peerless Rikishi[]
In the month of January 1767, Tarōkichi Seki was born with an abnormal condition called Extramuscular Bone Tightening. When he was 2 years and 8 months old, Tarōkichi still wasn't able to stand on his own two legs much to the worry of his parents. However, soon after his parents starting worrying for him, Tarōkichi walked on his own for the first time in his life as his parents bear witness. When his mother was about to congratulate Tarōkichi, his body's muscles tightened, breaking every bone in his body.
Due to his abnormal condition, Tarōkichi's muscles continued to grow out of control whenever Tarōkichi made a step on his own. Despite his condition, Tarōkichi refused to give up and continued to move forward. As he continued to move on his own, he developed the 100 seals on his body to prevent his muscles from overgrowing. When Tarōkichi was 5 years old, he developed an interest in sumo from watching the other boys in the village doing sumo.
When Toraji spared with Tarōkichi, he hit the older boy out of the ring causing him minor injuries. The other boys became scared of Tarōkichi's strength and called him a monster as they ran away. After that incident, Tarōkichi stopped playing with the other kids and became sad about his immense strength and it brought fear to people. Back at home his mother asked him why he wouldn't play with the other kids.
Tarōkichi started crying and told her about how his monstrous strength terrifies them. She later hugged him and told him that when he was born with an abnormal condition, she continually prayed to god for Tarōkichi to stand up. She also told him that she loved him and that he should use his strength for the good of the weak. From that point in time, Tarōkichi took his mother's words at heart and grew up to be a kind-hearted child. And so he would have lived and be loved by all in the land of Shinano.
However, in 1783, the eruption of Mount Asama in Shinano changed his fate forever. The volcanic ash wiped out all the crops and plagues and famine struck the whole Shinano province. The disaster lead thousands of people to starve to death in what would be later be known as Great Tenmei Famine. At the age of 17, Tarōkichi left Shinano and made his way to Edo. Tarōkichi chose to become a sumo wrestler to raise as much money for his hometown as he could.
Tarōkichi then joined a sumo stable under Yohachi Urakaze. When it was Tarōkichi's turn to spar with his fellow students, he declined and warned them about his monstrous strength. Kajinosuke Tanikaze challenged Tarōkichi to spar with him as pushed him to do his best. Tarōkichi lost every time against Tanikaze but didn't give up due to his motivation to support his hometown. At the end of day, Tarōkichi started to enjoy sumo and viewed it as fun. Tanikaze decided to take in Tarōkichi as his student. Tarōkichi tirelessly devoted himself to practicing the fundamentals of sumo.
For him, sumo was the first place in his life where he could go all out against his opponents. In 1790, Raiden Tameemon debuted under the sponsorship of the Matsue Domain and won his first match. In a series of consecutive wins, defeating his opponents with just one strike he shone bright like a bolt of lightning. He used his victory earnings to rebuild his hometown and to relieve the villagers from famine. This in turn caused the villagers look at him not as a monster, but as their hero.
But one day, the sumo wrestlers that were sparring against him began to view him as a monster. Raiden became sad again and told Tanikaze about his early childhood on he was viewed as a monster. Since then, Raiden sealed away his most powerful moves so he wouldn't break his opponents. Even with his strength sealed, Raiden continued to win and send the money back to his hometown. For over 20 years, Raiden Tameemon was never defeated in a match and became known as the greatest rikishi in history, although he was never promoted to yokozuna.
He later left the sumo ring for good and never went all out again, not even once.
Ragnarok[]
Around 200 years after his death, all of the gods decided to end all of humanity, butBrunhildepoints out a clause known as Ragnarok which gives humanity a fighting chance. All of the gods rejected the idea until Brunhilde insulted their pride as they agreed. Raiden Tameemon was one of the peak human warriors selected to participate and fight against the gods inRagnarok.
Fifth Round[]
When Brunhilde and Göll entered into Raiden's room, they caught him naked and sleeping with many women. Brunhilde yelled at Raiden to wake up as the women also woke up and left with their clothes. As Raiden woke up, Brunhilde told him that it was his turn to fight in Ragnarok. Raiden coomented on how beautiful Valkyries were and pounced on them, as Göll was screamed in fear. Brunhilde stopped him with an upward palm strike to his chin.
Raiden then regained his focus and started off his conversation with Brunhilde. He wondered who he would be partnered with in the fight as Brunhilde called in Thrud.
Thrud then entered Raiden's room and destroyed the top part of entrance. Raiden then hugged Thrud while being naked as Göll was surprised and Brunhilde blankly stared at him.
Thrud was angrily embarrassed on how Raiden was being perverted with her as Raiden told her that he liked big girls and that he was serious about it. Thrud then calmed down and performed Völundr with Raiden as a set of tattoos, with armbands around his wrist and biceps, and a large black sumo belt around his waist. Raiden's introduction was done with women parading the banners of their respective companies at the beginning and then arriving at the arena with a haori which he later tossed away.
The human audience cheered for him and Heimdall noted how he was adored by all ages. Shiva then arrived with an elephant herd that carried him into the arena. Shiva expressed his joy on being able to fight for the fifth round as he was denied to fight three consecutive times by the Greek Pantheon. Shiva then turned his attention to Raiden as they started their fight to the death. Raiden started to perform a sumo ritual by first throwing salt on the arena and then getting into his stance.
Raiden began to attack Shiva by using a double Dropkick. Shiva then got back up using a backflip as Raiden continued with his assault. Raiden's assault was then stopped by Shiva as the latter used all of his four arms and flipped Raiden in the air. Raiden then got back to his feet by using a twisting flip. Shiva was starting to enjoy the death fight and asked Raiden if he agreed to it as well. Raiden questioned Shiva if he was always annoying and told him that all the chanting is meaningless to him.
Shiva disagreed on what Raiden said and told him that Ragnarok is a fun and exciting event and any man would be a fool to not see the value of it. Raiden asked Shiva if he'd allow him to let himself loose. Raiden then slapped his chest, squeezing it as his body started mutilating, he screamed in pain before his body finally began to shrink again as he finally gained control over his muscles which threatened his life, thanks to Thrud's Völundr. Raiden, now able to go all out for the first time, sighed in relaxation.
He told Shiva his previous line "Don't go breaking down on me" which both annoyed and excited Shiva. Raiden jumped toward Shiva and, ready to punch him, said that even he doesn't know what this would cause. Raiden's punch sent Shiva flying before he jumped and punched him again. He then gave him a Kiku-Ichimonji, making Shiva loop and then fall on his face. Shiva got up once again, and as he was still dizzy from the fall, Raiden held Shiva's head and, ready to end the fight there with ji*zo's Embrace, headbutted him. However, Shiva headbutted him back. Shiva pushed Raiden's body away and punches him with two hands in the jaw, stating he wouldn't loose in stubbornness.
He attacked Raiden with all four of his arms, Raiden tried to attack back but got overwhelmed and sustained injuries to his ribs. As he leaned down due to the shock, he grabbed onto Shiva's lower left arm and used Overflowing Pressure with all his might. Shiva managed to push Raiden away, though not before suffering catastrophic damage to his arm. Shiva once again tried to attack Raiden, but because of his injured arm and some loss of balance, Shiva he kept on missing.
Raiden punched him but Shiva got his chance to attack and threw Raiden away. The two kept on punching each other, eventually devolving into headbutts, which Shiva won, forcing Raiden to stagger away. Shiva then start his war dance, Hidden Treasure of Svarga, resulting in an unpredictable rhythm and afterimages as the Hindu gods chanted his beat.
Shiva relentlessly attacked Raiden as the latter used Shishimai to deliver powerful kicks with the soles of both of his feet by performing a front handspring. Shiva quickly countered this attack by kicking Raiden in the back before the move could be completed.
Raiden was forced to go on defense and used Miyama to defend against Shiva. Shiva's intense dancing turned into Tandava as his body became super-heated and started to combust, which increased the power of his attacks, inflicting burns on Raiden's flesh. Shiva brought Raiden's arms down with his foot as used it as a springboard to jump in the air and to deliver Krittvasa: Flaming Tiger Claw Dance. Shiva's axe kick cauterized Raiden chest and his left eye as the former asked if his dance had gotten Raiden fired up.
The sumo wrester grinned in response. Raiden started to let his sumo loose. Raiden got into his stance by focusing his muscle power into his legs, arms and finally into his hand, the flow of energy culminating in a powerful palm strike towards his opponent. The strongest form of Teppou, Yatagarasu. The force of this attack was such that it managed to blow away two of Shiva's arms that he was using to block the attack, nailing him in the face and sending him flying into a wall.
Raiden body started to break down from the recoil of Yatagarasu as he continued to feel the pain throughout his entire body. Thrud tried to offset the pressure as she was worried about him. Raiden then told her keep offsetting his muscle pressure and that he'd risk his whole life to do the sumo that he loves. Thrud was moved by Raiden's resolve and told him that she'll go all the way with him. Shiva then commented on how Raiden had a great burden but claimed that he also had a burden too for he was the peak of Svarga.
With only one arm left, Shiva pierced his chest with his right hand to directly stimulate his soul and force his heart to beat faster to use his ultimate technique, Tandava Karma: Samsara War Dance - Ashes. Shiva's body combusted and burns at a higher level than when he was using Tandava, to the point of burning his surrounding and the floating Japanese-styled structure floating above the arena turned into ashes. The fight turned into a war of attrition as Raiden and Shiva attacked each other.
Raiden had to endure Shiva's burning attacks as it charred more of his flesh and burned it away. Shiva's body slowly began to crumble away as his broken left arm turned to ashes. The entire audience of humans and gods cheered for their fighters to end their own respective opponent. Running on fumes, Raiden decided use his last and strongest attack, Yatagarasu, against Shiva to end the fight. Shiva responded to Raiden's seriousness head-on with his strongest attack, Deva Loka. The roundhouse kick was so powerful and burning hot that it managed to overpower Raiden's Yatagarasu and rip his right arm in half.
Raiden stood squarely against Shiva and genuinely thanked him for granting him the opportunity to do sumo to his heart's content. Raiden showed no signs of fear of death or regret for giving his all in the match. Raiden then asked Thrud to undo her Völundr, but Thrud flatly refused and told him that she promised herself that once she fell in love with a man she would to stay with him for the rest of her life. Raiden was moved by Thrud's conviction as he hugged her hand, while Göll in the audience started grieving for Thrud's death with tears.
Raiden and Shiva gave their respects towards each other as Shiva used another Deva Loka as the finishing blow to decapitate Raiden. Shiva walked out of the arena triumphantly with his only fist up high and proudly called it the best match of his life. Raiden Tameemon and Thrud begin to fade into nothingness as Thrud continued to embrace him even in death.
Legacy[]
After the end of the fifth round, the sumo wrestlers performed a shiko with tears in the memory of Raiden Tameemon. Raiden's fans and parents also mourned his death with tears. Raiden's death also moved Shiva, making him see humanity in a better light and forcing him to admit that they were extremely powerful.
As with the other fallen Einherjar, Brunhilde made an offering to Raiden in her private shrine.
It's revealed, at the end of the seventh round, that Hermes composed a requiem for each of the fallen participants of Ragnarok, among them Raiden Tameemon.
Another picture of Raiden also appears in a, seemingly updated, shrine that Brunhilde visits after Round 8. In it, he represents "passion".
