To speak about the story of Maya Kobayashi, one has to address the legacy of her family. Maya’s father, Tom Kobayashi, comes from a fairly humble background- his family were Japanese immigrants that arrived in San Francisco just prior to World War 2 and, despite being interned during the war, were able to find business success and rose to the middle class. One of their grandchildren and Maya’s father, Tom Kobayashi, ended up entering the film industry and has worked as an agent for several big-name stars. He lives a comfortable life, one where he gets the chance to travel a lot and make good money. Still, nothing too far out of the ordinary.
The truly legendary tale comes from Maya’s mother- Kanako Akuma, the eldest daughter of Ichiro Akuma, the heir to the Akuma clan. The Akuma clan is an immensely wealthy Japanese family of old money, their legacy dating back to feudal times, where the family served as a powerful daimyo, or feudal warlord, of a decent plot of Honshu. The Akuma clan was notoriously brutal, not hesitating to use torture and lethal force to achieve their goals. The slaughter of the Oshiro clan in the 16th century was especially disturbing, with the 7 men of the Akuma family sneaking onto their estate in the dead of night and murdering every single man, woman, and child on the premises. It was a horrific slaughter of an entire family, and these sins would come with a hefty price. A curse.
All 7 blades used in the Oshiro Massacre were possessed by oni spirits and cursed. Though the weapons were strengthened by magic beyond the comprehension of any blacksmith or weapon expert, if the owner ever committed an act of evil, with or without the blade, the demons that it held would be released and claim the wielder's life as well. 6 of the 7 men in the clan would soon meet that horrible fate. One fell on his sword, one drowned, one tortured by a rival warlord, one eaten by a pack of wolves, and the last two slain by each others' hands in a duel. The remaining patriarch of the family resolved to not fall victim to the curse, and so his blade was sealed in a crypt deep within the Akuma palace.
It laid there for centuries, as the Akuma family entered the banking industry, becoming a modestly powerful zaibatsu (a family-owned conglomerate) in the process. Still, the looming threat of the last cursed sword, named ブラッド・ムーン (Buraddo mūn), or "Blood Moon," lingered over the family. One wrong mistake, one irredeemable sin, and the demons held for centuries inside the blade could come for blood. As Ichiro Akuma, the modernt patriarch of the family, focused on running the family business, his daughter, Kanako, fell in love with an American man, Tom Kobayashi, and made plans to elope and move to America to start a family there. Ichiro would never have approved this marriage, but unfortunately, he had other more pressing concerns to worry about. It was discovered, only a day after Kanako announced her intentions to leave Tokyo, that the Akuma Banking Corporation had committed major fraud and had stolen millions of dollars from its customers, and just a week later, Ichiro Akuma was crushed in a brutal car accident. Kanako mourned the loss of her father, but this news meant that she could finally be with the one she loved.
The two lovebirds departed for New York, New York only a half a year after meeting, and Kanako quickly became pregnant with Maya. Maya immediately took after her father in many ways. She was lively, spunky, energetic, and bold. She did well in school, but her strong suit was athletics. She was the type of girl to play every sport in school, and excelled at them all. She ran in track, played volleyball, played softball, and dabbled in cross-country, but her passion was in martial arts. Maya was incredibly well-versed in aikido and also practiced other sports.
Simply put, Maya was really, really good at almost everything, and it never got to her head. Hah, just kidding, it definitely got to her head. Maya had, and still has, a very high opinion of herself. But Maya was never a bad person; on the contrary, Maya has always been incredibly genuine and protective. Very protective. She picked fights with bullies, drug dealers, criminals, anybody. Maya had a hot head and the skills to back it up. She got into trouble, enough trouble to get her yelled at and even suspended, but never enough trouble to stop her from her action.
By the time she was a junior in high school, Maya had it all; championships in martial arts, lots of friends, good enough grades; she was practically an all-American dream. Things changed when the strange, dapper Japanese man arrived at the door with a suitcase. As it had happened, Ichiro Akuma had left a will. THe piece of paper had remained hidden in his study for decades, sandwiched between a number of other legal documents, and stowed away in a cardboard box after his passing, only recently re-opened. In this will, he did something no Akuma had done for hundreds of years. In his spite for the daughter that ran away with the American, he had requested the cursed sword be moved from its resting place into the hands of his heiress, Kanako.
Kanako tried to get rid of the sword, but ancient curses don’t go away that easily. Every time she threw it in the trash or over a bridge or into a fire, the blade always returned, in perfect condition, to her mantelpiece. Eventually, Kanako accepted the burden of the cursed blade. She considered herself an upstanding citizen, after all. If her predecessors could stave off the curse for so long, surely she would have no problems.
What bothered Kanako was how interested her daughter was in the sword. Maya asked far too many questions about the funny blade on the mantelpiece. She even asked to take it to school one day, an offer that was firmly rejected, for good reason. What was far more disturbing than Maya’s interest in the sword, though, was the sword’s interest in her. Maya would sometimes find the sword in her backpack, or under her bed, or in her closet. It was almost like the sword was flirting with her. Getting into her mind. Soon, the sword did begin to speak with her, and Maya began to speak back. No, she isn't crazy (though she certainly thought herself to be at first). The demon within the sword, after being held in the vault for centuries, finally had the chance to hunt once again, and the demon saw something in Maya that it had never seen in generations of the Akuma family. A desire to be an avenger, an agent of peace. It was a perfect partnership, almost symbiotic. The demon held within the blade craved the blood of the guilty, and Maya desired to protect the innocent.
Maya's first foray into vigilantism was accidental. There was a robbery going on at a community bank that Maya had spotted walking home from school one day. The girl immediately ran over, drawing the sword that had conveniently manifested itself inside her backpack, and stepped into the building. Several armed career criminals versus one girl with a sword. Shouldn't have ended poorly for the crooks. but it did. They were cut down like trees, Blood Moon doing what it did best- spilling blood. It was a rush of adrenaline for Maya. She knew she was destined for bigger and better things. This was the start of something bigger and better.
She was taken to jail, of course, but she was hardly in the cell for an hour before she was picked up by Katana, a vigilante hero that Maya idolized. Maya adopted a suit of armor and a new persona as "Demonslayer." For a few months, she preyed on common criminals. Robbers, murderers, your usual street scum. Maya knew she was ready for more, though, and Katana agreed. Maya, or Demonslayer, had more than enough talent to be working on more than just street vigilantism, and some exposure to a team would likely work wonders for a girl that was definitely developing a bit of an ego.
No matter how powerful and scary the demons are, rest assured, Demonslayer will be there to cut them to ribbons.
Exit,
King Kindred,
Geraldo,
Shadowheart,
AmongHeroes,
Oso,
Archangel89
