WARNING!! MAJOR SPOILERS HERE!
Both Taishakuten and Ashura-ou, king of the Ashura clan, used to serve the Emperor of the so-called Tenkai (the Heavens). The former, the God of Thunder, was just a military commander who distinguished himself in killing plenty of mazoku (demons) who menaced the peace of the kingdom, and he was said as cruel as the mazoku themselves. As for the latter, he was the God of War and Destruction, other than the Emperor's general and most faithful soldier. While Ashura-ou seems, despite his role of God of War, a kind and wise man, it immediately appears that Taishakuten is not only a skilled warriour, but also a man of great ambition who seems to disregard anything that is useless to the achievement of what he wishes for. Furthermore, he seems to consider Ashura-ou his first rival. Such a strong-willed man will be of use to Ashura-ou himself, who learnt from a prophecy that his future son Ashura will be the one to bring destruction in Tenkai. Even so, still wishing to give him birth, he asks for Taishakuten's help in order to stop the spinning wheel of fate. In exchange for his strenght, Taishakuten declares he wants Ashura-ou to fulfill his wish. Once Ashura-ou agrees to his conditions and asks Taishakuten what is it that he wants, Taishakuten just caresses his hair and replies "You.". As Ashura-ou accepts to spend the night with him, Taishakuten tells him that he will become emperor for his sake, so he will be able to keep the Six Stars of the prophecy from gathering, which appears to be the only solution available to annihilate the effect of the prophecy. When, the day after, they face each other on the battlefield, Ashura-ou orders Taishakuten to kill him and eat his body to obtain his powers, which will be useful to kill Ashura in case Taishakuten won't be able to avoid his awakening as the God of Destruction. Taishakuten obeys to everything Ashura-ou told him to do, thus he turns into the heartless and sadistic emperor we all know just to stay faithful to the promise he made with the only man he ever loved, in a twisted, yet touching and cruel CLAMP-esque way.
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