Ninth

"We... we won. We actually fucking won."

Ninth is a character in the Mark SMP. He is currently allied with Tenacity, despite former complications, and Veri. Ninth seeks to hunt down Mart and kill him. His first life was lost in a confrontation with Mart near the Citadel's ruins, and his second was lost being killed by Twinned while fighting Sayoru in Tenacity.

Personality
Ninth is extremely sensitive, gullible and loyal. He often makes choices that he quickly regrets and hates himself for. Such an example is abandoning Maky when first leaving Tenacity. Ninth is a very easy person to take advantage of if one intends to. Not only does his gullibility make him extremely vulnerable to manipulation, but he is easily persuaded by others through the act of threatening, as shown with Mart. Ninth is a person who intends to be on good terms with everyone, and quickly seeks forgiveness after hurting someone, often much too soon.

However, Ninth is willing to destroy everything in his way to eradicate an enemy if he deems such worthy. While he formerly viewed Tenacity itself as an enemy, he currently views Mart as the primary source of conflict.

Tenacity and The Citadel
When Tenacity was first founded, and civilization began to emerge, Ninth was one of the original inhabitants of the city. For a time, he lived peacefully with the others, even forming a friendship with Maky and Veri. He supported Tenacity's actions, and helped to defend against its threats.

Everything changed for Ninth, however, when the Nether King and God of Death, Sayoru, emerged from Tenacity Nether portal, disguising himself as a traumatized old man who had been trapped in the Nether for years. Sayoru had demanded the destruction of all the Nether portals in the Overworld, stating that terrifyingly dangerous threats could emerge from them. While Tenacity agreed to destroy their portal, Veri did not. Veri's base, the Citadel, contained four massive heart-shaped Nether portals. While Veri did not see issue in this, Tenacity viewed the Citadel as a danger to civilization, and after a failed negotiation, the Citadel was blown up, with Veri and Deadshots dying in the process. It was at this time that Ninth decided to abandon Tenacity, despite Maky attempting to salvage their friendship. Ninth began a new life, building a base in a mountain alone. Despite the news of Veri's death, Ninth refused to accept it, noticing Deadshots' revival, and began to search to find her.

Maky and Mart
When Maky found Ninth overlooking the ruins of the Citadel, she tried one last time to reestablish their friendship. Ninth, however, had completely given up on her, scolding Maky and attacking her out of anger before leaving Tenacity and returning to his home. He continued to mock Tenacity over the next days as they desperately tried to pull themselves together.

Ninth quickly regretted his actions, and stayed alone with his thoughts until hearing of Maky's exile. Investigating, he quickly discovered her new home, not far from his own base. Using a boat to reach her island, Ninth attempted to apologize to Maky and ask for her forgiveness. Maky however, hardened by Ninth's past treatment to her, lashed out at him before forcing him to return home. Ninth, anxious and overwhelmed from his discussion with Maky, was completely vulnerable when a new member of the server, Mart, a man desiring conflict, asked for his help to destroy Tenacity. Although Ninth in his pained state initially accepted, he quickly began to see Tenacity in a much different light, and decided to drop the deal. However, Mart did not allow Ninth this peace, forcing him to continue on by threatening to endlessly kill him, also alerting Ninth of Arthur's newfound allegiance to the duo. Mart decided to begin attacking Tenacity by making them collapse from the inside, and began setting up a plan to destroy their trust with each other, forcing Ninth to act as the performer.

Maky's Framing
Maky had decided to throw Deadshots and Arthur a birthday party in Tenacity to try to repair her relationships with them, and Ninth attended as well. When Maky went to make another cake for the members, Ninth, using an invisibility potion, sneakily entered the Council House, blowing it up using the TNT Mart had planted prior. He then led the rest of Tenacity to Maky's underground base, framing her for the explosion by showing Deadshots and Arthur a redstone line (also made by Mart) leading to where the TNT had detonated. After Maky was permanently exiled back to her island, Ninth quickly began to suffer from his choices.

Despite Arthur being allied with Mart as well, he had never known of the plan. To bring himself to comfort, Ninth invited Arthur to his base, and explained what had happened and apologizing for all of his mistakes. After almost considering suicide, Ninth decided to make Arthur his leader to ensure he did not cause any more problems. The two agreed to strike back at Mart when the opportunity presented itself.

When Mart arrived at Ninth's base to congratulate him, Ninth was in a fit of rage, threatening Mart and being forced to restrain himself from killing him. Ninth then decided to go visit Maky, but Mart, to Ninth's dismay, forced Ninth to take him with him. Arriving, Ninth attempted to explain himself to Maky, but to no avail. Maky scolded Ninth in pain and grief before eventually calming down. Ninth decided to give up on repairing his relationships with others, begging Maky to kill him. However, Maky, now calmer and more steady, refused to kill Ninth, even stealing his axe to avoid him hurting himself. She explained that he could fight back against Mart, and that while she might not forgive him, she could get over what had happened. Ninth, however, completely spent, had given up, and left Maky's exile to rest in his base, ready to follow Mart's lead, regardless of what it may be.

Last Meetin g
While nobody was in Tenacity, Ninth, observing the nation for what could very well be the last time, encountered Mart. Their discussion quickly escalated into a massive argument, with the two nearly killing each other in the process. Mart alerted Ninth of the Void, explaining to him that it was their future of power. Ninth was able, however, to observe how Mart's semi corrupted state had already caused him to move out of his normally reserved, stable demeanor. Mart proceeded to provide the date for the final assault on Tenacity, the fifth of March. Despite Ninth's protests, Mart forced him to continue in their plan, asking for Ninth to also gather the materials to spawn a Wither beast. After informing Ninth of his role in the event, Mart left to speak with Arthur.

The Tenacity Assault
As Ninth and Mart began setting TNT, Arthur lured everyone nearby to Gamertalis. As the people began to arrive, everything was set in place. However, before Ninth could set up the Wither, Maky, who had been using an invisibility potion, appeared to stop Mart. Convincing Ninth to change his ways, Maky and the others pursued Mart through Tenacity. Mart attempted to distract his pursuers by blowing up the Community House, but to no avail. Arthur, Maky, Ninth, and Ultra quickly located Mart's secret base. Venturing through the set traps, they eventually cornered the source of conflict.

While Ninth wanted to execute Mart, the rest of the group agreed to imprison him instead. However, during an argument, Maky instinctively attacked Mart, killing him. As Mart respawned, he began to destroy his base with TNT, endangering his pursuers. They quickly evacuated the base, but Mart was able to lure Maky back in, crying for help. Promising that she wouldn't die, Maky returned inside his base. Ninth, having a bad feeling, soon ventured back inside with Arthur and Ultra, finding only the remains of Maky, a flower, behind in the rubble.

While Ninth instinctively jumped to revenge, Arthur proposed that Maky could have respawned back at her exile. Quickly returning, they found no Maky, but instead a crater where the entrance to her house once stood, destroyed by Mart. Inside the house, Ninth found a book written by Maky, who told him she forgave him. The pain unbearable, Ninth quickly left the exile island, returning home.

Upon returning, oblivious of Mart's appearance, Ninth set down a memorial for Maky near her house. Although trying to provoke Arthur into assisting in hunting Mart, Arthur only showed signs of denial of Maky's death, confident that she would soon return. Ninth's anger exceeding what it ever had before, he scolded Arthur for his irrational decisions, leaving the island soon after, and deciding to confront Mart the next time he could, to get his revenge.

Mart's Revenge
Over the next few days after Maky's death, Ninth committed to searching for Mart. However, when he eventually returned to his base, he found nothing but a crater where it once stood. Mart had left Ninth a note, mocking Maky's death, and even leaving her axe for Ninth to see. In anger, Ninth decided to recruit Arthur to hunt Mart. Arthur quickly agreed to the plan, and the two went on a hunt by searching largely corrupted areas. They quickly located Mart, who lured them to an open area to battle.

Despite the power of Ninth and Arthur, they were quickly annihilated by Mart. Realizing that they were on the losing side, Arthur shouted at Ninth to run. Ninth, however, too stubborn for his own good, wanted to stay and avenge Maky, while also proving to Mart that he wasn't a coward, and instead told Arthur to run as he jumped in to continue fighting. Ninth was quickly demolished by Mart, and finally killed while attempting to heal, marking an end to his first canon life.

After the events of the hunt, Ninth quickly plummeted into insanity. With the pain of his weakness and uselessness causing his failure against Mart, he began to experience suicidal desires as the remains of his fragile mask of confidence shattered.

Final Days
After returning to Arthur the day after their battle against Mart, Ninth confessed that he couldn't take his failure and grief anymore, and just wanted it to end. He begged Arthur to kill him, but he refused, stating that Ninth should still try to use his lives to accomplish something. After Ninth gave Arthur Maky's flower, Arthur stated that if he had not found Maky by Friday, they would hold a funeral for her. Ninth agreed that he would try to stay alive until the funeral, but would kill himself afterwards. With nothing else to say, Ninth left Arthur alone in his tower, and returned to the crater that was once his home, silently begging for Maky to return.

The Funeral
Ninth, despite preserving his life for the remaining days awaiting the funeral, was simply too pained to witness it. He remained at the crater until eventually deciding to suicide at Maky's exile home to ensure he would end up where she did. However, arriving there, Ninth found Maky alive and traumatized, terrified of the situation. After calming her down and assuring that everything was real, Ninth quickly decided to bring Maky to Tenacity to alert the others of her survival. When arriving there, however, Ninth requested for Maky to talk to them alone, as he simply could not bear the guilt of lying to Arthur.

The Search For Steel Hallow
Several days after the events of the funeral, Ninth, Maky, Deadshots, Arthur, and Ultra set off to locate Steel Hallow, as Maky had found a compass potentially pointing towards something that could lead them there.

While resting at an island one night during their venture, Ninth confessed to Maky his eternal pull to objective. Maky, despite being unable to give Ninth any answers to his endless questions, was able to comfort and reassure him that things would turn out well in the end.

However, unbeknownst to the group, Mart had secretly been trailing them, waiting for an opportunity to strike. While the team slept in the ruined houses of the Anemoi Isles, Mart captured Maky, forcing Arthur and Ninth to back off from attacking. The next day, while awaiting Deadshots' revival to form a plan, Ninth and Arthur located a compass pointing to Niobium, left by Mart to taunt them.

Travelling to Niobium to attempt to stop Mart, the group quickly found themselves engulfed by darkness with traps hidden everywhere. Deadshots, being capable of seeing through the dark, was the only person capable of progressing through the area and locating Mart. After rescuing Maky, the group urgently exited the cave, with Mart following behind. Challenging Deadshots to a rematch, Mart was preoccupied with fighting, and hence unable to stop Maky from leading the remainder of the group to Steel Hallow.

After collecting all the available supplies at Steel Hallow to prepare for the Nether war, and discovering that Maky's sister, Emerald, had murdered their mother to take the throne, the group returned to Tenacity to prepare for battle.

The Nether Assault
(To be completed...)

The Finale
(To be completed...)

The Withers
(To be completed...)

The End of Mart
(To be completed...)

Items
Rachel's Reminder - As a reminder of their friendship, Veri entrusted Ninth with a symbolic Void Flower.

Axe of Retribution - A weapon only used in the most serious of cases. It possesses Sharpness V and Fire Aspect II.

Corruption Vial - A gift from Veri, containing a replica of the Corruption's power. Ninth currently contemplates consuming it.