Queem's fear and Azuma's mental state(Spoilers for everything)
^(TLDR; at the end, if you don't want to look at all the images.)
The following is a quote by Queem:
It is the text we are treated to before the start of Tokio and Azuma's fight during part 1. The fight in which we get the infamous line: "They were made differently." Which in hindsight seemingly refers to Azuma's origin as not only a vessel, but his mindset. These are the narrator's word's before the infamous line that ends the fight:
\"It was not defeat... but the fear of losing... to which he first succumbed.\"
More than anything, Azuma is crippled with fear at his lowest moments. And rereading this reminded me of the battles with Sora & Queem during the war, where it's stated Queem showed signs of apprehension for the very first time. Against an opponent that was vastly superior(from what Yamato Mori says), Queem had no choice but to flee. A logical choice for someone to make. And it's also the same choice Azuma believes he should take against a superior opponent. But why, considering Azuma doesn't follow through on it a whole lot?
\"That ain't like you.\" Keep in mind he rarely actually runs from danger
Throughout the story, Azuma has visions of railroad tracks splitting at his most pivotal moments. The right track leading to Yamato, and the left, a collapsed tunnel. His father, who doesn't exist, walks him down the path on the left after Azuma asks where it leads. "Whenever I can't make a choice, I think about that abandoned railroad again." It's a memory that is used to shape him into staying on the right path. Or alive in this sense. So then why does he risk death again and again unnecessarily on the other path? His fear.
This is what plagues his mind before the fight with the Paper Choujin.
We can surmise that on his way to save Tokio, inside his mind, his heightened fear and worsening mental state led him to walk the path of the abandoned railroad instead of Yamato. Towards a tunnel that serves as a figurative barrier, directly tied to his Chaos state/his mental state.
And once he'd derailed too much both mentally & physically in his fight with Ume, his body forced a mock awakening on him to preserve the vessel's life. But this ends up causing further fractures to his mind, and accelerating the Reset Safeguards that will force him to become a child and restart life. Now where did these events occur again?
Azuma's deterioating mind unknowinginly ended up on the path to the left, not grasping the reality of the situation. He doesn't realise it is too late before he even goes inside. When he questions whether he's on the right path or not, the next panel is the Hyena asking him for directions. He's begun his awakening as a Choujin due to his fear and ego. He's forcing himself into danger against better judgement, and his body responds by forcing him to live.
He unconsciously knows this isn't the right path as a vessel, he isn't supposed to go left
"I will... make the right choice." Azuma thinks this to himself as he stands ready against Ume. But what drives him isn't concern for a friend, it's the fear of being beat. Fear intense enough to drive him to fight a Choujin to prove himself. To prove he isn't weaker than Tokio. This fear is the constant in his life. Throughout all the fake memories and lies, the fear is the oldest and rawest emotion he can feel. And at it's peak during his fight with Ume, on the verge of death, a lever flipped. A lever that only appeared to him once he was truly helpless.
As a Choujin, his powers awakening led to surrending all self-control. Using the only emotion Queem believes exists, Azuma ran on primal fear and attacked everything around him indiscriminately, like in his Chaos state against Vlad. But unlike the Chaos state, being the point of no return, a mock awakening only served to further amplify Azuma's mental issues.
"They were made differently." Whether intentional or unintentional, Queem seems to have placed a deep seated fear into Azuma. And with a majority of fabricated memories, the ones at the forefront constantly were the real moments he felt inferior to Tokio. The story tells us that Queem, while a believer in God, perhaps hated him. And if Queem was to create man, like he did with Azuma, would it not be in his image? Inheriting his hatred of God(Queem in Azuma's case)& fear in man.
Azuma's thoughts are constantly plagued by fear no matter what. Whether its Part 1 or 2, he constantly wrestles with this fear. When Tokio uses his Chaos state to beat Azuma in chapter 23, it's fear that reaches Azuma first, not defeat. As opposed to Tokio & Sora before him, who fight until they risk dying for the sake of their friends.
^(TLDR;) ^(Azuma is a creation of Queem that is often influenced by his father's belief that Fear is the only emotion bestowed upon man. Leading him to make illogical decisions, leading to his or others deaths.)