If one had descended to the third level of Cochlea in the dwindling moments of the raid upon it, one would not find the sterile cells, and unmarred walls and floors.
Instead, they would first be greeted by a forest of spikes and razor edges. Six foot long jagged spikes of steel hard biomass protruded from the shattered concrete floor. The impaled corpses of V operatives sprawled throughout the cross-connected nest of razors like macabre branches stemming from trees.
The cells that once held SS-class ghouls had their doors crushed or ripped off their hinges by Rinkaku. The walls were pained scarlet, bodies splattered or embedded in them. Thrown and crushed by Bikaku, torn to rags by Ukaku shards, others shredded and pierced by Koukaku. At the centre of this scene of carnage, the ceiling and part of the floor were charred and partially melted.
Alone, Ken Kaneki stared at the devastation caused in his battle with the CCG's Shinigami. His reserves of biomass were depleted. His stomach clenched, unbearably painful. He was light-headed, exhausted. If anything it felt like he was just about to completely crash.
He held up the trembling hand that had recently been impaled in Kishou Arima's guts.
"You've pushed yourself too hard." Ryouko's voice said gently in his head.
He shook his head.
"You all but keeling over after that fight." Yamori said, his tone faintly awed, "Why don't you go eat something."
His eyes finally focused, surveying the carnage. There were twitching bodies. A few still living but on their last legs. Blood had dripped and spattered and sprayed everywhere. Bodies hung from the forest of razors like overripe fruit.
He took a step closer. Intending... he wasn't sure what he'd been intending, but he realized that his mouth was watering.
"They're already dead anyway. Remember, we must strike at the root to prevent all this from occurring again. V is ultimately responsible for their deaths." Ryouko reassured him.
Hungry. His mind had murmured to him. It briefly silenced Mado's ranting over the potential kagune forms he might gain from his meal.
"Best hurry, Cross and the rest of the WISEMEN should be arriving any minute now" Arima chided.
Allowing the form of his arms to unravel into tendrils, Kaneki let them dig into the corpses. He had grown too familiar to allow consumption to disgust him.
"Too bad we don't have any decent backup." Yamori grumbled.
"Don't we?" Mado's voice contained a strange note of glee ... well more than his usual anyway.
BLACKLIGHT was impossibly malleable. Theoretically with enough biomass, it could work like a detached kagune.
Kaneki took a deep breath as his form started to blur, tendrils flickering, flailing as the outline of his body delineated, feeling the shift occur in his mind, but different this time. More permanent.
"I feel... funny," Yamori reported.
With a snap, a part of his back and torso bloomed outwards and separated from him. It was both fascinating and disturbing to witness.
The mass of writhing black tendrils entwined together and pulled itself into a humanoid shape. Slowly, features began to emerge. A white suit. Blonde hair. Sharp lizard eyes. Yakumo Oomori blinked at himself, a grin slowly developing on his face. With a crack of his index finger, his kagune burst out and wrapped around him, covering not just his right arm and head, but his entire body.
He laughed, his hulking, complete kakuja distorting it to make it even more intimidating
"Shall I do the same for you, Arima-san?"
Somehow, Kaneki could feel the investigator's voice shake his head, however strange that was.
"We don't have enough time. Rendevous with Eto, she should have finished destroying the disposal compactor by now. Yamori should be able to delay the reinforcements sent by the CCG as well as Cross."
Right. They shouldn't face much opposition on the way besides any remaining agents of V. Knowing the Owl, she's probably freeing the remaining prisoners on the fourth level.
To think that all this happened because he went on a date.