Hey guys! I'm back with another chapter. I know it has been a while. I had a few things pop up and unfortunately it limited my time. Enough of the excuses, on to the review!

Ramon RSin the Emprahh 23: Man that is a long name! IF you drop another review I'll just say Ramon for short. I just want to say thank you for the support. It really means a lot!

Put your heart, mind, and soul into even your smallest acts. This is the secret of success.

Swami Sivananda

Chapter 10

Elijah's POV

A week of living in this godforsaken place had done me little good after my initial discover of my Shikai. I practiced with it every chance I had, but it was difficult with the weight of the orange head's sword. It was so big that I had to actually mirror how he carried it, by strapping it to my back. My other blade I placed at my hip.

"This thing is going to kill my back! I don't see how that guy can carry this thing like it weighs nothing!" I complained as I followed Johann.

"Because, you are not the original wielder. It probably feels like it weighs nothing to him." Johann said quietly as he began to crouch.

"What is it?" I asked as I reached for my Bowie knife.

"Our breakfast." he replied as he began to draw runes in the air with his hand.

About fifty feet ahead was what looked like a lizard. It actually looked a lot like a big Iguana, aside from the fact that it was black and red while Iguana were mostly green.

Johann finished his writing and then motioned forward. "Rune Style: Otherworldly Cage!"

Before the lizard could react, it was trapped inside a rather large blue barrier, that scaled about twenty feet in the air. If I were to take a guess, I would say that it was about thirty feet long and thirty feet wide.

"Why did you make the barrier so big?" I asked.

"Because you are the one going to kill it." he replied before he grabbed my arm and threw me inside

"What the hell, man!" I yelled as I glided through the air and through the barrier where I landed quite roughly on the ground.

The lizard looked at me then began to hiss menacingly. I grabbed both of my blades and got into a combat stance. The lizard looked absolutely pissed and it quickly became evident that it was going to unleash all of that pent up frustration on me. Lucky for me, I had something that I wanted to try out.

Ken no Dorobo disappeared into the darkness. Only to return later with something that looked like a black and white orb no bigger than a golf ball. He held it gently in his long slender fingers before handing it off to me.

"This is a spiritual encasement orb. Every time I touch a sword in its Shikai one of these will be filled with the Reishi of the Zanpakuto that you are fighting. With this, I am able to create a clone of the Zanpakuto. In order for you to use their abilities, you must cause the Zanpakuto to submit to you or else it will only be an empty shell."

Ken no Dorobo held up the orb before he smashed it into the ground. Black smoke and red lightning filled the alley making it hard to see. When it finally cleared, there was a person about my age standing next to Ken no Dorobo. He was wearing what appeared to be polar opposites of what I was wearing with a white shihakusho and a black obi sash. His hair was pure white as was his skin. He had black eyes with yellow pupils. He was an exact copy of the orange haired Soul Reaper.

"What the hell did you do, you bastard?" the spirit roared as he as he swung around in an attempt to decapitate Ken no Dorobo. The swing of the large cleaver-like sword merely passed through my Zanpakuto.

"You are a copy, a mere image of another. You cannot touch me." Ken no Dorobo hissed as he batted away the other spirit, sending him through one of the walls in the alley. "If you ever want to be released from this place, you must defeat him."

The other spirit climbed back through the wall and glared at Ken no Dorobo, then at me. "That's it? I just have to beat this scrawny runt down? Sounds like fun."

"This guy is a nut case!" I said as I quickly parried a strike that was aimed at my head.

I took a step forward to thrust my Bowie knife into his abdomen, but he knocked me back with a kick. Switching things up, I dashed toward the spirit. I first threw the cleaver sword, which sped ahead and surprised the spirit. The Zanpakuto side stepped the attack, and was barely fast enough to react to my next strike, blocking my stab with the broad side of his blade.

"Got to hand it to you, you put up more of a fight than King does." the malicious spirit grinned. "But that ain't going to be enough!"

"Don't worry, I have a few other tricks to show you!" I shouted as we clashed blades once again.

We continued our battle with well placed strikes and parries. At one point, I feinted an attack that would have left me open. The Zanpakuto saw it and immediately fell into my trap. When he was preparing to strike me down, I flipped my Bowie knife around and stabbed it up into his gut.

"Shit," the spirit muttered as he fell to his knees. "Guess I didn't see that one. You're tougher than you look. Don't get any ideas that you are strong. I will return to King, just not today."

The spirit began to fade back into the ball from where he had come from. I picked it up and stared at it for a few seconds.

"Take Zangetsu and place the ball on top of it. Once you do that you will be able to use his abilities. In time, you will be able to use any ability without fighting the spirit, but you are not to that point yet."

We stared each other down for several seconds before the lizard began to charge at me. It bared its sharp fangs and hissed as it sprinted. I quickly slid Ken no Dorobo into its sheath and grabbed Zangetsu with both hands. I tilted forward and stabbed Zangetsu ahead of me, striking the lizard head on. It didn't kill the creature, but it did stun it. I raised Zangetsu above my head and summoned a large amount of reishi into my blade. I swung it around for a quick second before I released it. The lizard was struck dead by the release of my large wave of reishi. The lizard stumbled for a second before falling to the ground, dead.

"About time, I was getting hungry. Next time, be sure to be quick when dealing with your prey. They can have all sorts of nasty surprises if you don't." Johann lectured as he dispelled the barrier and proceeded to hoist the large reptile onto his shoulder.

"No good, job? No, thanks for killing our breakfast?" I asked irately.

"Why would I thank you for you performing your training?"

"That was training? Yesterday, you threw me at a Trapper and today you throw me at just some random lizard? What kind of training is this?"

"The kind that allowed you release your Zanpakuto and test your newfound abilities." Johann replied as he set to work putting a fire together. "If it helps, your next segment should help you unlock your magic."

"At this rate, I won't even have to stay in this place!" I cheered with lifted moods.

"You will be staying here for the full three months. You managed to kill a single trapper and a common lizard. The Thirteen Court Guard Squads are a much different group of individuals. Of course the common Shinigami would find these feats impressive, however anyone above sixth seat would be able to do the same and much more. In essence, you still don't even budge the scale." Johann explained as he placed the lizard on the fire. "Also, the door will not open until that time is up. Meaning that even if you were ready, you would not be able to go through it."

"Great," I mumbled as I sat down next to the fire. "Hey, why didn't you just use your runes to start a fire?"

"It is a waste of magic energy." Johann replied simply.

"A waste? I thought that you could just keep using it like mind of matter and that crap."

"It is no wonder why you have no clue as to how to use your magic power." Johann sighed as he sat beside me. "Magic is a very powerful tool. You can level entire mountains with it or you could grow entire forests. However, all of that is limited by how much magic an individual can contain. Like Shinigami, one can train in order to increase the amount of magic one can hold. The difference is how strong one's spiritual pressure defines how strong one is. In magic, it depends on how much magic one can contain within their body. The spells they can use, the amount of spells they use, and even the type of spells they use all depend on the amount of magic they can hold. In other words, magic capacity doesn't necessarily translate into strength."

I stared at Johann for several minutes. I thought I understood what he was saying, but I wasn't sure. Johann sighed as he saw my confusion.

"Let me explain it to you this way." Johann pulled out a tin cup from his small knapsack and filled it with water from his canteen. "This cup contains eight ounces of water. If I were to use four advanced spells the water would be gone, I would have no power left to cast anymore spells and I would have to wait for my magic to replenish before casting anymore."

Johann took his cup and poured it back into the canteen to make his point. "Now, say my cup is full again. I use a small fire rune which take two ounces, then I use a barrier rune to defend which costs three ounces. I have used five of my eight ounces of water for attack and defense."

"So once you use up your magic, it's gone. That means that you have to be aware of how much magic you use."

"Correct, if you are not careful you can be put in a bad situation very fast.

"How do I access my magic? I tried meditating at the base, but that really didn't work." I asked.

"Meditating is only one way to awaken your magical abilities. There are several other ways for one to use. In fact, I have already begun the process."

"What process?" I asked suspiciously.

"That lizard is extremely poisonous. A single taste of its flesh can kill a person within seconds." Johann stood up once again and grabbed his staff. "There is however a benefit to this. A Brute is drawn to this poison when it is heated. I do not know why, but it acts as a type of bait. You are going to escape the Brute before it comes. I would give it about five minutes. You better escape before then or you will be devoured."

"What?" I yelled as Johann shot several rune from his staff. The runes circled around me before turning into bright yellow bands that trapped my arms and legs. Johann walked up to me and grabbed both Zangetsu and Ken no Dorobo and disappeared.

"Get back here, you coward!" I shouted. I had to get a nutcase as a teacher.

I looked down at the golden bands that surrounded me. They were made of pure energy; something I had never seen before. The outside of the rings stayed a solid yellow, but if you concentrated you could see an ever so slight flicker. I noted that and began to study other aspects of the bands.

"They tighten when I struggle." I mumbled as I tried to slip my feet out of them.

'Think, what was it that Johann said about magic?'

There were several topics that Johann discussed, but the only one that I could really concentrate on was what he said about everyone having a sort of container. If I could find that container then I would have a start.

I closed my eyes and concentrated every neuron I had to find my container. I listened to my heart beat, to my breathing, and even to the soundless nothing around me.

I could hear nothing. I opened my eyes again and sighed. I couldn't find anything out of place in my body. I began to think about other possibilities.

'Maybe it isn't in my body at all. Maybe it is inside my spirit.' I thought. 'Wait, I am a spirit, technically. Shouldn't I be able to feel it?'

Suddenly, there was what I could only describe as a small earthquake. It broke me from my thoughts and sent my mind racing. Ahead of me, I could see the trees slowly shaking. Several of the smaller ones began to creak and fall.

'Crap! Out of time!' I thought as I began to think about how to escape.

Through the trees I began to see the shape of a very large body. It was about the size of a tree itself and about as wide as an elephant. It had long, thick arms that ended in massive hands. It had a very stocky body that was almost disproportionate with its arms. The legs were extremely small compared with its arms, but they were as thick as a medium-sized tree trunk. The shortness of its legs and the length of its arms made it walk on all fours. As it got closer, I could make out that it had dark gray skin that seemed to resemble leather. Its head was about the size of a regular human's, but that is the end of the comparisons. The rest of it was almost completely featureless. There were no ears, nose, or hair. The eyes were just little red slits. Finally, its mouth just seemed to be a thin line seemed to reach from one side of its jaw to the other.

It stared down at me for several minutes. I stared back at its featureless face awaiting my fate. It reached down with one of its gigantic hands and grabbed me. It picked me up as if I were a rag doll, then began to squeeze. I began to scream as the pressure began to push all of my blood to my head. Between my screams, I could see the mouth of the creature open. It opened and opened and didn't seem to stop. Its mouth stretched beyond what should have been possible, almost like a snake's. It shoved me down into its mouth. The mouth, like a snake, had no teeth. It easily shoved me into its mouth. I squirmed and struggled to escape, but nothing I did allowed me to escape. Saliva surrounded me, soaking through my clothes. I managed to turn around to see the opened of the mouth. I tried to climb out, but the mouth slammed shut, throwing me into the darkness. I could feel the muscles working to shove me down the creature's gullet. A minute later, I splashed into the creature's stomach. The acid instantly began to burn me, causing me to scream in agony.

'This is it,' I thought as I burned and melted. My mind began to fade to the blackness. 'Sorry mom.'

Suddenly, I was bathed in light. I bolted up and opened my eyes. I was back in the clearing next to the fire pit. My bindings were still in place. Everything was exactly the same as it was a few minutes ago.

"What the hell?" I asked out of shock.

"You failed."

I turned my head to see Johann standing to my right. He had both of my Zanpakuto in his hands still. "This was fake?"

"Yes and no. The Brute was fake, but the danger is real."

"What does that mean?" I yelled.

"It means that if you don't escape the illusion soon that you really will die. The spell's name is Death's Vision. It shows the target a nightmarish vision. If the opponent can't escape the vision, the target will die. I have the ability to control how many times a vision repeats before the victim expires."

"How many times are you allowing this to happen?"

"You have two more chances. After that, you will die."

"You've got to be kidding me! At least give me a hint!" I yelled.

"You have all of the hints you need. One more thing, every time you 'die' the next time will be even more painful." with that Johann once again disappeared.

My struggle immediately began. I wriggled and squirmed, but my restraints began to restrict me even more. I slowed my struggles and began to think again. The only thing that came to mind was once again the idea that there was a container somewhere inside of me.

"Come on! Think!" I shouted.

Then the familiar sound of quaking footsteps came crashing through the forest. My panic returned full force as I saw, not one, but two of the Brutes smashing their way through the forest. They towered over me like two ancient mountains.

The immediate danger I was in snapped me back into reality as I began to concentrate on escaping. I tried to dump out any doubt I had. As I concentrated, I could feel something pulling deep within me. Time seemed to slow considerably as I felt whatever it was reaching for me. I in turned reached for it. I could feel energy flowing around me and even the bonds beginning to falter. Unfortunately, my concentration faltered as one of the Brutes picked me up. The bonds reaffirmed themselves, restricting my movements once again.

The second Brute also reached for me, grabbing my lower half. The two Brutes, lifted me high into the air and began to pull. I was instantly bathed immeasurable amounts of pain as the two Brutes pulled me apart. I could hear my bones creak and my skin begin to strain. Luckily for me, I lost consciousness. That mercy, allowed for me to survive any mental scarring that would have left behind.

"You failed again." Johann stated as I for a third time awoke in the clearing. "You have one more chance or you will die. Your mind will not be able to withstand the pain of this last illusion.

"I think in can handle it. I am almost there!" I declared.

Johann one last time disappeared. I concentrated on the reservoir that I had discovered and felt my consciousness tap what felt like a vast pool.

The earth began to shake as the time and appearance of the Brute or Brutes drew near. I allowed the energy to flow over my body, then I tried to concentrate it on my arms and legs, where the bands were trapping me. The bands began to waver going from a solid glowing light, to an erratic, almost lightning-like appearance. I looked up for a split second to see that a single Brute was towering over me. I concentrated even harder, shoving as much power as I could into my bonds. I could feel them weakening and at last they burst apart.

I expected the nightmare to disappear after I broke the bonds. To my dismay, the nightmare continued. The Brute reached down with one of its massive hands. The hand swiped at the space I had occupied just seconds ago.

The Brute groaned as it tried again. This time, it was nearly twice as fast. I jumped into the air and narrowly dodged the incoming hand. As I fell, I maneuvered on top of the creature's arm. It raised its other arm and tried to slap me like a mosquito.

"Alright, you overgrown monkey," I started as I leapt from the creature and high into the air. "I don't need a sword to take you down!"

I laced my fingers and raised both hands above my head. I then allowed my newly acquired magic to flow into my arms. As the magic flowed, I noticed that one arm was flickering with black flames lined with white light while the other was covered with dark crimson flames. Both flames combined at my fists and converged into ball of black, red, and a thin line of white.

"Eclipse Seed Blast!" I yelled.

A large blast shot from my combined fists shot down at my target. The Brute looked up dumbly as the beam took less than a second to make contact. It was struck directly in the head. It staggered a few steps then toppled over; its body disintegrating into white smoke.

"Very good." Johann said as I stood up. "Once your time here is done, you will be a force to be reckoned with."

Elijah's Inner World

Ken no Dorobo stood on one of the tallest buildings in the nighttime city. It was quiet like it always was, just the way the Zanpakuto liked it. There were people and animals in this city, but they were only objects in this world; robotic automatons that had no soul or emotions that could be shut off just like any machine.

Silence was music to Ken no Dorobo. He never responded well to his music being disrupted, but now that there were two other spirits sharing this dimension with him, he had to adapt.

"That King of yours is something else. He is not nearly as strong and my King, but he has spirit." Zangetsu chuckled darkly as he materialized behind the cloaked figure.

"What do you think you are doing?" Ken No Dorobo growled.

"I thought I would have a little chat and enjoy the scenery." Zangetsu replied snidely.

"You could never appreciate the sound of silence." Ken no Dorobo replied before he turned back to the city.

"Oh and I wanted to see the war that is about to happen." the Hollow smirked.

"You know, you are doing a fine job training the child. However, he seems like he is resisting your attempts to take him over." a new voice spoke.

"You again. I thought that I sealed you away for good."

"Ever since you allowed Elijah to use a part of my power, I have been able to manifest." the feminine voice spoke softly.

A woman stepped forward from the shadows of the rooftop. She was beautiful to the eyes with soft, light skin, long, dark red hair, soft blue eyes, two small breast. She wore a long red kimono that covered her feet. The kimono itself had the outline of a European style dragon embroidered on it in gold stitching. The dragon covered the top left of her kimono and reached the bottom right.

"You have been nothing but a nuisance to me."

"I have been the nuisance? I would say that you have been the nuisance. You are an intruder in this world. In fact, you have changed this world for your own benefit."

"You were a weakling. I came to make my master great!" Ken no Dorobo shouted. A second later, he lowered his voice. "Something you could never do."

"I never had the chance. The moment his seal was weakened by death's gates, the moment you struck." the woman replied, raising her sweet voice. "You give him strength, by stealing from others. My powers would have at least been genuine."

"Leave, before I kill you and make you disappear forever!" Ken no Dorobo yelled furiously. He held out his hand and the sword version of himself materialized. The woman's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"You and I both know that you can't kill me, the deception would fall apart if Master Elijah, were to suddenly lose his Shinigami abilities."

Ken no Dorobo growled as he dispelled the blade in his hand. He turned away and stared into the dark and empty city.

"Begone, witch!" he roared. The woman turned and retreated into the darkness.

"I guess I'll be going as well since the show is over." Zangetsu said with a cackle.

"I will kill that harlot." Ken no Dorobo muttered. "I'd also like to dispose of that Hollow. Unfortunately, Elijah seems to be attached to it as well, seeing as he has yet to switch out Zangetsu for the other Zanpakuto he has stored. I will just have to bide my time for now."

Ken no Dorobo thought for a few minutes about Joka-yo Kaen before he began to chuckle. "She seemed to have become a bother when Elijah first used the fraction of her power that I allowed to escape. I will just have to find a way to make sure Elijah will not call on her abilities anymore."

I hope that y'all enjoyed the chapter! I was happy with how this one turned out. If you have anything to say be sure to leave a review or pm me! if you are enjoying the story, be sure to smash that favorite/follow button! This is Shieldliger001 signing off!