CHAPTER 35: THE INNER DARKNESS
The black, tornado-like fog continued to swirl before Ryojin and Fu, both of whom waited anxiously; Alicia Anders had screamed out suddenly before, after which this cloud had appeared. In so doing, a new sensation had come across the entire scene, stretching distant enough to direct the fearful remaining residents of West Rukongai to flee. Then, without any warning, three bright, violet points of light appeared within the fog, two being blank, luminous eye shapes, while the third was that of a wrenched-open mouth, horrifying like a demon of the abyss. From this mouth were then uttered words that froze Ryojin's soul with confusion and fear.
"I am going to kill you, Ryojin Valhalla…"
"Fu, get ready…!" started Ryojin as he heard these words, but a terrifying deluge of blood coursed the air before him, emanating from right where Fu was standing next to him. Ryojin turned his head just in time to see Alicia now standing next to Fu, the latter falling backwards with a blank, lifeless stare in her eyes. Alicia's arm was raised out to the side and straight, covered in tissue and blood after having cut nearly all the way through Fu's stomach. Time slowed to a crawl for Ryojin as he stared in shock at his trusted Fu as she fell dead to the ground several feet back from where she had stood, covered in crimson.
"Fu…!" exclaimed Ryojin, but no sooner had he spoken than Alicia turned her face and attention towards him. Her general appearance was the same as before, aside from her horrifying, glowing violet eyes and mouth, each breath from her mouth glowing like a violet fire. She's so fast…I didn't even see her leave the fog!
"YOU'RE NEXT!" cried out Alicia in a screeching, high-pitched demonic voice, resonating like two combined voices as she grinned a terrible grin. "GYAH HA HA!" Alicia slashed her free arm at Ryojin, the movement so fast the air was split around it, creating a thunderous noise at it moved.
Too fast! thought Ryojin, his eyes wide as he blocked Alicia's bare hand with the blade of Jigenseisokuka, but before he knew it he was flying backwards through the air from the tremendous force of Alicia's strike. With quick thinking and deft movement, Ryojin stabbed toward the ground below and stuck his sword into the hard, dusty ground of western Rukongai, arching his back and thrusting his body around to find his footing as he slowed to a halt. Alicia now stood some sixty yards away form him, with nightmarish, glaring eyes and devilish, glowing mouth easily distinguished even from that distance. Alicia's demeanor was totally, completely different from just a few moments before; Ryojin saw nothing of this vitriolic, bloodthirsty monster before him in Alicia, but now that was all different. Alicia had changed, and Ryojin shuddered with the realization of exactly who she had become.
"You're one of them, aren't you?" asked Ryojin coldly, gathering his wits and composure after losing them to Alicia's mighty strike. "The eyes, the glow, the dark feeling so strong it could freeze Hell with a breath…you're a Sorrow."
"HA!" screeched Alicia in her crazed, otherworldly tone. "Sorrow? You think this is sorrow? Look at me now! Look at the power – the raw, overwhelming power! I AM GREATER THAN THE GODS!"
"Then it is confirmed…" said Ryojin softly, much sorrow and discontentment in his voice. He then lowered his eyes slightly, keeping Alicia in the fuzzy field of view while looking down at his sword. "When I first released Jigenseisokuka into this form, I was weak and had no power at all. Since then I have become stronger with his power to guide me; I can only hope that I have enough power to eradicate a monster like you."
"GYAH HA HA!" cried out Alicia gleefully as Ryojin finished his words, leaping in the air with speed like unto the relampago of the Holies, thundering across the distance between them like a bullet.
"I wished not to do this…" muttered Ryojin to himself, closing his eyes in deep concentration. "I will unleash my full force to kill you!" Alicia's destructive hand neared Ryojin, approaching only a foot away from his heart, but as it reached that threshold Ryojin's eyes opened quickly, a look of consternation and anger upon his otherwise perfect face. With a shout he stretched his unbroken left arm upward and out, the sword pointed outward, and with a sudden halt Alicia stopped in her tracks, her hand vanished into a small crimson void that immediately shrunk around her wrist.
"I'm not finished with you yet!" growled Ryojin, bringing his arm down quickly and flicking his wrist towards Alicia's free hand, where another dimensional rift appeared and moved over it, causing it to disappear like the last. Again the void constricted around this wrist, and Alicia found herself trapped and unable to free her hands from Ryojin's dimensional grasp.
"WHAT?" cried out Alicia in demonic shock, but by that point Ryojin was already behind her, his sword raised for the kill.
"You may be the natural enemy to the Holies, but I am the greatest Holy of them all!" Ryojin slashed his sword horizontally through Alicia's neck, and for a moment all was silent. A small spray of blood left the beheading wound, and Alicia stopped struggling against the dimensional entrapments. Behind, Ryojin gave a deep sigh of relief amid his panting from overexertion; surgically accurate dimensional rifts were very difficult to do with such speed, and such behavior stretched the power lent to him by Jigenseisokuka dangerously thin. Nevertheless, he gave a short chuckle as he realized Alicia was dead.
"To think you of all people…" he muttered under his breath, but a stirring from Alicia's lifeless body interrupted him. With horrified eyes Ryojin looked up to see the wound through Alicia's neck closing, her head never having left her body. "No…"
"You'll have to better than that to kill me! GYAH HA HA!" With strength hitherto unseen, Alicia cried out with a devilish scream of the abyss, and with a single motion the two dimensional bindings on her wrists shattered under her strength.
"No!" shouted Ryojin in disbelief. "Impossible! Those are dimensional rifts; spirit power alone cannot break the fabric of space, unless…"
"Spirit?" asked Alicia, spinning around and slashing her arm and hand at Ryojin, this time ready for the attack and dodging it by jumping backwards. "Why would a being so great as I need spirit? HA HA HA!"
"The Sorrows are truly reckless beings…" observed Ryojin, successfully dodging two more strikes from Alicia. "You use your own body as a weapon, disintegrating your own spirit matter and using the energy released as a weapon!"
"The blocks on my mind are removed, as are the limitations from God!" exclaimed Alicia proudly. "You Holies can't be trusted with your own strength! That's why you'll never be as great as me!"
She's remembering so much, so quickly… thought Ryojin, avoiding yet another attack cleanly. The rumors were true then…but if they are, then she won't remember everything – and that's why she is so dangerous. God, why did this have to happen? As his thoughts ended Alicia's hand flew towards his face, and he raised his sword just in time to block it – only to find himself again airborne from the immense power behind her attacks. This time, however, his flight was awkward, and with a crash he landed hard upon the ground, rolling until colliding into a pile of rubble from an earlier battle.
"This feeling!" shouted Alicia as Ryojin rolled, her screeching voice echoing across the town like a train whistle. "THIS POWER!" With arms raised to the heavens she began to cackle with insanity, every shred of the former Alicia, all the kindness, all the love and empathy – all of it complete gone, replaced with this demonic construct.
"I have to stop her…" said Ryojin softly to himself as he slowly stood up, his white raiment now completely soiled and torn from his battles. "The mission can wait; if Alicia is permitted to exist as a Sorrow, it won't matter in the end who becomes god…"
I have given you almost all I can give! exclaimed a scratchy voice within his mind. I'm already taxed as it is containing two planets and your Plane, but now to face a Sorrow, this mythical monster of ages past…
"Even if it means the extinguishing of all my own strength, I must utterly destroy her," continued Ryojin, drawing a gasp from his zanpakuto. "The Sorrows are capable of unbelievable destruction; I must do this. Please Jigenseisokuka…be strong!"
But your right arm… said Jigenseisokuka in a pleading tone. It's completely broken beyond use! You are no match for her! If you still had your Priesthoods, maybe…
"Have faith, my loyal friend," said Ryojin confidently, raising his head to look upon Alicia, who already was running towards him, her face alight with murderous insanity in her glowing eyes. Ryojin then held out his blade, the tip pointing at his approaching enemy. With a deep, heavy breath Ryojin closed his eyes and scowled, his teeth clenched and his veins bulging with stress and pressure. Before him, his sword began to glow vibrantly crimson as Alicia neared, her cackling unceasing from her ever-grinning maw.
Not yet… thought Ryojin, his entire person now in a state of distress as he focused harder and harder, the energy from his sword flowing onto his skin and enveloping his body. It was at this point that he let out a scream, and with his eyes bursting open he looked into the heavens and cried out in pain.
"NOW!"
All around the ground began to shake, but despite this Alicia's flight continued, her cackling and demonic laughter continuing. It was then, as she stepped within ten yards of Ryojin, that something happened which she did not expect. As if by magic, the ground beneath her for thirty feet around vanished, the depths of the hole beneath too far to be seen even at mid-day. However, despite the vanished ground, she held her position mid-air, stopped and peering with curiosity at Ryojin, whom now had his sword raised into the air. As Alicia noticed this, an immense shadow overcame her, and she looked upward with her violent eyes to see a massive pillar of earth falling like a comet towards her.
"There is no escaping this," said Ryojin coldly, and immediately the column collided with Alicia, pushing her body into the hole with a ferocious velocity. For several seconds the column coursed down the hole, thousands of feet of earth flashing before Ryojin's eyes until at last it crushed into the bottom, rattling the earth and knocking down many previously undamaged building around them.
"And now the final blow!" cried out Ryojin, vanishing into a blur of crimson, only to appear twenty feet in the air. "GYAH!" With his body alight with crimson energy, Ryojin fell and crashed into the ground, his sword slashing into the center of the displaced column of earth. Like an apocalyptic vision the ground exploded with a massive, tight matrix of razor-thin bands of dimensional energy, and as these bands vanished the ground again rattled and compressed from the immense fracturing. Seconds passed, and the rattling and grinding noises vanished, leaving Ryojin again in silence.
"Did it work…?" gasped Ryojin, collapsing upon the ground, his heavy breathing no abatement for his fatigue. Blood trickled down from his nose from the pressure exerted on his body, mingling with that from previous wounds, and though he wanted to wipe it off his lips he lacked the strength to do so; as such, he merely sat in silence recovering upon the ground, a small smile coming to his disheveled face. "I did it…"
No sooner had he finally relaxed than a rumbling noise appeared, jarring him back into reality. Within a second of this din erupting, the displaced column burst like a volcano of dirt and debris, showering Ryojin with rock and dust. Without any strength in his left arm, Ryojin could do nothing but close his eyes to the rocky shower, but amidst the pelting projectiles another feeling came upon his body – a firm grasp of his neck, followed by a jolt into the air.
"That hurt…" growled Alicia's voice, and Ryojin opened his eyes to see Alicia standing below him, her face bloodied slightly above her left eyebrow, but otherwise unharmed. Ryojin hung helplessly from her right hand, Alicia suspending the Viajante effortlessly above her.
"D-Dammit…" cursed Ryojin as he looked into Alicia horrible eyes. "Your sorrow must be great to have such power…"
"YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT MY PAIN!" screamed Alicia, her voice so loud and intense Ryojin felt his bones would shatter. "YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT ITS LIKE TO LOSE EVERYTHING! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS TO BE ALONE!"
No…you're wrong…
Below, Alicia's eyes suddenly softened for a moment, but this did not last long. After only a few seconds she scowled again, growling like a beast as he raged intensified. Above, Ryojin's heart beat faster and faster; he was beaten, helpless, and now his life was at the whim of this demon. It was soon to be over.
"You and everyone in the world will perish until I can find the answer to my pain," growled Alicia. "Only by taking life can I know what life truly is; this power is merely a means for me to find the answers, the knowledge, the feelings I need. As a Holy, you hold knowledge and answers that I need to grow and become stronger; destroying you will allow me to grow beyond the limits of human spirit! By killing you, your spirit will be absorbed into my own, and your knowledge will become mine! GYAH HA HA HA!" Below, energy began to gather around Alicia's feet, and just as it began to glow with a pale white luminescence Alicia flicked her wrist upward, launching Ryojin a couple feet into the air, where Alicia's demonic voice again rang out.
"I WILL DESTROY THE WORLD YOU WANT TO SAVE!"
The energy gather at Alicia's feet became turbulent like ocean waves over jagged rocks, and like an atomic detonation it burst outward, blasting away Ryojin, the town, and everything in its wake.
(break)
"What terrible reiatsu!" exclaimed Captain Hitsugaya Toshiro of Squad Ten, a young, handsome, white-haired child dressed in a small, fine captain's haori. Together with the remaining captains (Captains Zaraki, Kuchiki, and Kurotsuchi were either missing or dead), as well as the vice-captains for the squads, Toshiro raced out of the Sereitei gate, the massive wall of Sekki Sekki stone circling the inner city of Soul Society. Only Head Captain Yamamoto remained within the city, the last great warrior left should they all be killed by Ryojin, and this feeling of dread permeated the large group. After all, each captain – Yamamoto excepted – had accepted a special wartime order stripping them of their titles, leaving them merely shinigami (this fact had little to no effect on the vice-captains, however, since most of them still feared their captains' power).
"Hitsugaya," asked a voice from just behind Toshiro, the same voice of Captain Shunsui Kyoraku, complete with straw hat and bright pink coat. "This is not reiatsu I'm familiar with; maybe we should back off a bit."
"It could be a hollow," retorted Toshiro. "If the Viajante is in bed with the hollows of Hueco Mundo, we have an obligation to destroy him and any hollows with him as soon as possible."
"I don't think this belongs to a hollow…" added yet another voice as the group ran through the streets of Rukongai, this belonging to the massive, canine Captain Komamura his yellow eyes focused ahead on the intense spiritual waves coming from the intense battle miles ahead. "I've never felt anything this…dark…"
"This goes beyond anything I've ever felt, even in my most difficult battles with the hollows," added Captain Soi Fon of squad two, a petite, attractive dark-haired woman with large rings woven into two braids of hair from her head. "Something about it makes me feel very uneasy."
"Well, we still have to go," continued Toshiro resolutely. "The Viajante is trying to destroy Soul Society, and it is up to…us…what is this?" Toshiro and the rest of the party stopped as a growing ruble interrupted them, but before they could do anything but cry out in surprise the buildings around them shattered from a wave of force so powerful it knocked them all backwards further and further until crashing into the walls surrounding Sereitei. For several moment the wave pushed against them, but after a moment it subsided, and the warriors began to pull themselves out.
"Western Rukongai…is gone?" gasped the silver-haired Captain Jyuushiro Ukitake as he shook himself out of the rubble.
"Fortunately it seems that no one was left in the city," observed Kyoraku, freeing himself though now without his hat, a fact that elicited a frown upon his face. "But for now, I think we should wait."
"Why is that?" asked one of the vice-captains, this being Nanao Ise of Kyoraku's squad. Above, Kyoraku's eyes did not leave the distant, force-swept terrain before them.
"The Viajante is trying to capture the keys while the captains are still alive," declared Kyoraku insightfully. "He also seems to not want unnecessary losses as seen with Vice-Captain Yachiru-chan. That was a technique of pure death and destruction. In other words, the Viajante didn't create that wave of energy – it was used against him."
(break)
Ryojin's closed eyes winced as he slowly came to. His body roared with pain, the bulk of it coming from his right shoulder where, as he slowly moved his head to see, his broken right arm was missing, torn off from the demonic Alicia's blast. An emotionless look set in Ryojin's face, a neutrality formed by the sorrow of his being defeated, the anger of failing, and the utter disappointment of not being strong enough to realize his dreams.
"I couldn't defeat the enemy I was trained to destroy…" mumbled Ryojin softly to himself, the words mixed with spattering of blood leaking from his mouth. "How could someone like me ever hope to be God…" His entire body was in disarray, many of his bones broken, but not so many that he couldn't stand. Instinctively he started to get up, his stamina having recovered despite Alicia's attack, but before he could rise even an inch a shadow overcame him projected from a woman standing directly in front of him, her burning purple eyes raining terror upon his heart.
"I'm surprised to see you in this state," said Alicia, her voice softer than before but still harrowing and shrill. "Here I thought you were this unbeatable villain, yet before my transformation you are nothing."
"I admit I was a fool from the very beginning," replied Ryojin, his voice gaining strength ever so slightly. "I traded my powers as a Holy, thinking they might be enough of a sacrifice to bring down the God of this world…"
"None of that matters now, though," interrupted Alicia, wicked delight streaming through her voice as he eyes widened in anticipation. "You, God, Soul Society…none of it matters…" Alicia smiled a terrible grin, the flaming purple energy bursting from her mouth like a volcano as she took a deep breath and spoke, her words so powerful and profane that Ryojin felt he would perish under them.
"BECAUSE NOW I AM GOD! GYAH HA HA HA!"
Alicia drew her right arm backwards as she laughed, her hand straight in preparation, and with a quick movement she thrust it forward, its destination Ryojin's heart. Below her, Ryojin closed his eyes, and single tear rimming his eyelids, and he prepared to be vanquished. However, a second passed, and still there was no contact, no bone-crushing stab to snuff away his life. Hesitatingly Ryojin opened his eyes and looked up, only to see Alicia's glowing eyes set in a state of distress and panic, her body trembling, and her hand mere millimeters away from Ryojin's chest. Without a warning Alicia grabbed her head and lurched backwards, letting out a cry and scream so intense the ground beneath shattered from the disturbed energy inside.
It's not like I didn't want this…
When confronted with the choice of death or power, I chose the power. It's what anyone would have done, I think. Here was Ryojin, the one who took my husband from me, the one who took the world away…and I found myself pushed to the edge of insanity by all he had done. My friends, he hurt…my heart, he broke…
That's when I realized what that voice in my head was – it was me, but the darker side of me. You see, I've had a painful past; I lost my family when I was a teenager, all of them – my brothers, my sister, my parents, my grandparents, my aunts and uncles…everyone was lost so suddenly, leaving me completely alone in the world. They said the boat sank because of a storm and a coral reef, and I was lucky to be sick and not there with them when it happened.
That's what they all said, but inside I knew the real reason I was still alive. The truth was that I had a fight with my mom before the big family reunion out on the ocean, and I decided to lock myself in my room while they went. I was so mad, so angry; I hated her, I hated them all, but really I was just angry at myself for flying off the handle like I did. The specifics aren't important, but even when I tried to convince myself otherwise, from that day on I felt that God had wronged me personally.
I wasn't mad at the boat's captain, nor the storm, nor the rocks, nor even myself; I hated God for this, for taking away everything from me. When you direct all your hatred towards God, it doesn't matter how many people you hurt in revenge or anger; you will never be able to find peace, because you know that God is your enemy, the all powerful, all knowing God that somehow loves you but then is eager to destroy your life without warning or reason. Such an anger and depression destroyed my spirit, and while Mark did help me quell the pain, I never could shake it.
Now here I was, defeated by the man who would be God, and when the darkness told me it would take care of me, and destroy God for me, I agreed and gave myself to her. Consider it buyer's remorse, but now, I don't want this. It is too dark, too evil, too insane…
I just want to be Alicia again.
Alicia Anders opened her eyes to a terrible sight. The pleasant mountains and twin peaks of her spirit were now burning, the deep valleys filled with smoke, ash, and molten rock, and the ground she stood of trembled as she looked onward towards the nearby peak, the same occupied by Elizabeth before. There, upon the rumbling mountain height stood another Alicia, though this was dark and malevolent, her eyes violet and angry, her hair blowing wildly in the tempest blowing around them.
"Welcome to our new world, Alicia!" cried out the Sorrow Alicia from across the pass. "The world of power! The world of your peace and happiness!"
"How could this be happiness?" retorted Alicia, her hands empty of any weapon against her terrifying other self. "All I see is pain and suffering!"
"How else can you achieve peace except by destroying those who hurt you?" posed the Sorrow. "Unless you vanquish them all, they will always come back to hurt you, every single one! Even God must be destroyed, for he will wrong you again, just as he did by letting Mark be taken away from you!"
"No…" replied Alicia softly, tears coming to her lovely though strained green eyes. "I don't want this. I admit I was angry at God, but after hearing Ryojin's tale, I realize that I was wrong."
"LIES!" shouted the Sorrow Alicia with ferocity. "That worm knows nothing of your pain – of OUR pain!"
"That's not true," countered Alicia, her sorrow subsiding as she gained confidence against her dark self. "Don't you see that Ryojin and I are almost the same? We both made mistakes, we both had our families torn from us, we both blamed God…" Ahead, the Sorrow Alicia scowled and gritted her teeth as Alicia drew and breath and finished her words.
"Ryojin knows how I feel, and I know how he feels, probably better than anyone in the whole world."
"He is your enemy!" shouted the Sorrow Alicia angrily, causing the world to tremble more strongly as her words echoed across the tumultuous mountains.
"But he doesn't have to be!" shouted Alicia back. "He said he could bring Mark back…perhaps he could bring them all back too."
"He destroyed everyone you cared for! I will not let you get in my way!"
"Your way?" asked Alicia coarsely. "Who are you to be commanding me? I am who Alicia really is!"
"Bullshit!" spat the Sorrow. "Your darkness rules you, and always will! And why shouldn't it? Look at the strength you now have! You can destroy with a single touch; you don't even need a zanpakuto!"
"Elizabeth is my source of power," contradicted Alicia to her Sorrow form, causing the sorrow to growl in anger. "She loves me, and I love her; for you, I have nothing but antipathy! I want you to leave me alone!"
"Pff, if you cast me out, then Ryojin will win," laughed the Sorrow. "You have become his natural enemy, anathema to his duty as a Holy, and nothing you will say will change his mind from destroying you. Besides, Elizabeth is dead! You destroyed her already-wounded body during that last attack!" For a moment Alicia was silent, a pang of anguish for the pain she must have caused Elizabeth shot through her heart, but with the resolute defiance against her dark self came a new feeling, warm and comforting, beautiful and bright.
"You're wrong," said Alicia with a smile. "Elizabeth lives on in my heart; she and I are one now, and nothing can break us apart!" Alicia raised her right hand into the air, and with a flash the Bankai form of Elizabeth, the beautiful white blade and Celtic hand guard, sapphire ribbons and wrappings and all, appeared out of thin air. Alicia clasped the handle of her blade and smiled again, happy to see her friend, but this look only persisted for a moment before turning again to the Sorrow, her eyes scowled and filled with desire to eject this monster from her soul.
"I AM YOUR POWER!" cried out the Sorrow, her voice piercing the mountainside below and causing a rockslide. "ELIZABETH IS WEAK!"
"Even if she is…" started Alicia. "She is my zanpakuto, and I have no room for you in my soul. Get out…" Alicia raised Elizabeth into the air, and like a hurricane water from all over the inner spirit world of Alicia Ander poured into the blade, illuminating it blue and white, until it radiated with such energy that it pained Alicia to hold.
"You can do whatever you want with this power…" stammered the Sorrow, whose eyes were now wide with fright. "You can destroy anyone…you can save anyone! You are a goddess with this power! How can you turn your back on me?" Ahead, Alicia's face turned stony and cold towards her Sorrow form as she took a deep breath to speak.
"I turned my back on myself," said Alicia softly. "I'll never be able to look Mark in the face again…not unless I right this wrong! Elizabeth, Almighty Current!" Alicia slashed her sword, and it was instantaneously over. The wave coursed across the space beyond, and Alicia's Sorrow fell from the pinnacle peak in two, cut cleanly down the center of her demonic body – but only for a moment before disintegrating with such clamor and din that Alicia was forced out of the world.
(break)
"GAAAH!" screamed Alicia as she held her head as if it would burst. Below, Ryojin only could gaze with awe as Alicia writhed in exquisite agony. Then, as though two dark weights were lifted, two bursts of energy flew out from her shoulders into the air, vanishing and taking with them all the devastating spiritual pressure. Silent became the air, and Ryojin felt his body become stronger with the departing reiatsu. Alicia now lay upon the ground, supported somewhat by her own arms, though her breathing was so intense that merely exhaling was almost enough to knock her onto her chest.
"I'm not going to ask you what happened…" declared Ryojin after several moments, now standing above Alicia in the swept away ruin of western Rukongai, Jigenseisokuka in his remaining, still gloved left hand. "I don't want to know what happened inside of you to cause such a transformation, but…" Ryojin stabbed his zanpakuto into the ground and raised his hand to his teeth, where he bit the middle finger lightly and removed the glove, exposing an untarnished palm and fingers.
"I have to see…"
Alicia, unable to move away, simply clenched her teeth and closed her eyes, awaiting death as Ryojin's hand contacted her body and froze her in place. However, none came, and after several moments her body relaxed and she reopened her eyes to see Ryojin's hand just above her back, the Viajante now kneeling next to her with a discouraged look on his face.
"It isn't there…" he said softly, his smooth, masculine voice cracking as he spoke. "You don't have a key within you. I might have guessed, but…I just had to see. Something was giving you strength and control, and there was the possibility that a key had chosen you to be its vessel…"
"Ryojin…" said Alicia between breaths, in a tone so caring and empathic that it nearly shook a tear from Ryojin's eyes. "You don't have to keep doing this. I…I lost my whole family in a terrible accident, and I felt so alone, so angry…I blamed God for it all. I deep down wanted to make him suffer for me, but…"
"You know that you can't do anything about it," replied Ryojin softly, sorrow now entering his voice as he hung his face down towards the ground. "Even from the beginning, I knew that my chances of success were minimal, and more recently I knew that it was practically impossible. I put my emotions ahead of my reason, my pride above logic."
"Then why are you still doing this?" asked Alicia. "Why don't you turn around and make things right?" Seconds of silence passed before Ryojin spoke again, this time his voice must softer, much more dejected.
"I've come so far…" he said softly. "I've done so much evil…so much that I could never be forgiven. My lot is to destroy or be destroyed by God; I wanted to save everyone so badly…that I lost my own soul along the way." Ryojin then stood up, walked over to and picked up his sword.
"What…what are you doing?" gasped Alicia as she looked into Ryojin's eyes, cold and dark, far different than ever before.
"What you became is our greatest enemy," he said without emotion. "What you became is the single-most destructive force upon the spirits of this life. What you became is what wiped out nearly two-thirds of our spiritual ancestors. I cannot permit you to live, Alicia Anders; by death and forcing your spirit to move on to whatever realm it may, there is a chance that evil inside you can be expunged."
"B-But…" gasped Alicia, trying to crawl away but collapsing upon the ground, knocking her wind from her.
"I'm sorry," said Ryojin. "I must do my duty." No further words were exchanged between them, and Ryojin raised is sword into the air in preparation for the mortal strike.
"Forgive me, Alicia Anders."
Next chapter: SACRIFICE
BONUS!
Running up the bleak mountainside, Ichigo suddenly came to a halt, a burning question on his mind.
"Ichigo?" asked Orihime as she turned to see Ichigo, his face contorted in confusion.
"Hey Lucian-san!" he called out, waving his hand to the handsome blonde Holy. "Lucian, I got a question." Ahead, Lucian stopped and turned to the orange-haired shinigami.
"Yes?" he replied.
"So, if we all have these keys inside our spirits…" started Ichigo. "Why didn't Ryojin just use his dimensional portals and, you know, throw us in here? Why did he have to kill us first?"
"Oh, that is a very good question!" exclaimed Lucian with curious excitement and happiness. "You see, the spirit keys are semi-sentient, meaning they have a partial understanding of their surroundings. When a person dies, the key immediately leaves the body and searches for a suitable host."
"Yeah, but that doesn't answer my question," replied Ichigo annoyedly.
"Patience, Ichigo," counseled Lucian. "Now then, it is important to note that this dimension of Ryojin's creation lies outside the normal realm of existence for spirits, namely, the Jizengensei, the Mortal, the Afterlife, and the Eternal. Within the Afterlife there are many different destinations, but no matter how strange they may be, each is part of the natural order – but not Ryojin's."
"Oh!" exclaimed Inoue animatedly. "So since it isn't a normal place for a spirit, if he sent our bodies here alive, the key would think we were dead and leave our bodies!"
"And then he wouldn't be able to capture them," added Chad insightfully.
"Correct!" said Lucian happily with a gentle clapping of the hands. "Therefore, in order to properly capture the keys, he needed to both kill the host and capture the keys at the same time by removing our spiritual cores, which is exactly what he has done with each of us."
"Then once our spirits were captured…" chimed in Ishida – after adjusting his glasses. "Our spirits reformed our bodies just as they were before, since the spirit key is infused within the spirit core."
"Very good!" replied Lucian with a smile. "You all catch on very quickly. There, Ichigo; did that help?" Below, Ichigo's eye twitched as his mouth hung open.
How can I be the only one who doesn't know what the hell is going on?