Chapter XCII: Erasure

It was three days before Dominick was even allowed to return to Kashito's place. Both Soriyamo and Kashito agreed that it was better for him to take a couple days of rest and recuperate before starting to train again.

Lisa was training with Soriyamo and Shirako while Rari was with Kaoren, Yosuhiro, and Nyoriyo. Kasae was reluctantly letting himself be healed by Sairyo. There wasn't even that much to heal. He only had a couple remaining flesh wounds. Waichei was nowhere to be found. He was probably training on his own in the forest somewhere.

Dominick was heading back to Kashito's place in the morning. It was windy. He decided to take his time on the way over there; it was only a ten minute walk. As he was walking back, he felt a surge of reiatsu coming from the south. It lasted for a couple seconds, then there was nothing. He stopped and looked around, thinking someone was watching him. There was no one. He started to move again, but now he was running. The wind had died down, and it became quiet. He could hear the running water all the way from Grand Kai's place. His destination came into view, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

He burst through the door. "Kashito?"

"What's up? What took you so long?" The Naga answered.

Dominick looked around the room. Still, there was nothing out of the ordinary. "I felt a weird surge of reiatsu on the way here."

"Oh?" Kashito set down whatever he was reading. "You can ignore that. It was nothing. Do you want to the back? Kujako is waiting."

Dominick nodded. "Alright." He walked past his mentor and as he did so, something definitely felt off about him. That's not Kashito's energy. It's something much more familiar. He stopped in his tracks. Kashito was the one who first wanted me to take a break from training. Why is he in such a hurry to get me back into it?

He turned around. Kashito was sneering at him with thin eyes. He knew at this point. It wasn't his mentor. Without hesitation, he lunged at the man disguised as Kashito. He pinned his throat to the wall with his forearm. "Who are you?" Dominick demanded. "What have you done with Kashito?"

"You're quick to catch on." He responded. "But I didn't do anything to him. You know I don't have that ability."

"Do I?" Dominick scowled. "I'll ask again. Who are you?"

"You know very well who I am." The man began to release energy. It was reiatsu, and Dominick immediately knew who it belonged to. Kashito's skin began to peel away, turning into light particles as it faded.

"Hikari Seigyo." He muttered. He was then thrown off of his zanpakuto's body.

"Are you surprised to see me?" He asked.

"I can't say I am." Dominick replied. "Three days ago, I felt a pulse. Hikari Seigyo told me that a part of him had been torn away. That was you, wasn't it?"

The dark eyed zanpakuto smiled. "That's not all." He said. "You know about me, don't you? My origin. What caused me to exist. I fostered the growth of your Black Sclera, and he fostered my growth. I grew separately from your zanpakuto like a tumor, and I've far surpassed both of you."

Dominick got chills down his spine. His Black Sclera was something created inside him to try to take over his own body. While it was created to go against him, it wasn't an inherently evil being. It inherited both Dominick's and Hangyaku's personalities, and that was it. This being was evil. It existed within Hikari Seigyo from the beginning. It was pure evil. I have to destroy this thing.

"You probably also know that I'm capable of a lot of things that your Hikari Seigyo just cannot do." He said. "I can manipulate the way I reflect light to change how you see me. I can also use bankai. You have no hope."

"You have no idea." Dominick retorted. "I've made great strides in the last four months."

"I know that." Hikari Seigyo responded. "I have lived in your zanpakuto until just three days ago."

Dominick took a few steps back. "What do you want? Why did you come here?"

The zanpakuto laughed, then all of a sudden he was on top of Dominick, hand covering his throat. "I came here out of the goodness of my heart to kill you." He muttered inches away from his former host's face. "And I plan to follow through."

Rari sparred with Kaoren while Yosuhiro and Nyoriyo rested. Soriyamo, Shirako, and Lisa went upstairs to get hydrated. Sairyo and Kasae were also up there.

Kaoren shot at Rari, jumped with a spin, and brought his foot down toward his opponent's head. Rari blocked it with his forearm and pushed backward, causing Kaoren to fall back to the floor. "This is pointless." Rari complained. "I need to be training with Lisa and them if I want to get stronger."

Kaoren got up. "Nyoriyo, get in here with me." His twin brother jumped up excitedly despite the fact that he was injured.

He ran to Kaoren's side. "It's been a while since we've fought as a team instead of against each other."

"The last time we needed to was when we were alive." The older twin responded. "We know each other well. Now let's kick Rari's ass."

Rari smirked. "Go ahead and try."

Kaoren and Nyoriyo rushed their opponent at the same time. Kaoren jumped up and Nyoriyo stayed low. They played on each other's strengths and weaknesses. Rari knew that Kaoren was the stronger one, so he paid more attention to the air. He then felt a breeze at his feet. Nyoriyo had dropped to the floor and was about to swipe Rari's feet out from underneath him. He jumped to avoid it, but then felt Kaoren's fists on the back of his head. He was thrown forward, but then he put his hands on the ground to stop himself. He then continued with the momentum in his legs to flip onto his feet, kicking Kaoren in the head in the process. He landed behind Kaoren and threw an elbow into his back without warning. Both of them were on the floor.

"You're teamwork is impeccable, guys." He said. "You completely caught me off guard. But you lack the power behind your punch. You guys just need more strength, and you can take on anyone."

Nyoriyo got up, chuckling and scratching the back of his head. "Thanks, Rari."

Kaoren got up as well and walked over to where Yosuhiro was, then sat down again. He wasn't necessarily upset, but he sure wasn't as happy as Nyoriyo was after the compliment.

Suddenly, there was a flash of silver and blood spewed from a gash on Nyoriyo's face that spanned from his left ear to just under his left eye. He fell to the floor quickly, his breathing suddenly out of control. Kaoren hopped back onto his feet. "What the hell just happened?!" He shouted in a panic. He ran over to his brother and knelt down at his side.

Nyoriyo's breathing was speeding up and each breath was shorter than the last. Soon, it was as if he was suffocating. "Kaoren…" He managed. "I can't...breathe…"

Kaoren looked over to Yosuhiro, who was trying to figure out who may have attacked him. "It's like he's having a panic attack."

Rari found the attacker in the distance and locked glares with him. It was just a little boy. He had thick, long purple hair that was very wavy, stick out in every direction and covering one eye. He had long eyelashes that matched his hair color as well, and they especially stood out from his black sclerae. Around his neck was what looked to be a navy blue mask that he had pulled down to just look like a scrunchie. He wore a loose white tank top, which set the childish look in stone. Lastly, he wore handcuffs on his wrists, independent of each other, with chains falling nearly to the floor from each one.

"Who are you?!" Rari shouted. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"What? You don't remember me?" The child asked. "You just saw me like a week ago. You used to see me all the time."

"What are you talking about?" Rari demanded.

Suddenly the child was right in front of him, holding his hands up near Rari's face. "Do these chains ring a bell?"

Rari remembered the events from three days prior. Seeing the manifestation of Liomara's zanpakuto was no coincidence; they had already drawn that conclusion. "You're Togosari Seigyo, aren't you? Lisa is the only one who uses chains as a weapon."

"Look, a smart one." The child mocked. "That's right. I am Lisa's zanpakuto, Togosari Seigyo."

Mr. Rievere looked up all of a sudden. Martin was asleep. He had forced him to rest against his will for the last three days, just as Dominick was. The two of them were progressing fast, and it was almost too fast for their own good. Both he and Kashito knew very well that at the rate they were moving, they would hurt themselves before they were strong enough to take on Hangyaku. The energy maximum that a body can hold only progresses at a fixed rate. One must be very careful not to exceed that limit, or else irreversible repercussions may be faced. Martin and Dominick were approaching that limit fast. In reality, they were supposed to take weeks off from training at this point, but this zanpakuto incident prevented that from happening.

"Martin, wake up." He nudged his student.

Martin's eyes snapped open and he hopped to his feet. "What is this?" He asked, looking around.

"I'm impressed you can feel it. It's reiatsu." Mr. Rievere told him. "It's popping up everywhere. There's one over near the Grand Kai's palace, there's one up at the mountain where Dalton is training, and there's even one coming this way."

"Should we be worried about that?"

"I'm not sure-" Mr. Rievere stopped speaking all of a sudden. "No, this can't be right. I just lost track of the reiatsu. Never in my entire life have I lost track of any form of energy."

"What are you talking about?" Martin asked him. "Wasn't it coming right toward us?"

"Yes...but now...it's like it never existed."

"But that's imposs-" Martin was suddenly thrown to the ground. Even Mr. Rievere was surprise, despite hiding it from his face as best he could. There was obviously someone there, but he sensed nothing.

"Impossible?" A voice said. It came from right in between Martin and Mr. Rievere. And yet, nothing was there, still. "It does sound impossible, doesn't it? But the wolf would never be able to hunt if it couldn't mask its presence, would it?" It was a deep voice, like an old man's.

"If you're really invisible," Martin said, getting up, "you wouldn't have said a word." He took a swing at where the voice was coming from, but hit nothing but air. "Who are you?"

"Did you really think I would tell you that?" The man answered him from behind.

Martin turned around as quickly as he could and sent another punch. Again, it was futile. "What the hell are you even here for?" he demanded.

"Well, you are not the one I am after, but I am more than willing to kill you as well."

"That's all I needed to hear." Martin said, smiling. "Mr. Rievere, make a barrier around yourself. I have a surefire way of taking this guy out."

"Very well." Mr. Rievere smiled. "Don't push yourself too hard. You're still supposed to be on break from training."

"I know that." Martin responded. "Now, whoever you are, this would be a good time for you to run." He suddenly turned into a Super Saiyan 6, and started concentrating energy all around him. "I've never used this attack before. To be honest, I'm kind of coming up with this on the spot." A bright yellow energy formed around his body in the shape of a tall ellipse. It grew stronger until Martin shouted, "FINAL FLASH: OMNISTRIKE!" Then, the yellow energy shot out in every direction in the form of many energy beams, incinerating much of the forest instantly.

When the dust cleared, everything within a hundred meter radius was reduced to debris. Mr. Rievere stood unharmed amidst it all. "What an innovative strategy." He said somewhat sarcastically.

"It did the job." Martin retorted. "He's either long gone or he got blasted to oblivion."

"Or neither." The deep voice said. "It was a magnificent attack, but it did not do the job."

"What?!" Martin exclaimed. "How...how are you alive?"

"Simple, really." He responded. "You aren't my owner. I can basically only be defeated by my owner."

"Owner?" Martin asked. "Who the hell is your owner?"

"That would be me." A new voice said. This one was familiar, and was like a warm shower upon the two other voices that Martin could not trust. He looked behind him to see Shirako with his zanpakuto drawn. "So this is where you've been all this time, Martin. No one has heard from you since Liomara was defeated." He said.

"I'm sorry." He apologized. "I realized that I needed much more power than I had, and had to seek other methods of training."

"Well, whatever you're doing is working." Shirako told him. "You've even surpassed Dominick with that display of power."

Martin smiled at the praise from the man who was his mentor for a short period of time. Then he forced himself to focus on what was happening at the moment. "Wait, so you're the owner? Is this thing...Yabokami Seigyo?"

"Not quite." Shirako opened his mouth again to elaborate, but then the deep voice echoed throughout the debris again.

"Oh, did you want my shikai form instead? Since Shirako is here now, I am willing to show myself. Suddenly a man appeared right behind Martin. Martin jumped back and immediately put his guard up. The man had sky blue colored silky hair that was spiky on the top of his head, but smooth in the back. He had a scruffy beard and eyebrows of the same color on top of black sclerae, and furry blue wolf ears stuck out on top of his head. His face was chiseled behind all of the hair, and his body was wide and very muscular. "Here I am. It has been awhile since you've seen me like this, hasn't it, Shirako?"

"Why the hell...is your zanpakuto here in human form?" Martin stammered.

"I don't know, Martin. But it seems as though he is out or my blood." Shirako told him.

"That's correct. It was ordered by my creator." His black sclerae seemed to darken even further. "But first, I'll formally introduce myself to the others. I am Shirako's zanpakuto, Yabokami Seigyo."