Delusions of grandeur
Aizen Sousuke
Traitor
Former Captain of the Fifth division
Former Commander of the Arrancar Army
Some people thought he was born empty when he was stocked full of ambitions for as long as he could remember.
The baby started crying as soon as his claws touched its skin. The Red King brought the seemingly human baby closer, just to smell it. He closed his eyes, transported by the sweet enticing smell of an innocent soul, a rare new one. The King contemplated the desolated area, shrouded in darkness, his fangs sharp and bloody. Smokes poured from his gaping mouth. Darkness surrounded him like a heavy mantle he carried around on his shoulder. The more he walked in this desert of his own making, holding the last remnants of his meal, the more it was made clear that the darkness was artificially created by giant wings. The wings seemed to have a will of its own and it morphed into something with two legs that followed the Red King everywhere. Icy blond hair floating behind its mask of bones, it stood by the Red King as they watched the rivers of blood and the shores ornated with corpses disintegrating slowly like sands in the wind, only to leave the bones. They watched their handy work.
"I am exhausted. It's been a long journey." The King lamented.
"I understand."
"It seemed only I can put an end to my own misery."
The creature of darkness nodded.
"Yet, every time I see this one open door. I stopped short. I stopped short of destroying this universe I created. No matter how far I go, my survival instincts kick in. I wonder then what if I do things differently. What if there was another way. There must be another way for our race to survive."
The baby stopped wailing only to stare at the King with wide eye. The Red King turned his attention back to his prey with just as much fascination. He opened his other palm, the Spirit God shining brightly.
"Let's start over again."
From the last vision of this innocent baby to the dead solemn gaze of a human servant, Kakira travelled in an instant. She stood in a hallway with him, staring ahead, unsure what she was supposed to see or supposed to learn. They remained there an indefinite amount of time. The scene unchanged.
He didn't remember how he made it here. He didn't remember having a family or even a sense of belonging somewhere. None of these things other people seemed to have. He just remembered being here. Standing here. Waiting here. He attended daily to the Red King's needs. He assisted the macabre ballet of souls coming and going from the kitchen. He stood in the corner of the room, waiting to be called. His eyes never leaving the sight of the King and the Spirit God.
Sieging with the King was his first born, Mammongi, Father of Hollows, Darkness Incarnated, as his second in command. The King decided who lives. Mammongi decided who dies. The Spirit God taking turn rolling in their open claw like a dice. In perfect harmony. When the King wanted to rest, his morbid first son would take over and feed his children. It worked well for a time.
For a time, there was balance in death. But the king was growing tired every day, carrying this overbearing burden. A menace was growing from inside.
He seldom left his spot by the spirit God side. Someday, he stared at the gem like the king stared at it, like he could talk to it, like he knew what it felt. Kakira stared at that guy's face as his eyes glowed with something close to greed.
The court wasn't always a peaceful place, mind you. Sometimes, there was the rise of egos. When Mammongi took a mate, discordant voices among the Vasto Lorde started to rise to denounce their ties. How dare he showed favoritism to this newcomer? But when the Father of Hollows made a choice, he never went back on it. He was like Death, ineluctable and somewhat irreversible. He asked Paz Schiffer to hold his hand and she never let go.
Paz was a strange creature who didn't respond well to any modern criteria of beauty. Yet, her appearance was striking with hair as dark as the night, a pallid face that told a story of pain and sadness, fangs that gleamed white in the dark and lips red like blood. She looked at everything with a curious intense unmovable gaze and he was often caught in the peripheral of her vision. She wouldn't lower her gaze. He would from fear he'd catch the attention of the Father of Hollows but when Mammongi sat astray on his throne, she'd sat at his feet, her head leaning on one his leg. This couple was the most frightening because they'd get along so well.
Mammongi also made a choice to serve the Crown and not to rule. Something most didn't understand. He was powerful enough to hold the Spirit God. Yet, he chose not to. His Majesty seemed oddly unaffected by his firstborn's choice. Yet, he couldn't help wondering why. Kakira stared at her target with a frown. Mammongi could easily be the most powerful being in the universe and his vision of the world could become the only vision. Yet, when he held on the spirit mother for more than a day, he'd summon the king and pass it to him. Immediately after that, he'd go find his mate Paz and they would…
Well, they would breed.
The Red King seemed content with whatever choice his first son made. Even if that choice meant darkness would befall on his subjects. He even gifted Paz Schiffer with the dominion of Jigokuchō, the land of the Damned when she brought ideas of reforming the damned on the table one night. For someone so ruthless to his people, he was very lenient with his children. He never taught them brutal lessons. He let them experience the world in ways they would inevitably come to their own conclusions. Thus, they all develop very unique personalities with very unique views on the world around them.
Days and nights, he stood there observing. His gaze gaining focus and intent. Kakira could see greed growing inside that human soul from lack of having nothing else. His life would revolve around the spirit mother and its wielder of the day.
Another, sweating with jealousy, was Yomi, the great intendant of Las Noches. He stood there in silence but he was seething in anger, staring at Paz Schiffer. Jigoku had been promised to him long ago as a reward for his loyalty. Everybody knew, Jigoku was a strategic fort hold. The Royal Palace pantry. Who administered it had all the ears of the King? What did she do with that much power? She decided to send sinners there, saying it would also help manage the soul population in Soul Society, taking away the criminals. The Vasto Lorde would be allowed to hunt there. It would benefit everyone. She would take her own child there as soon as he was born, she said, caressing her round stomach.
The Vasto Lorde saw this as a betrayal, unruly children as they were. For them, it was a subtle restriction of their territories and their ruling rights. Until now, they could hunt in the nine circles and not be questioned. Paz reminded them the humans had quite enough with the random sacrifices and started to gather in militia. They were one step away from rebelling. Were they all blind. The quincies were even helping some of them.
But Barragan had it with her for a long time. He felt entitled to all favors. He was one of the oldest sons of Darkness. He had been following him since his early days as a hollow. Paz was just a thing that quench his boredom. He'd stirred the council for days with ideas. Aramon on his left side was the first to speak. He said he couldn't imagine not feeding his fraccions proper meals. Stark said his fraccions were the worse, voracious bottom-feeder without class. Bloom said he could side with Aramon on this one. Lilith told them following Paz's exemple, she always practiced frugality and discipline. Her fraccions grew to be powerful wise individuals. Tia was going to join the council soon.
Aramon snorted. Another one who warmed the bed of Mammongi couldn't lecture him on how to raise and breed fraccions. She smirked. Jealous? Baraggan said their ranks had been depleting for years. Paz was too soft. The beast growing inside her would be soft too and a waste of reiatsu. He also told his brothers and sister that he wasn't surprised Paz was abusing her power already and questioned again what gave her the right to do that. He also quietly questionned Mammongi's refusal to succeed his own father and why he let the Quincies gain more influence. Numerous voices rose in the assembly and asked for Paz to be demoted. It caused such a stir. People started to stand and get agitated. Reza, Bloom, Aramon and their fraccions stood. Stark, Lucan, Lilith, and Cain remained in their seat and quiet. Barragan also remained seated, satisfied he managed to rile most of the assembly to his cause anyway.
Mammongi passively rose his hand to quiet everyone down. The fools! They should have ran then. He nodded as if in understanding. The Father acknowledged that different views of a situation could coexist.
But when he got down from his seat, telling his mate to sit there in his stead. Stark closed his eyes. Lilith stared at the ceilings and watched the room as it was shrouded in darkness. Only screams could be heard. There was nothing where Aramon and Reza stood, just blood everywhere. On the table. On On the walls. When he sat down again, his dark wings sliding behind his back again. Red, the color of Paz's lips had become a predominant color.
It was not a democracy Mammongi reminded them. He was their Father, their Sire, their Primo Lorde. He could very well take back the lives he gifted. He could give and get it all back all in the same breath is essentially what he said without ever muttering a word.
Barragan remained glued to his drenched seat long after he said those words. Behind him Aizen's face was drenched in blood and black gore. He still stood there without emotion.
For speaking that day, Barragan paid a hefty price much later. Mammongi always remembers. It happened when the Council celebrated the awakening of Mammongi's youngest, the offspring he had with Paz Schiffer. A sizable portion of his and Paz Shiffer soul all wrapped in black fur and eyes like shard of emeralds. Ulquiorra Schiffer was introduced to court. While the baby was crawling on the table or trying to take flights with his wings, his mother ensuring his every steps. For some unknown reason, Ulquiorra always managed to roll or tumble at Barragan's feet. Despite his mother's insistence in trying to teach him that he had the whole room as his practice. But the tiny beast would always find himself bumping in Barragan's chair or his feet. When an upside down Ulquiorra, grabbed his left leg for support. Barragan quickly kicked him away, thinking no one would see the baby rolling to the other side of the room. Except, Ulquiorra stared at him and started to cry, big limpid tears turning into black crystals when they touched the floor. Paz's head snapped at an unnatural angle as she heard her spawn cries. She stared at Barragan with murderous intent.
Stark lifted the baby in his arm, rocking him gently. He remained by the window as if he knew something foul was about to take place. Mammongi smirked. He thought this was a good time as any to pay back Barragan for his previous outburst and teach him a powerful lesson.
Because his will was as absolute as that of the Red King, he asked his father for the Spirit God to show Barragan exactly what he's been missing. Just holding that thing for a second, in lieu and place of his father, Mammongi turned Barragan, the young into a wheelchair bound old man, one that could only appraise others for their looks. Also, he gifted him with an unusual outlook on time passing by, so he knew just how tired Mammongi was with the people of this world complaining about their fates. He also warned Barragan that if he ever gets in Ulquiorra's way again, even if it was by accident, he'd wipe him out of this plane of existence once and for all, making sure there will be no legacy of him, no one to mourn him when he's gone.
The servant swallowed hard. His lips twitched faintly. Not because he cared for Barragan or even for Mammongi. No, he was just fascinated by what the spirit God could do. He was sad these people didn't seem to have more ambitions than this, when in a snap of finger, Mammongi could build a universe without Barragan in it and with Ulquiorra leading the council.
He stood in a corner when the Red King was alone with his thoughts, mumbling aloud, lamented how it was essential that he created a suitable heir before the next crisis. He stood as the king distributed his favors daily to his subjects, granted an endless stream of wishes. He stood in the room a few feet away from the thing that held the universe together while the Red King partied with his kin. He listened to their conversation without really understanding the meaning behind it. He started to wonder if he was an hollow. He started to wonder if he was born with a soul. Since he felt nothing and nothing meant anything to him. The fact he started to wonder was somewhat a wonder itself.
He was sometimes called to fetch water or "food", do a proper servant job. To find his way through the maze he only had to follow the trail of blood back and forth toward the Kitchen to the Throne room.
Most of the time though, he followed Yomi, the great intendant during his tour of the palace. He assisted him. Did it mean Yomi was his master? He honestly couldn't tell. He simply did what was asked of him. He witnessed the clumsy courting of the Quincy Lady and saw her get forcefully impregnated behind a bloody curtain. He saw such scene twice. He never spoke of it to anyone. He didn't even have anyone to speak to. He simply stood watch and waited to be called.
The lady gave birth twice, her screams echoing in the hallways while no one attended to her at all. No one knew how to take care of people in this palace. He thought she only survived because of the Spirit God's mercy. He silently prayed for her. He didn't even know. Maybe that contributed also. But he didn't delude himself. He was insignificant in the grand scheme of things. Hard to believe that powerful thing would listen to him. But he prayed and the Good lady lived. The Moon Princess was born, but also so was her mother's disdain for motherhood. She grew up like moss disorderly and in chaotic fashion. Mostly she grew up like vines, too fast.
He was her favorite toy. She liked to order him around in her crib. He didn't remember disliking anything until he heard her scream his name for the first time. She grew up unattended in the most sterile place. All things considered she was decent enough. He survived all their encounters and knew he was among the lucky. She also liked to teach him things she thought he could not understand, he was grateful for that. She was the only one ever to address him by his name or by some version of it.
The girl was extremely fond of her older brother Mammongi. He was her hero. There was nothing the Moon liked more than Darkness. The one creature that was feared in the whole realm. The king also dotted on her. She trained daily, reading books, learning incantations, gathering strength to harness spiritual power. She absorbed massive doses of reishi daily. Only if she became strong like her father or Mammongi, she could take over for a father the duty of carrying the Spirit God. She was eager to have a purpose and he envied her. She was just as ruthless a mistress as them for sure. But it seemed like her strength which was plenty when she strokes him unconscious at times, was not enough. Every time, she was summoned to the throne room, she dashed away in tears. He would sometimes sit with her watching the clouds.
He knew the places in Las Noches by heart. But he never knew why. How old was he? He didn't know. He didn't dare to ask. As if it mattered in the end… It didn't. In the world he lived in, they were the creatures of the night and then they were the modest souls that serve them in any fashion at all. They served as butlers or instant meal. At the end of the day he presumed it was fun to discover. The creatures of the night, they were immortals and time passed slowly in their company. He was unaware how often he was brought to the factory for maintenance. He was clueless about that.
It was when the youngest prince was born that he started to question the world a little more, out of curiosity at first. The youngest didn't require blood or souls. That was a first. He was perfectly human in appearance, a very giggly bundle of joy in the original Sanctuary of Sorrow and Despair. He looked every bit like him. He requested Milk from his mother. Milk she refused to give him, and he was the one in charge of coaxing it from her. Poor woman! She really hated those children. As a result, the moon princess became the primary caretaker for her brother. He, by extension, became their favorites toy and butler. They talked a lot, exchanging secrets in hush tones. He learned a lot about the universe, just listening to the lullaby the Moon sang to the baby. They also had lots of time on hand since he took that baby a long time to grow an inch. Except he could hold that thing that hold the universe together between his grubby baby hand and do miracles with it.
He started to wonder naturally how he could do that. How he could be strong enough to carry that kind of weight, the weight of the universe literally in the palm of his tiny fist. They would discuss it a lot the Good lady and him. The day the Mercenaries invaded the palace, he was getting close to the conclusion that maybe it meant that humans could hold the Spirit God too. Humans like him. Was he Human? It was also a question.
Maybe it meant that anyone could do the job but he couldn't be sure.
It was no longer time to think they had to flee. They asked that he protected the prince. He did the best he could, he recalled. Yomi had betrayed them and joined the enemy. He also sliced his throat open, and he just had time to give the baby back to his mother. He watched through heavy lids as she held the baby above the "current", above the wheel... He was losing so much blood. Kaijus were getting close. The good lady was killed but not before she pushed the baby of the cliff. They were both gone, swept by the powerful tides of destiny. He remembered floating away…. Joining the tide himself.
Things got murky from there. What happened to him? He didn't know. Was he born again? Adopted? He was in Soul Society. Awareness seemed to be the first thing that left a soul as it departed this world. He was in Soul Society. A beautiful land. His neighborhood was Jinuran. He didn't know how he got there. Or when he got there? He was raised like a son in a family that couldn't have children. They welcomed him like he was sent from heaven. He didn't remember how he got there. The memory seemed useless anyway he was here. The only thing worth remembering was the knowledge that something more awaited him. He lived in a house with people who acted every bit like family to him when they were nothing but strangers. He was born in the House of Aizen. In this new world, his parents were good people. They didn't struggle. They lived in a fairly wealthy parts of town.
It just happened that he started getting some recollections from the past as he ate his ramen noodles. He didn't get full flashbacks. Just small bits of an unknown past like a blank canvas getting filled in with an ink pen. There were splotches of black here and there and even more blank spots. All he knew was that he felt like the world was upside down from the get-go. He was brought up, sent to school, going through the motion, navigating through this life without knowing his purpose. Staring at the landscape; the beautiful countryside; he was unable to erase the memory of seeing a baby holding the key to the universe while giggling in his crib made of bones. What if he could do it too? What if he was the only one who knew about this fake world, with this fake royal guard and this fake justice, and this fake monarch? What if he was the only one who knew? Who knew there was no order in the universe.
Aizen Sousuke stared at the gates of the Shinigami academy, blinking meekly. He needed more knowledge. He needed to make sure these were just not dreams, figment of his imagination. What better place to get knowledge than in a school really? Passing the academy exams was easy enough and he was soon incorporated in the military.
Kakira followed Sousuke Aizen as he sneaked out of his own division, unbeknownst to his own captain Hirako Shinji. As they progressed in the forest, she hid behind a tree while he joined a group of shinigami of lower ranks, getting back from a secret mission. They took turn filling the glowing urn he had in his hands. She recognized instinctively what was in that recipient. It's smelled like blood and life. It was filled with glowing potent souls. Something moved in the bushes on the other side. She frowned. There was a boy hiding there with eyes like blue shards of ice. She blinked and he disappeared. She silently gasped. Where did it go? Did he notice her too? How did it leave unnoticed by her? Impossible she was concealed by a cloak of invisibility. She learned it from the best.
But there was no time to waste as Aizen was on the move again, going back to his secret lab. She watched as he started fusing the ingredients together to create the hōgyoku.
"Are you going to keep follow me all day?" A voice sounded behind her.
She was no longer standing with him in the lab but staring through a window. She stepped back and realized she was standing in a bright hallway. She turned to see a brunet boy the same size than her staring back at her with a smile. He was staring at her, wearing nerdy glasses.
"Sousuke Aizen."
"In the flesh…" He smiled crookedly.
"You were a traitor."
He said nothing and stepped forward.
"You were also a guard."
He said nothing and took another step toward her.
"You were a babe saved from a massacre."
"Yes, I was all these things. I was the architect of my own revenge."
"I understand now you truly believe you are your own person."
He sneered, his face suddenly shifting to anger.
"Of course, I am my own. I am the only being on earth with an agenda of his own. I was born exceptional."
She frowned, a bit sarcastic.
"You certainly believe you are."
He growled.
"No I am!"
"Except, you're not. You're not exceptional. You're really pitiful, aren't you?"
He grabbed her throat hard in retaliation. His grip solid around her throat. His body shifted grew into its adult form in front of her. She tried to get his hand off her throat, but he was too strong.
"Look at you! You're the one who came in my reality. You're the one who fell into my trap, giving me the perfect opportunity to get rid of you."
She struggled as he lifted her, her legs no longer touching the ground. She could barely breathe.
"You and your people are a relic of the past. What you defend does not exist any longer. The future belongs to… us…"
"Us?" She croaked, gritting her teeth in pain. She grinned.
He sent her flying in the air and she slammed the ground hard.
"I mean to me! Obviously!"
She laughed, remembering her father's warnings. The two kings were really the most terrifying beast walking this universe.
She crouched, wiping blood around her mouth.
"You are a pawn. He spared you… for a reason. He fed you and saved you for a reason. He made sure you would remember. The reason becoming clear now… It was so you could fulfill your purpose. The Red King did all that."
"Nonsense… You think you can presume to know me just because you saw a couple of memories. I am all powerful. I am the Future! I am your next king! You should bow before me! Bow!"
Kakira shook her head slowly. Aizen continued angrily.
"No one but me survived that era. Only I remembered how it was. Not even the hollows… There were running wild like scared little beasts in the desert before me. There was nothing left of the old world without me…"
She shrugged, elated at having pieced together the puzzle at last.
"Except there was… There was something left."
She realized as she recalled the boy with the icy blue eyes.
"No! The blood, the promise of never-ending pain, the philosophy… Glory be upon Death. There was none left. Las Noches. I carefully build this new world order. I… not any other God. I did. The Hollows? I could manipulate them with ease into being my army. I created entire new races. Espadas. Primeros. I knew things about this world. I became a God in my own right. Won't you see? This is just the beginning."
He snickered, turned his back to her to walk toward to a throne erected in stone.
Kakira looked at the ground. The truth was in front of them all along. She could no longer sustain herself here. Blood was dripping from her nose, ears and mouth. Her eyes turned obsidian black.
"I understand now. Aizen Sousuke. I, Kakira of House Kurosaki, also known as Reihachi, Warden of the Royal jail, in my full and legal capacity, commute the rest of your sentence. You are forgiven for all your crimes. Absolved of them. By the powers given to me, by his Highness, His majesty, the Spirit King, I order your immediate release."
Aizen started to laugh. Kakira closed her eyes, her lips silently moving in a prayer.
"See, you finally came to your senses…"
Something unpredictable happened. The walls surrounding Aizen started shaking wildly.
"What is happening?"
Kakira kept muttering incantations.
"Sad Moths… Wheel of Time… Delusions of Phantoms…Repose of Logic… Purity of Hysteria… Clouds of Tomorrow… Sacrifices the End… Memories of Spring…"
"What are you mumbling?"
"Lions in a sea of foam … Blood of the Virgin…"
They suddenly shifted planes of existence. Her nose was bleeding. Back to where it began for them, facing each other in Muken with the stars above their heads.
"Wait a minute. This spell…It's a resetting spell… It's… Impossible… The energy you would need to achieve resetting a soul… A soul of my caliber… Like I would let you do this to me… The hōgyoku itself wouldn't let you… The sheer arrogance of you people! " He laughed sarcastically.
He suddenly realized something was missing. He looked down at his chest. Empty. The hōgyoku was gone. It suddenly dawned on him why she released him from his sentence. She undid the seals. He opened his mouth in shock. She fucking tricked him!
"You're searching for this?" She said, playing with the little orb in one hand. " Small but deadly. Just. Like. Me. I just had to remind the Hogyoku he could do better."
"You're not…"
She smirked.
"Pureblooded. Nope. A rapid lesson of alchemy. I am made of 45% of Kaiju blood, 25% of Quincies, 25% human mod soul and 5% of pure inorganic spirit matter. Engineered not born."
"The spirit god did that…"
"Actually not really… The spirit god was the anchor but the truth is even the king don't know how to bring life with it. So, it was someone called Urahara Ego who finished the job. He is the master of Alchemy around here. He created another like me. I bet you know him. Urahara Kisuke. A modified soul. The first of his kind. My kind."
Aizen almost choked. Impossible. She smiled adorably. He tried to move again but the seal continued to fall off one by one. The power nailing him to the ground. The spell, a glowing blue star continued to glow beneath their feet. They stared at each other.
"Impossible. It's all impossible."
"Just like me, you were made for a purpose. The purpose being... You were taking care of the children."
"What?"
"You're a glorified babysitter, Aizen Sousuke. You had the true heir right next to you and you didn't recognize him. Yet, you kept him by your side and teach him all those years. He grew more powerful because of you. Hell, you brought the Primo Lorde back to Las Noches when he was just wandering in the desert. Indeed, you're just brilliant. "
Aizen frowned, trying to digest what she was saying. This was impossible.
She said, her eyes shifting to obsidian black. She rose slowly.
"So, let me redefine again what is possible and what is not… After all, you are in my home now. This is my world. Muken is my reality. This forbidden spell is the first thing I was taught. As you must know, the demoniac ways, Kido for the initiated, are mostly useless to us. Kaijus. And although I am not pureblooded, I was 'made' with this inherent disdain for it. An inherent disdain for weapons. Any weapons at all. Yet, it doesn't mean that we cannot use it. Now I realize, my father, has also prepared me for this."
She clasped her tiny hands together and spread her hands apart to materialize her katana in its sheath.
"Our zanpakutō… as you call it, is not really meant to fight. Kaijus only realized that it could store more energy than reiasekki. It's like a battery charger. Because being in our natural state is the real menace." She said her skin becoming pale.
"Stop." Aizen looked up. "Don't come any closer."
"I agree I will need my full strength for this. But it will be painless."
"I don't want this! I made my own choice! I have things! Great things to accomplish!"
"Sure you do!"
"I have a destiny!"
"This is it. Accept it!"
"You cannot do this to me."
She paused.
"I understand how painful this must be. But you deserved to be happy and live your life without burden. You deserve to have a life of your own. You served the crown well, Aizen Sousuke. I release you from your duty. Today."
He rolled his fists but couldn't move. Time seemed suspended. She spread her hand again then pulled her zanpakutō out of its sheath. The world immediately turned critically red and black.
"Tenshi no hen'yō[1]"
She whispered in his ears.
The mother of storms swept and crush the rest of the walls. The world turned white and pure. Focusing on Aizen one last time. He could be seen exhaling softly as his soul turned into a shiny butterfly soared into the universe at light speed going back into the current. Regaining a half human form, he is dragged and pulled deep inside the current his entire body cleansed. The world became an ethereal white again.
It was impossible to know how much time passed. But next thing we know the shiny butterfly reappeared again. He was brought to life again, a crying bundle of joy. Without memories of past lives. A clean slate this time. He is passed around from the hands of a young intern to a nurse. The nurse cleaned the baby and wrapped it in a bundle of clothes.
"Kurosaki Ichigo, wouldn't you know it? You just brought a life into this world! Congratulations, Doctor! You passed." Someone said aloud.
Ichigo was trying to catch his breath, the bloody scalpel dripping in his shaking hands. He checked his patient vitals. They were good. He checked again the sutures he made. It was his first delivery per cesarian. The mother and the baby shared a solid destiny red tie. And he looked up proudly in the direction of his father who watched the whole thing from the gallery, Ishida Ryuken by his side.
The baby was later brought back in his mother's room to be reunited with the happy parents. The nurse and the baby carriage crossed path with none other than Yomi in Mitzuiro Kojima's skin. Mitzuiro, like Ichigo, appeared older. But everything else about him was the same, down to the shady and devious look he gave the baby.
Back in Muken, the girl sheathed back her sword with shaky hands and collapsed like a crumbling card castle. She hardly could catch her breath. Blood was dripping from her face, forming her puddle beneath her feet.
Reini
Second Member of the Zero division
The empress without a Kingdom
Daughter of the Red King
Mother of no one
She was on a path to make the world right again. As you know she came from a family of people with strong convictions.
The palace was quiet. Masakira was staring incredulously at the door as it closed behind Kirio. He heard her steps before he noticed Reini's shadow approaching at the end of the corridor.
"I knew you followed me in Jigoku." He said with a sigh.
She shrugged innocently.
"Then why didn't you stop me?"
"I was in a hurry."
She stared at the door and stood beside him.
"So, you know what I'm doing here."
He shrugged.
Dancing with Flames · Secession Studios & Greg Dombrowski
"You're plotting to take down the king. What else is new? What else could you want to do? Yet there is no way you will enter this room today. Kirio tricked us."
She shrugged.
"You wanted to do the same."
"True."
"I'm coming in peace then."
"Wasn't Pax the other one, right? Your brother's bitch? The great Mammongi if I recall all the tales!"
She said nothing.
"Paz. Not Pax."
He didn't have even enough energy to shrug.
"Do you know where is Masahiro? Not that I care, but I could not pinpoint his location earlier and that is highly unusual."
She shrugged again and stopped next to him.
"I brought you a gift from Jigoku. You didn't have time to feed right."
Masakira moaned and tilted his head, sniffing the air.
"You want to be like that."
She shrugged innocently.
"My goal and your goal seemed almost the same. Shouldn't we be working together? Shouldn't we share?"
She handed the orb to him. They both watched the soul soar in the air, floating toward the ceiling.
His eyes shifted obsidian black. He opened his mouth to feed. It all happened so fast. They went from a peaceful standoff to fighting in the lobby. Masakira slamming walls with Izayoi, drawing blood immediately. The two went at it fangs out, slashing and trashing. The fight seemed uneven. He was humongous in his most lethal form, and she was twice as small.
A minute later, it was over and Masakira was seen dragging the empress by her hair. He ruthlessly opened his mouth to feed.
"That quincy blood, I am finally going to taste it. You have no idea how long I have wanted to do that? See, there hasn't been a minute since I couldn't feel my brother's presence as annoying as it is. We are twins. We know when something is wrong."
He frowned. Suddenly the feeling of something being off got worse and turned into dread. He opened his eyes and blinked in shock. Izayoi was in front of him, waving playfully. He barely had time to realize she was waving at him, and he was holding an illusion, that she slashed his throat open in one go with her claws, black putrid blood spraying the floor and walls, fading in the background. He turned. She was everywhere, surrounded him with an army of shadows. He realized they even changed planes of Existence. She transported him back in Muken riding the clouds. He looked around, lost. Masakira stumbled and finally kneeled. Blood poured like a waterfall from that gash.
"My big brother, Mammongi, used to say. It's not about the size of your opponent. It's not about their strength or their powers. It's all about intent… It's about conviction. The one who got more than the other on the battlefield is always the last one left standing."
She smiled, a drop of blood on her left cheek. He couldn't speak, trying to close that wound. But he was no longer in the palace and the walls reflected zero amount of reishi in Muken. There was nothing left standing to feed anyway. It was a vacuum of destruction.
"This won't kill me." He gargled, blood rushing in his throat.
"I know." she said as she dragged him to the external gate hall. Her steps slow and deliberate. The roof was inexistant there. She let go of him and he dropped face-first on the floor, shaking on the floor. His blood flowed supernaturally out of him gliding toward another wounded Kaiju. Toward Masahiro.
"This probably will though… But didn't you just confess to caring for your brother… I guess you won't mind sacrificing for him."
She caressed his hair softly, before grabbing his long hair and pulling hard, decapitating him. She let the head fall on the floor with disdain, savoring her revenge fully.
Kakira opened her eyes, tiredly. She was surprised to see her mother again.
"Mother…"
"Somebody should close that door." Izayoi noted, not volunteering in the least.
The little girl shook her head to wake herself up, shaking herself of the torpor caused by the loss of blood. She took the Hōgyoku orb from Kakira's hand.
"Let Mommy take care of that for you." She said as she played with the little ball. "It smells delicious. No wonder, it's a poison."
She put it in a black box.
"Mother, no!"
"I have quincy blood. Didn't I tell you? It's still a poison. But I guess like you I developed a certain tolerance to it. You did really good, little girl. I'm really proud." She cheered, caressing her sweet face.
Kakira pushed herself up.
"Mother… please… you need to come back to your senses…"
"There's a way to save your father. The blood of another Kaiju has incredible healing properties. But darling, I think you should know I hesitated to sacrifice you."
Kakira looked down at the blood of her uncle flowing on the floor, her father lying in it. His head was missing. She was going to be sick.
"You did this."
"Okay, let me be real here. There was also a chance, you were not pureblooded enough. That would have been a waste. But then I also realized how fun would it be for us to get together again in the future?"
"You killed him…"
"Don't mourn that guy too much. He was a rotten jerk. He told me he killed my baby brother. Ikki was the light in our house. He was my heart. He was destined for greatness. When he told me, I wanted to die. Wouldn't you know? It was all a lie. Still, as a young girl, I had to live beside that murderer for centuries. It kind of ate all the sanity you got left. Can you imagine? You know why I accepted this situation? Because your father and his wicked sister told me that my father, the Red King, was alive… asleep in your jail… And that one day we will be reunited. All the lies they told me all these years. I fell for it. Like. A. Good. Little. Victim. Meanwhile his sarcophagus is empty. He is truly gone. Don't be like me. Seize your fate. Don't trust anyone. It's every man for himself out there."
" Mother…"
She approached and clumsily hugged Kakira. She brushed her hair away.
"Kakira-chan, I'm going to show you something pretty. I'm going to show you a good time. I'm going to burn this house to the ground and destroy this boring world while I'm at it."
"Please…"
"Tell your father… when he wakes up. Tell him that I know what he did. He is alive because I didn't forget my promise. I still want to be the last thing he sees before he falls asleep for good. We deserve this much closure, me, and him. Try to stay out my way, kiddo."
"He is going to hunt you for what you just did. Do you realize what you just did?"
"I'm counting on it, my little star."
Izayoi took her sudden momentum and rushed forward, leaving Kakira crying behind. Thunder rolled in the sky as she soared into the sky, riding the clouds. She disappeared in the clouds. Kakira ran after her but was too late. She stood on the edge, blinded by the sun. She stared at the Seireitei below.
[1] The angel's transfiguration