end of an era

Subject: end of an era Tue Jan 12, 2010 8:29 am

the arc is done, now what happens? everyone should post either an aftermath post. or a what i was doing during the arc post.

arrancar, you were either fighting in the real world and then in soul society. or you were left behind, but brought through with jacques and the others into soul society.

shinigami, you were either fighting in the real world, or fighting in soul society, not both, due to the senkia gates being closed, and the fact you'd be more preoccupied with fighting in the real world.

btw shini win in the real world, purely due to the fact most arra will think a retreat has been sounded and will go back to Hm, leaving shini to mop up.

admins add your exp now

noe these extra posts are 1 per a person, and get up to 50xp. you have till the end of feb to do one.

Subject: Re: end of an era Tue Jan 12, 2010 9:43 am

Max stood in the middle of a cluster of shinigami awaiting Zacharias, their captain, to lead them through the gates into the battle Squad Eleven and Squad Five had begun with contingents from other Squads. They had been gathered as the final group to enter due to them not being a true combat squad. They would be entering a huge battle from what they’d been told and many will die here. He prepared himself for whatever lay beyond that gate. Zacharias strode up to the large collection of shinigami. It seemed their Lieutenant, Arkahn, was not coming.

“Ok,” Zacharias boomed to his squad, “I don’t care for speeches, so let’s make this short. All other squads majorly joining this battle are already in it, I hate it as much as you, but we’ve been selected to go in last. But that’s orders for you… Now don’t embarrass me down there by all dying. Now, all of you mount up and get your asses to war… MOVE!” Suddenly the gates opened and the shinigami began pouring in... As they ran the length of the path between Soul Society and the Real World, Max and members of his squad raised their voices in a loud roar. The gates to the real world open, and out poured Squad Six.

The battle raged around them, they all grouped into small clusters of three or four and dashed off to their own fights. Max followed his captain, Zacharias through the battle with a large cluster of shinigami. Zacharias cut a path and they cleaned up. Multiple blades piercing each kill with such fluid response and teamwork. Many arrancar fell to them before Zacharias found his own foe…

He ordered Max and the others away, they all broke off and headed to various areas. Max made his way to the forces of Squad five, assisting them in their work. They kept most at range while Max’s group of Squad Six members fought them away from the kido users. All of those from Max’s squad followed his orders fluidly as he organized them… They would hold the line until all of them were dead. Max felt fewer fall under his strikes, knowing he was not strong enough for those surviving long enough to make it to them, he decided to take it up a notch.

“Imperial Fist, rain down upon them!” He screamed out and his members followed suit in going shikai, well those who knew it… Max and his group fought with a renewed vigor, pouring more power into each miniature battle. They begun pounding a path into the line of the arrancar, Max’s movements became more powerful and less conservative as he felt the battle slowing.

The battle raged even though it's pace slowed greatly. Max pushed his brothers and sisters onward with his own roars and battle cries, this added to their renewing vigor. They would not only hold the line, but shatter the spearhead of the enemy foe at the same time!

Max noticed Lucius kill an arrancar with a blazing reiatsu that had affected his members but not by much due to their distance. Stunned by Lucius opening a gargantuan and entering with his sister… Soon followed by the captains of Squad 6 and 11, Max was unable to think or move… Suddenly, a blow landed on him sending him flying downward to the earth… Max got to his feet but before he could rejoin the fight, all the arrancar and hollow began fleeing through gargantuan. He chased after them alongside a group of shinigami he’d never met. They attacked an arrancar together and killed it, then moved onto another and another until the area was empty…

Max felt a sense of dread even as the shinigami let out a grand cheer… Max quickly made his way through the shinigami in search of his squad and accidentally bumped into a girl he recognized from his graduation class.

“Nayri!” he said hugging her, he stepped back limping slightly as his adrenaline rush wore off and he felt the multiple small cuts from his fight, “I’m glad to see you made it through.”

“Yes,” she said timidly, “Its good to see your fears of being discarded were unfounded as I told you, what seat are you?”

“I am third seat now,” Max said smiling slightly, “Did you see Captain Lucius of Squad Five, his sister, Captain Zacharias of Squad Six, and Captain Sophia of Squad Eleven go into that gargantuan? Are they suicidal or are they just that strong?”

“I did not see that,” Nayri said glancing down below herself, “But reports say Captain Lucius and his sister are traitors… Seireitei is under attack by the arrancar that fled and Captain of the Squad Six and Eleven never emerged…” she began to look up at him, tears falling from her eyes when she saw his wounds, “Max, your hurt! Let me treat this!” Nayri knelt and began healing his many wounds. While she did this, Max nearly began to cry as well. His tears were not of remorse, but of anger. His hands shook and balled into fists… he heard something whisper in his sea of angry thoughts… ‘We shall end them, we shall kill all traitors. Seireitei is burning and we can do nothing, but soon we shall end them…’

Max looked up and opened his eyes which glowed with reiatsu. He moved away from every shinigami around as his hammer began a similar glow, he pulled it over his head, eyes and hammer glowing a violent and angry red glow…

“Yes we shall…” He then brought the hammer down and it impacted hard on the ground, shaking the earth where he stood and creating a huge crater… Max would not rest until he had avenged all those lives taken… for what? Lucius was never the type to crave power, why would he do this?! WHY WOULD HE KILL SO MANY INNOCENTS AND ASSIST SUCH VIOLENT CREATIONS?!

A few hours passed and another report came by a shinigami coming through. It seemed Seireitei had survived and not only had Hychien been defeated, but Central 46 was all slaughtered. Max grew angrier at the next spurt of information, Konimitsu Hisori, captain of Squad 12, had join Lucius as well… Max grew angrier then he had when his father had died, all of them, every last one, deserved to pay with their life for what they’d done…

Subject: Re: end of an era Tue Jan 12, 2010 8:00 pm

(This occurs just after my current mission.)

...Lia was getting Squad 4 ready for the upcoming battle, getting them into battalions, assigning those who would be left behind, ect. Tagji, Nanami, Hiku, and Jack were all waiting for what would happen to them, as they had been helping out Lia, and hadn't heard the verdict on what they were going to be doing. So, when most of the work had been done, Lia called them into her office, presumably to give them their orders. They entered Lia's office together, as they had been working closely by each others' sides.
"Sit down, all of you. We've got things to discuss." Her office was set up oddly, with three small couches placed around the room. Jack sacked out on the one behind Lia's desk, while hiku and tagji took the couch to her left. Nanami gave Jack a sour look, but took the seat next to Lia's assistant. There was a small table next to Hiku that was playing some light music softly. "First off: Tagji, you are staying here; your contributions to Squad 4 more than qualifies you to stay here. Hiku, you are to stay here as well and help him hold down the fort while I am gone. You are also qualified to stay. Nanami....I had to pull a few strings, but you are staying here as well. I want you here to keep an eye on things, and you are really the only one I trust with that." Hiku and Tagji looked at each other bewildered, while Nanami just nodded. Jack began to wonder just how deep Nanami's relationship with their Captain was. "Jack, you..."
"When do I head out?" Jack said, getting up and slinging Jabberwocky over his shoulder.
"....are staying here." At that, Hiku coughed and knocked the music player to the floor, cutting the music off abruptly, while the Squad 4 members who were walking by here office at that moment stopped. All who heard her stared wide eyed at Lia, even Jack. "While you are certainly the first person to suspect if a murder happens here, your helping Tagji with keeping Squad 4 in order, Nanami's trust in you, and your personal assistance to me has actually given you much credit. What finally set you over is the fact I have received an hourly report on your whereabouts by a certain faction in Squad 4 who believes you are indeed a traitor working with the arrancar. Oddly enough, your actions under this supervision has made you trustworthy enough to even overlook the fact of your Jabberwocky breakdowns." One of the Squad 4 members who had stopped to listen in shock to Lia's explanation gasped. Jack had known he was being followed, and had even guessed that they were there to keep an eye on him, but he didn't believe that there was an entire section of people watching his every move. Jabberwocky was quite pleased to know they had became so popular and so feared.
"Wow...I must say I am quite surprised. I will not let you down, Captain Lia!" and Jack saluted her.
'You had better not. Now, Lethiana, I would like you to come with me, as I am leaving all of my most trusted Squad members here except for you, and I would like to have someone trustworthy by my side during this battle...."

...Most of the Squad 4 members, along with Captain Lia, the lieutenant, and Seats 3-7, left. As Nanami is the eighth seat, Tagji ninth, Hiku fourteenth, and Jack the nineteenth, they formed an odd camaraderie of leaders who remained behind to watch over Squad 4. While most everybody left that were a higher rank than Jack, only the seventeenth and tenth seats remained behind outside the four's group. So after everybody left, Nanami, Jack, Tagji and Hiku were pretty much left in virtual and complete charge. All four were sacked out on the couches in Lia's office, as they were told to "keep an eye on it, but don't wreck it." Jack and Nanami were on their own couches, while Hiku and Tagji shared the last one.
"Well....what are we going to do? I mean, everyone else is out there fighting, and here we are stuck in the barracks with nothing to do!" Nanami spoke up first, clearly bored all ready although enjoying a calm that only could come once every few years.
"Man....I wish I could go down there. I have a sudden itch to fight something." Jack retorted.
"Are you kidding? Do you have any idea how much work we would be doing if we were down there? I would rather scrub three Squad 9 barrack-es than have to deal with that mess!" Replied Hiku, keeping things in perspective.
"Oh don't even remind me. We are going to have to deal with all of them returning back to the SS, and I don't even want to imagine how chaotic and painful THAT is going to turn into....forget it. I want to enjoy this little vacation as much as possible. Hiku?" Tagji said, trying to get them off the subject of work and into the spirit of fun.
"Yes?" Hiku replied.
"Ready?" Tagji asked her. Her eyes went wide, and her expression turned to pure joy.
"Oh Yes!" And with that, Hiku and Tagji left, leaving Jack and Nanami alone.
"Well....I think I am going to spend my day outside. What about you Jack?" Nanami asked.
"Me? I think I am going to take a nap. I'm tired, and could use a few z's." Jack replied, stretching as if to emphasize the point.
"Jack, if Lia let you, you would sleep through the week."
"Exactly! I haven't done that in a while, so I need to catch up on my sleep." Jack chortled. Nanami shook her head at his remark.
"One of these days, you are going to be asleep when something really cool or important comes around, and you will miss it."
"Hehe. My dreams are more interesting than this life anyways. Nothing is better than them." Jack retorted.
"Not even me?" Nanami asked Jack, with a hint of flirtation.
"All right. You got me. In which case, you better be there when I wake up!"
"Can I have my blade in the hollow of your neck?"
"Whatever floats your boat." Jack teased back. Nanami gave a purring sound.
"Anyways, Jack, I still have better things to do than sleep. See ya when you wake up!" And with that, she left, her hair let down and flowing out behind her as she ran. Jack smiled and headed off to his room....

....."JACK! WAKE UP! THE SOUL SOCIETY IS UNDER ATTACK!" A frightened Squad 4 member, who believed Jack was the Devil incarnate, and the perfect thing needed to save them. Jack, however, was not awoken by her, but by Jabberwocky, who was listening beyond Jack's consciousness.
"BATTLE! Get up Jack! It seems we have a bloodbath on our hands yet! Get UP! Come on Jack! I want to get to killing!" Jack bolted awake at that, rolled off his bed, and jumped out his window. What he saw was truly inglorious: hundreds of arrancar and hollows had poured through a senki gate, and were now devastating the shinigami there. Squad 4 was surrounded, and shinigami were getting killed left and right. Jack saw a Squad 5 member getting pummeled by an arrancar. Jack attacked Jabberwocky, holding him by the bottom blunt endand swinging at the arrancar with Jack's near eight-foot range (Jack still had Jabberwocky in his hand from sleeping). Jack managed to hit the back of the arrancar's neck, causing it to scream in pain and focus on its new attacker. The Squad 5 shinigami, seeing his opening, stabbed the arrancar while he wasn't paying attention. This disoriented the arrancar even more, and a combined assault from both shinigami drove the arrancar back. But the arrancar backed off enough to orient himself, and shot two cero, one at each shinigami. Jack managed to dodge his by rolling to the right, while the Squad 5 member had used some power of his Zampakuto to redirect the cero back at the arrnacar, who then formed some kind of shield to resist his own attack. Jack, noticing everyone but him was either resurrected or released but him, laughed and charged the arrancar, jabbing at him with Jabberwocky. His armor, though, only received minor scratches, and he quickly charged Jack swinging his massive blade. The Squad 5 member then used another of his abilities to halt the arrancar's blade, just for a second, which allowed Jack to get away from the arrancar. Then arrancar screamed out in anger as his armor fell, and he fell to the ground, obviously tired. Then the Squad 5 member started unleashing his full fury on the arrancar, and Jack helped him along in the fight. Soon, the arrancar fell, underneath the onslaught of both shinigami. But the Squad 5 member was tired, and Jack didn't know long until he could no longer fight. Jack himself noticed his own exertion, and noticed he had a rather deep cuts on his shoulder, chest, and leg from where the arrancar had hit him. Jack tried to get himself and the squad 5 member out of the fray, but a few hollows came between them and a sort of rest. The two of them fought together, and dispatched the hollows, who were obviously only there to keep some of the shinigami in battle. Finally, they managed to get behind the battle line, where Jack began treating both their wounds.
"You Jack?" The Squad 5 member asked, who looked a lot worse now that Jack could see his injuries.
"Yeah. Hold still, I still want you back out there and fighting."
"NO! Nanami is down by the Central 46 gate, and she needs you. They need backup! Now! She sent me to find you...."
"All right. Daminen! Stop cowering and get over here and heal this man!" Jack shouted. Looking across the battlefield, Jack could see there was no way he was going to be able to reach them in time if he had to fight his way across the battlefield. A thought came to Jack's mind: The sewers!
"Forget it! There aren't that many arrancar between us and them!"
"We can murder everything in sight after we save my friend." Jack replied to Jabberwocky out loud. After healing his injuries enough so they wouldn't get in the way, Jack jumped into a window, oriented himself, and headed for the Squad 4 passage into the sewers.....

Jack went as for as he could go, until the markers began to get unfamiliar. When he was sure he was passed the passages he knew, and he found himself lost, a voice came out from behind him.
"What are you doing down here Jack?" a small, voice, both high and low pitched, said from behind him. Jack whirled around to notice a small pale boy, wearing no shoes and a pure white gee, holding a pure white mop on his right shoulder and hand, and a white washbucket in the other.
"Who are you? And how do you know my name?" Jack asked, flabbergasted.
"The tunnels know you; they tell me you have an affinity for them. Still, why are you here?" Jack, noticing he wasn't really going to get anywhere with this boy, sighed.
"I need to get to the Central 46 gate into the seretei. My friends are pinned down, and they need my help."
"Follow me." The boy told Jack, and he bolted off. Jack, noticing this boy was much faster than himself, bolted after the boy. The boy took quick turns, and it took everything Jack had to keep up with the boy.....

....Finally, the boy stopped and didn't bolt around a corner. Jack noticed there was a cap in the ceiling of the sewers where they were. The boy looked at Jack the kind of way Momo looked at him when he was about to send Jack into his worst nightmares and memories...minus the mask, of course.
"Welcome, Jack. The tunnels say you have an affinity for them, and they welcome you as well. Should you survive this ordeal, the tunnels shall welcome you with open arms, and show you their secrets that only I have seen. Now, I must leave you; there is something disturbing the tunnels, and I must deal with it." And with that, the boy left with a speed only shunpo could give. Jack, seeing the only way out was the cap in the ceiling, popped it open and jumped into it, straight into the carnage....

Subject: Re: end of an era Wed Jan 13, 2010 8:52 am

ok zaratose a few major problems.

1 no one knows that persephone is lucius's sister, zacharias did but he never told anyone, even she didn't know till just before the arc

2 it seemed to be quite a quick jump from me going through garganta to you finding out i was a traitor, even the rest of soul society did not know until me and konimatsu left.

3 the fact that a few hours passed before you found out abou konimatsu is related to the previous post, if you only found out about him then, you would only have found out about me then

4 i think the fat that the archives wree destroyed is bigger than men and women of central being sent to hell, or killed as the rest of soul society thinks, because central 46 can be rebuilt with new governers and will be, the archives comprimise all knowledge of soul society.

and dont think like this is graded like a mission then doubled, it is a bit harsher. with such continuity errors, and timing errors it creates massive plot holes.

i have to grant 26xp. although you can go get another admin to try to revoke this, but those timing errors were major.

Subject: Re: end of an era Wed Jan 13, 2010 8:53 am

lab, you seemed to own the arrancar at the end quite easily, and i didn't quite get the chaos that soul society would be in during your post. and you seemed surprising calm considering impenetrable soul society was getting attacked.

btw lia wasn't there at the time, hence why in the last post me and tapi were like oh it seems the senkai gates have reopened earlier than expected. 30xp

Subject: Re: end of an era Wed Jan 13, 2010 4:36 pm

Dang....I was really hoping you weren't going to grade them until the end of febuary; I really wanted to have some time to edit it >.> Oh well, 30xp is still really nice. As for the "easy" takedown of arrancar, may I remind you there were three of us (I had intended to do a major fight with a strong arrancar, but your early grading has prevented that.) Finally, some of the stuff will be explained as I finish some of the posts, particularly the training. Anyways, thnx for the xp eve. Honestly, I don't think that it unedited really was worth 30xp.

Subject: Re: end of an era Wed Jan 13, 2010 4:53 pm

sorry, you didnt put a do not grade thing on it. and yeah there are 3 of you, but its always nice to, if your gonna do a fight, make it a good one. also bea in mind, only the most trusted both in capability and loyalty were sent to ss under lucius's order.

Subject: Re: end of an era Thu Jan 14, 2010 4:20 am

>.<

You know what, seeing as how this is a major plot point on my character's part, I am still going to edit the thing.

Subject: Re: end of an era Fri Jan 15, 2010 6:14 pm

Ironically, the chaos hadn't settled down. The huge battle had ended, but there was confusion everywhere. The shinigami needed leaders, and that was something that they were short of at the moment.

Somewhere out in the distance, a reiatsu signature could barely be sensed over the horizon. The location of this strange energy was within a large mound of rocks. Suddenly, as if on cue, the rocks were pushed aside as a battered shinigami made his way out of the rubble slowly. His face was caked with blood along with his arms, and his shinigami robes were torn to the seams.

"Damn Central 46 for issuing us to go out here. And damn those so called captains sending us out here without enough preparation. Shit, once I get bankai, I'm going to slaughter all of them," Masato grumbled as pain surged up through his multiple wounds. During that time inside that rubble, he had managed to take care of them for the most part by channeling his reiatsu around the cuts he had been dealt. However, for how long would this temporary consolation last?

Bending down to pick up the dented lieutenant badge, he secured it into his pocket as he made his way towards the shinigami gathered not too far from him. Upon getting to them, his knees started to buckle. Several shinigami made their way over to him to offer some support, but he shooed them off.

"....What are you guys.. standing around for!? For all we know... Soul Society could be burned down into ashes.. by now!" he shouted as best as he could.

"Sir, w-w-we were just," a shinigami began before he was rudely cut off. Masato grabbed him and leaned in closer, sending a piercing glare at him.

"I don't care what you were trying to do.... Until we know for sure that the enemy has left, there'll be no resting!" Pushing him aside, Masato stuck his sword into the open air with one fluid motion. The Senkaimon doors opened up as he walked through it along with the others. Normally, he would have kept it cool instead of acting this irritated, but they were all made fools of out here today. The arrancar and hollow forces had bested them and showed them just how weak their army was. They had also shown the shinigami what they lacked. Proper leadership.

He knew that it was unfair to be taking it out on the group that he was ordered to command because it hadn't been their fault. In fact, most of their mistakes had been on the lieutenants and captains. If they hadn't been so careless, the losses from their side would have been minimal.

Masato sighed as the Senkaimon dropped them off at the doorsteps to Seireitei. However, neither he or his group were prepared to see the aftermath. What awaited them in the other world was literally... silence but not the peaceful kind. It was rather the deadly silence that signaled the oncoming of bad news. It was a temporary relief though that the white walls of Soul Society were still standing. No matter what took place here.. at least there was still something positive to think about. On the plus side, they had also saved the people back in the world of the living. However, what had they lost?

"Hey, everyone! Look. The others are back!" a healer shouted to the others who were carrying stretchers everywhere for the wounded. With a weak smile, they went up to greet their friends. However, the reunion wasn't going to last long as long as Masato was there.

"What happened here!?" the fukutaichou demanded.

The healers shook their heads in unison. "We don't know. That's what we were hoping you'd tell us. In fact, we aren't really sure where any of the captains or lieutenants are."

"How much time has passed?" Masato muttered.

"What was that..?"

"I said how much time has passed for god's sake's!"

"The enemy's been gone for about sixteen hours now."

Sixteen hours. Sixteen hours, and yet, they were all still oblivious to what was actually going on here.

The chain of command was really poor suited. Where was the Central 46, god damn it!? They should at least issue an order by now, or apologize for being the simpletons they were!

"This is just great!" Masato thought sarcastically as he made his way towards the first division barracks in search of where Hychien could be. The entire Gotei was in disarray now, and there was no way that they could become uniform again without the help of their Captain Commander as much as Masato hated relying on him. He was one hundred years too early to fit into the shoes of a true commander.

Unfortunately, the Captain Commander wasn't in his office nor was he anywhere around the first division's grounds.

As he made his way outside though, the answer came to him.

"What are you serious!?" a brunette asked incredulously, not believing what her friend had just told her.

"Yeah, I know right! Apparently, four Captains have been reported missing. We're still trying to get updates on what exactly happened, but we don't know for sure. The only witness we do have is Hychien taichou, and he's currently under serious medical treatment," the blond woman replied.

"So that's how it is? Masato thought. Despite the current situation though, he didn't know what to feel really at this point in time. With Hychien down, there was really no telling what could happen. And so, the brown-haired death god searched elsewhere for answers, but it still yielded no results. As night fell, he went to sleep. Whatever had happened would hopefully be explained the next day.

____________________
Someone knocked on his door. Masato grumbled as he tossed and turned around in his mattress, trying to ignore whoever it was that needed him at this hour in the morning.

"Masato, open the door! It's urgent!" the messenger shouted.

As Masato got up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he opened the door and prayed that it was some actual news for this man's sake.

"Yeah. What is it?"

"It's Hychien! He's told us what happened. The captains of squads twelve and five were responsible for the invasion."

The news didn't strike him as hard as he had thought it would. He had suspected Hisori to be behind something like this. A shady researcher like him would be the one to cause this, but Lucius!? That was certainly an interesting twist.

Clenching his hands into a fist, he listened to the rest. Captain Sophia and Zacharias were reported killed in action this morning. The chain of command had certainly dwindled down now...

As the messenger concluded his message, he left quickly to leave the vice-captain alone. The information had not sunk in completely, but Masato was beginning to understand the gist of it all. Shutting the door, he turned to look out the window. "If that's how you want to play it, then so be it. One of these days, I'm gonna tear you apart, Hisori. As for you Lucius, I'm gonna reclaim my division's honor by killing you slowly. After all, you've made a mockery by beating my Captain. That ruins my reputation with the ladies, ya know?"

Making that vow, tears streamed down his eyes as he quickly wiped them away.

There was work to be done. If they were lazy, then they could never get back up on their feet. He was glad that all of this took place not because he was sadistic but because this would prove to be a good lesson for everyone. This just showed how much the Gotei needed to improve. They were too ignorant.

Reconstruction was possible; however, they needed leaders and strong and experienced ones at that..

Subject: Re: end of an era Wed Jan 20, 2010 4:24 pm

Well Shad, not much happened. It'd have been nice if maybe you got back and wrote this amazing and descriptive piece in which Masato mopped up some of the remaining Arrancar or something like that.
Your writing had a nice flow to it but the imagery was abit lacking.

I liked the ending...the one line at the end was like...hmmm
You know how sometimes in the movies after an intense battle the characters stand on some hilltop or something looking out at the sun set as the screen fades to black? lol It was like that. Cool

25 EXP

Subject: Re: end of an era Wed Jan 20, 2010 4:36 pm

btw yes we admins are getting alot harsher gardes, simply bc we got stuff from the arc itself. next arc this will apply to anyone who wrote as a main player. hats right some of you may be picked for it.

Subject: Re: end of an era Wed Jan 20, 2010 8:22 pm

SWEET! That will be interesting to see who is picked who is not an admin >.>

Subject: Re: end of an era Fri Jan 29, 2010 1:14 pm

Soul Society was in absolute shambles. Its grand architecture was crumbling and its Shinigami forces were being slaughtered.
As if trying to either impress or out perform his nameless competition for the head fraccion position, Christobar continued his barrage of fully charged deep red cero. Each one instantly ripped through anything and anyone that happened to cross their path.
“It’s unlikely that you’ll be given the head fraccion position. ” Christobar held his decorative scythe steady as he unleashed his massive cero from its tip. “You’ve never even bothered to show up to any of our trainings. I can tell that you have a high level of reiatsu, but that’s not enough to achieve a worthwhile position in Fraction Sev-”
“Are you following me for any reason in particular?” Nameless asked. For the first time the electrical burst that formed his speech seemed to mimic an annoyed tone. “You’ve been following me for a while as if you want something.”
“Actually…yes. I was hoping I’d get a chance to see why exactly you’re even in the running alongside myself for the position of head fraccion. So far I’ve seen no worthwhile display of skill from you.”
“There’s no need for me to exhaust any of my own energies. You’ve been destroying every building and Shinigami we’ve come across thus far.”
“Oh?” He said jokingly, lowering his scythe. “You’re blaming your inability to perform your mission on me…well…that’s just sad.” Again he raised his scythe. He swung it through the air. A wave of blood instantly poured down from the skies as the bodies of a half dozen or so Shinigami were split in half; bodies severed by a cutting wave of Christobar’s reiatsu.
“To be honest nameless Arrancar, I just wanted to show you why you won’t get the head fraccion position.” He boasted loudly as the torsos and legs of slain Death Gods rained down. “My skills with reiatsu are far beyond your own…and you haven’t even seen my resurrected form yet.”
Another wave of Shinigami approached the two. Though less in number than the previous group, their spiritual pressure outmatched their own. It would take only half of them to give both of the Arrancar a troublesome fight.
“Since you have such great skill, you stay and fight Arrancar, I’m leavin-”
“My name is Christobar and just because you are nameless doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t remember the name of the one who will eventually kill you and win the position of head fraccion. Actually…you may want to remember my resurrection as well.”
Christobar held the head of his scythe to his lips before releasing it from his grasp. Instead of falling to the ground it began to melt. The liquid raced up to his lips and into his mouth. “Crecer, Pena…”
Though the final state of his resurrected form was somewhat similar to that of his nameless competitor, the act of transforming was not; Christobar’s body simply exploded. A dense mass of purple and red gasses ripped through his translucent skin and engulfed the surrounding area; as if living it flew past the nameless one without actually touching him. In his place several small groups of purple flames surrounded a simple looking metal scythe.
“This is my resurrection, Mental Pain. Consider yourself lucky nameless Arrancar.” His voice echoed from the violet flames. “If you were my target you’d have been dead already.”
Though it had not touched him before, a bit of Christobar’s form crept over to his competitor and touched his hand. “My main resurrection ability is a mental one…” The nameless Arrancar immediately fell to cringed. The sharp pain that ran through his hand reverberated throughout his entire form; his body curled into a ball without him willing it to. “What…what is this…this pain?!” He thought to himself. He’d faced the pain brought on by the threat of regression, been stabbed through the shoulder, and even shot with Quincy arrow; but none of those things compared to the pain he felt currently.
“…it creates mental suffering so great, that it manifest itself as physical pain. All it takes to use the ability is a small touch.”
The screams of the approaching Shinigami could be heard from a distance. “Is a resurrection like this even possible?”
As the flames of Christobar dimmed, the screams and pain followed suit. Before long Christobar stood, completely unchanged, in the same position he was in prior to his release.
The gas had vanished leaving the impaled bodies of the powerful Shinigami behind. “The beautiful thing about my resurrected form is that even if my target has a stronger body than my own, the mental pain still overwhelms them...unless they are more adept with reiatsu usage than I am...”
As he walked over to the nameless Arrancar, still coiled up while hovering just inches above the ground, he knelt beside him.
“In all honesty I don’t even have to lift a finger to defeat my enemies. The mental pain they face leads them to kill themselves. Though I can only remain in my resurrected form for a few moments, I only need seconds to do what needs to be done.”

Subject: Re: end of an era Mon Feb 01, 2010 3:50 pm

Oookay. I really loved this. Great action and very well explained. Christobar is Kick ass and very humble to show ur ass gettin whooped. Using a bit of your grading style, i will say the eloquence was in tip top shape ... not much surprise there. I only had one issue with it though its a small thing. I know that in animes opponents usually bare their hearts out about what their abilities do but to a person you are competing with for the position of head fraccion it doesnt make sense to give off your advantage away like that not unless you dont intend on letting them leave. anyhoo thats no biggy coz you could just say he is cocky and thinks his power is unbeatable therefore whether nameless is forewarned or not is irrelevant.
Wish more had happened though, i was very entertained.

36 exp

Subject: Re: end of an era Mon Feb 01, 2010 3:55 pm

Thanks...Christobar views that ability as unbeatable especially by the nameless arrancar.
That ability is more of an automatic one though. It's just something that happens when touching him during his resurrection. He has a couple other abilities that will be revealed later on though.

Subject: Re: end of an era Tue Feb 02, 2010 4:39 am

Age Vs youth! The never ending struggle.

As the hollowed cave that was the dangai whistled a tune of suspense and anxiety, the young fighter Hychien Ki’tenio stood still as he gazed unto his new found opponent, with reiastu so excited that it started to seep out in streams of grey, his reiastu’s raw power started to show it’s self. The young boy continued to gaze at what was a man a little shorter than he, about 5’10 at the most. Standing with a most terrifying and devilish smile on his pale and blemished skin, he seemed all too confident in his own strength which aggravated the young captain.

In the espada’s point of view he could only see a mutt, a dog that found his way into a league that he should have never have been associated with, a beast of royalty so to speak. Although The partially mutated teenage shinigami that stood before him had a weird and unusual look in his eyes, a look of determination and perseverance, a person with nothing to lose, but in effect had so much to gain.

“So my unfortunate friend, do you wish to cross blades or simply gaze on my oris” The man spoke in a belittling tone of voice.

‘So the man has learnt the tongue of the Latin language’ Thought the ever so curious child, giving no direct response to the man’s question.

“I shall ask again then” he cleared his throat abruptly “Shall we guide our blades from their dormant sleep, or simply gaze on each others facial expresses, because I grow weary of looking at trash,”

The boy still gave no reply, he wasn’t done evaluating his enemy’s ranking, and wasn’t going to cut out of his concentration to answer such a stupidly obvious question, saying the words ‘Of course’ seemed too modern for Hychien anyway, so without any means of response he continued to evaluate his rei levels.

Suddenly a large gust of wind arose and the young prodigy had completely disappeared from all of the 6 senses, including reiastu detection. The pale faced creature of whom still had a ghastly smile on his face seemed unaffected from the recent event that just took place, a man totally disappearing.

“Instruo condeco vestri terminus!” (prepare to meet your end!)

The blades of both Hychien and his adversary clashed together violently as Hychien failed to execute a surprise slash from behind to his opponent’s lower torso with his second zanpaktou Denshi. His pale opposing friend how ever had unsheathed his blade at just the right moment as the two’s swords created a Plus like symbol, with sparks that went on going and seemed to symbolise a radiating light.

“Oh…what a fast little runt you have revealed yourself to be…” The espada slyly muttered. “And you are blessed with the tongue of the Latin language? A holy language to the real world I must say, and you barely even allowed me to unsheathe my zanpaktou, how rude.”
Only a good ¼ of the espada’s zanpaktou was unsheathed from his scabbard, it was a sign that he had a great mastery of dexterity and also had the unnatural ability to know where Hychien was about to attack.

“Your quick of hand, and strong of arm, you are definitely going to be a great opponent today!!” The young shinigami said, smiling joyfully, while still struggling with his adversary in a battle of raw strength and power.

“And I must say the same thing of you, boy.”

The two then started to grow unsatisfied with the struggle of raw, natural strength, and decided to create some distance from each other, level the playing field since close quarters wasn’t working. They both leapt back wards, skidding on the purple and unlevelled ground beneath their feet. The two smiled in glee.
The tall and stout Arrancar raised his blade out of its dormant sheath and pointed the finally sharpened tip of it in Hychien’s general direction.

“First Espada, Nex beastia,” a small gleam of a grin shined on his face, such a devilish grin, death its self was being emitted from it.

“Beast…of death?” The young and slightly intimidated captain thought in great shock. “With a name like that…and a number so high in rank, what will his power's reveal themselves to be…”

Hychien was thrown out of his trance as he heard the very disturbing sound of a large accumulation of raw reiastu being condensed into a lethal attack. He quickly switched his line of sight to his allies opposing fighter and felt no great mass of rei directly coming from his location. The young boy was astonished as he got to the final realisation that the person with such a high reiastu count was Nex, a man that had dexterity, and strength the same level as his own and his reiastu control was at a substantial size as well, the man was an all rounded fighter, a fighting class of which Hychien thought only one man in all of the three dimensions had successfully obtained.
The accumulation of reiastu started to turn into a red tinge that engulfed Nexs’ zanpaktou’s hilt. As it started to travel from his hilt toward the tip of his finely melded sword, Hychien couldn’t help but show the escalating fear on his face, not for himself, but for Hisori.

“If I dodge the attack, it will interfere with hisori’s fight, and I already know he wouldn’t like that one bit…or I could…I could do a gamble on this guys power.”
And with that last thought he disappeared into his own little world, where everything moved slower than usual, and his mind could wander if wanted to, but that wasn’t the case this time, he was experiencing a moment of great frustration, the hesitation of the heart.

“I already know you’re in your shikai release stage, so I guess im going to have to go all out on you.” The tall Espada gently spoke. “But I would have thought you’d have a wolf’s tail, or are you concealing it?”

But after Nex’s words had left his mouth, Hychien had immediately cracked a great and bright smile on his face; he had completely resolved his hearts judgement in such a small amount of time. He raised his right arm and arched it to create a backwards L shape as though he were a black, semi mutated Hercules.

“As battle scar’s the limbs of the lame and innocent…” The boy started chanting, still maintaining his uncanny smile.

“It induces the screams of man and forces everything to bow down to its greatness…” Espada also chanted in perfect synchronization to Hychien’s.

“Denshi shall see to it then their hearts are unscathed and protected…” Hychien’s body then started to engulf itself with its own silver metallic film as the chant left his lips, and his reiastu, growing to extraordinary lengths to say the least.

“Nex cero, Terminus!”

The red energy finally solidified itself on the tip of Nex’s blade, and then shot out toward Hychien, leaving no place to run; it filled the space around Hychien. Fortunately he was prepared, and not a moment too soon.

'Gee... I'm glad I decided to do this instead of dodge it.'
“Giganto kiton, hammer!!”

Immediately after Nex unleashed his lethal attack, a huge metallic block sprung from Hychien’s right handed fist. Being as big as his opponent’s cero the two were bound to clash and of course, they did. As the two collided with each other there was a small struggle of power, Hychien was being slightly pushed back from the large sum of power he was trying to fend off, and Nex smiling in glee as he savoured this small accomplishment. The power soon was beginning to become too much for the young commander to handle, fortunately the young commanders wits had not failed him, he was about to test out a highly dangerous theory. He tensed his off hand’s muscles, of which was merely holding his other arms bicep, steadily supplying it with a concentrated amount of reiastu, so it could be used instantly in his now metallic arm.

“Hienku rebillation!”

As those single words left the boys lips a horde of dark purple strands of energy shot itself out of Hychien’s massive metallic block, protruding from his right hand. The extra raw boost of power the Hienku had applied to Hychien’s struggle, started to overwhelm Nex’s cero and pushed it back a great deal, despite this surprising up rise of his opponents’ power, the espada’s face still managed to maintain a confident smile.

“Yes!” Shouted the enthusiastic Hychien.

The extraordinary raw mass of reiastu Hychien had just succeeded in fending off started to create an unusual sound, the same sound you would hear from a cushion’s seams starting to rip, and to Hychien’s knowledge that’s exactly what was happening the seams of the cero were starting to rip. Soon enough the cero was becoming a little bit larger in width and also started to become easier to overpower, it seemed as though Hychien’s Hienku has seamed itself into the cero, dispersing it form the inside.

‘This boy’s powers are unbelievable, Hienku…kiton…’ Nex started to note thoughts in his mind. ‘Manipulation of…metal? Or some kind of hard mineral and some kind of manipulation on raw reiastu…like a fully controlled cero.’

But even though his cero was on the brink of annihilation, there was no physical sign that it had fazed him, but Hychien feeling as though he had already won the battle was totally oblivious to that fact, and what a fact to over look. Suddenly the cero fully dispersed of its own accord; it had hidden Nex from Hychien’s sight in the small amount of time it was still active, and not to Hychien’s surprise along with the cero its creator had to, vanished.

“Heh, its either he ran away or…the cero back lashed on him, along with my Hienku creating enough force to vaporise his body…” The young captain began to mutter, still having a very childish smile on his face. “Ha but either way I’ve won the battle.” He bowed to where his opponent had once stood in respect for his power and dexterity, he knew that he was a strong fighter, but along with that he was either a coward or simply not durable enough. Hychien adjusted his body once again to stand up straight and with that he liquefied denshi back into his body, not to lose anymore reiastu that was unneeded and turned around satisfied with the fights results.

“Even if you are hiding in the shadows Nex, I am the victor…running away from a fight is un-honourable…”

He took one step toward Konimatsu’s and jiruga’s match, but to his surprise his body instinctively stopped him from moving any further. The space around him didn’t seem particularly right, it felt heavy and cold, and not in the spiritual pressure kind of way, it was his own instincts telling him the battle wasn’t over still.

“God damn it, come on just move!” Hychien said as he flung his fist toward the ground.

“Captain…commander…Sengoi-mon….kazaru, Ki’tenio…”

“What…what did you just call me?”

There was silence and Hychien face started to lose all its joy and enthusiasm, it started to grow pale and dull, something about that name had left a sour taste in the captain commander’s mouth. Trying to stop his emotions from flaring he clenched his fists as tight as he could, and bit his bottom lip with the same amount of force until red rain drops started to shower the ground below him, creating a puddle of pain and despair. Those rain drops however were also mixed in with a salty liquid, Hychien’s tears. Simple words had wounded the warrior’s soul.

“I said…Captain Commander…Sengoi-mon…”

Those words were followed by a maniacal laugh, befitting of only the devil himself, it was that ugly and disgusting of a laugh. Hychien continued to bite further into his bottom lip, his canine teeth beginning to thicken and lengthen as he bit down more and more into his flesh, and what was just a shower of red rain drops had turned into a monsoon of glistening red. Blood was pouring out endlessly from Hychien’s bottom lip and both of his hands as if he was a living waterfall.

“Kazaru…”

The boy yelled at the top of his lungs at that, moment as if he was stabbed in the heart. He flung his head backwards and bared his teeth to the ceiling of the Dangai. His canine teeth were 1 and a half inches long and dripping with blood right to the rim of his gums, his eyes deadly and untamed, once calm and tranquil like a tropical paradise was now just a wild flame…a forest fire. His pupils reseeded, he was started to lose control, but yet he continued to yell at the top of his lungs, his cries sounded like strained muffled cries of uncontrollable fear.

“What…what the hell is happening to him...” said Nex hidden safely within the dangai itsself. “What ever his problem is…”

Hychien started to strain his cries even more, he was calming down, the cause of this whole experience seemed to be simple shock applied to his body, but it was still a mystery of what was the cause of shock in the first place.

“I’ll free him of it…with this next attack”
A red light started to radiate behind Hychien, reiastu was started to condense and solidify around him in small packages, not as a whole unit. A smile sprouted on the young man’s face, a smile of madness, and the sign of insanity; the ever lasting mental struggle.

“Hey hey hey, Old man…I was sleeping so…joyfully!!!” Bolted what resembled Hychien.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Meanwhile in siome and Denshi’s world.

“Siome! Stimulate the adaptation gene then!”

There was no answer, only the howl of the swirling light purple vortex siome and denshi was concealed in, they both stood facing each other. Denshi was trying to make eye contact as she widened her eyes and stretched her neck to the very distant siome who in response simply ignoring her plead for attention with a “tch” and folded her arms, focusing her vision on the none existent ground beneath them.

“Siome-”
“Shut up! I don’t respond to weak trash!”

The two went completely silent, denshi retracted her slightly stretched out neck and looked blankly at siome. Fear was starting to fill her eyes as they swelled with the salty unwanted liquid of tears. She did the same as Hychien did, bit her lip and clench her fists tightly not to let her emotions show themselves completely, she was but a girl, a naïve and innocent girl.

“Are you going to cry…little girl…!” Siome spat.

“n-no…But why won’t you help our master!” the young girl responded in rage.

“you and him…in mind are the same age…the same response he gave when he heard the mutter of his born right name…is the same response you’re giving me now…”

Siome took one step forward toward denshi, she stepped back in response. A sadistic smile then sprouted on the woman’s face as it stretched from ear to ear, her freckles moving along as her skin stretched to make room for her great and grand smile.

“I am simply testing Hychien’s strength…not our masters…What gives him the authority to become my…master…”

She took another step closer, and again in response denshi stepped backwards once more, it just proved how Siome’s powers were simply the manifestation of her personality, she ruled by fear.

“It’s as you already told him in the past…its natural selection…those who have the strength are able to live to carry on their legacy…and those that aren’t blessed with that strength…”

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Die out, Hahaha!!”

“Death art cero revival!”

“Hey hey hey, who’s talking this time, don’t interrupt my laugh! Totally un-”

(Yeah, update there's still a lot more of story to do...damn it)

DO NOT GRADE

Subject: Re: end of an era Wed Feb 03, 2010 1:50 pm

Lucius walked down the long white hallway. The ceiling was obscenely high, not his personal choice, but it did add something to the effect of the building. Every step he took on the stone floor echoed through the hallway. Light high up above him, not set into the ceiling, but floating balls of fire, lit the way for him. The light was low, giving an eerie glow to the passage, and lengthening the former captains shadow. His steps fell into a rhythm, producing a profound clacking through the hall, every second tap was followed by a third quicker tap from his black cane.

Perephone was getting adjusted to her new surroundings, having Jacques show her around, teaching her the duties she would be expected to do and making sure she was ok. The transition was sudden for her, two weeks ago she had not even thought of talking to an arrancar in friendly terms, let alone living with them. Konimatsu was busy making sure things were in order with fraction 4, the loss of their espada was a huge blow to them, and a lot of work was lost, locked in his mind. But the sudden influx of knowledge from soul society, curtsey of Arkahn more than made up for it. But that in itself was a massive problem, organising such information was going to be painstaking work. Fractions 3 and 9 were being drafted into ease the burden, but it would be some time before it could be used effectively.

The idea of such knowledge, so many forbidden secrets, so much he could learn. The current leadership in soul society was corrupt, but their knowledge needed to be kept safe, needed to be shown and learnt. To lose such items would be disastrous for everyone concerned. Lucius himself would have a lot of work to do in the coming weeks, he couldn't leave all the data to his friend, it would be unfair. For now though he as seeing to the readying of new arrancar, and the reformation of the fractions.

3 espada down, and so many arrancar dead, it was a good thing the numbers of hollow were essentially infinite for his purposes. The fractions needed to be trained for proper battle. Thee shinigami had been organised, even if such organisation broke into minor skirmishes eventually. But the arrancar were pretty unruly to begin with. He had to make them into a fit fighting army, he had to mix more of the fraction members together in missions, so they can understand how to fight alongside each other. He had to start with fractions 7 and 6, they were his main battle fractions.

“Lucius.” The hulking form of Azazel came out of a side door. The huge wooden barriers opening out wide to show a gloriously furnished room. “Or should that be master now?” Bitter resentment filled his voice. Flanked by Iblis he walked with dread purpose. “I didn't like you when I thought you were a hollow, and now I realise joining you was a huge mistake.” Iblis, his face hidden by his long grey hair was breathing heavily. The anticipation of the coming battle was obviously something he was scared about. But fear would not stop him. Drawing his blade he stood by his master, hand shaking and sweat dampening his hair.

“You hate me because I'm a shinigami? Is that for any reason, or simply a feeling you see shinigami as enemies, and so I am obviously unfit to lead?” Lucius stopped several metres away from the arrancar. The remaining echoes of his footsteps kept going for a few more seconds. “You simply think of us as enemies for no real reason. I hate hollows becausee you cause pain and distress, but you hate shinigami simply because you think you should. You assume because your a hollow then all shinigami must be your foe, but you haven't ever really thought about this have you,” Holding his cane in both hands, directly in front of him, Lucius looked at his espada with nothing but disappointment. “If you hated me for a reason I may be proud, or have some respect for you, but you don't you simply hate me because of an idiotic sense of 'duty',”

“Fuck you Lucius, your kind kills us, hunts us, simply because of what we are.” Azazel slipped his zanpakuto onto his hands. The bladed brass knuckles glistened in the low light. “We do nothing to you, but you seek our destruction, and why? Because we exist, how is that fair.”

“No, hollows kill other hollows for no real reason. How many thousands have you eaten, just for more power. Shinigami purify you of your affliction, for thats what it is, a disease. And they send you to what can be called heaven. What should you fear more? Thee shinigami who heals you, or the hollow who kills you?” Lucius leaned onto his cane, ready for anything. And espada and his head fraction, he hoped he wasn't overestimating them, it may restore his faith in his espada.

“Yet you hate shinigami, fool, I see through you, you see them for what they are. Monsters.”

“I hate the system, not the shinigami.”

“I don't care, I won't be led by a shinigami. Feed the world glutton.” A wave of reiatsu blasted over Lucius. The arrancar was reasonably strong. Lucius could be proud, if the fool hadn't challenged him for a second time. The force of his reiatsu caused the ground to crack beneath him, huge amounts of dust blew up around him, caught by his swirling reiatsu, and blocking him from sight. Beside him his head fraction released, nowhere near as impressive, but still reasonable.

Spear like toes stepped out from the dust cloud, each one plated in thick bone. Two blade like arms emerged above them, before finally the round figure of Azazel burst forth. His form near doubled in size by the increase in bone around him, he was ready for battle. Iblis fell onto all foours, his back arching, and his face stretching. Paws forming on his feet and hands, the dog like arrancar howled and stood by his master. “My my, you two couldn't even do the usual fight me unreleased, then one of you releases, then the other, you went straight for the full fight, I'm impressed.”

Iblis leapt at Lucius. Hiw huge fangs up close looked quite terrifying. But it wasn't the fangs Lucius had to worry about. Ducking beneath body of the arrancar Lucius dropped his cane. His palm held up he released a burst of kido, sending Iblis flying upwards, smashing into the high ceiling. Azazel rushed at him as his back was turned, trying to take any advantage he could. “You two are so annoyingly slow, I can hardly believe your my espada.” Jumping as Azazel reached him, Lucius landed on the fat arrancar's shoulders. For a second his eyes met with those of the espada, hatred burned in the hollow's eyes, hatred for him, for everything. Jumping from the bone plates Lucius followed Iblis into the air.

Fear was written over the dogs face, he never wanted to start the fight, but he was too weak willed to leave his espada. A low maon wormed out of his lips, he knew in that instant they stood no chance. A ball of compressed air flew towards the dog, rippling and distorting their vision, the ball erupted out in a vacuum blade. The dog was severed cleanly in half. His guts spilled out in a shower of blood and filth, coating the white walls red. “Sorry Iblis, but you didn't make the cut.”

The two halves of Iblis fell around Azazel, coating him in the entrails of his servant. “Lucius you bastard, after I'm through with you, you'll wish you had Iblis's fate.” Azazel spun on his feet, his blade arms twisting as he did,. The sharp limbs barely missed Lucius. All it took was a single step backwards, and Lucius had escaped. “Stay still coward.” Swiping furiously, the espada was making no headway. Lucius seemed to not care as the blades clipped the odd hair from his skull.

Ducking beneath a swipe to his head, Lucius planted his hand against the arrancar's stomach. “Rikujokoro.” The six rods of light flew into form all sides, binding the arrancar in place. “Sajo sabaku.” In another second Azazel's arms were bound behind himself, held in place by Lucius's will. “Isn't it sad, when you and your head fraction, get beaten by a captain who's not even in shikai?””

“So what happens now Lucius, you gonna kill me?” Iblis had already begun regeneration. But it was no use, not even Azazel could replace lost organs fast enough to survive. “You are merely a butcher, you killed your friends, and you kill your enemies, you are nothing but destruction incarnate.” The espada laughed to himself, like he had proven a point to Lucius.

“You know whats funny, Iblis has been hiding this ability from you.” Azazel didn't have a clue as to what Lucius talked about. The confusion contorting his face. “I'm going to prove to you, that your most trusted hollow friend, would kill you to survive and advance. Then you can tell me who is really destruction incarnate.” A burst of kido sent Azazel rolling over to his head fraction, both arrancar fell touching each other. “You may as well show him Iblis, “

The flesh of the smaller arrancar lashed out. Elongating into long tentacles, the skin and bone merged with Azazel's. Screaming, the espada struggled against his bindings. Panic overtook him as he realised what was happening. He thought he was ready for death, and even if he wasn't, Lucius would've given him a quick death. But this was terrifying. Screams echoed down the hall as Azazel became one with Iblis. His organs replaced the lost ones of the do arrancar, healing him. The process was slow, painful and long. Every nerve was alfame in Azazel's body, and his mind was pushed to bursting point.

“Iblis. I'll give you a while, but welcome to the ranks of the espada.” Iblis was little more than a mess of flesh on the ground. His body would take a while to fully assimilate the former espada, but he would be all the stronger for it.

“Child, you are becoming overconfident.” Out from a side passage stepped Jacques. His scythe held firmly in his hands, and his blue eyes watching Lucius carefully. “You know what must happen if you think yourself above your station.” There was no menace in his voice, no threat, merely statements of what he believed to be fact.

“I know, but if I don't act arrogant before these subjects, if I don't show myself to be godlike, then they won't obey me, even with Hisori beside me. Weaknesss from one of us reflects badly on the other.” Jacques was as impassive as ever, he did not truly care for anything. He was apathy given a form, and apathy they said, was death. “You think it unnecessary, but don't you rrightly use the correct amount of power to enact your order, don't you act like a god.”

“I am a balance, the thing against all life is measured, I am the near opposite of a god.”

“Yet you are so confident you think you own the future of all beings? Don't act high and mighty with me, I admire your strength, and do not reprimand you because you are strong enough to destroy everything I work for, but if you dare harm my plans, even once I will see to it that you suffer. I know some secrets about you.”

“If I suffer to do my duty, then I suffer. If I die to enact my justice, then I die. Whatever happens, it is right, everything ends Lucius, remember that.”

“My dream won't end, even if I do, not even you can end that.” Jacques turned away, he had other business to do. He was part of fraction 0, part of Lucius and Konimatsu's personal guard, but he was not their slave. Both men knew this, but with one such as him it was best to accept him as a friend, rather than refuse what help he offered. “Jacques, I'll be with fraction 9, they have a lot of work to do, make sure Iblis is set in.”

“I shall, his time is not now, he has not earned his death.”

(can tapi grade this, since this effects both our characters most)

Subject: Re: end of an era Sun Feb 14, 2010 7:49 am

very interesting open hostility on the first day was to be expected after all. Atleast thats one less espada to worry about betraying us and now ill know where to make my post from.

Anyway, as always very well written and an enjoyable read. And Jacques fits ur char so well lol anyway well done

39 exp

Subject: Re: end of an era Mon Feb 15, 2010 10:05 am

Konimatsu wove through the pale white corridors of Fraccion 4, Nyneave trailing quitely behind him. She had managed to arrive safely from soul society on Konimatsu's Garganta and had stayed in his quarters undisturbed. The squad 4 member she had come with had roused himself awake and she had not so gently knocked him out again as soon as his wits had returned to him. The hallway they were in was eerily dim despite the gilded stand lamps that studded the walls on either side. Their bright glows may as well have been dull pale reflections through a murky glass for all the illumination they gave. Ofcourse this was no surprise considering that the figure in the shadows was passing through.

Robed in all black and seemingly swathed in darkness itself, Konimatsu exuded power, strength and Arrancar reatsu. It was no longer necessary for him and Lucius to maintain these forms however this was what the arrancar living here saw when they thought of their figure heads, but that was not why he wore this shroud. It had seemed the most natural thing to do as soon as he had arrived; to establish himself firmly in fraction 4 first and then branch out. He held no illusions that the arrancar would take kindly to him and Lucius being shinigami and added to the fact that he had been the one who had killed Jiruga he doubted that all in fraction 4 would follow him on bended knee. But, if there was one thing that he knew it was that power was feared, and fear was not too far short of respect in many situations and so in some minds power was in it self deserving of respect. Who could be more powerful than the creator? Who could deny the creators identity when it was revealed to them rather than told by one who saw it done in the middle of a battle field? If it was not for that fact that for his intents and purposes the cooperation of these younglings was imperative he wouldn't even be bothering with this.

As Konimatsu and Nyneave rounded another corner they found themselves standing infront of a Large arched Metallic door with a little green access pad beside it. Not just anyone could waltz freely into the labs and Konimatsu had expected as much, he himself had been the same way when he was still the captain of the 12th squad. Thinking of himself as the former captain of the 12th squad still seemed odd to him but that did not stop him from moving forward. He had no intentions of knocking and waiting for someone to open the doors for him, omnipresence was what he was going for. Held out his hand for Nyneave to take and as soon as her hand was clasped on his they immediately sank into his little pool of shadow which had encompassed Nyneaves own shadow forming a bigger pool.

In this form there was nothing that was too low for Konimatsu to get under, Kage siuei (shadow swimming). They travelled under the edge of the door where a faint blue light had been radiating from, once on the other side they emerged from the pool of shadow. Whatever hustle and bustle had been going on before ceased the moment Konimatsu and Nyneave appeared and as soon as recognition had dawned on those masked faces some looking stranger than the last, they bowed. Konimatsu's shadow seemed to stretch circumferencing a considerable amount of space around him.

-Repeated bit copy paste error (Konimatsu wove through the pale white corridors of Fraccion 4, Nyneave trailing quitely behind him. She had managed to arrive safely from soul society on Konimatsu's Garganta and had stayed in his quarters undisturbed. The squad 4 member she had come with had roused himself awake and she had not so gently knocked him out again as soon as his wits had returned to him. The hallway they were in was eerily dim despite the gilded stand lamps that studded the walls on either side. Their bright glows may as well have been dull pale reflections through a murky glass for all the illumination they gave. Ofcourse this was no surprise considering that the figure in the shadows was passing through.

Robed in all black and seemingly swathed in darkness itself, Konimatsu exuded power, strength and Arrancar reatsu. It was no longer necessary for him and Lucius to maintain these forms however this was what the arrancar living here saw when they thought of their figure heads, but that was not why he wore this shroud. It had seemed the most natural thing to do as soon as he had arrived; to establish himself firmly in fraction 4 first and then branch out. He held no illusions that the arrancar would take kindly to him and Lucius being shinigami and added to the fact that he had been the one who had killed Jiruga he doubted that all in fraction 4 would follow him on bended knee. But, if there was one thing that he knew it was that power was feared, and fear was not too far short of respect in many situations and so in some minds power was in it self deserving of respect. Who could be more powerful than the creator? Who could deny the creators identity when it was revealed to them rather than told by one who saw it done in the middle of a battle field? If it was not for that fact that for his intents and purposes the cooperation of these younglings was imperative he wouldn't even be bothering with this.

As Konimatsu and Nyneave rounded another corner they found themselves standing infront of a Large arched Metallic door with a little green access pad beside it. Not just anyone could waltz freely into the labs and Konimatsu had expected as much, he himself had been the same way when he was still the captain of the 12th squad. Thinking of himself as the former captain of the 12th squad still seemed odd to him but that did not stop him from moving forward. He had no intentions of knocking and waiting for someone to open the doors for him, omnipresence was what he was going for. Held out his hand for Nyneave to take and as soon as her hand was clasped on his they immediately sank into his little pool of shadow which had encompassed Nyneaves own shadow forming a bigger pool.

In this form there was nothing that was too low for Konimatsu to get under, Kage siuei (shadow swimming). They travelled under the edge of the door where a faint blue light had been radiating from, once on the other side they emerged from the pool of shadow. Whatever hustle and bustle had been going on before ceased the moment Konimatsu and Nyneave appeared and as soon as recognition had dawned on those masked faces some looking stranger than the last, they bowed. Konimatsu's shadow seemed to stretch encompassing a considerable amount of space around him.)- copy paste error ends here

"Seeing as I already have your attention," Konimatsu said, his eyes sweeping across the massive white tiled room. The walls where a milky baby blue and the fluorescent white lights kept the room very well lit. Despite the several large metallic machines, the odd glass piece of equipment, the 13 arrancar standing here and there many looking cowed and the massive deck of computers at the far end of the room, the lab seemed quite spacious. "I will just cut straight to the chase" Konimatsu went on, his eyes now flickering momentarily on each individual face, when his gaze rested on a white coated arrancar with a top knot, a pinched nose and a hooked chin. His eyes shone amber beneath his mask fragment that framed his forehead down to his nose like head band. This particular arrancar stared back in defiance identifying him as the one in charge.

"As you all may know Jiruga Gunderstank is dead, he revealed himself to be treacherous and unworthy. He raise his sword against me and the end result was his demise. Does anyone object to this?" "not that it would matter" Konimatsu thought to himself darkly. A few heads shook and some remained still not caring either way and a handful frowned slightly, pursing their lips. The white coated one's expression did not change even a flicker.

"Good," Konimatsu went on " with that said and done i will be taking command of this fraction for the time being, until you get yourselves ordered and a new espada is raised."
That raised a few heads. "In a few minutes all the data files and information that was held in soul society will be uploaded onto our mainframes" That brightened faces and put a smile on more than 1 face, murmurs rose and a "hoot" came from somewhere to the left hand side of the lab.

"This is what i expect from you," Konimatsu said a hush immediately settling "I will have your cooperation when i desire it, if i want something done i expect it done. You have free reign to study, research, develop or invent what ever you like, i look forward to being impressed but when assigned something by me, that comes first and foremost" From the looks of ecstacy on most of those faces Konimatsu could guess that Jiruga kept a really tight leash on who was allowed to do what. "It's almost too convenient.

On a small brown shelf a few paces away a basket containing a stack of silver coins caught Konimatsu's eye. He had seen those before when he fought Jiruga and curiousity took the better of him. This pool of shadow rolled over itself like circulating waves and Konimatsu drifted towards the basket seeming to ride the waves, his left arm out stretched. It was a lazy habit that he had developed ever since he started using this form as the figure in the shadows, one he did not particularly like but at the moment his attentions were else where.

"I will need an inventory of what has been made and equipment there is in this lab" Konimatsu said absent mindedly as he fiddled with the silver gadgets. A closer look showed that they were not coins but resembled a coin to a large extent. They felt like steel and on one of the flat ends was a small pin for pricking ones self by Konimatsu's presumption.

"Those are Jiruga sama's Clonifiyers" said the white coated arrancar rather testily but Konimatsu paid him no mind. "Clonifyers" Konimatsu thought to himself tossing the name about in his head "what a horrible name. Taking a chance Konimatsu pricked his thumb and immediately felt the device absorbed a tiny amount of his reatsu, it began to glow a dark blue colour which Konimatsu knew reflected his own reatsu. Jiruga's has been a brilliant yellowish gold. Remembering that also reminded him to flick the little thing, it made a wide arc glinting silver with the white fluorescent light and then it stopped in mid air rotating and then conforming into another man in a shadows. Despite having seen this before some of the arrancar in the room gasped but again Konimatsu paid them no mind he was too fascinated.

The absorption did not come from the appearance of a second him but rather from what it did to the mind. There was a feeling of compartmentalisation as though a small section of his mind was now soley dedicated to controlling the illusion standing infront of him and it was an odd sensation. Turning back to the little box, there were nearly 20 left but he picked out 5 more silver "clonifyers", "something will have to be done about the name", and pricked himself with each flipping it in turn and then marvelling at the sensation. His mind simply felt more crowded but not uncomfortably so, by his guess he would say that the users control over reatsu had a play in it and as soon as that though came did he notice that the others seemed to be radiating reatsu just as he was but they werent. Arrancar reatsu to the same intensity as his but yet they were not radiating ... that he would need to sit down and think about to come up with a satisfactory explaination of his own.

"Do you intend to use all of them, we are in short supply" The white coated arrancar said clutching his clip board hard, to Konimatsu it was a wonder he wasnt quivering with rage.

"And who might you be child?" One of the other clone Konimatsu's said when Konimatsu willed him to speak.

"Suladric Aroihan" he replied curtly.

"And i take it, .........................."
".................,you are in charge?" said another 2 clones in turn.

"They are not easy to make, it seems like a waste to just carelessly activate them and then discard them" Suladric replied glaring at Konimatsu, the real one.

One of the clones shumpoed behind Suladric who immediately tensed, then relaxed when it came to him that it was just one of the clones.

"Tsk, tsk tsk tsk ................................ .If this is all"
"...................... how very dis................................it is capable of"
".........................................appointing ...................................... then it will have to be remodelled" Said 3 clones finishing each other sentences.

"Child, this device is lacking. Whether i decide to smash them all right now is completely up to me these things are no longer going to be of use. They are in efficient, would it not be better if instead of lowering they increased brain capacity or if those mindless clones, contributed some information? Right now i would be able to see from that clones point of view but i cannot. But i will admit the idea in itself was brilliant." Said Konimatsu.

"Lets not forget" Chimed in one of the clones "considering what you just said, these things have a one time use. Seems rather wasteful and pointless if they are so hard to make"

"So how to i turn them off" Konimatsu asked.

"An electrical current." Suladric said maliciously "We have a taser and i will gladly get it for you."

"What a stupid device” Konimatsu said before laying a hand on his chest and saying “Hadou 12 fushibi” an intentionally weak electrical current immediately spread across his body. His muscles knotted up but he had been prepared so he showed no outward sign.

"So what everyones been saying is true! You are nothing more than a mere shinigami! Look, see how he uses kido" Suladric spat gesturing widely with his hands. there was a little shuffling of feet but no one spoke up or said anything for or against. Konimatsu didnt know whether to think of the others as wise or cowardly.

"What does that change?" Konimatsu asked nonchalantly

"EVERYTHING," Suladric announciated as though he was speaking to on idiot. This rankled Konimatsu. "Yo

"Fool child. Tell me from your perspective what is the difference between a shinigami and an arrancar?"

"Well thats simple, shinigami hunt and kill arrancar and hollows. THEY are the oppressors! how can i simply be expected to follow a shinigami. I can even turn my back to you without expecting a sword in my back." Suladrc said fervourently and that sparked a few murmurs quite possibly of agreement."

"Nonsense! I will not allow foolishness so long as i am here. If you expect to keep your place here display some level of intelligence. Most hollow would not trust their backs to other hollows just as some shinigami would not trust their backs with other shinigami. I have seen Hollow kill hollow for the pure enjoyment of it, for power and I have seen shinigami kill shinigami. How many have hollows you killed to get to where you are? I made you and i can un make you do not forget that! You hold loathing based on what you yourself do to others of your kind; nonsense! What exactly are you after?" Konimatsu shumpoed right in front of Suladric and he had his index finger on Suladrics forehead.

"Mashin souhou" Konimatsu murmured as he jerked his fingers away from Suladrics head and a black film layered Suladrics eyes. Suladric bellowed and clutched at his face shouting about how he could not see staggering left and right into tabled and machinery, the others simply avoided him side stepping when he staggered close. He would find out that it was not permanant soon enough.

Konimatsu sniffed loudly "So thats how it is, with the Jiruga gone and his head fraccion gone that puts you in the highest position as the former third in command. My presence here as a power figure ruins your desire for power."
"let them think i can read minds that will make them step lightly Konimatsu thought. "I will return your sight so stop flailing, just know who stands above you. And if you wish to challenge my authority again give me a proper cause and i might listen otherwise i will burn you where you stand." Konimatsu held out his left hand and a black mass formed and abruptly turned into his sword he swung it once and all the darkness that had formed him seemed to retreat away from his body giving his sealing a dramatic effect. a number of the onlookers caught their breaths and stepped back and the dark shadows passed over them before disappearing.

"Now like i said before," Konimatsu said, whilst sheathing his sword, clothed in the arrancar fashion. he did not know if he would stick with this uniform or not. He rather envied Lucius' choice to be apart but he had not yet come to a decision he did not think much on such things. "i want an inventory on everything you have so far. Form a line and give your names, what you specialise in and interesting abilities you may have to Nyneave here. She will be working very closely with you." They all began milling towards Nyneave some looking resigned but most expectant if not excited.

"There will be 2 major projects i want us to be working on in the next few weeks. The least significant being bugs ... Hollow insects anyone here know any." Konimatsu asked. A fat balding arrancar who wore hard goggles that his his eyes and had his mask fragment all across his lower jaw pipped up.

"I know of a hive (like dondochakka)father" he said with a slurring accent.

"Wonderful i want him brought to me as soon as possible. Do you know how many insect type arrancar he holds in his body? And is anyone of you a tracker or know of a tracker?" Hands and voices rose up in answer and more questions bubbled up. Things were going nicely indeed.

Subject: Re: end of an era Mon Feb 15, 2010 12:41 pm

Overall this was just an OK read. Poor fraction 4 members.
I agree the name "clonifyer" is kinda...ugh.
Konimatsu established his dominance over a few weaklings but that's no big really. It'll be nice to see how the third seat treats you after this incident. Rebelliousness is entertaining.

Your grammar was lacking and some areas it just threw me off and screwed up the flow.
The imagery was a tad below average and there wasn't much eloquence because of your wording and the grammar issues.

Overall...your grade will be 25 EXP though.

Subject: Re: end of an era Mon Feb 15, 2010 2:25 pm

it was Konimatsu establishing dominance over a whole fraction which he wouldnt have to do except for the fact that their Espada had been against him. And considering that we dont know what any of the other fraction members have in their arsenals and are capable of cant call them all weaklings but only resigned. We cant all run into espada who want to kill us, thats a bit far fetched so i had to settle for something not particularly eventful and violent.

I thought my grammar was alright actually :S i guess its something ill have to work on. I know i have an issue with making sentences too long sometimes and my grammar is old fashioned if anything is i but didnt think it was that bad Sad

.
tnx for the grade though Very Happy

Subject: Re: end of an era Mon Feb 15, 2010 3:25 pm

I was reading through it again and i saw that a massive chunk was repasted on again so that was a mistake in transfering from microsoft word :S sorry about that

Subject: Re: end of an era Mon Feb 15, 2010 3:52 pm

a note on a fraction members strength. i would like people to remember, fro called them weaklings, and tapi correctly pointed out we don't know their strengths. while as the figures we probably have files on each arrancar, even if we don't literally remember each and every individual.

also, just ebcause an arrancar isn't espada, doesn't mean it's not strong enough to be. in each fraction you have to kinda, nominate yourself for becoming espada or heda fraction, the figure won't promote you unless you actually want it, a reluctant leader is a pointless leader, we'd rather have someone who's weak, and wants to lead, than someone who's strong yet doesn't give a damn. so in lets say fraction 4, in the about 100 arrancar, there maybe be five of espada strength.

Subject: Re: end of an era Tue Feb 16, 2010 10:02 am

anyway even though tapi didn't ask for this, me and blaz have decided a slight regrade is in order. we personally feel 40xp is correct for this piece, as like me you subdued an entire fraction, you did it more through speaking and logic, which for a fraction such as number 4's, is the important thing. so 40xp is in order. we also don't feel your grammar was bad, and calling an fraction a group of weaklings is harsh. even if they were all lv 1, enough different abilities could overwhelm anyone.

Subject: Re: end of an era Tue Feb 16, 2010 10:10 am

tapi's after math piece will be re graded and the result is!

40 exp.

Both mine and evenar's decision.