Crimson Snow [Iro VS Alik. R, NDE]

(OOC) No worries, you were busy, it happens.

IC: "Captain! Captain!!" A young nonseated officer fresh out of the Academy was running full tilt towards the Squad 11 Barracks, making a large amount of noise. The kid was stopped short of the Captain's office by one of the mid-tier officers. It was a known rule throughout the squad that panic was not tolerated inside the Captain's quarters. The Shinigami composed himself and then was allowed inside. The room was, at the moment, a complete disaster zone. The room was being remodeled, away from the circus-like decorations of the previous Captain, to a more casual area.

Iro Kuchiki, the new Captain of the 11th Squad, turned away from the construction Shinigmai to address the newcomer. He simply raised an eyebrow as if to say "what can I do for you?" He wasn't a man of many words, preferring body language to long winded speeches. "It's the Land of the Living, Kuchiki-taicho. It's under attack." Immediately the builders were thanked and ushered out of the room, and undivided attention was given to the reporting Shinigami. "Tell me more, son." Through clearing his throat and mumbling, the nonseat started the story.

"We got a big blip on the radar that started in Washington D.C. of the Americas. From previous analysis, it appeared to be a Hell Gate. It opened up for just a moment, then disappeared. However, something remained there, something with mobility. Signals all over started disappearing, and before too long, most of the city was wiped out. The signal is still there, and the Primary Attack Squad has been requested to deal with the catastrophe." The boy had barely finished the story before Iro was cloaked in his Captain's Haori and armed with his elegant Zanpakutou at his side. "This one I will handle myself."

A chalky black substance followed every step that the Kuchiki took as he made his way toward the Senkaimon, barely even trying to keep a lid on his reiatsu. The Land of the Living was especially dear to him, as he lived there for most of his unnatural life. He saw nations rise and fall, and as a Brit he had mixed feelings about the Americas. He had seen the travesty caused by the Revolution, but also fought alongside them in the Great Wars. Whatever his feelings for them in particular, he would not allow humans to be butchered, no matter if Hell itself was in his way. Rebecca... I'm coming home. Passing through the Senkaimon, who knew what would be waiting for him in the Land of the Living.

The Senkaimon closed behind the Captain, and what he saw almost made him want to reopen it and return back to the safety of the Soul Society. The world that he had loved, his precious Land of the Living, was a bloodbath. Scarlet dripped from the walls, ran down the cobblestone paved street, soaked into the dirt forming horrid mud. On top of a pile of bodies, the one who performed such a massive genocidal attack just stood there, tears pouring from his face. Remorse? Couldn't be... This masked and cloaked figure was truly odd, sobbing over so many pillaged bodies for an unknown reason.

Becoming angry, the man, if it could be called a man, started to growl out an explanation for his crimes. "They are free. I freed them. They are safe, God could not save them, only I." This started to get Iro's blood boiling. It usually took a fair amount of work, and butchering an entire city and calling it safe could definitely be considered a fair amount of work. "This ain't safe, monster. Can't even perform Konso on those souls you ruined." Without missing a beat, Alik's voice changed to an upbeat, perky tone. "Please, take them away. Take their body away. I am done." The Kuchiki Captain shook his head as if that wasn't ever going to be allowed to go unpunished. Telling a Kuchiki what to do, especially to do filthy work of evildoers, that was completely unforgivable, not to mention desecrating bodies like so.

Alik turned to face Iro, the completely blank mask providing no help as to the nature of his emotions. As he began to speak again, his true voice peeked through, a soft whisper into the Kuchiki's ears, inescapable and dark. The whisper told him that he was neither angel nor demon, that he was plain, and as it made little sense to the Shinigami, there wasn't a problem with it. There was nothing wrong with being plain in the Soul Reaper's mind, he had no qualms with being called plain. Not wasting any breath by talking, eventually the monster got the hint and started talking again. "Do not feel pity for the deceased. Life on earth is worse. Life on earth is torture, Hell you die, you live, you die, you life. In the other world I do not know, must be worse. But I freed them from life. You have question? Ask, speak, before they take. I will rip your tongue off afterwards, you will be freed from your torture."

Every emotion in the spectrum was spread liberally throughout his monologue, adding to the appearance of utter insanity that it had produced the entire exchange. Emotions were a foreign substance to it, and Alik had absolutely no control over them. He showed no fear of Iro, and at the moment he would have no reason to. The Saika walked forwards, and it was now perfectly clear that this was no human, nor anything of the Land of the Living that was standing across the way from Iro. Two growths squirmed as if they were undead on top of his back, like stumps from where wings had been severed. "You look like a fallen angel, with those stumps." Whether or not it was because of that comment, Alik began to freak out, becoming locked in the angry voice and gathering a new layer of demonic sounds on top of it.

The Kuchiki ignored most of the rant, but a certain phrase caught his attention. "YOU ARE NOTHING BUT DUST!" His hand immediately went to his Zanpakutou's hilt at his side, extremely cautious. It was either pure coincidence, or this beast was able to peer into memories and pull out information. How else could he know and comment on the release phrase for Tsukuri-te? Still in full rage mode, Alik picked up a corpse and threw it at the Shinigami. The throw seemed weak, as if it was no better than Iro himself was capable of, and simply ducking his shoulder and pushing off with his legs sent the body flying past the Soul Reaper. What he saw when he again looked at the Saika was incredibly impressive.

Darkness followed Alik. Darkness embraced him, cradled him, clothed him. The mask was no longer blank, having a line drawn on it like an unemotional face, and the cloak had dissipated, revealing the straight jacket underneath that was quickly consumed in the resulting crash of shadows against his skin, if you could call it skin. The new power radiating off of his body was sheerly enormous. His Spiritual Pressure and Reiatsu Strength had probably at least quintupled if not increased further, now dwarfing the Kuchiki's own power. "You truly are hellspawn." The Monster from Hell rushed the Soul Reaper, revealing massive speed that was difficult to keep up with.

Alik was easily three times faster than Iro at base speed, and though Iro was able to keep track of him, he couldn't react fast enough to avoid the punch that broke a few of his ribs. He was pushed to the ground, then lifted by the throat up to the monsters face, if you could truly call it a face. From behind the mask there was a breath that possessed the stench of a thousand rotting camels, and the thin line actually parted to reveal a mouth of razor teeth and an appendage of darkness sifting around. The smell of death in the breath grew exponentially as if the mask had been holding most of it back. The creature was about to bite Iro's face off, but held back, and demanded that the Kuchiki fight.

That was perfectly fine with Iro, who was so royally pissed at this point by the blatant disregard for innocent lives and the insult to himself. He was thrown back, traveled a good distance, and landed in a pile of bodies that cushioned his blow. "You'll be avenged." Out of the Saika's arm appeared a Katana, which would have been surprising if it weren't for Iro's powers. It was unsettling that a beast of Hell would use a similar power for such grand evil, however it wouldn't stop the Soul Reaper from drawing his Zanpakutou and speaking. "From Dust to Dust, Tsukuri-te"

The blade was an elegant silver, with a pitch black streak sewn through it. That tainted portion consumed the rest of the blade, making it a liquid. There was a black pearl at the bottom of the hilt, and it was filled with the liquid and exploded, sending a wave of unavoidable reiatsu a quarter mile in every direction. In the process, Iro's arms were coated with a now solidified rock hard substance that turned his fingers like claws and his elbows to sharp points. His hair had been flowing upwards at this point, and the sleeves of his shirt were torn completely off by the explosion, now drifting on the breeze. A firm stare would show Alik that it was time to get serious and atone for his crimes.

The Saika charged Iro with the same incredible speed, but this time the Shinigami had tricks up his sleeve. A bubble of large hexagons, appearing like a soccer ball, appeared around the Captain, black in color, and surrounded him on all sides. If Alik did not care about it, nor changed his course, and still struck it, he'd find that his attack would bounce off. The Cubane shield that Iro had created had two special properties. If the opponent's reiatsu strength was not more than double Iro's own, then it would repel the attack instead of be broken. The second property was a result of the wave of reiatsu that had passed through Alik a moment before. The wave of reiatsu had tainted the Saika even as Iro was tainted, causing the Land of the Living element of Carbon to be bonded to Alik's reiatsu.

As the large sword struck the shield, Alik himself would feel slightly drained, as if his reiatsu had been sucked out. The Saika lost no reiatsu, simply the carbon in his reiatsu had reinforced the Cubane shield, it now possessing a reiatsu strength of 1900. In addition, as Alik had struck the shield with a part of his release, the time that he would be able to stay out of hell would be reduced by one post from the strain caused by the absorbing of the reiatsu strength. Iro stood at the center of the shield, watching as the executioner's sword struck it. Even though the shield was now incredibly strong, it was pitiful to stay hiding behind it, as both the Captain of the 11th Squad and as a noble of the Kuchiki. In a little bit of pain from the wound he had received, he spoke up. "You're not the only one who can summon up weapons."

Thin wires extended from Iro's shoulders and head, going past the shield as it faded to try and go past Alik about a foot to either side of him and a foot above him. These were moving at a stat speed of 700, like Iro's reiatsu strength, so were not moving so fast as the Saika would not be able to deal with them if he was the kind of person to run from something that wasn't even aimed at him. A moment later, a large spike appeared out Iro's chest, aimed directly at the Saika in an attempt to impale him. That was a directly offensive attack, and would be much more of a threat than the small wires, quite possibly. Alik probably had a lot of options for what to do, and Iro had no idea what the Hellspawn had up his sleeve to be able to do.

Remaining Reiatsu: 3700/4000 (-300 Cubane)
Remaining Carbon: 200/250 (-30 Wires, -20 Spike)
Combat posts: 1/12 (1/6 until SpPr loss)

There was a quick flash, and a surge of power that was barely even noticed before Iro found himself being thrown backwards at incredibly speeds, even more of his ribs broken, as well as his sternum cracked and his lungs bothered. The last one was the biggest issue for the Captain, who suffered from physical exertion induced asthma. If the bladed edge of the sword had struck him, he'd have been a goner based on the massive strength that Alik now possessed, even greater than he previously had. Even still, Iro's body was wracked with pain, and though he was good at keeping calm, pain tolerance was not a special skill of his. "Must... Avenge the fallen..."

The attack that Iro had planned, the spikes and wires, never happened, as Alik had destroyed the cubane shield and sent Iro flying. Instead, Iro used some Carbon to create for himself a set of strings, that moved from the center of his back to wrap around each wrist, each ankle, his head, and his torso. As his objects were controlled mentally, as long as he had willpower, he didn't need his body in order to move. He picked himself up just in time to avoid the shower of debris and to be shocked to watch one of the greatest abominations he had ever laid witness too. Even the Great Wars, that had claimed millions of lives, were just on par with what he was seeing at this point.

The Hellbeast, the Sinner, the Monster, was simply devouring the corpses that laid battered and broken on the ground. Shoveling them inside its black mouth, tearing at their flesh and then vomiting sludge everywhere. He was carrying Iro's own Zanpakutou, an abomination in itself, and was desecrating the bodies of women, children, and men without prejudice. Not even seeming to be satisfied, but rather bored, Alik stopped eating and went away a far distance. Enraged at the disrespect and the massive evil being done to these people, Iro charged after him, following with a quick, but painful, Shunpo. In no time at all Iro came to the spot where Alik had stopped, roughly a football field away from the beast.

The Sinner climbed up the Washington Monument, a symbol of a great leader of the American History and tore it down, turning half of it into rubble and then finishing the rest of it off in just a few more swings. What the Saika had against tall erect buildings was beyond the Captain, but for some reason it felt the need to tear it down. This was the final straw, and a rage boiled inside Iro that would emanate from him like a wildfire. "Humans, destroyed, lives, torn asunder, memories, crushed. This will not be forgiven." Alik would probably be immediately alerted to the Shinigami's presence, as a furious aura kicked into motion, followed by two more. These auras were of the famous, and feared, Kuchiki Hana. The first was a booster to Iro, the second two cuts made to Alik.

Iro's speed was boosted by 50%, and his Reiatsu Strength boosted by 30% from his Kyuujo Hana, even while his speed was cut by 1/3. The following two auras that were a hamper on Alik also reduced his speed by 1/3, causing his speed to be 50% of what it originally was, due to Kyuujo offsetting some of the lack of speed. Kyoukou #1 and Kyoukou #4 would reduce Alik's speed and instints by 20% and then his speed by 40 more percent respectively, leaving him with just 40% of his original speed and 80% of his instincts. These auras stretched over two miles in every direction. Iro was not messing around, he was going all out, and he was going to wreck the monster that had devastated this city. Inside his outstretched hands grew a tube, a foot wide, a foot tall, and a foot long, with an open front and a closed back.

Iro wasn't limited to melee weapons, and through his immersion in the World Wars he saw the rise of guns as a mass weapon of war. He had stared down tanks, torn apart planes, and dissected quite a few different firearms in his day, and Alik was staring at a good sized one. Inside the tube grew a mortar round, which fired at a stat speed of 910 towards the monster standing inside the rubble of the Washington Monument. The Sinner would probably be shocked to find his body moving so slowly, at only a stat speed of 680, so it might be possible that he wouldn't expect it to be difficult to dodge. He might wait until the last possible moment that his old speed would have been able to handle it, or try to catch it with his old speed, which would result in a failure quite possibly. It was a fairly good sized projectile, with a sharp point, so it would hurt a lot to get struck in the chest with. "Eat this, you defiler!"

Remaining Reiatsu: 2500/4000 (-150 Kyoukou 1, -400 Kyoukou 4, -600 Kyuujo, -50 Shunpo)
Remaining Carbon: 205/250 (+50 attack that didn't happen, -10 strings, -30 mortar tube, -5 mortar shell
Combat Posts: 2/12 (2/6 until SpPr loss)

New RS: 910
New base Speed: 200

Alik, most certainly, did eat the mortar. It all started when he noticed the auras that drained him of most of his speed and a bit of his mental power. The Sinner started laughing, sending twisted noises far across the charred city, reaching Iro with no problem at all. He was laughing and screaming at the same time, sending messages on the wind to cut at the heart of the Shinigami Captain. "IS THIS WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO KNOW FEAR ON EARTH!? ARE YOU MY ANGEL OF DEATH?! WILL YOU SAVE ME FROM DAMNATION!?" The laughter, that awful grating noise, was everywhere, closing in on the Kuchiki, stabbing at his sanity, trying to drive him mad with just how pervasive it was.

The mortar shell was fired, and went straight for Alik's maddening face. Before it could get there, the Saika exploded into a wave of the sludge that had previously engulfed him, and when the mortar struck the massive wave, it simply was absorbed and completely lost inside. What was left was scary, a mess of black ooze that pulsed, growing and shrinking at a rate that made its body size practically constant. It was like the tides, ebbing and flowing, at an interval of mere moments, quivering in the air, taunting Iro. "YOUR ATTACK FAILED! YOU WILL NOT AVENGE THESE LIVES, BUT YOU CAN AVENGE YOURSELF! YOU WILL BE MY ANGEL OF MERCY! YOU WILL BRING ME DEATH WHEN I FIGHT BACK. I WILL GO DOWN KICKING AND SCREAMING WHILE YOU DISPENSE THE ANGEL OF DEATH." All Iro could think while Alik was screaming was one word. Muk...

To the Shinigami, what he was appearing to be looking at was an evil manifestation of his own Zanpakutou Spirit, Muk. The Captain just stood where he was, completely dumbfounded. So many coincidences were piling up, he wasn't sure what to believe any more. "You are a freak of nature. Somehow, you knew of my release phrase before I had spoken it. Somehow, you copied by abilities, and my Zanpakutou. Somehow, you appear as my Zanpakutou Spirit. You are an abomination, and you cannot be of me! There's no way that in any way I gave birth to such a monster, a life destroyer, a maniac. Begone from me, foul beast, and never return!" The Captain was beyond angry, beyond fury, beyond reason. It made no sense why this thing of Hell had mirrored him in so many ways, and even if it weren't for the wanton destruction of so many humans, Iro would feel it was his personal responsibility to destroy this creature.

The Kuchiki removed his Haori. The sleeves could be easily repaired, but what was about to happen next would have torn the whole thing apart, a generally uncool thing to do to such a prominent symbol. "Rise up and Rule over the Living, Saisho-Shuuryou." The black solid that was coating Iro's arms climbed up his shoulders, up his neck, and poured down his throat. His entire body was coated in the substance, and two black skeletal wings stretched out of his shoulder blades, removing the need for the strings that were formerly controlling his body, which were absorbed during the transformation into the state of Bankai, the most powerful of levels known to the Shinigami.

When the black coating settled down on Iro's body, a small drop of it was bouncing up and down over the Kuchiki's head. It grew, while also shrinking and compacting, until it started to shine with the brilliant light of polished diamond. This diamond folded over itself multiple times before starting to resemble a circlet, which settled on the Soul Reaper's head. "I am the King of the Land of the Living, and my subjects will be avenged!" The Captain's Reiatsu Strength surged, surpassing Alik's even though the strength of Hell had empowered him. "This isn't even my final form!" The ground started to rumble, and spikes started to slowly raise up out of it. They started slow at first, small spikes growing ever so slightly spaced out every three yards in every direction for a mile in radius.

There were five thousand spikes, all growing for about thirty seconds, at which point in time they shot upwards in height, creating a forest of rugged diamond trees that covered the entirety of Washington D.C., or at least what was left of it. Where Alik was standing, he had been punctured by a tree in a random spot of his mass of ooze. It probably wouldn't cause him any pain, or any discomfort, as he was a mess of liquid, nor really hold him down if he was able to move, it would just stand testament to Iro's strength, as they wouldn't be absorbed. It had a strength equal to 1820, which was Iro's current Reiatsu Strength, and because of that it was strong enough to stand up against the destructive pull of Alik's black goo body.

"I, Iro Kuchiki, will purge you of your sins, now." Two swords appeared in the Soul Reaper's hands, exact replicas of his Sealed Zanpakutou, down to the spiked basket-style guard and the pearl. What didn't carry over to these replicas was the silver sheen to the blade, but that wouldn't be necessary to have the desired effect. The two long rapiers were held in front of the Kuchiki's torso, crossed in an X shape. "Hado #83. Sekkenkooriboufuu" What spewed out of the crossed swords was a wave of Ice and Water, with a temperature of 200 degrees below zero. This massive tidal wave of destruction would flow through the trees that were in its path, knocking some of them over but not destroying them as it swept past. Slamming into Alik, every bit of him would be frozen over and torn apart as the extreme colds turned his oozing flesh into solid in a mere instant. "Is that a better alternative to the Fires of Hell? Is my rapture of your corrupt soul good enough for your liking? Are you satisfied with my revenge for these souls that you have ruined? IS THIS REALLY THE WAY TO GO!?!"

Remaining Reiatsu: /4000 (-600 Hado 83)
Remaining Carbon: 970/1000 (-30 2x swords)
Combat posts: 3/12 (3/6 until SpPr loss)

New RS: 1820

"MY NAME IS ALIK! FEDOROV!" The Gates of Hell rose up and swallowed the creature, leaving Iro alone to drop to his knees in the snow, his Bankai dripping off of his body like flakes of wheat drifting on the current of the wind. The final words of the monster rattled around in the Captain's head, unable to be forgotten. "THE LIVES LOST TODAY WILL NEVER BE AVENGED!" No, it couldn't be so. By destroying the one responsible for their lost lives, their souls would find a greater sense of peace in the afterlife. It had to be so, did it not? But these souls that were eaten... Iro hadn't been fast enough to rescue even a single one, bring just one lonely Soul into the Soul Society. They had all either been sent to hell, become Hollows, or just became energy for the Saika. "There's no way! I avenged them! I made their deaths not in vain!"

"LET ME GET TO YOUR HEART! LET ME TAINT IT!" Iro couldn't stop the memories from returning, the words that were spoken in such a broken emotion, so wild and unpredictable that it tore at his sanity. Alik had been sad, happy, angry, confused, excited, upset, amused, aroused, seductive, curious, scared, all in the same word! "NO! My heart is my own! My VENGEANCE is MY OWN! You cannot take that from me!" The Shinigami was clutching at his head, getting out of breath from the agony that he was causing himself, he needed to be careful or he might cause an onset of his asthma from the strain that he was exerting. Slowly calming down, he regained control of his breath.

Like a cancer, a creeping tumor in his heart, the words of the Sinner crept back into the forefront of his mind. "REMEMBER THAT YOU COULD NOT SAVE THEM! REMEMBER THAT!" The Captain's rage grew stronger than before, his face turning red from the memory. "SCREW YOU, ALIK! Some memories are better off FORGOTTEN!" The Shinigami's eyes turned red, as if he was crying, but no tears fell from his face. In reality, he was completely unable to cry, his tear ducts simply not producing enough, ever, to be able to shed a single tear for lost friends, lost innocents... lost lovers... Iro stared at his hands, at the twin engagement rings that were fused together. Rebecca... Iro had been too late to save her, too late to stop the mobster who had left her bleeding out, painting the stone sidewalk red, leaving nothing but the handmade ring of copper on her hand.

"No. My memories make me stronger. My convictions are what give me the resolve I need to overcome anything. I will never forget that. And I will never forget you, Alik Fedorov of Hell." Alik was not dead, he had only been sucked down into Hell where he could recuperate and come back to cut down even more innocents. The Hell gate that had arrived in Washington D.C. less than an hour before could come again, anywhere in the world, and Iro and Squad 11 would have to be ready for them. First things first, the Kuchiki had to restore the Squad from its desolate status as the biggest joke in the Soul Society, and make it once again a place of power. Then, as the Primary Attack Squad, they could be proactive about taking down Hell targets as they appeared, keeping new Saika from gaining too much power. It just had to be done, for the good of the Land of the Living. "I may be your death, Alik, but I am still the King of the Living. Don't you dare forget that, for a King protects his subjects."