Jigoku No Douma

[Douma]

The rage and hate in Kagami’s soul was boiling, working its way into his blood stream and spreading across his entire body. That attacked he launched wasn’t Kagami. That was Douma. Kagami was only present in the form of restraint. Douma wanted to end the woman before him, but Kagami was able to save her life from the monster that was consuming him. No matter how vicious and powerful Douma became, Kagami would always be able to protect Manami’s life.

And so, when Douma attempted to wound Basilisk by cutting a gash across her chest, he was surprised to sense energy gather in her eye. He reacting by forming a mirror just has he had earlier. This one also had its faces linked to one another, making it invisible. Douma permitted his blade to pass through it, but if Basilisk attempted to counter, the mirror would block her own attack. Douma would then ensure his protection while landing his own blow.

But as Basilisk was forced to tank Douma’s blue flames, her eye only placed her in more danger, pulling Douma’s sword toward it. Suddenly, it wasn’t that same purple eye that Kagami encountered when he first saw her beside Adalo. No, that eye was pink. The same pink eye that shot him dirty looks when they first met, and the same pink eye that understood him more than he understood himself.

Kagami, please.... I don't want to die again..."

The blade was moving like a bullet toward her eye, but just a centimeter before it pierced her head, the weapon suddenly froze mid-air. The mirror no longer let it pass, catching Kagami bakkoto where it was without any trouble. Once his weapon had been stopped, Kagami allowed the mirror to let it pass. The sword dipped a few inches before Kagami pulled it back, and as it did, it formed a small scratch along Manami’s cheek.

As contact with the sword caused a reflective surface to form all along Manami’s body, Kagami’s softened violet eyes were locked with hers. He wanted so strongly to believe that the girl before him was the same girl that he was in love with, but everything about the situation screamed for him to finish her off. It’s a trap, you fool. What are you doing? She hurt you, and she deserves to die. Kagami’s fingers tightened their grip on the sword, but he kept his arm by his side.

She’s in there. Even if it’s a trap, I feel it. Manami’s still in there, somewhere deep down inside. I need to try and bring her back, no matter the cost. Kagami took charge of his own mind and emotions. No matter how angry and hateful he was, if he was going to bring Manami back, he needed to act as quickly as he could with the small window of opportunity that he had.

Kagami’s energy suddenly spiked, and as it did, he would gain access to all of Manami’s history. In one moment, he would truly know everything about her. He’d relive the details of her past life, including all the memories he and Manami shared as humans. Then, after their deaths, he’d see her separate life through her eyes. He’d see her search scores of rukongai districts for him before hearing rumors that the new Vice Captain of Squad 1 was visiting some local bar. He’d see her walk into a room only to find him sleeping with another woman, and Kagami would feel the pain she felt.

And he’d see every moment afterward. How she found Adalo and trained under him. How she slept with Adalo for the sole purpose of hurting him just as he had hurt her. How Basilisk formed and took over her mind and body, burying Manami under pain, anger, and vengefulness. He’d learn all of her and Adalo’s secrets, and that information definitely interested Douma. Kagami, on the other hand, was only concerned with one thing. He needed his wife back.

And so he activated the highest ability that his bakkoto offered. He took all of the emotions that consumed Manami since she walked in on Kagami with another woman and locked them in the very mirror that spread around her body. Instead of revealing other reflections, the mirror now only contained an image of Basilisk with her sword and bunny mask. The girl in front of Kagami was truly Manami, not a demon created by Adalo.

“Manami, I don’t know how long I can hold Basilisk in this prison, but please, let me help you. I finally know what Adalo did to you, but now, I need you to tell me what I can do to save you from Basilisk. If you let me, we can break her together and set you free.” The ability that Kagami used was one that would make Manami feel like half of her identity was missing. Even if Basilisk had been suppressing her, it was still part of her soul, and being incomplete would be a crushing experience. However, it was the only way that Kagami could separate her from Basilisk and talk to the very girl he couldn’t live without.

Reiatsu Remaining: 6050/10,000 (-400 for reading her history, -300 for trapping Basilisk)

Life Force: 4600/10,000

Dark Fusion Post Count: 2/7

Class 1 Bakkoto Post Count: 2/3

Silent Pain Post Count: 2/5

[Kento Waffles]

Play this for the whole post

Kagami would be able to sense it, too, in Manami's soul. Basilisk's intent. The moment the attack stalled, she had been ready to end him then and there. Her attack, because of his hesitation, would have been too fast. The pain that he experienced from her memories, too, would have slowed him down. He would have been defeated then and there. But... That wasn't what defeated him. It wasn't Basilisk's intent that defeated Kagami that day. It was Manami's. For as his blade approached her, and he knew just how vulnerable he was to being struck down while trying something so reckless, he'd be pushed by himself and his own heart. And, likewise, he'd sense Manami screaming at Basilisk to end the fight as planned. Because something else was pulling them both back, trying to show itself..

As Kagami's blade made contact with Manami's cheek, she gasped. "Kagami, don't...!" she exclaimed. "He's-" SPLOOOSSHHH!!! In an instant, Kagami's torso would be ripped into by many blade strikes at once. And of course, it was to be utterly expected. That had been Basilisk's plan, hadn't it? Except it wasn't Basilisk. What Kagami would at last sense was more than just the pain of his betrayal. More than the creation of Basilisk. Because while Adalo's interference had created Douma, it had been Manami--the REAL Manami's own free volition to create Basilisk. He would feel more than the pain he had caused her. Suddenly, he would feel a darkness unlike any other. A true, crushing pain.

Not just her pain. The pain of another... Two others... No, hundreds. Thousands. MILLIONS. That shock, the sudden jolt to his system, would freeze his mind just momentarily with shock. The weakness of heightened instinct was it too could be overloaded by too great a stimulus. And that was this pain, which even without the instinct would have been too much to not freeze in place. What Kagami would feel was Manami's pain... and the pain of millions of others trapped inside of her. And he would also feel the grinning darkness, too. A terror locked inside of Manami's heart. For what he had done was strip her momentarily of Basilisk. And when Basilisk had vanished, he would sense everything.

Manami had searched high and low for him. It had taken months for her to even get a lead, but eventually, she heard it. The dynamic Lieutenant of Squad 1, Kagami. His heroics in the War of Angels. His assistance when Stern Ritters had attacked a Kuchiki dinner. So she found him. She traveled to the Seireitei, sought where he spent most of his time, and found him bedding another woman. All over again, Kagami would experience the betrayal Manami had felt. All of those things she had thought after. He lied to me... He had said that he would not betray her. He lied to me.. That she wasn't like other girls to him. He lied to me... She had known about him, and yet still fallen stupidly for it. He lied to me...And I let him.

Then there was the despair in the bar as she was ready to let any random stranger take her body. She was ready to let a hundred do it, until she was washed free from Kagami's lies by the physical disgrace of bedding the entire bar. Until she met Adalo De-Mona. A monster who could never lie to her, because from the beginning she had known his intention. He could never betray her, because she always knew that he was a monster and what she should expect out of him. He trained her. He gave her power. He made Manami a stronger person. But then, what Kagami would see for the first time was that one day... He put something inside of her.

Evil. Pure, unadulterated evil. Millions of souls of revenge, all corrupted by his influence. It wasn't just souls from his own makeup. It was literally as if a part of him lived and grew into its own being inside of her. It was so twisted, so agonizing, that Manami had had no choice but to force Basilisk into existence just to protect herself and prevent herself from being consumed by the monster inside of her. Basilisk, a creature so full of hate and contempt and strength that it could hold back what truly lay in her soul now. Because without Basilisk, Manami would eventually be consumed. At this moment... She was transforming into another Adalo De-Mona.

Too fast! In the blink of an eye, multiple slashes across Kagami's body, so deep that he would die in minutes without medical attention of some sort. Blood spraying everywhere, his vision going hazy from the immediate blood loss. Something that would result from the shock of his sudden revelation. Basilisk wasn't a monster that Manami had created to make her exterior stronger. Basilisk had been made to prevent her from transforming into Adalo De-Mona. Basilisk was her protection. As long as she was Basilisk, she wouldn't turn. But now, with Basilisk suspended, what Kagami would feel was Manami's fading presence, and with it Adalo's growing power.

"Kagami...Muuurraaaiii..." a demonic voice rasped from Manami's lips, curving into a cruel sneer. Then, Manami's voice. "Kagami, he's..." But her sentence would be cut off by one from the monster within. "My child of revenge..." Then, Manami's voice again. "INSIDE ME..." But it didn't matter. Kagami was already desperately wounded. Already at the end of his rope. Indeed, Basilisk did hate Kagami. So did Manami. When he'd sensed her history, he'd learn that even when it was still just Manami, she hated him. And Basilisk hated him even more. But even so, they were being devoured by Adalo, their own hate fuel for his power and presence.

Manami somehow slashed through the mirror with her hand, and it shattered, the mask now in her hand once again. Quickly, she put it to her face as her eyes started to glow green in one yellow in the other. Her reiatsu burst around her, and she stood, eyes violet. That was it. The cold, dark presence disappeared. But, it was too late. Kagami had been defeated by the darkness. It had won over Manami's body for just a second. Just one. And in that one second, it had attacked and wounded Kagami. What had defeated him wasn't Manami, or even Basilisk. It was Adalo De-Mona. There were three personalities inside. Manami, Basilisk, and Adalo. Three different people.

Now, Basilisk stood before him, sneering. "You weren't difficult to manipulate," she said, as if she had no memory at all of what had just happened. As if... she actually believed her original plan had succeeded. The one where he stopped and Basilisk was the one to deal the final blow, rather than Adalo. "Because that pathetic piece of your heart that is Kagami is still somewhere in there. As long as that exists, as long as you can't fully commit to your darkness and your hate, you have no hope of overcoming me. And, at the same time, you have no hope of overcoming him either." By this point, Kagami's Bakkoto would be sealing back up from his wounds.

Basilisk picked it up, gazing at it, before scoffing. "A weak little toy..." She snapped it in half, ripping it away from his arm as she did. She gouged out the creature attached to the blade, ravaging it until it was dead, and then she broke the metal blade again. Effectively, she killed the Bakkoto, and threw its pieces down at Kagami's feet. "Do you understand why you use mirrors? It's because you can't stand to look at your pathetic self, so you try to make others look at themselves, hoping desperately that they'll hate themselves as much as you hate yourself. You're just a lonely, weak, pitiful child. Don't you think?" Basilisk started to walk away from Kagami, preparing to leave to follow Axel Johnson.

If Kagami had last thoughts or words or something after the shock of what he had experienced...

[Douma]

”Kagami, don’t… !” Kagami was already uncertain with his action, but Manami’s warning froze him in his tracks. He was right. She was fighting an internal battle. What he didn’t realize was out hopelessly outmatched she was. Just as he cast his technique, reiatsu swelled up inside the woman. A dark reiatsu that Kagami had only encountered once before. ”He’s-“

But it was too late. Suddenly, Kagami’s chest was torn apart by blades, slicing his ribs into multiple pieces and leaving gashes in his internal organs. There was no way that he could act fast enough to stop the strike. A sense of surprise washed over him. Because of his technique, he didn’t feel the pain from the wounds, but blood gushed out of his body. He instantly grew light headed, and upon coughing, he felt blood fill his mouth.

The pain he did feel, however, wasn’t from the injury. It was far more severe. He first recognized what could only be the suffering that Manami had endured, but there was more. The agony that millions of souls had been subject to over millennia burned through his body and mind, bringing him down to his knees. His mind froze, overloaded pain. His vision went white, and when it returned, he found himself looking at the world through different eyes.

Manami’s eyes. She had been searching for him, and he was so close. But all her excitement vanished when she saw another woman in his arms. He lied to me… Kagami felt his heart burn with flames of betrayal. He lied to me… He lied to me… He finally understood. Kagami had always known that he hurt Manami, but now, he knew the extent of her pain. This is what she felt…

And in her state of darkness, she went to extreme length. She knew that no good could come from Adalo, yet she didn’t care. She only wanted revenge, not much different from Kagami’s attitude toward Adalo. He watched her grow powerful with the guidance of the Primera, but after attaining a level of strength, Adalo corrupted her soul, injecting his own darkness into it. Manami was subject to the same pain that Kagami had just felt from her attack. No, not Manami’s attack. Not even Basilisk’s.

Kagami understood. He hadn’t even realized who his enemy was, but now, he knew. "Kagami...Muuurraaaiii..." No… The world seemed to spin, and Kagami’s face met the ground. However, he didn’t register the fall. His eyes were unfocussed and wide. "Kagami, he's..." But Manami didn’t need to explain. He understood. "My child of revenge..." And Adalo had been playing him all along. "INSIDE ME..."

I'm dying… That was the only thought that registered through his weakened mind. Douma, however, had one concern. He needed to live. As Kagami lost his will, Douma only grew stronger. He had even more reason to hate, and that passionate anger drove him forward. Just before Manami ripped his bakkoto from his arm, he made a final effort to save himself. His fallen blade was still active for just another moment, so it made a reflective surface across the ground, and by surging reiatsu through this surface, Douma could try to hold onto all of the pieces in his sword.

"Because that pathetic piece of your heart that is Kagami is still somewhere in there. As long as that exists, as long as you can't fully commit to your darkness and your hate, you have no hope of overcoming me. And, at the same time, you have no hope of overcoming him either." Adalo was gone, and with him, Manami seemed to disappear. Basilisk as all that remained, and she was addressing a defeated Douma. "Do you understand why you use mirrors? It's because you can't stand to look at your pathetic self, so you try to make others look at themselves, hoping desperately that they'll hate themselves as much as you hate yourself. You're just a lonely, weak, pitiful child. Don't you think?"

He tried to respond, but the blood in his mouth forced him into a coughing fit as he gasped for air. He couldn’t find the energy to even pull himself up, and in a couple of minutes, his life would reach an end. But he had to wait. It wasn’t until Basilisk left that Douma could bring in assistance. From the mirror on the ground, a figure emerged. This man had brown hair, dark eyes, and a half-scorched face. During his real life, he was known as Ren Kasumi’Oji. Now, however, the interior of his body was a mirror.

It’s not over yet. There’s much more I have to do… And with that final thought, Ren Kasumi’Oji drew his sword and stabbed it into Douma’s open chest, absorbing all of the soul fragments within the broken body. Final, that heart stopped beating. The man resheathed his sword, inspecting the deceased body with his now blood red and bone white eyes. Kagami Murai is dead…

---

OOC: I got permission to use all of the characters present in this cinematic from each of their players.

The Skies Above Seireitei – 6:41

It was a quiet mourning in the headquarters of the Gotei 13. The majority of Captains were sent on classified missions that took them to various corners of the three worlds. Otherwise, it was a normal day in Soul Society. Shinigami were just beginning to wake up and get started on their morning routines. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

Until all of a sudden, high amounts of reiatsu swelled in the sky as a hole opened up over Seireitei. And from that hole, just three figures emerged. “And we’re here in a fraction of the time it would have taken if we used an Uber. You’re welcome.” The first man who spoke was the notorious Segunda Espada, Ryunosuke Hamada. He was clearly the one who opened the Garganta to transport the party. This wasn’t the first time he invaded Seireitei, but his friends were new.

“Those are the buildings that you wanted us to target, correct?” This man was also immediately recognizable. After all, he wore that unmistakable white mask with the red ‘A’ for his alias, Anarchy. As he pointed toward a cluster of buildings, the third man nodded his head. He was the one who planned the entire operation in the first place, so for the time being, he was calling the shots. Much like Anarchy, he dawned dark clothes and white mask. What made him stand out, however, are his bone white and crimson red eyes. This man was carrying another body in his arms, however. He carelessly through the lifeless body into the air, letting it fall hundreds of feet before crashing into the ground. A group of shinigami would form a circle around it, and whisper amongst each other in shock. ”Is that who I think it is….” “No, it can’t be…” “Is that… Captain Kagami Murai?”

“Go wreck havoc,” said the infamous Douma. Following the rogue’s instructions, Ryunosuke pointed his hand at his first target, the Division 13 Barracks. The Shinigami living inside were pouring out, preparing to combat the invaders. Many, however, would be too slow. An enormous red blast descended onto the barracks, disintegrating its structure and the handful of unfortunate souls still inside its walls. Ryunosuke winced as pain shot up in his arm, but that pain was short lived. He was having too much fun to let it get to him. He raised his arms to cause more destruction. “Boom goes the dynamite.”

But his fun was about to get interrupted. Just as he was blowing Squad 13 structures into smithereens, he would suddenly find a large blast of lightning flying toward him. It was nothing that flexing his reiatsu wouldn’t stop, but it was still decently powerful. Down below, he’d find a tall Shinigami pointing his arms at him. This wasn’t a guy Ryunosuke would recognize. He’s definitely no Captain, but he seemed to be as powerful as some of them. “Hey, you picking a fight with me, kid?” The Soul Reaper responded with another blast of lightning, though Ryunosuke sidestepped this one. The Shinigami’s eyes were stone cold. “No, you picked a fight with me.”

On the other side of the Squad 13, Anarchy was facing off against a crowd of dozens of low seated and unseated Shinigami. However, no matter what they through at him, he had a counter attack. With ease, he deflected kido simply by flexing his own reiatsu around him. He had an invisible energy barrier around him. Other hopeful Shinigami tried to engage Anarchy in physical combat, but they were quickly struck down by a whirlwind of bladed yoyo attacks.

It was looking hopeless until, out of nowhere, the powerful figure in a Captain’s Haori suddenly appeared with a flashstep. He was right in front of Anarchy, and with Shunpo Karin, his fist came crashing down on the Bount’s face. If it wasn’t for his racial ability to turn into smoke upon impact, he would have been in trouble. Instead, Squad 3 Captain Alexander Kuma-Hebi would be engulfed in the black mist. As he jumped out of Anarchy’s fog, he drew his sword. “I had a feeling I’d run into you again, Anarchy. You made a mistake by walking into my turf like you owned it.”

As Douma’s two allies found themselves in their own battles, he was in a building responsible for storing information. Douma was going through stacks of files. He’d select slips of paper from file cabinets and slip them into his coat for later use. As he was inspecting the paperwork, he’d find an enemy at the door. A young woman with purple hair and a blade in her hand. Squad 10 Captain Hotaru Kuchiki spoke only three words. “You killed him…”

Douma didn’t offer a response. Hotaru was the only person in Seireitei that Kagami Murai held close to his heart, and for some reason, a sliver of that emotional attachment remained. But Douma would fight through it. If Hotaru forced him to, he’d have no trouble killing her. In his hands, a black sword suddenly appeared, and he held it before his body. Hotaru raised her sword as well. “Burn, Rivu~aiasan!”

Hotaru sent a wave of flames toward him. As she did, she caught up to her fire using Shunpo to travel past it and appear at Douma’s side. With her burning blade, she slashed downward at him. If he parried, he’d find that oil from his sword splashed his body. It didn’t help that he was about to be engulfed by her first fire attack. Rather than combatting both, Douma simply used a step technique to evade, his eyes coldly staring at her the entire time.

“Fight me!” she screamed, but the Angel of Silence didn’t respond. Scales shot out of her canon, but Douma dodged once again with shunpo. He didn’t express any desire to counter-attack. No, he didn’t need to fight her. Douma got the information he needed. Now, it was time for to go and leave a trail of destruction at his feet. Hotaru formed a grenade, but Douma wasn’t concerned. This fight was as good as done. As she through the explosive weapon at the masked man, Douma let the blade in his hand disappear. Hotaru would catch a glimpse of a black cross at his palm before suddenly, a dark sword extended out from it.

And in that moment, everything around Hotaru would turn black. She would still be able to see, but everything seemed to turn into ebony. It was like the entire world was black. Douma disappeared into the floor when Hotaru through her weapon, and he didn’t reemerge until he was behind her. He slashed side-ways with his blade, but she could sense his presence, and with a step technique, Hotaru had escaped injury.

But Douma didn’t give her the chance to re-engage him. He simply tapped his sword against the building and, once again, vanished into the ground. Suddenly everything in the entire room became weightless. For a second, Hotaru would be able to glide through the air. However, she had more sense than to enjoy herself in that environment. She just barely had time to get out of the building before it completely collapsed on itself, like a huge weight had pressed down on it from above, flattening the building. And, worst of all, she lost track of Douma.

Meanwhile, Alexander and Anarchy's battle raged on. The bount sent bolts of lightning out of his fingers, all of them targeting the Squad 3 Captain. Alexander wasn’t brought down so easily, and he simply side-stepped each bolt with his impressive speed, closing the distance between himself an Anarchy as he did so. He slashed his sword through the air, aiming to split the criminal into two parts. Anarchy, however, was able to produce some sort of defense that sent both Alexander’s sword and the Captain himself flying backward through the air, like they were hit by a shockwave. It was likely that Alexander had not encountered Martial Discipline: Ken before, so he wouldn’t be able to anticipate the technique.

However, the Captain wasn’t injured, only repelled. He was able to land on his feet, but before he had the opportunity to resume his fight with Anarchy, a black zone suddenly consumed the battlefield. It had effects identical to the one Hotaru had encountered. Anarchy seemed to realize that this was a signal, and he was pulled into the ground, pulling out of the battle. Alexander would be left standing alone, surrounded by the bodies of his low-ranking subordinates.

And then there was Ryunosuke. His fight with Himitsu had taken him to the ground. Himitsu was armed with a glaive, the form of his zanpakuto’s release. Furthermore, they were surrounded by Himitsu’s reiatsu for a mile around, evidently from some technique that he used. However, this sensory technique, Spiritual Pulse, didn’t fade like it was supposed to. It gave Himitsu an incredible amount of awareness. Ryunosuke was having fun with the fight. He now held a black sword in his hand, crafted from the Arrancar King’s Cero. All he needed was one touch and the battle would be over, but Himitsu wouldn’t give it to him.

As the Segunda’s blade sliced through the air, Himitsu used his glaive to parry it, pushing the sword to the side with the middle staff portion of his weapon while cutting downward with the bladed tip. Ryunosuke pivoted to avoid the attack, and he launched a counter attack in the form of a horizontal slash. Himitsu was already moving his glaive to defend his ribs, but suddenly, Ryunosuke vanished. That was his signature move, a custom Garganta that let him teleport himself or other objects.

Most other individuals would have been struck by such a combination, but Himitsu’s prolonged Spiritual Pulse let him detect a new reiatsu signature behind him a split second before Ryunosuke teleported. He was barely able to form a large spiritual barrier in time. If it weren’t for Bakudo #81: Danku, the weapon would have cut into Himitsu’s ribs and caused nausea to overwhelm the Vice Captain.

Ryunosuke was certain that he could take the mere Lieutenant down if the fight continued for another minute or two, but he could see Anarchy and Douma climbing into the sky with air ground. “Damn, I guess that’s my cue. We’ll have to continue this later.” And with that, Ryunosuke launched himself toward the sky, his feet propelled with mini Cero.

Just as he was catching up, Douma summoned a large metallic-looking dragon by his side. It was a fearsome sight, but Douma only had one use for it at the moment. It shot large fireballs toward the remaining Squad 13 facilities, sending them crumbling. There were only a couple of buildings left, but he felt the need to bring them all to the ground before making his exit. He only had one thing to say to the Shinigami below him. Ryunosuke’s Garganta would engulf them all, but before it did, Douma yelled toward the crowds below.

“Kagami Murai is dead.”

End of thread.

[Amagai Kuchiki]

Grading this with the new NPC TP rules! I'm gonna call this one Kento's win, if you don't mind

83 paragraphs Douma, 830 TP awarded.
54 paragraphs Kento, 540 TP + 100 Victory TP, so half of that is 320 TP Awarded.