Best Friends!

[Kitai Yoru]

Name: [Best Friends Forever!]

Participants: [Ludwig, and his new best friend, Kitai!]

Location: [Somewhere, in a galaxy far far away...]

Difficulty Level: [Hard since I can't make it Extreme]

Setting: [DE]

Plotline: [Through a series of unfortunate events, Ludwig finds himself bound at the wrist to Kitai, under the threat of total soul destruction for both of them, if either of them die. In order for the two of them to free themselves from one another, they must traverse a labyrinth, born from the twisted mind of a madman with delusions of grandeur.]

Estimated Enemy Strength: [Class 2-1]

Estimated Time Until Completion: [It'll end when I say it ends!]

Starts: [Whenever I say it does, bugger off]

Special Conditions:

[Kitai Yoru]

It was an ordinary day out in the Karakura shopping district. The sun was high in the sky, shining down on the people wandering below. It was pleasantly cool out, with the wind carrying an oddly sweet scent. A large crowd was gathering around a very particular shop that had seemingly popped up overnight. It was a colorful building, consisting of various pinks, purples, and many shades of yellow. On the very purple roof sat a giant tuba, that was shooting out a ploom of large bubbles into the air, and was responsible for the sweet taste to the air.

"Come one, come all!" A man yelled out to the crowd like an old timey circus master, standing on a large barrel. He was dressed in the same boisterous colors as his establishment. His outfit matched his manner of speech. He was wearing a purple peacoat, with yellow buttons and accents. His pants were eye catching yellow slacks, with a violet trim to them. His shoes were cotton candy pink, with more purple shoelaces. And to top it all off, a comedicaly sized top-hat, a silky shade of violet purple, with a gold ribbon wrapping around it in a bow on the front.

He had a large pink mustache that covered half of his face, that bounced up and down with every word he spoke. "I have the offer of the lifetime for all you lovers of soda pop!" He said, captivating his audience with his with the temptation of sweets. He clapped his hands together, and when he spread them apart, a thin purple and yellow cane appeared. He slapped the seemingly magic cane against his building. "I have invented a new brand of pop for you all to enjoy! Inspired by of the lovely land of Japan, I call it, 'Karvaldia'!" He said mysteriously, drawing 'ooh's from the crowd.

He had them all well and truly captivated, even though he probably shouldn't. "I named it such, because this land is like a painting to me, everywhere I look, I find something new and fascinating." He rambled on a bit, looking off into the middle distance, hands gripping his collar. He sighed, before sweeping his cane over the crowd. "In honor of this new sugary treat, I have a special promotion for you all! Each glass going for a dime a piece. Or, ten ryo for you who don't know the American dollar. Now who's thirsty?" He asked rhetorically. The crowd needed no further prompt, as the wandered towards the small building.

The inside was much larger than the outside, as the people would soon find out. It was strangely reminiscent of an old saloon, only, everything was drenched in purple lighting. A bartender in a yellow vest was cleaning out a large mug with a cloth. He had a slightly creepy smile, and a long pencil thin mustache. Many large barrels with spigots labeled 'Karvaldia' were behind him. He quickly got to work filling up glasses with this special soda for everyone who placed some change on the counter, sliding them down with the grace of a professional. It didn't take long for the thirsty crowd to get their fill, as everyone enjoyed their drinks.

[Ludwig Verrlicht]

Today was supposed to be like any other, a sneak away to go grab some sugar treats and most importantly sugary drinks. Yet fate seemed to test him as when he entered the familiar shopping district there was a disgustingly flamboyant new shop. Gaudy couldn’t even begin to describe it because it was a mixture of yellow, purple, and pink. God forbid anyone looked at the building let alone the owner for too long because chances were they’d have their retinas burned out. Ludwig was already suffering from lacking eyesight while he was sealed and this place wasn’t aiding his eyesight any. Still the one thing it did have going for it was originality. A salon esque building and a massive tuba that blew out sweet smelling bubbles. It actually wasn’t surprising that the extra sensory attraction brought about a lot more people than this “establishment” otherwise should have. And Ludwig would be lying if he said he wasn’t at least a bit curious.

However curious or not Ludwig had no intention of actually going into the strange shop. He was more than content looking for simple coca cola. But what he heard when he was walking by made his neck do a 180 turn. “A glass for 10 cents??? The hell you can’t make… I mean money wouldn’t be too important if he’s trying to get his initial group of customers… hmm.. Maybe it wouldn’t hurt then to try it. As long as I don’t come out plastered in that color scheme I think I can justify trying it.” Ludwig walked into the establishment and was internally just as disgusted as he was with the outside, especially that weird owner. But even still the inside had some charm and a more pungent smell of that sweet aroma. Really so long as he was in and out it shouldn’t be too bad right? Although part of him really lost his vigor and almost made him leave when he saw the name of the drink in neon lights and in cursive. Karvaldia. There’s no fucking way this man could have possibly come up wiht that name. That’s literally my zanpakuto’s name. . .

With a glance at the bartender who seemed to only smile in response and even have a glass of fizzy goodness already out and waiting for him Ludwig shuddered some. Something wasn’t right and it was eating at him the more he was here. But that was the thing he didn’t sense anything spiritual with this crazy shop. It just seemed like one of those randomly crazy shops that pop up once in a while only to fall to the wayside within a year. Ludwig really had to fight his instincts to leave this place sooner than later but Ludwig was a captain. He had his zanpakuto on him and he was in a gigai there was hardly any chance that even if these two were spiritual entities that either could sense him. Especially with how weak he was while sealed. He took a deep breath, aroma filling his lungs and walked up to the bartender. He quietly nodded and gave him his ryo before walking off to a corner of the saloon and started drinking the soda.

For all the eccentric shit going on with this place it truly was an excellent drink. It hit every single note he could have asked for in a soda with the perfect mixture of fizzy carbonation to the incredibly sweet but smooth taste throughout the affair. It could only really be described as sinful in how good this was because there was no chance in hell this could have been created by any normal person. Which was exactly why once Ludwig finished the first glass he went back, got a second glass and returned to his same spot content to just enjoy his soda for a short time.

[Kitai Yoru]

As Ludwig finished his second glass, he felt a sense of dread slither up and down his spine, as an unnaturally cold hand grasped his shoulder. The man promoting the building was now sitting next to him, a smile stretched wide across his face, as he looked at the captain. "Well, I'm glad to see the people are enjoying my latest creation! Ha ha ha!" He said in a bombastic tone, his laughter sounding fake. He looked at the second glass that the Shinigami had on the counter. "Oh me oh my! What is this?" He acted surprised, though it was as fake as his laughter, removing his hand from Ludwig's shoulder to cover his mouth. "Did I forget tell you all that you were only supposed to take one glass? Whoops, my mistake!"

As he finished saying this, the world would start to twist and spin. The sights and sounds started to blend together, as everything started to sound like it was underwater for the captain. All colors started to bleed out, save for the yellow pink and purple of the soda bar, making a huge watercolor mess. His limbs would feel light as a feather, but heavier than led. He would feel that he was falling, as air rushed past him. The last thing Ludwig would see, was all of the crazy colors glow brighter and brighter, fading into a blinding yet brilliant white, before hitting the ground.

When next he woke up, it would be with a killer hangover. He'd find himself on his back, with the sun shining down on his face, and an overwhelming sweetness lingering in the air, and the sounds of the ocean crashing against the shore. The scent of sugar was inescapable, no matter how he covered his face. If he looked around him, he would see that he was lying down on a sandy beach. Only, something wasn't quite right about it. The sand was yellow, but too yellow. It also smelled like lemons. The reason for that would be apparent once he looked to the ocean. It was bright yellow, and smelled strongly of sweetened lemonade.

Ludwig was still in his gigai, and if he removed it, he would find that his Zanpakuto was still on his person. Along with a loose fitting handcuff around his left wrist. There was a long chain attached to it, leading to someone else. A pale man, wearing black pants, with a white dress shirt. There was an eyepatch on his left eye, but Ludwig would be able to recognize him as the person that invaded the Soul Society. The man sputtered to consciousness, as he grabbed his head, groaning in pain. "Ugh, I knew trusting that cocaine was a bad idea... Wait, what the hell?" He said as he noticed that he was on a beach. "Where in the fuck am I?" He hadn't yet taken notice of the person next to him.

[Ludwig Verrlicht]

Ludwig groaned as he started coming to. Since when has soda EVER caused someone a hangover? Or a killer headache at that. Jeez..I’m going to have words with that lunatic when I find him. Wait what’s that smell? Ludwig slowly brought himself up to a sitting position, eyes ever so slowly adjusting to the light around them. And man was it bright. Bright enough that had Ludwig any weaker eyes than he already did have he’d be certain they would melt. But that wasn’t what caught his attention; it was the smell. The delicious and tempting smell of sugar mixed with lemons. He could have been fooled that lemonade was around just by how potent it was and as his eyes adjusted he started to realize that he could see just where the smell was coming from. The ground which was something akin to ground up lemon heads and the ocean. . . well if you could call a large body of lemonade an ocean. Part of Ludwig admittedly squealed a bit on the inside. It was like being in a candy factory which honestly he could have been convinced he was in one. And since he was in a candy paradise he did the only logical thing any self respecting sugar addict would do. He picked up some of the sand and ate it immensely enjoying the sweet with hints of sour to it.

This really is a dream come true. Maybe I am dreaming even. There’s no way this could exist in any part of the world because the upkeep let alone clean up would be ridiculous. It’s a massive waste of sugar anyway and soon it’d go bad at that. As Ludwig tried to get up though that’s when he noticed the one thing that wasn’t pleasant about this place. He had a handcuff on. And that handcuff was attached to an individual who made Ludwig’s blood start boiling. It was Kitai. The shithead who’d come to the Soul Society, killed his men, and then got away because the man could move far faster than Ludwig ever imagined a person could. And yet here was this pile of dog shit next to him. In fact he was like an anchor to Ludwig’s boat. Still the only thing keeping them together was a simple chain and while Ludwig was not physically strong he was certain he’d be spiritually strong enough to break a simple little chain. Hell he shouldn’t even need to release because releasing would be overkill. Ludwig simply pointed a finger down at the chain and chanted mentally the incantation to Sho. A moment later he blasted the chain only to find the damn thing didn’t give two shits that he’d just blasted the hell out of it. Instead the remainder of the Sho just sent a wave of sand in Kitai’s direction covering his entire body in lemon sand. Ludwig was amused at least a little by that but still ultimately annoyed that he couldn’t’ break the chain.

So it resisted my kido. Is it even worth trying to release and break it with more force? Because chances are if it survived that it’s not going to break with anything short of maybe my strongest kido. And that’d kill me if I’m not careful. He glanced over at Kitai still covered in sand and shook his head. And why is HE here? He wasn’t even in the damn store. Besides wouldn’t it have been a better move to bind him up as opposed to one hand from each of us? Or even bind me completely, granted as long as I could get to my zanpakuto it wouldn’t have mattered. I just need to be able to draw and point fingers at others. He’d need full range of motion with his body to fight back. Ludwig sighed to himself and then glared at the other waiting for him to get up and get… well what little of his marbles remained in order so he could try and glean some information from his co-host.

“Nice to have you join the world of the living kitai. . . any idea where we are? I assume this sugar-coma inducing world was of your creation. If not why the hell are you here? I can’t imagine sugar, spice, and everything nice will break your chains anymore than your unsuccessful attack on the Soul Society was.” Ludwig couldn’t help himself spew venom. As much as he wanted to have that childlike happiness again at being placed in a sugar induced heaven the current “companion” he was chained up to was like the equivalent of cancer. Something you never wanted even in the worst of times. Especially considering it was a slow death and just as painful to be around. Still Ludwig had a sneaking suspicion that the saika didn’t even know what was going on. Which while normally unsurprising would mean that he too was caught in whatever scheme was going on around here. And because of the ridiculousness of this place would be pretty out of place considering the lunatic’s general antics. He could only hope that the other wasn’t going to scream his ear off like he did in their fight. If we were being honest though, Ludwig was already mentally preparing to have to deal with that because that like getting rid of the chain was highly unlikely to change.

[Kitai Yoru]

As Kitai was trying to gather himself, a huge lemony blast exploded to his right, completely coating him in sugary treats. After being buried, he exploded upwards, sending pop-rocks flying in every direction. Kitai was none too happy with his current situation. Yesterday he had thought he had scored, having found a bag of drugs in a random alley. They were on a marble pedestal, surrounded by roses that trailed all the way out to the street. Naturally, the first thing he did was snort the white powdery substance, only to quickly realize that it was actually sugar, causing the Saika to pass out.

Now he was on an exploding beach, and he couldn't get the scent of sugar and salty lemonade out of his nose. He whipped around to see the cause of him being covered in sticky candy... only to not recognize the man currently chained to his arm. "Who the fuck are you?" He says, more than asks. He looks dumbly at the extra chain on his arm, before grabbing it with both hands. He tries his hardest to snap the links apart, but all his efforts do is pull the chains taut. He tries this three more times, before repeatedly biting down on the metal in frustration, ignoring the man and his observations.

Then he speaks up, catching his attention with his name. Kitai focuses on the man's face, trying to figure out why he looks so familiar. Then it clicks in his mind. "You! Lwedwing!" He says, pointing dramatically, cupping his face with one hand. Then the words catch up to him, and he actually looks downright offended. "You think I'm responsible for this-this, this culinary travesty!?" His voice cracked at travesty. "If I was going to make an island out of food, it would be CHEESE! Not this sugary garbage!" The lunatic spit into the beach, causing some of the pop-rocks to start fizzling and snapping in response. Kitai only shuddered back.

Kitai's hands snapped towards the shinigami, grabbing his shirt before hefting him up. "I will break my chains. There isn't anything in the four realms that will stop me." His wrath and madness were abundantly clear on his face. Before the Saika could go any further however, the chains started to burn him. He cried out in pain, dropping the sugar lover. Kitai fell to his knees, clutching his wrist in agony, barely holding back a scream. "Ah ah ah, my Saika friend, we can't have you spoiling my fun already, can we?" A jolly tone graced their ears, one that was as sugary sweet as it was fake. It belonged to someone that Ludwig would recognize with ease.

Kitai's pain receded, letting him look at the one speaking. The Candy Man was floating above the sugary sandy, lying across the air with a Cheshire grin stretched across his face. His hands were crossed behind his head, with his cane held firmly between them. "You are both very special to me, and I can't very well have you two killing one another, now can I?" He told them tauntingly. His body twisted and warped, like a cloud being blown apart like a strong wind. He was now in the opposite position as from a moment ago, pointing hie cane at them both. "Kitai the Ever Dying. You're wanted by quite a few Hellions, you know? Leviathan has a bounty on your head for when you next return." The Saika somehow managed to pale further, a look of fear on his face.

Then the gaudy man pointed at the Captain. "And my dear Ludwig. The Master of Animation, Ludwid the Artist. The King of Paper and Ink, Ludwig the Cartoonist. You... You are special to me." He said, a dark yearning in his voice. The man swirled around again, puffing out, before his form changed into his head. A giant, ten foot version of his head. "You two have wronged me in ways that I will never forgive!" His voice was booming, but somehow still cheery. "I was originally going to just kill you both, but where's the fun in that?" His right eye started growing out, a purple and yellow spiral spinning around clockwise. "So I decided for a game! A game that you two just might be able to win." Suddenly the eye shimmered and shifted, drawing to the sides like a curtain. The man was behind it, now with a chalkboard.

On the board was a drawing of the two of them chained together. It was actually quite good for chalk, even getting the details of their bodies down to the smallest detail. "You two have been bound by the Chains of Fate." Kitai inhaled sharply at the title. "Yes, I thought you might recognize the name. These chains are unbreakable. They can only be unlocked by a key, that I have hidden, here." He pointed to another drawing. It was appeared to be the island they were on. For some reason, there was a beached whale drawn on, along with two pirates. "On top on Fondue mountain. To reach it, you will trek the Brownie Brittle forests, across the Cotton Candy deserts, and finally go through the Cola Caverns." He explained, pointing to more detailed drawling on the board.

He pressed his hands against both ends of his cane, closing it as if it were a presentation pointer. The board blew away in the wind, vanishing entirely. He had lost his giddy expression during his explanations, but it returned full force. "I had to make quite a few deals to get those chains. Your lives are connected now. Should one of you die, so shall the other. And before you ask, Kitai, no, your Darkskill won't save you from being returned to Hell, but neither will it Damn our dear artist here." Kitai scowled with a dark wrath. "Now, I would hurry up if I were you two. For as sweet as Candy Island is, its inhabitants aren't so nice. Toodaloo!" He bowed, sweeping his tophat before him. His form vanished behind his arm, and in a moment, his hat was all that remained, before even that shrunk in on itself in a pop.

Kitai slammed his fist against the 'sand'. "THAT MOTHER FUCKER!" He roared in rage. The Lunatic was pissed. The Chains of Fate were an especially cruel item from Hell. It was most often used to tie those who loved each other together. The punishment was that over time, with constantly being tied to one another in Hell, it would cause lovers to resent each other. It destroyed love, by showing the weakness of the other. Frustrations mounted as they died over and over. That was how it was normally used, but clearly this wasn't the norm.

Kitai felt no love for his companion, and if his earlier taunting was anything to go by, he felt much the same. After a moment, the Saika rose to his full height. He towered over even the impressive height of the Captain. He glared at him, before palming his face, and laughing. "HAHAHA! GREAT! The Shinigami screw me over, YET AGAIN!" He yells at Ludwig, but not daring to strike him. He yells out a few more profanities to the sky. "Well now, captain, draw up one of your stupid cartoons and let's get to that mountain. The sooner I can kill you the better." He tells him, trying to walk up above the treeline with airground. He takes a single step, and promptly falls flat on his face. He sputters, spitting out more popping candy. It turns out that there wasn't enough reiatsu in the air to create airground. In fact, there wasn't any reiatsu in the air at all.

[Ludwig Verrlicht]

Ludwig just sat there mind blown for a moment as Kitai tried to break the chains keeping them together. He could only manage blinking as he just watched stunned. You’re fucking kidding me. He doesn’t even REMEMBER ME?! The fuck is wro- ugh you know what nevermind. I don’t want the answer to that question. Let’s just get go- "You! Lwedwing!" Oh good he did remember. Well now that that bridge is burnt even further into the ground might as we- Ludwig’s eyes just got wider as he was suddenly picked up and getting yelled at. His temper was beginning to flare though the longer he was held and the stupid shit coming out of Kitai’s mouth didn’t help. For one who the hell would want cheese over candy??? THAT would have been an awful place to be around. That shit would smell awful. What really started to egg him on though was that this idiot still thought he was going to break out of his chains. He literally just got a NEW set of chains. How the hell did he expect to break out of his old one’s when all he did was collect them?

Before Ludwig had a chance to retaliate though his new “companion” started screaming and released him. Ludwig could have sworn nothing happened to the saika, he hadn’t even sensed anything. And yet here he was on the ground with the other starting to curse again as he held his wrist. Oh. If I hadn’t been losing myself to anger that probably would have been my first guess. So that’s good to know, neither of us can harm one another lest we injure ourselves in the process. Definitely need to keep that in mind. Oh and to make his day better here came the one behind the whole shit show the “Candy man” himself. Still fat, still in his disgusting suit, and still speaking in a tone that just made the entire area around them sour in the worst way possible. Everything Ludwig didn’t want with a side of Kitai to deal with, in one package. Perfect. Since Ludwig wasn’t going to get a moment to talk at all he opted to just listen to the man behind this situation ramble on. Maybe if he were lucky he’d die from lack of oxygen intake but that wouldn’t be the case. However what he did mention were quite a number of interesting things that admittedly even Ludwig would admit were more than worth noting.

First and foremost this “Leviathan” character. Ludwig had not heard of anything called that except the sea monsters of lore. And contrary to anything he’d heard of late no one had any abilities that mimicked them so it was more than likely a moniker. Still whoever that was Kitai sure as hell knew who it was. And for once the blatant fool went silent as the dead, even going so far as to become just as pale as them. Ludwig couldn’t help but have a shiver get sent down his spine. Whoever this was he hoped he would never get on their shit list. But as soon as that moment passed there came a moment more unnerving than anything else… This… eccentric, to say the least, man held Ludwig “Dear”. And if anything held a great deal more envy than anything. Ludwig may have wanted to know about Leviathan but he 100% did NOT want to know why this man looked and spoke about him the way he did. Creepy did not even register because it’d already broken the 13/10 limit on making Ludwig morbidly concerned for his life. And to make matters worse he’d wronged him. Somehow. I’m going to take that with a grain of salt. If I even REMOTELY disrespected this man I would have remembered due to that… outfit if nothing else. Gods help me though if I actually did though.

A few more minutes of what could only be described as cartoon shenanigans with a flair of evil to make them all the worse to deal with and it was just Kitai and Ludwig again. They were in a Candy Land of this man’s creation. They were expected to die and play a game intended to kill them in the meantime. And last but not least the more they hurt one another the more they hurt themselves. Oh and it’s a team effort by a man that didn’t know the idea of what “team” even meant. Why were they going to a fondue mountain? Who the hell knows but apparently they had to go there because their game host said so and it “might” big emphasis on MIGHT let them out or bring them into an even larger death trap. Really who knew at this point the world was made of candy afterall. Anything was possible at this point. Like there might be a rave with string cheese monsters sacrificing waffle creatures to mickey mouse. Literally anything was on the table at this point. But how could we forget that the imbecile next to Ludwig was losing his mind over the whole thing already. Not that Ludwig could blame him but honestly anger wasn’t going to get them anywhere they needed to figure this shit out and sooner than later.

Ludwig sighed for a second only to hear Kitai lose his mind again and start yelling at Ludwig. Something something shinigami fucked him. Something something do the majority of the work something something death threat. And then the cherry on top fucking up steping on the air and falling face first into the sand again. Ludwig couldn’t help but chuckle at that. At least the world was as unforgiving to both of them equally. Still the semblance of amusement left quickly as Ludwig began to think about their situation. Considering they couldn’t step on the air it was likely there were other restrictions in this world. Restrictions he didn’t know yet. But from what he thought the other meant it’d be easiest to just fly them both to the Fondue Mountain. Somehow though Ludwig knew it couldn’t be THAT easy. Really skipping over several “areas” just to get to the finish line, that sort of thing never worked in situations like this. And not to mention if he just released every spiritually inclined thing would know where he was at any given moment. Something Ludwig wasn’t too inclined to take a chance on since the last time he just entered another being's realm he found an Amalia. And THAT was the VERY last thing he ever wanted to experience again.

There was no choice then in what he had to do. Ludwig had to find a way to work with Kitai, much as he didn’t want to. His life was tied to his and thankfully he could negate their death if worse came to worse but he didn’t want to let that bit of info slip out just yet. But they both needed to figure out a means of how to work with one another. . . so as much as Ludwig didn’t want to, he'd need to talk to him. God this was going to be as bad as couples counseling, if not worse. They weren’t an old married couple; they were literally dynamically opposing entities. Better to get the headache over sooner than later though because without some semblance of understanding what the other could do they would never be able to work together. As Kitai lay face down in the sand Ludwig cleared his throat, hopefully catching the other’s attention but regardless started speaking.

“Listen I’m just as “Fuck this” as you are Kitai but we aren’t going to make any progress if we don’t figure out SOME way to work together. That walking fashion disaster has home field advantage meanwhile neither of us have any real idea what the other can do. We need to get an understanding of what the other can do and make a plan for how to beat that fuckhead. You already know I draw cartoons, at least living ones. But I can also draw out objects. At the very least we have any object we need, as long as you can describe it to me and it isn’t too complex. You on the other hand. . . make bodies?” Ludwig simply glanced over the other. He wasn’t sure if the man in question was in a body already or this was his usual self but regardless somehow those bodies made him formidable and they would no doubt get them both out of various tight situations. “What even can those bodies do? They look akin to gigai’s but they’re clearly stronger… that brings up another good point. How even do you have powers? Are you similar to humans who just “manifest” powers or something item based?” Ludwig didn’t say anything about the chain but he glanced over to his sinner’s chain curious about what all that thing could do. It was a literal connection to hell after all. “Also shouldn’t you be happy about the final destination? It’s a literal mountain dedicated to cheese. . . boiling. . . liquid cheese. Oh great it’s just lava but in food form. Gods help us.”

[Kitai Yoru]

It was taking a great deal of his willpower not to give in to his Wrath. The mark of sin burned the back of his hand like a burning piece of steel. It's glowing would be visible to the Shinigami, and looking upon it would give him a sense of anger, as if the very tattoo was an affront to his entire world views. Kitai got to his knees, taking a deep breath, before letting out a long sigh. He sat down,facing the lemony ocean. He was still visibly angry, but his mindless hate had shifted into a look of determination. He listened to the man he was tethered to without interruption. As much as he hated to admit it, Ludwig was a captain, a leader of men, and might have a better idea on how to proceed.

That didn't mean Kitai had to accept it gracefully. "Twenty fucking questions, huh? Fine." He reached into his pocket and fished out a lighter, and... a bundle of thin sticks. He freed one from the rubber band wrapped around them, and plopped one into his mouth, before lighting the end ablaze. Suddenly, the air was filled the the scent of sage. It intermingled with the air around it, fighting the overpowering smell of lemon. He took a deep whiff, before coughing, the stick looking like it would fall out of his mouth. After his hacking fit ceased, Kitai looked calm. "Alright, fine. I guess it would be best for us to not accidentally kill each with our powers." He said, an angry edge to his tone still.

"I, am what you would call a Saika. A former Fullbringer who was sent to Hell. Unlike Fullbringers, our powers don't come outside items. Instead, the Chains of Hell mutate us violently the stronger one is." He tells the man, taking off the eye-patch that had been covering his left eye. He turned to face the captain, and what greeted him was something hideous. The whites of his eye was black as ink, with red in the center. Black veins covered the upper left portion of his face, and throbbed like the beating of a heart. "This is my first mutation, known as a Dark-Skill. I have two more hidden away." He tells him, stick bouncing in his mouth with every word.

"My bodies are a lot like the gigai you lot wear. Unlike yours though, mine aren't mass produced pieces of garbage that break just because they're stabbed." From his tone of voice, it was easy to tell he held some amount of pride for his powers, and contempt for the Shingami version. "While I'm wearing one, it increases my strength, speed, and durability, at the cost of halving my spiritual power. The more reiatsu I use, the better the boosts to my physicals get." The incense stick was nearly finished burning, so Kitai spit it out. "And cheese? Really? If you didn't notice, this place seems to be literally made of sugar. Odds are it's going to be chocolate fondue, you simpleton." He told him with no small amount of bite to his words.

Believing himself to have calmed down enough not to lash out at the caption physically, he stood up, and dusted off the seat of his pants. "I don't know what you did to piss that guy off, but I sure as shit don't remember someone as flamboyant as that. He didn't have the Chains of Hell on him, so I doubt I fought him there." Which was all the more worrying for Kitai. The fact that he knew about what he did to Leviathan means he either had connections to the Demon, or was connected to some of the cults. Actually, the fact he had a pair of the Chains of Fate was cause for concern. There were so many questions spinning through his mind that he really didn't want to think about.

So, ignoring his problems, he looked out the the horizon. The sun was... a giant jawbreaker. "Whaaaaa...." His brain was short circuiting at that. His jaw was hanging open, a dumbfound look upon his face. But a more observant person could see that it was likely a few hours away from setting. But something was off about it... Other than it being an astronomically large sugary treat. Slapping himself out of it, he turned to face his unwilling companion. "Fucking... Just... I don't wanna think about this mind fuck. Should we explore the beach, or just go balls deep into the forest? I'd say do your cartoon thing, but honestly, I don't care at this point." He was rubbing his temples with his fingers, eyes glued shut. He was clearly having a headache.

[Ludwig Verrlicht]

So honestly Ludwig had to admit he was impressed. Not only did Kitai manage to calm down somewhat but he was willing to meet him somewhere along the way of working together. Hell just listening to him say his piece was a pretty damn good start for the two of them. That didn’t mean however that Ludwig couldn’t see the “Leave me the fuck alone.” vibe he was giving. Especially with that tattoo on his hand. Ludwig had to admit that was one thing he definitely wasn’t certain if he was losing his mind over or not. The thing not only glowed but sparked a flame inside him. A small one but the more he looked at it the more he that flame seemed to find the ever readily available timber inside Ludwig’s mind to burn. A couple particular memories came to the forefront, memories that would have been better left back in the chest inside his mental abyss. A quick head shake and it was gone and the next thing to catch his eye was the fact kitai was smoking incense sticks… well trying anyway. Ludwig would be lying if he didn’t actually enjoy the stark contrast of the sage smell from the sweet smelling sugar. But it still brought about a certain. . . peace Ludwig hadn’t remembered for a long time. This too, teased at a memory but Ludwig’s mind quickly shifted gears as Kitai started talking and making Ludwig want to eat everything he’d just thought.

"Twenty fucking questions, huh? Fine. Alright, fine. I guess it would be best for us to not accidentally kill each with our powers.” Ludwig though mildly annoyed at the tone just shrugged. Kitai wasn’t wrong, Ludwig had a bad habit of asking questions before doing anything. And possibly asking too many questions at that. Could you blame him though? With situations like this you had to know what you were getting into as much as possible to ensure success. He couldn’t afford to die. . . Not again. He wasn’t so certain his past actions wouldn’t condemn him if he were honest. His thoughts got drawn away as Kitai began explaining his abilities. All ludwig could do was nod as he showed him his mutation. It honestly wasn’t nearly as bad as he thought it would be. And he was certain hell had FAR worse off mutations that could have made themselves present on Kitai. Still the fact it was beating, THAT was a tad unsettling.

Moving on from the beating eye Kitai had he started explaining his powers and honestly Ludwig had to admit his power was quite something. Which meant Kitai had to have stores of reiatsu that Ludwig didn’t really want to think about. He might have even had more reiatsu than Ludwig did. And not to brag he had stores of reiatsu that made most shinigami WISH they had half of his. But if Kitai had more than that? With his power THAT would be terrifying. His mind was thoroughly dragged out however by Kitai’s next comment. "And cheese? Really? If you didn't notice, this place seems to be literally made of sugar. Odds are it's going to be chocolate fondue, you simpleton." Ludwig could feel a vein throb in his temple. No Kitai wasn’t wrong but calling him a simpleton wasn’t going to slide with him. Still it wasn’t like Kitai was the type to have self control so this would need to be expected. Ludwig just needed to take a deep breath and calm himself. Sadly though the incense stick was pretty much gone and with it the peaceful smell as well.

So taking everything that they knew and pooling it what did they know? They were trapped in a candy land with probably a trap at the “finish line”. Kitai was a gigai produced with the extra benefit of making his bodies physically stronger than any gigai had any real right to be. He had the ability to produce cartoon objects and creatures. Which was pretty much limited to his creativity given enough time to draw them out. They were stuck together and if one dies so too does the other. Let alone trying to harm one another. And their game host had pretty much as much control as he desired over this space. So. . . What to do? Kitai had even asked him to decide if they needed to explore around or just start their journey to candy mountain effectively. There’s really no point in staying at the seaside. At least none that I can think of. The destination we have to go to is literally the opposite side. But if this is a game would there be anything worth looking for here? If I’m being honest the answer is maybe since he wants to play “games” with us. But there may also be long term effects for being here that we don’t know about. I’d hazard we’ll only find out about them as time goes on. I guess it’s to the forest then.

Glancing around just to take a final look over the area Ludwig finally spoke up. “Let’s just start heading toward the mountain. The sooner this is over the better for the both of us. Besides, I can’t get over the idea of a swedish fish kraken monster and I’d rather not find out if that’s actually going to be a thing.” Ludwig waited a moment for Kitai before starting to walk off just in case he had something else he wanted to do or had dropped something. Just as the two were about to enter the forest Ludwig glanced over. “I almost forgot to mention, I’m a bit of a slow roll when I release. What I mean is I need time to really get to my 100%. Not long but long enough that if we have anyone who really wants to blitz us after I release I might not be able to handle it myself. For now though I’m going to hold out on using my zanpakuto just so I don’t make a noticeable spiritual presence. Last thing I want to do is alert anything and everything nearby that we exist.”

[Kitai Yoru]

Kitai rolled his eyes at the captain. "Of course it take you a few minutes to get it up. I'm sure you tell all the ladies 'I swear this never happens.' Hehahaha!" He mocks Ludwig, but follows along. As the two headed for the treeline, the overpowering scent of lemons quickly died down, and was replaced by equally overpowering scent of various chocolates. Their first steps off of the beach had their feet sink down into chocolate fudge. The forest floor was entirely made of partly melted fudge, sinking their feet about an inch down. "Ugh. Gross." Kitai complained, as their feet made loud and wet slapping sounds against the muddy mess. Looking around, the trees of the forest were made of a harder, lumpier substance. If Ludwig bothered to touch the trees, he'd feel that they were, in fact, made of brownie brittle, with chunks of chocolate chips embedded in the 'bark'.

The trees were thick, thicker than normal trees anyway. Each tree was about twenty feet in diameter, and towered to the sky, much more than a hundred feet tall. The canopy was enough to block out the sun, but that strangely didn't stop the light from reaching the forest floor. The leaves were a translucent green, and shook from winds that couldn't reach them from down here. One of the leaves fell from the sky. It didn't drift gently down, but instead fell straight down, plopping down directly on Ludwig's head or face, getting a cruel laugh from the Saika. On further investigation, it would reveal that it was a very large fruit roll-up.

"Bleh, I can feel my teeth rotting already." He said, sticking his tongue out as if gagging. The trees were dense enough to obscure their vision. Kitai had his head on a swivel, looking around at the sights, although they were limited at the moment. However, that wasn't the only reason. The two of them would be able to feel eyes on them. Like something was watching them. After a few minutes, they would happen upon a particular tree. This one had part of its bark ripped away, revealing a core made of toffee. A large portion was missing. "What the hell did this?" He asked rhetorically. Then, without warning, a candy-cane embedded itself into Kitai's shoulder. "MOTHER FUCKER!" He swore, whipping around to his right, accidentally pulling the captain into him, causing the two to topple to the ground.

The two would be covered in a layer of fudge, with Kitai swearing like a sailor. Ludwig would be less covered with the sweet treat, and would be able to see their attacker. Hiding most of their body behind a tree, there was a little gummy person, wearing a Tiki mask made of gingerbread, and a fruit roll-up leave skirt. He might even be able to recognize the fact that it was a sour-patch kid. It was currently aiming a blow-dart pipe at the artist. The little devil was standing about thirty feet away, from the two. He'd hear the sound of a puff, before realizing that it had launched another attack, this time at him.

[Ludwig Verrlicht]

Ludwig rolled his eyes at the saika’s comment. I should have known he’d go for low hanging fruit. Or make it something stupid. Still it’s better than him being pissed off so I’ll work with it. For a moment as the two went into the forest Ludwig almost felt a tad relieved. It was quiet for the most part with nothing really going on and then before kitai had a moment to complain he felt it. His foot sank into the ground beneath him. And though he had on shoes given he was still in his gigai it didn’t help keep his mind from imagining how it would feel had he not been in his gigai. His body shivered on it’s own there was no way he was ever going to take off the gigai if he could help it. Chocolate already wasn’t his #1 candy and to have to wade in it. While not a fate worse than death he’d never get the stains out of his socks. And that was arguably the worst part, bearing that it’d look like he literally stepped in shit. Ludwig simply shook his head and kept it held high. Nope. Nope. Nope. Not going to look. I know what it is. But what it will look like is going to be the only thing I see. Not happening if I can help it.



Choosing to look around instead Ludwig did have to admit the candy man did good work. The world they were currently stuck in genuinely did seem to look pretty accurate. Assuming the world was made of candy. The fact the “trees” were made of brittle gave them the rough exterior you’d imagine a tree would have. Let alone the various lumps and bumps that the chocolate chips made. The “leaves” however were without a doubt the best part. Fruit roll ups. Ludwig about shit himself at the thought especially when said “leaf” slapped him dead on in the face. Unapologetic, direct hit, no way around it. And the worst part is it felt like a rather large slap to his entire face. Ludwig could only groan especially because his Kitai had the audacity to laugh at him like it was the funniest thing on the planet to have occurred. In truth it was kinda funny but surprisingly the candy world was starting to dip a little from “Literally the best thing to happen” to “Please let this end sooner than later.”. This only got accentuated by the first different tree the pair noticed.



And the main difference? Literally half of it was gone. Not part of it. Not a chunk. Not even just a lot. No fucking half of the damn thing was just violently ripped out and exposing the toffee core. Which Ludwig did have to admit was actually pretty interesting to see. He genuinely didn’t expect much else but maybe more liquid fudge from the tree’s internals. “Credit to the man in charge for being so detailed. He really might just be a devil of some kind with how attentive he is.” Sad to say this was of course when things went to shit yet again for the pair because wouldn’t you know Ludwig not being released was effectively dead to the world and Kitai was for all intents and purposes just as useless without a body. So no surprise to anyone Kitai got dragged down by something that had been following them, something Ludwig had literally not thought about keeping an eye out for or even using Sazanami because he genuinely hadn’t expected to get into any fight this soon. Which is why when the only thing Ludwig could think of was “You dun fucked up now chump.” He couldn’t really argue with it.



So like any self respecting dead to the world individual he literally just let himself be dragged onto Kitai and fell flat on him. Thankfully his head landed on his chest, which meant his pants were utterly ruined but he could live with that since he didn’t have a face full of fudge to deal with. Added benefit he also saw the little shit that actually managed to dupe the two of them like the fools they were. And it was none other than a goddamn sour patch kid, if they were you know, literally human sized and actually sort of terrifying. He could swear it was smiling, especially because it genuinely thought the little blow dart it had would make it have an easier time knocking out one of them so that neither could really do anything.



Ludwig was growing more and more annoyed as time passed on and if he was going to do ONE SINGLE THING it was to beat this little shit until he felt better. {color=lightpink] “Sho.” However he wasn’t done yet mentally he was chanting the incantation to Kanji Taiho. Wake, Gaia, for I command you to raise the pillars of your Capital and dethrone all who oppose you. Stone will rain toward the sky. Boy would this “kid” fail to see death coming for him. See the Sho was aimed at the dart so that little thing got flung to god knows where but the rest of the Sho? Directly aimed at the patch kid.



But whether it hit or not it didn’t really matter. What DID matter was that Ludwig still had sight of him and without even getting a chance to react, two “Stone” pillars shot up out of the fudge soaked ground. In reality these were also made of chocolate brittle but hey they looked the part. And when moving at 500 speed Ludwig was certain they would outpace any candy man in this fudge filled forest that was on land at least. The first shot up 2 feet in front of the patch kid while the other one spawned 2 feet behind him but diagonally. Before it would know it the candy man was impaled through the head. Lifelessly hanging 2 feet off the ground as the ends of it’s head started to stretch and give out. Ludwig smiled to himself knowing he’d managed pretty well for a spur of the moment reaction. Still there was no doubt to be more so he’d need to make sure that he kept track of that. The last thing he wanted was to see yet another blow dart aimed for his head.



Throw the pebble in the pond; ripple across the still waters, trace the boundaries, return. If kitai was paying attention while Ludwig got up he’d see a bubble, small and clear form in Ludwig’s right hand. Said bubble would pop shortly after forming. Ludwig in the meantime simply extended his left hand to help the now drenched hellspawn up. If Ludwig hadn’t been focused on the chant he’d have been chuckling from how utterly ridiculous the man looked. Seriously he was quite literally the definition of “shit on”. To make matters worse Ludwig really wanted to make a stab at how he finally came out the closet as the pile of shit he really was deep down. But just this once he was going to let it slide, his eyes showed how amused he was though and he couldn’t help a slight smirk from showing.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Reiatsu}
-100 for Kanji Taiho
-25 for Sho
-25 for Sazanami

Total used: 150

3,000-150= 2,850

2,850/3,000 remaining

[Kitai Yoru]

The gummy man let out several high pitched noises of surprise, looking around at the pillars of chocolate jutting out from the ground in surprise. Unfortunately for Ludwig and Kitai, the sugar man was faster than anticipated. At the last possible second, the candy creature managed to dodge out of the way, inches away from being impaled. It was far from undamaged, however, as the pillar of chocolate sliced through its cheek, knocking its mask off. The creature screeched and cried, before running off, leaving behind the damaged mask. The slapping footfalls of the strange creature slowly died out as it fled the area.

Meanwhile, Kitai was looking as angry as ever. This fudge was impossible to get off, and worst of all, it was covering his hands and got into his eyes. It burned like crazy. He ripped part of his shirt off, and started rubbing his face off. The cloth didn't do a very good job, leaving his face covered in fudge smears, but it was enough to be able to see. And the first thing he saw was the annoying face of Ludwig, who looked to barely be restraining his laughter. The saika could feel his eye twitch in frustration. "Shut up!" He yelled, pointing his finger at the captain, ignoring the fact that he hadn't said a word.

Kitai was tempted to retaliate by throwing a glob of fudge at him, but held himself back. He got to his feet, wiping as much as the half-melted treat off of his pants as he could. He reached over his shoulder, and with a squelch, he tore the foreign object out. He held it in his hand, giving Ludwig the chance to see. It was a dart, seemingly carved from a candy cane. It seemed to be coated in a weird purple substance. Kitai scowled at it, before crushing it in his palm. It broke as easily as candy should. "Alright, annoying things in the forest, got it." Kitai hated cowardly attacks like that. He wanted a fist fight darn it! Hit and run tactics just annoyed him.

"Alright, lets go crush some candy things! Hehehehe, candy crush." He laughed at his own stupid joke. He went to move towards where the Sourpatch person ran off to, when he noticed something. "Hey, was it this dark a few minutes ago?" The translucent leaves dyed the forest a deep emerald green color, and that's how it had been since they entered it. But now, the color started to fade away, as well as the light. "It's turning night already? But the sun was high in the sky before we entered this stupid place!" He yelled at the sky angrily. Indeed, night was rapidly approaching. A more observant eye would be able to tell that it seemed to be setting four times faster than it should be.

It would be only a few more minutes before they would be left blind from the darkness. Kitai slammed his fist against the damaged tree, snapping it in half with a loud and brittle crunch. The tree fell backwards, knocking against several other trees, snapping them as well. The Lunatic grimaced and shook his hand. "Great. I'm setting up a camp. See if you can't set up a fire. Hopefully this crap burns." Kitai's sleeves burst open, revealing he had wrapped his Chains of Hell around his wrists. They extended towards the trees like snakes, slashing and slicing with and extreme speed. Oddly enough, the Chains of Fate slunk to the ground, suddenly having an extra thirty feet of length to them. Several logs of toffee flew through the air, and splattered into the ground, along with a dozen planks of brownie brittle.

Bladed Chains x3: 300

Total Reiatsu Remaining: 11,200/16,000

[Ludwig Verrlicht]

The little shit dodged. . . He actually managed to dodge the attack not only by the skin of his teeth but booked it to god knows where. What the actual fuck!? Was Ludwig going to get nothing today? For fucks sake man. Ludwig took a deep breath as he watched the patch kid disappear. He seriously considered releasing JUST so he could make a gun or something with long range capabilities to kill the little fuck. But knowing his luck he’d dodge again and then REALLY be lost. Not to mention Ludwig and Kitai got found by pure dumb luck. The little dude wouldn’t know if they’d left or not and would have a hard time finding them again so long as they exerted little spiritual energy. Least that was his guess. He was probably wrong to at least a slight degree given that the patch kid “lived” here. For however long this place had existed for anyway. So chances were it knew the forest better. That thought did not make him feel any better but he’d have to live with it.

And speaking of living with things. “It's turning night already? But the sun was high in the sky before we entered this stupid place! Great. I'm setting up a camp. See if you can't set up a fire. Hopefully this crap burns." There was kitai, his literal ball and chain. And somehow in the span of what seemed like 5 minutes it was now night time. Truth be told, Ludwig wasn’t all that tired but taking a bit to sit down and “relax” could be a good thing. Besides he still had Sazanami up and running so for the next mile or so they’d know anything that moved. Well, Ludwig would anyway and since he’d be stuck to Kitai he’d inform him when he had a moment. In the meantime however he simply watched as Kitai not only extended their personal chain but also his sinner’s chains. More impressive yet he managed to cut with the rounded objects and make a couple benches and some “firewood” out of the “trees”.

Ludwig for as much as he wasn’t a fan of Kitai had to admit that he did have quite a number of tricks up his sleeve, quite literally in this case. Still he wasn’t the only one who could make up a few things on the fly. And luckily Ludwig had just the technique to do such, Spiritual Projection. It effectively was like his general ability but the “light” edition. Ludwig focused some of his reiatsu into his hands and clapped them together. When he moved them apart he had created a torch that was already lit and threw it into the cluster of “firewood”. Hopefully it’d lit on fire given it had a lot of sugar he suspected it would but you never knew with this place. It could simply just slap the “mud” and just go out. Just to be safe he made another one and threw it on the other side of the first torch.

In the meantime though as Ludwig waited for the brittle to catch on fire Ludwig sat down on the nearest bench, stump thing Kitai had cut. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to start a conversation with Kitai but given there wasn’t exactly a lot to do it was either spark a chat that could end in him getting yelled at, insulted, and leave him more irritated than before or sit in utter silence. Silence was nice and all but Ludwig had to admit if he wasn’t drawing he’d prefer a conversation. And something told him that in this world he’d want to be a bit more attentive to his surroundings than be engrossed in his art. Still what to ask? He could think of a lot of things that would make for conversation. Like “How did you go to hell?”, “Why attack the Soul Society?”, “What’s hell like?”. So many things could be asked but honestly there was only one question that truly sparked his curiosity. And without even realizing his lips were moving he asked the thing outright.

“What do you plan to do after you break your chains, assuming it’s even possible and you succeed?” Ludwig sort of stared at Kitai as he realized slowly that he’d blurted out his thoughts. This was going to go one of two ways. He’d say nothing and get pissed off wondering why the “Shinigami trash” wanted to know of his aspirations. Or he’d simply tell him. He didn’t expect the latter if anything he’d sooner expect silence or avoidance of the question as a whole because thinking on it he wasn’t really sure if Kitai had ever thought that far ahead. From their interactions he’d only ever mentioned breaking the chains. Never the after the fact. Granted they weren’t friends or even indifferent to one another so the odds he’d ever ask him were slim to none. But that didn’t stop Ludwig’s curiosity. If anything it brought up a good question Ludwig had always been curious of himself. What really determines if you go to hell or not? Ludwig had killed many a person given he was in the German army in WW2. He’d not stopped his comrades from committing atrocities to their enemies after their victories. And worst yet he’d killed himself, something he was taught auto damned you. So why was he a Shinigami? Why wasn’t he like Kitai, a sinner bound to hell and wrapped in chains?

Ludwig wasn’t really able to stop his thoughts of what hell would be like and how he wasn’t somehow involved in with it. If kitai were trying to talk to him he’d need to disrupt his thoughts lest his words fall upon deaf ears because Ludwig’s mind was hundreds of miles away at this point. And his eyes showed it with how glazed over they were. The fact he wasn’t blinking didn’t help either but that was like icing on the cake if Kitai didn’t notice from his lack of expression on his face. He couldn’t help it though the question was always in his mind since he’d been turned into a Shinigami. It was just buried under an immense amount of other thoughts. And his work, the admin side of his job specifically. God help him because that was a hell unto itself given JUST how much he got as a captain let alone with all the little shit he Soul Society wanted to know about in black and white. Especially with anything involving Wycliff. Ugh that was a thought for another time, one he hoped to only think about once he was finally free of this twisted candy land.

Sazanami: 2/3 posts used

SPOILER: Click to show

{Reiatsu}
-100 for 2 torches via Spiritual Projection

2,850-100= 2,750 reiatsu remaining

2,750/3,000 reiatsu

[Kitai Yoru]

The two of them were silent while Kitai set up some sort of shelter. He was a master craftsmen, and had more then enough means to make something akin to a shelter, even if it was all made out of sugary garbage. He despised candy. He was more into savory foods, something he could really sink his teeth into. He loathed the thought of being forced to eat this stuff, just to avoid starvation. He kept trying to remember how exactly he wound up in this situation, chained to a shinigami of all beings, trapped in some candy Hell. He shorted at the thought of it, almost laughing at the mental image of a 'Candy Island' being in Hell.

His chains whipped and whirled around, cutting down logs, setting them down as gently into the 'mud' as he could, still getting splashed once or twice in the process. He managed to build a crude cabin from the toffy trees. It was taxing to focus on building with his chains, given how sharp they were. The Lunatic huffed in annoyance, before walking over to his 'companion'. The artist had shot some sort of reiatsu ball into the pile of bark. It started to char, and burnt sugar quickly filled the air. The second ball of reiatsu helped the pile catch ablaze, blue flames dancing along the wood.

A disgusted grimace crossed his face, clearly not appreciating the odor. He sat on the stump to Ludwig's left, and stared into the flames. There was something oddly satisfying about them. There was silence between them for a few moments longer, before the Captain broke it. "What do you plan to do after you break your chains, assuming it’s even possible and you succeed?" Kitai blinked in surprise, before turning to face the man. He stared at him, looking for any sign of deceit on his face. There was none. Kitai squinted his eyes at the man in confusion, before turning to face the flames once more, a thoughtful look clearly visible upon his face.

He sighed, before giving his response. "Truth be told, I haven't given it much thought." He told him, in a strangely subdued tone. He started scratching the area where the dart from earlier had struck him. "I figured that, once I broke my chains, things could go back to normal, that I could just start living my life as a human again. If I could, I'd probably give all this spiritual crap up, find a nice girl, settle down and have a family." His tone was almost hopeful, not quite there, like there was a lingering doubt in the back of his mind. "I would be as good a person as I could be. If only to avoid damnation."

It was a selfish reason to be a good person, he would freely admit, but what other option did he have? He was a selfish person at heart. He'd have to cross that bridge when he comes to it. "You're awfully sure that these chains can't be broken though. Don't you pretend 'Death Gods' have things strong enough to break them? At least in theory?" He asked, tone more inquisitive than anything. He didn't know how he had managed to get it into his mind, but if these shinigami were bordering thousands of years old, he figured that they would have something strong enough to break these chains.

[Ludwig Verrlicht]

"Truth be told, I haven't given it much thought." Ludwig was dragged out of his thoughts by Kitai’s near lackluster response. He may not have known the saika for long but “extra” was this man's fortei. To be anything less than was either disturbing or it meant it was serious. In this case he decided it must be the latter as there was no way he could be disturbing with that answer. Ludwig had to admit though that was a fair answer regardless. What did it matter what you planned to do if you couldn’t get yourself free from Hell in the first place? It was quite the endeavor after all. What Kitai said next though actually did surprise Ludwig on several levels just due to how. . . normal and bland it was. Ludwig by no means was going to talk down about his decision but it was definitely not the answer he was expecting. And that surprise showed very readily on his face.

“You’re full of surprises aren’t you? From building a log cabin to wanting a very down to earth life after breaking those chains. Next you're going to tell me it’s day already despite having been no less than 5 minutes since we’ve sat down. . . Actually don’t tell me that last one. I’d rather not tempt fate for that.” Ludwig looked back at the flame but eyes much more alert and his mind working to process the information he’d just gotten. He waited long enough for Kitai to throw out a question of his own and could only nod in response. Tic for Tac, it was only fair he answered honestly. Granted Ludwig was no squad 12 member but he knew at least a couple things. Looking back over at his unwilling companion he shrugged as he spoke, a small smile on his face. “I don’t think there’s anyone in any of the realms who could blame you for being “good” to avoid damnation. I remember several people back when I was alive who lived life in a similar manner. I doubt they got damned for that so at least you’ve got that going for you.”


“To answer your question though it’s. . . murky. So if we’re being honest every shinigami has been taught that there is no way to break the chains. If you ever went to squad 12 there’s no doubt they have books upon books upon books of various experiments that have aimed at trying to do the same thing. Everyone knows they’ve got some fucked up shit there that lies deep deep below the surface. The hard part would be coming back if you found it though given how tight their security is at that point.” Ludwig stood up and stretched getting a couple pops from his back before sitting back down and glancing back at Kitai. “However I actually do think you’re probably onto something. The Soul Society has been around since god knows when. The Noble Houses have many secrets as does Central 46 so there’s no doubt that there are some incredibly potent things hidden around somewhere. But breaking the chains of Hell is like breaking a fundamental law of the universe. It’s only going to happen in very specific circumstances if ever. Long story short there may be something but it’d be the sort of something that even the noble houses have only heard rumors of and that’s assuming that said something wasn’t already destroyed. The old Soul Society had a knack for destroying things they didn’t like or didn’t want to keep. The sad part is normally they are pretty thorough about that. So while I don’t doubt there’s something I do not personally know of anything that can. I’d hazard a no nowadays but if you really wanted answers you’d need to. . .

Ludwig groaned at what he was about to say. Because he just KNEW Kitai would probably take it to heart at some point down the line once they were both free of this shit. You’d need to get access to the data that squad 12 has. It’s by far the most complete and thorough collection of information you could ask for and chances are they’ve stolen most of the secrets from the nobles barring only the most closely held. And even then you’ll probably find a hint there. Shit I think they’ve even got information on everything Central 46 has so if you can get in and get access to it you’ll be on a good start towards breaking them. If you’re going to invade yet again though please keep it smaller in scale. It’s hard to continuously rebuild shit when someone comes in and destroys the entire place.” Ludwig already regretted his decision for saying what he knew. There was no reason he should have gone as far as he did. But he was a sap at times and Kitai managed to hit a chord with Ludwig. Ludwig would have to take responsibility if Kitai decided to run yet another invasion because of this very conversation. God the thought alone horrified him given he wasn’t exactly doing well given he continued to flitter in and out of the Soul Society like it was a side job.