A Cruel Albin's Thesis [Solo Training]

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After having spent day after day in Karakura town, Camila was starting to grow... restless. Like she'd already seen everything, and wanted something new. Something fresh. After having spent the last year in this same little town, with very little change over the years, she was starting to grow... bored. Tired, even. She desperately sought something new, something exciting. Something that she could latch onto and actually enjoy learning more about, not the same stores over and over again that she'd been forced to continue repeating her own visits at. Even just thinking of the fact that almost every small coffee shop in the entire town knew her name grew to be quite embarrassing for the girl.

Sighing, Camila threw herself down on the couch in her apartment. Her roommate Sylvanas had been out for the time being, so she pretty much had the place to herself for the time being. The question was, what was she going to do? Surely something had to catch her interest, though what that something was? She had no idea. She could've spent the next few hours searching through channels on TV, but she didn't want to. That felt lazy, for lack of a better term. Like there was something she could've been doing instead. Surely there had to have been something. Though, she'd have to settle for the feeling of blacking out. Wait, blacking out?

As her vision blurred and Camila quickly faded out of consciousness in the real world, she was quickly met with waking up to the same ballroom she'd grown accustomed to, and in the same thick black dress she'd worn every time she was here. Lord, how she wished she could bring this thing out into the real world. Unfortunately, that was much easier said than done. Plus, she had other things to focus on for the time being; namely, why the hell Albin had dragged her to her inner world once more. Letting out a deep sigh, Camila wiped her eyes to see the man, though surprisingly not nearly as confrontational as he had been pretty recently.

"Well, hello there, Cami," he said, before being rudely interrupted by the Shinigami defector. "Don't call me that." Her words were full of poison. "Now, now, there's no need for hostility. At least, not at the moment. Call me strange, but I'm actually looking for your help with something." Huh. Strange. She never thought she'd see the day where Albin of all people was beginning to ask for her help with something. Forcing herself to sit up straight, Camila crossed her legs as Albin lowered himself to her height. "Alright," she said, "I'll fuckin' bite; what on earth would you need my help with? Don't you 'outclass me in power' or some bullshit like that?"

Chuckling to himself, Albin nodded. "Normally, yes, that'd be very, very true. Though, at the moment, I'm more concerned over the advantage that numbers will bring over the raw power of one person. For the time, I'll need your assistance. Do keep in mind though, this isn't something I'm asking; if you value your pathetic excuse for a life then you'll help. Do keep in mind that I can and will stomp you out of this plane of existence at any time. Understood, Cami?" Not bothering to dignify any of that with a response, Camila simply nodded. What else what she supposed to do? Unfortunately, he was pretty accurate in that little statement of his.

[Deleted]

As she rose to her feet, Camila got a good look at Albin. Something seemed... off, about him. She couldn't quite place her finger on it, but something felt... wrong. Something felt a little too corrupting for her taste. Like he himself was undergoing some sort of change. Something was happening, and to be frank, she wasn't exactly fond of it. She wasn't fond of Albin as it was, and for him to somehow get worse? She didn't want to have to deal with any of that. "Listen, Camila," he said, helping her to her feet, "we're essentially running out of time as it is. I'm running out of time; you know that little thing I tend to do when I talk with you in your head? Well, I can see why you're not fond of it."

Camila stared at him, completely and utterly dumbfounded. "What? What the fuck is that supposed to-" she cut herself off, quickly realizing just what that meant. Albin was about as "hollow" as it gets. It would stand to reason, that like other hollows, "you're in a power struggle right now, aren't you?" Camila couldn't help but smile. This... this could've been good. This could've been exactly what she was looking for! She wasn't about to pass up a reason to completely dispose of Albin if she had the option to do so, that much was for sure. "Y'know, while this certainly sounds like a stressful situation, this seems to fall under a category of issues that I like to call, 'not my problem'."

Albin immediately changed his expression to match one of raw, unchecked aggression toward the girl. Reaching out to grip the lace choker around her neck, Camila was quickly pulled forward by the hollow. "Don't you think for a second that, should something happen to me, I won't be coming after you in some way or another. I promise you that I will go out of my way to make sure you suffer, Camila. Even if it means I've to sacrifice your body and in turn, my life to do so. You are nothing without me. Don't you dare ever forget that. Understood?" Even after listening to something like that, Camila couldn't help but start to laugh.

Naturally, this provoked something deep within Albin; a sort of hatred that burned deep within him, and would've normally forced him to lash out in anger. In fact, he was about to, before being rudely interrupted by whatever the hell it was that seemed to be eating away at his soul. She couldn't help but feel that something like this was nothing short of poetic justice. As he reeled back and went in for a strike against the girl, he almost immediately dropped to the floor with a shout of pain. Camila took the time to back up as he let his grip around her go, and prepared a readied stance. She wasn't about to deal with him if he lashed out for the time.

Though, much to her surprise, he didn't. Instead, she made note of the fact that his spiritual pressure seemed to boom around the area, coating anything and everything in hollow reiatsu as he shouted in pain. She was genuinely confused to see something like this happening; this was not normal for him. She'd only really seen this once before, and that was back in that prison. Then again, both of them were a wreck at that point. Though, she couldn't help but wonder; was that place, and all of the experimentation done on both of them there the reason he seemed so... unstable now? Surely that had to have been the reason!

Whatever the cause was, Camila quickly took note of a rather off-colored section of Albin's reiatsu circulating around next to him. Instead of the deep red color his reiatsu was usually, this was different; darker, and most notably, not red. Instead, it took on what looked to be a green color. With each passing second, this green began to grow more vibrant and more vibrant, eventually growing bright enough to blind the girl. Having to turn her eyes away and use her hands to cover her view, Camila was immediately made aware of another booming of reiatsu around the area, though this was most notably not due to Albin. Hell, the signature still felt hollow, but not the same passionate, aggressive feeling his had. Instead this was much more wild. Volatile. Just the thought seemed to frighten her.

As the booming finished, and the light began to tone itself down, Camila and Albin both saw the same figure that had now made herself known. She'd been wearing the exact same suit Albin had, almost as though she was a part of his being. This wasn't far from the truth, when it boiled down to it. With a deep breath, Albin choked out what he could. "Wh... Who the hell are you..?" Camila couldn't bring herself to speak for the time. Instead, she simply watched everything unfold. The woman cracked her neck, and stared down at Albin, who'd been on the ground the entire time. Her eyes showed nothing but pure bloodlust; something she'd only seen in Albin, but this felt far, far worse.

"That," she said, her voice piercing through Camila and Albin alike, "isn't something I think I need to answer. Just know that for the time being, I think I'm gonna be here to stay~!" Cami tried to bring herself to say something, but simply couldn't. She couldn't fathom anything to say for the time, and simply swallowed what she could only presume was her heart beating through her chest. As though she'd heard that very sound, the woman turned to Camila with a rather unsettling amount of speed behind the movement of her neck; something that would've easily broken someone else's if it moved that fast. She glared at Camila with a smile that deeply unsettled the rogue.

Before she could even finish blinking, this girl was upon Camila. She knew immediately that this girl was faster than Albin. That much was absolutely certain. Even just the residual amount of spiritual energies she felt radiating from this girl were easily double that of Albin's own spiritual prowess. She'd bested Albin in a fight before. She was forced to do so in order to earn her Bankai. Taking in what she could from this girl, though, Camila wasn't sure she even had a chance to stand up to her. She seemed... overwhelming. Like a force of personality that could've easily made quick work of anyone that even thought about threatening her, and that thought scared the rogue.

[Kitai Yoru]

14 Paragraphs, 70 TP