Tool and Diecast makers

[Kitai Yoru]

From deep in the bowels of the Kitai shop, angry screaming, cursing, and the smashing of various objects could be heard from one particular room. Then an explosion was heard, and the shop up above shuddered in response. Then there was a pregnant pause, as all went quiet. The Kitai clone mimed a countdown with his fingers, as even louder screaming could be heard from underground. Curses that had previously been inaudible due to the distance between them were gaining more and more clarity. Another explosion went off, and the cloned Saika sighed, knowing that this was going nowhere.

He closed up the shop, and walked out of the shop. He knew what the original was feeling, and not just because of the mental link they shared. He was a Kitai himself, and knew just how frustrating it was when something refused to work, no matter how many angles it was approached from. It was astounding that this item refused to be given a usable form. Clearly the item was capable of being made, the theories all lined up, and there was an item capable of doing something similar, but it just refused to work with his own hands.

Frustration began to well in the clone, as he tossed a doorknob up and caught it, toying with it as he stalked about the streets of Karakura. Some days he had to admit, he hated the advancement of technology. It made everything too sleek, too convenient. He preferred the older tech, the bigger the clunkier, the more stylish. It was so much harder to look cool doing everything with just a cellphone. Too convenient. There was no flare in having everything in a single device, being able to do anything with just one small computer in your pocket.

So he was wandering about, looking for a phonebooth, like in that one tv show. Oh, but Japan was just too good to have something so- wait. He saw a glass box with a green thing inside. Kitai's eyes widened in joy! Finally! He rushed over to the thing, and almost kissed it he was so happy. He entered, closed the sliding glass door behind him, and ripped the phone part open. It was shaped like one of those old rotary phones, but bigger and green. Pulling out some custom tools, he started tinkering with the wires. He heard some angry pounding on the walls.

Turning to look, he saw that a cop had discovered him and his antics. Looking the angry man dead in the eye, he slammed the Interdimensional Doorknob into the machine, and pressed a button. A loud whirling sound could be heard, as the clone and the phone booth began to fade out of existence. The cop looked dumbfounded, wondering if he was seeing was actually real. Kitai smiled, waving at him with one hand, and flipping him off with another. The clone picked up the phone, said some inaudible words into the receiver, and he was gone, as if he were never there to begin with.

Wherever Arcadus was at the moment, the air would be filled with a dial tone, the source of which would be impossible to locate. Then it would sound like the rattling of a phone as it was picked up. "Ahoy-hoy, would this happen to be Arcadus the Arrancar?" A voice said, the volume at an unfortunate level of loudness. "Oh, whoops, let me fix that." The inescapable voice spoke, as the volume lowered to a more comfortable level. "You know how interdimensional telecommunication can be sometimes, hard to guess how loud you're going to be sometimes." The voice said once more.

"Anyway, this is Kitai. More specifically, this is his clone." The voice, now identified as Kitai's doppelganger, said to the arrancar. "Anyway, Kitai, the original, is having a shitfit over this item he's trying to make." The clone sounded annoyed at that, his tone clear as day. "That's the reason I called you. He could use a second opinion on this project he's got going on. I would have offered to help him, but we're more or less the same person. Anything I'd think of, he'd have already tried. We could use someone with a different perspective than us to weigh in on this."

He would prefer not to have to threaten the Espada. Not because he was afraid of any repercussions that he may very well be capable of distributing upon Kitai and his shop, but mostly because he needed the man to be genuinely interested in helping with this project. "I would tell you what this project was, but that would be telling, wouldn't it?" The smile could practically be seen in how he said that. "Also." He added. "This isn't exactly the most secure way of communication. The phonebooth isn't exactly accurate, and while we can hear each other, everyone within roughly a mile can hear me." He told the Espada. Along with everyone in a mile, apparently. "Bye!"

The conversation ended a moment later with a soft click, hopefully hearing some angry curses. The phone booth started to reenter the reality of the world of the living. The phone booth touched down outside of the Kitai Shop, slightly to the left of the building. The Lunatic separated the Interdimensional Doorknob from the machine, and returned to the store. Leaving the door unlocked, he rushed down to the basement door. It was just as he left it. No, actually, the cursing was even louder and angrier. The downsides of infinite stamina. The clone kicked the door open after the latest explosion.

The real Kitai swung around from his place on the ground. "WHAT!?" He yelled, looking as much the snarling beast as he sounded. The clone was nonplussed, not quite caring about the outburst. "I called Arcadus, he's probably coming over. Or not, I might have pissed him off." He clone slammed the door shut before the Lunatic could start screaming at him. He returned to the ground floor of the shop, and if the arrancar was there, he would escort him down to the workshop. If not, he would wait until he arrived to do so, fiddling with one of these Purification Blades that Aldwin guy had donated to the shop.

---

There weren't too many things in life or death that well and truly pissed Kitai off. Kitai tried to roll with the blows, so to speak, and didn't get too bothered when an obstacle got in his way. If something stopped him or got in his way, he pushed on through until he overcame it. That's why this obstacle, this problem, was pissing him off so thoroughly. He couldn't figure out how to do it. Time and time again, dozens of attempts, hundreds of bolt cutters broken into useless scraps of metal! Another pair were pressed against the skin where it met blackened Hell metal. The two glowed against one another, the one a vibrant holy white, and the latter glowing with an anti-light, extending the shadows in the room.

Then the bolt cutters gave way with a thunderous snap, as metal ricocheted in every direction, cutting groves into Kitai's face, and blowing off Kitai's arm entirely. The Saika was launched off his chair, slamming into the far wall behind him. With an angry curse, the enraged Lunatic hopped into the Blood Pool he had set up before hand. After a few minutes, he pulled himself out, seating himself in a nearby chair. "Do you see what I'm dealing with here?! This doesn't make any sense!" He said heatedly to the only other person in his personal workshop.

Arcadus the Espada, a personal... associate. He wasn't exactly a friend, but it was a better relationship than he had with a good ninety percent of people he's ever met in this life or the previous. He didn't want to try and contact Kazura, because that would be awkward as all hell, no pun intended. It's been over half a decade since he was last employed for the superhero cosplayer, and he didn't exactly leave on good terms. That and he wasn't going to crawl back, begging for his help if he could avoid such a fate. Hence why he decided to call up the man he's had a strange number of encounters with that hadn't lead to a life or death battle.

"I don't get why these fucking bolt cutters refuse to do what I want! I based their properties on the principles of Mask On! I've tested the stupid mask on a couple of Hellions already, and they've all been fully converted successfully. All I want is a half measure, and the blasted thing refuses to pry out the chains! I need a second opinion on this." He says to the arrancar, knowing full well that he was a skilled crafter in his own right. He wouldn't start a competition or a tool waving contest here and claim he was the better of the two. He just needed an outside perspective on this.

The mask lay in a reinforced steel box to the side. After the first set of bolt cutters practically detonated in his face, he made sure the soul converter was as safe as it could be, while still being in close proximity to him. It was a crude thing, but it was several dozen times stronger than his steel silk, while being impractical and unwieldy for combat. The unbreakable box, as he called it, showed heavy signs of wear and tear, as it almost seemed like the shards of metal were aiming for the item that allowed this to be possible. Speaking of which, a sharpened handle was currently lodged into the side of it. Kitai swiftly yanked it out, scowling at the broken item piece.

[Arcadus]

It was a cold night out near the garganta. Well, every night was cold in Hueco Mundo, but specifically tonight. He had swiped a radio out of a car in the human world, and wanted to see if he could pick up radio signals out of the garganta, as it would be really convenient to be able to get human world radio waves out into Los noches, though he'd need to establish a line of radio towers, or maybe a line, under the desert to get the signal across the desert and into Los Noches itself. 

Taking the car battery out, funnily enough from the same car, and setting it on the lightly blowing sands, Arcadus though about the event with a smirk. It was actually enough to give him a chuckle, so eased up as he was being alone out on the sands, save for Atlas. It was an amusing bit, he was walking along Karakura, and noticed a small car on the side of the road in an alley. He had just pressed his and through the glass and with a metal shim, had jimmied the radio out, pulling the radio, and the wires to the antenna out. 

Circling around to the antenna of the car, Arcadus had snapped off the antenna. It was a misty night, and the dew clung to the leather crop jacket he was wearing out. Turning back to the coar, Arcadus remembered, tapping his temple and in a snap, along with a small metal screech, had ripped off the hood of the car, and after pulling off a few plastic panels, found the battery and its wiring. Ripping what he could out of the car, Arcadus took the battery and the radio set up back to his lab to be wired up with the proper fuses and resistors, along with the needed switch. 

Switching on the power, the soldered on LED seemed so bright in the unlit desert. The radio crackled with static,  before falling silent. Slowly turning through each channel and frequency, Arcadus was disapointed to see that no frequencies were coming through the Garganta. saddened, and a bit embittered, Arcadus began to tense his fingers, the plastic and thin metal bending and pulled to its breaking point, though, a look at Atlas's cool expression, as cold and the inside of a sand dune, Arcadus relented. It wasn't worth destroying the work he put into this when it was still useful as a radio, and potentially useful if he was going to set up his own radio network in Los Noches. 

Turning to Atlas, and with a gesture to open a Garganta back to the palace, both Arrancar could hear a crackling and the sound of a familiar voice for one, though distorted by static. "Ahoy-hoy, would this happen to be Arcadus the Arrancar?" Arcadus turned back to look around. Kitai's voice rang out, full of static but unmistakably his, but what would he be doing so far out here? "Oh, whoops, let me fix that." the ringing voice was significantly reduced in volume, like stepping back from a phone.

"You know how interdimensional telecommunication can be sometimes, hard to guess how loud you're going to be sometimes. Anyway, this is Kitai. More specifically, this is his clone." A clone, one that clearly resented his status, from his tone, "That's the reason I called you. He could use a second opinion on this project he's got going on. I would have offered to help him, but we're more or less the same person. Anything I'd think of, he'd have already tried. We could use someone with a different perspective than us to weigh in on this."

Kitai calling him about a project, this was going to be interesting. And wanting his expertise, Arcadus shrugged to Atlas. "Apparently that speed loader paid off, Kitai thinks that I'm worth consulting for important projects." Looking out over the sand, Arcadus felt the breeze ruffle his hair. "I would tell you what this project was, but that would be telling, wouldn't it?" Arcadus opened his mouth to chastice this apparition, even if it couldn't but was cut off "Also,  This isn't exactly the most secure way of communication. The phonebooth isn't exactly accurate, and while we can hear each other, everyone within roughly a mile can hear me."

With a "bye", Kitai hung up,  and With a roll of his eyes, Arcadus waved for Atlas to be dismissed, and opened up a portal to the rough area of the Kitai Shop. Launching himself in the direction of the shop, and landing off the side of the road across from the shop. Walking inside, Arcadus looked around for Kitai, and, sensing him further into the shop, pressed on, opening the door to see Kitai throw a set of bolt cutters into the wall. 

Arcadus waved a reciprocated wave, and watched Kitai pull out a second pair of bolt cutters. Spiritually, they read like real beefy cutters, able to cut through even the strongest shinigami's zanpakuto's, given you could fit them in a vice. But seeing the astral black chains manifest on kitai, no doubt the chains that held him to hell, and as Kitai positioned them, Arcadus could see the glimmer of anti light masking the very tip of the edge, as the handled pulsed with a spiritual resonance meant to ensure molecular stability.

Kitai attempted to cut the ghostly black chain, and as he did, Arcadus could see the bolt cutter flex, and the chains react, whipping in the grip of the cutters, before the cutters exploded, blowing of Kitai's arm and cutting up the rest of him including his face. Arcadus took note, as teh Saika reformed himself in the lava pool set up in the corner and sat down on the chair next to it, the hundreds of broken and busted bolt cutters next to him. 

As Kitai looked up at Arcadus, with a bucket of exasperation and drop of desperation "Do you see what I'm dealing with here?! This doesn't make any sense!" Arcadus sensed not just a great oppurtunity to ingratiate himself to one of the better craftsmen, but an oppurtunity to explore this "companionship feeling." It, like with Akando, had flared up at this moment, and Arcadus could maybe explore it with someone who could actually communicate with words rather than their animalistic pantomime and mimicry. 


"I don't get why these fucking bolt cutters refuse to do what I want! I based their properties on the principles of Mask On! I've tested the stupid mask on a couple of Hellions already, and they've all been fully converted successfully. All I want is a half measure, and the blasted thing refuses to pry out the chains! I need a second opinion on this." Arcadus smiled, lending his hand for Kitai to stand up, and gathering a few fragments of the most recent bolt cutter failure began to inspect them. "It looks like your trying to brute force the chains here. Lets take a look at this "Mask on""

Turning towards the mask on the table, Arcadus felt something. That hollow essence in his mind. drawing his hand towards it. This compulsion notr with standing, Arcadus held it in his hands. Sensing it, he felt an overwhelming desire to put it on. Like something was calling him home, something was compelling him to relive a memory. That hollow. Damn him, this thing, it had something to do with it. Plying at the properties of it, Arcadus could sense great transumtive properties and hollow essence, and with that set the mask down. 

"So, what does this actually do, and how does it do it? That might explain why you're struggling, you might be replicating the effect but not the method. You've made very impressive cutters, easily able to snap some of the strongest spiritual constructs I've seen, but the chains of hell, from what I saw, seem to be breaking them on their own accord. I reckon, if we can sense not just what it does but why it does it, we could make some real progress."

"From what I can sense, these hold strong transmutive properties, and that may be our key. If we can perform an alchemical or transumtitive change to your soul energy, the chains opf hell may just fall off, much like how they do with hollows, but to do that we'd need to compare reiatsu signatures and compositions to determine what kind of change would need to be made to make them leave. Or, we could effectively make a stop gap, making it so that they are linked to a different second Kitai signature that you get pulled to on death, instead of hell."

[Kitai Yoru]

Kitai watched as the arrancar picked up the mask with a rare bit of nervousness. It wasn't just that the mask was a very pricy piece of equipment that he studied for a few of his more outlandish projects. No, it was the kind of feeling you get when someone was holding something unbelievably important to you, something that could set you back months if broken. That mask was currently the only device capable of freeing him from Hell, and it was something he would very much prefer to avoid being damaged. That was the reason he kept it in the box for this.

It was almost as if the chains knew that, and had been intentionally aiming the shrapnel at the thing. He wouldn't put it past them, he knew who the chains really belonged to. Still, he listened intently to Arcadus' words, not wanting to let any potential opportunity for inspiration pass him by due to his own goldfish level attention span. Speaking of which, he had forgotten that Arcadus probably didn't know what Mask On actually was, and had been acting like he had. The Saika palmed his face at the reminder. He did preen a little at the comment on how powerful the bolt cutters were.

"Alright, so that object is called 'Mask On', and if you couldn't guess, is from the Black Market." He stated. Oh how many goodies he's come across in those wonderful stores. From the lowly Garganta Disruptor, all the way to his might Worm, there hasn't been an item he's come across that he couldn't find some use for. The Interdimensional Doorknob was of particular use, given he could use it to travel literally anywhere. True, he hadn't tested it on Hell, but the reason why he hadn't should be extremely obvious. And Mask On was his most prized possession at the moment.

"That particular item allows the user -me mostly- to transform a willing or unconscious being into a hollow." He let the information sink in for a moment, wondering how the arrancar would feel about such a device. He who had once been a hollow, or at least that was what he assumed, could be turned back. Heck, anyone with that item could be made into one. "The properties are a little complicated in their simplicity, but basically, it doesn't function off of your reiatsu alone. It targets and alters your lifeforce itself." He took a glove out of his pocket and slipped it on.

It was quite the expensive looking garment, made of a fine black leather, intricate designs stitched into the material, that all led to, or stemmed from, the pristine white gem at the center of the palm. It shined with a light that couldn't be described in words. Like it was an eye that stared straight into your soul. It didn't seem benevolent however. It looked... hungry. "Another recent purchase of mine, the SOUL. It's an acronym apparently, though they didn't tell me what it was for." He showed it off for a moment, before getting back to the point.

"Before I bought this item, I thought that reiatsu was the only thing that a person could generate, the only thing they could reliably use in a fight. But this showed be differently. I was told that the SOUL absorbs lifeforce from people in order to create mod souls. I thought the seller was wacked in the head and meant reiatsu. I was so very, very wrong." Kitai ran the stone over his arm, and the glove began to glow an empty white color, before it shifted to a hateful red, as energy trailed from where the stone made contact.

"You see, Lifeforce and Reiatsu are two separate things. You can spend as much reiatsu as you want and only pass out once you hit your limit. Lifeforce, on the other hand, will kill you if you run out. It's such a complicated energy, that even though I know about it, I can't actually access without the aid of machines and items." Kitai held his hand palm up, as the red energy swirled around before being sucked up into the gem. It continued to glow red until the last of the spare Lifeforce was sucked into the gem. It glowed red for a second more, before fading back into the white color that it had been previously.

"Reiatsu is the energy that your soul produces, the excess power that you have at your disposal. Lifeforce, on the other hand, is likely the closest representation of your soul itself. Its more potent in what it can do, and something you can't utilize without highly specialized equipment, like this glove. And that's what Mask On targets. Not your reiatsu, but your Lifeforce. To the best of my understanding, anyway." He shrugged, as he removed the SOUL and placed it on the table for Arcadus to look at. It was quite the interesting item, and probably the third most valuable thing he owned.

"If my theory is right, the mask targets your Lifeforce first, separating the unique portions of your soul from the portions that make you whatever race you are. The reiatsu follows suit, as it is just the byproduct of your Lifeforce, and the body is forced to adjust to the change to match the other two factors. That, is what I'm attempting to replicate with the bolt cutters. I'm trying to get the Lifeforce to separate itself from the Chains of Hell in order to revert myself back into a Fullbringer, but the method I'm using is triggering a reaction from the Chains."

He grabbed the chain wrapped around his left wrist, and unraveled it. It was about two feet in length, with inch long segments. They were rounded links, but they were deceptively sharp, as most people found out the hard way. The last segment was fused to his body, actually going under the skin. His x-ray contacts told him that they wrapped around his bones. "These fucking things don't generate any reiatsu, for the most part, but it turns out that they still have a Lifeforce of their own. They're alive, connected to an individual who shall not be named. His Lifeforce overrides my own, and negates the process entirely, though I don't think they're conscious of it."

The Saika looked pale, well, paler than usual. The topic of who was on the other end of those chains frightened the Lunatic more than anything else. It was why he could shrug off most insults or threats, if he was being honest. When the threat of that was awaiting you, how could any other punishment compare? It was why he was so desperate to get these infernal things off! He and every other Hellion, he imagined. Wait, no, there was Jeff. The little sociopath didn't seem to mind them all that much, and he did mention there was an organization forming in Hell, apparently. What a bunch of wackjobs.

He couldn't stand it. He needed to be free, he refused to be the pet of another! Every Hellion was just a toy for them! He was hiding like a coward from a being he couldn't hope to defeat. He couldn't return because he pissed off Leviathan by stopping him from returning to the living world, so going back unprepared would be a death sentence. No, it would be worse than death, because he didn't want to imagine what kind of torture being forced to spend the rest of eternity in the gut of the second most powerful being in all of Hell.

Kitai sighed, shoving those thoughts to the side and got back to the matter at hand. It was difficult to even notice Lifeforce, and the interactions between two opposing Lifeforces was even harder. The SOUL wouldn't work on the Chains, and he was pretty sure they would lash out and attempt to destroy the item if he continued to fiddle with them. All of the destroyed bolt cutters were example enough of what would happen. He didn't understand the SOUL enough to replicate it just yet, and didn't want to risk it being damaged, and even then, he didn't want to lose the base model.

He was pretty sure there were hidden secrets to this item, much like the mask. He didn't fully understand it, and until he did, they were invaluable to him. "An interesting thing though, is that Lifeforce regenerates at roughly the same rate as reiatsu, and the amount that someone has is roughly one-to-one in regards to how much Lifeforce someone can hold at once. I've been tying around with it for the past week, using my clone to drain me as far down as I can go every day. Apparently, according to the vender, the more it has, the stronger the mod soul it produces."

He wanted to store up as much Lifeforce in that thing as he could. Right now, he hasn't found a limit to how much it could hold, so he was still running tests on it, but it was here to detect the changes in his Lifeforce, like a crude sensory device. He would probably make some device to sense more of what is going on after this visit. Huh. That idea alone more than made this little visit more than worth it. The Saika pulled a pencil and a piece of paper from his left pocket, and wrote down a note to make something like that later.

[Arcadus]

Arcadus, expecting some kind of technical speak for the questions he raised, was met with Kitai being very.. vulnerable. Scratching the mask fragments as he listened, Arcadus made a note to ask valeron about this if he got a moment alone. Outside of the emotional hurdles of this issue, Kitai began to tell him about the issues he had been facing, and the situation he was currently in. Arcadus taking note of what Kitai was saying, had taken a notepad of the counter and began to organize the things Kitai was saying, starting with the.. Mask.

"Alright, so that object is called 'Mask On', and if you couldn't guess, is from the Black Market."  That was obvious. Arcadus had made his way to Los Noches's Black market previously, though he was interested in the other outlets of the criminal underworld, and what wares they would have. Making a mental note to see what was available in the human world next time around, he makred down Mask On as the header of an outline of notes.

Kitai told him about how the mask could turn someone into a hollow if they were unconscious or willing. This begged the question, if he'd used it on hellions, who presumably also had these chains on them, why didn't Kitai use it on himself. As well, Arcadus made a mental note to get one of these for his.. "ascension ritual" he had planned. Marking "able to turn the willing and unconcious into hollows" down under point one of the pad, Arcadus saw Kitai take out a new item, which he termed SOUL, and why he had used the term life force. Marking a new section further down the pad, Arcadus Wrote Soul/Lifeforce, and wrote "Target's lifeforce (different from reiatsu)" under Mask On. 

As Kitai explained futher the funstion of the Soul, and how it relates to life force, Arcadus made yet another mental note to get himself a Soul, and to investigate the capabilities of a Mod Soul. Marking down "Lifeforce different, will die if spend too much." on the notepad, Arcaus underlined the portion of the Mask On notes for life force. As Kitai was demonstrating how Soul worked, and as Arcadus sensed something more than reiatsu flowing into the gloves, and specifically the gems, seeming to imprint on them. There was something similar to a pressing effect, like the life force was engraving itself on the gemstones. Perhaps that is what become the mod soul pill. 

Kitai then took the explantion into the the application of the principles of them. Because the chains seemed to have a life force, Kitai was trying to target that, but they chains seemed to be reacting, as both of them had concluded. Being that it seemed the chains were linked to hell, specifically a secred ruler or some higher being, and intended to take the soul of a person back to hell when they died, it was likely they could be tricked into reeling back in with very little of Kitais soul, which Arcadus marked as "Swap big fish for minnow?" under  a new topic "Solutions". 

Listening as Kitai elaborated on the power of SOUL and how it seemed to make a more powerful mod soul the more life force it intergrated into the gems, Arcadus mused on the options. Cutting, Baiting, Tying off, all of these were options for the chains. But one option seemed to make sense as well. Why didn't Kitai become a hollow, and then an arrancar? It was certianly better than living day to day having to sit in a pool of magma that replenished you. And he had heard of other methods of transforming your race, though he didn't know the specifics. From what he remembered, it had to deal with some kind of final release. 

"Well Kitai, it seems like we have a few options to tackle the problem at hand, 4 in specific. If this is indeed tied to your life force, your very soul, perhaps we could create a small pool of life force to transfer the chains to, like cutting off your arms then tying all the chains to a psuedo Kitai, a sort of phylactery. That could mean we try to figure out if they're linked to certain aspects of  your soul that we could splice off, or if they're purely symbolic representations, and its a more metaphysical power that actually affects you."

"If its a more metaphysical problem, and there will always be a chain attached to your soul, we could potentially bait the chains into reeling in a insignificant portion of your soul, or a fake soul made out of gathered soul energy, though that hits a similar problem, and could seriously anger who ever has a hold on your soul, which has a drawback of someone that powerful coming after you pissed off. Not an optimal situation."

"A second form of this could be transferring your personage, your soul, into another vessel at the moment of death, leaving behind a tiny version of yourself to be reeled in. That could potentially limit or diminish  your powers in the new form, but its not like your lacking for power. That would also leave whoever is reeling in your soul with a minnow instead of a tuna, but I think that's a preferably form of that solution, given it lets you change significantly and could free you from hell for a while at least." 

"Thirdly, we could try cutting the chains with something even more powerful, though I don't know much that could do that. Well, there is Kouhai, but I don't know if he's willing or able to actually do this. So that brings me to our last option. We could try transmuting the chains themselves. If they are overriding your own life force, why don't we transmute them into something different, something you could overcome, or that could actually be cut, instead of whatever these are." Gesturing with an open hand to the adorning chains on the Saika. 

Arcadus had taken a wider stance during this, almost like he was bracing for something. Aand as wewll, he had kept his eyes firmly averted from the mask on the stand near him, it seemed to tug at him, and a phantom breeze seemed to blow through his hair whenever he took his gaze off of his spot on the wall. Fiddling with a ryo, Arcadus was certian he was not asking Kouhai about the idea of cutting off the hell chains, unless Kitai as an arrancar decided to become and Espada. 

There was that option, Kitai becoming an arrancar and just deciding to figure it out at a later date, and judging by the fact Kitai was trying to set up mod souls, might actually be the case. But he was serchign for alternate solutions, so that meant there had to be something about the option that he didn't like. At this point it might honestly be better to probe him honestly instead of trying to play games like with Orobas. There it was again, that idea, that warmer feeling. Companionship, or what did Ailene call it. Friendship.

Arcadus whats sure how he felt about that word. Kitai was a dangerous person, a hellion, and generally very cavaleir about anything and everything so far, this situation bein the only exception. Arcadus also wasn't entirely sure what counted as a friend. Frowning slightly, hie figured that for right now at least, Kitai was the closest thing he had to a friend. That idea, it sat, like a rock at the bottom of a pool, not disturbing the water, but when observed clearly disrupted the otherwise clear and decisive pool. 

"So, there is actually another option. Why don't you become a hollow? You have the strength and the will to become an arrancar and that would atleast solve your dependency issue. You could live in hueco mundo and continue your experiments there uninterupted ,and it would give you a good way to fake your death, at least taking the mortal agents of this pursuit off of your tail. As for being an Arrancar, it isn't that bad, you live basically forever, you're an awful lot stronger than most other races and you'd be far harder to find as an Arrancar than a Saika."

"Of course, you'd need someone to take over the shop in your absence, though with the mod souls, you'd have someone to man the shop, and I'd be willing to look after it for the while if you don't trust it to a mod soul. What's stopping you, right now from putting on the mask and becoming a hollow, then an arrancar, and from there, other races, if you know techniques or methods to do so? Because I don't like our chances at beating these chains. I'll give it my best, but this is heavy stuff Kitai."

[Kitai Yoru]

The Lunatic listened to his suggestions, and they honestly weren't bad, and definitely not things that he would have come up with on his own. To bait out the Chains of Hell into latching to a specific part of his soul and remove that portion? That was a brilliant idea on paper. Arcadus was a valuable source for ideas, and he might be tempted to bug him in the future with any difficult projects he might cook up in the future. But right now, there were a few problems that a non-Hellion might not anticipate with those ideas.

"There are a few problems with those ideas." He started, raising his chains once more. "These are more than just physical bindings. They might be there, but they're also anchored to my Lifeforce as well. Picture your soul like a blanket. Lots of little strands of fabric making one whole. The Chains of Hell weave themselves between the stitches. Even if I rip off the portions of my body that have the manifestations of the chains, they'll just regrow from the Lifeforce where I can't dig at. Hence the bolt cutters." He gestured to the various pieces of metal scattered across the room.

"As for moving the chains..." Kitai palmed his eyes with both his hands. How long had be been at this? He honestly couldn't remember. It was so difficult to tell the passage of time down here. Days? Had it been a week yet? His stomach felt empty, but he had taken several dips in the Blood Pool, so that was almost certainly the reason he hadn't felt any of the negative effects yet. "That's a very complicated problem. One, while I can manipulate the manifestations of the chains as a weapon, I can't actually make the Lifeforce that's anchoring them to my soul do anything. They aren't mine, if you catch my drift."

"In addition to that, even if I were to shunt them off to a dummy portion of my soul, there's no way in Hell that I would, pardon the pun. When I first died, I was completely destroyed by a cero. Hell took any minute particles of my Lifeforce that remained, and reformed me back into me. That means they could likely reform me back into me if even a single... ounce? Whatever. They could reform that little bit of Lifeforce back into a new Kitai, likely with all my memories, and knowing that I straight up abandoned it to the tortures of Hell."

It wasn't just that it was a moral dilemma of condemning someone to Hell that prevented him from attempting such an action. The reason he kept his clone around was because he had both a kill switch on the doppelganger, but the clone also knew that the original was its version of the afterlife. Once that clone died, all of its being would return to the source. It had incentive to help him, because it was him. His future was its future, and was the only reason it stuck around. The only reason it helped.

"And can you imagine loosing that coin toss? Reforming back in Hell to be played with and ruined because of your own plan? That thought scares me more than anything." Kitai looked somber, elbows on the table as he leaned back. "That goes the same for the lich idea. I'm not abandoning a version of myself to suffer." He snapped out of whatever mood he had managed to get himself into and looked more serious. He hated looking serious. He hated frowning in general, and was determined to get back in a better mood.

"As for breaking the chains, that's impossible currently. I'm not actually trying to do that, contrary to what the bolt cutters may look like. Its more like the fabric example I used earlier. The cutters are attempting to remove the Lifeforce from my own, to untangle them, separating the two from one another. The problem is that my method does it too slow. It targets the chains themselves instead of targeting myself. This method preserves me, doesn't change me into a hollow. Unfortunately, the chains don't quite like that."

It was unbelievably frustrating. He had the principle of the thing down pretty close to pat, but the chains opposing him was mucking it up. The mask worked differently from how his bolt cutters did. The mask worked like a strainer or a filter. The mask changed the soul by making it mailable, not interacting with the chains at all, causing them to fall through the Hellion upon conversion. His cutters worked by trying to make the chains mailable enough to fall through the Hellion, but the chains refuse to be changed or manipulated on that small of a scale.

And then there was the big question that he had been waiting for. Why don't you become a Hollow. It was one that he had been tempted to do ever since he acquired the mask. He had very nearly done so the moment he had bought it. He took a deep breath and held it for a moment, before letting out a tremendous sigh. "I don't just want to escape Hell, Arcadus. I want to stay out of Hell. As much fun as it would be to run around as a hollow or an arrancar, that would just be how I was before I got these chains. Nothing would have changed, except that I've delayed the inevitable."

He thought of all the carnage and chaos he's caused in both his life as well as his death. It didn't paint him in all that good of a light. "If I'm going to beat Hell, if I really want to rub my escape in their faces, I need to get a lot of things prepared in advance. The bolt cutters were meant to cut out the middle man in that, leave me in a similar position to how I am now. My plans to change with the mask require more setup. Make some mod souls to aid me when I'm weak, ascend to the highest stage of power a Saika can attain, then use a theoretical technique I've heard of called 'Saigo'. Then I life out the rest of my days as a human who helps people." There was a grimace on his face at that last bit. Still, that was his best idea on how to avoid ever returning to Hell.

[Arcadus]

It was the Freak's turn to listen, and he did well. Looking at his notes, Arcadus drew up a sort of diagram of a thread stitched into a humanoid form, wincing at the idea of ripping something so entwined out. It was true they couldn't manipulate their own reiatsu without technology they didn't understand, much less the life force of someone so powerful that it dwarfed someone else's with such a small amount. That proved to be something that they couldn't really hope to over come. 

It seemed Kitai also didn't have the nerve to sacrifice a part of himself for his ambition, though Arcadus couldn't blame him not wanting to stake his future on a coin flip, even if fortune did favor the bold in his experience. As for the ways in which that was even possible, they were going to have to basically tie all the stiches into a knot and cut Kitai's essence off at the at point, again, making huge strides in logic and this would require technology they didn't have and magical practices that no one had even attempted to Arcadus's knowledge.  

As for the last option. Arcadus hadn't heard of "Saigo", but he knew that there was a technique that seemed to be what Kitai had described, and reasonably, this is what it was called. In any case, it made sense Kitai didn't want to immediately jump into hollowhood and saigoing. There were still affairs to get in order, and as Arcadus understood it, it was a technique that would reset you to a much weaker form, though it was rumored to bring far greater potential. 

The mask. It irked him, pulled at his attention, and in the back of his mind he could hear the scratching's of the hollow. It was going to be a pain in the ass to keep sticking around this thing, and if he was in what ever outlet of the blackmarket these were sold, it was going to be a problem if he couldn't keep his hands off them. Becoming a hollow was the last thing he needed, even if it was a necessary part of that "ascension ritual" he had in mind. Of course, that would require more information about Saigo.

"Since most of your eggs seem to be on the basket of using Saigo to free yourself, I don't know if we really need to pursue other options. As long as your affairs are in order, its not too dissimilar of what I am doing with some smaller hollows. Training them up, giving them opportunities to grow stronger and protection when they are in danger. I wouldn't be against doing that for you, if you'd allow." Offering something like this to Kitai wouldn't be a improper move, very similar to being able to ally with a second person in 4 player chess, it could prove to be invaluable if he was going to go up against Hell.

As well, learning about how Saigo worked, would be invaluable to him. If he was going to grow in power, and as he mused to himself, rid Los Noches of Kouhai's doddering old corpse, he'd have to have that kind of nuclear option on the table, as well as enough allies and forces to hold it steady while he regained his strength. In any case, this seemed like the best option forward. Leaning back to rest against the far wall, Arcadus pulled the handle of a bolt cutter out of the drywall, fiddling with it, bending it into a pretzel before looking at Kitai.  

"Kitai, your definetly one of the better people to attempt this, but I think you would be better off taking the safer bet than trying to find a short and easy path to freedom and power. As much as this hurts me to say, it might be better to not gloat and rub your victory in the face of Hell. Unless, of course, we find a way to seal up all of hell, they're going to come after you, and me, for evading them. I've got my own ideas on how to avoid hell, and part of it is getting as powerful as I can so they can never come after me again. But power might not be the way of a simple, righteous human is it now?"

"Cmon, you've spent how long down here? A week, looking at these bloodstains, maybe 8 days. I'd say you need to get some sun and get some time away from this thing" Pointing at the mask, there was the smallest tremble in the Arrancar's finger, though it was quickly retracted back into his fist. "You need some actual rest, not sitting in that magma spa. Lets get you some food, something to drink, and some time away from the project. In the mean time, what do you think about a short trip to the store?"

Arcadus had seen this kind of exhaustion in himself, and those things are normally what he did to rejuvenate, as well as taking a break from the toil to think on what he wasn't getting, or to simply distract himself so his mind could distance itself from the problem and give it time to digest. Minds were like bovines, they needed time to digest and redigest information that it was trying to make the most of, and often times some of that was subconscious, so there was not shame in giving time for that. As for making the most out of this, spending more time with Kitai would inspire him with some new ideas. 

Stepping towards the stairs up into the shop propper, Arcadus decided to take the steel pretzel he'd made in his hands, and, snapping it half, waved Kitai up into the now open door. Sunlight cracked through the windows and into the basement, and hopefully, the exhausted Saika would follow him up and take sometime to relax and refuel. Gods knew Arcadus needed it, having been planning for this experiment for nearly a month now. Maybe they could talk about that more in depth, he had basically kept Kitai in the dark on what was supposed to be happening with that. 

[Kitai Yoru]

As much as it helped to talk about the problems out loud, it would seem that the talks had run their course. Try as he might, he didn't have any way to manipulate the Chains of Hell outside of their physical manifestations. Their Lifeforce was too foreign in nature, too powerful to make move, and lodged too deeply throughout his being to actually remove in the method he wanted. He could not make the chains bend to his will, not through this method. It felt like a punch to the gut, and left a sour taste in his mouth. It angered him that he couldn't make his solution work.

On the bright side, however, this had mostly been a way to get to the finish line faster. He still had a viable means to escape the pit, and the goal was getting closer with each passing day. Despair wouldn't claim him or his thoughts. He had his method, and this hadn't been an entirely fruitless endeavor. This had taught him a good number of things about Lifeforce, and some of the mechanics behind it. A being like... Him had one beyond mortal comprehension, and could not be made to change directly. It also told him that it couldn't react like their originator, and were mostly non-sentient entities, like strands of hair.

He could still escape. He just needed to setup everything for the day he breaks free. The temptation to simply throw caution to the wind and use the mask now was unfathomable, and only the fear of being dragged back immediately were preventing him from doing something truly stupid. He just had to persevere. He just had to hold out a little longer, and then he could be free from this. He could be free from all of this. It would taste so sweet. His eyes were drifting shut.

Then Arcadus' voice snapped him back awake. He rubbed his eyes. That was weird, shouldn't the Blood Pool have prevented this from happening? It healed him to 'One hundred percent' every time, so he should be fine to keep going... right? He listened to the words of the arrancar, eyes half lidded. An offer of protection as he trained under the Espada? That was an idea, but it came with too much risk. "Yeah... I appreciate the offer, I really do. But you work under a leader who probably won't want to day with my brand of crazy. Not to mention, I don't want to be caught with by pants down by some of those fucking Akki. Orobas is no joke and has nearly killed me before, and this Holika chick is enough to cause most people trouble. And don't get me started on the bounty hunters."

While he's managed to beat most of the people who have come after him, that was in his current form. He has more or less mastered himself as he is now. Becoming a Hollow though? Taking on a completely new form, as Hell continues to hound him? No. If he was going to be switching forms, he would not remain as a hollow for longer than was strictly necessary. It wouldn't do good to waste time adjusting to life as a hollow, when he could just avoid the trouble all together. Even if it would free him just a bit earlier. He needed the resources his current form permitted to him.

Arcadus was telling him not to gloat in the face of Hell. Kitai looked shocked at the normally prideful arrancar. This man normally screamed arrogance, if not overtly, then at least subtly. He didn't think this man would ever pass up the chance to rub victory in the face of his bested opponent. But, he wasn't wrong in what he was saying. He might best Hell by breaking free, but it was far from defeated. The Hellions that he mention would continue to pursue him, probably at a more fervent pace after his escape. Maybe he needed a mod soul army?

He pictured an army of mod souls who would live to serve him... and the thought made him sick. A bunch of subservient drones who existed only to protect him and carry out his will. Why would anyone want that? Kitai just wanted to live free, unbound by anyone, just allowed to live his life without consequences. Mod souls were more than just robots. He remembered a person he'd met a lifetime ago, a mod soul. They were just as human as any human he'd met, with his own dreams and desires. He couldn't enslave a sentient being to himself.

Maybe the Espada was right. On a lot of things, actually. A righteous man wouldn't be striving for more power than was strictly necessary. He would build enough forces to fend off anyone who would come after him, and that was it. He felt dizzy. Woozy? It was such a surreal feeling, if he was being honest, like he was hearing and seeing everything through a tunnel? He honestly couldn't remember something like this happening to him before. Wait, no, that wasn't entirely true, was it? He remembered when was still a human, still a member of humanity.

He used to be completely insane. Total madness consumed his every waking moment. Voices screaming in his head near constantly. Or was he one of those voices tormenting another? Probably the latter. Two other voices were there with him. They were there too, bringing about just as much madness and mayhem as he did before he died. Where had they gone? Had Hell fixed that portion of his mind? Kitai blinked, as he realized he was wobbling around on his chair, threatening to topple over. How long had he been down here again?

The arrancar called him out on his excessive time spent in his underground workshop. He took a long look around the room, and could only blink in mild surprise. There was... a lot more blood covering the walls than he had realized. Old blood that was brown and flaking off. He'd need to make a power washer for that later. That or make a cleaning robot. Oh, maybe an army of robots? Those never went wrong. "...You know, maybe I do need a nap. Thanks for the help, 'Cadus. I'll repay you later. For now, I need to go pass out." He told him, as he made his way out of the workshop.

[Arcadus]

Litenting to Kitai, there was a lot of dense subjects there. Stuff Arcadus didn't like to consider. The eternity of the soul. The fact that there wasn't a endless black for him to fade out in when he finally kicked it, or that he'd die at all. The idea that he was going to have to answer to some cosmic force he couldn't convince or con into letting him step through whatever "good afterlife" was waiting for him. That was if he was a real soul at all, and not some gestalt of the souls that hollow had consumed over the centuries. 

Looking around, Arcadus figured it wasn't smart to be alone with his thoughts, especially when he was in the room with an item like that mask. There wasn't a good reason to use it, but it still called to him. Moving with almost an unconcious grace, peeled a speck of blood off the wall, brown and dry as sand. Lookin it over, Arcadus bit into it like a chip. Saika blood was like warm curry, spicy but oily, with the iron in it being less present than in other races. Closing his eyes to savor it, Arcadus began to move up the stairs.

Entering into the main floor and room of the shop, Arcadus made his way over where to Kitai, or at least Kitai Prime, had crashed on the couch, sleeping like a rock. As for the clone, it seemed unaffected by this, and was milling about the counter as the prime Kitai would. Looking around, Arcadus figured he also hadn't eaten anything for a while. Looking around, he didn't see a fridge or pantry. As for making food, Arcadus was phenomenally bad. Thats what he had Anvus for, and as he looked out around the shop, it was weird to not see much of anything, but around the counter, Arcadus noticed a small bin.

Looking at the trash bin, Arcadus noticed what he was looking for, food, or rather, food waste, which at least would let him know what Kitai ate. Looking into it, there were lot of cheese wrappers and packets. Sliced cheese, cheese wax, cheese papers, and what looked like a failed attempt to make cheese, by the moldy cheese cloth and curdling milk. As for what to do about that, Arcadus figured that if his diet was this much cheese, he could just buy some cheese from the shops down the street. 

As for making the trip, it wasn't long before Arcadus had found himself in the dairy section of a supermarket. Looking at the section, all the names seemed to kind of blur together, Arcadus didn't make much sense of them, outside of the colors and shapes. Pulling out the block of maxed cheese, Arcadus looked it over. The wax was red, and as much it tempted him to peel it off, he decided to just get 1 of most of them. Walking towards the exit, he wondered. Would this be advantageous? Was Kitai going to stab him in the back? Was the Akki going to kill him after all of this was said and done? 

Deciding that, at least for the moment, it didn't matter, Arcadus returned to the shop and a still sleeping Kitai Prime. Laying the cheese out infront of him, and making sure not to disturb the sleeping Saika, Arcadus took a last look at the steel pretzel he'd pocketed. This was some heavy stuff, freeing yourself from hell, and trying to make it so that you didn't face the consequences for your actions. That was an admirable goal, something Arcadus had been moving towards for a long time, but it wasn't like there weren't obstacles unique to his journey. 

Kouhai stood at the top of that list, but more than anything, it was the overwhelming task of actually revitalizing Los Noches that he feared. Battles were short, wars and reconstruction took decades, centureis. But for right now, Arcadus simply snapped the twisted metal in half. It didn't matter for the moment. That was such a comforting feeling, and one that, upon relection only showed up when he wasn't acting in his capacity as the Trecera Espada, or when he was presenting as a powerful Arrancar, and looking around the shop, he noticed. He only acted like this when there weren't other people around to see him, company excluded. 

Maybe there was something to that. Perhaps he was being consumed by that persona he had invented at that meeting table so long ago, to two espada he'd seen all of twice. What good was this, if it wasn't going to advance him? There wasn't any point to acting like this outside of representing the Espada, who Arcadus had decided was a flailing and dying oranization. Hence tyring to fill it with his own ranks. In either case, it was time to leave, before Kitai woke up. 

Leaving a note on the counter, Arcadus left a hand written note, propped up on the counter facing Kitai Prime. "Thanks for the talk, and I hope you don't mind the cheese I bought." Written in red ink and in his own cursive style, Arcadus decided to make his way to Karakura's games district. Maybe a cold drink and some good food, greasy, human food, would help shake him up a bit. As for dealing with the existential horror that plagued the back of his mind, well, at least some warm food would be comforting.

Staying in the present was always important to Arcadus, because the future was always uncertain, and the past was hard to look at without worrying. Maintaining momentum, minute to minute, had been his method of operation for so long. But maybe it was time to start planning for the future, by examining the past. Stepping out into the sun, Arcadus marveled at the orbital star, and how radiant, and wonderful, it could be to be so similar to it. 

[Kyomei Kuchiki]

+50% boost to Kitai with his next thread with Arcadus
+50% boost to Arcadus with his next thread with Kitai