Upon The Grave Left Behind

[Luke Clyburn]

<sub>It was just another day like any other. Just like the last one hundred or so days. It was never made clear where exactly it had come from. The murky, waveless, waters reflected the sunlight bearing down upon its surface with a multitude of sparkles. A gentle breeze rolled through the air, shaking the leaves of the trees that surrounded the body of the waters shore. This lake, that had suddenly appeared here in the Japanese countryside three years ago, had still gone completely unexplained. It looked like nothing more than just an ordinary countryside lake. The sort of place you would take your family to for a weekend retreat. But it was peculiar. It was as if it had just appeared one day over night. Aside from the strangeness of its origin the only other thing of note had been the brief signal of spiritual energy that came from it. That was how Soul Society became aware of it three years ago. Ever since then, as they did with most spiritual curiosities, they opted to keep an eye on it and keep normal mortals away from it.

Saying that though it wasn’t as if this lake was any sort of high risk peculiarity for them. The most the Shinigami of Seireitei had done was erect a curtain barrier around the lake through the use of Kido and talismans. The barrier wouldn’t be able to keep anything like a wandering Hollow or anything with even a moderate amount of spiritual pressure out. It was designed to simply hide the lake from view and subtly compel mortals to avoid it. The most barebones and basic means of keeping something strange out of sight. It was so low priority in fact that Shinigami sent to keep an eye on the barrier and prevent anyone from passing through it was nothing more than a skeleton crew of newly recruited Soul Reapers. The sort of job that you give those that just graduated the academy or gave to someone you really found annoying.

”I’m bored.” Hanami complained. Just like she did the last hundred or so times in the last twenty minutes. Her complaint went unanswered. ”I said I’m bored.” She reiterated, this time with a tad bit more irritation in her words. ”I heard you. Just like I heard you the last twenty times you said it. Stop whining.” Arai replied with a disgruntled tone in his voice. Blowing a raspberry between her lips like a child. Hanami Masaki and Arai Hirokazu, both Shinigami were fresh faced greenhorns newly appointed into the ranks of the Gotei Thirteen. Neither had been assigned to a Squad yet, making them amongst the nameless masses of Shinigami still vying for the attention of their superiors. They had both graduated from academy at the same time and both had done very well in their studies. Yet despite that their personalities just didn’t mesh all that well together.

Arai was a by the books person. Follow orders exactly. He was serious, hard working, and an overachiever. But this made him boring, uninteresting, and a real stick in the mud. Hanami was outgoing, energetic, and eager to prove herself. But she had a tendency to be airheaded, be a maverick, and had a tendency to get herself into trouble. ”Nothing ever happens around here so why do we have to stand here all day. That or walk the barrier.” she whined with a sigh. Arai shot her a look as if about to tell her to shut up, but he knew she was right. He wondered why the Gotei even bothered with having them guard the barrier; it wasn't as if anything ever came here.

”You’re not wrong.” he replied. ”There’s never even been so much as a Hollow. I think it would be way more efficient, and a better use of our time, if they just sent routine checkups to make sure the barrier is still functioning. Instead of making us stand here all day.” Arai committed, as he turned his head upwards to look at the objects that kept the barrier functioning. It was like large, ornamental, ropes hovering in the air surrounding the vicinity of the lake. The ropes themselves were coated in a variety of talismans alongside one large one that was allowed to hang free from the middle of each rope. Fancy stuff.

”Hey, Arai, is this everything you hoped for?” Hanami suddenly asked after a few moments of silence was shared between them. Her comrade blinked, turning his attention to her and asking ”What do you mean?” Hanami sighed and crossed her arms. ”I mean how we went through all that training for so many years and for what? Here we are standing around day in and day out to keep an eye on some oversized pond.” she explained as her gaze turned downcast.

”It’s like aren’t you worried about us not getting a chance?”

”Hmm… a bit, I guess. But we have our orders, Hanami.” Arai replied, though he didn’t really know how to properly answer her. He could tell she wasn’t too pleased with that answer. ”Bah this is why nobody likes you.” she shot back, pouting. ”Plenty of people like me.” he answered back with a raised voice. The two would bicker back and forth like this practically every day. It was the only thing keeping them sane. Nothing ever happened. Well, that was true up until this day and time.

It wasn’t an uncommon occurrence. The island nation of Japan was situated where four of the Earth’s tectonic plates converged. This meant that Japan experienced more earthquakes than just about any other place on the planet. Around 1,500 a year. Hanami and Arai would suddenly feel the vibrations through their feet. This wasn’t the first time either. Both, having guarded this lake for three weeks now, had felt tremors here and there. But both of them realized rather quickly that the quakes they felt now were more intense than those that they had felt before. Both Shinigami leapt into the air. Levitating well above the ground thanks to condensing the ambient reishi in the air to create platforms for them to stand upon. ”This is a serious one.” Arai mentioned when he noticed a few trees fall over. Rockslides were visible on the side of the mountain that was a distance away.

The earthquake kept going, growing more intense by the second, and both Shinigami watched as the tremors caused the earth to split. A portion of the eastern shore suddenly separated from itself. As if a wound opened up in the ground itself. Hanami let out an audible gasp as she noticed the lake's water rushing into the newly formed crack. Both Shinigami watched and waited until the shaking died down and stopped. ”I hope nobody got hurt.” she commented, looking in the direction of the nearest city. Both Shinigami landed and approached the water line. ”Arai look!” Hanami was the first to notice. The water line was rapidly shrinking. Both Shinigami blinked and watched it for a bit. ”The tremor must have opened up a hole or something.” Arai noted, watching the lake steadily shrink.

In less than half an hour the Shinigami were looking at the empty void where the lake once was. They both had shocked expressions on their faces. ”It’s… gone. It’s all gone? Hurray!” the young woman shouted before actually jumping for joy. ”It’s gone, that stupid lake is all gone! Look Arai! We can finally be done with this barrier guarding crap!” Hanami celebrated. Her colleague was still inspecting the site. He navigated his way over to the eastern shore where the tremor had split the earth. As he walked along what was previously a shoreline something caught his eye. He thought it was his eyes playing tricks on him.

Climbing down the narrow slope and through the mud, Arai descended towards what he saw. Reaching down into the mud and grasping ahold of it he pulled it free. ”Hanami! he shouted, getting her attention. ”Look.” Arai held up what he was holding for her to see. A broken sword. The remnants of its blade coated in rust. ”Wait what is that?” she asked as she ran down to where Arai was. ”It’s a sword. A broken one. But what’s it doing here?” he asked. ”Hey, isn't there a legend about pulling a sword out of a lake? Does that make you a king now, Arai?” Hanami asked with a smirk and snicker. ”Does that matter? Don’t you think this is weird? What’s a broken sword doing in the lake?” Arai questioned. ”Who cares? The lake is gone, our jobs done, we get to go home.” it was obvious that she just didn’t care.

But as she was talking she noticed something. ”Hey, Arai, is that a hole?” Arai turned to see what she had started pointing at. Some ways away from them near the opposite end of the side they were standing on there was in fact what looked like an opening in the earth along the wall of the shore. It wasn’t a part of the fissure that had opened up from the earthquake. While Hanami was seemingly fine to write it off, what with her lax attitude, Arai was a little more curious. Finding a broken sword in the middle of a lake that Soul Society had been keeping them guarding led him to understand that maybe there was a little more to what was going on than first realized. Sandals sloshing in the mud, Arai approached the opening. ”Hey where are you going?” Hanami called out before following behind.

”Arai c’mon I wanna get out of here. It’s probably just part of where the ground opened up from that earthquake.” she whined as she trailed behind him before beginning to complain about the mud. ”Why did it drain?” Arai suddenly asked. ”Huh? Because the ground opened up, duh.” she replied. ”No, I mean, shouldn’t there have been groundwater underneath? Something isn’t right here, Hanami.” he elaborated as he approached a large crack in the ground. Arai noticed that, while it was a fit, there was a slope that led further down a bit into the earth.

Hanami, following behind, also began to notice something. The drained lake basin had an odd shape to it. Looking at the sloping walls around them she began to turn. She noticed that the shape of the ground didn’t seem right. What’s more there were many gashes and holes strewn through the river bed. It almost seemed like they were standing in a crater of some sort, a large one, instead of just a place of natural low elevation. ”Hey I just noticed something. There’s no fish anywhere.” she commented with surprise. ”Hey are you listening?” Hanami asked. She saw Arai staring into what seemed like a small cave entrance. ”Are you thinking about going in there?” she asked before she watched him crawl right in. With a groan she followed.

Once inside, Arai quickly cast a low level Kido to create a source of light for themselves. From his hand hovered an orb of yellow light that ascended above his head. Warm, yellow, light lit up the cavern's floor and walls. Immediately they noticed something strange. The cave didn’t descend deep at all. In fact only a few meters ahead of them there was a wall. But the reason both Shinigami looked confused was because this was not a wall made of rock. Instead it looked like solid ice. ”What is this?” Arai asked, approaching first and, without much caution, placing his hand on it. Bare flesh against the wall of ice, Arai winced and let out a yelp as he quickly pulled his hand back. ”Arai!?” Hanami shouted in panic. ”I’m fine just… it’s just cold.” he replied to calm her. Looking at his hand though he saw the telltale signs of ice burn on the skin. He hadn’t even touched it for a second.

”Just what is this?” Arai asked, scanning the sheet of ice blocking their path. ”Arai I don’t like this. First that sword now this. Something’s going on.” Hanami happened to be the first to notice. Along the wall of ice were various cracks. Some much deeper than others. It was possible that the earthquake just now, or who knows how many in the past, damaged the ice a bit. Looking at Arai who was being slow and cautious, though he did hurt himself, she pushed her lips out a bit as her impatience began getting the better of her. Holding both her arms out she began to chant ”Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings-”

”Hanami what’re you-”

”ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south! Hado thirty one, Shakkahō!” she shouted before a sizable red ball of energy manifested and was fired at the ice wall. Arai dived out of the way as the Kido attack smashed into the wall of ice with a sizable explosion. Mud and dirt were thrown into the air and all over Arai. ”Hey what are you doing? What if you caved us in with that stunt?” Arai shouted. ”Arai look.” Hanami wasn’t really paying attention to Arai now. She was looking at the hole she made in the wall, revealing a space inside of it. The two Shinigami looked at the hole, then each other, and then back at the hole. This was the point where they should have left. Had the two of them left and reported what they had found the course of history would have changed. But instead these two greenhorns, so eager to prove themselves and see the action they trained so hard to get, decided to step through the hole. It wasn’t like they knew.

The floor was also made of ice. As well as the walls and ceiling. It was slightly more spacious here than it was on the other side. Various pillars and columns made of ice connected the floor to the ceiling in random spots of the cavern. Like support beams keeping the cave from collapsing in on itself. ”What is all of this? There’s no way this is just natural is it?” Hanami asked, walking around one of the pillars of ice. The light from the Kido orb reflected beautifully from the surface of the ice. ”There’s no way it is.” Arai replied, carefully trying to avoid slipping on the floor. Hanami, having gotten her face close to a pillar, noticed something on the furthest side of the room from them. It was a rather large chunk of ice that had a very strange shape to it. She tilted her head and squinted. ”Come look at this.” she called out and approached. Arai, noticing her, followed.

”What does that look like to you?”

”Ice. It looks like ice.”

”No, no. Look at the way it's shaped.”

”I’m not seeing what you’re seeing. We should get out of here and report this.”

”I swear that part there looks like a bird's head. Look, doesn't that look like a beak?”

Hanami knew she wasn’t crazy. Inspecting the chunk of ice in front of them with more focus she became more convinced she was right. The ice almost looked like a bird that had stretched its wings around something. Coming to that realization she noticed something. ”Arai… can you give me more light?” she asked, staring down at something in the ice. When the Kido orb was hovered closer to her and the ice, both the Shinigami’s eyes widened. It was hard to see even with the extra light. But what they saw was unmistakable. Underneath the ice was a body. Undoubtedly human. ”Hanami we need to go.” Arai said, realizing now that everything was absolutely more complicated than anyone had previously realized. ”Don’t you feel it? It’s faint.. But… like it’s barely there. But I can feel reiatsu.” Hanami mentioned, her voice trailing as she focused all she could on sensing that faint flicker of energy. She reached out as she talked and her fingers touched the ice in front of her.

All hell broke loose when she touched the ice. Both Shinigami suddenly became aware that something was wrong. Sound was faster to react to than visual stimuli was. They both heard it before the saw it. Why they didn’t notice at first wasn’t entirely their fault. They were confused, in awe, and only focused on what was in front of them. Neither of them had noticed that the shadows cast by the orb of Kido light from the pillars were not behaving as they should. The shadows had lingered even as the source of light moved its position around the room.

Both Shinigami leapt out of the way, their instincts screaming for them to move, as the spots they previously stood upon were assaulted by numerous black shapes. Stabbing into the ice were black spikes that extended from the shadows. Hanami gasped as she watched the shadows around the pillars suddenly squirmed and grew, extending further and further across the ice like a coat of spreading black paint. ”Hanami, run!” Arai shouted out as he drew his Zanpakuto just as the shadows began to assault him. Sharpened tendrils lashed out from the walls and floor at Arai who was able to nimbly parry one with his sword and dodge out of the way of another. Hanami had also drawn her sword at this point and was trying to fend off the shadows attacking to get back to the hole.

But being caught off guard like this and attacked by something assaulting them from every angle only had one outcome for the two of them. Arai was the first to be injured. A shadowy tendril, sharpened like a blade, sliced from his left arms bicep. The Shinigami sucked in air through his teeth as he retreated, only a few steps, as blood splattered onto the icy floor. ”Arai!” Hanami shouted, seeing the deep injury her colleague sustained. ”I’m fine!” he shouted with a wince. He wasn’t fine. Something didn’t feel right. Pain was to be expected but there was something weird about it. The wound felt like dry ice had been mixed in and that sensation was spreading across his arm. Then he noticed it. His robes sleeve was dangling at his side. His bare and bleeding arm was lifted up. His fingers had passed through the grip of his own sword. His bloody arm was translucent. ”Huh?” Arai wondered now, completely and utterly confused and frozen.

Hanami happened to notice this and called out his name. She tried to rush to his side to shake him out of his confusion. The shadows continued to attack her, launching tendrils and jutting spikes out to stop her. Even she was getting scratched up. But when she made the move to disengage and reach Arai the assaulting force seized the opportunity. Arai saw as Hanami was pierced from behind by multiple dark spikes extending from the floor beneath her. Various portions of her torso impaled with the sharp tips, marked with her own blood, jutting out of her. ”Hanami!!” Arai shouted as the spikes retracted from her back into the ground. The Shinigami hit the icy floor hard. The cheek exposed to the floor began to suffer an iceburn.

Arai, in a panic and fueled by anger, turned his attention to the cluster of ice that housed the encased body. This all started because Hanami had touched the ice. He realized that if he didn’t do something fast what was happening to his arm was going to happen to Hanami’s body. There was no telling what would happen if that process were to complete itself. Arai vanished with a burst of speed, appearing in front of the ice, with the use of Shunpo. With a voracious war cry he swung his sword downwards towards the ice as multitudes of spikes extended from the floor and ceiling at him. If this failed he was dead.

Cold spiritual steel collided with colder ice. His sword buried itself into the ice only a little bit before the metal snapped. Arai watched, as if in slow motion, the other half of his sword spin through the air. All it had managed to do was cut open the ice a little bit. ”Huh?” he managed to mutter, eyes wide and with tears building at the edges, as the spikes were mere inches from his body.

It was like letting all the air out of a balloon. From the slash in the ice suddenly came a blast of energy that threw Arai back into the far wall. The shadows had halted in their attack and suddenly retracted as this wind suddenly appeared. His head slammed against the cave wall when he was thrust back but Arai was able to keep himself going. Energy and wind erupted from the ice. Arai managed to grab onto Hanami and pull her to him. He noticed that whatever was happening to his arm had stopped and, similarly, it wasn’t happening to Hanami either. The two watched as the icey figure that caused all of this was beginning to glow. Black outlined, teal, energy was escaping out from the damage that Arai had done to the ice. Then, like a pipe about to burst, more spots began to have energy escaping out from them. The two Shinigami watched as the reiatsu escaping began shredding the ice. The pressure that filled the cave made it impossible to breathe. Neither of these two were able to handle it. The escaping reiatsu flooded the room and flowed across them. Swirling around chaotically like a hurricane trapped in a jar.

Teal colored with a black outline reiatsu tore away at the ice built structure like it was buzzsaws being pushed through from the inside. Every hole made in the ice allowed the energy within to seep out and flood the room. The two Shinigami desperately braced themselves and held onto each other as they endured the maelstrom that surrounded them. Both were finding it almost impossible to breathe. The reiatsu pressure was too intense. It was as though they were standing in the presence of an unrestrained Captain. Arai managed to keep one eye open and continued peeking at the ice where it was all coming from. Multiple questions were running through his head. What should they do? How was he going to get Hanami out? What was this thing they messed with? What would a Shinigami do? What was hiding under that lake?

Suddenly a massive crack appeared and spread across the icey coffin. Arai’s and Hanami’s eyes widened with shock and surprise. From the original crack came more and more, spreading out like lightning, across the ice. The reiatsu was growing more intense by the second until, finally, the ice shattered completely. Time seemed to slow down for the two Shinigami as they watched shards of ice fall into the now opened empty space. Standing amongst the falling shards of ice was a single human man. A well built physical body with a head full of mostly black hair, a touch of white color tarnishing his bangs, stood there with eyes closed. Arai noticed something strange about the mans body. The right side of his head, chest, and arm had a much darker shade of color than the rest of his body. Like a deep tan had set in on that side only. The skin, aside from looking darker, also appeared pruned like a raisin.

But that oddity soon ended as teal reiatsu moved across the skin, erasing the blemish and returning the man's skin to a normal healthy tone and look. The reiatsu was running even more wild now than before. It was taking all Arai had to remain conscious. Hanami had long since gone unconscious. He had never been in the presence of such dense reiatsu before. It was like incredibly heavy water was flowing all across his body. He was left wondering if they had accidentally stumbled upon a sleeping Failure and activated its self-destruct. Something new began to happen as well. The ice that made up the floor, the walls, and the pillars in the cavern began to break apart and fly towards the man as if he possessed his own gravitational pull. But as the ice neared his personal orbit it ceased being ice. Arai watched in confusion as the ice broke down into smaller and smaller fragments until it became blue colored light. Reiatsu. Not just the ice but the very shadows that had attacked he and his partner were also being pulled from the surrounding surfaces and was also breaking down when it reached the man's vicinity. But instead of becoming blue light it became a dark purple.

The ground began to shake all of a sudden before from the hole they came in from and cracks in the ground, water suddenly flooded into the cavern. ”Water!?” Arai shouted out in confusion as, just like the ice and shadows, the water was also entering the man's orbit. Just like the other two elements the water from the lake became light as well, but this time a green color. Three reiatsu’s of different colors surrounded the man like three rings of Saturn, swirling around him in union until they became three solid distinct rings. They pulsed outward for a second before all shrinking together into his body and vanishing from sight completely. After that action, burning amber eyes awoke to the world once more.

Every fortune teller in the nation received the same premonition at the same time no matter their methods or practice. The fortune of an approaching storm that signaled coming change. The enhanced reiatsu joined by three would become like a geyser bursting from the earth. The barrier surrounding the former lake was ripped and torn like a balloon. Every person in the nation of Japan with even a slight sixth sense would feel it. The weakest of those who possessed this trait would feel the hairs on their neck stand up. But every person who was in touch with their ability to sense reiatsu would feel it. To some it was familiar. To some it wasn’t. Some would feel it more than others. Every spiritual pressure detecting piece of technology would suddenly flare up, blaring their sirens in alert. Every Bount on the archipelago would feel it in their stomach. Every Hollow suddenly fled back to Hueco Mundo as if they were frightened prey before an even greater predator. The previously ordained and guaranteed fate of the world was shattered alongside that icey coffin. The future was now uncertain, unclear, undetermined.

Then the reiatsu turned off. All was silent and still. But to those two Shinigami who remained in that cavern with that man, the pressure was still crushing. Arai, the only one conscious, was frozen with fear and hesitation. What was he supposed to do? He simply watched as the man, after opening his eyes, lifted his hands to chest height and just looked at them. He blinked. Once and then twice. Hanami suddenly let out a moan which drew Arai’s attention. But when he looked back at the stranger he gasped. He was now standing right in front of them. Glowing amber colored eyes looked down at them. He was wearing a pair of jeans that looked incredibly dirty and only had one shoe on. The stranger's shirt, or what was left of it, had been torn up and only the left side was still “wearable”.

Arai was paralyzed with fear but before he could say anything the ground began to shake again. The ice pillars that had been supporting the cavern to keep it open had been removed and now the earth wished to reclaim the cave. Arai suddenly saw the stranger extend his hand towards the Shinigami and, before Arai could say anything, he saw light. Not the light at the end of the tunnel, but the light from the sky. He and Hanami both were outside the cave and touching grass. Arai felt motion sick. As if he had been forced to move at impossible speed all of a sudden. ”Wait… wait where did…” he started to say before he saw the black haired stranger walking away from them. ”Wait! Stop! You can’t leave!” Arai, finding some bravery, shouted at the stranger. He stopped his steps and turned to look over his shoulder at the Shinigami. ”I don’t know who or what you are but you can’t leave. I’m taking you with me to Soul Society!” Arai shouted. The stranger's expression remained unchanged as he looked over the injured man.

After a few tense moments the silence was broken. ”Your friend.” the man said simply. Arai looked confused. ”Your friend is hurt. You should take care of her first before she bleeds out.” he replied calmly before resuming his walk. ”No, stop! Wait!” Arai shouted and started making a move towards the human. ”Nah!” the man replied with a sudden grin before suddenly vanishing with such force and high speeds that Arai was blown backwards a bit by the force of it. Lowering the arm he raised to cover his face, Arai looked around. The man was gone. Gritting his teeth he turned and moved towards Hanami. He needed to get her looked at and report this.



It was a bit confusing at first. Like, lying down to take a “quick nap” and then waking up covered in sweat, dehydrated, shirt stuck to your back and not knowing whether it was 8am or 8pm sort of confusing. He felt groggy at first but that quickly passed and was replaced with a sense of just feeling… good. The wind felt especially good today. The high speed movement came to a stop high in the sky. Moving at such incredible speeds let the wind feel good against his skin. Coming to a stop incredibly high in the sky, where the clouds floated amongst the heavens, he allowed himself to simply feel the pleasantness of the world. He took a long, deep, breath through his nose and simply stood there amongst the clouds. When was the last time he felt that way? As if so many burdens that were on his shoulders were just gone? Like the chains that captured his heart had finally been shattered. Like, as though, what was once fragmented had become whole. But what happened? There were certain, solid, memories but then things got hazy after thinking about it. He needed to focus and think. Something had happened that night.

Looking at his hands once again he confirmed that feeling he had back in that cave. The feeling of “completeness”. Like a part of him that had been gone for so long was finally back. That stoic expression of his face was broken with a smile as he understood what that meant. He had been successful. His efforts were not in vain. But something was odd at the same time. Things were… quiet. His head was rather silent. He searched the vastness of his mind for the three familiar presences that shared his head with him and, to his surprise, he did not feel them. No, that wasn’t quite right. He focused his search down. Harder and harder. He finally felt them. But rather than the strong presences they always had, like three burning fires, they were just embers.

Their forms, identities, and consciousness was broken apart. All three of them were formless cores of themselves that were, he realized, slowly and surely regenerating. What happened that left them in that state? As if that was the right question to ask himself, memories began trickling into his consciousness.

That night held a battle that would never be forgotten. One man's indomitable spirit against the overpowering might and malice of his adversary. The battle had come to its crescendo, its final act, as both opponents had used everything they had against the other up to this point. The rain fell heavy that night. He was chilled to the bone. His clothes soaked with rain, mud, and blood. The burning, humanoid, construct of reiatsu that stood above him protected his body from the rain and even pushed back the currents at his feet. He stood there, soaked and bloody, encased in the body of his Inner Power. A humanoid torso towered thirty feet over the man. Admittedly, the technique had not yet been completed. It was rushed, sloppy, unrefined. A power that the man had stolen from another's blood. But it was the last thing he had up his sleeve. From the edge of the crater they stood in, rubble moved. Rocks fell as what looked to be a bird made from solid ice freed itself from where it was trapped. But to say it was in good shape would be a lie. Half of its head was missing. Its left wing was gone. The creature looked to be in rough shape. But this was not what the man encased in true power was staring down.

No, it was the other. What remained of its tail slammed into the vast quantity of water that its body was producing. Lightning cracked through the sky behind its gargantuan form, illuminating it like a silhouette out of a nightmare. Standing twenty five feet tall was the four eyed monstrosity that haunted the heroes doubts and insecurities. Similarly to all combatants, it was also not in a good shape. Its tail had been cut off at some point, leaving little more than a short length. Massive shards of ice protruded through its chest and out its back and yet it did not stop. It was missing its left forearm and its right hand was missing numerous fingers. Various other injuries dotted the monster's form and yet it did not stop. The man could only look on with respect and awe. He did not expect this to be an easy fight. Never once did he. But he hadn’t expected the monster's tenacity.

”I’m taking back what’s mine.” he declared with resolution. There was nothing left in the gas tank. All the fighters in this battle were spent. It would be decided with the next engagement. The arms of Inner Power raised themselves up into a standard boxing position as the monster only leaned itself forward. When the next lightning strike appeared both made their move. A glowing arm of pure power coursed through the air into a powerful jab only for the beast, despite its injuries, to dodge out of the way and keep moving forward. The arm passed harmlessly by its shoulder. But he accounted for this. In the hand of Inner Power that still had not been used there was a glowing energy. As the monster made its own attack with its one remaining, working, hand the mans Inner Power lunged with its own last attack. The powerful energy held in its hand was released and sent directly into the monsters head. Its top half was blown apart leaving it a headless, torsoless, body. But its own attack had, in the same moment of the clash, broken through. Its arm shattered through the body of Inner Power directly at the man inside. Perhaps it was only because of his own attack but the monsters lunge didn’t reach its true target.

The massive arm tore right through where it did hit though. The right half of his body. A chunk of his head, his shoulder and arm, and even some of his waist were simply erased from existence by the sheer strength this monster possessed. A strength this man battled to obtain. In that moment the eagle screamed something out and had maneuvered itself behind the man. Half of his head, and the rest of his body, was gone. Death was certain. But something that could only be called a miracle occurred. The unconscious part of his brain activated something in that moment. His body immediately went to sleep. He possessed the ability to heal through sleeping, from any injury. But this injury was too extreme for even this miracle activation to save him from. He wouldn’t survive near long enough for this healing sleep to work. But that was where the other entity came into play. The other Doll. The bird born of ice enclosed the dead man in its wing and together they became one. A solid construct of ice that froze the man in time, preserving him in that state of near death. His body had not died just yet. His soul had not moved on. In that preserved state, wherein he activated his healing sleep, he was left frozen in a coffin of ice. All of this happened in mere moments. At the speed of a lightning strike. So when the attack released from Inner Power detonated the coffin was forced into the earth weakened from the battle. The water that the other Doll had released would be left behind to cover it all up.

There in those clouds Luke Clyburn stood. Bit by bit it came together. He had died in his battle against Springflut. But, somehow, his body had activated Schlafen just before total brain death happened. But even that wouldn’t have worked. He knew it shouldn’t have worked. Schlafen wasn’t some all powerful healing ability that could be used at any time like Immortality Drink could. No, Luke realized, it was because his body had been preserved in a state wherein the technique was active but he hadn’t truly died yet. He realized what might have happened. When he awoke he had awoken in a cavern full of ice. Had he been frozen? Had Windstärke frozen the two of them solid in those critical moments? Was that even possible? The more Luke thought about it, the more he ran over the mechanics of it, there was no way in hell it should have been possible. But it did. He was here. He was alive. A once in a lifetime miracle had occurred. Divine intervention? A freak occurrence? Luke wasn’t sure. He was certain it couldn’t be done again. But he survived. He survived.

Those eyes of his looked out at the skyline before him. The nation below him stretching out to the horizon. He was alive. That was all that mattered. The man simply smiled. Bright and wide. He had survived and came out the victor. He could feel it. The parts of him missing because of his animosity with Springflut had returned. He felt good. He felt confident. He felt assured of himself. He felt strong. He felt like the strongest. Luke terminated the air ground beneath his feet and simply let gravity take him. His smile did not fail as he let himself plummet through the air, facing upwards to the heavens with his back facing the earth. Everything just felt right. Throughout heaven and earth he alone was the honored one. A rail of reiatsu connected him to point a and point b. With the momentum from the fall he simply moved down and then curved upwards. He soared through the air with laughter and cheering filling his throat. He was alive. He was whole. He had returned.

—----------

”Get out! Get out, pervert! Thief!” the middle aged man shouted as he swung a broom at Luke’s head. ”What do you mean get out? This is MY place” Luke shouted back, dodging out of the way of the broom. ”This isn’t your place! This is my family's home! Why do you have a key to our apartment? Why aren’t you wearing a shirt?” there was indeed a woman who was old enough to be a mother hiding a small boy in the back of the apartment. ”Because this is my apartment! Don’t fuckin hit me with that broom!” their shouting was beginning to cause a scene. The neighbors were coming out to look. ”Look there’s been some mixup! I live here. Let’s go talk to Matsuda and get this sorted out!” Luke reasoned before getting a broom to the face. ”Matsuda? Who the hell is Matsuda?”

”The landlord?? Are you stupid?”

”The landlords name is Kaneko, you freak!” the father shouted. That made Luke pause. Then he blinked. ”Wait… what?”

”Oh, I knew Matsuda.” one of the neighbors chimed in. ”But Matsuda’s been gone for… what a year now? He said he was gonna go move out to the country to see his family more often.” Luke was staring at the man who looked way too much like a neet. Even had a tshirt with his favorite idol on it. The man in the apartment was shoving the broom into Luke’s face. A realization just hit Luke that made him have a cold sweat. A very, very, cold sweat. One that made him look a little sick actually.

”Hey… tell me. What year is it?”</sub>