Who Am I [SOLO]

[Raphael Laurent]

His footsteps echoed through the nearly empty Uzaki Entperprise halls, as he walked through the laboratory level. It was so early in the morning that even most of the spiritually aware employees were asleep, so he had the place, more or less, to himself. That being said, he wasn't here to do any kind of research, nor was he here to even check his emails, which he normally would. Instead... he headed for a wall that Kazura had taken him too, forever ago. And then he went down the hallway to a dead end with a yellowed scroll with unknown characters etched on it. He snapped a picture of it, quickly and then recited a phrase that Kazura had once said. "Dakugeto ga shira rete inai mono ni tsuro o hiraki, natte mimashou." The paper sank into the wall, becoming a stone archway, and upon repeating a second time, the archway opened further, filling with stars.

Raphael stepped through it, feeling that same sudden drop from the pit of his stomach before his feet touched sand. The same base, still with a crater, in a cave, with all the lacrima producing eqipment. He'd need to move that stuff, later. He didn't think Kazura would mind. Or, at least, he didn't know. The man wasn't around, which was why Raph hadn't moved any of this stuff, he didn't know if he was coming back or what have you. Instead, he was satisfying himself with taking pictures of every piece of equipment in the area, with his phone. He'd note down everything about these machines and work on them himself, later.

He had other reasons to be here, though. He walked to the edge of the cave entrance, to the place he'd been too afraid to go to. The cave hid his spiritual energy well enough, but that's not why he was here. He needed to work this out. He had two spirits in him, now, that he was aware of, and he needed to find balance for the two. For such reasons, he'd elected to come to this place of his own free will. It felt as good to breathe the air as always, and yet that very feeling always concerned him.

Alright... So, Sonzai, how do we start this off?

Do you remember how you'd surrendered to me, that day? How you had simply given control over to me and let yourself fall into the dream? Fall into the nightmare? Oh boy did he ever. The elation of surrendering to that feeling had been nearly as powerful as th fear he'd had of losing himself. even now, he still felt that peculiar sense of fear as he was listening to the darker half of his sword. You simply will do the same as that day. You will surrender yourself to the feeling of power, the feeling of hunting, of the primal desires. Though... for how far you'll have to go, this time...it will hurt badly, and you'll want to breathe deeply as it starts... We won't be helping you with this... This is entirely up to you.

Understood. So...

You're going to spend the day here... Eventually my power will have to fade away and, when it does, you get a short break, and will pull on it again, once that break is over. You WILL KNOW how this place is, how it is to act upon instinct, how to move, live and fight like an animal. For the next seven hours you are basically a hollow. Anytime that you find a hollow, you are to sense them out and determine how strong they are. If you can face them. If you can FIGHT them, then do so. What I want you to experience is the soul crushing despair of this place. Understand your instincts, do not fight civily. The things here will kill you, given the chance. YOU will kill them first.

He took a deep breath, leaning back. Now... keep your eyes open... Feel that strength... It is a strength of will, one that, so often, humans lack. Now you will also have that strength. He felt the plunge and the fall. He felt the strength, the lack of restraint and the removal of inhibitions. Here he could fight, here he could just go wild, he could... Realistically he'd have to be careful. In the cave he was safe, but above, he'd be in trouble. Six hours of basically being a hollow... He took another deep breath and gave himself in, before he could feel the anger erupt through him.

But, unlike the last time, the pain was worse and he fell to his knees, he coughed. First there was blood, and then there was a white viscous substance. It was like...the...first time with Kaen... Only this time, it covered his face, in its entirety. Yet the pain continued, and he felt something on his back, before suddenly two jets of reiatsu erupted out of his back and he groaned in pain, before gritting his teeth. It was the worst pain he'd felt in a long time, actually in his whole life. It was horrible. It was at that moment that he could feel the desire to go wild. He loved it. Leaping up at the ceiling, he dug himself to the surface and stared at the moon, longingly. "This place! The moon! Oh, I feel so alive! This will be amazing training!"

[Raphael Laurent]

Raphael reclined in what almost seemed to be the ruins of a destroyed village. He was resting, for the moment. It had been nearly two hours since he'd started this training and had already encountered, and killed, four hollows. The sensation, when he had that mask on, and when he was fighting them was indescribable feeling... It was almost like a drug and, during those times, he couldn't think very well... And the fighting...well, it was enough to exhaust him five times over...

He took a few breaths, steadying his heart. He was enjoying himself far too much...during those times, but he was trying to concentrate on the lesson... What was he being taught here, again? This was going to be the first of five more breaks... When he was done... he would have to head back to the cave and take the portal back home. He knew that until he went back and said the words again, that the doorway would close, which eliminated the risk of hollows getting into the living world.

He took a few more breaths, keeping his spiritual pressure as hidden as possible. He only had a few more minutes before he'd have to start again. He'd need to be careful, though. These periods of rest only had one real purpose and that was only for him to recover from the exhaustion he suffered from, when the power faded. Slowly leaning against the odd bricks that had been set up, he took another deep breath, readying himself and pulled out his phone. Two minutes left. Then the mask would come back. There was still more work to be done.

Slowly the clock ticked down, and Raphael heard a boom, and peaked out from behind the wall and saw an enormous hollow. Immediately feeling it out, he could tell that it was fairly weak. Newly born of the stronger ones? It roared and stomped its feet and flared its reiatsu and Raphael simply sighed as he simply breathed, and the mask overcame his face again. His own reiatsu suddenly flared. The creature stopped, taking a step back, before roaring once more and charging him, and yet his own mask and the twin jets erupted from his back again as he readied himself, claws beginning to form on his hands. He would let it go far enough to be able to combat these things more easily.

And with that, he dashed at it, Bringer's Light collapsing, slightly, as he moved past it and blasted one of it's legs, causing the creature to topple to the ground. Without a second thought he dashed down to it, and began ripping it apart with the claws his hands had become, and then fired another beam down into its face. With an enormous thud the head and neck crashed into the ground before the rest of the body collapsed and crashed into the sands, before fading away.

Raphael stood there, and began to laugh, his doubled voice echoing off into what was probably infinity. There were still four more hours of this fighting, and yet right now he didn't feel scared, he only wanted it more and more. He moved his head to the side, slightly as a cero flew past, exploding off in the distance. He turned slowly, looking at the creature that had just tried to attack him. It was a mantis like creature with two enormous claws, and a mask at the end of a stalk like head. The two of them locked eyes, staring at each other for a few minutes, before charging.

It slashed at him, as he suddenly used Bringer's Light right over its head and then dashed right down into it with Bringer's Light, crashing into it and holding it on the ground for a moment. Then he charged a less powerful version of Hollow Seed and jammed it into the creature and began to rip at it with his clawed hands. Suddenly it turned and swung at him again, causing him to abandon his attack, landing on the sands. Once more they stared each other down, before the hollow sddenly passed him, cutting his cheek as he evaded, barely. Energy glowed in his hand, before suddenly dashing right in front of the creature, before letting the technique go, a purplish red light enveloping the mantis until finally its lower body fell back.

"Another one down! That's six. Four more hours to go! How many others plan on coming against me?!"

[Raphael Laurent]

Raphael coughed and breathed a bit louder as he leaned against the dune. For hours were done... He still had two more, but...before he could continue, he needed this rest quite badly. This is how it must be. The last of your trials are to be in the Forest below the sands. It is in this place, where the strongest of hollows gather... that is where you you must go. Stop and smell the air. He did so. Something far below smelled sweet. Focus on it... Sharpen your will, your instinct and hold yourself.

The mask reformed, the jets fired, his feet were covered in a chitonous material that made up the mask, then his hands did the same, covered in it. There was a feeling of need, that he needed to go beneath the sands, though that feeling both was and wasn't his own. For a few minutes, he stood there, staring down at the sand in front of him. It was a sudden, forboding feeling that seemed to overtake him as he stared at the sand in front of him. It was that sudden catching of his very being. Something was telling him that, if he were to burrow down into the Forest, if he were to start the fighting, that his very being would be completely altered by the experience. He knew that being here, as long as he did, that he was already making more imprints. Most likely he'd be dragged to the Seireitei, at some point.

But, even with all that being said, he knew that he cold no longer change his path, he was too far into this training to halt it now. His hands slammed into the ground in front of him, digging, clawing, burrowing. His hands tore throgh sand, pushing his way down through the sand and he kept going, down and down, further and further. Eventually, however, the tunnel he was carving, tore open dropping into a... huge pit filled with nothing but trees made of crystal. He landed on one of the branches, as he did so.

Looking around, there didn't seem to be anything save for these trees. He felt them seconds later, enormous creatures: bodis of black non descript cloaks, and samey masks. Each step shook the ground, and sands. Then he felt them. Reiatsu was pooling up where a group was. He leapt from the branch as several cero beams slammed into it, shattering and incinerating the crystals. Then, the moment that his feet landeed, on th sand, Raphael dashed forwards, right at the enormous creatures, Bringer's Light, suddenly sending him at the first one, hollow seed, forming in his hand as he slammed it into the hollow's mask. There was a crash as the first onee landed on the sand with a thud, but Raphael was already at the next one, slashing at it with his claws, before another fired a beam at him. Once more Bringer's Light, took him to a branch as the cero ripped through the normous gillian, before he dashed at the last one, energy glowing in his hands, before driving it against the mask and firing.

There was a bright flash of light, a boom, and the final crature crashed down onto the sand's floor. He rose from the body, cracking his neck. There was a roar from behind, and he leapt at the new contender, tearing it apart with his claws and looked around. More of them... He would kill each and everyone of them. They would not stop him, no matter what they tried.