Finally Something Different

[Deleted]

My name's Luke Clyburn, and I'm pretty sure I'm different.

That sound. That god awful sound was playing again. That continuous, annoying, horrible sound was playing to the right of his head. A million voices in his head demanded he hit the snooze button, to remain hidden from the word beneath his two warm blankets. His eyelids put up such a fight with their refusal to be opened, struggling as hard as they could to hold themselves together. But they failed. They failed like they did every morning. Everything was a blur for only a moment before details became clear. The sight of red flashing numbers was the first thing that he saw. The screaming alarm clock resting on the floor near his head, demanding that he wake up and begin his day.

Head dug into his pillow, the young man stared slack jawed at the alarm clock. Everything was becoming clear as he lifted his arm up and slammed it down on top of the clock, shutting it off. "...Fuuuuuugghh" he managed to moan, hiding his face in his pillow for a moment. He knew that if he didn't move he would, without a doubt, fall back asleep. Getting up at six in the morning was rough, something that he just never seemed to get used to. Pushing up with both his arms, the young man sat up on his futon, staring out his patio door at the building adjacent to his for a few moments. Grumbling to himself, the young man got on his feet, rubbing his eyes to try and wipe away the sleepiness. Walking forward he felt his toes collide with the bowl from last nights dinner that he left out.

Life's always been the same since I left the foster home. Wake up, work, sleep. Everyday.

"Son of a bitch!" He shouted, jumping up and grabbing onto his foot in pain. Bouncing around, trying to reach out and find the wall to support himself, before the futon covers beneath his feet slipped beneath him, causing him to fall forward onto the floor below. He lay there for a moment, those blue eyes of his twitching. What a way to start his fucking day. Getting back on his feet, he made his way to the small restroom, peeling off the sleep shorts and t-shirt he had worn in bed.

Tossing them into a basket under the sink he turned the shower on, before sitting down on the toilet to begin his business. He needed to wait a minute for the water to heat up anyway, so he could use that time to dispense of anything his body had built up over the night. Flushing the toilet he stepped into the shower, waisting no time with both wetting and cleaning his body. White suds followed behind his hand as he rubbed the soap into his skin, leaving no inch of himself unscrubbed.

The bar of soap found itself being dragged across a developed abdomen, leaving behind a trail of small bubbles as it traveled around the young mans hard body. Placing the bar on the little hook apparatus, he grabbed the bar of shampoo and squirted some of the gel in his hand. Scrubbing it into his hair he took a minute to enjoy the warmth of the water, letting the shampoo settle into his hair before scrubbing it out. Once finished with cleaning he turned the nozzle, ending the spray of water against his skin. Reaching through the side of the curtain he grabbed onto the fuzzy purple towel and began drying himself off.

Nothing is ever different

Stepping from the shower, the man was busy sticking the towel in his ear trying to clean it out. Once dry he hung it back up, stepping towards the bathrooms mirror and wiping the condensation from the glass. Looking into the glass he could see himself looking back. A young man with fierce blue eyes looked back at him, a wet set of dark blue hair sat upon his head. God he hated his hair color. It made him look like some dumb anime character. Frowning at his hair, he decided to just forget about his little pet peeve and carry on with his day.

Once finished with his washroom duties, along with the various other chores he had to do for himself in the morning, Luke found himself in his kitchen, preparing himself some breakfast. He had planned out what to eat the night before, getting himself a tea kettle with warm water before pouring it into a cup of instant noodles. He didn't have a lot of money, so he was often forced to eat rather cheap. Noodles weren't bad, but he'd prefer some restaurant made ones rather than this cup crap.

He prepared the rest of his meal, a cup of white rice along with a small container of soy milk. Taking his tray holding his meal over to the living room he sat down on his futon, placing the tray on his table and beginning to eat, turning on the television to see what was on. The channel it was last on was the news channel, same thing Luke always watched. He didn't have a computer, so looking up the news relied on using his television.

Before she died my mother told me I was different, that I was special. I still have no idea what she meant by that

Finishing off his breakfast, Luke sighed as he watched the news report. "Five bodies turned up today in Downtown Karakura. Experts are still unsure to the cause of the deaths." Lukes eyes narrowed, wondering if it was the result of a Hollow attack. Ever since coming to Karakura, Luke was overwhelmed by the amount of Spirits and Hollows he was beginning to see. Sure, he'd always been able to see them, but here in this city it was...ridiculous. Slurping down his noodles, he pressed the off button in order to finish getting ready for the day.

The same key used to lock the same door, the same slight of stairs, the same street, the same bus ride, it was all the same. Nothing was ever different. Sitting there on that cushioned seat, playing with his name tag beneath his jacket, the young man sighed. Yet another day to be spent slaving away at a dead end job that barely kept him from being homeless. Resting his eyes as the bus travelled, he let his mind wander about things that were just not important. After all the mindless thoughts of a tired mind were just not worth getting into.

Ah well. None of that really fucking matters. Special or not, I need to eat. Been so hungry lately...seems like no matter how much I eat I'm just never full..

The little bops of the reigster were so annoying, so much in fact Luke had to turn them down to the lowest setting that was still audible. Mindless chatter around him as shoppers and employees talked to one another. Working in customer service was stressful, so people had to find ways to alleviate that ever growing stress. Except for Luke. For some reason or another Luke just failed to adapt to this. He was already on his third customer complaint write up, one more would require action from the supervisor about his behavior.

He'd been good the past few weeks, making sure to, begrudgingly; follow the protocol of how to deal with customers. Some stress exercises presented by his boss definetly helped, but there were some days the young man just had to step away. His boss was an angel, in all honesty. A friend of the owner of the orphanage that Luke was forced to grow up, the man made sure to look after the young adult. He understood that Luke did not have it easy growing up, and that the young man was incredibly angry. He figured that a job around other people would begin to soften the guy up to others, but unfortunately he was being proven wrong.

"What's taking so long?" Luke was suddenly pulled back to reality by the woman in front of his register. Luke blinked, looking between the bread in his hand and back to her. "The barcode isn't working, and neither does the barcodes code itself, so I'm looking through the terminals system to find the bread and its price." Luke explained with a fake voice of care and compassion. This bitch could go fuck herself.

She was one of those types. Organic food, organic this organic that, bring her own bags in. Luke was getting fed up with her rather quickly. He was doing his best to be patient, kind, and caring but holy mother of god was his fuse lit. If this bitch didn't do something to change her attitude Luke felt like he was going to explode. "I'm sorry for the wait, ma'am, it will only be a minute." Luke explained, planting a fake smile on his face as he kept going through the...oh great it fucking froze.

"It...froze.." Luke, accidently, stated outloud without meaning to. The woman did not like this. "Did you just say it froze? Unbelievable! Do you even know what you're doing? How long have you actually worked here? I'll have yo-" And then it happened. Luke slammed the bread into the register, crushing it as he leaned forward, and with one breath, yelled "Do you honestly god damn believe I give a fucking shit what you think, lady?! I'm trying to do my fucking job over here to get you the fuck out of my life! So how about you stand there and shut the fuck up!" Luke screamed, at the top of his lungs, casting a spell of silence across the store. She stood there staring at him, mouth agape and eyes wide. Luke saw the door to the office suddenly open and his boss, Mr Miyamoto, suddenly step out. "Luke! Office! NOW!!"

"What the hell man? What the absolute hell! Did you even try the exercises?" Miyamoto asked, leaning against the office table and looking at Luke in disbelief. "Yes, of course...it's...it's just...fuck I can't even she just..." He stammered, unable to even make an excuse for himself. A awkward moment of silence before Luke asked "Am I being fired?" His boss sighed, shaking his head. "You should be. You've put me in a sticky mess here son. Alright...alright listen. Go home for the day, chill out, and when you get back on your next you'll start in Frozen. There's a position opening back there and I'll get you in there." Luke blinked in...surprise. He expected to be fired.

"Are...you sure?"

"No. But I don't want you to starve."

Luke snickered, shaking his head and giving his thanks. Clocking out and leaving the store without looking at his employees, Luke stepped out into the sunshine and winced a bit. Sun was always rough on him, must be a lack of skin pigment or something. He sighed, throwing his jacket over his shoulder and beginning to make his way over to the bus stop. Yet another day. Yet another problem. Seemed like today was still going to be the same as it ever was.

[Remielle]

600 Years Ago

Roars of battle echoed in every direction. It was complete chaos. Death surrounded everyone and everything. No matter how far one ran, they couldn't ever hope to escape those screams of torment and despair as volley after volley of longbow fire sunk into the advancing French Calvary. Most of the deaths were slow and painful. For all the might of the English Longbow, it could not pierce the full platemail of the French Knights. Instead it butchered their mounts, which caused the Frenchmen to be thrown to the ground and trampled by their comrades' horses. Horrible way to die really.

After a full retreat, the French came back again towards the English line, but on that second charge they came forward without their vulnerable horses. Arrows were like mere flies against their armor, and it seemed that there was no chance of stopping their advance. If only they had realized that the English didn't even need to do anything. The earlier Calvary charge had muddied up the ground so badly that the over armored Knights had immense difficulty even walking. The majority of the French causalities in that second assault were the result of a Knight stumbling in the mud and being unable to stand back up. Either they were trampled to death or literally drowned in the mud as it seeped through their visors.

That was the main battle, and it was the one that Remielle never saw. As she was a woman, she was often seen as unfit for the front lines of battle. Even though she was stuck on the defense of the English supply chain, she was fine with that. Her main purpose in the battle was not to ensure one side won or another side lost. No, she had been sent there as the Raven Queen's only Paladin. There were plenty of clerics back at the order's sanctuary, but none of them were fit for a battlefield. Therefore it had fallen to Remielle to accompany King Henry the Fifth on his campaign.

An agent of the Raven Queen was always present at any scene of massive loss of life. Her agents did not cause the death themselves, but simply always seemed to be there when it occurred. They were the stewards of the dead and the damned, whose eternal purpose was to ensure that the journey between Earth and Her Realm was not disturbed. The order dated all the way back to some of the earliest recorded history, easily being traced back as far as the rise of Egypt. The Raven Queen had known many forms and names to the outside world. Osiris, Izanami, Persephone, and Yama were all known to be other names for the Raven Queen, but never her true name that was known only to the initiates of the order.

Their purpose at tragic sites was simple. They were there to observe the deaths, intervene when it was not someone's time, and ensure the dead received their proper respect. What awaited the deceased was judgment by the Raven Queen in her realm. Anyone who interfered with that was to be put to death. It mattered not what their methods were, but mysticism that attempted to control the spirit was the most common. The binding of souls by necromancers was the most common issue they dealt with historically, but over the last two millenia, a new foe had become ever more present.

Shinigami.

In antiquity, they had been no more than a myth amongst myths. So rare was a sighting that they were laughed off as something more absurd than even the Loch Ness Monster or Bigfoot. But since the rise of Christianity following the supposed descent of their savior, the entire world had shifted quite a bit. Most of the western half of the world had changed to follow that monotheistic bullshit, and any belief in a specific god or goddess that ruled over a single domain was relegated to only the eastern half of the continent. That wasn't the biggest issue though.

No, by far the most troubling development was that at the same time that faith in the old gods waned, Shinigami had become far more real. They had appeared in the same places that were usually overseen by the Raven Queen's own agents. At every battle, in every plaguestruck village, and near all the world's tragedies, a Shinigami was there. The souls they claimed to purify were not sent off to the eternal realm hidden amongst the mountains of Letherna, and home of the Raven Queen, but were instead sent into some godless reincarnation cycle. For thousands of years, the Raven Queen had kept the curse known as humanity from spreading too far, but against the intervention of the Shinigami, and the rise of monotheism, she simply did not have enough forces to keep their numbers down.

As a result of those changes in the world, the Order of the Raven Queen had shrunk to a tiny fraction of its former glory, and it could only spare agents for the most overwhelming sources of death. In this case, it had been decided that major campaigns in the Hundred Years' War were definitely a worthy source of death, and Remielle had been dispatched to the front lines alongside Henry the Fifth. In days of old, a campaign like this would have seen dozens of members of the order present, but instead it had been just Remielle alone.

She had been assigned to guard the baggage train, but that was just fine with her. She had no desire to be in the thick of things, and she was still close enough to the action that she had been able to observe anything out of the ordinary. Unfortunately, the French had decided to attack the lightly guarded support group. Without a real army in position to defend it, it was all that Remielle could have done to protect herself. Sadly, even that was too much to ask of a fairly normal human. She fell in battle defending that baggage train, and that was the last thing she could recall of her human life.

---

One Month Ago

"Wake up my child and return to my fold.”

Those words echoed across Remielle's consciousness, and her eyes opened for the first time in as long as she could remember. It was a voice she had never heard directly before, but instantly recognized as if it had been the voice of her own mother. The voice belonged to Malsera, the Raven Queen herself. Never before had she heard that voice, but her very soul seemed to resonate with its power. It could not have belonged to anyone but her goddess. The last thing that Remielle could remember was being run through at Agincourt. Instinctively, she looked down at her chest to see if the sword was still there, but instead she saw nothing she recognized.

Her body could not even hope to be described as human. Sure, there was no longer a sword sticking out of her chest, but in its place was a pitch black carapace. Her arms and legs appeared red enough to be painted in blood, and where the red was not quite so dark she appeared to have lava running through her veins. Both her sets of limbs had grown monstrous claws, and spikes stuck out from the sides of her torso. Her.. could she even be called a woman anymore? As if it all wasn't bad enough, she had apparently gained a tail wider than both her arms put together.

She was a monster, and the roar that left her mouth proved it.

---

Present Day

"You must eat to grow stronger. Go forth and feast on the souls of the unworthy.”

She had received her goddess given orders. Over the last month, Remielle had come to terms with her body. She had accepted that she was a monster, but she still had her mind… most of the time at least. Either way, none of that really mattered when faced with orders directly from her goddess. Malsera had spoken to her once more, and told her explicitly what to do. She sought out a way to return to the world she had once known, and feast on the souls of the nonbelievers. Of course, this was not an easy task, as she had no clue how to get back.

Without any other choice, she lurked in the shadows near other monsters until she found a pair that seemed to rip a tear in the very fabric of the world. With no delay, she set off into the tear that those other monsters had gone into. There wasn't a second to spare. The portal closed right behind her, and she found herself right behind the weaker looking one of the pair, with the stronger of the two that had opened the rip nowhere to be seen. ”Have you accepted the Raven Queen as your lord and savior?” Of course he hadn't, so she bit his head off.

Remielle had just done what came naturally to her. She didn't know how this was going to make her any stronger, but she did it anyway. It was what her goddess wanted. The thing she had eaten was kinda human looking, but it had weird purple skin, and the left side of its face had a mask glued on. He was probably some kind of monster too, so she didn't really feel bad about eating him. He had been so confused by both her presence there, and her words, that he simply hadn't had the ability to react fast enough to avoid getting eaten.

After her first meal had been finished, Remielle descended to the streets below. Her mind felt odd after eating that other monster. It was like her very soul hungered for more. That burning feeling… that desire to feed… it consumed her to the point where she hadn't even realized how different the city around her was from what she had once known. In the heat of that moment, it simply didn't matter at all. She burst through the window of the first building she found and let out a blood-chilling roar. Though she didn't know what it was called, she had just wandered into a grocery store.

Her eyes darted around, looking for who was the tastiest morsel. There were gasps and cries of shock in the air around her, but no one seemed to be able to look right at her. Weird. Of course she was still new to the whole Hollow thing, so the idea that she was invisible to most people was something she simply didn't know yet. Regardless, she went right back on to eating, and bit one of the cashier's arms off without even thinking about it. He let out a blood curdling scream, and Remielle found herself oddly filled with joy at the sound. ”How lovely!”

Though there was no way they could actually see anything, one person stood up to her. ”I don't know what's going on here, but everyone please evacuate!” It took no effort to smack the would-be hero out of the way and get back to her meal. Without any fanfare, she swallowed up the rest of that human cashier. It was odd though… the human tasted so good, but that one person had really pissed her off by trying to stop her. Worse still, he had made all the other food run away. It was decided. He was getting eaten too.

Eager to continue her feast, and get a bit of vengeance on that person, Remielle made her way over to the manager and grabbed them by the leg. Pleas for mercy fell on deaf ears. She carried them back out through the broken window she had entered through originally. This was a morsel that she savored, since they had been stupid enough to scare the other food off. First she ate one leg, and they let out a beautiful scream. It was so bloody loud that surely someone who had just gotten off work would have been able to hear it easily. Remielle continued to munch down on that manager bit by bit until all that was left was a bloody head sitting in her mouth.

((Ate one class 8 arrancar and two class 8 humans.))

[Deleted]

Hands in his pockets, Luke leaned back against the bus stop sign as he waited, wondering when the damn thing was finally going to show up. Walking wasn't really an option, though it was, but Luke lived too far away to comfortably walk home. Maybe I should buy a bike.. the thought wasn't a new one, in fact it was one the young man had had numerous times before. While a bicycle wasn't necessarily cheap for someone with his income, it could make a dent in what money he did have if he didn't have a steady stream of income coming in. But, there was the thought that the bus was more expensive in the long run.

Let's see how this job goes right now. He decided. Right now wasn't the time to invest in something as expensive as a bicycle when he needed to make sure that his current job was going to pay off. He closed his eyes, resting against the sign as he began to grow impatient. Why was the boss running late to begin with? Did some fat fuck need help getting into the bus or something? Luke lived in Japan, fat people shouldn't be a thing here. Or maybe it was something else, like another one of those weird ass freak accidents that happened all the time in this damn city.

Luke sighed, wishing that he had a pair of headphones or something to plug into his phone. Not that he had never had any, he just accidently washed his last pair in the laundry and never bothered to go get anymore. Ah well. Luke could stand here and brainstorm what sort of super powers he could have if he were a superhero, but sadly his well of creative juices were running a little low. Regardless, Luke crossed his arms across his chest, looking down at his bandaged up arm for a moment, a look of disgust flashing in those blue irises of his.

A person ran past him, something Luke didn't actually notice. In fact he didn't notice till quite a few people had suddenly sprinted past him. Luke blinked, looking up and around at the various other people running away from...something. "Hey...the hell's happenin'?" Luke asked himself, pushing off of the sign and turning in the direction people were running away from. When he noticed that a few of the people running were actually some of his coworkers, Lukes mouth parted ways for a moment. "Oh...fuck fuck fuck no.."

He began to sprint in the opposite direction people ran. Various questions and concerns filled his mind as he ran, lungs beginning to burn as he sprinted the distance from his store and the bus stop. When he arrived though, what he saw made his breath stop. The store had a massive hole in it, almost as if a fucking bus had veered off the street and crashed right into the store. Honestly, that's what Luke thought it was at first. Until he saw what happened next.

From the store came out a monster unlike any of the ones he had ever seen before. The rules his mother had given him were always so simple. Ignore the things nobody else could see. If you didn't interact with them, then there was a good chance of them not interacting with you. What Luke saw, however, was something he could not simply ignore. Those blue eyes of his widened as he watched what became of his boss. Sure, they might not have had the closest of relationships, but the man made damn sure to look out for the young freak.

"No! You ugly fucking god damn bastard!!" Luke shouted over his bosses screams, quickly grabbing a hold of a piece of solid debris and lugging it, at full strength, right at the Hollows head. The rock would bounce of her head, no doubt catching the monsters attention as Luke scooped down and lifted a piece of pipe into his hand. The hell was he doing? "You ate the one boss of mine that didn't fire me in a fucking week! I may not have fucking known him very well but god DAMN IT I ain't just gonna shitting stand here and let you fucking get away with this!" Luke shouted at the Hollow, a strange heat beginning to fill his body.

Gritting his teeth Luke lunged at Remielle, his lack of battle experience clearly showing as he simply rushed forward, and swung the pipe at the nearest part of her with both of his hands. Sure, he only had a normal human's strength but...it could still hurt...right? Honestly, did was any of this going through the dumbasses mind right now? No. He was fueled on anger, grief, and worry over his job at the moment so he wasn't exactly thinking as clear as he should be.

[Remielle]

How bizarre. Someone had actually run back towards her amidst the chaos of everyone else fleeing from her. There was no scream from his boss, but there was quite a bit of noise still in the air. So much noise, in fact, that Remielle had not actually noticed him right away. She had been far too busy enjoying her meal. The man that had come back screamed at her briefly, and then grabbed a nearby rock to toss at her. There wasn’t anything horrible substantial, as all Remielle had broken thus far was a window. Still, there were also a handful of rocks available pretty much anywhere, and that was good enough for this man.

Already though, he had made several poor life choices. The first, obviously, was deciding he was going to fight a monster. It only got worse from there though. Had he stayed silent, there was a chance that maybe Remielle would have simply eaten a bunch of others and gotten full. But he had uttered just a few choice words, and all of them were blasphemous. Okay, maybe not all of them. Remielle was a monster, and that meant she was ugly as fuck in her current form. He totally was right about that one, but almost everything else was an unjustified insult.

Being called a bastard was only “probably” on the scale of “how dead are you for that insult?” She could have gotten over that one. It was an insult normally reserved for men, even in her time, and yet it had been used against her. Sure, her gender wasn’t super apparent with this monstrous body, but damn, that one just wasn’t nice. It was the kind of insult that was enough to have started a fight with a human Remielle, but for her new form, it was easily enough to make her want to eat him all by itself.

But of course there was more. It had been qualified with “fucking god damn.” The f bomb was just a modifier, so meh, not a big deal. God damn though? Oh no. This little boy didn’t understand how the world worked at all. Remielle closed her mouth around the head of this man’s supervisor, swallowed, and slapped the flying rock out of the air. Monster or not, she was the sole paladin of the Raven Queen. If there was one insult you shouldn’t use against her, it was implying that any deity had the power to damn her. That was a really good way to set her off.

Despite her anger towards this man, an anger she hadn’t felt for many years, she managed to maintain her composure. ”Okay, you can actually see me. That’s rather interesting and all, but didn’t anyone ever teach you to never attack agents of a goddess or the things that go bump in the night?” Needless to say, Remielle was both of those things. As far as she was concerned, this was about on par with a small dog attempting to pee on the pope while biting the boogeyman’s leg. It was honestly quite a bit beyond simply being a “horrible idea.”

What was done was done though, and her message didn’t seem to sink in at all. The pathetic little human yelled some more and grabbed an improvised weapon that was lying around. Did he really think something like that was going to work? The man charged at her and swung the pipe down with both hands, but defending against such a basic and anger-fueled attack wasn’t something that even required effort. Had it been a blade, maybe, but it was just a lead pipe. Hardly a dangerous weapon aside from some blunt force trauma, but that wasn’t a concern for a monster now was it?

Remielle extended her left arm as the pipe swung in. Without any fanfare, she caught the swing midair and stopped it in its tracks. Quite simply, she was stronger than a normal human, so this wasn’t exactly impressive or surprising. With the pipe in hand, and a grip strong enough that the human would have an issue trying to wrestle it away from her to swing again, Remielle posed an easy question to her captive audience. ”What is your name, human? I will remember it as the name of the first man to stand before this monster.”

She had shown him a small kindness, but her blood still boiled. Whether she received an answer or not, she continued on with a firm grip still on the improvised weapon. ”I am Remielle. Last Paladin of the Goddess of Death. Know your place mortal.” Without any further ado, her right hand struck out to shove him backwards. If he didn’t avoid it, the blow would knock him backwards and through the window of the nearest store. It wouldn’t likely do any lasting damage, but it would definitely knock him into a place that Remielle had definitely never been before: a sex shop.

[Deleted]

What the fuck was he doing? He had woken up today, gotten dressed, ate breakfest and watched the news just like he had every morning. Today had started off so...normal. Didn't days that ended up being fucking stupid always start off being fucking stupid? What was he doing? Honestly, his body didn't even register the pain at first. He had never been hit by something so hard before in his god damned life. Which came first though, the pain from the impact by the Hollow or the impact of crashing through a fucking window? The young man let out something akin to a pained grumple, his vision dazed and wobbling like a drunk bastard.

The blue haired man grit his teeth as he sat up, shards of glass falling off his work scrubs as he slowly got up onto his feet. Where was he now? Obviously he wasn't out in the streets, after all that bitch of a bitch had knocked him clear off his feet. Reaching out for the nearest thing to support himself against, Luke began coughing rather harshly. But the coughing stopped when he felt whatever the hell his hand was up against suddenly starting vibrating. The young man blinked, raising his head to look at the vibrator his hand was resting against with a blank expression on his face.

Are you fuckin kidding me.. Luke mentally grumbled, pulling his hand away from the sex toy rather quickly. A quick scope at his surroundings made him realize he was in a sex store. One that he never even knew fucking existed. And by his fucking job! The fuck!? Stepping out of the mound of sex toys that he had been knocked into, Luke rubbed his head as he pondered his next course of action. What was it that fat bitch had said? Last Paladin of the Goddess of Death? Oh for the love of all things fuck.

"It's like I'm dealing with a fucking RPG character." He swore, stepping out of the pile and looking around the store for anything to use. The hell was he even doing? He didn't even know his boss too well, certainly not enough for Luke to be risking his life over him. But the bastard had shown Luke some favor and kindness, and god damn it this blue haired bastard was going to pay that kindness back. Even if it was resulting in some hurt.
H̯͖̳̝̥̕ͅo̩͉͠w̰̺̬̳̘̗͖̕ͅ ̗̭͝a̝̯̝̜̜̱͓̬͝b͏̛͙̜͍̘̺̕o̵̷̖͍͔̥̗̜̙͓u̗̥t̨͇̹̻̘̦̱̪͓̦͢ ̮͇̩̞̞y͏͔͘o̧͙̞͓̟̪ù̗̹̮̭̳ ͈͍̕͘s̥̣͉̳̳͘t̶͕̹̯͖̤̼a̠̩̝͔̦̫͕̕ŕ̝͚̪̱̪̳̕ţ͙̦̻̼̻ͅ ̞̹͖͍̳́t̡̢̺͍̖̣̳́a̡̲̤̼̱̙̠ͅk̝̥̜͇̬̱̙͞i҉̹͚̰͙͍̠̙ṇ̻̞̠͙g̨͈̰̘̬̘̣̬̮ ̛̳͓̰̜͜͡t͓͖̫͈͝͝h͔̤͉̬͔̙̰͈̦i̫̠ś̜͜ ̸̨̩͖͍͉̙̙̳á͙̟̤̩̖̲̹͖͟͢ ̖̝́l̝̘̀́͟i͏̬̖̯̖̞͢͡t̛̞͇̻͉̼͇̦t̹l̬̝̙͙͓̠͉̻͈͡͠e̮̠̫ ̴͈̘̪̭͎͢͝m̢̨̢̩͍̰͇͈̯o̜̰͍̺̲͕r̹̥̫̥͜e̫̦͕̲̺͟ ̵̵̻̼̦͚̞̺̟̝͇͠s̵̵̩̯ͅe̶̸̡̞̠̦̻̠͓͍r̡̪͙̼͉̫i̴̝̻̘̳̬̞o̴͓̗͜ų̝̞͕̞͚̜s̵̫̩̼͇̬l̝̲̕y͚͔͈̤͎͠?̛͖̫̥͚̤͚̩ ̝̥͕̠͠Ḭ̧͈͎͍ͅ ̨̛͈͍̙̺͠m̫̰̬̱͕͘e̵̠̲̹͔͖̗̞͚̺͜ą҉̲n̢̟,͝҉̖͇̪̙̜̳̳̥ͅ ̹͔̬̣͓̕i̝̻͚̪̺̞t̺͕̗͍́̕'̷̺͖̼͠s͔̮͖ ̵̡̥̠͓̬f̢͎̻́ù̶̺͚̦̤͎̘n҉̠͉͓́̕ ̤͔͚̻͞ͅw̵̳̘̯̳̺̱͝a̡͎͚͕͇͟t̨̢̙̺̩͍̹̙͙̟c̷̳͉̬̲ͅh̢͉i̗̠̟̮̗̟̺̝̭n̯͘g̶͕̼͓͟ ̨̮̝̻͝y̤͚͚̩̞͢o̷̱̫͉̯̺̝̪͢u̡̜ ̢͈͈̱̀g̸̢̹̟̹͙̺̫͘é͚ͅt͓̰̲̤̦̗̦̣́͟ ̛̜̣̻̱̤̀͘ͅk̟͕͍͚̥̪̬͝͝n̶̺̝̮̯͜ͅǫ̤̭̖̺͘͢c͖͔k̹͔͟e̷̻͎̫̩̜d̶̤̫̘̰̼ ̢̛̠̦̼͔̝̘̯a̟̭̣̘̣̞̺̱r҉̦̺̠̻o̰̻̟̺u̸̠n̡̖̖͓̬̺̕d̘̝͚͚͓͔͓̟̣̀ ̵̠̱̱̯̣̠͞a̛̟̩n̪͙͓̲ͅd̜̜ ̲̩̳̦a̸̡̦̻͇͘l̪̥̗͓̙͘l̺̩̭͠͝,͔̹̙͜͠ ̨̯̳̝̖̦̻̤̹͡͞b͈̪̦̪̼̙̺̥͠u̴̻̲͇̲̤͖ͅt̴̰̹̲͈ ҉̴͏̯̙͖̥̼̝̱̘i̛͎̭̥t̳̙̦̩̯̘̝͢'̛͈̠͖͈͞ͅs͎̞̞͖ ̤̱̜̮r̺̘͍̞̬͍a̝͖t̟̹̰̗̦h̛̳͕̮͙̲̬́e͍̲̲̫͘͢r̜̺̹͈̞̮̞̀ ͎̦̙̮̗͝͝b̷̛̮̫̯͓̘̠̙͇a̡͇͔͖͕͟d̤̟̗̰͙̼̘̕͜ ̨̗́ͅf̡͚̰̟̣̖̖̮͚o̵͖̦͈͟r̙ ̤͉̪̩̕y̻̠̭̜ͅͅǫ̟̹̝͎͍͎̫͞ͅu̬̝̯͉̱͖͡r̸̡̢̺̳̪͈̲ ̡̰̲͍́h҉̮͓̘͕̗͈͚̗̤e̪̦̭̙̕a̶̧͕͠ļ̱̖̮̝͓͓̞̰́t҉̱̳̰̙͞h̤̹̘̖͚̩̙.̴̘̳̻̣̮͕̱ͅ ̷̭͇͍̗͕͡A̷̹̗̝̩n̷͚̞̬͍̩d͏̜̫̮̜̞ ̟͕̼̟̥̦̺̰͢n̶̤̖̱̝o̸̡̻̰͕̥̥̻͚t̠͙̖͈͈͍̝͞ ̨̡͈̱̯̖̙̥̭͕͘f̗͔̠u̢̪̪̼̮̦ͅṇ̘̣͖̰̝̩̤͜͡n̺͈̩̲̣̘̥̦͜y̸̞͖͎͍̜ ̡̢͔̜̺̣a̪͍̬̟͎ń̙̖̲͎̱̲͈y̛͖̟̳̟m͠͏̜̰̙͓̤͚̞͙̤o̲̗̪r̼͚̝̖͉̜̘e̶̛̲͍͖͎͇̠͔̜.̗̬͚̥


Oh great, how hard did Luke get hit to start hearing fucking voices in his head?? But even though it was clear it was a voice, Luke couldn't make out what was being said. Sounded like tv static in his head. Grumbling and stumbling around, he grabbed onto the biggest thing he could pick up. A huge, purple, penis shaped bat. He had no idea what sort of woman was gaping enough to take this thing all the way, but Luke had a feeling she might be bl-Nope. Not finishing that thought. Slapping the four foot long shlawng across one of the display racks, Luke pushed himself into the center of the store.

"OY! How about you get your lumbering ass in here and I'll show you a place where I can stick this on your body! Aka you're fucking ass!!" Luke shouted outside to the Hollow, not exactly thinking things clearly at this moment. But he had a plan! Sort of...kind of. How good of a plan was it to shove this huge fucking dick right in the Hollows eye...followed by booking it harder than Tiger Woods did when his wife found out about the other holes he was putting his balls in.

[Remielle]

Her hand stung a little bit from catching the pipe, but Remielle had been successful in her attack. The human had been sent through a nearby window and into a store. Had the Hollow pursued him immediately, she might well have been able to kill him before he regained his bearings. But that was not what she did. Even in the midst of their battle, if you could even call his pathetic attempt to stay alive a battle, there were still several innocent bystanders too unaware or too confused to run. Though Remielle had been intrigued by this man, she ultimately was here to follow her Goddess given orders and eat some people.

To be fair, most of the crowd on the streets had dispersed by this point. There were only a few left around, some of whom had gathered up by the window that had had a man, seemingly randomly, fly through it. They had all gathered round with contemplative looks. Clearly, they were all confused, and were trying to make sense out of what in the world had happened. Yet one by one, they turned around as the ground shook slightly behind them. Each was more confused than the last, as there was nothing that they could see to explain the stomping sounds. Still, it was slight enough that they went back to looking at the window when the noise stopped.

”You alright in there sonny?” One of them called out to the man who had crashed through the window. ”What a poor choice of last words,” Remielle mused to herself. She was free to speak aloud, and yet no one heard her. It was one of the better benefits of this monstrous body of hers. She had realized pretty quickly that normal humans were completely unaware of her existence. They were nothing more than prey to her now, though there was no challenge in this hunt. Still, she had her orders, and that was to feed. Even without those orders… it just felt right.

In one fell swoop, Remielle opened her mouth as wide as it went, and bit the head right off the man that had called out to see if the special one was still alive. After that first bite, she took a second to chew. It was in that moment that the man, now completely void of life, and missing a head, slumped down to his knees. A small fountain of blood gushed out of his neck. Given that his head had been removed so swiftly, it was only the blood that alerted the other humans to the fact that they were in danger.

On instinct, the other humans in the area all fled the scene, barring those who were inside the stores. That was fine. Remielle took another few seconds to eat up the rest of the salaryman, and then she realized that old people tasted rather awful. Shame. There were plenty of old folks around in this area, and if they all tasted that bad then she would have to be a bit more selective with her hunts. Perhaps the man who could see her would taste better? It meant he was different than everyone else, but the question remained to be answered: did different taste better or worse?

In pursuit of that answer, Remielle made her way in through the broken window, and her eyes immediately went wide. Her fragile little Hollow mind had trouble figuring out what in the world she had just laid eyes upon. No matter where she looked in this building, there were penises everywhere. ”What in the seven hells…” she mumbled under her breath. By this point in time, there had been enough of a delay that the man able to see her had been able to recover, and had even managed to yell out a taunt. Oddly enough, he had armed himself with a large, purple dick. What a sad, strange, little man.

It had taken Remielle a moment to adjust to the literal pile of dicks around her, but she managed to get her head back in the game. The man’s taunt was as confusing as it was ineffective. She was a Hollow, and was quite clearly the one in a position of power. Any threat this man made was worthless, unless of course he proved he was actually dangerous somehow. As of yet, he had failed to do that, but Remielle did stop a moment to ponder his words before offering her retort. ”What makes you think a human-eating monster even has an ass?”

One of the weird things she had come to accept about this form was that “eating” in the old sense of things was no longer necessary. She didn’t really have a digestive system anymore. Instead, she just kinda ate people and “absorbed” them or something. She wasn’t honestly sure how the whole thing worked, but she was pretty damn sure that there wasn’t anything analogous to an ass on her in this form. She had her mouth… and the hollow hole in her… she wasn’t really sure what to call it… lower torso? Definitely no butt though. So yeah, she was 100% confused and 0% intimidated by the man’s taunting.

He hadn’t made an immediate attack either, which was probably good for his health, so Remielle decided it was best to just go back to eating people. She surveyed the store, and found only a single other occupant aside from the crazy man who had attacked her. There was a young woman behind the counter with light blue hair. It was clearly a far from natural color, and it honestly intrigued the Hollow. She almost asked the human how that was possible, but given that the woman wasn’t already screaming or running for her life, it was obvious enough that she couldn’t see the Hollow.

Nonetheless, Remielle was on the hunt for someone that tasted better than that last old man. Maybe with such unusual hair, this woman would taste like berries? However, she also had a point to make. With the knowledge that only the man could even tell she was there, there was almost no risk in making a nice little speech before she had the next course of her meal. ”Maybe you haven’t realized it yet mortal, but you aren’t any kind of threat to me at all. I’m going to eat this woman now, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.” Thought it wasn’t originally in her nature as a human, this Hollow had no issue with accepting her role in the natural order. She was here to eat people, and that’s what she was going to do.

Unless the one man who could see her had some magical way of stopping her, she would proceed to walk right through a display rack and up to the counter. Such a noise was startling to the store’s employee, but given that the aisles weren’t monster-sized, it was necessary. If she was not stopped, then Remielle would eat the entire upper half of the woman in a single bite. Armed with only a giant phallus, there was nothing she could think of that the man could do to harm her, and she wasn’t about to be distracted from a meal by mere words. Would the man find a way to play hero in time to save her?

((Ate one Class 8 Human. Possibly a second.))

[Deleted]

It didn't take long for that big Hollow to come lumbering into the sex shop. Pushing herself through the ruined window, the glass seemingly doing nothing to stop her advance. Luke's teeth found themselves grinding together at the sight of that lumbering beast appearing once more. Though that expression soon changed when the inquiry into whether or not a Hollow even had an asshole began. Perhaps to the surprise of the Hollow, Luke actually paused to think about such a question. They had to have one...right? Hollows ate things, things get digested, and then things get pooped out. Unless for Hollows it didn't work like that. What if they perfectly digested stuff? If there was nothing to poop then the fuck was the reason for an asshole? Why the hell was Luke thinking if this big bitch even had a asshole? And why was he suddenly wondering if she also possessed a big meaty...

Changing the subject of his thoughts tightened his grip over his phallic weapon. As the Hollow loomed over him she spoke out, claiming that he was incapable of doing a single thing to her and that she was now going to sink her teeth into the woman running the counter. Luke's eyes widened a bit as he realized that if he did nothing then, yeah, the woman was going to bite the fucking dust. Well, more like a big slobbering monster was going to bite her...in half. And Luke couldn't let that happen. So he began to step forward, and opened his mouth to shout something in defiance, when there was a voice so eerily similar to his own speaking in the back of his head.

What can you do?

Luke paused, the Hollow pushing her way through the display racks and heading right for the blue haired chick behind the counter. What was he even going to do? Everything Luke had done so far had been nothing but actions driven by anger, actions that lacked any sort of intelligence behind him. He realized it then...that people were dying. This monster was killing people. This wasn't a game. There was no do over, there was no restart button or a pause menu. This was real. Real fucking life. Luke was watching some big ugly monster straight up eat people. Luke was feeling real pain in his body as well, cuts from the glass and a big ass bruise on his back from the impact.

Luke gulped as beads of sweat had begun to form across his exposed skin. He was suddenly afraid. Luke had been in plenty of fights when he was younger, as his attitude had not helped him make any friends but plenty of enemies. But this wasn't a fight. It was a single sided massacre. Luke realized how much of an idiot he was being, how much he actually wanted to live. After all, he needed to live. That note left behind by his mother, the mystery behind her disappearance wasn't going to solve itself. He came to Karakura to find her, after all. Not here. He wasn't going to end that search here throwing himself at death itself.

So, what was he going to do? Remielle would hear the sound of that large purple dildo bat hit the floor, and the sound of the back Exit door opening. When she looked she would find that the human that could see her was gone, and that a door in the back was currently in the process of swinging shut. Luke had done the only thing sensible and intelligent. He had ran. Pressing his back against the wall at the right entranceway to the back alley, he took in gasps of air as he turned his head around the edge to look at the door he had just gone through. He had ran. He had left that woman in there to just die.

Ẉ̞h͡a҉̲̲̟̝̘̪t̢̲̥̫̮̱̤͕ a̦̺̬̙͔͞r̦̥̩̪̰̥e̞̟̘ ̧͔͍y̷̲̘̮̭͈o̫͕͖̫̲͝u̖̪̖̲̬ ̹̯̞͙̺ḏ̝̻̤o̶͙̖̞̤i̡ń̲̺̲ͅg̠͡?̛̪ ̲̩̣̠̲͎̀D̙̘͇̻̫̝̯̕i̮̯̤̰̻d ̩͈̗y͕̮͚͓͖ͅơu̗ a̟̮̖̗c̭̥͎̟͕̘̼͢t҉͉̺u̯̲̘͖̘a̩̰̹͠l̡͍l͓͍͕ͅy͙̲̺̰̳͖̹ ͍̪̤͈͍j̩͍͙̝̥u̪̻̥̳̖͡s̳̀t ̖͎͈̙͕̯̱̀r̼̯͡u͕̖̪̳̝̠n͓̖͓͉̟̩ ̠͠awͅa̯̬̘̹͠y̜̞̲͈̹̫̦͢?̀

Luke gasped in pain as he clutched his head, that voice yet again penetrating through him like a dozen or so knives stabbing in the base of his skull. I couldn't do anything! What else was I supposed to do! Luke protested, able to just barely piece together the words he was hearing. He never should have done anything. He never should have gone back. If he hadn't...how many people might have lived? Pain erupted through his left hand as it collided with the wall behind him, skin along the knuckles splitting as a result. "God damn it...God damn it god damn it!" Luke shouted before slamming his forehead into the wall.

People around him were curious as to what all the commotion was on the other side of the block, heading over to see the damage done by the Hollow. Luke, however, was too upset over the fact he had left that woman to die, to be eaten by that thing. He never should have bothered. Pushing his face off the wall, Luke looked back down the alley, eyes narrowing as he looked, before turning away and aiming to go home. He was done playing hero. He wasn't going to get involved anymore. After all, what could someone like him even do?