Night Kuchiki, Past, Present, and Future?

[Night Kuchiki]

Nights life as a spiritually gifted started actually at a young age. Her parents were both military, retired before their lives were cut short by a Hollow. Her Dad was Japanese American, her mom European American. The two had met during the tenure in the military and married while in the service. After the initial contract was up her mom retired but her dad stayed in the military while her mom became a stay at home mother. This lead to much of Nights childhood with her family on the move. From Fort to Fort, station to station. The constant moving around never really gave her chance to make friends, but she considered her mom a friend, as much as a mother. She even as a kid could see spirits, both those of nature, and those of human nature. Her mom once stopped her from interacting with a young dragon realizing her daughter had inherited the families spiritual gift, she began to instruct her daughter in the ways of magic and sorcery. This included a unique concept that her mom passed down of Ouroboros. The tail devouring dragon, a concept of balance, cosmic harmony, eternity, and even life and death. The lessons took up the space she would have had for friends, if they didnt move around so often. Things changed though when she was a teenager. Her grandma, her dads mom had been hospitalized. This lead to her dad retiring from the military finally and moving the family to Karakura Japan, to be closer and to be able to take care of Grandma. This was a bit of an odd time for the young girl as she had never expected to end up not only moving for the last time and settling down, but let alone to end up living in Japan. She had visited her Grandma a few times before, for things like holidays and such, but this was different. She was more frail and the hospital never felt comfortable. It was often a hot bed for spirits due to the deaths from illness, or fatal injuries. Honestly she had always felt better around nature spirits than human spirits, and those with unpleasant deaths tended to be more riled up. Actually to be fair much of Karakura was a hot bed of spirit activity but Night would do a decent job keeping to herself as her mom had taught her not to give to much attention to spirits. They would hopefully be helped by an agent of the after life though her mom had never explained who these agents were. It was during one of the times she had been visiting her Grandma in the hospital she had met her first Shinigami, Malaki Kyoraku. If only she had known back then what she knew now and just how far things would spiral out of control from this encounter, but how could she? Malakai taught her about Shinigami and their role in the world, and even what Hollows were. So many times had her thoughts gone back to that first meeting since finding out everything Malakai had done, and would do. If she had only heeded her mothers advice and left the spirit world alone, maybe things could have been different? One of the positives of finally living in a place and not moving away was she finally made a friend. Tokio Sakuraba, he had caught her once talking to a more peaceful human spirit. At first she had feared the red haired boy would find her crazy but instead it turned out he was spiritually gifted as well. Tokio as it turned out was a Quincy, though his family were not like traditional Quincy. Their clan after the genocide began looking for ways to keep their techniques, but tweak them enough not to destroy a soul, as not to incur the wrath of the Shinigami ever again. This though had apparently lead to his family being exiled by the remaining Quincy and were considered a tarnish on the Quincy name. With both Malakai and Tokio she ended up on a few adventures more thrilling than any normal highschool student would have had. Her Grandma ended up passing a year after her family had moved to Japan but they remained after as a way for her, and her dad to remain close to grandma in spirit, and for dad to get closer to his roots. Honestly all things considered before her death, times were good, but all good things came to an end. Returning to her families apartment one night after hanging out with Tokio when she was only 16, was when her human life came to an end. Her feet squished in a liquid as she entered the living room turning on the lights only to her horror, the liquid was blood. Her parents bodies were in pieces, their spirits no were to be seen of felt, only a powerful Hollow looming by an open window. Tears sprang to her eyes first and then rage filled her. Spell after spell, she slung at the Hollow. The hollow however shrugged each one off with ease. Eventually it tore her apart as well. Her spirit stood before her own body, in shock and horror. The hollow slashed her soul knocking it aside leaving a deep gash in her chest, but before it could devour her Malakai came swooping in to save her. Though as she would later come to find out, Malakai had been the one to send the Hollow to her apartment and had let it kill and eat her parents, and intervened to make himself look like her savoir. He dispatched the Hollow with great ease and performed her Konso. Promising he would find her and help her become a Shinigami, because he was sure she would be a great one. Thus did her human life come to an end, and her life in the Soul Society would begin. Unaware of what would come, or the fact the now dead hollow had infected her soul and just were that would lead her down the path of Fate.

[Night Kuchiki]

Life in the rukongai was vastly different than that of her life in the world of the living had been. Thanks to knowing how to already use her spiritual power from when she was human, and from what she had learned from Malakai she had a few advantages. Her brief stay in the rukongai wasn't to uneventful, with more than a few scuffles with the local gangs. But thanks to already having a good handle on her reiryoku and reiatsu she more than often came out on top in these scuffles. During one such scuffle her pink reiryoku turned black and produced a sword, or rather produced her zanpakuto, giving her a bigger advantage. She most often during these scuffles would release blast of her spiritual power finding that her magic did not work here. Or rather as she would later find out magic itself just functioned a bit differently and better known as kido. She was rather skilled though at shaping and releasing her spiritual power in both offensive and defensive measures, and when the entrance exam for the Shinigami academy was held she made sure to be there for it. She had little trouble passing the exam and was praised as a genius due to her ability. This was actually a big turning point in her life in the Soul Society. One of the Proctors of the exam had been an elder of the Kuchiki clan and had met her on the side after the exam. He made her an offer she could honestly not have refused, he offered to adopt her into the Noble house of Kuchiki. If she accepted, she would be given all the privileges of a noble, and without hesitation she accepted. As a Kuchiki she was placed in first class, and also had tutors on the side who helped train. From her older brother Morgoth Kuchiki, the Kenpachi and captain of Squad 11 at the time, to the Shihoin helping her hone her flash step. The elder who adopted her she took to calling her grandpa, helped her in what she excelled in, and that was kido. Night never hesitated to take advantage of her now noble heritage to learn and train under the best she could. She awakened her shikai while still in the academy, now named Bokyaku, a dark elemental zanpakuto. She graduated from the academy within two years of entering it and was able to start off as a seated officer. She started off as the 9th seat of Squad 13, a squad that was lead by another of her elder siblings. It would be during her tenure as a seated officer when she re connected with Malakai. The two ended up on more than a few missions together, though they also had missions separate as well. Night was honestly enthusiastic about being a Shinigami and often always gave her all to both training and her missions. This enthusiasm is what helped her climb the ranks as a shinigami. Well that and being of a noble house, she still trained with members of her clan, and those of the Shihoin as well eventually mastering the third way of shiho, a specialized flash step that could leave after images of herself to help divert enemy attacks. Though skilled in Kido she learned at first more Hado then bakudo. This was in part because back then she was so sure a better offense was the best form of defense. Within time the Kuchiki clan and the Kyoraku clan would arrange an arranged marriage between her, and Malakai. It was during this time that most of her missions began to be with Malakai as well who was the squad 12 lieutenant. He actually helped bring out her passion for research, experiments and eventual development of inventions . Life was pretty good during her year with the 13 court guard squads. Eventually she even developed her Bankai, now named Bokyaku no Ryu. With it she took the third seat of squad 13, in part because the lieutenant also had a bankai. However it was shortly after awakening her bankai that the good times as a Shinigami came to a swift end. Upon the third time of releasing her bankai, her inner hollow awakened. Thus she was swiftly exiled from from the Soul Society as back then, gaining the power of a hollow was a crime. However she got one last boon from being of a noble house, her exile would be kept secret and on the down low. She also received instructions to seek out Faction Cell 2 of the Vizored, the commander there would be able to help her, the commanders name also caught her attention, Kapskaen Kuchiki. With that she was exiled back to the world of the living, and back to Karakura oddly enough.

[Night Kuchiki]

Luckily finding Kapskaen hadnt been to hard, or rather it hadnt been to hard for him to find her. A hand in that she suspected but never was able to confirm, thanks again to the Kuchiki house. Another part was even when she suppressed her spiritual power it still stood out. Something Kapskaen had once joked was a promising thing considering her age. Once she settled into the cell, her and the commander got started on her inner hollow. The hollows name as she found out with training called itself Skeith. Her hollow and her zanpakuto as she suspected after gaining her mask were very much linked. Skeith thrived on her negative emotions, growing stronger when her depression was more severe. It hadnt helped losing her new home almost as quickly as she gained it. Not to mention how fresh her death still was to her, and how it had come about. Kapskaen though helped in a lot of ways. She trained everyday always pushing herself to the limit of her power, from both her zanpakuto and her hollow. She even picked up cero, the hollows ability to compress spiritual power into a beam. Her mask also helped, even with kido the energy cost of her abilities were reduced which worked out well for her weakest stat was easily her stamina. One of the more unexpected abilities she gained with her hollowfication and a rarer one was regeneration. She still needed stamina to heal from wounds but the speed of her own healing was extraordinary, though more than once she burned out all her stamina training and had passed out. However Kapskaen still ended up making her the sub commander of the Cell. She was still diligent in her training as well as her study and research. Being apart from the Soul Society really compounded how well established the squads were, as well as how much she had come to rely on her nobility. She had never once hesitated to use her status to get the best teaching she could access, learn kido above her station ad train under her family and other Nobles. As a Vizored she really didnt have those benefits anymore. Honestly it was the first time she had realized kind of how racist the Soul Society was. She couldnt help but remember once Tokio explaining about how and why the Quincy had been hunted to near extinction, no the word he had used was genocide. But both sides had been unwilling to bend, Tokio's clan being one of the few to try and change Quincy techniques to not destroy souls. She wondered, if maybe there was a way to change things? If she could improve the way Soul Society, no all races viewed one another maybe, just maybe things could be better? The Bounts would be her first alliance. With Kapskaens approval Night approached them with first an accord that neither side would attack the other. With it she also proposed the idea to the Bounts of feeding on Hollows and not harming innocents. Honestly the idea as she explained to the Bount leader back then was that Hollows were also beings who fed on souls, and Hollows also fed on other Hollows. After all a Hollow was still a deviant of a soul. She even offered to help lend a hand to younger Bounts hunting Hollows. It also helped keep Karakura's Hollow population down, a boon for a spirit enriched zone. She would have extended a treaty to Quincy, and Fullbringers as well. However neither one heavily populated Karakura, nor were they organized. With the Bounts alliance secured Night spent the following months training and doing patrols. Part of her regular training exercise was a daily meditation session communing with her zanpakuto, as well and her inner hollow. Though Skeith didnt always participate in this sessions she always did her best to never exclude the Hollow. With the time she spent with the two the more she saw them truly as facets  of herself. 

[Night Kuchiki]

This next part is a bit of a tale. It is both Nights first big adventure, her first solo job, and when her and Skeith gained their full hollowfication. 

 

Night had been at a local herb shop when she first heard the news. Well it was more a rumor but might as well have been news for how she treated it. Apparently an American television crew had vanished while investigating a "vanished" village were human sacrifices were rumored to have taken place over thirty years ago. Part of why this had caught her attention was because they were Americans. Call her bit sentimental but she couldnt help but remember her own human heritage in this case. Some investigation into the matter and she found out the village they had gone to was a remote mountain, seaside village called Hanuda. The first thing she did was make sure it would be ok with Kapskaen, the second thing she did was prep. Mostly by stocking up on healing items and meals with the idea to help recover large amounts of stamina. Also she made sure to bring a soul communicator to keep in touch with her commander. The distances wasnt a small amount and would take her about a day if she traveled at full speed. However as this was not likely a Hollow related incident she figured asking for the Commanders help was not appropriate. Something to this very day she is still unsure of if that had been a good idea or not. For indeed the incident after all turned out to be much more complicated, and in the end it was never resolved. All she managed to do was escape with her life in the end, for the infinite loop that Hanuda was in was not something she could have dealt with back then. 

When she finally arrived at the village it was night time, and storm clouds had gathered above. Nothing to bad it let her move about easier than just plain daylight. Honestly though for an abandoned, sorry vanished village there were signs of populace. It didnt take long to find a clearing in the woods around the village were people were gathered. It seemed like they were holding some kind of ceremony. There were many robed humans forming a circle and in the center were two women being held. One was dressed as a nurse and the other was wearing a black dress. The leader of the ceremony, a figure in a bright red robe took what looked like a ceremonial dagger and plunged it into the nurses chest seemingly killing her instantly. The robed figure withdrew the blade and walked towards the second woman, but before the figure could kill the next woman a young man came running through the woods and shoved the robed figure down to the ground. Are you guys insane? How could you just kill her like that! Fuck! As the young man shouted the woman he had saved had already fled and he to soon followed. The robed figures seemed to be in a panic as thunder rumbled from the clouds above. The robed figures began to disperse some seeming to follow the path the young man had fled down. Night however wasnt worried about pursuing the humans at the moment, instead she was more concerned about what hadnt appeared yet. The sacrificed woman's soul had yet to manifest. Soon though the air itself changed and grew heavy with spiritual power as a flash of lightning and thunder followed. Rain then began to fall. However it wasnt any normal kind of rain. First off it was red in color, almost like blood. Second was it was enriched with reishi. However it did not feel like any kind of reshi she had had ever encountered. Not like a shinigami's, not like a hollows, or a bounts. Not even like what hers or Kapskaens felt like as Vizoreds. It was wholly alien. As it picked up something unexpected happened, the sacrificed woman stood up and let out a laugh. She was as pale as a corpse, which Night was sure she had been just a minute ago. The woman then took off into the woods, all while Night sat in the tree just honestly dumbfounded. What was going on here? This village had vanished but people were still here. She had yet to see signs of these missing Americans that she had heard rumors of, the whole thing that had lead her here anyway. She heard gunshots off in the distance but honestly she wasnt to bothered by that, but she was perturbed by the fact that earlier today when she had done her initial scouting there hadnt been anyone around. Yet now there were not only villagers, but a whole ceremony with human sacrifice being held? Not only that the reiatsu in the air and in the blood red rain. She held out a glass slide and caught a drop of the liquid on it. She then slid her bag off her shoulder and pulled out a small microscope she had packed. Honestly she hadnt thought she would end up needing it but now it might just be a thing that could give her answers. In all honesty she just wanted to be sure it wasnt raining blood. The microscope in part due to its size wasnt the best but it could at least reveal the basic structure of the fluid, as well as show that the fluid was charged with reishi. She was relieved that it did not seem to actually be blood, as the structure she was viewing was not  organic, but rather a loose crystalline formation? Just what was this stuff? Was it why the sacrificed woman had come back to life? To many questions at the moment and just not enough answers yet. As she prepared to go towards the main village all of a sudden a siren sounded. But how? She had not seen anything that looked like a Siren Well beyond the one by the mine, but it wasnt large enough nor should it have been loud enough to reach all the way here. Soon the air began to vibrate as the Siren sounded and the air grew denser, spiritual pressure increasing until Night slumped against the tree passing out.

[Night Kuchiki]

You need to wake up! Wake up! If you dont get up I will be taking control, some queen you turned out to be. Night sat up and found herself under the tree she had been sitting in. It was still dark out and the red water was still falling. You have to be kiding, what was that? She had passed out? From spiritual power? Thought you were suppose to be smarter than this? She let out a sigh hearing Skeiths voice in her head. Doesn't seem like I was out for to long. She pulled out what looked like a flip phone and checked the time. Been a few hours, looks like we have maybe two till sunrise. At this point she was more talking to herself as Skeith had already receded. She had also heard Bokyaku's voice but the dragon seemed much more calm and reasonable than her hollow. She frowned and let out a small sigh, the mud under the tree had soaked her clothes a good bit. She jumped up and formed a small step under her feet with her reishi and continued to jump and climb into the sky with this trick, her goal was to get a handle on her surroundings. After she was about a hundred or so feet into the air she paused. She was having a hard time processing what she was seeing, as her eyes were telling her the rest of Japan was gone. All around the mountainside village was just a dark red sea. Guess I know why they say it is a vanished village now. She muttered to herself. She landed back on the ground and pulled out the soul communicator. She tried to get ahold of Kapskaen but she couldnt get a signal, her best guess was the reishi in the rain and air? She might just be in over her head. She took her Zanpakuto and tried to open a senkaimon, but when the doors went to open, they were swept away! Was it the rain? Just what was going on here? She walked down a trail till she hit a road. She followed it, and as she walked on the wet road the lights of a police car caught her eye. She glided over to the edge of the woods by the road as she approached the car. It had been wrecked into a small police station, maybe the one for the town? She also spotted bullet holes in the wood. That could not be a good sign. Guess she knew now were the gun shots had come from earlier. However there wasnt any sign of a body, or injury? Honestly even if there would be blood this rain wouldnt exactly let it show. She continued down the road when she saw a figure in the distance. It looked like a police officer, though he was pale as a corpse. Night also noticed he was carrying a six shooter in his right hand, and there was a piece of wood impaled in his chest. This gave her pause, how was he still alive? It was very much like the nurse earlier back in the clearing. There were just so many questions. The only idea she had was it might have soemthing to do with the rain and spiritual power, and the fact they were now in the middle of a sea. Maybe they were in a pocket dimension? While she was caught up in her own thoughts the cop spotted her and raised his gun, and then pulled the trigger. Between Night reacting to the sound of the gunfire and honestly the officer not being that good of a shot Night avoided it. The officer fired a second time and this time a flair of reishi blocked the bullet with ease as a second and third shot followed. Hado 31, Shakaho! She called out as a bright red orb formed in the palm of her hand and fired the kido at the officer. Honestly it was more of a reaction to being shot at, as this was overkill for any normal human. The red flame canon blasted into the cops chest and sent him flying back. Night winced as she felt bad blasting the guy. He went about fifteen feet bac. The crack of his skull hitting the pavement was muffled by the thunder overhead and Night let out a sigh feeling somewhat sheepish as she had overreacted. Though she had never been shot at before, well not at by a gun, she should have still known better with a human.  She had turned and started walking back to the cop car figuring she could at least get ahold of other emergency services when the sound of a gun shot rang out again. She felt the bullet start to pierce her flesh as her reiatsu flared to stop the bullet. She pivoted around and saw the officer standing again, now a large patch of his uniform had been burned away and the skin underneath it was badly damaged. By all right such an injury should have killed the man. The man fired one more time and Night avoided the bullet this time. The man went to reload and Night flash stepped and with a swift strike with the flat of her palm, she struck the mans chest. There was a crack of what sounded like bone and the officer went skidding across the ground dropping the gun in the process.  However the policeman stood back up, a bit jerkily and let out a gurgling laugh. They started walking towards the gun and Night used another flash step and kicked the gun with full force sending it flying into the woods. The Officer did not slow down though, and instead pivoted and charged at Night his arms outstretched. She was really starting to wish she knew more Hakuda than she did. So instead she pointed at the officer and used Hado 1 to shove the policeman off his feet once more, though he was back on his feet in less than a moment. She didnt want to try and use lethal force if she could help it. Yeah he had taken a shakaho but she had felt like that was an overkill reaction. However she was starting to have her doubts at this point. Just how many more shot should she give it before actually trying to be lethal? Just what was going on here?

[Night Kuchiki]

Bakudo 1, Sai. Night said pointing her fingers at the officer. The officers arms snapped back now restrained. Oh ho ho, what is this? Why keep resisting the feeling is wonderful! The officer cried out and Night finally noticed blood seemed to be coming from the mans eyes. The officer lunged at Night even with his arms restrained. He truly had to be a mad man. He needed to be put down like a rabid dog, she had to accept this. It would be quick and as painless as she could make it. Readying her blade she stabbed at the charging officer, piercing his skull swiftly. She pulled the blade out as the body went limp her arm trembling as she sheathed her blade. There was just something more visceral killing a human, over a hollow. And why is that? Skeith asked in her head. Hollows, killing them is more like killing a beast. Most dont even have sentience. True, but there have been some with intelligence, sentience. Get over this now we have bigger problems. Night sighed and shook her head. She knew Skeith was right though she didnt have time to dwell on it. The red water was still falling, and the air was still thick with the alien reiatsu. She started moving figuring if she at least put distance between her and the body it would help get her mind off of it. She wasnt paying to much attention to were she was walking, until she just about took a step off into oblivion. The road ended?! actually so did the river down the hillside from the road, into a waterfall and into the red sea. Actually now that she was paying a bit more attention to her surroundings she noticed the river was now red in color as well. She flash stepped down the hill and kneeled down on the bank. She pulled her bag once more off her shoulder, pulled out a dropper and took a water sample and stored it in phial, then took another drop and dropped it onto another slide. She pulled out the small microscope and examined it. Just like the red rain, it was the same exact loose crystal structure. She was not to happy about that as so far the indication was all water had changed to whatever it was now. The only thing though that came to mind was the reiatsu and the siren like noise earlier. Something had caused this, and whatever it was was powerful. The scope of that power though was starting to overwhelm her, she needed more info. Could it have something to do with the ritual in the woods? Even though it was interrupted? But the sound and spiritual power, even the red water, had all started started just right after the ritual. But could a human ritual? Her thoughts paused as she face palmed. Why couldnt a human ritual potentially trigger something? Quincy, Fullbringers, hell even her mom, could use and manipulate spiritual power. It was why she had caught onto to kido so fast in the academy. So assuming this did have religious ties then maybe she should start looking for a church or something? She knew she should be worried about the camera crew, but she didnt even know were they could be, let alone just what the situation was at the moment. If she couldnt help herself she sure couldnt help them. She would keep an eye out for them still, but the smart thing would be to prioritize getting a handle on the situation first. Things were a lot worse off then what she could have even imagined. She had set out for a good deed and instead found herself in a dangerous pocket dimension? She still wasnt even sure if that was true. She set off to find a church, a library or something local that may have a clue as to the current situation. 

[Night Kuchiki]

Night was spying a rice patty field watching the townspeople at work. Well she used the term people loosely, they seemed to be closer to undead, almost like a zombie. Well except they still seemed to retain some of their human memory. They worked in a routine that seemed to reflect what they would have been doing if still alive. However they turned hostile whenever they spotted her, but luckily the ones without guns were easy to loose and fight if she had to. She still preferred to avoid combat if she could help it. However stealth was never a strong suit of hers, there had been a reason even though she had trained with some of the Shihoin she had never joined squad 2. She soon heard heavy flapping sounds as she spied from the buses she hid in. That was when she spotted a new iteration of these things? From the townspersons head, insect wings had sprouted, like a large fly. Also their eyes had turned into a an oblong pair of compound eyes. There was also a faint bit of spiritual power radiating from this one? Just what was going on? What kind of thing was this? The spiritual power coming from it was somewhat similar to what had filled the air when the siren like noise had occurred, what seemed to be in the spiritual power in the red water. Was it infecting people? Normal humans? It could explain why the cop a number of hours ago survived her kido. This observation, a nice thing to note, another piece to this puzzle. She was still hoping though that she could find a library, or a church. Maybe a town hall? Those would likely be key places, places that could hold crucial info, or a hint of what might be going on. History, or local lore, even a legend could hold some kind of hint. She waited for the strange flying creature to move on before she started making her way around the place. Doing her best to avoid the ground creatures, better not to waste stamina after all. She approached an old iron gate just up the way from the rice paddies, it was chained and locked. She rested a hand on the lock and let a small pule of reishi out to destroy it. She then pushed the gate open and continued on her way. She was following a trail up the hill when she heard the laughter of one of those things and swiftly ducked into some bushes. Just as she did she felt the power of one of those creatures, this one hopped down from the cliffside. Its limbs had become twisted and elongated, now walking on its back on all fours. The head twisted around so it could see, abdomen swollen and hard, more like a carapace. The mutation was honestly more complex than the flying one. It swiftly pivoted around to face the bushes, shit. It must have seen her before she could hide. She reacted quickly without a second thought. She used flashstep and drew her blade slashing the creature across its abdomen. Blood splashed out from the cut, no, not blood the red water!? The creature turned around and jumped at her, Night ducked barely avoiding it. She held her left hand though in place just below the creature as it soared over her. Hado 1 Sai. A pulse of force knocking the creature away. Crashing to the ground it rolled and got back on its limbs. Night drew a bit on Skeith not wanting to waist to much time, her eyes turned pink and the sclera black as she held up her hand and pink spiritual power gathered and condensed. She then fired the cero blasting the undead mutant, leaving a smoking crater were it had been standing.  Her eyes returned back to normal and a smile crept to her face. They were getting better at that, only drawing on enough of Skeiths power for an attack, rather than hollowfying. It reduced the stress of hollowfying and had took less stamina, her and Skeith were working together better and better everyday. Adding Bokyaku to the mix generally helped the power flow more freely as well, both were truly a part of who she was. Even if at first she had a hard time accepting it, Bokyaku being of darkness, Skeith being a part of her. The negative emotions she held seemed to be represented in Skeith. There was something more primal about the Hollow as well, compared to her zanpkuto, which felt more refined. Maybe that was all that was truly different from her zanpakuto and her hollow, one had been more honed than the other. She sheathed her zanpkuto and began on the trail again, more on guard now that the creatures seemed to be mutating.  

[Night Kuchiki]

It was about midday when Night finally arrived at a building that looked like a church. The red rain had stopped for a bit but it was still heavily overcast. The front door of the church was locked and she let out a small sigh. She kind of wished she had picked up Tokio's lock picking skills when she was still alive. Oh well, nothing to do but make due with what she had. She wasnt wanting to break the door down as she was rather sure that would stand out to any of the creatures if they passed by it, and there seemed to be more of the flying ones than earlier in the day. She walked over to the side of the building and spied through it. The place did indeed seem like a church, albeit more of a western one than she had expected to find in a small Japanese town. There were rows of pews and an Altar, though she couldnt see to well through just one window. She did spy a book on the altar though and smiled to herself. Jackpot. Carefully she made her way back to the front of the building back to the locked door. Hado 4 Byakuri. She said quietly holding out one finger aimed at the lock. A bolt of electricity fired from her finger into the lock breaking the mechanism. She smiled with a sense of achievement, who needed to pick a lock when you could just melt the lock pins with a restrained kido. She gave the handle a twist and opened the door slipping inside and closing the door behind her. The carpet leading to the altar was red, as were the pew cushions, she was starting to feel a bit of a theme here. She couldnt help but remember the red robed figure at the ceremony earlier as well. She made her way to the altar and the book. It was hand bound and on the cover was written "The Sacred Revelations." Below that slightly scratched out was "The Sacred Deliverance."  She opened the book and leafing through it she noticed the writing on the cover, and the writing in the book were rather different. The illustrations almost reminded her of a kids drawing. Page one: A sacred ceremony was held, but a thief appeared, stealing the Sacrifice away. The illustration looked to be of the red robed figure about to kill the lady in the black dress. Coming in from the upper right of the page was a male? He was in a blue shirt and shorts? She couldnt be sure honestly it wasnt the best drawing in the world. Could this be referring to the earlier ceremony she had come across in the woods? She reexamined the paper of the page noting the signs of age suggesting at least a few decades had passed since this had been written though. Page 2: The great god was angry, and with a mighty roar shook the earth. The illustration showed people holding hands over their ears, some even laying on the ground. It also depicted an ocean wave that seemed to start off blue but became red. Could this be referring to the Siren like noise earlier? Also the people covering their ears, and some collapsed, could that be from the spiritual pressure that had shortly followed? It had been enough to make even her pass out, what if it had killed most of the villagers? It wouldnt be to far fetched a normal human would be crushed by even a captains spiritual power. Also the gods roar judging by the drawing was connected to the water becoming red? Page 3: Red water flooded the land, and the dead began to rise. The picture accompanying this short sentence was that of the village, or at least she was guessing the few building were suppose to be the village? It showed it surrounded by a red sea now flooding the town. So the water was the reason the "dead" were now undead? Honestly it made some sense but was also a terrifying idea, the reishi in the red water must be why they were mutating then as well. Page 4: The Sacrifice was returned, and a great holy flame purified the thief. The illustration here showed the red robed figure once more, though now without a hood Night noted the figure looked to be female? It wasnt easy to tell from the drawing though. Behind the woman in red was the young woman in a black dress and in front of the two stood the supposed "thief" again, depicted in blue, and now burning. She wasnt honestly to sure what to make of this one beyond it seemed to be claiming the sacrifice would end up back in the hands of this religion? Page 5: The true ceremony was held. The fruit was offered, and the Savior awoke. The drawing accompanying this page was even more confusing than the rest had been this far. The red robed woman seemed to be kneeling before a red triangle with a black line in the center. Above her were hundreds of dots surrounding a single large eye. There were two almost insect like appendages reach down from the dots, as well as a single more humanoid one. Maybe the dots eye, and limbs were this Savior? The god this ceremony was held for? The fruit was a bit confusing as a term as well. The context though from the earlier pages, maybe it meant the woman who had failed to be sacrificed? Page 6: The outsiders suffered. Into a great void they fell. The illustration with this one seemed to show people falling, once more the guy in blue being depicted. Along with him a child seemed to be depicted as well as a man in brown. Stuff appeared to be falling with them, including a scroll, some paper, a fan, and the only thing that truly stood out to her, a video camera. The rest of the stuff could have been anything but the camera stood out for one big reason. The fact that she had initially come looking for an American television crew. The next page was more along the lines one would find in a spiral notebook. Page 7: Once, there was a little girl lost in time. A nice god made her live happily, forever. I am the Alpha! I am the Omega! I am the beginning, and the end. I am the Holy Meatloaf! The drawing with this seemed to be a little girl floating in a sea of red. A little girl lost in time? Night reviewed the book once more and it made a sort of sense. Maybe the little girl had been sent back in time? Or would be sent back in time? Possibly sometime soon? There were puzzle pieces here, clearly. Also she suspected maybe all of this, mostly due to the short description and being mostly illustration, was made by the child who would be lost, was lost? The drawings looked very much like what a child would draw, and the last line, "I am the Holy Meatloaf!" came off as something a child would write. But the Alpha, and Omega line very much came off as something else entirely. She closed the book figuring it would be best to leave it on the altar for now, not wanting to leave any sign she had been inside beyond the broken lock. She then looked at the shrine and it was even more confusing than the book had been. On it were doll parts, and broken pieces of what looked to be a street sign, all laid out on a red clothe. On the wall just above it sitting on what looked like a cross with three horizontal lines and one diagonal line connecting the three horizontal ones. On it sat a a kind of humanoid figure with six legs, one eye and four arms. It was offering red chunks of itself to the villagers around it, and one of the villagers was clearly shown eating it. There was one more scroll. This one stood out greatly to Night for a few reason. The scroll depicted a blond haired woman dressed in a red robe, standing next to her also in red was a blonde haired little girl. The words on the scroll read. "Turn the wheel of Ouroboros, and may the cycle continue endlessly."  This made a few things click in her head. She ran back to the book an opened it to the last page, and then the first. Crude the drawings were but she felt sure the little girl in the scroll and on the last page were the same. As was the woman robed in red. She knew the concept of Ouroboros well thanks to her mother. She also knew it often was used as a concept for infinity, or an endless cycle. The woman was clearly not Japanese so of course she would stand out to this small Japanese village. The scroll seemed to indicate the robed woman and little girl were the same person, and the one in charge of the ritual. The very ritual that lead to her being misplaced in time according to the book. It would explain how and why the book was older than the current events taking place. Also why it was called revelations, as they were literal pieces of knowledge from a future time. Written from a child's perspective, it would seem rather confusing, but how far back did the girl get sent? The ritual seemed to be centered around this god, the one depicted feeding the village its own flesh in the scroll she suspected. However she also noted that according to the book very likely, that Siren like sound had been it's cry. Did that make the red water its blood? Also if the little girl/red robed woman were the same person, she seemed to be American, meaning she came along with the tv crew. She wasnt really sure honestly though what to do with this information. She sat down to take some time to think feeling a bit overwhelmed as she processed everything.

[Night Kuchiki]

Night took the time she seemed to have while in the church to pull out some of the rations she had packed. She hadnt eaten in a little over twelve hours, and had used a bit of spiritual power in-between the meals. It would help replenish some of her spent stamina, and also it might be smart to take a nap for a few hours. Rest was after all important. She hated that at the moment she had all but abandoned the American tv crew. However she had no idea how to find them, there were mutant undead, a rather alien spiritual power hanging over the area, and then there was the red water. Honestly she had doubts the tv crew was still alive at this point, and the best strategy would be prioritize getting out of this place as soon as possible. However that did not mean rushing out in a panic, panic and fear would be an enemy here. She had a good few context clues on what was occurring here. Some more clues would be useful but honestly what she needed was a way out of this dimension now. If you let me take control I could force open a garganta. Skeith offered her. Night frowned as so far she had honestly failed at being able to open one just drawing on Skeiths power. She wasnt to keen on letting the hollow control her body just to get out. She was not to keen on fighting Skeith for control of her body afterwards. Fine be that way, but do remember, I want us to stay alive just as much as you. Night let out a sigh but did admit the hollow had a point. If things get dire we will do that as a last resort. She conceded as she was wanting to survive this after all. Plus if she could take the red water sample she had collected, maybe she could study it the small lab she had back in the Cell. She sat down on the floor in a corner to make sure she was out of sight from the windows. She then set an alarm as she first started meditating, and would eventually transition into a light nap. A few hours later the phone buzzed as the alarm went off waking her. So far so good, she left the church keeping an eye out for any of the flying ones. The sun was lower, and it was highly dim thanks to the cloud cover. She eventually found her way down to what looked like the main part of the village, which had a number of buildings. A mix of housing and some shops. There was also a water tower on a hill a little above the village and on another hill it looked like there was a cemetery. However the big thing that stood out was the red sea had flooded into the village. It was a pretty decent water level to, coming up to Nights knees. She started making her way around the buildings and ducked inside a noodle shop as she heard the buzzing of the wings of one of the flying creatures. Even if it had seen her, if it decided to pursue it would have to lower itself to ground level to attack her. However it never pursued, leading Night to believe it had failed to spot her. This may have been true but soon she heard the sloshing of water behind her. She pivoted swiftly in time to see a undead woman swinging a skillet at her head. Night ducked just in time and releases hado 1 from her left hand pushing the undead woman back. She then drew her zanpakuto and stabbed the thing in its head. She pulled her blade free as the body collapsed under the red water. She let out a sigh, glad she didnt hesitate this time, but some guilt still gnawed at her. As she sheathed her zan the water exploded as the undead woman had jumped back up and lunged at Night, the wound in her head having vanished. Night back stepped just out of reach as she pointed her fingers at the undead. Hado 4 Byakuri. A powerful bolt of lightning strikes the undead causing it to collapse. Bakudo 4 Hainawa the kido wrapping up the undead so even if it healed from the wound it wouldnt be able to pursue her. She then goes upstairs and jumps out the window forming a small bit of reishi under feet as a step so as not to splash in the water. It had recovered from a lethal wound almost instantly. Meanwhile the cop last night had seemed to die. The only difference being the woman ended up being submerged in the red water while the cop hadnt. This seemed to def reinforce that the water was indeed responsible for the undead situation. She felt it would be a mistake to linger in the flooded village itself if the water restored the dead so swiftly. She would just end up in more battles that would end up being dragged out which would waist stamina. She did have to note though another thing in that book from the church had indeed come to pass, the village was flooded and the dead seemed to refuse to stay dead. She heard the buzz of another flying undead and once more hid herself to let it pass. She needed to get a better handle on the layout of the entire area, that would be her next goal.

[Night Kuchiki]

As Night made her away around the mountainside, she had managed to avoid a number of the weird undead. As night had fallen once more Night had come upon the local hospital. She figured it wouldnt hurt to poke around here, after all hospitals were ideal places for something like a cult to control. So maybe she could find some clues here, however she also knew this would be risky. They were after all the first place injured and the sick would go, as well as the injured. Adding the dead were revived by the red water, well she was sure there would be a few in the building. However maybe, just maybe she could find something of use here. Honestly so far beyond being hard to kill, the undead were not to threatening. She had seen one of the flying ones with a gun earlier, and they had more spiritual power than the average ones. However the most dangerous one she had come across was still the one that had walked on all four limbs. The spiritual power it had held was still about the same as the flying ones. This at least meant her shikai would be at most, all she should need for them. She had noticed though as time went on the undead's spiritual power was growing though, all feeling similar to the power in the air and the red water. Honestly so far the only place she had come across that she didnt feel like exploring was the mine. There had been a few undead around it and likely in it, but she had not sensed any extreme power, nor found any sign of cult activity. However she knew the hospital might have something valuable if for anything just data, hopefully. She could after all be wrong, and if she was well she would cross that bridge when she got to it. The front door was jammed, but it was not easy to unjam. A piece of wood had been blown into the glass door, and it slid open instead of swinging on a hinge so it had jammed. Pulling it out though from the outside was a cinch. She did notice the glass in the front door was damaged, seemed to be reinforced glass and someone had run into trouble. Looked like the jam had probably trapped someone inside, not the most promising of signs. The entrance of course lead to a front desk that was separated from wait room. She did not enter the door into the area behind the front desk, only peeked in to see what was there. There was an old computer, a phone, and an intercom speaker. She closed the door quietly and continued looking around. She stopped by a map for emergency procedures, such as fire evacuation and severe storm shelter. Examining it told there were three floors to the hospital, as well as a basement and a roof access. That was useful to know, and it did not seem to be a big hospital either. As she was studying the map she heard a noise down the hall, it sounded like someone had knocked something over. She placed her hand on the hilt of her zan and approached the sound quietly and carefully. She peeked through a crack in the door, and the room looked like an office. There was a woman moving jerkily around and Night spotted the bloody tears from the side of her face. Seemed she was also one of the undead. She hadnt seemed to notice Night yet though so she figured it would be best to leave the thing alone for now. It was hard enough after all to keep her senses on alert with the constant thrum of spiritual power that filled air and water. She closed the door fully and as quietly as she could. However sadly as her attention had been on what was in front of her, she had failed to notice what was above her. One of the undead jumped at her launching itself from ceiling above Night. It slammed down into her knocking her off her feet. The creature raised one of its clawed appendages and stabbed at Night. Her reiatsu flared to life blocking the attack. She fired a hado 1 to knock the twisted mutant undead off of her. The sound however had attracted the attention of the undead in the office. She reacted swiftly. Bakudo 4 Hainawa. She said having the kido tie up and jam the office door. As she did this the undead that was walking on all fours once more jumped at her. She flash stepped only a few feet back, but she did so using the third way of Shiho. This left an after image just a few feet in front of her and the creature took the bait giving her time to draw her zanpakuto. Devour the world, Bokyaku! She called out releasing her shikai. She then flooded the area small hallway with her zanpakutos darkness and had it lance out towards the mutated undead that had just jumped into her after image. The lances would come from under it, besides it, and above it swiftly tearing it to pieces. She retracted the darkness afterwards and headed up the stairs, keeping her shikai released but not wanting to get caught up in a fight with the one locked in the office at the moment. She hadnt put a lot of energy into her bakudo so she knew it wouldnt hold for long.

[Night Kuchiki]

She gripped the hilt of Bokyaku a it tight, but there was something reassuring having her shikai active. This situation was such an unknown having Bokyaku at the ready helped balance her. She heard a ding of an elevator and moved peaking around the hall corner and saw one of the undead nurses pushing a wheel chair. As the nurse turned around in the elevator and went to push the button Night saw what was in the wheel chair. It looked like a ball of worms, rather large worms. She also noticed it was radiating spiritual power, no that didnt seem right. It felt more like the epicenter of the spiritual pressure filling the hospital. Was it why she had a hard time sensing the other undead? As the door to the elevator closed she watched were it was heading, the basement, of course. It always had to be the basement. She noticed out the corner of her eyes one of those ceiling crawling undead coming around the corner, of well, the ceiling. This one though she noticed was even more mutated than the one downstairs. It had an extra set of limbs under what use to be it's arm, this pair were covered in a carapace and the eyes were now compound eyes. The spiritual pressure it had was more than the one downstairs. However she noticed it still felt tethered and blurred somehow. With a flash step she vanished behind the corner and ducked into a room. It looked like a surgery room judging by the surgical table and medical tool. She kept the door cracked and watched as the spider like creature crawled around the corner. She readied Bokyaku as it the creature crawled by. She was a bit relieved that it had failed to see her. Her blade split in half and unfolded into a bow a star filled darkness forming the bowstring. She drew it back forming an arrow of darkness. The tip was a dense bit of darkness and she fired it silently striking the creature. As the arrow pierced her target it would condense into it through the wound and multiple dark spikes would expand out from the spider undead. The creature fell off the roof as the creatures reishi was slowly erased the darkness of her zan eating away at it. Some few minutes and it had no spiritual power. She figured it would be as good of a time as any to experiment a bit. The darkness of her zan could chip away and eat a beings reishi weakening them over time, and long enough lead to their defeat. However normally Night wouldnt waist the time to let her darkness eat away at something alone, always following it up with another dark elemental attack, or kido. However the fact it specifically targeted reishi was why she wanted to test it on this undead. She walked out of the room and into the hall next to it. She examined the wounds as Bokyaku returned to it's default state and noticed a lack of red water, only a dry red dust now lined the wounds. She scraped some of it onto a slide and stored the sample away. The corpse was more insect like than human at this point and that was kind of concerning. She also remembered that bundle of large worms in the wheel chair earlier. She was really wishing now she had thought to bring a camera with her a photo's of this thing would honestly be great evidence. After a few more minutes examining it and taking a carapace sample she would get up and stretch a bit stiff from being in a kneeling position when the corpse twitched. She noticed a hint of reishi in it now and frowned sure of her zanpakutos ability. She noticed a bit of red fluid starting to leak just a bit out of the wounds. Something was restoring it! She remembered how the reiatsu had felt around the worm thing earlier and wondered if maybe it had something to do with it? Only one way to sadly find out, and that would be to head to the basement.

Spoiler

Worm bundle in the wheelchair.

 

[Night Kuchiki]

 Night walked over to the and pressed the call button for the elevator, having decided against going back down stairs. If the one up here was already starting to recover she was sure the one below would be as well. Not to mention she knew the bakudo holding the one locked in the room below wouldnt hold up for much longer anyway. The elevator doors opened and Night entered. As she pressed the basement button and the door slid shut she let out a small sigh. She really needed to find something to make this blunder worth it. Two spider undead, two humanoids still, and whatever the worms are. The ride wasnt long and the door opened with a ding, Night stepped out and didnt see any sign of the nurse and wheelchair of worms. She closed her eyes feeling out the reiatsu, and sure enough she well think she had found it. There was a heavy concentration of the reiatsu that was all through the air. It was like a current converging into a lake, the lake then flowed out into several rivers connecting to smaller ponds. It was still a murky picture but it reinforced the idea of the others recovering faster due to the weird worm bunch. She walked down a hall following her senses, she stopped at a door. She tried it and it was locked, she called forth a small bit of starry darkness and had it flow into the lock. She had it force the lock undone and return back to her zan, it helped preserve some of the energy it took to call it forth. She opened the door as quietly as she could and was a bit lucky. The undead nurse sat at a desk scribbling away at some paper? There was a hole in the far wall seeming to creep into a tunnel, or maybe a cave? She would have to get a better look later as she noticed the wheelchair she had seen earlier. It was parked next to the desk the nurse was sitting at. Night couldnt help but smirk a bit feeling some confidence. She had the advantage and would take it as swiftly as she could. She had the tip of Bokyaku resting against the floor and the starry darkness poured out into a pool. She had the pool slither across the floor under the wheel chair. She then motioned pointer and middle finger up, and the darkness erupted upwards in the shape of a blade piercing the ball of worms and destroying the wheelchair at the same time. At about the same time as she destroyed the worms the nurse next to them went slack, like a puppet with its strings cut. Night recalled the darkness back to Bokyaku as she heard something fall to the ground by the stairs down the hall. She peeked her head and it was one of those spider like undead its body splayed and slack very much like the nurse. She walked back into the room and over to the nurse. She waved her hands in front of the undeads face but it still did not move. She closed her eyes feeling out the spiritual pressure and sensed nothing, so they all indeed had been connected to the worms somehow. Their healing factor had been increased and from the brief conflict with the spider like ones, stronger to. However it also acted as a giant weakness in return as destroying them seemed to have caused the others to become dead, or unconscious? She looked over the desk the nurse was sitting at and saw what the Nurse had been scribbling on. It was a journal, the nurse had scribbled over a good number of pages, but it didnt look like it had been done out of ill intent. Rather it looked more like the undead nurse very much like other undead Night had come across, was imitating something she would have done while alive. There were a few parts left though that were legible at least. Night picked it up and began to read. "We need to take precautions regarding the disposal and isolation of the patients body, and potential future patients. Especially those from the old ward. This is the sixth to die of cardiac arrest. It does not seem to be a virus or anything. However it is just unnatural for healthy people to all of a sudden just drop dead. I need to figure out the cause and soon before more people die. The old ward has been quarantined due to the number of heart attacks. I dropped by it today to investigate and found recent foot prints. I need to remind staff and the law enforcement that the old ward is off limits. I have received the seals and documentation officially confirming Miyakos betrothal. Starting today, we must enter the period of purification in preparation for Kaiko's coming. A curfew shall be imposed and any conversations with outsiders must be kept to a minimum from here on out. The calculations have been done to determine Miyako's bridesmaid, it needs to be a 24 years old woman. Yukie? Surely there must be another? I must fulfill my responsibility as the head of the Saiga household. But surely there is someone other than my love? If not can I, no better not wright anymore incase this is found." The Journal ended there. Their were some useful tidbits at least. It explained why the ritual had had two women, and the ritual was some kind of wedding? Miyako was likely the woman in the black dress, and the nurse seemed to have been Yukie? A bridesmaid, and the bride. It also seemed like there were notable families in the village, Saiga was the name on the hospital. It also seemed to have been the names of one the doctors and a deciding factor in the ritual? She was guessing Kaiko was the name of the god the village worshipped. Meanwhile leading up to the ritual it seemed people were dying from a heart attack? She remembered though the siren noise and the intense spiritual pressure earlier on. Maybe the heart attacks had been caused by their gods spiritual pressure? After all if a spiritual power was great enough, it could kill regular humans, and she was guessing that maybe an autopsy on such a death would look like a heart attack. She set the journal down and sighed, a few more puzzle pieces but she still did not have a complete picture yet. She turned to the tunnel. She could see now that was indeed what it was, but were did it lead? And why did a hospital have such a tunnel? It looked like it had been recently made to, maybe in the last few days before the ritual? She couldnt be sure as this was not something she had a lot of experience with. Well might as well see were it leads. With that she set off down the tunnel.