REMEDY LANE [FEAT. KENKETSUSHA]

Life? Death? Existence?

They were only mere illusions cast upon us from consciousness, and they did nothing but limit the extents of one’s capabilities. And they were all but wiped clean from Ashton’s perspective in one fell swoop. The lieutenant’s eyelids expanded to expose a vacant expression from his golden jewels; he saw nothing but darkness and liquid enveloping his being. He found himself descending downward in water, totally incapable of finding the will to move his body or calculate the depth of his position. He felt...alive, dead, reborn, and bound all at the same time.

Bubbles of water cascaded from his opened lips, and he almost felt some semblance of sorrow creeping its way into his disoriented soul. His passive eyes stared forward, seeing a vision of his secretary typing away at her computer, working diligently as always. If he had the strength to, he would have smiled over his recollections; conquering her atop his desk the moment he hired her, proliferating jealousy and contempt around the few agents that caught wind of the affair. Her eyes widened violently, and she grasped at her throat as she lost the ability to breathe! An arrancar spiritually gripped her throat, introducing her to slow and painful death—Ashton Arterius laid dead on the floor incapable of protecting her; defending his ambitions.

No! I don’t want that.

His opened eyelids twitched as his body continued to powerlessly explore the depths of the water. The Sereitei resonated with ambient peace. Boundless numbers of Shinigami and merchant spirits walked, talked, and all-around enjoyed the untamed beauty of the cityscape. A grin wedged itself upon the walking redheaded lieutenant’s visage, and all of the habitual souls waved, saluted, blushed, and acknowledged him. Itada and Hinaai walked with viciously stoic faces, politely nodding at Ashton as he strolled down the path. The beautiful sky surgically ruptured! Paralysis encumbered the vice-captain’s beings, and he watched frantically as red beams of hollowfied energy shot through the sky and brought ruin to thousands of years of civilization. Ten menacingly powerful beings marched through the walkway and severed his two superiors, burning them alive as the sky wilted maroon. A blonde juggernaut’s hand pierced his chest and spouted wrath—

No! I won’t allow that.

His mouth twirled in pain, and his body burrowed deeper in the depths. Kyoko sat with her legs crossed on a bench, gazing at Ashton with her ever so serious eyes. Jokes erupted from the male lieutenant’s mouth, and jubilance integrated into both of their faces. The redhead pinched her cheeks and tested the elasticity of her skin. He felt freedom in companionship, trust in friendship, and pure happiness. The ground beneath the outdoor furniture dissolved into nothingness! White began to consume the entirety of the landscape, and Nagi-chan’s mouth and eyes leaked of disgusting hollowfied slime. Her smile never wavered, yet the monstrous white liquid explored her body and corrupted her until she was a disgusting creature of sin. The bench dissipated into nothingness, carrying the withering effect about his only friend in life, allowing the hollow essence to travel onto his skin as he sat paralyzed with internal screaming capable of shattering glass. Any and everything benevolent was consumed by an unstoppable nothingness—existence was no longer a reality.

No! What the fuck!?

His throat tightened, and emotions long lost came darting into the young deputy’s person. Reisha’s smiling figure stood illuminated under the gracious moonlight, she shyly held her wrist behind her back as she gathered the confidence to forward her captivating eyes into Ashton’s own. She took slow, steady steps towards him and let sentimentality shackle her membrane. Their arms outstretched to embrace each other in slow-motion, free smiles curled upon their lips and their eyes closed as both of their heads tilted—fear overcame Reisha’s visage, and she looked upon Ashton with heartrending eyes! She returned to normal speed as she backed up, and ran away from him like he was a construct of the devil. A masculine black figure shrouded in darkness accosted her, and she leaped to hug him for protection! The anomaly’s arm impaled her and shot blood all over Ashton’s paralyzed, eternally smiling lips. Her inner liquids leaked down from his lips…and death became acquainted with her.

No! No! Why are you running?!

Ashton’s heart emotionally ruptured, and his vacant eyes leaked of an unfamiliar internal fluid that merged with the liquids binding him downwards. Ashton stood in the middle of a black, nature-lacking landscape. His feet failed to move, and there was nowhere to run, nobody to hide from…yet. His head twisted from left to right constantly, his eyes saw that same enigmatic black figure shrouding slowly accosting him with a black katana drawn. His mouth opened to scream, but no noise whatsoever escaped from his throat, and no sensations were to be felt from his larynx! The figure materialized before Ashton and drove its weapon straight through his beating heart! Yet no blood leaked from the lieutenant’s lips, and no pain was felt. The eerie shroud clouding the figure from view began to wither away, and shades of red were to be seen flocking from his head. Golden eyes full of destruction and madness stared in the impaled vice-captain’s own sorrowful eyes, and grinning lips wordlessly baited at him. He saw...himself.

No! No! No. I refuse.

Bubbles of lost air pocketed upward from the descending lieutenant’s mouth, his lips twitching in various types of pain. “…” Life gradually returned to Ashton’s eyes, and his mouth continued to twitch. “…” Feeling returned to Ashton’s body, and his mouth continued to twitch. “N—” Ambition erupted the volcano dormant in Ashton’s soul, and his mouth twitched once more. “No!” The descent met its culmination, and the soul reaper’s body forcefully flew upward from the endless depths of the war. His eyes had more than purpose, they had resolve, and they had strength previously unfathomable to him. Minutes passed in his perspective, and he emerged from the waters like an avenging spirit!

His feet graced atop the beautiful, ambient body of water. Ashton struggles to gather his breath, staring at Kenketsusha’s stoic face no more than mere meters before him. Liquid drips from the entirety of his body, yet he felt…light. The female spirit’s beast like hands ominously rose and pointed at her wielder’s chest.

The hardships had just begun.

This is pathetic, I’m not pathetic.

“You’re intelligent enough to know that a bankai will not save you,” she begun, pulsing her echoing voice directly into his ears, “intelligence will not save you, and you cannot save yourself. You’re weak, you have no talent outside from your sword, and you have little experience. You are trash.” Her blade steadily and very painfully began to exit the chest of the heavily bleeding soul reaper. “You cannot escape death.”

She sharply plucked the rest of her bloodied blade from Ashton’s back, eliciting an agonizing howl from the man as disturbing amounts of blood came to integrate with the water. She left a kiss on her wielder’s neck, floating out of the water and departed a singular message, “You cannot wield that which you do not understand.” Had it not been for his extensive ability to sustain injury, her cryptic message might have fallen upon deaf ears. From the beginning of this proceeding, her words had become increasingly cryptic; deciphering them was beyond difficult, much less translating them into action.

He refused.

The lieutenant bulked his newborn resolve past the pain, and slowly levitated out of the water with closed eyes. He came eye to eye with his respective spirit, her blade idle at the side as she motionlessly gazed upon him. His breaths became sharper, more difficult to manage, and the Zanpakutō gripped by his right hand had become weaker—divided by from the natural soul-synthesis. He looked upon the blade, his upper lip twitching via various negative emotions, “Is this an insult?” His calmly-stirred volubility warranted no response from the female, “Do you really believe I need your power to defeat you?”

He didn’t believe himself to be such a pathetic creature that he would fall without the help of his soul slayer, nor without the blade itself if need be. This was a mockery on the highest levels; denial, abandonment, failure. They were all too commonly known by the Nanabantai Fukutaichō, and sometimes it was so simple that one only had to utilize their will to deny such fates. He refused.

He drifted his hand over the gaping hole in his chest, and in the newly made piercing in the midst, tightening the grip on his blade while his eyes unconsciously emanated not rage, but determination, pride, and pure sadism. And in that moment, the trial all began to finally make sense. The male’s eyes widened with understanding, cocoons evolved in his stomach, and for the first time today, his signature malevolent grin made a cameo.

There was nothing but a pretentious scoff in his wake.

Ashton disappeared with an incomprehensible high-speed movement, appearing forth his spirit with not a thrust of the weapon, but with an extending fist to her face! She hadn’t the time to flinch, her body turned into a ragdoll as she back-flipped backwards with her scrunched face. By the time she found her balance and returned to a kneed position, Ashton was already closing in the distance with a disturbing speed against the waters. His blade slammed down viciously in an attempt to divide her body in half, her sword rising to clank against his in defense. Almost as fast as it came down, the Shinigami’s blade rose to deliver an unpredictable onslaught of slashes thwarted to any vulnerable direction. Their weapons clinked hundreds of times in the seconds that passed.

The lieutenant quickly interrupted his repetitive ravage, and lifted his blade upward for an overhead slash. And yet, his spirit predicted this movement and moved to guard her upper half in her downed position, allowing Ashton to not only abuse her ground, but make a falsity out of her forecast. His blade made a fool out of the air pressure, utilizing his electrifying stance to arch the blade backwards into a reverse grip, allowing him to plunge his blade directly into her right breast. He continued his fluid violence with a lift of the foot, crashing his shin into her throat in the midst of her temporary stasis of pain.

Her back fell to the water with his assault, consequently providing her the seized opportunity of impaling her wielder once again through the stomach, roughly puncturing the spleen. But there was nothing stopping the ruthless killer, nor his sadistic smirk. Ashton ignored the injury like many prior, stretched his body and left arm downward and brought his grip about the woman’s exposed neck. Her hands steady gripped upon the blade lazing within his lower torso, loosening each millisecond as his grip about her neck strengthened. He no longer needed a blade, he was going to torture her with his bare hands until she not only returned respect to him, but submitted herself to him.

His right fist clenched slowly and tightly, enjoying each and every moment he constricted her air. Blood slithered down his chest, his mouth, and down his stomach, but not a damn thing in any dimension as going to prohibit his evolution. Ashton’s fist jabbed at her eye, her cheek, her jaw, and her ear in nonstop, consecutive punches. He delighted in each and every time his bare fist bruised against her visage. As far as he was concerned, she was not going to know but, but she was going to embody agony.

Kenketsusha twisted the blade lodged within his torso, eventuating to a momentary halt in his movements and brought her open right hand to claw the Shinigami from shoulder to shoulder, released the inverse hand and drifted the claw upward from Ashton’s right pectoral up to his neck. Instinctively, the death god brought an end to his unprofitable grasp, and released her with a last punch to the throat. Almost in-synchronization, the two drifted backward about the water and left more than multiple meters in their gap.

Kenketsusha maintained a stoic expression through her bruised face, while Ashton retained a crazed, sadistic face throughout the stinging pain pulsing through his visage. They both withdrew the blades left within their respective torsos, ironically using the other’s weapon, and hopped hundreds of meters in the air with a lateral grip. The Shinigami grunted as they lunged for each other, bringing their diagonal slashes to a powerful clash within the air. Sparks tangoed into the wind as their remaining physical strengths collided like an unstoppable force of nature!

Their blades drew backward, Kenketsusha attempting to turn her wielder into a pincushion while instead; he somersaulted over the woman, landed directly behind her and spun himself in a 180° angle to split her cryptic self in two! Her body performed a twirling back-flip beyond his expectations, and delivered a swift, powerful kick to Ashton’s cheek. He found himself rocketing downward with a detached spirit in hot pursuit, her blade cocked backward to give a final impaling to him upon impact.

After seconds of slaving to gravity’s power, Ashton’s back crashed into the planks of wood of the platform they first started upon, his own spirit mere milliseconds from crucifying him onto the ground. He eerie syllables echoed throughout the plentitude of the waterfalls once more, “You will never wield me, you are a failure and a liability!” Her hollering shot a pain through his soul, and tampered with his passions.

He refused.