[BitP:R2] Side episode: Atomic Heart

[Kuroimaken]

Hueco Mundo has certain curious aspects to its makeup. For one, it is always nighttime. Barring certain exceptions, it is always uninterrupted desert.

Area 42, as the Shinigami had come to call it, was one such exception. The place was more like a tundra for reasons unknown; it was uncharacteristically cold and inhabited by Hollows that were particularly adept at camouflage. Due to the sheer amount of Hollows in the area, and the way in which they hunted, the Shinigami made the area off-limits, for it was too dangerous for any one of their kind, or a number of their kind.

But 50 years ago, when the Menos vanished, the place returned to a semblancy of normal, or at least normal by Hueco Mundo standards.

In the eternal sands of night, tonight its bizarreness is once again rekindled, but for different reasons.

Some say that, every once in a while, the sky lights up as though a new star is born...

[Dorizzit]

Jehoel Yurius treks through the wastes, glancing around him evenly as he moves. Although he has more efficient ways to search, the area makes him spend some time in thought. He had once called this place his home, over a millenium ago. While not generally prone to sentimentality, some sense of familiarity gives him cause to linger in his investigation. For a few moments, at least. After a short period, another flash of the hideously bright light flares up from far over the rolling landscape, reflecting off of the heavy cover of clouds that fill the skies above Jehoel. His target acquired, Jehoel flashes into motion until he comes to the flare's origin point.

[Kuroimaken]

It might not be accurate to call it a 'flare'. Jehoel's rather keen senses are able to recognize that the flash came from somewhere a fair distance away.

As he arrives over a hill, he can spot its source. A humanoid clad in black and dark green plates with golden and black streaks of energy running over his form. At the moment, he is on his knee, and appears short of breath...

[Dorizzit]

Jehoel takes a stand on top of the highest nearby dune. With the night's new moon, it is almost impossible to see with the stars blocked away by clouds, but Jehoel's keen eyes easily pierce through the darkness to examine the figure below. He also sends out a focused blast of Pesquisa, analyzing the target's spiritual energy.

"Disappointing."

The word is spoken softly, almost inaudibly. Even so, he does not move from his location, instead choosing to wait and watch.

[Kuroimaken]

It's hard to tell whether the Pesquisa or the words set the creature off.

Whatever the case, it's a mere fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a second as whoever this is makes it almost all the way up to the Primera Espada.

"...Jehoel ...Yurius."

He turns around and moves back to the center of the crater.

"Not... the enemy."

[Dorizzit]

Jehoel sonídos in front of the individual, his arms folded over his chest. He says nothing, however.

[Kuroimaken]

The individual merely attempts to go around the side of the Primera Espada. His high-speed movement, however (which Jehoel can clearly identify as Shunpou) is messy at best.

He, too, says nothing. He has a purpose.

[Dorizzit]

Against such a flawed technique, Jehoel is easily able to block his progress.

[Kuroimaken]

"...move. I still have to train."

The voice sounds a bit tired but rather determined.

[Dorizzit]

"Ah, progress. Wonderful."

He still doesn't get out of the way.

[Kuroimaken]

"...what do you want from me, Espada?"

[Dorizzit]

"Answers."

[Kuroimaken]

"Supply the questions, if you would. I'm on a schedule."

[Dorizzit]

"Very well. Second question: why are you here?"

[Kuroimaken]

"I've answered that question already. I'm training somewhere isolated that won't cause any trouble."

[Dorizzit]

Jehoel shakes his head.

"That is your purpose in being here. Not why you are here."

[Kuroimaken]

"I'm afraid I don't understand the question, then.

More importantly, I could ask you the same."

[Dorizzit]

"One does not simply enter the depths of Hueco Mundo for idle training. Particularly not with a fragile treaty still in its infancy. Something provoked this. I myself am here because the Las Noches scouts have declared this area a no-entry zone due to unexplained phenomena. I was curious."

[Kuroimaken]

"Which works perfectly for me, as the Shinigami have also deemed this place off-limits. I suppose solitude might be as good a description as any.

I must soon face an opponent that hasn't been defeated in thousands of years except by the greatest of my peers. And who all but humiliated me through my powerlessness when last we met.

There is something I must achieve before I face him."

[Dorizzit]

Jehoel moves to the side, allowing him to pass.

"And you believe that achieving this power will let you engage Erscheinung Von Geister in single combat?"

[Kuroimaken]

"I doubt any combat with that man would involve 'single' anything.

But if nothing else, I will be able to actually help my comrades. Perhaps help protect them. I don't have the strength to do it alone, but I can at least make sure Daiki didn't die in vain."

The strangely armor-clad man starts walking towards the center of the crater.

Nothing in his body language suggested surprise at Jehoel knowing who the opponent was. For all he knew, Yurius also knew who was behind that mask.

[Dorizzit]

Jehoel follows along.

"Then show me the power you seek to attain."

[Kuroimaken]

"Not yet. I'm not like most Shinigami. First, I must master the powers I already have."

The masked man points his arm upwards. A lightning bolt streaks from his palm and solidifies into a very large broadsword. The sword's blade splits down the middle, towards the hilt, and arches backwards, towards the man's forearm.

A thunderbolt began to form, taking on the shape of a ball of lightning.

A second bolt began to charge and spin next to the first, its lightning black as night. And then a third made of the purest light.

"Rideeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer..."

Faster and faster and faster they spun, becoming as a blur, indistinguishable from each other.

"...GOD BOLT MISSILE!!"

And then it fired. The masked man's feet sunk into the ground as the backdraft from the shot whipped the sand up into a small localized storm all by itself. Meanwhile, the bolt tore through the sky at an impossible speed. Like a streak of light it crossed the skies, before the magnetic force of the three thunderbolts distorted the visible air in a powerful vaccuum, collapsing upon themselves and detonating with a dull roar and the brightest light, sending a massive shockwave down as a secondary effect.

[Dorizzit]

"Impressive."

The comment is dry and devoid of emotion, but then, so is just about everything else Jehoel says.

"Yet, this power is not enough to satisfy you?"

[Kuroimaken]

"It's not... about satisfaction."

It's worth noting that, though Jehoel can't compare, the explosion is significantly smaller than the first time it had been unleashed.

"It's about... what it takes. What I need... to master... in order... to fulfill my... duty..."

The man seems noticeably exhausted. Yet Jehoel can feel the shift of Reishi towards the man's waist. The belt in that armor, somehow, seems to be trying to make up for its own lacking energy by sucking the environment dry. At the same time, steam slowly rises from between the plates of the armor as if venting excess heat.

One might wonder how many times he's done this so far. Or at least how many times he has done this since he got that power under control. Even without knowing its past, it's not hard for Jehoel to tell there is something restrained - incomplete about the technique, although it holds a certain degree of sophistication beyond sheer power.

An explosion of that magnitude does not occur by happenstance, after all.

[Dorizzit]

Jehoel folds his hands behind his back.

"And which duty is that?"

[Kuroimaken]

"...you certainly like to repeat your questions.

Keep those under me safe. Stop those who would do them harm. Protect the innocent.

What any Shinigami is supposed to do."

[Dorizzit]

"Is that right?"

Jehoel shakes his head.

"Do you really think that you can protect anything with unbridled destructive power like that?"

[Kuroimaken]

"I don't expect you to understand. I know the limits to my power. I know I can't build with it.

My strength is what helps my purpose. It does not define it. Power without purpose is whimsy. Purpose without power is ineffective.

Believe me, I have spent long and hard thinking on this the first couple of nights I was here. Couldn't control my strength back then, it exhausted me every time."

[Dorizzit]

"Power without purpose is not whimsy. It is an oxymoron."

Jehoel does not elaborate further, shifting gears abruptly.

"It's good that you can acknowledge what you are. But why not embrace it? Rather than twist your power to purposes it is unsuited for, why not use it to its fullest in ways that do not conflict with your desires? With the power you possess, you could become a sword that strikes down evil, seeking it out and obliterating it without restraint, rather than a shield to protect justice, always forced to hold back and control yourself around those undeserving of punishment."