Izanagi Kiyoshi
New member
Suddenly the lids that cover their eyes shot open, quickly showing off their bright lavender pupils. There was nothing but fear and confusion behind those eyes. At the same time, he promptly sat upright simultaneously as if they had awakened from a horrible nightmare. Heart pounding through Izanagi's chest, eyes gazing at the surrounding where the fog was present, trees were also present at this time. Though it took a second to realize the setting, he was in, and that is when he turned to the right to see if it was there. The large castle-like structure that sits in the distance is left untouched. Unlike the designs around the castle grounds, where what used to be no longer present, nothing but piles of stone fragments lie about around the castle. That was the usual appearance each time he came.
Izanagi's mind was so out of focus. It never dawned on him why he was even here to begin with- knowing he was in no position before to perform jinzen—remembering the jolting sensation of the blast, which caused him to suffer injuries that deemed him unfit to fight any longer. The more his thoughts begin to linger on what took place prior, the more his fragmented memories begin to flash before him, small pieces of the encounter of the battle that took place moments before his death? Finally, he remembers being caught up in a massive fiery explosion, lying on the ground as helpless as a newborn baby. The right hand crossed over to the left arm quickly, and it was there. Izanagi peered down to the legs, and both were still attached to his body. He realizes that his entire body is seemingly untouched, pristine, down to the bottom of the soles.
"Am I.......dead?"
He asked subconsciously while continuously looking around the environment he sat in, bringing himself to his full height. Everything may look familiar, although it doesn't feel the same. It is hard to explain for Izanagi but even being here feels surreal. However, before you know it, the very infrastructure before he begins to crumble slowly through the construction of the castle wasn't crumbling into the ground but disintegrating into the air. It started with the castle, but everything in the surrounding area began to suffer the same fate.
The world he stood in starts to crash, and suddenly his body feels weakened. He tried running towards the stone fortress, but everything was becoming distorted, even his motion. Yet, Izanagi wasn't getting anywhere. It was like running in mud, and what was in sight kept moving further and further away. Steps were becoming heavier, the third seat, shinigami's vision became blurry, and his eyes gazed towards the ground while everything started blurrily. Would Izanagi find the area becoming darker? Or is it that his eyes were closing?
THUD
Izanagi finds himself on the ground with both eyes closed shut, incapable of opening them. Lost. Confused. Not sure if this is what death felt like, he had no awareness of his own body. Izanagi felt lost in control of any movement, but everything felt like it was shifting.
His eyes shot open!
Izanagi finds himself in what appears to be the Rukon District but is more desolate. No single breeze blew, no movement or sight of anything but empty, desolate buildings.
"You want a smoke, kid?"
A voice ringed out from behind Izanagi, and upon turning around, he noticed a giant of a man before him with dark shaded glasses on. His body was far too bulky, all muscles. Standing in front of this man caused Izanagi to feel like a kid to where one hand holding a cigarette box had one rolled-up paper sticking out of the content. Ready for him to grab it. And grab it Izanagi did, placed it in between his lips and the tall beast of a man, Ryuga lit the end of the rolled-up tobacco.
"Old man. If I see you, then I know I am dead."
Izanagi stated while inhaling the contents of the cigarette, then proceeded to exhale.
"Dead?"
Ryuga inhales.
"No. Not yet. Here let me show you something."
Ryuga and Izanagi took no steps, but somehow miraculously, they appeared sitting down on the outside seats, sitting at the counter where they stood watching what seemed to be a TV? In the Rukon district? It replayed the moment up to Izanagi's demise when the God-King's attack hit him—lying there where God-King burned his insides and outside—having lost an arm and legs in the process. The screen seemingly paused at that moment.
"........."
Izanagi says nothing but continues to smoke in silence. Ryuga, or more accurately, an imitation of a dead man, gazes in Izanagi's direction. But said nothing. There was nothing to say.
"You can feel it now. Can't you? You remember what you sensed before you left to be saved by another comrade?"
It wasn't precisely that Izanagi remembered the actual event but felt the presence of everything in those moments. Though he was barely conscious, he still felt the spiritual energy of everyone there—even the erasure of Lt. Jinnosuke, who was snuffed out moments after Izanagi was caught first. Finally, both fists that rested on the counter tightened. He removed himself from the seat and walked away. In one direction was nothing but seemingly an endless road that led to nothing. In the other direction was a path that led to the Seireitei. Without thinking or even realizing, Izanagi was walking down the path that led to an endless way to nothing.
"That's it then? Running away now, Izanagi? I can't say I am surprised. You've been running away all your life. You ran away from facing the problem even after killing your parents."
Ryuga said while his arms were folded into his muscular chest while watching Izanagi walk off as he stood in the center of the Rukon street. The mention of killing his parents was enough to stop in his tracks.
"Shut up. Old Man."
Izanagi said; you could hear the irritation in his voice was beginning to swell.
"Even ran away for years from the very monster you created. Instead, you went around killing weaklings in the Rukon District, calling yourself a demon."
Ryuga's voice throughout the empty environment is only occupied between the two. He loudly said what he said to Izanagi as if he was scolding a child. Izanagi's fist was getting tighter.
"Yet, you were running away, and now all that talk about being ready for death."
And tighter.
"Shut up."
"You are standing there looking fucking pathetic. All because you got your ass handed by someone stronger than you. Now you want to take what manhood you have left and run?"
And tighter to the point, his fist began to shake vigorously.
"I SAID SHUT THE FUCK UP!"
He turned around, but Ryuga was no longer standing there. Instead, it was quiet, and Izanagi didn't even feel his presence, like Ryuga was never there. However, little did Izanagi know the tall behemoth was standing directly behind him, towering over him.
"THEN YOU LET ME GET KILLED."
Ryuga screamed while bringing up a kick to Izanagi's ribcage, sending him flying into a nearby building. Crashing into the wooden structure, pieces of wood flew in all directions.
"You think you get to walk away? I saved your ass and died. Shoumetsu saved your ass and damn near died trying to protect you. And you think you get to walk away?"
Ryuga awaited for Izanagi to reveal himself from out of the hole. Eventually, he did, and clothes were tattered in the same fashion as they were back in Naruki. Both fists were still in a ball, and both eyes were fixed on the behemoth, Ryuga. You could see the anger in both Izanagi's purple eyes. Then, he suddenly took off into a short burst dash off the ball of his feet. The left-arm cocked back as the distance closed; it would outstretch to punch Ryuga dead in the chest with all the anger swelled up over time.
Ryuga stood there and allowed the hit to take place, but by the time the punch landed, it wasn't a hard punch. Once it connected, it felt like a pebble tossed at his chest. He felt nothing. Ryuga lifts his large right foot and thrusts it towards the Izanagi center mass. As surprised as Izanagi was, he managed to cross both arms close to his chest, which he managed to block, but the power behind sent him flying backward, where his entire body rotated into a couple of backflips. Yet, Izanagi managed to take control of his body on the second backflip to where Izanagi still slid a few feet across the dirt road upon landing.
"Surprised? Do you expect to harm me when you still have fear? Everything I said triggered your anxiety—the same anxiety you felt when HE appeared."
Ryuga stated he refers to the man towering over Izanagi as much as Ryuga did. A tall, pale-skinned male with long black hair and a hole in the left pectoral.
"Hola, Amigo? Are you going to run again?"
He called out to Izanagi, looking down over him to where the God-king unleashed the same amount of power he released in Naruki. That power.....that voice. It couldn't be.......Izanagi turned his head over the shoulder; sure enough, it was the God-King himself. And before you know it, the God-King unleashed the same amount of power before, and Izanagi found himself in the same predicament. Before the fiery explosion ever reached him, everything went dark, and the setting had changed again.
The purple-haired shinigami found himself back into his inner world, the fog still present, only there was nothing but a lonely void now, nothing in sight. Not even the fortress stood anymore, no piles of rubble.
"Izanagi, I am gravely disappointed in you. You look death in the eye, and there you exhibit fear. All that century of training and for what? What you don't need in battle is fear. Nothing will come of it. And if you go back.......keep in mind that a warrior who has lost his ability to fight will only be in the way and end up dead. So if you strike, make you strike to kill. Hesitate, and you die."
This individual's voice echoed throughout the fog without revealing his physical appearance. However, this is a voice Izanagi should already recognize. After all, it was someone who had been with him from the moment he called it all those years ago.
"Jūryoku."
Izanagi whispered as his eyes shifted from left to right repeatedly. The Third seat, shinigami tried to locate his zanpakuto spirit, but Jūryoku was nowhere to be found. Yet, in the distance, the silhouette of Jūryoku. However, his physical appearance has not been revealed but only shows a shadow of his arrival.
"From this day forward, Izanagi Kiyoshi, I refuse to be misused and underused. Until you entirely rid yourself of your fear. I will not come to your beckoning call. I rather die than have not only a coward use my power. But a coward who doesn't rely on my strength. So when you decide to call my name and I still sense the fear, do not expect me to come. Justa s you abandon me. I will return the favor."
Jūryoku had made his stance pretty clear. The moment he spoke these words, the silhouette shape of his body disappeared into the fog. Izanagi did not say a word at all. What could he say? There was nothing he could do? Nothing he could say.
Nonetheless, This world slowly rebuilt the castle and the surroundings, and the fragments began reconstructing themselves. What does this mean? And Izanagi starts hearing muffled voices in the distance. Then suddenly, Izanagi's body begins to feel some warmth flowing throughout his body. What is it?
"Of....... Kiyo......., Don....... wor....... self...an....he....saf...will....thing...we can....in...our ....dical....abili.... to help.....cer...Izanagi Kiyos....ake a fu overy.”
Izanagi tried to listen to the muffled voice that so happens to be broken up into coding. But unfortunately, the words did not entirely make a complete sentence. Or instead, the words were cut short, and Izanagi could only make out a few here and there.
"I'm sure after some time you will be able to go in and be right next to him, but do be mindful Izanagi is still-."
"Still? Still what?"
Izanagi replied but then began to feel weak all over again, but this time the left arm was disappearing from his body. Then the legs were gone, which caused him to crash onto the cemented flooring. Everything was going dark, and the more he fell into darkness. The less of this mysterious voice became harder to hear. Yet, at the same time why does, Izanagi feel a powerful sensation of anger and hate? It wasn't a feeling he had conjured but a sensation from someone else?
