[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."

[Kuroimaken]

"Because I would consider THAT to be twisting who and what I really am.

The stoutest shield can break the stoutest lance. The strongest will can bend the strongest steel.

A sword is only as good as he who wields it. A shield can protect anyone.

Tell me, Primera Espada. Have you actually ever fought to protect someone?"

[Dorizzit]

Jehoel ***** his head to the side.

"Would it truly surprise you if I said yes? It may be irrelevant, however. My actions were dictated solely by self-interest. Saving those I knew for my own benefit. There was no nobility or duty motivating me."

[Kuroimaken]

"Then you know now the difference between you and me. I don't protect others for my benefit. I do it for their sake.

Perhaps that is why it has become my duty to do so."

[Dorizzit]

Jehoel almost smiles, the corner of his lip curving in what might be pleasure or disdain.

"Really. How can you act for the sake of one you've never met? If you protect a child from dying, you aren't saving that child, you're saving the idea of one. Stopping the concept of a child's death from becoming reality. Is that truly better than what I have done? I have befriended individuals of worth. People who are unique. Those with the potential to change history. Make the world a better place. I save those I have known for my own sake, but the positive actions they have brought about are not to be underestimated. The lives I have saved, I have done so knowing what I was doing. The measure of the life that would be lost.

"Meanwhile, you, who loves your 'justice,' seeks to protect without discrimination. Is it justice to protect a psychopath? A murderer? Those guilty of terrible crimes? Those who will commit terrible crimes? Is it justice if you remain blind to the possibility that your actions could lead to even greater suffering? What is a justice that defends without judgment? What is a justice that saves the idea of an innocent victim, ignoring the real person it protects? You say you do it for their own sake. How can that be when you have no concept of who they are?"

"What makes you a warrior of justice, rather than simply the idea of one?"

[Kuroimaken]

"I admit there's a great deal of naiveté to my justice. But it is as much that as it is a necessity. I can't peer into every heart. I cannot presume that I do.

I will prevent harm first, and ask later, because once someone dies, that someone cannot be brought back. If, in the process, I make a mistake, I will make amends.

I may be a death God, but I am not all-knowing. In that sense, I must accept my limitations."

[Dorizzit]

"Then I see you are not broken completely. The ideal I described was the epitome of tyranny, not justice. No man possesses the absolute right to decide whether another should live or die. To think otherwise is madness. What you preach, it is not naivete, but an acceptance of the limits of your philosophy. As long as you can accept these consequences with open eyes, your strength of will will not fail you."

"Now, why don't you tell me the goal of your training here? What power do you seek to achieve? Control? Endurance? Even greater strength?"

[Kuroimaken]

"A bit of each."

The man turns his mask towards the skies.

"A strength such as this has limited applications. It endangers the lives of those around me as well as my own, as much as my enemy's. And for all it takes out of me it cannot be relied upon, save as an act of desperation.

I hope to achieve greater strength through its control. I have already mastered each other form... this is by far the trickiest."

[Dorizzit]

Jehoel is silent for a moment.

"Then let me help. Watch."

Extending a hand, Jehoel begins charging a Cero. As he does so, he allows his Reiatsu to spread out, just enough that its patterns can be observed. It's obvious that Jehoel is still holding back the vast majority of his strength. He charges slowly, drawing out the process so that the Shinigami can clearly observe how it works. Finally, when he is finished, Jehoel releases a terrible blast of power that arcs off into the horizon, spreading widely as it travels.

"That was a diffuse blast. Now..."

Jehoel alters his stance, then proceeds with an identical charging process, this time altering the way he does it. The altered Reiatsu patterns are clearly visible. This time, after the charge a much narrower blast lances away from Jehoel, again continuing off into the distance. While the attacks weren't perfect parallels to the God Bolt Missile, there's actually a surprising amount of overlap; Koutarou will be able to refine his technique through imitation, should he so choose.

[Kuroimaken]

Koutarou Kamen Rider Rei pays close attention. Unlike Jehoel, he needs to point first and charge afterwards.

As he does, he alters the way the bolts are charged. Before, they were all made to hold their energy along the same axis, creating greater strain at the edge of the 'cannon'. By spreading them along three individual axes over the length of his arm, he manages to diminish said strain, which allows him a tighter focus on the amount of energy spent on each bolt.

And then he fires.

Given a little time, the different distances between the bolts are overcome by their inherent magnetism until they collapse into a single, massive blast and erupt into a massive explosion.

Again, the masked man falls to his knees in exhaustion. But this time his heavy breathing betrays some joy.

"...I can't believe it. It was that simple?"

[Dorizzit]

Jehoel shrugs.

"Simple? Compared to what? You had only trial and error to figure it out."

[Kuroimaken]

"You have a point, I suppose.

Still... I probably would've taken a lot longer to figure this out if it weren't for you."

Huh. His belt buckle appears to be shining.

...is it supposed to do that?

[Dorizzit]

"It likely would have. I myself only perfected it a few centuries ago."

Jehoel looks down at the belt.

"You seem quite pleased."

[Kuroimaken]

"What are you...?"

It's only then the man notices the light emanating from his belt.

Drive up: Henshin Fusion

Slowly, he begins to float and rise. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBTDn2wqlBg) The masked man's body is enveloped in black and golden light. It circles around him as it becomes solid.

Rider//Sabbath//Metallica//Blind Guardian//Judas

The sphere of solid light shatters and whips up a considerable amount of sand.

Fusion Complete: Iron Maiden form

The man standing at the center of that maelstrom sports a much different armor. Five different designs combine on his chestplate, with the figure of a winged woman in chains holding a hitodama at the center. On the forehead of his helmet a stylized soul is drawn, with the word Rei (spirit) at the center. Slightly thick gauntlets and boots adorn his hands and feet, all of them ending in jagged spikes. A long, billowing black scarf shuffled in the wind from his neck. In his grasp is a huge lance.

[Dorizzit]

Jehoel ***** his head to the side and leans forward with obvious interest.

"That's quite the interesting power you have, there."

[Kuroimaken]

"It's... how it works. For me, anyway. My sword has a rather... odd way of expressing itself."

Kamen Rider Rei glanced at his new armor and his new weapon. With a flick of his wrist, the weapon spun effortlessly in his hand.

He paused for a moment, as if considering something. And with another motion, the spear shifted into a broadsword. And then a staff...

"Seems in this form it can access all previous weapons..."

[Dorizzit]

"Unsurprising."

[Kuroimaken]

"You sound like you expected this, but I never showed exactly how my power works..."

[Dorizzit]

Jehoel nods.

"When you have lived as long as I have, you pick up the ability to see patterns. Extrapolate from incomplete data."

[Kuroimaken]

"Very well then. What do you expect this form to do that the others did not?"

[Dorizzit]

Jehoel shrugs.

"I'm not all that familiar with the rest of your skills."

[Kuroimaken]

The masked man practically falls over.

"So much for the experience of ages.

I suppose I could show you. As a thank-you for aiding my training."

[Dorizzit]

"I am no more or less than you, simply older. More experienced. But, I would quite like to see your new strength."

[Kuroimaken]

"Very well."

Kamen Rider Rei assumes a combat stance. As a gentleman, it is only corteous he waits for his sparring partner to do the same.

[Dorizzit]

Jehoel doesn't move.

"Whenever you're ready."

[Kuroimaken]

"Here I come."

Jehoel would see there's considerable improvement in sheer speed, if not in polish, when Kamen Rider Rei uses shunpou towards him. At first, he unleashes a short thrust with his spear - timid, perhaps, compared to the size of the lance's shaft.

It's when he veers the lance sideways from its original path that the Espada realizes its danger. Confident in his defenses or not, there's a very real, almost palpable sense of danger from that blade. A sharpness that brooks no impediment - no rust, no force.

A pure, evil-smiting edge.

[Dorizzit]

Jehoel is canny enough to recognize danger when it stares him in the face, but he is also old, self-assured, and very, very arrogant. Rather than attempt to dodge, he allows his curiosity to reign and simply holds up a hand to intercept the thrust, allowing his hand to be hit dead-on by the lance. Whatever he was expecting, it wasn't for his hand to be completely impaled by the lance, followed by absolute, soul-searing pain to flood his sense from his hands. He stiffens and lashes out instinctively, but stops his hand an inch away from crushing Kamen Rider Rei's throat. Instead, he jerkily extricates his hand from the lance and backs off a step, examining the injury as it slowly closes.

"I think that's enough."

[Kuroimaken]

"...It is not what I was expecting, either.

I feel stronger and faster. But that alone does not account for what just happened." Kamen Rider Rei takes a step back, himself, and shifts from his combat stance.

[Dorizzit]

Jehoel eyes the weapon warily.

"It is an absolute blade, designed to slay evil itself. A weapon more dangerous to its bearer I've not seen in centuries."

[Kuroimaken]

"To its bearer? What do you mean?"

[Dorizzit]

"I will not lie to you. Absolute evil does exist. But it is rare indeed, rarer even than its inverse. Our world, as a whole, is not so easily sorted. That blade of yours would slay me in an instant if it had the chance. Do you think that would be what was best for the world? I don't bother categorizing myself with morality, but there are many who have and would consider me evil if they knew my full mind. Moreover, they would not be wrong. Others would call me a paragon of virtue. Neither would they be incorrect. That weapon seeks out evil to destroy, even if it is but one piece in a more complicated whole. The danger to you lies in self-justification. 'My blade destroys evil, therefore as its wielder I am just.' 'He was annihilated by my blade, therefore he was evil and his destruction was just.' These are the patterns of thought that are all too easy to fall into with a weapon like that. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, but the cliffs that ring its pits are walled by self-doubt. That weapon could be a powerful tool, but be careful lest it master you. The sword is only the equal of its wielder. It must be at your own will that you wield it, not the urging of a blind blade that bays for blood."

[Kuroimaken]

"There is no absolute justice either. Only its ideal. Something to strive for. Something that can only be envisioned and sought.

No doubt I will make my share of mistakes. But it won't be because of this blade. I should hope that I would know better, to seek improvement each time.

As an extension of my soul, my blade will not harm the innocent. This I swear."

[Dorizzit]

"Do you know why there is no absolute justice? Because there are no two people that could agree what it is. I would not worry about harming the innocent as choosing the wrong target, or striking indiscriminately among the guilty."

[Kuroimaken]

"I believe in violence as a last resort. I have, on more than one occasion, requested the enemy to surrender. All but the truly mindless Hollows. I would rather avoid conflict.

Take Von Geister. A mind that has withstood millenia of imprisonment. No doubt he has knowledge worth keeping. I would rather see that knowledge put to use than see him dead.

It is he who chose this path, not me. I would still rather see him surrender, so we might seek a form of peaceful coexistence.

But if it is not to be, I will do everything in my power to keep those under me safe."

[Dorizzit]

"Mmh."

Jehoel's response is ambiguous at best. He turns away.

"Very well, I have dispatched my wisdom unto you. Now, I have a city to run."

[Kuroimaken]

"And I have a home to return to.

I thank you for your aid, Jehoel Yurius."

[Dorizzit]

"Why?"

We these parting words, Jehoel blurs and vanishes.