The Sweet Taste of Reality [Infection]

May 2 (9:57pm)

The pink hair swayed about the petite doll like arrancar who had left Hueco Mundo to explore the human world. She would do this now and then just to see what strangers had to offer. The soft thud of her feet moving over the pavement could be heard as she moved happily between the streets of the town which she found herself in. The long sleeves of her stark white uniform billowed behind her playfully. The cool air played across the skin that it could, the bright blue eyes sparkling in a childlike manner before she paused mid-stride. Her attention was drawn to a bar where loud music seemed to be spilling out of, there were souls lingering around it as if they wanted to be inside it. Did that mean that a spiritually aware human was keeping them out? Glancing up at the door she noticed the pale silver cross. Now this was interesting. Since when did religion protect anything? Humans were interesting creatures. The souls were a tempting to find, she could easily consume them while they stood there looking like lost pups. That’d be almost too easy though. It was almost as if she expected something more to happen than what was. The loud music was the current Japanese rock that seemed to be filling the land. The large booming noise was more than enough to catch her attention. Walking towards the bar slowly her feet made the faintest of noises over the cool cement before she paused. A feeling of power brushed along her skin as if warning her that entering was not safe. Sighing slightly she turned from the bar perhaps someone else would want to risk their own hide against those wards. She wasn’t in the mood to be the one who ended up testing them.

Walking once more she would throw the occasional glance to a human. None of them really noticed her wandering the street with a natural stride to her step. It was easy to feel like there was nothing at risk when no one ever paid attention to her. Ravilin was aware that the only time people paid attention to her was when they needed easy prey. That was something that she could offer to them even if it came at the price of her blood. The pacifist knew that destruction liked to follow her despite where she ran. There didn’t seem to be such thing as a safe haven. Not for monsters. The bright eyes of the arrancar flicked to an alley way which she passed. There was something out in the night, not that she could place her finger on what it was. The strong feeling of power seemed to press down around her making Ravilin tip slightly placing a hand against the rough stone wall to support herself. The hell was out there? Fate was bringing her nothing but a hand full of bad cards. It was no fair when everyone around her seemed to have a royal flush she had nothing. Her own power thrummed softly against the power that was pushing at her.

Who ever was out there could find something to stalk she was not willing to play this game. Instead a bright smile scrawled across her face. ”Bah Bah Black Sheep have you any wool?” She sang softly into the night sky with a look of contentment across the doll like visage. ”Yes sir, Yes sir, three bags full.” She continued to sing with no concern for anyone that lurked the darkness. This was one of her free night from duties with her Espada and she’d enjoy it no matter what happened in the end.

Through the shadows of the damned, a vessel of misfortune wandered across the broken city. Spires of light cast over the darkness that lavished the night sky. Such events were sickening to the beast of the netherworld. The sounds of a society of pigs filled the air, giving a state of annoyance to the beast. To bring upon the wrath of god was to bring about the end of humanity. If only such ignorant monkeys knew why their abodes were getting destroyed one-by-one. It was their ignorance that caused such catastrophes to plague their kind. By orders of a demonic puppet-master, the strings were locked in place, the leather morphing from a manipulator’s touché in to the chains of a dictator.

From a seemingly empty alley-way, the form of a man that no longer seemed Human phased in to view. He appeared only as an image of blackness, a silhouette that seemed no different than a normal person. Though, upon closer examination, this man was all things except normal. Firstly, his hair was bleach-white, being fully devoid of any color what-so-ever, each strand of hair was straightened out, hanging over the back of his head and covering the back of the man’s neck and upper-back. It was substantially longer than most male’s hair style, but it was never really the eye-drawing point of his form. The next noted feature of the man’s appearance was his eyes. They were drained of emotion, showing a slight sense of anguish in the pitch-black pupils that filled a bloodshot iris. They did not look at people. Rather, they gave the sense of someone looking through another, as if the second person was not even in existence. Bothe yes were also dry, having no form of moisture around them like normal. As the man continued to slowly pace forward, more features of his grotesque physical shape were shown. His nose was bruised, showing markings across it that ran down the bridge. These markings were small incision-like marks, being separated by a one eighth inch space between each one fourth inch mark. Next was the mouth. Though normally not a part of the face that looked different from others, this man’s was different. The lips were nearly ghost-white, being extremely dry. At the right-side of the bottom lip, the seemingly colorless form of the man was covered with an unfitting crimson that painted a small trail from the mouth to the chin. This was quite-obviously blood, dripping down from his chin to the ground underfoot every few seconds, One drop of blood after another. The man’s ears appeared normal for the most part, the exception being the highly pale nature of his skin.

The man’s body was in just as bad a condition as his face. His clothing was tattered, stricken with multiple holes and tears throughout them. His shirt was of aged black leather. It covered the majority of his chest and stomach, though a rather large tear in the center of the clothing showed a small patch of bare flesh along the chest area. This shows the decrepit state of his physical body. He had no fat, nor much muscle. It showed simply as the bones in his body. They were obviously visible throughout the chest and stomach, even in the arms and legs to a lesser degree. It was like the body had been deprived of any source of food or sustenance. His skin was extremely pale, showing no color, matching the rest of his form. The hands were covered in wrinkles, the blood veins in his appendages being clearly visible around the bones. Though, unlike normal, these veins were not blue, nor even red. They were pitch-black, like blood that had been left to dry for years. All-in-all, he looked like a walking corpse. He seemed to have no soul, no emotion, simply a shell, an android, a puppet, a tool. All of these could be used to depict the man, and most of them were pretty accurate.

The man continued to slowly draw closer to the bar, moving towards the entrance. Inside of the man’s body, a beast of parasitic nature took note of the copious amount of souls that were gathered around this area. One much different from the rest of these was a female of plausible spiritual power. Though it was nothing compared to the bone-crushing might of the god it was, the parasite did acknowledge the female to be of possible use later. It was also apparent that she was not just a soul, but an Arrancar. This was derived from her spiritual energy output and the hollow hole located at the position where the heart normally was. Though, that was not his current concern. Controlling the feeble man that was drained of free will, the Demon continued toward its primary target. Nearing the abode of his prey, the parasite took note of the holy barrier that encased the building. Such a weak barrier….It was pathetic. The man under the Demon’s control continued to venture forth, reaching the barrier and weakly raising his right-arm forward. His fingers briefly made contact with the barrier, an unholy essence coming from his hand as the barrier’s power took effect. The man’s fingers were burned on contact, scorching the flesh and causing blood to pour from his hand. However, it was not only blood that was secreted by this, but the essence of Infection. Tainted black energy made contact with the barrier in the form of several streaks of raw plasma. A copious amount of electrical spiritual energy was forged by this, making a chain reaction as the barrier was stretched to its limit. The electric current made an ear-deafening noise that ripped through the air, gathering the attention of the one inside who had cast the barrier.

The barrier finally broke, the silver cross that protected the building faded to black, shattering in to thousands of tiny shards that rained down upon the doorstep. The man casually moved onward after this, as if nothing had even happened. The entropic energy that flowed from his wound had receded back in to his body, showing no evidence of what had occurred. Entering the abode, no normal humans would have noticed the events that transpired outside. Only those who were spiritually aware would have had a reaction to this all. Maybe a few might question the burns on the man’s hand, but that was about it. Upon entering, everything seemed normal. The music continued to burst outward from the speakers, the ruckus that ensued from it becoming apparent to the Demon as it walked inside. The lights that were produced from the ceiling were a rather great annoyance to the Demon, causing it to grow uneasy with these petty mortals. It was time that they were encumbered by the darkness once more. The host looked around, searching for the one in charge of the establishment. Several eyes were cast upon him for his horrible grotesque appearance, commenting on it and bashing around insults here and there. Though, the man had no real interest in them. It just continued to look around.

From the end of the building near the stairs, a person of unusual appearance glared at the host, a look of dread filling their visage, The individual was dressed in a traditional priest’s robe, white in color with a golden cross being held up by a chain around his neck. It was made of the same metals as the cross outside. There was also a potent spiritual energy emanating from the person’s body. There was no mistaking it. This was the guy. Though, he wasn’t exactly unfit like most priests. He was in far better shape than the parasite’s host at the moment. The host didn’t seem all that threatening, being n such a sickly condition, and he really wasn’t. The threat was not him, but what was contained inside of his soul. With the whisper of the tainted sinking in to the host’s body, the link between the parasite and host was created. The man began to gain immense power seemingly in an instant. His skin healed and his body started to morph. His eyes turned pitch-black, the skin turning to a normal tan shade of color. The bleeding from the lip ceased and his body started to expand, gaining muscles rapidly and turning in to someone entirely different. The hair remained the same, simply moving behind him as a result of the spiritual force that was being released from his form. The pure hatred and evil behind this power was inhumane, something not of the Soul Society, Hueco Mundo, or the living world. This was the power of hell, the power of wrath, the power of Infection, The tattered clothing that encased the man’s body started to morph as well. It became compact, spreading over his body entirely like skin-tight armor. It was teal in color, covering the entire body with the exception of the head. The mouth was also covered by a small patch of the same metal, changing his appearance vastly. His arms and legs gained muscle now, his body entering peak physical condition in seconds. The monstrous power coming from the host was clearly the reason why this was occurring.

The priest raised the cross around his neck by grabbed it and holding it toward the demon, a golden energy surging through it and casting a form of dim light over the man. This caused the armor to melt on contact, the holy energy causing damage as it was specifically designed against his skin. The priest was clearly in a state of shock, never expecting to actually see a real Demon. The only thing like one they had seen up to this point were those barbaric hollows that were relatively useless. Anyone of plausible power could easily decimate them with the flick of a finger; The Infection was highly agitated by this, quickly taking control of the host’s body. With unfathomable speed, the host quickly aimed to grab the priest by the wrist. The tainted aura that engulfed him continued to expand. Only those of a spiritual nature could see this, making it seem like a normal bar fight to those who were not spiritually aware. Red markings forged upon the leggings and grieve of the armor, appearing similar to gashes and excreting the same tainted black energy as seen earlier. With one great pull, the priest’s arm was severed, muscle and bone being torn apart and a plethora of blood falling toward the floor. The priest backed away, the cross being released from his grip and bouncing back against his chest. The man screamed in agony, the pain of having the entire appendage removed so suddenly causing him to go in to a state of half-shock. The armor that was previously burned by the cross had returned to its prior state, now looking fine. Though the new form of the host was not visible to the normal people there, the removal of the priest’s arm was. This caused a panic to stretch throughout the bar, the music being syphoned off by the yells of panic as to what the fuck this guy was.

The host glared at the priest with a twisted smile forming upon his face. The gape of it was unusually large, showing a form of twisted joy from mutilation. The transformed host began to speak, the voice of Infection, its tainted evil tone ringing through the man’s ears and causing their eyes to open widely in paranoia. “Oh look, the Catholic church. No little Timmy glued to your crotch this time? Progress! It is unfortunate that you won’t be left here to continue rectifying your former actions. Your god hasn’t been pleased with your ignorant actions. Leading people astray from the correct faith. Blasphemy. Your god won’t come to save you, and I’ll tell you why….” The host moved his head near the priest’s ear, whispering in a calm and quiet tone- “ I’m the only god there is.” In an instant, the host thrust his right-hand through the priest’s chest as he spoke those last words. His strength easily struck past the muscle and bones, shattering them on contact. The rib-cage was broken apart in to shards of bone that were imbedded in the heart, muscles, and stomach. Grabbing the heart in the man’s chest, the host quickly pulling his arm back out, taking the organ and the man’s life with it. As soon as his hand exited the man’s body with the organ, the corpse of the priest fell to the floor, a loud thud ensuing. The majority of the people in the bar had cleared out now in a panic, leaving only a transformed beast left inside. The Infection was awake, and so with it would come a new breed of chaos.

Whatever lurked out there moved to the bar she left moments before aware that the barrier wouldn`t crumble before her. That reality was what had turned her away from trying to see the beast. The blue eyes continued to glitter as her musical voice danced in the night mingling with the screams of the humans scattering from the bar. "One for my master, one for my dame, and one for the little boy who lives down the lane." The cheerful singing had a bright lit to it. She could care less if the humans were in pain, this was what fate had decided. The goddess wanted them dead, thus they would be dead. There was no second chances for those who prayed bitterly for an end which would never be in sight. In all honesty it was pathetic. She paused in her singing sniffing at the air in the same manner a dog would. The scent of blood sprinkled the air making the beast inside of her hungry. The footfalls of people in a mad rush seemed to be thundering from all corners of the streets. What was going on? What had that dark power done? Why of course it had done what she couldn't do. Her fingers grasped the edge of her long sleeves, the nails digging into the material in a nervous manner. What was she supposed to do? Should she seek out what was causing this mayhem or kill humans as they fled? Instead she did neither, continuing her song softly watching the skin pulled white in terror across so many faces. Did they all fear fate and death so much that they would run with no direction in mind? That seemed like a pointless goal if she ever knew of one to exist. They were animals, animals that needed to be corralled or cared for. Something needed to be done with them. Slowly the small white hand moved to the dirk which was safely fastened to her waist, the blue eyes narrowed thoughtfully. What would it be like to taste their blood when fear ran thickly through their wild frantic hearts?


The blade flicked out in a quick movement slicing a human across the cheek before they knew what had happened. Ravilin looked to the blade, the crimson liquid slowly dripping from it before she flicked her tongue over it. A frown tugged at the corners of her mouth. It actually wasn't as appealing as she thought it would be. "Onii-san, you disappoint me." The voice was a mere whisper now as she watched the thin drunken male continue to stumble away through the busy streets. After the fleeing humans fled it felt like there was a hush pushing down on the area slowly. Whatever had caused the danger was out there. The arrancar wasn't really sure if she was up to being beaten around by some evil force. Hell if she wanted that she could return home. Yet, despite knowing that it lurked out there her legs seemed to move on their own. Blinking Ravilin realized she was once more skipping towards the bar with a bright child like grin on her face. The eyes of the beast burned under them but beyond that she seemed every inch a child. Moving closer to the bar she felt the whispers of power seeping from it. Oh hell. Something was inside the building. The silence that came from it was more than frightening on its own. Slowly she moved closer to the bar, the barriers were gone. Not a single thread of it remained. That meant.... The human who made it was dead. Well crap, this wasn't wise to be standing here staring up at the building. There was two clear choices, she either high tailed it like those humans did, or she went inside to see whatever creepy crawlie might've lurked inside of it.

Swallowing softly, Ravilin pushed the halfway open door the rest of the way open. Death lingers here. The thought was enough to make her quiver. Blinking slightly against the darkness she walked inside slowly her eyes adjusting to the gloom. There it was. Well, what the hell was it? Ravilin didn't know. "What are you Onii-san? A kami-sama?" She whispered hesitantly in the darkness. The dead body of the human lay on the ground, blood covering the floor. Death was everywhere. Her senses screamed to get out. To get far away from this thing. Whatever it was it was no good and meant only harm. The thought made her blink slowly, if fate determined she'd be losing a limb then she'd lose the limb. The girl wasn't much into questioning the grand design of life.

The blood of the dead covered the man’s entire hand, the liquid giving a crimson tint to his skin and armor. The still-beating heart in his hand began to cease, dying with the rest of the priest’s damned soul. After examining the organ for a moment, as if it were some kind of exquisite find, the host casually tossed the organ in to the air, rising approximately ten feet overhead. Once the severed organ reached its peak height, the first of four made their appearance. From the host’s right-shoulder, copious amount of tainted energy secreted from the skin, forming an embodiment of pure energy. This creation darted skyward, aiming for the still-airborne heart. The jaws of this manifestation of tainted hatred opened rather widely, reaching a size even larger than its own actual body. It was similar to a serpent in its long, but short form. Its jaws were filled with hundreds of razor-sharp teeth, a form of red light coming from its stomach each time the mouth was opened. In an instant, the manifestation caught the organ in its mouth, closing its gaping jaws around it and sinking its teeth in to the organ. It took only one bite, puncturing the organ several times from each tooth that made contact with it. The beast proceeded to swallow the organ nearly whole, a lump moving down its throat as it did so. This vanished upon nearing the stomach, quickly being destroyed by the plasma material that forged the manifestation’s insides.

The Infection retracted back toward the host after this, now hovering just above the man’s shoulder with its osmium hide now fully generated. The creature’s skin was a dark-gray and rough to the touché. It felt similar to rock or stone, but was much denser and more durable than either. It was a material uite seldom on this world, being not in the things people considered common knowledge. The vector was currently only five feet long, but as shown a moment ago, was able to stretch its body beyond that limit fairly easily. The face was odd. It had no features other than the mouth, No eyes, no nose, and no ears. Just a snake-shaped skull with a seemingly small jaw at first glance. Running down the vector’s body were several small markings that glowed a crimson red, bringing a small trace of light around the beast. These markings were made in two straight lines on the left and right side of the upper-body to the sides of the stomach. They were usually one fourth of an inch in size each with a one eighth inch gap between them. It simply protruded from the host’s shoulder, directly connected with it.

As The Infection savored the delicious taste of what it had devoured prior, it began to sense that female earlier, the arrancar one. Her spiritual energy was drawing closer, kinetic energy generated with each step she made in to the facility. Now, what did she want? It hoped she wouldn’t end up being one of those pestering insects who thought they were stronger than they really were. It really pissed The Infection off when people acted like they were a god and knew better than it did. Such petty accusations have led to the death of hundreds over the years. Though hypocritical, since The Infection also saw itself as a god, it didn’t really care. It actually thought of itself as a literal god, be it by an extensive, nearly insane sense of pride, or just his demonic nature. The host began to speak out loud, not looking in the direction of the female, but knowing she was there. “What is it you want, Arrancar? Come to be the second course of my feast? I haven’t devoured an arrancar in a long time..not even a hollow, come to think of it. It’d be a nice change for once. “

As this was spoken with the same demented tone of voice used prior, the vector coming from the host’s shoulder moved toward the golden cross that the priest had used as a vessel to channel their holy abilities. Its jaws opened, grabbing the cross with the hundreds of teeth in its body. Due to the priest’s death, there was no longer enough holy energy in the weapon to harm The Infection. It simply ripped the cross from the chains in a swift pull. The snapping of the chains caused a moderately loud cracking noise, the last link of the chain still imbedded in the cross. The vector raised itself back to its passive position by the shoulder, the armor-covered hand of the host reaching for the part of the cross left hanging from the vector’s jaws and pulling it from them. The blood in the vector’s body from the organ it consumed caused a small amount of crimson tio cover the base of the cross. Though, that would not remain for long.

The host allowed the tainted energies of Hell to flow in to the cross, transforming it. The gold metal began to fade to a much darker silver color. Even calling it silver would be a tad off. It was like a grayish black, even. Though, the metal did shine in the light like silver would, giving it a pretty nice appearance. The center of the cross where the four points met was the biggest change. A small ruby in the shape of a square forged in the exact center, glowing with an ominous crimson energy that bared the taint of Hell. The second major change was the southern half, or the base of the cross. From the edge of the middle prong, the normal edge was replaced by an extremely sharp needle-like form. It was sharp enough to cut, making the cross able to be used like a knife if wielded correctly. Finally, the chains imbedded in the sides expanded growing an entirely new chain. As expected, this was also of the new silver metal that constructed the cross. The host casually lifted the new cross above his head, placing it on the neck so the new tainted cross would hang directly over the chest on top of the teal armor that covered his body.

Spoiler:

Ravilin stared to the man before her, the blue eyes wide. What reflected in them was a monster. There was no way to describe what this thing was. Obviously this man knew nothing about Japanese words for the simple fact she asked if he was a god. Though the fact he held such arrogance assuming she'd allow him just to eat her was astounding. Where all other creatures this narrow sighted? The blue eyes glittered softly as she opened her mouth to make a reply. "Nope Onii-san." Her voice was a simple answer to being eaten. Her eyes trailed to the corpse of the mangled man before she shook her head. This was a waste of her time on her part, the hum of power that washed over her was something she didn't like. The look that touched her face was one of loneliness before she shook her rose locks. He could have fun playing with corpses if that was what he wanted from it. Putting pressure into her knees she was once more skipping off away from the dark bar where death seemed intent on playing. She had been polite enough to answer his question even though he rudely ignored her own. She wasn't going to stand there idly. He wasn't her master. Methias was, though they never really interacted with one another. "There was once a man of nightmares, who believed he was above all. The man who called himself a god." She sung softly to herself as she moved down the dark street leaving death behind her.

"Where did all the humans run to?" Ravilin wondered aloud. Her attention moved away from the pulsating power to the lack of the people in the area. Perhaps they knew what was lurking the night. She wished that she knew about that herself. Or at least had enough sense not to remain in this area. She could care less about the priest with his torn body. If that demon wanted to play then he would. Jumping hard enough her muscles ached before she landed on the roof of one the buildings that lead along the street where the bar was. Using the height she noticed sparkling lights in another area. Perhaps she could go to where the life was thriving. Death had nothing useful this night. Nothing that interested her in the least. The blue eyes reflected sorrow as she stood there in the cool night. The wind ruffled her clothing before Ravilin shook her head.

"One becomes death through arrogance."