Shinigami Exclusive Zone: The Swamp Of Enrichment [Black World Arc Special Stage]

There was a massive fluctuation shift in the balance of the world around the combatants. As the two cores of this realm were reduced to nothingness, there was nothing holding this reality together any further. Therefore, only destruction awaited those who stayed in this decaying dimension. So as the blood of the former Captain eased on to the hands of Saiko, she took a shivering sigh and composed herself to deal with the chaotic mess occurring all around her.

The first objective to tend with? The rampaging Tessa. While her anxiety and stress were at an all time high from the murder she committed, and from the world around her turning into nothingness, she was still on a mission and actively engaged in the depths of combat. Henceforth, The Void Enigma needed to fight for her life as she feared death above all else. Ergo, as her heart starting racing at a million miles per second and skin beginning damp with sweat, the adrenaline surged within Saiko and brought a steep volume of spiritual energy to the surface.

In doing so, her Death Energy fed off this life force and became even more potent than ever before. This would then lead to the burst of white flames that Tessa shot off at Saiko becoming outright negated. The probability of that outcome was relatively strong due to the fact that the elements from her DE Force were associated with the ability to rot out and decay objects that it touches. And, when one factors in her heightened state of energy, this power would only become more of a problem to deal with than ever before.

At the same time, however, it wasn't as if this was a infinite supply. Bit by bit, pieces of Saiko's inner energy were becoming depleted and it wasn't something that sh e could repetitively use forever. However, given how fast her foe was, it was the correct decision. As the shock waves from her assault resulted in a few minor burns taking shape over Saiko's body. This caused her to yelp out in pain as Tessa did manage to do a low amount of damage prior to the blast being vaporized. Enough to make the girl feel the heat, endure the pain and feel her sight become hazy from the heat.

However, she was no where near being stopped. Even as her head began to feel lighthearted, body weightless and mind so filled with terror; she knew none of this could be as worse as the outcome as if she failed this task for her superiors. Therefore, she could only keep going forward with this plan until her objectives were achieved. As much as it pained her to cause this anguish for her former comrades, it had to be done for her own sake.

So as her opponent took the chance to cover more distance, Saiko also seized this gap in the fighting in order to stabilize her own energy and calm down from her frantic state of being. While she could have indeed assaulted Tessa without mercy -- her mind couldn't. There was a problem mentally and she needed to meditate, unwind these fears and let them go so that she could battle without them crippling her. Internally, it was almost as if she were paralyzed by panic. Saiko's legs were shaking like rattle snakes, while her eyes were filling up with tears and teeth jittering with no end in sight.

As this worry and tension reached its apex point, in that instant, The Void Enigma harnessed the power of her spiritual energy to try and alleviate these pains. Acting like a spiritual psychoactive drug, Saiko lessened this extreme anxiety by sacrificing bits of her energy to help ease the symptoms of her body. Her heart beat slowed down, then her chest became un-tightened and the fullness of her head came back as the sweating eased and her mind became somewhat more clearer. There was still dread and a sense of un-realness about the world around her, but she could manage now and focus her efforts on summoning more strength to deal with this opponent.

"...I'm sorry...I'm so sorry....but he won't make it. I told you to stop...and go back. Now look at what happened....."

The tone of Saiko's voice as she spoke out to Tessa seemed to reflect one that was heartbroken. There was a sense of defeat behind her voice as she looked with dishearten eyes on the butchered Cogimo. Despite her being the enemy, The Void Engima still felt sympathy for her former team. She spent the better part of her life becoming stronger alongside them, getting to know her squad mates and leading them on many missions where they entrusted their very lives to her. Yet, in the end, she betrayed them and led them down the path of agony and death.

So, as Saiko witnessed Cogimo's spirit escaping him, she tightened her eyes, gritted her teeth and began crying tears of regret and fear. Regret for the actions she chose, and fear for the next life she was going to reap. But, to avoid this horrid fate -- the enemy did something unexpected. Raising her hand in the air, The Void Enigma released a dense summoning of her energy and had a streak of indigo flames engulf The Dying Captain's body.

What was this illumination of power for? Simple: life. She was giving Cogimo another chance to see a new dawn by using her influence to keep his injuries from killing him. While she was no healer, the least her energy could do was keep him in a secured state until the proper medical officials could examine him and mend his wounds.

"You have no reason to trust me....but that energy will help him alive. Now....please....just go."

Pointing her pale finger at the frightened Shinigami gripping his Captain's body, the novice operative only nodded his head and could NOT understand why a betrayer would want to help them at this point. But, now wasn't the time for him to question such things. He had a task of tending to his Captain and he'd only snarl back at Saiko before requesting a portal be made for him to fall back to the Soul Society. There, once in the squad four barracks, they would sustain Cogimo's existence and keep him on life support. Even if he was in a coma, at least he'd live through this day.

For this reason is why Saiko could then direct her attention back on the transforming Tessa. The Void Engima's body started to feel another electric wave of anxiety tingle up her spine and cause a distortion in the world around her. While The Dragonic Shinigami was strong, the fear of facing her emotions were more terrifying. Having to face someone enraged over the potential death of their comrade? It was -- scary. So this critical situation caused Saiko to view the world as if everything had suddenly became larger than it was. The burning trees around them became as tall as sky scarpers, the color around the battlefield became dimmed and it felt was if The Shinigami's very conscious was beginning to extend out of her body turn into an out of body experience.

In fact, in that moment, there was such fear running in the heart and mind of Saiko that Tessa seemed to be an absolute force to be reckoned with. As she fell to her knees in disbelief, the eyes of The Void Enigma dulled and it appeared as if the enraged Shinigami was a mighty Dragon that expanded into the very heavens themselves. During that instance, there was such a sense of powerlessness flowing within Saiko that she could do nothing as she stared down the waves of kido attacks coming at her. She should have moved -- but she didn't. As much as her psychotropic drugs attempted to ease her mental torment, The Betrayer of The Gotei 13 just couldn't see how she could hope to face Tessa's true and earnest feelings with her own cowardly and dishonest stance.

'Saiko -- GET IT TOGETHER LASS!'

Right before Saiko was going to be skewed, the booming and concerned voice of her Zanpukto spirit called out to her. Himei o Ageru, her spiritual partner, refused to allow his beloved owner die by this accursed dragon. And, while he couldn't force her body to move, he could certainly control the tremendous volumes of reaitsu being produced from his master.

'You've got to get over yourself and fight to live! You can't help what happened, but that doesn't mean we can't have a new life! Please, wake up, master!'

As he tried to plead with his master to stand up and fight, the Zanpukto Spirit multi-tasked and began producing a dense and hardened barrier around Saiko. It was plum in color and had intermixed layers of midnight black energies contorting around it. These were both his masters and her DE Force's powers merging together in order to produce a potent shield to protect his dear owner. While the kido would attempt to constrict and bind Saiko, this barrier tapped into the prowess of her Death Energy and began vaporizing each restricting kido that Tessa launched off at her. This was at the cost of further lowering the supplies of energy within Saiko, but it would be well worth the risk if she could stand to fight still.

'Master, please! Don't let this fear consume you! You are better than this!'

Again, the Zanpukto begged for his owner to stand on her own two feet again. She had to stand again because she had gone this far into the rabbits hole, so what was a little bit more pain? If she died here, then everything she sacrificed herself for would have been for not. Henceforth, in order to help encourage this effort and remind her of what she was fighting for, Himei o Ageru amplified the dosage of her psychoactive drug to high enough levels to make Saiko snap back into reality. This was done in an effort to communicate with his master because her mind was entirely and utterly blank at that point. However, it was too little, too late.

By the time Saiko started to become self-aware again, the burning foot of Tessa's dragonic kido came crashing down upon the dome in which The Void Enigma shielded herself in. And, due to her energy being put into too many places over the duration of the battle, Saiko's dome did not hold against this Bankai-Level kido and it shattered. Thus, in a crushing boom, The Archduchess took the attack head-on. And, like a powerful wake-up call, the immense pain she was under sprung The Void Engima back to life.

Screeching to life with the utmost of pain, the body of Saiko underwent immense strain.While she was not flatten by it, there was a large amount of blood that spewed out into the earth around them from the force of this trample.This is because her stomach took a good deal of this blow and vomited out a high volume of internal fluids. And, since every inch of her body was assaulted, most of the bones and organs across The Void Engima's body felt strained and pressured. It was as if someone was holding your vitals in their hands and squeezing it with their bare hands until they popped. This was the pain and injury Saiko was under and her spiritual energy took a relative dip in response to these blows.

Henceforth, if she didn't do something soon, she'd be a bloody pulp across the earth floor. Therefore, Saiko utilized her spiritual energy to perform an act of telepathy. By levitating a capsule placed in her right bra, The Archduchess decided to break out her equipment and crush the canned container. In doing so, a red miasma filled the area for a mile wide area. Once this mist filled the battlegrounds, there was a sudden surge in energy coming from The Void Enigima's body. It was if she had been revitalized as almost half of her energy returned, nearly two quarters of her injuries were mended and her body became two times more durable and powerful than before.



One may be wondering -- what just happened? And the answer to that question is simple: The Miasma Of Hell had been unleashed in the war zone. This was meant to be a piece of Shadow Fall weaponry that was only utilized during war time situations. So, given the circumstances Saiko was under, now was as good a time as ever to tap into that power. With The Archduchess having half the blood of a demon within her body, it responded swiftly to the abundant source of energy seeping into veins and gave her enough strength to overpower the kido and keep it from killing her.

This came in the form of a dense wave of shadow coated energy rising from the bottom of that dragon-like foot and outright erasing it with Saiko's Death Energy. It rotted away its existence and allowed The Corrupted Shinigami to stand on her feet once more. She was dirtied, blood was spewed over her outfit and there was still scratches, scrapes and bruises across various parts of her body. But, the most important thing was -- she was still alive and kicking.

And as for Tessa? Well, she may begin to feel the effects of the Hell Miasma herself. The reason for this is because this essence of the underworld corroded those whom were not Arrancar, Demon or other variants of these satanic races. Therefore, The Dragonic Shinigami may begin to feel her insides burning, senses weakening, energy lowering and her durability and offensive potential being lowered by two times while within this mist. If she was caught in this air for too light? The risk of her dying may very well come to past with how far her own body was being taxed.

While, on Saiko's end, this wasn't a perfect cure. Due to her half blood, the pain started to surge in her body and she could feel the effects lowering and she ultimately only received a twenty percent boost in its effects after the initial release of this miasma. So that meant some of her injuries slowly came back in the form of more blood dripping out of Saiko and her energy evening back a bit. However, unlike Tessa, the risk of death was low since her demonic blood would also work on keeping her alive.

So, weary and mentally exhausted, the body of The Void Enigma began to shake, but she was still going to finish this mission no matter what. It is what the contract to her soul was tethered to, and while she did not wish to proceed with it any longer, she had no choice. Therefore, as she tightened and closed her eyes, The Archduchess started assembling a great amount of Death Energy to the surface due to the fact that her spiritual energy was beginning to become somewhat strained.

"Please....after this attack...do not get back up. I don't want to see back up because that is only going to cause more pain for you...and myself."

Uttering those words out as if she were pleading with Tessa, the Void Enigma seemed ready to finish things once and for all with this match. So, in one explosive summoning of rotting force, Saiko Mori unleashed a tidal wave of death energy meant to outright devour all spiritual energy it came into contact with. This would then attempt to force itself upon The Dragonic Shinigami and force her back into a base state as it consumed her life force and reaitsu.

However, the influence of Saiko would not allow it to kill her and she wanted to otherwise spare her foe. Ergo, as this burst of raw DE Force spread for the next half mile, the potent energies of The Archduchess's reaitsu compromised a teleportion based kido. Seeing how she already understood the layout of the Seireitei, it wasn't far-fetched for her to produce a vortex that would lead back into the Squad Four barracks. Of course, it was up to the Research Department to accept this foreign request, but once they sensed Tessa they should no doubt accept this transfer. In this way, Saiko would not have to kill another, she could complete her objective and be done with this nightmare already.

In the meantime, with her spiritual aura capable of performing feats of telepathy, it wasn't out of the question that Saiko could send a lone tendril of indigo and black shaded energy into the depths of the decomposing lake. What was its perhaps? To grab the gem that she had so furiously fought for in this event. If she were able to grab that, and samples of the waters below, then all of this would not have been for not. Therefore, with her kido still active, Saiko produced a second portal and had waves of this orchid shaded water transfer itself to the depths of Shadow Fall's own research facilities. There? They could construct a means in order to further empower their army and Saiko would have been successful in her objectives.

After coming this far and enduring these hardships? Not even her own Zanpukto spirit was going to allow the girl to fall here. So, as she reached for higher ground, Saiko devised a third portal and hoped to escape the fall out of this realm herself by seeking cover in one of Shadow Fall's oceanic bases on Earth. It was up to Tessa to decide her next course of action: chase after Saiko, fall back to the Soul Society, be destroyed by the corrupting world around her or attempt to find riches in this land of decay. Only time would tell what course the Dragonic Shinigami would take, but The Void Enigma was keen on escaping out of here.There was just too much pain associated with fighting anyone from the Gotei 13. So, just like on that day, she planned to out run it and never look back.

"I'm sorry...."