As Horror Looks You in the Eye [Solo, Lerna]

She'd always imagined that this training would take place somewhere secret.

After all, wasn't your bankai supposed to be something you kept close to the chest? Did that also include the process by which it was attained? Maybe some far off place out in the wildnerness, far from anything that could interrupt her. But well, the circumstance of it all got in the way. She didn't know what Soteiken was going to do. And so she had to take every precaution she could. And that meant she needed to be contained while this went on.

She'd managed to set aside someplace secure. It was basically a modified training area, but with accomodations for members of Second Division to enforce barriers to ensure nothing would damage the nearby area.

Standing in the very center of the area, she couldn't help but feel apprehension gripping her. As much as she tried to rationalize it, there really was no arguing what it was.

Fear.

She knew exactly what her Zanpaku'to was, and setting it out infront of her, she gently wrapped her fingers around the length of the weapon's handle and closed her eyes, a slow and steady sigh escaping her as her spiritual energy slowly began to course along her frame. As soft, luring voices began whispering in her head, guiding her, taking her exactly along the path in order to do what she wanted to do. What THEY wanted her to do.

Look at how much you've grown. All it took was a bit of solidarity, and here you are.

She opened her eyes and felt tension run up her spine at the sight of what was before her. Her vision dominated by the incredibly massive creature that had emerged from her blade. Sleek black coils that has slowly settled outward, filling the enormous space that had been set aside for this. An no less than fourteen bright glowing yellow eyes locked onto her. It wasn't just infront of her. But as her gaze shifted, she was entirely surrounded by those massive heads. Each one almost as big as a small office, the enormous frame of their connected lengths created a canopy around her, blotting out the sun and keeping her in the shade as she raised her head. Some small part of her had hoped that they would emerge in their human form.

This was her Zanpaku'to. Once upon a time, named Yamato no Orochi. But now, it had a new name.

Sōteiken.

Lerna was briefly frozen in place as she was stared down by the Zanpaku'to spirit, swallowing audibly as the beast slowly coiled around her, her hand tightening on the hilt of her weapon as the creature slowly settled outward, enormous tails dragging along the ground as those numerous heads shifted about, some of them staring pointedly at herself, as others turned to leer around at the barrier around them.

All of this. And for what? We are flattered by the effort.

The air suddenly boomed around her as she suddenly realized something was coming at her from the side. Her eyes widening. The grip on her weapon clamped as she drew her weapon from it's sheath in time for a massive blunt heat to slam into her right side. The thunder of rushing air hit her just before that big snout did, and she gritted her teeth as the force benuind the strike sent splinters through her bones. Eyes suddenly wide as she was slung. Propelled by that massive beast and sent flying, her feet skidding along hastily congealed spiritual energy, sparks tearing through the air just before she slammed into the ground, caving the dirt beneath her before she spun and collided with a section of wall. Gritting her teeth and hissing as she attempted to pry herself from the wall she'd just been embedded in.

Shouldn't you have already drawn your weapon? This is a fight isn't it? This is where you subjugate us and forge the next level of your power, is it not? Isn't that what the books all said? Those voices chimed, as that beast reared up, and the sound of splashing caught her attention. As Lerna ripped herself out from the wall, she froze in place as she noticed a sudden deluge. At first she thought it was rain. And then she realized it was fluid cascading from the massive form of her Zanpaku'to. Practically weeping from every scale, sake began to drench the ground beneath them, a slow spreading pool of sake.

And a stench that made her freeze up. Just as her head began to spin. She'd seen the effect on enough other people to understand what it was she was smelling. But she'd never imagined that she would ever be effected by it herself. And so when she took that first whiff, and felt her head spin, a sudden knife of fear stabbed straight into her spine. As a memory thousands of years old BURNED into her head.

That's it~ Let's get rid of all those pesky thoughts. All of those pesky worries. All of that pesky nonsense they have filled your head with. Let's hear what is truly rotting in your heart~

Lerna's head was a swamp of .... so many things. clutching at her face, trying to cover her mouth to no avail as the sudden fog rolled in, and her thoughts began to melt. Every barrier in her head that was put up suddenly decaying into a slow, rotting slough. And she felt a sudden boiling vigor bubbling up inside of her as the serpent closed in, the rushing fluid lapping at her ankles as the enclosed area was slowly filling with that noxious liquor.

"I'm going.... to beat you. Until you learn your goddamn place.," The growl bubbled up regardless of Lerna's bidding, her eyes glowing a bright yellow as she peeled her fingers from her face, and stared up at the serpent before her. A grin spread across her features as a loud crackling noise hissed through the air, crawling across her flesh as spiritual energy was dragged in and fused to her skin.

The feeling is mutual~

The next blow splintered the ground as another massive head lanced toward Lerna's frame, spiking her into the dirt as the soil cracked, split, and was thrust upward from the impact. That brutal crash driving Lerna into the ground in spectacular fashion. But as the dust cleared she wouldn't be flat on her back. She was on her feet, her blade sunk into that massive snout, and her dree hand dug into those black scales as she let out a loud hiss! Fingers twisting into that dark hide, having barely kept herself upright, her back bent, struggling under the weight of that beast before she wrenched to the side and threw the beast's head aside, lunging past it's enormous head and drawing her blade. Rieryoku screamed along the length of the blade, congealing along it's edge as she swung, her lungs bursting with the howling shout of her unrestrained efforts as she slashed along that massive neck, cleaving into those dark scales and the flesh underneath!

Only for more liquor to gush from the wound itself, spraying onto her body as she recoiled from that strong scent, feeling what tatters of her restraint remained burning away as she was all but drenched in the stuff. Just as that head twisted, jaws opening wide, and two more heads lunged in from around her. The air cracking with the sudden sound of contact, and Lerna's frame was further driven into the earth as this time her legs buckled, that enormous frame slamming her into the ground with full force.

Just as another thin line bloomed along one of their skulls, another spraying rain of liquor erupting as that blade bit along the length of the spirit's head, as Lerna slashed about without regard to blocking those hits! Cracks already riddled her entire body, and massive tears stretched across the length of her body, bleeding already, but ignored by the Shinigami, any notion of restraint corroded by the booze that was effecting her!

Thoughts bled away.
They weren't absent. IT wasn't as if she was simply a mindless beast, she was there. It was HER. Lerna was there as she fought the onslaught of black coils and striking fangs. Laughing, cackling into the thunder and flash of violence and menace. But it was simply as if her thoughts were fine sand. She thought to herself, and just a squickly it would all fall away. The air shuddering with the impacts from her frame and the creature before her. The snap and crack of her frame, her bones, her flesh, that hard exterior, slowly being shorn away and cracked and thrown around. All as her blade sought that creature. As she slashed, as she gouged, as she clawed and bit at the creature as best she could. As she was thrown around and clashed with vim and vigor against this creature.

There was, fleetingly, thoughts of concern. That her body was being worn down. That she should stop and let herself mend. But those were temporary things. Fleeting notions as she threw herself back into the fight. Splashing through that accursed liquor. Ripping through earth. Crushing what little bits of cement and stonework decorated the training ground. But she still fought. She still steeled herself. Dragging in energy. Lashing out. Even pausing now and then to put herself back together, only to throw herself straight back in.

There was no honor. No restraint. No Rules or Laws.

With the boiling rush of liquor coursing through her head and her veins.

There was only her opponent before her.

Look at you. Do you still feel like a Shinigami?

Everything was crisp again. All at once, the fog was gone, and Lerna found herself on one knee, panting for air, her blade grasped tightly in hand, as she stared up at those leering heads. Her attention suddenly snapping into focus, suddenly recovering from that vicious stupor, her body alert, hatred bubbling up through her frame as she tightened her grip on her weapon, claws sinking into the handle!

Claws?

She froze, and stared down at her hand, attention briefly snared by the sight of the black scales that ad flourished across her body, and the curved talons that had partially overtaken her hand.

Had she done this when she was drunk?

You can play the part of shinigami all you like. But we will never be one of them.

She felt her heart pounding in her ears as she could FEEL it. The slow crawl of scales creeping across her skin, as she could FEEL that slow crawling presence in her head. And in that moment, she realized she couldn't feel that particular arm, and the point of her zanpaku'to shifted, pointing toward her own face.

We will only EVER be..... You.

She moved in an instant. Her other hand pried the zanpaku'to from those claws and in a sudden, vicious wrench, she forced the material in her gigai to change. Along the edges of that encroaching scale, so that she could tear her blade clean through her chest, severing that rebellious limb, and then stab down, pinning it to the floor with her weapon in a sudden, vicious retribution spurned by instinct, the sensation that her own arm was about to turn on her.

It's too late for regrets.

Hands were suddenly pinning her down. Lerna's eyes SHOT open, in that very instant, that monster was gone. And it wasn't seven serpentine faces, but the soft, beautiful facets of long lost women staring down at her. Smiling.

Faces she'd once seen twisted in fear and sorrow.
Her victims.

She managed a soft croak of alarm, before a hand clamped down over her face and pinned her head to the ground, and she attempted to scream. But could do nothing as those limbs slowly turned to some thick fluid, and began seeping through her skin. And to her horror, those seven monsters smiled as they slowly dug into her frame.

WE have so much to do.

People were everywhere. She didn't know when they had rushed in. But when those faces were gone, suddenly the barrier had been dropped, and people were all around her. The memners of Squad two? She wasn't sure. She couldn't make out their faces, someone was shouting something, it practically sounded like they were screaming.

She tried to stay still, but it was as if every nerve was itching agonizingly. She twitched, twisted, and clawed at herself as she tried to subdue the burning sensation that was scorching it's way through her entire body. As some vile heat crawled through her nerves. She grit her teeth, and tried to stay as still as possible as suddenly she was moved onto a stretcher. She was bleeding? Was that blood? Why wasn't it red? She tried to speak up, but she coudln't hear herself over whoever was screaming, she tried to speak up. To ASK them what was going on. Where were they taking her? Why wouldn't that person shut up?

Someone's face moved in. Hovering over her own, and even if she couldn't hear them, she could tell they were trying to say something comforting. There was a softness about the man's expression. He was trying to explain something.

And then she saw her reflection in his glasses.

And she realized the one screaming was her.