In a way, it was calming to him. He had only just recently been brought back from obliteration, and now he was witnessing complete and utter destruction. He sighed at the pointlessness of it all, in a way, hoping that the two kings actually had a plan.
He stumbled over something as his thoughts were in a swirl, and turned around to identify what it was. A body. A child. Not quite dead yet, and eyes filled with terror looking straight at him. Yes, a good soul. He reached down, caressing the head of the young child, lifting him slightly off the ground and smiled as the child almost calmed down. Then his hand pierced the child's chest, stabbing into his heart, and offering a quick and - almost - painless death.
After he was done with that soul, he stood up and turned around, knowing that there would be shinigami here soon if not already.

"Poor thing." a deep voice called out as if from the shadows. As the voice fished, a man appeared. He dressed in all black, head to toe. He had a very pale complexion and wild, wirey hair. His name was Koji and he was in fact a shinigami. But he was not affiliated in any way with Soul Society or the thirteen court guard squads. He looked at the child that now had a hole in its chest and blood spilling from it. "You know, you didn't have to go and do that just to call for your death." the man said as he pulled back his black robe and unsheathed his zanpakuto. "I don't care for that child, I'd have killed it myself, you know? I just hate arrancar and you were the first one I saw, so I guess it's your lucky day." he said with a menacing smile as he disappeared in a flash. He was now behind the arrancar as he swung his blade across his back, the first of his many attacks to come. Koji was wild and quite the maniac and he continued to bombard Tsuneo with attack after attack. He was unrelenting and would not rest until this arrancar was dead.

"About time." Tsuneo grinned under his mask, "I've been wanting some real fun."
Then the shinigami was gone, using a flash step in an attempt to get behind Tsuneo, but the arrancar was prepared, pushing down on the hilt of his left scimitar, sending the blade up diagonally across his back as it cut through the scabbard to block the first incoming attack made by the shinigami. Tsuneo then pushed forward, spinning around and drawing his right scimitar from it's scabbard while getting out of range from the mad mans barrage.
"Predictable..." the arrancar sighed.
Then he was moving. Straight towards the shinigami, and into the barrage, his left scimitar in a reverse grip coming down low to slice his opponents abdomen open while he used his right scimitar to block and parry the man's attacks.

Koji continued his attacks even after Tsuneo had gained a little distance. But then, he began moving back in at Koji with his own attack. As Koji's blade hit Tsuneo's scimitar, he looked down as he saw the other hand coming in toward his stomache. With a flash, he had dodged that attack and was now on the reverse side of Tsuneo once again. "Predictable, you think I'm predictable?" Koji laughed at his remarks as he continued his continuous slashes with his zanpakuto. "I am far from predictable. However, I can see the fear in your eyes, that my friend is predictable. Cowering deep inside your soul, your eyes tell me everything I need to know about you."

Koji was always apt for being able to tell who a person was by looking in their eyes. He could peer right into their soul and see why they were fighting, see what their fears were. It was those fears that Koji played on. "Soon, my friend, you will realize what true fear is!" he shouted as he jumped back from the barrage of attacks and waited for Tsuneo to make his move.

This man was fast, but Tsuneo simply spun around, and continued to parry the barrage of attacks until the shinigami leapt away.
"You can look into my soul and feel my fear." Tsuneo simply stated, not willing to argue, "What, then, is it that I fear."
Then he disappeared, using sonido to appear directly above the shinigami, aiming a powerful kick towards the mans head, followed closely by both of his scimitars which were aimed to hack down brutally through the man's shoulders.
"Cause it sure as hell isn't you!" Tsuneo roared as a bala formed in front of his mask, aimed down towards the man, and blasting with incredible speed.

As Tsuneo leaped above Koji's head, he quickly dodged with a shunpo as he was now a safe distance away. He watched as Tsuneo then hit the ground as a pile of dust flew up into the air. "In due time, my friend, in due time." Koji then saw a flash of red light come hurling at him as the sand that was in the air came hurling at him. With a quick flash, the bala had been dodged as he reappeared about five feet away from where he stood. "For now, why dno't I just make you sweat a little?" he laughed as he held his zanpakuto flat with both hands, his palms open on the each end. "Tear the flesh from their bones, Zetsumei Mokumoku!" he said as his zanpakuto then dissentegrated into sand as they then covered his hands and forearms. Using the dirt that had been flying around from Tsuneo's previous attack, he made his move. As he swung his right hand across his chest, the sand began to spin around violently around Tsuneo. It picked up speed and gathered more and more sand, making it larger as it grew into a large sandstorm. The beeds of sand pelted Koji, but they were just absorbed into his skin. "You see, I am known as the Sandman in Soul Society. I reak havoc there every chance I get. I've demolished Rukongai on multiple occasions, they fear the name Koji. Soon, I will show you why you will, too." he said as his smile widened. The sand storm had formed all around them. Koji punched the air as a giant ball of sand shot from his fist as if it were a bala and launched itself at Tsuneo. Expecting him to dodge this ball easily, he followed that attack up with his left hand in Tsuneo's new location (if he dodges). He had formed a giant hammer, half the size of a full-size van. With a big swing, he smashed the hammer down trying to hit Tsuneo.

Tsuneo was getting pelted by the sand, but his hierro protected him mostly, allowing him to ignore the pelting sensations across his body.
"This is what I'm supposed to fear? A sandstorm?" Tsuneo mocked, "You must forget where the arrancar race comes from. The middle of a vast desert. Sandstorms are not an uncommon occurance."
The arrancar quickly side stepped the first blast of sand, and turned only to see another blast coming straight for him again. But he merely sighed, and formed another bala in front of his mask and sent it blasting off to intercept the sand, both exploding on impact and fading away.
But then a giant hammer of sand was falling towards him to crush him. Tsuneo sighed as he jumped forwards, somersaulting just in time as the hammer of sand smashed into the ground directly behind him, but he wasn't done there as he pushed forwards, keeping both blades out to either side and low to the ground he charged straight for the shinigami, and once he was in range, he swung both scimitars horizontally across, aiming to cleave his opponent in half.

Koji smiled as the arrancar managed to evade all of his attacks. "Bravo" he said as he saw the arrancar moving in for his next attack. "I'd think twice if I were you." Koji said as the sand that formed the hammer fell back into the ground and his left hand went back to being the same as the rigth hand. As Tsuneo was now in range to attack, a giant sand shield was formed from Koji's left hand blocking the attack while the right hand formed into a joust and shot straight through the shield as a hole was made for Koji's weapon to move through. Being in close range, it would be next to impossible for Tsuneo to dodge an attack like this, especially for it being hidden behind the shield until the last second when it lunged itself at Tsuneo's torso.

He knew the attack was easy enough to defend against, but a sand wall in front of him wasn't exactly what he had in mind. Tsuneo shifted his weight back to try and slow himself down so he didn't collide with the barrier, but then a hole upened up in the center of the barrier, and a spike of sand shot out towards his torso to pierce him. Tsuneo tried to redirect his blades, tilting them upwards so that they would slash in an upwards 'X' to intercept the spike, but he was a fraction too slow, cutting through the side of the spike and slightly reducing it's momentum before it slammed into his gut, and sent him hurdling backwards and crashing hard onto the ground a good twenty feet from the shinigami. He felt the pain in his torso, and looked to see blood gushing out. It was a severe injury, but not quite fatal. If it weren't for his hierro, the spike probably would've punched a hole clean through his body. He sighed as he began to flit in and out of consciousness. Images of his brother raced through his mind.
Kaeru... why is it always you when I'm on the verge of death...
Imagined images of his brother cutting up his mother... and then of him beating Kaeru to death. It was unsettling. It was the only memory that he feared.
Fear... sand... oh, that asshole, this isn't over yet!
Tsuneo's eyes opened up wide, his body flooded with reiatsu as he began to cackle menacingly. Rolling over, he lifted himself up off of the ground with his back facing the shinigami.
"Koji, is it? You who uses sand to strike down your foe. Effective... in a way. But why is it that you hide behind that barrier of yours and let the sand do all the work for you? I presume it is cause you can't handle hand to hand combat. Because... you fear me."
He tilted his head to look behind him, towards where Koji would be standing.
"Allow me, then, to introduce myself, so you know who exactly it is that you fear. I am Tsuneo Arai, an ex member of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The aspect of death itself. I have known death many times over, caused it, felt it. I have also felt complete obliteration when a human tried to eat my soul like a coward after another had barely defeated me. I have felt pain beyond what you could imagine."
He then turned around to face the shinigami, revealing the grevious wound in his torso.
"If you think you can defeat me with mere sand, you are greatly mistaken."
Tsuneo took his scimitars, and slid them across the wound, coating them in blood, then placed them in front of himself in an X.
"Gran... ray..."
The blood across the blades slid off, directly in front of them, forming into a ball as reiatsu pooled around it, and forming a large blue sphere that appeared as if electricity was firing out of it in all directions.
"Cero!"
Tsuneo slashed his blades down and across to either side of him as he released the magnificent blast of reiatsu towards the sandman, but quickly thereafter fell to his knees from the reiatsu consumption and the continuing blood loss.
Damn it...

[If you have a problem with me using Gran ray, just let me know. couldn't find a topic anywhere stating a rank that it was attainable at]

{OOC: I have no problem with it}

Koji was not offended in anyway about his comments toward his sand. Koji was perfectly capable of hand to hand combat and saying that he hid behind his powers was weak of the arrancar. "You can call me cowardly, but that giant wound through your torso says different!" he snarled as Tsueno began to speak again. Koji laughed when Tsuneo said that he was Koji's worst fear. Koji had a fear, and this pathetic arrancar was no where near his fear. Tsuneo continued to rant on and on about what he had seen and experienced, but Koji couldn't care less about this arrancar. To Koji, he was just whining about his life expecting a tear to fall down Koji's cheek. If anything, Tsuneo's sob story just made him want to kill him even more. As Koji glared at Tsuneo during his pity speech, his eyes began to widen as his face began to glow from the light that was being emitted from a giant orb in front of Tsuneo. Koji had seen this ability before and knew its strength. "Shi--" he said as he raised another shand barrier in hopes of trying to at least stop the incoming attack, but his sand was too weak to have stopped such a powerful cero. As he tried to flash away, the cero had caught Koji in the back as his robe was completely singed. His clothes were now letting off smoke from the singed areas as his back was completely exposed. He had minor burns from the attack as the last second he focused his reiatsu in that area. There were patches of bloody areas as Koji was flung to the ground from the attack. As he stood up, he ripped off his top clothing, exposing his entire torso. "Congratulations, it's been a while since anyone has hit me before. As your reward, you will die slowly." he said as he clapped his hands together as the sand storm picked up. A sand vortex began to encircle his two hands which were clasped together.

"Bankai..."

This was the only thing said as all light seemed to vanish around the two. It was pitch black darkness, the true form that every man's nightmare comes to life. "Akumu Mokumoku" Koji finished as nothing could be seen. However, Koji could see just fine having obtained noctournal vision through adaption to his zanpakuto's ability. "Let's see what nightmares of yours can come to life in this darkness." he said as he had whispered it into his ear. But before Tsuneo could make a move on him, he had disappeared and was now back in front of him. "Can you feel it, the spine tingling fear? Can you feel your heart beat faster as you will never know when something is about to strike? Can you feel your demise?" he asked in a series of questions one after another without waiting for a response to the one before. "Now I will show you what true fear is!" he shouted as he flashed from his spot and appeared to the right of Tsuneo and swung his blade at in hopes of slicing open his chest wound even more.

"You fool..."
It was all Tsuneo had to say. His eyes were set on Koji moments before the darkness took over. With his enhanced pesquisa and reiatsu sensing capabilities active, it was as if the darkness didn't even phase him as he stared directly at Koji.
"It seems you have set the field of battle for me."
As he spoke, Tsuneo easily parried the shinigami's attack, and sonido'd away. Black reiatsu began to swirl around him as his spiritual pressure doubled. The wound in his torso stitched itself together as black markings scrawled across his chest. Wings jutted out of his shoulder blades, and a slender barbed tail protruded from his tailbone. Tsuneo's hair went from blonde to black almost instantly as his scimitars extended to resemble katanas.
"If it is this darkness that I must fear..."
Tsuneo spoke before becoming one with the shadow, and instantly appearing behind Koji,
"Then it is not I, but you who will be feeling your demise."
He swung both of his katanas with amazing dexterity, slashing in all directions as he sent blow after devastating blow upon his foe.

Koji merely laughed as he jumped back away from the arrancar who was attacking. "So, you can sense me, can you? And you've become uglier, didn't think that was possible." he cackled as he stared straight into the eyes of the arrancar. "Well then, I guess there's one thing left to do." he said as he snapped his fingers. It was as if his the snap of his fingers ignited a blinding light as the scenery became the exact opposite. It was now pure white everywhere. Pure emptiness and Koji was nowhere to be found, but his reiatsu was still present, but it was impossible to pinpoint his reiatsu because it was everywhere. Tsuneo was left standing in the center of the emptiness. "You are now in the depths of your own mind, arrancar." he said as his voice echoed through the room. He was nowhere in the area for he was outside. Koji was in a meditative state, still shielded by the sheer darkness outside of Tsuneo's mind. He was sitting next to Tsuneo's body who now seemed to be unconscious in reality and was laying flat as if he were sleeping. Koji's voice began to ring again. "You see, my zanpakuto allows me to bring you to your worst fear. This zanpakuto is very unique to other fear manipulating zanpakutos that bring your fear into reality. In your mind, your fear is greater for you cannot escape it, you cannot kill it." he said as his voice continued to echo through the emptiness. As the echos stopped, a loud popping noise interrupted the silence. The floor began to crack about 10 feet in front of Tsuneo. A hand popped out of the crack as it grabbed onto the floor and began to pull himself off. As the being was fully emerged from the white floor, it looked in Tsuneo's eyes. "What's the matter, brother?" Kaeru stood before Tsuneo just as he had last remembered him in his monstrous form. "You're still the little chicken shit you were before. There is no hope for you in this world!" Kaeru said as he then moved in to attack Tsuneo. Koji's laughter echoed through the emptiness as he was watching through the eyes of the omniscient.

He heard the snap of the fingers, but then there was nothing. emptiness. He was in his own subconsciousness, as if the shinigami had managed to knock him out somehow.
And then the voice of the sandman echoed all around him, mocking him. Speaking words to make him lose hope. Tsuneo grimaced, wondering if the man was hovering over top of his body at that very moment, blade ready to pierce him for a fatal blow the moment he woke up. He wondered if it was all just the sandman's way of mocking him before he landed the final blow.
And then his heart skipped a beat. His mouth went dry. A hand appeared from a crack which had just appeared in the ground. Not just any hand... Tsuneo knew the moment he saw it. It was the hand of his brother. The sandman mentioned his worst nightmare, and this was it... his own damn brother scared him more than anything in the world. Not his brother himself... but what had happened on the last day of his human life. Of his mother's life.
His younger brother, covered in blood, butcher knife in hand, stood before him once again. The exact image, one that he would never forget.
"What's the matter, brother?" He spoke to Tsuneo, almost innocently, then instantly the whole atmosphere seemed to change. Kaeru seemed to change to Tsuneo as he spoke again, "You're still the little chicken shit you were before. There is no hope for you in this world!"
It was almost unbareable for him, Koji's toying with his mixed emotions, playing both sides of his thoughts like a drum. Tsuneo didn't have the perfect counter for Koji's bankai... no. In fact, it was quite the opposite.
Damn you Koji... damn you to hell!
Tsuneo thought as he tightened his grip on his scimitars, pushing aside the blows as his brother moved in to attack.
Then the laughter. Pure, dreadful laughter. It was the sandman's, no doubt about it. The only thing keeping Tsuneo from completely breaking down. He knew this was a bankai technique. He knew Koji was using Tsuneo's own nightmares against him... all he needed now was a way out, and that would take time.

"Tsu-Tsuneo!" a gentle voice called out from behind Tsuneo. It was his mother as beautiful as she ever was. She smiled and waved at Tsuneo. "I've missed you so much, Tsuneo! Where have you been? You left me, Tsu!" Kaeru on the other side, had a demented look in his eyes as he only laughed at Tsuneo. "Mama's boy! Mama's boy!" he taunted. Koji at this point had gone silent and became just a mere observer.

Back in the pitch black darkness, Koji was smiling. He was smiling in reality as he watched the actions taking place in the subconscious of Tsuneo's mind. Such a weak arrancar. Koji thought to himself. Having such emotions for the dead to fear this memory. Pathetic. he had finished his thoughts as he watched Tsuneo's reaction to his mother appearing behind him.

Tsuneo froze in place, the voice behind him sending a chill through his spine. He didn't even need to turn around to recognize that it was the voice of his mother.
Koji... get the f*** out of my mind.
He grimaced as his brother mocked him. In his human years, Kaeru had been the mama's boy, yet now, HE was mocking Tsuneo. It was as if their two roles were switched. He grimaced as he turned around to look directly at his mother. So beautiful, yet in a way, maimed.
"Mother... Kaeru... I'm sorry. I know that neither of you are real but..." Tsuneo took a deep breath, and let out a long sigh, "I couldn't understand it."It was simple really. His mother had been murdered. For what reason, Tsuneo could only guess, but he knew deep down that Kaeru would have never been able to murder mother. All three of them had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time, and Tsuneo had blamed it all on Kaeru. "And I probably never will."
Then reiatsu flooded around him as Tsuneo closed his eyes and making one last statement, "But now, you are just an illusion conjured to torture my mind, created by Koji the Sandman. You are not my real mother." It was as if he was going insane as reiatsu flooded Tsuneo's mind, twisting the images of his brother and mother simply into two more of his victims.
And then it was not Tsuneo standing before his mother and his brother, but rather Seiko, his alternate identity, hellbent on slaughter. Afraid of nothing.