Porporapelo Minaccia

Vittoria clutched the lighter tightly in her hand. There was no way she'd throw away a chance to live her dream so easily. However, all wasn't right with the world. Fate conspired against her, just as it did her previous incarnation.

Returning to her small apartment, Vittoria sighed. This had been a few hectic weeks…worst of all, what she thought was love was…something different. It was horrible. It made her so vulnerable. It opened her chest and it opened up her heart and it meant Gunha got inside of her and messed her up. She built up all these defenses, she built a whole suit of armour, so that nothing can hurt her, then that one stupid person, no different from any other stupid person, wandered into her worthless life…

She gave him a piece of her. He didn't ask for it. He did something dumb, like saving her, and then her life wasn't her own anymore. Love took hostages. It got inside her. It ate her out and left her crying in the darkness, so simple a phrase like 'maybe we should just be friends' or 'how very perceptive' turned into a glass splinter working its way into her heart. It hurt. Not just in the imagination. Not just in the mind. It was a soul-hurt, a real gets-inside-you-and-rips-you-apart pain.

Her love was one-sided. If she didn't ditch him, she could have become a crazy psycho stalker. She was lucky that she didn't go all the way into a full-fledged monster with a grudge against the world because the world was not kind enough to let her have him. It was the oldest, deadliest impulse, the need to protect her own at the expense of any other living thing. And they give that impulse such a nice name. That darkness…is Love – and Love is a psychopath. Madness was like love, it made one see the world a different way. Maybe love just helped her say the things that madness can't convey.

Nevertheless, even though she couldn't get this off her mind, she trudged forward, hoping to just achieve her dream and forget Gunha. She didn't need him. Even so…why did her heart ache so bad? It wasn't natural. She felt a shadow creeping closer, second by second. It seemed like the universe was conspiring against her.

Vittoria snarled, "…Why, oh why do the freaks always cling on to me?" She was fully aware of how the supernatural attached to her like glue; it wasn't wanted. At all. However, there was nothing she could do about it; this feeling only continued to lurch closer and closer—her fear suddenly spiked; she glanced to the side, sensing an incredible oppression approaching quickly. Whether it was because of the pain from heartache, or because she had focused her awareness to allow herself to stand in the presence of this foe, Vittoria's breathing was ragged as she gazed straight at her foe, who approached emotionlessly.

From what Vittoria could see—something about this person was…nostalgic. They were clad in a tight black jumpsuit with red linings that clung to their body. But more than that… From the looks of things, this person was young woman who appeared to be in her late teens with a buxom figure and a light skin tone. Her blue-green eyes were vivid with colour; though her left eye was covered by a black eye patch. But what really caught Vittoria's attention was her long, crimson red hair that reached down to her thighs, with a single hair strand sticking out from the top. Her hair also had loose bangs covering her forehead and side bangs framing her face.

Overall, this woman had a fearsome, yet beautiful appearance. But worst of all; she certainly felt like somebody Vittoria remembered; and she didn't have the foggiest clue as to why. Something about them was just…familiar, but whenever she tried to remember, she was put off by the ghastly glow of the woman's emerald eye with a glare burning like a flame.

"Who…are you!?" Vittoria's voice rang out.

The figure responded in an unnerving, threatening tone, "…It seems that your memory really is gone."

…What? What on earth was she going on about…?

She glanced at Vittoria, who took a fighting stance, and then asked her a question. "But don't you think that destiny is cruel?"

"……? What's that, all of a sudden? What are you talking about?" Vittoria growled.

"On one hand, there is the strongest existence that one can think of in this new world—a fragment of the Unlosing Rising Phoenix and the ultimate Zanpakutō like me, and on the other hand, there is a mere human like you who's the new form of the Unlosing Rising Phoenix. Say what you like, but I think that this accident of fate is cruel. Though we're both the same person essentially, the gap between us is too great."

"…Me?" Vittoria pointed at herself and the woman nodded amusedly.

"I investigated you a little. Aside from your father being essentially the same person as he was in the old universe, your mother is a deadbeat bitch with untapped Quincy powers. The blood relatives of both your parents are completely ordinary. There are also no ability-users or practitioners who possessed power among your ancestors. Of course, your ancestors had nothing to do with what I am either. You really are ordinary. Your friends aren't special either. You were a completely ordinary pathetic girl until you unlocked your spiritual energy as well. —With the exception of being the reincarnation of my dear Gai, you're nothing."

She laughed with a pitying expression. "Boring. When I learned about you, who was so excessively boring, I laughed out of disappointment. 'Ah, so this is the person I need to absorb. I give up.' If your father and mother had at least been a Seishin and Mototsu respectively like they were in the old universe, than maybe the story would change a bit. That's right! How about this kind of setting? You can become an avenger!"

……? Vittoria had no idea what she was talking about. She felt like this woman was smart in a different way. She couldn't understand her at all. She could understand that she was different from her, that she didn't hate her upbringing. No doubt, she was proud of her lineage. If there are those who suffer from their birth, there are also those who take delight in it. The world was so complicated that it couldn't be processed by her brain.

But even Vittoria understood her next words. Quite clearly.

"How about I kill everyone you care about? If I do that, your personal history will become a little more interesting. If your loved ones are killed by a valuable existence like me, don't you think you'll be able to openly devote yourself to a solemn destiny? Yeah, I'll do that. After all, your friends will, from now on as well, live ordinarily, grow old ordinarily, and die ordinarily. The setting I spoke of is much more brilliant than such a boring life! Right? When you reach your anger's peak, I can turn you back into Gai!"

"……"

Vittoria couldn't express it. She couldn't express this feeling that was born in her heart. A feeling of a degree she had never felt before was starting to awaken within her. Vittoria could only say this.

"I'm going to kill you, you bitch—!"

Vittoria quietly let that out of her mouth. At that moment, her head finally understood. That was what was called 'killing intent'.

"…Just as you said, even though my old man's gone and my ma's a deadbeat, and don't get me started on her new husband—the bond I have with my little sister is beyond anything you could understand. Her and my friends helped shape me into the person I am today. In my eyes, they're the world to me." Why should her loved ones be killed by this woman? Her loved ones had nothing to do with this person.

"…Kill them? My most important people? Why should they have to be mixed up in the situation of someone like you and be killed? As if I know anything about things like valuable or destiny!"

She was the one person Vittoria couldn't forgive. Kurenai Zenshin.

"As if I'll let you do it. Facciamolo, Kinkeiken!" Vittoria snarled from the bottom of her throat as she summoned a large golden broadsword which had a gear-hilt that can slide off the blade and be used as a flailing weapon. It had an ornately etched based, but its most unique feature is that it had been specially customized with a motorcycle-like gear shift. Vittoria screamed at the woman, "I'll be damned if I let my friends be killed by the likes of yooooooooooooou!"

The woman smirked evilly. "…Kurenai Zenshin." Kurenai thrust her hand out and manifested a giant broadly bladed sword with carvings and a hollow middle; the weapon's blade's edge displayed two phoenix wings, and its hilt bore two angel wings. The pommel was fashioned in the shape of the Kanji for "light" (光). "Let's go, then. Yatte yaruze, Gaikaōtori."