Kishō was wary as she entered into the fog. She wasn't sure what would await her inside but she couldn't back down after coming all this way. She'd get herself one of these elusive fruits of power. As she made her way through the are she became increasingly aware of how hot it was becoming. The temperature seemed to rise with every step she took. Removing her jacket she carried on with her march through the barren wasteland she was currently in, or at least she tried. A few more steps found Kishō falling! Quickly taking action she dug the heels of her shoes into the incline and tried to slow her decent into the pit. Sadly this wasn't doing much to help her. Thinking on her feet, as she slid deeper into the crevice she caught sight of a branch which she slung her jacket around to catch herself. 'That was way too close.' Kishō thought to herself. The place was already hard to navigate with the fog. Random holes just added to the problem. This brought about the question, who could actually survive in this godforsaken place. As she she heard th3 growls coming from below Kishō hand a gut feeling she was about to find out. Hurriedly climbing her way back to the top o the hole she previously ell into, Kishō grew weary as the growls grew louder and the are grew hotter than it had already been. Then, without warning, a creature burst out of the whole surrounded by intense flames. "What have I gotten myself into." Kishō said to herself as she gazed upon the monster. When she spoke however it seemed to have noticed her and began to roar in anger. The creature then breathe fire at Kishō. Reacting purely on instinct she rolled out of the way and scrambled to her feet. All she had on her was a pistol, and this just a hunch but she didn't think lead would be quite effective against a walking mass of flames. Finding herself stuck between the flaming creature of death and nothing but deep ominous holes, Kishō knew she had to make a decision. Burn to death or take her chances on one of these pits. As the creature wound it's head back in another attempt to end Kishō's life, the girl decided she'd try her luck and fell backwards into the one of the holes just as the stream of flames flew in her direction.

After a few seconds of falling Kishō began to see giant roots everywhere. Seeing that she was heading for a bad crash fast, she thrust out both her arms and grabbed onto whatever she could. Grasping a few of the roots her descent was stopped momentarily. Then her weight became too much and the roots began to tear out of place and send her swing toward the ground. After hitting the bottom and rolling a bit Kishō was finally stationary looking up to where she fell from. She was really far down now. The hole she came through seemed so miniscule from the distance she was now. This intimidated her a bit because she could see more slopes leading downward. Just how deep did this chasm run? Getting to her feet, Kishō decided she didn't have anytime to waste here. She needed to find those fruit. That was the whole point of coming here right? She couldn't just leave empty handed. With that in mind the young archeologist began to move forward. The more distance she covered the deeper into the chasm she got. The deeper into the chasm she got the darker the area became until it came to a point where she could barely see her surroundings and an eerie chill began to creep up her spine and then she heard "Death by curse..."

This startled her. So far she hadn't come across any other people. So that of course meant one thing. It was another monster. Stopping and squinting in an attempt to get a better look at her surroundings Kishō once again heard the raspy voice softly speak the words "Death by curse..." Seeing as she was the only one there it was safe to assume that the death was referring to her own. That meant that all she had to do was stop whatever would bring about any kind of curse. Certain in her ability to survive Kishō addressed the mysterious voice. "I don't know who you are or what you want but I don't plan to die here. I've got some business to take care of so bring whatever you've got!" she shouted into the darkness. However she wasn't at all prepared for what happened next. She didn't think she'd ever be prepared to hear her voice again. Even though she knew the voice and could picture her face, as it spoke to her and said "You promised you'd watch out for me Kishō." she wasn't prepared to tun around and see the girl who's death she had caused. "Suteki..." Kishō uttered gravely, completely at a lost as to how to approach the situation.

"But... you died 4 years ago... how? This..." Kishō couldn't complete a sentence. She was far too rattled at the moment. Was this a joke? What kind of sick b*****d would do something like this? All these things crossed he mind as she stared at the blonde haired girl in front of her. "You promised you'd watch out for me Kishō." the blonde haired girl spoke again. "You promised to protect me!" the blonde screamed, voice becoming more distorted. "YOU LIED!!!" she roared as she seemingly glided up to Kishō and began to strangle her. "Why did you leave me to die Kishō?" the blonde spoke with a twisted smirk on her face. "Why did you kill me!" she yelled. With every word the girl spoke Kishō could feel her life slip out of her more and more. As she stared at Suteki while fighting to stay alive she notice the twisted look in her eyes, the pleasure she got from seeing the life in Kishō fade away. Taking her pistol from the holster she slowly brought it up under the chin of the fake Suteki. "You're not her." Kishō said with a strangled smirk as she pulled the trigger. As the bullet hit Suteki, the girl's distorted voice wiled in agony, and the true form of the specter began to take shape. "Suteki was too kind to hurt anyone, even those she hated." Kishō said, her voice grave and raspy as she coughed trying to breathe steadily. While the specter tried to regain himself, Kishō used this time to slip away having narrowly avoided her death.

Kishō tried to catch her breath after that mad dash she made from the ghostly thing earlier. While sitting with her back to one the tree like objects in this new area deep within the chasm, Kishō closed her eyes as she thought back to her earlier encounter. "Suteki..." she said to herself. Seeing the girl again after all this time really took its toll on Kishō. She knew it was her fault. Even though the blonde told her not to blame herself she knew inside that she caused it. Death seemed inevitable when it came to Kishō. That was the reason she was here. If she could gain one these so called devil fruits and become powerful enough to stop death, then she'd never have to worry about it's presence in her life again. Opening her eyes, Kishō got up and cracked her knuckles. She was ready for whatever else this place had for her. Then she heard the screams. At first she hadn't been paying attention but now she was overly aware of the shouts echoing through the forest. So there were other people here. The good news was that she wasn't alone. The bad news was that all of the shouts echoed with pain and agony. What could lie deeper within the forest? Whatever it was obviously wasn't something to toy with. But she already got past all the other things so what were a few more. With that in mind she proceeded to make her way into the tall twisting trees.

As Kishō wandered through the the paths she noticed that every possible one looked exactly the same. The tall trees, the intricate pathways, it didn't seem like a forest. In all honesty it felt like a maze. Kishō wasn't sure which direction she had come from so her only option was to keep going forward until she finally came across an exit or a fruit. Whichever came first. Over her time roaming the trees she had gotten used to all the screams around her but that didn't take her off alert. She was steady bracing herself to come across another demon or monster torturing another poor soul. But it hadn't happened so far. So far she could only hear the echoing screams. this lead her to believe that this place was much bigger than she had originally anticipated. She had been wandering around for about a half hour now if her sense of time was still with her. If she hadn't come across something by now she was either A. walking in circles, or B. very far from her intended destination. She hoped that nether was the case but knew that both were likely possibilities. After a few more minutes of walking Kishō say a open space ahead of her. Breaking into a jog she steadily made her way to it and the scene that awaited her was horrifying.

In the center of the open meadow stood a woman covered in glowing tattoos with a man in her embrace. He seemed completely out of it as the woman whispered into his ear. His head lulled to the side as the woman cackled loudly. "Please..." the man struggled to say. "Spare me, SPARE ME!" he shouted as the woman smirked evilly and snapped his neck, making it spin in a complete circle and fall limply backwards. The woman then grabbed the man by the front of his shirt and lifted his head. Kishō saw something exiting man's mouth and flowing into woman's. As it happened the man's body began to lose it color and shrivel as if he was rapidly aging until finally she dropped his body. Kishō knew then what she had drawn out of the man. She had taken the very essence of his being. She had taken the man's soul. Kishō was terrified. What was that woman. She'd have to be something far beyond anything that Kishō had encountered up to this point. Every bone in Kishō's body rattled with fear. There was no way she'd be able to fight something like that. She decided she'd just have to try and find another way. But as she turned around she found herself faced with nothing but an infinite expansion of darkness. The path that she had come by no longer existed.

"Did you really think I hadn't noticed your presence?" A voice spoke into her ear. Kishō could feel the person's breath in her ear. They were right behind her. How did she not notice. It was careless of her. "Normally I prefer to play with my food but your essence..." the voice said while the person brought their hands to rest on Kishō's shoulders. "Smelled better than that of any other that I have ever come across in all of my existence." it finished. "What should I do with you?" The voice pondered. "Perhaps I'll strip your flesh from your body." It said running it's hands down Kishō's arms. Now Kishō didn't want to die here. And she wasn't going to either. Thinking quickly she came up with a solution. It was a long shot but it just might work. "But I thought you said you like to play with your food." Kishō said to the owner of the voice. The motion of the person's hands stilled and they let out a chuckle. "That I do." It said to Kishō. "So wouldn't you like something that's more of a challenge?" she responded. The voice's owner paused in thought then responded to Kishō saying "And what do you propose as 'more of challenge' my dear mortal?" Kishō took a moment to think and then replied "How about you chase me? You give me one hour to get as far as I can and then try to find me. If you don't then I get to stay free, If you do then you can do with me what you will." The person chuckled at this and said "You're already mine to do with as I please." This worried Kishō. Surely she could get out of this mess. The person had to take the bait. It was her only chance. As she was panicking the voice added "But I do so like the game of cat and mouse." Kishō released a breath of anticipation in her head. She had a chance to make it out of here alive. At that moment the person truned Kishō around and she came face to face with the woman from the clearing earlier. She ran her fingers over down Kishō's cheek and looked her in the eyes. Kishō could see the countless souls of people who had played these dangerous games within them. Moving closer until their noses were touching, the woman smirked and said "Game on little mouse." before pressing her finger to Kishō's forehead and pushing her over the edge and into the ever expanding darkness.

When Kishō finally found the strength to open her eyes she was met with a dark area and an ache in her back. She'd had enough falling in this one day to last the rest of her life. It almost seemed as if the only way to get anywhere in this god forsaken place. As she got to her feet she began to take in her surroundings and that was when she noticed she wasn't standing on anything, the night sky currently resided beneath 's feet. But then how was she not falling? This unsettled her. So far all this place brought forth was unanswered questions. Kishō despised lacking information. It was something that made her feel uneasy as she preferred to be in the position of the person holding all the cards. Another thing that made her worry was that as far as she could tell, there were no entrances exits or even places to hie in the current are. She had a sinking feeling that the woman from before planned this. How could she make her escape with no place to escape to? Kishō thought she was getting a second chance to survive, but all she got was an assurance of her impending death.

Deciding that she at least had to try, Kishō began to trek out into the expanding darkness around her. There was something weird about this place. Beside the sky being the ground, for some reason there was only light around Kishō. The more she walked the more darkness she saw. There was no light anywhere excepts for where she was. And then she saw it. Sitting there by its lonesome, illuminated as if someone was shining a single light upon it, was a fruit. Kishō had a hunch that it was the fruit she came for. But something about this seemed too easy. Reaching into her pocket, Kishō pulled out a coin and rolled it between her fingers a few time. After aiming and winding back her right arm, Kishō proceeded to toss it at the seemingly harmless fruit. When she did this however the stars in the sky beneath her feet ceased to shine and the entire ground began to crack and erupt in flames as the creatures from the first area rose up before her. 'Not these things again!' Kishō thought exasperated. She couldn't seem to catch a break today. She knew that things would be dangerous here but this was a little over the top in her opinion. While tumbling out of the way of the streams of fire, Kishō noticed that her body felt lighter than usual. All her movements seemed more precise and fluid than before. She wasn't sure what it was but she would definitely take advantage of it.

The fruit she came for still resided on the cracked and burning ground behind the flaming creatures. All she had to do was get to it and she could work on finding a way out of this shithole. Deciding that now was better than later, she made a mad dash for the fruit jumping out of the way to dodge swipes from the fire creeps and tumbling streams of flame. As she dived for the fruit and got it i her grasp, everything around Kishō froze and lost it's color. The air suddenly grew cold and Kishō could see her breath as she exhaled to calm her breathing from her earlier acrobatics. Suddenly feeling very scared as a chill raced up her spine she frantically looked around until she saw it. Before her was gargantuan creature clad in black with purple smoke billowing off of it. And it was towering over her. Staring directly at her. Holding in it's had what seemed to be a spear. "My other half spoke of you." it said as it addressed her. "Her words brought great intrigue to me and that is not easy to call forth from a transient being such as I. What makes me curious is why would I feel such a thing from the existence of a mere mortal?"

"There are many types of monsters." The large creature began to say. "There are monsters who cause trouble for everyone all the while lingering in the shadows, away from actual confrontation. There are monsters who slaughter the innocent, monsters who devour souls and survive off the weak, and then, monsters who tell nothing but lies. Lying monsters are the real nuisance if you' were to ask my opinion. They are much more cunning than others and a hundred times as vicious. They pose as humans even though they have no understanding of them, they eat even though they've never experienced hunger, they seek companionship even though they do not know how to coexist, only how to usurp and destroy. But if I were ever to encounter such monsters... I think that I, Xeoneus, would likely be feared by them. For I am the beginning of all yet also the end. Essentially I am what most would call a god and everything before me is but a mere way to entertain me through my everlasting existence, so I ponder again. What about your meager semblance of life as a mortal could intrigue a monster such as I? There are countless ingredients that make up the human body and mind, like all the components that make up me. I have a face and voice to distinguish myself from others, but my thoughts and memories are those of life itself. I feel the death of all. I grant life to the world and yet each of those things are just a drop in the bucket compared to my reason for being, existing even. I feel confined to my destiny yet free to expand myself beyond all boundaries… And yet you of all things remains a conundrum in the plan set for humanity." the creature said to Kishō.

The young archeologist was shaken beyond belief. She had never seen anything as massive as the creature before her in her entire life. And the way it talked of itself, existence, monsters, mortality. It led Kishō to believe that she was dealing with something far beyond the means she had available to her to be able to deal with. The situation she currently found herself on was definitely no laughing matter. She was in way over her head. How could she even hope to fight a god? There was no possible way that she could. It would be like trying to compare a match to the sun. Utterly foolish and completely outclassed. She could feel the severity of her predicament creeping into her conscious thought. She began to think of her death and how helpless she was. She was resigning to her fate. Then she remembered Suteki. Kishō couldn't just allow herself to die here. The blonde haired girls blood stained her hands and the least she could do was atone for the sins she committed against her. She owed Suteki that much at the very least. Thinking back to the fruit she had acquired earlier Kishō knew it was her only shot. She didn't know what these fruit did exactly but if it made her stronger then she was already then it was one step closer to making it out of here. With that in mind, Kishō ate the fruit.

Kishō's action caused Xeoneus to laugh. "You believe that this will give you the power necessary to elude my judgment?" he said while looking over Kishō. "I am far beyond any devil fruit you could ever hope to come across in this place that is beyond life. I am all and my judgment is absolute. You however seem to stay an anomaly. All those who previously came before me have perished. However I sense that is is not your time. You have things left to do in this world. I could honestly care less about what you will go on to do however I hall remain watchful of you. When you time has come it shall be I who holds your soul in my hands and then I will come to know and see all that you have. I believe that at this that time I will understand what makes you different." Xeoneus said before vanishing. After that Kishō looked around and found herself back at the entrance to the great maw.

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