[BitP:R] Mortal World 3

[strawberryman]

[City - vs. Sereg]

"Move and become the wind, stop and become the calm. The sound of warring spears fills the empty castle! Hado 63: Raikōhō!" The lightning bolt that strikes for Sereg is wide, and moves faster than even sonido can hope to beat. Such was the prowess of a kido specialist.

"Spare us your deceit, arrancar. Any sane hollow would know that the consequences of attacking the mortal world en masse would be too great. You have already dug your grave, now prepare to lie in it."

"Sōren Bakudo: Geki. Hado: Kanketsusen." The paralyzing wave is immediately followed by a burst of hot, rushing water bursting through the street towards Sereg.

[Furousha Shop]

Viatrix rolls her eyes at Roux. "It is if you want your gigai." She tucks the camera and old-fashioned photo away as she takes the gold from Von Geister, giving a cursory examination. "Looks authentic. I'll take it. Going to be a bore finding the right buyer, though. Speaking of which, none of your subjects haven't come into possession of an odd, ritual dagger, have they?" She tries to hide any suspicion, ignoring the blight.

Fuchs, however, prowls over and bats at one of the eyes.

[Fushichou Outskirts]

As the massive explosion takes place, Valeria almost instinctively buckles down, falling to the ground in abject fear.

Certainly an eventful day.

[Elsewhere]

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"Understood. Wait for your couriers at the meeting place. I will see to it that they will be there."

In short order... Aura receives an order via her communicator to head for a square near the outskirts of the city. It is addressed from Agent 00.

[Draken]

Furousha

"I heard of nothing of daggers recently Viatrix, but I can see if anyone has found anything of the like."

The eye bites Fuchs.

"Now, if you two will excuse me. I do believe one of my commanders is causing undesired trouble in another portion of the town."

Von Geister walks to the door and sonidos away from Furousha.

Streets of Fushichou

A thunder echoes in the spiritual world as a terrible presence ceases to be concealed by the wards of the bount. The streets have been evacuated of humans, but other forms of life remained, animals and small vermin and things too small for anyone to perceive with their eyes.

But all those creatures leave with all due haste, harried out by unheard commands.

Von Geister has arrived, with all his glory, and all his horror.

"Sigh. Maybe it is a good thing that the others are always requesting permissions to do anything besides their bodily functions."

[Terry576]

[Elsewhere]

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"Understood. Wait for your couriers at the meeting place. I will see to it that they will be there."

In short order... Aura receives an order via her communicator to head for a square near the outskirts of the city. It is addressed from Agent 00.

Aura stops fiddling with her equipment, and sends back a message, with one word.

Affirmative.

She vanishes from sight, and heads towards the outskirts.

[Sucrose]

A young housewife pauses in the middle of finishing the dishes after an afternoon of extensive cooking. A feeling unlike she'd had in quite some time shivers down her spine. A sense of helpless fear.

She sets the plate she was drying on the counter. A moment later, the kitchen is empty.

[Dorizzit]

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Suddenly, near Sereg, a Senkaimon opens, depositing five seated Shinigami on the scene.

One of them, a young-looking girl with a Wakizashi for a Zanpaktou, Flash-steps next to Allan. "Stand Firm, Boueisya!"

Her Zanpaktou transforms into a steel vambrace and gauntlet on her right arm, and she takes up a defensive Hakuda stance.

The other four all take up positions around her. "Allan-san, can you give me more information on the situation here?"

Allan

Allan breathes a sigh of relief as the other Shinigami arrive, but maintains his aggressive stance. He shifts a few inches to better fall into the formation, positioning himself next to the leading Shinigami. He begins talking quickly.

"Yes ma'am. I was on my scheduled patrol of the city when that Arrancar-" -he points at Sereg- "-came in via Garganta. I immediately called for backup, and challenged his presence here. He seemed indifferent about my presence. He said he had business in the city. Something about wanting a watch. I couldn't fight him on my own, and he wasn't violent, to start with, so I tailed him and waited for backup. After a while, he showed up-" -he gestures at Dynamic Steel- "-and challenged the Arrancar a bit more aggressively than I had. I'm still not sure who he is, but he seems to be part of some sort of group of mortals, as he has demonstrated authority over..." he points to the other members of SWORD. "...All of them. He ended up offering watches to the Arrancar, but someone hit the Arrancar with an energy attack, and that started this whole fight. That crater was caused by the detonation of a Gran Rey Cero. Other people have been slowly...showing...up..."

Allan's brows knit together, and he sniffs the air a few times before violently gagging. He clutches at his throat, breathing heavily.

"Do...do you feel that?"

[horngeek]

The Shinigami frowns, and flips out her phone. "This is Officer Inoue. Confirmed use of Gran Rey Cero. In addition, another Arrancar's reiatsu has been detected. Likely Espada presence."

Allan may hear Natsuko's voice coming through. "Stand by."

[nothingclever]

Sayaka

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"Did..." Of course he felt it. But Sayaka, who had been raised in a world with the spiritual, and who was very developed of her senses- this was like a bomb shock.

She put a hand on her head. Of course it was a strict headache. Realizing that Ken was holding her again, she burned a little.
"Thanks." She said, trying to stand again.

Something terrible had happened. There were still the presences fighting in the city somewhere. But there was a bigger feeling of dread now.

Ken did indeed feel the powerful energies flowing about, but he chose not to try to track them and made a point of hiding the pressure they brought upon him. "Anyway, you asked what I'd do. Of course I'll also train to get stronger and fight them even when they don't come looking for me. If you want to proactively protect people then so do I. Besides, I want to achieve the full potential of my powers and fighting hollows will help me do that."

[strawberryman]

Val continues to cower on the ground, fading in and out of consciousness. "...w-what's going on, Gabi...?"

"Looks like we've got ourselves a snack, that's what." Val looks up weakly, her vision blurred. However, she can still recognize the huge form in front of her for what it is.

Deciblaster looms over Valeria, fishlike mask connected to a lanky, soot-colored body with little in the way of neck, balancing like a gorilla on its oversized arms, which have odd depressions on the palms almost like speakers. Its fingers are muscular but flexible, looking almost like worms with the girth of a fairly muscular arm.

The girl's panic escalates as she tries to move, to no avail. The terror of being alone, compounded by the massive energy left behind by the explosion leave her paralyzed, and barely conscious. "C-crap... is this the way it's going to end...?" The voice is silent.

"That's right, girly, and no one is around to hear you scream!" The hollow prepares to strike...

[Sucrose]

...and is already late to the party.

A superior hunter fires an arrow straight for the base of the Hollow's skull.

The wind created by her own motion causes her long skirt to billow out before her as the lethal blast travels.

"I'm afraid you're wrong."

[strawberryman]

Deciblaster roars as the arrow hits, ripping off a large portion of mask. However, the beast's odd anatomy means it is not a lethal blow. It turns to the direction the arrow came from, growling. "You'll pay for that, archer..."

Val has long since lost consciousness, unaware of her savior. Deciblaster stands ready, staring the hunter down. "I dare you to try that again."

[Draken]

Gabi uses peck on Valeria's head!

It's not very effective.

The yellow bird takes a good look at the potential savior, holding itself from interfering.

[Sucrose]

Claudia stares down the beast for a moment, before suddenly vanishing.

Where could she-above!

Standing on reishi, silhouetted against the moon, she has already drawn back her left hand, crafting a strange, multi-pronged arrow.

At the same instant as the hollow spots her, she releases the pressure, sending the arrow hurtling down toward the Hollow. A microsecond after it leaves the bow, the arrow splinters into two shots, which split into four, eight, sixteen, thirty two... by the time that the arrows make contact with hollow flesh, there are two hundred and fifty six separate shards.

"Geteilten Schuss. I'll be happy to shoot as many arrows as you like, hungry ghost. Eat them all."

[strawberryman]

...If they could touch flesh, anyway.

Deciblaster roars, clapping its hands together before the arrows touch, sending a disruptive wave of sonic energy outward to deflect the shafts of energy. There is still a sufficient amount of force to endanger Claudia upon her perch in the sky.

Val, luckily, is untouched, as the wave only seems to propel in a limited, if large cone...

"You'll have to try harder than that, lady!" With that surprise out of the way, Deciblaster claps again, sending an even more powerful blast as the last wave's residual energy magnifies it.

[Sucrose]

Claudia's eyes widen with faint surprise as her attack is defeated by the hollow. Her shock dulls her reflexes slightly, leading to her being sent tumbling by the sonic blast.

However, she regains her footing on a self-created platform, and once more takes aim. Immediately after firing her shot, however, she vanishes, reappearing directly behind Deciblaster, firing a second shot, and attempting to catch him in a pincer of arrows.

[strawberryman]

Deciblaster grins as Claudia tumbles, sending yet another blast to block her second arrow, further magnified by the latent sonic energy. However, as the quincy disappears, its eyes widen, and it screeches as its hit from the back. It turns, rubbing the burning hole in its side.

"D-dammit, you're quick... but you're just making this harder! Stand still!" Frantically, it starts clapping with reckless abandon, crushing trees into splinters with a vicious barrage of thunderous blasts.

[Sucrose]

Claudia vanishes from the site of the barrage, moving with care to avoid moving toward Val, preventing unnecessary attacks toward her daughter. However, in Deciblaster's frenzied state, finding a hole in its defenses is all too easy, even with such restriction in motion. Managing to get behind it, she takes another shot with her Geteilten Schuss.

Deciblaster turns in time to fire off another sonic blast, but the arrows have traveled far enough that the shockwave cone is small. With a brief smile, the Quincy redirects her hail of arrows, curving them around the sonic shot, and into Deciblaster's limbs, utterly crippling it, and pinning it to a nearby pair of trees.

Rather than finish her fight, however, Claudia walks over to the prone form of Val, and briefly checks her pulse. After breathing a sigh of relief, seemingly taking no notice of Gabi, she begins walking toward Deciblaster.

"...You're fortunate, Mr. Hollow. My Vally didn't get hurt by your wild frenzy. That means that I will have to treat you kindly."

Claudia's hand dips into her apron, and is drawn back out holding a butcher's knife.

"You're a very resilient one. The arrow that I opened the fight with has dispatched every other hollow I got a clean shot at. There's no telling what I'd have to do to kill you. But since my Vally didn't get hurt, I'm going to give you a chance to tell me. Otherwise...I'll have to experiment."

[strawberryman]

Val regains consciousness for a moment, looking up at her savior... however, her sight is blurred enough not to be able to recognize her before the darkness takes over again.

Deciblaster growls defiantly, struggling against the pin in vain. "Bite me, archer. I'll never surrender." Truly, a less wise decision could not be made.

[Sucrose]

"...Well, I gave you the option."

The archer sighs, then raises her blade, and gets to work.

*Fade to black*

Though it may have felt a good deal longer to the hollow, a few minutes later, the work is done, and Deciblaster is gone from this world.

Claudia wipes off her knife, then walks over to her daughter's unconscious form, picks her up gently, and begins carrying her home.

[Kayne650]

Mayumi frowns as more Shinigami arrive, though she certainly can't fault them for wanting to get this monstrosity under control sooner rather than later. She was also relieved at Hibiki's presence. His Kido complemented her skills quite nicely. She smiled as she drew back her arm, preparing a single arrow. After all of her barrages, it might seem that a single strike was a bit underwhelming...

But then the arrow vanished from Mayumi's hand almost before she released it, so great was its speed. Her control over it was also impeccable, though it was unlikely that Sereg would appreciate its artistry as the arrow moved to hide itself within Hibiki's blast of water, ready to seek out Sereg's reiatsu as soon as Mayumi activated it.

After firing the arrow, Mayumi felt a sudden surge. It wasn't like the Arrancar, either of them. It was Kido, or at least it felt like it. It was hard to discern the origin when the blast was so powerful that it nearly knocked Mayumi off of her platform. She righted herself and activated another Ginto, sending it out to find the source of the blast. She couldn't do much now, not when there was still an Arrancar loose.



Meanwhile, Vincent chuckled to himself quietly when he felt Claudia's reiatsu surge. He highly doubted anyone else could have felt it, but he knew her reiryoku when he felt it. He also knew a giant destructive burst of reiatsu when he felt it, but that was being examined. He had more important things to worry about.

Like the massive numbers of Shinigami pouring through the Senkaimon. Lifeless bastards, the lot of them. But Vincent would swallow his pride and work with them, if it meant a faster elimination of this threat. And maybe he'd get a chance to capture one if they got injured in the battle... test subjects were awfully hard to come by, after all.

But the Arrancar was proving resistant to all forms of assault. Vincent dismissed his bow, its form returning to a tattoo on his forearm as he conjured up a new bow.

"Gottlich Adler."

The beautiful bow of pure silver reiatsu came into being in front of him, majestic and grand. He held it up and took aim at the monster in front of him. Just a few arrows, that's all it would take. Now he just needed a clear shot...

[strawberryman]

[Phoenix Town - Warehouse District]

A medium walks into an semi-derelict warehouse, abandoned... save for one. This was supposedly the base of operations for the being known only as The Concierge. And his involvement in Agent 00's plans was critical.

The Medium silently looks around for the mercenary, holding a black briefcase in one hand.

[Edge]

The Concierge's Warehouse

The sound of wheels on concrete echoes through the warehouse as the Concierge appears out from under the chassis of a silver-on-white Bugatti Veyron, one of the many top-end vehicles littered throughout the building, each polished to a flawless shine.

The Concierge turns to look at the medium, their helmet utterly impassive. The driver makes their over to a workbench, dusting itself down as it does so. It rummages around for a moment before retrieving an old, battered tape recorder. It approaches the envoy and the begins replaying words from the recorder one at a time. The voice is a woman's, edged with fear, panic and sobs.

"Job... Terms... Price."

[strawberryman]

[Warehouse]

The medium opens the briefcase, where several stacks of bills as well as a nondescript brown envelope. He obviously expects the Concierge to take it.

[Edge]

Concierge's Warehouse

The Concierge takes the envelope and opens it, taking time to read it. It then quickly counts the bills and shakes its head. It then notices a mobile phone under one of the stacks of cash.

A few seconds later, the Concierge has begun a call to the one number stored on the phone, with its recorder ready to speak for it.

"Concierge here... Job acceptable... payment not... many... possible complications... increase payment... thirty... fold... will undertake."

[strawberryman]

[Warehouse]

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The voice on the other end of the line responds after some obvious deliberation. It is distorted beyond any hope of recognition.

"...Very well. I had figured that a man of your experience would be able to accurately assess the worth of this job. My envoy will give you a bank account number from which I am now depositing half of the money you requested. When the job is confirmed to be completed, I will deposit the rest. You may keep the contents of the briefcase on top of this, for any necessary expenses. Is this acceptable?"

[Edge]

Concierge's Warehouse

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There is a pause whilst the Concierge considers the offer, before the recorded woman's voice resumes speaking.

"Money... acceptable... however... job... dangerous... have vehicle... almost perfect... for job... Requires... weapon... retrofitting... request... employer provide... heaviest... spirit-capable... turret weaponry... Have... mortal... equivalent... not enough... for job... Must... retain... technology... after job... Acceptable?"

[strawberryman]

[Warehouse]

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The voice... chuckles.

"Acceptable. I will have an agent drop off a package in a matter of 30 minutes. Can you have your vehicle equipped in a maximum time period of three hours?"

[Edge]

Concierge's Warehouse

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The sound of a distraught woman forcing a laugh echoes over the phone.

"3... hours... you... insult... me... Give... me... 15... minutes... after... delivery."

The Concierge ends the call, and then looks up at the medium.

"We... are... done here... The case... and contents... will be staying with me... leave... phone will be disposed of... after job... unless... other... communication... provide... for during..."

[strawberryman]

[Warehouse]

The medium nods, handing off a smaller envelope, the contents of which are the bank location and account number, as promised. And with that, he is gone.

Like clockwork, a white, undecorated van drops off a pair of large containment boxes. Inside... are four seemingly normal gatling guns, save for a glowing, unfamiliar disk over the ammunition loading point.

The man who hired the Concierge surely was not fooling around.

[riccaru]

Sereg

Just because the lightning is going too fast to dodge, doesn't mean Sereg can't try. A deep breath releases the mists once more, covering the area and Sereg from view. The powerful crack reminiscent of thunder signals Sereg's jump into Sonido. Nothing can be seen of the effects of the blast, but if it were visible one would see Sereg's burst of speed backward, stretching out his leg to be blasted through with the Kido. It was bad, but not crippling. Not to an Espada wih five more legs. The hole instantly sealed itself from the searing heat of the lightning strike, which was in Sereg's eyes a bonus. Means he wouldn't be bleeding.

Sereg brings his right hand to bear, though. Releasing the pent up energy toward the shinigami who had injured it so. His left arm raises to point straight to Allen, as a lance of dark red energy fires forward to impale the Shinigami officer. The first wave then buffets Sereg, and he manages to stay up through meticulous use of all four limbs still in contact with the ground. The second wave, however would be a problem. He lifts himself into the air with practiced ease, just the bottoms of he chitinous legs being caught in the wave with it. The red beam of energy travels upwards, losing it's rigidity and slicing through the air with deadly precision. It seemed time to stop playing after all.

[Edge]

Concierge's Warehouse

The Concierge waves the crates in and has them set up adjacent to an 18-wheeler truck. Once the delivery crew has left, it immediately begins rigging the guns up to the vehicle.