[BiTPR2] Renewed Revolution: Spirit World III

[Kuroimaken]

[Hollow Heart in the Valley of Ash]

Satoshi scarcely manages to avoid getting hit by the acidic projectiles, though it requires some very quick thinking and a desperate maneuver to one side. As he scrambles to re-establish his defenses, he inwardly laments, (That figures...I can't do anything at long-range like this. Of all the days to have forgotten my weapon...Well, I guess it's time to figure out if Urameshi-sensei's training has paid off.)

Finding himself in front of the Hollow, Satoshi slowly closes the gap between them, very nervous but ready to react to an attack. Remaining stalwart in the face of such an intimidating foe will require every ounce of courage and determination he's got, and having never faced a live Hollow in combat before, it'll be a daunting feat...

((I'm thinking Satoshi needs to get smacked around a bit before the tables turn; he's dodged a few too many attacks in a row for my liking.))

The Hollow is less patient. It begins to step in further and further with increasingly more compact motions, wasting less movement each time as it swings side to side in an attempt to get a hit on Satoshi. The manner is reminiscent of an in-fighting boxer...

[KnightDisciple]

Harada seemed content, for the moment, to rely more on his sword's somewhat more instinctive abilities than his repertoire of Kido.

"Bolt, Raikohime!"

Emerald lightning snaked from the blade and struck a cluster of 3 larva, quite possibly burning them to ash.

There was a sheen of sweat on his brow, but it was as much for the stifling nature of the suit as anything else. He glanced around at the surging tide of chitin, and at their arrangement.

"Emerald Lightning Shield! Emerald Lightning Shield! Sing, Raikouhime!"

Two more crackling green barriers shored up the developing wall between the Shinigami and the larger body of larva and tentacles.
The arc of energy that exploded out sought to drive even more of them back.

[5a Violista]

[Hueco Mundo]
Las Noches - Valentina's district

Valentina tries to get some words in during his snide remarks, but...fails to do so.

After...
She can only look back at him, with her jaw dropped. Then, realizing this, she quickly turns away and begins walking much faster. "Well, fine," she states. "It's not like I care what happens," she tells herself.

[Frozen_Feet]

Mikael starts to get left behind as Valentina quickens her pace. He's not quite sure what shocked her so much, but it's not all that important in the end, he guesses. "I'll be going back to your place now!", he shouts after her after the gap between them has grown to almost a hundred meters. He disappears behind the last corner, and then heads back to her quarters with the Sin Rostro.

[strawberryman]

[Ghost King's Prison]

The claws dig into Daiki's suit, and then his flesh... however, he grabs at them with his arm, smashing another bottle into the hollow's tentacles.

With his other hand, he swipes the trident to the side, pushing the flood of water at the adjuchas. "Ya ain't about to throw this chemist down without a fight, ya green-eyed bastard!"

[5a Violista]

[Las Noches]

Valentina, if she heard him, didn't react so I guess the best assumption to make is that she wasn't listening.

She keeps on walking.

Back at the Palacio de Valentina,

The Faceless is brought there, and doesn't really react to being brought there. Still the same.

[Draken]

[Dangai - Prison of the Ghost King]

"Ah, yes. The tried and true tradition of picking the biggest opponent you can see to duel to the death."

Argos pulls back his tendrils and the larvae slither back, diving into a spreading layer of soft tissue covered in organic detritus and mucus. The walls come alive with patterns of eerie bioluminescence, which the great drones begin imitating a simple trick of light to mess up with the sensation of distance.

And then the first creature jabs forward with a talon, with a clack and a thunder, the simple gesture sends a wall of pressurized air and spiritual power flying at Koutarou as fast as sound.

"So. Have you ever heard of sea locusts? Magnificent creatures. One of my favorites. A beautiful, radiant machine of predatory murder."

The remaining three creatures lunge at Vern, Harada and Daiki, talons set like those of a mantis to hold prey in place should they connect.

[Frozen_Feet]

[Hueco Mundo]
Las Noches - Valentina's quarters

After leaping in from the window, Mikael puts the Faceless down and helps it into a sitting position, bracing its back against a wall to keep it upright. At this point, he notes it's carrying a sword with it. Huh? What would it do with such a thing?

Ponderous, Mikael resumes staring at the creature, his eyes filling with black as he cycles through all manners of radiation to glean information on the creature's shape and make-up. Apparently it's much like a human, except it has no sexual or identifying traits or organs to speak of... so not at all like a human, really. Mikael scratches his head, wondering what to do. Then, he picks up the creature's sword and ties to pull it out of its sheath. Will it react?

[Kuroimaken]

The Hollow must not know its Physics particularly well.

At the speed Koutarou is going, he is MORE than violently tearing through the air. Inertia would rule that it's a bad idea to trade hits, though, so Koutarou leans a bit forward into his bike as the windshield weathers much of the hit. At this range he lacks the time to roll out so he braces for the impact as the bike's spiritual "mass" converts itself back into energy in a massive hit, leaving its Rider mere inches away from headbutting his opponent.

[Draken]

It's a newborn, you could wonder if it knows what physics even are.

And then Koutarou slams against its carapace. There is a bone-wracking noise as the shell cracks from the strength, allowing silvery dust and bracken blight to bleed from the wound.

But without so much as a growl of consternation, the creature closes its four talons around Koutarou with the same speed that let it react to his earlier dash. Nothing so big should move that fast.

[5a Violista]

[Hueco Mundo]
Las Noches - Valentina's quarters

The sword is drawn quite easily, and the Sin Rostro appears to not react at all. Other than, of course, a thin black line appearing on its mask for the tiniest fraction of a second, but...nothing. It remains sitting exactly how Mikael placed it.

For, at least, several moments.

After holding the katana for long enough, Mikael will probably notice that the Sin Rostro is sitting ever so slightly more upright, no longer putting its entire weight against the wall like a dead fish.

After all, the sword is part of it.

[Kuroimaken]

Having been stunned from the way he had been forced to commit to his assault (Koutarou's initial plan was to slam his bike in as he rolled away), the Vice-Commander ends up grasped by the monster. Much as he tries to stifle it, there's a groan of pain as the Hollow closes its embrace. He needs to get out of it and fast.

"Henshin... Gattai...

STEPPENWOLF!"

The suit begins to tear and rip from the inside as Koutarou's armor changes. Jagged metal upon sleek, slimline form - not that it's visible at this point. Swinging his hips backwards, Kamen Rider Rei slams his knee onto the creature. Again, and again, and again, and again, each strike faster than the last as electricity courses through his skin.

The age-old question, "how does it feel to hug an electric porcupine", is finally answered.

[strawberryman]

[Ghost King's Prison]

Daiki throws a vial of grayish liquid at the lizard hollow. Wherever it connects, the hollow's flesh begins to harden and petrify. From there, Daiki stabs forward. Even with the distortion of distance, he has it readied for the creature's close.

"We need ta fall back, boss!"

[Frozen_Feet]

[Hueco Mundo]
Las Noches - Valentina's quarters

The sword is drawn quite easily, and the Sin Rostro appears to not react at all. Other than, of course, a thin black line appearing on its mask for the tiniest fraction of a second, but...nothing. It remains sitting exactly how Mikael placed it.

For, at least, several moments.

After holding the katana for long enough, Mikael will probably notice that the Sin Rostro is sitting ever so slightly more upright, no longer putting its entire weight against the wall like a dead fish.

After all, the sword is part of it.

Mikael observes the creature's motions, the resheathes the sword. After a moment of contemplating, he sets the sword aside and looks at the empty eyes of the creature.

There are so many questions he could ask, yet at the same time he feels instinctive certainty that no normal speech would gain any answers. While humanoid in shape, the creature before him is as indifferent of the world as rock.

Fortunately, Mikael is a man who can speak to rocks.

Listen, comes an order that is both of no human language and all of them at the same time. I know you have a voice. All things on Earth and this world do. I want you to do what you've done to no-one else here. I want you to tell me your name, if you just have one.

[KnightDisciple]

[Ghost King's Prison]

Michael Harada was not a Zanjutsu expert, but he'd dedicated enough time to his sword that he could fight well with it. This is what allowed him to fend off the sweeping talons from the drone focused on him. But rather than trying to gain range, he made a sweeping counter that pushed its talons back hard, and then shoved the tip of his sword into the center of its chest.

"Bolt, Raikohime! Bolt, Raikohime!"

Two thick lines of green electricity, like a lightning bolt tamed and bound, tore from the tip of the sword. Even if they didn't rip out the chest of the Hollow, they would certainly sting it. And more importantly, due to the close quarters, they would jump to the Hollows assaulting Vern and Daiki, though with notably lessened power. Enough to give the others openings, at least.

[Spacewolf]

[Ghost King's Prison]


"Hado number four second song , Jugeki Byakurai"
Using the opportunity provided by Harada, Vern uses one of the modified spells he'd been learning over the past month to fire a red beam of light through his opponent.

[5a Violista]

[Hueco Mundo]
Las Noches - Valentina's quarters

With the katana returned into its place, the Sin Rostro remains exactly how it was: it doesn't even relax back to the first position it was in.


Menos Grande are, in fact, made of hundreds of souls: hundreds of voices. But, all together, the net sum is zero. Nothing. No personality, nothing. Only instinct, until one voice can finally take dominance over the rest. Turning into an arrancar, it loses even its instinct.

With still a net sum of zero, it still has no voice. It doesn't react even the slightest to him speaking. A stone would have answered - here was something even less than a stone.

However...
Since Mikael can have several unnatural senses beyond the normal ones, I'm sure he'll be able to notice and evolve a new sense: to "hear" all the individual hundreds - or even thousands - of voices inside the Sin Rostro. They'll be hardly perceptible, but (if Mikael can hear them), he'll hear all these voices, like hushed whispers, trying to be heard over the others.

And yet, the Sin Rostro seems to not even know that Mikael exists, let alone is trying to talk to it.

[Draken]

[Prison of the Ghost King]

With every kick Koutarou delivers, a new fault line appears on the shell of the creature's head. Soon enough, it caves in, dust and blight spurting from the hideous, grievous wound. The arms drop slightly, but lock into place without opening, and the thing falls still on its knees.

Daiki's concoction splashes his enemy in the chest, the petrification spreads, but it does not stop, impaling itself on his blade and putting all of its prodigious weight upon him. howling and lashing at him with a prehensile, barbed tongue. Until lightning strikes it.

Harada sweeps the limbs aside and thrusts into the drone, electrocuting it. But with a sudden jerk, it twists its body and whips at him with a massive tail. But following that, it goes mostly limp, breathing heavily and slowly.

Vern sees the easiest and most direct success. With his opponent paralyzed by Harada's lightning bolt, the drone is an easy target for his spell. The red light breaks through its distended maw and opens a smoking hole all the way to its back.

There is silence.

And then there is a flash of

GREEN

.

A sick light, sizzling on the surface of the protective suits and itching on any exposed skin. The blight churns and shrieks around the four of them, hiding behind the dust and assembling it back into the carapaces of the four drones.

"I am life. Disparage me with what petty words you wish, but never forget that my children are BEYOND YOUR GRASP."

Stone breaks down, leaving pristine white shell. Burns grow and holes knit. Shattered plates and splattered organs flow back to where they belong.

The four drones shriek and stand tall once again. The one holding onto Koutarou slams him onto the floor. The one leaning over Daiki curls into a ball around him. Harada's enemy stretches its mirrored tail over the central crater and turns its father's glare into his eyes. And Vern's adversary rakes the ground, before glaring four verdant energy bolts at him from its eyes.

[Spacewolf]

"Bakudō #39. Enkōsen"

Holding up his hand Vern creates a shield to hold back the Drones attack, after making sure all the energy has dissipated he once again points at the Drone and uses the excess energy from his barrier plus some extra from himself to fuel his next kido.

"Bakudō #61. Rikujōkōrō"

Once the Drone has been trapped by the six rods Vern moves behind Harada.

"I'm going to open up the Senkaimon so that we can fall back. Think you can cover me?"

[Kuroimaken]

"Right... behind you!"

Koutarou is lucky in the way his shikai manifests, and at the same time, very unfortunate. It certainly absorbs the impact well enough, but he can't tell for how long it'll protect him.

"HhhhhhhhhnnnnNNG!!"

He needs to break free. Luckily, his opponent switched to a lesser grasp in order to slam him to the floor. This gives Koutarou enough space to move his arms... just a little is enough.

His fists blur quickly enough. Friction with the air is negated by the magnetism generated by the lightning enveloping his arms. Dozens, scores, hundreds of punches strike at arm joints in an attempt to weaken and, hopefully, dismember the creature.

[Frozen_Feet]

[Hueco Mundo]
Las Noches - Valentina's quarters

With the katana returned into its place, the Sin Rostro remains exactly how it was: it doesn't even relax back to the first position it was in.


Menos Grande are, in fact, made of hundreds of souls: hundreds of voices. But, all together, the net sum is zero. Nothing. No personality, nothing. Only instinct, until one voice can finally take dominance over the rest. Turning into an arrancar, it loses even its instinct.

With still a net sum of zero, it still has no voice. It doesn't react even the slightest to him speaking. A stone would have answered - here was something even less than a stone.

However...
Since Mikael can have several unnatural senses beyond the normal ones, I'm sure he'll be able to notice and evolve a new sense: to "hear" all the individual hundreds - or even thousands - of voices inside the Sin Rostro. They'll be hardly perceptible, but (if Mikael can hear them), he'll hear all these voices, like hushed whispers, trying to be heard over the others.

And yet, the Sin Rostro seems to not even know that Mikael exists, let alone is trying to talk to it.

Mikael leans back and scratches his head. This creature... if the void could have a human form, this would be it. Like particles and anti-particles spontaneously coming to existence and then annihilating themselves, the whispers of a thousand lost souls cancel each other like vibrations and counter-vibrations. A cacophony of sounds, creating silence. So much power, but with no direction to it, no way to access its potential...

... wait. He could break it into its component pieces. He reaches towards the forehead of the creature with his right hand, but stops. He recalls what happened when he reduced Tamaki to a mere embryo. The process released a tremendous amount of energy. This faceless creature contains at least a thousand souls - reducing it would release all the energy keeping them together. Mikael lets his hand down, and resumes thinking. After a while, he fetches his notebook and starts flipping the pages.

During the weeks he spent at Hasunaga's place, the man managed to verify a rather basic facet of his powers: improving items takes some of his energy. Before his fight with the White Devil, he'd just not been able to notice it - the amount required for simple alterations was so small, it hardly made a difference. But breaking down and rebuilding Tamaki had taken quite a bit of his strenght.

... in fact, thinking back, there's something Mikael didn't pay much attention to before. He closes the book and resumes staring at the Sin Rostro. When Tamaki's body was regressing, his soul only released a red wavelenght of Reiatsu. But when it was reforming, the sphere of spiritual power was half red, and half blue.

Blue. Hmmm. Each time Mikael has invoked his ability to alter items, there's been a flash of blue light. A bit of wasted energy, manifesting as light, presumably. The blue half had to be his spiritual energy, and it was absorbed by Tamaki's body. Mikael leaves the Sin Rostro be again, and goes rummaging through his possessions. There are all sorts of items in his duffelbag, both normal and enhanced ones. He examines all of them in turn, not quite sure what he's looking for, until he gets his hands on the black jacket he stole acquired from Helsinki.

On the backside, there's still a white Ouroboros - of the same design he has tattooed on his shoulder. Come to think of it, he never did solve why exactly the coat had assumed that design.

Well, it's time to correct that mistake.

Mikael spends some minutes in a trance, listening to the story his jacket has to tell. Dots are connecting in his mind. Then, he picks up other enhanced items and examines them again, carefully. Sure enough, each one of them has an emblem of a snake eating its tail hidden somewhere in their design.

Tamaki might have one as well.

Mikael cleans up and packs all his possession back in the bag, save for the rifle which he leaves in pieces on the floor.

What did Jehoel say again, of the Menos Grande? Only those can progress where one soul takes dominance over the rest? Well, since there apparently is no soul capable of that inside the Sin Rostro, it must come from the outside. Maybe, it could be Mikael himself!

But first, he needs to discuss with Tamaki. Stay put, he commands the Sin Rostro, even though it is unlikely to react in any way whatsoever. Then, he leaps out of the window and goes looking for Valentina.

"Valentina. Valentina! I need you to take me where Jehoel and the other earthlings are!"

[KnightDisciple]

[Ghost King's Prison]

Harada Flash-Stepped to one side of the tail strike, and put a bit of distance between himself and the Drone as it fell backwards.

He winced at the surge of malignant energy that reinvigorated the creatures. That wince, combined with his mental state being geared toward "combat" instead of "recording data" was what let him put together what the very shiny tail was about to do. So, he simply averted his gaze.

"Sing, Raikouhime!"

Even as the energy surged forward, Harada was quickly muttering the incantation to a powerful Barrier spell.

"-Kyomon!"

A mostly-translucent shield sprang up, separating the 4 Shinigami from the bulk of the enemy, leaving only the Drones that Daiki and Koutarou were wrestling with inside of it. It also placed a barrier between them and the prison grate, and thus a portion of the Ghost King's power.

"Hurry...up...Vern-san. I'm...getting...winded."

His shoulders did seem to be heaving up and down, but it was hard to tell if it was 100% truthful, or if he was overacting for the sake of their attackers. Whatever the case, he seemed a bit occupied maintaining the barrier.

Daiki and Koutarou would need to manage their opponents on their own.

[strawberryman]

[Ghost King's Prison]

Daiki struggles against the hollow, but even with his strength it's a losing fight. With a wry grin, he uses some of the slack to grab at a bottle, water pooling around him as he drops the bottle.

"Sorry boss, gonna have to make it out yourself."

As the bottle cracks and mixes with the water... it explodes. The bulk of it consumes Daiki and the hollow with bluish green flames, but it reaches around the prison to Koutarou. It's hardly more powerful than a number 40 hado at this distance, so it shouldn't do much damage, but it should disrupt things enough that he'd have a chance to get away when Vern opens the senkaimon.

[Spacewolf]

"On it."

About half of Verns blade disappears into thin air as he uses it to open the gate back to the Soul Society.

[ImpSyndrome]

[Hollow Heart in the Valley of Ash]

The Hollow is less patient. It begins to step in further and further with increasingly more compact motions, wasting less movement each time as it swings side to side in an attempt to get a hit on Satoshi. The manner is reminiscent of an in-fighting boxer...

The newbie Shinigami does his best to avoid his attacker, but considering its size and speed, it's only a matter of time before he takes a hit. He gets grazed by one of the Hollow's attacks, which throws him off-balance long enough for it to land a much stronger impact. The blow tosses him upward and away, sending him sprawling on his stomach several feet down the street.

It takes a few seconds for Satoshi to recover from the trauma and stand up. "Ugh...Y...You creep," he mutters slowly as he climbs to his feet. As he squares off, he starts preparing another Kido, but the energy is slow to come to him; he doesn't seem sure how to deal with his foe, considering that he can't get close enough to exploit its weak points. If his best Hado could only stagger it, and he can't fight on the same physical level, how can he kill it without his zanpakuto? He's struggling to develop a strategy...

[Kuroimaken]

One might argue his actual strategy isn't the problem, it's execution.

The Hollow leaps high as if intent on pounding Satoshi down as it crashes.

[ImpSyndrome]

[Hollow Heart in the Valley of Ash]

One might argue his actual strategy isn't the problem, it's execution.

The Hollow leaps high as if intent on pounding Satoshi down as it crashes.

Satoshi's attention turns back to the Hollow as it jumps up into the air; it has unusual maneuverability for being so large. He watches it in hopes of learning about some other, more accessible weakness, but he doesn't have much time before he needs to get out of the way. It's too close for comfort as he throws himself to one side, barely avoiding getting flattened against the ground.

His focus broken, the Kido he was trying to prepare is dispelled. It looks like close combat is the only way to go with such a tenacious enemy, so he'll need some way to fend it off before he can launch an effective counter-attack. He searches his environment again for anything he could use in defense...

[Kuroimaken]

The gods of narrative collectively facepalm at Satoshi's attempt. As with before, he finds nothing.

On the plus side, however, his opponent seems to have sunk its legs too deep. It'll take him precious seconds to yank them out...

[ImpSyndrome]

[Hollow Heart in the Valley of Ash]

The gods of narrative collectively facepalm at Satoshi's attempt. As with before, he finds nothing.

On the plus side, however, his opponent seems to have sunk its legs too deep. It'll take him precious seconds to yank them out...

This opportunity won't present itself a second time; failing to find any useful tools nearby, Satoshi abandons the idea and quickly formulates a plan of attack. He rushes at the grounded Hollow, muttering an incantation as he circles to its blind spot as quickly as possible. As long as he gets into range before it starts pulling itself free, he'll launch the first Kido in his planned assault: "Hado no san-jyu-ichi: Shakkaho!"

Considering how tough this beast is, the flaming, cannon-like shot might not have too great an effect, but as long as it softens up the impact zone, Satoshi will be confident enough to follow through with his gambit. He'll prepare another spell, leap onto its back, aim two fingers at its new weak spot, and discharge his next attack with a roar:

"Hado no yon: Byakurai!!"

[Kuroimaken]

Once again, Satoshi's sorcery proves... mostly ineffective. At least, it doesn't seem to be doing any real damage. It does give him precious seconds to maneuver though.

He can practically hear Urameshi's voice screaming at him to use his damn fists already.