[BitPR²] Mortal World IV

[Kuroimaken]

[Russia]

"That's pretty rich coming from someone who won't even fight his own battles." The voice is coming from behind him... but Sagarosso doesn't seem to be there.

"It never would've hurt you to be even remotely honest. If you won't acknowledge why you've angered me, that just means you'll eventually die in ignorance. I can afford to wait."

[Frozen_Feet]

As the voice speaks, the stranger points a finger behind him. "Sho!" An invisible bullet flies through the air. If there's really nothing there, it goes on for a hundred meters before dissipating.

The Hollows inside the tetrahedron get to work. Covertly sharing sensations with the stranger, they try to triangulate the actual origin point of the sound and decipher if its ventriloquism or some more sophisticated trick.

[Kuroimaken]

[Russia]

There is indeed nothing there.

"More sophisticated trick" is the answer here. But the particulars are difficult to discern. However the vampire happens to be throwing out sound, it "feels" as if the origin points could not be where they are, seeing as there is nothing there, hidden or otherwise.

Is it somehow working in conjunction with the shadow constructs? They don't seem to have any structure capable of emitting sound, though.

[Draken]

[Russia]

Von Geister is distracted from his long encroaching on the Nanashi by the arrival of the individual Argos was grilling, and this gives the other hollow plenty of time to make distance while the ghost king watches the man's brazen exchange with Alpha-1.

He looks like he might chuckle. Until Argos itself opens a portal behind him, a conversation most certainly happens that can't be heard by anyone nearby.

And just like that, the Ghost King hovers away from this battlefield.

[Frozen_Feet]

[Russia; floating landmass]

Sound is vibration. When amplitude modulation was the norm for long-range radio transmissions, people on sailing boats were occasionally startled by "ghost sounds". Those sounds were actually caused by metallic masts resonating with a radio signal, and then any loose piece of equipment connected to the mast would vibrate with the resonance, turning it into audible sound.

Something akin to that must be happening here. Sagarosso is sending the signal in some inaudible form and making pieces of the environment, whether that be the shadows or something else, resonate with it. The stranger remember how Sagarosso attacked him while he was underground, so the likeliest possibility is the "vampire" is exploiting his control over the darkness within. This in itself doesn't narrow the search much, but it gives the stranger and the Hollows ideas for what other things to look for, beyond just sound. If it's a spiritual power, they can find that out with their Pesquisa once they find the right frequency.

What else? The stranger's not speaking particularly loud. While it varies by environment, there's a limit to the distance any signal of finite strength can travel before becoming decoherent and being lost in the background noise. Even the sharpest ears can't pick up words past that point. The Hollows can calculate how far the stranger's sound would reach and rule out where Sagarosso is not. It's easier than you'd think, because the stranger's body is of earthly material - and hence the medium for his voice is earthly air! The spiritual terrain around him can hence be disregarded almost entirely.

Sagarosso, on the other hand, is a spirit. So it's safe to presume spiritual matter does interfere with his voice. The Hollows may not yet know what exactly is the method of transmission and the medium for it, but they can hypothesize using different factors, rating different spots on their mental map based on likelihood.

Save for the pulses of Pesquisa criss-crossing the area, all this work is imperceptible to Sagarosso. The stranger decises to keep him entertained: "Ho ho. It's no mystery why a violent loon like you would be pissed. But I'd be damned if I acknowledged the way you act on it as either sane, smart or moral. To paraphrase Stoker's Van Hellsing, your mind is that of big baby. This is you throwing a tantrum. And it was doomed to be futile from the start, because I'm not your mommy, and I have no reason to indulge you."

[Kuroimaken]

[Russia]

An interesting enough rationale. It has every reason to be correct.

But at some point, one assumption or another must have been wrong, because that doesn't really help find the vampire any more easily. Even as he replies.

"Yet you vigorously seek me out in order to spank me."

This time it came from above. How is he doing that?!

"You will need to up your insulting game if you think I'll be drawn out that easily. Your eagerness to find me only proves something that you are reasonably good at hiding, but I can still tell..."

[Frozen_Feet]

[Russia; floating landmass]

"Maybe I'm just angry at you for trying to maim me. Life's simple like that sometimes", the stranger retorts. He taps his hammer as he walks around the area. "I'm not hiding anything. You just don't know enough to tell what you're looking at."

Sagarosso's voixe coming from above eliminates a lot of hypothesises. The Hollows can focus on those which haven't been ruled out yet. No epiphany is reached by this yet, though.

The stranger knows of many Kido which would be useful for this situation, but his actual talents are sadly overwhelmingly offensive. The two Bakudo which would be most useful are beyond his ability to cast. There's a third which might be useful, though it's scraping the bottom of the barrel. The stranger closes one eye and holds his free hand before the open one, index finger pointing up. "Bakudo 26: Kyokko - Hanki."

Kyokko, that is, "bent light", makes the user effectively transparent to light and hides their Reiatsu. A reverse spell reveals and cancels such effects. So if Sagarosso is using his ability over shadows to sneak around invisibly, Reversed Kyokko might reveal that.

[Kuroimaken]

[Russia]

It's a clever enough idea. Fortunately for the vampire, there's a limited radius to the spell - whether he's avoiding that radius deliberately somehow or he never entered it in the first place is up for debate. But it DOES reveal something - a tiny shadow construct that seemed to manage to sneak its way onto Artyom's person.

This might be how he's getting those messages across... or it could be just another distraction. Who knows?

"You share the same heartbeats as your little 'friends'. Right now, you're borrowing the abilities of a Shinigami, but your Reiatsu is unmistakably that of a Hollow.

What's more... you have the same 'smell' as that man the Old Ghost obliterated. But you don't look concerned. I may not discern your purpose in hunting me yet, but it's pretty clear you share some connection with that man. If I had to take a guess... he's something like a father to you?

Oh, your heart just skipped a beat. A minor one, but telltale. So it's close to that. Your 'creator', perhaps?"

[Frozen_Feet]

"Sho." The stranger points a finger at the tiny shadow, trying to expell the stowaway with bullet of Reiatsu.

"Maybe, maybe not. Doesn't have a thing to do with me hunting you, though."

In the distance, the Hollows are slowly obliterating the remaining shadow. Each construct destroyed allows them to devote more thought and time on analyzing Sagarosso and his powers.

[Kuroimaken]

[Russia]

The destruction of the tiny shadow simply causes Sagarosso to burst into laughter.

"You may as well have answered in earnest!"

OK, his voice is coming from EVERYWHERE now. Is it inside his head?

He... DOES feel a little bit of Sagarosso's Reiatsu against his temple...

...seriously, how the **** is he doing that?

[Frozen_Feet]

One of the hypothesises the Hollows have been working on is that Sagarosso is abusing the connection formed by drinking their blood to stimulate those parts of their brains responsible for auditory senses, creating an illusion of sound when there actually is none. The stranger sensing Sagarosso's Reiatsu against his temples gives credence to that hypothesis and allows the Hollows to focus their Pesquisa on this pattern of Reiatsu and reverse-engineer it.

These kinds of thoughts come near naturally to them and they aren't much weirded out by this situation. After all, the stranger and the Hollows are connected through memories of a man who could hear the voices of all things - including those which should not be capable of having any. They themselves constantly exchange information over metaphysical channels both known and obscure.

Sagarosso's spiritual ventriloquism may be a difficult problem to solve, but it's still something these creatures are almost uniquely suited to solve (even though uniqueness is a very ironic label to attach to them). Searching for a missing person in a vast area is one of those problems where there really is strength in numbers and all the Hollows can contribute to its solution.

"That was an honest answer. It just happened to not be the one you asked for", the stranger snarks, walking to the tetrahedrical barrier and leaning against it.

[Kuroimaken]

[Russia]

Another interesting hypothesis. Unfortunately also wrong. If Sagarosso happened to still hold their blood and Reiatsu in his system somewhere, they should be able to track him through Reiraku like they did before.

The answer to the pressure in his temple is much simpler once someone else gets to take a look at it - like the tiny shadow construct before, only smaller, this has managed to sneak up on the stranger once again. It seems that the smaller they are, the faster they can get.

It seems obvious by now the vampire can keep track of where they are somehow, and he's moving constantly to avoid their detection radius. Their constant method switching is a little on the annoying side, but he can keep up fairly quickly.

In a sense, their concerted efforts are weaker against the vampire's because they lack diversity - but if each took to a different method of tracking, they would lose the advantage of numbers.

"The fact you are not concerned about the man who gave you sentience tells me he is not gone, possibly to the chagrin of the old ghost. This seems like it was a test of mettle.

It does bring to mind how he intends to come back..."

[Frozen_Feet]

The stranger burns off this shadow construct as well and laughs. "You see, that's you assuming too much. My bet's your parents are dead as well, might even be you who killed them, but I don't hear you angsting about that. Why should I?"

In the distance, those Hollows who've gotten rid of their shadow opponents regroup into loose rows of five. Using their knowledge of how much the shadows speed up after losing mass, they re-evaluate the search area and get to work. If they can catch one of those tiny shadow constructs before they reach the stranger, they can use that to track down Sagarosso. If the "vampire" suddenly falls silent, they'll know he's on to them.

Those Hollows still locked in battle redouble their efforts. As a collective, they've seen a lot of these things now and can rapidly put together what works and what doesn't.

The Hollows inside the tetrahedron and the stranger begin working on a different problem entirely. They've hurt Sagarosso in many different ways and observed his regeneration from many different angles. Using this mass of data, they begin to analyze which parts take longest to heal, which are regenerated first, and whether there is a visible "core" around which he reforms. Their knowledge of Arrancar anatomy gives them three things to look for, Soul Sleep, Soul Link and Sagarosso's mask fragment, though it's reasonable to guess none of those have a fixed place inside the "vampire's" shapeshifting body.

In simpler terms, they're looking for a weak point. Failing that, they still have the option of using overwhelming force.

[KnightDisciple]

[Ikari, Japan]
[A Portal Right Next To Kuzonoha Sanctuary Entrance]

A Garganta ripped into existence next to the Kuzonoha Sanctuary, and out from it marched...well, it wasn't really an army of any sort, but it was definitely a fairly large group. Mostly humans, Quincy sub-breed. One Arrancar. A Fullbringer or two. And the Kuzonoha Master. All of them varying degrees of tired and cranky, they were next to the large entrance. One of them, a young man in tactical gear who seemed comparatively fresh, stepped to the front and turned to face the group.

"Righto folks, here we are, home of the Kuzonoha Clan. Beds, showers, toilets, real food, the works. Let's get inside, get settled, have doctors look at any wounded, and get a good night's sleep."

Spoiler: OOC

Show

As we already talked about a brief time-skip, I'm hoping this little scene doesn't take very long, IC or OOC.

[TherianTheorist]

"I'll have to negotiate with the Kuzonoha before I can rest." The most prominent member of not not-quite army seems intent on that much.

"Shouldn't take long, I only want three things. Safety for ZHE members, some information I appear to be lacking, and continued access to the artifact. Really, I could have been done with it by now if the entire spiritual community hadn't collectively interrupted me today."

[Kuroimaken]

[The Kuzunoha Sanctuary]

Shinji can't help but stifle a chuckle.

"Um, if you wanted to talk to me, you needed only ask..."

[TherianTheorist]

"I take that to mean you represent the Kuzonoha?" Torahiko positions himself next to Shinji, offering a handshake. "We'll handle negotiations in order. What will the terms be to keep my unit here for a time? Will a simple 'harm no-one' do?"

[Kuroimaken]

"Well, I'm their leader, so yes." Shinji grins. "Don't worry about formalities. We're the same age. Heck, we go to the same school." Though that feels like a distant memory. Shinji shakes Torahiko's hand.

"That's actually kinda implied. It is literally impossible to harm people here. If you have any smokers in your unit, tell them now would be a good time to quit."

[TherianTheorist]

"Well, we weren't exactly going to school of behalf of our organizations, were we?" Torahiko's grip is a little shaky, but he retains a belief in a firm handshake. "Let's cal this our spiritual meeting."

"Second request, were can I find information on spiritual matters? Two topics in particular, in-depth knowledge of the Quincy, and anything you might have about 'Fullbringers'? I intend to study them alongside the terms of the Accords. Not understanding exactly what I am, or what's going on around me has been... Frustrating."

[Kuroimaken]

"Well, we have a library, though much of it pertains to rather arcane subjects in regards to the spiritual world... much of which is not dealt with by mediums, Shinigami and Hollow alike. I don't know that much about Fullbringers yet, but Chuck here has been a Quincy forever, I'm sure he could educate you on what it means to be one.

Though I would advise against identifying yourself as one for the time being."

- - - Updated - - -

The stranger burns off this shadow construct as well and laughs. "You see, that's you assuming too much. My bet's your parents are dead as well, might even be you who killed them, but I don't hear you angsting about that. Why should I?"

In the distance, those Hollows who've gotten rid of their shadow opponents regroup into loose rows of five. Using their knowledge of how much the shadows speed up after losing mass, they re-evaluate the search area and get to work. If they can catch one of those tiny shadow constructs before they reach the stranger, they can use that to track down Sagarosso. If the "vampire" suddenly falls silent, they'll know he's on to them.

Those Hollows still locked in battle redouble their efforts. As a collective, they've seen a lot of these things now and can rapidly put together what works and what doesn't.

The Hollows inside the tetrahedron and the stranger begin working on a different problem entirely. They've hurt Sagarosso in many different ways and observed his regeneration from many different angles. Using this mass of data, they begin to analyze which parts take longest to heal, which are regenerated first, and whether there is a visible "core" around which he reforms. Their knowledge of Arrancar anatomy gives them three things to look for, Soul Sleep, Soul Link and Sagarosso's mask fragment, though it's reasonable to guess none of those have a fixed place inside the "vampire's" shapeshifting body.

In simpler terms, they're looking for a weak point. Failing that, they still have the option of using overwhelming force.

They didn't really spot a pattern to his regeneration, no. The more extensive the damage, however, the more often he tended to cover up his insidey-bits first, so their theory about a central organ is fairly sound. Or maybe he deliberately tried to confuse them with that - he's been a pretty sneaky bastich so far. One way or the other, they couldn't identify it for now, though in most instances they never did manage to perforate his chest. His head is definitely not it, judging from decapitation attempts earlier.

"I wouldn't know. My shadows have been keeping you busy while I snuck away. I haven't heard most of what you said - you've been arguing with the bubbly, bloody equivalent of an AI.

Good chat, though."

[TherianTheorist]

"Well, we have a library, though much of it pertains to rather arcane subjects in regards to the spiritual world... much of which is not dealt with by mediums, Shinigami and Hollow alike. I don't know that much about Fullbringers yet, but Chuck here has been a Quincy forever, I'm sure he could educate you on what it means to be one.

Though I would advise against identifying yourself as one for the time being."[/COLOR]

"Looking forward to that, then. And about that," Torahiko's voice suddenly goes hushed, almost mumbled in tone, it's almost like he doesn't want the people he's leading to hear. "I'm not one, I'm... something else, I always was. I guess I was forcing myself to ignore it until recently." He almost sounds disappointed.

His tone returns to normal. "So that brings us to the hard one, the Artifact that Chuck-San is carrying, I need continued access to them."

[Kuroimaken]

"I'm not surprised. Though I advised against that for unrelated reasons." Shinji mentions.

"As for the artifact. I will provide a warded room so that it can be properly studied. The Sanctuary already protects against nearly every adverse effect conceivable, but one of our worries for now remains in how accessible it would be to anyone with access to this place... It needs to be secured.

As soon as that has been arranged, I will inform you. I need to update the other members of the Accords, anyway."

[TherianTheorist]

"I intend to create a secure place for it, given time."

"Now that we're agreed, I'd like to rest before anything else manages to go wrong."

[Kuroimaken]

"...I get the feeling something already has." Shinji replies gravely.

"But we can find you and your friends a room, sure."

[Frozen_Feet]

[Russia; Floating landmass]

"Snuck away? Hohoho. You speak as if this is over", the stranger laughs. The Hollows without opponents release a new barrage of Balas, focused around likeliest hiding spots and direction of egress, filling the air with red projectiles and sounds of explosions.

"Dear Vlad, if you run away, we'll just track you down and stab you in your sleep. We can chase you to ends of Earth if we feel like it, we have nothing better to do."

[TherianTheorist]

((There's a sudden moment where everything grinds to a halt, and continues in a slightly different place in space-time))