[BiTPR2] Renewed Revolution: Spirit World IV

[Kuroimaken]

[Soul Society]

It is a testament to the assassin's ability that even the Shinigami comparatively close to the radio mast cannot hear the structure groan under its own weight.

It is a testament to Koutarou's own simplicity in dealing with the situation that he does not bother to address him at the top of the radio mast, but rather from below.

"What I have built cannot be summarized in books or grasped by one's hands. It can only be passed down through experience and, yes, even love.

I have established, once and for all, that the bonds between Shinigami - our common goal to protect our loved ones, rather than our own self-interests - it supersedes our individual contributions. I have made of this my strength, my drive to keep going forward. I have not done this alone, either. I am merely proof of concept.

Each time I have been forced to my knees in awe of a stronger enemy, it was by dint of these bonds I stood back up. Each time our collective pride was dragged through the mud, it was this bond that made me shoulder the responsibility to bring our heads back up high. Each time I have second-guessed myself, it was my subordinates - nay, my companions - whom have ever steered me right.

It is to protect each and every one of them that I face the direst of punishments - not the least of which I'm sure will come upon me for denying you - without fear for myself.

Wan Li Lin, you claim to be the Sword of the King. To cut down one's enemies without hesitation... that is your purpose.

But you are a blade without a sheath. You have not learned the most valuable lesson, one that my predecessor, knowingly or not, took great pains to teach me. Oftentimes, it is not by beheading your foe that you attain the best outcome - or even victory.

I am Sheath and Shield to halt your advance. I shall keep you from tasting more blood for the sake of everyone who puts their trust in me!"

[Rater202]

[Hueco Mundo; Las Noches science district]

"... now you're just making this easy for me." It means it, too. When Sarah tries to tackle it, the Arrancar sidesteps, lifting Sarah's arm over her head - a dance-like movement which would've been extremely hard if she was pulling away instead of charging forward. Sarah ends up in an awkward position, with her arms crossed infront of her body, with the Arrancar behind her back and still crushing both of her fists.

"Let's entertain some hypotheticals, Little Miss. Your armor had to enter a whole new stage of evolution for you to get this far. 'Evolución Acabado: La armadura del hueca completa'. That is what you said, no?"

"It means 'Finished Evolution: Complete Hollow Armor'. Which is a long way to say that it won't get any stronger, not by absorbing Hollow energy at least. This is the strongest you can be. But what about us, Little Miss? Are we fighting at our full strength? Or are we just toying with you?"

Saha is trying to stomp the Arrancar's feet.

One, I said no such thing. I don't even speak Spanish. Two, my Armor has been allegedly "complete" before, and yet three evolutions later here we are.

Sarah honestly doesn't seem to realize that she said that.

[Frozen_Feet]

((OOC: Gonna wait for Draken on Soul Society's side before continuing there.))

[Hueco Mundo; Las Noches science district]

The Arrancar is completely indifferent to Sarah stepping on its toes. She's neither heavy enough nor strong enough to really hurt it. But her words confuse it. "Don't be silly. You said that loud and... wait. You're not lying." The Arrancar's many eyes blink. It lets go of Sarah's hands and steps back. "How is it possible? How is it possible you don't even know what your own mouth has spoken?"

[Rater202]

((OOC: Gonna wait for Draken on Soul Society's side before continuing there.))

[Hueco Mundo; Las Noches science district]

The Arrancar is completely indifferent to Sarah stepping on its toes. She's neither heavy enough nor strong enough to really hurt it. But her words confuse it. "Don't be silly. You said that loud and... wait. You're not lying." The Arrancar's many eyes blink. It lets go of Sarah's hands and steps back. "How is it possible? How is it possible you don't even know what your own mouth has spoken?"

Sarah turns around, aims a palm towarfds the hollow, and forms a cero

No clue. Cero.

And fire.

[Frozen_Feet]

In response, the Arrancar extends a palm. "Barera de Negacion." The Cero collides with and explodes against a transparent yellow barrier, by now a familiar phenomenom to Sarah. She has a second or two to get around it and begin a follow-up attack... or just run, if she feels like it.

[Rater202]

In response, the Arrancar extends a palm. "Barera de Negacion." The Cero collides with and explodes against a transparent yellow barrier, by now a familiar phenomenom to Sarah. She has a second or two to get around it and begin a follow-up attack... or just run, if she feels like it.

Sarah uses fullbring on the sands below her, trying to raise a pillar of sand to trap the hollow--one tall enough that it can't simply air walk out of it.

[Frozen_Feet]

The Arrancar observes the sands rise around it... and then blows through them with little apparent effort, though the dust clings on the scatches criss-crossing its skin. Its barrier falls at the same moment. "No clue indeed. Girl, do you have any idea of the kind of forces we've been throwing around? Any idea how strong we are? Or has that armor doing all the work for you so hopelessly warped your perspective that you can't even guess?"

[Rater202]

The Arrancar observes the sands rise around it... and then blows through them with little apparent effort, though the dust clings on the scatches criss-crossing its skin. Its barrier falls at the same moment. "No clue indeed. Girl, do you have any idea of the kind of forces we've been throwing around? Any idea how strong we are? Or has that armor doing all the work for you so hopelessly warped your perspective that you can't even guess?"

...Seriously? The Armor is my power. If my armor did lall the work, then I did all the work.

That's like saying that people are lazy becuase their legs do all the work for walking. It's ludicrous. You, you are clearly to stupid to even be angry with anymore. You just aren't worth my time.

Sarah turns and in a flash of Bringerlight begins heading back to the building.

[Frozen_Feet]

"Wrong." The Arrancar speeds after Sarah, having no trouble keeping pace with her, though it seems it can't catch up. "As a Fullbringer, you should know better!", it shouts, struggling to be heard as they dash towards the building. "Every thing has a soul! Everything, including that bracelet of yours! Did you make it? I doubt you did!"

[Rater202]

"Wrong." The Arrancar speeds after Sarah, having no trouble keeping pace with her, though it seems it can't catch up. "As a Fullbringer, you should know better!", it shouts, struggling to be heard as they dash towards the building. "Every thing has a soul! Everything, including that bracelet of yours! Did you make it? I doubt you did!"

Doesn't matter. The object used for my fullbring has no power of it's own. It only becomes armor becuase my power takes the form of armor. Any other object I used as a vessel would become armor as well.

Sarah pushes forward, trying to maximise her speed.

[Frozen_Feet]

"Oh? And what makes you sure of that? Have you ever actually tried?" The Arrancar is falling behind, not by much, but if Sarah is gaining ground steadily. "The soul of an object isn't a mere blank slate! It carries the memories, hopes and dreams of those who made it just as well! So who made your bracelet, Little Miss? What did they want of you? Did you ever ask?"

[Rater202]

"Oh? And what makes you sure of that? Have you ever actually tried?" The Arrancar is falling behind, not by much, but if Sarah is gaining ground steadily. "The soul of an object isn't a mere blank slate! It carries the memories, hopes and dreams of those who made it just as well! So who made your bracelet, Little Miss? What did they want of you? Did you ever ask?"

Sarah fires a Cero behind her, then keeps going.

[Frozen_Feet]

The Arrancar stops to create another barrier, allowing Sarah to gain another twenty meters of lead. She'll be on top of the building within a minute. But what does she plan to do once she's there? The Hollows in wolf and ram masks are still there along with their wounded comrade. The four misfits Arrancars are lazing on the edge of the roof, watching Sarah get closer.

[Rater202]

The Arrancar stops to create another barrier, allowing Sarah to gain another twenty meters of lead. She'll be on top of the building within a minute. But what does she plan to do once she's there? The Hollows in wolf and ram masks are still there along with their wounded comrade. The four misfits Arrancars are lazing on the edge of the roof, watching Sarah get closer.

Sarah lands.

You three, fights over. Next time you screw heads bug me, I'll make you eat each other, then kill the last one. You four, we're gonna have to move again.

[Frozen_Feet]

The four Arrancars look at each other. Then they look at Sarah. The three Hollows begin laughing. There's a faint tap as the battered, snake-haired Arrancar catches up and sets foot on the edge of the roof. It extends a hand towards the wolf-masked Hollow. "Swords." Still laughing, the wolf-masked Hollow flings both sheathed swords high up in the air. It's hard to say which belongs to the Arrancar and which to the wounded Hollow, as they look identical.

[Rater202]

Sarah responds by Jumping up in a burst of bringerlight and trying to catch both swords.

[Frozen_Feet]

The snake-haired Arrancar, unperturbed by this, walks to the wolf-masked Hollow and draws the one it had sheathed on its waist. "Clever. It's almost as if, for all your inane blather, you realize just how great a threat those pose to you." It points its sword at Sarah. "But now what, Little Miss?"

[Rater202]

The snake-haired Arrancar, unperturbed by this, walks to the wolf-masked Hollow and draws the one it had sheathed on its waist. "Clever. It's almost as if, for all your inane blather, you realize just how great a threat those pose to you." It points its sword at Sarah. "But now what, Little Miss?"

Oh no. These swords aren't sharp enough or Durable enough to pierce my armor. I do however, know exactly what they are.

Soul Cutting Swords, containing the power of your souls. Since you're arrancar, yours in particular are forged from part of what was once your heart sand sealed within them are your true forms and the Lion's share of your power.

I wonder what you happen if I broke the swords? I'm a fullbringer. My power is to communicate with souls, and these swords are direct links directly into the souls that make up the body of an arrancar. What would happen if i used fullbring on them in order to communicate and manipulate the component souls of their arrancar to separate or destroying themselves. The first time I exploded, it was after using Fullbring on my Stalker's sword. Would using it on two at once create a bigger explosion? A more potent evolution?

Or, in terms that your flawed brain can understand, I've got a two in three chance of holding your life in my hands, I could kill or maim two of your group right here and now if I so desired, and I now have the ability to make myself far stronger if I need it.

The fight is over, I win. Leave now, and you can go find these in whatever part of the desert I feel like burying them in whenever I get around to it.

[Kuroimaken]

Nuala's eyes snap up to Escarabajo's horn as the cero forms. "Shoddy," she remarks, clicking her tongue. The blast comes for her fast and strong, but ready for it, she dances backward, bringer light flickering along the sands and her hands at the same. She cradles the cero, bringing it to a stop. A hot little orb, sparking between her hands. If it had hit, the blast would have concealed Saltamontes' full-powered follow-up kick. A straight, flying thrust, the corona of his own cero flaring behind him.

It could have been the final act, this cero. It could have made a plain of glass. It had so much potential. Her hands shift around the red and black cero, lighting it from a mere glowing orb into a blazing star of sheer destruction in an instant. A full cero. That's better. Saltamontes draws closer in those cascading moments. "Screw off," she tells him. She trades the cero from her right hand to her left, amplifying its momentum as she does, firing it like a rocket.

She's gone. Droplets of lime green light in her wake. And there again, directly in front of Escarabajo, ready to strike. "Let's try this again, putita."

"Pot calling the kettle black, for someone pulling such a **** move!" Luckily for Escarabajo, he has four arms with which to pummel Nuala at his leisure. Unfortunately for Nuala, each one carries the same weight as that body slam she had tried to stop moments before.

How's she even standing?! I KNOW I saw her leg bend the wrong way when she kicked me!

As for Saltamontes, he's a little busy currently regaining his footing. Literally.

[Ammutseba]

"Pot calling the kettle black, for someone pulling such a **** move!" Luckily for Escarabajo, he has four arms with which to pummel Nuala at his leisure. Unfortunately for Nuala, each one carries the same weight as that body slam she had tried to stop moments before.

How's she even standing?! I KNOW I saw her leg bend the wrong way when she kicked me!

As for Saltamontes, he's a little busy currently regaining his footing. Literally.

Making no attempt to resist the force of his blows, Nuala simply evades each of Escarabajo's strikes, sidestepping and slipping off the side of his arms as necessary. She counters several attacks, delivering multiple low and middle fast kicks to his body. Not a one of them leaves any evidence of impact. Instead of talking, she's focusing, watching his movements until he forms a pattern, and occasionally taking a moment to stand aside and wiggle her own bottom or dance in place, mockingly marking targets for the much larger Hollow.

Haymaker, backfist, jab. Everything that benefits from additional momentum. She counts each of his moves, watching his core for the tells. Her opponent repeats one-- the overhand. The most common counter to slipping, exactly what she's been waiting for. Instead of retreating, she tucks in close and under him, grabbing onto his arm to pull it closer. She hits the sand, flipping about to place both feet on his crotch and tumble him hind-over-kettle. And up he goes. Thought so, she muses, smirking to herself.

Back on her feet with the assistance of the sand, she places her left hand on the ground and pulls on the soul of waste, opening a chasm underneath Escarabajo before he begins to fall. Her other hand darts forward, reaching into the eye sockets of his mask and clenching it in her fist. "Don't let me stop you," she insists, malevolent eyes glaring down on him from above.

[Kuroimaken]

"UUUUUUUAAAAAAAAARGH!!" Escarabajo shrieks in pain as she grasps his face. Not just the mask, but the actual face underneath. Disoriented, he tries to pummel her arm as best he can in order to break her hold, but he has no footing to push away.

"ESCA!!" Saltamontes shouts as he sees his buddy so helpless under her grasp. He immediately dashes in an attempt to knock her away, a Cero-powered sweep kick aimed at her knee.

"LET HIM GO!!"

[Ammutseba]

"UUUUUUUAAAAAAAAARGH!!" Escarabajo shrieks in pain as she grasps his face. Not just the mask, but the actual face underneath. Disoriented, he tries to pummel her arm as best he can in order to break her hold, but he has no footing to push away.

"ESCA!!" Saltamontes shouts as he sees his buddy so helpless under her grasp. He immediately dashes in an attempt to knock her away, a Cero-powered sweep kick aimed at her knee.

"LET HIM GO!!"

With a smug smile, Nuala hikes herself off the ground before Saltamontes' leg can quite reach her, then sets her feet on top of it like a swinging balance beam. She looks up at the grasshopper-Hollow, directly in the eyes. "Gladly," the redhead growls. She grips harder and wrenches her right hand back, simultaneously kicking off Saltamontes to combine his momentum with hers. Both loud and haunting, a terrible, shrieking, ripping sound ensues. Maskless, Escarabajo plunges into the pit.

The grasshopper passes beneath her, and she comes to a rest on the sand, sticking her landing. Her stance changes, showing off her years of sikaran and karate training. "Ready when you are," she tells him.

[Kuroimaken]

"You... you...

DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU JUST DID?! I'M GONNA FREAKIN' KILL YOU!"

Saltamontes' normally greenish color turns red as he becomes angrier. Clearly, for an opponent like this, he needed to go faster, not harder.

"BALA METEORITO!!"

He's soon upon her, a flurry of strikes at a much greater speed than before. The variation is a feast for Nuala's eyes - she can spot hints of Savate, North Shaolin Kung Fu, Taekwon-do... all of them kicks. He really trusts his legs.

[Ammutseba]

Nuala perks her brows. She did say she was ready, she just hadn't expected a better fight out of the little one than the big one. Silly her.

Bringer light, liquid in some places and a thick gel in others, flows and flicks off her body. She stays on the defensive, looking for an opening while Saltomontes' feet and legs rain down on her, scoring hits to her shoulders and sides. Everything has its place in unarmed combat, and that might have been her only reprieve for now. Kicks have reach and strength, but are slow and easily telegraphed. Her opponent seemed to have fixed that problem, combining his flurry of strikes with something like ceros, but with a faster delivery than she was familiar with. Not the power she was accustomed to, but he clearly didn't need the power. He would kill her with a thousand thorns if she didn't do something to even this fight.

She spots an opening in his assault, and makes a fast, low kick to a place just above the inside of his knee as he brings his leg down. The entire leg vanishes before she can make contact. A leg like a steel girder strikes her in the side and she doubles over the impact, her guard defeated. Several more blows hammer down on her back before she can react. Suddenly, she felt sick. That must have been a rib cracking.

She dashes away from the enraged Hollow and puts enough space between them to regain her composure. Panting only for a moment, with a sharp stabbing in the back of a rib, she gazes at Saltamontes, this time as ready as she'd said before.

[Kuroimaken]

Reprieve? No such thing. Not when Saltamontes is this furious. It actually shows in more ways than one, as the red of his skin grows even bloodier.

"You better hope my friend is still down there when I come for him, cuz if he isn't, I won't just eat you."

Quick to press the offensive, Saltamontes shoots forth once again, something resembling Sonido speeds behind this particular kick.

[Ammutseba]

She had crouched, coiling herself like a spring. The ground beneath her was not just sand. It was not the ground beneath her feet, but the desert that supported her. It was vast, and its potential more so. If it wanted to throw her, to propel her, it need only twitch its colossal hide. She could have been an Olympian. Her legs, the chariot of Apollo. This empty space between them, more full; closer. This was not a fight of sword and shield. Merely two spears, their wielders vying their skills to test Atropos' humor. These are not musings, but the souls of the space around Nuala, on which she drew.

Saltamontes shoots into her range; her personal space, and she shoots past his. Just a little to the left, propelled by strength, by speed, by the effort of almighty Atlas. She touches his leg, the fingers of her right hand wrap around his ankle, and the fingers-- no, the knives of her left hand plunging into the side of his knee. Past flesh, past tendon, snapping sinew and cleaving cartilage. His ankle comes with her, and his knee retorts with a squelching pop as she tears the limb off at the joint. He would regenerate soon, she knew that. She only needed a weapon.

She lands behind him, skidding across the desert floor as she turns about, and deposits his leg into the bag at her side. Its cloth is white, but suddenly whiter still, and somehow soft, as if it were covered in downy feathers. She draws the leg of Saltamontes back out, at first just its foot: the gleaming whiteness of her bag shifts, drawing itself across the leg. No, not a leg. Across two machetes. All but entirely bone white, but for their blood red edges and the swirls along their sides. "Not bad," Nuala remarks, wielding one in each hand.

[Kuroimaken]

It might surprise her when, instead of waiting for his leg to regenerate, Saltamontes skids to a halt on the leg he has left, and leaps back for a flip and a low kick towards her shins. Whether or not he hits, he tumbles into place, working himself into a handstand to resume his assault on Nuala, albeit with just one leg for now.

He's so crimson now it's almost shining... and faster still.

[Ammutseba]

A high thump resounds from the back of one machete and the blade snaps out, batting away Saltamontes' leg. The light of a bala dissipates in the wake of the exchange, and Nuala looks at her new armaments appreciatively. "They're fast," she comments.

Saltamontes showed no signs of letting up or slowing down. Fine. With as many crimson flashes, the two exchange several blows, neither gaining the advantage over the other. Block, block, miss. Dodge, miss, block. With their attention seemingly held high, suddenly Nuala drops the machete in her left hand. She guides the grasshopper's remaining leg, letting it strike her solidly in the neck and shoulder, simply weathering the blow. In the same motion, she twists her arm around his leg to keep him pinned, pulls him close and snaps out with the other machete. She aims for the crease between his mask and his face, trying to tear it off with a flick of the blade.

[Kuroimaken]

"UUUUUAAAAAAAARGH!!"

His leg having regenerated, Saltamontes tries to scramble away from Nuala with a terror that completely undermines the fire he had going just a moment ago.

"My face... YOU RIPPED OFF MY FACE!!"

Ba-thump

The poor grasshopper Hollow squirms in the ground as he clutches his own bloodied visage, the blood on his eyes keeping him from finding his mask, which he frantically seeks with his free hand.

[Ammutseba]

Calmly and smiling, Nuala walks over to her first opponent's mask and lifts it off the ground, looking it over approvingly. "Oh, what a pretty mask," she says, with a sing-song quality in her voice. "Just like I always wanted." She deposits it into her bag, then collects her other machete and puts it away, as well. While Saltamontes grasps at sand and flails his way about, she can't help but laugh a little. He's getting even further away from it. The redhead girl saunters over to his mask, and picks it up from the sands.

Nuala brushes off the mask and gives it another look. Then, she turns it around and settles it over her own face, transforming it in small ways to fit her better. She looks back at her victim dispassionately, and is gone again, leaving behind droplets of viridescent light in her passage.

She stands at the bottom of the chasm, looking down on a writhing, screaming Escarabajo. She seizes him by the leg, and drags him back uphill, eventually tossing him beside his friend. "That looks like quite an ordeal," the woman chimes from behind the grasshopper mask, waiting for a pause in the screams before speaking. "If either of you would like to live past this, you're going to learn some manners very quickly, and start by telling me your names."

Clearly, they don't respond. Real agony has a tendency to do that. She stoops in close to Saltamontes, scooping his face up off the ground and cradling it in her hand to look him in the eyes. From behind his own mask. "It's okay, bebito, I'm here for you." Her words are sweet, but her voice is bitter. "You'll get there soon." She sets him back down and turns away, choosing a particular spot between dunes.


The desert. A home for many things. A place of safety, despite appearances. Mankind had long since discovered the convenience of packed earth construction. Even without wood, a place to room was available, if the earth only knew the secrets. Drawing on the soul of the sand, Nuala tells the desert of these truths and their stories. Sandy dirt rises to the surface, churning under her direction, drawing in tight, and compressing itself into solid shapes. For hours, accompanied by the sound of screams.

Every now and then, Escarabajo or Saltamontes quiet down. She checks in with them, applying fullbring to keep their bodies and spirits in good condition, and then returns to her work. At last, when she's done, it's a shelter. Not a house, but somewhere to stay for a couple days, nestled between the dunes, hidden but for a subtle way in, and way out. Nuala drags her captives into the house, keeping them out of the elements, and away from predators.

A shelter. A place of security, hidden away from prying eyes. That's what it could be. She draws sand down over the entrance from within, puts out an electric lamp, and begins her vigil.

Time passes.