Snakes Without Sin

Ageha, Jinzo, Shion, Jingorō - Human World

Mei stood at the furthest end of the Seireitei, awaiting the new graduates. She stood taller than the average woman, with a face that was largely considered beautiful by most. Her gray hair was twisted into a ponytail that reached past her lower back, the color complimenting her hazel eyes that glared forward. She was accompanied by a spiky red-haired man, Rio, who stood a few inches shorter than the woman. His eyes were light blue and as a member of Squad Eleven, had a muscular build. It was rather noticeable that the man’s arms, however, stopped at the elbow and were wrapped in bandages. It clearly didn’t affect his duties as a Shinigami, though.

“You’re all late!” Mei would yell as all the graduates would show up, regardless of how early or late they actually were. “I expect you to be hours early, so expect points deducted from your evaluation, no exceptions!”

“Now listen up!” Mei pulls out four small, blue, circular chips, “our mission today is simple! Exterminate the hollow in the human world and find out what’s drawing them to this Shipyard. What I have in my hand are power limiters, once they are placed upon you then you will only be able to fight at twenty-five percent strength. That’s the amount of Reiatsu a Shinigami is limited to using in the Human World without it affecting the surroundings and causing unnecessary damage, but that’s more than enough to kill hollow, even for you new blood.”

“These chips can easily be broken by focusing your spiritual energy through them. However, you are only allowed to break these in emergency situations, such as a life or death situation. Is that understood? Good, now let’s go.” Rio just gave everyone an understanding half-smile. The chips would float onto the chests of the Shinigami, although they felt no different than before.

A hooded figure opened a portal leading into the sky of the human world. Mei stepped through, followed by the graduates, and then Rio last. They stood above a bustling shipyard advancing through various stages of construction. Heavy loads were lifted and guided with precision onto massive ships. Scattered across the yard were workers wearing oil-streaked overalls, clad in hard hats and high-visibility vests.

It would appear to be a normal worksite, if it weren’t for the hollow littered around. Two of them were closer to the water, approaching a group of men helping one another carry various items. The biggest hollow in the vicinity was in the process of climbing the crane. A lone human seemed to be alone, standing still behind a stack of boxes, staring up into the sky. Funny enough, directly where all the Shinigami stood. There were hollow emerging from various corners on the ground, however, most were climbing across the abandoned warehouse that was the backdrop of this industrial site. Although, it was only a matter of time before they noticed the souls and went for the attack. Despite how high up the Shinigami were, they would feel the constant release of spiritual energy from within that warehouse. Jinzo most of all would feel it calling to him, hunger, telling him to devour…

“Alright new blood, remember, your attacks right now don’t have the potential to affect the human world. So, in other words, use whatever method possible to dispose of the hollow and save the souls.” Mei pointed a finger forward, ordering the attack. Her other hand rests on the hilt of her sword.

Red spiritual energy was released from Rio. Although, instead of flaring around him, it was a solid mass that began to take form perfectly around his body. Two arms, made of spiritual energy, outlined his own cut-off arms. He balls up his spiritual fists and grins, “I’m Rio of Squad Eleven, and I’m backing up the first of you that goes in.”

Tower Of The North

Asami, Yuto, Kobe, Tatsui - Hueco Mundo

On the opposite side of the Seireitei stood two Shinigami, the bubbly blue-haired Division Two member alongside a tall and lanky man. Deimos, of Division Five, looked exactly how one would expect those in the human world to look like. He wore a tank top and jeans, with sports sneakers on. A beanie covered what gave hints of low-cut purple hair. Wireless headphones covered his ears as he bobbed his head, not paying an ounce of attention to his surroundings. Tattoos adorned his arms, numbers on his right arm while the left arm tally marks, as if counting something. If that wasn’t interesting enough, he didn’t carry his Zanpakuto on his hip or across his back, he simply just carried it in his hand.

“Goooooooood wonderful morning everyone! I hope you all had an amazing sleep, and a hearty breakfast! We need all the strength we have for this one, mmmmkay?” Aya gave a thumbs up and a wink to the graduates, smiling wide. “So, let me run this mission by you again. We’ll be performing an incursion into Hueco Mundo, the home to hollow. These jobs are generally performed by Division Three and Thirteen, but me and Deimos have a particular skill set they wanted. It also just so happens we were selected to evaluate you. So, expect those two squads to hear directly about how you did today as well.”

“Aaaaaaaanyway, back on topic! We’ll be infiltrating a castle today, previously said to be abandoned but something has appeared and is drawing hollow slowly. Our job is to get inside and find out what, and if possible, clear the hollow from the area. However, the secondary objective only applies if we feel we aren’t in danger. The information matters above all else, isn’t that right Deimos?”

“... Deimos?” Aya turned to see Deimos still bobbing his head to the music, not listening to a single word that was being said. For the first time the Shinigami would see a frown on her face as she reached up and put the taller boy in a headlock. He struggled trying to pull away, but her muscles bulged significantly and trapped him. He frowned as she snatched the headphones away. She smiled again at the graduates and giggled. “Sorry about this, my ride can be a buffoon sometimes!” She released her grasp and he stood straight, rubbing his neck and yawning.

“C’mon, you don’t gotta be so rough all the time.” He pressed down on the side of his neck, releasing a sigh of relief as the tension gave way. Aya rolled her eyes.

“Well, we don’t have all day Deimos! These new recruits are itching to get in the field!” She gestured forward dramatically.

“Alright, alright…”

Deimos stepped into an open space and held both arms out, palms forward. Every tattoo on his body began to glow a deep, dark, red as the energy traveled from the ink and into his palms. A ball of energy the same color shot forward before expanding, slowly. Those more proficient in Kido would be able to come to the conclusion that his tattoos somehow enabled him to use Kido at full strength, quick and without incantations. The orb expanded until it ripped into space itself, transforming the landscape in front of them into their destination, the gray and desolate, Hueco Mundo. He gestures forward to a rocky hill they would be stepping onto. Once everyone stepped through, the portal would close and they found themselves on the hill looking down upon the castle. The sky was dark, but the moon gave just enough light for them to see their destination. It was a clear infestation as hollow circled and crawled around the castle.

The air was harsh, almost as if soot was constantly flying through the air and the energy felt draining. This clearly wasn’t a place they should be in for too long. “Group up everyone.” Aya slammed her fists together as a dome expanded from her body, covering the entire group with enough space for them to move comfortably and draw their weapons if need be. “This makes us practically invisible to hollow and souls alike, and as long as we keep our volume reasonable nothing should hear us outside of the dome. So, any questions you have, feel free to ask.”

The Shinigami would begin walking forward. As they made their way to the northern tower, Aya would answer any question that may have come her way while her previous statement would prove to be true. Any hollow encountered walked straight past them, and they would occasionally side step to avoid any hollow stepping through the dome. The group approaches the northern tower entrance, and notes how much larger the castle was up close than further away. The tower alone was several stories high, but paled in comparison to the massive mansion that was further behind it. The group entered, walking onto the first tower floor.

This floor was wide with a singular table and two chairs placed in the center of it. One of the chairs was knocked over, collecting a large amount of cobwebs. To the left of the room was a staircase, spiraling upwards. A closed door was straight ahead of them, possibly leading to a basement of sorts while the door on the right hinted towards a kitchen as a stove could be seen through the slight opening. Deimos tattoos began lighting up again as he placed his hands on the ground, the energy sprawling through the ground and walls itself. A blueprint of the tower and its multi floors would appear where he placed his hands, and glowing yellow blips appeared throughout the tower. The brightest one Deimos pointed to, on the fifth floor.

“This is what we’re here to investigate. All of these lighter marks on the other floor are hollow,” there were at least six on each floor, “but there’s two significantly bolder energies which is strange. One just appeared on the top floor, and it seems to be taking out the smaller blips. The other is remaining dormant downstairs, I’m assuming the door ahead of us.”

Aya turns to the graduates, her fists still slammed together emitting the dome. “Well, I’m going to leave this decision up to you new recruits. Call it your first test. Do we head up and make our way to the fifth floor, or proceed forward to end whatever surprise that may approach us later?”

---

Jin stood high above the shipyard, his fellow Shinigami by his side as Mei detailed the specifics of the situation, not that there was much to say this side of the Senkaimon. The worksite felt littered with hazards, so many humans in close proximity. But if what Mei had said was true, that they couldn't even affect the human world it was workable. All Jin had to concentrate on was protecting, to stop the hollows before they reached any fresh souls. With Mei's outstretched finger the call was made, and Jin knew exactly where to start. Near the water.

Jin skipped from sight, his image blurring as he flashed down towards the waters edge. The two stalking hollows gave pause as the new graduate appeared between them and their prey, whom kept walking blissfully unaware. One was long and slender, many legs protruding from it's plated body. Centipede like in appearance with an insectoid mask to compliment. The other was crouched atop a container, the hole in the center of it's chest allowing the pale moonlight through as it slowly stretched out two leathery wings not unlike a bat. Without a word, Jin locked eyes with them both. Raising his hand across his body to grasp the hilt of his Zanpakutō beginning to chant muffled words under his breath.

Two combatants. If Jin could subdue one to buy time to deal with the other. A small yellow wind whistled around his other hands forefinger, quickly spiraling into an ever thicker band of Reishi before pointing it directly at the perched, bat like hollow.

"Bakudō number four. Haniwa." the crackling rope sprung from his hand intent to restrict limbs. But as Jin slid his foot forward, ready to strike the other hollow, he paused. The Kidō struck the shoulder of the bat swinging around in turn beginning to constrict its right arm. But with a shift and a shrug the hollow batted the electrified rope away annoyed at the inconvenience. Jin scowled. Lucky he hadn't yet jumped into the fray, potentially finding himself in a worse position, but this certainly wasn't ideal. For a moment he could hear a slight hum from below his chin, being reminded of the power limiter he was fitted with not minutes earlier. Tricky.

He slid his foot back, not intent on making the first move any longer. He shifted his stance and with his hand firmly on his hilt joined by the other holding his scabbard he prepared for the two hollow to strike. Their black and white masks hidden from the moonlight allowing only the silhouette of two menacing smiles peer at him from the dark.

So, this was the world of the living. Loud, noisy, garish, and confusing. Small wonder all of the recently dead she'd met were off, some moreso than others. Ageha brushed off Mei's obvious hazing, taking the situation in.

Sealed to a quarter of their strength. Annoying. What was the difference between them being too slow or weak to intercept a Hollow in time to eat a human, and possibly harming some from their spiritual pressure?

Two on the water. The pacifist was already dropping down towards them. She'd leave him to it. Multiple hollows emerging from the ground. Her Shikai wasn't exactly the best at dealing with that, not in the open. Ageha could feel Tetsu Moya's displeasure at her regarding the thought, but she brushed it off. They'd had this conversation more than once already. He would learn to live with it, because she wasn't budging on this argument. Nonetheless, she continued looking over the situation.

The largest Hollow in the area was climbing...some big metal thing. Whatever that was. Regardless, she'd found her target.

"The large one is mine. I will help reinforce when I'm finished with it." Ageha stepped forward, and started plummetting full speed towards the crane, sword drawn.

"Rend and bite, Tetsu Moya!" Ageha released her Zanpakuto moments before she made impact, counting on the increased strength and larger blade from her release as she slammed her dadao down in a vertical cleave straight for the Hollow's mask.

---

For her part, the former living soul had learned something from her nerves-induced nightmare the day of the festival, notably that arriving earlier than early was important. She had been there exactly twenty-two minutes before the expected time for her mission to the World of the Living, so when Mei told her she was late anyway, she was slightly shell-shocked. The surprise was evident on her face for a few seconds before it sunk in and she collected herself. The shinigami in charge was right, if she and the others had been there even sooner, they could have had more time to prepare both before leaving and when arriving at their mission. Though hours might be pushing the realm of reason.

Her first mission being in the World of the Living seemed fitting for Shion, since she'd only left it a little more than six years ago. Before the others arrived, she idly wondered if that was why she was chosen for this mission, but looking around once everyone was there, she wasn't able to see Hagoromo anywhere, so perhaps that wasn't the case? Or perhaps they figured one previously living shinigami was enough. Her attention was on Mei as she explained the situation, but... A limiter!? Shion was above-average in Spiritual Pressure, yes, but to only a quarter!? Without having shikai, she'd be at a huge disadvantage... Still, she wasn't going to let that get in her way. The mission was ostensibly to defeat hollows, yes, and she had proven her ability to do so with her sealed zanpakuto to graduate, but now that she was down to a quarter strength she was a bit worried. Still, while the mission was to defeat hollows, the reason for doing so was to protect living people, a job she would take completely and utterly seriously.

She walked through the gateway and saw the shipyard that they would be fighting in, noting that the other senior reaper followed in last. Shion took in the situation, the hollows' placement and that of the humans, and noticed that one of the workers was looking right at the shinigami. If they could see them, even on the small chance they could, they'd have to have notably high Reiryoku. And if they did, that would make them a prime target for the hollows, as Shion knew from experience. She decided to start near that person and work her way inwards. Of course, just as she decided that...

A sensation washed over her from the direction of the warehouse just as Rio introduced himself. And right after learning his name, two of the others rushed in. She shouted to Jingorō just as he disappeared, "Be safe!"

She turned to speak to Mei when Ageha spoke. Shion wasn't able to respond before she was moving, so she shouted after her as well. "Ah! Wait, if you're not careful you could knock down the entire crane!" Lowered Reiatsu would help, but at the speed Ageha was moving, would that even be enough to stop the damage? Plus, the hollows weren't limited, if the fight got too intense, it could easily make the crane fall on its own.

Still though, Shion felt that they had a good chance of success today. She turned to Mei and spoke up. "If Rio-san is going in as backup... Please keep an eye on us, Mei-san." Then she turned to Jinzo as well. Given his condition, she assumed he'd be going for the strongest source of Spirit Pressure, so... "If you're going into the warehouse, please be careful."

Having said what she set out to say, she allowed the Reishi under her feet to dissipate and began to plummet towards the ground. As she fell she noticed that there was a hollow beneath her, also looking at where she was just standing. Crap, she wasn't expecting that! Hastily, she pulled her sword from its sheath, barely managing to do so in time to block the hollow's jumping attack. Its arm was knocked away and she was able to land a slash on its mash, but not deep enough to purify it in one blow, just enough to make it run away from her. Was that normal? She'd only ever seen two of the things up close, one when she died and one to graduate, (unless you count the ones she'd seen in her dreams) but a hollow running away implied more intelligence than she hoped it had. Regardless, she couldn't run after it with other hollows converging on the shipyard proper, so she moved ahead with her plan and went to the worker who might have seen them arrive.

With that human and, thanks to her location, a few others in sight, she looked around for other nearby hollows. Now that there were others to protect, her nerves melted away and her focus intensified. She'd make sure nobody she could reach would get hurt; she'd protect everyone in front of her.

So this is Hueco Mundo, Tatsui thought as he looked around from his place with the group and in the dome. His first mission in this place, and it is clear that they should not spend any more time here than they have to. If the harsh air was an indicator but they should not rush things because the last thing he wants is to be ambushed by Hollows because they are rushing and made their presence known to the Hollows.

Still, Tatsui knows the virtue of being patient after years on the street, and if they want to remain undetected by the Hollows then silence and caution are to be respected.

The only thing Tatsui wished for right now was that he could have met with his teammates before the mission. He missed that chance and is now with strangers, but that can be remedied later, and he can see how they fight at least. However, he can feel Ishi telling him not to think about this and to focus on the mission and he knew she was right.

Now he thought about where to go, going upstairs and dealing with what was up there or going ahead and seeing what this dormant one was about. He thought for a time, the one upstairs seemed occupied while the dormant one is not, and he figured that going to the dormant one would be best since they could surprised it and deal with it now and not later. He does not want it showing up if they go upstairs.

So, in a hushed tone to the group, Tatsui spoke. "I say we go forward and deal with the dormant one."

As Asami was making some mental notes for herself to jot down later, they would soon be in Hueco Mundo where Hollows ran rampant and free. As much as she was annoyed that Yuto was in a mission group with her which she assumed would mean that he would need babysitting, they had to pair off and be quiet while heading toward the castle tower that they were supposed to explore. Asami did deeply think about pairing herself with Yuto so as to keep an eye on him but at the same time, she couldn't chance them getting into an argument so she left Kobe to be with him while she traveled beside Tatsui, someone she didn't remember from the Academy but she was sure he had to have been in the classes at least. Then again she wasn't really focused on making friends and just focused on her own progress so people tended to be a bit of a hit or miss with her unless they made themselves be her enemy or rival of sorts.

Entering the first tower floor, she stayed quiet but watchful of her surroundings, not yet drawing her sword out as she didn't want to unnecessarily draw it but knew others around her were capable of being a first defence around her, especially Yuto. That was one compliment she could give the knucklehead but always refrained from doing so because he would piss her off before she would be willing to give one out. As she would analyze and think of scenarios for the layout that was showing the hollows on each floor and seemingly someone from the top taking care of them and then someone just beyond a door near them. She did wonder if a sort of "pinch" scenario was happening but was unsure as they didn't know who or what the figure was above taking care of hollows. Taken out of her ever running mind, she heard Tatsui speak up and suggest they deal with the dormant one. Hearing his suggestion made Asami sigh as there were a bit too many factors at play and she didn't want them to make a wrong decision. Although she had to agree that Tatsui's suggestion was probably the best one.

"I feel as though no matter which way we go, the other party will come up from behind us to attack and catch us off guard, but if we were to move quickly, at," she pointed at Tatsui since she didn't know his name, "his suggestion, the other party is at least at a bit of delay where they are dealing with the hollows on the upper floors. Any delay in time for either one is a great advantage and we can't squander or waste time on making this decision because one is currently being held up." Asami explained quickly and quietly, all while keeping a dead tone to her voice as she was in agreement with Tatsui and hoped the other two would agree and not argue on the decision, although knowing Yuto, he'd probably want to go toward the hollows on each floor.

---

Jinzo had remained entirely still whilst the others moved almost instantly. As soon as he'd entered the Human World he could feel an overwhelming sensation pulling him towards the warehouse that was - by this point - crawling with hollows. It was no surprise though, given the tremendous spiritual energy that was billowing out from whatever inside. Gouyokuou was already going crazy in his head. Jinzo had to steel himself so as not to lash out audibly. And yet the call to hunger grew ever more regardless. It was enticing - almost seductive in a way - but Jinzo forced himself to remain still. At least until he could silence the noise from his ever-thirsting blade.

"If you're going into the warehouse, please be careful."

A voice, seemingly from nowhere, suddenly pierced his tumultuous thoughts - like a single drop of water had managed to tame an unruly sea. It was Shion's voice that had managed to finally break him from his mild stupor. Now wasn't the time to be getting overwhelmed, he needed to act and fast. Jinzo scanned the area entirely, noticing that the warehouse was indeed the only place left that would require his intervention after the others had already acted. It also made the most sense given the nature of his Zanpakuto. Having finally made his decision, Jinzo turned to look towards the 4th Seat Mei; their leader for this expedition. Her expression betrayed no reaction towards the others' actions. After a moment, he decided to speak.

"I'm headed for the warehouse rooftop. I'll try to keep them all gathered in one place, so that the others can assist me once they're done dealing with the outliers." Jinzo stated matter-of-factly. If anyone gets too close, they'll be affected by my Zanpakuto - so give me a heads up before then!"

Grasping the hilt of his blade and beginning to lean forwards, Jinzo flashed down towards the ground, before homing in on the rooftop. In a matter of mere moments, he'd reached his desired destination - a central position amidst the several hollow that had been drawn to the enormous reiatsu inside the warehouse that was now directly beneath him. Without even so much as a whisper, Jinzo's feet touched down upon the rooftop. At the same time, in a single, smooth movement, he began to draw his Zanpakuto using his right hand in an upward-facing grip before holding it out directly in front of him. With the others already engaged in their own battles and seemingly only hollows within his immediate vicinity, Jinzo began the recital needed to unleash his Shikai. Now wasn't the time to be conservative, not with the power limiters they'd been forced to wear and especially not when lives were at risk.

"Devour. King of Greed."

As the familiar white and green lights enveloped his suddenly growing blade, Jinzo could see that the hollows had finally taken notice of him. 'That's right, come and get me.' He thought to himself. No sooner as he'd finished his thought, Jinzo could feel the fully formed scythe in his grasp. Almost immediately, several hollows began to howl at him, half in pain from Gouyokuou's instant draining and half out of sheer anger, or at least out of some predatory response to his arrival. Slowly they began to circle him, akin to a pack of wild hyena but Jinzo remained unfazed.

Snakes Without Sin

Ageha, Jinzo, Shion, Jingorō - Human World

The journeymen continued working hastily while moving, oblivious to the intense battle they were leaving in their wake. The insect hollow got as low as possible and scattered forward, while the bat hollow remained in the air flapping its wings. Suddenly, once the insect got close, with unnatural intelligence the bat shot forward with one claw out. Jin, prepared to defend himself from the claw attack, would soon be accompanied by a red-haired Shinigami crashing down from the sky. A thick, red, fist made of spiritual energy slammed directly into the Bat mask causing him to drop to the ground with a resounding THUD! Rio would send spirit energy into the punch, and not a second later would the hollow expand and then BURST! Not violently, or enough to harm anyone, but loud enough to draw attention from the emerging hollow.

Rio pivoted to look at Jin, who would almost begin getting constricted by the centipede-like hollow if it weren’t for his already prepared defense. As the insect swirled around Jin quickly on the ground, and began to rise, Jin would just be able to catch several of the legs in a single slash as he jumped out of the way. Just as Jin landed, Rio would leapfrog over him and then land behind the insect still writhing in pain. “BATTER UP!” He would yell with a smile as he spun around and slammed two fists into the back of the hollow, literally sending it flying towards Jin. Though, with proper timing and the right angle, Jin would be able to slice right through the mask with a single attack if he so chose to. Rio would turn around, ready to face the emerging hollow from the ground, as well as from a set of boxes. Twelve altogether, while another set of humans now began walking in their direction once more.

“Looks like we’re the ground unit Jin,” he grinned once more, “Just back me up once I move in, okay? Remember, human safety comes first, not mine!” He would begin charging forward, once Jin was prepared.

Meanwhile, charging downwards like a torpedo, Ageha would connect perfectly with the mask of the larger hollow. The increased strength from her sudden release, as well as the momentum from the full-speed plummet, would have made up for the limiter restricting her strength. In any other case, she would have completely obliterated this hollow. As Ageha connected hard with the downward strike, her blade would slice halfway through the mask before she would feel a large fist slam into her stomach and send her skidding backwards through the air. A perfectly-timed counter-attack that would take a sharp breath out the woman, as her ribs might have been bruised from the assault.

The hollow clearly had a deeper sense of intelligence to pull off a counter-attack that softened its blow, and even more so seemed desperate to get to the operator at the top. The mask was halfway split, crumbling, while dark ash began emerging from it. It was dying, slowly, but quickly making its way up the crane. Ageha had a choice, leave it to die and help her team now or finish it off before it reaches the top and then proceed forward. She had a good view of everything around her, except for Shion and the human behind the boxes.

The human, a young man no more than nineteen or twenty years old, quickly lowered his head as his shaggy hair fell forward. One fist was clenched around a cross necklace while the other hung to his side. He stood, visibly shaking. ”P-P-Please….” His voice remained low, ”I promise I didn’t see anything. Please just don’t kill me!

Shion would notice his spirit energy was unusually high, yet what would feel foreign to most Shinigami Shion would feel more familiar with. Yet, she couldn’t put her finger on why. Shion would also notice the hollow creeping up on the boxes scattered off after a loud explosion. It opened up the opportunity to have a conversation, yet she had no idea what caused the explosion. The choice was in her hands.

Mei remained at the same height the entire time, analyzing everyone and the decisions they made. Her eyes lingered on Jinzo the entire time he was frozen, but something told her it was more than cold feet. The thought was further supported when he snapped out of it and rushed in, immediately releasing his Shikai just like Ageha. It was adorable, trying to play the hero, but he’d only get himself killed. Although many of the hollow were in pain by the release, they were relentless in their attack and Mei was inclined to let him learn. The range of Jinzo’s scythe as well as his footwork allowed him to pivot and misdirect many of the lunges and attacks thrown at him. However, they seemed to be learning as they began lunging in tandem with each other. Once he’d parry one hollow, two would attack with at least one attack connecting. A slash, right across his ribs. Blood began soaking his shirt, the copper and iron-like smell infesting his nose. The wound was by no means fatal or even enough to slow him, but it stung enough for him to know that too many of them meant trouble. If it wasn’t for the absorption of the hollow literal bodies keeping them relatively at bay, all twenty would have swarmed him.

While the thought of Jinzo’s Zanpakuto being the savior of his life was nice, Mei saw it as trouble. Normally they wouldn’t care about pain and would just attack regardless. These were by no means high level hollow, but they seemed to be in sync and have a higher level of intelligence. She frowned as she drew her Zanpakuto, holding it vertically in front of her face.

“Howl to the heavens, Shadows!” A silver spiritual energy unleashed from the woman as her blade grew gradually smaller, smaller, and smaller until the size of a dagger. She flipped it in her hands before flicking her wrist and sending the blade straight at Jinzo! However, it flew right past him, leaving a minor cut on his cheek. The blade impaled the ground before five hounds made of shadow appeared, surrounding Jinzo and barring their fangs at the hollow. Their eyes glowed red, and Jinzo could sense it was Kido. The shadows themselves seemed unaffected by the draining of Gouyokuou, while wisps from the eyes drifted towards Jinzo. Two of the hounds charged forward, sinking their teeth and tackling various hollow leaving many openings. The other three, however, remained and seemed to be protecting Jinzo. They opened their mouths and fired lasers of Kido, striking through various masks turning hollow to ash. Jinzo was free to continue defending or take advantage of the ensuing chaos in front of him. Mei, however, remained in the air to watch over everyone.

Tower Of The North

Asami, Yuto, Kobe, Tatsui - Hueco Mundo

The senior Shinigami listened to their reasoning and as it stood, taking care of the threat in front of them, found to be the majority vote. That was their priority then. They approached the door as Deimos pushed it open. A small creek accompanied the opening as dust flew into the air, almost enough to make them cough if they weren’t on a stealth mission. Cautiously making their way down a dusty, spiral staircase they would finally reach their destination. What one would think might be a dungeon or basement, was actually a large dining hall. Though the wooden tables and chairs long since eroded by rot, they could possibly be used as impromptu weaponry if one so desired. Deimos swiped away at the cobwebs that were undisturbed for possibly centuries, while Aya rapidly shook cobwebs from her face resisting the urge to scream,

Deimos' eyes were searching for their target as they continued to walk forward. The room was completely empty, before the realization hit him. Spiders live up. That’s when he looked up, and to his surprise, he could see the ceiling up to twenty feet before it cascaded into darkness. His eyes widened, he knew they took a while to get down there, but how far were they really? That’s when suddenly a spiderweb shot down from the darkness, hardening mere seconds before impaling Deimos’ shoulder and sending him to one knee. He grit his teeth, refusing to scream regardless of the blown cover. “Everyone get-” Aya wouldn’t be able to finish her sentence as she could barely make out white in the darkness up top. Another attack. With great speed she dropped her dome and pushed Tatsui out of the way, the hardened spiderweb spike aiming for his head instead slicing Aya in the forearm though she gave no reaction. Two regular spiderwebs shot downwards, one instantly entrapping Kobe and pulling him upwards into the ceiling. Asami, however, was able to jump cleanly out of the way thanks to her good speed.

Soon after, however, a hollow would drop from the ceiling bearing eight legs resembling a spider. Two legs raised into the sky and dropped down, aiming to impale Yuto. However, barely in enough time would he be able to draw his Zanpakuto and block the attack. The hollow continued pressing down, however, Yuto’s physical strength was more than enough to hold off the attack. It was a battle of strength, and Yuto was winning.

Four more spider-like hollow would drop from the ceiling. One near Asami, one near Tatsui, and two on either side of Aya. Their legs attacked relentlessly against Aya who was more than fast enough to dodge said attacks, while preoccupied trying to find an opening, using Hakuda to instantly shatter the mask of one. “No more of them!” Deimos was left alone. He took a breath before pulling the spike out of his shoulder and tossing it on the ground. The tattoos on his arms glowed once more as he slammed his hands on the ground. That same, red, energy flowed through the room before creating a transparent-red, horizontal, force field above them. In perfect timing as a massive, white, spider landed atop of the forcefield. The only difference between it and a regular spider being that it had a torso resembling a woman, with a hollow mask on its face. On the body was attached a singular spiderweb, suspended in the air almost like a scorpion’s tail, hung a wiggling Kobe as he began feeling his spirit energy being drained. An almost human-like laugh emerged from the spider, growing increasingly unhuman as time went on.

Deimos looked back at the group. “I can’t move while I hold this barrier up! Let me know when I should drop it!” Deimos was prepared to drop the barrier at a moment’s notice to spring up and attack the spider, or save Kobe, depending on the actions of others. Would they prioritize the enemy in front of them, or their teammate?

---

Jin narrowed his focus. With one smooth motion he leant forwards, pulled his scabbard back and drew his sword in an upwards arc. His Zanpakutō sliced cleanly through the length of the centipede hollow, not needing to impart any force of his own thanks to the heft Rio had punched it with. The cloven body dissipating as it was ran through.

Six, ten, twelve. Jin quickly counted the hollow that had been lured towards them, crawling out from the ground, perched atop shipping containers. It was quite the gathering. Jin gave a slight nod towards Rio, acknowledging his words and sentiment that they were here to protect the humans above all else. And as the squad eleven member charged forwards into the fray, so did Jin.

Lunging at the trio closest, flashes of moonlight catching his blade, Jin began to cut through their number. The first couple were easy, raised fists and whipped tails left them open for his quick, surgical swipes. But the more he struck the more open he became too. A burly forearm smashed into his side throwing him a few meters before he caught his momentum and spun to land foot first onto a containers corrugated side. With bent knee he exploded off the metal wall, denting it and flying back at the hollow that had struck him. Another well placed cut beheaded the beast at speed, sending it's head twirling into the moonbeams before falling to dust.

Alerted by their voices Jin caught sight of a hollow, spider-like in nature, dangled above the workmen that had started to walk through the fighting. With another blur of speed Jin disappeared and reappeared at it's back, sword held out wide ready to swing across it's back. But it's many eyes left it vigilant. One of it's eight spindly legs warped backwards and flicked the graduate Shinigami from the air, sending him hurtling into another container. A second hollow bolted towards him, ready to take advantage of his moments lapse and with a thudding punch to Jin's jaw he was yet again thrown across the dockside, skidding on the concrete floor and almost off the dock itself.

He grunted, pushing himself back up as he moved his jaw around. He looked up at the two hollow now looming over his body, blocking out the moon in a sinister silhouetted shadow. Another of the spiders legs kicked out at his midriff, throwing Jin into the cold dark water of the docks. The empty silence was quickly filled by the cackling laughter the two hollow enjoyed. Giggling at their triumph and soon to be feast, turning their heads again towards the workmen that had so far been saved. Scuttling a few steps forward the two paused, a feeling in the air.

"Kiyomeru. Higanbana."

Offering some illumination to the dark depths, the mint green light of Jingorō's reiatsu spread under water. In a thundering surge he catapulted out of the water, holding his released Zanpakutō. Swinging it across himself a splatter of its thirsting water blinded the two hollow for the split second he needed. Waving the slathering blade across once more, bifurcating the pair of them in a single violent action.

The workmen were untouched, still laughing and going about their business, oblivious to the conflict around them. Jin looked up towards the seated Rio, his arms still ablaze in the ghostly red reiatsu. He had cleared the rest of them. Keeping his wits about him, Jin gave another nod of appreciation. Their part of the job was done at least.

Glancing down Jin watched the water pool at his feet. After he was fully submersed Higanbana had already drank its fill. The blade giving off a high pitch chime as it salivated. He hadn't wanted to go to such lengths so soon, but with the humans in danger, and his power limiter making the fight difficult from the off he was pushed to it.

"Where next? I'll follow your lead" he said to Rio, starting to take stock of the other spiritual pressures in the vicinity. Trying to determine how the other graduates were doing and if they were pressingly needed anywhere.

So apparently he had been on the wrong site.

Go figure.

At the very least he had been found by another shinigami on janitor duty and told where to go, had he missed the group heading towards Hueco Mundo he doubted they would have returned for him. Luckily he had managed to arrive just as the tattoed guy opened the portal.

Then things got weird.

From what he remembered from the teachers at the Academy Hueco Mundo was exactly how they described it, arid and devoid of color, with the occasional Hollow running amok, his first instinct was to rush ahead and deliver a beating but he stopped himself, the words of the Captain ringing in his skull. So instead of doing the usual he marched until he encountered Kobe, at which point he decided to walk beside the other man, it was strange to be alongside the man instead of in the ring across each other but it wasn't a bad feeling.

Instead he loosened his muscles and prepared to -was that the Ice Queen? Ah hell she was, of all the possible missions and he ended up in the same one as her.

At least she seemed to be more focused on the mission than on him, he didn't know what the fuck was her problem with him but if he had learned anything during his time as a rat was to never back down when someone insulted you.

Then eventually they stopped, the two older Shinigami said something or the other about the mission but he didn't bother listening to the details, it if the result was fighting either way then the choice didn't matter, in fact, they should just go each way and deal with them, he said as muc-

"fight for something"

The words resonated in his head before he could say anything.

In the end he let the others make the decision, and the group progressed at a relaxed speed, this is what stealth missions were like? He couldn't say he was a fan. Then hell broke loose.

The attacks were almost too fast for him to follow, and there was a certainty inside himself that if he had been the victim of the first attack he wouldn't have reacted fast enough to block. Thankfully when the Hollow had decided to attack he was prepared, drawing his Zanpakuto he blocked the attack from the Spider Hollow, all his previous thoughts were discarded immediately, replaced with bloodlust and teeth grit into a smile.

The struggle was almost evenly matched but he was stronger, he would win the exchange but it wouldn't be quick.

"Accumulate and explode, Aka!"

The words spilled from his lips with nary a thought, more muscle memory than some attempt at strategy, perhaps if his weapon changed in the radical ways some of his fellow's did then it would have disturbed the balance even more but as it was it would it barely anything.

So he let go of his Zanpakuto.

His Zanjutsu teacher would suffer a heart attack if he saw his actions during the mission but such thoughts were beyond him at this point, instead he dodged backward and watched as the sudden lack of resistance threw the Spider off, unbalancing it as it was committed to the attack. Using the opportunity he attacked with Hakuda, heavy punches damaging delicate joints.

A distant part of his mind wondered what everyone else was doing.

---

As they made their way down into the basement, Asami kept her wits about her although she was disgusted with how much dust and webbing had accumulated around them. Seemingly undisturbed in so long. Because most everyone was in front of her and taller, they were taking care of the cobwebs that hung so none landed on her which was fairly amusing to watch from her perspective. She was taken out of her amusement when Deimos had knelt to the ground which made her pay attention more to her surroundings as she watched another attack come down toward Tatsui but Aya was able to quickly push him out of the way before she now started watching upward and was able to quickly and nimbly dodge out of the way of her attack coming toward her but watch as Kobe got captured which made her draw her sword, prepared to attack but not activating her Zanpakuto just yet.

As her eyes were more focused on Kobe, she didn't see the one hollow come down to attack Yuto before seeing a hollow for her drop down near her and seeing a force field rise up to block them off from what she would see drop down onto the force field and holding Kobe captive. "Eugh, gross." She said with disdain at the spider woman before turning her attention to the hollow next to her. With a deadpan look and a listless blink toward the hollow she tightened her grip on her Zanpakuto before saying, "Hunt, Shadow Fox." A flame would encapsulate her sword and four kitsune tails made of Kido would be summoned behind her. As they fluidly moved behind her, she quickly engaged the hollow near her, taking out it's legs from underneath it with her insane speed that she had and watched as it's body would plop to the floor after being suspended for a short second, almost not even realizing that she had cut it's legs off before she went to go stab it in the mask with her sword since it would be quite a bit weaker now.

She was able to hear Deimos call out to let him know when to drop the shield so they could take on the hollow above that had Kobe captured. Asami wasn't sure if the spider would be able to understand her but she decided to refrain from yet calling out to her teammates so she wouldn't give the opponent a heads up on what she had planned which would be that as long as the rest could keep the spider woman distracted, Asami would be able to move quick enough to try and retrieve Kobe so that hopefully they could get him out of the webbing that kept him trapped. Even if they couldn't do that, Asami had a couple other ideas in mind and hoped that they would be able to do something and quickly.

"Guh!" Ageha let loose a pained grunt as the Hollow managed to hit her with a cross-counter the second she made impact with its mask. The punch sent her flying into a nearby shipping container, her body cratering into it.

She grit her teeth, forcing herself up to a battle stance through the pain of her now-bruised ribs. This was nothing. Pain wouldn't stop her. A quick glance at the Hollow revealed the obvious: it was dying. At the very least, her opening strike would kill it eventually. The operative question was just how much damage could it do before the mask crumbled in full.

Ageha had the option to just do nothing. Let it expire. It wasn't as if she gave a half a damn about living souls. Their time came eventually, whether it be thirty years or ninety. What was a quicker death? Jingoro had gotten himself stuck in with a pack of Hollows, and that looked to be a more pertinent situation to handle. Or at least it would have been if one of their minders hadn't decided to bail him out. Pah. She'd leave the glutton to it, then.

A Shunpo took her up into the air, atop the crane the Hollow was so desperately trying to climb before it died.

"Hagane Owaru." Ageha intoned, her left hand seemingly pulling a brace of throwing knives from Tetsu Moya's blade, the dadao splitting apart into a smaller, one-handed blade in her right. She hurled the knives in her left hand down towards the Hollow, aiming to cripple it at the shoulders before she plunged downwards once more, aiming to properly slam her sword into what remained of its mask. There would be no counterattack for it this time.

His first mission and he nearly dies at the start. Tatsui realizes this as he was too slow to dodge the hardened web, and Aya had to push him out of the way just in time. Though she would get hit, she seemed unfazed. Tatsui does not like it when people get hurt for his failures but it is not the time to reflect. It is time for action as he gripped his blade.

Yuto and Asami went out to attack first, with Yuto looking like he would win his physical duel, but, for some reason, that baffled Tatsui was Yuto dropping his Zanpakuto. What is he doing? Tatsui thought before He snapped himself straight and focused on the fight before him. He watched Asami go for her Hollow. Leaving him to go for the Hollow in front of him.

Not wasting any more time, Tatsui tighten his grip on his Zanpakuto and spoke, "Stand defiant Ishi." His blade split into two, and in each hand, he now held a blade. I will not be slow, he with vigor thought, and without saying more, Tatsui said softly, faster. The wind, now powering his movement and Tatsui blasted towards the Hollow near him with both swords ready to strike or defend. Time to see how he can handle himself in a fight on his first mission.

& Unnamed Worker #1

---

Huh!? Okay, so she had been right on the money, the young boy had been able to see them! And could still see her, at that. She felt the slightest bit of envy at a living soul having so much Reiryoku that he could see them, but it passed quickly once his fear registered. It made sense. After all, seeing people with swords standing mid-air would scare most normal people. Did she just admit that she wasn't a normal person? Eh, didn't matter. More important was keeping him calm and safe, same with the other few humans she had noticed on the other side of the boxes. Though with them, the only concern was safety...

Shion turned so that her back was to the boy and held up her zanpakuto in a defensive stance. No point throwing off enemies who couldn't see her. "Don't worry, we're here to keep you and the others around here safe. None of us want to hurt you, and I need for you to stay as calm as you can so you can help me keep an eye out, okay?" She jumped into the air and created a platform of Reishi under her feet so she could look over the boxes. She spared a second to glance over her shoulder at the boy and show him a smile. "You're not going to die today, unless it's after me, so keep a cool head until then, yeah?"

The man's gaze lingered on Shion, a puzzled look on his face. If it be because of her words or actions were unclear, however, the man remained silent as the woman stood in the air. His eyes slowly shifted to the Shinigami in the air, Mei, unleashing a power that caused his eyes to widen. However, the woman's fixation on another section of the shipyard was his opportunity. His hand remained clutched on the necklace, to the point of his knuckles whitening. He looked back to Shion. "I don't think you understand, but that's good right? Please don't tell anyone you spoke to me!" He spoke in haste, "If you care about me not dying, please don't tell anyone! Especially that one!" He nudged to the woman in the sky flipping a dagger. He dug closer to the boxes, trying to remain out of her eyesight.

"I'll keep a lookout for you but don't make it obvious, okay? And then I'll be on my way and we forget this ever happened! Deal?"

... Okay, that was weird. The now-strange boy was confusing her, but Shion kept to her usual "protect everyone" ideal. "Okay, if you say so. Watch out for the monsters with the white faces, if you head out. We'll try to get them all, but if it'd be bad for you to be seen, then I'll pretend I never saw you. Good luck!"

Having said what she felt she needed to, Shion focused away from the boy and towards looking for hollows. This guy could see her, and the others, but was scared of Mei-san? Why? Was he not a normal person? That actually made her a little relieved; he wasn't some super rare human, and that meant that he could probably handle himself a little better than one. Besides, she didn't have a ton of time to think it over right now. She jumped onto the boxes and looked around, trying to locate any other humans who might be in danger, or barring that at least find that hollow that skittered away.

Jumping onto the boxes, the scene laid out in front of Shion was rather destructive. She would notice Ageha in the air, battling the hollow on the crane while Rio and Jin held off the hollow on the ground which seemed to be resulting in a success. Not too far from where she stood, however, were three humans packing up lunch boxes and beginning to head to break. The hollow from earlier, stood menacingly in front of the group who were walking directly towards it. Its head titled, looking directly at Shion, while its arm raised in the air. It began jovially hopping from one foot to the other, claws beginning to protrude from its fingers and ready to strike once the humans got close. Once again, showing that unnatural level of intelligence, almost as if baiting Shion to move forward...

"Remember, we've got a deal! Do what you have to do, and I'll make sure to warn you if any more pop out! Then I'm gone afterwards!"

Right. Shion flashed behind the hollow and swung at the back of its head.

Snakes Without Sin

Ageha, Jinzo, Shion, Jingorō - Human World

While Jin focused on his battle, Rio’s eyes burned with passion as his arms flared up. He analyzed the hollow movements with precise accuracy as they rushed in, striking wildly with jagged claws. Rio dodged the attacks with fluid side steps, counter-attacking with practiced motions as he laughed. Each hit landed with resounding thuds, and ending with explosions as Rio imbued the hollow with his spirit energy. The largest hollow out of the bunch, however, survived an explosive attack. Rio, distracted in his fun, left himself exposed enough for the hollow to appear behind, and grab him. Another hollow ran up and struck out at his torso. It would have pierced through his stomach if it weren’t for the hardened spiritual energy wrapped around his body acting as a shield as well. At the same time, Rio would notice Jin being pushed into the water. However, it allowed the journeymen to walk past them safely. Rio imbued his legs with spirit energy and kicked out, smashing the mask of the hollow attempting to strike him. The close-proximity explosion sent him and the giant hollow flying backwards, slamming into a shipping container that caused the hollow to release its hold. Rio spun, cocked his arm back, and let it fly, smashing straight into the mask of the hollow and sending it flying into the container. The sudden flinging of the doors opening caused most of the workers to direct their attention to the container, accompanied by shouts of ‘who forgot to lock the door’. “Oops!” Rio said as he peaked his head into the container, noticing the hollow dissipating into particles. Rio then turned his attention to the soaking wet Shinigami, ready to answer his question until…

The hollow continued its ascent quickly, nearing the operator and ready to pull him down until its hand was pierced with a knife pinning it to the crane. The hollow raised its other arm before several knives pierced into its shoulder, stopping its movements before its other hand was pinned to the crane as well. The hollow looked up at the enigmatic silhouette atop the crane, bathing in the moon’s gentle light. The poised posture suggested readiness and balance as one foot was planted firmly on the crane’s platform, while their other leg slightly bent. The serene and silvery moonlight was accompanied by a silver flash in the figure’s right hand. It seemed like an eternity, awaiting death, were the words that scattered across the creature’s mind. Thoughts. Before it could even comprehend what those were, in a millisecond, a blade struck right into its mask ending all traces of a thought.

Shion would flash step behind the hollow and slash at the back of its head. However, it seemed to be anticipating such an action and rushed in to strike at the humans. A blur would appear in front of the hollow, as it wasn’t expecting Shion’s skill in consecutively using Shunpo as well as her strong dedication to protect the humans. Shion used the momentum from her missed attack to keep moving, focusing and using her flash step at just the right time and angle to come crashing down in front of the hollow in a spinning attack. A severed arm flung into the air as the hollow sacrificed its arm to take the brunt of the attack, and then jump backwards. The humans were now hastily making their way to a ship container that suddenly opened, leaving the hostile area entirely.

“Grim-Reaper! Behind you!” The human called out, taking advantage of the slamming of ship container doors hoping no-one else heard him.

Shion would instinctively turn around to see another agile-hollow striking out at her. She would flash step once more to avoid the attack, however, once landing on the ground began stumbling on her own feet. The hollow would take advantage and begin to close in. Suddenly, a pipe would fling from the stack of boxes and with surprising accuracy, smack directly into the mask of one of the hollow, sending it momentarily to the ground. The one-armed hollow closed in on Shion and struck out, but she was able to use her unique-fighting style to her advantage. Being used to making purposeful mistakes, that also meant she was used to correcting herself. In this case, she was able to recover quickly enough to only receive a slash across the ribs, instead of a full-blown impale of the claws. The blood began to soak into her garb, but luckily not life-threatening. She took a moment to catch her breath before she would hear the human call out, “Behind yo-No! Above you-”

Ageha would plunge downward once more, this time using the perfect mixture of speed and power given what she learned about the limiter with her first attack. What remained of her blade dug straight into the porcelain mask of the white creature, but she wasn’t done. Ageha flexed every muscle she could control and grit her teeth as she pushed with every ounce of strength, ripping the pinned arms of the hollow straight from its body. They both shot downward as Ageha used her Reforge ability to recall her blade, the rest of it sticking out the opposite side of her opponent’s head. The body began dissolving into particles, but before it dissipates she would come crashing down into the hollow recovering from the pipe attack. The rest of her blade struck perfectly into the mask of the second hollow, pinning them to the ground with one foot firmly planted atop their bodies. She would then grab her Zanpakuto with both hands and pull upwards as hard as she could, removing their heads that momentarily laid rest across her dadao before they dissipated completely.

“Whoa..” Rio would say to Jin as he pointed to the scene across from them. He nudged Jin to follow as he made his way over.

Suddenly, Mei would drop from the sky and land near everyone. Shion would be the first to notice what was happening, however, as it was right in front of her. The one-armed hollow kill was taken from her just as she was ready to go in for the finishing blow across its already-scratched mask, it began to turn into white ash and float in the direction of the warehouse. The human would jump from the boxes and take off running in the opposite direction of the Shinigami, stripping his safety vest off in the process. Mei glared in his direction before her eyes drifted to Shion and glared at her for a moment, before turning her attention towards everyone.

“I know you may be thinking I’m here to say good job, but in actuality your squadmate is going to die without help,” She nudged her head towards the warehouse. The Shinigami were able to make out a hulking white figure on the rooftop stomping towards something, while another one was being formed. Rio grinned and began to take off before Mei placed a hand on his chest, stopping him.

“No sir, this one's on the rookies. His life is in their hands,” she smirked, “I’ve done everything I can to help him. We’re getting a headstart into the warehouse.” And with that, Rio frowned but obeyed and began making his way to the entrance alongside the woman.

Meanwhile…

The night was interrupted by guttural growls as the trio of shadow hounds pressed the attack alongside Jinzo. The scythe user worked well in tangent with the dogs, his blade easily carving through the mask of hollow that carelessly jumps at him. His controlled strikes were accurate and fluid, using the long-range capabilities of his blade to strike in a sweeping motion. The blade managed to slice a few, while keeping the others at bay. Two hollow, however, managed to slip past his range and close in. Ready to strike, claws out, one would be stopped in its tracks as a singular red beam of Kido struck through its porcelain mask. A shadowy blur would lunge forward and tackle the other hollow. Its ominous red eyes glowing in the darkness, full of anger and hunger as its jagged teeth ripped through the hollow mask. Jinzo took a second to breathe, and in that instance noticed a large amount of spirit energy below him, inside the warehouse.

Jinzo would be able to make out three individuals within, near the larger amount of Reiatsu that was calling for him to consume. That momentary distraction was enough of an opening, however, as first he would hear a whine coming from one of the hounds before it slammed right into the side of his body. Jinzo would be sent rolling across the warehouse rooftop. Zanpakuto still in hand, he would slam the blade into the roof bringing himself to a skidding halt. The hound flying past him, however, would dissolve into the shadows.

There was a large, hulking, hollow stomping towards Jinzo. He would then notice the remaining hollow begin to dissipate, turning into white ash and gathering into a single point. Slowly, but surely, creating another hulking hollow that wasn’t quite finished yet. This was completely foreign to Jinzo, as the academy said nothing of hollow merging with one another. He would ready his blade as the hollow charged, however, the remaining four hounds would attack first. Emerging from the shadows, two hounds darted in and out from the side, launching quick and precise attacks. The other hound remained in the middle of the hollow and Jinzo, firing its lasers from a distance, though it had little effectiveness. The last hound would appear above the hollow, striking downwards with its claws creating scratch marks across the hollow mask. Enraged, the hollow roared and reached up to grab the hound and rip it in two with ease. The dogs were no longer a factor, but were doing enough to buy time until reinforcements came.

Tower Of The North

Asami, Yuto, Kobe, Tatsui - Hueco Mundo

The sudden lack of resistance completely unbalanced the hollow as it began falling forward, creating the perfect opening for Yuto to send an open-palm straight into its mask. Several cracks split across the mask and it pulled back and began to attack rapidly, however, Yuto would counter-attack by meeting the limbs head on with punches. The two were constantly going blow for blow, but Yuto’s strength was overbearing to the tiring hollow. Yuto swung hard with an uppercut, interrupting a straight attack aimed at his face, and sending the arm flying through the air. Yuto then came down hard with an overhand right, slamming into the hollow head and shattering half of the mask. He then sent a straight left into the torso of the spider-hollow, sending it skidding backwards. Yuto would charge forward, still seeing an opening, and slam both fists into the hollow, sending it flying upwards into the force-field above them. It exploded completely on impact, however, instead of dissipating it would explode into a green acid that began to drip downward near Tatsui.

Tatsui would grit his teeth as droplets of acid hit his shoulder, however it didn’t halt his charge as he rushed in and struck downward with his right. The spider would block with two legs raised, still receiving a nasty slash across one. Another leg struck forward, but Tatsui wasn’t fast enough to parry as it struck into his lower abdomen and twisted creating a nasty wound. With his left blade Tatsui struck downward and severed the spiky leg embedded into him. He jumped back with both blades at the ready, breathing becoming shallow as he recovered from the attack. Blood trickled from the wound.

Aya shattered the mask of one of the spider-hollow, and continued to dodge the rapid leg attacks from the second one behind her. She spun with her leg out, kicking the hollow causing it to spin. Aya ran behind it and grabbed two of its spiky legs, snatching them off with a single tug and piercing them into the mask of the hollow. She jumped back, awaiting the acidic explosion, but it seemed to only go off if the body was destroyed. She looked up at the massive hollow-drider, which was good to note. The drider stared down at them all, continuing to feed on the spirit energy of its captive. Two large spiky legs continued smacking down onto the forcefield to no avail. Aya glanced around, noting that everyone aside from Tatsui was free from their assailants. Asami had attacked cleverly, as the dark flames arose from her blade. Her kitsune tails flared and provided a dim light to the dark scenery as she dashed around, effectively aiming at the legs of the creature and finishing it off quickly as it was immobilized. That speed would be needed.

“Make sure whenever you attack, you go for the mask! If not, be fast enough to run!” Aya shouted, the Shinigami hearing her voice stern and serious for the first time since meeting her at the ceremony. “Drop it Dei!”

In an instant Deimos removed his hands and jumped back, creating space between the drider that dropped gracefully in the middle of everyone. Any other creature would have fallen to their deaths from that height. Aya showed no hesitation as she flash-steps forward, throwing a strike that was caught by the unnatural human-like hands of the human side of the drider. A glowing green orb emerged from its free palm and struck out towards Aya’s face but made no contact as Deimos intercepted the attack with a red Kido blast of his own. The collision caused a small explosion that spread dust across the room, effectively blinding the three momentarily. Yuto would have a choice between helping Tatsui or attacking the drider, however, Asami would see her chance as she had her mind made up already.

With incredible speed Asami shot upwards, slashing at the cobweb-tail that entrapped Kobe. Her blade would have gotten stuck normally, but the speed boost from her Shikai allowed her to slice through enough to free a weakened Kobe. Asami landed gracefully, noting the webs still attached to her blade that may cause problems with slicing. Kobe, however, landed less gracefully and stumbled almost to a fall. He gripped the table nearby, to keep himself upright as he took in a sharp breath. He gives a nod in thanks to Asami as he grips the hilt of his Zanpakuto.

---

Crap! She was hit, but she was lucky to get away with only a single slice. She was also lucky that Ageha fell like an angel from heaven to slay the other hollow, leaving Shion time to- Nope, Mei-san got it. At least the hollows were gone, though they didn't seem to be dying like the one she fought before. These were definitely doing... something, though what she didn't know. As Mei-san explained that Jinzo was in trouble, Shion was torn. If she didn't help, he might die. If she did, there might be other hollows that attack the humans. And what if Mei went after the guy who helped her? She shook her head clear, she didn't have time to worry about maybes.

"Okay. Please protect everyone here, Mei-san. We'll head to the warehouse." She turned away and jumped into the air, flash-stepping towards where Jinzo was.

When she arrived, she saw Jinzo trying his best to fight off a giant hollow, alongside dogs that she could only assume were the result of some kind of Kido. And worse still, there appeared to be another of the hollow forming from the ashes of the ones the others had defeated. How was that possible? She didn't have time to think about it, she used Shunpo once more to appear behind the forming hollow, hoping against hope that her idea would work. She looked at the hollow in front of her, then at the one that was fighting Jinzo; she believed she had the measurements right. Shion plunged her sword into the air where the mask of the hollow was forming with the intention to slay it either as it built itself around it or immediately after it finished.

One down, at last. That had taken entirely too long, even for a Hollow likely tougher than the rest. Shameful on her end. Ageha would have to redouble her efforts. She rose from her crouch where she'd landed, brandishing Tetsu Moya with deadly intent. A quick glance across the field had her narrowing her eyes in a disdainful glare at the living human near Shion, though she didn't manage to do anything further with that thought. As it turned out, it seemed Jinzo had gotten himself into trouble. Considering he'd engaged however many Hollows at once, that wasn't a surprise.

Ageha gnashed her teeth in irritation, following after Shion. Once both of them were atop the warehouse, Ageha split off, covering a different direction than Shion in fighting off the Hollows attacking their nominal teammate.

"Remind me again why you couldn't have picked a less suicidal plan of attack, fool!" Ageha spat in Jinzo's direction, her dadao flashing as she slashed out at a Hollow, aiming to cleave straight through its mask. "You couldn't have waited not one minute?"

After managing to take care of the hollow closest to her, she analyzed more of her surroundings while also managing to take note of the dim light she seemed to be emitting from behind her. She listened as Aya had shouted out to go for the mask or be fast enough to run. Asami knew that she could very easily manage both if she wanted. However, she had a higher priority as the shield had finally been dropped to get the big spider down which made her disgusted to watch as she had a scowl on her face from being less than amused by the disgusting creature.

She would then watch as Aya and Deimos had engaged with the disgusting beast before choosing to take her action of getting Kobe free. As she would shoot up towards where he was, she had hoped that what she was about to touch with her sword wouldn't be slimy and thankfully that was not the case as she slashed through his encasement to let him free although he was a bit weakened. She landed fairly gracefully and would simply watch Kobe's stumbling form head toward the table nearby to stabilize himself. Asami would roll her eyes and sigh at him looking pitiful in front of her but she wouldn't comment because she could very easily see how hard he was trying to stand. "Just stay safe if you can and rest. We don't need an idiot dying right now." She said to him before looking back toward Aya and Deimos and Tatsui and Yuto. Trying to decide between the two pairs, she knew she needed to react quickly and figured that Yuto and Tatsui had been able to handle themselves so far, she'd quick step toward Aya and Deimos to help them.

---

Jin stood quietly by as Mei made it apparent that the graduates were tasked with protecting Jinzo themselves. Flashing his eyes across the battle he was surprised that would be the case, considering the novel Hollows that seemed to be regenerating themselves. But this was it, Jin wasn't in the academy anymore he had to realise that his life was on the line and his responsibility was to the mission at hand, no matter what it was.

Ageha and Shion had already launched themselves onto the scene. The former trying to dispatch one of the regenerating hollows as it formed, while the latter struck at a fresh mask. But Jin had his focus on Jinzo himself. Clearly wounded, his immediate worry was protecting his squadmate from further danger. With Higanbana tightly locked in his grasp, Jin shot towards the warehouse rooftop. Splitting the two hollows locked in battle with his fellow Shinigami and landing squarely beside Jinzo who at this point, had been brought to a knee.

With the water pouring from his Zanpakuto, splashing into the grooves of the corrugated roof and trailing away, Jin stood over his defendee, prepared to do what it took to make sure they all survived.

His blood was flowing.

Small wounds, little more than paper cuts, littered his body and dropped a few droplets of blood but he paid the pain little mind, his mind full of bloodlust as he and the hollow exchanged blows. He could feel it, the fervor of battle was rushing through him, invigorating him in a way that was difficult to describe, were he a more pondering inclined person this may have been a moment of reflection and enlightenment.

As it stood the only thing crossing through his brain was blood.

With a mighty effort, he slammed both fists into the spider, sending it flying until it impacted against the barrier. His attention was firmly on the acid explosion that the Hollow produced once it collided with the barrier and then on the acid that flew over the battlefield, landing on someone.

His gaze was vacant as he watched the figure rush toward his own enemy.

He could feel his mind and body cooling down, it was an unpleasant feeling that he rather not feel, two paths were open in front of him, the big Hollow with the leaders or helping Tasui?... well that big Hollow seemed like it would be a good scrap. With eager steps, he grabbed his Zanpakuto and started to move for the drider.

At least that had been the plan before he caught sight of the pink menace speeding towards them, her speed faster than his own and the thought of fighting while hearing her scoldings... yeah no, fuck that.

He gave the big enemy a last look before he turned to help Tasui, Zanpakuto sheathed and fists ready to deliver some assistance. He just hoped this Hollow was a better fighter than the last one.

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