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Lieutenant Chi Kiyoshi

As he was flung in the air Chi despite his injuries remained calm and managed to land on the ground somewhat gracefully before he began dashing forwards leaving the Arrancar's and Leon alone to brawl it seemed this was the best course of action for the lieutenant though he would feel a tiny bit of guilt for leaving the young captain to fend for himself though it was his own fault for following Chi through the portal.


(Exits)

Three shirks filled the air even though they all emanated from Marta Nicole’s lips and vocal cords. The Cera’s Ceros had made contact with their intended targets. Before the Ternary had gained the single mindset of the Trinidad only Zyne would have been in pain. However now they shared one body and one mind even if they were still three different and individual souls. Still they remained sensible and the Diosa del Crepúsculo grabbed the silver end of the chain and, flick her wrist to cause the now released Ángel de la Noche to return to the Diosa’s left hand.

The Diosa caught the missing third and, every instinct in their body screamed at them to run. They could do it. A quick return to the Forest of Stones would e just enough time for the Cera to lose track of their spiritual pressure. Then they would quickly return to the desert world some distance away. Their Diosa’a eyes flicked to the Old Man and Salte. They couldn’t just leave. Their extend family would be in danger if they did that. Even if Salte and Arbutus followed their cues and, followed the Trinidad they would never survive. The Forest was currently awash with spiritual pressure from the Sea of Purity. It looked like Arbutus could barely stand here and, Salte had never been in an area with this much spiritual pressure. No, the Trinidad couldn’t leave. They had a family to protect.

With another cry the Diosa fell to her knees. They dropped their Ángeles as their Diosa’s hands flew to cover the place over their heart. That couldn’t be right though; Arrancar did not have hearts. The Trinidad was willing to contest that right now though. It felt like something in their Diosa’s chest was about to burst. They was just overcome with emotion each two-thirds of them wanted to protect the other third and they all wanted to protect Salte and the Old Man. Cillian was a fool for not realizing how much power such desires brought.

In an instinctive effort to lessen the pain in their Diosa’s heart they flung out their Diosa hands, “Be of one mind, Trinidad!”

There was an explosion of spiritual pressure that almost threatened to consume the entire area. When it disappeared the Trinidad was still kneeling. However there were three humanoid bodies instead on one humanoid and two javelins. Marta Nicole, or the Diosa del Crepúsculo, was looking at Cillian with fire in their eyes. Her hair had regained the style of their pre- Resurrección form; two round buns with tails coming from the underside. Her dress was the same as well. Adán’s left hand was holding her right. The Ángel del Día’s right hand was holding a sword and, they had a pair of massive golden wings coming from their back. Zyne, the Ángel de la Noche, was holding the Diosa’s left hand with his right. His left hand had a sword while his feathered wings were silver. Both of the Ángeles had two eyes and, the Diosa was missing her Mask fragments. For a moment they knelt there holding hands. Then they pulled their hands away and, the Diosa was left holding a pair of daggers. Her left one was silver; her right one was gold.

They were disorientated. The sensation of receiving three sets of sensory data had intensified while their ability to process it had increased. It was still unsettling but, they couldn’t be happier. They now had three bodies that could move independently on the others while still having what seemed to be one nervous system. However they needed to get it together before Cillian decide to attack. This was good but, it was also bad.

While the battle raged around him, the ancient man just stood there. His arms at his sides, still wrapped in the writhing vines. His eyes stared hard at something, but focused on nothing visible. He knew where the battle was for him. His mind. Salte skipped away from the others a fair distance, she didn't know what Grandpa was going through but she had seen it before. Hollows repressed parts of themselves and it caused a breakout. Usually with sizable damages to boot. Plopping down she sat cross-legged and watched, humming to herself.

---

Arbutus was searching the landscape of his mind. He knew what was happening. His repressed side was breaking forth now that he was weakened, He must crush or contain it or he wold lose himself. His mindscape was a forest lit by moonlight, the trees sparsely dotted the glades, casting pools of shadow.

"Hello again, Old Man." came a voice from one such shadow. A figure steped out, a slightly smaller variant of his own released form, but with a bone mask adorning the face. "You sealed me for a long time old friend, you stole my abilities for yourself. Now I come to collect my due."

Arbutus drew his shears, this was what he feared. Long before he was known as the old man, he had been a Reibesta. Unlike most hollow evolution, a Reibesta evolved back into an animal like state after reaching Vasto Lorde level. These fierce and destructive 'beast--kings' were truly vicious opponents. He had been an Arcana Reibesta, one suited to magical and spiritual emmission. One of his fellow reibesta had labeled him the Ironwood Mage due to his energy casting ability.

"I have held you for over a thousand centuries, since I could not meld with you." The mass of vines and branches laughed, a creaking and deep sound. "But you hold me no longer, we ruled the sands Arbutus! We were about to reach a higher plane and dominate the desert and bring forth a massive oasis. But no, I could not possibly be rid of you now could I?"

"You know there would have been no us in that move. We would have been absorbed into the animal." Arbutus had indeed become massively powerful at the time, not even the king of Hueco Mundo could have stood against him, but he would have been a raging beast with only the basest of instincts. On the cusp of becoming a Verando Reibesta, as a last attempt to keep himself, he had ripped away his mask. Much of his power had been lost as he had reverted into an arrancar state. Most of the power did transfer back to him, and he used it to suppress his animal side with his new found intellect.

"You robbed us of our place, you sealed us and stole our power." The creature known as Axis said, his voice growing angrier. "But now you are mine, Come!" Axis charged the old man, swinging his limbs like battering rams. While weak outside in reality, this was his mind. Arbutus was no slouch here. His blades, clutched by the shears pivot rather than the handles flashed like an oversized katar, severing the limbs. This did not alter the charge in the slightest and the tall man leapt to the side as the tree man plowed through a large tree.

Arbutus held his blade down and to the side, with one hand behind his back as the tree crashed to the forest floor. This was no normal battle. While he was at a disadvantage here physically, both knew one mistep on either part would end this. This was not a novice battling his shadow half. Axis could use the same moves his release form could. Arbutus began charging a cero in one hand as he lunged for Axis' back. The blade plunged deep into the wood, but the vines only rearranged themselves gripping the blade as the head rotated to face him. The old man planted a boot in its face with sufficient force to draw his blade from it. releasing the blade Arbutus back fisted the beast with enough force to lift it and send it flying. Bark flew as his hierro, dispersed in an irregular pattern scrapped Axis' shell.

Snagging his shears he readied himself. There was no way he was getting out of this that easy. "Well well Old Man!" Axis said approvingly, "Looks like you aged well! And here I was afraid you had gotten frail on me" Axis regained his 'feet' showing no real damage, his face grew back almost immediately. "But didn't your tussle with Pantamagrette remind you of something?" Axis seemed to explode into a mass of writhing vines.Arbutus slashed once, but could only block as the sharp vines tried to perforate him. One finally made it past his defense and impaled him on one of the trees, suspending him a good two feet off the ground.

Grunting in pain, Arbutus struggled to remove the branch before another skewer was sent his way. If Axis had been smarter he would have struck his foe down then and there, but he felt the need to rub the old man's defeat in his face a little more. moving close he wishpered, "Just so you know, I always thought little Salte was yummy little thing." Axis grinned a menacing smile. Arbutus locked blazing eyes on his captor, who only laughed at his rage. With a roar of pure rage, the old man ripped the limb from him and the tree and cast it aside, blasting the creature point blank with his charged cero. As the blast carried Axis away, Arbutus,brandishing his blade, stalked after him. "YOU WILL REGRET THAT BOY!" he roared.



(2/15)

| C I L L I A N__✥__F O L A M H |

Cillian had lashed out just Arbutu's Reiatsu had started fluctuating slightly. Was that a sign? The Cera did not have the opportunity to linger on that thought too long as he had suddenly found himself surrounded by the Ternary. Had they finally decided to resort to their old tricks and team up on him? Not likely considering how one of them had stumbled back onto the sand after or so he thought.

It had happened in a split second; just when he had let his guard down, Marta Nicole had Sonido'ed, using the power of the Sonido to add to her attack power. Cillian just had enough time to raise his Hierro defenses, but a half-assed move against a cut with that had the strength of a Segunda Etapa and a Sonido coupled with a Cero wasn't enough to protect him and, for the first time in what had been years, Cillian found himself with a long gash along his right forearm.

It was a peculiar feeling, a stinging pain coupled with the sensation of warm blood flowing out of his wound and along his limb. "Is that it?" he would ask the Ternary as he shifted to better face them. He did not feel particularly different, but something had to be up. He had seen a Cero at the tip of Marta Nicole's dagger, but it did not release any blasts of Reiryoku. "I was hoping that your Ceros would at least hurt in your Segunda Etapa form."

As if to demonstrate what he had meant, Cillian let a few drops of his blood drip onto his left palm and gathered Reiatsu into a swirling mass red and blue flames. A a Gran Rey Cero, the Ternary would realize. The very blood they had drawn from Cillian would not serve as fuel for his attack. It would be fired in Marta Nicole's direction, forcing her to move in Las Noches' direction should she not wish to be hit by it.

The Trinidad could feel Cillian Folamh at the back of their mind. It was like a shadow created by multiple lights or a scream that echoed. He was an extension of the Trinidad; not quite part of the fold but, still there. He would fight when he realized that the Trinidad was teaching him TRUTH. No one in Huceo Mundo liked truth when it conflicted with their TRUTH. The Trinidad’s TRUTH was the TRUTH of family and Cillian would be sure to fight that.

The Trinidad told the Cera, “TRUTH never hurts when you first encounter it. It only hurts when you have to admit that you have not been living in accordance with TRUTH.” The Trinidad laughed, “Don’t you know that Cera?”

That was when each part of the Trinidad was attacked from three different points. They Cera’s Grand Rey Cero was aimed at the Diosa and, the Old Man suddenly attacked the Ángeles with his wines. The Ángel del Día grabbed the Diosa and, took to the air. The Dios considered Arbutus. Something was wrong. No order was needed as the Ángel de la Noche landed briefly to collect Salte and then sprung back into the air. The Trinidad took one look at the situation and, allowed themselves to be forced back to Las Noches. The Diosa took the lead as she used Sonído to leap to their destination. The Ángeles followed quickly; allowing their wings to propel them though the air. The Ángel de la Noche kept Salte safe in their arms. The Ángel del Día took up the rear guard to defend from both the Cera and the out of control Old Man.

The Trinidad asked Salte, “Do you know what this is Cousin?”

Suddenly fighting Cillian was less important than keeping Salte safe from the out of control Arbutus. They could still feel the Cera at the back of their mind. They cautiously probed the feeling. Maybe they could use the frail bond to convince him to fight Arbutus. That would be risky though. The Trinidad didn’t want their grandfather to die.