A darker area of Hueco Mundo. This area is where Stronger Hollow, Menos Grande, reside. Killing the weaker ones that attempt to tread into their territory, they tend to enjoy staying with one another as they outnumber the Arrancar and are stronger than the Hollows so they are relatively safe. Residing in the mid section of Hueco Mundo allows them to easily reach either Earth or Soul society as long as there is an opening.
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::Gillian Techniques::
Name: Cero - 10 Posts (1000 words) Type: Offensive Element: Non-Elemental Range: 60 feet Class: Any Upgraded Hollow, Vizard or Hueco hybrid Description: The power of this energy attack is based on the user's SP+60 and ignores 30% of an opponent's defense. It can be deflected if the target's SP is greater than the Cero's Power. The cero takes on a color unique to the user's reiatsu. It costs 4 SE/Use. 1 Post Cooldown.
Name: Regeneration 10 Posts (1000 words) Type: Passive Healing Element: Non-Elemental Range: Self Class: Gillian Description: The ability that allows a Hollow to heal most injuries very quickly, with the exception of the destruction of the head or vital organs.The user can spend 1 augment action to heal [10% of SP] +40 and up to minor wounds for an SE cost of 5, can spend 2 augment actions to heal [10% of SP] +90 and up to moderate wounds for an SE cost of 10, or can spend 3 augment actions to heal [10% of SP] +190 and up to major wounds for an SE cost of 20. You can only use one of these three effects once per use of regeneration. Cooldown is twice the number augment actions used posts.
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::Adjuchas Techniques::
Name: Pesquisa - 5 Posts (500 words) Type: Support Element: N/A Range: 1 mile for every point in SP Class: Adjuchas Description: A sonar-like wave for tracking down reiatsu. For every point of Sp a character has this technique spreads out for one mile to give them a sort of advanced-sonar of their surroundings. They can tell where people are and what class they are. But this can only be used from a stand-still position. If you are tracking someone you must stop occasionally to use it again and see if they've moved.
Name: Sonido - 6 Posts (600 words) Type: Support Element: N/A Range: N/A Class: Adjuchas Description: This is the Adjuchas version of Flash Step or Flying Screen Step. Over the years of battling Shinigami and Quincy, the Adjuchas were able to figure out and slight improve upon their speed techniques. It allows the user to travel at a speed equal to +20 their base Speed. Costs 2 SE/use with a 1 Post cool-down between each use. The technique has a draw back due to the fact it is accompanied by a brief static sound.
Name: Hierro - 8 Posts (800 words) Type: Defensive Element: N/A Range: Self Class: Adjuchas Description: Toughens the user's skin so that they may deflect normal weapons if their defense +20 or spirit power +20 is higher than their attacker's strength. This effect works up to twice a fight at Adjuchas and up to 3 Times as a Vasto Lorde. - Arrancar use it at the number of times they could upon transformation. Other: Does not work against Spirit Based attacks.
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::Vasto Lorde Techniques::
Name: Dos Cero - 12 Posts (1200 words) Type: Offensive Element: Non-Elemental Range: 60 feet Class: Vasto Lorde Description: Fires a cero blast in each hand. They can attack the same area or two different targets from different angles. So when used against one target it is effectively twice as powerful, increasing their Cero's power by +60 for +2 SE. [2 Post Cool-down] Other: Requires Cero. These blasts carry the same properties and restrictions as a normal Cero.
Name: Bala Tormenta (Bala Storm): 12 posts (1200 words) Type: Barrage Attack Element: Non-Elemental Range: 60 feet Description: A powerful version of the Bala skill lesser Hollow use. It allows the user to throw forth a storm of bala, making a small cloud of bullets that rush to blow a target apart. The attack has a Speed equal to the user's Movement Speed+20 and a Power equal to their Spirit Power+10. A target's Clarity is reduced by 5 against this attack. - Cost: 6 SE. - 3 Post Cool-Down. : Applying on-hit effects on the extra "shot" at half effectiveness. Special: The user can pay +3 SE up to four times to increase the power and clarity reduction by 5 each.: Applying on-hit effects on the extra "shots" at half effectiveness.
Name: Gran Rey Cero - 20 Posts (2000 words) Type: Offensive Element: Non-Elemental Range: 60 feet Class: Vasto Lorde (Arrancar) Description: The power of this energy attack is based on the user's SP+120 and ignores 50% of an opponent's defense. It can be deflected if the target's SP is greater than the Cero's Power. The cero takes on a color unique to the user's reiatsu. It costs 20 SE/Use. 3 Post Cooldown. Other: Requires Cero and Dos Cero
Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2017 7:41 am
Achana Sonozaki, the demonic adjuchas of lust and desire, had arrived from Muchos to this realm deeper inside the wasteland of Hueco Mundo. It was a place of death and decay, wither and rot. It was a place for Hollow like the black and crimson clad beast to dwell as they were left alone and to their own devices normally by the weaklings, unless an upstart came in to try and muscle in on territory claimed by a stronger Hollow, that is. She had witnessed such occurrences and fights over turf before, and they were delightfully bloody and especially brutal. Upon coming to the area, she was spectator to such a fight as it appeared that two Hollow were engaged in a sort of brawl over the particular section that Achana had claimed for her own many years before. It was time for her to reclaim it it seemed, but she had plans to wait for the two to beat themselves up and then charge in and devour them both. It was much easier this way to use subterfuge and destruction on those who couldn't tell a threat from a bystander.
The two adjuchas raged against each other, one like a bull as it was white with two horns and rushed at the larger serpent Hollow, trying to gore the snake on it's deadly horns that were backed up by the charging momentum. The snake was graceful and evaded it as it slid around and then used an ability to burrow beneath the sands, causing the bull Hollow to rampage and rage, stamping the ground as if to try and crush it beneath the sands. This was impressive to Achana, as both demonstrated pure killer instinct and the raw malice that a Hollow of their class was expected to show. Still, she waited to see the outcome, and was impressed to see the snake Hollow bursting from the ground beneath the bull hollow's mid-section were it erupted a large red beam from it's jaws. "Cero..Probably my favorite technique.", Achana remarked to herself as she watched the blast engulf the bull and slam it across the sands in the dank, and dusty realm. The roars and screams of pain that came from the animal made her remember a time when she had utilized such a technique. It was likely appropriate for her to resume that use.
' It had been one-hundred years prior when Achana was still a Gillian class Hollow, the large towering Menos Grande still had the mind for deception and subterfuge. It was how she had gotten as strong as she was. The power she had gained when she was the last one standing after having devoured her own swarm in a case of guile and destruction was enough to soothe the emptiness and loneliness she had felt. Still, the agony of having been denied the revenge on her clan still seethed in her like a burning cauldron. That destructive urge was one that simply drove her madness and it had manifested in a variety of powers and vile strengths. "SUFFER!!!", she screamed out into the eternal moon lit sky as she roared in pure anguish of her empty Hollow form. The agony she felt was only quenched by the devouring of more spirit energy, and the pain was expelled in pure fury in the red hot beams of Cero energy which scorched her enemies under the pressure of the power she had killed so many to achieve.'
"Those were happy times.", Achana remarked to herself with a decisive chuckle, despite the fact that her time as a Menos Grande had not been a happy time at all, it had been one of torture and agony. She had only transcended that pathetic state through what she was going to do now, and that was destroy other's chance at evolution by devouring them, and propelling herself forward. This was the way of a Hollow, and it was how it would always be for all of disparaging eternity. The weak fed the strong and the strong survived in pure chaos. This was the natural law of all things Hollow.
Back to the fight that raged on between the Bull and the Snake Hollows, Achana grinned as the two looked like they were wearing each other down, despite their natural regeneration and this pleased her as the two had obviously failed to take notice of the dire threat she posed. She sprung into action as a result, rushing around the larger of the two as her claws extended and coated in cero energy, slashing open the Bull. 'Deadly Dance..', she thought to herself as she initiated the manuever that was one of her signature skills, and the claws severed a tendon in the creature's leg, imobilizing it as she evaded the snake who roared in anger at Achana, and it tried to bite into her, but was too slow as she twirled about with grace, and slashed along it's jaw, unhinging it in the process. She had to work fast as she knew that all Hollow of this level were able to regenerate at much higher speeds than her lesser kin. The situation, despite how effortless she was making it seem, had become very dangerous for Achana. Dealing with one target of her strength was bad enough, taking on two would be seen as outright suicide, unless one factored in that she had waited until they were weakened down.
With the Bull Hollow immobilized, and the snake hollow regenerating it's jaw, Achana seized the moment and lunged onto the back of the Bull, before leaning over to it's mask and sinking her teeth into it, devouring a portion of it and absorbing it's powers, before she looked to the snake with the evil, red gleam in her eyes which were sunk in behind her mask. "You're next!", she shouted over the anguished cries of the now crippled Bull Adjuchas, who would stay at that level of evolution, never to achieve Vasto Lorde due to her actions. "SSssso you think!", the snake Hollow hissed at her before firing off a bright red beam at her. It was too fast for her to dodge, and in that moment, she had awoken her instinct, and she returned fire with her own, the two red beams of cero energy colliding and pushing against each other. It was a battle of wills and spirit energy at this point, and Achana seemed like she was going to lose as the snake's pushed closer and closer torward Achana. But that's when she snapped. Her will to exist would not be extinguished. 'I WANT TO LIVE!!', she thought to herself, shouting in the empty echo chamber of her mind as she pushed back with all her might, and her cero overcame the burden of the snake's red beam and blew backwards, roasting the serpent in a bath of hostile energy that was full of killing intent. Achana, panted heavily as she then dashed and grabbed the snake up by the neck, holding it's delirious masked visage eye level with her own piercing gaze. "Itadeki masu..", was all she whispered at the defeated Hollow before she leaned in as if one thought she might kiss it, and she sunk her teeth into the cheek of the mask, devouring a portion with a sickening crunch and she cast the crippled snake adjuchas to the ground. "Get out of here, the both of you...You can go scrounge with the worms in Muchos.", she commanded them, and they were more than happy to oblige Achana's order as the two limped off..torn and broken even worse than they had been before. They had served their purpose and that was to empower the would-be Vasto Lorde in the making.
Deep beneath the sands of the desolate land of the hollows slept a beast of ancient origin and destructive intent. His fiery core, the heart that lie dormant within his skeletal chest, beat slowly: pushing the once flaming ichor through his husky veins. For many a millennia he had slept in peace, slowly regaining the strength that was sapped from him by the ancient and powerful elves that had originally caged him here deep in the core of this vast landscape. Shunted back into Hueco Mundo and sealed to sleep until the end of days, Balor had never expected to feel his heart quicken or to hear the anguished cries of his own, less primordial, kind suffering above him. Fingers twitched as an ancient heart thumped with renewed vigor, some sort of nearby power resonating with his weak spiritual essence.
Balor's fiery veins filled with ancient stagnant blood. His eyes slowly opened, met by nothing but darkness and the slowly growing glow from his demonic core. Not knowing where he was or how he got there, Balor's rage grew with every beat of his shriveled heart. Fueled by fire and fury, he thrashed. The sands around him was upheaved as he threw off the shackles of his ancient prison. The sand around him exploded in a torrent of glass and debris, showering the other three hollows that had made their presence above his sealed tomb known. Baylor grabbed the serpent with his gangly arm, grasping it in spindly fingers and digging his beastly claws into its scaled hide.
He lifted the hollow above his head, grabbing it in both hands and tore it asunder. Baylor bathed in the resulting torrent of blood, lapping the black ichor from the ruined stumps. Tossing aside the bisected remains of the snake, Balor set his eyes on the auroch. The bull had already began to flee from the female hollow now standing at Balor's back, but now it moved renewed fear. Adrenaline pumped through its veins as it felt the hot breath of death at its back. Balor's furnace of a heart was still pumping slowly, his limbs responding in kind. Unable to catch the bull, Balor was satisfied to simply rake his claws across its side. The hollow's leg was left hanging by threads as it limped way into the dark wastes of Hueco Mundo. Baylor gave a triumphant roar, shaking the ground as he stomped his feet and beat his chest like an alpha male gorilla.
Slowly he turned to regard the final hollow that had disturbed his slumber. The source of his resonance. Her absorbance of power creating a beat of sorts, a tremor that passed through him and caused his stagnant heart to thump once more with quasi-life. He regarded her with a look that belied his ferocity. A small turning of the head and a slight raising of his beastly brow. His fanged maw lay agape, gore and viscera dripping from the spears that lined his skeletal jaws as hot, fetid breath billowed out from him in sickly, fog-like clouds. Slowly he kneeled, his twelve foot form falling to one knee as he bowed his head to a superior specimen.
Words: 533 + 266 (interaction) Total: 799
Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2017 10:26 pm
Achana Sonozaki, the Adjuchas of lust and desire had simply begun to relax and let the power sink in from the two she had devoured until a disturbance was felt. It seemed that a new arrival had shown up to pick on the defeated remains of her snack. She smirked beneath the stone visage of her bone white mask. The two red marks beneath her eyes were the only denoting feature aside from the prominent pout that was her masks resting point over her mouth. It clearly hid the true emotion she was experiencing behind it's covering as it was supposed to. Raw emotion was a Hollow's greatest weapon and also their greatest weakness. A mask being broken and the face beneath being revealed was a reflection on a past life, something a Hollow normally could not bare to face as it caused agony akin to an abscess in the jaw. She couldnt help but appreciate the brutal power expressed by Balor, and even clapped her clawed hands together slowly as he finished the pair of defeated Hollow off in their retreat. "Excellent, it seems like the day just keeps getting better~!", she cooed to herself in wicked glee at the sight before her.
What happened next was slightly unexpected as she looked to Balor and what he was doing after he slaughtered the other two. She had expected the beast to turn on her and come for a bit of a round. Achana knew that this was generally the modus operandi of most of the beasts who claimed the strength to walk this stretch of Hueco Mundo. Instead the kneeling was what she received. It confused her and caused her to scratch at the top of her head in thought before she decided to simply reach out with a clawed hand and pat Balor on the head. "Good work, we probably wont see those two around here ever again. Your strength is noted though I am wondering..what to call you?", she chuckled as this was the interesting part of the encounter, what to call Balor or if he simply wished to speak his name. Achana was still wary of the beast before her as he appeared to have strength beyond her own, but in the form of raw power. She was more of the type to blast somebody with a cero if they crossed her than she was to get into too much of a physical altercation, especially with a brick of flesh and bone that could rip another Hollow of equal class in half like a simple earth worm. There was a healthy dose of mutual respect for Balor's strength, though Achana would never lower herself to actually admit she would consider anyone to be her equal. As far as she was concerned, she was the most beautiful creature in this dead waste, and all would recognize her superiority and worship that beauty or be consumed...though she knew when to pick her battles and when to just accept things as they happened.
Embers flaked away from Balor's own ashy skin as it continually burned and regenerated. Charred from the heat of his own raging molten core, his mask was an inky coal-black. Ash settled on his skin and flaked his fur giving it an unhealthy palor of white. Deep within the orbits of his skull-like visage shifted pale red whisps of light, focusing on the hand that graced his brow. Sharp claws and delicate fingers patted against the burnt surface, causing plumes of charcoal to puff out from beneath Achana's palm. He had shocked her with his sudden kowtow, but now it was his turn to be surprised. For she asked for a name.
Ponderously he stood to his full height, towering over the much more humanoid hollow. His jaws clicked together absently as he attempted to recall a time before his waking dreams. The howls and screams of other creatures filled the air of this eternal night as he pondered. "..Balor." A voice finally emerged from the elk like skull, dripping out between the savage fangs that hung like icicles from his blackened maw. It was a voice of fire, embers cracking in a deep, yet soft roar. Shadows clung to his voice, yet sparks of fire leapt forth. He was a creature of darkness and flame, reborn from his rocky womb to bring forth destruction and terror once again. For that, he had Achana to thank. She who is aglæca for ushering in the birth of a grendel into this dark, forsaken world.
And beautiful she was. As rightful a queen of demons and hell-spawn as he a prince of giants. Someone worthy to follow, as that had been his original design. Created through pain-staking efforts and many human deaths, Balor was purposed to be commanded by a higher, more intelligent being. Used as an instrument of wanton destruction and un-ending gore. The viscera that still clung to his matted fur was proof enough of his effectiveness, as too was the still twithing remains behind him. She need but point and command and her will be done. His choice being a curious one, why this random waif in the middle of a vast and endless nowhere? Perhaps because she is the first since his initial birth to not immediately accost him? Or perhaps because he feels indebted to Achana for awakening Balor from his enchanted sleep? Whatever the reason may be, Balor's bow had not been done without some form of contemplation.
Slowly Balor lowered his beastly claw to rest in the sand in front of her, embers licking at the tips of his white fur. A captivating creature such as her had no need for walking, though if she refused the offer there would be no hard feelings between them. At least as far as he was concerned. The palm of his hand was large enough to seat Achana, though her alone. He was a massive beast, each inch of him shuddering as muscles rippled beneath his charred flesh. Though not nearly as large as perhaps a gillian in stature. They still towered over Balor, that is temporarily. Gillians were much more powerful than the standard hollow, but each jump in the evolutionary chain was a gap that could not be bridged solely on strength alone and what was height when a creature was laid low, left to bleed its last into the white sands. Other hollows might only partake of the mask of their lesser kin to further their metamorphosis, but Balor was uncaring. Death was all the same as ripping a mask from a lesser being for him.
"..Bringan me mîn unrihtwîf. Direct me my lady. What do you wish of me? Drohtian êower wilnes un−l¯æd me?" His breath, thick with smoke and fire, escaped from between the cage of his spearesque fangs. It rumbled in his chest like a wild-fire, ready to consume everything in its path. His old tongue slipped into his emberous speech, crackling like burning rushes as his voice echoed from within the skull of a forest god. A no doubt long forgotten speech, he found the archaeic words too hard to simply abandon. It was far easier to find the words in his old language first, then search for the translation from the whispers that had reached him in his quasi-dead slumber. This new tongue was simple, far more straight-forward than the language of the elves.
Achana blinked her ominous, glowing, red eyes at Balor for a moment as she considered his request for orders. His words were of an older tongue she had not heard since the emergence of the Bount on Earth, a dangerous prey that could devour a Hollow just the same as a Hollow could turn the spirit vampires into a snack. There was also the possibility that Balor had been around since the time Elves patrolled earth in their archaic brigade that was the precursor to the Sereitei and the Soul Reapers. The gist was understood all the same, and her clawed hand caressed her own chin in thought as she contemplated the course of action the pair of them would take next. There was still plenty of growth to be done before she could become a Vasto Lorde and become a true queen of these wastes.
An idea came to Achana after a few moments of hard thought as she pointed the lengthy finger to the air in a sign of the eureka that had come over her. "Balor, search the area for more. I have a feeling that those two wastes of space aren't the only things around here. I sensed a few Menos Grande in the area when I arrived, but they seem to be hiding in the darker trees or may have burrowed into the sand. It would present a good test to wake you up all the way.", She said in a calm and collected tone, but it was clear she was setting him out like a demonic blood hound to search this decayed waste for the stronger powers that would fuel the pair of them in their own designs. Achana knew not of the hellish Hollow's goals, and at the same time, she had an idea as most Hollow all had the same basic desire to consume and grow. It was just the natural order of how things worked in the putrid desolation of their decayed world.
There was a technique Achana had used so long ago to locate other beings, but it was in the back of her memory at this point, budding like a vile flower. "Pesquisa...Hmm..I need to remember how to use that. Oh, right. It was sending out my power to find them like a whale or a bat.", she remarked to herself under her breath as she began to focus her energy and bring forth a good amount to tap through the ground. It didn't appear to work as planned, as she only felt her energy wash out for a short distance. This would take a whole lot of practice, but the attempt was still worth the effort. "I guess we will need to find them all the old fashioned way. I want to claim this spot for my glory..and your's too.", she added, as the vile black Hollow of lust and desire had not been used to having another around to share anything with. It was a new experience for her entirely and would take some time acclimating herself to the idea.
Balor turned and craned his neck in the direction that Achana pointed her pale, sharpened digit. A plume of smoke escaped his nostrils as he huffed, a deep sigh escaped his rotted lungs. He took in a sharp inhale, sniffing the air for blood. The surest sign that a weakened hollow was nearby. But the scent permeated the air, it was like a miasma that clung to every inch of this forsaken world. His billow-like chest filled with the fetid air, filling his corroded valves with the stagnant air that choked the denizons of Hueco Mundo.
"Yfel cwide full−gân 3 ðæge pro. I will find them." Fire bellowed in Balor's chest as he complied to Achana's order. A deep howl escaped his lungs like a roaring blaze as he began the hunt. He loped on all fours as he dug his claws into the bone-white sand. Debris flew up around Balor as he ran forward into the darkness, his luminescent red eyes searching the darkness for any hints of nearby prey. Shadows danced between the ivory trees of the hollow forest, large ones. Gillians that moved like ghosts between the bleached pillars, in droves they flitted like schools of fish; Their sizes belied by their silent drifting. Balor avoided them. They would consume him or each other in a heartbeat, converging on a weakened hollow in a heart-beat. No, Balor was looking for more suitable prey.
An adjuchas was hiding behind one of the trees, having beared witness to the accosting of the two other hollows. He feared for his life, or at the very least his chances at becoming stronger. A lizard like creature, he was smaller than most gillians. Yet he had a hidden ability, quite literally. He could camoflouge himself to his surroundings and it was coming in handy. His name was lagartijo. His eyes darted from left to right as he listened for the howling again. That beast, the one that not only preyed on other hollows but needlessly tore them asunder, was nearby. He could hear it smelling for him, sniffing the air as it caught his scent. Claws slowly raked inches above his head, digging furrows into the tree as a blackened mask peered around the trunk. Lagartijo heard a female voice and the beast slowly retreated. The lizard held his breath for three more seconds before releasing in a heavy sigh. A mistake.
Balor knew the smaller, weaker adjuchas was there. But he could not see the craven lizard. He thought he heard Archana say something and slowly turned to regard her, his head swiveling in her direction. That is, until his lupine ears caught the subtle sound of a bated breath being released. Balor launched himself into the air, landing heavily in front of the now visible adjuchas. "ðæt is ð¯ær and there êower hid." Balor growled, his mouth full of embers, flaking out between his onyx fangs and dying in the darkness of Hueco Mundos forever night. He slammed his palm into the tree where the lizard should've been, but the adjuchas ducked and weaved back around the tree. Balor cracked his shoulder against the bark sending a tremor through the ground as his arm burrowed beneath the earth and erupted from the other size, gripped the lizard's leg.
Rather than being caught, Lagartijo severed his own leg with a swipe of his claws. Limping away towards the clearing, he peered back over his shoulder as the beast beared down on him, speaking its infernal tongue. Not knowing he was being herded right into a trap, he kept running. Fear beat thickly through his veins as he felt the hot breath of the creature on the nape of his neck and the furnace of it's chest on his back. A whispered scream escaped his lungs as he knew a predator far stronger than him bore down on him. Hot pain flashed in his shoulder as he felt himself lifted off the ground by a dozen spears, white flashes clouding his vision. Is this what it was to be consigned to oblivion? To die again.
Balor held the weaker hollow down, one claw pinning his back as his teeth dug deeper into the scrap's shoulder; He tore tendon and sinew from bone as he ripped fleshy chunk away from bleached cartiledge. He released the flesh from his maw, letting the flayed bits fall to the send as he opened his blood soaked maw. "ân ðêah−hwæðere wægn unêaðnes. One for the hunt." He spoke to Achana as chunks of viscera fell from his lipless muzzle. "There tôdêman cûðe môrbêam. There will be more." He whispered sparks as he ripped a chunk of the screaming hollow's mask from its face with his free claw. He crunched on it like a dog would a bone, snapping the marrow between his teeth. The other being was helpless and at Archana's mercy.
Word Count: 815 + 407 (interaction) Total: 3072
Just had to edit word total to reflect the note you left on my update
Regeneration 1000/1000 Hierro 800/800
jake23482
Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2017 7:15 pm
Achana Sonozaki, in life, had been one for the hunt, but not in the way that Balor seemed to be. She was one who enjoyed extortion, seduction, and if it came down to it, murder all in a means to an end. The way Balor killed made her lips wrinkle in a grimace behind her mask which seemed devoid of emotion on the outside. It lacked refinement, it did not provide her with the joy it obviously provided the flaming beast of a Hollow that had seemingly taken to her. The purpose was to get stronger, but if something could be put to use another way, then strength was still gained, at least that was how she viewed things. The weaker lizard adjuchas had been crippled by Balor, it's mask broken and consumed, there was no coming back from that. It was clear that this one would not become a Vasto Lorde and be stuck forever as it was. Still, that wasn't enough for Achana as the dreaded demoness gripped the bleeding body since Balor was busy eating what he had of it.
The Hollow was regenerating in her grasp, flesh and bone snapping back into place, the mask smoothing out, but missing a chunk. It was interesting to watch the regeneration process. It was something that all Hollow had on varying levels of effectiveness, but this one had seemed to have mastered it on a level unlike her own, and it was worth noting as she let the view sink in and stir her ancient memory. Achana knew that, she too, had the power to regenerate rapidly like this creature. It was in her age long slumber that she had forgotten in body and spirit, and this seemed to be awakening the memories once more inside the body of the spindly clawed figure. Though as the process finished and she was left with a squirming creature in her grasp, it wasn't enough to watch it once. "I'm going to need to hear you scream once more...", she said coldly as her claws extended suddenly, jutting through the lizard Hollow's neck in all the different directions one might imagine. The effect was one akin to an iron maiden.
The beast in her grasp did not scream or cry out, it looked at her defiantly from behind it's own broken mask and seemed to sneer at her, as if trying to brush off the pain of having it's neck stabbed by razor sharp knife-like talons. This defiance served nothing than to piss Achana off. She was the queen of this realm and those who dared to show such disrespect, especially when she put forth an order or a request would be punished. "I SAID SCREAM!!", she roared out in the pure, unadulterated rage that seethed from her as red energy blasted from her mouth and over the reptilian adjuchas's head and upper torso. She had gotten so angry, she had nearly cero'd it's head off as she blew the body backwards were it impacted with a tree and then began to regenerate again after a few moments. The victim was out cold, and still, it's healing properties worked. It certainly was stirring up the proper memories of a time long past, but still...there were a few key points unremembered. Who had injured her to cause her to regenerate? How long ago had it been since she had been injured? These questions were only a sample of the plethora that nagged at the back of her mind, as her main focus was on enjoying the pain that Balor and herself had inflicted on the little, spying wretch. "Hmmm...now what to do?", was all she asked, but more to herself. It was clear she was bored of the little punching bag.
[Move from MUCHOS] The relatively short journey into the more reishi-dense portion of the white desert was done in complete silence (at least on Anjana's part). She had no rational reason for wanting to come to Grande, but it felt comforting to be in a more energy-rich environment. Not the mention she was far away from what she had seen in Muchos. Was it really him? Or did I just have a breakdown? Maybe I'm hungry... I hate it when I'm hungry. She pressed a hand against her stomach, holding it there for a few seconds in contemplation. Hmm, maybe not.
Anjana dreaded her trips to the world of the living, when he hunger became too great to control. For years she had contained herself to Hueco Mundo when hunger consumed her rational mind, but devouring so many hollows turned her into the highest form of menos... there were no corrupted souls that could sate her now. Shaking her head to dismiss the thought, Anjana began to remove her shemagh. Wearing it closer to the world of the living had become a habit to her, to disguise her exact nature, but here in the depth of Hueco Mundo... it seemed silly. In a few smooth motions, the heavily obscured woman removed the large swath of fabric from around her head and neck, folding it carefully and slipped it into a cargo pocket on her thigh. Anjana's rich caramel skin was in sharp contrast to her large and unruly mane of snow-white hair. Beyond that, her features were not exactly human, showing monkey-like qualities that heavily hinted at what she may have looked like as a lesser hollow. Following that reveal, she carefully plucked her gloves off, giving way to large monkey-like hands, covered in thick white fur on the backs of them that clearly continued to grow up her still-covered forearms.
"Much better... you wouldn't believe how hot those gloves can get."
"...And so our protagonist removes her mask, and reveals her true form...", Jack mused aloud as they made their way through the deeper, more wild parts of Hueco Mundo. Along the way, Jack had changed his appearance again, his inky black form enlongating here shortening there, and changing colors until he appeared as a flamboyantly-dressed performer, a whole and perfect porcelain mask covering his face, with a carved expression of glee. He wore a small velvet hat, and long robes to match. His pants were puffy, tucking into high socks just below his knees. Each finger was adorned with another gaudy ring, with two rings on each thumb.
"Why is it that you hide your face behind a mask, I wonder? I have a thousand faces, and none of them brings me shame. Each one is as perfect as the performance I give them. Even the most ghastly of characters can prove to be the hero in the end."
Jack's manic, frenzied speech had subsided as his excitement did. He was now calm, polite, and soft-spoken.
Posted: Fri Apr 14, 2017 5:09 pm
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Anjana hadn't really paid much attention to Jack on their short journey into the depths of Hueco Mundo. Sure, she had listened to him and kept her wits about her in case he decided to stab her or something, but she hadn't really looked at him since they departed. As she removed her outermost layer, she came to notice all the changes that had occurred in the adjuchas. He had changed from a nearly featureless mask floating on a black mass in the vague shape of a man, to something almost human... flamboyant, but far more human nonetheless.
"Not all of use have such a unique talent as you. Were I able to mold my appearance the way you do, I wouldn't feel the need to hide this hideous beast I have become." Anjana scratched the side of her mane of hair with a thick fingernail, and sighed. "I don't remember what I looked like when I was alive, but it wasn't this... and the more individuality that I claw out of this desert, the more this form disturbs me." She flopped down onto her butt, knees bent up toward her chest as she sat on a slight incline in the sand. "As far as I can tell, it seems to be a unique phenomenon among our kind."
"There is no suffering like one who longs to play the hero, but is doomed to play the villain. The creator saw fit to give you a role of his own design. Be glad in it. I'm afraid, however, that I am not your kind. I am peerless."
In his flambouyant disguise, Jack's words sounded odd. The cheerful-looking young french nobleman before Anjana did not seem the type to speak so frankly about the angst that burned away at everyone who called these sands their home.
He was peerless, that much was true. The beasts that haunted the twilight sands of Hueco Mundo were naturally formed. They had definite appearances, definite bodies they could call their own. People knew who they were on sight. Jack had no set form, even before he learned to control his outward appearance. He took the role he was given, and played it better than anyone else. The creator had given him a thousand different roles, and he had executed each performance with the precision and grace that only a natural-born and highly trained actor could muster. For this he had been rewarded, but it was not until he was alone in the wastes that he learned to be the playwright as well as the lead actor.
Jack pitied the girl, in his own twisted way. She had been given a role she did not want, and no chance of a recasting. She would play this character until her death. The thought sent a shudder through Jack's newly-formed spine.
With each footfall, Marquel felt the resistance fall. The air, clear to the eye, was thick with energy, and as he galloped he felt the temperatures drop. The darkness enveloping him hadn't become apparent until he had sprinted a solid 400 yrds into the unsanctioned sands. He could feel the turmoil begin then, he came to a stop, so sudden he had to lean heavy on his fron mounts, the claws burying themselves in the sand. He straightened himself, letting the overcasting thump-thud in his ears as his racing heart steadied. his orange eyes gleamed across the landscape. Looking from the other side, Muchos looked blissfully different. The 'boundary' line on this side of the sands was very apparent, as the grey sand beneath him no longer had the same porcelain shine as they had. Even the air felt heavier, due to the build up in energy, or the existence of so man Menos even he couldn't tell. Or maybe he could. He had after all, been in several encounters to where the other being had been able to speak on Hollow well beyond sight and sound. That hollow was actually able to detect incoming Hollow from below! Marquel looked around him once more, greeted a second time by distant screams of hungry victory.
Marquel listened, trying harder to hear anything beyond the distant screams. He could feel his blood coursing in their veins. His eyes were fixed on the horizon, and he could see that his vision only gave him the sky and grey bottom. He stared, straining his senses for another ten seconds before pounding the ground once with both front mounts. In the same ten second span, Marquel was greeted by a new appearance. The hollow whom had lead him here to this place wasteland. In comparison, the other Hollow looked more man-like thank most. He still had pitch-dark skin, absorbing all light, or what little light was given. The greeting came again, "Hi, do you want to play?" The voice made the request innocently enough, and he showed no present threat. Marquel's mind went back to the 4 Hollow from before. While there was potentially no connection between them, Marquel took note of how this boy looked like the bridge between being the giant Hollow he was now, and crossing to the realm into that Power. The power of the Vastro.
Before he could answer him, the Hollow boy dashed around Marquel, taking a full 5 seconds to complete his circle around him. In his small hands he held a red ball, illuminating the grey below with a devilish crimson light. The boy slowed his run, planting his left foot, raising his right, and hurled the light at Marquel. The baseball-sized light rocketed up towards Marquel's lower jaw, slamming into him with force enough to make the dragon stumble. What the hell? Marquel twisted his head to look back to the boy's location, but the varmin had dashed a fair hundred feet north of him. Marquel shook his head, thundering forward with a mighty roar. The boy mocked his Hollow scream with one of his own, strained and vocal, not Hollow like at all. "WooooAghrrrr," he called, over his black shoulder.
Marquel was closing in, a truck length's distance from the boy. Another step brought him even closer, less than the boy's arm stretch away. Marquel snapped forward, attempting to grip the boy's torso in his mighty jaws. He was rewarded with nothing but air and a hissing static that radiated around him. Marquel slid to a halt, searching around him. The boy had vanished, static replacing his presence. Marquel let out a roar that sent sand rippling left and right before him. "You've gotta be quicker than that!" Cheered the boys voice. The static had ended, and the boy now stood the original distance between himself and Marquel. The boy then danced cheerfully and obviously taunting the Dragon.
Marquel's orange eyes flashed, fury surged within him, and he jolted forward again, this time charging the boy with rage fueled speed. As he galloped, Marquel felt the sand below him scatter, in 5 easy lunges, he was brought back within reach from the boy, already lobbing another 2 red orbs to him. This time it didn't seem to stall the beast, as he was too tall to slide beneath and too large to pass between them. He spat, at the closest orb, a sapphire bullet of his own engulfing the red ball. Smoke exploded before their eyes, masking Marquel's charge while screening the wary child. The second orb whizzed harmlessly passed Marquel's ear.
Two suns illuminated the smoke, headlights speeding to end this little Hollow. The boy, now visibly panic-struck, turned again sprinting at "top" speed. This time, Marquel was able to clamp down on the boys arm, a little too much. The reward, while sweet, was a salty tongue bath of copper-flavored-fluid. Marquel swallowed the arm, watching the dismembered boy crawl away for safety. Marquel took one step forward, letting the boy crawl another 10 feet before stepping again, and again. This was his taunt to the boy. A statement of power in itself saying, Wrong game with the wrong opponent. He lowered his head to the ground, his breathing sending grains of sand across the boy as he clambered back. Marquel spit, the boy only meters from his bony jaw. The Bala erupted as the other two prior, sapphire blue and fast as a gnat.
Marquel watched the impact in slow motion. The van rammed into the boy's body, though instead of engulfing him it pushed him further, and downward, creating a 5-foot deep fissure, spanning Marquel's 7-foot length. As the orb finished its destructive push it expands into a final blow, flaring blue flames in a whopping explosion.The dragon peered down into the trench, hoping to welcome the expected sight, a burning Hollow boy, dismembered and dishonored. To his disgust, he did not come upon that sight.
Marquel roared into the hole, his hot breath filling his own face with the anger and rage tainting it. Over his cry the static from before reverberated through the air, and Marquel felt a strong shove in his neck. Red smoke clouded his vision as he staggered to his left, anticipating a second coming, but none came. The static had continued to buzz about the area. This was becoming an annoyance. He stared through the fading cherry-red smoke, his mind filling in the missing scene: Barren desert sands, grey in the light of the moon, no rocks, no trees. A 7-foot ravine now scarred the landscape, approximately 5 feet to his right now.
He knew his memory was sharp, and that he was usually 90% accurate in his mental process, but this time, detail came so vividly that he could have sworn the smoke was clear. What was even more, he couldn't see the boy, but his body was very apparent. Moving from his right to his far left. Marquel spat, launching his blue bala towards the sand he 'saw' the boy running to. The explosion ended the static and sent sand skyward. The boy's body streamed out of the splashing sand, smoke trailing behind it.***
Marquel enclosed on the body, the struggle for his prey was now definite, as his other arm lay in the sands beside him. The sands pooled with his blood, the dim lunar glare reflecting soft amber light. Without hesitation. Without second thought. Without expectation, Marquel lowered his mouth around a still conscious skull. He heard terror and panic as a hopeless cry echoed down his throat. He felt the boy's power join the collective within him, and his goal became very apparent, as mask, skull and brain splintered between his jaws. He wouldn't be satisfied until he had reached the pinnacle of power.
