Orpheus, fall in and stuff. Unless you're with Zen?
The Lieutenant needed hardly to throw a glance at the bartender as he took his carpet of cards directly at the walking...mountain thing; Rafa knew exactly what was on the agenda. Aragon had chosen - or seemingly had, at least - the colossal monster that had beckoned him, and left the smaller twin-headed beast alone. Smaller, of course, was entirely relative. While dwarfed by the enemy the Lieutenant had marked, the serpent-esque hollow was by no means 'little' - even in its disgusting slouch, the beast was taller than any skyscraper Rafa had ever seen. The dry lump in the bartender's throat made it evident that this thing was his enemy.
With the monster's pseudo-echoed groans and grunts in the background, the bartender shot a a glance that Aragon gave him to the Orpheus agents that stood behind him. Hidden in his pupils was a call to action. In a swift motion, Rafa swiped his revolver from its holster and infused it with his reiatsu, transforming the 'Peacemaker' into a large railgun that replaced his right arm - a weapon much more suited to handling gigantic foes.
"Two of you, huh?" he said through a laughing shout whilst maneuvering his way to the beast, "Looks like I lucked out!"
”Two?” Myrias’ left head boomed indignantly, “We are one! Two in one! We are Myrias!” The creature slithered over a dune and lowered its masked heads, opening its mouth to gobble any wayward hollows that stood in between it and the taunting little singular creature.
"We," the right head continued while the left one had her mouth full, "are one in a way that you cannot possibly understand!" The gillian's jaws parted a few more feet, revealing a long red serpent's tongue.
"Now come here and let us eat you, poor little thing. Like this!" The monster demonstrated, slapping one of its mouth-hands down onto another hollow. Its squeals were cut short by an awful crunching.
Small embers flew along with a breeze as the scent of burnt tobacco filled the air. With a piece clamped between his lips, the man took one big puff from the ivory cancer stick before blowing out a cloud of smoke to his side. He brushed his golden hair back against his head as he gazed at the gigantic abomination not far from him. Apparently, his bartender friend was in high spirits as of late. To pick a fight like that with an obviously stronger foe took balls even bigger than Chuck Norris’. Nick couldn’t tell whether Rafa was just really ecstatic for the impending bloodbath to occur… or if he was just downright ignorant as hell about their situation.
Taking another step forward, Nick turned his eyes away from the beast and down towards the bartender. A pistol transforming into a rail gun? Quaint, indeed. As delirious as the blond was at the moment, there was really no time to dillydally. The enemy was before them, and a battle was set to ignite.
Raising his right arm upwards, the man brought his fingers together as he let out one loud snap. Instantly, the crimson circle of death which he referred to as the ‘Hell Gate’ manifested below his feet. Red electrical surges of spirit energy thrashed forth from the circle as it slowly moved in front of the blond, ready to attack. Twins or not, this bitch had to be beaten.
Chiyo’s trembling hands made the pen in her hand rattle from her uncontrollable terror. She had been trying to take notes on the sights and environment for further study upon their return but it seemed that returning wasn’t quite as plausible as she had previously presumed. Her time spent with the previous Orpheus institute had made this spiritual goop seem like political gobble and jibber with some devout essence loaming under the surface. The destruction of their headquarters was a real reality shock but even the destruction and turmoil of watching her friends, co workers, and innocent bystanders consumed by the maws of monstrous abominations….. well, even that couldn’t have prepared her for the authenticity of this situation.
The destruction of Tokyo almost seemed like a welcomed remembrance with this horrid creature loaming before them! Fear gripped her heart and her body turned cold minus the heat rising from her neck to her one ear. Was this a blush? What a ridiculous thing to do at a moment like this but the knowledge that they were up against something that might be…. No! She had to push forward!
W-wh-what would Aragon think of her if she didn’t?! Her career as a respectable Orpheus agent would be terminated. …though it’d be terminated anyway if she became a snack!
“Lieutenant, please be more cautious!” Chiyo called out as she clip board fell and her Oathbreaker emerged form her holster. Not wanting to present herself as dead weight, the small agent ran up to the giant monster and shot off some very unimpressive rounds from the ‘normally’ lethal weapon.
The behemoth hollow turned slowly, whipping its finned tail across the battlefield and brushing away boulders as if they were pebbles and stirring up a wake of sand that cascaded towards the daring humans. Chiyo's bullets exploded against the scaly surface of Myrias' right side, doing little more than attracting her attention.
"Hello, hello, little girl!" The right head warbled. A pair of massive hands soared overhead, erupting with foul smelling breath.
The left head chewed noisily on a still-wiggling hollow. “You look lonely! Find plurality in our stomach!” Two of Myrias’ hands slammed at the ground for Chiyo while the other two were raised in anticipation, hoping to snatch the little morsel if she scurried away.
And it begins. The nightmarish battle that Nick had feared for so long had finally came charging into their faces like an enraged beast hungry for blood. His mouth snapped open in awe, dropping the blazed cigarette clamped between his lips on the cold white sand. The two-headed monstrosity was going after the girl first. The blond had neither a clue as to who she was, nor how strong her powers were. Nevertheless, some ludicrous sense of justice suddenly snapped within his very nerves, almost forcing his body to react to the situation in the most downright idiotic way possible. Attack.
Watching the beast’s enormous fanged palm come crashing down to the girl, Nick quickly rushed to the side, hoping to flank the Hollow. Albeit still quite far from the monster’s reach, he was lucky enough that his power was actually ranged. It was fortunate that this ‘Myrias’ thing had such a huge body. With Rafa’s petty, yet useful distraction, it didn’t notice the red circle trailing quickly up its back. The Hell Gate made its way up to the monster’s left forehead right by its eyes, ready and waiting to be detonated. Before he could snap his fingers together, a cold shiver ran through Nick’s mind. His very soul was flooded in immeasurable doubt. Was it all worth it? Should he really garner the Hollow’s attention like that? Should he really defy such a powerful adversary when it’s right before him? Was he... willing to die?
The pieces had been set, and everything was unraveling so spectacularly! So much so that Rafa was having a hard time keeping focused on the task at hand; the wonderful dramatics were nearly too much for him. The twin-headed colossus of a hollow, the cute damsel in semi-distress, and the war raging all around them...it was perfect. Except for one thing - the hero. Luckily, Rafa knew exactly the guy for the jo-
The loud snap of audible finger-born friction pierced his thoughts and forced him back into the reality of Hueco Mundo. It was Nick. The blonde haired advent had taken the initiative in attacking the beast, even though such a front was largely futile.
...What a dummy, the bartender thought rather ironically.
Rafa could only hope that the blonde advent knew what he was doing; that he had a plan in store or something. But he could only assume that Nick was being Nick, and that this attack was a passionate spur of the moment thing. With that, the bartender launched a barrage of curving reiatsu shells from his armgun at this 'Myrias' thing, hoping that the cover fire would be enough to let Chiyo get away from its four gigantic limbs.
The scene was unfolding with predictable results, right before Masato's eyes. In the distance, he could see the massive, imposing form of the two-headed Demon. Several smaller silhouettes dotted the horizon. If it weren't for their unique reiatsu signatures, Masato probably wouldn't even know who they were. Rafa, Nick, and another familiar presence caught his interest in particular. Increasing his pace, he neared the creature. He wasn't sure if the grotesque beast had noticed him as he approached from behind. Up close, the Demon was even more frightening. It's massive body towered over the landscape. A twinge of fear ran up Masato's spine, but he quickly squelched it. This was no time for fear or hesitation. His only focus was to survive this encounter, and make sure his comrades did as well. Swiftly, he drew his dual Peacemakers and took aim, cocking back both hammers. Twin blasts of gunfire sounded throughout the sandy planes. He continued to fire until both weapons clicked on empty. Slamming another clip into the receiver of each weapon, he steadied his hands.
"Sorry. I'm a little late," he yelled to his allies. Turning to the beast, the young agent took aim. "Four on...er...two? This is hardly fair."
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Her bullets did nothing. She wasn’t really surprised. She was an intelligence officer after all! “D-don’t make such introductions and I’m not lonely at all!” the young girl countered with a shiver in her lungs. ‘This thing doesn’t care!’ Chiyo whined inwardly. The vibrato killed her bravado but she hadn’t come out to the field like a hero to begin with anyhow. She was out of her league!
With the mighty claw jammed in to the ground, Chiyo stumbled to even keep her balance and began her retreat immediately. Her legs ached and her heart stumbled in pure panic.
More fire from her Orpheus brethren fired at the beast and she took the screeching impact of the whizzing bullets as her signal for escape. She had no impressive assaults to expose but she did have one trick. Before the monster could begin its dining experience, Chiyo’s body vanished during her fumbling and her reiatsu signature disappeared. It wasn’t impressive, but this technique had kept her alive longer than she should have probably been.
With Chiyo away from the danger zone, Marcus didn't have to worry about rescuing one of his comrades. He had hesitated when he had his fingers on the trigger to both his Peashooters; he was just too jumpy to aim accurately and who was to say that he wouldn't shoot one of his allies in the process.
After having relaxed some, Marcus took a position near the three other Advents that he was familiar with. "Whether it's even a hundred to two, I'm just glad that we've got extra support." It meant that they had a better chance of living. Of course, they had an even better chance thanks to the training that Lieutenant Aragon had made them undergo.
It was just a matter of implementing the training into their current situation.
Myrias' left head hissed as the swarm of bullets hit her like gnats. Selflessly, she threw herself in front of her Other and the power of their blessed symmetry protected them, even as the railgun blast knocked her back slightly.
She screamed as an explosion rocked her head, and chunks of white cracked off to the ground with a resounding THUD. "Asymmetrical morsels!" She screeched, swatting an enormous hand at a sand dune and sending a wave of sand at the Orpheus members.
"How dare you, how dare you! A blemish upon our beautiful face, bearing such a burden," the right head wailed, and another of its arms raised to stroke the cheek of the left head. "We shall be symmetrical once more, we shall!"
The little-girl morsel was forgotten for the moment. Myrias' rage erupted in an enormous, blinding arc of cero that looped across the battlefield from one mouth to the other, seeking out the irritating, gun-toting Orpheus agents in its path while their footing was still disrupted by the sand wave. Her shining curtains of hair billowed outwards, making the monster appear even larger still.
As the brown-haired girl disappeared (much to Masato surprise) he let up on the triggers. He didn't know her name, or her power, but he remembered her from the various Orpheus meetings; always looming near the back, paying strict attention to the information being passed around at these get-togethers. The young agent could only guess as to where she stood in the defunct organization - she seemed to know Aragon decently well. Alas, now was not the time to ponder such things. The girl in question seemed to have just...well...vanished. Her reiatsu suddenly popped out of existence, and she herself seemed to disappear from sight. Masato could only speculate as to how these powers worked, but he knew at least for the time being, she was out of danger. Now they could really let loose. The timely arrival of another one of his comrades was a stroke of luck. Marcus Saile's timing couldn't have been better. Between the four of them, maybe they could bring this beast to its knees.
Sprinting around the beast to get a better angle, he opened fired on the most obvious points of weakness he could discern. This was of course, a shot in the dark. The Demon's physiology could be radically different to the lower level ones he'd fought in his time, but it was worth a shot. Aiming for the mask on the beast's left side, Masato fired off a few rounds.
"Marcus! Get in on this! We could use the extra guns!" Masato yelled, frustrated.
While he was rather well-acquainted with the other two advents and their powers, he had no clue what secrets this agent was hiding. Hopefully he had something more that a 'O-59 Peashooter' up his sleeve.
A massive wave of sand plowed towards their ranks. Materializing his Advent powers, Masato stood strong as the improvised attack battered his exterior.
A glorious beam of red erupted from the Demon's twin mouths, and the ominous nature of the energy was enough to cause Masato to leap out of the Demon's path. He wouldn't want to get caught in such a powerful attack.
[351/555]
He wanted to provide as much firepower as he could to Masato, but it wasn't possible with the sand that was kicked up at them. Covering his eyes with the sleeve of his duster jacket, Marcus waited until the sand died down some. Just barely, the Orpheus agent-in-training noticed the arc of cero coming from Myrias's mouth. They must have seriously ticked off the thing to make it do something as lethal as that.
"Shit," Marcus thought, trying his best to avoid getting close to the cero. Of course, it was a good thing that this desert was vast, but it was also a bad thing because there was nowhere to take cover since it was pretty much just a flat wasteland.
"We need to divide up into two groups. I think if we do that, we could use one group to stall while the other attacks," Marcus muttered to Masato, knowing full well that the gillian couldn't hear them exchanging words.
Indeed, he did have some tricks up his sleeve, but he didn't think that he would be needing it so soon. Who knew that their first fight would end up being with a lunatic hollow that was practically a giant?
Oh well, there was always a first try for everything.
Guys, sorry for the late (and somewhat crappy) response. I'm in Cali right now and I'm having a hella hard time getting to a comp. I'll try my best and be as active in this fight as much as I can. Sorry.
It was about goddamn time they arrived. For a second there, the blond thought as though all hope was lost with his futile little Ira explosion. Even with the backup cavalry being two mere men, it was enough to push even a slight glimmer of hope into the man’s distressed soul. It was five versus two (or one, whatever). Nevertheless, with the number advantage on their side, it still wasn’t enough. Myrias was powerful… probably even the most powerful Hollow Nick has faced as of yet. If they hoped to even come out of this collision alive, they had to rely on three basic aspects: will power, intelligence… and downright luck.
Not long after, a malignant burst of red erupted from the beast as it ravaged madly along the white sands. Almost as if his body itself reacted on its own, Nick began running in a swift sprint sideways for his very life. A laser beam. Nice. What next? Instant regeneration? Apparently, Nick was still a novice regarding Hollow abilities. Besides the basic roars and biting, he had absolutely no clue what other tricks these monsters had within their sleeves.
After watching the destructive blast slowly come to an end, the man glanced in awe at the sheer destruction left by the blast. With the onslaught reflecting before the blond’s very eyes, both his hands quickly began to tremble in fear. What should he do? What should they do?
“Enough.”
The sudden word rung forth from the man’s lips. In that very moment, he somewhat began to understood Cerberus’ true intentions. ‘Preserving mankind’s dominance.’ Now he realized what the organization, and his own father were trying to prove. Humans were weak by nature… far inferior to the near-immortal Shinigamis and Hollows. Nevertheless, mankind had a stubborn reputation of pushing on. They might not be as strong, nor as durable, but that didn’t mean they were to give up. To fight on. That was their mission here. To protect the human race was their drive to push on.
It was high time to show the infamous bullheaded nature these roaches all possessed. It was time to show the undead the difference between tactics and strategy. Moving a safe distance away from Myrias as so she wouldn’t fully hear him, Nick yelled out to his fellow awakened, “The eyes!! Get the eyes!”
Stretching his arms charismatically to both sides, the blond added once more, “Masato! Marcus! Flank the left!! Rafa! You two flank the right!! Blind it, that’s our only hope!!”
I know its hard... but please... just trust me...
He was in no way a leader, nor was he someone who deserved the Orpheus agents’ full trust. All he hoped for was that they, just for this one time, trust an outsider. If they could take out the beast’s vision, their survival rate would undoubtedly become higher. He just hoped that the other four would realize his plan in time.
Going down on one knee, he summoned yet another circle for an attack. As fatiguing as it may have been, Ira was the only method of attacking he could use at the time. He forcefully brought his arm forward, sending the circle into a mad dash towards the beast. Like before, it crawled once again up the enormous monster’s back unto its right head, but this time, the forehead wasn’t the target. This time… those gruesome eyes themselves were the target.
The bartender grinned and turned his head away from the fray in confidence. Seeing the beast taken even the slightest bit aback gave Rafa the notion that this ragtag group might actually have what it takes to go toe to toe with walking skyscraper. The normal hum of Rikidou Koukei slowly mimicked the newfound passion in the bartender's heart - becoming louder and louder with every beat. Soon, the railgun's soft murmur had completely transformed into an emphatic and vehement roar.
He threw his arm out in a dramatic fashion and pointed it straight at Myrias. This was it - he'd put everything behind this next blast. Still smirking, he finally pulled his head back to look at the twin-headed hollow...and was greeted with a pleasant tidal wave of white sand. Nicks words would go on deaf ears, at least in Rafa's case.
The grainy, alabaster wave sent the bartender reeling back into the ground a few meters, completely ruining his plan of attack. What's more, the white dunes completely covered Rafa in a less than shallow pool of sand. Luckily for him, this position kinda kept him safe from the incoming cero released from both of the Myrias' mouths, seeing as the blast narrowly missed the top of the bartender's head. Impacting a little ways behind him, another explosion of sand piled onto Rafa.
It took a bit of struggling, but he soon managed to get out from the sandy aftermath, but not without a few...modifications. His face, caked with white dirt looked far less human - almost positively hollow-like. And on his right should sat a similar bland looking skull, seemingly melded to the top of Rikidou Koukei. All of a sudden, Myrias wasn't the only thing with two heads on its shoulders.
Disappointed not to have struck any of the annoying humans with her cero, Myrias reared up and lurched towards the scrambling agents, coming down amongst them with a crash that shook the ground like an earthquake. Her four hands swept along the surface, mouths agape, when an explosion caught the right head in one of her vast, red-lined eyes, sending up a fume of noxious smoke and a gush of liquid. Cracks radiated from the blast, and another fragment fell earthward.
The beast cried out with an ear splitting screech from each of its ten mouths.
"No, no! Symmetrical, we must be! We will become symmetrical, and then we will devour them all until our belly stuffed to the brim!" An arm from either side of the creature raised, folding their fingers together neatly in front of her chest. In moments, the masks began to knit themselves together, blemished by now symmetrical.
”Now we shall show you singulars the woeful nature of having no Other!” The four fanged maws on Myrias’ hands snapped hungrily as they reached for the glass created by melting the sand with her Cero ray.
Hungrily, she grabbed the sharp chunks and threw them at the humans in a rain of sharp glass that reflected in small rainbows. Her twin mouths opened in wide eyed wonder at the beautiful rain of deadly razors
Marcus was about to unleash his powers, but before he could do so, Myrias had already made a move. He watched, awestruck and dumbfounded at the same time by the display. The sharp razors sure did add an interesting twist to the fight. Now, it was kind of giving Marcus the impression that this two-headed giant was beginning to get desperate, which meant that the band of five Advent Humans were doing a good job so far despite their deceptive sizes. They were humans that were up against a beast that lived to feed on souls and shinigami, but that didn't mean that they were inferior to the other races. Far from it actually.
The vizards had brought them into this war because they needed help, and who else to turn to except the humans. This might have been too far-fetched, but it seemed like the humans had just as big a role to play here in this war as the shinigami or the hollow forces did. Although, even at this point, Marcus didn't understand why he was fighting. He didn't even know if he was on the right side. From his perspective, the shinigami had always been the good guys while the hollows were the bad guys, but yet he was siding with the top of the chain of hollows, the Espada. Had he made the right decision when he stepped up during the Orpheus meeting? Should he have stayed with the Lady Amrit? If he had done that, maybe things wouldn't have gotten so confusing.
They didn't have much time to react; he couldn't warn the others, and Masato was the only one closest to him. Time seemed to travel slowly at the moment; he didn't even know what he was about to do. He was familiar with Masato's powers, and so he would combine his in order to fend off against those sharp razors. Quickly standing behind Masato, Marcus raised his arm up and balled his hands into a fist before pointing up at the shards. Several bullets started to materialize around him. As they sped off, flames started to engulf them.
"Come on, make contact..." It was a gamble, and he was betting everything on it. If the bullets made contact with the glass, then there would be a chain of explosions which could also redirect the shards towards Myrias. If not, then..
Masato was at a complete loss as the deadly rain of razor sharp shards of glass sped towards them. Even the Shouheki couldn't stop such an onslaught. He had to do something. Could he run? No. The attack was covering a wide area, and every second he spent thinking, the deadly wave of glass neared ever closer. He would never avoid it in time. It was then that he noticed Marcus sprinting towards him. It was the first time Masato had seen the agent's advent power. The flurry of fiery, bullet-like projectiles sped to meet the Demon's attack. It was then that it dawned on Masato. If his fellow agent could break up the shards, maybe, just maybe they could survive the attack. But what about Marcus himself? He had no defensive power to speak of. He would be butchered.
The agent's call pulled Masato back to reality. Without a moments hesitation, the young agent sprinted to meet the Marcus. Standing in front of him, he poured all his reiatsu into the Shouheki. Swiftly, the earthen barrier crept over his form. Marcus' attack smashed into the oncoming glass, shattering it into smaller pieces. If they were only slightly less deadly, they might make it out of this. It was a gamble, but it was better to take a chance than die like a dog. Closing his eyes tightly, he waited for the coming impact.
A burning pain engulfed his entire body as the razor sharp projectiles pierced his barrier and passed through his flesh. Chunks of the Shouheki began to break away, but still, he stood firm. They were definitely stopping some of them. The only thing Masato could liken this experience to was having your skin sandblasted. He cringed as the last of the glass flew by.
Falling to his knees, the agent clutched at his midsection that was bleeding profusely. His entire body was covered in lacerations. His power had managed to dampen the attack, but it was no where near powerful enough to stop it entirely. He was lucky to be alive. He hoped that his comrade was in better shape than him. Falling face first into the sand, struggling to breathe, Masato could do nothing but look on as the rest of the battle unfolded.
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It was embarrassing... or pathetic rather, to see his words fall on deaf ears. It seemed that the surging doubts within the back of his mind were right. Who could blame them? It was human nature to care for your own skin, rather than risk it for others... even if they may be your own allies. Nick couldn’t really deny the fact himself. If he did, then that would just justify his own hypocrisy.
Masato and Marcus were free styling it, while the bartender had a dead man’s head stuck on him like some kind of sick joke. Great.
Before the blond could think up of an alternative method to battle the beast, shard-like projectiles flung swiftly towards them in a wild barrage. He wasn’t paying too much attention as to how Myrias did it, but that was beside the point. He was about to conjure up yet another Hell Gate from the sandy ground, but at long last, the fatigue from using all two, plus his injuries from Zhukov finally took its toll on his body. His ligaments stiffened as his bones began to crumble. He couldn’t move.
His eyes widened as he watched the shards come flying towards him before his very eyes.
The barrage hit him hard. It hit him with all its ever blazing might. There was no way to evade such a strike when his body was that ravaged. A four-footer nailed him in the left leg. The force of the impact pierced through his flesh, going through his very muscles. A second bolt charged straight to his left bicep. Like the latter, the shard was impaled on his flesh as well. A third made a grand entrance by slashing furiously at his abdomen’s side. Like things weren’t bad enough, a few other residual glasses splashed from the dusty impact. As small as they were, they nevertheless cut and pierced against the blond’s flesh. With such injuries ravaged at him so ferociously like that, the only thing he could do now was to at least keep himself up. Tough shit.
Nick had lost too much blood already. Before his very eyes, his legs began to give up. It was as if the weight of the world was slammed down on his shoulders by Atlas himself. With one final blood drop running down his forehead, the man’s vision slowly started becoming dim. No... just a little... m-more...
The unavoidable glass rain hurt. A lot. But oh my God, it was so pretty.
The rainbow glass spikes that Myrias so thoughtfully brightened up the battlefield with were razor sharp - dozens of lacerations, ranging from small to large and deep to shallow, were littered all over the bartenders body. Not even the hard metal that made up his railgun went unblemished, as Rikidou Koukei was scratched and dented in a number of places. Rafa's clothes were equally tattered and torn by the crystalline cero-heated sand...but the newest edition to his body, the skull adorning his right shoulder, was largely unaffected. Which was just fabulous, because shoulder skulls were all the rage right now.
The cuts were bleeding at a pretty alarming rate - for one that hadn't seen the light of plurality, at least...or rather, someone as oblivious as the bartender. But also plurality. Rafa, with his new head securely fastened, trudged toward the beast while the majority of others laid with near lifelessly with their horrible wounds on their minds, which was perfectly logical, completely logical, even. Luckily for Rafa, he never had an ounce of logic to begin with. Even with two heads on his shoulders though, the bartender was more daft than ever. Maybe he had more things in common with Myrias than he originally thought.
But even with all their similarities, she was something he wasn't - a hollow. He had a plan, one that was so crazy it just might succeed in stalling for enough time to make a quick getaway. It would take drastic measures though, and for a second Rafa wondered if he had what it took.
The uneasiness didn't last long. No, the thoughts were completely vacated at the exact same time the bartender sunk his teeth into Marcus' shoulder.
