You can run, but you can't hide.
Bounty between Me, Isa and Celly.
Downtown Tokyo.
There was not a single notion of insanity, of something wicked brewing, as the Japanese people went about their daily routines. Like any normal human being, they all got up for work, they all went downstairs for breakfast, they clothed themselves, and they walked the same normal line to their works every single day.
Today was no more different a morning than any other uneventful day.
That is... if you didn’t account for the fact that a ten foot tall monstrosity stood motionlessly among the crowd of people walking around and about downtown Tokyo, its beastly eyes lusting at the very thought of gorging on these oh-so-tasty humans.
A thunderous roar echoed through the ages as Skullbrusher prepared itself for its upcoming feast.
The city of restless neons. So they used to call Tokyo. Even after dawn, those sleepless lights kept sparkling, challenging the sun’s luminance itself. Sounds, noises, smells and the magnificence of Humanity’s neo age allured each and every one of her senses. She wasn’t used to that environment, and it still amazed her.
Awesome..!
It was supposed to be a simple Konsou routine mission. An explosion in a building, followed by a fire, took the lives of several people. Their souls, confused due to the violent nature of their deaths, drenched in despair, sorrow and dread, remained attached to the tragic spot, wandering helplessly. As consequence, many Hollows were drawn to the place, allured by the scent of fresh souls. They were lesser Hollows, though. Tiresome, but not a big deal for to a group of four.
Specially when those morons didn’t let me do anything!!
Pissed, Hinome gave them the tongue, carrying a sulky face while she walked behind them. Bored, she wondered...
I wonder how’s everyone doing in Kyoto... Their briefing was a nightmare compared to ours...
The group walked silently. Even though there was a well trained synergy between them during battle and duty, Hinome couldn’t say they were social, let alone friendly. She resigned herself to that silence, simply following them in the protocol patrol around the nearby radius. She stayed a several steps behind their elastic pace.
"Do not linger behind, Miyamori!” one of them tossed, brusquely. "Move!”
"Hai! Sorry!” she promptly said, skipping her way forwards.
Boy... What a bummer!
The streets were beginning to crowd up. Amidst the thousands of man and women, dressed with the modern trends, Hinome and he group of phantoms looked awkwardly misplaced. Invisible to that spiritually blind crowd, they kept walking through them, searching for any dissident fiend.
Huh?
Hearing a click on her mind, Hinome suddenly stopped and stared through a wide avenue, of which she wasn’t able to see the end. For a moment she could swear she sensed the presence of a fellow shinigami. For a moment. She couldn’t precise if it was just her, but a faint sting of despair echoed within that ephemeral impression.
Weird...
She kept walking.
//
M... Miyamori...-san?
Takeshi felt a relentless torpor taking over each muscle of his body. The cold breeze whistled a lament of defeat deep inside his eardrums. He had been lying in the edge of a tall building’s roof long before dawn.
They... did not... notice me...
Things were not supposed to have turned out like this. Not with him. He was The Takeshi... That moment had been swirling in his mind over and over for hours, since he fell. A moment of distraction, a second of overconfidence, an entire life of recklessness. It had just took him a blink of an eye, a fractal second of distraction to that Hollow’s sharp horn skewer his stomach. It was so dark back then...
"S-Shit...”
Gasps of blood leaked through his mouth. That metallic taste could be felt from within his throat. He fought hard to not be choked by his own fluids. The pain? It was the least of his problems at that very moment. He still didn’t accept death.
It can’t be far... Minna-san... Be careful...
A click in the S.O.S. report upload was all Takeshi could do before the deaf blackness engulfed him.
Wind whipped across his angular jawline as Celly cruised through from building to building. He had nearly finished with his duties in the real world for the day and was simply taking a bit of extra time to admire the scenery, enjoying the busy life of the human world. Dressed in a sleeveless shinigami uniform, Celly's rather long hair was tied up into a neat ponytail that wafted in the wind from his movements. His sword was strapped to his side.
His psych evaluations had proven him fit for combat duty, but not fit for group of assignments; as a result, Excelsior Rhodes received solo patrol routes. It suited him just fine; being away from people allowed the young man a degree of peace to clear his mind and maintain a delicate emotional calm oftentimes so easily destroyed by the world around him. His routes also tended to be shorter and easier than those given to patrol groups, which afforded Celly more time to wander around by himself or return earlier to rest in his dwellings.
Today, however, would be a different day. As Celly leisurely glided from building to building, his phone bypassed its normal ringing procedure and went straight into speaker.
"We've received a report of an unidentified Hollow in Tokyo...."
As Celly listened to the rest of the distress call, he shifted his weight, bounding back in the opposite direction he had just came from. Without speaking a word, his silver eyes hardened and his hands drifted to the hilt of his sword.
All is nothing, he thought. But the mantra did little to stop the adrenaline rush flowing through his veins.
Thanks for clearing that up, Isa, I still feel you should've done that kind of stuff in a pchapter or some sort, as it was rather confusing.
Incidents.
They were a funny bunch those incidents. Who was to say they really were just that... incidents? No one! Since all these spiritually unaware beings could ever see was their brethren either dropping to the ground, or they would just disappear altogether.
They could not for their lives figure out the fact that there was a far more sinister reason behind it.
As a bestial roar thundered through the clouds of Tokyo, vaguely resembling the words, "SKULLBRUSH POWAH!!” men and women alike started to drop down to their knees, or even downright falling face first on the ground.
Standing in front of a vitrine, with her mouth opened in pure awe, Hinome locked her eyes in a beautiful saffron dress. It wasn’t the only one that lured her attention. There was a beautiful blue one, and a white with draperies, and a cute pink skirt... She let herself go in that futile voyage, forgetting about the world around. Usual.
I wonder why Sayaka-san didn’t pay it them any attention...
Her thoughts briefly flew to that stoic girl in her mission team. Yes... Mission!
"Awh...” she whined with a grimace, turning her head towards the crowd. "Crap.”
Her team was nowhere to be seen amongst that hasty mob. No trace of the black robes within that rather colorful crowd. A needle of stress stung in her heart. She had just stopped for a brief moment - a brief moment! - but it was enough to lose sight on them; it was enough to be left behind. Once again she got mad on herself; and frustrated.
Why am I always so dumb?! Dammit!!
Her angry thoughts of anguish and frustration stormed in her head. Hinome wasn’t sure which way was the rendezvous point where the Senkaimon would be opened. She looked around desperately, trying to pull any faint memory about those sparkling streets, so she could find her way. Lights, lights, screens and concrete. All different, all clueless.
Crap crap crap crap...!
Hinome strode through the crowd, agile like a chased cat, trying her best to not phase through them and disrupt their spiritual bodies. It was not an easy task. Here and there someone yelled with sudden cramps, when she bumped through them. But suddenly...
"There!” she yelled in satisfaction.
A luminous sign with a flashing yellow car ripped a big smile in her face. That parking lot was the place they arrived! It was the meeting spot! Running fast as a rocket, the ginger hurricane reached the gates of the lot. The Senkaimon was already there, the team was entering.
"Hey!” she shouted aloud, as the three shinigami walked through the luminous gate. "Wait for m...”
They didn’t even care to look back. Maybe they didn’t hear, because the construction site nearby bellowed a deafening noise. Or maybe she didn’t scream loud enough. It started to close.
"No!”
She even pulled off a desperate flash step, but in her jump, she only met the void, then the ground. The Senkaimon was gone.
No... Nononononono...
Hinome stayed kneeled on the asphalt for a while, looking at her hands.
"Dang!” she cursed, punching the gritted floor.
Huffing, she reached for her denreishinki phone...
*BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP*
Oh! They already noticed!
Smile. Push the button. Answer.
"Mochi-mochiii~ Miyamori speaking...” she said jovially to the operator.
Hinome’s visage frowned when as she heard the digital voice from the speaker. A cold shiver ran from her spine to her gut. Fate.
"You mean then... Takeshi-san... I see...” she muttered, mostly. Her left hand knuckle was constricted into a ball, while the other could barely hold the denreishiki. Legs trembled; eyes burnt in a salty itch. "Yes... Is there someone els...? Oh... I understand... Yes... I accept... Thank y...”
The call ended and her eyes were lost in the dark asphalt. A cold shiver still ran through her spine and her stomach swirled. Hands were sweaty.
"...”
A Hollow. A dangerous one was rampaging the area. It already killed a shinigami. A shinigami from her division. Someone she knew. Takeshi. The Takeshi, as they used to call him. And who was she to face something that strong? Something that killed him!
What do I do now...?!
Fight!
Fight!
Fight!
Fight!
Fight!
Huh?!
Hinome pulled her head up and swirled her eyes around trying to look for that echoing voice that came out of the blue. Whispers swirled around her. She got even more scared.
"W-Who’s there?” she called out loud.
Her question was answered by a noise of breaking glass, followed by a salvo of desperate screams. That was when she noticed it. The dark, rancid spiritual energy that clutch her guts like bad sake. The shiver running through her nape. That aura of fear. No doubt was left.
"It’s him.”
More people would die if she stayed there. Die on her. That would never happen. Not on her watch.
- Ease your storm, Hayate-chan! -
Kuroyama’s voice visited her thoughts and she sighed deeply, gathering courage into her lungs. A step. Hinome’s heart drummed crazily when she gripped her sword hilt and ran towards the epicentre of calamity.
How could anyone have missed such an enormous ... black ... thing writhing around like some dancing tendril? Celly stood upon a nearby flagpole, his lips pursed and his arms resting listlessly at his side. His original plan had been to calmly assess the situation, enter into a meditative state, and then approach the combat as he had always been taught to do so, but the sheer ... size- no, the sheer ugliness of the Hollow distracting him. He could feel the revulsion rise up his throat like bile just thinking about it.
Disgusting creatures. The normally placidly passive Celly had finally found an object for the considerable about of dark, crabby emotions spiraling inside. Sadly, this was preventing from being any calmer than a lunatic or a schizo would be on any given day. He concentrated, feeling his hands clench into fists and then relax again.
All is nothing.
He could hear the roars, the rather rudimentary words, and the other noises of the Hollow's rampage through Tokyo. A sudden loud crash brought his silver eyes to open, and he cursed under his breath. Adrenaline and its fellow neurotransmitters had did their job and he was now feeling jittery rather than calm, impatient rather than steady. Irritation rather than peace. His sword, still wrapped within its nest of cerulean silk, remained silent.
He was going to try again. But just as he was about to close his eyes, he spied a figure running towards the Hollow, about to brandish a sword or a weapon of some kind. The sight of a second combatant brought a slump to his shoulders, and Celly felt rather dejected- instantly, he considered what might happen if the figure got him-or-herself killed or something. The thought brought a new emotion into his mental mix- guilt. Even though nothing had happened yet.
Well, no way he was going to be calm now.
Sighing, Excelsior Rhodes followed the girl from above, dashing from rooftop to rooftop and never letting her leave his sight. He didn't know who she was, but he was going to protect her. That's what people like him do; stupidly protect other people who enjoy running into dangers headlong for some reason or another.
All is nothing, but the last ditch attempt to calm his mind only fueled his emotions and caused a dejected element to shine in his eyes.
Hinome dashed through the street like a sunlit rocket, chasing the foul spiritual signature. Her stomach felt like being wrapped in sandpaper, for the closer she got to the beast, each and every particle of reishi in her body quivered under its dreadful presence. The clamor of screams got louder as she reached a wide plaza.
"Huh?”
A presence from above lured her attention.
Shinigami?
It was a bit far, but she saw a black robed blur jumping through the roofs above. The person stopped in the top of a five storeys building. It was a man. Why was he so passive in that situation? Was he, by any chance, unaware of that Hollow? He should be rushing as well...
Who’s him?
Another salvo of screams pulled her attention towards the viscera of the downtown, where her target seemed to have made more victims. The desperate cries fueled her legs to pull the turbo and disappear from the spot in a flash step.
It’s near!
Hinome ran against the rushing crowd that fled from the horror they could not see. But in no time the shinigami saw it. The vision made her pull the brake on her feet. Dreadful to say the least...
"Shit.”
A blue titan. An azure devil with sharp horns and massive iron muscles. Miyamori Hinome knew it right on the spot. She was screwed.
To say she was screwed would’ve been a gross understatement, as Skullbrusher blindingly charged the young shinigami.
This was it. This was why he was Skullbrusher! This was what all his countless hours of feeding had accounted for, a healthy death god dinner! Though everything but smart, and definitely not the fastest amongst its brethren, the horned hollow still pressed on mightily as his claws stretched itself outwards in an attempt to grab the girl by her robes.
"RAAAAAH!!!!” it roared as it picked up its pace, "SHINIGAMI TASTY FOOD!”
"HUAAAAH” she yelled as she dove between the Hollow’s massive legs, and rolled along the asphalt in a clumsy narrow escape.
The beast’s lunge was crude and blind but almost got her. It would soon, if she slacked on her reflexes. She noticed that the fabric adornments on her shoulders were ripped away; parts of it hanged in the Hollow’s claws.
"Tsh...”
She picked herself agilely and locked her eyes on the azure colossus about three yards away from her. It moved slower than she firstly though and didn’t seem to be that smart, let alone accurate. In the beast’s voracious lust, it exposed several fragile areas; critical areas. Any rookie shinigami would easily spot them, specially one from the Eleventh. The titan’s mindless greed for her flesh was its biggest mistake. So was underestimating its potential meal.
Dumbtard slowpoke.
Hinome pressed her feet against the shaky ground and with a swift pull, she brought her blade to the light and flash stepped like a bullet towards the colossus’ right leg. Using the speed momentum when she reached the huge limb, the ginger swordswoman swayed the razor edge of her zanpakutou in a fierce cut against the Hollow's knee. From that close, she surely wouldn’t miss something that big, that slow, that dumb.
[ 212 // 1,765 ]
OOC Note: Rob, I guess you didn't understand Hinome's position from the start; maybe it wasn't left clear enough. She wasn't that close from SB yet. I was assuming, since my previous turn, that the Hollow was something like few yards away from Hinome when she laid her eyes on it. For the sake of moving this forward, I'll make the change, but let's keep this sharper from now on. It would also be far easier for each of us if everyone tried to play along with the situations, instead of trying to drive them in an inflexible leash.
The hollow was perhaps two steps away from you from his initial charge.
There is a) no way you can write up 300 words of careful planning with this kind of charge, nor b) is there any chance of flash stepping towards something that's pretty much already at point blank range.
Only idiots rushed into combat without assessing situations; and with the Hollow's attention solely focused upon the girl who felt that running through people's legs and underestimating potentially lethal Hollow reflexes was a good idea, Celly was more than content with stopping atop the roof of a nearby building directly adjacent to what was going on. He must have been several stories away from the ground, making it rather unlikely for the Hollow to reach him- unless the Hollow was wearing rocket boots or jumped like a basketball superstar.
Marishiten by now had been released from its constricting blue silk covering but Celly was only idly brandishing it, keeping his right hand tight on the grip. He was crouched over, observing the action through pale eyes, waiting for the perfect moment to make his appearance; most likely at some point when the girl down there was caught in something and he'd have to go down there and save her. Somehow. Or something.
Something like that. He remained still and continued to watch carefully, ready to act in an instant's notice.
Yet the woman's slash was no more than a shallow cut for him-- no more than half an inch, really. Any rookie would easily underestimate how hard his muscles were, especially a woman shinigami. He felt the woman's blade like a scratch upon his leg, yet it stung nonetheless-- to something as large as Skullbrusher, it was more of an itch than a pain. If she wanted to hurt him, she probably needed to do more than that. Crimson blood trickled down from the wound, and it tickled, like a horde of ants swarming out from the wound. He kicked about, hoping to fend off whatever was there on his leg.
A roar escaped his lips, something on the verge of a laugh, as his massive arms swooped down to his right leg in a hasty attempt to catch anything.
ooc: SB-tan uses a passive ability to match with his bulky stature, something about a harder skin. Tougher, but totally not necessarily uncuttable.
Hinome looked at her blade incredulous, when a huge shadow covered her. The quick glance above was enough to make her flash away from the hasty claws, but she wasn’t agile enough to avoid losing her entire left sleeve to the Hollow’s massive, painfully sharp talons.
"Tsh...”
A salty pain ran through her arm, from the shoulder to the wrist. A carnated gash bled profusely.
"Ahhhhnnnn....”
She grated her teeth with a sour grimace. But there was no time for whining. Few yards away, the azure behemoth seemed fiercer than never. What could she do if she was unable to chop it down?
I can’t fight him at point blank... Bastard!
Stung by a needle of frustration, the auburn haired shinigami glared at ironskin titan. Its growls made her bowels tremble. Hinome never thought she would face something that dangerous, that dreadful, that soon. And alone. Well, almost alone.
Why do you stay up there? Moron!
The presence of that nameless shinigami could still be felt. Hinome started to become furious over his inaction; so furious she wanted to take him down instead. A deafening growl made the shinigami jerk her head towards the Hollow. It seemed ready to charge. A faint idea crossed her mind...
Here goes nothing...
She pointed her finger at the monster.
"Subjects of fire, dance! Hadou number sixteen, Hiashi!”
The auburn ring was lit and the fire geyser erupted right after. She charged.
Pressing his heels into the roof, Celly took a gentle leap and fell off the building. In mid-air, he slowly tilted his body so that his face was pointed down, as though uncaring of whether his face would be demolished by the concrete floor below. In his right hand was his sword but, as he flew downward, the cerulean silk whipped furiously in the wind and flew off into the distance. Celly paid no attention- instead, he pressed his limbs close to his body, reducing his surface area, decreasing his air resistance.
Just briefly before he got to the ground, Celly tensed his muscles and did a backflip to land on his feet, causing an explosion of dust. With another twist of his ankles, he pressed forward and tackled the other female shinigami just as her spell finished in the face of the charging titan.
"I'm not sure if firing something like that against something with those defenses when the distance is decreasing so rapidly ... is such a good idea," he murmured to her as they crashed somewhere to the side of the Hollow's approach. Quickly, he picked himself up and braced himself for the coming impact.
Skullbrusher jumped up and down in pain as the crimson fire swirled around it, as if the hollow was some sort of treat being roasted. More importantly, the wound that seemed only but a mere itch started to throb as the small fiery tongues permeated on that one opening, like little needles that punctured its leg with every move it tried to make.
It thrashed its arms and legs, searching for that vermin who dared to taint his eyes with that wild vermilion hue. The hollow roared and clenched its gargantuan hands into fists as it twisted and turned in its place. Only a single word escaped its lips as it found the slattern and another infernal shinigami beside her: KILL.
With heavy steps, the azure hollow trudged towards the two. The pain on its body remained, all of its muscles quivering with the sheer heat that engulfed him. The breeze did little to help-- in fact it might have fueled the fire in its body. "KILLLLL!" The hollow roared even louder as it moved forward with big, heavy steps. The azure behemoth continued waving its arms in the air, hoping to remove the fire from his own body.
"HEY! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?” Hinome howled furiously at the nameless shinigami, raising her fist towards him. He was young, just like her, and seemed a rookie as well. That thought didn’t bring her any solace. They would both have to struggle, it seemed. "You ruined my change to-”
A quaking stomp in the ground made her jerk her head towards the Hollow.
Crap...
The azure goliath charged in their direction, agonizing with me reminiscing flames. He was angrier than ever, and, seemingly, its reiatsu burst into a ferocious surge. The beast got getting dangerously close.
"Hey! What are you doing? Move!" she growled angrily, as she hijacked the boy by the kosode and dragged him with her as she dashed away from the incoming titan like a rocked. "Do you want to become pureé or something?”
The Hollow marched in their direction, quaking the ground as it chased the Shinigami, however, Hinome was way faster than it. She saw a tree to hide and yanked the nameless partner with her.
"Listen, I had an idea... Fire,” she started, whispering. The ground shook. "Fire will disrupt his focus and, with luck, it will make his armored skin softer... How good are you with Kidou?”
...because I suck.
[ 211 // 2,004 ]
@guys: let's not mind much about turn rotations, in case you're concerned about it. let's just get it flowing. can we try to wrap the collab this week?
Farther. They ran farther and farther away, and the hollow's speed was not even on the brink of theirs--of the woman's. Advancing at a solid rate of three feet per step due to his ridiculously bulky legs, the azure behemoth struggled to catch them. Yet it thrashed about, until the last tongue of that infernal crimson fire left its body. Humans ran and screamed as cracks appeared on the concrete ground, and several more shrieked as the invisible menace nonchalantly shoved them away from his path, throwing them off a few meters away. Inevitably, he could have left large slashes on the poor civilians' body with those large claws.
That tree. It served as an impediment between the hollow and its tasty food. It must destroy the tree, at all costs.
NO CATCH, NO EAT! SKULLBRUSHER... MUST... CATCH! The hollow roared as it came closer and closer to the target, to that tree no larger than he was. Mustering the best speed it could ever have, it blindingly ran towards the tree (and the shinigami) with its horny head pointed straight to its target, like a bull charging to that vermillion cloth in a matador's hand.
The violent thrust came before she could prepare for a proper dodge, and before they could blink, both of them were tossed away like rag dolls, splitting apart in different directions. The Hollow roared violently.
"Tsh...”
Before she crashed over a bus, yards away from the horned beast, Hinome saw the nameless shinigami crashing through the vitrine of a shop like a rocket. Alarms started to scream along with the terrified civilians, who fled from the vehicles in panic. People ran for their lives, avoiding the splinters of that invisible battle with blind luck. Yes, despite the dreadful danger, luck was on their side. The Hollow was completely focused on the Shinigami, ignoring the humans as it rampaged in reapers’ pursuit. Still, fighting something that big, that brute, in the heart of a megalopolis would need surgical skill to completely avoid casualties... Some façades were cracked and vehicles were smashed. That plaza looked like a post-war scenario.
People will get hurt if this battle gets any uglier...
Hinome looked at her blade, frowning. She knew it would be quite useless against the Hollow’s iron skin. Her fingers gripped it furiously. She was a shinigami. She was supposed to defeat that Hollow! If she didn’t, more people would die, just like Takeshi! A furious glare locked in the incoming beast. She then realized...
Of course...
With firm resolve, the ginger warrior rose on her feet, fighting the pain of the several contusions she suffered. A battle stance was assumed. Her reiatsu flared and a bright gold aura loomed around her.
"You are going down,” she snarled, pointing a finger at the horned goliath. "Spinner of fate, unwind and cast yourself... Bakudou number four, Hainawa!”
Glowing strings of Kidou gathered around her hand and the luminous serpentine devoured the yards, striving towards the Hollow’s massive arms, wrapping around them like a tight neon rope.
It will be enough.
Before the beast could growl, Hinome grabbed her zanpakutou’s hilt with both hands and charged in painful flash step.
It should have hurt. It should have been painful, backbreaking, bone-bruising. It would have had anyone recoiling upon the floor, unable to move, eyes painfully open and breath gasping in and out.
But Celly merely got up out of the rubble he was thrown into and calmly stepped through a broken glass window. His left arm was bent in a funny direction, but with gritted teeth, the young shinigami slammed it into a nearby drywall and cracked it back into place. Once confirming that he had properly set his fracture with a quick test of his freedom of movement, Celly turned his attention back to the battle with now blazing silver eyes.
By now it was pretty clear that the Hollow had some crazy defense, but there was that crack, that sliver, that wound that the girl had inflicted earlier. It was a long-shot, crazy by all intents, but she had its attention now. It would not notice him, hopefully. In the back of his mind, he was aware of the swelling in his left arm that was beginning to make it hard to move.
Strike hard and fast. He pressed upon his sore ankles and rushed forward, approaching from the Hollow's five o'clock.
The wound was in the front. The knee. He could feel the tendons pulse with inflammation from the woman's ineffective attacks. She had started this fight, however silly it was. He was going to finish it.
He twisted around the Hollow's ankles. He brought his sword up, and with a fervor unlike his own, Excelsior Rhodes made to stab his zanpakutou through the knee, through the scratch of the wound, the chink in the armor.
Oh Marishi-ten, he thought to himself. Let it hit.
@Celly-- hitting a bent bone on a wall won't fix it. It could crush your bones there
Also, the wound isn't on SB's knee. And no, the wound isn't on the front. It's on the side. With or without the wound being there, I'd assume you just attacked as you have written.
Skullbrusher roared loudly, as the infernal rope of energy wrapped around its body. It didn't hurt, sure, but it could not move effectively! Plus, the little shinigami seemed to have its body tied to her. This infuriated the azure monster and as a result, it thrashed about once more-- out of anger, out of hate. Yet it caught nothing but air.
In a desperate attempt to escape, the hollow stopped on its tracks and concentrated. It needed to break the bondage, and that was exactly what Skullbrusher did. The woman was fast, and she went closer and closer by the second, yet something came first. As soon as the rope of energy dissipated into thin air, the hollow fell towards the shinigami as a sharp pain seared through its leg. The shinigami's blade couldn't have gotten through the monster's knee cap, but the behemoth's footing changed and as a result, the man's asauchi tore through the flesh right at the between the leg's tibia and fibula.
It thrashed about, which only led the boy's sword to permeate deeper into its azure flesh. Deeper and deeper until its flesh was nothing more than mere inches away from the hilt.
Anatomically, it would have been impossible to take the damned weapon out by yanking it on the side, considering that it was stuck between two large bones and all. But Skullbrusher was incredibly stupid-- a special kind of stupid, really, that its enormous hand reached for the other end of the asauchi and thought that the hollow could remove it by pushing it away from the leg. Heavens bless Skullbrusher's stupidity, but all the hollow did was to bend that little thing the shinigami called a sword. Disappointed by the attempt, the hollow reached for it from another direction and pulled it. Great. Now the hollow had it around his leg.
Thoroughly annoyed by that attempt (and the pain that made his whole leg quiver), its large hands nearly swooped down on the shinigami stuck beneath its gargantuan body, but the lady got her blade caught right on the monster's shoulder. Instead, the hollow motioned to slap her away, with one enormous hand.
p.s. I used Fuubi
Notes about timing: I assumed that it happened simultaneously, so while Hinome casted that kidou, Celly was already moving.
