A sibilant hiss slipped through its maws, the dusty rasp of centuries past by it. The distant sun poked dimly through the trees and for a brief moment, the creature was lit up by the light.
Then it faded, and as the assault neared the creature the forest was once more plunged into darkness. It could feel the slow reckoning of the weakest, its previously dismissed capabilities now readily acknowledged.
Its arms were thrown wide, its house-sized frame accenting its spindly limbs with all the consistency of an upright spider. The mace recoiled against the barrier, the hollow carrying the inertia with it around to smash against the bloodthirsty templar’s. A distant clang echoed through the stifled forest, a terrible clarity of sound that shook in the ears of all who enjoyed its presence.
The trident was shoved forward, slowly dragging down the traitor in their midst into the ground where he would soon rest. The spear which had tasted the blood of the newly tainted aggressor lashed out, catching the blades against the rigor mortis of the polearm.
They struggled and strained, but their blades did not budge, and as they attempted to back away from the clash the arms followed them outwards, their ghastly strength levelled upon them greedily.
These ones amused it, and so he would entertain himself with them. “The turn of centuries past at my heed, blessed men turned to dark and corrupt in their entropy. Foolish prey thinks itself predator...
“Angels do not weep for the dead, yet the demons cackle.”
Sin Eater’s energy did not relent, but instead intensified over the area around them. The haze of Amaya’s mind grew from simple pleasure to a distant arousal, the scream of her muscles straining against the Hollow enticing her ever more.
Mitsuhito had lost his capacity to stand, and in his lethargy could only gasp and cough for the air which was now being forced from his lungs by the malignant aura which surrounded the area. The distant rumble in Kago’s stomach roared ever louder, unsatiated with its meagre helpings as it shook his very core and body with its emptiness.
Zakeriah, now, felt a distant clang in his own mind, as it resonated against the clashing steel. The mace, which so casually forced him back, burnt in his heart. Such a weapon which could hardly be stopped by the Lieutenant, yet he stood with it evenly. The distant accomplishment echoed in his mind.
One of its three heads turned to face the medic, and Sin Eater sneered at the prey who adamantly threw itself on the sword for its victory. “Your laughter disgraces you, your sins exposed with your entrails. I have glimpsed the forsaken, and in them your cruelty. I took your sins...
“Let me show you mine.”
At once the jaw cracked open, its lower portion unhinging in a grotesque display as a distant red glow hummed in its gullet. He felt his power churn, and it fed it more. The glow became a fire, a glimpse of hell that reflected in the medic’s eyes as he unleashed its fury.
Hell lit the forest, and all became clear in the dismal crimson lighting of the hollow’s hunger. Time became meaningless, pointless in the instants by which the beam travelled, yet in that moment the forest was no longer silent, but alive.
Life that had previously been non-existent, yet squealed and shrieked as it burned. The trees, once silent, cracked and bristled with the heat as it cooked them before the force of the attack was levied against the shinigami himself.
Time became endless, a distant clockwork in David Graves’ mind as only a single number was made prominent.
Cero.
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