Fighting for No Reason. Unusual? Yes. (Open)

(OOC: This thread is open, but there will also be some NPC fighting in it to so just know that.)

Feeling like fighting someone, Holland searched for any sort of signatures of strength, he remembered hearing the ‘ones in black’ calling it reiatsu. A sort of energy that was every where and in everything, though it was stronger in certain areas and things than others.


Feeling the many humans practically non existent reiatsu and nothing with any power, Holland jumped up and flew away. His large powerful wings beating against the air, pulling his large form into the sky using only his wings so that he could hide his reiatsu. While soaring through the air about twenty feet above the houses he opened up his senses and searched for any sort of sign for something that he could fight.

It was a rare occurrence for when Holland actually wanted to fight something. Most of the time when he found, or searched, for something he would ‘examine’ and do multiple on site ‘tests’ with it.

Scanning any where and every where with his masked eyes for any sign of something to fight and searching for any reiatsu signatures.

Masaru stepped out of the Senkai Gate excited beyond belief. This was to be his first solo mission out in the Real World, his mission was a standard Hollow extermination mission. Masaru hoped that he would be able to uphold the honor of the 8th Division. The instant he stepped out, he sensed the subtle pressures of all kinds of Hollow reiatsu around him. Masaru was feeling supremely confident, and so decided he would pick a favorable spot to fight, and issue a challenge to any Hollow foolish enough to pick a fight.

He glanced around, taking in his position. Currently, he stood on a telephone pole overlooking a lonely street. Unlikely there would be anything of interest here. He decided to move on until he reached a better strategic area- a playground. Here, he stood in the very center, Masaru released his impressive reiatsu into the air. Out of his entire squad minus the Captain and Vice-Captain, Masaru had one of the highest reiatsus, despite being a new recruit.

He drew his nodachi and waited. No Hollow would be able to resist this.

Sensing a new reiatsu signature nearby Holland went to go investigate. Clearly seeing that the amount being shown was a challenge to any and all nearby. Running through his memories he found out that the power was coming from a nearby play ground with lots of open area.

Flying even lower the buildings speed by in an indistinguishable blur. Coming upon the area he took a sharp turn showing the edge of his shape, but then ducked below the roofs. Sensing other hallows coming to the area, Holland had decided to see what the abilities of the enemies were and to fight the strongest one, the winner. Holland may have wanted to fight, but he would not forgo his own safety for this.

Holland sensed three hallows moving in fast. One from the air and two from the ground. Going towards the source of the energy. They were not ‘hatchlings,’ but they were not that strong either. Going over to a set of trees some distance away he settle in to watch. His inhuman vision clearly seeing a masked ‘one in black’ standing there in the middle of the play ground.

Masaru did not have long to wait. Soon, he felt the presences of three Hollows approaching his position. One was nearer than the rest, approaching fast. Looking quickly in the direction he felt it in, Masaru saw the winged Hollow coming in fast; it was a horrifyingly emaciated version of a pterodactyl, its beak filled with needle-like teeth. Masaru drew his sword and watched its fast approach- it stopped nearly above him and dove, its razor-sharp beak seeking to pierce Masaru's abdomen.

Masaru jumped to the side at the last instant and lashed out with a retaliatory strike at its wing, just managing to slice a long cut across it. The Hollow gave a shriek and with several quick beats of its wings, climbed up into the sky again. The other two Hollows Masaru sensed were drawing nearer now too; they were coming across the ground. They appeared at the same time, though coming from different directions. One was a huge eel-like creature, its body undulating as it moved toward Masaru. The other was clam-like, consisting of pretty much only a shell and maw.

The Hollows attacked all at once; the airborne one coming in with another dive, and the other two charging straight at him. The airborne one arrived a couple seconds before the others; Masaru jumped to the side again, this time his blade was swinging as he jumped, and he successfully severed the Hollow's wing, sending it crashing to the ground in pain. He turned just in time to thrust his sword at the clam Hollow, which closed its maw around his blade before it could reach its soft innards.

With a mighty roar, Masaru infused his blade with his reiatsu so it would not break, and whirled. The clam Hollow at the end of his blade was like the massive head of a sledge, and it crashed into the eel Hollow's face, shattering its mask on contact. "Hado no Ichi: Sho!" Masaru used the spell to push the clam Hollow off his blade, which he then used to finish the pterodactyl Hollow. As the clam Hollow flew back, its mouth opened slightly. "Hado no Yo: Byakurai!" Masaru's spell took it directly in the mouth; a masterful shot. The Hollow dissolved away to join its comrades in death.

Masaru's breathing came hard after the fight. It had been a whirlwind of action, but he felt proud of having been able to take on three Hollows at once. He could still sense one in the fringes of his "vision," but couldn't seem to pinpoint its exact location. He decided he would pressure it into coming out; he gave another roar and began pumping his reiatsu into the atmosphere again.

(OOC: Sorry about 2 things. 1. I would have said what the hallows looked like so that you wouldn't have had to have gone to the trouble of doing so 2. Sorry this took so long to come. I've been traveling and haven't had any internet for a while so the last post wouldn't have come out till now if I had tried adding the Hallow's descriptions.)


Holland watched the ‘one in black’ fight off the three hallows. The figure had used the length of his sword to it’s benefit. Beating the three would not be a problem for the figure. Holland estimated that the ‘one in black’ was about as tall as he was, maybe just a tad bit shorter than him.

The ‘one in blacks’ posture at the beginning of the battle had been crisp and rigid, but it had slowly deteriorated with the flow of battle. It was slowly turning feral, excited almost. The body position of the one was still rigid, but it was no longer refined, the figure looked like a savage. Holland mused that the refined look must be for some reason, but registered that reason void.

Sensing and hearing a hallow roar behind him Holland turned and saw a non-flying type hallow zooming through the air towards him. It was a hatchling, a weakling that had no idea what it was doing other than following it’s instincts. Holland moved out of the trajectory of the oncoming hallow and let it pass by him. He watched it futile attempt to reach him as it breezed by.

Shooting a jet of his Maguma no Kemuri at a tree that the horse/bird like hallow passed. Making sure that it did not show outside of the forest, the fumes from his attack hit the other younger hallow. Making it disoriented, falling to the ground instead of landing and skidding to a halt the hallow hit the ground on it’s side and tumbled side over side.

‘Stupid creature’ Holland thought while speeding towards the downed hallow and slashed it with his claws. Watching it start to dissipate he grabbed a piece of it’s mask and ate it. Gaining the ‘hatchlings’ measly reiatsu.

Feeling the ‘one in black’s’ reiatsu he turned and saw an amusing site. The ‘ones in black’ he usually saw killed other hallows because they were ‘dangerous beasts.’ Yet the one he saw in front of him was letting out a bestial roar and a very animal like challenge.

Deciding on seeing how his opponent would react he spoke out, which was highly uncommon in most of the hallows he had seen. “It seems that you are quite interesting my rabid acquaintance.” His gravely voice translating a tad bit of humor.

“It seems that you are quite interesting my rabid acquaintance.”

Masaru turned to see a dragon-like Hollow emerge from the nearby woods; it was all black, and had leathery wings, and eyes that shown like imperfect rubies in the night. Masaru answered in an equally low, gravely voice, "How ironic that I be called rabid by a Hollow." Privately, Masaru had to admit to himself that he had let a little too much of his bestial personality surface. He had let the fight get to him, let the roar of battle resound too strongly in his ears. He would have to work to restrain that part of him. The Hollow was right- Masaru had been acting too feral.

Masaru's breathing slowed as he watched the Hollow for response; he was calming himself, so he could analyze how best to kill this one. Obviously it was more intelligent than the three that had just attacked him; it could speak, for one thing, and for another, it could be ironic. He would have to be more careful when dealing with this one, that was for sure.

It was a large creature, but looked to be no more than 3 inches taller than Masaru, if it stood to its full height. Masaru noted its claws, its fangs, and its spiked body and tail. Its whole body was more or less a weapon. Yes, Masaru would have to be careful. Masaru leveled his massive nodachi at the Hollow. "I'm afraid I have to kill you, Hollow," he said. "For it is the law."

Smirking underneath his Hallow mask Holland watched as the ‘one in blacks’ posture changed back to it’s once regal self. Noting that his once beastly like stance was probably something important to the interesting person in front of him. “I guess I am categorized as a hallow, but I am nothing like those stupid creatures. Only going to fill the void, no. I am still sentient and disapprove of those despicable creatures.” Hollands gravely voice radiated annoyance.

Noting that his opponent was sizing him up he bent over onto all fours rolling his wings close to his back. He had no need since had watched him from the tree line. The one in front of him had a substantial more amount of spirit power than him and was better at fighting than he was, but he was slightly faster than him and he could plan better.

Deciding to wait for the coming battle a do some mental field tests with his opponent/subject. “I thought the law was to make it so that the spirit captured within the anger and hunger of the hallow could be freed and sent to whatever place you send them. I don’t know the reason for this” mild irritation entered his voice at this, but he controlled it. “But I’m assuming that you think it is for the better, but what if I enjoy this existence hmmm? Seeing as how I am quite sentient and do not mindlessly kill as well as liking this existence would your so called ‘justice’ still apply to me?”

Holland knew what the answer was going to be no matter what. “I have not caused any disturbance for your so called soul society so why should I have to be killed? It’s not like I’ve killed many humans. If i recall it was only four from when I first woke up as a hallow, everything else was hallow.”

He could care less about the people he had killed. All he wanted to know was how the ‘one in black’ in front of him would react. That was his main goal. Once you know how a person acts to certain things then you could manipulate them to whatever you wanted under the right circumstances. Manipulation is the greatest tool, but you need to be someone with power in order to do anything that makes a difference. Holland’s analytical thoughts stopped so he could asses the creature in front of him more thoroughly.

"No, you are not, and that is why I have neglected to even speak to you," Masaru responded. This was the first talking Hollow he had ever encountered, and of course he had read about them in his textbooks, about the occasional Hollow with intelligence, but it was strange to see it in real life, when you expected the mindless roar of hunger and rage. Masaru had to admit that he was curious...and oddly enough...was that a feeling of kinship? Oftentimes, Masaru felt like a beast. He wondered if this Hollow had similar moral dilemmas regarding being bestial. Perhaps he would continue the conversation and find out. Yes. It would be useful knowledge.

"Yes, that is the reasoning behind the killing of Hollows; to purify their hate-filled souls, and bring them light, and peace. Or Hell, if they were evil in life..." Masaru had complete faith in that aspect of the law. He thought it just, even merciful that the souls of Hollows were given a second opportunity to live a peaceful life at a Shinigami's blade. And it was just justice for those condemned to Hell. Masaru paused to take in the Hollow's next words. "Well if you enjoy your existence as a beast whose sole purpose is to kill...then...the law still holds." It was a shame. Then again, Masaru had never heard of a talking Hollow that was also compassionate. All accounts indicated that talking Hollows were dangerous, because they were capable of intelligent thought, of planning, and worst of all, cruelty for the sake of cruelty.

Masaru grimaced beneath his veil. And he admits to killing innocent Pluses...he thought. "Tell me, Hollow...do you feel remorse for those murders? Are you overwhelmed by hunger so much so that you embrace the beast within you and act on it? Do you pine for an existence where you are not hated and feared for what you are?" If the Hollow answered poorly, Masaru thought that it would be time to engage it in battle. It didn't matter, anyway. Masaru felt that any possible spark of kinship he felt earlier was insane. Who would think that a Shinigami and Hollow could have anything in common? They were exact opposites. What could they possibly share?

“No” Holland answered his question without any pause, any remorse. “I could care less about those that I have killed.” He talked like he was the weather man giving a weather report, showing no emotion. “No to all of those. I ignore the bestial urges most of the time though I am allowing myself to succumb to an unusual desire to fight. I have done ‘field tests’ on hallows to see their own actions, see how they would react and plan.” Pausing for a moment “Manipulation.” He let the word rest in the air for a second so that the ‘one in black’ in front of him could digest this.

“Manipulation it is the single most powerful tool. It can also be very meticulous and irregular making it very dangerous to the manipulator.” Holland was preparing to fight, he had waited long enough. “To be a manipulator you must plan for any and all scenarios and to do that you must be calm and you must know how things react.” Holland would test everything so he could learn so he could manipulate things how he wanted.

“As for your final question I have never cared for what others think of me, even when I was alive. The world around me was just there, but now I am as happy as I could ever be. I can run my tests and learn how things react. I can do what I want.” Looking into the sky he could see that it was almost sun set and he felt four more hallows at the edge of the park, just waiting for there chance for any type of food. They could be useful. “But no matter what I came here to fight and no matter your opinion on me you will fight or you will die.” His gravely voice had turned from monotone to a dark growl.

His body tensed and his wings unfurled slightly, ready to spring out to fly or fold back. “At your ready ‘one in black.”

"Then we have nothing further to discuss," said Masaru with a hint of sadness. "I have no qualms about ending your life." He raised his blade in a sort of informal salute. "Before you die...my name is Masaru Arata, and I am a Shinigami, come to shepherd you into a better life. You should at least have the privilege of knowing that." Masaru brought his blade back down to a ready stance. He could sense the approach of four new Hollows, doubtless drawn here by the two significant spiritual pressures. These ones appeared to be holding back, for now. Possibly waiting for one to kill the other, so they could feast on the weakened victor.

Masaru let his reiatsu build again, this time making it not a challenge, but a warning. He wanted those Hollows to stay away. His reiatsu would show them exactly what would happen if one dared approach.

Masaru knew that charging the dragon Hollow was foolhardy, especially given the many weapons it could choose to strike back at him with. What he needed was for the dragon Hollow to lower its guard. The Hollow didn't seem to know what Shinigami were - he wondered if it knew about Shinigami powers. He decided to take the chance. "Bakudo#5, Bakudo#7, Senko Beni Fushi!" Two things happened. First, a bright flash of light flashed in front of the dragon Hollow's eyes, and second, a high pitched note would sear the dragon Hollow's ears painfully, and leave it deafened and blinded briefly.

That was the best Masaru could hope for. Hoping to exploit the dragon Hollow's blindness and deafness, he attacked, slashing out so that the tip of his sword would cut a deep gash across the dragon Hollow's chest. He was still being cautious, keeping distance between him and the dragon. There was no sense in being reckless.

Holland felt ‘Masarus’ reiatsu rise in warning to the other hollows surrounding them and smirked oh yes he would find a way to use them.

Masaru charged at him, but activated two powers. A bright flash and a high pitched sound came out of no where and blinded/deafened him. Muttering annoyances he quickly detected where Masaru was via his reiatsu and felt him still charging. Turning a little to face his back to him he laid down on the ground and rolled to the side, protecting his belly with his spiked back. While doing this he swung his tail along the ground and his wings swinging in the same direction about head level with the shinigami.

He predicted that the shinigami would back away either getting a little cut or not at all. Though if he did manage to evade both his tail and his wing he was prepared to jump/fly away.

Masaru retracted his slash as the dragon Hollow rolled around and lashed out with its tail along the ground, followed by its wings at head level. A part of him wanted to charge forward recklessly, the part of him that was bestial, the part that would have liked to keep hacking and slashing at the dragon Hollow's corpse until it had no blood to flow. But fortunately, the cool-headed part of him remained still; he reminded himself that he was a member of the Gotei 13, and that this was not supposed to be bloodsport.

So instead, Masaru jumped back to avoid the tail, but brought his sword in the opposite direction as the moving wings. In his experience, wings were not as tough as other limbs; and on draconic Hollows, tended to be made of thin membrane and sinew, which Masaru was banking on here. Hopefully, he would be able to cut off a significant portion of the Hollow's wing or wings early on in the battle. If not, there were other ways to bring it down.

With its back to him, the dragon Hollow obviously couldn't see him, even if the blindness had worn off. The deafness was probably still persisting, and Masaru doubted that the dragon Hollow was so sensitive to reiatsu that it would be able to discern the specifics of Masaru's attack. After all, the blow might be aimed at his tail as well.

Not feeling his target get hit, Holland jumped away and turned. Finally being able to see though being slightly blurry, he could still not hear. Seeing Masaru swinging about where his wing had been Holland’s eyes narrowed. That could have been a mild annoyance.

Charging at Masaru full speed on the ground he lifted his right arm up and slashed down at the ground. Holland was actually starting to enjoy himself. This opponent was good, he made him think, made him plan. Unlike the usual stupid hallow, all he had to do was give it a quick slash and they would charge like crazy and he could get them to do practically anything.


Masaru gritted his teeth in annoyance that his blade had not ripped through the dragon Hollow's wings. In his mind, it was sheer luck that had saved it from de-wingification. Unfortunately, against this kind of opponent, it was unwise to simply charge in and slash wildly. Masaru was confident that if he did that, he'd probably cause some damage, but likely take some damage as well. So instead, he decided he would take a different approach to this enemy.

"Hado#4: Byakurai." He raised his gloved left hand and pointed it at the dragon Hollow. From the tip of his index finger, a bolt of white lightning shot out, aimed directly at its head. Three more shots of lightning followed, all aimed at the dragon Hollow's head. Masaru did not expect any of these attacks to actually hit and cause damage. No, his intent was different; he was sure the dragon Hollow would dodge these in the most efficient way possible, namely, just by moving its head, and not by wasting energy and flying or running away.

"Hado#4, Hado#2: Byakurai, Reel." Masaru cast this at the dragon's head again, except this time, he added the second spell, hoping to pull the dragon's head in, just a little for the short frame of time necessary for the spell to land.

Holland was glad that his opponent was not charging him like an average angry hallow. No his opponent fought with a calm cool head and used tactics and advantages against him.

Masaru held up his hand and shouted out an incantation. Four bolts of white lightning came out, easily dodge-able just by moving his head. He didn’t like where this was going. ‘Masaru must have something planned out, smart opponents don’t ever make something easy unless they wish to lull there enemy into a sense of false security.’ With that thought as he dogged the last of the four speeding bolts. Masaru said another two incantations.

The first one was the same as the others, but the second spell was cast and he felt an impulse to go towards Masaru. Narrowing his eyes ‘so this was his plan’ Holland mentally smirked at the quickly, and poorly, made plan. Going along with the feeling Holland built up a large amount of his poison like lava in the back of his throat. He coughed it out violently like a hair ball.

The hot ball of poison would explode on impact with the lightning, spreading it out over a larger surface area giving more effect to his fumes. Wondering how long it would take Masaru to figure out what was going on once the fumes kicked in, he sprinted towards the bolt and poison. The poison did not effect him, but he wasn’t sure how strong the blast would be, so he kept a mild distance from the expected impact point.

(OOC: this is my first hallow ability if you need to see it. )
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Spoiler:

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Masaru's eyes widened in surprise as the dragon Hollow's mouth opened as it came toward him and shot a glob of some kind acid or something to splatter against his lightning and hit the ground all around him. It gave off an acrid smell; Masaru could smell it through his veil, which said something. Masaru was also pretty sure that that meant something; generally, something smelled bad if it was in fact, bad for you (with the exception of flatulence, possibly). If it wasn't for his veil partially protecting him, Masaru shuddered to think of the effects of the fumes- he had to escape them immediately to avoid being affected; if he wasn't already affected.

But how to do it without turning his back on the dragon Hollow? Masaru smiled as an idea came to him. He thanked Junko silently in his head, and then jumped into the air, calling, "Hado#1: Sho" in midair. The spell propelled him backwards, outside of the ring of deadly acid or whatever it was. Masaru was deeply concerned about this battle. His opponent was clearly clever, and worthy of wariness. How could he disadvantage it?

An idea sprang to mind. "Disintegrate, you black dog of Rondanini!! Look upon yourself with horror and tear out your own throat! Bakudo#10: Horin." Masaru thrust his left hand out, and an orange hued tendril with spiraling yellow patterns on it erupted from his palm. It soared toward the dragon Hollow's head, ostensibly with the intention of wrapping around its neck or perhaps jaws, and giving Masaru some measure of control over its movement, or perhaps used to choke it, or cut off its ability to spit that acid stuff. But at the last second, the rope veered away and curled around in a wide arc. To what purpose? Why...to wrap around the dragon's wings, of course.

Masaru recognized that the dragon's ability to fly gave it a big advantage, and he was lucky so far that it had not deigned to use it. He was going to make sure it didn't.

Holland growled menacingly at the Shinigami’s lack of reaction to the noxious fumes. ‘Stupid veil’ he thought agitatedly. As Masaru sailed through the air from his spell, he cast another new incantation. Noting it and it’s words to his memory for later confrontations.

An orange tendril flew out of his hand and latched on to his wing, binding it. He could feel that it was made out of reiatsu. Laughing out loud in amusement at the shinigami’s pathetic attempts to get any advantage he could. (actually I really respect your ingenuity of all these things. I was pretty frustrated earlier cause I had no idea how to make a comeback.) Sprinting along the ground he bit into the tendril and leaked his Maguma no Kemuri onto it. He looked away, still sprinting, knowing it would dissolve. He shot his Maguma no Kemuri onto the ground where he Masaru would land and then unfurling his wing, breaking the rest of the fading orange tendril.

Quickly getting into the air he was quickly coming upon Masaru. Masaru might of had the advantage of height, but no matter what he did Holland could maneuver out of the way, and if Masaru tried to take any risky chances in the air and leave himself open. God forbid someone a less painful death. Holland could kill Masaru any number of gruesome ways in the air. He could slam his spiked hide into him, he could bat him around with his tail, rip him to shreds with his claws, bite into his flesh. If Masaru gave him any opening in the air it would be the end, because he could keep him up here all day.

With that last thought running through his head he charged upwards towards Masaru, he didn’t think about what the Shinigami would do. It was highly uncharacteristic of him to something so reckless. Fighting for no reason, not thinking about what his opponent was going to do next, or what he was going to do next. Unusual? Yes, but right now he was enjoying himself a great deal.

(thanks) This is not going at all as planned, thought Masaru. One curious aspect about him was that he never cursed, not even in his thought. It just never seemed to occur to him that cursing might be a good way to vent. It was too bad that the Hollow's acidic power was enough to dissolve the Horin rope- and now he was in an even worse position. He was in midair, with no discernible means of moving, or changing direction, and the dragon Hollow was flying upward at him, exactly what Masaru had hoped he would not do. It wasn't like he could use Sho to push himself toward the ground and maneuverability- the dragon was blocking off that route. And pushing himself elsewhere would only prolong this condition.

This was bad- he only had time to cast one, maybe two kidos before the dragon Hollow was on him. But what? Masaru acted with the only plan that he could come up with while in this dangerous position. "Bakudo#8, Bakudo#10: Seki, Horin!" A small shield of reiatsu appeared around Masaru's left forearm just as another tendril shot out from his palm. This time it appeared to go directly for the dragon's wings- an obvious attempt to stop it from flying. But then, just as before, at the last second, the rope curved away and around to come down from above and attempt to wrap around the dragon's jaws, thus cutting off the flow of acid. Now Masaru was falling toward the dragon with his shield held out bravely, and in his right hand his sword, held back to deal a mighty strike to the dragon's hopefully closed jaws.

As Holland got closer Masaru shot out another of those blindingly fast orange tendril. Seeing as how he was closer than last time it wrapped around his mouth. It originally looked like it was going to go for his wings, but then moved, again. Holland didn’t care he could still use the rest of his lethal body. A shield formed around Masaru’s arm, seeing as that would block any major damage he changed tactics.

Stoping underneath the Shinigami, Holland flipped backwards. So that when his tail hit Masaru it would send him back higher into the air. Not to mention that if his tail spikes broke through the shield, Holland doubted it would, it would not feel so good for Masaru.

As Masaru plummeted toward the dragon Hollow, he braced himself for the impact. After all, even if his sword landed a hit, he'd still have to deal with the force of doing so on his own arm. And that was when Masaru discovered that the dragon Hollow was more than a little agile in midair. Its tail whipped up and smacked the shield over his left arm, sending him back, higher up in the air. It was a jarring experience, to say the least, and more than a little disorienting. Masaru had to think of a way to end this disadvantage.

When Masaru reached the end of the rope, so to speak, when it was stretched out as far as it would go, he found that the dragon Hollow had struck him hard enough to mean that that was not the apex of his flight. That meant that Masaru's 662 lbs were now yanking upward, which would certainly put stress on the dragon Hollow's jaws and neck, as it would now have to resist that force, or perhaps unduly strain its jaw and especially neck muscles.

This gave Masaru an idea. He would have to act quickly in order to take advantage of the disorientation likely caused by his weight exerting force up on the dragon Hollow. He pointed his Zanpakuto upward and called, "Hado#1: Sho." A burst of force shot from the tip of his blade again and again, propelling him toward the ground, and to terminal velocity, in a matter of seconds. Masaru fell past the dragon Hollow's neck, and now his 662 lbs were exerting at least 2940 Newtons of force on the dragon Hollow's neck.

Holland felt the satisfying feeling of his tail coming into contact with something solid. Namely one Masaru. Something happened that Holland didn’t expect though, the orange tendril had a limit and it had been reached, but Masaru had not finished going up. The tendril pulled his mask up and strained his neck, thankfully he was no longer alive alive, so it did not hurt as much, but it still hurt. Holland wasn’t sure what was going on, but Masaru shot passed him speeding towards the ground. He was still disoriented with his sense, but his mind was still sharp.

The speed of the fall that Masaru would be going would generate a high amount of pull on the sparkling orange tendril, assuming that it wouldn’t break that would pull him down towards the ground. This would hurt him and Masaru, it was a risky move, but also gave Holland no room to counter attack. Folding his wings in he let himself be pulled down towards the ground. Fighting against it would have made the prospect worse.

While he was speeding towards the ground Holland built up some of his Maguma no Kemuri in his mouth, but let none escape. Hitting the ground he created a crater from the force of his hit. Dust covered the air from where both had impacted. He knew Masaru would need a moment to regain his bearings, because he hit the ground hard too, just actually landing and not crash landing.

Letting his Maguma no Kemuri seep out of his mouth, it quickly built up in the crater and he moved his head back and forth as to get the orange tendril soaked. He felt the four hallows reiatsu flare slightly in curiosity. Though he felt none of them make a move yet, they were eagerly awaiting the out come of this confrontation.

Masaru hit the ground hard, but at least he was prepared for it. He landed on both feet and his left hand, bending so far over that he nearly touched the ground with his chest. For an instant, that 2940 Newtons of force passed through his body, threatening to overwhelm him, but thankfully, his muscle mass proved sufficient to fight through it. Shortly after he hit the ground, Masaru heard the thud of the dragon Hollow hitting the ground, followed by the wave of dust that followed.

Masaru naturally assumed that the Hollow would be disoriented after the fall, and gave a mighty yank on the rope he held in his hand- it offered little resistance, and then none at all as the tendril snapped, and the other acid soaked end came flying toward him. Masaru quickly dispelled the tendril and leaped out of the way, narrowly avoiding getting some on his chest.

"I have to commend you, Hollow," said Masaru through heavy breaths. "You're no run-of-the-mill Hollow. It will be a great accomplishment for me when I kill you. May the tears of those killed, of those harmed by those of wickedness deliver their judgement upon those around. Hado#10: Rain of Pain." The sky above Masaru darkened, and the air around him became thick with fat drops of acidic water.

The orange tendril was tugged from the opposite side of Holland and it snapped, orange reiatsu dispersing into the air. When all of the reiatsu was gone the lower left section of his mask fell off revealing his human cheek bone to the world. The pain was excruciating and it surprised him making him bellow in pain. His hallow voice had a human screaming undertone to it. The face to ground impact must have broken a piece of mask off and the only thing that kept it in place was the orange tendril.

Hearing his opponents words calmed him down, yet also made him even more furious. “Of course I’m not an ordinary Hallow you stupid excuse of an intelligent being.” His usual gravely voice had a human undertone to it.

Feeling one of the four hallows presence behind him in the trees he turned around and flew towards the presence. Shooting a large glob of Maguma no Kemuri in the general area of the hallow. Not slowing down he hit the hallow with his tail impaling it. He brought it up to his mouth, still flying, though considerably slower, and took a large bite of it’s mask. Feeling his mask regenerate and his energy come back, he discarded the fading hallow and turned around back to Masaru, expecting him to be coming at him with some sort of attack.

Masaru stayed where he was, allowing the acidic drops of water to continue following from the sky. He hoped that they would be sufficient to a) keep the other Hollows he could sense away, or perhaps get them to run away, and b) do some damage to his current opponent, who, although having been damaged by his previous stratagem, had healed itself by consuming another, weaker Hollow. Cries of pain came to his ears, indicating that the rain was indeed working on at least the weaker Hollows; he sensed two of them running away, though a third did nothing. Perhaps it had found some cover from the rain?

It didn't matter, really. His attention was on the dragon Hollow. It's time to add some thunder to this storm. "May the black sounds of those that have felt death emit and destroy. Hado#7: Black Thunder." Masaru sent a wave of black reiatsu at the dragon Hollow. The reiatsu was vibrating at a high frequency and emitted a thunderous like sound as it rent the air.

Holland sensed two of the three other hallows start to fade. ‘Stupid creatures’ they were unnecessary creatures, but they had there use if manipulated the right way. Thinking about it he thought it was time to use his manipulation skills to his own use.

When the black lightning bolt was about to hit he flared his reiatsu and then made it vanish when it struck the ground. Disappearing into the foliage surrounding the park. Knowing it would take a second fro Masaru to figure out he wasn’t dead he stalked around the park moving towards the other hallow. He would manipulate it into helping him fight the shinigami. From what he could gather almost all hallows hated shinigami.

Slinking through the shadows he approached the hallow making his presence easily known by sound, so as to calmly alert it to him, but not alert Masaru.

“Help me fight the shinigami.” Hollands voice was unnaturally quite, but still had the same gravel sense to it. “Why should I and not just kill you?” The hallow asked back, it was in the form of a cat, a hairless one with a hallow mask. “Because he will hunt you down, he will stop your existence, and stop you from eating other spirits.” Hollands hallow eyes closed slightly sizing up the one in front of him. He watched as the hallow in front of him processed this information and slowly the aura around it changed. It was angry at it being threatened. If anyone could have seen Holland’s face they would see a wicked grin. “Just wait till after I am fighting with the shinigami.” ‘To easy’ he thought with a mental cheshire grin.

Slinking of back into the shadows he stalked around and once a decent enough distance away he showed himself bringing his reiatsu back out. He had just left the hiding of the forest and now walking in the open. “I have to admit shinigami that fall hurt, it hurt bad. I would have to commend you on your improvisation. Though your tactical skills are lacking.” Holland talked as if he was talking about the weather.