Natural Born Killers (Kao)

A bitter night, you wouldn't expect anything less from Edinburgh, and Sal marveled at the spectacle of the city from a Rampart upon the Castle looming like a watchful guardian across Scotland's Capital.

Sal barely moved when the Hollow sprung up from the lip of the ancient stone, one second it was lunging and the next it was disintegrating in a howl of fire. He hadn't even taken his hands out of his pockets.

It seemed that no matter where he went trouble followed. Even when he didn't bother hunting Hollow anymore the bastards still attacked when they had the chance. He was reminded of Al Pacino 'Just when i thought i was out....they pull me back in.'.

He gave a shrug to himself, it was inevitable, he was a walking buffet for any Hollow strong enough to make a meal of him.

It was a beautiful place though, you couldn't deny it, even if all Glaswegians knew that Glasgow SHOULD be the Capital. Edinburgh had a regal feel about it that Glasgow lacked.

He sat back against the cold stone and listened to the canons fire, marking 9 O'clock in the evening. It was nice to get away from it, or as much as you could in his line of work.

Kaoseu had been laying back on the edge of a rooftop in the center section of the castle when he saw the disturbance below. At first, he had simply assumed that the lone individual below him had been a normal person, since he felt no noticeable spiritual pressure emanating off him, but as he watched the attacking Hollow disintegrate and he had yet appeared to move, Kaoseu was forced to believe otherwise. As always one to be spontaneous, without thinking, he Flash Stepped to the ledge, just to the left of the man.

"Seems like they're everywhere, doesn't it?" He asked, looking up at the darkened sky. For some reason, being closer to this guy, he felt on edge now, as if there was something primal about him, though Kaoseu couldn't quite place it, it was somewhat... Familiar. He kept his hands close to his blades, wrists resting on the hilts for quick access, as he turned his head and looked at the hardened man he had addressed, without any hint of emotion in his eyes or posture, so as not to give anything away, as he waited for any possible response or movement.

Sal's body tightened like a piston waiting to fire when the man appeared next to him. He gave him a casual once over, noting the Zanpakuto and...something else. It was a feeling that made his gut squirm, like some primordial part of his mind knew what this feeling was.

"Don't i know it." Sal responded, his hands still in his pockets but clenched into fists just in case.

"So what brings you to Edinburgh," It was always a tricky question to ask a Shinigami, especially one with...a darkness to them like the new comer did. It was the only way he could explain the feeling, a sort of coldness that he couldn't quite put his finger on. In many ways it was similar to how he felt when he faced Abaddon but at the same time entirely different. "Not here for the bagpipe music i hope?"

The air became tense, and the conversation seemed mechanical, but Kaoseu went with it, shrugging lazily.

"I needed a break. Didn't get to see enough of the world before I bit the dust, so i try to make it a habit to visit some place new every time I come to Earth. Edinburgh was next on the list. Plus, to be honest, I hate hiding things, on Earth, it's a lot easier to... Be myself." he replied, grinning, giving away only a half truth. "So what's your case? Ex Shinigami? Or somethin' else?" he inquired back. It was always too easy, talking to other people or things like he wasn't suspicious. He had a velvet tongue, as some would say.

He hopped from the wall, facing the man as he leaned against the edge.

"The name's Kaoseu, by the by. You got a name?" he added, for formality's sake.

The man had a very strange way about him, for some bizarre reason Sal's body began to stand down from red alert. It was hard to imagine a guy so laidback sticking a knife in your spine.

"That's why you should be doubly careful..." He thought but shook the thought aside, he was getting tired of being cynical.

"I'm Sal," Sal said with a smile. "A bit of a both, i guess you could say." It was the most honest answer he could give, without sitting Kaoseu down and explaining...at great length about sub-dimensional parasites and impending doom.

For just one night, he wanted to pretend none of it was happening or better still it was happening to some other bastard. He didn't fancy his chances of getting that wish but he'd do his best anyway.

"It seems these days the Gotei are getting more and more lax with the whole no going to Earth unannounced thing." Sal chucked and fumbled in the right pocket of his jacket before extracting his cigarettes, he flicked the pack open and extracted one setting the filter in his lips and then offered the pack to Kaoseu.

"So...you have a Darth Vader thing going on that...i just can't seem to get my head around. So you're either a Green Day fan or there's more to you than that casual attitude." Why bother with small talk, he'd been itching to ask since the guy arrived.

Never having smoked before in his life, Kaoseu casually declined a cigarette, doubting it would even have any effect on him, save for making him cough and choke. He nodded as Sal introduced himself. He chuckled a bit at the comment about the Gotei, and put a finger to his lips.

"I'm not one for rules much, especially since my presence tends to be eternally breaking one. As for the Vader thing..." he began his next sentence then stopped, letting a breath flow from his lips, while simultaneously releasing his facade, his body releasing tension and his eyes gaining their animalistic edge to them. His instincts kicked in full swing, and his mind was now ready to work a mile a minute processing any and everything it could at one time, "...I tend to be a bit reckless when I'm myself... which, funny thing is, I'm never really myself. But who is, eh?" he said. He had this feeling he could trust this guy, but he still couldn't help but feel threatened somehow. It was the feeling you would imagine two alpha males of a pack of hungry wolves would have being in close proximity to each other and waiting for the other to lash out.

Sal's smile broadened, sometimes you meet a person and you think 'bet this guys a laugh in the pub'. He Just had that exact thought about Kaoseu.

Normally, when someone mentions never really being alone in an ominous manner you start to worry. You hide all the sharp implements and think about buying them a few rolls of rubber wall paper and a straight jacket for Christmas but these weren't normal times, Sal could relate.

"I'm an anarchist, rules and me go together like a whore and a promise ring." He responded and walked over to the edge, the drop was astounding, the castle being built on top of a craggy hill unscalable except for through, what would have been, a heavily guarded front entrance.

"I like your style Kaoseu," Sal said, watching the ant like people going about their business, which at this time of night was either murder, robbery, booze or prostitution. "However, I'm not buying the mystery. So its like my daddy always used to say: You never know a guy until you've punched him in the nose"

Sal reached behind his right hip, where his Zanpakto was sheathed, diagonally up his back to his shoulder blade, and drew it out underhand.

"Whoever wins buys the first round. You game?" Sal asked, his Katana held casually at his side.

Kaoseu's grin would have spread off his face it grew so much at the quote Sal had just made. He basically ignored everything else that was said as soon as he mentioned a spar. He hated to be out-done, and hated buying just as much, so, of course, he took the challenge.

"You're on. No holds barred, K.O. wins. Let's try and keep limbs though, shall we?" he replied, drawing both blades. From his pocket, he fished out a single coin. "On the point it hits the ground, it's go time." He said, flicking it in the air in a wide, high arc. Time seemed to slow itself as both heads followed the coin. As it went to touch the ground, Kaoseu was leaning forward, left knee thrust up, right foot still on the ground, blades trailing behind him. From the side, he would have been seen with perfect runner's form.

From the front, however, he was a deadly ball of speed as he Flash Stepped into the air slightly, just enough to throw off the opponent, and twisted sharply to his right so that he spun. He lashed out with his right blade, hopefully since it would be attacking on the left side, Sal'd have a bit more trouble, and followed through with a jab under the larger blade with the blade in his own left hand. To top it off, he even began to arch his back, preparing to maneuver out of the way of a counter-attack.

The 'clink' of the coin hitting the ground had barely begun when Kaoseu struck. He moved like greased lightning, fluid and utterly deadly in his advance and then he was gone for the briefest of seconds.

Sal barely had the time to utter an expletive in response to the assault. He shifted his footing and turned his upper body slightly to the side. The Glaswegian brought his sword arm across his body and deflected the first strike with the edge of his Katana in a almost vertical position and just as quick twisted his body to the left as the secondary attack lunged at his face.

He lashed out with the momentum as he completed his maneuver, his sword cutting across at neck level but half way through its arc he turned it sharply, classic feint, and slashed it diagonally hoping to score a hit across Kaoseu's chest.

Kaoseu's planning paid off; As Sal easily blocked both his initial attacks, Kaoseu was already tucking his knees.

The action caused him to roll into a backwards tuck, where, at the height of it, he kicked out his right leg to land on Sal's outstretched blade .

He used his turning momentum to pack a punch behind a sweeping kick to Sal's face with his left foot as he allowed his right leg to fold in order to leap off if need be.

He had to be quite honest with himself, Sal had ability for a bigger guy. He was fast, and wielded his blade effortlessly, as well as planned ahead, just as he did. He'd have to be careful in any moves he made, or it would be a quick battle.

The evasion was almost like clairvoyance, such was Kaoseu's reaction time. Sal had the luxury, or misfortune, of claiming that he had fought both a Captain and a Lieutenant in deadly combat so he was able to judge his foes based upon those comparisons. At his estimate Kaoseu was clearly in the Lieutenant category, just as Sal was before he unleashed the Lord of War.

"An even match up." Sal smiled manically as the boot thundered toward his face, snapped his head to the side and the foot barely skimmed by his cheek.

He turned on the ball of his left foot and brought his right leg up, his upper body dipping sideways and launched a Karate style kick toward Kaoseu's chest.

Kaoseu was jumping the wrong way. The well placed counter kick was unavoidable, so he did the next best thing. He took the kick, brunt force, to the chest, tossing his blades up and behind him. He then pulled a rather risky maneuver, using Sal's momentum as well as the natural arch the force of the kick was making his spine do, and grabbed hold of Sal's foot. Smiling wickedly, he Flash Stepped several times, in place, whilst leaning back, attempting to slam the larger man into the ground, which was quite hard to do when you've just been kicked in the chest.

Heiwa rapped against the inside of his skull, as if signifying his presence, and for the fraction of a second, his Reiatsu pulsed through, rather than Kaoseu's. He hoped this wouldn't be enough to notice, but if push came to shove, he felt he could trust Sal that much...

As he was finishing the slam, he was already locating his blades in their descent, and was timing yet another Flash Step to retrieve them. So far, he and Sal were equally matched. He only hoped like Hell the man had a Shikai and Bankai, as well as a few tricks up his sleeve.

The world suddenly lurched at an odd angle, the dark sky blurring as it wizzed over and then behind Sal's head. Norongachi hit the ancient stone hard, his skull cracking against it and his arms smashing off it sending his Katana spinning away to the side.

Sal saw it almost in slow motion, his head spinning from the impact, his body moving at what felt like a snails pace. He managed to make a desperate lunge and caught nothing but air as the sword vanished over the edge and tumbled into the blackness below.

He rolled to the side and back up onto his feet to Face his opponent, this wouldn't be the first time he had been dragged into unarmed combat. In many ways he was far better at it than swordplay.

Sal wiped a trickled of blood from his forehead, a deep cut there after his sudden meeting with the stone. "I...um...." Sal was glancing, looking rather embarrassed, at the spot where his Zanpakuto had taken its lofty descent. "Wow this is embarrassing..." He finished rubbing the back of his neck.

Kaoseu would have made an attempt to retrieve his blades, until he saw where they were headed; right next to Sal's on a one way, Gravity paid trip. As Sal rolled back to his feet, he did the same. It looked as if it'd come down to a fisticuffs match, until one goth the other over the edge, which of course they wouldn't die from, but the thought of it all the same. Kaoseu raised his fists in a relaxed manner, figuring using Drunken Fist would be a good maneuver.

"I could say the same. So, I take it we go at it like real men then." Kaoseu said in reply. He lurched forward, one long step and then two small, quick ones and threw himself forward in a front flash kick, hoping to strike with both feet.

"Of course." Sal smiled and let his body relax, martial arts wasn't about who could throw the hardest punch. The majority of the time it was decided by who was the more adaptable, the quickest and the more instinctive.

Kao rushed forward, his footwork almost flawless Sal noted, and then he was somersaulting forward, both feet firing out toward Sal as he completed half a rotation.

Sal turned his upper body on the ball of one foot, to avoid the attack, and brought his leg up for spinning calf kick toward Kao's chin. When his foot touched the ground he dropped down low instantly and planting both hands sliced his other leg along the ground hoping to take his opponents legs away from him.

It hurt like Hell... But Kaoseu took both hits as Sal's larger frame disappeared discreetly, only to have the leg smash into his chin. As he was reeling, his legs were swept from underneath him, sending him into a pinwheel.

He used the disorientation and the drunken fist together to his advantage, planting both hands on the ground and using the balance and momentum as he spread his legs straight.

As he did so, he put one hand in front of the other, one after another, spinning his body and legs in as lethal a manner as he could as he shoved off the ground and at Sal, legs up and spinning like a copter.

If he connected, his intention was to wrap around and throw the man once more, but this time latch on and go with him- over the edge. It was risky, but he needed his blades in order to go use his Shikai, which he'd also need, as he felt Heiwa bucking and kicking internally, trying to get at the big man. Or at something else... muttered Heiwa in his head.

The strikes connected and Sal was only marginally feeling better about the odds in this fight but he had learned the hard way that an injured enemy was infinitely more dangerous. He took three quick steps forward as Kaoseu spun in the air, his intention was to literally kick the man when he was down but the whirling appendages but the kibosh forceing Sal to make a hasty leap back.

It was at this exact moment Kaoseu launched himself like a human windmill toward Sal and being mid-jump Sal could do little when the dexterous legs coiled around his upper body pinning his arms to his side with the finality of a vice.

They toppled over from the momentum of the collision and Sal felt his stomach lurch as they fell over the edge into the blackness beyond, the castle whizzing by in a blur and the sharp rocks of the hill mere inches from caving their skulls in.

Sal struggled furiously against Kaoseu's hold, the wind howling in his ears erasing all other sounds, and brought his legs up and then throwing them down again and simultaneously tossing his upper body forwards. The momentum of the maneuver tipped the balance and Sal was now rotating them both anti-clockwise so that Sal was now on top and with enough drive behind his upper body to launch a headbutt at his captor.

Sal was struggling with Kaoseu's grip, and trying to turn them, so naturally, Kaoseu was trying to struggle back. Not much could be seen in the darkening light, and Kaoseu couldn't quite place himself in terms of whether or not he was on top or not. Whilst in the effort to determine this, he turned his head backwards to see the dark mass of ground looming up at them, and at the same time, several things happened at once.

Sal pulled a bit of a brawler move and headbutted Kaoseu in the left temple. Everything below his knees went numb for the fraction of a second, but it was just long enough for the wind to snatch Sal from his grip.

As the man was loosed, Kaoseu also caught sight of three silvery glints, two of them smaller than the other, which was about 10 yards away from the other two. He grinned, as he realized he was falling in relatively the same place his blades were, but it didn't last long as Sal, who weighed more than he, sped past him, closer to his blade than Kaoseu was to his. He cursed loudly and Flash Stepped, attempting to get ahead of Sal before he reached his blades and was already muttering the cadence to release his Shikai.

"Shine in the shadows..."

Sal was suddenly free, which he was happy about until his diverted trajectory crashed him against the sharp rocks beside him. Blood soared away in the wind as a gash the size of his index finger opened on his forehead.

He shook it off and saw the twinkle of his weapon, twisting in the air he soared toward the rocks again and somersaulted, planting both feet and shot himself forward resorting to a series of Flash Steps as he noted Kaoseu vanish and reappear at his own Zan's,

They reached them at the same time and Sal snatched up the Katana, they spoke almost in unison to the source of their preternatural powers.

"Sound the Funeral Bell!" Sal began while Kaoseu said "Shine in the shadows...".

The Katana in his hands began to radiate its tremendous power, waiting like an attack dog on the leash for him to complete the unsealing chant. "Claidheamh Mor!"

The surface of the blades metal began to glow, cracks and hairline fissures snaking across the bland steel, spurts of fire erupting from these miniature lava veins and then the entire blade shattered outwards. A new blade rose from the ashes of the old, 5ft 5inches in length and 8inches in width, the Claymores blade hissing as it cooled.

Sal turned to face Kaoseu and hefted the sword onto his right shoulder. "I guess we start the real fight."

"And hide in the light, Shirokuro!" he finished as he touched down on his blades, and his Shikai burst into life, a shaft of white light, speckled with black, bursting forth from Kaoseu's location at the same moment Sal's blade erupted to life and became marginally larger. As the light faded, Kaoseu's blades could be seen, the one in his right hand, Kuromeru, held in a normal grip, the white blade in his left, dubbed Shiroi, held in a reverse grip.

"I guess you're ri-" he began to respond, but at that moment, before he could reign in his control over his Reiatsu, that split second's worth of time, Heiwa battered his way up to the surface. Kaoseu screamed, having not been used to the force, since he generally had control over Heiwa, or caught him before he could burst forth, and dropped to one knee, whilst at the same time, he used his Shikai ability to bend the light around his mask so as to make it invisible and changed his eyes back to normal color by reflecting the light as well.

"Shit..." he thought as he used Shiroi to stand back up, grinning. "Sorry about that..." said the Shinigami as he rushed forward, too fast at first, and cursed as he slowed down to have a seemingly normal speed, and spun on the ball of his right foot, driving the left blade up, in an attempt to get the much larger, and longer sword out of the way, and brought his right blade down in a sweeping, diagonal arc to Sal's left side as he completed his circle. However, Kaoseu had lacked in his focus, and did several things wrong;

Firstly, he had unintentionally left a portion of his mask on the right side of his face, though it was only a sliver about 3 inches long and thinner than a pencil. Secondly, he had yet to reign in his new, marginally different, Reiatsu. Lastly, he held back on speed, but went all out in the use of his Spiritual Power, and paid the bi-vocal his voice had taken on no heed. At this point, it was all downhill...

Sal brought his blade down from its resting place on his shoulder and held it before himself, elbow bent, just below chest level in one hand and smiled as Kaoseu's swords were unsealed. Gratuitous violence, how he loved thee.

The adrenalin pumping, heart exploding, bloody battle didn't quite get off to the start Sal was hoping for however. His opponent screamed for a start. He didnt yell, or unleash a bloody battle cry or forswore an oath of hideous vengeance against Sal and his family but...screamed.

Sal watched, mildly perplexed. Normally such dramatics occurred after the fight 'Curse you Norongachi!, 'You're an animal, a psychopath!' ect ect.

Sal's eyes narrowed and all confusion left him when he caught the scent of Hollow, the foul energy pulsing into the air and catching in his senses.Normally he would have been on the look out for a high level Arrancar but no, at its epicenter was Kaoseu.

He had heard rumors of the Vizard. He'd met people who had first hand accounts of Soul Reapers who exhibited traits of a Hollow while being simultaneously stronger than both. He had filed them under, possible but unlikely. Now he was reopening the case...

His eyes took in every detail they could his mind switching from fun to business. He needed to know everything he could before the first blow was struck. Kaoseu stood back up, apparently over his ailment.

"Don't worry about it..." Sal said but his voice was like ice, he had never been good at camouflaging his feelings.

The initial assault was much faster than he had anticipated so much so that he wasn't quite sure if he would be able to keep up and then this new speed dropped away and Kaoseu was back at the speed he had been previously.

Sal took the upward strike upon his blade and then with a thought a lash of flame ripped from his Claymore and coiled round the second. He held both weapons there and leaned in close to Kaoseu as they struggled against one another for supremacy. He noticed then, the small section of bone white upon his face....

"Vizard..." Sal said, he had little in the way of evidence but from what he had heard he was just as well throwing the word out there. If it got a reaction he was on the money, if it didn't he was back to square one.

He thrust his Claymore aside and knocked away one of Kaoseu's Zan's and then with a flick of his eyes the coil of fire expanded into a controlled, small, explosion that sent the other away as well. He leaped backwards and landed a few feet from his opponent. Nothing was as it seemed here, for once he would have to be cautious.

It was rather frustrating, having to hide himself in plain sight, and he hadn't exactly mastered covering his own features without making himself completely invisible. Sal seemed to have plenty of powerful influence in his Shikai state, and Kaoseu was quivering with adrenaline mixed with his Hollow-esque tendencies.

As his strikes came into contact with what he thought was Sal's blade, he grinned as he saw he was wrong. Tongues of flame had wrapped themselves around Kuromeru and Shiroi was locked in a stalemate with Sal's actual blade.

Kaoseu should have taken the hint in Sal's voice, something he would have noticed had he not been in his Vizard form. As he and Sal struggled for dominance, Sal's eyes searched him. Kaoseu felt he knew something, and narrowed his eyes, but before he could react, Sal's lips pulled apart and he breathed a single word that reeled Kaoseu's mind for a moment, causing him to go stiff;

"Vizard..."

As his body stiffened, Sal rather easily knocked Shiroi from his hand and an explosion from the tongue of flame wrapped around Kuromeru sent him from his hands as well. Sal leaped back quickly as Kaoseu regained his composure. He launched himself into a backflip, landing between both his blades, a grin on his face as he released the light being bent around his mask, revealing it in all it's simplistic glory.

"Well, looks like the cat's outta the bag, huh? Sorry about all the secrecy- there'd be a pretty penny on my head if someone knew, even a Renegade looking to gain back favor with the Gotei, but from the looks of ya, I think I'll fare okay in that department. But I still gotta kick yer ass to win that wager, mate." Kaoseu said.

Without any warning, and as he was speaking, Kaoseu was building up several shafts of shadow, solidifying them as much as possible, and keeping the light reflecting around them, so as to make them invisible, basically creating a cage above Sal.

As he finished speaking, he blew off all holding back, and Flash Stepped forward, whilst at the same time using two unreflective threads of Shadow to grab hold of his blades, yanking them with him at the same time he dropped the cage, which he had left open backed and open on the top, the direction he appeared from being in between both of those as he yanked his trailing blades, which were still in front of Sal, towards himself, and all became visible.

If he chose to jump back, Kaoseu was hoping to introduce the back of his head to the inside heel of his right foot, but then again, not all things go according to plan...

Game on Sal thought when he saw Kaoseu's reaction to those two tiny syllables. Then Sal saw a Vizard fro himself, the white mask with strips of black on its sides and a horn of sorts on the forehead.

Sal gazed into those animal like eyes and felt a grin split his face. It was beautiful, a amalgamation of the raw animal instincts of the Hollow and the skill and power of the Shinigami. Why would the Gotei punish a man for striving for such greatness?

"You can try," Sal responded noting the odd timbre to his voice for the first time. Sal prepared himself for the onslaught to come, he was eager to see if the Mth of the Vizard lived up to the reality.

Kaoseu lunged forward his speed had more than doubled and within a heart beat he was within striking distance and then Sal saw the shafts of black all around him. "Bars?" He thought and noted that his means of escape had been considerably lessened, he was like a rat in a maze forced to dance to Kaoseu's tune.

"In for a penny, in for a pound..." He said and spun on the spot as Kaoseu appeared and drove himself straight at the Vizard as his blades slapped into the palms of his hands, drawn it seemed on invisible strings.

He'd penned Sal as a lot of things, and stupid wasn't among them, as he proved as he whirled around and jumped almost completely simultaneously. His blade was quick and true, but Kaoseu's was just as fast.

He slashed down as fiercely as possible with his left blade, and brought his right blade over it in a downwards stab at Sal's chest, using the left blade as a distraction of sorts.

Not one to play fair, he manipulated a flash of light as bright as possible directly in front of Sal, like a small explosion from nowhere, hoping to throw his vision off as he made his maneuver.

"Fuck me, he's fast!" Was all Sal could think as he marginally defelcted the slash, receiving a wound upon his chest, just below the collarbone. It was due to fortune, if you could call it that, that the momentum from the initial hit turned his upper body slightly and the secondary stab punched into his shoulder.

Sal gritted his teeth against the pain and made to strike again but the world went white. He stumbled backwards, his vision annihilated by the burst, he leaped backwards and as quickly as he could turned his senses fully upon the Vizard, who was easy to find.

"Cheap but effective, my kind of attack." Sal said trying to blink away the spots that were dancing across his eyeballs.

The last of the purple flecks left of his vision and he heard a growl in the dark dank subbasement of his subconscious. He felt the dark shadow wings unfurl and rattle against the mental cage. The message was clear: Give me blood.

The flames around Sal's body flickered oddly, like the light of a petrol lights that was running out of gas it began to retract and then expand. Sal's eyes started to glow, first the iris took on a green tinge, spreading from the pupil of each eye and seeping through the dark brown and then into the white like dye in water.

A light began to shine from Sal's face as a from the skin a neon substance began to rise, taking on the form of a ragged Omega symbol and then the most unnerving thing about his transformation occurred. The shimmering black liquid metal seemed to spray in all directions from the mask, like a bizarre splash painting and then just as quickly contracted itself, twisting and turning in the air it covered every inch of Sal's body casting shock waves of spiritual energies into the ether.

The once human face had taken on a startling change, gone was the smug features of Norongachi and instead they were replaced by the violent green, pupiless, eyes of Abaddon and the lipless silver fanged smile akin to that of a skull. The next thing that happened was that the oranges, reds and yellows of the vibrant fire that surrounded Sal's body were invaded by the blacks and whites of the creature that had came fourth, driving the colours away and leaving a flickering black fire.

Sal gazed down upon the sharp black talons that resided at the end of each of his fingers and at the living metal that seemed to shift and change under his gaze and then finally back at Kaoseu.

"Can you hear me Hollow? I've never tried this on a Vizard before so you'll have to indulge my curiosity." The words weren't spoken, the silver fangs never moved, instead Sal's thoughts were sent from his mind on a wave of energy, unseen and unfelt, and implanted in the recipients mind like a parasite.

From what he had learned of Vizards, the actual entity, the inner Hollow, resided within the person...almost like Abaddon did with himself. If that were the case then he could, theoretically, be able to commune with the creature as well as Kaoseu.

"The real battle starts here, lets see which is the more powerful entity...."