A morbid trap (Bishamon)

N.I.U.S had been on the prowl for a considerable time, but finding little satisfaction in the results of its hard effort. Deciding for a more tactical approach it had devised a plan, involving utilisation of its natural abilities aswell as the weaknesses of its fellow hollow and the shinigami. First it had hunted down several plus souls as stealthily as it could, gathering them together without consuming them and then once it had captured five of them it had used its nanites to control them. Then it used the combined presence of the whole lot to attract the attention of another hollow and simply watching as it began to feast, releasing control of the souls in order to restore its mind to full functionality before ambushing the hollow and bending that one to its will aswell. Now came the next step of its ploy.

With the hollow firmly under its control, N.I.U.S proceeded with its now surprisingly straight-forward plan. While it hid in the shadows, making sure to keep its presence suppressed while also ensuring to stay within range for its ability it caused the hollow to make its presence as clear as possible and hunting spirits in an incredibly aggressive and blunt manner in order to ensure that it attracted as much attention as possible. While simply casually monitoring its minions' progress the robotic hollow kept its sensors at full alert in order to be well aware of whether a shinigami or hollow would approach, the bait was set and now all it had to do was wait for someone to take it.

The long shift had nearly ended, and Bishamon was ready to return to the soul society, a fairly lax day, not to much spiritual activity, one hollow, was all he had to deal with all day, and that was a newborn, or at least it fought like one, so Bishamon put a swift end to that. He drew one of his blades, about to open the senkai gate, to return to the soul society, until a surge of spiritual pressure filled the air, Bishamon looked around "what the..." he managed to sense a hollow, quite close to his position. "Damn it, just when i thought i could finally get some sleep" Bishamon sheathed his blade, and the stretched his arms, and leapt off the rooftop, onto another and another, until he was in sight of the hollow, he quickly jumped off the building, and used shunpo to get in front of this hollow, so it could see him.

When he stood in front of the large hollow, he gave it a sly grin, and tilted his hat forward towards the hollow, "good evening." He then quickly looked around, so he could check for casualties, among the souls in this area, there where multiple souls dead, or they appeared to be dead. Bishamon slowly drew both of his blades, and stood in a lax position, with basically no stance.

A shinigami finally appeared in reaction to its plan, treating the controlled hollow to a morning greeting but for what purpose N.I.U.S could not decipher. Despite the oddity that was the reapers greetings it knew full well that it needed to properly manage the situation, the shinigami had proven full of surprises in the past and it would be wise to ensure a certain level of safety when approaching the bladed interloper. Maintaining its vicegrip on the hollows mind, N.I.U.S forced it to approach the shinigami aggressively, charging forward and going for the attack with its claws.

While the minion was brought in for the attack the robot removed the power controlling the hollow and while it was stupified by what had just happened it quickly noticed the shinigami and continued the attack. The serpent was quite content with that development as it approached from the rear, keeping its presence hidden right until the perfect moment as it released a discharge of electricity from behind the death god.

Bishamon watched carefully as the hollow, attempted a strike on him, nothing special however, just another hollow, with a lot of power, but nothing that Bishamon couldn't handle, he quickly slipped the blow, and then with a swift strike from his blade, cut the hollow's mask into two, he sighed as it disappeared, and turned into dust before his eyes, before he sheathed his blades he felt a strong thud smack into his back, it felt like a bolt of lightening hit him, his nerves went crazy, and then he fell to the ground face first into the solid ground.

What the hell i going on? I can't move. Bishamon tried to move his arms and legs, but they only twitched slightly, as he was trying to catch his breath, after getting the wind knocked out of him, he felt a large spiritual pressure, heading towards him, the spiritual pressure was odd, it was a hollow, but there was something strange about it, he tried, moving his head to see what was behind him but it was no use, like his limbs, it only twitched. He was just lying in wait, not knowing what was coming for him, he was completely helpless, he kept trying to move, hoping that the effects will wear off sooner than later.

N.I.U.S' plan had proven to be a complete success as the shinigami was brought down with one of its electrical attacks as it slithered forward towards its incapacitated prey. The serpent slid its tail underneath the body of the reaper and lifted him up, squeesing him tightly in the grip between its long body as it held him up to the same height as its face to get a better view of him. The dark red eyes coldly observing the paralyzed victim that was held by it as the computer inside considering whether direct consumption would be the best course of action or if it would be preferable to consider alternative options for using him.

"I will offer you mercy." The monotone voice spoke the words without hint of emotion as the creature simply tilted its head while letting the words sink in. "The mercy of a slightly increased life span. You will serve my purposes, hunt for me and kill those of your kind. And then you will die." The moment those words were spoken the sharp tip of its tail was elevated right before it pushed against the limp mans mouth and forcing it open before making a slight scratch in the back of his throat, allowing for the nanites to enter his body and begin the process of assuming control. "It will all be over soon."

Bishamon felt himself, being lifted up, by something, the next thing he knew, he was staring a mechanical, snake like creature right in it's eyes, what the hell is this thing? He wasn't paralysed now, but now he was in a hold, that he couldn't break out of, and when he was hit by the attack, he dropped his blades, his eyes moved, as he saw his blades on the ground, this was a horrible situation to be in, as his mouth was forced open, and then he heard the snake mention something about killing his own kind, he put two and two together, he had to get out now.

His voice couldn't be heard clearly, as it was muffled, but what he hoped that what he said would be able to get him out of this situation, "Pull of the Earth, shroud me with thine energy and repel from me biting steel, Bakudo 24 Gyaku Jisei" was what he said, an anti magnetic field surrounded Bishamon, and as the grip loosened he fell to the ground, something went down his throat he knew it, not a lot, but a few , he picked up his blades and jumped back "what the hell did you do to me?!" He shouted in anger.

The shinigami still had some fight left in him it seemed as he had managed to stop the flow of nanites entering his body by pushing N.I.U.S away with one of the many spells that it had encountered in the past. It didn't matter, six inactive nanites had entered the system just waiting to be utilized by it to beat him back into submission. The serpent was cautious now however as a strong magnetic field surrounded the foe in front of it, more then capable of pushing back its assault. For the moment it would keep its distance, waiting for the nanites to begin revealing their deadly effect on him.

Dark eyes simply stared at the shinigami as he gave his angered query, it did not care. Its words had been true, soon it would all be over and his voice would seize to speak out in rage against N.I.U.S to give way towards answering its every command. "Save your strength for other things then shouting. It serves you no purpose." And with that the nanites finally achieved control over his left arm and then immediately made it slam inwards to try and hit his chest with his own sword.

Bishamon kept his eyes fixated on the large machine snake, a flurry of thoughts ran through his mind about what to do next, but something was odd, his left arm twitched slightly, he tried to move it but it twitched once more, his arm then moved suddenly, the blade was pointing right towards his chest, he quickly reacted, and managed to shove his right arm in the way, the blade just penetrated the skin but not by much, thankfully Bishamon's blades were short, if they weren't he would be servilely injured, or worse, he tried to regain control of his arm, but it was no use, the arm would let up, and now using his other arm to block the left, he couldn't defend himself, "tell me, what did you do to me?!" he gave a cold stare towards the snake, he didn't expect the snake to tell him anything, but he needed to by some time, if it attacked now, it wouldn't end well for Bishamon.

The sound of metal scratching against rock was heard as once again N.I.U.S moved up around the shinigami, the thick body surrounding him but not moving in to grab onto him just yet. The man was obviously bewildered by the being that was controlling his body to work against him, a predictable reaction to it and hardly surprising. He refused to listen to the machines advice however as he still used his energies to negotiate when it was not at all necessary, had he developed a habit to speak with hollow perhaps? It could have been counted as a curiousity if it were not for the fact it was likely just either sheer panic or a stalling technique, either way nothing that it cared about.

"Nothing you need to be concerned about. What you need to concentrate on is how you are to escape it, otherwise you will be mine and then you will die." For the moment it did not bother with trying to take control of another limb, it would weaken him first in order to ease the process aswell as saving its own strength for other things.

As much as he hated it, the creature was right, he needed to focus on what to do. He had a few kidou's in his arsenal, but he couldn't think of any that would protect his from himself, he grunted in frustration as he only came up with one answer, escape! Bishamon took a breath, and calmly said "Bakudo 21, Sekienton" a large explosion of red smoke filled the air, making it impossible to see very far, luckily for Bishamon he had control over his legs for now. He quickly hoped out of the circle the snake made with its tale, and then ran the opposite direction; using shunpo would be too difficult, as he was still fighting with his arm, but due to the snakes size, he thought he should be able to outrun it, without using shunpo, well that's what he thought.

He didn't look back to see if the hollow, was following him, he tried to keep his spiritual pressure as low as he could, as he continued running, hoping that it wouldn't be easy to find him.

A burst of red smoke and the shinigami was gone from its coil, running away swiftly and if not intercepted or stopped would leave the area in which the nanites would remain effective. Swiftly the robot began to rush after him if only to ensure that its machines would not be rendered useless, something it did not want to happen after such a well planned trap. It had better means to end his attempts of escape then simply following however, the arm was still in its control so this would be easy. "You merely delay the inevitable. You cannot escape."

Although using its abilities to control part of Bishamons body caused its more mundane capacities to be reduced, the situation was still well in its control. Quickly while following its prey N.I.U.S ordered the controlled arm to stop its attack against his chest and swipe downwards towards his legs, hoping to cut them in order to stop any attempt to escape. "You forgot a certain detail, did you not?"

As Bishamon was trying to escape, he quickly glanced back to see whether or not that snake was following, he let out a sigh as he was saw it not too far behind, he should of known it was following, it did appear Bishamon was faster, although he wasn't certain, but without the help of shunpo, he wasn't going to create much distance between the two f he kept up at this speed, he was about to try something different, but then his arm once again moved, and swiped down towards his legs, fortunately, this attack was awkward to say the least, so he just managed to catch his arm, as the blade penetrated the skin, yet again a mere scrape, thanks to his short blades, now he had hold of his wrist with a grip of iron, his distraction allowed the snake to catch up somewhat.

He had to get moving again, this time he took a short cut through a thin alleyway, and then jumped onto a rooftop, and once again jumped from rooftop to rooftop, he wasn't sure what to do, he couldn't fight like this, but he couldn't leave that creature there to terrorise the souls of this town, he would have to fight the thing, he just needed a bit of time, he hoped that whatever was controlling him, had a time limit or something of that sort, or maybe he had to be in a certain range, but this was all hopeful thinking, when he was about to take a jump, he quickly glanced back to see whether or not the snake was still following.

Its attack had managed to atleast slow him down slightly and that was all that it required to put an end to his escape. N.I.U.S noted him jumping onto the rooftops trying to make further distance but it did not follow up there, making its way through the alleys down below to make sure it did not lose any distance while climbing as it proceeded to further activate the capabilities of the nanite inside of him. While they both rushed, one in flight and one in pursuit the tiny machine got to work inside his veins starting to control more of the mans body aiming for the left leg.

It did however come to the conclusion that an extra move to further ensure he did not get out of its reach, it began to calculate the speed of his movements along with direction and angle. Once done with this it released another electrical discharge aiming it in a way to try and intercept the course that he would follow. "You won't escape."

After securing a solid grip on his arm, the pressure from it let up, this was odd, had the effect worn off he landed on the rooftop after his jump, and was about to head back into the fight, as long as the effect had worn off, he had nothing to run from, but then he saw a bright flash heading straight towards him, he was about to dodge, but he stumbled somewhat, his left leg wasn't allowing him to move, the effect hadn't ended, it only switched to a different limb, one of his legs no less, something he desperately needed control of, to escape this oncoming attack. He couldn't dodge the attack completely, but he had a plan, he wasn't sure if it would work, but he had to try it, he firmly planted his right foot into the ground, and the spun around with all the power in his body, he managed to move enough to move most of his body out of the way, and then the lightning bolt like attack hit Bishamon's left leg, he let out a groan and gritted his teeth, but this was what he planned to do, now his leg was useless for the time being, and hopefully whatever was inside him, had been destroyed by that attack. But he couldn't be sure, although now without the use of one of his legs, he couldn't run anymore, so he got into a stance, and waited for the hollow.

While it had not completely managed to fulfill its original intents with the attack it still was enough to halt his escape. He was clever to try and direct the attack towards the controlled limb and if the nanite had actually controlled it from inside the particular leg it would have effectively nullified that particular machine, but as it was the control was very much still in effect. Now that he was unable to escape it took its time in approaching, slithering forward ominously lacking any hesitation. "As I said. You cannot escape."

When it was merely a few metres away it positioned itself in a manner that was best for the particular attack it had in question. "I remove my offer. You will die, without any delay." As it stood it had its tail to its side before it curved behind it and from that position it began its attack. To take full advantage of the reapers unusable leg it made a strong swipe with its tail, aiming for the legs and when it was close to hitting him it lunged its head forward aswell, the massive jaws opening as N.I.U.S aimed for his chest, releasing another electric discharge in the process, although it was starting to recognize its energy stores having decreased quite substantially.

Two attacks at once, and a unusable limb, this was far from ideal, but he had to make do, his main priority was the head, which again attacked with that bolt of lightning, he quickly put his hands out in front of him "Hado 17, Smite!" as soon as the large octagonal block appeared and began moving towards the snakes head, it acted as a great shield from the lightning, and then it continued towards the snakes head.

But he forgot about the swipe from the tail, it smashed into his legs, knocking him right off of his feet, the force of the swipe, nearly made him do a full summersault, he then landed hard on his shoulder, he quickly tried to get up but due to his leg, stumbled over, all he could do was hope that his attack managed to do some damage, or at least slow the snake down.

It had forgotten to calculate the x factor that was the shinigami ability to conjure up different effects with the help of incantations, this one in particular being a large energy block heading straight for its head and smashing its way through the electric attack. Because of this, despite the fact that it had managed to bring him down from his standing position it was still unable to counter, of course that was a secondary concern for the moment. Had it not had its controlling nanites active it would probably have been able to either power through with brute force or dodge it with speed, as it was however it could do neither. The block smashed into its head, the side of it since it had managed to slightly evade to the side but it was still pushed back with the jaws dented and its neck bent backwards as it ensured to bend it in order to evade being pushed back even further back.

While its head had been pushed however the tail was free to act as its sensors was still able to detect the reapers position it lifted up then slammed down, the sharp point of the tail aiming for the mans back. "You are persistent. But you cannot escape it."

Bishamon's breathing was a lot heavier now, preforming that kidou, without an incantation wasn't easy, but it seemed to pay off, as he watched the attack, smash into the mechanical snake, a small grin appeared on his face, his leg still hadn't fully recovered yet, but he hoped it would take the snake longer to recover, he was so caught up, watching the snakes head that he forgot about the tail yet again, this time, the tail was meant to finish him off, rather than throw him off balance.

Bishamon managed to evade the attack, by rolling to the side, at the last possible moment, he did get hit, somewhat, but it was just a flesh, wound on his right shoulder, enough to cause some pain. He had to get up now, he slowly struggled onto his feet, and then hopped to catch his balance, his left leg seemed to be getting some of its movement back, but he didn't need it quite yet, as he jumped up towards the snake, only using his right leg to take off, as he closed in on the snake he crossed his arms as far as they would go, and then as he closed in on the snake, he brought both of his arms to the centre, aiming for the snakes slender body, attempting to cut it in two.

It took note of how agile he still was despite the lack of control in his leg as he rolled to the side of its tail. Raising its upperbody it sent out new commands to the nanites inside, abandon the leg and continue the controlling process running through the death gods body. The shinigami once again displayed an impressive agility considering the circumstances as he rose to his feet and jumped on one leg towards N.I.U.S with the intent to sever it in half. "Too fast."

As the attack was about to come down, the machine assumed control over his right arm, making it instead of slice the machine hit the other sword and although it managed to cut through the outer shell and cut wiring and circuitry the sword was pushed out by the other one. While that was happening N.I.U.S went on the offensive aswell, its head lunging forward towards his torso while the forgotten tail sweeped once more aiming for his hip. "Overconfident. Your counter was too fast."

The attack, was less than satisfactory, he planned to end this with one strike, he couldn't continue this fight in the condition he was in, and now the snake was controlling one of his arms again, luckily he had control over both of his legs again, the head of the snake smashed into the chest of Bishamon, he managed to take some of the impact with his blades, which where in an 'X' shape due to the snakes control over his right arm, Bishamon flew back, but he managed to stay on his feet, due to the force of the snakes attack, he flew back fast enough to avoid the tail.

He took a few steps back, trying to figure out how he could fight like this, he once again couldn't fight with his arms, he smiled "Bakudo 25, Seigen" a large circle appeared on the roof, this should slow him down. Bishamon then jumped off the roof, and began running once more in the opposite direction, as long as the snake didn't try anything else tricky, he should be able to get a fair distance away, but now he was tired, Bishamon could only probably use one more kidou spell now. Taking a few deep breathes, he continued jumping from rooftop to rooftop, not looking at the snake.

Although it had successfully evaded his attack aswell as pushing him back from it, he still wasn't letting down. While it was trying to go for a quick counter to keep him from escaping another one of the shinigami spells quickly halted its progress. It was left too simply watch as the reaper scurried off with his tail between his legs, the snake's body unable to muster any speed to follow him and he quickly got away. While it was unfortunate that such a rich meal was able to escape it was a victory that N.I.U.S needed, it proved to it that it was simply circumstances that led to its previous failures in combat and that it still possessed formidable power. Exactly what it needed if it were ever to face its creator.

As he had already disappeared, N.I.U.S made its way back into the city slowly as it waited for the effect to wear off, there would be more hunting to have this night to take advantage of the time it would take for a new reaper to appear and to regain the strength lost in the fight. It had been a good night.