Outnumbered (Bishamon)

Seville, Spain

The gray hollow navigated the roofs of the buildings above the narrow streets. He moved swiftly from building to building. He had gotten careless in his last attack and left a survivor. The humans were in an uproar and in turn the spiritual realm would act. He could feel it already. There were already three shinigami in the area were there were previously none. He cursed his ill luck, but had only himself to blame. Most of his attacks he made little mess as to get no attention. But this time someone had been hiding in the shadows to witness the nighttime massacre. The mystery of disappearing people is one thing, but someone raving about monsters and torn body got the attention of the wrong type of people. While they humans would think that person mad, the word would spread. And the wrong ears would hear. Thus was the current situation. Three shinigami on his tail wasn't anything to laugh at. Alone they were nothing, but in groups they could be quite tedious. It was quite a few hours into sunset, he could move better under cover of darkness. Until then he'd try his best to lay low and avoid their patrol. He would have to be very careful. Climbing down the side of the building he pried the window open with his nail. Suppressing his power as best as possible, he slipped into the open portal. It was a tight fit, but somehow he managed. Just as quietly he closed the window behind him. Stratus had to be careful. Killing a shinigami alone might raise a few eyebrows, but killing one part of the patrol might bring more to bear than he would like.

Damn, just when we were so close, we lost him again, the objective seemed simple, when they were told, locate a hollow, a simple task, but they sent three full fledged shinigami's to deal with this situation, which meant the hollow, had to be strong. But Bishamon didn't like the whole teamwork thing going on, he wasn't even with fellow members of his squad, he was put in charge of two members of squad eleven, that were itching for battle, for the whole pursuit the two were arguing which one would get to fight the hollow; the unspoken rule of squad 11, a fight must always be fought one on one, that was Bishamon's understanding of it anyway.

Bishamon wasn't even going to get involved in their conversation, he didn't even know the names of the shinigami's he was working with, but that suited him better, he didn't think he would get on with them anyway, so he didn't see much point in trying. The 3 men stopped on a rooftop where they last sensed the hollow, but there was no sign of it, Bishamon sighed "right, you head that way" Bishamon pointed to the left, and then looked at the other shinigami "and you go that way" he pointed to the right, "don't engage the enemy if you see it, raise your spiritual pressure and wait for support" he knew they wouldn't do that, but he could continue, with a clear conscious now. He watched as the two shinigami's reluctantly agreed, and then went off their separate ways, "well, i guess i'll go this way" Bishamon continued, heading forward, whilst keeping a constant eye on the ground below; in case the hollow tried hiding in an alley way or something like that.

The patrolling shinigami had gotten closer, but now they had split up. Now was the time to try and get away. The more they moved the greater the avenue for escape. He expanded his senses as much as he could without raising his own signal. The coast seemed clear. The gray hollow crept over to the window and looked out. He could only see so much through the murky glass. He tried sensing again, but felt nothing. Finally with a sigh he opened the window and slipped outside. Slowly he climbed up to the roof and looked in each direction. Still nothing to be seen.
"So far so good." he muttered. He wanted to run along the roofs, but that would bee too obvious. Stratus quickly jumped from the roof and landed in the alley below. While they searched high, he would move through the streets. He grinned and made his way north.

The hollow was being very elusive, which frustrated Bishamon, usually finding a hollow was rather easy, he hadn't met many hollow's that could hide their presence effectively. Bishamon continued jumping from rooftop, to rooftop, in hopes that he would see the hollow, but to no such luck, he thought the search would be more effective on the ground, since the hollow was concealing its presence, it wasn't going to expose itself by climbing up on the rooftops, so with that thought, Bishamon jumped off the roof, and began walking in empty streets, looking down every turn as he progressed.

"Damn it, looking for a hollow is a real pain in the ass" muttered Katsuo; one of the squad 11 member's, who was ordered to participate in this mission, he stopped on the rooftop, now he was far away from, Bishamon, and his other squad 11 member, which didn't bother him, as he intended to fight the hollow one on one, if he were to find it, "where the hell are you?!" he shouted to no one, in hopes of a sign what to do.

The other squad 11 member; Taro, wasn't having much luck either, as he also searched the never ending sea of rooftops, "this isnt going to get me anywhere" he muttered to himself, he then decided, it was best to search on the ground, so now he was searching for the hollow on the streets, but he wasn't staying very vigilant, as he clumsily walked down the abandoned street.

Close and yet so far. Stratus had made his way though the city a quiet as a mouse. He avoid crushing the puny humans in his passing. When the streets were blocked by people he climbed along the walls. The gray hollow jumped over trash cans and clutter that filled one alley. In all his time of being a hollow this was the most behaved he'd ever been. The humans should have given their thanks to the three shinigami currently moving through their city. Otherwise he would love nothing better than cutting a bloody swath through the whole lot of them. His dark thoughts took his attention from the more important task of keeping tabs on the soul reaper's movement. If he had he would have noticed that on of them had changed direction and he was not on a collision course with the gray hollow. Stratus was way too busy muttering about the various ways he wanted to disembowel the various mouth breathers. He heard a sudden yell and brought the real world back into focus. The yell was a battlecry from the shinigami named Taro.
"Shit!" Stratus growled as the large man closed the distance between them. His blade already drawn he brought the his zanpukto down with a mighty chop to split the hollows head in twain like a ripe fruit. From his left hand the hollow shot a strand of slime. The green ooze hit the wall of a nearby building and Stratus pulled it and leaped at the same time. With the anchor and his own strength he literally pulled himself out of harm's way. He skidded to a stop several feet to the side.Damn, nearly got me! he growled at himself. Where the Taro had struck his weapon had made a large crack in the pavement. It was now that Stratus noted that the weapon he carried looked like a large meat cleaver. It was nearly the size of his own body. How could swing such a large weapon? It was good that he had moved, a blade like that could obviously do some damage. Now that he had been spotting running would be even more difficult. He had to dispose of the man before the others came. He had no other choice.

Taro waved his hand at the hollow beckoning it forth. He saw how it looked at him. The shinigami thought he saw fear in it's eyes, he liked that. The hollow put it's hands together and something green came out, before he could formulate a question the creature's deft fingers stretched and shaped the substance. Too curious to stop him, he watched the strange motions with interest. In the next moment it was a became a strange crystal instead. He gave a snort as the realized the hollow had just made itself a weapon. The hollow as now armed with a crude halberd. Or perhaps it was meant to be a spear? Either way Taro laughed. Did it honestly think it could take him with such a weapon? It would be an interesting fight. The end of the weapon jabbed at him and he blocked with his weapon by turning the flat side forward. It made a good shield on occasion. Although he rarely used it thus. This time it was needed as the barrage of thrusts banged across the cleaver zanpukto. Taro was forced on the defensive. Something he didn't like, but he realized quickly that the spear weapon was meant to give the hollow a long enough reach to keep him out of range. He gave a grin and shunpo'd forward. He vanished just as the sharp point of Stratus' weapon glanced off his own. He reappeared within feet of the hollow. Using the flash step without looking was the wisest of choices. He had moved forward, but came up short. Still it was close enough to bring his weapon to bear. Stratus was still mid thrust and quite open. Seeing the large man vanish and reappear stunned him. He hadn't expected as much from the lump of meat, but he had seen such a thing before. As the cleaver descended he swung the butt of his staff to meet it. The weapons clashed inches from his face. The shinigami chuckled as the hollow struggled to keep the large blade at bay. Stratus' response was a kick that sent the soul reaper into the wall. The impact sent cracks through the brick, but the wall held firm. Taro quickly rose wiped the trickle of blood from his mouth as the hollow charged him.

As the hollow, and the shinigami began to fight, there spiritual pressure, naturally raised, Bishamon quickly picked up on the change in spiritual pressure in the area, it wasn't that far away, if he hurried, he could be there in a matter of minutes, Bishamon quickly headed straight towards the hollow, and the shinigami. What an idiot, i told him to avoid fighting, and wait for backup, i should of known my words, had fallen on death ears. There was no point, thinking about that any longer, he had to hurry, he didn't want a fellow shinigami's death on his hands.

Katsuo kept jumping rooftop to rooftop, until he finally realised, that Taro, and the hollow they were looking for, had already engaged in combat, he was quite annoyed that his friend had beaten him to the hollow. It took him a minute to detect where exactly they where, due to his little skill, in that area, "damn it!" his lack of direction, managed to get himself, far away from the two, he then turned around and began running at full speed towards them, even at full speed, it would still take him at least five minutes.

Bishamon managed to get in view of the hollow, and his fellow shinigami, fighting. There was something strange about the hollow, he was familiar somehow, but he didn't have time to think about it, as he watched the hollow charge at Taro. Taro then began charging as well, this was an opening, he hoped the hollow was too distracted, to sense him, "The earth, what one falls upon when nature binds the lower appendages. Bakudo 17, Keikainatorappu!" If this worked, all Taro would have to do, would be to finish him off.

OOC: Since they are NPC you are free to control them as much as I

The gray hollow's charge was stopped short as it's legs were suddenly bound. He tripped and fell flat on his face in an almost comical fashion. Not so comical seeing at his was a life or death battle. Taro was about to applaud his luck when the hollow fell, but then he noticed Bishamon.
"Stay out of this twig!" he roared as hefted his weapon off the ground. Stratus took the time of their exchange to stand again. He used his halberd as a cane to rise and made a note to behead the other shinigami that did it to him.. "This is my fight, he's mine. Slice and dice!" he bellowed. A high pitched sound suddenly emitted from the large cleaver. As Stratus struggled to stand he noticed the edge of the blade looked blurred. The strange noise had something to do with it. There was little time for him to contemplate it further as the shinigami now charged him. As he drew closer the sound got louder. There was some feeling back in his feet and legs, but not enough to brace himself completely. Taro's heavy weapon came in hard and he raised his own to block. Sparks flew off as the two weapons met. That hadn't happened last time. The man's grin was wide as pushed his weapon harder. Stratus was hard pressed to keep the attack at bay. As the cleaver's edge got closer he now saw the reason for the sparks. All along the edge where small teeth moving at rapid speed. Taro's massive weapon was a large chainsaw. The gray hollow spit slim in the grinning man's face and he reeled backwards trying to remove the sticky substance from his eyes and mouth. His hand instead was stuck to the substance and struggled all the harder. Stratus could feel the confinement on his legs lesson. Now blinded Taro had no way to defend as the green spear thrust at him. The shinigami let out a muffled scream at the hit, and raised his zanpukto to guard while he struggled to free himself.

A satisfied smile grew on Bishamon's face as the kidou connected with his target, now Taro would simply have to finish the grounded hollow off, but something was wrong, he didn't finish it off, instead he was lecturing Bishamon, this visibly angered Bishamon "you idiot! What good will your pride be when you’re dead!" Bishamon now stood on the rooftop not sure what to do, the number advantage, had been made useless, due to this man's stubbornness, if he intervened in the fight, he could have two enemies to fight instead of one, so for the time being, he decided, to stay put, until the hollow spat some sort of slime, into Taro's face, blinding him. Bishamon didn't care about the man’s pride now, he couldn't just watch, the shinigami get killed, so he took action.

Taro was hit by the hollow's green spear, and let out a muffled scream, this was the first time, in a while, when he had feared for his life, he violently swung his zanpakuto around, in hopes to strike the hollow, with a lucky hit. Bishamon landed on the ground, behind the hollow, and drew his blades, and charged at the hollow; he held his left blade out, pointing at the hollow's back, and kept his right blade tucked into his chest, in case he needed to defend against the spear, which the hollow was wielding.

The large cleaver made a decent shield. The muscle man wasn't a complete louse when it came to combat. Still he wasn't going to get far only defending. His wild swings were useless. He danced well out of the man's range. There was much to be said in his choice of weapon for the fight. A very good choice it was. He was able to keep the man back and himself out of relative harm. He thrust again at Taro and then spun in place bringing his halberd around with him. The long shaft of the weapon sweeping around him and clipping the shinigami in the side as he was coming behind him. The hollow stepped back and examined his would be attacker. He hadn't forgotten about the little interloper, he had only toyed with the bigger man in hopes to drawing him out. The little man seemed to love to attack when attention was elsewhere, but now he would have Stratus' undivided attention. Twisting he weapon in his fingers he brought the bladed edge to the front.
"Hello little man, meet my little friend." he swept the butt of the weapon low at the feet, but it was only a feint. Stratus quickly finished the twirl to bring the blade up and swing at the man's head instead.

The hollow, saw through Bishamon's sneak attack, from behind, he watched as the hollow brought his weapon, down low, trying to sweep at his feet, but the attack halted, and then he quickly spun the weapon around, now the bladed edge was aiming for Bishamon's head. He quickly ducked down, just narrowly dodging, "phew, that was a close one" he said, with a hint of sarcasm in his voice, and he was about to take to wide swings, with both blades, aiming for the hollow's midsection. But Bishamon's eyes widened, and then he quickly shunpo'd back as he heard, "rain! Hakai no Kurabu!" It was the other squad 11 member. Katsuo, he was in the air, behind the hollow, with his blade held above his head, as he called on the name of his zanpakuto, his sword changed, to a huge mace; it was a surprise that he could even hold it, due to its size, it would have to weigh, a considerable amount. He then brought it down on the hollow, with a large grin on his face.

History shows great military strategists have employed a surprise attack to devastating results. The main point is to strike when the enemy's guard is down, or when they least suspect it. A well placed ambush can decimate enemy troops and destroy morale. But one key element of this maneuver is the element of surprise. Something the big man lost once he started shouting. Stratus too heard the man's proclamation and looked up. It didn't take much for him to dodge the clumsy attack with a short jump and several back-flips. Stratus was sorely tempted to spit slime in his face as well. But that would be too easy, he'd allow this monkey to prove his worth. Truthfully he was curious about his weapon. So far he'd seen shinigami's weapons transform and grant them interesting abilities. Having seen Taro's he wanted now to see what this other man could do. Silently he wondered what the tiny shinigami was capable of. Curiosity was the only thing keeping Stratus from killing the man outright.
"Guess I better hurry up and kill this one, if I want to see that." he muttered.

As Katsuo huge mace smashed into the ground, kicking up a lot of dust in the process, but his attack didn't hit the target, he watched the hollow evade his attack, which made his grin grow larger, "alright, this is my fight now, don't interfere!" Bishamon looked shocked, the man had a lot of nerve, jumping in his fight, and then telling him to keep out of it, Bishamon gritted his teeth, "fine, i don't care anymore" he walked back to give them some room, Bishamon knew his chances of winning, were slim, but if this guy was able to tire out the hollow, maybe he could finish it off. Bishamon then humped on the rooftop, and sheathed his blades, and watched.

Katsuo, held up his large mace over his head, and then swung it down, full force smashing into the ground, causing the ground to shake, he then ran towards the hollow, and repeated the swing, hoping to completely crush the hollow, but due to the size of the weapon, his attack did seem, clumsy and predictable.

The whole situation was amusing. These shinigami seemed to be arguing over who got to fight him. What the hell kind of group was this? But the way things were going they weren't a match for him alone. Even if they worked together Stratus felt they'd barely give him trouble. Had he worried over nothing? There has been shinigami in the past that had nearly killed him. He was lucky to escape those battles with his life. Where they exceptions? Perhaps they were the strong few, and the rest were these weak fodder that confronted him. There was no time to think about the matter further as the man now rushed at him with his large weapon. The new arrival had chased off the smaller man and now was taking his turn at trying to subdue the gray hollow. Stratus dashed forward to meed the man's rush. His weapon's point dipped suddenly and ran into the ground. The hollow shifted his grip and pushed off the ground. As Katsuo's heavy weapon came down Stratus pole vaulted up and over the shinigami. Mid-air he twisted to pull up his halberd after him. The shinigami's attack crushed the empty spot the hollow once occupied. Stratus landed a couple feet behind the astonished soul reaper. He quickly spun his weapon about and slashed the shinigami across the back.

It was a surprise to Katsuo, that the hollow was so agile, and fast; the hollow's he usually encountered, were slow, clumsy and just relied on their size, but this one was different, and this pleased Katsuo, the stronger the opponent the more fun he had, as the hollow landed behind him, Katsuo began to spin around, whilst swinging the mace at the hollow, but he felt a sharp pain, coming from his back, as the hollow's spear like weapon, slashed into his back, he let out a groan, but his momentum, kept him going, despite his pain, the mace was closing in on the side of the hollow.

Bishamon stood still watching the fight, from the rooftop, it appeared as though Katsou would fall any second, but even Bishamon had to admit, that he was very determined, it was a slim chance, but if Katsou could connect with that weapon, that would seriously hurt, and possibly even win him the fight, but he knew the hollow wouldn't get hit that easily.

The grin on the hollow's face widened as the blade cut into the shinigami's back. But the smile turned to surprise as the man took the blow and brought his weapon to bear. It would seem he underestimated the big lug. Stratus raised his weapon as the metal ball came around. He barely managed to get the staff around in time. The metal collided with the crystal and the crystal got a small crack where it was hit. Stratus was pushed back slightly from the force of the blow. Underestimated the man indeed. Although it was thin, the emerald was amazingly strong. For him to damage it, his power must be monstrous. The grin returned to his face; he needed a challenge. He dropped to his knees and swept his weapon at the man's feet to trip him up. If he could knock him off his feet, he wouldn't have to worry about that troublesome weapon he used.

The attack, wasn't very satisfactory, as it was meant to finish off the hollow, but Katsuo, didn't mind, this meant he could fight longer, however he was impressed, by the toughness of the weapon, the hollow had at its disposal, also the hollow's strength was impressive; only being moved back slightly, was impressive. Katsuo, spun around from right to left, attempting to do the same attack, but mirrored. But just as he got in mid-swing, the hollow managed to swipe at his feet, Katsuo, was focusing, so much on the upper body, he completely forgot about the lower body, and that was a bad mistake to make, as he fell flat on his back, dropping his weapon in the process; he watched it roll away from him, and then he looked back at the hollow, as though he was ready to die.

Bishamon had no choice now, he couldn't let him fight any longer, he quickly drew his blades, and then leapt off the building, holding his blades, above his head, and as he closed the gap between him, and the hollow, he would swing them down; but he wasn't sure if he would make it in time, to save Katsou

After tripping the shinigami the gray hollow rose to his feet. He spun his weapon over his head as he prepared to bring the sharp point down and skewer his foe. Without his weapon Katso was as equally helpless as he was defenseless. Stratus was about to let his heavy weapon fall when he felt a twinge in the back of his head. Rather than strike he moved. A quick dodge to the side allowed him to narrowly escape the third and final shinigami's dive-bomb attack. But it wasn't until on of small blades had made contact. His dodge while saving his head instead caused the weapon to leave a cut across his back. He slid to a stop after the sideways jump dropping his weapon in the brief instance of pain. He looked at his newest opponent. "I should have paid better attention behind me." he muttered to himself feeling his back. There was blood coming from his wound. The hollow shook off the dark liquid from his hand. It wasn't deep, but moving made it hurt more. "So I guess it's your turn again." he chuckled. With a flick of his wrist he shot slime from each wrist and quickly crystallized it. Now he had a 3 foot crystal in each hand. He swung each and their edged cutting the air with audible hiss. Not waiting for a response, he charged the smaller shinigami his left hand thrusting the sharp crystal to impale the man, but at the last moment he brought his right hand up into a downward slash to cleave the poor soul in two.

Well, at least the hollow, didn't kill Katsuo, that was what his attack was initially for, and he managed to cause some damage as well. So that was in his favour, granted, the attack didn't cause much damage, but enough to at least cause some sort of pain. Bishamon watched, as the hollow formed two large crystal for both hands, the ability to form, what seemed like an endless supply of weapons, was most impressive, and a dangerous ability, Bishamon readied himself, as the hollow charged towards him, the weapons seemed strong, and incredibly dangerous, he recognised that, from the way he sliced through the air.

Bishamon skipped back to give himself some room, and then raised his right blade to block the first strike, but it was a feint, he quickly crouched down slightly; to take the force from the strike, and quickly raised his left blade to block, the two weapons met, creating a small shock wave, as they hit. His arm began to shake slightly, due to the strength of the hollow, Bishamon quickly put his weight on his back foot, and spun around 360 degrees clockwise, as he neared the end of his swing, he kept both of his blades parallel, and extended, trying to use the momentum from the spin, to deliver a serious blow to the mid-section, of the hollow.

It would seem while the two other shinigami had brawn the last had skills. Aside from the fact he alone had used those strange spells, he had some cunning. It didn't take him long to see through the feint and block his right weapon's attack. Katso was scrambling away from the two combatants. He went to check on the other man still struggling to free himself from the green ooze. Before Stratus could voice his delight the dual wielding shinigami was in motion. Bishamon spun in place and brought his weapons around in a double slash. Impressive use of one's body to perform a powerful attack. Still as impressive as it was, it was quite obvious a motion. A simple slash would have been quicker and more effective. At this point Stratus was thankful he had two weapons rather than one. As the shinigami completed his spin the gray hollow's left arm crossed under his right to block. The two zanpukto chimed off the emerald gemstone. He hadn't braced his arm enough and his guard faltered, but didn't break. His weapons held the opponent's at bay. Stratus pivoted on his back foot and performed his own 360 spin. The left tried to push the weapons away before his right completed it's arc. It was like a helicopter as he swung the right blade around and the left coming up behind it.

As the weapon's clashed, Bishamon tried to regain his balance; after performing a high speed spin, he was slightly disoriented, as he tried to firmly plant his feet into the ground, the hollow preformed a spin of his own, knocking Bishamon's arm's to the side, further throwing off his balance, in the corner of his eye he saw the large crystal weapon, closing in on him, he instinctively jumped back, but not before the right blades, sliced through the Bishamon's chest; not a deep cut, but deep enough to cause him a considerable amount of pain, and a lot of discomfort, luckily he managed to dodge the left blade in time.

When his feet touched the ground, he skidded back, and pointed his right hand out "Hado 4, White Lightening!" a white light, shot from his hand, Bishamon didn't wait to see results, as he jumped, and took to the air, with his blades, raised above his head, and as he approached the hollow, he would bring them down.

Stratus smiled as the right blade connected and the smile broadened as the second one missed. The shinigami had avoided a painful death. The second strike would've more powerful than the right's. Almost to punctuate the thought his left blade slammed into the ground. As much as he didn't like losing he didn't want an easy win. The man had gained space between them. What would his next move be? It would seem this soul reaper would be more fun than the others. He stole a sidelong glance at the other two men. It would seem Katso was now stuck as well to the slime on the other man's face. Without much thought he had touched the sticky substance and now trapped himself as well. Stratus was about to laugh, when he heard something very familiar; "Hado 4, White Lightening!". The words brought his attention back to Bishamon in full. His arms brought up his swords in an "X" across his face just as the blast of energy came forth. Silently he scolded himself for getting distracted. Now there was no time to dodge; only to defend. If he had been paying attention he would have seen that the spell wasn't heading for his for his head. But it was a good hollow response to guard his mask. Bishamon in his haste hadn't aimed too well. Instead of hitting the gray hollow head on it washed over his right side. His elbow, bicep, shoulder, and part of his thigh were burnt by the blazing white lightning. Stratus's right arm dropped the grip on his hand weakened from the damaged muscles. Still he held on to the green sword. He saw the shinigami coming at him from above and raised his left arm. Dropping his weapon Stratus fired a strand of slime at the descending shinigami. The strand rose 4 feet into the air and then the hollow crystallized it. Now the shinigami was coming straight down upon the emerald spike.

The hollow's reaction's were indeed impressive, and there wasn't much damage from the kido he casted, but, he did rush the spell, so it wasn't a surprise that it didn't do all that much; it was meant as a distraction, on the most part, but that seemed to fail, as the hollow, saw his attack coming, and fired some slime, which quickly solidified into a large spike. If he continued to fall, not doing anything, he would be impaled by the spike, and more than likely die. He gripped his blades hard, and swung them diagonally downwards; from right to left, knocking the spike to the side, however, due to the awkward strike, he couldn't knock it completely out of the way, as sliced into, the side of his left thigh, it wasn't too deep, but it was enough to falter his landing; when he landed, his left leg buckled, and caused him quite a bit of pain, but he could live with it, although, it was going to hurt like a hell after the fight. Bishamon quickly used shunpo, to get close to the hollow, but due to his injury it wasn't as fast as it could of been, when he closed the gap, he braced his legs; crouching down slightly, and then took a wide swing with his left blade, swinging from left to right, aiming for the hollow's midsection, and he mirrored the attack with his other blade.

Again the shinigami showed amazing agility despite his size. Not to mention some quick creativity. Stratus had thought the man would impale himself on the spike. Instead he used his weapons to avoid the critical blow. It was some consolation that he didn't escape the situation unscratched. The long spear lanced the shinigami's leg. Not only that, but his landing was rather clumsy. For each time the man impresses the hollow, he disappoints. There wasn't any doubts he had the making of a warrior, but just lacked experience. It was regrettable that his life was going to be snuffed out before he could gain it. Stratus blinked as the shinigami vanished. He opened his senses
"Shit!" he grunted as he quickly looked over his shoulder. Unfortunately his senses now told him should have looked right in front. The shinigami had reappeared both blades swinging. He had left himself completely open. The left arm held the large spear up towards the sky, while the right hung at his side. Even as he thought of using the right arm, it was slow to respond. The man's twin blades went to work on his body. The left and right blade worked in harmony to leave two cuts across his stomach and chest. Bishamon's arms criss and crossed as they slashed the gray hollow, but the ending of the swing left too tempting obvious opening for a counter. Stratus wasn't one to let such an opportunity pass. Biting back the extreme pain from the recent blow, he acted. The hollow's clawed foot shot forward to kick the shinigami directly in the face. As he kicked he brought down the lance he had been holding aloft.

The satisfaction he got from his blades, carving into the hollow's flesh was well worth the wait, but, as his attack came to an end, the hollow was still standing, this wasn't good, he knew that he couldn't defend effectively against a counter attack, and apparently the hollow knew as well, all he could do was possibly dodge the spear, as the hollow's large foot smashed into his face, Bishamon also jumped back, to try and dodge the spear, the force of the kick was great, this was shown as Bishamon flew back at quite a fast pace; the incredible force of the kick, did manage to help him dodge the spear. He then slid along the ground, he quickly used the physical strength in his arms to spring himself back up on his feet. His face felt numb after the kick, and he was in a daze of somewhat, as he took a breath, something was odd; the kick had managed to break his nose, don't let him know, a broken nose, would give him a disadvantage of somewhat, but he could compensate for it, as long as the hollow didn't know about it, it wouldn't be too bad. He ran his tongue along his teeth, a couple where missing, and he had the taste of his own blood in his mouth, he started to get the feeling in his face back, and the pain came with it, and damn did it hurt, but he couldn't show it. He stood there and spat out some blood, and then held out his zanpakuto in front of him, "Forget your troubles. Miwatasu Kyoudai" his two blades, both grew in size, and changed colour to black, he was now holding to standard black katana swords. He then relaxed slightly, hoping to goad the hollow into attacking.

Blood drained from the cuts across his chest. The short blades had bit him deep enough for the healing to take longer than he would like. Usually eating a soul would increase his regenerative powers. But the only possible food on hand were the two bumbling shinigami. And Stratus had a feeling the third wasn't about to sit and watch them get eaten. Still he took some measure of satisfaction in kicking the opponent in the face. He readjusted his grip on the spear with his left hand. The right was still non-responsive, the best he could do was keep his grip on the sword. Stratus spun the spear for good measure. A little off balance, but it would do. The shinigami spat blood. Good, he was hurting as well. Than meant things were going to be pretty much even footing. "Forget your troubles. Miwatasu Kyoudai" the man spoke and his blades shifted and changed. The short blades were now long dark blades.
"Or not." Stratus muttered. It would seem unlike the other two men, this shinigami held his ability in reserve. If the hollow was a more thinking person he might figure that using such power was a last ditch effort. Instead he saw it as the man hiding his true power until needed. Stratus remembered the first man's cutting cleaver. The second man's weapon was massive in size and weight, but didn't see anything special about it. Perhaps that was the extent of it's ability? There was no way to tell what it could do. Just as it was impossible to know what the current weapon could do. He swung his weapon about and then held it firm. With one arm he wasn't about about to rush forward at the strange new weapons. "Maybe I don't have to." he smiled and released slime from his mouth directly at the waiting shinigami.