Things that go bump in the night (Gouldo)

Boston, Massachusetts

It had been awhile since he'd returned to the Human world. Ever since Tatsuya's apparent death, he'd been reluctant to go near it. But he had now made a recent discovery; his invention hadn't killed his friend. It was very much possible that Tatsuya and Junko were both alive an well. The only way for him to find out for sure would be to continue paroling the human world for some trace of them. The random patrol areas would actually work in his favor, little by little he could cover ground and look for clues of the big man's whereabouts. This big city would be the first in his search. He wasn't about to neglect his duties of fighting hollows to look for Tatsuya, he was just going to do both. As he raced along rooftops he kept the radar scanning for higher spiritual power. Both in the terms of hollows and spiritual beings it was a quiet night. Of course he couldn't expect to find him on the first try. A voice in the back of his head told him maybe he was wrong. Sure it had phase shifted the original device. Who knew the effects it would have on a living being. But Tatsuya and Junko weren't alive, they were spirits. Perhaps they could have survived such a thing. While he knew he wouldn't find him so quickly he quietly hopped he had. The longer it took, the more he doubted they were alive. Maybe did kill them both. The device's reappearance had just given him false hope and relieved him of his guilt. As he pondered it more his phone gave a chirp. Something had just shown up in range. Arawn pulled the phone from it's inner pocket. Not one blip, but multiple blips had appeared on the radar. Definitely not Tatsuya and Junko. A grouping like that was odd for humans, and even stranger for hollows. He looked up in the direction indicated. "Curiouser and curiouser." he muttered and made his way along the high building and jumped off the roof.

The wind whistled in his ears as he rose into the air. He then began to drop, but before he could descend three feet he focused on his feet. With minute control of reishi he stepped on the empty space as if was solid and jumped again. Anyone watching from afar would think he was flying, but he was just jumping rapidly across the night sky. It was funny Arawn, hated heights and here he was flying. Not as fast as shunpo, but much less draining. Looking down made him queasy, so he tried to focus on something else. He glanced at radar; he was nearing the location. This time as he dropped from his latest jump he didn't stop himself right away. He fell from the sky like a black dart. His ears filled with the howling wind of his swift descent. Several feet from before striking the roof he focused on his feet once more and stopping on the empty air. Slowly he stepped down to the roof proper and looked down. The streets were dark here, and the signal was close. He walked swiftly to the other side of the building and then noticed the motion. Someone was down there. He looked at his screen again. Something was down there, he corrected. As his eyes got adjusted to the darkness he could barely see the strange shapes. Tucking the phone away he put his hand on the sword at his hip. The shapes were definitely not human, that left only one thing. Silently he pulled the blade free of the sheath tried to get a better view of the targets. There wasn't much light and from up high, it was hard to make out completely where they were. With a small hop he jumped over the edge of the building to the one next to it. It was lower, but not by much. Looking down he saw that the creatures were moving. He shadowed them high on the roofs. He could drop down and kill them, but something was odd. Hollows don't work in groups. They may have have swarmed in the past, but nothing cooperative. It almost looked like a planned patrol. Something was definitely odd. And for that he was following them. If they did attack a soul he'd intervene to be sure, but he wanted to see where they were going it possible.

The world certainly had changed during his time of slumber, now filled with cities holding so many more then those of the past, such glorious hunting grounds for those in search of souls. One of these was of course Gouldo, having had a fine time concealing his presence and pounce on whatever unfortunate little soul he would come across, always providing such delicious terror to provide ample entertainment for his meals. With images of such terror and pain freshly imprinted into his mind and having had such a satisfying amount of meals, Gouldo felt that he deserved a little nap, let the minions do some work.

Having sent out the little creatures in three groups, each with three brutes and one each of the other kinds, Gouldo had settled in inside an abandoned building, lazily waiting for his little fiends to bring fresh souls for him to feed on. One of these patrols were on their way back, the brutes carrying the soul they had captured while the creeper had ensured that their prey wouldn't scream until their master wanted it too but in the midst of their work they missed the shinigami looming over the rooftops, leading him directly towards their master as they entered the building with their bounty.

Now this was strange. As he tailed the creatures he saw they indeed had a soul with them, but they hadn't killed it yet. Why would they wait? As he watched them from afar also noted that 3 of the beings were exactly the same in shape and form. That too was rather odd for hollows. Like dark twisted snowflakes no two hollow looked the same. Something was definitely going on here. He pulled out his radar once again and scanned the area. A new signal was now in range, and it was apparent that these small creatures were heading towards it. Curiosity overrode caution as he moved closer to the larger signal. The small beast has still not sensed his presence. He couldn't afford to let them take the unfortunate soul into the building. If he was going to save the soul he had to act now. Silently he jumped from the two story building and landed behind the creatures. His sword drawn he ran behind the first of the small grotesque reptilians and slashed it with his blade.

The brown creature howled in pain as a deep slash cut through its back while its kin hissing as they turned around to face the new arrival, dropping the soul they had carried to face him. While the one that had been cut was doing his best to get over being cut, the other two brutes jumped at the shinigami from two directions to grab onto him while the creeper faded away from sight. To provide additional support for its fellows, the fiery minion remaining threw a ball of fire at Arawn, hoping that fire would distract him more then the other two minions.

Meanwhile, inside of the overlord's den the creature inside had awoken from his light slumber, the shriek from his minion disturbing him in his rest. Angry at this turn of events, the monster sought out the presence of the closest minion nearby but to his surprise he found the entire group along with a shinigami. 'What a delicious surprise...' Deciding it best to reveal himself to the shinigami in the most sudden manner possible, in order to preserve the element of surprise. To this end, he eyed the wall closest to where the fight was going on and charged it, the massive creature smashing through the wall like nothing with rubble and debris flying everywhere.

Too shallow Arawn cursed himself as his surprise attack failed to take down the first target. Four against one was easier than five against one. Still there was a chance the creature would alert whatever was waiting in the building or decide to rejoin the fray. Either way it was miscalculation on his part. There was no time to think about it as the others sprang into action. While Arawn was smart enough to not get surrounded, it didn't mean it wouldn't happen. The remaining creatures moved and struck quickly. A reptile on either side and fireball from the front. A nice tactic. Rather than try to defend himself from each he ran directly at one of the charging brown monsters. Just in time as the fireball roared past at his previous location. Arawn's zanpukto arched upward and came down diagonally to the creature before him. The silver blade cleaved the through the out stretched arms and body with ease. A small fountain of blood sprayed forth as Arawn spun around to face the second creature now behind him. It was then that the wall exploded and rock was sent everywhere as the monstrous creature made an appearance. There was no doubting that the tall monster was a hollow. He could feel the energy just flowing from it's body. The soul the smaller minions had been carrying had fled once the fight had started. For that Arawn was thankful, one less thing to worry about. Now his own survival was in question.

The first minion finally collapsed to its injuries, not able to overcome the initial damage caused by the first slice but it did not dissipate as it was still alive but simply unable to continue fighting. But the second brute was not as lucky however as the blade clove through its body and tearing it to pieces, the body dissipating similarly to a dying hollow. The remaining ones were more wary then before all the way until their master appeared and with it their bravery quickly returned. As he noticed in the corner of his eye that the soul his minions had brought to him was escaping, he gained an even greater incentive for crushing this reaper into the ground and drinking his very essence out of his skull, perhaps he could wear it as a decorative item on his horns. Driven by the pleasant thoughts in his head, Gouldo moved out of the rubble as he directed his minions to attack once more.

Driven by its masters return and the orders given, the brute charged forward once more, murderous intent coursing through it as it aimed for Arawn while shrieking in order to draw as much attention to it as possible. Simultaneously the flamer moved in a circular fashion around Arawn while throwing another fireball, partly in order to make it harder for him to hit it but also to make room for its master to pass for his attack as well. Mostly however they were both a mere distraction for the last member of their trio of fiends as the creeper, having remained hidden while circling the shinigami now came in for the strike as it jumped towards him from behind, aiming for his back in an attempt to latch onto it. Of course beyond these creatures, truly just distractions the whole lot of them in the grand scheme of things, was Gouldo. The centaurian monster began to charge, coming in between the brute and the flamer in order to properly coordinate their attack without the others impeding his progress, he would not allow this shinigami to live.

Looking at the towering creature a shiver raced down the puny shinigami's spine. Things were definitely taking a turn for the worse. The creatures seemed to show renewed vigor with the large hollow's arrival. The death of their companion had made them pause, now it was like nothing had happened. He watched the fireball launching creature circle around and then the reptile leaped forward all sound and fury at Arawn. Now it was back to 3 versus 1. Wait a second! 3? Weren't there five to begin with? The quickly tally in his head came too late as the hidden creature jumped upon his back as the Brute lunged. The talons dug into his back as claws scratched his chest and arms. It was too difficult to swing as he flailed to remove the creatures from him. Then the fire struck, by some stroke of luck the fireball hit just as Arawn wrestled with the foul creatures. The ball of flame hit the creature on his back as the Brute tried to grab the weapon from his hands. The creeper let out a hideous screech in his ear as it was hit. It's own attack forgotten it dropped from him and rolled in the ground in pain. The fire licked at him and ate it's flesh. Too busy battling with the brute Arawn didn't notice the one on his back was gone nor that some of the flames had attached themselves to his back. Another thing he had missed was the large hollow's charge.

The towering form rammed into with all the elegance of a wrecking ball and just as effective. The force it had used to destroy the wall in it's entrance was now employed upon Arawn's small frame. The the titanic blow knocked the shinigami off his feet and into the air. The Brute he was wrestling with was just as surprised as he. The flight sent them crashing into a wall. Both bodies tore through the brick and remained airborne only a short moment later when they struck the opposite wall of the building. There wasn't enough force to break this second wall, but the impact was no less painful. Arawn hit the ground with loud grunt and slowly to his feet. He staggered as his eyes tried to focus, everything hurt. The brute didn't fare the trip as well as he, it's body was mangled. Luck had favored him once more as it had absorbed some of the impact. But his luck had ended there, he had dropped his weapon mid-flight. The room he had crashed into was thankfully abandoned. The zanpukto lay in the middle of the empty floor on top of a thick layer of dust. Arawn stumbled to reach it before the large creature decided to come after him again.

Gouldo's laughter echoed through the small area of buildings, the brick walls reflecting the unnatural collection of sounds filled with the malice and hatred that could only exist in a being so utterly soulless as a hollow. Two of the minions that had helped in his attack had already fallen, to friendly fire at that. But this mattered little, the minions were and always had been fodder and this time they proved more useful then they tended to be, leaving the shinigami crashing through the wall. There was little time to waste however as if Gouldo waited to long the reaper could easily recover from the first attack and taking the last remaining minion with him he stormed into the building, shattering what needed to be shattered of the brick wall for him to pass.

Something was off with the shinigami, he could see that the robed man was struggling to reach something, but what could it be. But then he saw it, the zanpakuto. Gouldo knew that this was the most important piece of a shinigami's power, despite all of their magic and so he had to try and stop him from reaching it. While he ordered the flamer to throw fireballs at the shinigami's side of the sword, Gouldo charged forward, hoping that he would be able to reach it before the reaper.

One of the many problems with being right, was being right. The horned creature didn't waste any time in making the hole he and his flight companion had made bigger. As it cleared the portal it noticed his movement to recover his weapon and charged once more. The creature from before launched a volley of fireballs at him. Clumsily he dodged, but he quickly saw their true purpose of denying him his blade. From behind the wall of flames he looked at his fallen zanpukto and then to the charging Hollow. Still dazed from the earlier attack he lacked focus to shunpo through the fire and retrieve the weapon. Still there had to be something he could do. There was, so he took the first thing that popped to mind. Arawn's reiatsu rushed forth as he tried to concentrate.
"Hado #17: Smite." he coughed pointing his hand at the oncoming behemoth. The energy took to his command and shaped the 8ft purple battering ram. In the next instant if shot forth like an arrow. The block of purple matter cut through the flames and continued forward at it's target. The gust of wind from it's flight snuffing some of the fire. It was already dying before the block had done it's work. He moved forward as the block zoomed at it's target. He wasn't as shaky as before. Summoning his reiatsu had given him more vigor. His mind didn't feel as hazy, the pain now a dull ache. The purple block reached it target quickly and slammed into the Hollow's lower body. It was like a car crash as the two met. It was the same physics at least. Two masses traveling at one another their speed is combined and the force of their impact enhanced. Arawn hadn't though that far ahead, merely sought out something of size to prevent the creature's advance. He ran for his weapon as the hollow and the block flew back in opposite directions.

His chances of reaching the sword first were looking good as his charge remained unimpeded while the shinigami was kept back by the fire but a sudden move from the reaper proved more then capable of putting an end to his success. Out of nowhere the massive block appeared, flying towards Gouldo and having already built up considerable speed he had no way of avoiding it. As the purple block smashed into his gut the combined speed of the two forced both hollow and kido backwards, Gouldo's hooves scratching and tearing up the ground as he was forced backward and his front legs bending when he finally stopped.

"You shinigami and your spells... It will not save you." Gouldo pushed himself back upwards, definitely not going to let himself appear weak after just one attack even if it was impressive, leaving cracks in the carapace armour where the block hit, blood trickling through. While its master was recovering from the attack, the flamer was still intent to see through with its last command as it continued to throw fire against the shinigami as he approached his blade again.

It spoke! Well it was obvious that the creature wasn't mindless from the way it controlled the smaller beast. Case and point the barrage of fireballs now being flung by the thing behind him. The gap the Smite had given him was already shrinking, but with the creature's large legs it wasn't much ground lost. He dodged for all he was worth and kept moving. It was harder for the creature to hit a moving target at least. It was disturbing that the hollow knew about spells. He was hoping to use them to his advantage. But just knowing about them didn't exactly make them any less potent.
"Ye lord! Mask of flesh and bone, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws. Hado# 33: Sōkatsui!" He raised his hand a second time and pointed it hollow's renewed charge. A burst of blue energy erupted from his hand and slammed into the larger creature. Arawn felt his reiatsu dip. It was a costly spell, but it was worth it. The blast was big enough to engulf his towering foe. It wasn't enough to stop such a creature, but like the last spell it would push him back and delay him further.

Before now wasn't the time to celebrate. A fireball came howling at him from the right so he dodged left, he spun and then continued forward. Another blast caused him to zag again. It was like he was playing football and he was avoiding tackles as he rushed towards the endzone. Flames were waiting for him as he came ever closer to the weapon. He jumped and the fire flinging creature aimed it's shots in the air at him. Arawn grinned. As hard as it was to hit a moving target it would be impossible for the simple creature to hit a falling one. The fireballs arched upwards and missed him by a greater margin than when upon the ground. As he landed he went into a roll. His weapon was right in front of him now. Diving to the ground he grasped at it's handle and then rose to his feet. Just as the creature tossed another fireball. Zanpukto in his right Arawn fumbled at his belt and pulled his sheath off his waist. Holding it like a bat he swung it at the oncoming ball of flame. The burning orb shattered as if made of glass as the shinigami's club hit it. The embers showed him and he coughed. Quickly he dusted off the small flames that had landed on him. He lifted his left index finger from his firm grasp of the sheath. "Hado #4: Byakurai." The white flash bridged the gap between he and the pyro flinging creature. Even at that distance it hit the mini-holow and sent it flying backwards. The energy had burned a hole right through it's chest; it was dead before it had a chance to hit the ground.

Once again he thought his advance would be awarded with success but once more the spells of the shinigami came to bear as a downright nuisance as the blue ball of energy crashed into his form, violently pushing him back once more and this time with even more force. The hollow crashed into a section of the wall that was still standing, the monstrous form turning it into mere rubble but not completely landing outside of the building but all of his legs had buckled under the pressure. Gouldo forced himself back up onto his legs once more, his body having taken a significant beating after the two spells, even more cracks having opened in the carapace and part of his helmet having been blasted off, causing the darkness underneath it to spill out slowly similar to blood.

Along with this already considerable blow his last minion there was killed, impaled by another of the spells straight through the chest, leaving Gouldo alone to fight the reaper. Fortune however was in his favour as another group had just returned with another soul, the five fiend group having been drawn to the clamour of battle as they had come back to offer a gift to their master. Instantly noticing the shinigami, the group gathered up in between the shinigami and their overlord, forming a protective shield while offering the soul to their master, who was quick to grab onto their gift.

Having recovered his weapon things were looking up, not only the large hollow was left. He turned his attention to the where his kido had blasted the monster through the wall. Through the new hole he spied the large beast, but it was not alone. It was joined by another group of creatures similar to the pack he had just finished dispatching. It wasn't that they were similar they were exactly the same. One exactly like the fire throwing annoyance he had just struck down. Three of the lizard like creatures, and one he didn't recognize. He quickly recalled something attacking him from the rear. He could only guess that it was the culprit. Arawn found it curious how they formed a line in front of the much bigger creature. Did they think to protect him? Why would they? He couldn't allow this fight to drag on.
"Drift, Huang Long." he spoke as he flipped the zanpukto over his right wrist. The blade began to glow as it continued it's rotation. It bent at an angle and widened slightly before it finished it's trip and Arawn grasped the handle once more. His reiatsu already began pumping into the blade, the air about the gold weapon began to shimmer. He only only took a moment to gaze at his transformed weapon before he shunpo'd directly at the group.

The minions gave a collective gasp of surprise when Arawn vanished, and then of horror as he reappeared in front of the Creeper. He held his sword high and brought it down with all his strength. The kukuri blade flashed in the dim light. The jarring impact as the zanpukto cut the unfortunate creature right down the middle. The last thing to go through it's head was probably to wonder how such a thing was possible. Well, the second to last thing. Arawn had targeted the Creeper first unsure it's true abilities. He could only guess that the fire use was more of a ranged fighter and that it wouldn't risk using fireballs in such close proximity. The Brute beside the Creeper was first to react. It reached it's claws at Arawn only to be blocked by his sheath. Another golden flash as he swung his zanpukto again. The reptilian creature looked in utter amazement as it pulled back a bloody stump and it's limb hung in the air. It had enough sense to block the sheath's return swing it's side, but one arm makes for a lousy defense it suddenly realized. That moment of hesitation was all that was needed for the blade's next swing to decapitate the foul little creature. Arawn's sword cut through it's neck as his sheath pushed. The head went one way while the body went the other. It was as if they were moving in slow motion.

They hadn't noticed, but the body of the Creeper remained standing even after being cut in half. The shinigami lunged at his next target; the Flamer. Too late has it summoned it's flame as the gold weapon slashed a deep line across it's chest. Arawn's left hand went up then down upon the minion's head. There was the sound not unlike a baseball bat smashing a watermelon. The sekiseki stone on the end of his sheath shattered and crumbled much like the creature's skull. The slowly started to fall to the ground. The next Brute gave a yell from behind him Arawn spun on his heel as the creature rushed at him. It must have seen his weapon lowered as an opening for it's hasty attack. Once in range the golden sword arched upwards blade first. The vertical strike lifted the monster into the air as it shared the Creepers fate of being cleaved in half. The divided body hovered slowly higher as Arawn turned to face the last creature. The last one had smartly kept quiet in it's attack and leaped forward as the shinigami once more gave it attention. The attack was nothing more than a bear hug as the creature tried to crush him while preventing him from swinging his sword. Grunting as the monster squeezed Arawn pulled his arm bade and angled his weapon up. With a quick thrust the arms holding him slackened and then finally let go. The front of his uniform was soaked with the creature's blood. It's twisted body hung limp in the air.
Arawn looked at the creatures one last time then swung his blade downwards. There was a flash as the blade changed back to the sealed zanpukto once again. The bodies and their parts fell to the ground like puppets with cut strings. As if on cue the bodies started to disintegrate into nothingness. The gesture wasn't for dramatics it was for conservation of energy. Already Arawn could feel his energy wavering. The hit through the wall, fortifying himself with reiatsu, two spells, and shunpo were quite draining. Keeping his weapon release was more burden than he could bear. If anything he knew his limits, and he was close to reaching them at this point. He pointed his sword at the large hollow.
"This is over." he said trying hard to hide his heavy breathing. "Release the soul now."

Gouldo rapidly began the process of draining the soul of energy, since he lacked the brutal jaws that other hollow possessed he was forced to do it through the much slower method of draining his prey using his hand which may be more amusing for those moments when he could take his time and savour the torment coursing through the soul but right now it was highly inconvenient. This fact was proven as the shinigami coursed forward, having transformed his blade as Gouldo had seen before, never a good sign. With no movement visible to the eye had the reaper reached the row of minions, carving through them one by one by increasingly impressive means, all the bodies falling to the ground and dissipating as he returned his blade back to normal once more, why he would do this was curious but there was no time to consider it.

But then the soul was requested back from the clutches of the monstrous creature, an amusing request considering what immediately was brought to mind for Gouldo. The soul remained alive, though catatonic from the mental trauma of slowly being drained of its very essence. It was certainly not enough to recover all damage the hollow had sustained but it was a good refreshment. Knowing that he would be unable to drain it further once the shinigami began fighting him again there came the plan along with relinquishing the soul to the reaper. "Fine. Have him!" Gouldo threw the traumatized soul directly at Arawn and the extended blade only to quickly follow by a charge, hoping to crush the shinigami and the soul in one fell swoop.

While it was a relief to see the comply to his demand, saw instantly that it had no intention of giving up. It threw soul at him and rather than running, it charged forward. Arawn had no other option but to meet the charge head on. Dropping his sheath he kicked off the ground and caught the spirit with his free arm. As he rose into the air he took swung as the hollow passed beneath him. Too concerned with the catching the spirit his attack wasn't too well aimed. The silver blade bounced off the creature's massive should plates. Rather than descend to the ground Arawn kept to the air. He stood on the empty space several feet above the hollow's head.
"I thought it was strange." Arawn said down to the hollow. "At first I thought those creatures had been recruited by you, but hollows aren't that well organized. Then I thought it might be mind control, but that made less sense. If you has such a power you'd control something stronger or try to control me at least. But upon thinking about it I noticed they all look alike." He paused. His speech was only to delay the beast. Arawn knew full well he couldn't fight while holding the soul. The spirit was draped over his left shoulder. The body felt rather cold and he was worried how it hadn't moved or spoken since being thrown. The hollow had done something to it. What he wasn't sure. As he spoke he was trying to think of how to end things with the beast below.

"In all the battles I've fought, Hollows never have looked alike." he continued. "Still despite your size the little freaks defended you. I've heard of hollows that make other hollows, I'm guessing you're one of them. That must be the case as you've done pretty much nothing since you've joined the fight." Escaping would be easy at, but victory seemed implausible at this point. He was low on energy and the creature seemed to be in better shape. If he put the soul down somewhere he could fight the creature, but for how long? Arawn didn't like the odds, and he didn't know how the monster created the smaller creatures. "Count yourself lucky monster." muttered with a grimace. And so he put his duty to protect above the one to destroy. He jumped again off the air and onto a building and then jumped again. He moved quickly to put as much distance between himself and the creature. He looped his zanpukto into his belt as he moved through the air. While he hadn't defeated the hollow he did have some information about it. Given time someone else might run into it again.