Hollow Brawl (Anashi)

Auryuu had been in the human world for about two hours now, just enjoying his time there, and doing his errands at the same time. Daylight shined through the windows of the store he was visiting, the sunlight gleamed off of all the metalic objects inside, making his eyes a little irritated. He was a little sleepy so the sunlight was putting uneeded strain on his eyes.

Auryuu left the shop, with a bag full of goods, and began to walk to his human house, which was pretty far from his current location. He strided along the road further as he sensed, some presence, a hollows presence, faint, barely noticable. He used to consider hollow human, but of late he was convinced they were abominations, and something a dead convict would see in hell, chewing on his bones, like a starving dog.

Auryuu set down his bag of goods, and began to peer inside the forest that had lay in front of him, and the street behind him, and eventually even the sky, he didn't see anything, but he started to focus more on the source of the presence, to find it's location. Where are you hollow?, he thought to himself as he kept looking around.

The presence became stronger and stronger, as the wind suddenly whipped past his eyes, making a strange blowing sound, as it preceeded further down the way. Auryuu stood still as he picked up his bag. He soon began to walk casually again. He proceeded down the rough pathway, hesitant to make any swift move against the hollow or even acknowledge it, giving the hollow the impression that it actually had the element of suprise.

Auryuu was still concealed in his gigai, hiding his aura from any spiritual aware organisms, so the hollow couldn't possibly know that he was something more than human. Auryuu was prepared to release the gigai, as soon as the moment should come, but he wasn't sure when that moment would arrive. Auryuu peered over to look at the hollow, as a rather bold move.

The hollow felt a more at ease when her prey continued it's walk, seemingly unaware of the monsters pressence. However her suspicions were growing stronger of the man, the way he walked, the feeling she sensed when she was near him, it wasn't like a normal human. She continued to carefully stalk Auryuu. She was sure that her prey had some sort of spiritual power, she was sure he had sensed her, something that no human could do.

When the prey glanced at Anashi her suspicions were confirmed, the man looked directly at the hollow, there was no mistaking it. She felt her heart start racing, he was aware of her. She knew there was no point to continue stalking the prey, and perhaps the best decision was to engage the prey now. 'Damn...' She sprung out from the cover of the trees, charging towards the prey.

She had the advantage taking the initiative, she figured the man wouldn't have enough time to properly compose himself. It only took a second before the hollow was in sufficient range for an attack, she kept her left hand firmly on the ground, she thrusted her right hand forward towards Auryuu's ribcage, claws extended. However this attack was merely a test to see if the man had any combative abilities. If the hollow saw any sign of the man trying to counter her attack she would back off and retreat a few feet.

Auryuu aimed his right hand behind his left which carried the groceries. Released from his gigai, he casted a kido simultainiously, even without his eyes looking at the hollow. His ears had heard the hollow, and he had already detected its general direction. Bakudo 14, Hanzennaseigen. With a blind eye, Auryuu jumped forward as his handed pointed in the opposite direction, the kido was flung right towards the charging monster. Auryuu turned his back, to see the effect of his Kido. While turning around he began to talk, "Awe, you made me drop my groceries".

As expected the prey shifted into a new form, something that was not human. She had encountered individuals like this man, those that seemed to hunt down hollows like her. This did not deter Anashi from fighting however. She noticed the preys chant, this distressed the hollow, discouraging her from pressing the attack. She halted her advance and dived to the left, onto open road. The spell may had missed her, but managed to stop her attack.

Judging from the mans reflexes, she deduced that both herself and the prey were on the same level of speed. This presented a couple number of problems, the worst being that her hit-and-run tactic wouldn't work as well as usual against him. However the hollow didn't waste any time, she quickly regained her composure and once again charged towards the prey with frightening determination. She advanced forward in a zig-zag pattern, theoretically this would prevent the prey from hitting her with any kido that required a direct hit.

If allowed the chance to close into melee range, Anashi would try to once more aim a quick jab at Auryuu's rib cage, claws extended, making her hand resemble the head of a spear.

Auryuu read her movements following them rapidly with his eyes. Auryuu shifted weight on to one leg, noticing a familiar zig zag pattern. Auryuu did a slight sunpo as he did a forward charge in front of the hollow. Auryuu's right leg lay midair, along with his body. Auryuu twisted his body, giving further strength to his right kick. The kick plowed through the air, aimed towards her mid section. The hollows air would be completely knocked out of it. The hollow was mid movement, and the shunpo he had just done, had extremely limited her method of blocking, and much less evading. A good strategy had been constructed.

Auryuu ruled out the chance of a counterattack by doing this tactic. The speed, was complemented by power, and the manuever allowed him to easily land a pretty significant hit. In truth Auryuu had planned this right when he sensed the hollow, only building up the idea over time, devoloping a suitable battle strategy, for the next few moves. Of course he wasn't a genius, any unorthodox move, or strong combo could easily counter him, but even if this was blocked by the hollows hands, it would still send it flying into the nearby trees most likely.

She hadn't anticipated the man to take such a direct approach, at first glance the prey would be at a disadvantage in close combat, he lacked a sharp set of mandibles, aswell as a set of razor sharp claws. He also wasn't as physically agile as Anashi was, her slim, slender body allowed for a higher level of dexterity than her opponent. However it was fairly easy for the hollow to prepare herself for the mans attack, instinctually Anashi pushed the ground hard with her arms, causing her body to shift upwards, she then brought her arms infront of herself to catch the preys leg, her feet firmly dug into the concrete.

Anashi caught the preys leg, only now however did she realize how powerful his kick actually was. Between his natural strength and his momentum she wasn't sure if she would be able to repel this. Her own momentum helped contribute to her defense, but it wasn't enough. She was anything but worried, though. This was more of an opportunity than anything, the man had left himself suspended in the air, this wouldn't allow him to easily manuever. As she caught the mans leg, she tried to dig her claws into his flesh, both to help absorb the impact of the blow and to cause damage. Her blade-like claws would easily slice through his clothes, and flesh.

The mans confidence in his abilities would be his undoing, judging from his composure he seemed to believe his attack would decimate the hollow, it would be extremely odd for him to have anticipated Anashi's move. Either way, her defense wasn't enough to keep herself steady, the two forces struggled for a short moment, Anashi slightly being pushed back with each fraction of a second until the force was too much to keep up with. She was knocked back forcefully. She tumbled backwards a few feet until gracefully managing to regain her stance, she standing on all four of her limbs, claws dug into the ground to provide support. She didn't think much of the mans attack, despite the potential it had of shattering her armor if it had made a direct hit.

She was still dizzy from the tumble, but quickly regained her balance. This gave the prey time to mount another attack. The prey was beggining to cause more trouble than he was worth, she preferred easy meals, but she convinced herself she was looking at it wrong, the stronger the prey was the better the meal would be.

Auryuu managed to free himself, with a small, but deep claw mark in his leg. Auryuu broke free in the air quickly landing on his feet as he arched his back to wipe the blood off of his leg with his right hand. He brushed it off on the ground quickly regaining his position as he stared with intensity at the hollow. "Passionate Blaze", he said as the bright orange orb floated around his body suspended in the air.

Auryuu shunpo'd to a tree behind the hollow, quickly decending as he armed a midair rapid swift right kick at the hollow. He pierced through the air as he decended upon the unknowing hollow. She had yet to turn her back. The orbs glew orange behind the shadow of himself, and continued to float. Auryuu would wait for the right opportunity to release it.

The hollow felt a slight tinge of satisfaction as it noticed the preys right leg draining blood, the strike had gone especially deep, maybe even severing a few tendons, it was unknown. One thing was certain, his right leg would probably be much less affective now, no matter how small the entry cut may have been. However the satisfaction was short lived as she realized the opponent was mounting another assault. Before she knew it the man disappeared, 'That ability again..' She hadn't seen anything like it before, and it was now proving itself to be troublesome. She looked around her surroundings, trying to find the prey, but to no avail. Thats when she heard a loud rustle above, the sound of leaves clattering about, similar to a windy day. Her attention was drawn above, only to find the prey plummeting down towards her at a alarming speed, his right leg extended.

She was startled to say the least. She tried to formulate a plan, but she wasn't prepared in the least for this kind of attack, time was short, and she was unsure what to do. She could try parrying the kick, seeing as how he was using his already damaged leg it didn't seem like it would be a huge threat. She pondered, and quickly came to a decisive conclusion. She was going to let gravity take care of him. She dug her hands firmly into the ground and quickly threw her weight onto them, lifting up her legs, and then the rest of her body until she was standing on her hands. With momentum working with her, she pushed her hands from the ground, causing her to perform a front flip. She landed on her feet and placed one hand on the ground to provide stability. If she had the ability to sweat, she would've. She narrowly missed that attack, and while it probably wasn't all that powerful, it definatly had a good chance of fracturing her armor, and a blow this early in the hunt might've meant a loss.

She then took her hand off from the ground and spun around to face the prey. She resumed her regular stance, planting her arms back down onto the ground. The man had landed directly onto concrete, she wasn't sure whether he would be affected by this, but to her knowledge nobody could simply fall from that high onto concrete and not feel it. Except for the occasional hollow that was built for endurance. She relied on that the man had given in to the pain, at least for a moment. She didn't waste any time, she started sprinting towards the prey on all fours, her movments wild and ferocious. It took barely any time at all, maybe one third of a second before she was in melee range. She thrusted her right arm out towards the mans neck like a lance, claws extended. She also thrusted her left arm just below the mans ribs, where barely any muscle or bone existed.

Meanwhile she kicked off from the ground with her legs, causing the hollow to collide into the prey as she attacked him. She was aiming to pierce the preys neck, or at least get a grasp on it with her right hand, while her left hands purpose was to merely stab the man to inflict as much damage as possible. However she noted that she was potentially putting herself at risk by trying to tackle him, she was limiting her options of evasion greatly by doing this. But then again the man probably would be too busy to cast another one of those spells at her. She hoped, at least...

Auryuu plummeted ripping through the air, as he began to fall down with haste. The hollow had evaded his kcik and before he knew it he landed on the concrete ground. "Ahh" Auryuu softly said as his right leg cramped with pain. His body and muscles were extremely well built, but even he felt his leg crack from the fall. Auryuu didn't have the luxury of treating it though. He couldn't ever take his eyes off a hollow and hoped he'd win. First rule of shinigami vs. hollow combat. Always maintain suprises.

Auryuu raised his eyes to the hollow after he rubbed his right leg. It was alright, maybe a sprain, but a minor one at that. Auryuu could've slowed his fall with feather fall, but decided against it. He didn't want to waste the amount of energy he had amassed within the bakudo that swirled around him. Auryuu flashed his eyes between his bothersome target, and the ball. He wanted to look back down to his injured leg, but decided to not, because he knew it would discourage his fighting ability, and injure his mental confidence. Auryuu gazed back up to the hollow now, gripping his sword tightly as it's red, white, and yellow, hilt shined in the rain. The rain gently trainquilly flowed down the blade, trickling down like it was a window pane.

Auryuu took his eyes off his blade to the hollow quickly charging into him. Auryuu jumped back avoiding her attacks, but when she jumped they almost collided. "Hado number 9 pillar of hades!", Auryuu shouted as quick as he could. The pillar mixed with the passionate blaze, making the pillar appear orange as it quickly rose to impale the hollow. There was no certain escape. Auryuu reached his hands out grabbing the hollow keeping it in place while fighting for supremacy mid-air. The pillar began to rose, the anticipation built as split-seconds passed, Auryuu continued to hold the hollow in the air. He gripped with all his strength keeping the medium size hollow still, as the pillar eventually poked her armored skin.

She built strong momentum, but not as strong as Auryuu who had arched his back to keep her steady. Eventually her force died out flipping on her. Now Auryuu's 6`2 stature overpowered her, quickly pushing the hollow violently. Auryuu hoped for her impalement, but also harbored hopes for a strong hammer like force to propel her in the sky, crushing her, and sending her with force like a miniature comet.

[OOC: I will note that in your previous post you tried to inflict an auto hit, "Auryuu reached his hands out grabbing the hollow keeping it in place while fighting for supremacy mid-air." Just as a word of advice, when you try to perform an action to another character, you put an 'attempt' before it, or something similar, you can't just say "Bob grabbed John." Instead you would have to say "Bob TRIED to grab John." Also you apparently made the sky rain out of nowhere? No reason? When you change the enviorment by saying something like "Red, white, and yellow, hilt shined in the rain." you have to give something before that, like "The sky grew darker as clouds rolled in and started to produce rain." Otherwise you're just being plain confusing. I overlooked them this time but in the future please try and consider the former. Other than that you're doing fine.]

My thoughts exactly there Ana, I'll leave the matter to you unless you wish otherwise ~ The Arawn

The hollow was disappointed to see that the prey had some how evaded both of her hastey attacks, however her disappointment was soon replaced with a deep sense of dread as she realized that her worst fears had come to fruition, she airborne. Besides hating heights in general, she was much more vulnerable, then again so was her opponent. It was more than just vulnerbility though, her body wasn't built for arial manuevers and such, so fighting like this would be a nightmare. The words that the prey chanted only sent a further dread into Anashi. A blazing orange pillar shot out from the ground aimed right under the hollow, this wouldn't be nearly as shocking if it was not for the daunting spear-like tip that it held.

Before she could react her opponent grabbed her torso and pushed her down towards the pillar as it ascended. She was amazed that the man had been able to dodge her attacks aswell as grab her without her being able to react, even though they were equal when it came to matters of haste. Strangely enough though, her mind was still, calm, tranquil. She felt like she had it all figured out, she could read the prey like a open book. Small red orbs formed inside her masks eye holes. She looked up at the prey, her sight pierceing the mans own eyes, truly menacing. With a speed that rivaled the preys the hollows arms tried to grab hold of the mans arms, the first step to freeing herself would mean getting loose from the mans grip.

Examining the situation, she felt confident he wouldn't dodge it, if he tried to dodge it would mean releasing his grip from the hollow, which worked in her favor. If he decided to let the hollow grab hold, the hollow would try to (and very likely to) stab it's sharp claws into the mans flesh, tearing muscle and tendons, possibly cutting open an artery. At the slightest sign of the man trying to release her, she would release him aswell, her main goal was to get onto solid ground, and that meant freeing herself. Either way it would be a lose-lose situation for the prey.

She split her attention between the enemy and the advancing pillar, the pillar was probably the easiest to deal with, or at least she thought. She shoved her feet onto the pillar, with some effort she carved out abit of the top, allowing her to securely stand ontop of the pillar. Her claws weren't just for show. The pillar shot up like a god damn rocket, and Anashi didn't have long until momentum would throw her high into the air. She needed to get off this damn thing, and fast. She figured the man would've released her either way by now, if he held on he would literally be hanging on the hollow by her arms, and would potentially leave him vulnerable. She pulled her arms back to her side and leaned back, allowing herself to tip backwards. She kicked off from the pillar, she held her knees close to her core and wrapped her arms around them. She flipped backwards three times before she gracefully landed on her feet.

'Close call..' She quickly retreated back twenty feet, making sure to put some distance between the prey and herself. It was quite remarkable that she had escaped from any harm, even she was surprised by the turn of eve-'Wait..' She looked down at her torso, the bony exterior in particular, something felt wrong. A tiny crack, just at the center, it didn't look significant, but in truth it meant that the bone-like armor over the upper-half of her torso was weakened. If nothing else it meant that her torso was more vulnerable. Luckily it would be nearly impossible to spot the fracture that had developed, it blended in extremely well, and was small to begin with. Anashi disregarded those thoughts and turned her attention back to the hunt. She resumed her position, planting her hands and feet on the ground firmly. She felt anticipation ensue her as she waited for her opponents next move.

Suprise hit Auryuu, as his plan unfolded. The hollows surpsing strength and speed took him off guard, ass he payed more attention to the blazing orange pillar that was rising. He brought his gae up to the hollow, as it's red orbs inside of it's masked pierced his vision, making his eyes red, like a laser pointer was shined onto them. Auryuu pushed to hollow back as it seemed to claw at his arms. Auryuu continued to push the hollow onto the pillar. He was suprised as the hollow latched onto his arms. It was the ultimate mid-air wrestling match. The win was the briefcase and the pillar was the ladder, that was about to fall over inflicing damage, onto the poor soul who was hurt by it.

Auryuu was suprised at the calm face the hollow had, even though they were locked in deadly combat. Auryuu believed a kido may be able to get him out of this jam. Auryuu's sword told him different. Release me, let me show you my ferocity, he said as he seemed to scream it from the sword. His voice interupted Auryuu's train of thought, which now made it nearly impossible to think of anything. Auryuu was skeptical of his zanpaktou he never liked to give into its will. It always craved battle, and craved the victory even more. It wasn't a safe thing to reveal. Auryuu was still unsure of it's power. If he did use it, it would be the 2nd time he'd ever seen it. Auryuu would not choose to use it though.

Auryuu held a tight grip on the hollow, as it's hands managed to scrape, and rip through his muscular arms. The muscle began to tore, luckly the clawing would eventually stop. Blood stained the hollows claws as it continued to savagely scratch and cut. Soon the pillar shot the target air borne leaving Auryuu to his own devices, as he decended to the concrete with no problem whatsoever. Auryuu still wanted to get a hit off. He saw the hollow attempt the triple backflip and land unscathed. Except for the piercing in her armor. At the point of landing Auryuu uttered a kido, his voice soft from the pain of his bleeding arms, which seemed to leak a moderate amount of blood. An artery was most likely not pierced, but damn close to it. Hado number 8 blade of flames.... . Auryuu quickly hovered it over the cuts quickly sealing the blood flow with the heat as he cauterized the wounds. His whimpered in agony, as the burn inflicted the most painful pain, he probably ever felt. He had learned the trick from a young shinigami. Little did he know it would come in handy.

Auryuu smiled as the hollow landed. He rushed forward, as he sprinted at full speed. He quickly swung his right hand which held the blade of flames in the air, tossing the flames at the hollow, at a dangerously fast speed. The speed was like a professional baseball pitch, except they were complemented by a muscular arm and the powers of a shinigami. Auryuu had previously switched his sword to his left hand. He decided to make it a challenge. Auryuu sheathed his sword slowly, as soon as he deployed the fire blade towards the hollow. Auryuu would fight with just kido, even though his energy was dropping. Auryuu's adrenaline fueled him as he gripped at his hands where the wounds ached. Patiently waiting for the hollows next move. "Not today Nenshou", he said as he felt the disapointment emit from his sword.

The hollow was glad to see that her claws managed to do a number on the prey, he was bleeding pretty bad, a steady trickle of blood had fallen from the mans arms, enough to compose a small puddle below him. She felt that she had a big advantage now, the mans right leg was injured, his arms injured, and he had spent quite an amount of energy with those spells he was throwing. She observed the prey carefully, watching for any sudden movements. When he casted a spell to form a red, fire-like sword the hollows body tensed up as if to ready itself for combat. To say the least she wasn't prepared for the preys next move. She had never observed a method that was anything like cauterization before, so naturally when she saw the man perform it she was startled. When he finished the results became clear, it was some sort healing method. It made the mans bleeding stop, but it wouldn't fix the mans torn muscle.

The preys cries of pain let Anashi know that it was definatly painful, this told her that the method was probably discouraged. The enemy launched an assault almost immediatly after he had finished his treatment. Anashi braced herself, she kept her current position, waiting for the opponent to give her some sort of cue of what kind of attack he would be mounting. It was soon clear as the prey shot a rapidly accelerating fire wave towards her, the speed of it's progression was somewhat startling. She waited no more, she kicked off from the ground and started sprinting on all four limbs to meet the flame. As the two forces progressed, the fire seemed to dim abit, as if the farther it traveled the weaker it was. The hollow used it's basic knowledge of fire to bypass it.

She dived down, passing through the wave close to the ground. Heat was generally focused at the high points of the wave, the lower points were the coolest and also the safest to pass through. Even though the kido was rather weak to begin with, it did give her a few burn marks, mainly just light brown spots on the hollows armor-like skin. She was quickly in melee range with the opponent. She would aim a flurry of stabs with her claws at the preys torso, if threatened by a counter-attack she would try to retreat behind him, in an attempt to confuse him.

Auryuu forced his shut from the pain of his burnt wounds. The blood beneath him began to stick to his feet so he moved a couple of steps forward, with ease. His arms ached badly, he would have to use some definate attack. Auryuu thought deeply as the hollow, devised it's own action to dodge the flame. Auryuu saw her pass through the fire with the brown on her mask, there was only one way. "The fires of hell, a scrap of your power, another damned soul", his voice strugled to say the words, as his throat was too dry. Auryuu's leg had been damaged, but it could probably sustain much more. His arms though, might not be able to.

Auryuu shifted his weight on his left leg as he lifted off to shunpo in front of the hollow. His speed stopped instantly as he put force into his foot keeping his movement still. Auryuu aimed his palm at the hollows mask as he spoke gently, keeping his palm locked on the mask at close range Hado number 5 fireball . The fire flashed before his eyes, the intensity of the light eminating it was beautiful. The yellow bright intense reiatsu engulfed his fist, which aimed at the middle of the hollows mask. Auryuu was unsure of the hit, but the kido was indeed powerful. He fueled it with the remaining of his reserve leaving about 10% of the rest to aid him.

The hollow just continued to charge, Auryuu kept still. Waiting for the blast to hit. It would be tricky to evade such an attack, when Auryuu could position his hand to whip it towards the hollows location if it tried to evade it. Auryuu's speed matched hers and he was deadly when desperate. A bad combination for any enemy. Auryuu predicted he would get hit by some attack, but didn't worry about it. He was too caught up with destroying the savagery the stood infront of him.

Within moments a loud explosion uttered throughout the landscape.

The air around the battle ground was stagnant and still, but above all tense. Anashi predicted the preys move, she had examined the teleportation method and had accumulated enough information to form a crude hypothesis, she adapted. The signs were vauge but clear if one searched for it, the preys feet seemed rise at least a few inches more than when he normally walked, that and the preys body seems to become very stiff, muscles tighten as the enemy performs the move. She saw these signs in the man and predicted his flash step. At the first sign she pushed herself off the ground, once again making good use of her momentum. She was now standing, or moreso sprinting on both feet. She braced herself to react as fast as possible to her enemies inevitable teleportation, and her preperations aided her greatly. She leaned back, shoving her left foot into the concrete, her claws dug into the hard rocky ground, she quickly lost velocity and soon stopped completely.

The prey seemed to be casting another spell, she began charging forwards again, she wasn't about to idely stand by in the face of another one of those troublesome spells. Timed seemed to slow as she closed in on the prey, she lunged forward at the man. A bright light formed in the mans hands, instinctively she pushed the mans arms to the side with a quick but powerful motion with her right arm. She flinched abit at the sudden, bright fire that was emitting from his hands. She quickly regained her exposure, knowing that if she slowed at all it would have disasterous consequences. She pushed forward with haste, attempting to stab the man with her sharp claws, she aimed at the mans lower torso, just above his waist.

However danger was growing quickly as the mans spell seemed to glow more brightly. The hollow ducked down and dived behind her opponent, quickly moving back up onto her feet, she looked behind her fearing that it was too late. The destructive spell was hurtling towards her, it was a brilliant shade of yellow, and only about the size of a fist. However she could sense that it was filled with reiatsu. She predicted that she wouldn't have enough time to dodge, so she prepared herself. The hollow caught the flying orb of reiatsu, she tried to push it back but the strength of it was incredible. She felt herself being pushed backwards, further and further.

She felt dread overtake her as she knew there was no way out now. Finally, after a few more moments the ball exploded into a bright yellow flurry of destructive reiatsu, and fire. Anashi was knocked back, falling on her back. She got up quickly, trying to ignore the sudden pain in her chest. She stood on all of of her limbs, she looked down at her chest, surveying the damage. At first glance she seemed fine, until she noticed the large fracture that appeared on her boney chest plate, this wasn't good. The bone wouldn't take much more of this, and it was almost ready to crumble. Thats when she noticed her claws, they were chipped in some place, expressing the destructive force the spell had. She looked back at her opponent, both sides had been damaged, but were both still able to battle? It was unclear, Anashi figured that the man had put more power into that spell than any other, and without a doubt it was the most affective. How much more could he take, how much more could she take? The fight was still up in the air. Anashi waited for a moment to catch her breath, she didn't really want to go on the offensive now, not knowing whether the man had another trick up his sleeve.

The light from the fire lit up Auryuu's face with a potent glow. For a moment everything seemed still as the hollow charged forward. Claws reached into his lower torso fiercely ripping through his soft skin, making some minor lacerations. Blood began to flow through the ripped skin at a steady pace, not showing signs of stopping. Auryuu didn't feel the hit as it touched him, he kept his eyes straight on the hollow fixated on the fire that would hopefulloy burn through it's mask. Her legs ripped through the earth, as she supported herself the best she could. The earth crumbled leaving a slash in the earth.

The pain was at the time unnoticible as it almost happened in what felt like a split second. The hollow moved and shifted to evade the fire it ducked, and Auryuu followed it with his hand guiding the fireballs direction. He would've smiled but at the same time he felt the pain from his chest, and the smile turned into something of a plain expression. With a loud soaring sound the fire took flight as it sped through the air. The bright ball of fire was like a small sun as it began to shine and light up the surronding around the location. The fire gained speed on the hollow quickly following it, and then suddenly everything became a yellow blur from Auryuu's sight.

The hollow was engulfed in the fire, as it tried it's best to defend against it, but however here effort was spent in defending it. It was all futile, as she was subjected to the powerful explosive force, that was the strongest kido Auryuu had released so far. To Auryuu's suprise the hollow got up rather quickly, but he smiled when he saw the spells significant results. The hollows skin fell off in fragments all around her body. The fire had caused obvious damage to her anatomy. The soft spot from the mask had been revealed to the fire, and also began to chip. Some parts of the mask were even burnt brown.


Auryuu's legs stood tired. His arms lay weakened. He was tired from the battles strain on his body. The toll was obvious on both of them. The hollow was decorated with burns, as the shinigami was decorated with cuts. Battle scars were a mans greatest honor. Auryuu shifted his weight on his right foot as he felt the familar pain from the fall before. Auryuu shunpo'd again, having seen the hollow take a defensive postition and having caught his breath. Auryuu shunpo'd in a circular motion around the hollow, as the blood from his lower torso, spread in small circular patterns in the ground, and against the hollow. The speed of the shunpo, flung the blood off violently until he stopped behind the hollow.

Auryuu caught the smell of burning hollow as her back was widely revealed to him. He still didn't want to use his sword. It cried for having the finishing blow, but a good shinigami could go without it. Auryuu had a small amount of energy left, enough for a weak bakudo. "Bakudo number 1 Sai", he whispered as it seemed to be the only sound around. He again was close to the hollow, and hid behind it's back. Auryuu aimed a powerful right kick as he rotated his right leg to strike the hollows head, as it was the most weakened of the spots on her body.

The damage that had been done to her body was mediocre at best, light brown spots covered her body as a sign of the heat she had been subjected to. Her claws a little chipped and rough from the mans kido, but by far the worst of the injuries was her fractured breast plate. If it shattered it would reveal grey metallic armor beneath, and then the supple green flesh beneath that. Anashi's hierro, unlike most other hollows is based on armor. The first layer, the bone layer, just covers her face down to her mid torso. Bellow that is her metal armor, which covers all of her body except for her head. Almost all connecting joints are naked and don't have any armor. Beneath the metal armor is her flesh, it is much like human skin as it is just as weak.

However she was still confident that she could beat her opponent. Her attention was brought forth suddenly as the prey flash stepped, he appeared for brief moments all around Anashi, she followed the pattern. A small line of blood formed around her, where the man was appearing. She kept her senses sharpened for the moment when the prey attacked. She was startled to discover that the man managed to flank her without an immediate reaction, she whipped her body around, but the time difference was just a split second too late as she stood up and tried to claw at him. Her hands suddenly snapped shut, restrained by a small white cord seemingly made of reiatsu. She couldn't imagine why she wasn't able to react immediatly, though she feared it would cost her dearly.

She backpedaled a little before the man aimed a quick kick at her head with his right leg. Why was he using his injured leg? Did he simply not notice, maybe instinct just took over, in any case the kicks power was reduced as a result. The hollow shifted it's head to the left just enough to avoid the kick, the mans foot whizzing past her head. She guessed that this would confuse the prey ever so slightly. She then turned to his leg and very quickly bit it at the ankle, she bit down as hard as possible with her fearsome maw. Her jaws weren't to be taken lightly, they could chew right through solid steel like a chainsaw, so when pitted against the equivalency of the toughness of human flesh, it didn't take much time to guess what would happen. The bite would be brief though, so it wouldn't bite right through.

She predicted that the bite would be successful, as she hadn't planned on the man anticipating her to do so. Whether she had suceeded or not, she jumped back and retreated, sprinting with haste. She would stop when she put ten feet between her and the prey. After a couple seconds of struggling, she broke the bonds of the bakudo, freeing her hands. She felt a little bit of relief wash over her, she vowed she wouldn't be caught off guard like that again.

The hollow managed to dodge the swift kick somehow. Her action left Auryuu baffled as his leg finally planted on the ground once more. Auryuu felt the bite, although he moved his ankle past her mouth rather speedily, missing the critical blow that could've been. Auryuu noticed the hollow get more and more tricky as it shifted around and backpedaled, madly. Auryuu jumped back off of his right leg again. His leg flared with pain as the cut reopened once again from the previous insignificant bite. Auryuu's body suspended in air from his flash step skills as he reached a tree behind him. Auryuu stepped onto the tree as he decided to book it to get away from the hollow.

Auryuu dropped down hastily from the tree leaning on his left foot to sustain the impact as his motion died. Auryuu turned his head from the hollow to the forest nearby, as he kept a strong injured pace. He passed many trees as he heard nothing but his own footsteps clearing the greenery. The air was humid inside as it brushed against his face. His blood had dried to his skin, and sooned turn to a crusting. His legs began to get more and more tired, as he continued to run.

The hollows eyes were fixated on the prey, he flash stepped up onto a nearby tree branch and began to make his way into the forest, Anashi felt a tinge of amusment hit her. The mans confidence seemed to be gone now, but the fight wasn't over, she still needed to consume him and gain his strength. Her hands hit the ground hard as she started sprinting in pursuit of the prey. The man seemed to be feeling the affects of his repeated use of his teleportation ability, his movement was more slurred than usual, allowing Anashi to easily keep up. Her eyes didn't leave the sight of the man for even a second, with his teleportation ability it was too risky to make a bold move as she could quite easily lose his trail if she didn't concentrate.

The chase was long, maybe even dangerously long. The chase lead to a shallow slope that lead down into a valley, there weren't many trees inside the valley, and was mostly just plains, the valley would lead on to about a half of a mile before a smooth hill lead it back up to the other side, which was by chance, also a forest. The prey would have to find a way to cross the valley, or fight, because of the treeless valley, he couldn't stay up in the trees, this allowed Anashi to attack him aswell. Nonetheles Anashi kept running after the man, determined to feast on him.

Auryuu stopped abruptly, as he lost sound of the hollow. He now hid behind a tree at the edge of the forest. He quickly tried to halt his spirit energy, as he tried to conceal his spirit energy, slowly relaxing as he kept it inside. The spirit energy was lessened from all the kido, now a small less than 1% fragment lay in his body, as it built up miniscule amounts of energy from the rest. His heavy breathing still came, but he kept it soft, as he tried to be as quiet as he could. With any luck the hollow would run past the tree, and Auryuu could get a hit off.

His legs hurt, as they supported him against the tree. The tree was pretty lengthy and wide. Concealing him over a cool shadow. Plants surronded the wild forest, as various animals ran through the woods, away from the loud sound coming from the hollows pursuit. Auryuu must've gained some distance, because he was pretty far in front of her, with the advantage of his shunpo.

The determined hollow kept her pace close enough to accurately follow the prey, if the prey thought it was going to escape easily, it was mistaken. Anashi kept running, running and running until something changed, the prey moved much more quickly than before, it teleported from tree to tree much faster than before. There was no way the enemy would be able to outrun Anashi in his current state, that much was for sure, so why would he even try? Even though she fell behind her keen eyes and ears were ever vigilent of the prey. It's foot steps, it's pattern, everything was analyzed down to the tiniest droplet of information.

Suddenly, it all stopped, the sound of his footsteps, the aura around him, even his physical form disappeared. Something was up and Anashi knew it. She approached the area slowly and cautiously, making sure to not fall into a trap. She turned her head to both sides, as if she was trying to look right through the wide trees. She came to the realization that there was no efficient way to find him like this, if nothing she would getherself ambushed. She felt herself tensen as she heard a soft huffing sound coming from behind one of the trees, it immediatly stopped when she cocked her head towards the general direction. She kept her vision fixated towards the preys direction.

She coiled her back and lunged forwards, to the left side of the tree, she looked around, quickly spotting the prey. She whipped her body around and tried to knock the man onto the ground by tackling him so she could pin him down.

The sound creeped further. The sound of her footsteps, and her breathing, he could hear it. It became closer, and lighter, as she stopped running. Auryuu waited full of nervousness, as it further built up. His heart beat like a bass drum on steroids. He could feel it as he leaned up against the tree. The thumps came in hard, as the waiting just made it thump worse and worse. His breathing became frantic, as he tried to calm it. The whole situation was not good.

A shadow appeared further from the side, as Auryuu's head tilted to the side. The hollow was extremely close to him. Sure enough a obvious hollow attack came as the hollow whipped around. Auryuu watched the hollow as he took a jump backwards. His right hand swung towards her face gaining momentum as a would hopefully hit the hollow where it hurt.

The prey dodged the hollows tackle, jumping back a few feet. Anashi was surprised to see the man evade so efficiently even with his injuries, she wondered if she had originally underestimated the enemy. The hollow ducked, placing her hands on the ground, the mans fist grazed the top of her head. While his arm was extended Anashi would plant her right arm and right leg on the ground firmly, then she would try to grab the mans wrist with her left hand and then aim a powerful barrage of kicks with left left leg at his lower torso.

These kicked would not only cause bruising but could potentially cut the man deeply, taking into consideration the sharp claws that Anashi's feet had. In any case, once the attack had either failed or suceeeded Anashi would flip herself backwards and land on her feet. She had a feeling the fight would end soon, no matter the outcome. With things going as they were the enemy would be in a very dangerous situation soon. Anashi herself didn't see her injuries as much of a problem, her mask had yet to start weakening, but one or two good shots to the face would easily change that.

Auryuu's arm swung recklessly grazing the hollows arm, as it eventually found it's way back to his side. The hollow panted itself on the ground attempting to grab Auryuu's wrist which he moved quickly back, and sent the nerves a message, to hit the hollow with a strong left uppercut.

Auryuu's left arm jolted back, his legs now hitting the ground behind him from a jump that had made his legs ache a little bit. Nonetheless, Auryuu put a strong effort into this uppercut, aiming for the hollows mask, looking to crack the putrid barbaric ornament. Auryuu realized the effort both of them had put into the fight, but came to a steady conclusion. The hollow's combat had to be dying down, her non stop evading and attacking, and charging had to put some sort of strain on the hollow, especially since Auryuu had gotten a bit of rest now, after resting on the tree that he was now feet from. Auryuu's right hand rested on his blade quickly shifting itself as the uppercut was in it's early stages. "It's time", a faint voice came from his zanpaktou, even though sealed. The voice was usually quiet, but the feelings he emitted were fierce.