4.) A Noble Struggle

Her eyes, why were they so. . . . merciful. He could see the defiance in them, bright and pure like the clear skies of hueco mundo, but something else tainted her gold irises. At first he confused it for pity, but the longer he gazed, the more familiar the look became and the further it fueled his anger. Mercy, whilst he was not beyond it as an arrancar it aggrieved him no end to be on the receiving end of it. Especially from the human whose very heart he was about to pluck from her chest like an apple farmer in an orchard. There was no mercy in hueco mundo, it was kill or be killed, eat or be eaten. There was no mercy to be found here or in the gotei, not as long as they continued their perpetual game of hunting hollow for sport. How could one so inferior to him such as she have the audacity to show him mercy.

As if in response his finger his fingers began to ease their grip on her heart, any attempt to reinstate his grip would slowly fade away as her reiatsu permeated his fingers, soaking through his darkness to his very being. His heart rose, not sharply as was typical through years of instinct and survival, no this feeling was a strange one. . . .one of warmth and. . . .dare he even say acceptance. For a second the hunger, the pain, the memories. . . .everything seemed to fade as the faint sound of giggling rung in his ears.


"Don't be so silly Drak-kun, all this talk of monsters and people, of sheep and wolves. . . surely the world isn't as gloomy as you say, there's good people out there. . . .good shinigami, one's who raise their sword only as a last resort", she smiled at him, that warm smile. . . .a smile that would tame even the most notorious hollow. . .

Her smile. The realization hit him like a cero to the chest as he gazed at the human before him, her reiatsu feeling all too familiar now as what he'd initially thought as impossible was slowly beginning to roll up its middle finger at him, centimeter by slow centimeter.

❝You. . . ❞

The word, spoken as a whisper, resonated by the multitude of souls in his body as his hand was propelled out of her chest, followed by stray bolts of electricity that tingled his fingers to the touch. As her scream tore through the surrounding area a sinking sensation slowly overtook the hollow.

❝You were supposed to be de-- ❞

The rising coldness in his voice cut off as another entered the fray. Drakker had noticed his presence when he'd begun his assault on the human. It was not hard to notice a fellow hollow with a nose like his, but something about this being felt. . . .off, as though they weren't fully hollow. That insecurity had meant Drakker had not engaged the newcomer and would not so long as he remained a voyeur.

Now as the man stepped into the fray, mask similar in appearance to a hollows with eyes so unsettling the arrancar couldn't help but rotate an eyeball to gaze into them, keeping the other trained on the human in his grasp.

“What kind of monster goes around scaring kids in the streets?”

❝You assume monsters have morals to begin with❞

The reply was curt, cold and dark as the multitude of souls that echoed it. Drakkar was not as merciful as this human had been, any excuse given to plaster this intruder across the concrete would be taken with extreme prejudice. Now that the man was closer he could smell the faint traces of shinigami on him. . . .was he an arrancar like Drakkar, no the make up was fundamentally different than that of most arrancar he'd come across, this man was neither shinigami nor hollow but a weird combination of both.

Looks like we have ourselves a mutt.

As the intruders ivory cero engulfed his body, Drakkars mind was once again drawn inside himself. Standing before his subconscience, a multitude of faceless souls fading in and out of the blackness like trickles of ivory white tar.

"Hungry. . . . so hungry. . . .when was the last time. . . .we ate".

"We consumed the dragon", he responded, "he made us the apex hunter, our hunger has since then been turned on the shinigami".

"Not the shinigami", . . .the voices croaked and whispered.

"Then who?"

“Hold on, Tiru,”

At those very words the strangers cero would turn an ominous jet black, the energy centering on a focal point and beginning to drain into it like water in a sink. As the energy decreased in size, draining into the arrancars free (left) arm, the ominous gaze of the arrancar's piecing crimson eyes would glow with malicious fervor.

❝I should have known it was you. . . .no one else would look upon arrancar with such. . . ❞

He couldn't bring himself to say it, the words hung on his tongue like a bitter pill he couldn't bring himself to swallow. Almost suddenly his reiatsu would fan out in full force as the darkness coalesced to form a spectral dragon, about as large as a freight truck and just as long. Crimson orbs would form across the beast's face, trained on Tiru and her mysterious mutt protector. The hunger dripping from its now visible maw.

❝You realize that I can't let you leave now❞

It wasn't out of spite, truth be told Darkkar was simply content to kill this human for being an offense to his memory of Tiru, now that he knew it was her in the flesh a hunger had rekindled inside him. . . .a hunger only she could satiate.

❝But first. . . ❞

Both eyes now turned on the mutt. The moment they did he would feel the true power of the beast that lay dormant within him, the hunger he felt would be enough to paralyze him from just the gaze alone. Pulling his (right)hand away from Tiru's chest the arrancar would reach for his shotgun with surprising speed, positioning the muzzle right over the mans (left) leg where his kneecap would be as a black orb the size of a cero began to form.

❝There's an overprotective mutt that needs to be put down❞

Should he still be unable to move, the arrancar would fire straight into the knee, no doubt crippling the man if it hit. If he was as strong as Drakkar assumed, he would prove to be of great nuisance.

WORDS ● TAGGED ● NOTES

NAME: Reiatsu Expulsion
CLASS: Reiatsu Control
TIER: I-VII V
TYPE: Defensive
RANGE: Self
DESCRIPTION: The power to overcharge one’s own reiatsu to remove negative effects, break out of bindings, burn out poisons etc… This ability follows normal cooldown rules.

NAME: Sonido [Resounding Revolution]
CLASS: Stepping
TIER: I
TYPE: Stepping
RANGE: N/A
DESCRIPTION: Is the Arrancar equivalent of the Shinigami flash steps; it allows the user to travel at incredibly high speeds for short distances. Use of Sonido is punctuated by a brief static sound, in contrast to the "swish" sound used for Shunpo.

NAME: Sonido [Resounding Revolution]
CLASS: Stepping
TIER: I
TYPE: Stepping
RANGE: N/A
DESCRIPTION: Is the Arrancar equivalent of the Shinigami flash steps; it allows the user to travel at incredibly high speeds for short distances. Use of Sonido is punctuated by a brief static sound, in contrast to the "swish" sound used for Shunpo.

NAME: Sonido [Resounding Revolution]
CLASS: Stepping
TIER: I
TYPE: Stepping
RANGE: N/A
DESCRIPTION: Is the Arrancar equivalent of the Shinigami flash steps; it allows the user to travel at incredibly high speeds for short distances. Use of Sonido is punctuated by a brief static sound, in contrast to the "swish" sound used for Shunpo.

NAME: Regurgitación [Regurgitation]
CLASS: Hollow Technique
TIER: VI
TYPE: Offensive
RANGE: 20 Meters
DESCRIPTION: As a Hollow consumes a vast quantity of spiritual energy, so thus they can use it as a weapon if put into a situation of extreme danger. Available to use only once a battle, a hollow using this technique can forcibly regurgitate the soul energy they have recently consumed in an explosive burst of reiatsu capable of severely injuring any opponents within a close range of the technique user. The ability manifests as a short-ranged and widely shaped cone of pure destructive reiatsu. The hollow must have consumed within the same thread in order to use this technique.

Even though his hunger gnawed at his rationale and threatened to submerge him into madness, he could still appreciate skill. The speed and the instinct with which the vizard moved to counter his blow and instantly dispatch the remaining legion of clones behind him, with a human body on his shoulders no less was nothing short of impressive, were this not merely not about Tiru he would have enjoyed testing. . . . 'it' out on him in the battlefield. Allowing the mutt another sonido before following him with his own, it wasn't like they could hide either, whilst his Cadena [Network] was active he could see almost anything and everything within its range of effect. Keeping up with them was simply a triviality at this point.

The arrancar would allow the mutt to put Tiru down in front of what seemed like an odd looking shop, one that he had yet to come across in his random excursions to karakura. . .then again this little town kept finding new way to surprise him so in a way that was to be expected. His shadow falling on the pair just as the vizard began to turn away from her unconscious corpse

❝You don't have the luxury of showing me your back, mutt ❞

Once more he[the mutt] would find himself gazing into the abcess that was the arrancars eyes, his body would freeze up once again, this time he would find the hold was tighter, less forgiving and with due intent as the arrancar's clawed fingers pulled out his shotgun with a free hand, taking aim again at the mutt's left kneecap. Anticipating the mutt to flare his reiatsu again like he did the last time to free himself from the bind the arrancar would pull the trigger without so much as a second thought.

Whatever occurred next would be on him, should the mutt attempt to flare his reiatsu once more he would find the energy being siphoned directly into Drakkar's gun moments before the arrancar himself would fire. The shot itself was only intended to maim the mutt long enough for Drakkar to get to Tiru, at the very worst the mutt would lose a leg. However, if he flared again as the arrancar hoped, he would find the damage significantly more potent than intended.

If the mutt, by some miracle, managed to dodge he would instead turn the bullets upon the unconscious Tiru, after all, there was no requirement that she be alive when he consumed her, this way he also ensured the mutt's attention remained solely and utterly on him.

What kind of a monster goes around scaring kids on the streets. . . . .?

.. . . a monster that knew how to truly be monstrous.

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