His calling, her song pt.1 [Adventure/Sven]

[Redwinters]

Before Sven’s blade even began creating its screeching noise his body would be halted. His sonido have placed descending down upon the adjucha, but as it descended he would find himself caught in mid-air. For that brief second, it appeared as if he was being grabbed telepathically, as there was nothing actually “in” the way of stopping his attack, but once that brief second ended he would be reminded of how Cazador had introduced himself. At that realization, the red reiatsu that was tangled around the trees above him visualized itself upon its contact with Sven, appearing like a net waiting for its prey.

With the force Sven had landed upon it thanks to his speed, he had inadvertently tangled himself up within it, making it difficult to move. It was in that moment that the brightly growing trap would pulse like the previous one did, exploding into brilliant light that would send Sven soaring through the air and into one of the giant quartz trees that surrounded the two of them.

“Ahaha, you speak of intelligence? What brilliant tactics you use, espada, falling for my trap twice now.” The echoing figure cackled while his attack took affect, his left hand briefly showing red energy surging around it as if he was demonstrating. After the net had detonated the man retracted his whip and ran diagonally to the right, sending his whip directly at the tree the prone warrior would head towards. He was aiming to pincer him to the tree with his attack. “It certainly won’t be the last time you do, either. Not here. Not against me. This land is our territory, you are just prey to me.” He warned, narrowing his eyes as he watched his attack play out.

Atrocidad watched carefully behind his tree, clenching the rock-like material tightly. He did not dare move, though, both because he was told to stay, and because his legs were shaking uncontrollably. His visible eye grew in excitement as the battle started, and his heart was racing. He just hoped Sven could beat Cazador.

[Sven Delacroix]

As Sven's blade descended, he would feel himself suddenly halt in midair. The visage of crimson soon filled Sven's eyesight as he had seemed to fall into a web of Cazador's reiatsu, his own limbs seemingly tangled up in Cazador's trap as he gazed downwards towards the hulking Adjucha. As Sven glared at the hollow, the subsequent explosion would then send him spiraling backwards into one of the quartz tree. Sven soon regained his sense of self mid aerial, as he rotated his head towards Cazador, the rest of his body plummeting towards the tree.

As the arc of red reishi released, Sven's left hand formed a claw at his side, a bright light being conjured up in his palm. Slowing his path down, Sven's feet lightly touched the quartz surface of the tree, his knees bending slightly upon making contact. Pushing his hand forward, Sven would launch the Cero from his hollow hole, the silver ray of light rocketing towards Cazador, as it would first collide with the arc of red energy. If Sven's logic was correct, the Cero should have deteriorated a good portion of the red energy as it continued it's path towards Cazador.

The pressure behind the Cero caused Sven's knees to bend more, as his toes pressed up against the tree's surface, cracking underneath his steps. Should the Cero only manage to slice in two upon hitting the red arc of energy, Cazador would still find two halves of a Cero coming at him, while Sven would Sonido upwards out of harm's way.

[Redwinters]

The cero’s energy flew directly for the adjucha, whose arc of energy was swept away easily by the cero’s power, causing it to split the arc down the middle like a banana peel that tangled backward towards the hollow.

Cazador did not having time to move, so instead he lifted his left wrist upward which still cackled with the energy from earlier. The talon like fingers bent and twisted, like it was playing with a marionette. Within that moment, the pieces of the whip that had been torn to shreds lit up into a powerful crimson color like the barriers from before. Suddenly, the peels of energy twisted and contorted with the movements of his hand as they latched onto nearby trees and shaped into another barrier net.

This formation would actually begin to hold the cero back as it too would be tangled into his odd ability. As Sven’s blast began to push through the net however, Cazador was forced to retreat from his position as the net in its current form was not strong enough to stop the espada’s attack. It was strong enough, however, to buy him enough time to maneuver out of the way. As the blast finally broke through, he had bopped and weaved around the quartz trees, making it difficult to keep track of him after the cero’s explosion.

Landing on the large branch of one of the near by trees, The Hunter knelt down upon it, and continued to motion his hands as he continued to manipulate the strands of reiatsu he had created at the beginning of the fight. The strands were invisible until they came in contact with something, so as long as he kept moving them into strategic positions he could continue to lead Sven into painful attacks.

If he wanted to beat the espada, though, he needed to catch him in a big one. Meanwhile, Sven would see one the energy and smoke had settled that Cazador had fled from the area. His exact location being difficult to ascertain without being able to sense reiatsu.

[Sven Delacroix]

Sven smiled as he watched Cazador's arc of energy peel back as his Cero shot through the apparently weak wave of energy. There was no way Sven would allow himself to simply succumb to more of these various traps set into place by Cazador. While Sven had blindly fallen into two of Cazador's various barriers, he had also begun to gain somewhat of an understanding as to how the adjucha's powers worked. Both times he had fallen prey to Cazador's traps, which should have been obvious to Sven upon hearing his name which roughly translated to 'The Hunter'.

The hollow was not the kind of hunter who would pursue his prey, but rather guide them, much like that of the common arachnid. While Sven had been going on the offensive, he had only played the hunter's game, who by know Sven realized too well now, specialized in trapping. Given the opportunity of rushing headfirst into the fray, Sven used it mainly as a ruse to discover firsthand what he was up against.

As Sven's frame lowered from the tree, his feet would soon touch the sandy surface of the forest floor, his eyes wavering over the spot Cazador had been. It hadn't surprised Sven that the Hollow had escaped his Cero. While Sven didn't clearly see what happened, he could only assume more of the creature's traps were used to slow the Cero down while he escaped. So far, Sven had the hollow pegged perfectly, moving was the most dangerous thing to do against an Adjucha such as Cazador, who merely used movement to his advantage. However, Sven just needed to spring the trap, and in order to do that, he needed to tap into a primordial source.

As his eyes darted from tree to tree, they detected no sign of Cazador, the only other sign of life being that of Atrocidad cowering behind a tree as his tuft of teal hair could be seen bobbing up and down. Sven had been wasting too much time in playing with the Adjucha, it was time to show the trapper how foolish it was to mess with an espada. Sven's eyes would lock onto Atrocidad, as his voice carried over to the young psuedo arrancar, issuing a brief warning. "I suggezt yuu move further away, child."

Sven's hand would then rise,the blade Haciendose Viento brought to his face, as a swirling silver gust of Sven's reiryoku began flaring up around him. Muttering a few brief words, "Shriek Haciendose Viento," the reiatsu would then spiral out of control as Sven was engulfed in the pure white light swirling around him as Haciendose Viento dissipated around his eyes. As the light began to condense itself around Sven's form, it would soon expand violently outwards, the resulting explosion of sound reminiscent of nails grinding against chalkboards projected over speaker soon ensued.

The trees around Sven would soon be pushed away as the shattering of several trees took effect under Sven's rapid rise in reiatsu coupled with the shrill sound. Several trees had fallen within close proximity to Sven as the explosion faded to reveal a more grotesque form of Sven Sutoikku. Akumainu had awakened.

SPOILER: Click to show

Reiatsu: 230+65+10+5=310
Attack: 210+65+10+0= 285
Speed: 210+65+10+15=300
Weapon Skill: 185+65+10+15=275

The creature stood at nearly seven feet tall, though the spinal cord lining it's back was arched forward as the unmistakable white skull of the creature was pushed forward as if to sniff the air. Two horns laid against the skull as the head whipped around to take in it's fellow surroundings, it's milky white eyes staring blindly into the distance, a mouth failing to be seen. It's form was that of a skeletal nature, though possessed various muscle formations across essential parts of it's body, the traditional hollow plating lining every portion of flesh. The limbs of the creature ended in flexible talons, the hand possessing five razor sharp nails as opposed to the feet which had four elongated talons, three pointing forward, one pointing backwards. A slender skeletal tail whipped gallantly behind the monster, two similarly designed tendrils extending alongside Akumainu's shoulder blades as they hovered behind him.

Quills along Akumainu's spine rose and lowered as he placed his hands into the ground, proceeding to analyze the surroundings on all fours. As Akumainu's head tilted to the side, images would slowly start forming in his cranium, the blindness soon being replaced by a monochromic picture that detailed the various surroundings around Akumainu. A steady buzz of vibrations alerted Akumainu to Atrocidad, the psuedo arrancar's image a bit fuzzy as his 'sense' wavered over the creature. 'No, not that one,' Sven's voice would persuade Akumainu as he still exerted a fair amount of control over his more bestial self, which just caused Akumainu to overlook Atrocidad at the moment.

As Akumainu rose back onto his hind legs, a second silhouette formed, a rapid display of high vibrations radiating around the individual's frame. Akumainu knew without a doubt, that this was Cazador. The distortion proved it to be so. As a slit formed across the featureless contours of Akumainu's face, a mouth would soon surface, as it opened wide. Several globs of saliva dripped from his mouth, a row of dangerously sharp teeth flashing as Akumainu let out a yawn before devoting his full attention towards the Hollow in hiding.

His body would tilt towards the direction of Cazador, as a burst of Sonido was used. The instantaneous buzz followed by the emergence of Akumainu would most likely catch Cazador off guard, as he soon found his plan thwarted by the slightly smaller hollow in front of him. Akumainu, on the other hand, would let out a deep roar at the sight of the adjucha. The roar itself was no doubt a warning to Cazador as well as a display of sheer power, but it also served an added purpose, which the Adjucha would soon discover. Upon the roar reaching a climax, a blast of sound would erupt from Akumainu's throat, one which packed all the power of a Cero, and greater concussive force than the standard Bala. This 'Banshee Aullad would be fired at point blank range into the mask of an unsuspecting Cazador.

[Redwinters]

No reiatsu was felt by either Cazador or Atrocidad as Sven’s power spiked to ridiculously powerful levels, but the sounds of the trees falling certainly alerted them to the transformation. Well, it alerted Atrocidad, Cazador’s eyes had never left the espada so he saw what Sven had done. When the white haired shinigami warned the little pseudo-arrancar, and when he saw the grotesque form Sven took, he would fall backward in fear and scramble behind the tree completely...as if to hide. Only a few seconds later, though, his head would peak out again out of curiosity.

Sven’s sonido was fast, but it didn’t stop many of the nets and barriers in the way from wrapping around him as he traveled behind Cazador. Sonido was not teleportation after all, just a burst of footwork, and as Sven had reasoned before, moving through the environment was the worst thing he could do. Sven was far to powerful now to slow down with the nets of course, but they all wrapped around him sure enough. When he appeared behind Cazador, the adjucha had already turned to face him; passing into the nets had allowed him to trace the arrancar’s destination even despite the sudden increase in speed. When Sven appeared before him stripes of crimson reiatsu wrapped around his entire body.

The restriction around Sven’s body would be severe with so many things clamping around him, but the burst of sound that collided with Cazadors face would send him flying off the back of the tree, and shattered the “bar” pieces of the cage like mask around his head. In that single attack, Sven had removed the adjucha’s ability to evolve any further as a hollow. Cazador slammed against the ground, and continued to roll until he hit a quartz tree. “You…Bastard!” The being yelled out as it saw the shards fall, revealing more of his silhouetted face; but the blind arrancar would merely hear the shards hit the dirt and nothing more, the man’s face would remain a mystery…though little doubt Sven would have been interested. In Cazador’s yell he clenched down upon his talon like fingers, causing the bindings around sven to constrict to their absolute limit.

“Cero Torácico!” He coughed out as ten more “ribbons” of energy fired from his claws, instantaneously attaching to the surface of the net around the arrancar. At that moment all the energy around Sven would constrict even harder…it would become like razor wire that would burn through the shell like body around him. On the average hollow, this would have cut their bodies to pieces and left them as small cubes on the ground. For the espada, however, it was far more difficult… his own reiatsu a buffer of some kind that would prevent it from going much farther than skin deep. It was here that Cazador quickly realized how far apart he was compared to the arrancar. “That isn’t possible, even hierro couldn’t protect you against my cero!” He argued in frustration, trying his best to keep the arrancar restrained even if it was an act in futility. With Sven’s current strength, he would eventually break free, and Cazador stood no chance if that happened.

[Sven Delacroix]

Akumainu's body began to glow with the steady hum of silver reiatsu clinging to his frame, as the muscles underneath the hollow plating rippled. As the traps themselves restrained Akumainu, he would quickly tear through them with Destrozando la Tierra, focusing the vibrations to various parts of his anatomy. The studded elbows tore through the fabric like scissors through paper, the claws ripping through what little remained. A low growl insued as Akumainu's head watched Cazador tumble, an insatiable urge gripping him.

Though Akumainu paid no heed to the rambling of the hunter adjucha, his head sound focused on the claws which seemed to radiate unusual vibrations within the Espada's vision, that of a reiatsu based technique. As Akumainu stood there like a dog wondering what this tactic was, his sonar would then notice the variation separate into several strands, as each one shot towards him.

A roar escaped Akumainu's mouth as the burning sensation gripped him, a pain that felt as though it was meant to pierce his flesh. With the increase in pain, Akumainu would howl louder, his body thrashing around violently, trying to rid himself of his bindings. As Destrozando la Tierra flared back up, Akumainu would manage to rip through the ribbons, teeth bared as he stared down the assailant who had caused him such pain. The imprints of the Cero left lines across his body in the areas it had affected, but it also left Akumainu in a state of pure rage.

Moving his head forward, Akumainu would let out another earth shaking roar as the concussive force hit the ground in front of Cazador, which would most likely cause the Adjucha to syumble forward. In this moment of weakness, Akumainu would capitalize. The buzz of his Sonido would see the arrival of Akumainu in front of the Adjucha, his clawed foot instantly tightening around the throat of the Adjucha. As Cazador would get an up close look at the face of Akumainu's mask in detail as the Adjucha was pulled in closer, the scent of decay would soon fill Cazador's nose as each exhalation of steam blew into the Adjucha's face.

The echo of a distorted voice echoed around Cazador, though it appeared to come from no source, raspy and dry, chilling to the very bone. "Nooowww, youuu willll die......." As soon as Cazador would hear the voice, the Adjucha would no doubt feel something pierce through his chest, as Akumainu's tail glided gently through the mess of organs. The blood of Cazador would sputter out in streams, Akumainu's tongue licking the mask of the Adjucha, a long forgotten hunger slowly surfacing within. Each of Akumainu's clawed fingers would dig into the hollow hole, using the flesh severed by his tail as an easy means to tear the Adjucha in half.

[Redwinters]

Cazador did not have the reaction time required to possibly defend himself against the true power Sven had unleashed. Atrocidad would see through peaking over the tree trunk the adjucha’s body be ripped a sunder, to halves being flung across the battlefield. Cazador’s upper half crashed across the dirt for several feet before collapsing close by to the small pseudo-arrancar. Atrocidad looked over at the body, his human eye examining the gore and remains of “The Hunter.” It was both terrifying and relieving that this man was no more. “Oh Cazador…Father will be upset when he finds out he’s lost you…” The child-like hollow said as he shuffled a little closer to him, trying to get a better look but immediately jumped back in fright when a sharp breath was inhaled by Cazador. “Waaah!”

“Sh…Shut up…” The dying hollow coughed up, clearing only having seconds to live. “Reylius doesn’t give a damn about me…I’m a soldier that failed in his mission; too weak. I would have just been a loose end holding him back in the end.” Cazador reasoned as his body drained itself of more blood, heavy coughing left his throat as he prepared himself to die once and for all.

“…You’re wrong,” The boy spoke with assurance, though his body shook with fear. “Father cares about each one of you; he will miss you like a brother. He gave you dat name cause he believed in you.”

Cazador’s yellow hollow-eyes lifted up towards the pseudo-arrancar, as if he wanted to believe those words desperately. It was like, for that moment, he regretted trying to kill someone like Atrocidad; for the moment he had a hint of humanity within him. “Pheh, what do you know?” He spat out, the moment leaving him. “You’re an abomination…that’s what…you are…you don’t know…anything…you don’t…” His rambling faded slowly as his upper torso finally bled out, leaving only a cold body in its wake.

Atrocidad stepped away from the body once he realized the man was finally dead. He looked over towards Sven again, who remained as the horrible creature he had transformed into. “Eeep!” With a small yelp the boy dove behind the tree once more, trying to hide from the scary creature that roared and called for blood. Though, hearing his shivering and whimpering would be an easy task for the arrancar.

[Sven Delacroix]

Akumainu flung the two halves apart as the upper part of Cazador tumbled over to where Atrocidad was waiting. The form of Akumainu stood still for a moment as waves of sound splashed against his face, eventually turning his head to detect the young psuedo arrancar waddle over to the fallen adjucha. The frequent pulse of Cazador's heartbeat indicated the Adjucha was alive, but just barely. The heaving of the lungs played out a certain melody to Akumainu, his frame listening to each vibration as it ricocheted off his skull.

As they finished speaking, Akumainu would pace towards the fallen Cazador, who had just breathed his dying breath. As Akumainu neared the body, the silhouette of Atrocidad would recede behind a tree, the obvious stench of fear gripping the young one, as Akumainu could feel the child trembling. It only served to make him hungry as those without power often trembled at those with it, serving as little more as an hors d'oeuvre. The Espada would stop at the fallen adjucha as his skull tilted downwards to take a last look at Cazador, before a taloned foot crashed down upon the adjucha's skull, shattering it upon impact as Akumainu pulled the body upwards.

Using claws to further split the adjucha in half, Akumainu's would then crush the bones in the body with sickening snaps. As Akumainu would make Cazador's body more malleable, his mouth would open, swallowing each piece of the fallen adjucha, as his throat would expand to accommodate the newly acquired meal. Though Sven didn't indulge himself upon the flesh of Hollows anymore, his more primal ego of Akumainu did.

As a small roar of satisfaction escaped Akumainu, he would glance towards Atrocidad's hiding spot as Sven began to regain control. Taking a few steps forward towards the child, the mask of Akumainu would begin to fracture, the lines running all the way down Akumainu's body. Halting mindtrack, the carapace of Akumainu's skin would split, as Sven's form broke through the hardened Hollow cocoon. The carapace would then crumble apart as the Espada's humanoid form walked casually out of the remains of his Ressurecion.

Silver eyes glancing around, his accented voice rang out towards Atrocidad, as he brushed the remaining pieces of armor from his hair. "Vell, vhere next, Atrocidad?"

[Redwinters]

Atrocidad remained hidden behind the tree, shivering in fear as he heard the creature approaching him. His small hands fell over his masked head as he curled up into a small ball in front of sven, who would stand over the small hollow. “Scaawyscaawyscaawyscaawy…” The boy muttered under his breath constantly as he awaited the same fate that had befallen Cazador. When Sven’s regular voice spoke to him, however, he threw his head up in surprise to see if the arrancar had returned to his human-like form. “O-oh, you can switch back and fowth…” The boy blinked in surprise, and looked on upon the espada with superstitious awe. While he was certainly afraid of the incredible power Sven had, he did not seem very disturbed by it, there was even a hint of understanding it.

Lifting himself up, he began curiously poking at some of the remains of Sven’s shelled body that still clung to his ankles. The pieces seem to break into dust under the lightest pressure, which surprised the boy when he saw how sturdy it had been just moments prior. “You’we weally weaally stwong. Maybe even as stwong as father…no, stwonga!” The pseudo-arrancar declared, as if to try and inspire confidence in the espada, even if he did not necessarily need it. “Maybe he’ll listen to Atrocidad with you awound…” The boy hoped as he began scaling Sven once more, eventually returning to his position before the fight had broken out.


“Maybe we should go slowa this time? More of Father’s pack must still be out here.” The boy recommended, bonking the top of Sven’s head playfully, reminding him of how rushing got them injured last time. “Cero Unido…goooo!” He excitedly announced once again as a thin trail of reiatsu appeared below Sven’s feet and traveled off into the thickest area of the forest. The two could once again begin traveling if Sven desired.

The forest was beginning to change as they passed through the center of the overgrowth and started heading through the north side of the forest now. The quartz trees were bigger on this side, and had more obtuse shapes. Some Tree’s shaped into spiral like patterns; others had a crimson tint deep inside the crystalline structure. The air felt thicker here, and only aided in disrupting Sven’s Pesquisa somehow…“Ya know, you remind Atrocidad of father.” The boy would speak up after a few minutes of traveling, “You’re both weally stwong, but your faces are all squishy!” He laughed as he pulled on the espada’s cheek playfully. “Atrocidad only has a squishy eyeball.” The boy commented, tapping the bone-like material that surrounded most of his face. “Both of you carry sharp sticks, and can change into vewy scaawy monsters too. Rawr!” The boy mimicked Sven's resurrection, briefly pulling open the jaw of his mask to appear more monstrous. "Are you looking for poorpuss like him too?"

[Sven Delacroix]

While Sven was finding this Atrocidad increasingly annoying the longer he was with the odd hollow, he showed none of the annoyance, tucked away behind that slight smirk that seemed to indicate more along the lines of amusement than irritance. A sharp snarl formed from Sven's lips as Atrocidad jump back onto his shoulders, his hand smacking Sven's head, but he quickly stifled the noise.

He could see more and more why this Atrocidad was shunned by his own tribe, the kid never ceased to shut up and even Sven was tempted to just cleave the child in two if it was not for the importance Atrocidad had to his goal. Plus a strain of doubt littered Sven's mind. It couldn't possibly be just the kid's attitude that got him exiled. Cazador spoke as there was more to the child, and from Sven's experience, there nearly always was. For now, Atrocidad served the sole purpose of guiding Sven to Reylius.

As Sven began to move forward, following the Cero Unido Atrocidad had conjured in front of them. His thoughts wavered to this Reylius fellow as they walked, so much so that he didn't even pay attention to the prodding of Atrocidad's finger into his cheek. The young hollow then mentioned carrying sharp sticks and something akin to a Ressurecion, which got Sven wondering exactly who this individual was. A former Espada? A rogue Arrancar? The details seemed to point in that direction, one who had reached the evolution that those residing within the Las Noches halls had achieved.

"Guess you could zay I was led here by an unknown force beckoning me forward.........."

[Redwinters]

The two continued to move through the forest, their pacing allowing for more maneuverability in the otherwise thick terrain. “Hrmm,” the boy squirmed quietly in thought when Sven explained that he had been beckoned forward mysteriously by some unknown force. “The others were like that too…” Even the espada would think back to what he had overheard on his travels towards this location…this place had had a strange effect on those in proximity to it, it was seemingly drawing hollow left and right to it. One would have to wonder, was this same thing affecting arrancar like Sven despite their greater intelligence.

The further the two traveled the thicker and larger the overgrowth had become. It was getting to the point that the branches were intertwining, creating a ceiling that prevented feasibly travel in he air. Even the ground became a mess of quartz material with a crimson color rooted deep inside of it. As the pathway narrowed and contorted it eventually become more like the entrance…or potential exit, to a cave. Thankfully, Atrocidad’s cero seemed to be leading the arrancar in this direction straight away.

For several minutes the two would travel within it, the crystal like material reflecting auras of strange reishi. The reishi was thick to the point of it being visible, like some sort of fog. When the cave began arching at an upward angle it became clear that the two were heading outside of the forest finally, though the reishi continued to obscure the two’s vision making it more difficult to follow the trail of cero the pseudo-arrancar would leave behind. The narrow passageway would continue onward, until very suddenly, the two found themselves at a gigantic opening within the quartz. It would lead out into a vast area, completely hidden away by the reishi that filled their vision. All that could be seen ahead was a ‘bridge’ made from the same quartz branches that had made that cave just seconds ago.

The bridge went off into vast emptiness, and both the pseudo-arrancar and Sven would feel a tinge a fear as they looked off into this emptiness. It was as if the reishi shielding them from seeing ahead was pouring fear into their minds, dissuading them to travel off the path…as if leaving this bridge meant certain death. Sounds were heard in the distance. Pieces of quartz breaking off and falling away and never reaching a bottom, Echoes of far off cries, ominous whispering; It was unsettling, perhaps intentionally so.