PLAYER
This is what it's like being the biggest and the strongest. I don't even exercise.
Koshou
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Post by Koshou on Jan 26, 2023 8:04:03 GMT -5
THE GATE Type: Investigate (PvP) (Repeatable) Level: 2 Description: The Gate to the Underworld has opened high above the city. - Investigate the surrounding area.
- Search for any escaped Sinners.
- Defeat at least 2 waves of NPC enemies.
********** Somewhere within the bowels of the Science division ... ********** " Is that another Hellhound sighting? These are starting to pop up everywhere!" " Another one? Ugh, well send one of the meatheads from Eleven to take care of it. What else are they good for?" " Fine, fine .. but you're making the report this time." ********** A little time later .. ********** There's a fresh grumble from Koshou as he's in the process of lightning a cigarette newly tucked at the corner of his mouth. ' Why is it always in the middle of the night?' He thought to himself as he takes that first slow drag of the smoke, to let it out in a soft plume of smoke against the chill night air. He'd just arrived through the Senkaimon, finding himself high above the city line of New York. While not quite in the vicinity of the incident as it was reported to him, the Soul Reaper can already feel it. Energy, an ominous miasma that settles over the air that feels all too familiar. ' Hellhounds? No .. this is deeper .. darker.' The thoughts come sparingly, and cause the usually confident warrior something of a pause. He'd dealt with Hell's ilk before, but nothing that had felt like this, nothing close. Reaching up to take the cigarette from his mouth, the Shinigami checks how much of it has burned already, like clocking the passage of time after a sense. Shortly after, the man concentrates and then seems to scoop his hand through the air. Whispering softly into his hands, he opens them to let loose a pitch black butterfly that seems to flutter its wings and then fold into itself and disappear. ' Now to see if he comes. I'll give him a couple of minutes, I don't think I can afford to wait any longer ..' Somewhere in Soul Society, the Living World or beyond, a Hell Butterfly will be seek out a Soul Reaper that Koshou had only met once before - Rekka. He hadn't even a last name to remember, but the Shinigami's Reishi and abilities were both unique and memorable so he was confident that he'd given enough of a sense of who he needed to find for the message to find it's way. When it does, it will relay a simple, six word message to the the fiery Shinigami: Wanna have some fun? Trouble brewing. |
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Post by Hageshi Rekka on Jan 26, 2023 10:22:58 GMT -5
"Wanna have some fun? Trouble brewing."
"I don't think 'fun' is the word I'd use to describe a Hell Gate, Senpai," said Ran, not looking up from her laptop. "I'll do my best to keep you from getting banned from New York a second time around."
"Much appreciated," Rekka replied. "Mind calling the memory team after I'm done hopefully not killing trees? Thanks."
With that, the young man stepped out of his office, making sure to take the proper Senkaimon. Fortunately, the attending Kido Corps operator wasn't going to object to the Third Seat of the division assigned to the Americas, who had battled literal Demons before, from helping out with the Hell Gate in New York.
"You called, Hattori-san?" Rekka said, emerging next to the larger man. "If I had a nickel for every time I fought creatures of hell in New York..."
He trailed off, having noticed the ominous signature in the distance as well. "We know frighteningly little about Hell. But that's no Hellhound. That's a Sinner."
"Ever purified a Hollow and a gate with skeletons on it dragged it off instead? Well, if people who were evil in life die they go to Hell and become Sinners. To send them back to Hell, we need to smash the masks they wear to hide. So yeah. Aim for the face, try not to destroy too much of the city."
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PLAYER
This is what it's like being the biggest and the strongest. I don't even exercise.
Koshou
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Post by Koshou on Jan 27, 2023 9:59:39 GMT -5
"You called?"
Koshou doesn't even bother to look over his shoulder when he feels more than anything the gate opening and the Reiatsu of the man who's now joined him. "You and I just have different ideas about fun" he says before finally turning his face to shoot his usual feral smile toward his fellow Soul Reaper. Listening to the words of the more experienced officer though, Koshou is soon letting his easy-going expression slide into something a little more serious. Lips pursing around that cigarette, he takes a drag on it before rolling it across his lips with an idle motion to the other side of his mouth and letting out a quick exhale of smoke through his nostrils.
"Sinners ... I've only ever been sent to dispatch the dogs. I don't think they were expecting this, I'm glad I called." Shaking his head at the question, the description of such a thing seems to send a little bit of a chill down even Koshou's spine. He gestures forward toward the direction of the reported disturbance, and gives a tick of his chin. "Let's go!"
**********
It doesn't take long for the two quickly moving shadows to make their way across the upper bowers of the city off toward the Great Kills harbor in Staten Island. It's lucky for them that this seems to lead them out toward the sparse areas of the city, but ominous as well. As they arrive in the area, it's high above the harbor that they can feel the residual presence of IT. The sky is cloudy and the pale light of the moon is slender as it narrow slices through the cover here and there with an altogether gothic feel to the air as that ominous feeling seems to grow only stronger here, making it hard to pin down any one source of that dread. Crouching for a bare moment of rest, Koshou pauses to scan across the length of the Docks below them now.
"Something above, in the clouds .. down in the warehouses ... there."
The stocky Soul Reaper lifts a hand to point downward, off toward a collection of the water-side warehouse buildings and boat hangers that line the industrial section of the marina. Even as Koshou points, the clouds are suddenly effected by a strong gust of wind, the fetid air that comes blowing hot in contradiction to the colder, night air. They part, and up above the Division Eleven member will catch his first glimpse of it, searing the sight, the fear of it into his mind as it begins to creak open - the very sound of it ringing like despair in the ears.
 
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Post by Hageshi Rekka on Jan 28, 2023 6:13:07 GMT -5
"I'm not surprised. You were born mortal, so getting isekaied into a job where you fight monsters with magic swords should be very exciting for ya," Rekka stated rather matter-of-factly. "Meanwhile for someone born in Soul Society like me, I'd find it cool that people can make a living and gain power by doing stuff that are decidedly not combat. I mean, people getting famous for playing games or singing? That just doesn't happen in a dimension ruled by warriors."
So Koshou had only ever fought hellhounds. Lucky for him. Rekka had to start with Sinners right off the bat, helping his division fend off a few back during the Demon attack on Seireitei. Then he immediately graduated to Demons, right in this very city. And very recently, his asexuality of all things rendered him immune to another Sinner attack, which led to another Demon appearing.
And so, Rekka and Koshou arrived at a harbor where the Hell Reiatsu was coming from. Fortunately, it was deserted at the moment, though Rekka was concerned that they'd end up disrupting local shipping by trashing the docks. Then the Hell Gate appeared before them in all its infernal glory.
"Enmado just made a joke that he's related to the skeletons on the gate," said Rekka, hand on the hilt of his Zanpakuto and yet oddly casual. Seeing Koshou's expression, he futilely tried to explain. "Y'know, my Zanpakuto spirit... He's basically a flaming skeleton. Anyway, time to play Doom IRL."
"Yaketsuke, Enmado!"
Rekka drew his sword, a shower of scarlet sparks scattering across the concrete as the blade lit up a bright red.
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PLAYER
This is what it's like being the biggest and the strongest. I don't even exercise.
Koshou
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Post by Koshou on Jan 29, 2023 6:30:54 GMT -5
"I sort of understand," Koshou replies to Rekka as he turns to give the explanation after taking a moment to respond to something heard only by the fiery-bladed Soul Reaper. The man takes another drag from his cigarette, twitching his lips to let the collected column of ash flick off of the end and float away on the breeze that blows by and carries with it the mixture of the miasma from the Gate above, and the salty scent of the ocean air that comes in from the harbor. For a moment or two longer, all the stocky man does is watch the Gate in all of its terrible glory as his partner in crime for this releases the spirit of his Zanpakuto.
"Hyozanryu .. I get a sense of what he thinks, and feels, sometimes. But for now, he only shows me a mirror. Reflections of myself." The smoking Shinigami takes a moment to think of the time he had worked himself into exhaustion, finding his way into a deep sleep that then led to his first experience speaking with the spirit of his sword more directly. He recalled the samurai that had spoken to him, but found it difficult to recall more than the vaguest of details about the man. With more important things on the horizon, Koshou doesn't have a lot of time for his thoughts to go their own way. "And I guess you could say, I'm something of the opposite. I don't remember much but I remember that my mortal life amounted to basically nothing. I'm all too happy to find myself capable of being something more." With that familiar, half-insane grin the Shinigami turns back to the harbor below them and above them.
The groaning of the gates opening, a fresh wave of dark energy pours forth from the Gate like a fog or a cloud, and on in run a full pack of hounds that bay and scream and breath gouts of fire like it's the Wild Hunt. A dozen or more of them come pouring forth, and something darker, larger in shape that still looms within the shadow of the Gate as the hounds rush forth. As the pack of beasts begins to scatter every which way, several of them run through the sky toward the warehouses down on the ground, half of them veering toward the sense of two Soul Reapers, too tasty a potential meal to pass up even while released to hunt down a Sinner.
Koshou just takes a more grim expression, and he draws his own blade. The golden metal of the sword shines faintly against the glow and gleam of Rekka's own sword at least for the moment, though no release of his own comes. "If we die, we die smiling!" And with that, his chin ticks toward the other Soul Reaper in silent signal, and whichever way he takes off, Koshou will face the other front so they can divide and conquer.
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Post by Hageshi Rekka on Jan 29, 2023 16:49:05 GMT -5
Fortunately for both Rekka and Enmado, their mission partner expressed his comprehension of the scarlet-eyed Reaper's statements, all while taking his characteristic smoke. Koshou's own Zanpakuto spirit, Hyozanryu, was approaching such a stage himself, although it seemed that the 11th Division member would not be showing his release tonight.
"Good that ya get it," Rekka replied with a thumbs up from his free hand as the Gate shuddered open, releasing a horde of what could only be hellhounds. While most of them fanned out searching for the escaped Sinner, a good portion of the pack went for the two Shinigami instead.
"If we die, we die smiling!"
"Okay, but we won't die," Rekka answered as he also cracked a grin in response to his companion's. However, a hellhound somehow managed to get close without either of them noticing, and decided to breathe a stream of fire that completely engulfed the still-smiling Rekka's head.
Rekka emerged from the flames completely unscathed, seemingly fresh out of the shower and still smiling. He grabbed the offending canine by the throat, yeeting it back into the gate as it let out a surprised and rapidly fading yelp.
At this, the other hellhounds seemed to hesitate to attack a target not only vastly stronger than them, but completely immune to their flaming breath. However, some external force compelled them to charge, so Rekka started picking them up one by one and throwing them back into the Hell Gate from whence they came.
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PLAYER
This is what it's like being the biggest and the strongest. I don't even exercise.
Koshou
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Post by Koshou on Jan 29, 2023 22:20:17 GMT -5
Koshou opens his mouth to speak, but at that moment that gout of flame comes breathing across the features of Rekka, who's release and Zanpakuto clearly seem to provide him a natural protection against the hellish flames. When his face is revealed both unscathed and smiling, the other Soul Reaper can't help but to return the smile with that characteristic feral flash of his own before turning his attention toward the scattering of hounds that have chosen to go in search of the Sinner, somewhere far below them.
"Chances are good if we bust the Sinner, we'll see them called back, right?"
The smoking Soul Reaper doesn't really wait for the affirmative though, already leaving Rekka to his work up above as the bulk of the pack seems to be stymied by him as an opponent for the time being at least. His attention shifting fully, he's moving with a massive burst of speed as much as he can put behind him while trying to make a mental projection of where the hellhounds path will take them. Instead of trying to intersect with them however, he puts on that speed trying to beat them to the punch and push toward the ground level, and the warehouses that line that industrial section of the docks. Even this late at night, Rekka's worries might become relevant, somewhere in the distance the sound of a fog horn sounding through the night from some container ship enroute.
Koshou doesn't have a whole lot of time to deal to make the ground before the hellhounds are catching up with him though, and now the Shinigami turns to face them. He keeps himself in motion and moving so it's hard for the handful of canines to gather up around him or try to quite literally dogpile him. Far below Rekka, the purple-black flashes of random bursts of Reishi come burning off of the blows that Koshou slices and slashes out at the Hellhounds with an uncontrolled kind of bleed effect as it simply seems to ripple and steam off of and out of Koshou like heat or steam from the top of his head. As the seconds pass however, that energy seems to build up while he moves, turning into small arcs and ripple of electricity and energy that coil around his sword and leave scorch marks and the sizzle of burned flesh whenever he lands a blow. Another of the beasts manages to find itself separated from the rest though, and it's only a breath of time that gives the Soul Reaper warning before the fresh gout of fire-breath comes blasting across himself and the hounds that surround him. Not only that, but the others seem to catch on, and add in their own flames soon after, beginning to engulf the Soul Reaper, and the building behind him sees one of its outer walls catch ablaze, flames beginning to lick upward as it catches fire.
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Post by Hageshi Rekka on Jan 31, 2023 23:09:24 GMT -5
"Chances are good if we bust the Sinner, we'll see them called back, right?"
"How am I supposed to know? I've never fought the dogs before--" Rekka shot back, but Koshou was already gone, tracking down the escapee from Hell.
Left to his own devices, the fiery Shinigami soon noticed that the hellhounds were no longer going after him after a few rounds of being tossed back into the gate. After all, the Soul Reaper named Hageshi Rekka was neither a Sinner nor anymore a worthwhile target. Any dogs exiting the gate from that point on started fanning out to hunt the Sinner as well, and Rekka eventually decided to follow suit.
Upon hearing the foghorn in the distance, Rekka became concerned, and started calling out for his partner. "Hattori-san? We have to finish here before that ship arrives or else we're screwed!"
He started looking around for the 11th Division member, finally finding him fending off some of the other hellhounds with the same feral instincts as his usual grin would suggest. Barring the erratic purplish Reishi bursts, everything was going fine until a dodged blast of fire breath ignited one of the warehouses.
"Welp, that's not good," Rekka remarked, sticking his Zanpakuto into the flames and vacuuming them up until they disappeared. "By the way, Hattori-san, if ya ever get kicked out of 11th for having a lightning release, you're always welcome at 9th!"
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PLAYER
This is what it's like being the biggest and the strongest. I don't even exercise.
Koshou
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Post by Koshou on Feb 1, 2023 11:36:14 GMT -5
It's all that Koshou can do to put his sword in front of him and try to guard against that onslaught of fire that comes washing over him, the heat beginning to choke out some of the air that begins to sear his lungs when he can manage to spare a breath. And then the heat seems to wash away, and the warrior looks up to see Rekka close by letting his own Zanpakuto soak up the fire and flames! "Well that's fucking useful" comes a growled out reply from the stockier of the two before he's moving with an aggressive kind of speed. Flashing forward, the charred smell of burned wood still hangs on the air, as the stronger flashes of the man's golden blade starts to sever heads and flaming maws from the stocky shoulders and necks of these hounds.
"That's only going to buy us a breath .. these things belong to an Alpha beast. Wherever it is, they'll return to him and reconstitute themselves! And they will absolutely burn down anything in their path, at this rate!"
This is a little more than Koshou was expecting certainly, the stakes growing higher by the minute. The same thoughts spurned through his own mind as that fog horn comes blasting out again through the night, signaling the presence of that ship out there, somewhere. Up above them now, true to Shinigami's word dark and shadowy forms can be seen forming fresh around the darker silhouette still hidden within the barrier of the Hellgate. Then the larger of the hounds is coming forth, and leading the new charge of these hounds. And once again they come barreling down toward the pair of Soul Reapers down on ground level, now. More importantly perhaps, they seem intent on the warehouse that sits BEHIND the two of them now, so recently saved from being burned down. To make matters worse, from the shadows of the gate something else begins to show itself ... long, spindly legs that start to reach through. Pointing upward, Koshou gives a grunt. "That's ... all you, bud. And it's not the release, it's how you use it!"
The little bit of lewd humor seems to fall a tad short in the moment, but it doesn't stop Koshou from barking out a note of course laughter and turning his head over his shoulder. "I'll take care of the hounds, and let them lead me to the Sinner!" He pauses for but a moment, turning his face once more up to the grotesque and larger than life appendages that begin to free themselves from the Hellish realm behind those gigantic doors.
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Post by Hageshi Rekka on Feb 2, 2023 2:19:32 GMT -5
"It is, isn't it?" Rekka replied before listening to Koshou's explanation about some kind of Alpha Beast that allowed the defeated hounds to reform near it. "I haven't actually killed any though. Just been tossing them back into the gate until they gave up."
Thing was, the Beast of Squad 11 actually was killing the things, and Rekka was forced to slash at any that came his way as well. The young Reaper's searing blade hummed and crackled through the air as if it was the defective and yet still cool crossguard lightsaber of that one guy from the Star Wars sequel trilogy that Sora wouldn't stop complaining about, each swing from the glowing scarlet sword cutting down another unfortunate hellhound that ended up in Rekka's general vicinity.
That was until the two Shinigami looked up at the Hell Gate in the sky. Still open, the so-called Alpha of the hellhounds charged forth with its respawned pack behind it, and beyond that still, a set of spindly legs making its way out the door.
"What the actual hell is that." said Rekka, rather disturbed at the sight, though not as much as Koshou who refused to deal with it altogether and excused himself to go after the Sinner instead. "Fine, go for it and try not to break anything. I'll handle the eldritch horror that can't be worse than that one Arrancar with gore-based attacks.
Having said that, Rekka leapt up to the gate with sword in hand, ready to meet the charging hellhounds head-on.
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PLAYER
This is what it's like being the biggest and the strongest. I don't even exercise.
Koshou
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Post by Koshou on Feb 3, 2023 18:12:11 GMT -5
In front of Rekka, the Hounds charged ahead with determined and unwavering speed, baying and yipping little bursts of fire as the Alpha spurs them forward. They'll flurry and swarm over and around the fiery-bladed Soul Reaper but ultimately they seek to drive past him, letting the numbers that fall rejoin them as they will. More pointed to the slender man's attention is the legs that are still crawling their way out of the barrier gates that still groan open, as if to accommodate the size of this new enemy. From the gate comes a shadowy form, but there's no mistaking the gleaming ire of many beady eyes or the eight legs that seem to heave at the weight of this demon creature even while walking on the air! The form of an enormous spider begins to make itself seen through the clouds ... with thousands of smaller, (the size of vehicles) web-covered spiderlings that crawl and skitter over the thing's back with a sound that's enough to drive those who hear it to the brink of madness.
The gate itself seems to groan further, the low tones emanating like breaths of flame from the skeletons on either side calling out: "Juro ... JuroGumo!"
Meanwhile, Koshou is blitzing down the alleyways and dock streets that line their way through the warehouses like an easy grid pattern. His senses are at their utmost limit, which isn't to say MUCH - but he strains them all the same as he seeks out any sense of this Sinner, all while following the trail of the hellhounds that managed to escape past them in the first place. Up ahead, the stockier Soul Reaper can see the beasts beginning to crawl up the walls of a warehouse in the distance, as if trying to swarm or surround it as they feel their brethren growing closer. With a nod to himself, Koshou is rushing toward the warehouse, sending a blast of lightning-like energy in front of him to smash into the side of one of the hounds and burn a hole right through it. He spares the barest glance behind him .. and shudders to his core, before turning his head to focus on his part of the task, ever more thankful for Rekka's help tonight.
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Post by Hageshi Rekka on Feb 6, 2023 5:07:20 GMT -5
Rekka readied his sword, swinging at the oncoming pack of hellhounds. But instead of stopping to face him, the dogs simply stampeded him as if preoccupied with something else. For a few moments, all that could be heard were a few exclamations of pain amidst the baying of the hounds. And by the time Rekka had gotten to his feet and dusted himself off, the huge spider had emerged through the gate and was now facing down the fiery Reaper.
"Wat." The young man made a chopping motion with his free hand while wearing a completely blank expression. "No, seriously. I signed up to fight Sinners, not the emissary from hell spider-mom."
"Juro ... JuroGumo!"
"My apologies," Rekka continued. "Jurogumo. Well, whatever. if ya don't go back in the gate, I'll kill ya. Bankai."
The sky before the Hell gate transformed into a swirling vortex of scarlet flames, and when it cleared there stood the Third Seat in a black bodysuit and cape, with a gigantic six-armed skeleton with an array of back-mounted cannons behind him to match the infernal spider in size and power.
"Destroy the spider, Sanzen Daisen Enmado!" At Rekka's command, all six of his Bankai's hands lifted, and were brought down with tremendous force in order to squash the foe in front of it.
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PLAYER
This is what it's like being the biggest and the strongest. I don't even exercise.
Koshou
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Post by Koshou on Feb 6, 2023 18:17:53 GMT -5
From the skies opens up a vortex that begins to spew and swirl flames as Rekka calls upon the full might of his Zanpakuto, in face of the thing that has crawled its way forth from the very gates of Hell. When the vision clears, the gigantic skeleton that accompanies Rekka can be seen bringing its six enormous arms down in a heavy-handed swing that can surely squish such an insect beneath its might ... there's a loud and resounding THUD as two of those bony fists smash into the hard armor-like carapace shell that protects the upper portion of the arachnid's body and there seems to be an equal meeting of force. The other four come crashing down more to the side and manage to crush a pair of legs of the Great Spider in the meantime, but this leaves those arms open for a thousand smaller spiderlings to begin to separate from their mother and begin to skitter up and around and through the exposed skeleton bones that comprise that giant manifestation. Everywhere they crawl they leave a sense of corruption and decay - some of them looking like half-formed women that might have been beautiful if they didn't have spider parts mixed in with human features like mandibles or too many eyes.
*******
Meanwhile, as this larger battle begins to crescendo up in the sky above, Koshou slows his pace enough to observe the hell hounds in front of him for just a moment longer, one of them already beginning to dissipate into ash and smoke no doubt to re-form somewhere behind him. To that end, the Soul Reaper can hear the baying and snarling from up somewhere behind him as well, the Alpha beast and its reborn pack surely coming to harry him at the flank. There's no time to make smart decisions, so he makes quick ones. Rushing forward, Koshou chooses to go through the wall of the warehouse rather than find a door or ingress in a less expedient way. Crashing through, his eyes flash around in search of whatever has the hounds attention in here. There! The faintest sense of a spiritual pressure hiding off in the shadows and without thought the Squad Eleven member is jetting toward it like a missile locked onto target.
Up above, the sudden explosion of power and energy that just about tears one of the warehouse buildings apart at the seams down on ground level can be easily missed as the stronger of the pair of Shinigami has to deal with something much worse than the average Sinner trying to escape its way into the Living World.
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Post by Hageshi Rekka on Feb 23, 2023 4:17:09 GMT -5
"Oho, interesting! So this spider is tougher than expected!" Rekka exclaimed when he failed to crush Jurogumo in one hit. The thing obviously had armor to spare against Sanzen Daisen Enmado's massive skeletal arms, upon which the decidedly uncute baby spiders were already crawling. Seeing this, Rekka decided on his next course of action.
"Arm Brushing of Incineration!" The skeletal Bankai's lower four arms caught fire and began brushing off the smaller creatures in a strangely synchronized manner. Some, it picked up and crushed between its fingers. Meanwhile, the upper two arms, seeing how the mother spider's legs were more vulnerable to attack, reached for the creature's legs, seeking to pluck them off one by one to render it helpless.
This would probably be enough to kill off a majority of the misshapen arachnid offspring (however the hell those things came into origin), but a few of the horrid creatures definitely survived that attack and would take refuge in the ocean or even escape into the city, an issue for the cleanup crews of Shinigami to deal with in the future. But even that was an acceptable risk, for if Rekka became spider food now, there would be even more damage than a few wounded spider demons.
"Hattori-san! How's it going down there? Please tell me you've already taken out the Sinner!" Rekka called, the now spider-free arms of his Bankai diverting to clash with Jurogumo once more.
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PLAYER
This is what it's like being the biggest and the strongest. I don't even exercise.
Koshou
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Post by Koshou on Mar 1, 2023 23:48:30 GMT -5
Bursts of flame that seem to move and skitter light up the night up above the clouds and the harbor here in New York, now. As JuroGumo and Sanzen Daisen Enmado continue to battle with one another up there by the entrance to the Hell Gate, the fiery Soul Reaper up there is calling out to Koshou to find out exactly what the status of this mission gone to literal hell is but there's only silence for now as Rekka has to turn his attention back toward the battle between his Zanpakuto and the demonic horror that's come forth in pursuit of the Sinner as the hounds seem to be failing to get the job done. As the fires flare, and giant arms brush dozens of flaming forms seem to fall and burn through the night sky like little comets as they plummet toward the waters beneath. Some of them are sure to survive, though many can be heard screeching and screaming in voices that sound all too human, women crying out in pain and agony.
Not to stand idly while the enormous skeleton tries to rip its legs off, the gigantic spider does what it can to rear up against those back legs, skittering spindly legs against the grasping fingers and clutches of Daisen Enmado while hidden but vicious fangs reveal themselves as many of those tiny but gleaming beady eyes focus on the skeleton. The sound of shrieking is enough to split through Rekka's skull with ear-splitting pain as his Zanpakuto does manage to rip off one of those legs now - the crunch and crack of chitin a backdrop to that screech. Tossing away the piece of useless chitin, ichor spills from the wound and it's apparent that the fangs of the spider have managed to find a true strike as well. Two spots evenly spaced from one another have drilled into the bone of one of those arms - a forearm bone - and from those points a kind of corruption seems to pulse. Nothing that an entity so mighty can't shake off eventually, but something that might leave its mark even beyond the battle as well.
*******
Koshou doesn't have any idea what's going on outside or above now, though. Inside the warehouse the Soul Reaper is rushing for that faint sense of reishi he'd picked up on almost by pure luck alone, trying to make the best use of the scant spare seconds that he may have before those hounds come crashing through much the same way he did. Already the flames can be felt licking up heat around the edges of the building, as the very breath of these creatures causes damage to the mostly wooden structure. The whole thing has turned into something of a whirlwind for the broad-shouldered Shinigami, and all he can hear is the thudding of his heartbeat as it pounds in his ears - all he can feel is the heat of the flames that begin to consume the edges of this building and the energy that courses through him and his blade. Eyes wide, they pierce through the shadows toward that silhouette he can almost make out and there's no thought or hesitation from the 'Beast' that's taken control of Koshou's faculties.
"You FOOL!"
The words come, even as the light of this Sinner's strange-feeling Reiatsu begins to flare up within the center of the man's fist and lights himself up; hidden amongst the boxes and crates that fill up much of this place's floor space. Still in motion, Koshou can see that the man's white mask has been cracked already to reveal part of his face underneath which is probably why he picked up any sense of the man at all. So reminiscent of a Hollow's mask, the reaction from the Soul Reaper is almost instinctual. Leaping forward and rearing back his arm as if he's going to swing a vicious blow with his sword, Koshou waits for the right moment to twist himself in the air and instead plant sandal-clad feet into the back of man just as the energy he'd been gathering goes blasting forth right where the Soul Reaper had been moments before. The hand not grasping his sword is clutching at the back of the cloak and clothing this Sinner wears. The momentum of the kick of sorts drives the man stumbling forward, and down on his hands and knees when the man atop his back simply drops to one knee, driving into the short ribs and forcing the man face-down into the ground. The words that come can barely be recognized as English or Japanese either, so growled and garbled by whatever primal instincts drive the man's behavior. "Too slow."
*********
Up above, Rekka watches as the last of those spiderlings find themselves brushed off onto the landscape below. Those that survive will skitter off into the night somewhere, certain to cause more trouble later. Those fang-spots of corruption seem to weaken Sanzen Daisen Enmado's grasp in that arm, causing some sense of weakness but before the two Behemoths can clash once more, something seems to change. There are no more hounds that come baying and bounding from the Gate, and apart from the distant screeches of burning spiders and the crackle of flames from warehouses ablaze down below the night has grown eerily quiet now. As the skeleton pushes forward, JuroGumo seems ready now to slowly begin shuffling defensively back toward that crack in the Hell Gate that it pushed itself through in the first place. Even on planes of spirit energy, or in the air to the naked eye, the way this thing moves is creepy and causes shivers down the spine as it moves in what seem like impossible ripples along it's remaining legs.
Minutes pass, but there's a resounding BOOOM as the arms of Sanzen Daisen Enmado shove the pair of Gates shut with thundering effect. As the pair of doors close, they begin to shimmer and as a fresh wave of fog begins to cover the moon they will begin to disappear as they slowly fade from sight. As suddenly as it all began, the night will seem a little too quiet while adrenaline and the lasting waves of battle frenzy take slow time to fade from the two left to survey the aftermath. It'll be some minutes after the Gate is well and truly gone before Koshou is able to show himself though finding Rekka won't be hard at this point once more floating above the mostly ruined remains of the warehouse district they were sent to protect.
After a long pause, all Koshou can think to say is ... "Dim Sum?"
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