Sentry of the Forest [Fantasia, Aluk'Suul]

It was becoming a routine thing for Fantasia, the effeminate warrior, to gallivant through the winding dirt paths of the Karakura forest. It was by her hands that this place was clean and pure, no longer infested by Hollow-kind like it had been before her arrival to the city. She held thousands of those demons beneath her blade, felled one by one until the forest was safe once more. Still, the occasional straggler was present, newly-arrived from whatever dark hole it crawled out of, seeking to prey on innocent wanderers. However, those creatures would only find Fantasia Nevermore and her gargantuan steel blade waiting to slice them down. And who, might you ask, was this self-professed hero of the forest, this slayer of hollows, this lady of the blade? She was merely a teenager with a lanky frame and straight golden locks. She had light skin, gray eyes, and elven features. Even her ears were a tad bit pointed, but not enough to poke out from beneath the curtain of hair she had. For apparel, it was an outfit she always wore—she was one of those odd types who had picked out a single look and had it on them every day for their lives. She was never seen without the long black cloak of hers, complete with a hood and concealing only more ebon clothing beneath it. Then, of course, there was her great blade holstered along her back by some thick straps, taller than even herself so that it had to be carried diagonally. It was more than just a weapon to her, but an eternal companion.

Speaking of companions, Fantasia walked the woodlands not alone. Io was an atypical creature, in that it possessed no physical form. It was an entity made up of energy, completely aware and autonomous. With no eyes, no mouth, no gender... literally nothing but a floating ball of white energy swirling around and being bright. It was a pet of sorts that followed Fantasia wherever she went, a guardian and friend. It was helpful in this case by lighting up the path between the many trees and shrubs, as it was closing in onto the middle of the night. This was when it was most likely that the beasts would be up and about, so that Fantasia could catch one where it was not supposed to be. Unfortunately, her spiritual sensory was not so very great, so she relied mostly on Io to lead her to the threats if there were any. It was just difficult to tell as the wisp could really only communicate with unintelligible whistles and hums. All she could do is let him rush ahead and follow if he sensed anything. Thankfully, he was just idly sailing through the air. It seemed like it would be a calm night tonight; not any of those damned hollows in sight.

While indeed Fantasia's spirit sense was far below par, it was impossible even for someone as oblivious as she to not notice the cacophony that came with the arrival of the ocular monstrosity. The familiar cry of a Garganta opening was something she could pick out amongst the silence of the night with ease. Both her and Io would turn—albeit Io could not physically turn so much as shift its attention behind it—to witness the ominous scene. It was a Hollow, its form not even remotely humanoid, and of great size that dwarfed the little girl by comparison. It possessed three powerful-looking tentacles of great length that could easily squeeze the life out of any poor human unfortunate enough to get too close. This already had all the makings of a horrifying mature film, but there were no cameras around to capture what was about to go down. As usual, that pang of fear struck Fantasia to her core as it did whenever she did come into contact with another hollow, followed by the subsequent wave of pure hatred; for, there was nothing the girl despised more than a Hollow. They were the bane of this universe, and all of them had to die. It was, and always had been, Fantasia Nevermore's goal to slay each and every last hollow in existence.

The alien creature's eyes glowed bright with violet energy, charging up for an unknown attack. In swift sequence three spherical projectiles were launched her ways, lighting up the ground and the trees around them with an eerie hue as they soared straight for the heart of her chest. These are Cero, the young girl figured, so used to seeing different manner of the same attack that she expected no different from this Hollow either. Thus, she reacted as she normally would, reaching back for the grip of her blade and pulling. She was incredibly fast, unsheathing her weapon and lashing out with it in one fluid movement to counteract the first blast. The weapon was so huge that its wielder looked even punier while holding it, yet she was capable of swinging it so fast contrary to what one would expect; a hidden strength. When the blast and the edge of her weapon connected, the expected deflection was not what would occur; instead, it seemed to just vanish entirely, leaving Fantasia wondering what had happened. She quickly swiped at the remaining two blasts one after another, and with each the same outcome occurred. She was none the wiser about what had happened, but was willing to go with the flow.

With the creature's attacks out of the way, only a few dozen meters stood between her and it. She waved her sword back and forth through the air violently, getting in a couple test swings to stretch out her weapon arm, while simultaneously causing blades of grass and leaves to kick up off the ground and dance wildly around her. After one last stroke, the girl's muscles tensed and she shot off like a rocket. The trees rocked back away from her as she passed by, as if cowering in fear of the menacing fury she possessed. She honed her blade forth in front of her, intending to lunge forward with it straight into the great big eye the Hollow presented her with, not even thinking about the graphic image it would cause to stab straight into the vulnerable organ with cold steel. All Fantasia could think about was how much she hated this thing, as she remembered the horrors done to her family and her home by its kind. The only redemption for it was death, and she would be the one to award him with it, or at least try to.

Fantasia was a terrifying force of reckoning, seen even from just her movement, culminating into a powerful gust that would shake the treetops wildly and cause the area to become windy for a moment just by the sheer speed of her dash. The tip of her weapon sliced through the air without resistance and was extended as far out in front of the girl as possible when she approached the eye-creature-thing. The thing was, its speed was not trifling either, as it rolled out of the way with a surge of sparks to avoid the attack. It was only by the merit of her swiftness that she managed to clip the Hollow by one of the tentacles and draw out its purple blood in generous spurts. She passed through and sunk her sword entirely through a tree beyond her enemy, causing the entire trunk to explode and the tree to fall backwards into a clearing with a loud crash. As she was pulling her weapon out of the ravaged bole, she noticed how the gleaming metal was tainted by splashes of that purple goop, and all along her arm and shoulder as well. That's when it began to stung, radiating steam as it burned away at her sleeve and bit into the surface of her Claymore. The girl cried out in pain and instantly began to swipe the acidic liquid off of her in a careful-yet-rushed fashion with her other hand. That hand too would be burned, and when she flicked it off onto the ground it disintegrated the grass and melted slowly through the dirt. She was left with holes in her cloak, though most only revealed a modern military-type armor beneath made of tough plastics, not burning through all the way. The one spot around her shoulder is where skin showed, with a bright red spot where the acid had burned her. The sword, however, did not seem to be damaged whatsoever, only simmering with heat. Whatever the weapon was made out of, it was some powerful stuff.

When she turned again it was to face the oncoming light of another attack. With wide eyes she had to react quickly, bending her legs with the intent to dodge. It did not seem like she even had enough time to make it out of the way before the beam hit her, and yet she displayed her stunning speed once again. She would hurl herself out of the way so that the Hollow's energy raced past her and into the darkness of the nighttime forest. This is where it got stranger, though. There was no longer just one girl, but two, each having jumped in opposite directions from the beam. They had both come from the same origin point, splitting off from one body and becoming two identical copies. They stood in unison, finding their ground again and crushing blades of grass underfoot—it was no illusion, they were very real. It was as if there was a mirror reflecting her and copying her movements perfectly; they would both swing their swords around and then grab it with both hands, before symmetrically taking off in a hurtle towards the Hollow. He had three eyes, but the question was whether or not he could split his focus, for one was moving to the far left while the other went on the far right. They sought to attack from different angles, rushing in with steel flailing at his tentacles.

It was impossible to tell which one was the real Fantasia, even through typical sensory techniques. Both possessed the same exact make-up down to their reishi, giving off the same energy signature. For all that the Hollow knew, they were perfect duplicates of one another. As they lunged in to try and hack the demonic eye creature apart tentacle from tentacle, it was wise enough to try and just fly away. It was capable of free flight while Fantasia was more or less bound to the ground as a human was. It took off with another flare of electricity trailing behind it, but not before both of the Claymores sunk into its flesh. Despite the lightly armored shell surrounding the Hollow's tentacles, Fantasia's weapons seemed to cut right through with ease; it spoke of how much power the girl possessed in that petite body of hers, and how much weight was contained within the blade itself. Damaging the enemy, though, returned with some undesirable effects. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, same on me. As if not expecting the second shower of acidic blood, the two girls were taken by surprise when spatters of it flew towards them. Several globules would splash against their armor again but the two were quick to move out, zigzagging to weave in between the tides of the thrown liquid.

They were much faster in dealing with the cleansing of themselves, wiping the purple precipitation from their shoulders and arms and chest. Again, patches of their cloaks were quickly seared away, but the armor stood resolute beneath. The tough materials used to build it would take a while for the acid to melt through, and Fantasia was not one to allow that. They were at a safe range from his flailing tentacles and acid spray now, watching as the creature desecrated the lands around him with that diabolical liquid. Everything green that it touched shriveled away and died, turning the landscape into a blackened swamp. Disgust welled up in Fantasia's chest just witnessing this, seeing how destruction was so natural in the Hollow. She felt even more justified to cut the thing down, despite having enough cause already. She looked back up with a glare, to see it beginning to charge for another attack. Its eyes glowed amethyst once again, before launching more of those strange Cero; however, Fantasia was on the move. She and her clone evaded the projectiles by dashing towards each other, looking as if they were about to ram each other as well. But then, with flawless grace, one would drop down to her knee and slide while presenting her hands as a platform, while the other hopped onto it and used it as a launch pad to hurl herself toward their opponent.

She was screaming a battle cry, holding her sword in preparation for a culling strike as she arrived. But, it was about halfway there that it occurred: from the heart of her sword a massive explosion swelled out and encompassed Fantasia, lighting up the night to day with such a bright detonation. Simultaneously the girl still on the ground, would face the same fate, holding her weapon as it detonated and hit her squarely with the brunt of the Hollow's dark energy. This was information to take away from the girl's abilities: It seemed that when she cloned herself, the clones took on the same properties as the original, including the timebombs awaiting in her sword. If one were to reach out with their spiritual sense they'd see that the Fantasia in the air had completely vanished; destroyed by the blast. The other, now proving to be the real one, lied on her back with her entire front steaming. The cloak was all but tatters now, exposing the entirety of the armor layer beneath. The armor was still hole, proving it could take a hit, but it was the girl's face that reflected the damage, half of her skin burned away and bleeding dangerous amounts down into the forest soil. Her sword was not with her, lying in a separate patch of grass ten meters away from her. It did not have a single scratch or chink in it—it defied the explosion, and now was bright red with heat.

Finally that bright ball of energy, Io, decided to act. With a loud discord of beeps and squeaks, it rushed to Fantasia. It threw out a long tendril of white energy to connect itself to the girl, and through that connection it looked like pulses of light were moving down into her body. With each pulse, a section of Fantasia's face was repaired to pristine condition, the blood evaporating. Within moments she'd sit up and pull herself to her feet, in full health once again with Io's help. She smiled at her companion, trying to express her gratitude toward it. Yet more awkwardly, two more duplicates of Fantasia would stand up behind her, as if they had been lying on the ground with her. This was an ability by the name of repercussion, granting Fantasia more clones based on the amount of damage she takes, by absorbing some of the attack and converting it into whatever goes into making them. Now three blondes total stood together against the Hollow, but only two of them would be holding their swords; the third weapon still lied in the grass steaming hot. Io backed off, breaking the tether and resuming watching again. They would all speak, at the exact same time so that their voices made a chorus. ''Why did you come here? Were you expecting to devour innocent humans like all the rest? Perhaps mindless destruction was on your mind? It's almost ridiculous to believe that some creature so despicable could exist...'' These were her feelings spoken aloud, the irrevocable and blinding hatred she possessed; the disgust and contempt she held. ''We bet all you can possibly think about right now is trying to devour our soul.''

In response to her query, the thing began to move forward towards her, causing her to tense her muscles and bend her legs in preparation to move. She was ready for whatever devious attacks might come her way from the thing, while also feeling those usual bitter feelings for it—fear, anger, sadness, disgust. Then rather than speak, as it did not have a mouth, it started to draw in the air with a violet glow. Neon lights formed words, which formed sentences, so that it could answer Fantasia in the only way it could. Yet even so, she did not accept the answer as truthful, suspecting deception from the creature. The question was rhetorical and not truly expecting an answer. Fantasia's judgment upon hollows was already set in stone, and anything it said to her would make no difference to that. In fact, each word it wrote only further infuriated her, forcing her to the limits of her self-control to stop from lunging at the monster in the middle of its spiel. Strategy? Knowledge? Her fault? Friend? These concepts were absurd and Fantasia didn't believe it for one second. Hollows were but instinct-driven soul-devouring evils, and there was nothing that would change that nature.

It had the gall to try and depart then, opening a Garganta in the sky and propelling itself toward the exit casually. Fantasia let rip a pained cry and kicked off the ground with a violent movement, placing herself between the Hollow and its escape route. The black-clad woman looked straight into the great eye of the beast with her own blue hues, and then brought her palm down into it. Her strike would unleash such force that the excessive kinetic energy from it would hit the ground and produce a crater—a direct hit would cause even more damage against a squishy target. ''Don't spout such lies!'' she screamed after the attack, as she began to fall back down to the ground. ''We know exactly what your intentions were, so don't try to fool us. If you leave this forest, don't ever come back, or we'll make sure it's the last thing you do.'' Fantasia would not allow this place to become a breeding grounds for Hollows any longer. As long as it was under her protection, all Hollows would die here.