A return to the Sun [open]

Elena panted and looked up at the beast. It loomed over her at well past twice her height, and its arms were massive and muscular. It looked kind of like an ape, except its legs weren't as stubby. Compared to the rest of its mass, they were, but it seemed they were still perfectly functioning. Its mask resembled that of a-

Leaping to the left, she barely managed to dodge another downward smash, and just like before, the impact was massive. This time she was more prepared and was merely sent skidding backwards on her feet. This... This was something else. Fighting for her life wasn't new, but against something that made her feel so small, and with a weapon she wasn't used to...

"Why me...?" she muttered to herself in response to Mirja's lack of help. What a bother that woman was. And it wouldn't be the last time she saw her either, Elena thought. Not on her life. That would be too lucky of her. A low side swipe came at her and she just managed to step back out of the way. The force of the swing was enough to push her a few steps back, but she managed to catch herself just like before. Taking roughly three quick steps forwards, Elena swung her sword horizontally and managed to barely leave a cut on the ape-like creature's stomach. It howled, more out of displeasure than pain before Elena felt a large, incredibly heavy fist strike her in the side.

"Fuck..." the woman mumbled as she recovered from the impact of being slammed into a wall. The ape didn't even give her a moment of peace as she stood back up, the beast now charging at her directly.

"Jump!" she heard a voice say. And while she wouldn't have even tried, she wasn't one to argue when her life was in danger. A quick push of both of her legs and she flew up into the air plenty higher than she thought she would. Roughly fifteen or so feet, she estimated as calmly as she could. Just enough to clear the beast and land behind him, although the surprise from her new feat of strength kept her attention just long enough for her not to prepare herself for a proper landing. Still, she landed on her feet just well enough to turn around and watch as the gorilla-ape or whatever turned around to face her. A quick scan of the creature told her that it was covered in fur. No armor or anything, so it wasn't like she couldn't strike other parts of its body to weaken it or anything, right?

That was what she thought, until her eyes grazed over where she had struck the beast before. Its cut was bubbling, and after a few seconds it had completely healed back over as if nothing had happened.

"Oh." she mumbled before taking another step back. Hit it in the head, Mirja had said? Well shit, it looked like that was the only way out of the situation. Thank god this thing was just slow enough for her to be faster than it, even in her pitiful, just-turned-shinigami body. It didn't seem to have any other power either as far as she could t-

And once more, she was corrected mid thought as the creature opened its mouth, and a blue light started to collect inside. Elena's immediate instinct was to move, and so she did. Up into the air she went once more as a massive laser was fired from where the light started to collect. Just like she anticipated, she could only jump as high as she did before, barely clearing the creature in time to miss the laser. Dodging was not her full intent however. With her sword brandished with the blade pointed square at the creature, she thrust it forward as she descended upon its head and pierced where its brain would be if it were an actual ape. Or at least, around there. The blade sunk deep and protruded from the other side, and the creature almost immediately collapsed, which was the only part that Elena didn't think of.

Grunting as she fell on her ass, Elena watched as the creature dissipated into some kind of blue energy and vanished right before her eyes. Her sword was the only thing that remained. Without much consideration for what just happened, Ellie carefully walked over and picked up her sword, staring at the spot where the creature would be laying if it were some common animal. Unfortunately this was not some common animal, and Ellie couldn't help but wonder where the creature went. Was it just dead forever? Was it right to call it dead considering it was already dead? Her brain was already racking itself for more answers it couldn't comprehend, as she had no clue what had just happened, or what a Hollow even was.