A return to the Sun [open]

Elena sighed and prepared to sheathe her sword before she was interrupted by the sound of someone clapping their hands from behind her. The woman immediately spun around to face whoever else it was that was here, only to be greeted by a masked man in a completely white outfit. Was this... a Hollow? The mans' mask was broken, only covering his left eye, and he had a sword just like hers. A katana that sat at his waist, much like her two. Except she was only able to use one at the moment. Well, "able" was a relative term, but that wasn't what mattered.

"Bravo. Bravo. I'm guessing that's your first kill, madam?" the man asked. His arms were now crossed against his chest, and his grin was as smug as could be. Ellie didn't respond. There was no use in feeding his apparent ego. She just stood there at the ready, waiting for whoever this man was to make his move, or at least explain who the hell he was. Neither of those things happened, and instead, he started walking forwards. His arms unfolded and his hands reached down to draw his sword, making Ellie's heart stop in nervousness. Whether or not he was about to fight her wasn't much of a question as he propelled himself forwards and swung down at her. Ellie flinched but just managed to bring her sword up in time to block the strike, only to have her legs almost collapse underneath the stress of the blow.

Grunting as she forced herself back up against this man, doing her best to push back, she looked him in the eye and noted just what she was dealing with. Whatever this man was, he was nothing but a bloodthirsty mess, and that frustrated Ellie beyond belief. Another crazy person ready to fuck her day up. As if Mirja wasn't enough. The only difference between this man and Mirja was that the wolf-lady wasn't here to kill her, yet this guy was.

"Care to tell me your name, gorgeous?" the arrancar asked. Ellie didn't respond to this either. Instead she just turned her body ever so slightly to the side and let the man's sword slide down the side of hers. It happened quickly, but it left just enough of an opening for Ellie to strike at her opponent, which she took gladly. A horizontal swing flew straight at the man's jugular, but he intercepted it with a swing of his own. It seemed he was just as fast, if not faster than Ellie. Not only that, but he was on the same page as her.

"Oh look, the little Reaper is trying to play ball." taunted her adversary, noting the fact about how she swung like she had a baseball bat in her hand. Elena could only scowl and strike at the man with a vertical slash, putting as much force behind it as she could. Yet again, it was deflected and Ellie was pushed onto the defensive once more. A series of slashes were thrown at her and she managed to defend herself from each and every one, but each time it happened she could feel how flawed her form was. This was someone who at least had some vague idea what they were doing, even if they weren't that much stronger than her. That alone was enough to make Ellie feel certain that she was going to lose. All she could hope was that Mirja came back in time to save her ass from getting killed.

For the next few minutes, the two managed to match each other's push and pull, not quite getting the advantage over the other but managing to keep themselves from taking any unnecessary hits. That is, for those few minutes. With each passing moment, the arrancar seemed to be having less and less fun with this whole situation he put himself in. He could feel the presence of someone much stronger than him in the nearby vicinity, but they weren't coming any closer. If he wanted to kill this woman for taking his pet from him, he would have to make it quick. As he parried another blow from Elena, he struck at her in a quick, weak fashion several times. The woman managed to keep up but became a little more delayed with each strike, and so after almost all of his swings he managed to finally leave a shallow cut on her upper arm.

After that, Ellie became slower with each consecutive strike from the man. Even though he had gone back to what she had kept up with before, her form was becoming sloppier and slower until eventually she was barely managing to keep up. Her pain tolerance wasn't so high as to keep her from thinking about it, nor was it good enough that she couldn't feel the stress that was left upon it with each blow that she successfully blocked. The pain kept building up, making her feel lightheaded from a mix of minor blood loss and exhaustion only after about a minute later. The collective exhaustion from everything she had done today had finally taken its toll on her, and adrenaline was running low. If Mirja didn't come in the next few seconds or so, Ellie didn't know what would hap-

"Gotcha." Was all she heard before a searing pain welled up in her abdomen as she was cut deep. The only thing she saw after that was a blur, and she felt like she was about to pass out. Elena was tired, wounded, and in shock. The only thing she could see after that was a blur of colors as what she could only assume was Mirja finally made it back. A few seconds after that, and she completely blacked out.