Balancing the Books[Curry, Sabertooth]

Simple. She was getting better. Watching the upper half of the hollow flung across the warehouse was certainly satisfying. They were weak. But numerous. That was good. Culling these would be a good step toward making sure that the cargo wasn't overrun. Sure, she could murder them quickly, but if they all rushed the cargo she was protecting, especially while dealing with some other threat, that might have been an issue.

But there was another reason that she'd chosen this particular group to ....cull ahead of time.

She'd learned much in her scuffle with that human. Killing that one troublesome hollow, she had had to admit that the man's....fancy little move, however simple and ...well... uninspiring. Had given her plenty to consider. She was weak. She'd grown in strength since devouring so many hollows and her own ....practice manipulating humans into suicide so that she could eat them. But the abilities inherent to her kind weren't quite what she was looking for. A cero was too.... noisy. But these little martial arts that Kenichi had employed? Perhaps these could be useful to her. And so as those creatures began to wildly fling about and search for her. She promptly closed in, and even before she arrived. Her spiritual pressure BELLOWED out, a brief roar before her arrival, to get the hollow's attention. She didn't want to sneak up this time. She wanted it's full attention. The water she'd collected along her frame suddenly SURGED, abandoning her body and dropping her camouflage as she SLASHED, a horizontal sweep of that bladelike wing at high speed before the water surged forward. Keeping her own general shape as no less than five wings made from water suddenly flashed forward, unleashing a series of slashes outward and forward.

She wasn't a martial artist. There was no way she could directly emulate the sudden flurry of blows Kenichi had unleashed in their fight. But she was VERY apt with her powers. And so rather than her body, a sudden barrage of manipulated water followed her own deadly slash, condensed into thin wing-like blades which followed up on dicing the hollow she'd run into, intent on ripping it into chunks and then launching it's diced body at it's nearest ally in the flurry of cutting water.

Satisfaction. She watched as the hollow was promptly cut to pieces, but those pieces were promptly ignored. Her eyes widening slightly as another was suddenly rushing towards her, not only that but more hollows were closing in. She narrowed her eyes and shifted her attention toward the incoming thrasher. The water around her suddenly condensed, swirling around her body before forming little needles and fired them in a sharp spray toward the rushing beast. Aiming primarily for it's eyes as she ducked down. Her insides liquifying, sljimming herself down as she flattened against the floor and rushed between the hollow's legs, narrowing her profile while it was, hopefully, blinded by the water needles, before LASHING upward with her tail once it had passed her. Intent on cleaving all the way up it's spine, a thin sliver of water lashing out to extend the cut, hopefully cleaving the hollow ionto two clean pieces as thespray of water that had been the needles flowed back to her frame.

As the new trio of hollows arrived she fought the urge to just camouflage again. NO. She needed to face them head on. If she couldn't fight these small fry directly then she'd have no chance of fighting anything stronger. She bared her teeth and SNARLED menacingly at the incoming hollows, a low roar bellowing out as she flared out her wings, making herself look bigger as she waited for the new arrivals to make their move. And get within range of her water's reach.

Her eyes narrowed when she saw her tail didn't bisect quite as cleanly. She made a split second decision and LUNGED down, aiming to rip the head clear off of the creature and try to scarf it down as the others were rushing in. Not only replenishing a bit ofg energy, but also aiming to ensure that it was completely dead.

She was thankful for the brief moment of uncertainty in the hollows, it gave her a moment to sense and count the other incoming threats. A good ammount. But nothing too bad. They were staggered by having to navigate the warehouse for one. But it was still a relentless fight. As the creatures charged her, she flourished. LASHING out with her tail, but a little too soon. Rather, she used the motion to RIP the water out of nearby pipes, stabbing watery blades into them from the side before she CHARGED. Once again slimming herself down and lunging, attempting to clamp those saverfangs onto the lead hollow's face, and rip it clean off, along with their mask, aiming to crunch and swallow it down as she slipped past the group, intent to try and skid past as a ripple of water would lash out, slicing around her frame and aiming to ward them from trying to attack her as she passed and get a chance to chew and swallow the chunk of hollow mask and face if she'd succeeded in her attack.

She narrowed her eyes, and as those fists rammed in, they would simply sink into her body, liquifying her insides by turning them into water. The same trick she used to slip through tight spaces was used to tank the blunt strikes from the hollow, Gritting her teeth as her frame rippled with the strikes, until at long last, she pried that mask and a chunk of their face from their body, leaping back from the hollow as her insides resolidified, and she chewed and swallowed the hunk of the hollow's soul. But there was no rest. Just as quickly, those hollows CHARGED at her. But this time they slammed into a sudden watery barrier.

The pipes were now constantly gushing water into the room, all of which Saber was dragging in, and promptly shoved in the path of the thrashing hollows. It wouldn't stop them, but quite suddenly, they were dragging through the water, slowing their moves, ESPECIALLY as the water contracted and compressed, CRUSHING down on their bodies with the strength to break bones. And in that moment, Sabertooth SLASHED with one of her wings, a high cut aimed to cleave through the hollows masks and skulls, aiming to execute them on the spot as her own bash wounds healed, regenerating some of the damage from being clobbered by that first hollow.

Already her reikaku was focusing elsewhere. Checking on the situation around the dock. Were any of the other hollow groups moving? Any of them near curry and the cargo? Had any buzzed off? These ones had been cut down a fair ammount, but she had to still split her attention. It didn't matter how many of THESE ones she killed if some others snuck in and destroyed what she was trying to keep safe. She needed this job, dammit.

Too damn fast.
If there was one thing she hated in moments like these, it was how it all felt. every motion rushed in the mess of information and sensations. The way her wing failed to cleave through the hollows and properly kill them off, their bodies flailing withing the slow compress of crushing water that threatened to break them. Nothing that was too much of an issue. They flailed, and hissed, and tried to beat at her, but they would take a moment to break their way through the water that locked them in place. Long enough, at least, for her to get a sense of the rest of the area,
Why couldn't they just fucking die?

But she had other things to focus on. The other groups were gone. Had they fled at the sound of a fight? Or had her employer dispatched them? No way to be sure. But at the very least, nothing was closing in on, or was currently around the cargo. And in some , small corner of her ming, she couldn't help but sneer. This felt pointless. POINTLESS! Why was she even DOING this?! That was a simple answer. Resources. She'd been attempting to rough it alone for quite some time now, but she wasn't a menos, nor was she on the way to breaking her mask. And that damn humans had shown her ....benefits to operating in a group. It stood to be to her benefit to stomach this situation. After all, the promise was worth it.

But would he keep good that promise?

A question that harried her, even as she leaps back from the pair of hollows, water twisting in toward her body as the hollows thrashed in her direction. A brief moment of pause, refocusing. Before she lunged. Her frame slimming as she liquified her insides. And she tore her wing across them. This time, a thin blade of water compacting along the edge of her wing. Adding to the strike as she aimed to lash out and launch a thin line of water, ripping clean through the surrounding hallway as she sought to cleave clean through both hollows, as well as the section of warehouse behind them. A quick, vicions finisher. Better to waste a bit more energy than take damage. But she was starting to feel it. She'd been using her powers far more than usual. And she was FEELING the edges of fatigue crawling in. She'd not done anything grand or massive in terms of attacks, but even so, she'd been fighting for quite a while now. IT was wearing down on her. Her eyes darted to the corpses. If she could kill these two quickly, she could eat them. The hollows she'd eaten before had provided a lot of fuel, but she had to keep this up.

All the while, she felt the slow, twisting anxiety. Why should he keep his little promise? He could stand to benefit, was the natural thought. But then, would he trust a hollow? Would she trust herself? A question that drove a hot, burning sear of disgust and frustration through her body. HAtred... and resentment for her station burning through her.
To Shinigami they were prey. To humans they were threats. To arrancar they were throwaway soldiers. And behind it all, the hot, burning claws of hunger ripping through her insides. This was more than just about safety. this was more than just about food. She was trying to escape. Fighting. Hunting with that human. It had been.....different. She wasn't sure how. It wasn't just the extra food. The protection. OR even his inane little...eyeballing of her. No. Something had been nagging her ever since. Something...... she couldn't quite explain. A Feeling in her skull.
A feeling that drove her to this.

That drove her to yet another human.
Well...
If the deal went sour, she could always eat him, or run.
She always had a backup plan at least.