AfriCatastrophe: Earthgrip-Sushai

That he had already earned the beast's ire was a victory in itself, but Alastair was hardly content with simply being a momentary irritation. It was all too apparent what would follow as the monster turned to face him, and yet Alastair did not move to flee. Instead, he continued to rise upwards at an even pace firing off a few more arrows as he went. His reason for doing so was quite simple; if the blast was as destructive as the Hollow was likely capable of then he could not risk it shooting off further into the city. It needed to go up, into the sky and off into the horizon, or more innocent lives would be at risk. The danger to himself was, quite frankly, secondary.

As his allies moved into position to continue striking, Alastair resolved to do the same. Orange wings bursting from his back as he entered into the Vollstandig state, and his dull stare was soon replaced with one of brilliant white as a halo materialised above his head. Energy surged through his body as it began to rapidly consume what Reishi it could find and feed it into him. He had but a few precious moments, as Falke shifted in form into a giant spear of light, to take aim at the beast’s maw when it lolled open to unleash the cero. His timing would have to be precise, if Erika was able to interrupt the stream with her own blow then he would be able to launch an attack straight down the gullet and really give the thing something to chew on.

Recoiling his arm backwards, he marked out his target and waited for the opportunity. Then, just as the hairs on the back of his neck began to stand on end, he poured all of his strength into hurling his spirit weapon right back at his foe. There was a crack in the sky as he twisted in place, like lightning striking, but even that was deafened by the giant titan unleashing it’s own attack.

If their combined efforts had not been enough to disrupt the beam then he would be unable to entirely avoid it. For all the effort he had put into heightening his speed and reflexes, it would only do him so much good against such an indiscriminate attack, and he launched himself sideways with a final hirenkyaku knowing full well that it might not be enough.

Though spared from being bathed in an infernal Cero, the air still seared at Alastair's skin purely from his proximity to the errant discharge that incinerated even the monster's own flesh. But he was not as unfamiliar with burns as he might once have been, and in his released state the worst of the injuries had already healed by the time the beast's next move came. That was the power of his Unendliche Herz on full display, as beneath his protective suit his skin was already repairing itself.

Again, his foe came forwards. Though this time it was not a slow, lumbering motion and instead darted forwards with a surprising burst of speed given those tremendous proportions. And again, whilst he could have evaded it, Alastair was not one to simply relent to the wants and desires of his opponent. From its sheath on his back, he drew his blade and turned back into the monster's swing. Shining brightly under the African sun, enjoying its first taste of sunlight since it had been stowed for travel, the sword seemed to glow in Alastair's hands as he poured his reishi into the weapon to act as a bulwark against the oncoming arm.

That wasn't to say that he truly expected to overpower the monster, to throw it into the dirt or anything so tremendous. But if he could slow down its vicious strikes or even just resist being completely bowled over by the attack for just a moment then it would leave the Hollow open to his allies to strike it down. What he lacked in raw brawn was somewhat compensated for with cutting-edge technology, deft technique, and that innate tenacity that simply refused to allow him to take a step back.

Holding the gigantic fist to a standstill had given the Shinigami an opportunity to strike again at the creature's eyes again, but it was still not enough to bring it down. There was a dreadful resilience to it that did make him wonder how exactly they would stop it, but Alastair could not afford to lose his focus on the task at hand. Flaming wings burst with further invigoration as he tightened his grip on the blade and began to draw it across the creature's hide in a slashing motion, pouring every single bit of reishi that he could hold on to into driving the sword deeper into the creature.

Slowly, assertively, he began to twist and bring more of the sekkiseki-enhanced metal to bear against his foe. If he could find enough purchase then he would try to wrench the whole limb clean off, perhaps that would curtail its blistering rage, though dealing a terrible enough wound would also suffice. Exposing the creature's infernal blood would be met with the Unendliche Herz's healing factor again, as any blood that fell upon him would first warp and char Alastair's porcelain flesh only for it to be regenerated just as quickly as it was marred.

His actions were single-minded though, focused only on stopping the threat right in front of him. As another great cero appeared to be imminent, all he could do was press forwards and hope that his allies were capable enough of stopping this second rampage whilst he inflicted as much damage as he could. Quite the gambit, but he had faith enough that they would not falter now.