AfriCatastrophe: Earthgrip-Sushai

Her golden eyes flicked towards the luminous energy that was gathering along the protrusions along the beasts' spine. It would make for a bit of trouble but she determined it was the Quincy she was sensing above her's problem. Erika was squarely aiming for one thing in particular and she was close enough to make her goal in a couple of leaps.

Off his back to to the hollow's left, far enough away so that she could align herself with Sushai's neck and take another leap to dash under his jaw with her blade.

"Zangerin."

Another one but this time aimed to slash across the beasts' throat. It would ideally slit the throat, prevent him from finishing the cero and all that.

Too idealistic a conclusion for her thoughts though. Right now they were just trying to vie for the beast's attention.

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.

This was unexpected in the mind of the hollow tyrant. Yet his primal mind, focused only on supremacy, seemed unbothered by the fact taht he had taken such grievous wounds. The jaws at his leg did not break his stride completely, but they did cause him to stop, take a moment and regain his balance.

The cut to his throat, however, when combined with the spear into his maw, caused the cero he had been ready to fire to react. The beam certainly did not fire rom his mouth, but the energy nevertheless spilled forward from the gash cut into his throat. It was unfocused, lacking the catastrophic power of his proper cero, but it nevertheless scorched even his own flesh as it poured out from the wound and made it all the more damning.

But when that attack had finished, the gaping injury slowly began to heal, flesh weaving itself back together and slowly becoming yet one more scar. It was far from instant, certainly, and the tyrant certainly wouldn't be firing another cero right away. But the beast was far from dead, and as it stood upright once more, the energy coursing through it and over it shifted in color, from the electric blue to a deep, burning red. With another loud roar, more guttural and undeniably aggressive, it moved with a speed that seemed more impressive than its previous near-lumbering, and in a single long stride it made to swipe both of the assailants in front of it out of the sky. Blood shot from the wound on its leg that Liltotto had made, but the pain was inconsequential to a beast such as this, and as his blood shot out, it burned at the touch, not simply from acid but from sheer heat.

Liltotto felt the terrible sensation of hot, disgusting flesh melt down her throat as her teeth finally met in the middle, tearing a chunk of flesh off to be unpleasantly devoured. Her actions weren't an act to get the creature in pain, clearly inflicting agony wasn't going to work, so she was resorting to destroying it's mobility. Best case, they could get it to fall, maybe even back into the hole, but ensuring it's advancement was at least slowed was her primary goal, as much as she'd rather not do it.

Even hit by the steaming hot crimson blood that gushed from the wound, it only served as further inspiration for her to keep eating at the fucker. It burned, it was hot, but it wasn't enough to deter her, all it did was piss her off and make her want it dead more. Her jaw unhinged, digging hard into the existing wound with full intent to keep digging into it's flesh, biting and tearing, it felt like her throat was on fire as she'd only work at it more, unflinching at the roar or tremors around her, hands squeezing the entryway as she kept herself grounded even as blood coated her entire body, scents that'd make any sensible creature cringe away not enough to make her stop.

She'd eat this thing's foot off if that was what it took to bring it down, gnawing through flesh, fat, tendons, and bone with utter indignance, eyes wide through the splashing blood, her body burning, grunts and curses grumbling in her throat as she tore through with all her might to destroy it's ability to walk effectively, if at all.

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.

Well, she was glad to upset it. It brought her a bit of schadenfreud that this monster had been denied its way, in the same way that she might smile when someone messed up in their training and took a hit to the head. It made her feel just that little bit better about herself and killing this monster would bring that same satisfaction to her even though it had shown that it lacked any kind of sapiene. A walking abomination with nothing but a drive for destruction and no will beyond that whatsoever.

Taking her blade fuelled with the essence of Haien, the petite shinigami had tried to counter the blaze with only some success. A couple of burns over her body and her shihakusho charred in spots from the energy that had blown out of his throat wound and sent her a ways away from him. It didn't matter, a single dash and she could be back in his range.

She took that step but had no intent to stop, she'd fly right by him and use her blade to do the rest. A single swing that didn't even touch him but as she made that slash mid-way through her shunpo, the flying spark that she looked like. A shooting star as the blade left a travel of fire behind her remained and then grew to try and wrap around the beast's eyes.

Sekai Shōshi, a move that used her fusion of kido and swordplay to stretch the flames of her conjured sword around an area. Its head was too vast but by focusing it around the eyes it should be more than sufficient to fill his sight with nothing but the violet flames of Haien for a time.

Blood like magma poured from the wound on his leg, continuing to coat Liltotto as well as the ground below. Foliage and structures alike went aflame on contact, and even as the Sternritter gnawed at his leg, the flesh began to knit itself back together. His stride had come to a halt now, but his stance had grown firm, sturdy.

Earthgrip-Sushai was not a cresture of speed, and as his blow met Alastair's resistance, he was unable to move forward and press the opposition. Flame filled his eyes, scorching his vision and blurring it for now. But that did not change his unilateral inclination to press forward. Absolute supremacy was all that sat in this beast's mind, and a king did not accept defeat. A rumble echoed through the air from the hollow's body, as crimson energy coursed up his back and coated his spines. His gaze moved downward, maw opening once more.

He had no intention of moving. He would destroy these smaller creatures unconditionally, without any hesitation and no matter the cost. That was the pride of a tyrant.

Covered head to toe in hot blood, the woman pushed through the uncomfortable conditions and foul feeling settling in her stomach til it was coming to a point where destroying it's leg was becoming more a chore than assistance. There was no longer any rumble of the beast's advancement, if anything it's knitting muscles seemed to tense, not taking much more than a moment to guess what may be happening next. Shit.

Abandoning her attempt at eating through it's leg, the familiar scent of increasing spice and heat burned her nostrils, the sight of flames lighting up on it's back further confirming her thoughts - it was gonna fire another one, huh? Her feet moved across the air with little time to waste on thinking, moving to return to the front of the beast. She caught a glimpse of Alastair in a higher position than her, the bright flames of his Volstandig undeniable against the sky, then Erika as well. There was a sigh of relief toward his safety and some begrudging thankfulness the shinigami hadn't been felled as her hand drew to the metal pin on the wrist of her glove, pulling it with little hesitation. Fucker needed as hard a hit thrown at it as possible, and she doubted her plain jane Letzt Stil would be enough.

Reishi flooded towards her as she formed her bow, forming upon her back in barely defined wing-like structures, appearing more like a haze than proper shape, taking aim at the beast's opened mouth, and with a quick focused eye, began laying shots into it. If it's outsides were so tough, it's innards had to be weak, and she wanted nothing more than for this thing to choke on it's own blood.

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.

"Kusanagi."

She muttered as she changed the shape of the sword she wielded. Discarding the flames that fueled it and instead altering the katana to have its blade become straight. Erika didn't really care for saying much but one thing stood true and that was providing a name to something empowered it like affirming its existence and so she intended to take advantage of that right now by calling out a sword's name which drew upon her reiatsu and began to absorb the power.

Every bit of her reiatsu being pulled along the edge of the blade to cut through everything like it was mowing down grass. How effective it would be was a matter of guess but it was impeding her ability to use proper spells.

As she dashed forward there was no reiatsu leaking from her, only the sword's edge carried the traces of her spiritual presence in her hands. It was all directed in a single direction, her back was defenceless but that was fine because the threat was before her. If he wanted to fire that cero then she'd cleave it in two, find the weak point in the beam and cut it apart to cause it to part towards opposing directions away from Alastair.