What Lurks Below [Henrex, Asher]

The initial reports had managed to capture his interest, not just in his duties as a Captain, but his own personal vetted interests. Vastime had been a place that he had sunk a fairly substantial amount of investment into, and in hearing of its collapse and what had come in its place, it had caught his attention.

He wasn't sure what he was expecting when he stepped through the Senkaimon. He wasn't sure how he would feel about...whatever was waiting for him on the other side. He still held bitterness toward his removal, but, his curiosity and duty were what brought him to the hole.

Well, whatever he had been expecting...this certainly wasn't it.

A hole that spanned the length of the city, tunneling down to what seemed to be the core of the Earth itself.

Were it upraised, and perhaps considerably smaller, someone could probably mistake it for a Zoroastrian dakhma, a Tower of Silence. It felt almost impossible to process, even for him. He quietly stepped forward, kneeling down and peering over the lip of the maw in the earth, reaching next to him and picking up a small rock, before tossing it in.

It didn't take long for it to fade into darkness -- but, no matter how keenly he listened, he never heard it land. He could hear it bump against the wall a couple of times, but even those sounds eventually stopped, fading away.

He stood, taking a step forward. He let himself fall for a while, his vision quickly becoming more and more obscured as he dropped into darkness. Eventually, he reached a point where he didn't even know how far down he had come. In an instant, wings unfurled from his back and stopped his descent.

He lifted a hand, and a red orb sparked to life on his palm, firing into the darkness. At first, he could see what the light of the Shakkaho illuminated -- which was mostly just more of the side that he was scaling down. Eventually, that too became little more than a distant red glint, fizzling out nowhere near the bottom of this seemingly endless pit.

All this way down, and he still wasn't even close to the bottom...what was this thing? How far did it go? What lurked below the blinding darkness where Hollows had managed to gather so much power? What could possibly be waiting down there? Though he would never admit it -- part of him was afraid to find out.

The sheer scope of the hole that had consumed Vastime's capital was difficult for most to grasp. Its depth was such that one couldn't even begin to see the bottom, not only on account of light not reaching but simply because of a thick fog, one which even at a glance could be felt as remarkably Hollow in nature. Yet, moving further below, there was certainly something more than darkness and silence.

There was noise. The shrieking of violence, the roars of beasts. But perhaps most concerning of all, the sound of something rushing through the air, a noise that soon became abundantly clear was far closer than everything else. All at once, a cero burst through the fog toward the descending Captain, and an immense serpentine creature shot past him. Certainly not at speeds matching what Henrex himself was capable of, but much faster than what most could have kept up with. As it did so, the Hollow engaged in a roll, several red tendrils flying outward from the momentum of the spin and glowing red-hot.

At the same time, however, there was the briefest glimpse of something on its back. But the creature had shot into the mist far too quickly to identify whatever it might be.

He wasn't sure how he was going to conduct an investigation of something as massive and seemingly endlessly encompassing as this, but, he continued to look around, trying to peer in the foggy abyss. But, faintly, he could sense the gathering of energy deep blow him, before hearing something roaring upward. He quickly backed up, moving to the wall as a Cero tore through the air and another figure, presumably the origin of the blast, followed suit.

He had noticed something on its back, but couldn't make out what it was. Whatever it was, he had certainty that it was anything but good. He needed to find out what it was and take care of it before it became a bigger problem -- even more than the thing that just shot by him.

Quickly drawing his Zanpakuto, Henrex created a platform under his feet, using it as a boost to rapidly send him upward to follow it. As he closed in on it, the Hollow rolled, sending out searing tendrils that whipped and slapped him into the nearby wall. He was swift to recover, barely flinching as he kicked off the wall, a flash of blue streaming from the blade of his Zanpakuto as he attempted to slice through some of the tendrils as he trailed it.

He followed the serpentine Hollow upward, matching its speed to fall in line with it, before looking over its back to see if there really was something there -- or if it was all just a figment of his imagination, and this Hollow was the true problem.

The Hollow might have been fast, but it naturally had nothing on the captain of the 5th division, and the blade that slashed out carved effortlessly through the immense hollow's tendrils. As the captain moved up to meet the creature's speed, it became immediately obvious what it was on the creature's back.

A human-looking figure, wearing a horned helmet and with glowing red eyes peering straight toward Henrex from within. Standing as if it were effortless, despite the speed at which they were traveling, the figure's build was clearly well-muscled, a tremendously large man(?) that easily could have dwarfed even the largest warriors of the Gotei.

"Finally, a challenger."

Kicking off of the hollow's back, the figure immediately swung toward Henrex with the enormous axe he held. Though his speed was not at the same level as the captain's, it was still clear that he wasn't someone to underestimate in combat. With that one leap, the air cracked around him, and a shockwave followed in his wake as his weapon cleaved through the air toward Henrex.

As he moved closer, he spotted the humanoid figure -- and the closer he got, the bigger it became. It was something that, at first, intimidated him -- a creature that was easily larger than anyone in the Gotei, or just about anything else he had fought in his long life. But, he quickly found his nerve, steeling himself. It was big, and probably more physically powerful than he was fast. That would give him at least some advantage.

When he started to close in, the figure kicked off the Hollow's back and leaped into the air toward him, swinging a colossal axe. He readied his sword, seeing the gleaming red eyes getting closer before he neatly slipped to the side, an extension of his wing being cut as a result and blood spilling from the open wound, though he didn't even so much as flinch. Rather, he used the moment to retaliate.

Tengiri.

A flash of gold and blue lit up the dark, misty cavern as lightning coiled along the blade of his weapon, the Captain swiftly pivoting and aiming to get behind the creature. In an instant, he would move and lash out, aiming to pierce whatever defenses this creature could have, charging to the wall at incredible speeds and impale it to the wall. Given its size and considerable strength, he doubted it would go down that easily, but he certainly would try.

As Henrex's blade cut into the man, it met no small amount of resistance, the familiar metallic "clang" of Hierro meeting his strike. Even so, it was an impressive blow, and while the blade sank into the immense warrior's body, it did not push him into the wall as Henrex had hoped.

"A good blow."

The warrior was not as fast as Henrex, but his muscle flexed to tighten the hold on the zanpakuto that now sat in him. The blood that flowed from the wound was thick, a deep red that anyone with even the faintest spiritual sense could feel intense Hollow energy from. The whole of his body suddenly whipped around, aiming to wrench the blade from the captain's hands as his weapon once more rocketed toward Henrex. At the same time, however, the enormous Hollow that had carried the warrior here had arced itself around, and its mouth opened with a shriek as a cero began to charge in its jaws.

"Tell me your name, warrior."

Whether or not his axe found purchase in Henrex's body, the helmed man was intent on staying on the offense, giving him as little time as possible to respond to the cero that would soon be coming. Swing after swing followed that initial attack, the air filling with the crack of the sound barrier shattering after every strike.

He felt his skin crawl at the sound of a metallic clang -- his sword sinking into the creature's body, but he didn't hit the wall like he intended. Then, it spoke -- it acknowledged his attack, complimented it, only for him to practically taste the sudden surge of Hollow energy as it tried to wrench the sword from his hands. Even without seeing it, he figured another attack from the colossal axe was coming. He could hear the shriek of the other creature and sense it coming closer.

In an instant, the sword vanished from its back, wrapping around the Captain's hand and manifesting as a D-shaped tekko. The severed wing from before quickly regrew, and he tried to back off and get some distance between himself at the creature. The axe continued to swing, the harsh crack of the sound barrier breaking with every strike. Even with his speed, the strength that it used to swing such a massive weapon to such an extent was hardly something to call amateur.

Then, he heard it speak again. It wanted to know his name.

Were it another Shinigami, a Quincy, or even a Hollow or Arrancar that had managed to deem itself as harmless, he would have indulged this. But, with so many unknowns, and this creature trying to kill him, there were too many risks. A name was something that could give away everything -- especially his name. Right now, at least, he would stay silent.

He remained quick on his feet, slipping away from each strike before he quickly moved behind it, slamming his fists into its back. While he doubted that his own strength was on the same level as this, he hoped that he would have enough to force the creature forward and away, sending him rocketing toward the giant Hollow that had carried it, seeing the Cero it was charging.

Soaring up above and around the Hollow, another flash of gold and blue lit up the pit as he swung his sword, sending an energy wave tinged with enough electricity to black out a city, intending to try and take out both of them at once -- or, at the very least, try and slow it down or incapacitate. Whatever kind of creature that helmed thing and serpentine Hollow was, it was not something that he had any intention of allowing it to leave this pit willingly.

"You deny me an answer, then?"

Despite the low intensity to the warrior's voice, it was rather obvious that he had taken some insult from Henrex's silence. His body only barely budged as the Captain slammed his fist into him, though the power behind his zanpakuto once again brought thick Hollow blood to the surface. Turning around after Henrex moved upward, the warrior simply jerked a hand to one side, and in only a moment, the serpentine Hollow moved between Henrex and the warrior. The strike from the Captain cleaved through the creature, electricity frying it down to its core, but it was slowed just enough that there was time to respond.

In the blink of an eye, the warrior flew up toward Henrex as well, a trail of blood-red energy flying out from him and cutting through both the air and the serpentine hollow's corpse. It was far faster than he had been prior, and he gazed toward Henrex with a burning intensity in those glowing red eyes.

"I am Asher, the Empty Hearted. If you wish to die nameless, then so be it!"

The serpent's corpse rapidly decayed, seeming to simply turn into spiritual dust that quickly filled the air with intense Hollow energy even beyond what had already been present. Some of it flowed into Asher's helmet, but the vast majority of it simply stayed there, creating an almost choking Hollow presence. At the same moment, Asher tore open his own arm, blood spraying upward with far more pressure than any living creature should reasonably have accomplished, before it formed into dozens of bala-like projectiles that shot toward the Captain at high speed, some flying well past him and crashing into the wall behind them with obviously immense damage.

Though he denied the creature its wish, he could tell that he had seemed to insult it. He wrestled with remaining silent as the serpentine Hollow made its move, slipping between himself and the other Hollow, the arc of lightning cleaving it in two and immolating it. But, immediately after, the Captain brought his sword up on instinct, sensing the Hollow's sudden surge toward him.

As the Hollow cleaved through the corpse of its ally, announcing its name and apparent title, Henrex's own scarlet eyes stared back at him, though his expression was far more cold. Asher, the Empty Hearted? It was a fitting title for a Hollow. As the serpent's body decayed, he could sense the thick, stuffy Hollow energy spreading through the misty tunnel.

However, his attention to that was quickly diverted as Asher suddenly tore open its own arm, sending a fountain of its own blood spraying toward him. He shielded and closed his eyes, feeling the warm blood splatter over him, reaching out to the now distant wall. Quickly clearing his vision and opening his eyes, he manifested a brief, misty, cloud-like platform of energy for him to gain leverage, pushing off it as the Balas fired toward him.

Firing off the platform like a living bullet, he tried to avoid the Balas as best he could, but there were many within the barrage that impacted him, burning his face, arms, clothes, as well as some knocking air from his lungs in the sheer physical force. Nevertheless, it did little to stop him as he whispered a command:

"Scatter the birds, Raiu."

The instant the words left his lips, a bolt of lightning crashed onto his Zanpakuto, washing the sword in white and gold, staining the blade black, and the flat end of the blade containing a forked, erratic design. A set of large rings manifested behind him with a magatama spiral, following the half-breed as he sped through the sudden display, a flash of blue and gold flaring to life as he cut down to the Hollow's head with another use of Tengiri, even more powerful now that his Shikai had been unleashed.

Whether or not it was blocked with body or axe or even dodged, the Captain would look to him. Ruby eyes that were usually so gentle and kind now burned with resolve and the intent to kill.

"You want to know my name, then you can have it. Yuuto Hisakawa, Captain of the Gotei United's Covert Operations Unit. Apologies for insulting you. In my line of work, names are usually reserved for dead men."

This was a strong opponent, certainly. Asher's axe shot upward once more, holding firm against the blade that swung down toward him, though perhaps wavering slightly more than it had before. This was a creature of immense might, both spiritual and physical, but he had been ill-prepared for the degree of strength behind such a release.

"You speak many words that are meaningless to me, Yuuto Hisakawa. But if you are a Captain, then this makes for a worthy battle."

Removing one hand from his axe, Asher swung his hand toward his opponent quickly, as if simply throwing a punch. However, at the very last moment, a burning red tendril just like the now-slain serpentine hollow's uncoiled from Asher's arm, flesh seeming to peel away from bone and shooting out as it scorched even the air.

"I am a warlord. Chief of every tribe, and conqueror of the four corners of Alhireth. Show me what this Gotei United of yours calls strength!"