Midnight Assault [Africatastrophe Act II]

Dividing and conquering would have certainly been a useful thing to achieve, but Alastair had no such lofty goals. Unlike the pair of them, Johann and he had no way to actually lock either of them down so it was a matter of forcing the pair of them to retreat and doing what they could to keep the Arrancar focused upon them. To that end, it seemed that at least this Nahash was content to spar with them, but Kizuna appeared to be building up to something a little more threatening. Even as one left herself open to him, he was unable to act upon it for the sake of his comrades. Not that he believed their attacks would fell his fellow combatant, no, but because he had to find some way to limit the threat of those pylons.

"Hold on. I will try to clip their wings."

As his gaze turned to those ominous pillars, he was hardly surprised to see a beam of light shooting straight for him. Knocking another arrow into Falke, he changed course from Nanash and instead soared onwards to meet the cero head-on. Gathering reishi at the very tip of his arrow, he fully intended to simply charge straight through the beam and bisect it. Hardly a feat that he would perform without suffering any damage in return, but his pale flesh was already knitting itself back together even as the cero burned it from him. The pain was nauseating, the adrenaline he had already amassed being the key factor in keeping him conscious, but Alastair was no stranger to hardship now.

Breaking free from the other side, his body ashen and charred, not a moment was wasted on repair as he instead finally launched that arrow at one of the two pillars behind the attack. Then, with a sudden Hirenkyaku, he darted across to the second and struck down with his Carrington blade. The luminous steel hoping to cleave his target in twain and at least begin the process.

Johann was far from one to be distracted easily. He could sense the gathering and expunging of energy from his comrade and their other opponent, and even as he saw his Seele Schneider fly through the rope, he kept a keen ear out to the surroundings. Her being able to manipulate the rope freely was a problem, and given that his arrows would likely never find purchase if he continued to aim for it, he shifted his attention.

Drawing the bowstring back, Johann manifested an arrow, but as he was about to fire, his body quickly pivoted. He could sense the oncoming danger, allowing him to neatly avoid the spear sent his way, as well as respond just as quickly, loosing an arrow toward Safira, intent on freezing the offending arm.

However, despite him sensing the coming attack, Johann could only activate his Blut Vene as the Gran Rey Cero engulfed him. Despite the protective shield, his body still suffered, being charred and burned. However, he pushed onward, not letting himself simply stand there and recover.

Johann drew back three arrows, quickly turning back around to fire them at one of the pylons targeting Alastair, making small adjustments to allow them to line up. Each of the arrows expanded, creating a field of ice in a line. Drawing two silver Ginto tubes, Johann tossed them forward, speaking quickly as he used Hirenkyaku to swiftly get out of the way.

"A silver rod strikes the five-fingered stone bed, tilt the goblet to the west."

One of the Cero would pass through the fields of ice, slowing it tremendously. It not only intended to prevent the fusion of the two blasts, but also to give time for the spells to take shape. A cloud of Reiryoku manifested, as did a sphere of energy, the latter of which would expand and try to wrap around both the cloud and Kizuna's blast, violently exploding mere moments later.

He wasted no time in continuing his momentum, using Hirenkyaku to move closer and closer to "Nahash," drawing back five arrows and releasing them, letting them expand into fields of ice around her. Immediately after, he'd turn around, pulling taut the string with another set of five arrows as he surged toward Kizuna, enacting the same action as before.

Even if either of them destroyed some of the fields of ice that lay idle around them, Johann would continue manifesting Reishi and manipulating it, creating constructs to scatter around the field. Their words meant nothing -- all such condescension would do is create unflattering remarks for their tombstones.

So he dodged? Good, if he thought that the projectile was nothing more than a thrown beam then it would be so simple to do so. No the moment he stepped to the side, Safira snapped her fingers to detonate the spear with enough force to attempt to throw Johann off his balance and interrupt him, possibly even getting in the way of her companion, but more importantly it was to create such a bright flash of green light so that he would be shooting blind.

He could continue to fire but it didn't matter to her, obscured eyesight and with her sonido she was following Alastair. An obvious strategy to chase her target but it did make her reiatsu signature flicker for a moment before getting closer to the adonis.

"Don't turn your back to me, boy."

Safira warned the young man wanting to interfere with Kizuna's little project though by the time she said it she had already gone for striking him. She poisoned herself to increase her speed, halving the amount of time at which her fist would try to punch through his chest and withdraw itself. One of her layers dissolving underneath her veil of Eliane to flood his system with a potent paralysis and feed the matyr his last meal.

This guy was fast. A lot faster than Kizuna'd been expecting, actually, and it was only now striking her that Safira's decision to play around with her little disguise was going to make this a whole lot harder than it needed to be. That was annoying. That was really annoying, actually, but at the same time, there was an undeniable thrill that coursed through Kizuna's veins. She'd have to push herself. She'd have to take some hits.

She'd have to evolve.

If not for the fact that she could sense through her pylons as easily as her own two eyes, she probably would have been doomed there alone. Alastair's arrow struck her pylon square in its center, and Johann's three others quickly followed suit, the pillar shattering and turning to nothing more than sand. Kizuna's expression twisted in pain, but all too quickly was replaced by a manic grin. Yes, good, push her! She'd sensed him moving toward the second of the offending pillars through pesquisa, and courtesy of Safira's own intervention, the device narrowly flew away from the cut Alastair had made.

Safira could handle the fiery one for now. The old man was getting on her nerves, and the three pylons which had taken their time to charge now pointed at him from multiple angles in the sky. At the same time, Kizuna stared directly at him, her ring moving in front of her as she simply jerked her chin upward ever so slightly, as if a gesture to taunt the man. That action alone was enough for a master of Cero such as herself to unleash an attack, and the three others did much the same, ink-black beams which glowed with a threatening red aura. Three Cero Oscuras fired toward the man as it stood, covering multiple angles of escape, but the fourth simply came from Kizuna, its travel through her ring evolving it into a blast of unspeakable destruction. Did he think she was afraid of the cold? Her cero burned with the flames of progress.

Though the pillar darted out from underneath him, Alastair was already spinning in place to meet the threat posed by his original target. There was an eerie familiarity to the figure now that she was up close that he found rather disconcerting, but his face bore no indication of this fact as his weapons raced around to block that fist shooting towards him. Even with his senses as highly tuned as they were, his reaction to her sudden appearance could only be so fast and it was his sword arm that tailed behind the bow long enough for those fingers to pierce through his skin. Still, it was hardly enough to be considered a fatal wound. Or even a lasting wound, as, by the time his weapons had forced their way between them and given him a little distance, the scratch was already healed over with new flesh.

The form of Falke twisted and shuddered as the bow changed into a sword of similar proportions to his other blade. Satisfied, Alastair's wing beat as he darted around Nahash to strike suddenly from above. Reigning down blows, he would waste no time in driving home any advantage that she might give him in this engagement and looked for an opening in her defences.

Yet, with every blow, he found his body moving slower and slower. Nimble strikes turned into sluggish blows as the world itself seemed to slow around him. It felt like he was suddenly fighting not only against her but against his own body. Her poison was beginning to take effect, though Alastair was struggling against it mightily, and only now was the Quincy realising his folly in allowing her to strike him so casually. Staying near her would only risk exposure to more chances of infection so, with a sudden burst of energy from his wings, he willed his body to persevere as he launched himself backwards with a Hirekyaku. That would only serve him so well, though, as he began to freefall no sooner had his movement completed.

Even with the explosion behind him, Johann stayed resolute, unbothered by the sudden underhanded secondary effect. Despite his vision being stolen, albeit temporarily, he reached out with Reikaku, sensing for the smallest, minute traces of spiritual power, tracking the movements of everything that he could sense. He could sense energy gathering in what he could only assume to be the pylons of his opponent.

Now was the time.

"Wuldor-Fæder!"

His Leiden Hant suddenly froze over, melting away as the Vandenreich elder suddenly erupted with power. All Reishi in the area was instantly frozen, before being drawn to him, like a moth to flame. An icy, hooded cloak manifested over his shoulders and head.

The ice shone bright in the moonlight, and the cloak fluttered effortlessly in the wind. While Ullr did not change, he could feel the strength in his bow, far greater than it had been before. He hadn't used his Letzt Stil in many years, but, for this moment, it was a necessity. A temporary boon, one that he intended to use fully.

"Qualkreis!"

The Reishi constructs that were left around Nahash and Kizuna suddenly bloomed, flashing like lightning as they quickly morphed into Heilig Bogen, firing hundreds of projectiles from all sides. Though, he was far from done. Drawing three Seele Schneider from his belt, he nocked them all, priming the weapons and taking aim at Kizuna's pylons. While he could not see them, the gathered energy was more than enough of an indicator.

All at once, he fired, unleashing far more powerful arrows that tore through the Cero Oscuras, dispersing the Reishi and Reiryoku mercilessly. Three of the four blasts had been taken care of, only for him to realize the presence of the fourth too late.

Engulfed by the sunless blast, Johann clenched his teeth, bearing with the searing pain as he struggled to stay in the air, his Reishi platform shattered from the force, and he was sent hurtling toward the ground. But, as the attack faded, Johann would not yield so easily. His eyes eventually recovered from the sudden assault on his senses, and he was quick to stabilize himself.

In a burst of consecutive Hirenkyaku, Johann flew through the sky, his icy cloak and energy shining like a brilliant star in the night. He soared to where he could sense Alastair's rapidly descending energy signature, grabbing him and holding him with one arm.

"You did well this night, my boy. Rest, for now, and let this old man take one last shot at them."

Without waiting for a response, Johann reached out in all his power to gather Reishi from around them at his arm, before unleashing a merciless rain of frozen arrows down on their adversaries. Each one that made purchase would slow them down even more than before, growing worse for each additional arrow. Fields of ice would manifest in front of them as some arrows dispersed early, creating the slowing effect, should either of them retaliate.

For now, he simply wished to buy them time, slow them down so that they could escape. As much as the lingering pride in him cried out to finish them, this night was lost. It was a battle that they could not win. His heart cried out to attack, to try and take an arm, a leg, or kill one of them at least. But, with them both in less than admirable condition, there was little hope to do so without severe consequence.

She bit her lip when he found the gall to retaliate. Men were just so frustrating sometimes, they didn't know when to quit as she brought her arms up to block his attacks until she could retaliate, her arms beginning to develop cuts and charred flesh before she sneered through the gap of her forearms at him. He was slowing down, and he was switching on to that fact. She needed him to fall already because the old guy had pulled out something special for them and Safira was a little distracted by the sudden usage of Letzt Stil to do anything proper which gave the young lion cub a chance to get away.

He decided to free fall and Safira was more than happy to give him a final gift by putting him out of his misery with a Gran Rey Cero. The blood from her defence on her forearms all gathering into her hands as she created a giant bomb of her reiryoku above her.

"Goodby- Eh?"

A shame he wouldn't receive it because the old guy bailed him out, her attention shifting from the poisoned Quincy to launch her attack towards some of the heilig bogen around her and punch a hole through them. A clear path to sonido out of the way and try to make her way back to Kizuna. As far as it went for decimating the landscape, Kizuna was a lot more suited to it and therefore valuable enough that she'd go out of her way to protect her if necessary.

Kizuna realized, as she watched the old man turn her cero into dust, as he unleashed countless arrows from everything he'd put in place, that she was having the time of her life here. The old man had just erupted up to a level she wasn't at, a level that she wanted to be at. Ugh, this would have been so much better if she was just fighting him without this hole to think about, without Safira and that redhead over there taking away from her fight. But at least Safira decided to pull her weight for once, even if quite a few of the heilig pfeil still pierced squarely into Kizuna's body.

Her left arm was definitely shot, she could tell without even needing to look. That wasn't a problem, though. She'd dealt with worse, adapted to worse. She was a smart cookie. No, if anything, it just gave her something else to work with. She'd been meaning to try this out, anyway. This was as good a time as any. While before she'd been so engrossed in the battle that she'd not spoken much, now her voice once again echoed across the battlefield. But where once it had been serious, grim, now it carried all of Kizuna's passion, her unbridled joy at being pushed to such a limit.


The torn and tattered arm that hung from Kizuna's shoulder at first began to glow, and then all at once turned to cinders, burning away as her other hand raised upward. The principle of Gran Rey Cero was one of small sacrifice, exchanging one's blood to create something greater. This was nothing but the same idea, but on a much, much greater scale. Kizuna's eyes shone with glee even through the pain, her manic grin wider than ever as her remaining pylons all aimed toward the earth below, wholly intent on simply crushing whatever was below. She didn't even know if it would actually be enough to top what the old man had pulled out. She was still only in resurreccion, and he was clearly working with more than she was.

That didn't matter. If she didn't push herself, she might as well just let these two kill her. From each of her pylons, an empowered Cero Oscuras burst forth, before splitting into countless thinner beams and plummeting downward. Even she didn't know how much these would hurt, exactly. This whole thing had just been based on theory.

She was excited to see it.

Falling, falling, falling, stopped. How unseemly.

His body rigid, seemingly frozen in place, Alastair hung awkwardly in Johann's grip like a statue. The older man's icy touch was met with a burning fire though, as his pale flesh responded to the sudden cold with a burst of steam. He remained eerily stiff as that first barrage of attacks was launched, his eyes wide as these pure white orbs focused intently upon the battle.

Then, as Johann spoke of leaving and retreating, there was a second eruption as Alastair's jaw forced its way open and a spray of blood and spittle shot forth from his mouth and scattered into the night sky. From his chest, around where Nahash had struck him, a golden glow seemed to pierce through the Quincy's skin and map out his blood vessels in illuminating light. The phoenix would not fall to such a lowly blow, no, he would paint the sky itself with flames before he allowed his body to collapse again.

"For the sake of our comrades, we cannot yield at first shock. No, we must resist at least for a few moments longer at least."

His back straightened out, wings splayed outwards as they supported his own weight again, and then Alastair stood tall once more. His face still bore a frown, and yet it radiated dogged endurance. A fierce disappointment that they had not yet defeated these villains, and a burning desire to make sure that he would not end with a whimper. He did not have the strength nor the reach of Johann in his final state, but Alastair was emboldened by such heroics and already that poison was distant history.

"Hold nothing back. And avoid that one's touch."

With a single beat, Alastair shot upwards again like an infernal rocket. He had no fancy tool to answer all these beams, instead, he focused on one cluster and adjusted his grip upon the Carrington blade so that it would cut through as many of them as possible whilst he continued to soar upwards towards the offending pylon. The sword was meant to be frighteningly resilient, this would be the true test of its calibre and Alastair had to hope that the blade would not warp entirely out of shape but there was nothing else to be done. With a burst from a Hirenkyaku, he would close the last of the distance and finish off his movement by going to swing his spirit weapon cleanly through the obstacle that had previously eluded him. If they could bring down the rest then at least the destruction could be contained again, though perhaps it might be easier to simply take out the woman herself now she was disarmed.

He would be lying if he wasn't a little bit annoyed at Alastair's insistence to return and fight. He too wanted to soar back in and fight -- but, with the damage the two of them had already sustained, he had concluded that it likely was a large risk for them to do so. However, Alastair didn't let that hold him back, and as Johann watched him soar through the sky, grumbling in irritation, he readied his bow again.

"As if I would do anything but. Damn youngster..."

Drawing more Seele Schneider and Ginto from his belt, Johann shot forward and below to where Kizuna's attacks were targeted. He took a deep breath, and steadied himself. He could sense the added power that his opponent had given those beams. Once again, Reishi gathered at his arms, and another volley of frozen arrows tore through the night air, creating hundreds of fields of ice for the blasts to pass through and slow to what amounted to little more than a crawl.

Without a moment of waiting, Johann was quick to nock the Seele Schneider, pulling the bowstring back and taking aim at Kizuna herself. He didn't have enough Seele to cover every single beam she had just unleashed, but, at the very least, there would be time for those below to get away before they fell. Nevertheless, Johann finally loosed the artificial arrows, sending five Seele Schneider toward Kizuna. One for her remaining arm, one for each leg, and two for the head.

Regardless of whether or not they would all find purchase, Johann made sure to save one Seele Schneider. A similar thought process was made as he drew all but two of the Ginto tubes he had remaining, tossing them out.

"Tilt the goblet to the west."

The Ginto tubes cracked open, unleashing a wide, cloudy net of Reiryoku that expanded over the area above him, attempting to soften the blow and slow the blast even more. There was little else he could do with the time that he had. So, with a burst of Hirenkyaku to send him flying through the sky, Johann drew his last Seele Schneider, being struck and grazed by various beams that were still coming down as he ascended.

He grit his teeth as he felt his body scream and burn from the ache of the prior attacks, as well as the hits from this new one. It was stronger than it had been before, and he doubted that he could neutralize it all. All he could do right now was soften the blow, and make one last push. Like his comrade, Johann sliced and cut through the beams, trying to disperse the Reishi of as many beams as possible while he soared toward Kizuna, intent on cleaving her head from her shoulders.