Heaven's Light [Africatastrophe Act II]

METATRON THE ZEALOT

Terror.
That was the emotion clouding the minds of those on the front lines as an army of Hollows stormed out of the great expanse they had been guarding. They had been ready for a fight, but the overwhelming number of powerful enemies crashing against them on all sides was more than the hardest, most grizzled soldier could withstand.

Amongst the enemy forces descended an angel from above. Clad in distinctly not-Hollowish armor with great glowing wings spread wide from his back, this man seemed a savior sent to fight alongside the Shinigami and Quincies struggling to survive. His voice boomed across the battlefield, bringing with it a calm warmth to those within range.

"Fear not, brave souls, for I have come for peace. I am Metatron, Angel of the Lord. Lay down your arms and accept God's will into your hearts."

The Gotei personnel felt truth in his words, but looked at each other with confusion. 'God'? The only deity they knew was the Soul King, not this God person. Their thoughts were interrupted as Metatron spoke again to the shocked crowd of soldiers.

"Bear witness to Heaven's Light."

Before they knew what was happening multiple orbs of glowing yellow light formed around Metatron and fired off as gigantic beams of incredibly bright light, immediately reducing to all those around him for hundreds of feet to little more than ash. Those who witnessed the blasts were blinded as pain seared through their damaged retinas, revealing this Angel to be a Devil in disguise.

IN GOD'S NAME | END POST

Blinding.

The sudden burning light that erupted was enough for Lerna to turn her Reikaku in that direction. Well this was a shit situation. She'd already felt the sudden explosive bursts of reiryoku around and all of them seemed absurdly strong. To think that she would have gone from being just another bitch in some Gang to on the front lines of a war. Not only that, but she winced as she noticed one of the other officers charging in. Shit. She'd hoped that it would be a Captain or a Lieutenant. The sheer strength coming off of this monster was enough to give pause, but it seemed that the Fourth Division was plenty bold enough to charge right in.

A Bankai right off the bat. Her brows raised ever so slightly as she rose up from her spot crouched down on the ground, as she felt the heart in her gigai's chest racing. The loud, hissing crackle of stone being sucked from the ground and coating her body. Turning her skin into a layer of stone reinforced with reishi and her own spiritual energy. She didn't have any fancy bankai. In all honesty, she was probably going to be next to useless. But it was a little late for regrets.

Not when she could feel her Zanpaku'to pulsing in her grip. The slow coil of it's reiryoku crawling up the length of her arm and seemingly coiling around her body. And she felt ......a familiar sensation as she shaded her eyes to peer up toward the 'Angel' above the battlefield. Seeing those pretty wings. That strange armor. She felt the lingering pangs of an acho she'd long forgotten the sound of.

Devour.
Rip.
Crush.

Intrusive thoughts harried her, about the sight of this pompous little angel twisting and thrashing within the slow, squeezing confined of dark coils.The snap of bones breaking over and over, trying to regenerate while bent out of place.

Thoughts that were pushed aside as she shot forward, her eyes squinted shut, relying on her Reikaku as that burning light blared above. she crouched down, bunching up the muscles in her legs before the ground promptly shattered as she kicked off, launching herself through the air like a blonde bullet as she quickly rose straight up, pumping her spirit energy to rise up even higher than the hollow that seemed intent on lording over the rest of the battlefield. And in her hand was not her Zanpaku'to. But a lamppost she'd ripped clean out of the ground,. The hot, screech of her roots digging into it sounded as she shaved away the metal with her Mod root. Eating away at the metal and fusing it with the stone and spirit energy that coated her body, whilst also whittling the lamppost down into a narrow spear. One that she cocked back as spirit energy coursed through her frame.

"Hadō Number Fourty Five. Tsuzuri Hyōga. 綴氷河."

Ice crawled along the length of the spear, binding to the length of metal before Lerna promptly let loose. Throwing the spear with a sudden burst of hakuda. Briefly, her body reached a speed well above her already impressive capabilities, and that Slim length of icy metal became a shrieking missile. The air screaming as that sliver of metal shot straight for Metatron. The Kido Spell designed similar to it's cousin Tsuzuri Raiden, in that it bound an element to an object. But rather than sending volts of electricity through it's length, that spear would aim to pierce the hollow and inject a burst of ice through the body.

Normally Lerna was a much more up-front fighter.
But well, she wasn't stupid enough to zip in and get between Miss Shura and her target when she was in Bankai.

METATRON THE ZEALOT

"Ah, the apostates have come."

Metatron turned towards the sources of energy he could feel coming towards him. With the surrounding area cleared of friend and foe, his gaze turned to the only two with enough guts to rush at him, a duo of women with strange clothes and powers. The first unleashed a torrent of power after saying some phrase alien to Metatron's ears, while the second flew far into the air, above even him as he stood motionless watching her. In her hand was a damaged lamp post, swiftly made into a javelin of sorts she coated with ice and energy. It was clear her intent was to throw it at him, on assault on God's messenger which could only be punished with the full might of Heaven's wrath.

"With Auriel's Fire shall I cleanse you."

From Metatron's raised fingertips a mass of concentrated energy burst forth in the form of a sweeping beam of golden flame. The Kidō-enhanced spear was enveloped by his purifying fire, burning through the apostate's malicious intent with holy virtue. Metatron continued to channel this beam of fire and aimed it in Lerna's direction, his objective to sanctify her burned corpse to allow even a sinner like her to experience God's judgement.

The Zealot raised his left hand as well, a small sphere of pitch black energy appearing near his palm. As it grew in size the black was split and overtaken by incredibly bright white until the fist-sized sphere was like a star in Metatron's grasp. Half a second later it unleashed in the form of a dazzling and shining Cero Oscuras aimed directly at Shura, which reduced all in its wake to dust. Rays of bright energy shone across the battlefield, creating a gleaming light show which burned the eyes of those unlucky enough to be staring at the burgeoning battle between Hollow, Shinigami, and Mod Soul.

IN GOD'S NAME | END POST

Lenra narrowed her eyes. A soft TCH as she watched her attack simply consumed by the light of a Cero. That spear SLAMMED into the incoming flames. even WITH her spell around it, the shell of ice melted away, leaving a thin sliver of metal to slam into the hollow. Perhaps harmlessly with how much it was all burnt up. But all the same, as those flames coursed toward her, she was startled by the speed with which they surged toward her. Her body blurred, a shunpo used to DART to the side, avoiding the surge of flames easily thanks only to the sheer distance between her and her target. That was STRONG! Not only that but the sight of that Cero Oscuras had her heart pumping and her eyes going wide. This was a damn STRONG Hollow! And that inner urge inside of her chest all but ached. This wasn't just a strong opponent, this creature would have been worth her attention back when she was whole. A slow, creeping ripple of gold creeping along her body, pumping more of her reiryoku into her skin, causing it to turn bright and scaly in patches along her neck and her front. Adding extra protection along her central mass as well as the very tips of her fingers, the hardened skin slowly curving into claws.


She couldn't afford to stay idle. As Metatron turned his attention to Shura, it was Lerna's turn to charge in. Another shunpo was used, a flashing grin on her face as she sighted Shura's attack. Her instincts kicked in and she put ona n extra BURST of speed. Anticipating another Cero from the creature. She waited until that weapon was almost upon the beast before she shot in. Appearing just above the hollow. Out of the trajectory of Shura's thrown weapon, a clawed hand already cocked back as she LUNGED down and aimed to bury that clawed hand into the creature's shoulder, a flashing grin spread across her face as she addressed the creature.

"Well aren't you a little guy. Know how to use those muscles too, or is shiny lights all you're good at?" She taunted.

METATRON THE ZEALOT

"Insolence."

The fragile remains of the burned up metal spear struck Metatron's chest, causing what was left of the lamp post to crack and crumble and fall to the ground far below. It appeared the sinners would struggle against him, unwilling to accept God's will for them and their destined deaths. As Shura's weapon approached him Metatron released the Cero Oscuras he had fired toward her and simply swatted away the first axe, and upon her reappearance directly behind him he raised his left arm and summoned forth Michael's Blade, a sword of pure, concentrated energy. This weapon blocked the Shinigami's brutal swing before releasing a point-blank wave of powerful golden energy greater than that of a typical Cero meant to envelop Shura in her entirety.

At the same time Metatron dealt with Shura's tricky attack, Lerna made her presence known again by attempting to slash at him with her razor-sharp claws from above. Her claws would close in on her target's shoulder, but they would find no purchase in the thick armor covering hm head to toe. Feeling pressure on his shoulder Metatron reached up with his right hand and attempted to grab Lerna's arm and snap the limb in half as his fully empowered grasp sought to crush everything within her arm.

"Resisting Heaven's Will is futile, accept God's embrace and die."

Six separate spheres of energy appeared all around Metatron, all of which gave off the same blinding light as their predecessors. Then all at once these six Cero exploded outward, filling the sky with an encompassing brightness meant to launch both Shura and Lerna away from the Zealot.

IN GOD'S NAME | END POST

It was tough. Tch. She should have imagined as much. Even sharpening her claws with her Mod Root, she wasn't able to leave a damn dent on this THING as it tanked the strike to it's shoulder. Tch. But it was the sudden grab that caught her off guard. Eyes wide as that insane speed caught her by surprise as that hand CLAMPED down on her wrist! There was an instant in which she endured. Those fingers TUGGED and she let out a hissing GRUNT as her hardened form managed to avoid being instantly pried off and crushed! Cracks slithering along her wrist as blood SPURTED all over the hollow's face and shoulder!

But she didn't say a word. Her mouth was full.

Narrowing her eyes she SPAT, spraying a mouthfull of caustic fluids over the creature's shoulder, and if it landed, would HISS as it would start trying to eat its way through that tough armor! Or at the very least soften it up and chew away at them as Shura's weapon swung in and aimed to slam into the creature. It was then that Lerna made her move, and SWUNG. Aiming to ram her shin into the creature's head. She doubted it would do much damage, to the mask or even move it's head much. But it was just meant to try and disorient the creature as the hardened flesh that Metatron had been slowly crushing promptly slid. Sloughing her skin off, her own fleshy muscle exposed to the open air as she pried her arm free, shedding her skin and a few deeper tissu elayers in order to DART toward Shura! Just in time for that Danku to go off followed by those six cero ROCKING the area! Even WITH the barrier in place, the sheer concussive wave of air rushing through thee space was enough that it almost blew out Lerna's ears.

She allowed herself to fall, covered in smoke as she tumbled down to the ground below, feigning injury as she then CRASHED through a ruined building, busting through the ceiling and landing on an office desk with a CRASH, huffing as she went clean through another floor only to finally smash into a desk, cracking it, but not going all the way through it at least. A soft hiss escaping her as she peeled herself off as the sounds of the battle continued up through the hole she'd come in from. Her spiritual pressure suppressed. She glanced at her de-fleshed arm and let out a soft Tch. Skin rapidly crawling back up the length of her arm as she repaired her gigai. But it would take a second for her to reform the protective layer that had saved her arm from just instantly being pasted on the spot. Still....fuck this thing was strong.

Stop playing around.
She looked over her shoulder and flinched at the sight of her Zanpaku'to spirit. Those massive glowing yellow eyes surrounding her.
You shouldn't be afraid. You should be excited. Those eight voices crooned into her ears and she narrowed her eyes as she let her hand clasp the handle of her Zanpaku'to, peeling it from it's sheathe. She had to get back out there. Shura wasn't going to be able to handle that thing on her own. But it was a problem fighting that thing in the sky. She paused, and let out a slow, shaky breath. Hesitating the slightest bit. Trying to ignore what had been bothering her for some time now. That FEELING that had been slowly growing inside of her ever since she's started using her Zanpaku'to.

But she had to ignore that for now. Running her tongue along the blade,and licking up the Sake that bled from it's length.

"Let's have a drink. Sōteiken"

METATRON THE ZEALOT

Metatron recoiled as he was bled on by the sinner Lerna, and his disgust only grew when she spat an acidic substance onto his armored shoulder. Steam rose from where the liquid touched him as it tried burning through his angelic armor, much to his annoyance. Though a solid plan, unfortunately for the Gotei duo by the time Shura's axe struck Metatron's shoulder his Hollow regeneration had already kicked in and began counteracting and reversing the effects of Lerna's acid spit, preventing the weapon from doing more than causing some minor cracks to form at the point of impact. The Mod Soul's kick would prove similarly ineffective as his harder-than-steel mask protected him from damage, while potentially hurting her leg in return.

Further annoying Metatron was the magic barrier one of his opponents had erected to guard against his energy blasts. Though at first glace it seemed as though his other foe had been defeated, he sensed no wavering in her energy and knew the truth to be otherwise. Still, thought the Angel Hollow, she can suffer Heaven's wrath later. First on the chopping block was the axe-wielding heathen. Speaking of, Metatron discovered the strange words she had shouted had conjured strange orbs which all radiated an intense pressure to keep him imprisoned where he stood.

"Your tricks are nothing in the face of the Lord's Grace. I tire of these games!"

Even as he supposedly remained locked in place Metatron was able to summon forth the energy to fire a Cero, except this one he released within his own body; this power, called Barachiel's Blessing, used the energy of the Cero to significantly enhance all of his physical attributes. Now, with brilliant light pouring off him, Metatron forcefully shattered the spell holding him in place with the newfound strength coursing through his body.

"Be eradicated in the name of God.

In each of his hands a pitch black orb formed, both of which were overtaken by pure white just as before. Instead of releasing these individually, Metatron slammed the spheres together to create a single apple-sized Cero with the power of two Cero Oscuras. This new creation, known to Metatron as Lucifer's Apple radiated such intense power it could be mistaken for the Sun itself. He had no intention on firing off this Apple of Eden as he'd done earlier however, as in a flash Metatron closed the gap between himself and Shura before setting it off in a massive explosion which spread for hundreds of yards in every direction. The blast's diameter was such that a gaping crater was created in the ground far below and the preceding sonic wave shattered the collapsed buildings even further out.

IN GOD'S NAME | END POST