Their Misery, Our Gain [Africatastrophe Act II]

Explosions shook the night sky, the Earth trembling as cancerous blobs of energy disfigured its surface. Needless to say, the raining beams of death did their job, alerting everyone. Battle ensued, Hollow vs Shinigami and Quincy. If they were slowly becoming welcomed faces on this planet, there's no doubt they've become the tumor that was always meant to be cut out. Though, the difference between monster and man was always a blurred line. To this particular Hollow, such philosophy hardly mattered. Be he one or the other, his choices this night would have remained the same. The voice of his Queen still echoed in its mind, giving reason for its actions.

'Be useful to the snake but remember our goals, Rey.'

With that in mind, he moved, her words a lullaby for his massacre. A camp of Shinigami not too far away from the initial detonation had stirred, men and women scurrying to prepare for battle. He had opted to open a void away from the main assault, aiming to separate everyone's attention in this battle. A war divided is one easily won. With a small blurp of sound, he appeared in the middle of the camp, everyone's attention away from him. For a moment, he watched them all scurry like ants, ignorant to the threat that loomed right under their noses. But, no worry.

A Shinigami running by suddenly stopped, seemingly picking up his foreign toxic presence and turned his head to look upon his armored visage. The man screamed, but Rey stretched his arm out at blinding speeds, seizing the Shinigami's face, and like a balloon, he popped the man's head with a satisfying crunch of bone, tissue, and brain matter. That was enough to gain the attention of everyone around, but they'd soon be met with a horrid screech from Rey as his hollow face roared into the sky.

The sky ripped open, massive Garganta tearing apart space itself before gnarred, white, clawed hands emerged from that empty space, Gillian stepping free from Hueco Mundo onto Earth. Already, the screams of the damned echoes as the Gillian stepped onto the camp Rey took as his own, Cero flying everywhere. But, to make matters worse, his cry had brought more Hollow of different types from Hueco Mundo, swarms dropping onto the Quincy and Shinigami. War, what a beastly sight, but as Rey charged forward, he held no reservations for slaughtering everything in his path.

Nimble movements wove through the quickly evolving chaos, a curse or two as she narrowly avoided the body of a descending hollow or the maw of one greedily going for her, hardly looking it's way when she gave it a nasty shot of arrow directly to the face, the carnivorous thorny chains of her spirit weapon flowing around the form of Liltotto, her attention affixed to hunting down the source of the attracting roar.

How quickly a night could turn sour... She was uninterested in tripping herself up on every fiendish beast or person's cry, there wasn't any time or energy to waste when something that could simply call more to enter the chaotic fray was alive, so her perogative was snuffing that out, the subject in her sights amidst the encampment.

The humanoid form with that ghastly mask covering it's features told her all she needed to know of how much trouble her opponent would give her, expression focused and unchanging as her spirit weapon was changed out for her rapier, the liquid-like flow of the glowing blade growing quickly in ferocity, spitting as if boiling water.

A mere heartbeat later, she was just above Rey, blade positioned to swing down and douse the hollow in a torrent of her Reiryoku to break his body down with it's acidic quality, the glowing crash of fluid coating the entire general area.

Not a word or feeling shared as she was out to put down a frothing animal.

The field of battle descended into madness as pandemonium echoed across the hellish landscape. A battle cry was voiced, invoking an army of hollows that divided the attention of Shinigami and Quincy alike. In other words, it was a battlefield unlike any other. There were was no time for playful commentary here. No position to offer inspiring support.

It was war given relentless form. Naturally, in any war, the only option afforded to those tasked with defense was to respond in kind. Liltotto chose to weave through the army of hollows and engage the armor-clad warrior, Natasha chose to act by setting out to cull the vast array of Gilian emerged from the fissure in the sky. A tall order, to be sure, but she was well-equipped to at least control the crowd to some extent.

Vanishing from one point to another in precise and interrupted patterns, Natasha darted from above with twin pistols in hand. Bullet after bullet was loosed during her high-speed traversal, and there was no pause in her movement as she soared and whirled about. Each bullet was filled with explosive force, targeting each hollow in order of their threat level. Part of her attention was centered on Liltotto, but trusted that the woman would be able to handle herself in a direct clash. If her prediction proved incorrect, however, she would intervene.

Soldat who were prepared and under her command followed suit, arrows knocked and loosed in rapid succession. There was no time to err on the side of caution. Accounting for anything less than eliminating the threat at hand would not be ideal. Equal aggression was of utmost priority. Such is what war demanded, after all. Kill or be killed.

He danced, turning the battlefield into his own demented festival, relishing in proving beneficial by design. They ran, they turned to fight, there is fear in their eyes, there is preparation for death, there are the final screams of their conviction; a symphony amidst the chaos. One bisected by his claws alone, another felled as he removed their head and used it to block an arrow meant for him, and the countless skewered by his frantic spins and merciless swings. Are there none worth his attention, none a worthy sacrifice for his Queen?

As the battle staled in his mind, his senses flared. Blood soaked metal claws rising to catch the blade aimed for the back of his head. However, the sizzling of energy eating away at his natural defenses interested him. It made little progress due to his armor, but he made it known he'd rather not sit in this acidic coating as he took hold of that blade and threw the assailant away from him. With somewhat a bit of honor, normally unknown to it, he focused his attentions on the woman who had attacked him, ignorant to the death of his comrades around him. Slaves meant for slaughter are worth nothing more than the amount they kill. Their deaths are as meaningless to him as their servitude.

The soldier righted herself immediately from being thrown off course, her attention never leaving the subject of extermination as her feet skidded on the bloodstained earth, a slight stamp of foot being the only indication of her placing a trap as two glowing sabers formed in her hands to easily replace the one that shattered into pure energy upon leaving her hands; she wasn't going to win a physical struggle, there wasn't any point in continuing to force the swing. Grip tight, a ferocity burned in her with this battle, a hatred for the familiar sight boiling her blood and guiding her moves, the high speed movement granted by her skill in the Quincy arts moving her forth in what felt to be a blink of the eye, swords swinging at him with incredible speed, their acidic quality pushing to eat at his armor every chance that was enabled, even the floor coated in her Reiryoku from her first attack wasn't completely harmless.

Though she wasn't mindlessly whaling on her opponent, any time he'd reach to grab her weapon or her, she would move to backstep a particular distance without even a first thought, placing another trap with a subtle movement before going back in to continue tearing at him, the clang and beat of blade against solid armor both jarring and frustrating. Her emotions weren't allowed to overwhelm her, much less be a factor, but even she knew this would take a while with whatever this guy was made of, she was just fully intent on making that while as best for her as possible.

His armor is only a thoughtless defense against wayward attacks. Despite its durability, he cared little for the attacks placed upon it. He hardly made any attempts to avoid the Quincy's acidic properties. However, her gnat-like behavior proved jarring. Each slice, poke, or swing irked him, the constant humming of energy nothing but the tiny wings of an insect. Preference for less agile prey consumed him, and his gnarled metal fingers curled as he pointed down at the ground. Whatever her plan was wouldn't matter to him. He's not going to play a game of cat and mouse, predator and prey. Even then, he is no lone hunter.

The sizzling of burning air announced the barrage of cero that befell the battlefield around Rey before it began. Despite their best efforts to handle the Hollow swarm, it was not so simple as culling the multitude. As one fell, another took its place, and with their army infinite, there's no wonder why the Earth was assaulted yet again by the giant monstruous tower of Gillian that idly laid waste to existence. Maybe the blonde Quincy would escape the onslaught. Maybe she wouldn't. It doesn't matter as Rey began to move through the cover of the deafening barrage, his steps taking him closer to the hole.

Swift attacks continued to coat the armor in Reiryoku that served to gradually weaken it's seemingly impenetrable exterior. It couldn't have just been his Hierro pushing her back, the plating on his body seemed to draw from his mask... He was a real bastard to wear down, that was what she knew for certain, especially from his lack of reaction or movement to her attacks. It was tough to tell if he was unbothered by them or simply didn't feel the need to waste energy on her, both ideas only serving to irritate her further and push to get rid of this guy out of spite for his indifference. If she could so help it, she was taking the beast down this time - she was useless against that giant of a hollow, that "victory" was pure fluke and luck in her mind.

Her nostrils burned with the scent of hollow energy suddenly increasing, noticing the pointing finger of the monstrous knight. It took barely a moment for her to realize was was happening, and to react accordingly.

Her bow formed, it's unremarkable shape only differentiated with the chain-like constructs affixed to it.
The red light of the Gillian's materializing Ceros lit the darkness of the night, a sight that would shake many.
Her gaze remained affixed to her target, bow aimed, a hand risen to grasp the pin of her Leiden Hant, not a drop of fear or hesitation.

They fired.

She pulled.

The glove burst, a flash of light erupting from her as the Ceros closed in on her, only to be suddenly torn apart, the new light meeting with and engulfing their own, tearing apart and taking their devastation as her own, swirling around her in a violent torrent of Reishi. From that storm of light to the dark form of her opponent did a fearsome yet beautiful arrow fly, an interlocking tail following a pointed glowing head that flew directly for Rey's chest, the storm finally resolving as it revealed her, reishi wings dotted with broken chains hanging from it's plumage, one much larger than the other as they continued to draw in reishi from the environment with a frightening amount of voracity.

She wouldn't stop with one arrow, already drawing and firing another. Time was precious and her power was not remarkable, her hands and focused gaze measured together to both withstand the influx of Reishi, as well as to hit her target with all she had, arrow after arrow imbued with the desire to make him fall.

Natasha didn't expect that culling the numbers would be easy, but christ, these bastards were rolling out like an unending tidal wave. For each coordinated bullet and arrow, another came to take its place. A seemingly infinite number like this would've certainly wore at the average warrior's mettle, but no victory was ever earned without some difficulty, no?

Divulging her attention between Liltotto's battle on the ground, and her current predicament at the top, Natasha concluded that nothing changed. There was only one way this would play out so far. Continue to fire and hit each of these bastards at their weak points in their mask, remaining absolutely mindful of their attacks as well as her energy reserves, and maintain active movement on the battlefield.

Soldiers would no doubt be lost today, but no man or woman entered the battlefield without the thought that they might lose their lives. That was a fool's errand. Even as the Gillian, predictable as they were, generated their maws full of crimson beams of energy, Natasha had already coordinated her soldat to form barriers to protect themselves.

For her own part, reishi pooled around her feet, accelerating her body forward at an immense speed. Above her shoulders, with twin pistols in hand, two more weapons materialized from the ambient reishi in the air. Starpacker and Texas Terror. There was a limit to how many of these bastards could be formed at once. Natasha was going to test that out. Directing her arm up as she continued to soar through the air during her Steigan-influenced charge, innumerable heilig pfiel were loosed from Starpacker's chamber.

Executing an attack akin to Licht Regen, her plan was to keep them from overwhelming Liltotto, but that was far from the end. Whether aimed at Reye from above, or soaring across the air firing off a multitude of high-speed shots at the Gillian, Natasha intended to earn her keep one way or another. Someone, something, anything other than her companions were liable to get shot. They sprout? Keep shooting. They fire? Dodge and keep shooting. That was the new gameplan.

The Cero should have hit. They should have laid waste to the woman's defenses, left her nothing but a charred corpse to be buried and forgotten, another name to add to the long list of dead men and women. Instead, she persisted. She went beyond her limits and activated a foolhardy ability in her little feeble attempt to preserve her life, her worthless miniscule existence. None who forgo his Queen deserve anything less but a grave. This little arrow would do nothing to him is what he thought, but as he rose his hand, he felt its power bite into his gloved palm, his fingers enclosing around that massive output of Reishi as his feet left him. He soon crashed into a formation of rubble, debris exploding all around him, cascading down his gnarred body.

His hollow face rose from the dirt that decorated his armor, his head tilted down to gaze as his burning hand. That power. It is familiar, but as he finally returned his gaze to that blazing whirlwind of Reishi that settled, his mind recognized that form.

The way the Cero broke and split into the very energy that holds reality together. The way it coated her body, transforming to fit her needs and become one with her very being. Those wings that fluttered behind her, transforming her into some unorthodox angel sent from God. Almost like a distant memory of a life forgotten over time, it struck him with abysmal anger, rage shaking his body as his armor rattled.

Rey cared not for anything else that existed as his body growled before he let out a deathly cry, his voice a shriek, overpowering the chaos around him before another arrow struck him dead in the chest. Buried further into the Earth, he found the landscape around him erode as his opponent unleashed arrow after arrow.

The battlefield leveled, the Hollow all around began to become unstable, their attacks becoming erratic. They attacked one another with ferocity. They attacked Quincy and Shinigami with a sudden burst of rage. Nothing was safe as more garganta began to open, more creatures of the night piling, an unsurmountable flood of toxic death threatening to pile onto Liltotto and Natasha.

Nothing was stopping her from giving this bastard a good hurting, she wouldn't allow it. Anger boiled in her chest with each shot she fired, the fervor to see this through to the end pushing her heavy footsteps closer, the weight of Reishi swirling around and in her was tremendous from how much she had to enslave. He seriously thought that little of her? That he'd foolishly take an arrow? It just pissed her off; if she wasn't running against the clock she'd have gone up and spit on him for that.

"I'm not getting lucky this time..." Words pushed out between breaths, arrow after arrow seeking to slam into the grounded Vasto Lorde. The desperation, the determination, they melted her bones and frayed her nerves; it wasn't typical of her to let such a strong emotions take over, but she didn't care, she wanted the thing dead if she could so help it.

Above.

Attention torn from her opponent as that feral screech rattled her eardrums, she looked up only just in time to avoid being crushed by a Gillian spilling out onto the field with it's brethren, ending up pressed between multiple dark bodies. Their acid wasn't of any concern to her, and her form was durable enough to not be immediately crushed or injured by their large bodies, but she was stuck between multiple masses of squirming darkness, barely able to catch sight of her target.

"No! No!" She'd yell, punching against the beasts, feeling her form starting to fade out as she struggled to push through the masses. It was only a matter of time before they properly noticed her, sweat beading down the entirety of her body, angered huffs signifying the progress she was unable to make. He was gonna get away at this rate...

A hand lifted, pointed in his direction.

...No, there was one thing she could try. She just hoped nobody she gave a shit about was on the receiving end. Either way, not letting that thing be able to keep calling it's friends as well as getting out of the horde was her prerogative, and she would see that through. A spark of light formed in her palm, only to crackle and grow into a sphere, the air circulating and hissing as it grew in strength and size rapidly, the light gleaming in her eyes as her heart raced near out of her chest. As the ball of energy condensed, she prayed to nothing but open air,

Don't hit anybody I care about.

A flash of destruction was unleashed, the bodies of any unfortunate hollows in the Cero-like beam's light would disintegrate, their taken forms gathering into the center of the light. The very air was cut through, a storm of wind swirling around the blast, as it voraciously sought to meet and absorb Reye, too, cleanly burrowing into the ground he resided on whether he got out of the way or not.