The Intoxicating Sound of Rock n' Roll [Asher, Safira]

What a nuisance, no more than a nuisance. A threat. Safira bit her lip as he continued to advance through the light of her beam but the idea of taking a step back was equivalent to conceding any ground to this adversary. That was unacceptable, preposterous even. So she cackled at the helmed monster while rushing to greet him, her power spewing like a waterfall from her.

"I choose as much as strength as is required of me at the time."

She sneered while dancing past him, a leg extending with the intent to crush his throat to silence this mutt.

He was correct though, she would need to don her true face at some stage but there was no point rushing these things. Once the true face of her vanity was exposed it would be like she had shed her skin, a metamorphosis, and to concede so quickly was for people of weaker minds. He would not intimidate her.

"And you think this pathetic amount is all you require?"

As the leg shot toward Asher's throat, he simply unleashed a primal roar, one filled only with absolute assuredness. His arm flew upward, the flesh unfurling once more into a burning tendril that moved to either slice through the leg outright, or wrap around it with extreme heat. Either was inconsequential to Asher; after all, he had little fear of the kick wounding him as his whole body steeled with sheer energy.

"Don the mask, or you die here. There will not be another warning."

She glanced at her leg, it had been cleaved off. Did he think she would kneel by cutting it off? Safira glanced down at her own missing limb with a crooked grin. Mongrel. Mongrel. Mongrel.

"You mongrel!"

Her voice echoed through the circumference of the space, she leaned forward a little bit. The primal feeling of scorned pride clawing at her gut, she tried to stay cordial and humble by concealing her true nature. Hide herself under the visage of a creature that was better than the animals that made her peers. She was capable of so much more but he sought to make her descend, very well.

"Very well, I'll show you the true form of Pride. I'll strip everything from you and corrupt it until your name is forgotten in the wind."

She raised her hand, the golden serpent that she kept around but always out of the way rushed to coil around her form protectively with its head looking down at her--as if bowed in reverence.

"Swallow me whole... Ouroboros."

The words she hadn't uttered in an age were spoken, the golden snake's jaw widened to consume her human form and left a white-green singularity in its wake while the hollow powers reclaimed her body. Growing in scale with the white silhouette of her tail dropping down into the depths of the Hole.

Though his helm obscured anything on his face, there was an overwhelming energy about Asher that made it seem as though he'd begun to smile as his foe began to transform. His other arm unfurled into a burning tendril as well, his wings beating as he watched the foe before him grow in size. Now this was something more in line with Asher's own expertise, a familiar sight.

"Better. Much better!"

He would not wait. Rather, he simply sized up the opponent, and threw himself without any hesitation toward the upper body of the ever-growing Hollow beast. Did she think such size would scare him? He had been far greater, long ago. But now his strength was condensed, refined, and the burning tendrils whipped toward her with a renewed vigor for battle.

"Hm?"

She hummed to herself, the sound of the giant arrancar's voice echoing as her body hovered in the empty space. He was keen to fight but she had no interest in fighting. She wanted to crush him and with speed that was deceptively fast for her size, Safira's hand came to greet him with a giant cero at the centre.

Safira intended to crush the tiny bug against the wall of the crater, the vapourising power of her cero with the colossal size. The fact that he was clearly a Vasto Lorde would make him a difficult adversary but even he had to have a limit to the amount of weight he could handle.

"Ehehehe, it's been so long. This inferno in my body, this fire from my core, this burning in my loins..."

Her voice had lost its ire towards him to sound like she had almost forgotten his presence, she felt the pressure of this form grinding against her soul, it was just intoxicating to her. An ecstasy from the liberated ego that wasn't hidden underneath a false sense of vanity.

A monster that wanted nothing else other than to conquer the small world she inhabited.

As the cero came toward him, Asher quickly changed his approach, moving to cut through the beam instead with his burning tendrils. The attack charred through his weapons, leaving him without them for now, but it was better to lose those than his full body. Her hand, however, came toward him with no small amount of force, and he only seemed to revel in it just as she did as he was slammed toward the wall.

Close quarters? Perfect. His wounds open gave him all that he required, and his blood shot from the destroyed flesh on his arms as he impacted the wall. However, even that was not enough for him. Rather than waiting for his flesh to reform, to re-cover his bones, Asher simply slammed his arms into the wall behind him, snapping off both of his hands and leaving his forearms as jagged, pointed impromptu weapons. With them he slashed twice, a cross-cut intended to force his opponent back.

"Good! Relish the flames of battle!"

Yes, this was the meaning of a good bout.

"Hnngh."

It should've been little more than a splinter or a mosquito bite to something as colossal as she was right now but those jagged thorns sliced through her hierro like a hot knife through butter. The blood spewing from the X-shaped mark that left in her palm. This insignificant thing had wounded her in this state, it filled her with rage.

With her wounded hand she sweeped at his pathetic silhouette which she could barely see from her perspective, relying on her spiritual senses to swat at the bug to try and throw him across the distance. He might be a threat the primal part of her mind thought in competition with her ego. It would not be enough to rely on pure strength alone when it taxed her so much to maintain and so she inhaled, filling her chest with air before exhaling a toxic green fog throughout the area.

A poison that would hopefully paralyse him or at the very least slow him down enough to make it easier to indulge her whims.

Asher quickly realized that he'd underestimated his foe as she filled the air with this miasma, but he was not the sort who dared to retreat. As the air filled with venomous fog, the Warlord of Alhireth let out another intense warcry, this time releasing his own thick black smoke from his helm. It lacked the dangerous, venomous nature of his foe's, and he could feel her poison seeping in even as his mist fought against it.

Good. There was no joy to be found in a battle without challenge. His muscles slowed, his body stiffened, but that was only a sign that he needed to push himself further. He once more moved closer to his opponent, refusing to let up from his offensive as he continued to strike. Any contact he made only snapped off the bone as it regenerated, keeping his improvised blades intact.

This time, however, he amplified his lashing out, as he waited for the right moment before stabbing toward the immense serpent, intent on piercing into her before unleashing a technique now easily utilized; Red Money. His blood burst forth from his rent flesh like buckshot, at close range courtesy of his own attacks.

That was risky, given his state. He could tell that technique wasn't going to be as reliable when he was intoxicated like this. What a thrill.

The loomingly darkness was clawing at her mind, begging her to succumb to impulse and regress to her primal state. The all-consuming sin that dragged all minds to depravity, his conquest would be brought to a halt by it. It had to be stopped and his confidence crushed under the weight of her presence. Her pride demanded it.

She looked down at the black-green haze, the pitiful insect was somewhere in that haze breathing in her poison. How delightful that it would seep into his flesh and bring him too his knees. The tingling sensation of the thought excited her, nerves as large as his arms were on fire at the idea of lesser creatures trying to struggle against the reality of the situation. There would be a feast tonight, of that there was no question to be asked.

He still retaliated though and she felt the many shots pepper her body from his resistance. Breaking through her hierro and digging into her flesh like splitters.

"Ehehehe- Ahahaha, it tickles!"

No, there was pain at her body being attacked like this and her flesh marred but her increasingly erratic behaviour was a reflection of her own struggling identity. Was she the mask or was she the one under the mask?

Her own counterattack was slower than before but it's sweeping action was less precise, harder to predict, in its sweep. She wanted to squish him in her palm and watch the life drain from his intoxicated eyes. It was her judgement and her blessing.

Asher was thrilled to have such a battle against a worthy foe, a beast so like those he had mastered and yet so much more powerful. Between this creature and those warriors from this "Gotei" tribe on the surface, Asher knew without any doubt that he had chosen well in invading when the sky had crumbled around them. A lesser warlord might have waited; he, however, was no coward.

As the palm swept toward Asher, his wings moved to carry him with it, knowing he could not simply sidestep such a blow in time. Of course, he wouldn't wish to, anyway. As he moved with the swipe, fully bracing his body for the impact, two cero-like beams, burning crimson, shot from the glowing eyes under his helm toward the serpent's palm. If she wished to crush him underneath it, he would simply prepare a hole to burrow through, and he once again cut forward with his bladed arms to meet the impact as it came.

"You will make a worthy member of my army, snake! Relish the thought of a life of battle!"