Götzendämmerung [Act IV]

It had remained dormant up until this stage. The docile monster lurked through the Hole resting and devouring souls to sustain itself that couldn't survive in its presence. It was only when the warload brought the command through their connection that it began its climb up the side of chasm and after a long climb Uroboros let out its roar throughout the ruined perimeter as its upper half filled the skyline for the empty streets.

The earth was crushed under the weight of the titanic presence slithering through the ruined city, it was meant to conquer and so while all of the hollows spewed out and the chaos began the hollow had one through on its mind. Sustenence. The others may be completely fine with lingering here but Uroboros dragged itself along the ground towards whatever mass of souls it could detect first like a plague scarring the landscape in its path for growth.

It might have been enough to break most people, the dramatic end to the Duvalier Gala combined with the news that one's partner had vanished during a dangerous operation. Yet Alastair found himself oddly fortunate for the fact that he had never had a moment to simply stop and contemplate what had happened. He had not stopped moving since the day the hole had emerged, and he would be damned if today was the day that his demons finally caught up to him.

His strike team plans had been delayed by events in Europe, a frustrating shame that he could only truly blame himself for causing. Whether it had always been decided that Claudia would meet her end that night or he had forced her rivals into such a position by twisting the knife with his own hand, it had set back the Vandenreich's efforts considerably because there was never going to be a smooth transition of power. Now, just as Alastair was to be entrusted with one organisation, another had fallen into his lap.

The paperwork was stacked high upon a makeshift desk that he had made in Coordinator Hellian's hospital room, which was as close to an office as he had been able to secure amid the ongoing logistical nightmare that was dealing with the loss of the forward operating base.

When the ground itself began to shake, the tremors of an incoming storm looming suddenly on the horizon, everything else fell to the wayside. No matter his personal feelings, no matter his impending responsibilities, or his hopes for the future, if they could not stop the monsters here then there would be no point in anything else. They needed to win, he needed to win.

A raucous cry went up from the Sternritter under his command as he emerged from the hospital, the mere presence of their red-haired Administrator enough to galvanise the hearts of his soldiers as they surged forth to meet this latest oncoming threat. He had no more words of inspiration for them, it was only orders that flew from his lips as Alastair bid them to do their duty knowing that many of them might not see another dawn, all the while rushing towards one of the many calamities that loomed over the horizon.

Alastair found himself drawn to this one in particular, for reasons he could not quite place. It seemed familiar and yet he was sure that he would recall having met such a being before. That did not stop him from drawing back the string of his great bow and launching the first attack, brilliant orange arrows streaking across the battlefield towards the crawling behemoth. A series of pinpoint attacks that probed its giant frame for any sign of weakness whilst also seeking to draw its attention.

So this was it, huh? Least it had come sooner than expected, though Klein wouldn't have minded the opportunity to shore up a little more in the way of resources. Oh well. Taking a breath inward, he watched the Quincy's arrows fly toward the big Safira. Mm... He could work with this. Forming his own weapon from his hollow cross, Klein drew back the drawstring, and fired off a blood red arrow toward the massive snake. Afterward, he took a step toward the quincy leader, hands raised as he approached with sonido.

"Hey there. You wanna team up? I've got a little bit of problem with this snake."

Bold, straightforward, a radical departure from Klein's typical means of operation. However, he was still wearing no small few masks to cover his aims. After all, he didn't need people knowing why he was doing this. But he wanted to kill this snake, and that desire to kill her was allowed to show through in this moment. After all, just because he wanted to kill her didn't mean that he would.

The not-so-blue heilig pfeil found their marks on the crawling titan as it advanced towards the source of souls. A series of wounds being made by the noble red's attack and Klein's own red arrow bore through the wound to burn at its insides. With no will to resist it wailed at the attacks the two had made which brought the creature to a halt.

It remained unmoving for a moment as the wounds stitched themselves back together from the damage to its body but Uroboros and its pause was just seeking out the prey that had wounded its body. They had grouped up and it made it a lot easier for it to retaliate.

Distorted arms rose from its sides as though reaching into the sky and after a moment the hollow's energy pooled to the size of a giant bomb of energy. It had no finesse with using cero like its other half but it compensated for raw and simple applications. With another screech the monster's arms came down to launch the hundred metre wide green ball of energy at the obstacles.

Expending energy without any concerns for whether it could keep its stamina for a drawn out encounter. The hollow would conquer its prey swiftly to replenish itself off their corpses.

The presence of another strong, unaffiliated, Arrancar did not exactly come as a surprise to Alastair, he had read the reports concerning the attack on the hole in quite some detail and the conclusion seemed to be that it was drawing in strong Hollow creatures like a beacon. Perhaps that was where Reida had ended up, though for her sake he hoped not. Still, seeing the crimson arrow fly not in his direction but that of the monster brought a moment's pause to his initial judgment.


As he approached, Alastair locked onto him with a dour gaze. Those rust-orange orbs assessed the newcomer for any sign of impending deceit or treachery, whilst simultaneously conveying his own dry intensity in what little time they had to share before the monster began its counterattack. Finding none, it appeared that the Quincy had elected to acknowledge this informal alliance for his aim did not shift from the original target.

"A monster of this size must burn up in a prolonged fight. The land will suffer but we must at least try to exhaust it."

The gigantic ball of energy that surged towards them was far too powerful for Alastair to even contemplate attempting to absorb or deflect it, perhaps with true coordination they could have done it together but it was far too soon to burden his comrade with such selflessness. Instead, with the slightest of nods, Alastair broke away from the approaching attack with a hasty Hirenkyaku. Even still, the wave of nauseating heat that followed in the attack's wake left a ringing in his ears and a tenderness to his exposed skin.

Darting through the rubble, orange arrows continued to pepper the Uroboros as he continued to track the behemoth and deny it a proper chance to rest and recuperate. All the while, his skin began to glow a vibrant blue as Blut Vene began to course through his veins. A precaution, but one that might just save his life if he was caught off guard.

Menacing. In another environment, Klein would have fled without a moment's notice, because he knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that he couldn't match the presence that this Vandenreich representative was putting forward. However, for now, they were on the same team, and Klein liked to ingratiate himself with others.

"I'm good at that."

As the attack flew toward them, Klein knew he wouldn't be able to completely escape it as it was. Oh well. He was pulling out all the stops anyway, and so at the same moment his foot hit the ground for a sonido, his hair dissipated into reishi, and reformed as six spotless, snow-white wings. Yet the instant his release had begun, at the moment he utilized his sonido, one wing already burned away in blue flame. Was it an unfortunate sacrifice? Yes. But the damage that attack would do to someone like him wasn't something Klein wanted to learn about firsthand, and he wasn't entirely certain he'd be able to regenerate from it quite so easily. Even after his greatly empowered step, he layered no small few hierro atop one another in order to stop the catastrophic bomb from scorching him.

Klein's eyes darted to the battlefield, searching for corpses to work with. Lesser hollows were falling, as were his temporary allies. Much as he'd have liked to utilize both, he knew that wouldn't make him look good. With one more step, he brought himself to the nearest hollow, one hand touching it and turning the corpse to dust as he drew in the whole of its energy. His spirit weapon, in his other hand, shifted form to the claws he typically only used in his smaller guise, and after only a brief moment of focus, fired off a tremendous arrow that had used everything within that fallen corpse.

This was going to be hard, even knowing it was just a battle of attrition.

Another wail as the raw offence did not fell it's prey. The ghastly titan lurched forward until it's adorned arms clutched the ground to make craters from the force. The ground shook and tremors travelled away from it as it prepared it's second attack.

It looked towards the sky with gathering another great ball of energy above it though it was far darker in hue like a dark green ooze. Uroboros will paint the environment into a wasteland, and then along with it. It did not care for the arrows peppering it's body as it would regenerate, it's entire body was one great projection after all.

The only vulnerability was something the original form of Safira did not possess and the arrancar's greatest weaknesses were overridden by the nucleus being liberated from its owner.

Bathed in the ichorous green glow from the vast ball that the monstrous creature summoned, the rubble of the fallen city looked more akin to something out of a cartoon. The danger, though, was anything but fictional; to Alastair, it was a call to action. Little in his immediate environment could feasibly be considered cover from such a wide-reaching attack, so he seized upon the opportunity whilst the beast was focusing and swerved from his encirclement. His spirit weapon dissipated, if only for a moment, as a pair of vibrant orange wings seemed to burst from his back and began to fight against that verdant light that threatened to envelop him.

The burst of power that flowed into Alastair as he entered the Vollstandig state nullified any pretence of taking the creature unawares, but he banked just a little upon having earned some indifference. His so-called ally had not yet fled, so perhaps he would make something more of this opening but they could hardly be as coordinated as a proper military unit. Throwing himself into the line of fire was likely to be as much of a hindrance to them as it was a benefit, yet Alastair did not falter as he soared forth and made to stare the beast down eye to eye.

From his back, as he flew, the Carrington Blade slid free of its sheath and once more bathed in the desert sun. The rippling patterns that ran along the length of the alloyed blade had grown all too familiar in his hands of late, and perhaps he was guilty of taking just an iota of comfort in that weight, but it would have to serve him well this day. Raising the weapon high, he made to simply carve along the midriff of the Hollow, so that he might momentarily split her open, only to then dart upwards and continue to cut as he attempted to use that vast size against his foe by placing himself right on top of her.

Great. Klein wasn't that terribly surprised his attacks weren't doing much, but it wasn't like he'd really planned around that being the case in the first place, anyway. He was here to help out, offer a little support, all that jazz. As the world was painted green in the light of Uroboros' attack, he drew in two more corpses of fallen hollows, before darting upward and spreading out his five remaining wings. With one forceful beat of his wings, a flurry of his knife-like feathers shot toward the massive serpent, but he didn't expect them to actually have much impact on their own.

That was fine, though. He doubted she would try to evade them, after all, and as long as they pierced, that would be okay. Even if they didn't, it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. He just needed to bide some more time, and so he pulled an impressive handful of gold coins from within his flowing attire, tossing them into the air before holding his hand toward the beast.

"Nice work, buddy."

He doubted that the quincy had actually heard him, but he didn't really care. Klein smirked to himself as each of the golden coins produced a small, burning orb, which then cascaded toward the slice Alastair had made. Ideally, he would be able to capitalize on that, but he was smart enough to always have plenty of backup plans in place.

Another wail from the attacks being made against it. A little insect that felt no more than a papercut had left a large surgical cut right into its abdomen. The sickly pale skin parted easily under the specialised tool and his additional power but the inards of the hollow followed. Sickly black blood oozing from the wound down its body and spurting outwards from its gut.

The loss of the little amount of focus it could maintain caused its attack to rupture prematurely and the green swirling energy above exploded out to scatter the poison through the environment around them like acidic rain.

Be so as it may that they were breaking its body, the mask was untouched, and the many feathers and arrows sank into the pale flesh so that it could knit itself back together. The two angels that opposed it were becoming more than an irritation.

It had not been dazed by the assault as it acted on instinct and so the leviathan of a hollow rocketed its entire torso forward to headbutt the redhead away with enough force to swat him hundreds of metres away from it, or even just crush him under its size,