Whiskey, Laughter, and Fate [Ryoichi/Amelia]

Amelia’s first instinct was to freeze, her eyes widening in pure terror. Her trembling hands shot up to cover her mouth as she watched the scene unfold, body shaking uncontrollably. ‘Not again…’ The thought clawed at her mind. Mr. Ackermann was always a cruel man when drunk, but he was still the father of one of her former students. Now, that student had lost their father to something far worse than alcohol—a monster. A monster that still lingered, hungry for more.

“Ryoichi…” Amelia whispered, her voice cracking under the pressure.

The hollow was indeed blasted up, but its reflexes were such that it just flipped backwards and landed on its own two feet. With one pair of arms crossed along its chest, the other two spread out like ‘come and get me,’ as it walked to them both. It’s tail whipped around, the snaps and cracks of its armored exterior creating a heavy popping sound as the tail hit the street, creating lines of destroyed road.

"Entertain me, and I'll let the pretty one live."

Ryoichi, for the most part, kept his eyes on the Hollow. He didn't want to risk it taking advantage of him looking away. He heard Amelia whisper his name, but he kept his focus forward. He'd hoped that the thing would be incapacitated enough to give him extra time for his sword to get there, but, seemed like he had to improvise. Hearing the tail smack the street, he saw chunks of rubble spew across the now-ruined street.

While it was slower, Ryoichi instead chose to reach out with just his mind, quietly picking up those chunks of asphalt and concrete and lifting them up above the creature, eventually letting them hover next to its head. It was humanoid, but, given it's armor, this would be a difficult one to deal with, especially if the research he had done on Hollows before he started hunting them was correct. The more humanoid, the more powerful they were.

But, that hadn't stopped him before, and it certainly wouldn't stop him now. He turned to Amelia briefly, giving her a smile.

"It'll be okay. I won't let it hurt you."

All of a sudden, the two chunks of concrete converged, intent on crushing the creature's head. Right as he did, he could hear the sound of something cutting through the air, and he held his hand out, just in time for the handle of his sword to fly into it. Gripping it with both hands, Ryoichi prepared himself -- he had a sinking feeling that the fight wasn't over yet.

Amelia’s panic was beginning to settle in and she tried backing away, only to be stopped by an invisible force. She knew it was coming from Ryoichi, but the feeling of being trapped here caused the panic to set in more. She banged her fist against the force, trying to break through it and run away. She wasn’t strong enough for something like that though, and only elicited a deep chuckle from the hollow.

As the bits of concrete flew at him, it’s body bent backwards at a ninety degree angle and dodged them completely. It’s eyes began to glow more as it crouched down, the fifteen foot tail coming to whip around at Ryoichi, threatening to send the man flying off to the side. “Come now, try harder… or the female will die.”

Right before he turned back around, he saw the panic. He wasn't stupid -- keeping her trapped like that obviously wasn't going to make her feel better. So, as the creature bent backward and slung its tail at him, Ryoichi poured energy into his sword, augmenting its cutting power with the intent of slicing through the offending tail. Even if it could regenerate, it was only a matter of time before it ran out of energy. The real question was, how much did it have?

Nevertheless, Ryoichi quietly opened a small hole in the shield for Amelia to get out, manipulating the dome to take a form akin to a large sheet to keep her protected as she ran. But, to keep it off her, Ryoichi suddenly charged forward, channeling his power to reach out to more chunks of rubble, using them as makeshift weapons to divert its focus while coming in to cut its mask.

The chitin like armor proved resistant. Though Ryoichi’s blade succeeded in cutting the tail, it did not go all the way through. So, Ryoichi was not sent flying back, but was still moved a few feet. The hollow let out its howl, a hint of rage flowing behind those four pupil-less eyes, as he pulled his now injured tail back.

The sudden shift in the shield caused Amelia to stumble forward and fall to the ground. She hurried to get to her feet and ran toward a large truck to hide behind it.

The hollow noted where the woman went, a single eye needed to do so, but focused the rest on the one charging him. His tail swung around, moving like a steel whip through the incoming pieces of rubble. Turning his head enough to see the incoming blade, he leaned back to have one of the horns on his mask cut clean off, but it was not the core of his mask. “Close, but no.”

One of the hollow’s four arms shot out to grab Ryoichi’s wrist, the tip of his tail glowing and aiming toward Amelia’s car. “Tick, tock. Forgot the clock. Time is up for her.” A moderately powered, acid green cero fired toward the truck.

As the creature cleaved through the chunks of rubble, Ryoichi cursed himself in his head. This one was a lot tougher than he was expecting and tougher than what he usually faced. Normally, he would have gone for the kill -- but, right now, the only thing he figured he could do right now was to make it flee. As it seized his wrist, Ryoichi winced as its grip forced him to drop his sword.

'This ain't good.'

He could hear the sound of the blast charging, and his head turned to look over his shoulder. He could sense Amelia behind that car, and the damned thing's tail was aimed right for it. In the small amount of time he had, he made a guess on how big the Cero would be, and the invisible barrier began to shrink, focusing its efforts on actual defense, rather than coverage.

With it being shrunk, the shield would be stronger, too. Altering its angle slightly, the emerald-colored Cero slammed against the barrier. Even though it was disconnected, Ryoichi swore that he could still feel a strain on himself as he forced its trajectory away from Amelia, turning it toward the sky as visible cracks formed along the barrier.

Beads of sweat formed along his brow as he dangled in the air, but, despite this, he still kept a field of Reiryoku around his sword. Ryoichi wordlessly lifted the object up, sending it flying away from him, as if to show that the backblast of the Cero had knocked it back. The weapon rapidly spun as it continued to make distance, only for it to suddenly turn around, increasing momentum as it surged toward the creature like a saw blade turned projectile, speeding by and intending on cutting the hand that restrained him.

Ryoichi’s shield redirected the cero upwards, but he would clearly feel the power behind the hollow’s cero destroy his power like acid would, not to mention the power of a regular cero. For now, Amelia was safe and the hollow’s eyes focused on Ryoichi just in time to have its hand cut from its body. “A human that can multitask in the midst of battle… Impressive. I have seen enough for tonight…”

“Goodbye, school teacher,” the Hollow said, turning away and jumping to the roof of a nearby building. In the middle of his jump, his body vanished, a light silhouette of his frame the only thing being seen as his movement distorted the air.

Amelia's head popped up over the car, her eyes wide in terror as she inched her way out into the open to check on Ryoichi. "Are... Are you okay?" she asked, hurrying over to him once she was confidence the monster was gone. "Were you hurt?"

Collapsing to the ground as the hand was severed, Ryoichi was quick to get back onto his feet, calling his sword back to his hand, keeping his eyes pinned on the Hollow. However, it seemed like the thing was backing off for now. He kept his eyes glued to it the entire time as it leaped to a nearby roof, before vanishing.

Then, he finally took a deep breath, letting out a sigh as he lowered his sword arm. It was over. For now, at least. The way the Hollow talked, it seemed to know Amelia, referring to her by profession. Chances were, it either had been or still was stalking her. If he didn't have a flight to catch in the morning, he probably would stick around longer, just to be sure that she didn't get attacked again.

As Amelia came to check on her, Ryoichi immediately started to look her over.

"I'm fine, nothing I can't handle. What about you? No rubble hit you or anything?"

Seeing that Ryoichi was okay, Amelia put a hand over her heart and sighed. She watched him give her a once over and smiled at the sweet gesture. “I’m okay,” she reassured him, and then hugged onto one of his arms. She looked up and down the street, up on the roofs, and toward alley ways with a glittery shine in her eyes. She was confident that the monster was gone, and sighed.

“Thank you for protecting me… us, really.” Amelia gestured around. Though not many people were out, there were a few that were coming out of hiding. Some even clapped, coming up to thank him. As the authorities arrived, they took down their reports and Ryoichi was thanked by them as well. With supernatural being a common thing in the world now, a lot of laws had been relaxed. Bringing in every “vigilante” that took taking care of crime “into their own hands” would put a lot of people in jail, so they took everyone's witness statements and continued on.

Amelia found herself standing outside the bar, waiting as Ryoichi finished giving his report to the police. Her gaze was fixed on the ground, worry etched across her face, her hands gripping her purse tightly. Lost in thought, she remained oblivious to anyone approaching her, her mind clearly entirely elsewhere.

Breathing a quiet sigh of relief, Ryoichi finally relaxed as Amelia confirmed she was okay. Plus, nobody else had gotten caught up in the chaos, however brief it was. As they came out of hiding and clapped, Ryoichi suddenly seemed more sheepish, offering a bashful grin, unsure of really how to react to all this.

"I just happened to be here at the time. Thank you, though."

Then the authorities arrived, and, at first, he was a bit worried that this night wasn't going to end as smoothly and nicely as he'd hoped. But, thankfully, in the advent of spirits, it seemed that common sense had become a bit more common as of late. He gave his statement, the officers thanked him, both for cooperating and for his actions, and Ryoichi breathed another sigh of relief as it finally was over.

He looked around a bit, finding Amelia standing outside the bar. Ryoichi approached with a small smile, leaning against the wall of the building next to her.

"Night's been a bit crazy, huh?"

As the sentence left his lips, the smile faded, and his expression turned to one of concern and seriousness.

"That thing knew your profession. Either it could hear us from inside, or it's been stalking you for a while. Be careful, alright?"

There was another potential option, but, he didn't have any solid evidence that could suggest it, especially since he didn't know too much about her personal life. So, he wasn't going to bring it up, at least not now.