Sanguinem Deus

It has been several years since his family was killed in the Karakura Hospital by a Hollow that had managed to move past the barrier, plant itself on a human being and grew stronger by feeding on their Reiatsu. When it broke out of it’s host, it killed both his mother and father before he could reach for his weapon and slay it. Back then, he was just a newbie that had little to no skills as a Quincy, knowing only how to sense spiritual presences, use the soul dash and fire his spirit weapon. Had the Hollow chosen to attack him, he would most likely have died before he could even draw and fire, though fate had saved his ass back then by claiming his parents. It was back then that he no longer went by Adalric Bardawulf, but with Hitoshi Hikaru, a Japanese name rather then a German name, a good alias for him. People believed he was dead, so now he could go through live as a normal person, training his powers in solitude and at Karakura high school. There was so much he had been doing so far in order to change himself that there was nothing left of the old him. He was a good Quincy now, and he would do whatever was within his power to protect the people he cared about, which so far was… no one. His existence was empty, just like the life of Hollows, which was why he liked to check out their life inside of Hueco mundo.

For a couple of years, he had been using his powers to walk through the dimensional fabric, using a technique very similar to a Senkaimon gate or a Garganta, though it was relatively faster then both, and like it was for Hollows, was usable by all Quincy. The forest of Menos was one of the places he enjoyed going to, the Quartz forest having a nice ring to it when the wind blew through it. As always, the forest was crowded with the lower classed Hollow and the Adjuchas that looked over the forest for the people of the white castle. During the time he spent in the forest, he had never really seen any Arrancar down there, which was a good thing for him. Hollow all knew that if they attacked him, they would most likely die before they’d even reach him, and he had no intention of attacking someone or something without a reason to do so. As such, one could say that they were living without actually harming one another, and that was the best way to go about it in a world that worked on feeding and killing one another. Why he came to a murderous place like the forest, he didn’t really know, though he liked the primal nature of the place, how everything living there could be dead the next time he got there, or could have gotten twice as strong by then. Hollow have been shown to be killers, but they were at least much more pure then humans, almost sharing a purity at the same level as a common animal.

With that thought in his mind, he would just keep on looking around to see more of the world. Sitting up high on a branch of quartz, he looked out over the forests lower area’s, watching how one Hollow would hunt down and kill the other. It’s very much like how animals fought each other in the material world, something that made it hard for him to see that beneath the ivory colored masks, they still had a human soul. He never really hated the Hollow race for killing his parents, he just hated the one that made the kill, for that was the only thing that seemed fair. Sure, there had been a time when he truly hated them, but after quite some time, he realized that it was thanks to people viewing things so black and white that wars and conflict came to be. Keeping his Reiatsu sensing ability at top notch in case something troublesome would come his way, he would just keep looking at the fighting and killing, enjoying it as if it were some kind of National Geographic Show on the television. Earlier, he had been fighting an Arrancar and a Shinigami in this same forest, and the broken down trees, cracked rocks and blast holes in the wall in the particular part of the forest were very visible. He realized that if he was to stay there, that someone might just come to him and see what had been going on.

There was one Arrancar that actually frequented the Menos Forest, if for any reason than to sharpen his thirsty blades upon the heads of the Dull Menos. It was actually ironic, that despite the fact a Quincy, certainly a rare oddity in the Forest had appeared, Sangre was unable to pick him up. His Perquisa was weak, but it was nothing that ever bothered him. By now he had simply learned to merely Give a show of his power, and those with an interesting taste for battle would flock to him. In fact he was in the Quartz Forest now, Seeking such entertainment! Scarlet red eyes moved from Hollow to hollow, already trying to Discern if any of them were worth the time of day. Finding a good opponent down here was akin to a needle in a haystack, a rather loud haystack at that. But thankfully, occasionaly rather Zealous Shinigami or other would be heroe's would come to the Menos forest, sometimes alone, or sometimes in groups to "Cull the herd". These were his best oppurtunities to find his fill of battle. In fact Sangre was already Sprinting through the woods, heading for a nearby battleground.

He had gone to the battle site, not really because he cared who fought, or who had won. No, He merely wanted to see if there were any remains of the victor, For if he were alive than he could fight more! Sangre's blood was already boiling, his body shaking from excitement at the very thought. Oh what a Proper Dissapointment it was when he arrived at the outskirts, finding little more than several pockets of Hollow who had likely been attracted to the Strong Reaitsu. " Figures, how do we draw out fun now? We have to wonder..." He trailed off, pacing for a few steps before snapping and comming to an Abrupt stop. Even at this range, he still hadn't spotted the Quincy.

" Hehe..no matter, we always prefer this method." A longe tongue lapped out over blood stained lips and he raised his hand, Already A large Reaitsu building around his left hand, Aiming the blast at a group of Wandering Hollow. " Enough Noise can draw enough flies, that one can amuse us!" The cero roared from his hand, Tearing through the tree's and rocks like they were mere tissue paper, and eradicating the nearest group of hollows in a single Instant, The explosion sending Debris raining through the sky, Those eyes of his flashing in delight.

Once again, the Hollow community proved to be no match for the ones that were supposed to lead the lesser Hollow in beating their sworn enemies. Arrancar always seemed to be either aggressive, vain, loud mouthed, weak minded or just all the above, which became all the more apparent when they simply slaughtered their own kin for no reason at all. It had only been his first day in Hueco Mundo, but he had already seen the cruelty of Arrancar twice in the same spot, which proved to him that most of them did not care much for their roots, considering they had all gone through life as Hollow for several decades. Keeping that in mind, one would think that they would be a bit more considerate of their weaker, less evolved brethren. Pondering on it for a while, he just watched how a Cero smashed some of the green quartz trees to bit, evaporating several Hollow in the process. It was a sad thing to see all those poor little Hollow die in their own area of the world that once belonged entirely to them. A couple hundred years ago, there were no Arrancar, at least no more then two that he knew of. One was called Arturo Plateado, and the last thing he heard about him was that he got sealed in the Sereitei. The other was known as Coyote Starrk, the strongest Arrancar in Sosuke Aizen’s army, though he was said to have been killed. This Aizen person was responsible for the creation of many Arrancar for his personal army, Arrancar that most likely would not have evolved that far if it were not for his Hougyoku.

It was true, Hitoshi knew a great deal about the things that had happened many hundreds of years ago, for it was when the Soul society was almost destroyed by a single rogue captain and his army of Hollow minions. Hitoshi was just a whippersnapper compared to those people that fought in the war, though the recordings of his ancestors had been very informative, allowing him to read up on some of the major events that took place in history, such as the Vandenreich invasion. When his mind drifted back to the present, he locked his eyes on the Arrancar that had just gone on a killing spree. It was about time for him to approach this raging animal, figuring that he would most likely be attacked sooner rather then later, so he kept himself ready to dodge or counter whatever the Arrancar would try to throw at him. Stepping down from his elevated position, he landed on ground level with an elegant tap, as if he was not at all affected by gravity at all. As a pure born Quincy, he had a much greater level of control over spiritual area’s, capable of controlling reishi freely whenever he wished to do so. Normally, he would refrain from using this on a large scale, feeling that it was not up to him to change the spiritual world whenever he felt like it. After all, he was not a spirit king or something equivalent to a god, and as such would rather not use it unless he really had to do so.

Standing well within the Arrancar’s line of sight, it would only be a matter of time before he would turn his attention, and possibly his aggression towards him. Hitoshi however, did not feel like waiting for it, beginning to speak to him whether he had seen him or not. “You people sure are a violent lot, aren't you. In the last twelve hours, you are the second Arrancar I have met, though you seem to be much more violent then she was. Sure, she tried to make this place my grave, but at least that person kept her cool. You on the other hand seem… troubled, want to talk about it to the good ole’ therapist?” Hitoshi said, the last bit being more of a joke then an actual piece of truth. He was actually a pretty good listener, though that did not really apply here, figuring Arrancar would not really be the type of people that wanted to talk about their problems, preferring to hit said problems with their fists.

When the dust settled and Sangre could easily watch over the results of his attack, His eyes seemed surprisingly dull. There were no signs of enjoyment, no signs that he even registered thier deaths. That was because The hollow here were weak, hardly capable of sating him, let alone even easing the pain that scratched at his body, Like a flock of birds Constantly pecking at him. No, In the end he had come all the way to the Menos forest, a vertable breeding den of weakness to this promised battlefield to find nothing more than trash. The weaker hollow here could barely even communicate, so it was pointless to try and inquire about the battle, to see if it had been another roving group of Shinigami, or some other party had come to clean up some of his weaker bretheren But in reality, all that mattered in his head was that as exciting as the prospect had been, it had all been for naught, Or was it?

The voice made Sangre turn, His arms hanging loosely at his sides while he turned to face the newcomer. Already Hitoshi could see the mans Scrawny looks, Unlike some of the more hulking creatures of Hueco mundo, his body was lean, almost looking Malnourished. For those that weren't adept at Sensing Reaitsu it would almost give off the impression that Sangre was a weaker opponent. But Those smarter, those that dug a little deeper could feel the Arrancar Bubbling Reaitsu, he never trying that hard in the first place to hide it. There was no excuse to hide it in reality, for Hueco mundo had become near barren of entertainment thanks to Shadow fall! He needed ways to call out for strong opponents. Ruby Red Knuckle dusters hung from his hands, surely a unique Zanpakutō compared to what most Arrancar weilded.

" Your a weird Shinigami, we wonder what branch your from....No, no no it doesn't matter why you came here, we simply wish to know how strong you are, and if you caused this." His hand swept over the battlefield, But more importantly Had Sangre just called him a Shinigami? The Beasts head tilted a smidge to the left, Tongue licking over those blood stained fangs. Each motion of his hands made a small bone pop,." No No no we don't think it matters if you caused it if you lived, we think thats the proper way to think about it.

After hearing what the guy had to say, he wondered why he was looking so scrawny and sick. Hitoshi was a Quincy, and no one could hide their spiritual pressure from them due to their attunement to spiritual natures. This guy made no attempts to hide his, and he could tell that this guy was stronger then the previous Arrancar he had thrown around the forest. Perhaps he would have more fun fighting this guy, seeing as the Arrancar already had his weapons ready for combat. “You’re an odd one, aren’t you. You ask me if I caused this, yet you blow away those Hollow like they are ants. It makes me wonder why someone like you even cares enough to ask me if I did this, or if I am strong or not” he said. Most people that eradicated their own would not much care about the landscape, especially when they had just shot a chunk out of it by themselves. Never the less, it was still relatively funny to be questioned by a destructive guy like the Arrancar. The other one that had engaged him earlier was not so talkative, seeing as she had released her humongous form moments after claiming that he would die and get buried in the forest of Menos.

Needless to say, this had not gone as the woman had planned, for he was still very much alive, and seemed to be free of any injuries, not even having his clothes ruined. In fact, save for some dust on his clothing, he was completely free of anything that would lead to the assumption of him having been in a fight with an Arrancar. Back then, there had also been a Shinigami that had a lot of courage, enough to keep attacking both Hitoshi and the Arrancar woman despite his injuries. When he thought about it, it was hard to tell if it was just courage or if he was just out of his mind, not really seeming like he was the brightest star in heaven. Turning his attention back to this Arrancar, he shrugged his throat and pitched another answer his way. “But to answer your question, no, I did not cause this, though I did contribute to it. You see, someone like you attacked me here, and I just showed them the error of their ways. Now, why would you care about any of that?” He had to know, seeing as it was all just too weird for him to lay a finger on. Since this guy was capable of talking before acting on aggression, maybe he could give a good answer to a simple question.

“Oh, before I forget to inform you, I’m not really a Shinigami. My name is Hitoshi, and I’m just a simple Human” he answered with a slight grin. It was true, he was not a spiritual being, he was just a human that had gotten stronger then most of his kin. He was quite capable of fighting on par with most spiritual beings, though most of the enemies that chose to cross his path had turned out to be quite a bit weaker then him. Hitoshi figured that he could at least give the guy his name before he would start a possible fight with the guy. It was common decency that made him do such a thing, even though most people didn’t care enough to give him his name, something that seemed both disrespectful and sad, because if they would die against him, they would have a nameless headstone. Hitoshi did not care much for killing, just because he did not want to die any time soon either, and doing onto others what he did not want done to himself seemed like something only a hypocrite would do.

The Arrancar gaze was Eeriely blank while the Quincy spoke to him. It would be a wonder to tell if Sangre was actually actively listening to his words, or merely daydreaming about the comming attack. Still, he didn't make a direct move yet, and only took a few slow steps towards Hitoshi, Cracking his neck with a simple movement. Light, a feint red light began to vibrate around his Knuckle dusters, before crackling electrictiy followed. The energy surely felt like a Cero, but rather than building around his hand or mouth it was storing into those Glassy Knuckle dusters. Finally, when Sangre was about seven or eight feet from the Quincy he stopped, Dancing scarlet eyes examining the man closely.

" Your half right, we don't care really what happened here, Who you fought or why it happened. " He started, the open White vest he wore flapping a little as Sangre began to build up Reaitsu, Gripping those hand blades of his tightly." We won't even waste time in questioning who you killed, or why you bothered coming to our home, because we don't honestly care." His voice was slowly rising in tone, From a dull bated whisper, his breaths were getting quicker, His teeth grinding against one another. He was surely preparing to attack, his body visibly shaking.

" No No....no no no, ehehehe what matters is that if your here, if your here." A hand went over his face while he emitted a chilling soft laugh, His body swaying were he stood from the left to right. " THan you must have come to entertain us!" With that shouted cry he was moving, His mastery of Sonido allowing him to vanish in a burst of red light, already moving for the Quincy's left side, His knuckle dusters now aglow with the light of his Cero." So Now do your pitiful species a favor, Human!" That last word was said almost in contempt, clearly the arracar already looking down upon him. Than again, given how Hollows feed on humans as if they were mere cattle, the assumption is likely obvious as to why it was made."And be sure to Make this worth our time!" Bringing his left arm forward he brought the Knuckle duster for Hitoshi's side, and with even inch he drew closer the Human could feel the heat of the Cero coming off of his weapon.

And just like that, the game of tag had started when the Arrancar engaged with the use of Sonido. To Hitoshi, Sonido seemed to be both useful and worthless at the same time, being useful to move across distances fast, but useless when sneaking up for a quick kill. The sound made by Sonido was so distinct that pretty much everyone that could react in time would have very little problems with replying to it in time. Hearing the booming voice near him, his natural reflexes, paired with his great speed would allow him to make it out of harms way without being hit by the flash of light that shot through the forest. It had been aimed to kill him, and he could see that it had quite a bit of power packed into it, which would prove to just make this fight that much more funny. With the Hirenkyaku, he stepped out of the blast’s range, taking point roughly five meters behind the Arrancar. Unlike Sonido, Hirenkyaku was much more quiet and effective, at least that was how he experienced the use of the flash step. Extending one arm to the side, he started gathering energy quickly, forming a spear of reishi in his right hand. If one looked closely, it was just an oversized Heilig pfeil the Quincy used to fire from their bows, though this spear sized one would do well enough as a bo-staff or spear.

It was funny how he had used this form of weaponry before this day, even though it was only for a brief moment of time. Spinning the spear in the palm of his hand, he gave a short demonstration of his skill with the use of this weapon. Hitoshi was a master at using various forms of weaponry, capable of deducing the weakness of other weapons without needing a whole lot of time to assess them. “I never killed anyone here, they were both allowed to walk away with their lives. Now, would you also like to be able to walk out of here alive, or do you plan to die here?” he asked with a fairly serious tone of voice, still making no move that would entail any offensive means. He would not attack him, but would wait for the Arrancar to come at him again, preferring to take his time in watching his opponent, learning what their attack patterns were and then exploiting those later on in the fight. True, he was just a human, but that in no way meant that he was a weak toy that could be used as a plaything by this Arrancar. It was funny, for the former Arrancar that attacked him had also underestimated him.

They had been shown that if he was to be underestimated, that they would pay the price for it. Humanity was weaker then most of the other races, though it was thanks to people like him that the human race would not simply be wiped out anymore. The Arrancar had called his race pitiful, even though it was his race that contained all the bad pieces of humanity, having very little of the good. Tortured by hunger as Hollow, the human soul was broken and battered, and would eventually become an Arrancar if it was strong enough, or just lucky enough. To call Humanity pitiful was pretty redundant when done by something that had been born from a human soul. He would not call it evolution, for the Hollow and Arrancar species seemed more like a sad degradation, rather then an improvement. “Bring it on, Mongrel” he said, no longer speaking with his joyful tone of voice, but trading it for one that was lacking any form of emotion. To those that knew him, this meant that he had just gotten into battle mode.

Sangre showed little reaction to the evasion of his attack, There was no element of surprise or alarm at his opponents fluid movements. Instead he lazily straightened his body, as if unaware that he was in combat still, and such a relaxed pace could easily end up with an attack to the back. His right knuckle duster still Crackling with the built up energy. Flexing his left hand, he watched as smoke rose up from his hand and into the trees above. The arrancar, still silent now steadied himself and turned on the human, but strangely enough only turned after he had spoken, either having been waiting or perhaps not even sensing his exact movements from before. Now staring down his opponent again, and now his new weapon he only cracked a wide smile, Nodding his head for the first time, as if approving of what Hiteyoshi was doing.

" We think you can amuse us now, thats good because we savor our fun, As all combatants do." Sangre explained with a low cackle, than in a sudden move he moved his hands and patted his chest several times." But come, Amuse us, hurt us. "We wont move to avoid whatever attack you send, but we need to feel it to ensure the idea that you can amuse us!. Those eyes danced of a secret madness, He truly seemed to have no desire to dodge whatever Hitoshi intended to fire at him. If anything, the very idea seemed to excite the Creature further, The human watching as that long tongue slowly trailed over his lips. To once again prove his point, he patted his stomach again.

" Come, you just said you could kill me! Now prove it, or else begone from my site weakling!" Sangre Challenged, and truth be told this was how he tested many of his opponents, a challenge most were more than eager to take. So many had flung themselves at him, believing the moment to be one of pure Stupidity from the Arrancar part. That they could strike him down now, without any risk of him fighting back. Oh how he looked forward to seeing this lowly species try such an act, his weapon alone drawing interest from those Glinting Scarlet eyes, They now Locking onto the humans.

“And that’s just the problem with your kind, you never actually take the time to listen to what people are telling you. However, if you truly wish to die so badly, then that’s on you. Now, stop taunting and lets go, because this is not going anywhere if we both stand around doing nothing…” he said, slightly bothered by the Arrancar and his lack of understanding. He had seen this many, many times, the way in which these creatures took the words someone spoke and twisted them to the point were they became quite aggravating. He did not believe in racial profiling, though he did believe in the things his eyes and ears picked up, and so far every Arrancar he had ever met turned out to be quite a fool when it came down to proper assessment of the situation they were put in. “You might want to release your Zanpakutō, it’s highly recommended when fighting me. The last Arrancar that attacked me released it right away, and you could say that it was what kept her from dying in the first ten minutes. Unless it would scar your pride, I suggest doing it now” he said, after which he would wait for a couple of seconds to see if the man would have listened to him or not.

More often then not, it was the pride of an Arrancar that clouded it’s judgement, keeping it from releasing it’s powers and as a result, losing a lot of energy during the first minutes of battle, causing it to eventually lose the fight. After the amount of time he gave him to transform, he would engage in combat in an attempt to read his opponent’s power, slightly holding back on his own. Walking in a normal pace towards the Arrancar, the fight would be taking place in close quarters, meaning no fancy reishi bullets or other Quincy works of art. No, he had been training quite a bit, and knew that he was not just a simple target that would be taken down so easily as others would think. Most Arrancar had a certain set of skills that people were quite aware of, having similarities to Hollows. He however, was nothing like other Quincy in the known dimensions, being something new entirely, and that would be a deciding factor in a fight like this one. His skin was hard to pierce, he had no problem with using his environment and turning it into a weapon and was most likely faster in terms of physique, though that still remained to be seen.

Starting to pick up the pace, he started moving faster and faster with the pole-arm in his right hand. Getting within range to strike, he would use the Hirenkyaku to move to the man’s back, watching his movement so he could counter with a similar move if he would dodge. Once in place, he would slam the blunt side of his spear into the man’s back, using the gathered momentum and his own force to be able of cracking ribs and tearing organs on hit. It was a move he often applied during battle, even if it was just to assess an opponent’s combat skills and reaction time. Even if the Arrancar would turn out to be able to set up a successful counter to Hitoshi’s attack, it would not really matter a whole lot. Because unlike most other Quincy, his skills were way more evolved then others, who had chosen to augment their own power with otherworldly spirits and artifacts, while he remained true to the ways of the Quincy, the pure Quincy. He was not part of any fancy, high classed societies of Quincy or Humans, not was his family that well known to other Quincy. All he knew was that through his families lineage, he was one of the strongest, having all the gear and knowledge of past Quincy passed down to him.

Adding to those things the fact that he was a naturally skilled practitioner of the Quincy arts, he did not fear a single opponent while knowing the full extent of his own powers, and that any enemy who chose to make him his target would be wise to keep in mind that he had the potential to kill those that would rather underestimate him then see him as an actual opponent. Did he overestimate himself? Sometimes he did, though against an opponent that seemed to be aware of so little that he would choose to aggravate him and call him a pitiful weakling that was incapable of amusing him, no, he knew quite well that he was the underestimated one and not the other way around. Whether his strike would deal the desired amount of damage or not, what happened next would remain to be seen, and only time would tell how it would turn out.

" We listen, we listen to everything you say and do. We may even listen to your arrogance, if you can amuse us, Human." The Arrancar seemed more delighted than anything by Hitoshi's movements and actions. At last it seemed the human was ready to do battle. Maybe now he could sate his appetite, calm the crawling pain that twisted its way through his stomach. Already he had heard these words so many times, so many threats upon his life. Sometimes they were threats made by those who sought justice against hollows, Sometimes by those intent to kill him for the sake of power or some other nonsense. In the end, the reason why someone wanted to kill him, or even why Sangre wanted to kill the being itself was hardly of relevant concern. If anything it delighted Sangre that it thankfully didn't take much to get the Human ready for battle.

Though when Hitoshi spoke again, When he demanded the Arrancar Release his Zanpakutō he couldn't help it. Tilting his head back he let out a roaring laugh." Oh I can I can! But you make it sound as if you wish for the fun to end so soon!" His body trembled and hands went to his scrawny chest." No no If I just released right here and now that would remove the entire thrill, the sport of it all!. It was amusing really, This human truly thought of him the same as any other Arrancar, No no what was actually aggrivating was that he could find more arrancar! Sangre was always prowling Hueco mundo and if he found an Adjuchaes after a week it was a good find! Maybe after this, if the poor fool survived he would ask the human how he went about finding opponents, Hueco mundo had become such a dull land after all.

That roaring laughter was stopped when the Human dissapeared, his head merely tilting to the side, as if to understand what had happened. Than the blow struck home, and Hitoshi could feel the attack blow through any defenses the hollow had and hear the sounds of bones breaking. Lurching foward Blood pooled up around His mouth, he coughing a little to the barren sands below. But it wouldn't take long for something to register. The hollow hadn't moved, even tried to move at that. Also despite the quick attack, even if not at full power, Sangre had hardly moved, Sure he had dug his feet in a little into the sand, but for the most part he hadn't given even an inch to the attack. He had gone Statue like in his appearance, perhaps he had been dumbfounded by the Humans speed? Or was it that he was truly as dumb as a wild animal? Than, as Sangres body lurched forward he heard the soft words." Much better, you aren't all that bad when you focus, Human."

Than came that flash of heat, his left hand which had hung low by his side after the attack released a flash of energy known as the Bala, and given its speed and being fired at near point blank range, Sangre was already curious if it would be avoided. Though the real question was, had the Hollow deliberatly took the hit, or was Hitoshi simply far and away superior to his enemy?