Shards of Science [Ahau | Closed]

Betrayal.

Ahau knew betrayal. He had believed things were changing, he had thought his world would expand and grow greater under the combined Hollow might of his new pack. Into the future he was to march alongside the beautifully predatory Depredador and led by the mighty, ambitious, Iko. However that was not to be. He had been forsaken. They had both vanished. Ahau had returned to the cave where Iko once resided many times but he was gone, perhaps for good. Neither could the jaguar-like Hollow find any sign of the other Hollow. Perhaps they had been destroyed? Part of Ahau hoped so. The alternative was much more painful. No. More likely they had abandoned him. Their brother. This was worst than the loss of his first Pack, at least he knew they had died rather than betray him.

Unfair

The world was unfair. Every time the Hollow tried to become more he was met with opposition. Oppression. Vicious fate rearing her ugly head. He had finally gotten to Las Noches, battled his apprehension, reached the great fortress just in time for the Mad King to reduce it to ash around him. Ahau had been lucky to escape with his life. Then there had been the Shinigami, it should have been an easy fight even against such hateful prey but the man had turned out to have more than a little Hollow in him. Even in victory Ahau had barely survived. Then Iko's madness had begun to show leading to hunting the Quincy girl where again Ahau had nearly died at the hands of that damnable Human but he had survived, this time by displaying the better part of valour. Then, lastly, had been skirmish in the woods. Oh and the vanishing of his brother and sister Hollow.

Fear

Ahau had always feared. Was beginning to believe he would always fear. Terrorised by the possibility of destruction, horrified at the prospect of devolution or stagnation and aghast at the thought of failure. Ahau was beginning to think he was fear made manifest. The power to bring it upon his enemies but in turn faced with the reality that it would infect him to the bone for all time.


However the most immediate concern was how weak he felt. So very weak. The hunger was eating him up from the inside but he was just too afraid to reenter the World of the Living after all his misfortunate run ins. Then he had suffered repeated failures at stalking sufficient prey amongst his own king in the desert had been fruitless. Either too strong to be worth the risk or too weak to be worth the effort. He needed a prey high in spiritual power, something with enough strength that he'd benefit from consuming their flesh. He was pushing his limit. If he didn't manage soon then regression would begin.

However perhaps fortune was, just this once, truly on his side. In the distance something stirred that could possibly save him. A single shining light in the dark abyss that had become his future. A power, one not too unlike the girl Iko had once sent him to kill, burned not too far away. It wasn't Hollow...it was definitely some sort of Human with power. So why were they in Hueco Mundo? Land of the Hollow, devourers of mortal souls. Usually such a question would burn into Ahau until he found an answer but right now he had more primal needs, he had to eat.

Darting across the sand, moving at such speeds that the deserts around him became a blur, the Adjuchas headed straight towards his target. He came to a stop when he was still far off, too far off for the eyes of man but not for his feline gaze. Far into the distance stood a single figure, human and male the Hollow realised as it removed some sort of mask device from it's face. That mask was important, Ahau wasn't sure why but it was.

The basics of a plan in his mind Ahau darted towards his target with every last bit of speed he could muster, his Sonído booming across the landscape as he tore towards his target. He snarled as his claws flashed like steel in the moonlight and tore towards the man's covered face.

The hunt was on.

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WC: 722
Total WC: 722

Fáelán reached up to the sky as his mind began to race. 'Is it possible to get to the moon here? What was it like? Rock? Or more sand like this immeasurable desert?' Maybe one day he would find out the answers to his questions, but not today. The Quincy turned his attention back to the task at hand. Sand, sand and more sand. He hoped this experiment would bear fruit or all this tedious collecting would have been for nought.

Fáelán looked in his satchel, it was almost full. He had manged to collect quite a few samples of the sand, but he had felt every minute of it like a weight on his shoulders. "Man this really is dull, but this should do for now. Time to signal Zettai and head back I think." The man summoned his spear in his right hand and tapped the bottom of it against the ground, three balls of reishi collected at the tip before firing into the sky in quick succession. He flexed his fingers and his spear dissolved back into nothing. "That should do it, now to wait for him to get here."

The mans stomach growled again, he reached into his bag and pulled out another bite size piece of chocolate and unwrapped it. Taking a deep breath Fáelán unclipped his mask and put the chocloate in his mouth. He began to chew as he clipped the buckled back onto his mask, fixing it on his face once more. "This thing really is annoying, I can't wait until i can walk around out here without it."

Just as he started to breathe normally again, something sparked in the back of his mind. Something was coming, and fast. Most likely a Hollow, he didn't know of any of the shinigami from the village that just wondered around the desert. He resummoned his spear and turned to face the direction the thing was coming from. Not all of the Hollow attacked him without a word, some had heard of the Quincy in the village and wanted to get information about how to join as he was the easiest to find, but some were just out for 'an easy meal'. What ever the reason behind this things speed, Fáelán prepared for a fight just in case.

It was lucky he had prepared himself, just as he turned the Hollow was pretty much on top of him already, "Shit!" Fáelán twisted and tried to lean out of the way as a claw was aiming right for his face. The Quincy wasn't quick enough, however, as the claw caught the buckle on the mask, ripping it clean off of his face. The man watched, almost in slow motion as his mask flew through the air, 'Not good, not good.' He needed the mask to be able to breathe unhindered, and now he didnt have it and was about to fight this Hollow. A feeling of dread started to grow inside him, 'There's no way i can win without that mask. All i can do is survive until I get it back.'

Fáelán pointed his spear at where the Hollow had landed after its leap, summoning a spere of reishi at its tip, 'If you're hungry, eat this!' The ball exploded into a beam firing at the beast. The man scramble in the direction of his mask, he could already feel his strength begin to give. The sand was making it hard for him to get any speed or balance, but he really needed that mask.

Ahau snarled with a mixture of aggression and joy as his claws made contact and he flew past the human to land on the sand once more and slide along it's surface to a stop as he spun to look back at the living, breathing man. He could see the shock and worry across the human's fleshy features. Seeing the man point his glowing spear tip at him as he formed a glowing ball which reminded the Hollow of a Cero.

And if it acted like a Cero...

Immediately the Hollow moved with a sonic boom as he used Sonído to dart to the side. His guess turned out to be right as a blue beam tore past him, even at his speed only missing by a small distance, although it seemed only about as powerful as Ahau's own spiritual energy attacks. Ahau's eyes darted over to mask with the Quincy was desperately running towards. The jaguar monster had absolutely no idea what it was for, he didn't understand all this human technology, but he was a Hollow and if a Hollow knew one thing it was that protecting your mask was important.

Ahau's Sonído had carried him very close to the fallen mask, closer to it than Fáelán was, and opening his maw the Hollow swiftly gathered a ball of red light. His ability with Cero had always been minor but it was enough for this. Unleashed an unfocused blast of pure spiritual energy the unstable red beam ripped across the air to smash into the object leaving only ash behind.

The Hollow of Fear turned back to the Quincy and began to laugh coldly before speaking in a surprisingly refined voice however something bestial lay underneath those soft tones. "Poor little human."

The beast began to pace, circling the Quincy, as it's blood red cat eyes stared unblinkingly at him from behind it's white mask shaped into the features of a monstrous cat.

"What are you doing out here alone?" it hissed. "Silly little human...no...Quincy."

Ahau's words were meant to invoke a emotional reaction from his prey. His ever present power, El Miedo, was emanating throughout the area being directed towards the man by the Hollow's malign will. It would fill his victim with anxiety, uncertainty, fear and dread on it's own but such mental manipulations could be accelerated through the invoking of negative emotion and Ahau was very, very good at talking.

"Quincy, poor Quincy...don't you know? I am death to your kind, this very world is forged from that which will destroy you. Foolish little man." it growled.

Ahau had learnt a little of the Quincy from Iko and the powerful Alpha had taught him such things due to their involvement with that little girl Quincy. He knew Quincy where...the opposite(?) of Hollow...that everything that was Hollow could destroy Quincy but likewise those strange mortals had a power that could destroy Hollow. Of course in Ahau's view fighting a Quincy was just as dangerous as fighting a Shinigami, the latter might only "purify" but the product of that so called purification would not be Ahau Kin. It was just another kind of death. Still as much as they might be death, Hollow could still eat them and this one's soul was just filled with Spiritual Power ready for the consuming.

"I am going to eat you...you will become part of my magnificence. Before this tell me..." he asked filled with curiosity "Why are you here? Why did you fire those balls of light into the ai-" he began before cutting off.

Why had he fired those balls of Reishi into the air? To signal someone...other Quincy perhaps? His curiosity was still eating at him and knowing he didn't have time to get answered frustrated the beast. Snarling hatefully he shot forward with a blur at at the Quincy, his claws slashed towards the man's chest. However as the claw descended the Hollow's form blurred as the imperfect afterimage, Gemelos Sonído, dissipated. It wasn't enough to fool anyone completely but it would distract the opponent for a second and that second was all he needed. The real Ahau had appeared behind the Quincy with a soft static buzz and went in low, his claw's flashing out in an attempt to lacerate his lower back.

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WC: 713
Total WC: 1435

Fáelán reached out to grab his mask from the sand, but just before he reached he had to jump backwards away from it as the Hollow fired a Cero. 'Woo, he almost had me.' As the beam vanished the Quincy realised the Hollow hadn't been aiming for him, but for his mask. It had been completely destroyed, "Tsct" now there was no way he could win this fight.

The man raised his eyebrow at the beast as it spoke, "I'm not alone. It appears some kind hearted Hollow has come to keep me company." A smirk crosed his lips, if he could delay any attacks from the Hollow, Zettai should be able to get here soon enough to kick its face in. Fáelán's smirk faultered slightly as he could feel his strength continue to slowly drain away. Fear was starting to grip him. He was never very good at fighting under normal circumstances, and now he was fighting with several disadvantages, one of which was growing with every passing moment.

He knew he couldn't let this opponent know of these disadvantages, "Yes, this entire world is toxic to my kind, I'm surprised you know that. But do you not think i would come out here without being immune to it?" The Quincy's smirk returned as he continued, "Just so you know, the toxicity of our races is two-way. If you eat me, not only will you not gain power, but you will actually lose it."

Fáelán tightened his grip on his spear, talking wasn't going to buy him much time against a beast like this, he was going to have to fight. Suddenly the Hollow leaped toward the man, he responded by raising his spear in front of him across his torso. The Beast blurred and vanished, "Where did you..." A ping in the back of his mind told the Quincy that his opponent was behind him, he span around keeping his spear across his body, trying to catch the claws with the shaft of the spear, the Quincy quickly activated his Blut acros his back, just in case. He wasn't quite fast enough and the claws manage to slice into his flesh before his spear hit the monsters paws forcing it away from him. The wound was lessened by his blut, but it was still a major wound.

"Son of a bitch" Fáelán growled as he summoned another sphere of reishi at the tip of his sphere. Raising his spear, he fired another beam in front of him. The beam initially hit the ground but raised into the air, cutting a large swathe through the sky. The man only vaguely aimed for the Hollow, he was mostly trying to signal Zettai to hurry his ass up and help.