A training exercise (solo) (finished)

        With that matter dealt with Ly and his hunting party descended beneath the sands into the quarts forest of the menoes. Ly had a cave hidden away down there which he used as his little base of operations. Although this was one of many caves he had hidden away, shelter in case of emergency, this one was his current favoured for a group hide away. His most privet caves and hide aways were just for him, some so hidden the Ly who knew where they were, sometimes walked past them without realizing. This one on the other hand was far too big to hide completely, which also made it perfect for hunting parties. This one could easily house seven medium sized hollows.

        A long time ago Ly ran with another hollow who had the ability to create chains which could completely bind beings to a certain place where the chain is spiked. It was after a great deal of effort and time, however, eventually Ly was able to use this hollows chain ability to bind an Menos to the wall right next to the caves entrance, effectively hiding it completely from view. Although Menos have a habit of wondering around the forest in groups, this chain works by making the person not want to go anywhere, more specifically they can’t stand the thought of being anywhere else. It was a very interesting ability indeed, if used on a normal human it guaranteed a demi-hollow.

        With the Menos on guard and with the hunting party safely tucked away inside the cave it was now Lys turn to go out and train, his turn to hunt and have a little fun. As the time went on he was starting to get hungry again, and as that is a very bad thing for a hollow he had to eat. Ly took off in the direction of the closest menos, apart from his guardian that is. It was not very long before it came into sight, by taking down the menos fast he could eat up than let the small frys charge in to pick up the scraps. While they scrounge up what little they can, Ly could take them out and get giant feast even bigger than the menos itself. That’s not even including than chance of coming across another strong hollow worth eating, subjugating or even trying to befriend. Though the last was all but impossible it was never completely out of the question.

        With one last hard push off, which used enough force to shatter the branch Ly jumped from, Ly hit the menos as it took a step with an impact heavy enough to topple it and send it crashing to the ground. As it fell Ly dug in his claws and started biting into it heavenly, tearing off and swallowing chunks, ripping a massive hole out of it before it even hit the ground. Although he out powered it, it was still big and hard to kill. Ly used the heavy impact with the ground to increase the damage of his attacks. As it hit the ground Ly unleashed a bala from each paw, forcing the menos even harder into the ground and blowing chunks out of it, all the while Ly used the force to jump back into a close by tree.

        Now the menos was screaming on the ground with a massive chunk missing out of its neck, as it freaked out it unleashed a few cero in any random direction. One cero was shot straight into the ground doing nothing but causing a dust storm. Another cero was shot far off into the distance, not even in the same direction as Ly, hitting a group of hollows and exploding killing them all. The closest cero missed him by such a margin he still didn’t even have to move a muscle to avoid and blow back, the actual destruction was the roof of the forest. The cero hit the roof and exploded scattering sand everywhere and creating a giant hole in the roof, flooding the forest with sane and mood and star light.

        Although it was such a nice sight, the moon and starts captured in a cycle in the sky, Ly was still hunting. Ly ran from one branch to the next watching as the menos put its hands on the ground and started to push up. With its arm completely exposed Ly struck hard, just like his first hit, the menos once again struck the ground hard. This time however Ly took chunks out of its shoulder, once again screaming from the effects of Lys ‘blood’ it tried to shoot off a cero, however as it was face down this was no threat towards Ly at all. Ly pressed the attack, starting to pick at the menos a bit at a time he went for its hand.

        With this attack Ly struck and tore off a finger, eating it as he jumped back into the trees. Looking around Ly could see a growing number of lesser hollows rushing to the battle ground, drawn by the sounds of activity and the potential of an easy meal, they would be there soon. The menos, still on the ground, was now unable to use one arm at all while the other hand was still feeling the effects of Lys ‘blood’ and having a finger torn off. It was screaming and lashing out at anything it could now, a few of the hollows that got there first took the first hits, some getting crushed by a hand or as the menos tried to roll over. Others, whole groups, were annulated by ceros as it shot one after another to try and kill the attacker.

        Even with it striking out like it was it wouldn’t be too long before it got overwhelmed and devoured. Before that happened Ly was going to take a few my bites for himself. As the menos propped itself up with its one good arm Ly struck at the back of its neck, landing hard he dig in his claws and rooted in his position as he tore at its flesh. The menos let out another howl, as Lys ‘blood’ took effect the pain radiated off of the menos and the fear could be smelt oozing out of it. As Ly continued tearing off and devouring chunks; a combination of its previous damage, current damage and Lys blood, completely immobilized the menos. The only thing it could manage to do was scream as Ly ate deeper into its neck, still not enough to kill it, the hole grew larger by the second as Ly tore away at it. All the while hollows were rushing in.

        In pure fear people do stupid things, it would be apparent that the menos was no different. As Ly continued tearing it apart, the swarms of hollows started to arrive, the first hollows all jumped onto the menos ripping and tearing it apart as well. It was obvious that it was going to die in a swarm of claws and teeth. As they swarmed all over its back getting closer to its neck, Ly reluctantly relinquished his position and retreated to the trees again. Moments later it struck again hard. The menos, swarmed with hollows all over its body, did one last attack, a massive cero. This one must have been charged with everything that it had left as when it shot, the shockwave pushed Ly back.

        Still the menos faced the ground, however with that much power it didn’t make much of a difference. The resulting blast left a creator in the ground; it blew apart the menos along with every hollow that was crawling on its upper body. All that remained of the menos after the blast were its legs from the knees down. This explosion killed almost every hollow in the area on the ground, those that survived were all injured to veering degrees, some of the survivors were only knocked around while others were missing half their bodies. As the rest of the hollows swamped in it became a feeding frenzy. Every hollow was in it for themselves, the injured were taken out quickly as waves of hollows descended upon them.

        It was no long only the injured and weak being torn anymore. All throughout the mass of hollows they were bitting and eating anything that they could get their teeth on. What would appear to be a group working together one second, was tearing each other to shreds the next, even as others around them started descending on them. It was a brutal sight with one obvious conclusion, anyone that got involved would come out second best. Even the last one standing would undoubtedly have been at least partially eaten themselves. The only wise choice with this was not to get involved. As Ly looked around he could see he was not the only one to reach the same conclusion. On the branches around the hell beneath were hollows, many of whom Ly recognised and had formed some sort of non-violence pact with. Others were new, while others hated to watch and started fighting amongst each other.

        Everyone on the branches watched as a group of four were having their own little battle. It was interesting watching them fight as others, who would attack at any second, simply stood around and watched. As the fight continued it was obvious that they were fighting on an unstable branch, the same one Ly lunched his first attack from. It was already cracked and broken, it would only take a little more to break it completely, that is what all the hollows were waiting for. With one heavy attack the most powerful of the four tackled a weaker to the branch hard, even as the other two leapt to attack its exposed back. That was when it was heard all around. It was the crack of the branch finally snapping. All four of them and the branch fell, right into the mass of waring hollows. Before the second one had even reach the mass, the first one had been ripped apart in a flurry of teeth and claws.

        As this slaughter continued a few of the watchers lost interest and left for easier prey or to avoid any chance of becoming just another body in the pile. For others it was clear they watch on with enjoyment watching as hollows got shredded knowing only fear and pain, though this was expected with hollows and many arrancars, it was still disgraceful. It is hollows like that which is the reason most spiritual beings that can, will kill hollows on sight. Other onlookers, along with Ly, had given up the hunt completely to see how this turns out. Ly couldn’t remember that last time something like this happened, and last time it did happen a hollow used a cero and blew itself and everyone else up. It was clear that everyone watching wanted a much more interesting outcome than that.

        Although this carnage had only been going on for a few moments the pile of hollows was shrinking fast, each hollow eating three or four others, the pile shrank fast. The winner would have a lot of souls to them now, perhaps enough to be worth the potential all in brawl that was a possibility. With so many powerful hollows around, if some hollow managed to get through this without dying from injuries, there would be some sort of battle. If a hollow lived after the dust settled any of the powerful hollows around would descend on them within a moment. That, or multiple would take the chance. If only one hollow descends on them, than it would be a short battle, they would kill and eat the survivor before he can develop and control over their new powers. If multiple descended than there would be a battle royal between them, and the survivor would be caught in the middle and be shredded. Either way it won’t end well for them.

        Ly could see this occour in a few around him. Do they take the chance at striking at the survivor and being the only one? If they did get into a battle royal would they be able to win or even survive themselves? If they did would it be worth making enemies of those surrounding them? After all that was another option, one hollow or multiple advance on the surviving hollow, only to have one or more of the other hollows than descend onto them. After all hollows want the most power they can get. If they wait and let a weaker hollow take the trap then spring it, they get the power of the survivor and whoever takes the bait. However that too is also dangerous, what’s stopping the others from getting you after you get the first or second one? It was this that gave many of the hollows pause, well the smarter ones at least. The lest intelligent ones, while still smart enough not to jump in the slaughter, were eager and prepared to jump at the first chance.

        Ly looking around tried to discern those that would be willing to take the risk. The smartest of them noticed this as they did the same thing. Those with a non-violence pact with Ly shook their head, so they were out of the risk but also the potential of help. Weighing up all the options it just wouldn’t be worth it. There were too many strong hollows around, although he could take one or maybe two at once, the weaker ones that is, there were simply too many of them. When the time came he would watch what was going to unfold before him. If the opportunity presented itself with acceptable risk he may consider it again, as it stood it would be suicide.

        As expected when the dust settled there was only one hollow standing, barely though, they were heavily injured. Also just as expected a wave of hollows descended upon it in a wave of death. They were all about the same size and as a result each of them took a part of it each, devouring only a portion of it and its power. From there the battle started. Completely unlike the mass of hollows just tearing and ripping at everything, these hollows had leant to fight, fought to live and lived to fight. They fought with skill and precision, each using their own skills and abilities, it was quite a show. Although, along with everything else in the accursed desert, nothing is ever that simple.

        The battle continued for about five minutes before the next wave fell upon them. Aside from the fact that this next wave was more skilled and powerful to begin with, the first was already exhausted. It was more of a slaughter than a battle. Just as the slaughter ended, one of the hollows fell to the ground screaming, this was despite the fact that they had no injuries whatsoever. That’s when he evolved. Where a base hollow stood moments before now stood a menos, a basic menos at that, it had lost itself in the evolution. All around the area spiritual energy skyrocketed, it was yet another slaughter, as the powerful hollows attacked the menos attempted to defend itself.

        It took a swing at a hollow that had just shot a cero at it, only to find it didn’t have an arm. As it took its swing a few hollows struck out, cutting it off at the hand, elbow and shoulder. It screamed in pain, with a swing of the still attached arm it fell to the ground uncontrollably. Looking down its food had been severed and was being eaten by a number of hollows. The menos lashed out for its foot and the hollow eating it, this is when Ly struck. With claws, teeth and tail, this time Ly took a whole hand instead of just a finger. Jumping back to devour his score he watched as the slaughter continued.

        The menos got a few of the hollows with a few lucky cero shots, however missed all the big players. The slaughter continued as wave attacked ate then pulled back. To anyone else such precision strikes, timing and coordination may have seemed like ‘teamwork.’ However they would be wrong. In actual face they were simply all very efficient opportunists. They could see the patterns and stuck safely where they could. It didn’t take long before there was nothing left of the menos. From there most of the hollows took this chance to take it as a victory and escape without pushing their luck. A select few, mostly those too weak to have done any major strikes against the menos, pressed their attack. A few got wiped out straight away, a few lasted longer, and two came after Ly.

        Anyone with basic sense could have told the outcome of the match up before the first strike was launched, these two however weren’t that smart clearly. With a smirk and growl he invited the attack, he thought he could have a little more fun before ending it. They both attacked at the same time, completely uncoordinated they tripped over each other and opened themselves to a whip from Lys tail. Normally that would be that, a taste of Lys ‘blood’ would send most people running scared, except he suppressed the blood. They both took the hit hard, Ly felt it as their armour cracked and broke apart.

        Common sense would be to flee with that, yet they continued to attack, well try. They attacked from either side of Ly this time. With a simple sidestep their attacks missed and hit each other, not with enough force to do any damage to Ly but enough to send each flying back. With their next attack Ly decided to weaken them a little, as one of them threw a punch the other tried to slash him with claws. It was a little more coordinated, though not by much, Ly twisted out of the way of each strike and positioned himself perfectly to strike back. With a quick chomp Ly bit off and swallowed the hand of the punching hollow, while a flick of his tail amputated the clawed hand.

        With another twist Lys tail hit the clawed one in the chest, shattering its breastplate, while hitting the other in the back with his hind legs sending him stumbling forward. As the one flew from the tail hit into the other Ly bit down and devoured the previously severed clawed hand. These two were a lifetime from being able to stand against Ly, although through anger neither one could see that. As they kept up their attack Ly dodged, blocked or countered until he couldn’t stand it any longer. A sweep of his tail took out one of their legs, the other hollow managed to dodge the blunt of Lys tail only to find the bladed end.
    
        The first one reached out to brace his impact and steady himself, instead Lys jaws closed around his neck in one clean bite, an instant kill. While the other one managed not to be tripped by the swing, instead it jumped back and the bladed tip of Lys tail severed its leg from the knee down. It screamed and fell back in pain. Apparently Ly had forgot to suppress the ‘blood.’ As the hollow screamed and cried out, Ly consumed the first hollow before advancing on the second. The leg had dissolved by the time Ly advanced on the remaining hollow. It attempted to use a bala of Ly. Although it was fast, my was faster, its weak destructive power bounced harmlessly off of Lys tail as he drove it through the bala and through the hollows chest killing it instantly.

        Now that his hunger had been curbed he could begin his training. Leaving all that had happened behind him, Ly set off looking for a specific training ground for him to practice his perception and sonido. He eventually found a good little place, enough trees around to jump around on, to and fro, while also having hollows scattered all over the place spread out. Ly closed his eyes and reached out with his senses, counting the hollows and pinpointing their position. Those close to him were easy enough, however the further he got the more difficulty he was having. He needed to increase his abilities, let him reach further and be more accurate in pin pointing. However he also needed to be stronger at it, sense those more powerful, sense those much much weaker, most of all sense those trying to hide.

        Confident in his bala he charged it up on the tip of his tail, making it completely stable and allowing it to travel further and further, becoming like a sniper shot. Eyes still closed he reached out with his senses alone to pinpoint his first target, an easy one at first. Aiming carefully he fired, in an instant the hollow below him was dead. It wasn’t the first time Ly had trained like this, in close he could be it easily enough, it was further away that he needed more practice. As Ly charged up another bala he also selected another target further away. Tacking it carefully, he aimed, readied and fired. Another shot and another kill. Now it was time to test himself a little more.

        Reaching out to the edges of his range, he tracked the hollow while charging the bala. He wasn’t sure that his bala could kill the target at such a long range, however, that wasn’t the point of this training anyway. To be able to track and increases his sensory ability was the goal of this training. So he charged up, took aim and fired. Although he could track his bala enough to know if it reached that far, it meant he also knew he missed. He doubted it was his aim, it was more than less likely that he failed to track the target properly. Taking a deep breath he recharged the bala and took aim yet again. Focussing on that one target, letting it come into position than bang. He hit the target.

        Ly continued this training for a while, while still tracking those around him he pinpointed and targeted hollows from just beneath him, all the way to the edge of this sensory range. Gradually Ly was getting more accurate with his shots as he could more easily track down and discern their location from further away. Not only that, with this extended use of his abilities Ly started to develop better control over his own spiritual energy. He still couldn’t conceal it as others could, however he was getting stronger. Although this training was very effective it was also very exhausting and hungering. One last push of his sensory ability he pinpointed the hollows in the immediate area and jumped from his branch.

        Falling on the hollows one after another, he would pin them down and devour them completely before moving on to the next target. Although still hungry, he felt a lot better, now as he hunted down the hollows he would practice his sonido. He would track them down and just as they came into sight Ly would focus and perform a sonido, suddenly descending on the hollow and eating them before they had a time to react. This way he could practice the skill and recharge his energy from the use of the skill in one go. Still using his perception skill on the immediate area he was able to track down hollow after hollow, dropping on them and eating them in moments.

        Ly heard it before anything else. With a quick sonido he was able to dodge the attack just in time. The hollow he had been eating took the full attack and was obliterated in an instant. A powerful cero hit it with enough power to leave nothing but a smoking crater in the ground, and produce a shock wave powerful enough to blow away all sand within meters. Ly could now sense her, an arrancar high in the trees, her killing intent was as obvious as anything Ly had every felt. This kind of thing always seems to happen, out for a stroll or a bit of training and than people always try to kill or eat you. Then again that’s what Ly had been doing for the last few hours so he properly couldn’t complain.

        The arrancar now found out give no attempt to conceal herself any longer, she dropped from the tree landing about thirty meters in front of Ly. Her sword was still sheathed, yet that didn’t make her feel and less dangerous. She smirked at Ly before she struck, using a sonido to close the gap in an instant she was within striking distance. With that said however, her sonido was worse off than his. As she reached out with a clawed hand Ly side stepped and used his tail to deflect her hand, using her own momentum he stepped in close to attack. As her hand missed him completely he struck at her hard and fast. He stomped down on her foot putting his claws through it pinning her to the ground as he struck with his tail aimed directly for her chest.

        As Ly felt his tail go through her he noted it was wrong. Instead of piercing her chest and doing any damage, it literally passed right through her not making contact with anything. Unluckily he must have struck right through her hollow hole, this mistake would have cost him his life if she wasn’t too distracted with the effects of Lys ‘blood’ which was all over and through her foot. As she screamed he retracted his claws and jumped back out of her reach before she could regain any control. If he hadn’t gone through the hole she would have been dead in that instant, even if she did survive he could have pressed the attack and taken a limb or two. Now he was in trouble.

        You pathetic waste of space. I. Will. F***ing. Kill. You. Scream And Die Amigo Sangriento

        She screamed getting louder and louder as she released. The entire was filled with screams as she changed into a truly monstrous shape. Both hands and both feet had been replaced with giant mouths with rows of teeth. Smaller mouths were spread all over her body, while her head became four giant mouths, one on each side of her head. Every mouth had a forked tongue, properly to track the prey through scent as no eyes were visible. It was creepy as all the mouths smiled at his before she struck. As one ‘hand’ snapped shut just in front of him, she swung out with a ‘foot’ to try and take a bite out of his chest.

        Although it would have been an effective attack to anyone who was freaking out about the mouths all over her body, to Ly it as just another strange attack. Ly brought the tip of his tail down through her ‘foot’ just behind the big mouth, within a safe distant from any of the smaller mouths. As Lys ‘blood’ took effect every mouth all over her body screamed out with pain and fear, although it was hard to concentrate with the screaming Ly had already planed his next few attacks. He quickly withdrew his tail as she struck out with her ‘hand’ biting down on her own ‘foot’ causing her to scream again. During this moment of distraction Ly spun around and pounced, as Ly brought his claws across her face activating the ‘bloods’ effect again, Ly also added in a point blank bala to the attack.

        Distracted by everything that just happened, she wasn’t prepared for the bala, her stance gave her no leverage or resistance to the blast. The concussive force sent her flying from her feet and crashing into a rock face hard, the force of this impact was enough to chip and break some of her many teeth. As she screamed and howled in pain, fear and anger Ly was already preparing his next few attacks. On the tip of his tail he was charging up a cero as he was charging up a bala on each of his paws, collectively he had more than enough destructive power charged up to obliterate the one in front of him.

        She lashed out unexpectedly, by shooting out a cero from every one of her mouths. Sacrificing the power he had charged up for his balas he used a sonido, he was able to avoid taking any damage from the cero blasts, however he had to retreat further than he would have liked to. For when the dust had settled she was back up on her ‘feet’ and ready to fight. As she charged at him he prepared himself for whatever she had. Jumping and dodging just outside of her reach he waited for an opening. As she went for a cero his opening became apparent.

        At the moment just before she fired Ly used a sonido. The cero flew past him as he closed the distance. As the cero hit where he was standing Ly struck out with his tail towards her chest. As expected the mouth on her chest opened to bite his tail off. What she didn’t was Ly to fire a cero straight into her open mouth. Biting off more than she could chew, the cero went inside her chest and exploded as Ly jumped back to escape the blast, although surprisingly she survived. Ly slowly closed in as she coughed and shook, after such a serious hit at such close range it was impressive she was still intact. Even than though coughs and grown she spoke as she returned to her pre-released state, her sword shattered in front of her.

        You will pay for this. You scum. Even if I can’t kill you my little group will hunt you down. They will tear you limb from limb and eat you alive. They will make you scream and beg for death. You will never get away from them.

        She burst out laughing the dying laugh of a lunatic. As Ly rushed in on her she tried to strike him with a bala, only to have her arm pushes aside and her arm bitten off. With one last scream as Ly tore her arm off, her voice fell silent has she passed out. Ly took his time eating her, devouring every part of her, not wasting a speck of power. Over all this was a very good training exercise for Ly today. He managed to take down not only one but two menos, he was able to make a great deal of progress in his reiatsu perception skills. Although with that being said, while he did managed to train his sonido up, even train it in real combat conditions, it was not quite what he had in mind.

        That plus there was the potential complication of some strange unknown group being after Ly now. Although that was probably just some pathetic lie she sprouted out to have him watching over his shoulder. Hollows and arrancars have a habit of doing that. While looking over your shoulder is a good thing to keep you alive, looking over your shoulder for a non-existence enemy lead to undue paranoia, and that got hollows killed.

        Now seemed a good as a time as any to call his training done for this trip. When he managed to get back to his hunting pack he would need to lead them out for a hunt for themself. If they don’t eat they might rip each other a part, that can’t be accepted. If that did happen Ly would have to find and train a new group of hollows. Plus Ly liked the look of this group, he could see their potential. On his way back Ly decided not to waste the time and travel as he had it so instead, he continued to train his sensing and sonido, dropping down and killing hollows as he slowly made his way back towards the his hunting pack cave. Passing by his sniper perch, making his way through the forest, passing the crater where the menos blew up and the second was torn to shreds.

        He arrived back at the cave and walked in to find his hunting pack just as he had left them. All were still alive, a few times Ly had returned to find nothing but a mess and death as the party had torn each other apart, and ready for a hunt. This pack most definitely had potential. Soon he would take them out again to track, hunt and kill, become more powerful and aid in his development. However for now, Ly would take a little well earn rest.

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Words:5506
GP: 73
TGP: 80