Post by Valentin Acciai on Oct 14, 2018 7:54:41 GMT -5
Training for TTP
This had not in any way, shape or form been Valentin's intent. He had been going for a mere walk in the Menos forest looking for some easy prey to snag before he returned back home so to say to the human world when his hunger was in check. Instead he now found himself surrounded, besieged on all sides by legions of his lesser brethren who while smart enough to cooperate were still too dumb to consider that a minion was unlikely to ever get the opportunity to evolve when there likely was a master eating all the fruits so to say of their hard work. He considered resorting to ulcera to escape pursuit but these were hollow, more than a few could likely catch him within it with an ulcera of their own and greater speed at their side.
If he were to try to outrun them he'd burn through far more reiatsu enhancing his muscles than he would like to, exposing him to other threats. Instead here he stood, alone in a circle formed of lowly trash, a few towering Menos Grande and fewer still a handful of lesser adjuchas. Whoever proved to be their master Valentin would prefer not to meet them if possible but what he wanted in this situation didn't matter much. It was obvious what they were doing, lesser hollow snarling the moment he tried to move in any direction, they were keeping him here for their master to arrive and deal with him either for subjugation or feeding. Valentin wasn’t interested in finding out which but for the moment he kept very still, observing them as they did the same to him.
A cero barrage? it might work, but then again they could do the exact same to him, as he pondered the best way to kill them all and escape before having to find out who their master was one of the Adjuchas approached, breaking the circle as when he eventually stopped he was mere meters from Valentin who, worried as he was had become guarded as his tail rose to surround his body with its multiple spikes. The creature was twice his size, easily 12 feet tall and shaped like a gorilla with a furred body and thick arms that would have dragged on the ground if the Adjuchas didn't walk with them bent “Orojo Benzo greets you on behalf of the master” it announced with a deep voice that trembled the ground beneath him, speaking in a way rather dignified despite its brutish body.
Cautiously yet with his obnoxious nature lingering Valentin holding his ground replied “And what does the “master” wan-” he was halted mid sentence as the gorilla-like hollow insisted “a name.” “Oh uh… Valentin Acciai, now what the fuck do you want?” Valentin responded, thrown off by the sudden interruption. Unnervingly the gorilla-like hollow by the name of orojo simply smiled for a moment before continuing. “my desires are irrelevant, I serve the master and what he wants is the death of Sonken Kouhai, as such your options are two. Bow down and serve the master of all hollow or be fed to his armies. In either way you will contribute so that Vasto Lorde will again rule Hueco Mundo without interruption from filthy Shinigami and traitorous Arrancar.”
Well… they were certainly ambitious but… yeah no, while their numbers might've spooked Valentin compared to Espada they were little more than dung to be honest. Sensing where the conversation was bound to end up red lights began to form lines on Valentin's arm, sneakily hidden beneath his carapace armour. “there wouldn't happen to be a third option would there? Like a you don't fuck with me, I don't fuck with you thing?” bluntly the creature answered “no” and in response Valentin groaned in a mix of annoyance, irritation and disappointment. “well I'm not interested in any of the available options so fuck off. Please?” he stated, the cero he was charging was moments away from being ready, shit, he should have drawn that out a little longer shouldn't he?
But fortunately Orojo gave him that time “mercy was offered and mercy was refused. A pity, the master would have liked an Adjucha of your power to serve him. Now sadly, a life must be taken.” the massive Adjucha uttered as he raised his arm, ready to give the order to attack. “Just one life?” Valentin asked “you think so little of my aim?” Valentin said in cruel jest, it was ready, his newly learned Shoji Cero. At first glance it might not seem like much but the way it never stopped firing that continuous beam… Let's just say it would be quite useful in his current predicament. Not wasting much more than a moment his hand rose towards the messenger, completely ignoring that hogwash about killing messengers being forbidden and whatnot ‘’fool!’’ the gorilla-like adjuchas uttered as it tried to move out of the way but it was too late.
Valentin’s cero had finished charging during their little chat so there was no orb generating from his palm as the beam instead shot directly out in a blinding light of turquoise which pierced the ape, annihilating an arm as well as a large part of it’s shoulder. It wasn’t a kill but close enough, he was running now, making distance. All around him Valentin could hear the charging of multiple cero’s buzzing, while it could be entertaining to make them shoot themselves Valentin had no interest in taking that risk, instead as his arm remained stretched out to continue firing the seemingly infinite beam and having killed a multitude of hollow that had been behind the gorilla he turned around quickly and the beam followed his movements like a wave of death.
Those with sense jumped upwards to dodge it but many slower or simply too clumsy hollow failed to get out of the way and were sliced in two as Valentin spun about in a circle, laughing the whole time as screams filled the forest. Quills and acidic spit struck him in the back, corroding armour and pinning needles into his flesh as those with ranged alternatives began to fire countless salvos at him ‘’Ah fuck-’’ the fun was over, forced to halt the technique unless he was willing to take more punishment than his body could survive he escaped into an ulcera and many more followed him into the world between worlds with ulceras of their own. But he had the advantage of being there first, lining up shots he turned himself to face them with arms and tail pointing in their direction as a salvo of his own ranged attacks was released.
A hail of parasitic spikes generated from his flesh and shot out, impaling lesser hollows left and right, forcing them back into hueco mundo where valentin too would soon appear atop one of the branches of a great crystalline tree, looking down at the carnage left behind. None of the hollow who had been shot by him mid-ulcera had been mortally wounded, that had not been the intent after all. Seeing a few hollow pulling back due to their injuries it brought him to a toothed grin as he was sapping several of them of their reiatsu to replenish what he had lost firing the Shoji Cero and at the same time implanted in one of them with a brain, a backup which would take a short while to get functional but there was not much time to gloat as he heard a bellowing moan behind him and the wet sound of maws opening.
Instinctively dashing to the side the teeth of a menos grande chomped down on the tree and began to gnaw at it’s bark thinking it had caught him. It was a bit embarrassing admitting at one point he too had been a creature of such middling intelligence. But fortunately such was the case no more as Valentin opened his own maws in response, shoving his own hand inside to pull out a blade forged of bone and reminiscent of a shortsword. When the menos finally glanced over towards Valentin it proved to be the last thing it would ever see as the Adjuchas came charging at it and thrust his blade into it’s eye and into the brain matter, his still open jaw taking a hard bite out of the menos mask as life faded from the creature ‘’ptfeeh! disgusting.’’
He uttered as the body of the massive creature slammed to the ground, crushing others beneath its weight as countless more came flying at him, birdlike hollow having come to chase him down from the tree.
Just how fucking many hollow served this fuck! Valentin thought to himself in astonishment, sure they were weak as fuck most of them but organizing this many hollow was one mean feat even if the mob strategy was all they knew. The first aerial platoon of bird hollow diving in on him he took on the roll of an AA cannon, hurling spikes and bala alike to swat them out of the sky and it went well, surprisingly well, just as if they died only to distract him with the fact that he was doing well… well shit.
One armed and plenty pissed Orojo Benzo also known as the gorilla adjuchas had snuck up on Valentin and delivered one mean left hook, swatting the far more fragile Valentin with such force that he was sent flying like an arrow until eventually colliding with another tree. Seven ribs, both lungs punctured, heart is fine and…. guts gored oh fuck he was impaled on the tree! fuckfuckfuckfuck!!!! Try as he might and oh boy! did he try he desperately tried to pull himself off the tree, if only he had enough time he could have done it but he clearly didn’t fucking have that time as the ape fuck came flying at him! Forced to stay and pay witness to gorillaman flying towards him to save the day of someshit.
Moments later Orojo forcefully grabbed onto Valentin’s head and with one thrust crushed it against the tree in a nasty splash. Ouch, just Ouch, an ambush like that was just impolite the brain decided in its state of harmlessness as it floated around in the insides of one of the priorly spike infected hollow who had withdrawn to lick their wounds, lucky! Taking his chances the master of regeneration and perseverance by the name of Valentin Acciai let out a mighty ‘’HOI~!!!’’ as his head popped out of the scared shitless hollow’s shoulder, it’s terror giving Valentin enough time to grow a new pair of arms as well as claws to tear it’s throat out and have a snack of its life juices as the rest of his body separated from the isolated weakling.
‘’Ahh, precautions, never skip out on them.’’ he told himself and with good reason too as he had gotten himself killed on numerous occasions before this one. Giving himself some time to think as more parasitically stolen reiatsu continued to fill his emptied storages, the dumb ape might think him dead but there were plenty of hollow who could sense reiatsu quite well. And the way Valentin connects himself to others left and right with reiatsu threads like a spider's web all they had to do was follow the leads to the center, still he likely had a minute before they’d catch up to him, if they had even noticed his deceit yet. Anyhow he took that time to recover, a breath of fresh air to replenish his stamina as the tempo had dropped.
Still, he could hear voices in the distance, a howl of anger far away as that ape was likely trying to harvest souls from Valentin's discarded body only to receive none. At least that was the thought that amused him. Calmly he awaited trackers to look for him as he jumped up to one of the branches of a nearby tree, idly keeping an eye out for ambushers that didn’t come, had those with such expertise gotten blasted earlier by his cero? possibly but he still kept his guard up just in case as he heard movements all around the forest. There was a noise though that occured from all directions, a swarm of buzzing noises that faintly made themselves know.
Had there only been one Valentin would have been none the wiser but the sheer amount of them made it obvious, rather than chase him directly they had occupied the areas around him to make a firing squad. He couldn’t even hear the cero’s due to the distance but he could see them lighting up the usually dark forest which from all directions began to shimmer in red. When the first volley reached him well, he got a bit overconfident in dodging such a simple minded attack, jumping into an ulcera to escape and then reappearing a small distance further away. However as soon as he did before his eyes, another cero. This wasn’t some unison barrage aimed to shoot everything at once no it was a purposefully paceless firing to make it difficult to predict each shot! too close to flee Valentin raised his arms to cover his face as he was forced to take the blast directly, his arms flaking apart and the rest of his body taking a great deal of burns as the cero exploded.
fortunately it was a weaker cero, one that couldn’t kill him but from the state of his charred arms could plenty hurt him. But the barrage went on and Valenting dodged and weaved time and time again in a mix of acrobatics and ulcera, the occasional hit robbing him of a limb as he was brought to continuously regenerate at an alarming pace. Smart bastards won't fight fair he thought before realizing he’d been the one to initiate a fight of such degenerate means. Before they could wear him out however he managed to escape their zone of fire, ulcera after ulcera having been used to edge his way past a few of the hollow who had been firing upon him which he kindly repaid them for by gutting every last of the small division of hollows.
Chewing on their corpses for however briefly he could before continuing to bolt the hell away before a second firing line could be established. This time however it seemed like there was no interest in pursuing him, was this their last ditch effort to take revenge before having to accept cutting their losses? Valentin himself had been surprised that the swarm of hollow hadn’t cut their losses much earlier whether that be due to their prideful pack leader or some desperation not to disappoint whoever this master of theirs was. In any case he was relieved, he needed the break after having gone through so much damage to every part of his body over and over again.
He hadn’t much realized it while in the frenzy of things but he’d been breathing heavy throughout much of the later fight, he was exhausted plain and simple so their reprieve was a mercy to be sure. It would have been valuable to pursue the location of wherever they would be heading now but trying to track them would have been a fool’s errand, instead the Adjuchas decided it would be much wiser to gather his gains as the forest was still littered with fresh hollow corpses. Feeding on a smaller group that had been closer by he left the others to be scavenged bare, the scene where the main fighting had taken place likely swarming with more loyalist to this ‘master’ fellows making sure their dead comrades aren’t wasted.
Instead once satisfied he chose to find somewhere to hide and rest and managed to find something of a crevice in one of the forests endless array of great trees. Making himself comfortable with what space was available he dug in and spent his time in a half lucid state of caution. When fully awake once more the forest was as quiet as the grave, something to be expected after a clash of that size as lesser hollow kept themselves quiet and hidden as to not be trampled in the carnage that could begin anew at any time in their minds. And they weren’t wrong, as soon as Valentin was up he decided to go scouting, this pack from earlier sounded like trouble so it would be best not to give them a chance to recover their numbers in his mind unless he wanted to get trapped in such an uncomfortable situation again.
Which by the way was a complete and utter negatory, he nearly died last time so a rerun of that after they had learned some of his abilities wouldn’t fare so well. Besides he wanted revenge on that gorilla fuck for squishing his head! It was a pretty nasty way to go. Jumping from branch to branch he looked for anything that might give him a clue, there was little to expect seeing as the forest was built of pretty much just trees which were of a hardness too strong to easily leave marks even by the biggest of hollow. Turns out it wouldn't be the trees to talk but instead a sorry survivor, legless and crawling away for cover when it noticed Valentin.
“HEY!” he yelled out to it, no response “HEY! I CAN SEE YOU DUMBASS!” Valentin yelled from the branch he was on, soon jumping down closer to the hollow who was looking around in desperation for some way to flee. Finding none it turned around to face him, nearly spitting in Valentin's face with its violent retort “I AIN'T SAYING NOTHING, DON'T KNOW NOTHING SO SOD OFF OR JUST KILL ME!!” One might think this was a hollow expressing loyalty but no, Valentin could tell the hollow before him was simply of the idea that the Adjuchas could do nothing to it that it's allies could not do twice as painfully, it was wrong. His tail aimed at the already injured creature spikes shot forth to pin it to a tree the second it tried to use its arms to launch itself away.
It screamed in pain as it was needled down like a butterfly to a display case, Valentin approaching it he manifested a spike from the palm of his hand before breaking it off to make himself a makeshift dagger.
“you don't scare me you shit, do your worst!” the hollow hissed at him and that certainly was Valentin's plan as he sharpened the spike against his claws to make a fine edge. Finally when he was satisfied he had the blade dig beneath the skin of the hollow who kept screaming some nonsense that this wasn't enough and of course it wasn't, he had only made his first incision. Now that he had an opening his medical skill would come into practice, but in a field quite similar to that of a hunter as he slowly separated skin from flesh, skinning the hollow alive in midst of all its howling.
If there was other life nearby it was probably too frightened to make itself known yet the hollow wasn’t breaking yet. Almost flayed whole it seemed to be holding on to the dream that soon it would die of blood loss or some such nonsense. “H- hah! t-told you i’d die before talkin.” the slowly dying hollow uttered, prideful it had managed to weather such punishment but when it turned it’s head to face Valentin it was shocked, the adjuchas was happy, he was enjoying this and the poor hollow soon learned why Valentin didn’t seem at all concerned. ‘’Getting ahead of ourselves are we? a boxing match rarely takes just one round you know? we’re just getting started~’’
Valentin spoke with sadistic delight as the hollow who was finally so close to death found his wounds regenerating, skin and flesh restored as the vengeful adjuchas with delight began to peel it off him once more. It was hopeless the hollow realized, an eternity of suffering would await him if he did not speak. ‘’FINE! stop i beg of you stop! i’ll tell you please just let me dieee!!’’ it eventually screamed, broken and scarred. ‘’Then let’s begin with your base of operations please?’’ Valentin said as his knife halted but still ready to peel a little more should he be unsatisfied with what he heard ‘’Y- yes! i’ll tell you! east, go east! there’s a cave dug out of the roots of a tree greater than any I've ever seen!’’ the hollow claimed.
Not the best of directions Valentin had heard but he was dealing with a common grunt ‘’And i’ll find this master in there, yes?’’ ‘’Definitely! i- I've not been inside myself but that’s what everyone says! he’s small, like you but strong, too strong! we had to obey! obey or a fate worse than death!’’ it continued before with a pause it gulped down blood to clear its throat to speak of the most relevant bit. ‘’You’re strong true, you caught us off guard but the master… needs not rely on tricks, a true, a pure Vasto Lorde from the myths themselves! now please i beg of you! spare or kill me now it hurts too much, END IT!!’’ without a word more needing to be spoken Valentin’s weapon of torture thrust itself through the hollow’s mask and head.
The hollow was given the final death it had craved with Valentin himself having a last snack on the road from his victim. ‘’Vasto Lordes hunh… i am relieved, i fear they did not exist. That there was no higher stage.’’ Valentin told himself as he stood up from the gory mess around him and raised his arm. With his fingers like a slow cutting blade as they descended he cut open a slowly expanding rift in the world, revealing a black swirling abyss before him as he had manifested a garganta before him. ‘’I was lucky to survive thus far, but that’s precisely what it was’’ he said nihilistically despite his moments earlier relief as he gazed into the swirling abyss before him.
‘’Luck is fickle, i need a greater equalizer… something like...’’ yes, that was it. Valentin was but a lone Adjuchas, a survivor yes, but not a fighter without equal. This master whom he did not even know the name of, he needed this mythical being dead if he was ever to wander the forest safely again as Valentin doubted the blow he had landed on the greater being’s forces would be forgiven. He needed allies, at first his mind wandered to the Espada, Valentin now had information on a group of hollows who rebelled to their hegemony. Sure he hated the Espada as much as any other hollow but their strength was unparalleled.
Or… less likely to aid him but also much less likely to evaporate him on sight for being a lesser being, perhaps he could ask a certain friend of his in the human world?
The man wielded great power but why would he much care for the power balance of the realm of monsters? Valentin could try at least. But for now he took his first steps into the garganta, it’s width closing behind him as he walked between worlds and for the moment was safe from retaliation from the hollow army. He would have to think through his next actions very carefully, a threat previously unknown to him now stood in his path towards ascension by denying him the great forest. His tail waved back and forth at irregular intervals as if to signify the uncomfortable irritation as well as seriousness of his situation, he sighed and reaffirmed to himself.
Stagnation meant death for his kin, no hollow should permit any faction to lay claim to the place which was the lifeblood of hollow evolution. Such a thing would lead many to hunt elsewhere which while it meant more frequent attacks on the human world it also meant Valentin's feedings would be further and fewer in between! that would just be too much of a pain, everyone had been having a good thing going with the menos forest being so densely populated with souls. Kept hollow where they belonged in his opinion, with the rest of murderers and dregs of the afterlife. Well, not everyone were guilty of something deserving to become hollows, Valentin himself quite innocent according to his memories but it was better that way.
17 Class 7 Hollows Consumed
1 Class 5 Gillian Consumed
6 Class 4 Adjuchas Consumed
(1500 CTP)
This had not in any way, shape or form been Valentin's intent. He had been going for a mere walk in the Menos forest looking for some easy prey to snag before he returned back home so to say to the human world when his hunger was in check. Instead he now found himself surrounded, besieged on all sides by legions of his lesser brethren who while smart enough to cooperate were still too dumb to consider that a minion was unlikely to ever get the opportunity to evolve when there likely was a master eating all the fruits so to say of their hard work. He considered resorting to ulcera to escape pursuit but these were hollow, more than a few could likely catch him within it with an ulcera of their own and greater speed at their side.
If he were to try to outrun them he'd burn through far more reiatsu enhancing his muscles than he would like to, exposing him to other threats. Instead here he stood, alone in a circle formed of lowly trash, a few towering Menos Grande and fewer still a handful of lesser adjuchas. Whoever proved to be their master Valentin would prefer not to meet them if possible but what he wanted in this situation didn't matter much. It was obvious what they were doing, lesser hollow snarling the moment he tried to move in any direction, they were keeping him here for their master to arrive and deal with him either for subjugation or feeding. Valentin wasn’t interested in finding out which but for the moment he kept very still, observing them as they did the same to him.
A cero barrage? it might work, but then again they could do the exact same to him, as he pondered the best way to kill them all and escape before having to find out who their master was one of the Adjuchas approached, breaking the circle as when he eventually stopped he was mere meters from Valentin who, worried as he was had become guarded as his tail rose to surround his body with its multiple spikes. The creature was twice his size, easily 12 feet tall and shaped like a gorilla with a furred body and thick arms that would have dragged on the ground if the Adjuchas didn't walk with them bent “Orojo Benzo greets you on behalf of the master” it announced with a deep voice that trembled the ground beneath him, speaking in a way rather dignified despite its brutish body.
Cautiously yet with his obnoxious nature lingering Valentin holding his ground replied “And what does the “master” wan-” he was halted mid sentence as the gorilla-like hollow insisted “a name.” “Oh uh… Valentin Acciai, now what the fuck do you want?” Valentin responded, thrown off by the sudden interruption. Unnervingly the gorilla-like hollow by the name of orojo simply smiled for a moment before continuing. “my desires are irrelevant, I serve the master and what he wants is the death of Sonken Kouhai, as such your options are two. Bow down and serve the master of all hollow or be fed to his armies. In either way you will contribute so that Vasto Lorde will again rule Hueco Mundo without interruption from filthy Shinigami and traitorous Arrancar.”
Well… they were certainly ambitious but… yeah no, while their numbers might've spooked Valentin compared to Espada they were little more than dung to be honest. Sensing where the conversation was bound to end up red lights began to form lines on Valentin's arm, sneakily hidden beneath his carapace armour. “there wouldn't happen to be a third option would there? Like a you don't fuck with me, I don't fuck with you thing?” bluntly the creature answered “no” and in response Valentin groaned in a mix of annoyance, irritation and disappointment. “well I'm not interested in any of the available options so fuck off. Please?” he stated, the cero he was charging was moments away from being ready, shit, he should have drawn that out a little longer shouldn't he?
But fortunately Orojo gave him that time “mercy was offered and mercy was refused. A pity, the master would have liked an Adjucha of your power to serve him. Now sadly, a life must be taken.” the massive Adjucha uttered as he raised his arm, ready to give the order to attack. “Just one life?” Valentin asked “you think so little of my aim?” Valentin said in cruel jest, it was ready, his newly learned Shoji Cero. At first glance it might not seem like much but the way it never stopped firing that continuous beam… Let's just say it would be quite useful in his current predicament. Not wasting much more than a moment his hand rose towards the messenger, completely ignoring that hogwash about killing messengers being forbidden and whatnot ‘’fool!’’ the gorilla-like adjuchas uttered as it tried to move out of the way but it was too late.
Valentin’s cero had finished charging during their little chat so there was no orb generating from his palm as the beam instead shot directly out in a blinding light of turquoise which pierced the ape, annihilating an arm as well as a large part of it’s shoulder. It wasn’t a kill but close enough, he was running now, making distance. All around him Valentin could hear the charging of multiple cero’s buzzing, while it could be entertaining to make them shoot themselves Valentin had no interest in taking that risk, instead as his arm remained stretched out to continue firing the seemingly infinite beam and having killed a multitude of hollow that had been behind the gorilla he turned around quickly and the beam followed his movements like a wave of death.
Those with sense jumped upwards to dodge it but many slower or simply too clumsy hollow failed to get out of the way and were sliced in two as Valentin spun about in a circle, laughing the whole time as screams filled the forest. Quills and acidic spit struck him in the back, corroding armour and pinning needles into his flesh as those with ranged alternatives began to fire countless salvos at him ‘’Ah fuck-’’ the fun was over, forced to halt the technique unless he was willing to take more punishment than his body could survive he escaped into an ulcera and many more followed him into the world between worlds with ulceras of their own. But he had the advantage of being there first, lining up shots he turned himself to face them with arms and tail pointing in their direction as a salvo of his own ranged attacks was released.
A hail of parasitic spikes generated from his flesh and shot out, impaling lesser hollows left and right, forcing them back into hueco mundo where valentin too would soon appear atop one of the branches of a great crystalline tree, looking down at the carnage left behind. None of the hollow who had been shot by him mid-ulcera had been mortally wounded, that had not been the intent after all. Seeing a few hollow pulling back due to their injuries it brought him to a toothed grin as he was sapping several of them of their reiatsu to replenish what he had lost firing the Shoji Cero and at the same time implanted in one of them with a brain, a backup which would take a short while to get functional but there was not much time to gloat as he heard a bellowing moan behind him and the wet sound of maws opening.
Instinctively dashing to the side the teeth of a menos grande chomped down on the tree and began to gnaw at it’s bark thinking it had caught him. It was a bit embarrassing admitting at one point he too had been a creature of such middling intelligence. But fortunately such was the case no more as Valentin opened his own maws in response, shoving his own hand inside to pull out a blade forged of bone and reminiscent of a shortsword. When the menos finally glanced over towards Valentin it proved to be the last thing it would ever see as the Adjuchas came charging at it and thrust his blade into it’s eye and into the brain matter, his still open jaw taking a hard bite out of the menos mask as life faded from the creature ‘’ptfeeh! disgusting.’’
He uttered as the body of the massive creature slammed to the ground, crushing others beneath its weight as countless more came flying at him, birdlike hollow having come to chase him down from the tree.
Just how fucking many hollow served this fuck! Valentin thought to himself in astonishment, sure they were weak as fuck most of them but organizing this many hollow was one mean feat even if the mob strategy was all they knew. The first aerial platoon of bird hollow diving in on him he took on the roll of an AA cannon, hurling spikes and bala alike to swat them out of the sky and it went well, surprisingly well, just as if they died only to distract him with the fact that he was doing well… well shit.
One armed and plenty pissed Orojo Benzo also known as the gorilla adjuchas had snuck up on Valentin and delivered one mean left hook, swatting the far more fragile Valentin with such force that he was sent flying like an arrow until eventually colliding with another tree. Seven ribs, both lungs punctured, heart is fine and…. guts gored oh fuck he was impaled on the tree! fuckfuckfuckfuck!!!! Try as he might and oh boy! did he try he desperately tried to pull himself off the tree, if only he had enough time he could have done it but he clearly didn’t fucking have that time as the ape fuck came flying at him! Forced to stay and pay witness to gorillaman flying towards him to save the day of someshit.
Moments later Orojo forcefully grabbed onto Valentin’s head and with one thrust crushed it against the tree in a nasty splash. Ouch, just Ouch, an ambush like that was just impolite the brain decided in its state of harmlessness as it floated around in the insides of one of the priorly spike infected hollow who had withdrawn to lick their wounds, lucky! Taking his chances the master of regeneration and perseverance by the name of Valentin Acciai let out a mighty ‘’HOI~!!!’’ as his head popped out of the scared shitless hollow’s shoulder, it’s terror giving Valentin enough time to grow a new pair of arms as well as claws to tear it’s throat out and have a snack of its life juices as the rest of his body separated from the isolated weakling.
‘’Ahh, precautions, never skip out on them.’’ he told himself and with good reason too as he had gotten himself killed on numerous occasions before this one. Giving himself some time to think as more parasitically stolen reiatsu continued to fill his emptied storages, the dumb ape might think him dead but there were plenty of hollow who could sense reiatsu quite well. And the way Valentin connects himself to others left and right with reiatsu threads like a spider's web all they had to do was follow the leads to the center, still he likely had a minute before they’d catch up to him, if they had even noticed his deceit yet. Anyhow he took that time to recover, a breath of fresh air to replenish his stamina as the tempo had dropped.
Still, he could hear voices in the distance, a howl of anger far away as that ape was likely trying to harvest souls from Valentin's discarded body only to receive none. At least that was the thought that amused him. Calmly he awaited trackers to look for him as he jumped up to one of the branches of a nearby tree, idly keeping an eye out for ambushers that didn’t come, had those with such expertise gotten blasted earlier by his cero? possibly but he still kept his guard up just in case as he heard movements all around the forest. There was a noise though that occured from all directions, a swarm of buzzing noises that faintly made themselves know.
Had there only been one Valentin would have been none the wiser but the sheer amount of them made it obvious, rather than chase him directly they had occupied the areas around him to make a firing squad. He couldn’t even hear the cero’s due to the distance but he could see them lighting up the usually dark forest which from all directions began to shimmer in red. When the first volley reached him well, he got a bit overconfident in dodging such a simple minded attack, jumping into an ulcera to escape and then reappearing a small distance further away. However as soon as he did before his eyes, another cero. This wasn’t some unison barrage aimed to shoot everything at once no it was a purposefully paceless firing to make it difficult to predict each shot! too close to flee Valentin raised his arms to cover his face as he was forced to take the blast directly, his arms flaking apart and the rest of his body taking a great deal of burns as the cero exploded.
fortunately it was a weaker cero, one that couldn’t kill him but from the state of his charred arms could plenty hurt him. But the barrage went on and Valenting dodged and weaved time and time again in a mix of acrobatics and ulcera, the occasional hit robbing him of a limb as he was brought to continuously regenerate at an alarming pace. Smart bastards won't fight fair he thought before realizing he’d been the one to initiate a fight of such degenerate means. Before they could wear him out however he managed to escape their zone of fire, ulcera after ulcera having been used to edge his way past a few of the hollow who had been firing upon him which he kindly repaid them for by gutting every last of the small division of hollows.
Chewing on their corpses for however briefly he could before continuing to bolt the hell away before a second firing line could be established. This time however it seemed like there was no interest in pursuing him, was this their last ditch effort to take revenge before having to accept cutting their losses? Valentin himself had been surprised that the swarm of hollow hadn’t cut their losses much earlier whether that be due to their prideful pack leader or some desperation not to disappoint whoever this master of theirs was. In any case he was relieved, he needed the break after having gone through so much damage to every part of his body over and over again.
He hadn’t much realized it while in the frenzy of things but he’d been breathing heavy throughout much of the later fight, he was exhausted plain and simple so their reprieve was a mercy to be sure. It would have been valuable to pursue the location of wherever they would be heading now but trying to track them would have been a fool’s errand, instead the Adjuchas decided it would be much wiser to gather his gains as the forest was still littered with fresh hollow corpses. Feeding on a smaller group that had been closer by he left the others to be scavenged bare, the scene where the main fighting had taken place likely swarming with more loyalist to this ‘master’ fellows making sure their dead comrades aren’t wasted.
Instead once satisfied he chose to find somewhere to hide and rest and managed to find something of a crevice in one of the forests endless array of great trees. Making himself comfortable with what space was available he dug in and spent his time in a half lucid state of caution. When fully awake once more the forest was as quiet as the grave, something to be expected after a clash of that size as lesser hollow kept themselves quiet and hidden as to not be trampled in the carnage that could begin anew at any time in their minds. And they weren’t wrong, as soon as Valentin was up he decided to go scouting, this pack from earlier sounded like trouble so it would be best not to give them a chance to recover their numbers in his mind unless he wanted to get trapped in such an uncomfortable situation again.
Which by the way was a complete and utter negatory, he nearly died last time so a rerun of that after they had learned some of his abilities wouldn’t fare so well. Besides he wanted revenge on that gorilla fuck for squishing his head! It was a pretty nasty way to go. Jumping from branch to branch he looked for anything that might give him a clue, there was little to expect seeing as the forest was built of pretty much just trees which were of a hardness too strong to easily leave marks even by the biggest of hollow. Turns out it wouldn't be the trees to talk but instead a sorry survivor, legless and crawling away for cover when it noticed Valentin.
“HEY!” he yelled out to it, no response “HEY! I CAN SEE YOU DUMBASS!” Valentin yelled from the branch he was on, soon jumping down closer to the hollow who was looking around in desperation for some way to flee. Finding none it turned around to face him, nearly spitting in Valentin's face with its violent retort “I AIN'T SAYING NOTHING, DON'T KNOW NOTHING SO SOD OFF OR JUST KILL ME!!” One might think this was a hollow expressing loyalty but no, Valentin could tell the hollow before him was simply of the idea that the Adjuchas could do nothing to it that it's allies could not do twice as painfully, it was wrong. His tail aimed at the already injured creature spikes shot forth to pin it to a tree the second it tried to use its arms to launch itself away.
It screamed in pain as it was needled down like a butterfly to a display case, Valentin approaching it he manifested a spike from the palm of his hand before breaking it off to make himself a makeshift dagger.
“you don't scare me you shit, do your worst!” the hollow hissed at him and that certainly was Valentin's plan as he sharpened the spike against his claws to make a fine edge. Finally when he was satisfied he had the blade dig beneath the skin of the hollow who kept screaming some nonsense that this wasn't enough and of course it wasn't, he had only made his first incision. Now that he had an opening his medical skill would come into practice, but in a field quite similar to that of a hunter as he slowly separated skin from flesh, skinning the hollow alive in midst of all its howling.
If there was other life nearby it was probably too frightened to make itself known yet the hollow wasn’t breaking yet. Almost flayed whole it seemed to be holding on to the dream that soon it would die of blood loss or some such nonsense. “H- hah! t-told you i’d die before talkin.” the slowly dying hollow uttered, prideful it had managed to weather such punishment but when it turned it’s head to face Valentin it was shocked, the adjuchas was happy, he was enjoying this and the poor hollow soon learned why Valentin didn’t seem at all concerned. ‘’Getting ahead of ourselves are we? a boxing match rarely takes just one round you know? we’re just getting started~’’
Valentin spoke with sadistic delight as the hollow who was finally so close to death found his wounds regenerating, skin and flesh restored as the vengeful adjuchas with delight began to peel it off him once more. It was hopeless the hollow realized, an eternity of suffering would await him if he did not speak. ‘’FINE! stop i beg of you stop! i’ll tell you please just let me dieee!!’’ it eventually screamed, broken and scarred. ‘’Then let’s begin with your base of operations please?’’ Valentin said as his knife halted but still ready to peel a little more should he be unsatisfied with what he heard ‘’Y- yes! i’ll tell you! east, go east! there’s a cave dug out of the roots of a tree greater than any I've ever seen!’’ the hollow claimed.
Not the best of directions Valentin had heard but he was dealing with a common grunt ‘’And i’ll find this master in there, yes?’’ ‘’Definitely! i- I've not been inside myself but that’s what everyone says! he’s small, like you but strong, too strong! we had to obey! obey or a fate worse than death!’’ it continued before with a pause it gulped down blood to clear its throat to speak of the most relevant bit. ‘’You’re strong true, you caught us off guard but the master… needs not rely on tricks, a true, a pure Vasto Lorde from the myths themselves! now please i beg of you! spare or kill me now it hurts too much, END IT!!’’ without a word more needing to be spoken Valentin’s weapon of torture thrust itself through the hollow’s mask and head.
The hollow was given the final death it had craved with Valentin himself having a last snack on the road from his victim. ‘’Vasto Lordes hunh… i am relieved, i fear they did not exist. That there was no higher stage.’’ Valentin told himself as he stood up from the gory mess around him and raised his arm. With his fingers like a slow cutting blade as they descended he cut open a slowly expanding rift in the world, revealing a black swirling abyss before him as he had manifested a garganta before him. ‘’I was lucky to survive thus far, but that’s precisely what it was’’ he said nihilistically despite his moments earlier relief as he gazed into the swirling abyss before him.
‘’Luck is fickle, i need a greater equalizer… something like...’’ yes, that was it. Valentin was but a lone Adjuchas, a survivor yes, but not a fighter without equal. This master whom he did not even know the name of, he needed this mythical being dead if he was ever to wander the forest safely again as Valentin doubted the blow he had landed on the greater being’s forces would be forgiven. He needed allies, at first his mind wandered to the Espada, Valentin now had information on a group of hollows who rebelled to their hegemony. Sure he hated the Espada as much as any other hollow but their strength was unparalleled.
Or… less likely to aid him but also much less likely to evaporate him on sight for being a lesser being, perhaps he could ask a certain friend of his in the human world?
The man wielded great power but why would he much care for the power balance of the realm of monsters? Valentin could try at least. But for now he took his first steps into the garganta, it’s width closing behind him as he walked between worlds and for the moment was safe from retaliation from the hollow army. He would have to think through his next actions very carefully, a threat previously unknown to him now stood in his path towards ascension by denying him the great forest. His tail waved back and forth at irregular intervals as if to signify the uncomfortable irritation as well as seriousness of his situation, he sighed and reaffirmed to himself.
Stagnation meant death for his kin, no hollow should permit any faction to lay claim to the place which was the lifeblood of hollow evolution. Such a thing would lead many to hunt elsewhere which while it meant more frequent attacks on the human world it also meant Valentin's feedings would be further and fewer in between! that would just be too much of a pain, everyone had been having a good thing going with the menos forest being so densely populated with souls. Kept hollow where they belonged in his opinion, with the rest of murderers and dregs of the afterlife. Well, not everyone were guilty of something deserving to become hollows, Valentin himself quite innocent according to his memories but it was better that way.
17 Class 7 Hollows Consumed
1 Class 5 Gillian Consumed
6 Class 4 Adjuchas Consumed
(1500 CTP)
