Signs of Life

[Deleted]

Once again, Camila rolled along the street, eating chunks of rock and pavement on the way back. She REALLY wasn't looking good. That being said, she forced herself to stand up anyway, because that's who she was. She was barely able to do so, though, and required her Zanpakuto in order to actually do so, by pressing it against the ground and using it to hoist herself up via her own arm strength, as small as that might've been. She was barely able to stand at this point, and held a hand gripping TIGHTLY against her neck the entire time.

And yet she continued to eye down the beast. Why was she attacked out of nowhere like that?? Camila was nothing but diplomatic as of the last time she was thrown down the street, and yet, she was still treated like this. Well, she'll be damned if she hadn't tried. It was certainly worth the effort. Even if she was bleeding pretty badly, likely had some internal damage, and was currently suffering from rather serious vertigo. Boy, was she having fun over this.

Truth be told, though, she likely wouldn't be able to stick around for too much longer. She was starting to approach critical condition; she needed to tend to her bleeding, else she'd end up much like that Plus before her. If she could just hold out for a little while longer, surely that bat would get tired of cutting herself up from trying to touch her, right? it was all she could really hope for, as she tried to one-hand her sword to the best of her ability, in order to cut off a large chunk of her robe. She'd just have to get a new one when she made it back to Soul Society. She took the chunk, and, as quickly as she could, tied it around her neck, rather tightly.

If this didn't complicate her situation, then nothing would at this point. Due to how tightly she had to tie the chunk of robe in order to at the very least ease the bleeding, she was certainly at risk of low blood flow to her head. That means that, now more than ever, things needed to finish here quickly. She couldn't afford to really just stick around, or she'd be torn to shreds, spiritual pressure acting as a sort of barrier shield or not. At this point, it just didn't matter when she was this close to losing her own life anyway.

The shinigami did what she could to enter a defensive stance. She needed to be ready for an attack, even with the mass amounts of bleeding, even with the chance that she could lose consciousness at any second. She couldn't afford to die here. Not while she was still unaware of what kind of spiritual creature Kritia was; she needed to do her research, that way she could come back when the time was right in order to get revenge for the events that transpired today. Much like how Kritia felt, the time for diplomacy was not now.

[Kritia]

Once she recovered from that cutback she narrowed her eyes, watching the shinigami as they tumbled along the road and finally got themselves situated. But once she started patching herself up, she'd notice something VERY interesting from Kritia. Those glowing eyes watching her, but doing nothing to stop the shinigami from patching her throat up as best she could. After all, all it was doing was slowing the bleeding.

Once Camila was in that defensive stance, Kritia didn't charge in like she had before. No. She wasn't just some berserker. With a full stomach, her mind could work properly. Not just restoring, but growing. Nourishment from a starved mind pushing her forward. And she began slowly circling the Shinigami. At a leisurely pace. Resting. Letting her body recover from those high speed movements before. She didn't seem interested in attacking her at this point. But that wasn't the most worrying thing.

Perhaps the more worrying prospect was that Kritia was smiling as she watched the shinigami. Never staying more than a couple meters apart from her. Out of the reach of that blade, but plenty close enough to do something. It probably wouldn't take long for Camila to realize what was happening. She'd probably seen animals do it in the wild a few times. Not all animals were the type to just lunge in and viciously murder their prey. No, there were plenty of animals that performed a wounding strike, and then just bided their time. And that was exactly what Kritia seemed to be doing.

Camila's strategy to try and wear out the BAt seemed to hit it's immediate smothering end, as it became abundantly clear that Kritia was just waiting for the shinigami to start bleeding out. Which she absolutely would do. Those eyes watching as she circled. If Camila wanted to keep up that defensive stance she'd have to keep turning around to keep facing her. And those small little movements would make sure that bleeding kept up. It would just be a matter of time until Camila was growing weak, and eventually falling unconscious after all. Then she could move in and eat.

[Deleted]

Camila began to hold her breath. While it wouldn't be very effective, it'd be a way to slow down her own bleeding as much as she could. She happened to be thinking very similar thoughts to Kritia at the moment; there wasn't much she could do, except for try to think of a way out of her current position. Facts needed to be faced, here, she stood about as much of a chance in her current position as that Plus did not too long ago.

The amount of time she had before she'd be effectively unable to act was short. She couldn't do anything other than try to leave the fight; to run. That being said, though, another issue in and of itself was held to that point; the woman before her was much, much faster than her. She couldn't stand up or try to rival speed like that even if she wanted to. Escaping like that wasn't an option. She needed to be able to make her escape attempt safely.

That being said, the thought did process in her mind, what would be her chances of surviving a fight against the bat, where she currently was? She was backed into a corner, no doubt, and needed to get out of it quickly. As she felt the cloth around her neck grow wetter and heavier, she knew she was already starting to run out of time. With that crippling issue currently plaguing her physical body, there wasn't much she could do in order to fight.

What about going for an attempt to open up the Senkaimon? Surely that could work, but it'd require her not to be torn to shreds in the process. It was exceedingly risky to attempt, and could very well leave her open for further punishment. Either way, though, it seemed to be the most plausible way of going about combating her current situation. She couldn't fight in her condition, and she couldn't outrun the woman, so she needed to escape here and now.

The Senkaimon would have to suffice. She closed her eyes in hope that this would work, and took a quick breath, before going back to holding it once again. She wasn't looking forward to rearing her head in Soul Society again, having to come back with a mission failure. It was the worst possible feeling for her, and not one she wanted to deal with in the slightest. Either way, though, she'd have to if she wanted to survive the current encounter.

She slowly began to press her sword into the air in front of her, the blade looking to get smaller to those ignorant about what her escape plan was. Once again, she stopped holding her breath, and inhaled as best she could. This needed to work. This was her last ditch effort in order to escape. If this didn't work, and the bat gave her no leeway to get out of here, she'd be mincemeat; nothing more but a victim of poor mission assignments from Soul Society.

As best as she possible could, she stated the word, "Release." With that, she twisted her blade, causing a swirling effect from the shortened Zanpakuto. After a second or two, the swirling eventually manifested into the iconic doors of the Senkaimon. As they opened, she would hurry inside to the best of her ability, still conscious of the Jigokucho in her pocket. If all went as she'd hope, then she'd be able to make it out of the World of the Living.

If this was successful, she'd almost definitely seek out medical help. She'd desperately need it, with her losing blood quite rapidly and unable to do anything about it. Her goal would be to seek out the medical squad as quickly as she could possibly muster, and get help. With the blood loss, the likely shattered ribs, damaged and bruised bones, a possible concussion, as well as almost guaranteed hemorrhaging, she was quite easily in critical condition.

Though, this only accounted for what would happen, should she actually manage to make it through the Senkaimon. She was hoping her Spiritual Pressure would be enough of a deterrent to physical attacks, but she really couldn't be sure at this point. If she was stopped from opening up these doors, she'd be effectively doomed. She'd have no way of escaping, as much as she might've wanted to. If she had been stopped, this could quite literally spell her end. 

[Kritia]

The shinigami's duress was practically palpable to the Beast Clan. Her eyes narrowed in idle observation of them, making clear that they were entirely out of their league. She could imagine their thoughts. And she could not help but, in her shark-like circling, what could be going through their mind. Did they hate her? Did they curse their own weakness? Her Strength? Did they plan to hunt her down if they escaped?

But more than that, she felt deeper thoughts in her head. How long had it been since she hadn't had her mind wracked by hunger? That she was feeling something so very 'other'. Of all things, a thought entered her mind that surprised even herself. If this situation were reversed, would this woman have even hesitated? They had paused, yes. But initially, upon seeing her, this shinigami had seemed angry. Ready to kill her. And for a moment she did narrow her eyes, as she was....lost in thought.

This was deeper. Deeper than she intended. And in that moment, as the Shinigami frantically seemed to try and secure her own escape, she would, in that haste, possibly glance Kritia's way. And perhaps to her relief, confusion, or some other miasma of thoughts and emotions, would see the Bat's gaze dropped. And her brows furrowed in thought. Perhaps not regret, but in contemplation. Frustration as her brain attempted to wrap around these new concepts that were, honestly still a bit big for her. So big in fact, that she lost her attention to her intent to murder them.

It was only when that senkaimon creaked open that Kritia glanced up in time, her eyes suddenly refocusing, her brain suddenly able to recover from the fatigue of trying to process such an abstract concept. Her head was already hurting, and for a moment she wondered if she shouldn't have eaten so much. But all the same, she narrowed her eyes, and there was a moment of ....hesitation and fear. She took a step back as she saw the Shinigami hurry into that portal.

Before she knew it, Camilla was gone. And she felt....anxious. She shouldn't have let them leave. She should have just stopped her, thrown her around, and waited for her to bleed out and die. That was what her fear told her. Even worse was what was probably going to happen. They might start showing up more often. They would start looking for her. Of course she didn't know that she had no idea how busy the shinigami were. she had no idea how stretched the gotei already was. And she had no idea that an enemy that didn't even manage to kill a weak shinigami of Camilla's calibur would likely be dismissed.

She simply didn't have the mental fortitude or complexity to imagine that such things might be possible. No, instead, she turned, grabbing the corpse of the plus, and promptly began to dash off and hop. she transferred the corpse to her feet, and then launched herself from the ground, gliding off and toward the wilderness beyond the town's border. To find someplace safe where she could finish eating. And to rest and recover her injuries. And from there, she had every intention of getting the hell out of this region. To find someplace else to hunt.

[Col Arana]

I count 43 Paragraphs for Camila for a total of 430 TP

Kritia has 47 paragraphs, +100 TP for winning for a grand total of 570 TP