A taste of what's to come Astrid / Sonadora JT

[Sonadora]

Sonadora had always been gifted in the art of studying others. It is her social skills that have allowed her - over the course of her lifetime as an Adjuchas and even now - to secure areas that would typically have been unable to be conquered by her through normal physical means. They granted her the ability to read others and to convince them to join her side for the glory of her penultimate Cambio. Of course, at the time, she was a powerful Adjuchas in her own way, someone that could reduce anything and anyone to something less than herself in the matter of a few minutes if she wanted to do so. Even so, she nevertheless remained non-violent with her brethren, a being who believed herself to be a pacifist who only wanted to unite Hollowkind as one party so as to bring them all forward as a grand force of reckoning against Humankind, the Vandenreich and the Soul Society. This mentality has become even more important now, as the weakness of her Stray body has condemned her to it.

It was not difficult to read through Astrid. As concluded prior to their assault on the construction workers, she may be a strange being who is clearly not a member of Hollowkind, but she is a child at heart. She is a pure thing, an innocent monster guided by her bestial faculties. There is some kind of monstrous anger within her that guides her forward which Sonadora has yet to quite understand thus far, though she nevertheless remained just as naive as any other child. She needed guidance and warmth, commendation and congratulations. That's all. Unsurprisingly, once she was given those things, happiness filled her being, and just like that, a partnership was created. It was perhaps cruel of the Hollow to convince a child to fight by her side in such a way, maybe even a bit heartless, as she was inadvertently leading her to unavoidable danger. However, in the end, she needed her and any other ally more so than ever before, and that's all that mattered.

In any case, once the Hollow was satiated of the Souls that Astrid had brought to her, her attention would be placed away from her new partnership and instead back towards her plan. It was all well and good to celebrate the creation of this aforementioned partnership and the successful clearing of this floor, but their operation was not complete yet; after all, they still needed to head to the upper floors and consume the Humans there. They had no time to waste here amidst the soon-to-be-rotting corpses of the fallen workers, else they face either the Human authorities or the Shinigami. Indeed, they may have kept the use of their spiritual energy to a minimum, but it was doubtful that the Soul Society was not going to answer to these actions of theirs any time soon. After what happened in Fujiyoshida, they are probably still constantly tracking her own spiritual energy all over Japan in this very moment in hopes to find her before any more massacres occur under their watch.

Leaving the one survivor behind to eventually be found later by the authorities, the two creatures would then go towards the steps as Sonadora commanded. The Hollow herself would pass by the corpses unaffected and unbothered by the gore that they showcased. It was not the first time she had seen mangled Human bodies, and this would not be the last time she would see them or create them. The workers could have been more useful to her as part of the Ascended should she have had access to her once-powerful ability now locked in the deepest parts of her soul yet again, though there was no point in making a fuss about it, especially not in her current state. Hell, even if she had access to it now, it would have been futile for her to do so, for she wouldn't even be able to properly manage them without becoming too tired every day. Her spiritual energy reserve was simply that low. One day, she will regain those powers, and once she does, she will be able to form an army of Human slaves once again, however far away that day may be.

Before she could ascend up the stairs, however, Astrid would then call to her, causing her to stop and turn her head towards her. "What is it?" She would ask with a tilt of the head, then would listen to her ally's request attentively. On one hand, she had to admit that it was a relatively good idea. Scouting ahead for any kind of threat is important, as there is no way to tell what is up there. There may only be Humans, but at the same time, there could also be another spiritual threat hiding amongst them. On the other hand, this could lead Astrid to spend a significant amount of spiritual energy which may consequently lead to them being spotted by the Soul Society. She would analyze these two possibilities after a quiet thoughtful hum, studying the results which may occur from them and the chicks that would then be sprouted from Astrid. Well... those chicks were at least small enough. Letting them scout ahead appears to be the most productive choice here. "You can proceed. However, I advise that you do not have them attack any of the Humans just yet. We cannot let any one of them escape."

Once allowed, the chicks would be able to proceed into the open air left by the unfinished walls of the floor in construction so as to be able to scout the floors above. Sonadora would give them all a calm, yet resolute gaze as they proceeded. She was hoping that they would not be found and caught. This operation is actually quite successful so far, and she wanted it to end on a better note than all of the other plans she has executed in the past few months. Awaiting their return and/or the information that Astrid would receive from their scouting, the Hollow would then stand still near the stairs and glance at her ally as she started to change the appearance of her body back to the appearance of the Human woman that she previously possessed. The process was interesting, to say the least. It was a great ability that could be included in many future operations, of course, but something about it was more revealing than meets the eye. The root beast was almost regretful or maybe even frustrated at the sight of the clothing she had discarded. It was a very curious reaction. Hm... She appears to value modesty above all, the foggy creature would theorize. No... Not quite. It is not so much the modesty that she values, but rather the clothing itself. Does she care about her appearance...? Questions for later.

Meanwhile, as she analyzed Astrid, the chicks that had gone outside would be able to analyze the upper floors which had been outfitted with the interior design of what you would expect from such a high-class skyscraper. In total, there were four of them ahead, three of which were typical office spaces like the ones below while the last was more so a smaller, single office for one person that took the entire floor. Fancy. As to be expected, they were mostly full of harmless Humans who most likely would be unable to fight back against either of the creatures. They were office workers, secretaries, and janitors. However, that was the problem: they were "mostly" harmless. Among these Humans, there were three who actually possessed spiritual energy that were located at the very highest floor. Two of them were in front of a door, while the other was behind a desk. They did not possess huge amounts of spiritual energy, but it was significant enough that they would be able to see them. 

It was... odd. Very odd.

[Astrid Vess]

The chicks though they were given the order to hide weren't terribly concerned about "hiding" as they were more than aware that the humans before them couldn't see them. Still they occasionally acted like they were hiding if only by sticking to the edges of windows or flying in between the floors to allow them the means to gave at the humans. Though their flight paths to said spaces was direct and easily seen had any of them been capable of spiritual sight. The first three floors were similar as the one they'd initially left. Cubicles, open windows, a few machines (office and construction) and people. Though it looked as though the humans had heard enough noise from below to decide to investigate. The chicks however were still hungry and thus decided to split off. Three chicks would quietly fly back into the building and beeline for the stairway and wait in between floors for the individual to eventually make their way down.



In the meantime the last two chicks circled around the building as they flew up further. The next two floors were the same minus the concerned individuals. It seemed that only those on the level directly above Astrid and Sonadora were the only ones to hear anything strange. However when the chicks managed to get to the top floor thats when something didn't feel right. To be fair, the chicks were not superstars with sensing energy or their sensory faculties in general. They just happened to be much better than Astrid. However. . . They could feel a trickle of spiritual potency. And it was all on this last floor. In truth the chicks being two in number only cautiously cast a glance up. Not nearing the floor completely. That however didn't stop one chick from being watched by a man. One in a nice suit that had following thier movements while having a casual smoke.



The chick and eventually its companion were immediately concerned as they weren't used to being seen. They had a moment where they looked at one another, then the ominous man, and then immediately bolted away aiming for the floor where Astrid and Sonadora were at. In the meantime the other three chicks had made it very apparant to those on the floor above the two cannibals and said beings themselves that something was going on. Unlike the initial attack the three had pretty much just gone for an all out pack attack. The scream died, namely once the man in question had fallen the remainder of the way to the floor and was promptly killed by the impact. The chicks in the meantime fly down to gorge on him, soul included once it finally decided to show itself.



Astrid was immensely frustrated by her chicks. Sonadora wanted sneaky. THIS GORGING was anything BUT sneaky. Thus once she was clothed she let out a loud inhuman growl towards the three who immediately brought up their bloodied heads before shivering in fear. Fear of namely what Astrid would do since she was stalking her way over to them. The only reason the chicks weren't about to be choked out in front of Sonadora was because the other two came and damn near tackled Astrid. They were clearly worried about something and considering they came in the same way she'd ordered them out, that meant they saw something. The anxious chicks were priority number one but the other chicks she stomped her foot and growled out what could only be called a promise of death on their next fuck up. Said trio immediately flew off said body and perched themselves on Astrid's shoulders. Attempting to be as obedient as possible for fear of repercussion.



Astrid only grew more annoyed as she had her suit further bloodied. Still Sonadora needed Astrid to be useful. She needed to be useful for Sonadora to make this relationship work. Thus she took a breath and started growling out quietly to the chicks. The chicks took a moment to calm before they started squeak and make quiet sounds. It was highly unlikely that Sonadora could make out anything from this conversation however the look on Astrid's face only grew from frustrated. Thus whatever the conversation was about, wasn't likely to be what she wanted to hear. Once their talk was done Astrid let the two go finish off eating the human the other three had started. Meanwhile the trio knew effectively by Astrid low growl that they weren't allowed to move yet.



With one last growl Astrid ordered her wisps to go to the other stairway and climb up to the next floor. They nodded silently and quickly made their way up. Meanwhile her canine, who'd been gorging on bodies in the meantime walked over looking concerned. Astrid simply shook her head and pointed it towards the stairway to block it off. Orders given and the information recieved however, Astrid finally turned to Sonadora to let her know, as best she could, what were the results. "Sona. . Dora. . Chicks saw. . . humans. . . top place. . . Hmm. . . Humans see. . He see them. ." Then Astrid pointed to the body or what little remained of it as the group was nearly done consuming it. "Above heard. . . Sent down. . . chicks pushed him. . . Only above hear. . . only top see. . What do?"



Frustrated as Astrid was with things, in truth she was only upset for Sonadora's sake. She wanted stealth. Astrid simply killed without care for stealth. Then again though death to her is meaningless since she'd come back anyway. Sonadora. . . likely wasn't quite like that. In truth, Astrid didn't know what to do to fix things. Her chicks messed up but it seems that they likely had messed up in their own jobs as well. So now the question was how, if at all, Sonadora wanted to fix it. Or how did she want Astrid to try and fix it? Astrid knew what she'd do but she was following Sonadora so she wouldn't go make a rampage unless told to do such. In the meantime however she had sent her canine, the two chicks, and all the other wisps to ensure that both stairways were closed off. If someone else was dumb enough to come down they'd be killed near effortlessly. So as far as Astrid was concerned, they had more than enough time for Sonadora if she needed to think of something.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Human who saw chicks}

[Sonadora]

Sonadora awaited the return of the chicks which Astrid sprouted from her back with as much patience as she possibly could muster from her being. She stood there quietly and without a word over the carnage that they have left behind, like a wisp within a cloud of fog that was ready to steadily continue its deadly operation. Though she did nothing of note as she remained still, her otherworldly and rather mystical appearance granted her an image of authority and power, which was quite surprising given what she was meant to be. She was no higher Hollow, just a simple Stray, and yet her show in patience was enough to fully showcase that she acted more so similarly to an Adjuchas or even something more powerful. It was shocking, really. Something which mainly strove in planning and strategizing should not possess the ability to appear so intimidating, and yet she did seemingly without even showing much effort in doing so. 

Despite this, as patient as she appeared to be, that was not to say that this creature could remain as such forever. As mentioned previously, the operation has indeed been thus far quite successful, but they were naturally forbidden to waste their time, for it was very much against them. The bloodshed that has been committed caused many screams to resonate all throughout the floor. Since this building was a proper tower whose top floors rose high above the ground, it was doubtful that anyone below was able to hear the noise of the actions that were accomplished here. However, those who were above were most likely able to hear some of it. It is true that this floor was being worked on right before the construction workers were slaughtered, and so it was already loud to begin with, but a few odd noises must have also been heard, namely the louder yells and the shattering of bone. In so doing, there isn't much time left before one of the Humans above decide to investigate.

Even so, she waited. And waited. And waited still. At times, she would look towards the stairs to see if anyone was coming either above or below, ready to consume any more Souls if need be. She would also give a glance to the unfinished walls which gave both she and Astrid an idyllic view of Tokyo, analyzing its looks and listening to its sounds. For now, the policing forces of the Humans have not been alerted yet, or at least they haven't from what she could gather of the streets below. Really, the only thing that could be seen was just a typical evening for the people of the city, with busy streets and even busier sidewalks. That was good. What was even better was that there still were no spiritual entity other than themselves who were in plain sight. No patrolling Shinigami, no filthy Quincy, not even another Hollow who wanted to satiate their curiosity. If all goes well, no one will be able to be made aware of the result of this operation until tomorrow morning.

The chicks' work would unfortunately spell the end of what has so far been an immaculate operation. What was meant to be nothing more than a scouting operation turned into a murder, as for some reason that could not be explained right away, Astrid's creations returned with the body of a man. The sight of the lifeless Human was enough to cause the purple slits beyond Sonadora's fog to widen. She had obviously not been expecting these avian creatures to return to them with a corpse, and at a first glance, it almost seemed as though their action has put the entirety of the operation in jeopardy. Worse yet, it did not even seem as though their own creator had foreseen this would happen, as she would go on to quite literally threaten them after their return. So the creatures that she summons are not under her total control. They are truly pets... not mere slaves, she would note with a tinge of disappointment and frustration. How careless of me. I should have understood them as such from the beginning.

Without muttering a word at first, the creature would await her ally's explanation of the matter. She wanted to be informed of what happened while the chicks were scouting the upper floors, and as strange as she may be, Astrid was a childish being who currently trusted Sonadora to what appeared to be the fullest extent. It was very doubtful that she would be capable of lying to her, much less so achieve such a thing in a convincing fashion, and so the foggy creature made sure to listen to everything that she had to say. The chicks were unsurprisingly able to locate many Humans. This was to be entirely expected from this operation; after all, she herself had seen Humans on the top floors back when she was doing the scouting herself. However, it was what she said next that caught her attention. To summarize, while the chicks achieved this process, they were...  somehow spotted by a Human. In fact, they were spotted by the very Human who was currently lying on the floor in front of them.

This new piece of information caused the slits to widen again, then frown in thought with a quiet sigh. It was needless to say that the operation has now truly been put in jeopardy yet again. If these Humans are able to see Astrid's creations, then it means they are capable of sensing spiritual energy. How they are able to do so is a curiosity on its own, but at this point in time, it was better to not waste time wondering about how this was even possible. It was unclear how and where this particular Human was eliminated, but if there are other Humans in this building capable of sensing energy like him, then they will soon be unable to detect his. Once they are unable to do so, they will most likely declare an emergency throughout the entire tower and have it be evacuated as quickly as possible, which will inadvertently lead to the discovery of the bodies on the floor in construction. It was a very, very dangerous chain of events, and so they needed to prevent it as efficiently as they can.

As she remained there in thought, many plans would form in her head. Many of them involved action, while many others instead involved escaping to safety. A part of her obviously wanted to leave this place now so as to make sure she would not bring herself or her new ally into needless danger. She has seen what happens when a plain fails while she was with Teresa, and quite frankly, she does not want to see it happen again. However, the other part that formed her being believed that they have already gone far enough. Together, they have consumed more than thirty souls. Adding more to this number would not really change anything in the eyes of the Humans of Japan. They will most likely refer to it as a tragedy, yes, but they will do so whether that number is around thirty or around fifty. Moreover, those with spiritual energy will also most likely accelerate her process of becoming a higher being. One of them has already been consumed, but the others were still there.

The slits closed completely as she thought, making the Hollow appear almost only as a cloud of fog for a brief moment. Eventually, she would find what she believed to be the right course of action to follow, and would open turn her gaze back towards Astrid. "We proceed onward," she told her decisively as a sharp bloodied claw outstretched from the fog to point towards the canine and the avians. "Our goal now is to consume the Humans who are capable of witnessing us first and foremost before all of the other Humans. Without a voice to alert them of our presence, the other Humans will continue their work uninformed. Tell your summons to remain at the bottom of each stairs as guards. If they witness any Human, have them silence them first, then allow them to consume their soul at their heart's content." She believed her directives to be clear enough for Astrid to at least understand the basics of them. After everything was told, she would point towards the stairs and nod towards her ally. "Let us go. Follow closely."

And so, she would move up the stairs, doing so as quietly as she possibly could. She moved quickly, passing by multiple cubicles, printers, and busy Humans going about their day without giving them any attention. The fact that she was able to do so without bumping into anyone was rather impressive and a good show of agile furtiveness. At times, she would look over her shoulder to see where Astrid was behind her, and make sure to slow down if need be. Meanwhile, on the top floor, the other guard who was waiting in front of the door would frown quietly upon noticing that his comrade has not returned just yet, causing him to wonder why he was taking so long. If the two creatures take too long, he will most likely attempt to find him, and by then, things will go awry very quickly.

[Astrid Vess]

Astrid listened intently as Sonadora spoke. Having already been dedicating significant energy to using her mind so that she could be as useful as possible to Sonadora she found this set of orders a bit easier to understand. For one thing she'd already had the spirits split up and waiting at the bottom of the stairs. At this point she just needed to make sure they knew to remain at their locations, barring someone coming down. Glancing at the chicks on her shoulders Astrid took a moment to consider how she wanted to follow along. On her right shoulder was a singular chick, due to size constraints, meanwhile her left had the other two. She turned her head to the singular chick and growled out an order before pointing towards where the wisps were.



As for the other two she pointed at the stairway in front of her and growled loudly towards them. They flinched for a moment before immediately flying towards the other two presently finishing up the human body. Astrid in the meantime followed Sonadora to the stair way and eventually up it. She did however take a moment to grab her canine hollow. She pointed towards Sonadora before starting her trek up the stairs. The hollow took a moment to ponder the order before it dawned on it that Astrid wanted it to follow Sonadora. That was something it could do with ease. Astrid on the other hand started to charge up some reiatsu into her hands and quickly produced 5 sigils. A set of two went to each hand on its palm and the back of her hands. The last one stayed on her chest but slide under her clothes. If Sonadora wanted to stealth her way through the floor it wouldn't be that hard if they never had the means to see her.



Still there was distance restraints but that could be dealt with in the moment. She'd need to see what was going on first and foremost. Meanwhile in the other stairway the chick had relayed the order to have all but one wisp stay in the bottom of the stairwell. The chick and said wisp however ran and flew their way up the stairs. Once the spirits, Astrid and Sonadora were all on the same floor that's when things got . . .interesting. See while Sonadora was still a "spiritual" being and thus unable to be seen Astrid was not. And thus she'd need to figure out a way to keep the body and it's clothes in tact otherwise she'd have to abandon them. Thankfully though this is where her spirits came to mind.



While Sonadora had bobbed and weaved her way through the crowd, arriving at the other end successfully Astrid was a bit more. . . daring. For one thing she hadn't simply ordered the chick to keep the wisps at the bottom. She had ordered it to get a single wisp to the next floor. From there it was waiting patiently for Astrid to give another order to them. Meanwhile Astrid and her canine companion simply stayed in the stairwell until Sonadora was at the other side. Once she was on the other side Astrid nodded to her canine and placed a sigil on it. From there she spoke softly to it. "Growl out. . . inside. . . go in . . . a bit. Stop there." It nodded and walked into the room itself. It was very apparent almost immediately that it would need go growl because it'd otherwise knock over others given how large it was and how they were crowding near the entrance. The other side however. . . was not.



With the growl heard the wisp and chick looked at one another. The growl sounded aggressive which to them meant it must have meant for them to do something. Especially given what it came from. The wisp and the chick started "bumping into" and touching various equipment around. And with the floors still being worked on there was a number of industrial equipment that was available to mess with. It didn't take long for several saws, a welding machine, and pieces of metal rods to start moving about. The rods falling to the floor and causing the entire group to look to the opposite side of the room. While the machinery and equipment immediately had several run over to make sure that the equipment was turned off as soon as possible. This allowed the canine to walk up to 60 before stopping.



Astrid smiled as all eyes were on the invisible chick and it's wisp companion who kept messing with things. With a quick expenditure of reiatsu Astrid appeared on the back of her canine companion without making a sound. From here she simply let the her hound run to the other side and given it was spiritual, wouldn't make a sound that the humans could hear. As for her wisp and chick Astrid prompted her hound to howl out and get their attention. It worked and once they noticed her they immediately stopped what they were doing and ran after her. Astrid simply pointed to the stairwell on the other side. And then pointed up. The two on a dime shifted their direction and promptly went into the stairwell without any issue. From there given the chaos consuming the floor Astrid just let her ride take her within 60 feet of the stairwell. At that point she threw out a sigil at Sonadora's right hand. With another small expenditure she teleported next to her.



The only thing left for them to do was wait as her canine ran over. The wait was at most half a minute but still it took him a moment. Once he arrived Astrid looked at Sonadora and waited for her to say anything. If she didn't, she'd simply start to walk upstairs intent on trying to do the same thing again. Or at least whatever would work best. That's when it hit her though, Astrid hadn't told Sonadora what the sigil was for. She figured Sonadora, who'd kept an eye on her in the meantime was likely to figured it out already. She was far smarted than Astrid after all. But she figured she should tell her just in case while they were walking up the stairs. "That. . circle moves. . . things. Spirits. . Me. . stuff. . Keep on. . . It let me. . . reach you."

SPOILER: Click to show

{Reiatsu}
-250 for 5 sigils
-50 for teleporting twice

Total reiatsu used: 300

4,150 - 300 = 3,850 reiatsu remaining

[Sonadora]

Sonadora believed that it would not be very difficult for both she and Astrid to head towards their new destination. Though the floors ahead were occupied by a number of Humans, she was Hollow and therefore could not be seen by them. At the very least, it was very doubtful that they could see her, as they were not beings who have themselves witnessed many spiritual entities in their lives. In other words, aside from the Humans above and perhaps that one man which they have purposefully left behind unconscious within the floor in construction so that he would be framed for the bloody works of their operation, there is no other being in this building who should be granted the divine sight. Assuming that the creations of her ally were also Hollows by nature and not simple recreations, this same principle could also be applied to them, meaning that they too should theoretically be safe to travel upward without the fear of being spotted. So far, given that none of the workers had seen them prior, Sonadora believed this assumption to be factual, and so held no worries about them being seen.

What she hadn't taken into account, however, was how Astrid and her summoned beings were going to proceed. Astrid herself was going to be seen, as she resembled a Human at the moment and was capable of interacting with those who previously remained on the floor in construction shortly before their souls were consumed. In so doing, she would need to be able to appear as convincing as possible so that she could head onward towards the upper floor... which was unfortunately not something that the foggy being could trust for the time being. Although appearing as convincing as possible was not required on the last floor, she still acted rather strangely with that manager from before. Should Sonadora have not immediately began the attack on the workers thereafter, it is unclear how long her act would have gone on before the workers would have started believing that there was something wrong with her. If this means she cannot act as a normal Human very well, then this means she will have to try something else in order to blend in appropriately with the Humans around here.

Unfortunately, once the Hollow reached the stairs on the opposite end of the first floor, she would rapidly realize what her ally had in mind in order to cross the floor as safely as possible. With purple eyes that widened behind the fog, she would watch as the clumsy chicks Astrid has summoned would create a diversion by bumping into several tools that have been left on this floor by the construction workers from before. They would push a considerable amount of these tools in ways that would cause the Humans on this floor to let out various cries and exclamations. The object that appeared to have grabbed the most attention amongst them all were a collection of rods that were previously lying down against the floor as a pile until one of them fell from the pile. Naturally, this caused many of the workers to stand from their desks and have a look at what's happened to make sure no more accidents would occur this evening; after all, they were about to end their shifts in about two or three more hours.

Sonadora would simply watch the distraction job unfold in silence. Frankly, she wanted to be angry at Astrid for sticking to such a noisy plan. This could have gone on a lot more smoothly in a multitude of ways, and could have also gone a lot worse should the Humans have been less preoccupied by their work. Who knows what will happen if one of them would have attempted to investigate the matter a little bit further? However, considering the importance of the situation and its urgency, she concluded that now was not the time to berate her ally for her shoddy performance. Perhaps they will have a talk about this later in a safer place, but for now, they still needed to head onward to eliminate those who can become aware of their presence at any given moment. As such, just as the need to speak to Astrid would arise, she would rapidly bring it down with a quiet exhale before she would fully await the arrival of her ally by her side.

The disguised creature would reach her position with a method that the foggy being has not been made aware of as of today. To summarize, she appeared to have used some kind of spell to reach her, one that mainly functioned through the use of sigils. In fact, she appeared to have used several of these sigils as she came to her, namely by setting them on their familiars. For a moment, the Hollow attempted to decipher these sigils as she was not quite sure of their origin. They looked strange, oddly glyphic, which only further confirmed to her that Astrid was not a Hollow and most certainly not a Human. Eventually, Astrid herself would reveal to her the nature of these particular sigils by quite literally teleporting towards her position. "Thus, they act as anchors. I see..." the creature would briefly hum in understanding shortly after her ally made sure to explain it to her again. She will perhaps have to study these later, in time. "Then I will keep this on my person. Let us proceed."

The two of them would then go on to proceed onward once again towards the floors above to repeat the same process as before. Sonadora would go on stealthily while Astrid would instead continue with her distractions. Fortunately for the Hollow's sanity, there weren't as many Humans on the upper floors in comparison to the ones that have just left, seeing as the further they went up, the more managerial the positions these workers occupied became. Desks would progressively be replaced with conference rooms and private offices, and seeing it was so late, the most of them would be empty with only a few key exceptions. It made the act of moving through them much more easier, as Astrid's companions could move in through the halls without accidentally bumping into anyone who was crossing by; after all, it is quite rare for Humans with private offices to purposefully remove themselves from their personalized spaces, especially at this time of the day.

Finally, they would eventually reach the last floor. As they reached the stairs, the foggy being would approach carefully and look up. She could see the shadow of one of the men Astrid spoke of earlier against the staircase. He was somewhat fidgety, impatient, worried. It was clear that the fact his partner has not come back was starting to make him wonder what had happened to him, and the sight of him walking from one end of the floor ahead to the other was not a good thing to Sonadora. "He is going to cause a disturbance. We will have to eliminate him quickly," the being would explain to Astrid as quietly as she could so as to not be heard by the man above. After all, unlike the Humans below, this one would be able to hear them as he has an affinity for the spiritual sight. She would quietly ponder onto what needed to be done before she would let out a sigh and slowly expand some of the fog that was being generated from her body. "Follow me quietly. Do not let yourself be seen."

---

Meanwhile, the man above would await the return of his comrade more and more impatiently. "Come on, man, what's taking you so long?" He would tell himself as he slowly walked from one end of the room to the other. "Did you go take a shit or something?" His friend had left to take a smoke for quite some time now. Too long, in fact. Usually, they are supposed to take guard before this particular door as much as they possibly could for as long as the boss is here, with only a few pauses here and there. Sometimes, they could take a break, but the breaks could not take any longer than fifteen minutes. That was what their boss wanted out of them for optimal protection, and most of the time, that was what the boss got without any exception. So far, his friend had been gone for about twenty minutes, and there has been no sign of coming back anytime soon in the slightest. It was making him think that something had happened to him.

Just as he was about to convince himself to go, however, he would see someone come from the stairs. At first, this would cause him to frown as he readied himself for whoever was coming, though eventually, he would be able to notice that it was actually his partner. He was walking up the stairs rather calmly, keeping a straight face. "Finally. Man, what the hell were you doing?" The guard would let out in both exasperation and disbelief. On one hand, he was obviously glad to see his friend was alright, but on the other hand, he was very much bothered by the fact it took his friend so long to get back. "Did you go take a shit after your smoke or something? You know how this guy is whenever we don't stick to his rules."

As his would approach the guard, though, the latter's exasperation would slowly turn into confusion as he noticed a few things. Firstly, somehow, the room had become... foggy? It was rather hard to explain, especially since he hadn't noticed it right away, but everything had become whiter all of a sudden like a mist had suddenly rolled in. Even if this was meant to be a tower that was still being finished, something like this should not happen. It's not like there were any pipes in the area that could have burst. Secondly, his friend was oddly quiet. He had made no sound when it went up the steps, and he hasn't even muttered a word ever since he arrived. At the very least, he should have given the guard an excuse for having been gone like that. Thirdly, his friend's spiritual energy was... odd. It was as though it had suddenly jumped up to a point that it hasn't been to before. "Woah... Hey, are you... okay?" He would ask, taken aback by what he was seeing.

The smoker would not respond to his question. Instead, he simply rose his head and stared at his friend with a look of fear. His eyes were wide and his expression was overall quite worried. The guard would frown as he tried to understand what his friend wanted to say, though then, just as he was about to repeat his last question, he would saw something rise behind the smoker's back. It was difficult to see at first, though after he tried to decipher what it was, the guard's eyes would widen as well as he realized what it was. It was an arm. A bony, charred arm with small sharp claws. Upon the end of this observation and penultimate realization of what was happening, the guard would stare at his friend and freeze, leaving himself wide open as his mind attempted to find a solution that could allow them both to get out of this in one piece. Unfortunately, this moment of inaction - as brief as it was - would seal his fate.

The arm would lunge forward to pierce right through the smoker's face and bring forward the foggy beast that has been actually holding onto his back all this time. In the instant that followed the smoker's instant disappearance, his neck would be punctured by the claws of Sonadora's left arm, then just as he was about to scream, her right arm would reach for the inside of his mouth before closing its claws onto his tongue. He would hold onto the guard for some time as he struggled with great pain to remove her, kicking the gun that was resting in the holster attached to his right hip several times as she held onto him so that it would eventually find itself thrown away from his hands towards the stairs. It was a muffled and relatively-quiet murder that spilled blood all over the man and the creature as she then went on to bite his forehead with as much strength as she could muster. He simply had no chance to get out of this.

Eventually, the guard's struggle would become slower and slower until he fell on his back and weakly attempt to push Sonadora away. Finally, after some time, he would die, and the soul that was meant to crawl out of his body would immediately find itself behind the creature's maw. After the job was done, Sonadora would slowly raise herself from the man's chest with a light pant. Her fog slowly returned to its default minimal state around her body, and eventually, she would stand there with blood spilling under her. She stood there for a moment, making sure to keep an eye on the door that would lead them to the CEO's office before she spat a piece of flesh onto the floor below. "He will be aware of our presence now," her charred voice spoke to Astrid as she stood. "There is not a chance he has not sensed what has happened here... Again, we must be swift. Ready yourself, Astrid."

Soul(s) Consumed: Class 7 Human (NPC)

SPOILER: Click to show

{Techniques Used (Reiatsu: 880/900) }

Technique Name: Holy Veil

Technique Type: Custom Hollow Technique | Fog Manipulation

Technique Element: None

Usable by: Hollow

Class: 1-7

Technique Reiatsu Cost: 250 (Vasto Lorde), 40 (Adjuchas), 15 (Gillian), 10 (Stray)

Technique Description and Effects

A basic technique which represents Sonadora's control over her primordial ability. The creature allows minuscule pores present all over her skin to open, causing reiatsu formed in her body to be driven out in the form of a thick fog using her as its epicenter. The fog in question is white in appearance, draping the area in a veil of white that renders everything surrounding a living being difficult to perceive. From afar, it appears as a vaguely-cubic aerosol that is otherwise physically imperceptible from its natural counterpart. Its effects are in hindsight also identical to the latter's, rendering any environment it is present in damp and humid. Should a living being be present in this fog, the Embraced state will be applied to their soul. This allows Sonadora to sense their position in the fog by detecting the shape of the aerosol around the bodies of her targets, permitting her to identify what she may be facing depending on the information available to her, and employ the use of Daydreams against them in order to apply the Slumbered state to their soul.

Although its main supernatural use stops there, the fog can also be utilized in a more advanced fashion by the Hollow should it possess the mastery to do so, notably by using it as a form of camouflage or intimidation. For instance, with focus, she can bring the fog to only drape her body and make herself appear grander than she is with it. Additionally, this same focus can also allow her to forcibly push the epicenter of the fog away from herself for means of distraction or offense.


Drawbacks and Weaknesses

Considering that the fog is composed of Sonadora's own reiatsu, it can be difficult for the creature to keep it active in a certain area for a long period of time. Unless the fog is only delimited to the very pores of her skin, simply deciding to cover an area with it requires an initial amount of reiatsu to be spent depending on her Class. Once this value is spent, half of that value must then be spent again three posts later in order to maintain the fog. The fog's size and the range of visibility available to a being located within it are also rather limited as the both of these factors are as well delimited by the Hollow's Class. The values in question can be seen below:

Class	Maximum Size	Maximum Visibility
Vasto Lorde	100m	35m
Adjuchas	75m	30m
Gillian	50m	20m
Stray	25m	10m

The fog is also not invincible. Like any other normal fog, it can be pushed away by a large amount of hot air colliding with it so long as the air in question is also made with or simply affected by one's reiatsu. This rids any target which was previously located within it of the Embraced or Slumbered state if they are successful, removing Sonadora's influence upon their soul.

---

Technique Name: Messenger of God

Technique Type: Custom Hollow Technique | Daydream Being

Technique Element: None

Usable by: Hollow

Class: 1-7

Technique Reiatsu Cost: 250 (50% stats), 80 (25% stats), 10 (no stats)

Technique Description and Effects

The most powerful Daydream that Sonadora can ever conjure with the extent of her ability. The creature conjures what it refers to as a Messenger of God, the equivalent of a puppet at her disposal. It possesses no thoughts or free will, and bends itself to all the commands that the Hollow gives to it. Without command, they are devoid of motion. The totality of its appearance can be decided by Sonadora altogether, which can allow them to appear as a member of any race, even mindless animals. This, for instance, allows them to appear as mere bystanders during battle or as a clone of a target.

The primary purpose of a Messenger of God is to provide trickery and confusion on a battlefield. They are to be used as decoys or as mere elements of the environment to distract targets from danger. Due to this, they are rather weak and, if stricken, can be easily defeated. However, alternatively, a Messenger can also be blessed with a fraction of Sonadora's power in order to act as a proper weapon at her disposal once the Hollow becomes an Adjuchas. These Messengers possess either a quarter or half of the Hollow's stats, and can fight on her behalf for at least three posts before she needs to spend any more reiatsu to maintain them on the field. Once she reaches the state of Vasto Lorde, she will be able to create Messengers possessing half of her stats.

All attacks received from a Messenger of God applies 50 Fatigue to a target if they possess half of Sonadora's stats. Otherwise, they instead apply 25 Fatigue.


Drawbacks and Weaknesses

Despite how convincing it may seem, the appearance of a Messenger of God is not perfect, as there are many signs within it which can reveal its true nature to targets. Like any Daydream, it is incapable of actually causing any physical damage to a target, as it instead only conveys exhaustion, meaning that it cannot actually have any effect on the environment, no matter how many times they may attempt to damage it. This includes Messengers which happen to possess weaponry such as Zanpakuto, Fullbring, Dolls, fangs or claws. They leave no fingerprints or footprints, cannot apply pressure to an object surrounding them, and cannot be affected by something like snow or rain. Additionally, they are also incapable of executing ranged attacks as they must explicitly hit the target with a melee attack in order to cause any exhaustion to it. Any ranged attack caused by them is only an illusion and cannot be treated as real.

[Astrid Vess]

Astrid was glad things went as well as she'd hoped. Mind you it wasn't the most incredible idea she'd ever had, but it was certainly the most thought out. In addition to being a plan with the least number of spirits involved. Astrid would have to keep this in mind later as perhaps it could work in the forest when she returned to Hell. In the meantime, though as she walked up the stairs, she kept her eyes on Sonadora, hopeful that she too would be glad of how things panned out. Sadly, that did not seem to be the case. Sonadora looked tensed again, likely due to her idea. A part of Astrid wanted to question it but given how curt her response was to the sigil she'd given her, Astrid felt certain that this was better dealt with later. . . if at all. In truth she'd rather not actually hear about how she upset Sonadora.

Thankfully though the next floors were about the same. Sonadora waltzed to the other side and Astrid made a distraction as necessary. The last floor practically didn't need it however as there were so few individuals around, and such a lack of offices, that really all Astrid had to do was ride her hound to the other side. She was in fact "silent" to the not spiritually inclined given her canine hollow was entirely spiritual. Eventually however the two finally made it to the topmost floor and that's when Sondora motioned her to stop and let her think. Astrid in the meantime simply nodded and sure he spirits in question did the same. Which at this point and time were simply a chick, a wisp, and her canine companion. As far as Astrid was concerned. . . this was entirely too few around her. She'd have much preferred to have half but such was the way things went, when you followed another's plans.

Speaking of plans however Sonadora had determined how she'd go about hers and had bid her to stay out of sight. Thus to make sure Sonadora didn't have any mess ups regarding herself, Astrid just stayed in the stairway. Certain that if nothing else she'd fare better without her being "present" actively. What she saw however made her eyes go wide. For one thing Sonadora was expanding the fog that was on her person and it was filling up the space rapidly. For another thing, she'd conjured up a person. . . At least. . . Astrid thought it was a person. Her spirits on the other hand, were less convinced. The strange thing to Astrid however was that Sonadora had conjured up the individual that the chicks had knocked down and killed.

Astrid tilted her head as she tried to think but ultimately came up with nothing. It couldn't be the soul. Astrid already had that one within her. And the body remained downstairs. She shook her head, having thought for so long, let alone this hard, made her immensely hungry and tired her out more than physically attacking the humans from before. If nothing else, it made her respect Sonadora that much more for showing little to no signs of being tired. . . If she was tired at all. Astrid was still struggling all the while with this "thinking" thing. But this would be good practice for her. Or rather it would have been had she not seen exactly what Sonadora was doing. Her eyes widened as she'd hid behind her conjured man and attacked once the man was within close proximity. The fact it was damn near silent and quick enough to boot was impressive.

Astrid was about to walk in, given Sonadora was feeding on the soul until her foot hit something. Looking down she'd found said gun that Sonadora had kicked away. It was a pistol and looked like it was in good condition. Though that really didn't mean much of anything given she had no idea what this thing was. Still, she didn't have time to study it but she did know who might be able to tell her about it once this was all over. Thus she reached down and picked it up before putting it into her jacket pocket. Albeit clumsily. Turns out the inner pocket really wasn't meant for a gun of all things and even when she had the jacket closed it was fairly easy to see. But in all honesty, where else would she put it? In between her pants and waist? That'd be crazy. And the pants pockets certainly couldn't hold the thing. It'd just be in the way there.

Thus without any further delay she walked up to Sonadora with her spirits in tow. Sonadora quickly spoke to her and in truth, Astrid almost lost herself a little as she stared at Sonadora covered in blood from the fresh kill. She was certainly something Astrid aspired to be someday. Capable, intelligent, and powerful if the last display was anything to go off of. Still she couldn't focus on Sonadora until after they were done with this hunt. And frankly this thing had gone on for far too long. Astrid and all her spirits just wanted to eat. Thus Astrid got onto the backside of her hound and growled out to her spirits. The chick and the hound immediately began to charge up a bala and cero respectively, though they were noticeably darker and looked denser. Meanwhile the wisp simply walked over and took the last sigil from Astrid's hand and placed it upon it's backside.

Astrid was ready. It seemed Sonadora was a well. Thus Astrid decided it was time to finish the hunt the way she did them. Or rather attempted to do them. Usually her game was stronger than these human weaklings. So this time it should work. Without further wait the chick fired off the bala at the door and blasted them open. It was admittedly loud enough given wood breaking and the remainder of the doors coming off the hinges. Thankfully the other floors still had things being fixed given her prior orders so it was very unlikely anyone was paying attention. After the bala broke the door down the hound let out it's cero through the door. It ultimately covered about half the total space the double doors used to exist in. And not a moment later glass was easily heard as it had been shattered by the blast.

From there Astrid ordered all her spirits to enter the room, first with the wisp, the chick, and lastly she'd follow with her hound. It was time to end things. And given her spirits capabilities, she felt certain that they'd manage it well. Hopefully without Sonadora even having to lift a finger to do anything. If nothing else, hopefully this would prove to her that Astrid was a capable ally. One worth keeping around. But that all was to be determined by how quickly the last human was brought down, at least as far as Astrid was concerned. Hopefully though, it wouldn't be that hard. They were just human after all.

[Sonadora]

It was difficult for Sonadora to properly count how many times her nature as enticed her to consume. Every time she sees a Human, there is a part of her that wishes to push her forward and compel her to bite their head off. Men, women, young, old... Not even the potency of their soul matters. In a way, it was as though that foolish and depraved part of herself was purely designed to eat. Even now, as she stood there covered in the blood of the guard she just murdered, the monster whispered words and integrated them within her thoughts. His soul is not enough. You must devour all that is left to him, it would tell her as it attempted to force her to give up and become what her fate demanded she turn into. Rip his arms and legs off. Claw off his eyes, his teeth, his brain, and any other thing he may now never need again. Skin him, cut the meat off his bones, maybe even consume the bones. The demands came, each as beastly as the last.

Even so, she didn't cave in to them. Not to the words that were whispered to her in her minds, not to the taste in her mouth and the scent of the soul behind that door, not even to the memories of Fujiyoshida that constantly displayed to her the gruesome activity of the monster she had been transformed into by her hunger then. Despite being covered in the blood of her victim and having so many terrible thoughts plague her mind, she shielded herself from the latter and persevered. The reason why that was for the time being was rather simple: it was because she and Astrid both needed her sanity to proceed. Without it, they will be found alongside the corpses they have left behind on that unfinished floor, and from there on, they will be in eventual danger from the Shinigami. However, there was also another reason, one that was much grander and much more important to Sonadora in comparison, and that was her Cambio.

Perhaps one day, she will find the permanent trust in Astrid to convey her great plan to her. Once that time comes, she will inform them of what has set her back to this pathetic form, what she intends to do from there on out, and where the odd creature could be positioned within it. But now was not that time. Now, they needed to proceed. There was only a single soul worthy of the spiritual sight left in this building, and he was standing behind these doors. The possibility that he had not actually detected the demise of the smoking bodyguard was there as it didn't seem as though there had been any agitation once he was gone, but now that this particular guard has been removed, there was no chance he wasn't readying himself for what was to come. As quiet as she attempted to be in the process of consuming this particular soul, he must have heard the commotion or detected the loss of spiritual energy from this side of the door. 

The purple slits within the fog gazed at the door once her attention was fully detached from the fallen guard. Naturally, after telling Astrid to ready herself, she would attempt to formulate a plan to be used against whoever is standing behind that door. So far, their assault has been effectively quiet. Aside from the obvious outlier, nobody else in this building was aware of their presence. Contingencies have also been properly established to make sure no Human from the floors presently underneath them would attempt to walk into the unfinished one currently occupied by the corpses of the construction workers. Unfortunately, there is most likely no chance this will be quiet, especially if this particular person has potent spiritual energy within him. If they can do this rapidly enough, however, that person will not be able to inform the rest of the Humans in this building of their presence, and thus will be unable to cause a stir. So then... the question now is how they are actually going to be able to accomplish such a feat.

Then, without so much as a warning, a hum came from the maws of one of Astrid's chicks and hound, causing Sonadora to turn her attention towards them. What she saw then caused her quite a fair bit of surprise. It took a moment for her to identify them at first, but soon, she would realize what the two summoned creatures were being ordered to launch. A Bala and a Cero... she almost muttered underneath her breath, taken aback by the mere fact Astrid's creatures were even able of executing these two attacks. The both of them were techniques composed by members of Hollowkind long ago, and the both of them were extensively used even by Sonadora back when she was not imprisoned within this weak body. She understood that the creatures were meant to be Hollows and so were supposed to be capable of executing those attacks, but so far, she had only believed them to be Hollows only by word and nothing else. This somewhat confirmed that they at least very close replicas of true Hollows. Moreover, this also confirmed that they or Astrid were quite powerful, as executing a Cero is no mere feat. What an absolutely puzzling being.

Sonadora would remain there in her fog astounded, still very much surprised by how powerful Astrid really seemed to be after all, and so would not say a thing about the Bala and the Cero as they were being executed. Instead, she would watch as the spiritual bullet was shot forward into the door, causing it to be blasted back right off its hinges onto the floor behind it, and then paved the way for the beam that followed it. Said beam would annihilate the door and much that stood in its path, turning everything it touched to nothingness. By the time it had accomplished its work and vanished, what would be revealed to both creatures would be a ruined room which could barely be recognized as an office anymore. Its floor and much of the furniture which somehow survived the Cero were both now stained by burn marks, and the windows had been broken in such a way by the beam that barely any pieces of glass had flown off despite it not being almost completely destroyed. It was a sight to behold, one that the foggy being could not help but commend. "Wonderful work," she praised.

However, there was a problem. Although much of the office was now ruined, it didn't seem as though there were any casualties. There was no blood, corpse, or even a spirit wandering about. All that rested upon the scorched floor were empty sheets of paper and unremarkable tools, like pens or a stapler. In response to this, the foggy beast would carefully step forward, her eyes wandering from left to right as she allowed her fog to expand once again. The white veil reached far and wide, even going through the roof, though not through the broken window. There was... no one here. She could not detect anything around here which was alive or resembled a Human being. Whoever was meant to occupy this space had left. That was impossible. Absolutely, utterly impossible! There were no exits here, no ways for them to leave! There wasn't even an elevator here or some kind of secret stairwell like those Humans tend to appreciate seeing in some of their ridiculous pieces of entertainment! And yet, they were gone.

This realization would immediately cause a stir within Sonadora's heart for a moment until she saw a particular paper in one corner of the room. Unlike the other sheets which lied on the floor that were empty, this one actually had a fair bit of writing onto them which was drawn in a red ink, of all colors. The being remained cautious for a moment, simply standing there as she analyzed the distant sheet, though eventually, she would find herself heading forward and grabbing the paper off the ground. As she read the paper, she would be quiet with the slits beyond the fog frowning. However, eventually, the splits would lighten and she would hum quietly. Eventually, she would simply throw the paper away and return to Astrid. "Consume the Humans below with the summons you have left behind," her charred voice would say as she calmly headed out of the office back towards the stairs. A gift to appease, to pay her back for this particular soul they have both missed. "We will make our leave thereafter."

[Astrid Vess]

Astrid smiled widely as she rode in her canine stead. Ready and raring for a fight. . . only to not find one. In fact, the office itself really didn't have much left in it from the cero and bala combo. This immediately made Astrid frown before she growled out a search order for her spirits. She let her hound search on its own once she dismounted from its backside. Meanwhile Astrid just looked over things before going back to Sonadora. She could claim the person to be here was dead on arrival. . . but Astrid really didn't have the means of speaking to that. And though she wanted to make Sonadora happy with her work she wasn't certain she'd do that without. Hell, when Sonadora walked in and checked the room herself Astrid got incredibly tense. The human body she was in started to sweat a little bit even as she was incredibly worried about displeasing her.

She'd cast a quick glance to her spirits who were present with them and none of them gave any inclination towards someone being hidden. . . or even present in the first place. Astrid was not pleased by any stretch, but she couldn't really be mad at them. If anything, it almost seemed like no one was here in the first place. Which that didn't make any sense at all. Who puts guards somewhere with nothing at all? It wasn't something even with all the brainpower at her disposal that she could figure out. Thus, she didn't. Instead, she simply waited Sonadora to tell her what she wanted to do next. If anything. Though Astrid had a hunch it'd be kill the remaining humans. An easy task and one that really only required her chick to relay to the others. But for the moment she simply waited and watched.

It was a good long few minutes before Sonadora even looked back at Astrid. And the entire time Astrid was only getting more nervous and concerned. She wondered if she'd get yelled at or perhaps assaulted by Sonadora. The latter wasn't exactly her style given she was a thinker more than a fighter. But that didn't mean she couldn't be mad enough to do so. However, when she finally did look back at her and spoke, Astrid finally breathed a sigh of relief. With a smile on her face, she looked towards the chick and utter out a simple word. "Feed." The chick immediately in delight flew away at maximum speed to the stairway and down it. She motioned for the wisp to do the same meanwhile she kept her hound with her. Couldn't be too careful given what had just happened. With Sonadora leading the way between the last three of them, Astrid simply followed along quietly.

The remainder of the levels and their humans were pathetically easy to kill off. The chick having made it to the bottom well before the trio could make it to the second floor below them. The sounds of those screaming in agony and dying were easily heard by the group as they travelled down. And with her canine companion with them, Astrid made it her distinct goal to blast every human along the way into oblivion via bala. This effectively meant the majority had no torsos to speak of, though a few managed to get their heads blown off instead. The souls that came out were offered to Sonadora however as Astrid would simply feed along with her spirits on the third floor down. By the time the entire crew of spirits were met up by Sonadora, Astrid and her canine, the third floor was completely devoured in body and soul. Much to her canine's disappointment. Still Astrid had given it a couple bodies from above, so it wasn't as though it'd been completely devoid of eating.

Still all that remained were the dying souls of those on the second floor as the floor beneath the CEO room was completely killed off and given to Sonadora. From here Astrid simply had her spirits stationed around the floor and at the stairways while she hung around and watched Sonadora eat her fill. Astrid herself hadn't eaten anything and had no intention to eat anything. Sonadora was going to need the souls far more than Astrid would. She'd already gotten a large number of souls given those consumed by her spirits ultimately came back to her. Not that she could articulate that to Sonadora but it wasn't really important anyway. What mattered was the other getting her fill safely. In case something else decided to show up. Though given the generally quiet nature of this event? Astrid figured it was unlikely.

Once Sonadora was done and any final words were said Astrid simply smiled at her. "Sona. . . dora. . . Will. . . hunt. . . again. . Us. . pack. . Meet . . . again." Sonadora may have her paranoias about others but there was in no way this could be considered anything less than genuine. Astrid didn't really know how to hide her emotions at the present and her joy at having a friend, and one she had managed to help, was worth more than the souls her spirits ate. If Astrid had anything that could have made it easier to meet she'd have given it or used whatever power. But sadly that was out of her means. For now though she had what she came for and more. A body to use. A gun to ask Orobas or Alastor about. A packmate, and a collection of fresh souls to help her grown further as well.

Though this style of hunt wasn't her forte or even the most enjoyable she wasn't displeased by it. She'd have to ask Sonadora to teach her to do these later when she was more capable. For now, though she simply would say her piece, return the spirits to her, all of which looking like petals that snuck under her clothing. And from there she jumped out the window closest to her. If Sonadora was quick enough she'd see that a portal to hell would open up before Astrid even went 4 floors down. It showed a room of exceptional wealth and decadence before quickly disappearing with Astrid in tow.

[Sonadora]

Sonadora held no surprise when she noticed Astrid's displeasure shortly after they entered the now-demolished room meant to be held by the leader of the Nakajima Pharmaceutical Company. What was supposed to be a stronghold maintained by a Human supposedly endowed the spiritual sight ended up being nothing more than a mere area to be vandalized guarded by two inept gunmen. In a way, she too was disappointed by the fact that the person who stood behind those doors prior to their destruction had apparently fled the scene without so much as a hint as to where they could have gone. Battling them would have most likely been difficult, or at least more difficult than the act of taking care of the guards, yet it would have most likely been rewarding; after all, if the guards were both granted the spiritual sight and therefore had a richer soul, this one would have most likely been more powerful than them in one way or another. It would be strange if it were not the case, given that they were their leader.

However, even if that little disappointment somewhat remained as she proceed out of the room and ordered Astrid to unleash her creations onto the unaware workers below, the existence of the letter this person left behind was enough to bring her an adequate amount of satisfaction. She did not need to fight them today, or perhaps ever. Defeating them has never really been the goal of this operation. Rather, the goal of this operation was to consume the Humans who occupied this building from a certain vantage point, and to frame it on a particular Human. That was all that she needed to do when she came here, nothing more, nothing less. Anything that occurred during this operation with this Nakajima group were just details that she needed to take into account. Considering this, there was only one thing that she could say about this whole operation as she moved back towards the stairs and proceeded down to the lower floors.

This operation was a complete success.

How long has it been since she has actually seen one of her plans actually conclude on a positive note? Sonadora could not recall. Every day since she has suffered the astral punishment that filthy Shinigami has set upon her, she has seen countless amount of her plans be lay to waste by outside factors that was totally out of her control. She was compelled to flee countless homes from the guardians of Humanity while she was preparing her victims for eternal nourishment, compelled to battle a rival Hollow who consumed almost every soul she had prepared then for herself, compelled to face another powerful Shinigami warrior whom she had never once heard of in her past and thus subsequently flee his potential wrath, compelled to distance herself from Tokyo and conduct a calculated massacre within Fujiyoshida at the mercy of her very own anatomy... all those failures that should've never happened, all those setbacks. It made her more and more frustrated.

But now, as she descended the stairs and witnessed Astrid's massacre, she found joy, satisfaction. Finally. Finally, one of her plans that she has prepared with this weakened body proved to be successful. Finally, one of her plans went well. She has not only consumed a plentiful amount of Humans that the failure of her previous plans had almost condemned her to never once believe she could access, including a guard that had a notable amount of spiritual power within him, but also has made a very notable ally in the form of this unknown being. Unlike Teresa, she knew that this ally - this child who only seeks to constantly please - would always stay by her side for many years to come, and knew that she could trust her to the fullest extent. In other, simpler terms... she has grown ever closer to her return to the true form she has lost to that accursed Shinigami, all the while moving ever forward towards the beginning of a great alliance. Beautiful.

It was with this joyful heart that she went on to consume the souls Astrid granted to her. Letting go of the angers, the frustrations and the fears that had grown within her mind, she would grab the souls and tear them asunder. As they shrieked in confusion and caused the hallway to become a cacophony of suffering, she would bask in their pain and feed. The skin would be ripped off from muscle, the muscle would be ripped off from bone. At times, an eye or a tooth would fly off, though it was nothing compared to the blood that would be ejected from the bodies of the fallen. After a point, it became as bloody as the floor in construction. It was all disgusting, of course, something that Sonadora did not really appreciate doing as it left her all dirty and unclean. However, for once in this this devalued life, she did not find the hatred she usually held for it. Her joy, her satisfaction, her pleasure was simply too strong. She had needed this.

Soul(s) Consumed: 10x Class 8 Human (NPC)

Once there was nothing more that remained of the souls granted to her, the foggy being would let out a quiet sigh and attempt to stand up again before Astrid. For a moment, the slits would move within the fog in correspondence with the upward movement of her head as she tried to listen. There was nothing, only silence. No alarms, no cries for help or pain, no police sirens. All there remained in this building now was the quiet sound of death. "I truly could not have asked for a better result," her charred voice would speak as she stood there. Even though she had made sure to wipe off some of the blood that had remained on her body moments prior, there were still a few drop of the red liquid that could be seen falling from the fog as she turned herself towards the allied creature. Not that it would ultimately matter for the both of them; after all, blood has long since become a common sight to their corrupted eyes.

The summoner would go on to tell her goodbyes to Sonadora. Though it was just as difficult for her to speak, she was unsurprisingly quite happy with the outcome, enough so to refer to the foggy being as a member of a pack. The Hollow felt that the term was a bit too beastly for her liking, but she did not express the feelings she held about it. Instead, the slits in the fog would soften and her charred voice would be heard again: "Indeed, we shall." Those were honest words. There was denying that they were now true allies, and that they were going to "hunt" - as the other creature explained - once again very soon. Perhaps one day, they shall even reach the end of her Cambio together, and remain together in the world she is envisioning. One day. "Until next time, Astrid. May our future hunts forever be as fruitful."

And with that, the beasts would go on their separate ways, fulfilled.

---

Kaneyama Tani was a confused man. He currently sat on his bed within a cell of Fuchū Prison a few days after he was picked up by the police. He was alone, bewildered, and terribly fearful. In the matter of what seemed to only be but a few days, his life was arguably ruined. The people who he had met at his job - his coworkers, his manager, and the people that had hired his team to accomplish work on the Nakajima Tower - have been apparently murdered in what was considered to be amongst the most terrible killing sprees to have ever occurred in the history of modern Japan, and the people believed that he was the one responsible for it all. They said that, since he was the only one who had survived the attack and a few of the construction tools that were used to apparently kill all those people had his fingerprints on them, he was ultimately a killer, a monster. The police believed it so, the people of his country believed it so, and from the looks of it... even those from the rest of the world believed it so.

Yet he had done nothing. He had told them several times that he did not remember actually wielding the tools that were used to kill the victims, that he had no memories of actually accomplishing any of these murders, that he was not a monster. He even told them that this was the work of a ghost. Unfortunately, no matter how hard hard he attempted to convince the policemen and then his prison guards, it was futile. No one believed him, of course, constantly telling him that he was only using excuses to push away the blame for what's happened. Some of the guards even threatened him, telling him that they would punish him if he ever mentioned the ghost again. There were a few who even told him that he was not welcome at all in this facility and that he was going to be sent to Tokyo's Detention House in a few more days for his judgement. It was a horrifying nightmare, and quite unfortunately for him, it seemed that he could not wake himself up from this one.

As he remained on his bed, he just sat and stared at the wall in silence. Much like the days that preceded this moment, he would try to think and perhaps find an explanation for this mess he was in, something which had become a bit of a daily ritual for Tani. For a moment, he started to believe that some of the comments the guards shot at him were right, that he was insane and that he somehow went on a killing spree in a sort of psychotic episode. Maybe he had a medical or psychological condition he had been unaware of for the longest time until the worst time came for it to surface. Perhaps this condition, in turn, made him imagine the ghost before he found himself passing out and become somebody else. He had heard about a condition like that; in fact, he was sure he has seen something like it being portrayed in one of the shows that run on television from time to time. Maybe it was that. Maybe that was what brought him here.

Either way, it did not matter now. Regardless of what the reason behind this disaster may be, he was condemned and there was no way he was going to get out of here. It seemed to be his fate, in a way. The more he found himself accepting this, the more regretful he started to become. For so long, he had lived his life without any interests or hobbies, all so that he could accomplish his job and live comfortably. Now, he was starting to realize that that decision of his may have been a mistake. Faced with what appeared to be certain death at hands of the men of the Detention House, he would begin to understand that he perhaps should have gone on to experience other things than work. He should have read books, gone hiking or fishing. He should have even tried things that were totally out of his comfort zone like collecting figurines or playing video games. That could have granted him something fresh and new. He was not going to experience any of those things now. His chance to do so has long since passed.

But as he reserved himself to this unavoidable fate, he would not notice that a single man was heading towards his prison cell. He was accompanied with two guards of the prison, and he seemed to be well-kept. He had combed his black hair back seemingly with great care, held glasses in front of his eyes, and wore what appeared to be an office suit. At best, he could be described as being in his very early twenties. Nevertheless, it was hard to believe that he was, and it was all thanks to an awful scar which rested on his left cheek. It appeared to be some sort of blade wound that has since healed, though judging by its size, it was difficult to tell at first. Even the prison guards found themselves slightly unsettled by its presence. Even so, they would eventually guide him towards Tani's door. "Open it," he would tell them with a voice that was somewhat higher-pitched. Again, the guards were unsettled, though they would eventually open the door.

Tani would simply watch the young man enter his cell in a bit of disbelief. He was not sure who he was supposed to be, but there was something about him that he felt was undoubtedly strange. He could sense something from him, an aura of sorts. "... Who are you?" He would eventually find himself asking in an attempt to understand who this man was supposed to be. In response, the man would straighten himself a bit before he would speak:

"My name is Chiba Chimon, representative of Nakajima Pharmaceutical. I am here to bring you out of this place."

It took a moment for the prisoner to properly understand what had just been told to him, and so for a moment, he sat there completely still. Eventually, he believed he found the strength to speak: "What...? I don't understand."

"Your understanding is not required as of yet. Get up, and follow me. The guards and I will escort you out of the prison."

The simple man had no idea of what was happening. All so suddenly, for yet another reason he could not explain, it seemed he had garnered the attention of the company that he believed would have hated him the most, given the location of the massacre. Even so, he would stand up in his confusion, and head onward with the man outside of his cell. However, as he did so, a feeling would be born inside of him. The dread and fear he had been experiencing in that prison cell was slowly evaporating, instead replaced with a bit of hope. He did not know where he was being lead, and quite frankly, this young man was scaring him a bit. Yet, for all intents and purposes, it seemed that he was heading towards a better place. Perhaps this is the chance he maybe needed in the moment, the chance to do something with his life that was less simple and instead more enjoyable.

Here's hoping that it is not just another executioner's block in disguise.

[ E N D ]

[Jeff Franklin]

I counted a total of 188 Paragraphs between the both of you, giving both 940 TP. Sonadora consumed a total of 45 Class 8-7 Humans giving 2,700 TP. Due to Hollow rules if Sonadora converts their 940 TP into CTP it's at a 2:1 ratio.