Jumping Jagged Jagras! [NDE, Medium Adventure]

[Arantima Kawada]

Arantima watched all of the reactions from the gathered group of people, and just smirked at most of them until he heard the young stitched woman go off with a stern tone he had not heard from a woman since he had heard Hotaru Kuchiki talk to his own Zanpakuto spirit. Arantima walked over towards Mizuki and looked her up and down, he looked pleased surprisingly as he took a single step and disappeared from view. There would be few present that would have the ability to track that there was even travel time between where he had left and where he was now standing which would be directly in front of Mizuki Otsuka.

He leaned in closer to her so she could smell the soft and sweet scent coming off of him and feel the soft and gentle breeze that seemed to always constantly blow his hair as if he was an anime protagonist. "What do I gain? What am I after and what do I want?" The answer is actually quite simple but I am actually quite glad someone asked." Arantima stood up to his full height and looked at the Gathered group. "All of you are here for your own reasons. But you are also all here for me to Reach a hand out into this Human world for networking. Whatever you decide to do today.. Know that at the end you will all be given a way to communicate with me in the future, as well as for me to communicate with you for future jobs, training or any other reasons."

His eyes had turned over completely Golden and his Skin had started to turn from flesh into golden scales, his hair was turning to golden filament and the ground beneath him was beginning to show signs of a heavy weight being placed upon it. When he turned to walk away from Mizuki there were clear and present phantom versions of himself that stepped just slightly behind the main body of Arantima. As he was walking back to his original starting position near the edge of the clearing a rustle from a nearby bush and a raspy hiss from the same bush as a Large 6 foot long 3 foot high Lizard creature lept out towards Arantima and a hand shot out from Arantima's shoulder to crack the Jaw of the Lizard beast clean off as the main body sat down in his chair.

The arm that shot out was a version of Arantima that was standing straight up still and looked to all those present before it itself started to sit down and cause the chair to sink into the earth. "They have started to come towards the smell of high density spirit particles.. I suggest that you all head out and show me that this experiment was worth the time and funding hmm?"

He looked towards Mizuki once again after he was settled and comfortable "And you.. Mizuki Otsuka. The one with the heart to challenge me with your words. Take pride in what you showed me today. I will be calling on you specifically in the future.. Plan on that."

[Akio Naito]

He nodded with approval to Inozen's comment on nature finding a balance. "New souls have to be entering the flow from somewhere. I have a theory on where, but this is not the time." He already knew that a constant trickle of souls were being lost, with or without the role quincy played as destroyers. While he wasn't aware of the situation in other layers of existence, the mortal realm's population growth had already convinced him that there had to be a counterweight somewhere in the greater scheme of things. He had initially assumed the shinigami already knew, though he was in no position to question them about cosmology, or anyone else really.

Bandaged hands pressed against the table for support, Akio had been shaking as he caught his breath. The damage he'd taken in the process of absorbing Arantima's energy had been superficial at best, even so, it still dredged unpleasant memories to the surface of his thoughts. The fake quincy had nearly killed himself in a previous attempt to absorb a clump of foreign spirit energy, and seeing his own arms to either side of the map had given a further reminder that hadn't fully healed from that. From what he could hear and while his eyes traced out a path across the map's simplified version of the surrounding jungle, the other hired hunters had a relatively time absorbing their benefactor's reiatsu. There was still a clear gulf between those who only showed signs of the pain and discomfort that came from having taken in energy beyond their normal capacity, and those who struggled with the mental or emotional toll of having a particular fragment of their inner self quickened by that energy.

Then Mizuki's whisper stole Akio's attention, pushed the limits of what he was willing to let slide. "Careful with those accusations. I haven't lied to you, I'm only an average spellcaster, a sacred artist if you'd prefer." That was as the term he'd settled on for those who relied on ginto, kido, or similar methods that shaped spells from soul and prayer. It was also the only category Akio felt comfortable identifying himself as. given how he'd been able to excel at it with what limited resources were available. Besides, calling himself a quincy would have been the lie here, it implied culture, heritage, a background he didn't have.

The manifestation of Eleonora's bow and arrival of a hostile lizard had both torn his attention away from the map. Probably for the best, he'd spent too long trying to think through the hunt, the time for action had come. Shifting his weight off of the table as he stopped using it for support, he adjusted his coat, turned on a heel, then walked out of the clearing in the direction of the nest. "Come along, we still have work to do." He said, beckoning for anyone who wanted to stay in a group to follow him out on the map's provided path.

[ChaosMystic]

Inozen stood hunched over still, coping with symptoms of headache, and malaise. As Mizuka took a direct approach to seeking answers from Arantima, a weary Inozen was diagnosing his own condition, to which he had a whole lifetime as a human for guidance. He remembered clearly how the magnificently decorated and garnished blade of the Kawada burned into golden flames to the hilt. He had to surmise that the spell or ability that was being used to distribute Arantima's energy was a fire-natured catalyst. Inozen let out a smile as Mizuka continued, he observed that her personality was predominately yang-energy; fierce and outgoing, a sharp contrast to his very own yin-dominant nature which made him introverted and intuitive. This realization aided his diagnosis; yin-energy is predominantly cold...and the signs indicated that the spell was fire.

It became clear that he had side-effects due to the contrast of elements. His instinct to chug the water was correct, because it allowed the malaise and headache to subside and the nausea and stomachache were cured. The diagnosis: internal spell induced dehydration. His conclusion; here in the afterlife as a soul, he was indeed predominantly cold-natured.

In his mind he saw a vision of the ocean breaking against the shoreline and he could hear the acoustic sloshing of water. Then it stopped in an instant. He wondered how his conclusion could be used to glean more information about the party. He tried to observe the others, but he was overstimulated due to his headache and he could only focus on what was going on immediately around him; Naito examining the map and Arantima and Mizuka arguing. It seemed as though she had a bad reaction to the mote as well and deduced that she may also have had a hallucination. Perhaps the dominant Yin inside of him balanced out with the fiery yang spell resulting in a peaceful vision of the beach for Inozen. However, Mizuka, who appeared to be yang dominant was provided an excess of yang and the hallucination may have been bad. Inozen surmised that he and Mizuka weren't the only ones who were having hallucinations due to the spell. 

Inozen wanted to respond to Naito's comment about the manifestation of souls. He seemed to have unconventional knowledge like that...reishi flows and such, and it made him appear as a source. If this goes well, maybe he could prove to be a valuable asset in the future. Inozen stopped pouring more water into his cup as he wondered if Arantima took offense and was going to chastise Mizuka for speaking up. He began to drink as he watched flowing hair turn golden, and phantasms appear behind his movements. It was an ability unlike Inozen has ever seen or heard of when suddenly one of his phantasms' fist flew against a large lizard, hitting it with a loud 'crack' like thunder. This caused Inozen to drop his cup of water, reach for his sword and unsheathe it immediately. He didn't sense that one approach, there could be more. He turned around and faced 8 O' clock, his back to the group. His eyes began scanning the foliage, peering into the spaces for large reptiles and looking for shadows, movement, or any sign of the would be predators. "If the lizards are beginning to hunt us, it's best if we get a move on. The longer we stall, the more of these we'll have to face," he spoke loudly to everyone present.  

[Akita Himura]

'A truly strange and bizarre collection and mixture of ideals', was the simplest description of the troupe assembled here. The variety of perspectives and experiences sampled here certainly made sense in keeping with the vision presented by Arantima but many more questions lingered, percolating and bubbling up the more everyone talked. Their most gracious host offered as much of an explanation as he felt those assembled needed but Akita's experience had long ago taught her that people in power tend to lie as much as they believe they can safely get away with. No boldly lie intending to deceive, but simple white lies or lies of omission. Secrets. Half truths because full truths are a vulnerability. And in this regard, she maintained...a degree of respect. But all the respect in the world couldn't get rid of the nagging question about just what exactly these spiritually aware 'lizards' were meant to be a vector for.

Her neighbors around the table took their time to digest and overcome the small shards of power invested in them, some having much easier times than others. Others still invest shards of knowledge and conjecture, making use of the networking opportunity around them. Although Arantima wanted to connected with each of them, of us, there was still certainly a benefit to connecting with one another in our own time. After all, we were about to fight and hunt together!

Her silent reverie and introspection were interrupted by the appearance and total decimation of a lizard from the bush. A small sample of what was surely to come. Bow's appeared, swords were drawn, stances were adopted and in a moment Akita had to accept that she was now, officially, in over her head. So much was happening around her that a strangely beneficial thing happened; with so much going on she couldn't even begin to overthink things and instead simple...surrendered to her lack of knowledge. She let instincts kick in. Let her senses try to steer her, dull as they were. Things were so calm within her, able to feel the cold shudder of her chest as her body temperature continued to lose a few more degrees. She popped her sword free of its sheathe, the spot where her thumb touched the blade leaving a small creeping print of frost on the jungle-warmed metal. "That was the first one. It probably just walked straight at us; we should try to back-track in a line. Maybe we'll luck out."

As she stepped slowly foot over food her gaze lingered on the heap that used to be the ambushing lizard and admired the strength demonstrated in such a quick subdual of the muscled beast. One day she should hope to be so potent. "Shikimura is right, we become less hunters and more the hunted by the minute."

[Yuki & Yui Tsumugi]

As Yui continued to reel from the rather undesirable experience she'd just been through thanks to Arantima's own bestowal of power upon not only her but the group, she continued to roughly hold her hand against her head in a perpetual groaning. The pain still hadn't even begun to subside, though it didn't seem like it was getting any worse. If nothing else? That was a relief. Having to deal with a splitting headache on a mission like this would've been absolutely atrocious for the girl; it was something she so very desperately wanted to do her best to ignore, all things considered, but something... almost stopped her from being able to do so.

As though a whisper continued to plague the back of her mind, the voice of that golden-haired individual continued to ring about in her ears, a soft echoing of what she'd previously witnessed. Who was that? She thought to herself, and who's Kori? Ugh, my head. A soft pouting expression resting plainly across her cheeks, Yui continued to try to press on. Conversations on the matter were beginning to get rather important, and she wanted to make sure to pay attention to what everyone had said as best as possible.

As those around her continued to similarly experience the rather rough feelings of a sudden surge of spiritual energy - some taking it notably better than others - Yui focused intently on the spoken words of a few folks. Initially, this was Mizuki's words to Arantima; something she would've never expected. For as laid-back and generally friendly as the girl seemed, Mizuki seemed to have a bit of a... blunt side to her. Certainly not a bad thing; in fact, something that Yui envied Mizuki for. Lord only knew how much she struggled with speaking her mind. Perhaps hanging around this girl would help that? After all, the two had hit it off somewhat well already. As long as Yui didn't damage that, she figured that was a sound plan.

As Mizuki had stopped speaking, it seemed that Arantima began to take his turn to speak, explaining a semblance of his motivations behind his actions, and praising Mizuki for her own bluntness. After swiftly dispatching one of those lizards that had been previously talked about. It really did seem that was a desirable trait to have! Nodding her head softly to herself in affirmation, the rose-haired girl came to the conclusion that she was going to need to try to do the same. If nothing else, such only seemed to prove beneficial, as long as she wasn't overbearing with it. What was there to lose?

Hearing Eleonora's words, a soft smile rose to the girl's cheeks. For the first time in her life, when looking toward a combat scenario, Yui felt motivated. Like this was a good idea, and that this wasn't just senseless violence. After all, was that wrong? They were here to do a fairly good deed; taking care of rather dangerous pests just had to be a good choice! She found herself immediately getting pumped for the adventure to come; a mindset that was only further spurred on from words spoken by both Inozen and Akita.

"I-I agree," she stuttered, standing from her seat, "Last thing I want is for anyone here to get hurt!" Speaking her mind, though not quite to the point of a shout, Yui kept up that same smile from before. In truth, that was exactly as she felt toward the group. While she didn't know most folks personally, she felt that everybody here was a friend. Someone she could hopefully count on, and someone that could count on her. Following Akita's example, Yui unraveled and similarly unsheathed her sword. The moment she did, a faint whisper once again ran through her mind, as though trying to speak to her.

Her name is Kori no Itto, Yui~ Why don't you call for her, hmm~?

[Ailene Haschiro]

By the time that Ailene's further bonding with Mélusine came to completion, it seemed that everyone else had also taken the promise of power. The purple-haired woman looked around, trying to gauge the atmosphere. Everyone seemed to acclimate to the power that was granted to them. Spirits seemed to be high. The Fullbringer smiled a little. This would be the second time she found herself working in a team in a long while. The Espada were largely independent in their activities, each pursuing their own goals and ambitions without ever really coordinating. The woman closed her eyes and grinned. "It's nice to belong..."

Soon, however, there would be a voice to rise among the rest. Sitting right next to Ailene, Mizuki would address their host. “What are you after exactly? You pay us, feed us, and give us power outside of our current station yet…”, Ailene blinked for a moment as she listened to the woman speak. “What do you gain from this. An experiment clearly, as you awaken horrors in our minds.” Ailene's eyes narrowed. "Just what kind of "horror" could have been unleashed within her?" Needless to say, she was certainly intrigued. She could easily recall the days that she was forced to listen to Mélusine's advice. Was Mizuki now troubled by something similar; some dormant power awakening with her. Finally, the woman closed her questioning with a final demand. “What do you want from this.”

Ailene felt it was a fair question. The table briefly seemed to grow silent. The spotlight was on the Shinigami. Ailene's eyes rested upon him as she tapped her chin. Just as she was beginning to get settled though, the host made his move. As she blinked, Arantima simply vanished from sight. Her eyes widened in shock. This got a bit of a rise out of Mélusine even who quickly took on a far more tense appearance, the dragon's claws nearly digging into the Fullbringers' flesh. As quickly as he vanished, the Shinigami reappeared this time much much closer. It took a moment, but his position would quickly become known to Ailene and Mélusine. He was standing right off their side, behind Mizuki. 

"What do I gain? What am I after and what do I want?" The answer is actually quite simple but I am actually quite glad someone asked." Ailene waited with bated breath. The answer? Anticlimactic. The Shinigami simply wished to network with the denizens of the World of the Living. "I could've just provided a business card if that's the case..." The Fullbringer gave an audible sigh. Relief and disappointment would soon resemble shock once more. Not only had Arantima's physical state changed almost as though he were calling upon a Resurrección, but Ailene could briefly sense flickering energies closing in. The girl prepared herself as the large, yellow lizard leapt from the bushes. Before anyone really had a chance to act though, the beast would already be slain. Its jaw would be torn asunder, leaving its bleeding body to twitch. 

It was clear that the blow had been dealt by the Shinigami. Once more, the Shinigami would repeat his warning. "They have started to come towards the smell of high density spirit particles.. I suggest that you all head out and show me that this experiment was worth the time and funding hmm?" Ailene hummed as she briefly mulled it over. The others seemed to be in agreement about one thing. They need to turn the tides quickly. They had been chosen to hunt their quarry. A brief sigh arose from the woman as she crossed her arms. She should've just stayed at Rēgīna. Amber agreed to cover for Yui and Ailene for the duration of the mission, but that was not her primary concern. Missions like these were not in her nature. No. That was Mélusine's forte. 

Speaking of the dragon, Mélusine leered at the body of the Jagras with greedy longing. She hummed softly. Ailene's head turned to meet her companions purple-tinted gaze. There was no turning back. "Well, Mélusine. Shall we get to it?" The draconian familiar was lifted from her stupor. She swiftly nodded her head. With one final sigh, Ailene began to approach the opening from which the now deceased lizard had sprung from. As she drew closer and closer, the Fullbringer could sense something. Like little threads, they'd seemingly form a path through the thick foliage. She muttered loud enough for anyone around her to hear, "I see a trail!" She'd say with some excitement. 

If nobody else had decided to step into the brush, then Ailene would take initiative. Alternatively, she'd closely follow the group. Either way, Ailene would briefly tap Mélusine blackened scales. Garnering an immediate reaction from the familiar, Ailene began to speak. "Mélusine. Be our surveillance. I'd rather we not be caught surprised by a group of those creatures." The dragon growled ever so slightly. She did not kindly to being told what to do. Regardless, it was either that or waiting on Ailene's shoulder. The preferred option was clear. "Well, maybe I'll be lucky and find one already wounded. I can't wait to sink my teeth into something meaty..." With a light gust of wind, Mélusine lifted off of Ailene's shoulder. The Spirit might have not possessed the same sensory skills as Ailene, but she had a boon of her own. Inherent flight. She'd use this to soar just below the leafy green crowns of the trees. She'd fly a bit ahead of the group just for some initial scouting only to return to the group before performing another sweep. 

[Mizuki Otsuka]

She was still standing close to Akio, having only risen from leaning so she was able to catch his words after her outburst - short but to the point - respectable correction. Her face turned to stare at the man, and the smile that was once more Arantima now widened for him - along with the softening of her eyes. Oh how she loved a man who was able to bite back at her words… and speaking of men who bit back - her face snapped back forward as her expression returned to the stone it was before and she stared their host down.

Wrinkling her nose as he leaned down to be closer, the echoing whisper came rushing front and center in that moment - “Who the fuck does he think he is getting so close to my Mizuki?” The flash of red hot anger surged in her throat as the echoing voice snapped another chain of restraint on her emotions. As he straightened she would release a deep huff from her nose, her eyes never wavering - the show of gold was one to see and had she not had the echoing whisper loud in her mind she might have been impressed beyond the thought of ‘show off’. Further implemented when he single handedly… literally… chopped the head off one of encroaching lizards.

Still scowling, she watched him still, having not moved from her rooted spot, as Arantima turned back to her and praised her openly. Crossing her arms over her chest she would lean her weight back into one of her hips to seem more relaxed. “I only voiced a question we all had.” it was only then that she finally turned to look at the group around her, the single focus she had been under had made her lacking in taking in the changes that had manifested around her. The emergence of the lizard seemed to draw people into readiness but the danger seeped a different feeling into her bones - excitement.

She was torn though between the man who stood up for himself and the girl who she had befriended at the table. Glancing back at the man and then the girl she called out to her, “Yui would you want to come with us?” She was being a bit presumptuous assuming that he had wanted her in his group to begin with but he was interesting - the draw of hidden talent was far too much of a pull for her. She would wait for the girl to follow or deny her offer before turning to follow the ‘average spellcaster’ in the thick of it. Though she took the same pathing she had when entering the clearing - instead of following on the ground she would easily climb the trees and nimbly follow through the limbs above the spellcaster. Speaking loudly enough for him to hear, “You stared at that map long enough, any specific direction or just following a hunch?”

[Crystal Tokei]

Walking back over to Yui, Crystal begins tugging on her sleeve while pointing at the girls shoulder. Hoping the her intentions were clear the Doll would wait until she was once again placed open Yui's left shoulder. Once up there she would happily kick her feet slowly as if she were a child, swaying her head left and right simultaneously. The prospect of gaining bodies from this endeavor thrilled her. Finally she would be able to create something with her powers when she had the free time after this mission, plus this would allow her perfect test subjects to see what items she could possibly make from their targets corpse.



From somewhere in her little dress Crystal would pull out a yo-yo, playing with it while she listened and watch the scene unfold before her. Their boss seemed to want to show off his power while clarifying some things thanks to a question asked. Honestly this didn't really matter to her, after all she just wanted to find their targets and harvest them for use later. That's when one of the little lizards popped out off the tree line and got absolutely obliterated by their current boss. She could respect this man, not only was he trying to form ties with Non-Shinigami, but he also was aiming to harvest the corpse of the big lizard they are supposed to hunt.



Patting Yui on the head Crystal would be almost hopping up and done on her perch, not wanting to wait much longer. Glancing over at the map she could see just enough to gain a vague idea of the direction they must head in. That's when Ailene began moving into the tree line, ready to begin the hunt. Pointing at her direction and flailing her little stumpy hand, she hoped Yui understood she wanted to follow the lady with the dragon. That dragon would be befriended another time, now she needed so material to create more babies!

[Madelyn Fūrinji]

So many different bodies moving around, voices being spoken while Maddie does her best to keep her right hand tightly squeezing her left wrist. The desperate scared girl from Karakura still didn’t have any clue why this was happening and why now it felt worse than it ever had up to now. She wasn’t even hallucinating right now, she believed so why was the pain worse. Almost like trying to pay attention while a blanket is getting thrown over you over and over again every time you pull it off, Maddie starts to feel as if everything is blurred. Others looked like they were having similar problems, but Maddie couldn’t believe this was the same as them.

That’s when she felt a massive rush of energy, excitement and joy. The host of the gathering was speaking to one of the females who seemed to insult him in some way although Maddie hadn’t been able to make it out clearly. She couldn’t make anything out clearly once the host displayed what had to be his own power. The golden scales appeared on his body with arms from his back, brought a wincing pain from Maddie as her right hand let go. Immediately her left hand shoots outwards in front of her transforming.

The normal looking appendage in a brief moment turning black with heavy thick armor located in several spots. A shining silver blade embedded in her forearm while each finger sports large blades resembling nails yet more accurately could be deemed knives. Most notable though would be the bright pink eye in the center of her left hand. Pink lines running up from each of her fingers, her arm to under her left eye which had now changed. Her irise was the same bright pink as the eye in her hand while her sclera was now pitch black. A striking change, easily noticed while her right eye remained normal.

Maddie had no clue what was going on with the only thing present at the moment being joy. The man who’d asked her to come here brought on this joy when he showed his power. Now as one of the lizards is broken like a small mouse caught by a cat Maddie doesn’t feel sorrow for the animal. No wishes of helping it, nor anger at the man for harming something. Her tongue licks her lips as the sight of its broken corpse dropping to the ground makes her arm begin to shake. One of the normal looking girls in the group now looked like a deranged lunatic wasting no time by rushing through the foliage of the woods slightly to the right of where the lizard had appeared with every intention of slaughtering as many play things as possible.

Level 7: 7/7

Remaining Reiatsu: 650/850
Level 7: -200

SPOILER: Click to show

Strength: 30
Speed: 40
Spiritual Pressure: 85
Reiatsu Strength: 25
Instinct: 50
Senses: 50
Energy Sensory: 0
Healing Expertise: 0
Light Aura: 100
Dark Aura: 0

Skills
Charisma: 1
Battle Focus: 1
Pain Tolerance: 1
Damage Recovery: 1

[Eleonora Schmidt]

Eleonora was a little busy admiring her bow and feeling the increase on her power to note everyone talking but was brought back down to earth once Aratima gave his answer as to hat he gains out of all of this, frankly a quite scary scene with him all in gold and leaving after images as he walked, but that aside there was a feeling of relief knowing that this was mostly to get a network of people to work together and stuff, maybe she misjudged Soul Reapers based on stories she hear, but if one of the noble houses is OK with working with outsiders especially Quincies maybe they aren't all that bad.

Suddenly she hear a rustling in a nearby bush and a hiss, just as fast as she raised her bow the creature on the bushes had jump and taken down by Aratima, it was rather sudden but also expected a group of spiritually aware people gathered in one point and just got a surge of power? Yeah that's definitely going to alert those creatures.

Eleonora would keep her bow out as she follow the rest, they were right on one thing remaining in the clearing makes them more of a target than hunters, now there was the question as to how many of the little one where and how many of those were on the move for them? She can't speak for their contractor but Leo has the slight suspicion that the whole gold thing some minutes ago was to get the attention of the creatures and pressure the group to move, the little ones should be a nice test of their newly awaken powers and get them ready for when they find the "alpha"

"So what's the plan?" She would ask out loud to whoever was ready to answer "We surely will have a couple of those lizards soon near us, if that's the case I suggest to not kill all of them immediately and let one weak enough to escape, surely it'll guide us towards their nest or the leader of the pack" She wasn't much of a hunter but prior encounters with Hollows have teach them that when things get rough usually one hides behind the biggest of them all and once you take that out it's game over for the smaller ones as well.

[Arantima Kawada]

Arantima seemed to have his eyes closed, even though his head shifted from one side to the other occasionally as if having some sort of internal conversation. He was silent as the grave for now in his chair, he didn't seem to either want or be able to leave the world of the living. Perhaps if he did so to let the group wander of their own accord the gift of power he had given them would soon dissipate and that would be foolish. As for the rest of the group, those with energy sensory high enough (50) would be able to sense the encroaching hunting group of these strange Lizard-leopard-like creatures that were a yellowish green coloration with blue stripes. 

There was at least One of these creatures coming through the woods for every member of their current group. The one that had attacked Arantima seemed to have been the one designated for his presence and the ones closest to the Treeline with the ability to sense would know that another one was coming..  These Lizard creatures seemed to know somehow that one of their own was dispatched and didn't seem to care... The group was now freed to do what they will and yet they were also being hurried along by the encroaching danger that was rapidly running through the jungle to assault them... And Arantima was lost in his own world... He wouldn't know if they were in danger even if one was gnawing on his own leg.

OOC notes: Sorry for the short post! But This is in an effort to get a kickstart back into things! Please feel free to pile you ways into the jungle! i promise that once the fighting starts it'll get REALLY fun for you guys!

[Akio Naito]

"Based on the map, I believed this was the way." He'd only reached the edge of the clearing by that point. The others who had been hired for this job seemed bloodthirsty in a way that Akio just couldn't relate to. Well that wasn't entirely true, he used to be able to summon up that kind of intent years ago, in the years before. Now he could give a basic imitation if he were forced to. Maybe it was a side-effect of getting that kind of power before they were supposed to? Though as he understood it, the only thing the energy masses given to the group were good for was letting the others brute force their access to existing parts of themselves, without the usual requirement for self-acceptance or self-cultivation. Then again, he could be wrong, just because his past experience with his own release as a- No, he couldn't walk that far down memory lane unless he wanted to wake up with the enemy's jaws already wrapped around his throat.

His past self was gone, and that power with them. His current self wasn't ideal, either. But isn't that what these powers he'd taken were about? To be a quincy was about neglecting your inner self and drinking in the outside world. Right, he didn't have to be who he 'was then' or 'is now'; didn't have to be the troubled boy beating up fullbringers for someone who didn't love him, didn't have to be the wounded sage emptied-out by a hollow's touch, didn't have to be the inept spellcaster gatecrashing spiritual events, didn't have to be the unwilling convert to the quincy path whose theft-scorched hands may never heal- He could just be something else, free from any of the past baggage that had defined him.

The fake quincy stopped walking. He looked back over his shoulder, saw the crowd in the clearing, could see him from here save for whoever had followed him. Then he took up static footing, boots firmly in place at one arrow length apart. Gently reached into the inner chest pocket of his earth-toned jacket with a gauze-wrapped left hand, he grasped the closest thing to a weapon he'd brought to the jungle. The fake quincy could feel the points dig into the bandages as he drew them free, an unintended benefit of taking so long to heal. Akio loosened his grip and let the fine chains slip between fingers, exposing two quincy crosses. Neither was his, of course. Not the worn western-style cross whose downward point was longer than the other three, Nor the murky yellow pentacle whose five points were marred with scratches that revealed a silvery metal beneath the tarnish. Neither would ever be his.

"I'm... Sorry... Please look away." With a deep breath Akio began drawing in reiryoku, streams of raw spirit particles and energy ripping themselves from the earth and coiling tightly around his soul. The colors of his reiatsu deepened and bled into the particles clinging to him, forming coiled mass of viridian and crimson bands twisting tightly around his body. "I depart as the man of autumn, bound in seven threads." Spirit particles split from the main flow and rapidly concentrated around both crosses, the growing layer of particles grew into long and twisting shapes as it coated both items. "I arrive as the tyrant king, bound in protective coils." The forming shapes built up around his loaned crosses in the image of snakes. "Though I have no power, I reign over all the kingdoms of the world." The weapon he's taken up is a pair of near-identical metallic pythons. One sculpted from white metal, its eyes merely crosses burning from inside with deep green reiatsu. The other forged from a black metal, bright red eyes just pentacles of searing energy. Both forms twisted together into a coiled greatsword, filled with holes that were the gaps between those squamous constructs. "For I am illusion, and all this world is mine." As he finished speaking, both the sword and his body stopped drawing in particles.

"We need only find their nest. Those that aren't there when we arrive will flock to us." Akio's transformation was overwhelmingly obvious, and yet so vauge that it was hard to make out what exactly changed. There was a shift in posture, sudden confidence, but was that all? His spiritual presence had abruptly doubled in intensity, taken on the feel of the land beneath his feet that thinned out his prior combination of quincy and something else into something even more muddled. "We can break them as they arrive." He casually leaned on the newly manifested sword, driving its point a few inches into the ground.

SPOILER: Click to show

Reiatsu remaining [900/1000]

100 units of Reiatsu spent to activate [Class 6 Bow Form: ZwillingsSchlangen], creating a weapon that uses Akio's lowest OS (Strength) for cutting and durability. It fires arrows normally.

Stat adjustments- indefinite;
Spiritual Pressure and Reiatsu Strength doubled due to type advantages

Current stats
Strength - [40] Below Average, Even Compared to the Spiritually Unaware
Speed - [50] Unimpressive
Spiritual Pressure - [100] Academy-student level?
Reiatsu Strength - [160] Somewhat Impressive
Instinct - [50] Normal Human
Senses - [50] Nothing to See Here
Energy sensory - [25] Distorted
Healing Expertise - [0] "I cannot understand your suffering."

[ChaosMystic]

Inozen, though he was told in the academy that his capacity to sense energy was low, could feel various shifts of power shift the air around him as members of his party began to unleash their abilities. Madelyn metamorphized her appendage into something visually menacing and Akio had summoned a broadsword from what appeared to be spiritual trinkets. This development was quite exhilarating, that not only had he sensed the energetic movements, but also that they actualized real effects that were observable. This made him question, what was the power that lied dormant within himself? Sure, with his lack of energy sensory, he had gotten a clue with the hallucination of the beach and that through his knowledge of medical expertise, he was able to surmise that his energy was cold natured. It was almost as if his subconscious had spied upon itself. He was someone water natured, he had the personality to support this theory. 

The shinigami looked from Maddie's metamorphized arm and Akio's broadsword down to the blade of his unsheathed jian. He noticed how light but sharp the blade was. His swordsmanship was less about the sword, but unifying mind, body, and soul into one to carry out every action and deliberate intention. He tried to see past the sword, hoping that the spiritual enhancement from Arantima would allow him to see its soul, but the sword remained silent. A little discouraged, he sheathed the blade again and let it rest on his hip and without further adieu, took his first steps from the clearing and into the jungle behind Akio. 

A brief moment of surprise took him as he discovered that Mizuki did not need aid traversing the jungle, as she was nimble enough to move through the canopy like a lemur. He wondered what other tricks she had up her sleeve contrary to her appearance. "I'm no hunter," Inozen replied to Eleonora, "but I think it's safe to assume that these lizards are smart enough to protect their nest. Like bees, it is an instinct embedded in the brain stem. Though, I'm just theorizing here. If someone here was good at stalking, that could work, but that person would probably need to do it alone or in a smaller unit separate from the party. All in all, we're too many in number and asymmetrical to do something like that."

Inozen then made a realization, "Perhaps Ailene might have her dragon survey the jungle for the nest. Dragons are predators, therefore, natural hunters. I'm sure that a dragon that small has a low enough aura to stalk one of them without being noticed, but the danger of being discovered increases the closer it would get to the nest. It would be unfair to Ailene to ask her to take on all that risk alone. I'm just thinking out loud here, but I think it's best to rely on the sensory types for tracking, which unfortunately, I am not. However, considering the high number in our party, I'm sure that there is at least one sensor among us. I.E. Akio maybe? He's taking initiative and he's pretty confident about using that map." Inozen shrugged and made his way through the clearing and into the jungle after the broadsword wielder.