Uli's Despair (DP)

[Uli Babler]

Walking home on a Saturday night, the feeling of the fright of your life. You can feel it draining into your soul and getting the thrills from a fight. You're drifting further and further in, where the villain can show his might. These were lyrics that Uli had suddenly pop into his head as he was walking down the trodden path of dirt and sticks, whistling to the sound of 'Maniac', a particularly catchy title that he had heard just today at the market when he took a sniff at the air. It smelled like smoke from a fire and it made him smile to himself as he imagined all those at his camp that would be huddled around the flames. He also thought of how appropriate it would be that he had just purchased hot dogs and marshmallows from the store.

As Uli rounded the bend, skipping slightly along as he hummed the tune to himself, his latex suit clung to his skin and gave him a slightly uncomfortable feeling of the sweat underneath. He couldn't wait until he could get back to his tent and sterilize it and himself after pulling off this suit. It was very important to Uli to get one hundred percent clean before finishing off his day and bunkering down for the night. And the smell of the fire was comforting to Uli, thinking of roasting the hot dogs and marshmallows. If only he had enough money for the buns, Uli thought to himself as he continued down the path towards home.

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SPOILER: Click to show

{Stats}Stats
Strength - 60 (40 + 50%)
Speed - 35 (50 - 30%)
Spiritual Pressure - 65
Reiatsu Strength - 65
Light Aura - 30 Percent
Dark Aura - 70 Percent
Instinct- 40 Points
Senses- 30 Points
Energy sensory - 30 Points
Healing Expertise - 0 Points
Reiatsu (Energy Bank)- 450

[Lucien Dantes]

The smokey smell continued to permeate the forest as Uli approached the camp. An orange glow emanated from the distance; a beacon, guiding the Quincy home. Only for a moment though. On the next moment, as if straight out of the Old Testament, a blinding white/blue flash descended from the heavens like a shooting star, and the entire world was scorched with light. The point of impact was almost certainly Uli's camp. There was little chance for reaction, let alone initiative. The attack was sudden and nigh-instantaneous.

This was the style of Lucien Dantes. Whatever debate could be made of his morality in an objective sense, to a less strict philosophy, he could be said to be the reason to hope that you were at the mercy of an evil man. For one like Lucien, who abhorred violence, and rejected suffering, when commanded to be an executioner, he would carry out the task mercilessly and with all the air of one who wished to get the matter over with quickly. A view he expected his subordinates to follow as well when operating under his command.

And so it was. A bolt of light, and the next moment, a flurry of arrows, giving the unfortunate "defenders" if they could be called that, little opportunity for reaction or defense, each arrow aimed and placed with pinpoint precision so-as to kill the target as quickly as possible, in the hopes of sparing them pain. To kill someone before they had the chance to process they were dead was Lucien's preferred method of execution, and one he encouraged in his subordinates. Not only did it meet his personal moral standards, but it was also pragmatic. Playing with your food gave the food a chance to slip away.

There Lucien stood in the midst of the carnage, clad in the white uniform of the Vandenreich. Although his black bow was in hand, it seemed he had yet to fire an arrow. Instead, he observed, leaving the execution of those present to his subordinates, three other Vandenreich. A woman, with long blonde hair, and piercing blue eyes; A man with a short, coarse black beard, short-cut hair with streaks of gray, and brown eyes that seemed devoid of any emotion at all, and a second man, with short-cut blonde hair, and a scar along his neckline. They were the ones carrying out Lucien's command-- Lucien seemed only there to make sure the job was done properly and cleanly.

However, this attack did not account for-- or perhaps was willing to accept, that not all of their targets would be at the campsite at the moment of the attack. While those at ground zero would have little chance to survive the sudden onslaught, those further in the woods-- such as Uli himself, may indeed have had a chance to react before the Vandenreich expanded beyond the immediate point of their arrival.

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SPOILER: Click to show

{Lucien Stats}
Strength: 300 (200)
Speed: 400
Reiatsu Strength: 150 (375)
Spirit Pressure: 400 (1000)
Light Aura: 100
Dark Aura: 0
Senses: 120
Instinct: 200
Energy Sensory: 200 (500)
Healing Expertise: 80 (52)
Total: 1850/1850

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Skills:
Marksmanship: 4
Battle Analysis: 3
Calm Mind: 3
Strength of Will: 1

Spent: 12/15

SPOILER: Click to show

{Accompanying Soldat Stats}Class 5
Soldier Type

Strength: 80 (56)
Speed: 60
Reiatsu Strength: 60 (90)
Spirit Pressure: 50
Light Aura: 100
Dark Aura: 0
Senses: 50
Instinct: 50
Energy Sensory: 50
Healing Expertise:
Total: 400

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Skills:
Marksmanship: 1
Strength of Will: 1
Anti-Stealth: 1
Battle Focus: 1
Lack of Fear: 1

Spent: 5/15

[Uli Babler]

Boom. The world around Uli seemed to shatter in a single sound as the smile on his lips faltered and stuttered to an abrupt grimace of fear and pain. The blue bolt of light lit up the night with spiritual energy that permeated the darkness and almost blinded Uli, and though he shielded his eyes he could still hear the arrows flying through the air and the screams of his comrades as they fell to the slinging shards of spiritual energy. Uli immediately dropped his bag of food goods and began running towards the camp. 

"Jugo, Kallie, Tomora! Anyone?! Please tell me you all didn't just roll over and die..." Uli began pleading as he ran and shouted out names, trying to get a response from anyone. He summoned his bow as he continued running, pulling an arrow into existence and aiming forward. He clumsily aimed and continued looking around as he approached the scorched crater of what was once his camp and his focus broke. The blood seeping from his comrade's bodies caused his eyes to widen and his stomach to lurch. The sight of it oozing from beneath his allies bodies like small puddles of crimson but too thick to be water made Uli physically sick, falling to his knees and grabbing at his stomach.

As Uli fell to his knees he saw one of the braver boys of the camp running out from the woods, an arrow wound in his right shoulder and reaching with his left hand towards Uli. "NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" Uli screamed out as he rushed to his feet, running towards little Jugo only to see three arrows pierce into Jugo's right eye and a Vandenreich Quincy appear behind him, slicing off Jugo's head simultaneously with the arrows hitting him. Uli roared in anger and pulled out his bow again, pulling the string and summoning an arrow before unleashing it on the Vendenreich's chest, firing an arrow through the space where Jugo's head had been only a moment ago.

Uli did not know if there were any more of his comrades left in the woods, but he didn't care. The Vendenreich were back and they were trying to take his family from him again. They were here to shed blood and bathe Uli in it. And Uli wasn't just some nobody anymore. He had a bow now and he was going to fight. Fight until it was all over....

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SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler}{Stats}
Strength - 60 (40 + 50%)
Speed - 35 (50 - 30%)
Spiritual Pressure - 65
Reiatsu Strength - 65
Light Aura - 30 Percent
Dark Aura - 70 Percent
Instinct- 40 Points
Senses- 30 Points
Energy sensory - 30 Points
Healing Expertise - 0 Points
Reiatsu (Energy Bank)- 440/450

[Lucien Dantes]

The Vandenreich Uli had fired upon staggered. Uli's arrow had failed to pierce the Vandenreich fatally, but it had succeeded in landing a blow against his shoulder. The Vandenreich that Uli had struck, the blonde haired woman, leveled her own bow, and three arrows flicked from her bow. One at Uli's left leg, one at his right shoulder and one at his left arm, clearly aiming to disable him. "Captain-Supervisor. This one is combat-capable!" She declared, and in an instant-- faster than Uli could have seen, a white haired Quincy, with piercing golden eyes was behind her.

"So he is." He stated, his tone and his eyes as cold as ice. A hand rested on the woman's injured shoulder, in what almost resembled a comforting action. "The child here. Your handiwork?" The woman glanced back at Lucien. "That's correct Captain-Supervisor." Lucien's eyes fell to the child on the ground. "Why are there wounds in his shoulder?"

"....Sir?"

"We struck suddenly and without warning. This is a child, bereft of combat ability. Were this a trained Shinigami, or an Arrancar I might have understood your failure to bring them down in a single stroke. You are no raw recruit anymore, Frieda. This should have been no trouble."

"We were instructed to seek out any with combat abilities, I... if he was combat capable he might have avoided it...."

"Indeed. But evidently he was not. And you made him suffer before the end."

"....C-Captain Supervisor?"

"Not to worry. I won't judge you for it." Lucien looked at Uli. "This one is combat capable and this was his countryman. Let his arrows be your judge."

The woman's eyes flashed with anger. "He is no Vandenreich." She hissed. "He is an outsider, one who has spurned his Majesty--"

"You will be judged by his arrows, or you shall be judged by mine." The golden-eyed man said in a tone that could have covered water in frost. A tone that seemed to cause the woman to momentarily freeze.

"Y-yes.... As you will.... Captain-Supervisor." She turned to Uli again, and her bow raised. "Fine then. Prove your worth or die heretic." Another two arrows flashed out, both, this time seeking Uli's heart. It seemed with Lucien overseeing this, she was not willing to risk drawing out the battle with Uli longer than necessary now. She was going for the kill, imminently and promptly.

However.... That had been a lengthy conversation. And yet, if Uli had tried to take advantage of the woman's distraction to attack, he would have found each and every arrow he fired immediately shot down by the white haired Quincy, his own arrows [Class 4], as icy as his voice and his stare, splintering Uli's like fragile glass ornaments, and with scarcely moving more than his fingers upon the string of his black bow. A clear statement to the Free Quincy, not to interrupt. Lucien's power was vast, and though he did not care much for violence, once his task was set upon he would commit to it with full force. However-- this one Vandenriech, Frieda, had been sloppy. She had disobeyed his intent and his instruction. Ordinarily, Lucien would have disciplined her himself, but the Vandenreich was not heartless. He would permit Uli his revenge-- if the Quincy was capable of taking it.

Frieda's Reiatsu Remaining: 400/500 (-100 for five Class 6 arrows)

Lucien]s Reiatsu Remaining: 10,000/10,000 (It is relatively unlikely that Uli fired enough arrows to force Lucien to expend more reiatsu than he can recover in a single post, though if he did, then I will adjust accordingly on my next post

[Uli Babler]

Uli dodged to the left as he saw the first flurry of arrows, catching the one meant for his right shoulder but instead in his left. Uli wasn't very fast and he knew he couldn't do much to take on this opponent before him. But he hit a stroke of luck, perhaps bad luck but luck all the same. A person obviously of higher rank was speaking with the woman and Uli, catching the drift long before the woman, decided to pick up a rock in his right hand and begin inching forward. As the talks between the two of them finished, Uli yelled out and threw the rock at the Vandenreich subordinate's head, aiming to catch her in the left eye and distract her with his impromptu attack.

Uli then rushed forward with all the speed he could muster as tears streamed down his face and he tackled the subordinate. He knew he couldn't win in a contest of arrows and spiritual energy. These were obviously powerful enemies that just wiped out his home. His village. His people. The emotions finally boiled to the surface for the first time in a long time as Uli found his hands around the Vandenreich's neck. "You killed him! Jugo was a boy, a child! Why?! He was Mary and Cordell's only child!" If Uli's attack and strangling hold from his hands were successful, he would have continued further as his tears fell on the woman's face passed his rose-tinted glasses and revealed his pure blue eyes.

"Jugo dreamed of making sand castles for a job! He had silly dreams and you snuffed them out! How dare you!?" If Uli could manage it, he would tighten his grip and attempt to force the Vandenreich woman's neck abruptly and snap her neck beneath his gloved hands. If however he was thrown off or stopped, he would attempt to start running and duck behind a tree for cover from any attacks that might be flung by the bow of the woman. He would have his revenge today and he wouldn't run from them. Not after this.

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SPOILER: Click to show

{Stats}
Strength - 60 (40 + 50%)
Speed - 35 (50 - 30%)
Spiritual Pressure - 65
Reiatsu Strength - 65
Light Aura - 30 Percent
Dark Aura - 70 Percent
Instinct- 40 Points
Senses- 30 Points
Energy sensory - 30 Points
Healing Expertise - 0 Points
Reiatsu (Energy Bank)- 440/450

[Lucien Dantes]

"Argh!" The woman staggered from a successful blow to her head from the rock, her eyes twisting with rage. "How dare you assault one of his Majesty's chosen with a rock, you filthy heretic!" She snarled, loosing an arrow in the same moment Uli tackled her, and at point blank range. Uli's attack would be successful in knocking her back, but at this range, even if her aim could hardly be called precise, she'd be almost certain to hit something.

Her hand balled into a fist and then paused, instead shifting into a claw-like posture and she dug her fingers into the wounds her arrows had formed on Uli's shoulder. Digging her fingers in to try to force Uli to let go of her throat. She twisted like a snake under Uli's grip, attempting to gather her footing to try and shift Uli off of her and regain the positional advantage. Her free hand, meanwhile came up, seizing Uli's wrist in an attempt to push his arm away from her neck, and give her room to breathe.

There wasn't any mercy in her gaze. But strangely enough, there wasn't any hatred either. Malice? Oh yes, there was malice in spades, but not an iota of hate. To hate someone you needed to have a certain degree of respect for them-- if for nothing else for what they could accomplish, however terrible that accomplishment might be. This wasn't hate. This was contempt. She looked at Uli the way one might look at a rat that managed to scurry into your pantry and eat the cake you were desperately waiting for. Or how one might look when you opened your cupboard door and found that a colony of mice had found their way into your rice. Uli wasn't an enemy in her eyes. He was vermin.

Uncomfortably tenacious vermin, but vermin nonetheless.

She and Uli were nearly evenly matched in physical strength. Uli was having some success at strangling her, but snapping her neck would be an arduous challenge with her resisting so. In this position she couldn't use her bow effectively, nor could she throw effective punches, but if Uli was careless now he could be thrown off of her. She hadn't done so yet, still working on defending herself, or forcing Uli to expose a weakness, but all the same, she wasn't out yet. Perhaps Uli would be able to break the woman's neck yet, but he'd have to work at it and do something about her hand that currently clamped around her wrist. And he'd need to do so without exposing himself to a counterattack at that.

And all the while Uli grappled with his enemy, Lucien continued to watch the fight. Not interfering. Simply observing. Those freezing golden irises boring into the two combatants, and it seemed to an extent as if the Captain-Supervisor didn't care which of the two triumphed. He did not care if the one who died was the one who would have been his victim, or the soldier under his command. He still held the black bow in hand, but he had not used it, and now the other two Vandenreich had approached to watch, their own bows drawn.

"Captain-Supervisor, we've cleared out the camp, but a few have fled into the woods. With your orders, we will give pursuit." Lucien's eyes didn't move from the battle. "Not yet. I would have you be witnesses to this."

"Sir?"

"Of this camp, this one here has promise. Prioritize confirming his abilities over pursuing those incapable of fighting. They can be hunted down later." Lucien stated, his voice as cold as his expression. The two other officers gave short nods, and saluted him.

"Then what are your orders sir?"

"I would have you two observe, and not interfere. Soldat Dietrich was sloppy in her execution of her duties, and caused unnecessary pain and suffering to her victim. She is being judged for her performance. If the heretic kills her, that is the Emperor's will. That is her punishment for failure. If she is victorious, then that shall be her punishment. Therefore you shall not interfere, you shall do nothing but observe her trial, and reflect on your own lives and abilities. I do not coddle the soldiers under my command. You will fulfill your duty, you will do it cleanly, or you will be judged."

And so the struggle continued now with a larger audience. Did Uli truly want to end it quickly now? It seemed now the longer he drew the fight out the more time the few survivors of the assault might have to make an escape. Or would his rage boil over and drive out any semblance of sense in him?

[Kitai Yoru]

Uli Babler: 3 posts, 75 TP awarded
Lucien Dantes: 3 posts, plus three extra paragraphs, 90 TP awarded