Awakening to the Remains of a World - Solo Training, Hades

[Deleted]

For Hades waking up and “coming to” felt akin to being able to breathe after being underwater. It was a strange feeling. Eyes still adjusting to their surroundings and not yet having been able to assist him via their intended purpose. Sensations flooded through his body as it both felt like his form was settling in as well as getting used to the new individual at the helm. He could feel his blood beating throughout his body yet there was no heart to speak of. Only an eerie and almost literal feeling of emptiness. His muscles were still twitching but calming down slowly but surely. When his mind could finally sift through and start organizing the stimuli coming to his brain, he could feel the distinct sensation of hard earth beneath him. Rock. Hard, solid, and dense. Cold with a few grains of something being blown gently across it.


His eyes had started to adjust to the dark enough to realize that while there was a degree of light, that it wasn’t terribly present. It was in fact, incredibly dark. It was as if he were enveloped in a dark cloth that he couldn’t feel and couldn’t put a name to. Not immediately anyway. Slowly however, he found his eyes becoming less blurry as he was beginning to be able to make out objects both near and close. The most noteworthy being massive trees. The lowest branches he could make out confirmed that these had to be trees in some regard though what kind were beyond him.


A small eternity passed him by and before he knew it, his limbs began to respond. Finding feeble strength in their form to allow him to begin moving despite a dull ache that manifested from every joint in his body. Including the strange feeling of multiple joints in several areas. Specifically, his arms and hands. It was so foreign that it almost felt like it was something else that was manipulating his form and not by his own direction. And then there was the faint sense of something more important, his core self that finally was blossoming into existence.


Deep within his very being he could sense what felt like several small shapes that were grinding against one another. Slowly but surely finding their place and resonating with one another and flooding his being with a different kind of strength. Something more personal and unique to him. Something that slowly but surely flooded throughout his being physical and something else. As more time passed his breathing calmed, his body refilled with energy, and his perception of the world sharpened until it was possible to just “be”. To exist as himself. It was a strange feeling, existing and one he wasn’t terribly keen to lose now that he’d experienced it.


But that is when another sensation began to grow within him. This too felt distinctly physical and supernatural. Almost an urge as much as a need that he had to act upon. He felt a roaring hunger that emanated from his heart as well as his stomach. And it sparked what felt like the birth of another presence in his mind. Something that was urging him, almost aggressively, to get up and find what it was that he searched for. That he needed. As his capability to think and comprehend the world was still fresh, he opted to listen to this voice for the time being. Certain that it was going to do something that would assist him, though he couldn’t explain in what manner or how specifically.


No hollows consumed this post.

[Deleted]

With nothing else to follow he slowly brought himself to his . . . appendages. Another strange and frankly odd manner of being. He didn’t simply have a bipedal or quadruped nature. Instead having two long legs that broke apart into many tentacles for feet. He tilted his head as he adjusted to standing. He fell onto the ground several times before he finally managed to figure out how his form kept itself upright. What muscles and posture made certain that he wouldn’t fall back to the ground yet again. Once he was certain he could stand within this strange space he started to use his legs and tentacles both to move himself forward. He promptly fell onto the ground again and the balance he’d maintained was lost almost immediately.


Several more tries would pass before he was able to finally move slowly without falling down. It was unique in a way that made it hard to wrap around his head. Tendrils flattened and “grabbed” the ground. Then forward movement of a leg while maintaining his upper posture. Said leg’s tendrils would then “grab” the ground like his previous and he’d do the same with his other leg after “letting go”. Then he’d repeat this. Again. And again. And again. Slowly but surely, he was moving on his own through a desolate and silent world. Filled with nothing but hard earth and tall trees that were too tall to comprehend let alone see completely. He was slowly but surely getting more cognitive function as a sense of “time” more or less appeared as he realized that he was moving through each moment in the same way he was moving through this forest.


It was some period of time later that he’d finally experience his first “thought”. This realm is empty. He stopped his movements and blinked as he considered almost silently that he was thinking. What it even meant to think and why he could do that. This is . . . strange. I know not how I know these words. Let alone what they are and what they mean. How they are strung together to create speech. Yet I can do so with almost a practiced ease. What does this mea- His head began to ache, and he stopped moving as he let what felt like a rush of knowledge and thoughts run through his mind. A seemingly infinite barrage of information in a seemingly infinitely black void that was his mind. It caused a significant amount of pain that actually left his body still as his mind rapidly began organizing and creating not just a repository for all this knowledge but defining a sense of self along with it.


Seconds passed and became minutes as he finally started to realize what was going on. That his mind, like his body, was catching up to his current situation. That he was now in a new form compared to a previous iteration. That he was more than just this thing. . . that he was something else. Something stronger and more “real” in a manner of speaking. And eventually it finally dawned upon him just what he was, or more specifically WHO he was. “Hades. My name . . . is Hades. . . I’m . . . a deity . . . Is this my realm? I remember my realm being underground and darkened but this seems . . . different. Something isn’t right with this world if it's truly mine. Does it have something to do with my current form?” He looked himself over with a new and more critical set of eyes realizing that while he had a somewhat humanoid form and certainly was about the correct height that he was anything but what he could recall.


He was multi-limbed in several places. He had the wrong skin tone, let alone the fact that his body was almost unnaturally thin. His face was . . . smooth and with small holes. He had an unnaturally large jaw and many more teeth than he could recall being normal. He didn’t even have hair or ears! This form was wrong. Something was wrong about him and he couldn’t put a reason for this change in physical appearance to any event he could recall. Yet he could feel it deep inside him, near that empty space at his core that this was due to something significant being changed about his person. Something happened to him, something that made him into this and may have been a similar event to what occurred in this world of his. This Underworld if he had to put a name to it. Which if that was true meant one thing, both he and his domain had suffered and undergone a radical shift at some point. So what ever could the reason for this be? He’d have to keep walking to find out, maybe even try running if he felt his legs were up for it. His eyes narrowed with a new determination as he looked ahead into the darkness before him.


No hollows consumed this post.

[Deleted]

Hades took his next few steps confidently and without much care or concern for where he was going. . . And fell over. Running similar to walking was going to be a learned skill for him. One he’d need to practice a few times before he could really begin to get a grasp of it. The next several minutes were spent with Hades more or less pushing himself to walk faster. Take longer strides. Then keep up the pace for a moment. Only to then push himself to go faster, learn the feeling, get the sensations correct. And while there were several more failed attempts he rapidly began to get the hang of his new and definitively alien physiology under his command as he slowly went from walking, to speed walking, to fast speed walking, to jogging, and finally achieving a true blue run. It was exhausting in the fact that it felt like his current body wasn’t terribly adept at doing this sort of thing. Opting to prefer a slower and more controlled approach. Yet Hades had a need beyond the instinctual and physical hunger to push onwards.


Something was here that would help put the puzzle pieces together and it was up to him to find it and figure it out. Yet more time passed by as minutes turned to collections of minutes and eventually became half an hour before he noticed a distinctly new sensation. Smell. For what was ultimately a stale and scentless air he was beginning to pick up the hints of copper with twinges of something else. Something distinctly foreign, like him. It wasn’t human but something else. Hades ran towards it with his instincts flaring up and pushing him to get to this scent as fast as possible. His hunger was currently slowly fading from his mind and he found himself gradually making his way closer and closer towards the source with his tendrils smacking the ground ever harder and making more noise as he approached. His eyes, ear holes, and nose were straining to keep track of what seemed like a fading scent yet his inner self started to take over. Guiding him as though the target in question was a ripple on the surface of water.


With each moment the ripples got closer to one another. Closing in on one another as they came into contact with Hades sensory capabilities. Eventually even his physical senses began to notice a sharp increase in the smell of copper as he continued to get ever closer to his target. He could feel his mouth begin to drool, his hunger subsided but not gone, and the instincts that compelled him to push forward were now beginning to take over. His higher level thought was slowly diminishing. His need to understand the world around him was slowly but surely replaced by the need to find this thing. Whatever it was and do . . . something to it. He wasn’t sure what yet but his body was starting to move like it had a mind of its own. Almost a guide in the unspoken question of what he would do when he found the source.So he let it continue onward and react as needed, the ripples he was sensing getting stronger and more rapid until it finally dawned on him that he wasn’t sensing ripples, he was fluctuating his ability to determine this “thing” he was after.


With a bit of effort on his end he managed to put his focus not just on running but on maintaining this extrasensory ability. To continue seeking what was now akin to a constant source of light. An object that he needed to get closer to by any means necessary. Like a moth to a flame. His efforts would be rewarded as in only a couple minutes he’d find exactly what he was looking for. Two hollows. One dead and in the process of being eaten by yet another hollow. The deceased hollow was a doe looking hollow, without any antlers and seemingly naught but a babe as it had barely any flesh upon its form. Meanwhile its predator was a humanoid sized fly but with a mask that put normal carnivores to shame. It had a maw with several rows of teeth, beady eyes that glowed green, and a mask that was white as fresh snow. Sans the blood dripping off and out of its maw and lower body. As Hades approached his instincts kicked into overdrive and had him attempt to rush down the being. No concern for his wellbeing let alone care for the fact that this thing was currently devouring the beast before him.


It should come to no surprise that between his unstealthily approach and lack of care for his well-being that he was immediately noticed. And subsequently bapped away by a pair of wings that threw Hades on his ass. It then dropped its current meal in favor of the new prey before it, walking towards Hades and putting a foot on his chest to keep him down. Hades' previous instincts screamed at him to move. To escape. To do something, anything to get away from this thing now that the tables had turned. The beast opened its maw and started to get closer to Hades. He felt his blood run cold. His mind flashed through several scenes of times and places he couldn’t recall. Of experiences and things he didn’t know of personally yet had names for. And something started to grow within him. A sort of fury and anger that emanated from not only the hole in his heart but deeper within. Something more primal that was frankly deeply offended at this entire affair. To be held down by nothing short of a monster that didn’t know its place. To have this thing even think for an iota that it was going to kill him. That it would consume him. No. Hades, God of the Underworld, did not fall to pathetic beings such as this. Not in the past, not now, and certainly not in the future. Without realizing just what was going on Hades flared his reiatsu putting the beast above him into pause.


No hollows consumed yet.

[Deleted]

Hades let out a yell at the beast as his soul flared alongside. Without meaning to, he used the very earth that was beneath him to conjure up three fist sized stones. Their forms were rough and jagged while attempting to be spherical overall. They hovered dangerously close to both him and his fly hollow. Thankfully the hollow who’d paused in their efforts to consume him found himself not but a couple inches from said rocks. And said hollow was only holding onto his chest. Not his arms, a fatal mistake. Hades made a motion with his hands, all of which pointed at this thing's head. The rocks followed the command and pelted this hollow one after the other. One would typically expect the rocks to do minimal damage as even the toughest rocks would need a powerful force behind them to make them dangerous. Hades being frail physically and not even grabbing onto them in the first place would seem like he was simply going to have these rocks bounce off of this beast.


Yet each rock would find itself not only cracking the mask but tearing through it. Ripping off chunk after chunk. The beast screamed as parts of its face were torn through and the sound of rocks clattering on the ground a short distance away made the entire affair deeply ominous. The beast backed off of Hades, which caused Hades to slowly get up while conjuring yet more earth from the bedrock beneath his body. Only to fire off yet more rocks at the hollow. His anger was fueling this entire affair as after each rock was fired he let his will reach out for yet another rock beneath him. Mold it, and then fire it at the beast. From an outside perspective, it would appear as though Hades was quite literally stoning the beast from originally point blank and eventually not but a foot or two away. With more and more flesh being torn off with each rock that slammed into or through the beast. A couple of which managed to hit the lower jaw and tear the entire thing off from its hinges causing the beast to attempt to scream only to find the task to be difficult as more rocks followed up the initial assault.


Hades in the meantime kept walking closer and closer to the beast as he spoke angrily to it. Starting to become familiar with just what he was doing. “HOW DARE YOU ATTACK ME FILTH! I AM BEYOND YOU! I AM A GOD! YOU SHOULD BE BOWING TO ME IN FEAR AND REVERENCE! I KNOW NOT WHO CREATED YOU NOR WHAT COMPELS YOU BUT I WILL END YOU. YOUR SOUL WILL BE RENDED FROM THIS BODY AND I WILL STUFF IT INTO TARTARUS FOR YOUR SINS! DIE YOU PATHETIC BEAST!! The number of stones that were rapidly fired by Hades at the beast quickly grew in number as he grew closer to the beast and continued assailing it. By the time he finally reached it, the beast was long since dead and the stones were simply shredding the body beyond repair. At some point Hades’ anger started to calm itself as he began to regain his cognitive functions again and could start to realize the beast was beyond dead at this point. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself some before stopping three stones from moving and instead letting them hover around him. With his eyes narrowed at the beast he slowly realized the coppery scent wasn’t just coming from the doe beast but this one too.


Each had this scent. This temptingly delicious scent that was making his stomach growl louder than he could recall it doing previously. It had him tempted to let himself go again and to a degree he did. He bent down and took what remained of the head and started to gorge himself on it. Bone, flesh, and what little brain matter remained. He took his time eating the entire beast. Intent on making sure that in no uncertain terms it was gone. One limb at a time, fur, bone, flesh, all of it found itself reliably ground up by the surprisingly powerful jaws of Hades. And he found himself deeply satisfied with the fact that this thing, which thought itself so high and mighty was dead at his hands and being rapidly consumed by him. Yet there was a part of him that had to wonder why on earth he was so ravenous. Any previous memory of self or what seemed like himself had his eating habits far more restrained usually accompanied by tools to assist in eating. And certainly not eating creatures whole.


Yet another part of his mind began to almost strangely clearly show scenes where he did eat others. Not his worshippers of course but beasts sacrificed to him. Even going so far as to hunt for strange beasts that weren’t quite the same as these but similar in their ferocity. As he finished the last of his meal he looked over towards the remains of the doe hollow. It was still mostly intact with only some of its flesh on its torso eaten. It seemed like Hades had gotten here early enough that he could not only consume his new prey but the prey of the beast he’d slain. He walked over towards it and let his stomach and the spite he felt for the beast he’d killed take over. He rapidly began to consume this being too. Starting yet again at the head, just to be safe, and then slowly going down the neck, towards the torso, and then slowly making his way from the front legs, to the hind legs. Within a surprisingly short amount of time, Hades finished his second meal. And he felt . . . strange. Just as hungry as before he’d eaten while also feeling satisfied. And in a way stronger. His sense of self felt bolsters and he could almost swear that he had new memories of his previous life showing up but it was shaded and faded. Hardly worth mentioning. Which made him wonder. What was he to do now that he was done with his impromptu meals yet still hungry?


Two class 8 Hollows consumed

SPOILER: Click to show

{Reiatsu}-200 for Earthen Cascade

200 reiatsu used

750 - 200 = 550 reiatsu remaining

SPOILER: Click to show

{Earthen Cascade}Technique Class: 8-1

Technique Type: Spiritual

Usable By: Hollow

Technique Element: Earth

Description:

Earthen Cascade is a simple technique, based simply around doing what most can already do. Pick up large chunks of earth and throw them at others. Where others would use their strength as the force behind this, Hades utilizes his highest spiritual stat. In addition, like most hollow abilities, this technique scales up to the users class and allows for more varied use at higher classes. For class 8 the user is simply able to manipulate up baseball sized stones so long as they are already present in the world around. Should rocks of a smaller or larger size be available Hades can break off the appropriate size earth he needs or otherwise meld smaller pieces of earth until he meets the size limit. From there it's as simple as pointing in a direction and firing off the stones at his enemies. This does allow sand particles to form into hardened rock assuming enough sand is present. These rocks move at 100 speed.


For classes 7 and 6, the power increases namely in that Hades can create up to fist sized rocks and fire off up to three at a time. The speed increases to 200 speed and still require Hades to point at a target. Precious stones can be utilized at this level as well as manmade rock such as marble. Lastly rocks can be held around Hades. Allowing him to fire them off as he desires.


For class 5 and 4 significant boosts are available. To start, he need not give off a physical que as he can mentally direct the stones so long as they are up to 40 feet from him. The stones are also able to go up to the size of a basketball and more impressively can be broken apart and fired off in small chunks as opposed to being fired off wholesale. When done like this the offensive power is reduced o 20 percent and requires at least 5 individual chunks to hit a target to impose the full power of Hades. The speed of the stones as a whole move at 300 speed and move at 400 if broken apart. A maximum of 5 stones can remain around Hades. At class 4 specifically Hades can now manipulate metals as he does natural and manmade earth.


For class 3 and 2 Hades gains the means to create boulders the size of individual people. (six feet diameter) Additionally he can manipulate their shape to create whatever shape he desires such as weapons out of the boulders or other objects so long as they remain 6 feet in length. Multiple can be used in tandem to create larger objects. The total number of boulders he can manipulate at a time are 7 now and the range that he can manipulate them now increases to 60 feet. Their speed increases to 450 speed if thrown wholesale while splintering them off is now at 600 speed. All earth manipulated now has an increased durability of 1.5x Hades highest spiritual stat.


At class 1 Hades gains the means to create boulders up to the size of 15 feet in diameter. He can control 10 boulders at one time and manipulate them at 600 speed unless fractured and fired off which occurs at 800. He can partially fuse and break apart these boulders from any earth that is within his area of control which is now 80 feet. Additionally, so long as he has higher OS and the earth another manipulates is within sight and his size requirement, he can attempt to steal control of the earth from another. Finally, each kind of earth gains a particular property with the following types being: Jewels/Precious Stones, Manmade/Natural Earth, and Metal. Metal gains a durability increase to 2x his highest spiritual stat. Jewels and precious stones fracture and bury themselves within objects they come in contact with. Requiring a strength stat of 600 to flex out of one's body. While buried inside an individual these shards will tear and shred an individual from the inside if they move at higher than 300 speed. Finally, Earth, natural and man-made, gain a homing ability for earth that is fired off against specified targets. Tracking them for up to 2 posts after their initially fired post. They move at 600 speed until they turn up to 90 degrees and then are reduced down to 400 speed.


How to Use:

Flood the ground around the user with reiatsu and then begin manipulating the reiatsu into the form desired. Typically, small stones to start at early levels while higher levels show off a wide array of forms and sizes.


Drawbacks:

This technique has a post duration of 3 posts at learned, 4 posts at proficient, and 5 posts at mastered. Stones all have durability that act as health bars and thus can be destroyed so long as enough attacks are made against the earth manipulated. Limited range of control from class 5 and onward.

The user must be in contact with the earth to create more boulders. If the user is separated from the ground, they can only manipulate what is already created.

Larger sizes of earth must be used with care as they can and will block the users sight allowing for openings on the enemy's end. This is most notable at later levels when larger and more pieces of earth can be manipulated at once.

Cost increases as the user class increases. Starts at 150 reiatsu at class 8. Then increases to 200 reiatsu at class 7-6. Increases again at class 5-4 to 250 reiatsu. Increases to 300 reiatsu at class 3-2. And lastly ends at 400 reiatsu at class 1. Can only become proficient at class 5 and can only become mastered at class 2. Additional properties for each type of earth are only available if the technique is mastered. Cannot effect stated/written out items.