The Mask Slips[PG-13, NDE]

[Pasmar Vinnom]

Thread Title: The Mask Slips[PG-13, NDE]
Participants: John Ryan, Pasmar Vinnom
World: Human World
Death Setting: Non Death Enabled
Rating: PG-13
Location: The battle takes place in the Alpes, nightime, winter. Νear the snow-ridden foothills, no sign of life can be seen. Trees and snow spread throughout the valley, making it an ideal place for those who seek serenity..
Special Conditions: None
Circumstances: The hollow is hungry and reports of missing spirits and humans, amongst them quincy, have surfaced admist the ranks of the Vandenreich.

[Pasmar Vinnom]

((Sorry for short post, I will compensate for that in the next ones xD))

White...all was white. The scenery was white, like that of a blank canvas about to be painted. The only exception was the little green and brown from the conifer forest, whose trees where coated by thick snow. The weather was chilly and windy, enough to make any human shiver without the proper clothing. And here Pasmar was standing admist the snowy plains, with nothing for company except the forest to his right and the mountains surrounding him. In this cold valley, normally there was little life, mostly wildlife but during the past few days it had become quite the attraction..

At first, there was spirit that had wandered to far from his home and into the alps. Unfortunately, he encountered Pasmar who ate her without a moment of delay. Then, there were two quincies who obviously in hurry as they literally glided through the alps with some kind of movement, perhaps a step technique, that he couldn't follow unless he somehow stopped them and made them follow him instead. He baited them deep into the woods, killing the first one from behind and then have a long fight with the other one until he succumbed to his poisons. In his last moments, he was sliced by Pasmar's spear and blowed up, like a balloon from the purple poison that he instilled into him. Pasmar himself though was wounded and was forced to recuperate for a while. In the meantime, another group of quincy, this time about 5 people, came by the valley. But this time they didn't pass through but instead searched the whole place. Apparently, they were looking for the one that Pasmar had eaten. Though quite intent with eating them all, he was wounded from the previous fight. So instead he decided to be patient and eat them all, one by one, by ganking each one individually. Though it took long, approximately 6 days, it worked. By the end, his belly was fuller by 5 people.

And here he was, lying in plain sight in the snowy plains. The weather didn't mind him much, he could resist it generally though he couldn't help having a chill or two run down his spine occasionally. He should begin leaving soon though. It had been 3 days approximately and another search group would arrive soon, or at least he felt as such. This time though, who knows how many would come. He didn't want to be stranded here for a month, doing nothing but eating quincies. They had an unpleasant taste, though the women were pretty good. At least it would have been a comforting thought, knowing that a squad full of pretty girls would come. He would savor each of them..slowly, like the quincies they are. But that unfortunately wouldn't happen, as he was leaving regardless.

He pushed himself from the snow by using the force of his hands and instantly lifted himself up. He turned his gaze to the woods and his body followed that direction. Without any care, he slided on the snow, not knowing about the imminent danger approaching him..

[Hadrian J. Ryan Ⅻ]

John walked through the Alpine pass cautiously, scouring the area. He was part of a small search and rescue team, for want of a better word. 7 Quincies had passed through here, and over the course of several days, they had died. They hadn't been the most powerful Quincies, yet one would have hoped their numbers would have been enough to allow them to defeat this mysterious assailant. This time however, the group was smaller and more powerful. John felt privileged to be part of it.

The snow crunched underfoot as John walked up the narrow path. One side was walled by quite a steep cliff, while a conifer forest bordered the other. Currently, they had no idea what kind of creature had attacked the Quincies, so John had no idea where to look. For all he knew, the creature could fly and was abducting innocent people from the treacherous paths. Or, it could be some snake-like creature, slithering amongst the conifers, striking the people who dared wander too close.

John took a brief moment to look down behind him, back at the little Alpine village which sat nestled in the foothills of the mountain range. John felt a sense of duty to the people there to protect them from this unknown threat. He was already too late to save his comrades, the least he could do was save these people. It was his duty as a Quincy. This was why der Kaiser had given them this power.

A rustle from the forest alerted him. Like a cat, John's head quickly swivelled to the source of the disturbance. It could be just a small creature... But then again, one can't be too careful in situations like this. John turned his entire body around to the direction where heard the disturbance, and formed his secondary bow. The little material bow was light in his hand, it would be easier to manoeuvre, especially if he had to go into the forest. Of course, the noise could just have been an innocent forest creature, but John had a sneaking suspicion that whatever had killed those Quincies was no planning on killing him too.

SPOILER: Click to show

{John's Stats and Skills}


Strength - [60] Points (42 with Strategist Deduction)

Speed - [100] Points (70 with Strategist Deduction)

Spiritual Pressure - [130] Points

Reiatsu Strength - [100] Points

Light Aura - [60] Points

Dark Aura - [40] Points

Instinct - [50] Points (75 with Strategist Boost)

Senses [50] Points (75 with Strategist Boost)

Energy sensory - [30] Points (45 with Strategist Boost)

Healing Expertise - [0] Points


Total SP: [520] Points


Skills

[Calm Mind] {1}

[Weapon : Sword] {2}

[Weapon : Bow] {2}

[War Strategy] {1}

[Battle Analysis] {2}

[Battle Focus] {1}

[Strength of Will] {2}

[Leadership/Charisma] {1}

3 banked

[Pasmar Vinnom]

A deer came out from the forest, galloping away from the its safety. A deathly silence engulfed the valley as it did so. It was perhaps to predestine the upcoming battle. As he was about to leave, Pasmar felt a surge of reiatsus flood the area. It seemed that human companionship wasn't something to easily tread upon, like that of hollows'. Hollows didn't have such an organized societal system, not even a tribal one to say the least. They didn't have principles or morals like that of humans or the shinigami. If there was one rule, one principle to which all of them abided was that of the fittest. The strongest survive, the weakest perish. It an easy thing to say, but a hard one to watch in practice.

Truthfully said, Pasmar was puzzled by this reaction. Why would they care about the men missing? They were underlings by the looks of them, so weren't they easily replacable? Anyhow, this mattered little. Because now Pasmar had more food to dwell on. And one had gone out to meet him. The deer was still running and he heard steps walking on the snow. He could face the mean head-on, but from past experiences he had learnt that wasn't always the best option. With that way, the fight may take a while to finish and if Pasmar emerged victorious, then he would be exhausted. On the other side, an ambush was the best thing to do. After all, it was the method he had employed during the last few days, to take out most of the Quincies. By the way, what the hell were all these Quincies doing in that forsaken place? Does it have honey or something? Pasmar thought as he began to carry out his war strategy.

His war strategy was ingenius, or at least he thought so. Instead of 'bringing' him deeper into the woods and from there surprise him, he would instead do something more creative for a hollow to do. The snow here was thick, thick enough to fit twice his size. He would burrow under the snow and crawl his way up to John and from them impale him on spot. And from this day, he would create a game out of it; the Impale-a-Quincy game, in which Hollows will burrow under the ground and impale all the Quincies who stand on it. The winner would be the one who would scores the most Quincies, meaning the one who impales the most. Pasmar would always win this, so he was quite happy. At any rate, back on the main goal Pasmar reminded himself, after this brief lapse of stupidity.

Like a programmed machine, he started his war strategy. First, he needed a bit of puking around. If someone saw him right now, he would just stare at him with a shocked face. Who in their right minds would do this?! It's like having your firearm ready to shoot as you prepare to assault the enemy and then puke out of nowhere. But appearances can be deceiving, because this was necessary procedure for him to follow in order to fight. Of course, he wouldn't puke the enemy to death, which would be something disgusting and hilarious to see. Rather, as soon as he puked, Pasmar would put his arm in it and then he would take it out. With that an ornate eastern-styled polearm would follow in his arm. The purple goo, which he had puked, would regress into a shaft at first and then into a polearm. With that done, he submerged under a mound of snow, by digging a hole with his spear and tail, enough to fit himself in.

It was easy guiding himself through this world of white and cold, since he was usually doing the same thing underneath the shifting sands of Hueco Mundo. It was just a habit of his, to pass his time. Focusing his energy sensory, he managed to find the signal and trail it more accurately. It's emission was just 30 meters away from him. Luckily, there was plenty snow where the Quincy stood, so Pasmar's ambush attack had chances to succeed. And so he slid to his prey, with only ice and cold blocking his way. He used his spear to push away the snow, like some jungle explorer who used his blade to cut away the exotic bushes and plants that laid before him. Without knowing it though, Pasmar had caused a little avalanche behind him, as the snow went to cover the empty spots. Nonetheless, it would be an amazing view as John would see the land in front of him submerge, as if a mini earthquake was happening.

Until the land itself came to swallow him. At the moment he would be close to John, Pasmar would erupt from the ground with his polearm drawn in front of him, ready to impale John on spot. This was a simplistic strategy and one unlikely to succeed at all, but Pasmar was keen on taking the chance. "CHANCE!" is what he said as the behemoth emerged from the ground. For him, life was nothing more than a game of chances. And he intented to grab them all.

Reiatsu 605/630

SPOILER: Click to show

{Stats}

Strength - [50]

Speed - [100]

Spiritual Pressure - [90] (63)

Reiatsu Strength - [100] (150)

Light Aura - [45]

Dark Aura - [55]

Instinct - [75]

Senses - [50]

Energy sensory - [35]

Healing Expertise - [0]

[Hadrian J. Ryan Ⅻ]

SPOILER: Click to show

{MUSIC}

John sharply turned his head towards the direction of the forest. It appeared that innocent rustle wasn't so innocent after all. There was a reiatsu presence in the area, not a particularly strong one, but one nonetheless. He wasn't able to determine very much, only a rough sense of its direction, and the fact that it was there. It must be pretty smart to have taken out so many Quincies at that level of strength... At once, John was wary. The presence appeared to be growing stronger... No! It's moving closer!

But John couldn't see it. However, the presence was definitely moving closer. How was this possible? Was it invisible? Was it tiny? ...It's underground!! The snow was quite thick, it was very possible that something was underneath. At once, even before verifying his theory, John jumped up, and ran until he was about 20 feet in the air. Air Ground was a great defence against such attacks. John immediately formed his bow, and prepared an arrow.

The brief second between John evading and the Hollow's attack was unbearable. John immediately went through a train of thought that exploited every flaw in his plan. The Hollow obviously had strong Energy Sensory if it planned on approaching him with such accuracy without relying on physical senses, so perhaps it realised he had moved. However, John hoped that it wasn't strong enough to realise that he had moved up. From underground, it would appear as if he was in the same place, just that his presence had gotten weaker.

The Hollow burst from the ground, shouting something unintelligible. It was a disgusting thing. But, the shape of a spear in its hand caught John's attention. It can use tools?! ...so much for them just being beasts. John felt no sympathy for the creature as he discharged an arrow straight at it. He felt confident it should hit, it would be difficult for the Hollow to avoid it as it emerged from the ground. John wasn't going to miss at short range. The arrow definitely should hit the body of the Hollow at least.

Whether it hit it in the mask was another story. So, to ensure maximum damage, John waved his free hand. At once, the arrow exploded in a burst of brilliant white light. John wasn't going to let it at that though. Drawing another arrow onto his bow. He prepared to loose it at the next available opportunity. If the Hollow had been able to tank the hit, which he very much doubted, and decided to pursue him in a straight line, he was ready. Straight lines were a blessing to one with a bow. John thought of all the opponents who zig-zagged gracefully through his attacks... But now was not the time to consider past battles. He had to devote his attention to thing in front of him. While it was weaker than many opponents John had faced, its intelligence was not something to be sniffed at.

This thing had killed several young Quincy. They had been like John, you and eager, with a burning desire to prove themselves to the Vandenreich, perhaps with an intention like John's to rise up the ranks and prove themselves worthy members of the 'Invisible Empire'. This Hollow was obviously aware of what it was doing, it was no simple beast. It could form weapons, and while John didn't hear what it screamed, it was definitely in a human language. This Hollow was sickening. There was no other option in dealing with Hollows. They didn't deserve retribution. They had to die.


Reiatsu Remaining: 1260/1300 : -20 for Class 6 Arrow, -20 for Class 6 Arrow explosion.

[Pasmar Vinnom]

((Sorry for long wait! Also, that's a really long soundtrack 0.0))


Chance..if were one of those Arrancar, that would be his aspect of death. Without thinking carefully in advance, he had rushed himself at this chance. But it turned out to be a bad one. Drunken by his recent successful kill streak, he had played down the quincy's response in his mind. He had gone and attacked without taking any precautions beforehand. Even though his plan had very low chances to begin with, he expected to deal a sufficient blow to the Quincy. And that might have happened, if he had previously concealed his spiritual energy.

Plowing his way upwards, he attempted to spear the quincy on spot. However, he pierced nothing but the thin cold air. For the first time he came here, he was the one being deceived right now; the quincy was standing mid-air, above his eyes, as if he was molding the air around his feet to serve like a ground, an air ground. Pasmar had little experience of air combat, but he had enough to realize that he was in a sticky situation. His opponent was ranged and up in the air, safe from any of Pasmar's attack, who was not in a position to whatsoever harm him right now. He had to get him on the ground again, on which the quincy will be at least ranged. How he did that would be interesting to watch..

But now, he had to retaliate as the first arrow came flying towards him. He wouldn't dare to avoid but instead take head on and block it with his spear. With that said, as soon as he had pierced the spot that John was supposed to be, he brought his spear to his left, extending shoulders and hands forward, elbows bent and his body twisted sideways. Using both his body and his right hand which was closer to the polearm's head, he brought them both at the same time to his right. His spear whistles as it sliced the air, drawing a horizontal arc to meet the quincy's arrow. And with that, he simply cut the arrow in half. But by doing so, he had triggered two more threats. First of all, his polearm's head had formed little cracks on its edge, after the contact with the arrow. But more worrying was the fact that he vision was now clouded by a bright white nasty light, burning his eyes, forcing him to drop his spear and attempt to shield his eyes from the light.

Like a prisoner who had spent all years in solitary confinement and first gazing the sun after many years, he felt as if his eyes were turning into fried eggs. He let out a scream of pain as he attempted to disorderly escape beneath the hole he had made. More like a snake now than a man, he slid on the in it with head first and tail following. If not now, then John would lose a fine chance to deliver a blow to the hollow, which in its desperation was digging deeper and deeper with its hands..

He had always hated the light, because like the darkness it hides away things from one's vision. But darkness was forthright and honest when hiding them. However, the light 'pretended' not to do as such. For that reason, he shared a contempt for those who served under the light, a contempt fiercer than those who served the darkness, because he denied that they were the same as those who serve the darkness..

[Hadrian J. Ryan Ⅻ]

The Hollow had missed, but John would have been a fool to drop his guard now. This thing was clever. Not only had it devised a plan to sneak up on him through the snow, it had now also sliced through his arrow with its spear. It would have been impressive, if it hadn't been so disgusting. There was no doubt in John's mind now that this thing deserved a painful death. It would murder Quincy and humans alike, with enough intelligence to realise it was doing wrong, but would continue to do so anyway.

It needs to be purged... The less of these things there are, the better...

While it cutting through the arrow had certainly prevented the arrow from striking its target, the blinding light as a result of the explosion had sent the Hollow into a roaring confusion. It seemed fitting to John that the beast despised the light of his arrows. It was right for a Hollow to fear the light a Quincy brought. It was natural.

John loosed the arrow he had already formed on his bow into the remaining explosion. This arrow was flying straight and true towards it's confused target. After the blinding explosion, John hoped the Hollow would have a hard time defending itself against the new arrow. It wasn't a particularly powerful arrow, but it didn't need to be. All it took was one direct hit to the mask to destroy these Hollows, all John needed was one good shot.

His skill with a bow had improved greatly over his time in the Vandenreich. Being the traditional Quincy weapon, and the weapon most Quincy preferred to use, John felt he would be doing a great disrespect to his heritage if he let his bow skills fall by the wayside. Even though John was a firm believer in progress, and that to truly develop and grow stronger, Quincy had to adopt other fighting styles, he still placed quite a lot of value in his bow.

As grand as this all was, John had another reason for using his bow instead of his swords. The Hollow would be toxic to him, any sort of contact would be excruciating for John. In this regard, the choice of bow made complete sense. It allowed Quincy to fight Hollows very effectively from a distance, with minimal danger for the Quincy. Cowardly, but effective. A nice way of dealing with a natural disadvantage.

John looked to see how the Hollow had reacted, hopefully he could land a direct hit amidst the Hollow's confusion.

Reiatsu = 1240/1300 : -20 for Class 6 Arrow

[Pasmar Vinnom]

((I drop out from this, sorry for making your wait so long))

[Kyomei Kuchiki]

+80 TTP to Pasmar (halved for dropping out early)
+150 TP to John