Chapter Six: A Deer, A Snake and A Shark
*Six Months after the battle with Ashido*
Takeshi was traveling with Mila as they searched for prey to hunt. It had been half a year since the battle with Ashido. Looking back on it, Takeshi had some mixed emotions. While he didn't exactly regret killing the soul reaper. After all he struck the killing blow as they were still fighting technically. It wasn't like he executed the guy or anything after he had been beaten.
No it was more the fact that killing him, felt like he had killed an actual person. It was easy to kill hollows generally, since most were bastards or to mindless for their own good. They felt more like monsters then people, granted there were exceptions to this of course, Mila being a prime example of that. Killing them was for survival but, killing Ashido felt different. It felt as though he had committed murder in a sense.
He didn't feel regret, after all the guy had planned to kill Mila. what he did feel for some time after killing Ashido was a sense of guilt. Guilt that he had killed a person, no matter how much they had been against one another. Killing another actual person was something he never had any desire to ever do. somehow that guilt felt terrible in way he couldn't have imagined. Still he knew he couldn't dwell on the pass too much, less he let it consume him. He couldn't allow that, not with so much he still had to do.
So he tossed himself at his training and continued his growth to help him move forward with things. He had begun developing a whole new offensive attack with Reaver. The idea of the attack was to summon multiple small shards of energy from out of Reaver and toss at an opponent. Once connected to a target they would then explode when he gave them the command to do so. The idea was that he would summon hundreds at a time for this attack, at the moment he could only do a few dozen. He called the ability "scatter shot".
He also began working on a new defensive technique. The idea would be to coat himself in his energy and release it pulses around a battle zone. It was meant to act like a type of sonar that could give him exact location of a target around him. The idea was that his concentrated energy would fan out around an area. Once it made contact with someone it would bounce back to him in way he could actually feel where his opponent's exact position was. in the offset chance that any of his main battle senses like sight and sound were hindered for any reason. It was essentially a much more precise, albeit much shorter range version of his usual energy sensing skill.
He had learned that the abilities a hollow could have varied widely from hollow to hollow. It just seemed like a good idea to have some variety of counter measure for whatever he could come across in hueco mundo. This skill proved much easier to develop and learn to properly use compared to his other skills.
Of course his body continued to change, he grew even taller and his body filled in even more. This also meant that his clothes that he arrived in no longer could fit him. It made him glad he thought to scavenge the clothes of off the soul reaper. He used one of the sleeves as scarf of sorts to cover the bottom of his face and neck when not using his fullbring. He used the other sleeve and split it up to make wrappings of sorts to go around his feet. While the pants were still a fair bit large on him still. He was able to tighten them enough around the waist to make them stay up. He just had to roll the bottom of the legs up a bit in order to make them not drag over his feet. The only thing left exposed was his torso and arms.
His thoughts turned to Mila, she still fed on plenty of gillian's daily and he felt her power continue to rise higher. It had been more or less a year since she became a gillian. He wondered just how much longer it would be until she evolved. While he was no expert on gillian feeding. He could still figure thanks to his help, Mila fed far more and frequently than most other gillian's. it undoubtedly had to of shorten the original amount time that was speculated. It would hopefully happen soon, he very much missed having pleasant conversation with someone other than his fullbring spirit.
Takeshi was suddenly taken out of thoughts when he suddenly felt a powerful presence coming towards him and Mila. it was stronger than anything he had ever felt before even more than the soul reaper. He immediately activated his fullbring and hoped down off of Mila with Reaver drawn and ready, Mila keeping in place behind him. He kept watch, trying to spot whatever it was coming to them.
"so you're the ones I have heard so much about." Called out a deep booming voice. Takeshi looked to where the voice came from and saw the hollow who had spoken.
He was tall with grey skin; his hollow mask had some tiny red swirls on it. he had a bone like shell on his back and he had a hollow whole in the upper left side of his chest. Takeshi knew what he saw staring him down was an adjucah hollow.
Takeshi became very nervous, while he knew he was strong he could tell this adjucah was too powerful for him alone, perhaps even with Mila's help. He had managed to beat the soul reaper but that had partially been due to some luck on his part. If it was being completely honest with himself. He wasn't too keen on finding out if he could get such luck again, against an even stronger opponent too no less.
The hollow picked up on Takeshi's caution and surprisingly held up and hand in an act of non-aggression.
"calm yourself, I have not come to fight you." he spoke. "I have merely come to find out for myself, about the two of you who have made quite the name for yourselves in the forest."
Takeshi wasn't quite sure if he could trust the hollow, but he couldn't detect any deceit in his words. He figured if he wasn't trying to kill him, he might as well not do anything to provoke him. So he relaxed himself and lowered his blade.
The hollow approached Takeshi and Mila with its hands up in front of him as he walked. Once he was a few feet in front of them he stopped and dropped his arms to his sides.
"how interesting, so the rumors were true. You are a young human after all." He mused.
"indeed I am, who are you by chance?" replied Takeshi.
"I am the guardian of this forest; I am the most powerful hollow in here. I oversee the forest and help ensure the growth of hollows that have the potential to, grow up into adjucah's. who might I ask are you and your friend?" he retorted.
"my names Takeshi Kurosaki and my friend is Franceska Mila Rose."
"tell me young Kurosaki how did you arrive in the forest?" question the hollow.
Takeshi gave a quick retelling of how he arrived of the events that led to him being trapped in the forest and his meeting of Mila.
"hmmmm, interesting, most interesting indeed." Mused the hollow. "tell me, what are your plans?"
"I merely seek to help my friend achieve her evolution to an adjucah. Once that is complete, we will take our leave from this forest and begin hunting down a hollow I have a personal quarrel against."
"I see. I can sense your friend will evolve very soon. Odd for one who achieved gillian so soon to evolve into an adjucah in such a short time. Though if my sources are correct you have sped up her growth by a very rapid pace." He paused for a moment before speaking again. "tell me have you seen a soul reaper in the forest by chance?
"yes I have." Takeshi replied. "I encountered him about six months ago. He was going to kill Mila. I intervened, we came to blows and I eventually killed him in combat."
This caused a genuine look of surprise on the hollow. "did you now? I find rather hard to believe, that soul reaper has been a thorn in my side for very long time. He's managed to evade me in all that time I hunted him. For a human child to succeed in killing him would be most impressive." Said the hollow.
Takeshi thought for a moment and decide to deactivate his fullbring in order to show the remains of the soul reapers uniform he scavenged.
"this is the remains of the uniform of the soul reaper I took off him after I killed him." Retorted Takeshi.
If the hollow was surprised before now he truly shocked. It stared for a moment then it began to laugh. "HA, HA, HA, HA, HA! It is true then! You killed that annoying soul reaper. It seems I owe you my thanks for ridding me of such a pest."
"I was simply protecting my friend." Takeshi replied.
"a human who protects hollows, truly I never thought I'd see such a thing. Tell me boy, how can I repay this favor you've done for me?" the hollow asked.
"the hollow I seek is called grand fisher, if you have any info on him. It would be greatly appreciated." Takeshi asked in return.
"Grand fisher you say?" mused the hollow "I know of him yes. If you wish to find him, you will need to travel out of the forest and head in the direction of where the moon hangs in the sky. You will eventually come across a rock formation, once you cross over that. you will be in the territory that fisher calls home. Where exactly I do not know but he will be somewhere in that side of hueco mundo."
"that's much appreciated." Takeshi replied while giving a slight bow of gratitude.
The hollow gave a nod of its head and turned on its heel and began to walk away. It stopped after a few steps, looked back and spoke. "one more thing to help you and your friend boy. Northeast of here, is a valley filled with a few dozen gillian's. should your friend feast on them, I believe it will be enough to reach her next stage of evolution." He then turned away and took off without a trace.
Takeshi stayed still for a few moments ensuring the adjucah hollow was gone. He looked back and jumped on to Mila's head.
"ok Mila lets head off to the northeast of here like he suggested."
Mila turned her body and began moving. After about 30 minutes of travel, Takeshi began to feel a large concentration of gillian's. after a few more minutes, the entrance to a valley became visible. As they both approached, Takeshi could see the large amount of gillian's. there must have been around three dozen of them, all with the same generic mask.
"it's a god damn buffet in this place. Ok Mila, Let's go to work!" he spoke with enthusiasm.
Takeshi wasted no time moving quickly about downing the gillian's with ease. Mila for her part just moved up and started tearing them apart. Once they started, the gillian's began to panic, not that it mattered. Before any of them could do anything to try and escape. They had all been rendered dead or too immobile to escape. Mila feasted on the mass amount of gillian's, after the 30th gillian, her body began to glow brightly. Her evolution had been achieved at last.
Her body shrank back down as the glow continued, after a few more moments the glow faded away. Takeshi watched holding his breath as her adjucah state was being revealed at last.
Mila Rose was a large lion like her base form, with a brown skin body. She had white armor on her four legs, thick, dark brown hair on her back that went down her body and formed into her tail. Her head and mane were a bright golden color.
"holy hell! It finally happened at last!" exclaimed Mila.
She looked herself over and saw that she was essentially a slightly larger more detailed looking lioness then she had been in her base form. She absolutely loved it. she was taken out of her thoughts when a voice called out to her.
"you finally evolved Mila!" cried out Takeshi.
The lioness turned her head towards the voice and saw her friend, beaming at her with excitement. She took a moment to look over Takeshi and noticed that he wasn't quite a kid anymore. He had grown taller; his hair was longer, and she could tell his muscles had started to grow in more. He was a teenager on his way to becoming a man. She couldn't help but be happy with how much stronger he had obviously become.
"Takeshi!" she chimed as she trotted her way over to the human. "it finally happened, I'm an adjucah now. Just how long did it take?"
"a year give or take from when you became a gillian." He replied.
"dang, that was faster than expected."
"well I got a lot stronger myself and it made hunting other hollows a lot easier."
"I can tell, you've grown a lot from before I became I gillian."
"just how much do you remember of your time as a gillian by chance?" asked Takeshi.
"not much." Answered Mila. "it's just bits and pieces really."
"I see, let me fill you in on events then." Spoke Takeshi.
He went into explaining all that had during her time in her gillian state. How he grew and developed his powers, the continuous hunting of gillian's. Then came of course explaining the confrontation with the soul reaper. That certainly caught Mila's attention.
"so there was this random soul reaper seemingly stranded in this place too?" she asked.
"indeed there was." He replied.
"he tried to kill me, but you caught him before he could strike. You wound up fighting him and killing him in order to keep me safe."
"that would be what more or less happened."
Mila was quiet for moment, not quite sure what to say. She was very touched that Takeshi had risked himself for her sake. He could have easily wound up being killed by the soul reaper. Takeshi even admitted that he got rather lucky in the fight. Something about it filled her with a type of warmth, that she hadn't felt before. She had no idea what it was, but she liked it.
"I see then." She began. "thank you very much Takeshi, it really means a lot that you risked so much just for me." She said softly as she placed her head gently on his shoulder as a sign of gratitude.
He brought a hand up and patted her mane. "don't sweat it. I'll do what it takes to keep my friends safe."
Mila chuckled a little as they separated. "yeah, yeah I know. So I guess now we start trying to track down grand fisher?" she wondered.
"yeah, I already know where we need to search, we have to leave the forest and travel in the direction where the moon hangs in the sky. We should eventually reach a rock formation. Once we cross over it, will be in the territory that fisher is supposed to call home." Explained Takeshi.
"fair enough but what about proper food and such for you?" inquired Mila.
"I'm sure will find something along the way. Reaver can help keep me sustained for about six months. I may suffer some muscle loss, but I'll still be able to fight properly."
"fair enough then." Said Mila as she turned her attention to the few remaining downed gillian's. "let's eat these guys first before we take off."
Takeshi just nodded as he walked over and stabbed Reaver into a gillian. Mila began devouring the other gillian's. After a little bit everything was cleaned out, Takeshi hoped on Mila's back. she gave out a roar and made her way to the top of the forest. After a few moments they passed through an opening in the roof of the forest and they found themselves in the vast deserts of hueco mundo.
Takeshi looked up into the sky and saw where the moon hung in its perpetual position.
"there's are course of direction" he mused.
"well, we better get a move on then" retorted Mila and off they went.
They traveled for what seemed like hours before finally finding a decent spot to hunker down for rest. Takeshi laid next to Mila, his back against her belly.
"you know, I really missed this during the time you were a gillian." He chimed.
"is that so?" Mila replied coyly.
"yeah, it brought a certain warmth and comfort in the dark, coldness of this world. you know what I mean?"
Mila was quiet for moment. "yeah I think I do." she retorted.
"good night Mila."
"good night Takeshi."
With that said they drifted off to sleep.
*Four months later*
Mila and Takeshi were traveling through the deserts as they had been for the last four months on their journey to find fisher. They had yet to reach the formation that was told. They tried not to be discouraged though. Hueco mundo was a very large and vast place, traveling anywhere could take a very long time.
They had caught some breaks along the way, they had a few small caves on their travel every so often. The same moss from the cave back in the forest also grew in these caves. Something Takeshi was honestly quite grateful for. They had also struck luck on finding randomly roaming gillian's to hunt. Even some low level adjucah's that were rather easy to take down, with Mila and Takeshi working together.
Not to mention Takeshi was now 13yrs old. His body continuing to grow and change as it did for teenagers. Plus Takeshi could sense he was nearing another mass jump in his fullbring power. While he had got his new battle area sensing technique down since he first started to develop it. he was still having trouble with his scatter shot attack. While he had improved on the number of energy shards he could summon and blast at a target with. From the initial few dozen to now about a hundred. It still wasn't quite where he wanted it.
Still for the most part the travel hadn't been all that bad. Having Mila back in a state to where they could actually have a pleasant conversation again was incredibly welcoming. It made him realize just how much he had missed it. Mila's own power had also grown a fair amount as well during their travel. Something that she was quite proud of.
As the two companions traveled, they both felt the presence of two adjucahs that were near one another. Seeing how it had been a little time since their last hunt. This was something they couldn't pass up.
They began slowly making their way to the area where they felt their presence. Takeshi activated his fullbring, he and Mila crept quietly and low to the ground as they approached. They came to the top of a large hill, carefully peering from the top looking to the base of it, in order to see their targets below.
There were two adjucahs just as they had felt, one was a deer looking hollow that had a horn in the middle of its mask and an antler on either side. The other was a snake looking hollow, with a fan like mask. It had bells that dangled on both sides and some pinks dots under its eyes. Getting a feel for their power, both were weaker than Mila and barely stronger than Takeshi. Though the deer hollow was noticeably a little stronger than the snake hollow.
"I have plan for this Mia." Whispered Takeshi.
"what are you thinking?" she whispered back.
"let me go down their first and catch their attention, they'll most likely be too surprised and focused on me to notice you. while I have their attention, move in and get the jump on the deer. It's the stronger of the two so you'll need to take care of it, while I deal with the snake." He explained.
"sounds like a plan to me." Mila replied.
With that decided Mila moved back a little behind the ridge of the hill. Takeshi meanwhile stood up and used his bringer light jump clear from the top of the hill and landed some ten yards away directly in front of the deer and snake. He had their undivided attention the moment he appeared.
"What the fuck is this!?" said the deer in a female voice.
"It appears to be human teenager of sorts." said the snake also with a female tone.
"no way some damn human teenager could be in hueco mundo. You have to be wrong." Retorted the deer.
"if you would use that uncultured head of yours and actually feel for the boy's energy. You would tell he is human." snarked the snake.
"shut the fuck up Sung-sun!" angrily replied the deer.
"always such a brute Apacci. It very unbecoming of a lady." Said the snake now known as Sung-sun.
The deer hollow named Apacci simply growled in response. Then Sung-sun addressed Takeshi.
"just who and what are you by chance boy? Not to mention what is your business with us?" the snake questioned.
"my name's Takeshi Kurosaki, as you suspect I am a human. though more specifically I am human with the power of fullbring." He replied.
"the fuck is fullbring?" wondered Apacci.
"care to explain?" asked Sung-sun.
"I could but that would be a waste of time. You see to answer your earlier question about my business with you. it's honestly quite simple. I need to hunt and consume hollows to keep growing the power of my fullbring in a sense. When I sensed you two, well I just had to come for you." Takeshi replied.
Both hollows immediately tensed up a bit.
"you think too kill us and eat us then you fucker? Good luck, you're outnumbered two to one. Plus you're not as strong as either of us I can sense it." spoke Apacci.
"even if you did manage to kill us on your own. You would incur the wrath of our mistress. You would certainly have no chance against her on your own." Retorted Sung-sun.
"is that so?" Takeshi playfully chimed. "well then, it's a good thing I'm not by myself then."
The moment those words left his mouth, Mila leapt out at the two hollows. They picked up on her at the last second. Apacci and Sung-sun were forced to split off in opposite directions from each other to dodge Mila. Mila immediately took off towards the deer hollow.
"Apacci!" yelled Sung-sun, she tried to make move towards her friend but was cut off immediately by Takeshi.
"sorry but your friend is going have to deal with mine on her own. For the time being you're going to have to face me." Takeshi said staring down the snake hollow.
"very well then, if I must kill you then so be it!" said Sung-sun as she suddenly leaped out at Takeshi, baring her fangs.
Takeshi charged his blade and put up his shield right in front of him. Sung-sun slammed into it headfirst, not expecting the human boy to have a such a maneuver. Takeshi quickly dropped his shield and charged sung-sun while she was shocked and dazed from hitting his shield. Sung-sun caught the attack coming and quickly tried to lurch her body out of the way. She managed to dodge the strike for the most part, though she still took a decent slash on her body.
Quickly regrouping herself Sung-sun took a moment to better think things out. She hadn't expected the human to have such an ability, who knew what else the boy had up his sleeve. She didn't have much time to think as the boy quickly lunged for her. She dodged the blade strike and swung her tail in response. The boy ducked down and dove back away from it. wanting to keep the boy on his heels, she charged at him.
Takeshi saw the snake charge him, but he wasn't in a position to throw up his shield again. He quickly kicked off the ground with bringer light and hovered up in the air. "WHAT!?" exclaimed the snake, taken surprise by his ability to keep up in the air. Feeling his drain effect working on the snake hollow. He charged his blade and swung forward.
"Scatter shot!" he exclaimed as a hundred sharp shard looking bits of energy shot out of Reaver and at Sung-sun. with no time to move sung-sun had no choice but to endure the blast. A decent amount sunk into her skin while the rest stuck into the ground around her. Sadly she had no idea what was about to happen next.
Takeshi simply pointed his blade at the snake and uttered the command phrase.
"Click."
Boom!
The shards exploded in a boom all at once. Kicking up all sorts dust and sand. Takeshi returned to the ground, keeping his eyes on the dust cloud waiting for any movement. The dust finally settled, and he saw the results of his attack.
Sung-sun was not in good shape. The exploding shards doing a solid number on her. She had multiple small blast wounds on her body and was bleeding all over. Not to mention she felt herself becoming weaker and weaker as the fight went on for some reason. Though she refused to give up.
Quickly she moved forward and lunged with her fangs bared and swung her tail around at the same time.
Takeshi managed to dodge the fangs but couldn't adjust in time to avoid the tail. It slammed him clear in his back and launched him hard into the ground. He quickly got back up on his feet, ignoring the pain in his back. He studied Sung-sun closely.
The attack from earlier was starting to have a real effect on her, all the blood loss seemingly starting to catch up with her. Not to mention the energy drain still working steadily on her. She was breathing hard and was seeming to have a hard time keeping focus. It wouldn't be too much longer now, Takeshi figured.
He made quick glance at Mila to see how her fight was going. The deer hollow was speedy, but he saw that it had some wounds on it. Mila was steadily pushing it back she would be finishing her fight soon as well by the pace of things.
It was time to finish off the snake hollow he decided. He shot forward with bringer light to attack the snakes front. As it prepared to defend from a frontal attack, Takeshi suddenly used bringer light to put himself right behind her at the last moment. Sung-sun didn't have time to react as Takeshi swung his blade at her. This was it; it was all over for her, Sung-sun thought for sure.
Clang!
The sound of blade meeting blade was heard all of a sudden. Takeshi's eye's widened in shock as his blade was suddenly stopped. The weapon that stopped his attack looked like a giant shark tooth blade. He looked to the one wielding the weapon.
It was a human sized and shaped hollow woman, she had wild blond, emerald eyes, one could see some mocha colored skin coming from underneath her mask. Her body white and blue, covered white like armor that gave her visage of humanoid shark woman. He also noticed the blade was literally attached to her sword arm. Takeshi quickly realized just what it was he was dealing with and it sent nervous shivers down his back.
The woman was a vasto lorde and she was looking at him like angry mother would at someone threatening her children.
"Mistress Halibel!" exclaimed Sung-sun.
Takeshi quickly used bringer light to create distance between them. He never took his eyes off the Vasto lorde.
"Sung-sun" the woman known as Halibel said in a caring yet commanding voice towards her subordinate. "what exactly is going on here?"
"this human boy suddenly showed up and engaged me and Apacci. We thought he was by himself but it was all ruse for his friend, that lioness hollow to surprise and split us up." Explained Sung-sun.
"I see" said Halibel as she overlooked how beat up sung-sun was. "did that boy do all this to you?"
"yes my lady he did. He may be young and a human but he stronger than he appears and has interesting tricks up his sleeve."
"I understand." Halibel said as she narrowed her eyes in anger at Takeshi.
Takeshi knew right away he and Mila were in all sorts of deep shit and somehow had to escape.
Halibel looked towards the fight between Apacci and the lioness hollow. Apacci was looking rough and on the verge of being overpowered for good by the other hollow. Halibel decided to deal with that situation first before dealing with the boy.
Takeshi seemingly picking up on her intentions quickly yelled out. "MILA LOOK OUT!"
Mila looked just in time to see a new hollow appear beside her. She moved back as quickly she could and just barely dodged the new hollow's sword strike. She quickly moved by Takeshi's side and took a closer look at the new hollow. When she realized who they were dealing with she became extremely worried.
"Lady Halibel." Spoke the beaten up Apacci.
"hush Apacci, stay here and keep safe. I will take care of this." Halibel said to the deer hollow before turning her attention to the human boy and his hollow accomplice.
"Takeshi, we need a way out of this!" spoke Mila urgently.
"that's going to be way easier said than done." He replied.
"indeed." Said a voice behind them. They both looked and saw it was the vasto lorde. Neither had even seen her move. She swung her sword at Takeshi. He barely managed to bring Reaver in time to block it. the force of the hit was still so great it managed to knock the wind out of him and launched a good distance away with a hard crash.
"Takeshi!" yelled Mila.
It was she could say before the woman known as Halibel swung her non sword arm and hit Mila so hard with it. it sent her tumbling across the sand with no control.
Takeshi stood himself back up trying to get his bearings back. when suddenly Halibel appeared in front of him and punched him clean in the gut with her normal arm. Takeshi's eyes went wide, and his mouth went as wide as it could behind his mask from the force of it. he dropped back down to the ground on his knees, his arms swung around his gut from the pain. Reaver falling out of his grip from the hit.
"you made a grave mistake attacking them boy." Proclaimed Halibel with an icy tone. Before she proceeded to back hand Takeshi, he fell hard into the ground on his side, now barely keeping consciousness. He could feel the blood pool in his mouth.
Halibel stood over the boy and raised her blade, ready to make the finishing strike. When suddenly an attack came at her from the left.
"CERO!" roared Mila with all the force she could muster as she fired the orange cero at the vasto lorde. Halibel braced herself and put her sword up defensively just as cero reached her. She was pushed a few yards back by the cero before it exploded in her face, sending a huge cloud on sand and dust into the air.
Mila watched the dust cloud closely trying to see any kind of signs. "did that do anything to her?" Mila wondered.
"I'm afraid not." Spoke Halibel directly next to Mila, there wasn't any sign of damage on her from the cero blast.
Mila couldn't move in time before Halibel slammed a knee not her side. Then the vasto lorde connected a fist to her face. Halibel then proceeded to grab Mila by her neck and slammed her full force into the ground. Mila was knocked out cold by the strength of the attacks.
"A pity" remarked Halibel before she thought for a moment. "perhaps you can be convinced." she mused to herself.
Takeshi in that time had somehow managed to get back on his feet and grabbed Reaver. He looked over to the shark woman and saw her standing over Mila's beaten form.
"MILA!" he screamed in shock, ignoring all the pain in his body.
"still able to stand, are you?" spoke Halibel. "impressive."
"get the hell away from her!" he roared at the vasto lorde, his anger building at the sight of his beaten up friend.
"bold words boy, as well as foolish." Retorted Halibel. "your clearly no match for me."
"shut the hell up!" Takeshi yelled out. "I don't care what you think! I'm not going to let you hurt my friend any further! I don't care what I have to do." suddenly his spirit energy began to rocket up and his body began to glow silver. "I don't care who you are or even what you are! You hear me!? If you think to threaten the people I care about! I WILL CRUSH YOU! NO MATTER HOW MUCH OF MYSELF I HAVE TO SACRIFICE IN THE PROCESS!" he roared with all his might and fury, the memory of his slain mother burning in his mind. Driving him to not be weak again when someone he cared for needed help. In that moment his body became engulfed in a huge burst of silver energy.
Halibel eyes widen in genuine shock at this unexpected turn of events. when the energy subsided and revealed the human boy her feeling of surprise continued.
While the boys weapon remained unchanged, the rest of him was another story. The shape and color of his clothing had remained the same but now all his clothing from his mask to his boots. All sported some sort of silver 'x' patterns on them. And his hair was now silver from the middle and down. Accompanied by a large increase of power.
"most impressive boy but it's still not nearly enough to defeat me." Spoke Halibel. She then charged the boy. She neared him and swung with her blade. The boy dodged her strike and quickly shot up into the air behind her. Halibel didn't charge at him with her full speed but the fact he had still dodged her for the speed she went at was nothing to scoff at.
Takeshi landed in front of Mila and brought his blade behind him as he began to pour all the energy he could into his blade. The shark woman eyed him closely trying to asses, what the boy what up to. Sung-sun hard warned her they boy had some interesting tricks up his sleeve. She didn't want to blindly run into some sort of trap.
Takeshi kept pouring more and more power into the blade. He could start to feel his body strain from the amount he was putting into his attack. He ignored this though as he kept his vicious glare pointed at the shark woman. A huge cloud of silver energy, twisted around his blade and his whole body, as continued to generate more and more power.
"War Pup stop!" cried out Reaver inside his mind. "Your focusing way too much power! Your body isn't prepared to handle the strain of using so much power in an attack!"
Her cries of reason fell on deaf ears as Takeshi kept pouring more into the attack.
"THIS END NOW!" roared Takeshi as he took off with all the speed he could muster.
Halibel was caught by surprise by just how fast the boy now was, she immediately moved back as the boy got close to her. Before she could get too far away, he unleashed the full fury of his attack on her.
"GETSUGA TENSHO!" Takeshi screamed with all his might and unleashed his attack. A giant arc of silver energy flew at Halibel with tremendous speed. With no time to move out of the way, Halibel brought a hand up and caught the attack. It pushed her back with its force a fair distance before she was able to halt it's advance. She could feel the blast manage to cut into the palm of her hand. Then the strike violently exploded engulfing her entire world in a silver light. The blast shook the ground of the area all around and throwing dust, sand and debris as far as anyone could see.
Takeshi stood in place panting heavily. His fullbring deactivated on its own, him having used up everything he could muster with his final attack. His body felt like lead from the exhaustion. He dropped to a knee unable to stand anymore for the moment. He watched as the dust began to settle, trying to see any sign of the shark woman. He began to think his attack had done the job but then a figure emerged from the dust cloud. Takeshi's eyes widened in shock.
The vasto lorde casually made her way towards him. She was scuffed up a bit and her hand had a deep gash in it but that was all. As powerful as his attack was, it was no where near enough to defeat her. She stopped when she was only a few feet in front of him.
"your final attack was impressive I must admit, it's been a long time since I met someone who could actually hurt me." She spoke in a calm voice while she held up her bloodied hand. "however it was still not enough to defeat me boy."
"I see." Takeshi weakly responded, barely keeping conscious as she looked up at the vasto lorde. "do what you will to me for what happened here, but don't hurt Mila any further. For what little it probably matters, had we known those two were under the protection of a vasto lorde, we never would have engaged them. It was nothing personal really, just way things work in hueco mundo after all. Mila must keep feeding in order to avoid de-evolution back into a gillian. Besides, I was the one who made the decision to attack them. This whole situation falls onto me, so please don't punish her for my mistakes."
Halibel stared down at the human boy for a few moments before speaking. "tell me boy, is she truly so important to you that you'd so willingly sacrifice yourself for her sake?" she questioned to the boy, thinking about his earlier words about him sacrificing himself for his friend. 'Sacrifice….' She thought to herself.
Takeshi just stared back her with all the resolve he could muster. "without a doubt she is. she's my friend and I'll do whatever it takes to keep her and everyone else I care for safe from harm. So go ahead and kill me if you wish, just leave Mila in peace."
While she didn't show it on her face, Halibel was rather taken by his words. Human or not, finding someone in a place like hueco mundo who was so genuine and sincere in wanting to protect those close them was very rare. She had long thought herself to be the only one who held such convictions in the hollow world. Halibel had at first been fully committed to killing the boy, but now she questioned to herself if that was truly the best course of action. She was brought out of musings when the boy suddenly howled in awful pain and began to convulse.
"GAHHH!" screamed Takeshi as his body was suddenly racked with tremendous pain. He fell over on his side and began shaking uncontrollably, screaming bloody murder as he did. His body felt like it was on absolute fire, as what felt like the pain of hundreds of daggers stabbing him. Coursing through his entire being, his eyes were wide and blood shot and the convulsions continued.
Halibel watched this for a moment before deciding what to do. she knelt next to the boy and placed her hand over his head as her hand glowed a yellow aura. Soon the boys convulsing began to cease as he then went completely unconscious. Apacci and Sung-sun approached her.
"Mistress Halibel. What just happened?" questioned Sung-sun
"it would seem he greatly overexerted himself with his final attack and his body reacted in response to that. whether or not he will survive from the strain he put on himself, remains to be seen." Halibel explained.
"So you're not going to kill him?" asked Apacci.
"no, not for the moment anyways." The shark woman replied.
"and what about her?" wondered Sung-sun, looking over at the still unconscious lioness.
"we take them both with us for now until they regain consciousness." Said Halibel in a stoic, yet commanding voice. "there is much more to the two of them, then initially thought. I wish to know just what that is exactly before I render my final verdict on them."
Apacci and Sung-sun looked at each other not sure what to think of this turn of events. though they both knew better than to question their mistress's decisions, once she made up her mind. They quickly moved about to grab the boy and lioness as Halibel commanded.