(Night)
Darkness covered the whole city as the people started to close up shop. A sight bee's wings were spotted atop a nameless tower as he examined the hives of spirits that held captive men, women and children. The chains that bind the souls to the living are now deteriorating. White substances suddenly sprout from their bodies as masks cover each of their faces, creating hollows.
The Bee Hollow then went outside again to find more victims for him to grow his hives and spotted a lone soul that still wandered in the realm. A young boy wandered around the streets and remained in this world.
The boy was still walking when he heard something. It felt like there was some sort of sense of uneasiness in the air. The streets are silent, but the boy senses that the surroundings are getting heavier and heavier by the minute. He then starts walking at a much faster pace. The boy quickly gets anxious as various things begin to occur around him.
Scratching on the walls, dust bins falling, a sound of footsteps creeping behind him. The boy notices that he is, in fact, being hunted down. The boy started running, and footsteps were approaching him. The boy is still running towards an escape from this entity. He is running faster and faster as if death is coming to him.
The boy kept running and running until he found a safe spot near the alley. He peeks behind the alley wall to see that he has averted the danger as the sound of footsteps suddenly disappears. He sighed in relief but was put into a choke as the Bee Hollow followed him. The bee hollow then jabs his sting towards the boy as he slowly drains the boy of his soul.
The howl of the boy slowly fades out as the sound of the bee continues to be heard in the silent streets.
XXX
"Your name is Joseph?"
"Yes, sir. That's my name."
Kazuhira and Leon were taking the spirit to the cafe as they were curious about the "Killer Bee" rumor that started to run rampant in the town. It seems that this spirit will lead them to the conclusion of this rumor. The boy was a bit intimidated around the two, especially Kazuhira. The way that he moved during that sequence is terrifying. It is as if the boy is standing before a primordial being.
"You escaped from the nest that this "Bee" has created and binds those spirits in the same location?" Kazuhira asked, still curious about what they were picking up and hearing from the boy. It seems that this hollow has grown in intelligence. Still, he is unsure that the hollow has become an Arrancar.
"He took me and strapped me into some sort of nest. I was able to escape due to a loophole that he was always searching for more souls that he could attach to his nest." Joseph said. Although he regretted saying that, he wanted to tell them that he was abducted and then taken to be displayed by that "Bee".
"That's quite tough. Do you want something to drink or anything that you like?" Suddenly Nomura appeared in front of the cafe stand and gave Joseph warm milk in a cup. "On the house." he later said.
"You know spirits like me can't drink or hold that cup, right?" Joseph remarked.
"At least you can smell it. I want to at least show you my kindness." Nomura smiled at the spirit. The spirit looked into the reflection of the milk as he smiled. Leon and Kazuhira smile at the sight, and Kazuhira pats the boy's shoulder.
"Don't worry, kid. We will get to the bottom of this. Because the Cavalieri has to maintain balance in the world." Kazuhira reassured the boy with a smile.
"What is a "Cavalieri"?" Joseph was intrigued by that word that he had recently heard about them. Why are they called the "Cavalieri" and why do they refer to them as such?
"Well, we existed many years ago…."
XXX
Pale or Grey: Bleach Another Story
Chapter 2
Where the Bee Hides 2.0
XXX
"Your civilization is that old?" Joseph peeked with interest after hearing their stories.
"Yeah, we have been here since the creation of the world of the living. We have many allies spread from Japan to the entire world. Though we have been short in numbers, it does not deter us from saving people." Kazuhira smiled at Joseph, who was more intrigued by their stories.
"Hey, hey, don't overexert our ego. We're a weak race, and we already attain our peace. We are just operating in the shadows now." Nomura smiled at the stories that Kazuhira had told the boy.
"This idiot just loves showing his power. If he trained more, He would be a lot stronger." Leon mocked the white-haired boy, but he just laughed it off.
"You are still on with that?" Kazuhira was getting a little annoyed.
Both of them were staring at each other with great intensity. They glared at each other as they were about to brawl in the Cafe. Nomura comes to their table and puts them back in their seats as he puts them down. "No fighting in my Cafe. understood?" Nomura warned both of them.
Three generates such an aura that it makes Joseph scared, but it quickly dissipates as a white-haired boy and a brown-haired boy stand down and just sit down, not creating any problem.
"My husband sure knows how to keep order around here." a voice came from the kitchen. Joseph saw a beautiful lady wearing an apron, the same as Nomura, who looked back to see her. The woman has black hair, the same as Nomura, who has the brightest smile on her face and black irises in her eyes.
"Hanabi-san. Good morning!" Kazuhira waved at her.
"My lovely Kazu-chan! It's been a while since you've been in my Cafe. What do you want to eat? Karaage? Fried Rice? Udon?" Hanabi's eyes were glued on wanting what her customers wanted in her humble Cafe.
"I would like some sweet tea. Miss Hanabi." Leon nonchalantly ordered.
"I would like that as well." Kazuhira follows along with Leon as well. Hanabi smiles as she hears the demand and hums as she returns to the kitchen and prepares their order.
Joseph looked at this as a sight of an everyday occurrence in the Cafe. For some old order, they seem pretty lax in their relationship and almost seem like a family. Nomura, Leon, and Kazuhira laugh like hyenas at a joke Nomura told them about. Joseph suddenly remembers his time with his family that he once knew and just smiles.
XXX
Joseph, Kazuhira, and Leon were walking around the town as Joseph was still thinking deeply about his family. He wonders if the families he loved so dearly we're still here. "Hmm, Kazuhira-san?"
"Huh? What is it?" Kazu replied.
"Where are we exactly?" the boys asked.
"We are in Hiroshima. Don't worry, this place is a bit peaceful, but it will be lively the next time it roars again." Kazu smiles in anticipation of the upcoming things to come. Leon just smiled at his friend.
"What do you mean by that?" Joseph asked the white-haired boy.
"This place is crawling with people who are just like us. Our town has "Different allegiances", but mostly our younger demographic does this. The older of our race are always fighting together to combat threats such as Hollows or any spiritual presence that may cause the world of the living harm."
Leon intervened and explained it to Joseph. Joseph was intrigued about it and what other allegiances they were talking about.
"There are 3 major players in Hiroshima, but now they are quiet for a while," Leon predicted, which left Joseph with more questions than answers.
"Why have they gone silent? Is there anything to do regarding other circumstances?" Joseph mildly became more interested in these other affairs.
"Kid. you better learn to not know things you don't want to involve yourself in. It's not good for your health." Kazuhira replied with a bit stern voice. Kazuhira did not like that some random spirit suddenly talked like he knew what was happening in the city.
"Sorry.."
"You just stick to reading books and coloring some paintings while we do stupid shit that gets us into trouble." Kazuhira patted Joseph's head with a smile on his face.
"Or get us suspended." Leon chuckled.
Joseph seemed interested but was still determining if they would provide more information on these issues. They only need to find someplace where the "Bee of Death" usually picks off their targets. They are flying blind, but Joseph knows a couple of sites that may be the hunting ground for the bee.
"Are you sure we are heading in the right direction?" Kazu was a little skeptical. Then again, he was talking to a spirit who escaped the clutches of this beast, so what does he know about this thing that is running rampant?
"Please have faith in me, sir. I hated that thing because of what they did to other souls like me. He turned them into a mindless beast that has holes in it." Those words that the boy spewed quickly interested both Cavalieri's.
"What does this thing want to try and capture as many souls as possible? If it were just a normal hollow, would consumption be the first thing on their mind since it was their instinct to do so?" Leon theorized the method that this beast used on the victims. Kazuhira also thinks about the way this creature is playing.
"This is a different case, though. If we face a Gillian class hollow, this will take some time. Besides, we don't even know how many souls this thing has already abducted and the souls that have already corrupted into becoming hollows." Kazuhira is concerned about the state of the situation.
"What? You sounded scared, Kazu. Does a hollow scare the living Kazu into submission? Running away won't do your status any good." Leon teased his friend. Leon knew his friend would respond to his question, but he decided to still say it to tease and lighten the mood.
"Are you kidding? It's been a while since I fought against a high-class hollow that appeared. I will make use of my time and skewer them into pieces." Kazuhira was reluctant to fight once more. Confidence often screams insecurities but not for Kazuhira. Leon had known him for this long to not be deterred by suggestion fear from his long-time ally.
"So their names are hollows, huh?" Joseph pondered to himself as they continued to go towards the destination.
After a couple of minutes, they arrived at their destination of the hunting grounds for the beast, a park with some lively people. This environment was quite unusual for a hunting ground for a hollow. Still, the atmosphere would be different if it was at night time. Now, they are walking around and see many children with their parents while both Leon and Kazuhira are staring at the parents playing with their kids.
Joseph noticed that they were staring momentarily as they both were still looking at the parents playing. "Are the two of you okay?" Joseph asked the two who had escaped the trance of gazing to look back to Joseph, who was curious about what he had seen just now.
"We're fine. We just…have little sightseeing. It's been a while since we went jogging, Right?" Kazuhira nudges Leon, who notices the situation.
"Yeah. It's been…a while. We were trying to admire the scenery of the place." Leon smiles at Joseph, reassuring the boy that everything is fine between him and Kazuhira. The boy is mainly curious but holds off on it since they seemingly try to hide their emotion the best they can.
"So this is the place. You sure?" Kazuhira seems skeptical but holds on to the hope they could find this hollow.
"Yep, this is where he snatched me up. I was just roaming around into nowhere until I was snatched by him. I did nothing and just let him take me." the boy confessed.
"Why? Why did you do such a thing? You should not give up on living." Kazuhira shouted at the boy for his blatant disregard for his action. Although not saying much, Leon seems disgusted by the premise of a boy giving up on life so quickly, even if they are just spirits that roam the night.
"I'm already dead. What do you want me to do? Wait for me to turn into those hollows or be eaten by that hollow. I would rather be nothing than be hollow." Joseph declares, and Kazuhira tries to punch him but phases through him because Joseph is spirit now. He has no flesh and only spiritual presence.
"Don't talk like you are the one that is suffering the most, you little brat. If you want to die so badly, I will feed you to a nearby hollow as soon as I find one. How about that?" Kazuhira suggested such a proposition to the boy, which stunned Leon with his friend's words.
The boy was scared. After saying those things, does he have the guts to die? Fear clouded the boy's mind, quickly leading to his indecision if he really wanted to die.
"I….I….I…I"
"If you wanted to die, why are you here with us? Shouldn't you be in the cacoon place right now?" Leon intervened. He asked about the boy's intention here and if he just wanted to die. It would be easier for the boy if he let his chains rot or became food for a random hollow.
Joseph has nothing to say. Silent was the only thing he could tell the two people before him. Joseph has not died peacefully yet, and now in front of these two because his will staggered and unsure of himself. Joseph still wants to live, but now he must pass on to another place. There is something that made him still cling to the physical realm.
"Leon, prepare traps for the hollow and place them in places in the park that may have huge activity of spirits. One of the traps may have caught on to some traces of spiritual presence that destroyed one of the boxes. We can notify his presence using paper imbued with a box."
Leon smirks at the response. They are going to stake out the park until it appears. Leon then began to focus his energy on a couple both of his hands. Leon took a deep breath and let out the wind from his body. Sparks of energy formed in the palm of Leon's left arm. He then starts to chant under his breath.
"Esseri del mondo, usiamo questo dono a voi affidato per purificare quest'anima impura (Beings of the world, let us use this gift entrusted to you to purify this impure soul). Scatola Nera (Black Box)." Leon finishes his chant. A surge of energy finishes and creates 4 black cubes in his hand. Joseph and Kazuhira beheld their eyes from the act while Joseph was gazing upon it.
"It seems that your Sortilegio (spells) training is not useless after all, eh?" smirking at his friend, Kazuhira tried to get a reaction out of Leon, who still looked frustrated from the comment.
"If you train more, you could have done this too. Instead, you spend your time being a lazy ass. Don't make me mention that your grades in Cavalieri camp are low except for fighting arts." Leon voiced his concern. Leon knows that Kazuhira is a strong and capable friend, but he doesn't understand why his friend is like this. Kazuhira stopped following up on his sentences because what Leon said was true.
"Amazing! What are those cubes?" Joseph's eyes were curiously glued to the 4 cubes still in Leon's grasp.
"This is the art of Sortilegio or spells we Cavalieri grew accustomed to. We used this to capture or trap hollows that grew rampant in the area. The practice has been passed down through our existence." Kazuhira tries to tell Joseph just snippets of Sortilegio. The child's eyes were more amazed than the ones that he saw who were lost. This is much better for him to look at the wonders of the world even though the boy is just a spirit.
"So cool!" the boy said once more. Leon's reaction to Joseph's amazement made him a little smug. It felt superior to Kazuhira, who didn't learn that much. Still, he is glad to see the kid so interested in his technique. It's been a while since a kid's spirit saw this, so it was given that it would leave him really surprised, but that's not important to him. Joseph is just enjoying his time with the both of them.
"I guess we are going to be in this area for the most part. While I set up the trap, how about you take the kid and let him see the surroundings?"
"What? And you get all the fun fights? No way, dude."
"You know jackshit on setting up Scatola Nera. Hell, you can't even spell to save your life. If you are the one here, you will constantly complain and do some monkey business that will hinder the incantation."
The white-haired boy sighs in response because he never liked setting up traps like this. He instead gets into the fighting already and cleanses the beast himself. "True. All right, I'll take you somewhere nice. Do you want to see the ocean?" Kazuhira smiled at the boy, in which the boy's face grew wider and wider into a smile.
"The ocean? Cool, let's go to the ocean then!" Joseph showed an intrigue of the sea. Although Kazuhira was hesitant, those thoughts vanished as Joseph's face filled with happiness.
XXX
Kazuhira and Joseph then walk off to see the ocean and bid off Leon, who will start laying traps for their foe. The white-haired boy gets to know the spirit as he is interested in agriculture and animals. Joseph said that his dream is to be a marine biologist in the near future. His parents bought him magazines regarding sea creatures, especially dolphins.
Joseph and Kazuhira then spotted arcades that were currently open right now. Filled with games and UFO catchers, both were enticed to see what kind of game there was in the place. Joseph is then glued to the presence of fish that looks like Nemo. Meanwhile, Kazuhira was looking through the fighting games that were in there. "So, new characters and balancing, huh?. I might try this now." He went to his pocket to see if he had coins to play with.
Six 100 yen coins in his grasp. He can only play six times, but then he noticed Joseph giving him the stare of a puppy, wanting him to play the ufo catcher to get the clownfish plushie for the kid. He gazes at his coins and clenches them as he has no choice but to comply with the ghost.
"Man. I sacrificed 5 of my 100 yen coins to get you that fish." Kazuhira whined with contempt as he looked upon his last 100 yen coin while carrying the clown fish plushie on his left arm. Joseph was wailing around his prize as he had won it himself without help.
"Better be grateful, you scoundrel."
" , big bro."
Hearing that, the white-haired boy smiled while the kid was cheerful. After a few minutes, they finally arrived at the ocean's edge. The breeze of the wind passes them both as Joseph looks at the ocean's wonders, and it was a good time too. It was when the sunset started as the sun's rays shone through the waters, creating an orange reflection.
"Seeing the ocean like this really calms my heart." Kazu uttered in silence, but Joseph noticed that he smiled from seeing it. I guess guys like him like this view as well. Joseph's face slowly turns from cheerful to low-spirited as he gazes at an area of the pier.
Kazuhira, who took notice of the child's expression, quickly intervened. "Where are you looking at? That pier?" The white-haired boy pointed the pier to the child, who stayed silent as he walked towards the dock. Kazuhira knew that it might resonate a kindling feeling that the child may remember, so he was quiet all the way so Joseph could absorb the environment that he was seeing.
Joseph was silent as they arrived. It is a place where people can see the ocean clearly, and he also spotted some people fishing nearby. His foot then walked down towards the rocks under the pier and gazed toward a spot. Joseph stumbled upon a place where he remembered his good times.
"Joseph. Are you reminiscing about the good times you have? Seeing this place again for so long must have been such a marvel. I knew a place like this attracted many people, even ghosts like to gaze upon and still…."
"This is where I die."
Kazuhira tries to lighten up the mood around the grim situation that has now suddenly been shut down by the child. This is not a place of happiness. It was the place where he passed away. He was too careless to notice and tried to be lively, but to no avail. The white-haired boy placed his arm on the shoulder of those reminiscing.
"Will you tell me your story then, Joseph?" Kazuhira plainly said to the spirit. Joseph nodded and offered his protector a seat beside him.
Joseph Liebel was his full name. He really likes marine life, as evident by the clownfish that Kazuhira was carrying now. Joseph has a family that loves him dearly: a father, mother, and little sister. That all changed when his father and mother died in a car accident, leaving him and his sister orphans. They manage to get sent to an orphanage near here. Joseph was an adventurous little fellow when he was alive, so he liked to go to places like the forest and the pier to sightsee. He always cared for his sister, who was a crybaby when he was still with her. Everyone has common obstacles that they face, but they always manage to find a way to overcome the odds due to dedication and learning.
One day, during one of his recent viewing of the ocean. He saw a girl standing on the pier, overlooking the sea. He thought the girl was admiring the ocean for a while, but then the girl started to want to jump from the dock. She was trying to commit suicide, but Joseph wanted to prevent it.
Unknown to him, the girl he wanted to save was technically a monster, trying to lure him by imagining a girl trying to jump from the railings. Joseph surprisingly avoided some of its attacks, but then the beast got to him, and his body was thrown into the waters of the pier where they were standing now.
"When I become a spirit, I don't know what to do." Joseph then looks into the chains in his chest. "I was roaming around the town for many years while people I met and befriended suddenly turned into monsters I now know as Hollows. If I turn into that thing, I might as well end up being devoured, but that bee kept me on standby so that I could become like those hollows and escape from that hive. Well, after that, you know the rest."
Kazuhira is silent while sympathizing with the boy. Kazuhira looks upon the boy, who has tears running down from his eyes, but the boy wipes them off.
"I'm just apprehensive that my sister will never know what happened to her big brother. I'm just afraid that I left her alone, and she resented me for being a brother who couldn't keep her promise to return safely. I'm okay dying, but I never wanted her to hate me."
"Joseph. I don't know how to speak about this matter. I never had a brother or a sister to understand your pain. Hearing you now, you have already done what you did best for your sister. A man of such caliber as yourself should not be so worried if someone close hated you. It's not about like or dislike but how you changed her life and how she will follow through to her goals and dreams while remembering those she cherished."
Joseph was taken aback for a bit. He never thought of it like that. He has already instilled sound principles in your sister. He ponders if he did things that have helped her with many things that will come her way. "I think I have done so. It's too early to think people will stick to how you want them to. It could sometimes lead to disappointment, later on, turned to rage." Joseph remarks.
"That may be true. Human nature is derived from success and failure. Humans failed multiple times in history, but they moved on. They moved on because they believed in something others might not see. In human history, victory comes from defeat. That is my premonition of things."
Victory comes from defeat? That is quite unusual for Kazuhira to say. Victory is a victory, right? How does a loss translate to victory? Joseph pondered once more what Kazuhira is saying while the white-haired boy saw how much he had swayed such feelings onto the spirit.
"What do you think? I made a good quote, huh?" Kazuhira tries to make Joseph say that he came up with good words, while Kauzhira makes a huge grin all over his face.
"I don't get what you are saying. Kazuhira-san." Joseph still needs clarification. Kazuhira's face turned to disappointment and embarrassment at the same time.
"If you study enough, you will get it, moron!"
"You're the one who said those dumb things, moron. Stop being so philosophical." Joseph was a little weirded out by Kazuhira being all smug when saying those things. Being a little stupid fits Kazuhira better than being into some sophisticated stuff. As night slowly descends towards the sky, the hunt for the bee begins.
XXX
(Night)
(Park)
Leon has already set up the traps that he cast in the park. He monitored the traps using paper tags inscribed with Sortilegio. Leon observed some of his tags with complete silence. Nothing came up to his traps at the moment. Leon heard bushes ruffling, and he threw a knife towards the bushes. The ones that were in the bushes were Kazuhira and Joseph, who just came back from their tour.
"Oh, it's you." Leon was relieved by their presence. Kazuhira throws the knife back to Leon, and his friend catches it without fail. Kazuhira and Joseph then also look at the floating papers tag. As children tend to do, Joseph intrigues by seeing floating papers aligned with the others. "What are these papers?" Joseph kindly asked.
"Remember that cube thing that I summoned earlier? Well, those cubes are connected to each paper tag. See how many tags are floating?" Leon told the boy that the curious child observed how many floated before him. Joseph counted 5 papers, meaning that there were 5 cubes in the vicinity of the park.
"5?"
"That's right. The maximum capacity of traps of the black cubes is only 5. The reasoning behind this is with the lines that you see connected to them." Leon pointed out to the boy, who looked at the paper. The papers were linked through lines of energy that connected to one another.
"If something catches on to them, it causes a wave-like radio frequency that disrupts the other lines. This method will make detecting which cube has trapped the target easier." Leon further explained. Suddenly, the three immediately noticed one of the cubes emitting waves.
"Kazuhira. You know what to do."
"What? Should you be the one that checks it out?" the white-haired boy interjected.
"I set up the traps for the whole day. I don't see you lifting my weights. Instead, you had fun with Joseph and saw the ocean view."
Leon and Kazuhira glared at each other. Joseph looked at them as if they were challenging one another to see which would falter. Leon stands his ground as well as Kazuhira, but Kazuhira just sighs in response. Leon already sets up the traps for this operation, so the white-haired boy can do the fun stuff, slashing his foes into bits.
"Alright, I'll take a look." the boy gave up and went to the cube that got something in the park. Leon smiled as he saw his friend leave towards the cube's location. The cube is farthest from their location. Kazuhira is being moany as usual, but it seems not that much, which is surprising.
"Kazuhira-san is always hard to convince, but it's fine if it's with you. What's the reason for it?" Joseph seems perplexed about seeing him so quickly back down to his friend.
"It's nothing like that. We have been friends since middle school. We are lonely individuals, so we band together like humans do."
"Does being a Cavalieri mean you are always alone in the fight?" Joseph asked the brown Cavalieri, who was still observing the paper tags. Leon shook his head in disapproval.
"No, it is not something like that. We Cavalieri's have been hiding for many years now and have ingrained ourselves in the world of the living. According to the textbook, we lost our homes around 1.500 years ago to forces beyond our comprehension. We know what we must do and the responsibilities we must carry."
"Duty? It must have been a pretty heavy one, isn't it?" Joseph remarked. Leon smiled and smirked when he heard such a question from the spirit.
"You don't need to worry about those things. Leave things to us." Leon cheered the spirit and gave him the thumbs up to not worry about the two.
XXX
Arriving in the farthest of cubes, Kazuhira approaches the black cube nonchalantly as if it were going to be an easy task like usual. Kazuhira walks to the cube to release the incantation of the black cube. "Sciogliere (Unbind)." he puts both hands on the cube. A surge of lightning envelopes the entire cube as it releases.
As the cube releases, a sudden object falls down to the ground. Rather than the Hollow that fell down, it was a random cat imprisoned. Thankfully, the cat was unarmed from the box and trapped inside. "Looks like this little guy caught into our nest."
The white-haired boy extended his hand to the cat. The cat seems to stare down at the boy, who has an eye of sincerity and wants the cat to respond. The cat tapped the boy's hand, and Kazuhira smiled, seeing the reaction. All of this was suddenly interrupted by a phone ringing inside his pocket. "Yeah, housekeeping?"
"Tango approaching you at high speed. He used the farthest cube to lure us and take care of the other cubes while we weren't looking. He is coming at you at high speed!" The warning suddenly became apparent as he heard rustling leaves coming from behind. He grabs the cat and dodges the incoming attack.
The Hollow that attacked him was fast, but he dodged it. The hollow dealt a scratch to his jacket as he faced his prey in front of him. Kazuhira put down the cat as the cat went away to the woods. Kazuhira then notices that his jacket is scratched by the monster.
"Hey, this is a nice jacket, you know. You better be ready to pay for the damages." Although Kazuhira warned the monster, it seems to be not cooperative with his plea. The Hollow did not say a word to the boy.
The Hollow has the whole aesthetics of bees with humanoid attributes. The Hollow's arms had a needle sticking on both upper arms, followed by a huge abdomen that you would see in the bee in each arm. The wings in his back flapped and slowly quieted down. The chest area was one blank hole identified as a Hollow being. The eyes were filled with many points, and the head incorporated bee-like features such as fur around the collar. The mouth had two fangs as if it was a bee.
The legs also have built-in pods that have 3 holes in them. It's attached to the front knees of each leg. The feet have a resemblance to that of bees.
"Pretty clever using a cat to lure me here. While we focused on the farthest cube, you destroyed the other cubes at the moment's notice as I was moving." Kazuhira compliments the intelligence of the Hollow. The Hollow does not say anything and just starts rushing into Kazuhira. He then summons his two khopesh swords, and the battle ensues.
Kazuhira gets a couple of slashes to the Hollow. The Hollow's movement was agile and fast, which disadvantaged Kazuhira. The wings on the Hollow allow him to move much faster, leaving Kazuhira in much need of his armor. Although he wanted to summon it, The Hollow kept the offensive rush towards him, leaving him unable to transform.
Kazuhira crosses the blade with the Hollow again. Kazuhira then delivers a headbutt and a devastating kick to the face, sending the Hollow far away from him. "Looks like I have no choice. You know, it's been a while since I've gotten serious in a fight. Will you be the one that can help me light the fire in me?"
The Hollow managed to get up, but the Hollow then felt immense spiritual pressure in the air. The density of the air was tightened, and the hollow shrieks reacted towards the energy circulating in the air. Elsewhere, Leon was ready to provide backup, and Joseph followed along towards the location of the battle. As they moved closer, a sudden burst of energy started rising, and the two stopped their movement.
"What the hell is this pressure? It's overwhelming my entire body." Joseph commented. This is his first time sensing this pressure amounting to his body. Leon also felt the same thing as Joseph, but rather than act surprised, he was aware of the spiritual pressure that comes from it. He smiles as a man he once saw as a friend slowly awakens.
Engraving in Kazuhira's swords starts to glow white, and then he puts both hilts to one another. As both hilt taps and the sound of metal were heard. It is time that his embers will rise once more.
"Henshin."
Those words enveloped Kazuhira's entire body with light as the gush of winds tore down upon the area. The Hollow tries to hold his ground because of the wind current surrounding him, and then he jabbed the ground using the needle to recover from the gush of wind. The wind had settled down, and the Hollow gazed upon Kazuhira, who had now changed into something different.
There was no Kazuhira anymore. Kazuhira has donned armor which radiates extreme amounts of energy. The armor is plated with silver and shines through the eyes of the Hollow. The upper body armor has themes oriented through dragon motifs across the armor. Each arm and leg can see silver shoulder pads and armored gloves. The eyes of the silver helmet held a blue color. The helmet looks like that of a knight that is ready to fight against evil.
There is only a Cavalieri, King, the Wind Knight.
"It seems that you are worthy of this armor. Be sure to gaze upon it because it will be the last thing you witness before you are cleansed."
King then dashes to Bee Hollow as the clash is heard by Joseph and Leon, who notice that he scoffs and runs towards the location. "Welcome back, King."
XXX
"The world is obscene and unpredictable. Those who all knowing shall bear their own sins."
NEXT CHAPTER:
WHERE THE BEE HIDES 3.0
XXX