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Post by Jeremy Amari on May 28, 2019 0:50:18 GMT
“Pff, ‘your team’. Oh how cute~.” Remilia says in a sing-song voice, pinching at Jeremy’s cheek as and pulling him down closer to her level with surprising strength for her frame “She thinks you’re the leader of this little band of rag-tag misfits.” Jeremy flicked his hand up to knock the pinch away, but the sniper had her hand away before he could catch it, getting a big smile her.
“That’s a neat trick” Jeremy adds as he hears her ability to suppress her presence. Although just knowing that someone could mask their power like that was frightening. Someone this powerful could blindside them… “We’re not particularly strong, it just hasn’t come up yet.”
“20th seat, huh?” Remilia says to the death god in a flat tone, looking her up and down. Although short, she mastered the art of a confident aura. One only broken with repeated teasing. “Yes yes, death god, shinigami, grim reaper, ferryman, psychopomp. Your job sounds very… regimented. I don’t think it’d handle me very well.”
Jeremy rolled his eyes at the blue haired teen as he lead the two into the kitchen, Remilia dropping the hammer in the hallway to not have to drag it around. He grabs a bowl from the fridge and starts nuking the contents and while waiting he glances over to the Lionel peeking his head in through the other door at Vayle. The medical wizkid seemed thoroughly distracted, enough that he almost jumped out of his shoes when Jeremy cleared his throat.
“Did you get what you were looking for?” He asks. This behavior wasn’t surprising to Jeremy, as when they first met the kid avoided him too. He was shy, is all. But for some reason Vayle had him paralyzed.
“Yes.” He answers, staring back, then finally remembering to actually walk in. He was holding a pile of papers and spread them out on the table, while Jeremy put the bowl of chili down at the table. “The instruments seems to pick up a lot of spiritual activity. Besides you, anyway.” He looks to Vayle then quickly looks away. “Not necessarily strong, but a lot of it around and down the mine.”
“We knew that much,” Jeremy though on it, “but do we have any idea if it’s hollow, or just spirits?”
“I don’t know. I would have thought activity would have spiked when she showed up, but it’s been steady. But… the activity is rhythmic. Even if it's not hollow, there's something unnatural going on.”
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Post by Vayle Cameo on May 28, 2019 6:22:36 GMT
Vayle looked at Remilia with mild surprise as he pulled Jeremy down. It was a little unusual for a human to have that much strength. On the other hand, it's not like Captain Hitsugaya couldn't bench-press half his division with just spiritual pressure boosting him, so she supposed it might work the same for human beings.
"Hmm... I mean, that's not completely true." Vayle will note. "I can count the humans with more reiryoku I have met other than you on one hand. And I use less than half the fingers." Vayle would add. "at the least, it's what got me interested in you guys in the first place when I first came here. It might give a a hungry hollow a good reason to check out your research base." Vayle would add, gesturing to the room. "Though given you're all anti-hollow specialists, I figure that might be somethin' ya want."
with that mention, she looked at Remilia and just grinned and shrugged. "We are the highest order of law enforcement. If we weren't capable of following some rules and regulations, how could we possibly expect anyone else to want to listen to the laws put down in seireitei?"
As Jeremy and Lionel started talking, and Vayle sat there with a look of worry at the back and forth, she realized that these guys... might actually have better equipment than they did. though they were assisted by not having to figure it out from a dimension away, she supposed.
"So, something is going on in those mines..." Vayle would note. "We'd picked up increased hollow activity in the mines, and while we usually put abandoned sites as 'last-priority', a sudden increase will usually cause a seated officer to move out." Vayle would note, taking a deep breath. "...Well then, looks like we really are working together for this mission."
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Post by Jeremy Amari on May 30, 2019 23:04:03 GMT
“Ooh, then I guess that makes us some of the best. I already knew that I was, but it’s good to confirm it for my companions.” Remilia smirked, holding her fingers to her collar as she brags. Jeremy rolled his eyes as he hears the snobby teen. She had been like this since the soldier had met her, and had hoped she would grow out of it in age. Sadly, neither her age nor her maturity seemed to grow.
“If she had said otherwise, would you have believed her?” Jeremy counter, which only got a toothy grin from Remilia.
“Of course not. I don’t believe lies.” She replies, getting only more eyerolls in response and Jeremy chose to igonre the bat. However, he would be lying if the idea of being considered strong by what seemed to give him some pride. And worry. Were the Silver Swords really the only organized line of defense humanity had, relying on the quincy and death gods to save them if anything stronger than a hollow dropped into reality?
“That would normally be the case,” Jeremy changed the subject as Vayle mentioned the attraction of hollow, “we can deal with most of the hollow we’ve been sent against, especially given time to set up. And if they come after us, that’s better than one wandering into town. Although one of these days I’d like to see Kaida in one of those defences. For an old woman, she seems to disappear real quick when danger is about to happen.” The soldier crosses his arms and sighed.
“By force, I assume.” Remilia jokes to Vayle’s question, causing Lionel and Jeremy to shift uncomfortable
“Could we stay on task?” Lionel finally breaks the awkwardness, getting a quick nod from the soldier.
“Right.” Jeremy turns to look out the window to the mountains. “Between what both sides know, we’ve got hollow, and possibly a lot of them. This isn’t something we can wait on. Suit up. We’re going in.” As Remilia and Lionel race to their rooms, Jeremy looks to Vayle and smiles “We’ll try our best to keep up.”
----
The mines had been left untouched for decades, many of the old supports stripped by decay and wind. A minecraft rail greeted the four as they moved to the gaping maw of the large mine, the iron tongues swallowed up by darkness. As they descended deeper in, Jeremy took point with his shotgun sweeping their path. His eyes glanced down to the sword at the Death God’s belt, and wasn’t sure if that was confidence that made her choose such a medieval weapon of if there was something more.
“So how exactly do you fight?” He asks, letting the suit’s auto-trackers take the lead for a second. “Don’t want to accidentally pin you in our own firing lanes.”
But beyond the conversation, all of them could hear it. Barely above their own footsteps, then soon unavoidable: Metal hitting stone.
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Post by Vayle Cameo on May 31, 2019 6:01:25 GMT
Vayle looks at the rest of them. "Well, to be fair, human spiritualists that don't rely on some innate power to harness Reishi, like Quincy, or utilize the unique powers of a fullbring are... relatively small." Vayle admitted. "Most that do end up being death gods for a lot longer than they are humans, too, for obvious reasons." She'd add, looking around. As Jeremy changed the subject, though, Vayle would nod towards the man. "Well, I suppose that's a way to look at it. Still, might wanna be careful if you deal with anything older than you have so far in that case. It sucks to be on the receiving end of a surprise attack, even in one's own fortress. We've learned that well." Vayle would add with a bitter note, thinking of her time in the academy when the Vandenreich came with a shiver.
As Lionel changed the subject, Vayle thought about just what gaggle of misfits they had standing here. Remilia seemed like quite the arrogant one, but she figured most humans with that spiritual power had a good chance of it. she didn't detect anything malicious from her, though.
Some small part of her could have sworn she'd seen her before, but she knew she'd have remembered seeing someone that looked that.... different.
"Lots of hollows, huh... and here I was really hoping it was a dud." Vayle would add with a frown. As Vayle looks to the rest, she'll nod. "Just be careful. This ain't gonna be easy."
---
Vayle looked to the hollow hunter with a smirk. "You guys don't know how death gods fight?" She'd ask with surprise. "...Yeah, that makes sense. I'm a kido specialist - use a lot of magic - and a flash steps specialist - which is why I'm a little fast." She'd answer quickly. "Don't worry about pinning me down, I'm more than capable of moving around and firing without a-"
The sound of shifting rubble quickly alerted Vayle, as she drew Mahoutsukai from her sheath. "Da-" The shinigami started to say, before taking a deep breath. "...Nah. need to conserve energy." she muttered to herself,looking from side to side in the mines.
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Post by Jeremy Amari on Jun 1, 2019 8:08:08 GMT
Light bounced off the stone as the humans in the team turned on their lights, their night vision rendered useless as they reached past the point where natural light did not reach. The cool air clung to their frames as they left the land of the sun, before growing hot as they reached deeper into the earth. Shadows were thrown wide across the surface as they passed supports and outcroppings, the claustrophobic tunnels bathed in contrast. And more importantly, blind spots.
Jeremy held his shotgun forward, awaiting a threat to rush up the slope, finger laid across the trigger guard. Remilia watched his back with a short barrel rifle, more useful in these tight corridors. Lionel kept his needle gun in his holster, his hands occupied with a scanner as he looked for any activity.
“Magic.” the soldier said in amusement. a smile growing wide under his helmet. When he had first learned of the spiritual world, some part of him had wished to see what strange and wonderful things laid behind the curtain of the mundane. That it ended up being hollow and their various flavors that populated that space was a disappointment on his part. “That is so cool.”
“You two seem to be hitting it off.” Remilia comments over the comms, keeping it quiet to the death god.
“How about you, Remi?” He asks, happy to take the edge off a little.
“I don’t like her.” She answers back, getting raised a raised eyebrow from the soldier.
“You barely even know her.” Lionel pops in.
“I know, but something about her seems familiar.”
“Is this one of your ‘gut feelings’, Remilia?”
“Shush. Dim your lights.” Jeremy cut the two off as the neared an exit. The sound was now unbearable, of stone being moved and metal striking the earth. Of men and women at labor, grunts and gasps echoing with the breaking of stone and dirt.
As they reached the entryway to larger room, a spiral dug into the ground with wooden pathways criss-crossed the many levels leading down. Spirits, many of them already in the clutches of hollowfications as bone covered parts of their face, a chunk of their chests partly peeled and their chains short and rotten. Even a full hollow stood among them, towering over potential victims, but it’s focus was on the same thing as all the other entities in the room: the walls. They broke away the walls in a fevered pitch, some disappearing down other tunnels with a cry:
“The silver! The silver! It has to be here!”
Jeremy watched the scene from the top floor, calculating their next move. It seems like they hadn’t noticed them yet, but then the spirits’ fanaticism made it seem unlikely they’d notice until the group announced themselves.
“So what do you make of it, Vayle?” Jeremy asks. Hopefully, she had a solution. But he knew clearing them out tunnel by tunnel might be the only way.
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Post by Vayle Cameo on Jun 1, 2019 11:42:16 GMT
Vayle gave a slight smile to Jeremy as he seemed to be interested in magic. "You know, you're the first person I've met who either hasn't cared or made fun of me for using it." She'd add with a sigh. "Even other death gods got no respect for the amount of years it takes to fire a proper fireball made out of spirit energy. Speaking of which..." Vayle noted with a grin. her greater focus was set on trying to feel out her opponents though. In a cave as dark as this, and as noisy as this, the only sense that wasn't compromised to some degree was her ability to sense energy.
Even so, there was enough energy in one place for her to worry about if she could deal with it.
As she looked down towards the mine scene though, she'd put a hand to her face. so many earthbound spirits, turning into hollows even as they watched. It was enough to lay waste to a town in seconds, if they all got out. "...This is... this is way too many spirits." She muttered with wide eyes. "...But..."
She looked to the rest of them. "...Cover me, I have a way to do this quietly. If I fuck up... well, do, y'know, the shooty thing." She mentioned to the group, before zipping down in a burst of shunpo. keeping her spiritual pressure down to the minimum, she watched the hollow carefully as she watched the hollow oversee his operation. sneaking around was easy enough, and Vayle found herself standing behind the nearest spirit - one that wasn't too far gone - and lightly tapped him with the bottom of her blade's handle. The kanji inscribed on the weapon did it's job, and a bright - but silent - flash accompanied the fluttering of a butterfly.
"One down... 'million to go." Vayle muttered to herself. Hopefully, nothing went wrong...
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Post by Jeremy Amari on Jun 3, 2019 6:22:42 GMT
“We’re not seriously just going to sit here and wait on her to solve our problem, right?” Remilia asked as the three humans watched as the death god made her way down through the levels and purified a few of the earthbound souls. Jeremy’s attention was split across the design of the mine and the shafts that lead further in. It’s hard to tell how many more of these spirits are in here, trapped by their greed, and how many hollow there could be. If they escaped, who knows what terrible damage they could wrought.
“No, we’re not. Start setting up. If things go bad, and I’d bet my mom’s china plates that they will, I want this whole area bathed in lead.” Jeremy ordered, and soon the three set up. Lionel reaches into his backpack to pull large canisters out and throw them out along the floor, where they unfold out into turrets while he pulls out his needle gun. Remilia launches tubes into the ceiling than fire off into long, electrified cords to corral targets into her sight.
Jeremy, on the other hand, pulled large sticky explosives from his pounces and tossed them into the supports around the mine.
“Isn’t that dangerous? That could collapse the mine.” Lionel points out.
“It is.” Jeremy confirms as he unholsters his pistol. “Better to crush the hollow, along with ourselves, then let them go free. We knew this might happen when we joined this organization. Let's make sure we don’t have to resort to that.” There is a grim nod between the three, and they went to watch Vayle again.
The peace did not last long. As the sound died down from once busy hands ascending to Soul Society, one soul with some of their wits left glanced around to see the death god sending another soul in a glow. He raises a ragged and blistered hand, and let out a scream through their half formed mask:
“Thief! Vandal! She’s here to steal what’s ours! She’s-” Any other words are left unspoken as a high caliber round smashes through the skull. A wretched roar comes from the mines as the cursed men and women see the intruders and rushforth with tools and stone as weapons. The hollow bellows out as stone melt to his touch, and something more powerful answers form the deep.
“Let's get to work” Jeremy orders as he leaps from the cliff face, driving his clawed hand through the chest of a hollow.
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Post by Vayle Cameo on Jun 3, 2019 15:46:23 GMT
So this was definitely not what Vayle had hoped would happen. She wasn't exactly expecting to get this done quietly 100% perfect... but damn did that demi-hollow have some pipes on him. Vayle leaped forward with a sigh and narrowly dodged an array of thrown weapons. Mining picks, a couple hammers, some sort of Blasting cap-
some sort of blasting cap.
"Oh, fu-"
The Death god's frame was bathed in an explosion as the strike hit, sending the shinigami rolling. Luckily, she hadn't been caught in too much of the explosion. For a human, it probably would've been fatal, but with a body brimming with spiritual pressure, it was only light burns.
The shinigami, of course, did not notice that, just as they always had, her wounds had begun regenerating themselves slowly already.
"Tch..." Vayle grunted, before holding up a palm and letting an azure color fill it. Demi-hollows and hollows alike charged in, seeing their foe knocked prone, and some were already holding some sort of objects covered in acid.
There was more where that came from, too. this could be quite the fight.
Vayle released her reiatsu to it's current fullest, and blue lightning crackled as she pointed her hands to the hollows. normally, a hollow might be made to rethink it's attack by this behavior, but these ones were too maddened for the crushing presence to really affect them. That was fine, though:
Vayle just needed to make sure her reishi was at her highest for the spell.
"Hado thirty three: Sokatsui!" The shinigami yelled, and the gaggle of hollows were bathed in an explosion of blue energy. The burst left all but a couple hollows dissolved or dissolving, and Vayle fixed that little issue with a few bursts of shunpo and quick stabs with her Kodachi to the back of their necks, and like that, their target list was eight shorter. still... those were small fry, and Vayle could already feel something much, much more powerful lurking beneath the earth.
"I'm going to have to release my sword at this rate..." Vayle muttered.
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Post by Jeremy Amari on Jun 3, 2019 22:49:18 GMT
Empty shells spilled over the edges of the mine as turrets fired a hail of bullets at the demi hollows, who’s mindless state made them charge into the suppressing fire. Their inhuman resilience would have been enough normally to make it into melee with the silver sword members, were the bullets not tipped with a concoction of blessed holy water and delayed explosives. They fell away as their bodies burned, finished off by long needles filled with toxin. A few tried to jump from the higher catwalks down at Lionel as he directed his turrets, only to be sniped out of the air like clay pigeons and sent falling into the abyss.
Jeremy weaved through his targets as they attempt to surround him, pickaxes striking where he was a moment ago. Each miss from the hollow earned a retaliation, the soldier’s clawed hand tearing through a shoulder while his executioner pistol gets a gut shot against another hollow. But they cornered him, a large man with a sledgehammer catching his side and sent him across the pit.
He jutted his gauntlet out towards the ceiling, catching himself, and swung across the chasm to kick one unlucky sod into the gap as he fired from the catwalk into the horde.
A massive hand then wrapped around the catwalk, pulling it and and the soldier to a large platform. Jeremy lands on his back, letting out a groan of pain as the monstrosity towered over him. A full hollow, it’s reptilian mask with staring down at him as it raises a claw up to stab him. The soldier rolls away as the claw smashing through wood and stone.
“You’re a big’un, you must feed a lot.” Jeremy quips as he pulls a knife from his belt. He stabs it into the massive stomach the creature dragged across the floor, jumping back as the hollow’s tail slices across his chest in defense, before a small generator inside the hilt sends a powerful shock through it. The soldier rips a grenade out, pulling the pin, and tosses it into the screaming maw of the hollow before the explosion ruptures it’s body and smoke rises from the holes.
As it drags itself away on it’s last leg, Jeremy holds the large gash over his chest where the lizard’s tail had struck him. Acid ate away at his skin, the suit’s skin attempting to compensate as it sealed the wound and applied pain suppressors. He let out a breath as he pulled his shotgun out. He was not down left but could they take them all out, he thought, and it was a worry that gnawed at him as he felt more powerful pressure rising from the pit.
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Post by Vayle Cameo on Jun 5, 2019 5:31:27 GMT
Vayle held a hand up, holding her palm forward as she felt the sensation grow stronger as the monster came closer. Blue energy burned from her shoulders as she held up a hand. Green energy concentrated in a circle, as Vayle mentally cursed herself for the amount of energy she was about to burn. "Need to get a bunch at once..." Vayle muttered, looking at the throng of miners. A few immediately stood up and put up blast shields and mining helmets. "This's gonna take a good chunk o' energy." She mentally mutters to herself, before mouthing a few words under her breath.
Luckily for her, the hollows and demi-hollows in range chose to defend against her onslaught in advance, rather than attempt to attack the target, as she pushed the spell to full power with the full incantation.
"Hado number forty-eight! Gaki Rekko!" Vayle yelled with a look of fury. Dozens of green beams of light shot out, overwhelming a number of the hollow's defenses and puncturing through their blasted bodies, leaving them dead or near death on the ground as Vayle took a knee. "Just... gimme a second after that one." She breathed. "48 is a real kick in the pants." Still, at least the hollow ranks had been significantly thinned. The battle was starting to finally look in their favor... Save for the pressure still emanating from the pit, and growing ominously close.
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