Steph smiled back to Haku with his usual expression that he gave everyone. While things had changed for him he remained with the mask that he was so accustomed to wearing in front of people, old habits. Once Haku had leapt from the roof towards his target Steph dropped his happy face turning serious. ‘He’s a strange one, sounds like he’s enjoying this and seems like he likes to hear himself talk. Most of that was unnecessary. Well he’s not my concern at the moment.’ Steph stood up from the roof sizing up his very large target before going into battle.

Haruka had already disappeared taking to the assigned hollow. The rising in reiatsu from Haku meant that he was already engaged in combat as well. Steph disappeared in shunpo from the roof appearing down on the street to block the path of the hollow. The size difference became even more pronounced once he was forced to nearly break his neck to stare up at the thing, though it did not help that Steph was very short.

While a giant and a simple hollow the smell of a shinigami quickly alerted it to Steph. ‘It’s pretty dumb if it just now noticed us…’ Signaling its acknowledgement and intention to attack the white and gray beast with a surprisingly small ape-like mask opened its mouth letting out one of its roars. Despite the small mouth it had a booming voice that rattled the windows of the house. It looked like it had hoped the call would have been enough to frighten Steph, but he stood his ground looking serious and unimpressed by the hollow. The chase it had been wishing for was forgotten as it reached out its arms to grab him. ‘Very slow…’

Steph was already gone in shunpo once more appearing near its feet. He had dealt with far more challenging hollows in the past. However, he could not allow a single hollow to harm anyone so long as he could prevent it. He had to keep getting stronger for the day when he would face that woman once more. “Hadou #31 Shakkaho…” said Steph with his arm raised up towards its chest. The red glow from his palms quickly turned into fire shooting at near point blank range at the hollow. Smoke was blasted up from the impact making it difficult for Steph to determine a kill.

Out of the cloud dripped dark blood barely missing Steph as he used shunpo once more to recover his distance. Even before the cloud disappeared another roar from the hollow came this time in pain, but it was followed up by a second filled with rage. The giant came stomping out of the cloud towards Steph blindly swinging its arms around from the wound it had sustained. ‘Thing’s so large one kidou wasn’t enough…the house!’ Steph was interrupted from his thoughts seeing that the wild flailing was putting the house in danger.

No longer thinking, he leapt into the air towards the house taking the full force of the hollow’s strength. The size of the forearm was enough to dwarf Steph under it. Having hit something, it pulled back its arm continuing to swing while Steph looked a little darker from the blow. A trail of blood dripped down his head and lip where it had met the crushing force. He narrowed his eyes staring at the hollow ignoring the blood. “I won’t allow you to hurt anyone!” Launching from the second floor of the house front, Steph burst from his spot drawing his Zanpakuto quickly in the motion leaving a blue streak through the air that cut through the hollow with deadly sharpness. A moment later the hollow began to disappear being granted its peace.

Steph came to a landing on the neighboring house looking back to see the cracked street, but nothing more damaged. A relieved sigh escaped his breath as he wiped away the blood. His sword was already sheathed before he had landed leaving his hand resting on the hilt. He turned to catch how the battle was going with Haku and Haruka to know if either needed assistance.


The empty parking lot of a store was giving home to two hollows. They had just arrived at the roof and took in the moment. Mahonna had spoken up to Kagashi making her sound like she was itching for a fight. He was never certain what to make of her since she seemed bored and uninterested while impatient. There had been the feeling like she wanted to prove herself in spite of her attitude. However, these were simple hollows and nothing to worry about for them. “Nothing. Miru and you take the one on the left. I’ll handle the other. We’ve got more hollows to find so let’s make this quick.”

Kagashi leapt off the roof with the others in motion with him. His hollow was averaged size, but it was walking on all fours with a mask that was significantly larger in proportions than its body. It looked as though the head was weighing the rest of the body down forcing it to use its arms to hold it up. Their presence was already alerted to the hollows making them turn towards the incoming shinigami. Not wanting to waste an action, Kagashi already was drawing his Zanpakuto going for a killing slash immediately. However, the speed surprised him as the hollow was able to use its arm to take the blow instead.

Next to Kagashi, the others were quickly engaged with their hollow. He pulled back at the moment to re-gather his attack. While the strike did cut it had only managed to dig half way into the thick muscle and bone. The wound was going mostly ignored by the hollow charging for Kagashi angered by the attack. Kagashi was confident in his shunpo keeping easily ahead of the hollow while dealing a couple more cuts. The hollow appeared slow and weighed down, but had surprising instincts.

Once Kagashi came to a momentary pause in the battle dance with the hollow, the hollow took a different stance. It leaned back a little while its masked mouth opened wide to the point of unhinging itself. A flash of light appeared making Kagashi jump away. When he was recovered he could see a liquid on the asphalt of the lot along with smoke rising as it ate away. ‘Acid spit…’ The hollow launched another acid attack at Kagashi making him shunpo towards the hollow getting under it slicing its stomach. This new wound had produced a loud roar from the beast making it stand up on its legs leaning back in pain as Kagashi followed up with a vertical slash to its mask shattering it and its body.