2969#words


#tier2-1
#Luke
OOC: Link to Karasu's app here: Karasu, Lord of the south


©2013 caliburn

The blood sired with Dante and his army, the stamping of paws, claws and feet rumbled through the desert as they marched to the gates of the southern kingdom, where Karasu ruled. Dante smiled; he had heard much of this beast within the walls of the south and how, like him, had a desire to fight and Dante reviled in the excitement of being the one to kill him.

"Such a pleasent eventing for the fight; I already smell the blood running through their veins, waiting for us to spill it across the sand of my kingdom, just so I can watch the white turn red upon this cursed sand...Although she's taking her time, but I can't say I blame her; she must be having fun having new toys to break and bleed," Dante spoke with a psychopathic glee as his "daughter" walked in the shadows on the walls of the south, easily cutting down those on watch without so much as a scream and tossing their lifeless corpses on the edge of the walls they once protected, letting their blood seep out and run down the cracks of the imposing structure, making the wall appear to have blood vessels running all along its expanse.

She leaped down from the towering wall of stone and blood and landed in front of her father as he grinned at her, almost drooling in anticipation.

"Very good, Annora; such a...display pleases me to see. Blood covering the walls of my kingdom...and once I tear its heart out, it shall become mine to rule as I see fit; go join the rest, we shall fight again and I savour every moment that I will have with its king and soon-to-be corpse at my feet! Just like the romantic weakling I tore down in the north all those years ago and the man I trained you to kill and don't worry Annora, he'll be coming, and once he's here, he's all yours, my dear," Dante told her, grinning like the joker, he saw her muscles tense slightly at the mention of the one he had trained her to kill, but it quick went as she stood up, drawing her virgin sword from its sheath as its pure steel blade glowed in the light of the endless night. The warriors of Dante's didn't need more encouragement, but Dante knew the men enjoyed seeing the stainless blade as it made them ever the more eager to stain its purity.

"I'm not worried, father, although I hope there are better fighters deeper inside the castle as I have no time to be killing ants," Annora said coldly before moving into the lines of soldiers, wearing the army of blood's armour and with their halberd zanpakutos up in the sky, Dante grinned and raised his crimson armoured hand towards the castle.

"Now then, let us tear down another obstacle in our path of controlling all of hueco mundo! Dante called the order before both him and his army of both hollows and arrancars alike stormed into the castle, passing through the open gates and killing anyone they came across as screams and sounds of steel cutting through flesh and bone to release the blood they craved to spill while Dante set his sights on Karasu's citadel as he flew into the sky so the main doors to Karasu's would be directly in his line of fire. Dante then brought his hand up behind him, making a claw shape as he charged a red cero within his hand. The cero lit his face up in its destructive light as the twisted smile of the blood wraith could be seen.

"Now, Karasu, feel the power of the one and only king of Hueco Mundo!" Dante growled out before extending his hand out rapidly and firing the fully charged cero, blasting forwards and easily blowing down the doors to Karasu's citadel and even going straight through behind the citadel, leaving a hole straight through it. Dante then laided with a soft boom as his feet hit the ground of the castle, the rim of his blood red coat flowing gently as he walked inside; there were still a few torches lit as Dante looked around for Karasu.

"Come out, come out wherever you are, Karasu," Dante thought before hearing a battle cry as Karasu, the hollow king of the south came at him, the big hulking monstrosity he was. Dante turned around to catch Karasu's punch, although the force still sent him back a few feet with his feet digging into the stone a little before he regained his footing.

"You dare attack me, Dante?! you have a lot of nerve coming here, but since your here, at least give me a good fight!" Karasu growled before charging at Dante, who grinned psychotically and raised his own armoured fist as their fists connected, the two were forced backwards by the force generated from their attacks, although Karasu was a little worse for wear as he had broken a few of the bones in his fingers due how hard Dante's hierro was, especially around his hands as the crimson hollow-like armour that was fused to Dante's hands made it difficult for even the sharpest of blades to cut. Dante got up, smiling in delight.

"I dare all who stand against my rule, although there used to be four hollow kings, but now, there can only be one at the top and I simply decided you must be eliminated for my ascension to come to fruition, besides, killing you is something I always wanted to do, Karasu and I know you've wanted to do the same to me, so how about it; till the death and the one who wins becomes the one true king of Hueco Mundo and the looser dies, what do you say?" Dante said, grinning as he had heard that, like Dante himself, this king loved to do battle and reviled in bloodshed and as Karasu's lip came upwards, breaking into a smile on his purple-ish face, Dante knew Karasu was going to die fighting.

"I wouldn't have it any other way, one last fight for everything and to the death; sounds like my kind of fight, so here I come; blood wraith Dante," Karasu said, his red eyes filled with eager killing intent that Dante could feel coming from him, even if Karasu himself didn't emit spiritual pressure, the feeling of his killing intent made his blood boil in excite and Dante couldn't help but laugh manically as he released his spiritual pressure leaked out like blood flowing out a blood. The two locked eyes, their gazes eager to fight as Karasu used his own unique power to make himself physically stronger while the energies of both kings clashed before both charged forwards, aiming another punch that when it connected, caused a large explosion that took out all the surrounding walls and caused the citadel to start crumbling around them.

Dante was panting, yet still retained his wicked smile while Karasu was also breathing heavily with a small smirk of enjoyment coming onto his face.

"You know what; this is rather fun, this dance with you and I, but both you and I know that with how slow you are, there's no way you'll be able to hurt me, Dante of the west," Karasu said before dashing forwards using his Chiratsuki; a variant on a arrancar's sonido that wasn't reliant on spiritual power to function as he dashed from side to side, something that only annoyed Dante as he growled at Karasu.

"Just because your faster then me, doesn't mean anything, karasu, if anything, it will only quicken your demise," Dante growled at Karasu, blasting the floor with red balas, causing the floor to blast upwards and, by effect, cause Karasu to trip on one of the new obstacle Dante created, forcing him to stop, letting Dante charge forwards, fist raised, but Karasu came under him, releasing two three inch long red blade from within his arms, taking on a spread appear like two wings that had hatched from a egg, still covered in their own blood. Karasu came down before striking upwards with the blades arcing in a X-formation. However, Karasu became surprised when the blades harmlessly skid off Dante's enhanced hierro.

"Bastard! you have such thick hierro," Karasu cursed aloud as Dante, grinning in delight of this battle and of Karasu's sudden shook that Dante used to his advantage as he pushed back Karasu with a single open palm strike, pushing the hulking king back a few meters before charging a different cero; more specifically, charging two ceros. One black and one red, one representing Dante's brother, shadow and the other to represent himself. Karasu gritted his teeth and started spinning his blades around rapidly.

"Mihari-dai..." Karasu thought to himself as Dante charged his attack, first forming the two ceros then combining them into one large cero that took on a ying-yang shape.

"I hope your ready, Karasu because now, you'll feel the power of my strongest cero: Gemela Cero!" Dante shouted before casting the cero forward, creating a large blast wave of black and red as it hit Karasu's Mihari-dai technique, Karasu was forced through what little remained of the walls of his castle, his body steaming from all the force his blades had absorbed, so much so they had turn red from the heat and Karasu had to drop them. But before he could react, the seemingly impossible happened; Dante appeared right in front of Karasu from where he had been standing on top of his castle to Karasu using a sonido, it wasn't well trained but Karasu was shocked to see that Dante was even capable of using sonido.

"Damn you! since when did you know how to use sonido?!" Karasu barked at him to which Dante just grinned and punched Karasu's throat, breaking his windpipe and causing him to fall into Dante's waiting hand as Dante grabbed his throat as he choked, being kept alive by his own instant regeneration.

"Sorry, but this has dragged on too much, there are so many more fights to have in the war coming and I can't waste any more energy dealing with you, so goodbye Karasu, its been a blast," Dante said, laughing manically at the end of his sentence as he drew his sword, getting a disgusted look from Karasu before Dante stabbed him straight in the brain, running the bloodstained metal through the grey matter and having it poke through the other side easily. Dante gave a deep growl before ripping Karasu's head clean off his body, tossing his zanpakuto into the air, he dug both hands into Karasu's now headless torso and, with a mighty growl, tore his body cleanly in two as Dante roared into the night in victory, tossing the two parts of Karasu's body onto the ground in a blood heap as he grabbed his zanpakuto as it came down. He grinned and took the head off and walked out the ruins of Karasu's once great castle and stood where all his warriors could see the blood covered Dante as he raised the head of Karasu, lord of the south and laughed as the adrenalin coursed through his vein at what he had done.

"Warriors of the army of blood; The lord of the south is dead, the lands of the south are now ours to rule!" Dante proclaimed as his warriors, having dealt with Karasu's soldiers easily, cheered their lord and master as he claimed the lands of the south to his empire of the west and north. Dante came down to street level, seeing the dead bodies stacked against walls or on the ground as if the angel of death himself had walked through the lands of the south and cleansed it with steel and brimstone. He looked to Escasez, who was grinning from all the bloodshed he was involved in, although he hadn't even needed the use of his released form to deal with the weaklings in this citadel.

"Yes, my lord?" Escasez said, bowing a bit as Dante gave him the head of Karasu, the southern beast and Escasez knew what Dante was going to ask him to know before he spoke the words and it made him smile all the more.

"Take this to Las noches and leave this as a message to what will happen to them if they resist the rule of Dante and the army of blood," Dante said with a wicked gleam in his red eyes, Escasez nodded and using his sonido to dash towards Las Noches, the base of operations for the newly formed espada. Escasez smiled as he landed in front of the doors to Las Noches, where two average arrancars guarded the doors.

"Hey, stop there, your kind isn't allowed near Las Noches, Escasez," The guards told him, yet Escasez's smile didn't fall for a second and simply laughed in their faces.

"Not for much longer; Dante shall rule all of Hueco Mundo, then it will be you two law loving morons that won't be allowed in our sanctuary to the freedom to do whatever we see fit and before I go, take this to your beloved espada and tell them this is what will happen to them or anyone who dares to challenge us," Escasez said, tossing the head of Karasu into the hands of one of the guards before firing a bala, killing the other guard by blasting his head clean off.

"Go or else no one will be going back into Las Noches alive," Escasez said, laughing before watching the guard running into Las Noches, carrying the head of the fallen king of the south before Escasez using his sonido to dash back into the southern lands, leaving the espada with a clear warning from Dante and the army of blood.

(Meanwhile in the seireitei, Squad three barracks)

It was time to get going, the order had been issued by the head captain to mobilize all squads to Hueco Mundo. Luke had been worried about the coming battle to come; from infiltrating the army of blood himself, they were up against some truly strong and deranged individuals and besides that, Luke had some feelings boiling away inside him, he could feel blood lust running through his system before going away, leaving him burnt out. He couldn't explain it, but he felt like the hollow that had fused to him all those hundreds of years ago had some connect to Dante, the being that he had heard some refer to as the blood wraith and the lord of the west.

Luke looked up at the ceiling of his office, feeling the unease this whole thing had and about if this battle got out of hand, it could upset the balance the shinigami tried to maintain and it would cause a spiritual catastrophe of terrible proportions.

It was then one of the squad three members entered the captain's office, looking distressed. Luke stood up, feeling the tension from his subordinate only adding to the unease he felt as the squads prepared for war.

"Captain, you'd better come see this; it appears the army of blood have sent another message...and its not pretty," He said solemnly, whatever he had seen, Luke believed it wasn't a pleasent sight and ordered him to take him to the site of the message. They travelled through the Hakutōmon and arrived at a gruesome sight; thirteen bodies, meant to represent each squad within the seireitei with a warning written in the blood of the victims, "Anyone to defy Dante and his army of blood will be eliminated". Luke tightened his fists as his spiritual pressured surrounded him in a dark aura of pure black, his eyes burning with hatred for the one responsible for the murder of innocent, even his pupils took on a lizard-like slits appearance as a little bit of his hollow leaked in through his anger.

"Disgraceful...this is truly unforgivable, they had no part in this fight...it disgusts me to see life wasted and made a mockery of...men and women of squad three, we, the eyes and ears of the soul society who see the darkness within people and watch over them, we shall not let these poor people's murderer get away with such disgrace against life and that we sore to protect, we shall head out to Hueco Mundo and when we fight these monsters in battle, remember these disgraced bodies and use it to boost your resolve and use it to defend not only your lives, but those that we swore to protect with those lives, the innocent and those who cannot defend ourselves, who is with me?!" Luke spoke, giving a speech to those present, a moving speech to rally them to battle and to never let something like the blood of the innocent to spill happen again. a cry of encouraging replies from the squad members, followed by yes captain, Luke nodded, turning one more time, his eyes appearing to have hollowfied somewhat with the whites of his eyes turning black.

"I'll find you, he who possesses the moniker of the blood wraith because I, Luke Yasenha, Captain of squad three who possesses the moniker of the demon of district 66 is coming to kill you not as a captain, who wields his sword for the duty to the soul society, but in hatred so I may violently cut you into pieces, that I swear to you," Luke said, staring coldly at the corpses of those killed by a party of low level arrancars in Dante's army, sent just after Dante dispatched Escasez to deliver the head of Karasu to the espada as a warning to the thirteen court guard squad, yet it had only fuelled the fire in Luke and when the others were told of this, would only strengthen their resolve to defeat this monster and his army, whatever the costs.

0603#words
0#blood

#tier2-1


©2013 caliburn

Graven's eyes hardened as Karasu, the Beast of the South, was brought before him. Rather, what was left of him, anyway. He and the rest of his precious Espada were at the grand meeting table, the hassled messenger kneeling before his Lords. Gritting his teeth, he remembered his past dealings with the King of the southern reaches of Hueco Mundo. The man had been a brute, but could usually be brought to see reason if enough power was displayed. That, in fact, was what had stayed his hand during he and Graven's last meeting. Karasu had recognized the legendary strength of the Ghost of the North, and had bowed his mighty head to the former King as they conversed about what would happen once Dante had been taken care of. The other Espada were shocked, the exception being the 6th, and 7th. The two lovers were nonplussed, sure that they had seen worse. In all honesty, they all had seen and committed worse atrocities, but the shock and anger of a King of Hueco Mundo falling was almost unheard of. Almost.

Abruptly standing, Graven would let out a torrent of reiatsu before reigning it in. He pondered the thought of killing the guard for abandoning his post, but then saw how terrified he was, allowing his instinct to protect to kick in. Looking around, he spoke as Primera, the most powerful of the Espada and as the most powerful Arrancar in existence. "My dearest Espada, I believe this is our time to strike. Dante CarmesiHoja must not live another day, lest he come for us here in Las Noches. If he does, our own laws prevent the strongest of us from intervening. I want each of you to make your way to the South. Our tenuous alliance with the Shinigami allows us to take on his most powerful subordinates while the Gotei 13 takes on the main portion of the Ejército de Sangre. I know that our strength would suffice to take him out alone, but their assistance makes it all the easier. It is an alliance of convenience, nothing more, but I would appreciate it if you would all honor it. Send a Numeros to inform them. We are holding the field until they get there, and once they do we shall split off individually, going after key targets."

As he finished, he launched into a Sonido so blisteringly fast that the usual visual interference was nonexistent, as if he had simply popped out of existence with the telltale sound of static. It would be a few minutes to get to the heart of the South at his speed, and he figured that the others would be another hour or so. Letting out a breath that he had been holding for thousands of years, he let a small smile touch his usually emotionless face. Today was the day he avenged Alyss, his child, and his Kingdom. His bestial side let loose a silent howl as the Wolf made his way to the front lines. Letting loose his Pesquisa, he found a disturbingly familiar reiatsu coming from nearby. As his Zanpakuto effortlessly carved a path through Dante's minions, he sought out that power, sensing it to be on par with one of his Espada. Too powerful for Dante to be completely comfortable around, but just weak enough not to be a challenge.

As he reached the power, he recognized it completely. A single word was torn breathlessly from his mouth as the woman before him danced among the battlefield, blade flowing like water among rocks as she forced her way towards him. "Alyss...?"

0000#words

#tier2-2
#template

©2013 Caliburn

Kuroi had woken from his slumber only to be called to an urgent meeting held by Graven. Sighing he had gotten dressed and made his way to the meeting room, he walked over to his seat. Just right of Graven due to his position of Segunda Espada, he sat back and a young servant told him the situation, Dante had invaded the South and was fighting Karasu as they spoke. Kuroi acknowledged it and sent the boy away only to lean back into the hard stone chair while waiting for the outcome of the fight.

Fifteen minutes later the conclusion arrived, no really in the best form and not really the one they wanted. Karasu's head was brought to the Espada freshly cut from his body. The guard had abandoned his station to give it to them and Kuroi's angry gaze followed him out of the room as he left. Kuroi had never met Karasu but knew of his strength and power, he was an excellent ally and Kuroi remembered the stories he heard when he was an Adjuchas hunting in Hueco Mundo. The fact Dante slaughtered him annoyed him greatly. Graven couldn't control himself and impulsivly his reiatsu spiked, literally making Kuroi's chair back crumble. Telling the to do as they please he was off with no sound except static, Kuroi stood up and put his hand on the table. He then spoke softly but assertively to his subordinates. "You heard the Primera, you should be fine. Make sure the entrances are guarde by Exquias members from now on, if one of Dante's dogs could do that then they could infiltrate us if we are not expecting it. Now I am going to enter the battle field now, Good Luck. he said emotionlessly like he was unfazed by the current events.

Disappearing with the sound of static like the Primera before him he would enter the outskirts of the Southern Castle which put him near the action. Using Umbrakinesis he would form a dark whirlpool in the sky and those below it would see the might of his power. As the whirlpool subsided Kuroi stood in a new attire, he was wearing a long black trench coat and a dark attire underneath it, he had gloves, boots and on his right upper arm was the number "2". He however was currently ready for killing, using Umbrakinesis he sprouted twin katana from the shadow of himself, he would then proceed to kill all those of Dante's army around him, killing with deadly accuracy and skill as he created layers and layers of bodies around him. He wanted to draw out stronger opponents and in order to do that he will kill all of the soldiers he sees until he gets stronger foes. You should've surrendered when you had the chance Dante" he thought as the sand around him began to become red and sticky. Organs and ripped apart bodies littered the area around him, he would leave Dante to Graven for now.

733#words


#tier2-1
#Luke
Appearance of Alyss's zanpakutos and outfit:

Spoiler:

©2013 caliburn

The woman, after effortless cutting down some of the espada's forces, turned to the arrancar that had just arrived; she stared blankly, her eyes cloudy and cold from the lack of the mind that once resided within her. He spoke her name, softly with concern and even some amount of shock to it. She cocked her head before walking towards, her two diamond-edged scimitars glowing in the light of the moon, giving them a holy and pure appearance. She was wearing a modified version of a belly dancer's dress; with a long skirt, cut down the sides to show off the legs, a silver belt and a low cut bra top with parts of the red and black material wrapped around her upper arm in a band and around her feet. it also possessed some more of the silver armour around her shoulders, chest, elbows and knees.

She stopped a few meters from the arrancar, looking at him and if Graven was paying any attention, he would notice that where her hollow hole used to be, just under her breasts, but centred was no longer there, just smooth skin with no indication of what had happened to her. Alyss then turned and left, launching into a sonido to scout out the remaining espada as per her orders by Dante.

Muerte heard the screams of soldiers being killed just behind him and saw a black haired boy, cutting down the army of blood members. He shook his head and looked at Escasez as he was finishing off a member of the espada's numeros.

"It appears we have a unexpected arrival so soon, Escasez, let's give him a warm welcome," Muerte told Escasez with a wicked grin. Escasez smiled back before they both charged a cero and aimed at the new espada before firing them both, with Muerte's skull cero going in front while Escasez's cero followed suit, twisting around each other, firing through their own people to try and hit the espada that had appeared, if it hit, it would cause a large scale explosion around a three meter radius. Muerte then got Escasez to go against his back, so they were watching both sides in case the espada, who most likely survived the surprise attack came at them, to which they would both twist, depending on which direction he was coming from and use their zanpakutos to guard against whatever attack he decided to use against them.

Tau had been walking in the ruins of Karasu's castle when she felt the release of a shinigami's zanpakuto close by and went over to investigate, finding what she could only describe as one of the cutest shinigami she had ever seen, although going by his spiritual pressure, she was disappointed that the shinigami, despite is somewhat feminine appearance, was really a male and he was holding a rilfe, something that seemed rather a oddity in the spiritual world, but it was a zanpakuto in a shikai none the less. She drew her rapier and sonidoed a few meters in front of him.

"You seem lost, little shinigami. In letting your guard down, you draw enemies to you and now, this is your fate," She said softly, wiping a tear from her cheek, brushing her long dark blue hair back before charging gracefully fowards, aiming to dodge side to side to avoid being shot by whatever the shikai of this shinigami could fire and aim her blade to disable his shooting hand.
(meanwhile, in the soul society)

Luke had just finished mobilizing squad three and getting them heading to the site where the garganta would be opened by the kido commander himself when he heard one opening near him. Still on edge after what happened, he draw his zanpakuto and turned to see a numeros standing there. Luke sheathed his zanpakuto, scowling at the arrancar.

"I presume by your arrival you have a message, yes? if so, then speak quickly as I have to be going with my squad to Hueco Mundo to help you guys clean up your mess," Luke said, clearly not in the best of moods as he stood there, arms folded and his spiritual pressure fluctuating wildly, the numeros would feel it was as strong as the primera espada, Graven Fel and going by Luke's mood, he wasn't having a especially good day so Luke wasn't interested in playing around as he waited for what this numeros had to say.

0393#words
0000#blood

#tier2-1


©2013 caliburn

Graven stood in shock for a moment before feeling several large reiatsu signatures join the battle. His Espada seemed to have caught up in record time, and Alyss seemed to notice at the same time. Her eyes narrowing, she shot off in the direction of the nearest Espada. As much as he wanted to chase after her, it wouldn't do for any amnesia to break in the middle of combat and cause severe shock. Besides, there was the unnerving sense of foreboding that came with the blank stare in her eyes and the blank skin where her Hollow Hole used to be. Expanding his senses, he finally, blessedly, found where Dante was hiding during this siege. Using a Sonido, he launched himself towards the Blood Wraith, only to be stopped by the doors of the throne room. Pushing them open, he found Dante lounging in the throne, with a young woman pacing back and forth before looking at him, a sadistic smile on her face. Her red hair flouncing, she would turn towards him before speaking. It would seem he was in for a warm up before his fight with the false King of the West.

"Move, little one. I have...business with your master." He said as he pulsed his reiatsu, which was significantly higher than hers. His eyes would harden, and his impassive face would become the epitome of silent displeasure as he glared at Dante.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

The Numeros, whilst noting that the man was similar in strength to the Primera, also kept in mind that the Primera only used half his reiatsu at any given time for some odd reason, giving some credence to the myth that he had somehow achieved something that made him stronger than any opposition, the Segunda Etapa. Giving his report as best he could, he watched the man for any sign of displeasure. This Luke, as he was told his name was, was interesting, being particularly feminine in his appearance and demeanor, right down to the way he carried himself. Offering the use of a direct Garganta to speed up the arduous trek to the Kingdom of the South, he would step aside as the Shinigami forces made their way through the gate. Luke would hear one final phrase from the racially arrogant Arrancar as he humbled himself before the Captain. "Soul King's speed to you..."

0000#words

#tier2-2
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©2013 Caliburn

The air became filled with the metallic scent of blood. Kuroi cut down soldiers with ease as they charged at him with wild faces showing either fear or complete insanity. Arrancar and Hollow alike tasted his steel as they fell before him, the swordsmen lowered his sword as he found the first wave to have been at an end. The air now smelled of death and Kuroi stood amounst it as its creator, blood and bodies adorned the once white sand.

As Kuroi stood in the carnage and waited, sure enough two more arrancar appeared and tried to surprise him with a combined cero, Kuroi would form a cero in front of his chest as he fired it at the incoming cero. Due to his sheer power and his opponents being an entire tier bracket below him even their combined cero would be hard pressed to beat his regular one. "More of Dante's dogs, but funnily enough it is those which I can deal with. I believe you two are mentioned in stories about how your squad and Dante destroyed Grave's kingdom. Maybe he would prefer I take you alive. the Espada said and would release the full force of his reiatsu to bring them to their knees, Muerte would feel the weight and his partner would probably be forced to the ground. Kuroi aimed to force them to submit or if they wanted to fight they would need to use their second release to stand a chance.

Awaiting to see what happened Kuroi would stand like a demon as his twin katana occupied his hands, he would fire a cero from most parts of his body such as his chest and mouth which made him not rely on his hands. He wondered just how easy it would be to defeat them although he found it pitiful how weak Hollows used to be thousands of years ago when Graven's kingdom fell to these weaklings.