ALL NOVEL 121 – Snakes In The Grass
The gorilla Hollow's subordinates nervously surrounded them to cut off any avenue for retreat.
He towered over the unimpressed Cirucci. "You dare look down on Gargantua?" he bellowed.
Hisashi could barely restrain an eye roll. 'He's even speaking in the third person. He doesn't even realise he is an ant when compared to even the weakest members of Las Noches. Drunk on what little power he has been able to gather out here in the middle of nowhere,' he thought.
Cirucci looked at Gargantua like one would look at a bug they were planning to step on. As if his mere presence disgusted her.
'Knowing her proclivities she might actually step on him while whipping him,' Hisashi thought.
"Are you not going to kneel?" She asked enraging him even further.
"You will pay for your arrogance!" Gargantua said.
He cocked back his massive fist and swung.
Cirucci didn't even dodge. Instead she simply raised her Zanpakuto using the sharp disc portion to deflect his punch.
Despite his size compared to hers she didn't even budge when his fist collided with her Zanpakuto.
"Is that all you've got?" She said.
The surrounding Adjuchas were staring between the two parties, unsure as to what they should do. They might have submitted to Gargantua, but that was only because he was the strongest and cruelest Adjuchas around. They weren't so sure he was the stronger party anymore though.
"Kill them all!" He shouted.
This caused them to break out of their stupor and look over at Hisashi and Mila Rose instead.
Hisashi and Mila Rose weren't concerned though. The difference between Adjuchas and Vasto Lorde was an almost unsurpassable chasm. Despite there being nearly fifty Adjuchas facing them Mila Rose wore an excited bloodthirsty smile.
She crouched ready to pounce. Her claws unveiled themselves from her paws both on her arms and legs.
Hisashi simply spread his four blade arms. With the four of them he was effectively able to guard against attacks from the complete 360 degrees around him.
Since Cirucci was around and someone had likely been following him he couldn't use his illusions to hide one pair of arms to trick his enemies.
Their enemies seemed to draw some kind of confidence from their numbers and attacked both of them.
Hisashi danced between his enemies focusing primarily on dodging. He would stab and slash at some of the many openings he was able to find. This way he was able to slowly whittle down the enemy Adjuchas. He was made sure to look like it was a taxing battle to deal with over two dozen enemies attacking at the same time making sure to allow some glancing blows to hit him from time to time and using his illusions to exaggerate the damage those attacks resulted in. It completely looked as if he were actually struggling to handle the Adjuchas.
Mila Rose was the complete opposite though. She simply went blow for blow with them tanking the hits she couldn't avoid and making sure to strike back twice as hard. It didn't take long for most of her body to be covered in blood as she used her claws to literally rip and tear her enemies apart one limb at a time.
Due to this Mila Rose came off as the more powerful amongst them. Second only to Cirucci who was still fighting Gargantua.
Gargantua frowned. "Only weaklings rely on tools," he spat out.
Cirucci sneered. "You are too stupid to even fathom what you're dealing with. My Zanpakuto is no tool. It is a part of my just as your claws and fangs are part of you. You're weaker than I expected though. I won't even need it to deal with you," she said.
He snarled lifting both his fists up together. He clasped his hands and brought them both down on her from above.
She simply lifted her left arm that wasn't holding her Zanpakuto and blocked both his hands with just the strength of her hierro to protect herself. He couldn't even cause a scratch.
She shook her head. "See. That's just how weak you are. Now do you realise how futile your actions are. Since you attacked me some punishment is in order. I might still go easy on you if you grovel a little though," she said.
He roared. Three of his strongest subordinates that had been trying to orchestrate the fights with Mila Rose and Hisashi came running over to help him.
"I would expect nothing better from such bottom feeders. Not that it would make a difference," Cirucci said.
Once it was four on one though she couldn't stay still anymore and had to start fighting actively. Despite that she had still left her Zanpakuto on her waist since she had said she didn't need it to deal with them.
Since Hisashi was actually having a very easy time with the battle due to his agility simply putting him in another league he could easily keep an eye on Mila Rose and Cirucci's battles.
Due to this he noticed a shadowy figure when it appeared at the edge of the clearing. It seemed whatever kind of Hollow it was it had some kind of concealment ability that made it hard to notice unless you were paying close enough attention.
It was shrouded in darkness, but he could make out an entirely humanoid shape.
'What do we have here? It looks like an Arrancar...' he mused.
He watched it carefully blend into the crowd. Its direction wasn't towards him though. After a few moments it became clear it was moving in Cirucci's direction.
Hisashi raised his brow. 'Well that's unexpected,' he thought.
To ensure he could interfere he carefully manipulated his fight to move closer to Cirucci without anyone noticing what he was doing.
Cirucci was too arrogant and distracted by her fight to notice the shadowy figure nearing her.
The figure drew back a sharp pointy blade and waited for an opening. When Gargantua along with two of his subordinates attacked her at the same time it saw its chance and pierced towards Cirucci's head.
Hisashi revealed himself by dashing between them and blocking the strike at the last moment. "Now who are you?" he asked.
