05-11-2017, 06:26 PM
Weiss took a deep breath, resting her hands at her sides. The exercise was simple - Sense Nayamasa’s approach, using her weird spirit senses she apparently had now, and stop his attacks before they bruised her face.
She’d done relatively well in the basic exercises, when she was just trying to sense living things for the first week, but the problem was that Nayamasa, apparently, was really good at hiding his “spiritual pressure”. The whole thing still seemed a little bit silly to Weiss - the way Nayamasa had explained it, everything had a certain life force energy, one that she could now interact with freely. She hadn’t exactly understood every single aspect, but through all of Nayamasa’s little lessons, she was at least able to do some of the basics.
Sadly, the basics did little to stop her face from being covered in bruises at the end of every day.
She supposed she was grateful. She was alone again - no, not alone, she was with a nasty person with an awful attitude, who was determined to make her feel like a five year old buffoon at all times. If he had a ruler to do it with, she was sure Nayamasa would’ve been rapping her fingers with it by now. Still, the training let her focus on something other than her separation from Ruby Rose, and her seperation from humanity, and the chilling questions that she had about both.
She’d apparently made some progress, at least - she wasn’t using so much power that her abilities were lower than normal, at least. But he seemed determined that Weiss needed to master some special capability, one he kept referring to as “hollowfication”.
So far she’d made some progress towards it, and recently, she’d figured out how to fire a small, red trail of energy. Apparently, it was something akin to what she’d fired earlier.
“Cero…” Weiss muttered to herself. She remembered fighting against Saiko in a blurry haze… like a lot of the memory was just blurred and muddled. But she remembered the weird blast thing she’d fired. She’d definitely done all sorts of things like that before using dust, but nothing with that level of raw firepower. Her style was based on skill, and she felt a little bad about using what was such a “demonic” power in the first place, but…
The huntress turned hollow thought back to the fight she had with Okor.
Maybe a little power-
The sudden pain of a sharp blow to the cheek brought Weiss back to reality, and she felt the cold impact of Nayamasa’s boot against her face.
“Useless! You’re getting distracted. Again!” Nayamasa stated with frustration.
“What’s the point! Even if I sense you, I can’t move fast enough to get out of the way in time!” Weiss retorted with a glare. “20 meters isn’t enough with your stupid higenkaker-”
“Hirenkyaku. You will refer to an ancient and respected technique with the honor it is due.”
Weiss just glared for a moment, rubbing her cheek, as Nayamasa looked down with a glare, searching her face for… what? An apology?
Weiss’s glare didn’t soften.
“...Hirenflappu.”
“That was purposeful!”
“Oh, good on you for figuring it out, genius!”
“It’s juvenile bullshit like this-”
“-Oh, I’m juvenile! Have you taken a look in the mirror lately, you Self-entitled narcissist-”
“-I’m sitting here trying to help you master your powers instead of hunting saiko-”
“-Oh, I’m sorry I’m so much of a burden to you-”
“Enough!” Fukaku yelled.
“...Enough. It’s time to move on for this phase of your training, regardless.” Fukaku states with a calmer tone.
“You’ve ran out of time. I can’t trust your hollowfication if you don’t get control of it.” Nayamasa states with a glare. “Like right now, for example.”
“What? I’m not-” Weiss started to object, but then, she could feel it. That sudden ice in her veins, the energy flowing through her body, those painfully high emotions that were suddenly so hard to suppress…
And beneath it all, a buzzing, a quiet thought in the back of Weiss’s head that reminded her of when she first met Fukaku. A quiet noise that wordlessly seemed to be pushing Weiss to consume her opponent.
“Come on. We’re heading further into the temple.”
“...Right.” Weiss managed to squeak out.
Nayamasa was right. Weiss didn't want to keep going without control of this, either.
---
The temple was a small, barren affair. According to Nayamasa, he cleared it himself as a base of operations, shortly after clearing out some monstrous infestation that once dwelt here. Given how quiet Nayamasa was about that affair, Weiss supposed she probably didn’t want to know.
Now, though, they were in a deeper area of the temple complex than she’d ever seen before. She supposed it must have been built into the nearby mountain. If she had to take a guess, they were probably in some sort of hold-out shelter or something. Nayamasa signaled her to stop in the middle of the squared off area, a dark, gloomy affair filled with recently lit torches and
“You have one minute.”
Weiss stumbled for a moment. “Um, I don’t… understand?”
Nayamasa disappeared in an instant, and before Weiss could even see where he’d disappeared to, a cut streaked across her cheek.
“Failure - at evading me, or at obtaining hollowfication - is death. Hollowfying properly will let you continue on.” Nayamasa stated bluntly, as his voice echoed through the halls.
Weiss drew her rapier. Nayamasa’s voice reverberated through the room, and the torches gave precious little light. She couldn’t see Nayamasa, and she wasn’t even sure how he’d just attacked her. Her grip on the rapier tightened.
“Hollowfy.”
The voice reverberated, and Weiss tried hard to focus on sensing her opponent. She couldn’t rely on sound, and her opponent was staying out of sight.
Focus. Breath steadily. Keep still. Be open to the world around you.
Weiss took a deep breath, and a volley of - something - appeared in her vision. Whatever they were, they were fast, and she only barely managed to dash out of the way with a triumphant smirk.
The smile didn’t hold for long, as another barrage came for her from behind - again - and Weiss found herself suddenly dodging arrows by the dozens, coming from every angle - or at least, trying to dodge them. Weiss would dodge one barrage, block the next (resulting in her arm slowly going numb) and jump over the next barrage, only to realize a couple arrows she missed had snuck past her guard and cut along some vulnerable spot or other. Even with just fifteen seconds, she knew she’d gotten herself a nice collection of wounds.
“Pathetic. It seems without holllowfication, you’re completely useless.” Nayamasa stated with a tone of disappointment. “And fear for your life doesn’t appear to be able to motivate you. Or perhaps you’re just so used to losing that the fear no longer touches you.”
“Shut. Up!” Weiss growled, before diving forward to avoid further missile fire.
“You’re just frustrated, It seems you’re a complete failure. Perhaps Saiko’s true focus really was Ruby Rose-”
“What?!”
Weiss stopped, standing in the middle of the battleground, as she pointed her blade straight towards Nayamasa - the Nayamasa she knew was hiding just behind the pillar to her left.
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that if this goes on, I’ll have to dispose of her too, at this-”
Weiss wasn’t completely sure of what was going on anymore. Her eyes seemed to be seeing through a red filter, and as she charged through the pillar her opponent was hiding behind, she was dimly aware of a barrage of deadly cuts and thrusts she was pushing her opponent back with.
“Don’t. You. dare.” Weiss growled in a strangely distorted voice, before holding up her hand, a shining crimson orb illuminating Nayamasa’s features with its light.
“Fucking. Touch Her!”
The blast Weiss fired next seemed to completely engulf one side of the room. Stone cracked and shattered, leaving a smoking crater that looked like it belonged to a meteor to one side of the room.
“...So that’s it. Pressure.”
Weiss turned around with an angry slash, only to realize…
“Wait, what’s on my….”
“A mask. A hollow mask. It seems. Much like a visored. It just required stakes…” Nayamasa stated with a thoughtful scratch of the chin.
“...what are you saying?”
“I’m saying I’ve figured out what you need to do to master your hollow powers. Given your current sense of altruism, this might even do something for that pathetic lack of self-esteem you’ve acquired, as well.”
“What? I don’t have a-”
“Shut up and listen. Now, the person I need you to contact next is named Dr. Regal…”
She’d done relatively well in the basic exercises, when she was just trying to sense living things for the first week, but the problem was that Nayamasa, apparently, was really good at hiding his “spiritual pressure”. The whole thing still seemed a little bit silly to Weiss - the way Nayamasa had explained it, everything had a certain life force energy, one that she could now interact with freely. She hadn’t exactly understood every single aspect, but through all of Nayamasa’s little lessons, she was at least able to do some of the basics.
Sadly, the basics did little to stop her face from being covered in bruises at the end of every day.
She supposed she was grateful. She was alone again - no, not alone, she was with a nasty person with an awful attitude, who was determined to make her feel like a five year old buffoon at all times. If he had a ruler to do it with, she was sure Nayamasa would’ve been rapping her fingers with it by now. Still, the training let her focus on something other than her separation from Ruby Rose, and her seperation from humanity, and the chilling questions that she had about both.
She’d apparently made some progress, at least - she wasn’t using so much power that her abilities were lower than normal, at least. But he seemed determined that Weiss needed to master some special capability, one he kept referring to as “hollowfication”.
So far she’d made some progress towards it, and recently, she’d figured out how to fire a small, red trail of energy. Apparently, it was something akin to what she’d fired earlier.
“Cero…” Weiss muttered to herself. She remembered fighting against Saiko in a blurry haze… like a lot of the memory was just blurred and muddled. But she remembered the weird blast thing she’d fired. She’d definitely done all sorts of things like that before using dust, but nothing with that level of raw firepower. Her style was based on skill, and she felt a little bad about using what was such a “demonic” power in the first place, but…
The huntress turned hollow thought back to the fight she had with Okor.
Maybe a little power-
The sudden pain of a sharp blow to the cheek brought Weiss back to reality, and she felt the cold impact of Nayamasa’s boot against her face.
“Useless! You’re getting distracted. Again!” Nayamasa stated with frustration.
“What’s the point! Even if I sense you, I can’t move fast enough to get out of the way in time!” Weiss retorted with a glare. “20 meters isn’t enough with your stupid higenkaker-”
“Hirenkyaku. You will refer to an ancient and respected technique with the honor it is due.”
Weiss just glared for a moment, rubbing her cheek, as Nayamasa looked down with a glare, searching her face for… what? An apology?
Weiss’s glare didn’t soften.
“...Hirenflappu.”
“That was purposeful!”
“Oh, good on you for figuring it out, genius!”
“It’s juvenile bullshit like this-”
“-Oh, I’m juvenile! Have you taken a look in the mirror lately, you Self-entitled narcissist-”
“-I’m sitting here trying to help you master your powers instead of hunting saiko-”
“-Oh, I’m sorry I’m so much of a burden to you-”
“Enough!” Fukaku yelled.
“...Enough. It’s time to move on for this phase of your training, regardless.” Fukaku states with a calmer tone.
“You’ve ran out of time. I can’t trust your hollowfication if you don’t get control of it.” Nayamasa states with a glare. “Like right now, for example.”
“What? I’m not-” Weiss started to object, but then, she could feel it. That sudden ice in her veins, the energy flowing through her body, those painfully high emotions that were suddenly so hard to suppress…
And beneath it all, a buzzing, a quiet thought in the back of Weiss’s head that reminded her of when she first met Fukaku. A quiet noise that wordlessly seemed to be pushing Weiss to consume her opponent.
“Come on. We’re heading further into the temple.”
“...Right.” Weiss managed to squeak out.
Nayamasa was right. Weiss didn't want to keep going without control of this, either.
---
The temple was a small, barren affair. According to Nayamasa, he cleared it himself as a base of operations, shortly after clearing out some monstrous infestation that once dwelt here. Given how quiet Nayamasa was about that affair, Weiss supposed she probably didn’t want to know.
Now, though, they were in a deeper area of the temple complex than she’d ever seen before. She supposed it must have been built into the nearby mountain. If she had to take a guess, they were probably in some sort of hold-out shelter or something. Nayamasa signaled her to stop in the middle of the squared off area, a dark, gloomy affair filled with recently lit torches and
“You have one minute.”
Weiss stumbled for a moment. “Um, I don’t… understand?”
Nayamasa disappeared in an instant, and before Weiss could even see where he’d disappeared to, a cut streaked across her cheek.
“Failure - at evading me, or at obtaining hollowfication - is death. Hollowfying properly will let you continue on.” Nayamasa stated bluntly, as his voice echoed through the halls.
Weiss drew her rapier. Nayamasa’s voice reverberated through the room, and the torches gave precious little light. She couldn’t see Nayamasa, and she wasn’t even sure how he’d just attacked her. Her grip on the rapier tightened.
“Hollowfy.”
The voice reverberated, and Weiss tried hard to focus on sensing her opponent. She couldn’t rely on sound, and her opponent was staying out of sight.
Focus. Breath steadily. Keep still. Be open to the world around you.
Weiss took a deep breath, and a volley of - something - appeared in her vision. Whatever they were, they were fast, and she only barely managed to dash out of the way with a triumphant smirk.
The smile didn’t hold for long, as another barrage came for her from behind - again - and Weiss found herself suddenly dodging arrows by the dozens, coming from every angle - or at least, trying to dodge them. Weiss would dodge one barrage, block the next (resulting in her arm slowly going numb) and jump over the next barrage, only to realize a couple arrows she missed had snuck past her guard and cut along some vulnerable spot or other. Even with just fifteen seconds, she knew she’d gotten herself a nice collection of wounds.
“Pathetic. It seems without holllowfication, you’re completely useless.” Nayamasa stated with a tone of disappointment. “And fear for your life doesn’t appear to be able to motivate you. Or perhaps you’re just so used to losing that the fear no longer touches you.”
“Shut. Up!” Weiss growled, before diving forward to avoid further missile fire.
“You’re just frustrated, It seems you’re a complete failure. Perhaps Saiko’s true focus really was Ruby Rose-”
“What?!”
Weiss stopped, standing in the middle of the battleground, as she pointed her blade straight towards Nayamasa - the Nayamasa she knew was hiding just behind the pillar to her left.
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that if this goes on, I’ll have to dispose of her too, at this-”
Weiss wasn’t completely sure of what was going on anymore. Her eyes seemed to be seeing through a red filter, and as she charged through the pillar her opponent was hiding behind, she was dimly aware of a barrage of deadly cuts and thrusts she was pushing her opponent back with.
“Don’t. You. dare.” Weiss growled in a strangely distorted voice, before holding up her hand, a shining crimson orb illuminating Nayamasa’s features with its light.
“Fucking. Touch Her!”
The blast Weiss fired next seemed to completely engulf one side of the room. Stone cracked and shattered, leaving a smoking crater that looked like it belonged to a meteor to one side of the room.
“...So that’s it. Pressure.”
Weiss turned around with an angry slash, only to realize…
“Wait, what’s on my….”
“A mask. A hollow mask. It seems. Much like a visored. It just required stakes…” Nayamasa stated with a thoughtful scratch of the chin.
“...what are you saying?”
“I’m saying I’ve figured out what you need to do to master your hollow powers. Given your current sense of altruism, this might even do something for that pathetic lack of self-esteem you’ve acquired, as well.”
“What? I don’t have a-”
“Shut up and listen. Now, the person I need you to contact next is named Dr. Regal…”
![[Image: 1403536693-tumblr-mnt768ec7u1qcjxmlo2-r1-500.gif]](http://image.noelshack.com/fichiers/2014/26/1403536693-tumblr-mnt768ec7u1qcjxmlo2-r1-500.gif)