Through the Pale
Description: A deep strike tactical reconnaissance into the great white of Hueco Mundo, set over the course of a week. Eliminate 3 low level targets to thin out the numbers of the hollow menace, but remain low profile and do not put yourself at undue risk. Return with any relevant observations that provide intel into the general activity and numbers the enemy houses amongst the sands.
Assigned to: Caius Kogami
Minimum Number of Participants: 1
Target Chit: Kidō Combatant 1of 3
He was cornered, the only way out was to fight but the hollow was larger than what he had expected. Surely these low-level fiends should be small, right? The first one was, so why was this one so big?! Crap, crap crap! He thought, the blood trickling down his forehead. He looked up from behind the debris he had found, his breathing beginning to soothe, maybe he could get a moment to reprieve and think of a plan. A roar broke the silence around the white sands of Hueco Mundo and he knew that in just a few seconds there would be more.
No more resting on his laurels, today was the day Caius took on his first mission, and what a crazy one it turned out to be. He was to be sent to Hueco Mundo alone and take on three lower-class hollows. Pfft, he thought, child's play. Looking down over the mission brief and pretending to listen to the man in charge, Caius nodded his head and began to make his way towards the Garganta that was set up to transport him. "Wonder if dads first mission was like this?" He asked himself, staring into the darkness of the portal in front of him before making his first step into the abyss.
He didn't know what to expect. He had always heard of the calming white sands shifting beneath a blackened sky, but this was something else. He almost found it stunning to look at. He remembered a bedtime story his father used to tell him. A shinigami stumbled upon the deserts of Hueco Mundo and lost their way before becoming consumed by the sands and hollowfying. It was an old wives' tale that was meant to scare children from walking too far from their parents but Caius was fascinated by it. White sand, he would ask him, his eyes filled with a childlike purity that would melt even a heart of ice. Now, he was here. Overlooking the same white sands that he had heard about. "If it weren't infested with hollows and had a bit of commercialism this could be a good date spot," Caius said making himself chuckle ever so slightly.
Taking his first few steps he noticed how dead the place truly was. He could hear hide, or hair of hollows and couldn't even detect any in the vicinity. "Dunno why this is a stealth mission," He said turning his head left and right with every step he took, just to make sure. He continued to move, keeping his reiatsu to a minimum, scouting the area and any cave, or vantage point he would scope out, but to no avail. Was he dropped off at the right spot?
He stood still, looking towards a tree in the distance. He stared blankly at it, thinking does Hueco Mundo have seasons like the Human realm and the Seireitei, and if so what color leaves would the tree bloom? He must've stood still for around five minutes before the sand beneath him began to shift. Was there something below him?
Leaping into the air, the jowls of a hollow came up from under him. Its form is smaller than Caius but its mouth is near twice the size of its body. "Oopsie," Caius said, twisting his body so his hand was outstretched towards the mouth. Caius began to concentrate his Reiatsu in the palm of his hand. "Hado #31: Shakkaho" he would call out, dispersing an orb of crimson energy into the mouth of the beast. "Guess your parents forgot to feed you," He said, slowing his descent and throwing his body back, extending his leg to kick the jaw of the hollow closed and landing on his feet. The hollow reclined back in horror at the onslaught, laying on its back and flailing its minuscule legs in the air.
Grabbing his blade, Caius circled the creature until he was standing in front of it. "One down" he muttered, stabbing his blade through the neck of the defenseless creature, its body and mask dissipating slowly. Its final moments watching the shinigami look down on it, like the lesser being it was in his eyes.
A week? I'll have this finished in no time. He sang in his head, proud that after a few hours he was already 33% of the way finished.