Flames crackled and licked up the walls. Floorboards smouldered and glowed. Wood snapped and gave as the heat ate away at joists and support beams. The collapse of sections of shingle rooftop could be heard across the Shin'o Academy. Billowing towers of smoke rose into the sky, clear enough to stretch across the ever-expanding Rukongai. The rapid, thundering footsteps of animals could be heard in all directions.
Throughout all the halls and corridors, not a single silhouette that flashed by looked human.
The day began like any other. Some students were out of the Academy, on heavily-escorted journeys to Earth for field exercises. Others were in classes that ranged from the pillars of the Gotei to calligraphy and even flower arrangement. Students milled about the halls, chatting, Asauchi at their hips as their souls were gradually poured into the weapons -- a practice just over a year old.
It all began not even ten minutes ago. Hollows -- of common variety, the size you would find on Earth after a few years gorging on the souls of the dead -- ran and flew out of ripples in the air surrounding the Academy. They struck from all directions, breaking through walls and tackling students to the ground. As panic spread, more walls collapsed, crushed underfoot by Hollows the likes of which were rarely seen on earth, taller than most man-made structures in the world of the living. Teachers, staff of the Tenth Division and other visiting contributors to the curriculum of the Shinigami Academy, were plucked from the floor, crushed in-hand, and thrown into mask-covered, gaping maws.
In that short time, nearly every student present in the six-year Academy perished.
Within a single hall of the Academy, a pile of bodies laid up against a sliding door. Fires burned further down in one direction, while there was a hole in the ceiling down the other. Some of the bodies yet breathed, others gripped their as-of-yet hollow Asauchi. Seated next to the pile, a Hollow, stronger than all but the finest Academy students in even the later years. It was tall, thin, little more than skin, bone, and sinew except for its oversized, masked head.
"Sword, sword, sword, sword..." It echoed the words nigh-mindlessly and in a hoarse tone, not yet devoid of rationality like its far larger counterparts. As it rambled, it grabbed at a body and tore its head from its shoulders with a single bite. Then, it grabbed at some of the Asauchi scattered about, and threw them in to join the flesh.
Bone, flesh, and spell-forged steel cracked and tore all the same between its teeth.
"Sword, sword, sword, sword, sword, sword, sword, sword, sword, sword..."
The beast's droning continued as it filled itself with the dead and dying, obsessively adding even fragments of their power to its own. Heated breath came out as steam each time it finished and, lost in the feast as it was, it never noticed who crawled above its head.
With a quiet thud, a black-clad survivor landed atop the Hollow. With a feminine grunt and a swing, her steel met with the side of the creature's neck. It roared, started to lifted, but she kept her balance. Her grip twisted and just as it reached for her, she forced the blade the rest of the way through -- a spray of blood coating the already-stained walls, bodies, and floor as the head fell.
The body toppled next.
With a pant, the woman landed next to the body. In her hand, a pink-bladed sword with a guard the shape of a cross petal. Blood dripped from the steel, and she quickly laid the weapon down and kneeled beside the bodies.
She mumbled as she took in each face, her own twisting as she found death staring back at her again and again. She pushed one aside, a second, a third, and even a fourth, before she found her:
A single, wide-eyed young woman wrapped in the red and white of a female Academy student. Her flaxen-blonde hair was soiled with blood and other detritus from the slaughter, but as the woman uncovered the student, saw she was unharmed.
"Hildr!" She gasped, recognizing a student who had excelled in her many classes for those in the accelerated Zanjutsu course.
She pushed the last body aside and fully revealed herself to the young lady. Rich, shoulder-length, red hair hung down in twisting waves. Matching eyes stared down at the young woman as she reached forward with fair-skinned hands to embrace the young woman.
The Third Seat of the Tenth Division, Nobuko Tachibana -- a figure of fascination for most of the male students who spent any years within the hallowed halls of the Academy.
Nobuko just held Hildr for a moment and took deep, chest-shuddering breaths. She prayed under her breath, too, before she released Hildr and set her stern, fiery gaze on the young woman, strong hands still on her small shoulders.
"Are you able to walk?"
Throughout all the halls and corridors, not a single silhouette that flashed by looked human.
The day began like any other. Some students were out of the Academy, on heavily-escorted journeys to Earth for field exercises. Others were in classes that ranged from the pillars of the Gotei to calligraphy and even flower arrangement. Students milled about the halls, chatting, Asauchi at their hips as their souls were gradually poured into the weapons -- a practice just over a year old.
It all began not even ten minutes ago. Hollows -- of common variety, the size you would find on Earth after a few years gorging on the souls of the dead -- ran and flew out of ripples in the air surrounding the Academy. They struck from all directions, breaking through walls and tackling students to the ground. As panic spread, more walls collapsed, crushed underfoot by Hollows the likes of which were rarely seen on earth, taller than most man-made structures in the world of the living. Teachers, staff of the Tenth Division and other visiting contributors to the curriculum of the Shinigami Academy, were plucked from the floor, crushed in-hand, and thrown into mask-covered, gaping maws.
In that short time, nearly every student present in the six-year Academy perished.
Within a single hall of the Academy, a pile of bodies laid up against a sliding door. Fires burned further down in one direction, while there was a hole in the ceiling down the other. Some of the bodies yet breathed, others gripped their as-of-yet hollow Asauchi. Seated next to the pile, a Hollow, stronger than all but the finest Academy students in even the later years. It was tall, thin, little more than skin, bone, and sinew except for its oversized, masked head.
"Sword, sword, sword, sword..." It echoed the words nigh-mindlessly and in a hoarse tone, not yet devoid of rationality like its far larger counterparts. As it rambled, it grabbed at a body and tore its head from its shoulders with a single bite. Then, it grabbed at some of the Asauchi scattered about, and threw them in to join the flesh.
Bone, flesh, and spell-forged steel cracked and tore all the same between its teeth.
"Sword, sword, sword, sword, sword, sword, sword, sword, sword, sword..."
The beast's droning continued as it filled itself with the dead and dying, obsessively adding even fragments of their power to its own. Heated breath came out as steam each time it finished and, lost in the feast as it was, it never noticed who crawled above its head.
With a quiet thud, a black-clad survivor landed atop the Hollow. With a feminine grunt and a swing, her steel met with the side of the creature's neck. It roared, started to lifted, but she kept her balance. Her grip twisted and just as it reached for her, she forced the blade the rest of the way through -- a spray of blood coating the already-stained walls, bodies, and floor as the head fell.
The body toppled next.
With a pant, the woman landed next to the body. In her hand, a pink-bladed sword with a guard the shape of a cross petal. Blood dripped from the steel, and she quickly laid the weapon down and kneeled beside the bodies.
She mumbled as she took in each face, her own twisting as she found death staring back at her again and again. She pushed one aside, a second, a third, and even a fourth, before she found her:
A single, wide-eyed young woman wrapped in the red and white of a female Academy student. Her flaxen-blonde hair was soiled with blood and other detritus from the slaughter, but as the woman uncovered the student, saw she was unharmed.
"Hildr!" She gasped, recognizing a student who had excelled in her many classes for those in the accelerated Zanjutsu course.
She pushed the last body aside and fully revealed herself to the young lady. Rich, shoulder-length, red hair hung down in twisting waves. Matching eyes stared down at the young woman as she reached forward with fair-skinned hands to embrace the young woman.
The Third Seat of the Tenth Division, Nobuko Tachibana -- a figure of fascination for most of the male students who spent any years within the hallowed halls of the Academy.
Nobuko just held Hildr for a moment and took deep, chest-shuddering breaths. She prayed under her breath, too, before she released Hildr and set her stern, fiery gaze on the young woman, strong hands still on her small shoulders.
"Are you able to walk?"