The Night Battle: The Selfoss Clash [Iceland Conflict Event]

Murai was still left rather unaware of what was really going on within this fight. The arrancar only knew the bare bones to this war, and only knew that she had two foes challenging her. The fact that there could be someone far away controlling these fighters like a puppeteer seemed far-fetched to her. No matter the situations, Murai seemed to only know that she had to fight for the Shadowfall to assist them in keeping this area safe. It shouldn't be all too hard, right? People were usually just cannon fodder to her in the past, things to be toyed with and torn through. Very rarely did she ever find herself being challenged or even outclassed asides from one being. Lionus. But hey, that was her boss, no need to fight him anytime soon.

Rather, she had to stop getting caught up and focus on what was in front of her. Seemed easy enough, right? Wrong, her cockiness would eventually lead to her literal downfall, paying more attention to the one destroying her distant barriers rather than the one far below her. Eyes widened as a loud gasp escaped her lips, arms left flailing in the air as a bolt of lightning tore through the clouds high above and destroyed the platform she was standing upon. Luckily for her, she wasn't -that- stupid, the platform she was on was meant as a platform, not a barrier to deter people, so it lacked any acid to be used as energy... Didn't stop her from free-falling down towards the ground however, arms flailing in the air as legs kicked out. Despite realizing she was falling, she just... Wasn't quick enough to react, only doing enough to spin in the air to face downwards.

Her body slammed against the ground a few moments later, leaving a fairly noticeable indent upon the ground in the shape of her body, face-down... This obviously was not something she liked at all, grunt heard from her as arms shot outwards to press against the ground, the woman lifting herself up out of the ground without a scratch upon her body, one of her true strengths coming to light as the lack of any real harm to her body. Despite not seemingly taking any damage from the fall, she still cursed under her breath, standing tall to turn over to where the fighter was.

Emphasize on -was-. One moment she was standing.. The next, being attacked, eyes rather surprised at the speed shown by this being. She was too slow to give a proper counter-attack to the foot soaring towards her head, the heel slamming against the top of her skull as the sound of impact rang out, resounding someone slamming into a -very- dense wall. Murai's head was brought a few inches down, hierro keeping her body from receiving too much actual damage from the blow. Despite her lack of speed, she had durability on her side, her right foot slamming against the ground to hold her body steady, legs shaking as a smile curled upon her lips. The pain was there still, even with her defense... But she was going to have -fun-. Her body began to push back against the foot that tried to bring it down, both hands reaching up towards it to forcibly shove it straight back to the fighter so that she wouldn't have to deal with the pressure of him trying to -dirty- her dress further... It was already fairly ruined now, a few tears on the edges as dirt smeared all along it.

"He also doubted my decisions earlier! Don't worry though, he's used to worse. I mean, they are just skeletons, they don't even have the brain to feel offended~!" Eyes stared straight towards the male's own, devilish grin upon her lips, only growing more and more in size.

What happened else-where out of her view now was rather.. Interesting. The TCCU would be able to throw the powerful lightning spear with all of their might and determination, but something rather fun would happen when it finally tore through the first barrier. Most of the acidic substance was absorbed and turned into pure chemical energy for it to be further powered, but with something t hat would be fairly frightening. Whenever a single wall was torn through, the entire barrier shattered, acidic substance flying in every direction, making it next to impossible to absorb every last bit as the excess rained down on any unlucky being that was too close. Be it Shadowfall or Vanguard, this substance did not discriminate.

Each wall was torn down as Murai could -feel- it. She didn't see it, but it didn't take a genius to tell that the walls infused with her own energy was being broken, and some of the acid formed inside was being taken away forcibly. Soon, the fighter in front of her was wielding incredibly powerful energy, ready to infuse it into his own attack. She'd be an absolute fool if she didn't react to this, this was something that she was able to tell was happening. While the bolt traveled through barrier after barrier and she stood her ground, her weapon was formed within her hands. A large femur that definitely did not belong to a human being, much thicker than anything that would normally be seen or even... Well, created within a being. Her Zanpakutō was formed and quickly brought up over her head in just the nick of time. If she wasn't able to tell something was tearing through her barriers and heading in her direction, she wouldn't even have time to summon it.

The powerful blow slammed downwards against her one defensive for this attack, heel slamming down and cracking the surface of her weapon. Energy forced to blast the bone with as much destructive force as it could as Murai needed both hands for this. One at each end of the femur to hold it up, arms shaking from the power of the blow, but it's purpose was finally done. The femur snapped in half as all of the momentum on the TCCU's foot from earlier was gone, the being left with his foot awkwardly in the air. "Won't this rattle your bones..." The atmosphere seemed to tense as Murai's entire body began to shift and morph in place, skin bubbling for a few moments as bulges underneath her flesh became all the more apparent. The sound of bones cracking echoed all throughout the immediate battlefield, echoing outwards as energy began to burst forth from Murai.

Murai's flesh burst forth, pain filling her body as she let out a blood-curdling scream of suffering and terror. Bones upon bones upon -bones- erupted forth in a matter of a second, quickly surrounding her body and piling upon itself again and again, no longer was her dress an issue anymore as... Well, the sight was rather grotesque. Flesh forced to rupture, visibly tearing as shards upon shards seemed to interlace similar to armor, wrapping around her body -tightly- similar to plate mail, legs covered entirely, massive boots made of bone covering her feet, torso and arms covered as was her head. She seemed to resemble a knight, only her armor was much thicker than it needed to be. About an -inch- thick with bones upon bones, not even letting air through as her 'helmet' had the pointed horn-esque appearance of armor she's seen in some form of media. For lack of better terms, her armor resembled this. https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/f7/38/c4/f738c41f31db00fd1444b78c6a6efef4.jpg

She was left standing strong, staring straight ahead as something was happening in the background during all of this. A few poor demons destroyed by lightning from earlier were being pumped full of energy themselves, their skeletons within their flesh starting to writhe and squirm about, forcing their flesh to bulge grotesquely as they wanted to free themselves. They wanted to fight. They wanted to serve the one who brought them a make-shift form of 'sentience'. Flesh was torn through within two bodies, a spurt of dark blood of the creatures splattering all about as these skeletons erupted, dark red in coloration as the only difference to them seemed to be just that... Their color... And the amount of energy that leaked off of them. Two were there in total, and both looked as pissed as a skeleton could be, staring towards the fighter who had just challenged Murai. The one who retreated was left alone for now, being seen as someone who wouldn't be a problem in the near distance future.

"Would you care to dance with me for a bit longer? I'd -love- to see how you can twist and bend, how far your leg can go, how much your bones can -crack- and dislocate. You seemed pretty flexible to do a nice kick like that... Let's see just how flexible you are~!"

NOTICES

Well that. Was fucking. Disheartening. Thought the TCCU clone as the woman screamed and contorted, her body breaking and tearing at it's own flesh. He leaped back as he saw this change in events unfolding. Last thing he needed was to be speared by this thing for being too close as it did... whatever unspeakable thing that it was currently doing. She's tough, sis... and I think she just got tougher... The TCCU clone reported to Lydia.

All around alerts and warnings flashed from monitor to monitor. That bone wielding freak just popped into Resurrección. They were at a disadvantage. Two more skeleton minions approached as she was looking at the camera trained on the now spiny warrior in armor over there. This would not be easy... This would not be as easy as she'd hoped at all. Her only hope would have been to bring the other TCCU in to overtake her, but if she's only against one opponent, and her other TCCU was taking a moment to rest, it would be very difficult to actually fight her... And if she can simply summon those bastards at will from dead corpses, her only hope would be to cut off her supply, which would turn this into a one-sided battle of attrition-- and her side would be losing.

Dammit all! The missions can never just be easy, can they? Lydia was beginning to see what Nix saw. No mission is ever just a cake walk. She could go in there herself, and try to assist, but strategizing was her strength, not actual combat-- although she was quite skilled at evening the playing fields... She would have to do it with her arms, and not her arms... Pun completely intended. But there was no time for jokes.

Come on... come on.. think, Didi, think!

The barrier was down, which if she had ordered a charge, the vanguard forces might be able to... get completely mauled by that Arrancar in Resurrección... Hm... But waiting any longer might give her a chance to rebuild those barriers, and that would mean a bad time for Lydia. The opponent was apparently all kinds of durable, but seemed to be lacking in the speed area. Her boys excelled in speed, but a one versus 3 did not seem to be optimal. Not with an enemy in release. He'd need to pick the two off... Right. Here goes.

"Try and get away from them. I want you to bait her attacks for as long as you can. do not get hit. I really don't wanna even think of what she could do to you if she breaks a bone of yours. She just ripped the bones out of some demons on her side she might be able to do the same to you. So don't get hit."

Then, swiveling her chair around to see what the Vanguard was up to, her front lines had managed to hold the barrier she instructed them to, minimizing losses from the acid that was still misting down from the sky. "To all Vanguard forces, rout the enemy and charge! I need two units to remain with the TCCU until he regains his energy. The rest of you, move onward while the enemy is caught in their own failure!" If she can move her forces up now, using the acid shower as a (painful) distraction, while her barrier makers keep everyone shielded, she can get them to move up a bit further while the enemy is licking their wounds. A cutthroat tactic, but one she'd need to employ if she intended to win this thing.

"TCCU 1, draw her attention from the battle below. You're the only chance we have." Upon hearing this, TCCU 1 would nod, and fire a bolt of lightning at the nearest skeleton, then one at Murai. It wouldn't be strong enough to break through her armor, most definitely, but it would be enough to incite a chase, with any luck. The skeleton, however, depending on the strength of it's construction, may or may not fall to such a blow. The TCCU was now running full speed, flipping and cartwheeling around in a defensive manner. If she had any means of catching him, he would be very keen to dodging them, even as he fired more bolts of energy at her.

Lydia breathed deeply from within her stationary submersible. All she had to do was stall for enough time that TCCU 2 regained his strength, then both of them would perform a coup de grace on this Murai. Short and sweet. But in case of failure, TCCU 1 would simply have to take her full on, and she could simply enter the battlefield herself to provide support. Despite the fact that she herself wasn't very physically strong, her Attack Helicopter GHOST-CV was. She was almost certain a missile or two would easily take this girl out, if it came to that. But it might also take out her men as well... So she held the idea in reserve for a moment. Right. Take them both down separately. Take advantage of the opening TCCU 2 created to push the Vanguard closer toward the city. Then, rout both the enemy's commander, as well as the remainder of their troops. Then, it was as simple as taking the city for her allies. But she would need every piece to fall into place in order to turn this bad situation around.

The arrancar was having so much fun right now. First a fight finally arrived for her, and now she got to really try out some of her more latent powers that she rarely delved into. She's never actually had a reason to use this release before, but now seemed to be an absolutely great time. She could just feel the power surging within her, new abilities, new skills, a new point of ascension in her path to obtaining all that she would ever hope and dream for. Enough about her though, this wasn't a war for her, this was a war for the allies of the group she works for. Hell, to be fair, she didn't even have to be here... But she was rather bored, her new friend needed time to move in, and this would definitely land her a nice check in the mail.

She could faintly tell what was happening far off in the distance. The Vanguard were fighting not only valiantly, but successfully. This was troublesome... She didn't feel like having to deal with a whole army, hell, these guys in front of her were annoying enough as it is. Murai's eyes began to narrow towards the male in front of her, the two skeletons she had raised were already rushing straight towards him. "I think I'll call these two Knuckle and Duster. Combine them together and they'll hurt like a Knuckle Duster~!" Murai thought that was pretty clever, and she knew keeping a cheery attitude filled with jokes during a fight usually put people on edge and led them to be a bit more weary.

What she didn't know was the fact that there was a puppet master behind the scenes. Orchestrating the actions of all those in the area to ensure victory. She was the one behind the clones, behind the actions they took, behind the tactical advances of the Vanguard when needed. In due time, Murai would meet this individual, but for now, she had someone else to focus upon. Her attention became focused on just this one being. He had enough strength to -move- her, and she needed to actually try to remain standing against his attack. That was a feat good enough to show that he was a fighter, someone she should actually treat with some mediocracy of a serious tone.

Her armor around her seemed fairly tough and resilient, and it's strength was only proven when the bolt of electricity slammed against it, only nudging Murai, the being underneath as cracks formed along the armor. These cracks ended up slowly and slowly being healing, through at a rate that was pretty funny. One interesting thing about it was that a puff of purple smoke shot out when damaged, slowly dissipating in the air as Murai didn't seem effected by it. The skeleton rushing forwards was... Actually much stronger than the previous ones, bolt of electricity slamming against it as it's bones rattled, a few ribs and other lesser needed bones being sent flying away... But the being itself was still rushing forwards, slowed a bit as it's single companion rushed right besides it.

Murai could see the clones games. It wanted her to chase. Fair enough... Buuut, Murai was never one for physical activity. She was provoked, but not in the way that he might have wanted. The armor around Murai's body began to shift ever so slightly before a single femur the size of a being twice the size of a human shot out into her hands, letting her grasp it like a weapon as it slammed against the ground. "Hope your ready to get boned you useless whelp~!" Wow, quite harsh for a teasing voice... But it's meaning would soon be found out as the ground shook underneath the TCUU. The earth rumbled as bones began to shoot forth from the ground, spanning up to 10 feet tall all around in an arena formation, the area all around generally about the size of a large auditorium.

Her two skeletons were able to leap right over the barrier with no trouble at all, rushing towards the TCUU... But for him however, he would get a much different result. If the being continued their path away from Murai and towards the bones she erected, he would be met with a potentially fatal end. Getting near them led to the bones rattling as more erupted from the ground right underneath, shooting out at a rather blinding speed similar to a bala and heading straight towards the TCUU's heart. The thickness of this piece of hard calcium was the size of an arm, with the entire front shattered just enoguh to leave a large, giant spike that looked sharp enough to pierce through flesh easily. With the speed it was going at, that wouldn't be too hard.

Many bones did this if he kept going closer to the edge, what was one would turn into two, then four, then eight, then all the way up into the hundreds if he kept trying to escape, all angled enough that he would have to dodge -away- from the boundaries. This was great for Murai... And within her little area, she could do so much more. Barely any reiatsu was felt as eight more skeletons with white bones appeared, all rushing towards the single TCUU with the two red ones leading the charge. Right now? It was no strain to her at all, and she could have as much fun as she wante din this little Bone Zone. Each skeleton attempted to utterly trap the man attempting to lead her on a chase.

All eight of the regular skeletons would attempt to lunge out at him and hold on tightly, going for his legs, his arms, his torso, whatever they can hold to keep him down. Right after, the two leaders with a red coloration ended up leaping towards his upper body, bones trying to slam against him with arms wrapping around his upper torso and shoulders to keep hims till and immobilize him. Wether or not any of this succeeded, Murai followed up on her next plan, the bit that -would- actually strain her a bit. Anyone in the area could feel her power growing, her strength with her abilities growing up to double it's original strength. So much power in this area... It was a bit scary for someone who wasn't even that powerful in the Monsuta.

Bones upon bones upon bones were being formed in the air, what started as five turned into ten which turned into twenty and ended up as fifty. All of them were the size of human femurs, points sharpened and all filled to the brim with gasses. All of these bones hovered over Murai, resembling a being from a bullet hell game... Something she was glad to be thought of. With a wave of her hand, all of these were sent forwards, zooming through the air at incredible speeds as a few balas were thrown in by Murai. Her goal was to blanket the area and utterly impale him, regardless of if the Bone Zone's edges got him, regardless of if the skeletons held him down, she wanted to blanket him. These sharpened bones spanned an area of about 20 feet, all moving quick enough to tear through flesh with no issue, balas capable of reaching almost cero strength at this point.

With her strength doubled, and cost of creating all of this halved, she was in the zone. In her prime element... In a place where Lydia would want to keep her out. "Dance~! Dance for me you stupid ape! Spin and twirl around, twist and contort your body! Do everything you can to survive~! I want to hear you -scream-!"