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[b]Sagamiyama - Stone Household - Lurking Shadows!
Night[/b][/center]

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For such a lumbering beast of a thing, the Hollow was quick enough to hit him, and hit him [b]hard.[/b] Darius couldn't even muster the wind to yell in pain as his attempt at reversing the ambush was thwarted, his kido only barely saving him from what might have otherwise been a crippling counterattack. He was grateful harm to his spirit form wouldn't translate to his real body, in that moment, slamming into a nearby fence with enough force to shatter it, under normal circumstances. Instead, in his spirit form, the fence served as immovable, making it all the worse to slam into. Pain radiated out from his side, and while he could move his arm, it was hardly pleasant. Even as the pain registered, he was rolling with the impact, stumbling back onto his feet on the other side of the fence, blade up to defend against... Nothing? No followup attack, no brutal mauling while he was down- Only an almost patient stare, as if this thing were content to wait for him to come to it.

He might have tried to walk away, and test just how patient it was, if there weren't other people to worry about. Focusing, he could feel surges and flashes of spirit pressure from all over town- Nobody else would be coming to help, if they were all busy... And if he didn't deal with this thing now, there would be no going to help the others. More than enough reason to face it down himself. He'd always had an easier time finding the steel in his spine when it was other people he needed to worry over. Blowing out a steadying breath, he lowered himself for a more explosive start, and lunged once more, this time with a solid plan in mind. A series of fast, harassing thrusts with his short blade, a constant forward momentum meant to put the Hollow on the defensive, keep it retreating while he put his relatively smaller frame to work dodging under any return strikes- All for the goal of buying time, as he concentrated reiatsu into his hands, more, more- compressing it down in the manner Ouga had shown him until he was ready. 

Then, feinting at the creature's mask once again, he instead dropped low, driving both his fists forward into it's torso with a roar of effort- unleashing the gathered energy in a violent [i]Shoushouhou[/i]. Enough force, he hoped, to send even this lumbering brute flying back into the nearest building. He followed after it with a leap, zanpakuto held high, ready to drive the point down into the Hollow's mask while it was down. The pain from that first strike, though, was a telling thing. It made him slow, made him cringe with the exertion- Left him open, even as he pushed the assault.