Critias: Three Bites

Come forth, Shinja! Critias' words seemed to echo for all to hear, even though he had barely whispered them. Within a few seconds after he had uttered the release command, the change had begun. Critias' two handed Jian began to glow a deep purple and seemed to wiggle back and forth violently just as a massive outpouring of reiatsu sent a cloud of sand straight upward, blocking Critias from view. The last three adjuchas were holding their positions roughly fifty feet away from Critias to his left, right and rear. They were fierce looking hollow that looked more like huge animals than hollows. One was a giant black bear with a scary skeletal mask covering all but the lower jaw portion of his head. His hollow hole was directly on top of his head. The last two adjuchas were stranger still. One looked like a large lobster/centipede hybrid covered almost entirely in his bony armor. The last was something that looked like a large bat who's back legs were modified into a seperate pair of wings. The strangest part was his long scorpion like tail. The two arrancar that had been watching the fight seemed very interested in what was taking place down below, and they were exchanging hushed conversation. All eyes were on Critias as the sand finally drifted back down to the ground, revealing him standing in a very calm, relaxed pose. His eyes were to the ground as the three adjuchas stared in confusion. Critias had unmistakably activated his shikai, yet he was holding no weapon. He was wearing nothing different than his captain's haori. The large bear hollow decided he would seize the moment and attack. He ran in from Critias' left side at break-neck speed. Critias didn't even acknowledge his presence until the last second. The bear lunged for a spear tackle as Critias leaned away to his right and kicked hard into the bear's chest with his left foot, stalling the bear's foward motion through the air. With a fluid motion, Critias rotated over and planted his left foot into the sand as he landed a strong left palm strike to the bear's chin, sending him skyward. No sooner than he had been knocked straight up, the bear was slammed hard back down to the sand by something that had coiled around his left leg and jerked him down. All eyes were on Critias as he stood there with his outstretched right arm. As he held his arm parallel to the horizon, you could barely see something slither back up his sleeve and disappear from view. Critias stood up and turned his back on his fallen opponent. As Critias folded his arms in triumph, the giant fearsome bear writhed around on the sand, kicking up a cloud of dust as he coughed on his own blood. The remaining two adjuchas looked on in horror as the bear turned a matte gray color and disentegrated into dust. Critias allowed a small crooked smirk to creep onto his face as he took note of the fear in his remaining opponents. The lobster/centipede hollow wasted no more time as he ran across the sand at a lightning fast pace. He lowered his upper body and opened his massive claws as he stopped abruptly in front of Critias. He stood there, staring Critias down, waiting. Critias slowly opened his mouth to form the first words he had said since the fight began. "My my, you sure do have a lot of armor. I don't think Shinja can bite through that. I might have to take a different tact with you."

Critias' words enticed the hollow to ask a question. "Bite? What do you mean bite?", asked the hollow. Critias simply pointed over his shoulder with his thumb as he said, "That big bear guy? He died after I hit him three times right?" He paused as the lobster/centipede noded. "Wrong", said Critias. "He did die after three strikes. But it wasn't my hits that killed him. My strikes were simply to mask the true attacks from my zanpakuto." And with that, Critias revealed his meaning. He held out his right arm, as a metallic deep purple snake with blue tiger like stripes down it's back slithered out of his sleeve and coiled itself around Critias' torso and arm. The snake rested his head on Critias right shoulder and stared foward. "Your zanpakuto is a snake?!" asked the shocked hollow. "Technically, no." replied Critias. "It's a flexible and strong snake-like metal that I can control through touch as an extension of my own body. And, he has a very nasty bite. It only takes three bites, and your dead." As Critias said this the snake opened it's mouth to reveal two large fangs driping with a black venom. "You already said it. That thing's bite is useless against my armor!" screamed the hollow as he lunged foward with both claws. With a flick of his wrist, Critias twisted Shinja from around his torso and in a flash, Shinja's body was parallel to the horizon, stretched out straight from head to tail. Critias took hold of his zanpakuto with both hands and began to spin it rapidly, knocking aside both claws as they reached him. Critias landed solid blow after blow to the body of the hollow until the battered monster jumped backwards to escape the thrashing. The battered, bleeding hollow was shocked to see that the previously flexible snake had stiffened it's body and was now a 7 foot tall staff. Critias allowed another smirk to creep onto his face as he spun around and slammed his staff onto the ground, picking it back up with a jerk. The head of shinja was vibrating due to the strength of the slam as Critias tightened his grip. "It looks like your armor isn't as strong as I thought it was." said Critias with a smile as he pointed the head of shinja straight out. The snake began to open it's mouth and seemed as if it would vomit. All looked on in confusion as Shinja coughed up something silvery and shiny. Shinja bit down hard on what he had just spat out. It was a foot long spear head. "Care to try again?" said Critias as he shifted his stance and brandished his shiny new snake spear.