Lazarus was one of the oldest Hollows to walk the planet. His actual age was no longer known or remembered, but there were over a hundred thousand years of knowledge in his head that allowed him to call upon the infinite lives he'd lived and consumed. Every memory of every soul was in his head, and he could access them at will. Adjusting the tie around his neck, he gripped the sheathed katana in his left hand tighter as he walked through the crowd, making sure not to bump into anyone as he looked for the perfect prey. Unfortunate as it was, Lazarus was still subject to the basest of all needs.

The primeval need to feed.

Not only did he have a voracious appetite, but he was a very picky eater. They had to be just right or they weren't worth the effort anymore. Hollows were out, as were most humans who'd committed a sin; they had to be pure, untainted, to taste right, or he was wasting his time and would rather starve. So he made his way through the crowd, careful not to bump into people and alert them of his presence as he looked for the perfect prey, an untainted soul amongst the humans of Tokyo. Once he found his meal he'd kill the rest of them, but he wanted his meal to be alive when he found her, so the rest of them would live for now.

Then, he stopped and glanced upward. Something smelled fucky. Was it a Shinigami? A Quincy? They were both worth the effort; the power and memories they had were often stronger than a normal human, and that made their bad taste worth the effort of devouring. He stood still, observing the presence for a moment, trying to ascertain where it was and what it was and whether it was friend or foe. He activated his pesquisa and used Sonido to close the distance between him and the strongest spiritual presence within range as quickly as possible, though there was no hostility in his movement whatsoever; sheer curiosity is what currently drove him.

Johan had decided that he was going to enjoy his lunch somewhere high up today. Not just "on top of the history department on the locked roof" high, but "Oh shit he's having lunch on a skyscraper" high up. Based on his no-nonsense German features and smooth, rhythmic chewing of a hot dog with mustard and homemade sauerkraut, it was difficult to imagine he was up here for any other reason than to brood in European like some kind of dark knight ripoff. Alas, unlike the titular Batman Professor Johan was up here in the middle of the day in a smart blue suit and neat green tie with subtle gold stripes to give it a little bit of pop. "This is the good st-" Johan felt his personally polished sixth sense tingle as something crossed into the borders of his spiritual perception.

His tangy wiener all but forgotten, Johan set his lunch aside as he focused on the ambient spiritual waves. This was Hollow energy, no doubt about it. The sheer compression of it was insane, and the waves of pressure were rocking even Johan down to his soul. To Johan's keen senses, the Pesquisa was like a loud bit of feedback in one's audio equipment and he winced at the realization: this foul creature had found him. As Lazarus popped up to the rooftop, Johan whipped around as a dazzle of sparks erupted from his hand as his trusty pistol materialized into his palm. "Well? Are you going to Name yourself after so rudely interrupting my lunch?"

As the Sonido faded and Lazarus became aware of what he was staring at, the Arrancar pouted. A quincy? They were worth the effort but the taste... was awful... like an over seasoned cayenne pepper, or a ghost chili. At least he was quick on the draw, as no sooner did Lazarus appear than there was a gun in his face, materialized out of nowhere.

"Your lunch?" He glanced at the hotdog on the table and understood immediately. "My sincerest apologies, monsieur. I am Lazarus Ahamut, and would gladly wait until you are done eating before I drew my blade." He sauntered over to the table and sat down across from the nameless Quincy, flagging down a waiter to bring him a cup of hot tea while he waited.

He gently placed his zanpakutou on the ground next to him, leaning against the table, as he crossed his arms with a smile while staring at the Quincy, waiting on a return introduction and him to eat his hotdog or begin talking; clearly Lazarus was a different breed of Hollow, able to sit down and chit chat with a Quincy.

Johan watched with a coiled knot of steel tension in his gut as Lazarus calmly sat down with the most blasé attitude you could possibly imagine. he set his sword down, ordered a cup of tea, and worst of all, he was FRENCH. Johan mentally clicked his tongue and raised his opponent's Disdain-O-Meter level from yellow to orange. Insert Stan Smith terrorism threat meme here. Of course, the disdain Johan felt was tempered by a simple fact: Lazarus was extremely powerful. Johan slowly set his pistol down on the floor next to the table, in mirror of Lazarus while giving him the slightest tilt of the head in respect.

"Allow me to introduce myself," Johan said as he picked up his wurst wrapped in fluffy bread goodness and topped with tangy pickled sauerkraut. Funnily enough, sauerkraut in Japan was actually pretty good due to the Asian cultural heritage of pickling. It really was just like a German kimchi, really. "I am Johan Dämmerung, a lecturer on European History at Tokyo University and a Quincy." Johan then took a big bite of his hot dog, though he didn't dare allow himself to enjoy it too much lest his relaxation cost him the first move. Sweat rolled down Johan's back as his senses were assaulted by the full-force energy rolling off Lazarus in waves.

The man introduced hmself as Johan Dämmerung, a Quincy. Lazarus had already figured that much out, but appreciated the honesty that Johan was going through, so he reciprocated it.

"I'm the Hollow King. I'm not actually here to kill you specifically or anything; I was just in the neighborhood and your aura was... noticed." He glanced around, fixating on nothing in particular as he leaned back in his chair and sipped at his newly arrived tea. "Enjoy your food, I've no intention of interrupting a meal." He returned to sipping on his tea, eyes closed as he relaxed in the sunlight. The warmth felt good on his skin, and his mask prevented Johan from seeing his closed eyes.

Lazarus enjoyed pleasantries like this, as they were few and far in between. His company didn't matter, when a small pleasantry was found it was usually taken regardless of who was nearby or involved. This gave him an uncanny level of control over situations that made other people sometimes feel uncomfortable, but he always seemed to be perfectly in his zone; like right now, as he leaned back and sipped at his tea, he wasn't even hungry anymore, just enjoying the little pleasantry of the warm sunlight meal.

He'd eat Johan later, of course, but he certainly wasn't going to interrupt the man's meal for his own. That was tactless, and Lazarus was full of tact and cunning.

Johan took an unhurried bite of his food as Lazarus spoke. Not too fast, not too slow, just a regular bite to come off as unbothered and unintimidated. The Hollow gave a rather basic reason as for why he was here before going to his own cup of tea and taking a sip. For now, it seemed as if Lazarus had no intention to fight but Johan had no doubt that switch would flip as soon as he finished his meal. Taking a glance at his food, Johan guessed he had about four bites left to go. His eyes flicked left and right, roughly gauging the distance between each weapon and their respective wielder. Would he be able to make it in time?

With an internal sigh, Johan realized it didn't matter if he could or not. There was nobody else around right now to do anything about this - it was all him. This would surely be a fight for his very life. On the flip side, their clash was bound to attract attention. Could he perhaps bank on that? Having a violent clash put out waves of energy in hopes that someone strong enough to notice would come to his rescue? "So, Your Majesty, I must ask. Why bring your world into collision with Earth? Has Hueco Mundo's situation grown so dire?"

As Johan ate his food, he seemed to be gauging the distance between each fighter and their respective weapons as if he were expecting Lazarus to attack at any second. That wouldn't do, so Lazarus gave him the benefit of the doubt and leaned even further away from his weapon as he sipped his tea nonchalantly.

Then an interesting question was pondered to his ears and Lazarus let loose a sinister smile. For a few moments he was quiet as he seemed to compose himself, though the smile never faded or moved in the slightest. With a glance upwards, the two gentlemen locked eyes through his mask as Lazarus finally spoke.

"My dear... you name a better way to feed seven trillion hungry mouths, and I'll gladly remove that eyesore of a continent from your horizon." He leaned back even further, crossing his legs and smirking as he continued. "This is basically uberEats for Hollows." He shrugged slightly, that smirk never fading as he noticed Johan was growing ever closer to finishing his hotdog.

"Sure you don't want seconds, there? I'd hate for you to be ... out of food." The tonal change in his voice was hard to put into words, but could more easily be described as almost excited that the fighting might begin soon, while at the same time completely relaxed as though he didn't care how long the conversation took.

Damn, if the situation wasn't so serious then Johan would've definitely chuckled at the little UberEats reference there. As the kids say, it was peak. Another satisfying and juicy snapping sound echoed out from Johan's pursed lips as he chewed with three bites to go. Red light. Glancing over at Lazarus's absolutely relaxed form, so completely in control of the situation, had Johan swallow his mouthful of food just a bit prematurely. With the pressure mounting, Johan took another bite of his food. Two bites left, Yellow light.

After chewing and swallowing, Johan seemed to finally consider Lazarus's statement by leaning back in his chair. "I suppose you make a fair point there," Johan remarked while clenching and unclenching his Sanrei Glove hand nervously. "We two are antithetical beings, poison and death to each other's existence." Johan reached out and took a final, large bite to finish his hotdog. Johan did not jump to his weapon right away. He made a point to cover up his rushed consumption by dabbing at his mouth with a napkin during the moment before weapons are truly drawn. That quiet between two cowpokes waiting for high noon before Johan exploded into motion with a speedy slide back while snapping up his gun and rapidly firing off five Heilige Pfeil with small mirrors in their paths of trajectory to re-correct any missed shots while blue lines began to arc up Johan's skin with Blut Vene.

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Johan finally exploded into motion, snapping up his gun while rapidly firing off five projectiles at Lazarus who was still sipping at his tea. The projectiles collided with the man, piercing him and his clothing, shattering the tea cup and covering him in hot tea, even as he sat there unmoving and regenerating from the projectiles piercing his body his face was one of grave disappointment.

"Well if you're in such a rush to die...." He calmly stood up and grabbed his katana, the damage Johan having inflicted already healed to the fullest as Lazarus cracked his neck and drew the katana slowly and deliberately. "I was having a nice conversation with my new friend before he rudely shot me in the face five times," he spoke as though he were practicing what he was going to say to someone else about the incident, but there was no one else around and Lazarus was not practicing anything- he was merely stating his disappointment like a father would to their son. He had lived for so so long that every creature was his child in comparison.

Using Sonido to get behind Johan, Lazarus would respond to the aggression with a kick meant to send the Quincy into the air followed by a simple Cero to his back. This wasn't intended to kill the man, but more likely cause him insignificant harm if it even worked in the first place.

Regeneration. Of course Lazarus could regenerate. Johan clicked his tongue in annoyance before feeling the grinding buzz of a Sonido echo out through the ambient Reishi only for Lazarus's immense presence suddenly appear behind him. The experience was all at once dizzying and horrifying, like staring at a meteor hurtling from the heavens to earth only for that flaming rock to suddenly appear behind you. Johan' turned and crossed his arms in front of himself, barely managing to block the immense impact of the kick. He wasn't so arrogant as to think his Blut Vene was going to be enough to protect him.

Johan grunted as he flew backwards, his gaze locked onto the Cero headed his way. When you fought someone that could regenerate, the best way to beat them was to see how long it could last. Johan focused on the first limiter on his power and unlocked it, shining armor appearing over his body complete with a single glassy wing sprouting from his back. "Have a taste of your own medicine!" The German professor cried out as he made a small motion with his hands to conjure a silvery mirror which absorbed the Cero's energy, converted it, then shot it back as a large Heilige Pfeil of equal strength back at Lazarus. Johan Followed this up by firing off 5 more shots from his weapon with mirrors fixed on their trajectories forming in the air, just in case.

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