Willow floated down through one of several Gargantas with Lady Nakita. As her Fraccion, it was proper for him to take a stance with his arms folded behind him as he floated behind her (at least, from his vantage point he was). Lord Graven gave his command, releasing the floodgates of bloodlust and glee as the various members of the Espada and their affiliated all flew off in different direction to cause havoc, mayhem, and countless deaths of the Lesser. Even Willow, as small of a cog as he was, had a part to play. The young Arrancar swiftly made his way to the edges of where the combat had started, monitoring part of it for any filthy humans who thought they could flee from the orders of their King.

"Foolish, how utterly foolish!" The sound of crackling static and gleeful laughter echoed over the edge of the battlefield as Willow let loose his feelings upon the inferior creatures called "Humans". Willow continuously warped all over, cutting down humans with his blade and splattering some blood on his normally smooth mask fragment. After several minutes of this, Willow stood to rest his body a bit and yawned loudly whilst charging a pretty standard Cero and sweeping his head as he obliterated some buildings with the attack. Out of the corner of his eye, Willow spotted several humans trying to flee and quickly jumped over to dispose of them with his Zanpakuto. With a sigh, Willow set his blade across his shoulders, but his eyes remained ever-watchful for any more escapees. Especially Quincy. Willow licked his lips at the thought of getting to kill such a Lesser, his eyes filled with hatred and pain that was very much uncharacteristic of the young Fraccion.

Arturo had come to New York city two weeks ago on a job. It had been easy enough to enter the country unnoticed, and to his credit he couldn’t have been blamed if one told him that this hit was going to go smoothly. Rich American clients paid well, and Arturo was looking forward to snagging a kill then going back south to put away his earnings. He’d acclimated to life in the big city well enough, worked on his rather convincing American accent, and taken all the steps to ensure no one would be the wiser when he did his work.

So as it was right now, he was understandably angry when he felt the presence of new tourists to the Big Apple. His job would have to wait. By his aching blood he knew that they had come: Hollows--the nemesis of the Quincy. He felt the pressure of Gargantas opening in the sky and the level of power they possessed... well, it seemed like the next one on the hit list was New York City itself.

It didn’t take him long to isolate the presence of one particular foe--a combination of Hollow and something else, by its reiatsu. He spread reishi thinly throughout the sky, coaxing one of the famous New York rains, so he could keep a better eye on his foe through his Regenanzeichen later should he need it. He found his mark 500 feet away from him as he ascended the building he was in, blasting away happily at the streets below. Arturo perched under a balcony. The humanoid hollow--an Arrancar, he remembered--appeared to be distracted by the senseless destruction it caused, but that distraction would end quickly if he struck. It would end in confrontation, no doubt, but Arturo would have the advantage if he got a good hit in here. Summoning his Jagersbogen, he let loose a trio of arrows, preparing to hit with Blutpfeile.

Willow didn't watch the buildings he'd destroyed come crashing down, and made a point of turning his head to scan the area for escapees. He was making quite the commotion, surely someone would have been dispatched to confront him by now. Let them come. one fighter tied up with him was another not bothering Lord Graven and his glorious mission. However, as Willow was musing about the righteousness of his king's cause he felt a change in the air. The hairs on his neck stood on end as it began to drizzle rather lightly in the surrounding area, but something felt off about it. "Someone's here... Raze it with flame, Ignister!" Willow's body morphed, becoming white and streamlined with red-tipped spines jutting out of his head and back. The sword in his hand morphed into a 7 foot long spear, which he immediately began to spin in his hands as he noticed the streaks of light hurtling towards him out of the corner of his eye.

Willow shifted his body, putting his rotating Zanpakuto between himself and the trajectory of the arrows. The arrows seemed to shatter against his spinning Zanpakuto, and be absorbed into the weapon. Willow grinned as he stopped the rotation and pointed the spear's head along the arrows' flight path and fired a bolt of flame equal in power to the three arrows in an attempt to strike his assailant. As a follow-up move, Willow would thrust a hand out and fire two Balas that appeared to be on fire on opposite sides of the arrow's vector. Whether his opponent fled left or right, Willow hoped to catch them in the resulting explosion his blazing Balas would create. While the explosions themselves only did a Bala's worth of damage each to a 15 radius of the point of impact each, Willow hoped to get his opponent moving. In anticipation, the young Arrancar brandished his spear in a loose throwing position, ready and on high alert for whatever may come his way.

Arturo scowled when the Arrancar, without seemingly missing a beat, swung his weapon and absorbed the reishi of the arrows he fired before expelling it back to him in a wave of flame. The special reishi of Blutpfeile had been commandeered and expelled from the weapon, rendering it useless to perform Blut on. The advantage that Arturo had hoped to gain seemed to have swung around and turned into a dramatic disadvantage, but he wasn’t going to give this up so easily. The battle had just begun, and having felt no Pesquisas from his opponent, Arturo was sure that the Hollow hadn’t truly located him yet.

With that in mind, Arturo waited for the flame to approach and then, with a quick Hirenkyaku, moved to the building to his right. He called upon the reishi imbued in the rain to create Bala-strength sharpened arrows of water--his Blutregen--above the Arrancar and as he leveled his bow to take advantage of the difference in angle, the Arrancar fired a Bala directly at him. With Blut Vene, he absorbed the damage completely and was no worse for wear, but he lost the second attack that he intended to complete.

At least now it would offer him the chance to study what his opponent’s weapon was capable of. Could it absorb the reishi of the raindrops? Did the Arrancar even know that was coming?

Willow frowned as he held his spear shaped Zanpakuto in that same loose throwing position earlier, before setting it down and holding the weapon at his side. He had hoped to get his opponent to move closer, alas, no such luck. Willow narrowed his eyes and focused on the world around him, activating Pesquisa. While a part of him didn't want to, he estimated based on the trajectory of those accursed arrows his opponent had to have shot them from rather far away, at least 500 feet or so. Not to mention, someone skilled enough to snipe him from such a distance wouldn't have sat on their ass and taken any of the attacks he'd launched so easily.

Willow used his Pesquisa to get a general idea of the direction and distance of his opponent, but he couldn't do much more than that. "...That way." In an single Sonido leap, Willow appeared 10 feet away from the fucker that shot him in a blaze of fire. No, literally, an explosion of flames hot enough to deal second degree burns flowed out 10 feet from the young Arrancar in all directions to try and injure his opponent in any way he could. However, as soon as he laid eyes on his opponent and that hateful bow, Willow's gaze turned murderous. "That bow... I've seen bows like it before... You're a Quincy... Aren't you...?" For an Arrancar clearly allied to fire, the young Hollow's words were full of frigid hatred.

He'd moved out of the Blutregen before it really took effect, which annoyed Arturo to a degree. Nevertheless, there wasn't much he could do about it as he picked up the sonar effect of a Pesquisa. He leapt backward as a ring of fire erupted from across the ledge he was standing on. Arturo landed softly on the concrete floor, aiming his bow directly at the Arrancar that emerged from the flames.

The Arrancar spoke to him, as he noticed the bow and his Quincy heritage. The Arrancar spoke quietly, in an icy tone that suggested a concealed burning hatred, and to that Arturo could only form a wicked smirk. "Damn right I am, amigo. I’m sure you’re a cool cat, but it's my job to put an end to your kind, so this ain’t anything personal." He leveled the bow at him and unleashed another barrage of arrows, this time directing Blutregen to once again sharpen the raindrops above the Arrancar to deadly points as well. He missed this during his previous attempt, but with the distance between them being so small now, he had less opportunity to flee. Remaining prepared for the strange absorption attack, Arturo wondered what his opponent would do next.

Red. That was all Willow could see as soon as his gaze captured the bow-wielding Quincy before him. The forest, burning. His mother, screaming. As far as he knew, Willow had a particularly strong connection to his past life as a human compared to other Hollows. While it was possible the other Espada members remembered their lives before, Willow hadn't really bothered to ask. It was likely as sore a subject for them as it was for him. Three of those accursed arrows were flying towards him, holding almost all of his focus. The young Arrancar's mind barely registered the shift in Reishi concentration above him as he rushed forward and swept Ignister before him in an arc, beating the arrows out of his path.

Willow kept up his forward momentum, slashing and spinning his spear Zanpakuto before him while unleashing 3 rolling waves of flame that each held the strength of a Hadou 20 within. Left, right, and center he launched the flames while howling angrily at Arturo. "I'll fucking END YOU!" Gone was the image of the Arrancar who had so brilliantly countered the Quincy's long-range strike, leaving only unbridled hate and anger. At the peak of his tantrum - for what else could you call it - Willow's mouth yawned wide as he began charging a Cero blast aimed right at Arturo's face.

Arturo dismissed the bow in his right hand quickly, producing a Seele Schneider to parry the incoming waves of flame. He noticed exactly how the Arrancar was able to disregard his Blutregen--the fire that burned off of his being was hot enough to vaporize the water and destabilize the reishi holding the droplets together. In a little drizzle like this, he wouldn’t be able to keep control of the droplets well enough to perform his favorite assassination technique.

And with that weapon of his being able to counter what was sent at him from the front, it began to dawn on Arturo that his ranged attacks were not so suitable for this either. It seemed that his adversary had tools to counter the effects of any usual Quincy. Given his apparent hatred of them, as evidenced by his current state after Arturo had confirmed his heritage, he supposed it made sense.

All in all, Arturo thought, his opponent was worthy enough for him to open the floodgates. And in his opponent’s state of rage, it would only be a bit more prodding before it made him blind.

As the flaming Arrancar finished spouting attacks, with a warcry he began charging a cero in his mouth. It was the perfect lull in activity for Arturo to pull the pin out of his Sanrei glove. His opponent had the advantage if the fight lingered--especially if he couldn’t land any Blutpfeilen--and so using his Letzt Stil was in order. With an explosion of power, a single wing of reishi formed on his shoulder as he released.

The cero came, and Arturo stepped around it with a Hirenkyaku, aiming to appear behind the Arrancar. As Vierzig Naechte came into effect, the drizzle of rain that surrounded them became a torrential downpour over New York City. Arturo figured this rain might be powerful enough to penetrate his opponent’s flames. Regardless, he settled for a different approach. If he was going to end this fight quickly, he would have to take a risk.

“You’ll end me? I’ve killed hundreds of hollow fucks just like you and here you are thinking you’re some kind of badass. Lemme show you just how wrong you are.”

Slipping out of Blut Vene and into Blut Arterie, he would kick the side of the Arrancar’s head. If that connected, he would follow up with another Hirenkyaku to appear behind him and continue the barrage with a second heavy kick to the jaw, which would send his opponent in the air. If that would also hit, he would form his bow and attack his airborne opponent with five more Blutpfeilen, which would hopefully begin to slow him down.

Willow watched as his Cero fired and met nothing but air, concrete, and steel as it left a swathe of destruction in it's wake. Right after he fired his Cero, he heard his opponent's voice. Willow quickly spun on the balls of his feet, his 7 foot long double-tipped spear sweeping in an arc and intercepting the kick. However, Willow underestimated the force of the blow and his spear was knocked away by the damn Quincy's strike which caused him to slide backwards on the roof of the building. Willow stared his opponent down for a moment before breaking the continuous sound of the battering rain, "My name is Willow, remember it in your final moments."

His opponent's action's all but confirmed it: that Quincy was the source of the rain, which likely meant it was to his advantage somehow. He recalled the odd Reishi he felt above him before, could that have something to do with it? It was time to take a gamble. Focusing his power through his Zanpakuto, the spear ignited in rolling flames all down it's length. Right after, Willow used a Sonido to jump back 500 feet to another rooftop and quickly activated a rough Pesquisa. He then fired off a bolt of flames with Hadou 20 power that sizzled worryingly in the downpour towards his opponent's last location then Sonido'd back another 500 feet to another rooftop to do the same. Another Pesquisa, another bolt of flames. With his trajectory putting him on a path to leave New York City entirely, Willow performed one last Sonido for 500 feet, Pesquisa directional check, bolt of Hadou 20 level fire before brandishing his spear in a throwing position.

With a loud cry, Willow hurled his spear with all his might as it wizzed towards the location he had last registered with his third Pesquisa, the weapon hurtling through the air like a flaming missile at his target. When it hit the targeted area, the flames covering the spear would burst and create an explosion of fire with a 20 foot radius around the landing site with enough heat to deal second degree burns.

"Nice reflexes." He said, looking at his now suddenly more cautious opponent. It looks like his assault had the opposite effect of what he intended, which meant he wasn't as angry as he thought. Or at least, not explosively so. The Arrancar took the time to introduce himself. Cockily, but the effort was there. Arturo found his name to be strange.

"The boys in the business call me Blackhawk. Try to remember it." Arturo quipped. Willow's spear once again caught ablaze, and he disappeared into a Sonido elsewhere. Arturo could feel his presence reappear in the rain on another building, and he saw a bright flame approach in the distance as Willow launched an attack. He wasn't sure why the Arrancar was inviting him into ranged combat, but he would gladly accept. Arturo jumped to the next building, and again as another fireball came from another direction. He was fast with that Sonido, but it wasn't anything Arturo couldn't keep up with.

Arturo landed on another building, and he saw his opponent throw his weapon. The fact that he would part with his weapon here meant that this would be a devastating attack, and that he would have to act fast to defend from it in case it happened to have a larger blast radius than the other shots he dodged. "Sintflut...!" Calling upon his reishi in the rain, he forced the drops to suspend in the air in front of the spear, forming into a sphere that enclosed the weapon. He let the weight of the water absorb the spear's momentum then allowed it and the water to fall to the ground.

With the opening that this afforded him, Arturo pointed his bow at Willow and fired a single Cero-strength arrow.