Stark, unlike the some of the others on the front line, did not release. He stood there, dressed in his sleeping clothes and with a thoroughly grouchy expression on his face, staring at the dragon beyond the door.

With a short sigh he fired off another Cero, pleased with how the first had driven it back. With any luck, the second would give it pause when it came to its impending attack, but he doubted it. Its hide was thick enough to withstand the full force of a Hollow's attack, he doubted it would be deterred by one, not when it had murder in mind.