Hollows

[Vereaux]

Hollows - Souls with Holes

Hollows were once human, just like you or me, your mother, your father, your brother, your sister, and even your best friend. They are the souls of humans transformed into corrupted spirits, their hearts taken out of their chests, and despair has consumed who they were. As souls, when they died as humans, they stayed too long in the Living World, and over time, despair took their hearts, they were eaten by a Hollow, or they simply were there in the world for much too long. Most souls go on to Soul Society peacefully, but others remain in the world because they wish to watch over their loved ones, they feel a great attachment to a place and don't want to leave, or they're simply lost, with no where to go.

When a human dies and becomes a pulse, a chain, called the Chain of Fate, binds their souls to their body, but if the body is dead, the chain breaks. This chain is what binds a spirit to a location if they feel attached to it, becoming what's known as a Jibakurai, or earthbound spirit. Once the chain is removed from their former living bodies, they will experience a pain coming from where the chain is attached, and feel the need to break it. A Shinigami can return the spirit to their body, as long as the separation hasn't last for too long, but if too much time has past, they can send the soul on to Soul Society. A process known as Encroachment takes place the moment a soul's chain is broken. The last link of the chain will begin to chew on itself and the links attached to it, with no way to stop the process, and any attempts will end with someone being bit. The pulse will experience pain during each cycle the links go through, taking sometimes days, weeks, months, or even years. At this time, when the link attached to the chest cycles through, the entire chain goes through Encroachment, all at once, and the pain will be excruciating, the worst of the cycle. Encroachment can be sped up under various conditions, such as extreme despair or being attacked by a Hollow.

When the chain completely falls off, a hole opens up in their chest, and they begin their transformation into a Hollow. The body is the first to go, exploding where they stand, before reforming into the now Hollow body elsewhere. This body can vary in size and shape, the largest being the Huge Hollows for their size. The last to form is their Hollow Mask, always white and skull-like, varying in appearance, and signifying their complete transformation as a Hollow. It is possible though that when the mask is shattered, the original identity of the Hollow will take over, but only for a short time before the mask regenerates. Once a Hollow, it experiences an eternal hunger to devour other souls, both the living and the dead, in hopes to fill the void of where their heart once was, removed during their Hollow transformation. Often, whoever they were attached to previous becomes their first target, as that is what is recognized first, but eventually afterward, most Hollows become mindless beasts that search the Living World and Hueco Mundo for spirits. Sometimes, a Hollow will retain their individuality, becoming stronger and more dangerous than a normal Hollow. Most of them are evil, but not all Hollows are evil. Some are just misunderstood.

Hollows can be killed most effectively by splitting their mask and head in two, but as they were once humans as well, fatal wounds can be just as effective. When killed by a Shinigami's Zanpakutou, the Hollow is not truly killed, but rather purified of all previous sins committed as a Hollow, allowing them to enter into Soul Society. The sins committed as a human before becoming a Hollow, however, are not forgiven, and those with violent sins are sent to Hell. The immediate drawback is that when a Hollow is killed by anything other than a Zanpakutou, such as a Quincy or human, their soul is destroyed entirely, which can result in a tip in the spiritual balance of all worlds.

At a point in a Hollow's life when its hunger cannot be satiated by the devouring of human souls, it starts to eat the souls of its own fellow Hollows in an effort to satisfy itself. These hungry Hollows are attracted to each other, and when enough have gathered in one location, devouring one after the other, their resulting mass combines together to become the first stage in a sub-group of Hollows, known as Menos, transforming into a Gillian. The Menos are entities made of hundreds of Hollows, resulting in a being with far greater power and strength than any normal Hollow. The Menos have three evolutions, but most Gillians never make it past this stage. To evolve, Gillians must devour even more Hollows, even other Gillians, and the goal is not just to eat the most, but to make sure you are not eaten as well. If even one part of your being is devoured by another Hollow, it is impossible for a Gillian to evolve into the next stage of evolution.

Gillian class Menos, also known as Menos Grande, are the weakest of all Menos and the first state of three in their evolution, but because the power of a Gillian exceeds normal Hollows, only highly trained Shinigami are able to handle them. Soul Society would be over run if every Gillian in Hueco Mundo were to invade it, but they very rarely leave Hueco Mundo under any circumstances, unless attracted by the reiryoku of powerful beings or forced to by other means. Gillians are the foot soldiers of Hueco Mundo, and look alike in appearance, huge and standing between two to six stories tall, bigger than even a Huge Hollow. They all have a white mask upon their heads with an elongated nose, their bodies covered with a black veil down to their pointed feet, their feet wrapped in white bandages, and a row of white spikes circles their neck. They also have long, white arms and hands, sharp nails atop, but they are rarely used, forsaken for other techniques.

Though their size is immense, their intelligence is left with much to be desired, and they act more like beasts, acting in groups to overwhelm their target. A Lieutenant of the Gotei 13 would have a challenge against them, but a Captain can easily take them out. They most often travel through the worlds by means of a Kumon, a spatial distortion that allows them to slip through directly from Hueco Mundo. The Kumon also works both ways, for whatever comes out can also go in. A common technique amongst the Gillians is Negacion, a barrier that surrounds a target and isolates them in a separate but visible dimension, making them impossible to penetrate. In this field, they are pulled toward the Menos. This is used often to rescue fellow Hollows that are overwhelmed by enemies. The only downside to this technique is that it can only be used outside of Hueco Mundo.

The most common technique amongst all Menos, even among some normal Hollows powerful enough to use it, is the Cero, an energy blast capable of immense and destructive power, and formed by the reiryoku of the user. Usually red in color and capable of various shapes, it varies among the Hollows that cast it. Concentrating their reiryoku at a point on their body, normally the mouth or hands, the power, force, speed, and blast area of the Cero depends on the one that casts it, as well as the speed it charges and releases. Those who are skilled in their Cero are capable of firing from various points on their body. If one has true mastery over their Cero, they are able to fire one anywhere around them, from any angle and position, on or away from their body, and without even moving to see it, so long as that point is not too far away from them.

Other than the standard Cero, there are many variations of the technique that can only be preformed by the later evolutions of the Menos class. Cero Doble is a variation where an enemy's Cero is absorbed, either from swallowing or directly absorbing into a limb or skin, and firing the energy back, combined with your own powered up Cero. To a lesser degree, Cero Doble can be preformed by just absorbing the Cero and firing it right back with the same amount of power. Another variation is the Cero Metralleta, a Cero attack that doesn't fire one Cero but a barrage that can easily overwhelm an enemy unable to keep up with the vast speed and wide range of area that it hits when fired. While each Cero used is less powerful than a single Cero, their destructive power is no less dangerous to enemies of this technique.

Another variation is the Cero Sincretico, a Cero made from the energies of two Cero combined, either made by one person, or two separate people, for even greater power and destructive capabilities than two Ceros by themselves fired at the same time. The downside to this technique is that the two energies are not completely meshed together, allowing anyone who has completely analyzed their reiryoku or reiatsu (the spiritual pressure caused by reiryoku) to separate the two Ceros upon contact, and divert the energies away. The technique can also be tiring for those inexperienced in combat. For even greater destruction, another Cero can be added, but the more that are added, the more unstable the attack becomes.

An even more devastating variation is the Gran Rey Cero, a Cero that only the Espada (the leaders of Hueco Mundo) are allowed to use. It is used by mixing one's own blood with your Cero, resulting in a Cero of a different color. Several times more powerful than any normal Cero, it has the ability to disturb the fabric of space around it and anything it hits, spinning uncontrollably upon release because of its power and speed, with the ability to destroy most of anything on contact. The most powerful Cero, however, is the Cero Oscuro, the Black Cero, that can only be used by the Espada. It's so powerful that a Gran Rey Cero cannot compare to the sheer destructive power it unleashes, with enough force to destroy an entire area, leaving only dust behind. It gets its name from the color of the Cero, covering any exposed light near it in total and complete darkness. The only difference between each Espada's Cero Oscuro is the color of its outline matching the color of their own reiryoku.

In the evolution of Menos, Gillian is the first, and to transform, they must consume other spirits, most frequently other Gillians. However, as most Gillians don't have the mind capability to comprehend this, due to their beast like nature, most will not attempt to eat other Gillians around them. What is required is that among the many hundreds of Hollows that make a Gillian, one Hollow must gain control over the others, resulting in a Gillian that bares a different and unique mask than a normal Gillian. Only these Gillians have the potential to go onto the next stage in evolution, the Adjuchas. Of all known Menos, no Gillian class Menos has achieved the rank of an Espada, by being only a Gillian Menos.

The Adjuchas is the second stage of Menos evolution, and because of the rarity of seeing a Gillian retain a shred of individuality from one Hollow controlling the other hundreds, the Adjuchas are far fewer in number, and significantly smaller, their appearances radically different from one to the next, from humanoid to animal like. They are, however, several times stronger and smarter than a Gillian. Often times, they serve as the commanders who lead Gillians in battle, but are very solitary, and rarely join into groups with one another. Some join together though to help further their development into the next stage of Menos evolution. The Adjuchas must continue to devour other Hollows, or their minds will be absorbed by the other hollows they are composed of, reverting back to a Gillian. At such a time, the Gillian will forever be unable to become an Adjuchas again.

Like other Hollows, an Adjuchas has unique abilities that go along with the theme of powers it had when it was a normal Hollow, but this time significantly more powerful than before. One Adjuchas is capable of being a challenge for a captain of the Gotei 13. Along with these, Adjuchas don't use Kumon to travel between the different worlds, but another technique called Garganta. A much more stable technique when used correctly and much more powerful. While a Kumon can send a few people into other worlds, a Garganta can send entire armies. It literately tears open the dimensional fabric between the worlds, and focuses the whirling, torrential energy between into a solidified and focused pathway. A variation of the Garganta is a Garganta Broadcast, similar to a television screen, created to show images happening at that present time in another location. While Adjuchas use this ability, others can learn to use it as well, such as other Shinigami.

The final and most powerful evolution amongst all Menos is the Vasto Lorde. As there are far fewer Adjuchas than Gillians, there are far fewer still Vasto Lorde than Adjuchas. One Vasto Lorde has more power than three Captains of the Gotei 13, a major difference in power, and making them very feared enemies amongst any region of the three worlds, especially that of Soul Society. As there are so few of them in all of Hueco Mundo, however, the possibility of meeting one is slim to none, and even if one were to meet a Vasto Lorde, they would not live long enough to remember it. A Vasto Lorde's reiatsu is enough to kill normal Hollows on the spot, and those not killed off are frozen in place by their mere presence. In the possible encounter of a Vasto Lorde by the Shinigami, they are to immediately retreat back to Soul Society and report to Central 46, if they live long enough to do so. In the event that the Vasto Lorde stays in that location for too long, they may very well encounter the possibility of having to fight several Captains of the Gotei 13, if not all of them, including the Captain-Commander. A newly transformed Vasto Lorde can handle three Captains, but a much older and experienced one can handle half of the Gotei 13 Captains.