Chapter 62 - Hollow In Heart

I was in a desert, where the unrested sand grazed the wind forever, in a cyclous manner. It stretched till the ends of the horizon, and no matter what you thought or where you gazed you could only see sand.

Now the world I was in was pretty high level in its own right.

Why do I say so, because the moment I entered this Dimension. Five different people felt my presence, they may not know where I was. But they sure knew a powerful soul had come from somewhere.

Even if my presence was there for only a split second, they veered at my direction, only to lose sight of me.

In such a state of events I could only find the closest being to possess and hide. No one told me I was gonna be a monster, in that moment it just became a necessity.

The soul I took over and turned to was a Hollow.

The first feeling that I felt after possesing a Hollow was unending hunger. Hunger for a substance that existed but was yet always missing.

It made me nearly lose myself, but I supressed it to my deep unconscious, if it even exists in this body of mine.

Basic purposes, thoughts and physical movements are easily laid in control, but the instinct of a Hollow is harder to control.

It begs, it screams, it roars at me, it was my will, to eat, to devour, to consume, to reach and grasp what could finally fill the void in me.

This was a very heavy obstacle, since I actually wanted to research on Reishi or Spiritual Power. But that or any kind of brain teasing would have to wait, at least until I evolved to an Adjucha Class Hollow.

At first it was a bit disorienting just how large my body had become compared to my normal human body. But it was an obstacle very easily cleared.

You would say, 'Well maybe you could have waited'. Oh really, what do super beings of this universe do, when a soul beyond the level of a Soul King makes its presence known.

Leave it for whatever reason others spout, no way in hell would that happen. This world is not a happy go lucky world all Japanese novelist in their free time craft.

Although the Protagonist is still someone made to live out a Power Fantasy, its still a very gritty and dark world veiled under the miracles of the Plot.

The souls of the Shinigami are melded to make the Asauchi.

Do you know what that means, that means for every Squad you saw on screen in our world, they were holding, wielding, using the sacrifices of, at the very least a thousand other Shinigami.

So there lies my reason as to why I had to take to the Hollow. At least until the world was going somewhat in a way I know, I would stay in this body.

This world was pretty high levelled and my Code could take anywhere from 18-25 yrs to conquer this world. Why ? because there are three different Dimensions melded to this Universe.

You have Soul Society, Hueco Mundo, and the Human Realm. Three different Realms in one universe, so to say, it is pretty f.u.c.k.i.n.g hard.

But feeling the gazes that veered at me, I could say it was still a world that wasn't in the beginning phase of its plot, a pre-origin timeline, before the Protagonist was even born, suffice to say I had all the time in the world.

So before I did anything else I started Observing my new body, my flesh was harder than cement, my endurance beyond a humans, I did not have bones, and my C.h.e.s.t was empty and hollowed out like any other Hollows, but what striked me most was though I was still bipedal, I lacked any kind of semblance of humanoid features such as the face or the ears.

My mask existed like it did for any other Hollow, but instead of the lines tatooing and stretching across my body being Black in colour, it was Reddish with a mix of Dark Blue.

I knew that even with all my enhanced Stats, I was the most brittle being in this world. It was nowhere near enough to actually face off against the real Shinigamis, even trainees could most likely kill me.

But when the Zanpakuto was accounted for, I was just butter lying on the face of the sun's ever annoying heat.

So I did what all Hollows did to grow stronger, devour any weaker soul from the Human Realm. But to me this was a big NO, since I wasn't sure which Shinigamis area of patrol I would reach to.

So I first found a Hollow just like me nearby. I hunted it down, and with the experience of actually knowing your enemies movement trajectory and attack style, made it pretty easy to kill.

It was an experiment, Hollows turn into Menos Grande Gillian class only if human souls are no longer able to fuel the void within them.

Hollows are classified in accordance to their evolution. A normal Hollow which later evolves to a Menos Grande or a Lesser Hollow classification. In Menos Grande we have the Gillian class, which later evolves to Adjuchas, and then to Vasto Lordes.

After which comes the hard to find or even know of, the Arrancar. That was just about the number of Hollows that existed, Espadas aren't counted since they are a rare and artificial case.

So I devoured it like all others did to each other, but I only felt a little push, like I was clawing away blindly at a target that never existed.

But I did feel the Hollow in me feel content, satisfied, as if I had a huge meal that wasn't meant for me.

I then realised Normal Hollows will take a lot of time to digest other Hollows, when in the same time you could consume dozens of Human souls for the same effect.

But my intuition said, that if I began with Hollows as my consumption base. My powers would be near unparalleled in the same class.

This theory wasn't without its base, Hollows consume human souls to fill their unending and undeniably never filling hunger or void.

And since my soul was directly able to override all others present in the Hollow I possess. I could be said to be a unique kind of Hollow, even the Blue-Red marks across my body and mask were clear signs of it.

So I wanted to lay my foundation on other Hollows, unlike normal Hollows. But this wasn't feasible, because if I did this to reach Vasto Lorde or above, even consuming a Bazzillion souls would not be enough.

The quality has to change or the food I consume has to go through a Drastic change. Otherwise even if I ate all the Hollows in Hueco Mundo, I wouldn't be able to reach Vasto Lorde in 15 or so yrs.

The next step after the Hollow was Menos Grande, so to say the upgraded version of the Hollow.

The Menos Grande is a classification of Cannibal Hollows, ones that are unable to fill themselves or remain content of Human Souls.

The lowest in the Menos Grande was the Gillian Class which I was aiming for. It was a conglomeration of hundreds of other Hollow souls.

Since my kill count right now is only one, I am not sure this is very feasible, even more so when you gaze across the desert to only find few signs of movements, ones that aren't just the wind roaring.

This world Hueco Mundo was just that, all sand and all dust, as if mirroring the reality of Death.

It was a somber place, not one to reside in, but one where you could share a drink with your freinds in your depression.

They were just Rare and Unique, among the countless billions of Hollows, only a few dozen or more ever became a Vasto Lorde. You could say it was the cliff that normal Hollows will never reach.

But first I must digest what I consumed, while I am on the move. In Hueco Mundo I could not say that I wouldn't be prey to something beyond my level. But I sure as hell wasn't going to get tired by just walking about.

So I stayed on the move, after digesting the first Hollow, it became easier for the second, the third and this continued on.

As I walked by I tried the Cero, the signature move of all Hollows. It was a beam of light, I do not about others but mine, began with a Crimson Red sheen until a Dark Blue light mixed in, setting off a Purple beam of light.

It consumed a tremendous amount of Reishi but it sure did ignore many physical laws, but any further research will have to wait.

This monotone life of me moving across the Hueco Mundo in circles, consuming other Hollows was killing me. I was getting bored and trying new things out of Cero was my only relief to boredom.

More so if you couldn't figure out just how time goes by, Hueco Mundo did have a moon, but it lacked a Sun. So I could not say how many days had passed by.

But I could not stop this mundane task, because before the Plot starts to begin, I will have to be a major player, or else considering myself as a Side Character will be an over estimation.

I did what all Hollows did as I ran about Hueco Mundo, consume other souls, but I ignored any kind of invitation to the Human Realm.

Curiosity made me consider going to the Human Realm, but the danger of the Shinigami made me stop.

By now I had consumed a full Eighty other Hollows, I was just a shy dozen away from a Hundred and then I could most possibly try for Gillian Class.

I wasn't going to lay all of this to waste, just to be killed by a Shinigami or worse an Apprentice Shinigami.

Monotone as it may be, I was pretty sure, the world right now, did not have many major players or events.

I know Yhwach is in hiding, Yamomoto rarely comes out, Aizen is doing his own thing, the Soul King is hibernating and Oetsu was going to stay guard for the Soul King.

With this kind of insurance I was pretty sure I was going to be undisturbed in my hunting, at least until the Eventual Plots will start to move.

By then finding Vasto Lordes would be like fishing, just bait them and you will find them.

But right now, at the moment the strongest around in Hollow society should be one Lady and her Fraccion. Whose territory I wouldn't bother with touching or entering, even on the event that I found it, which I did.

I kept in mind of the spot and went about my daily and perpetual hunt. Why would I bother an Arrancar when I wasn't even a Gillian class, it makes no real sense and no one would care if I died that way.

I need to research, my perfectionist calls within me, I need to hastily rise to Adjucha class and begin on Reishi Research, otherwise even with Cero or any upgraded forms of attack I would merely wound or scratch Real Shinigami.

It would be no fight unless the mind can order the body.