Chapter 6

He was dreaming again; he was sure of it, but could a hollow even dream?

A hill of blades spread endlessly around him covered with dirt the colour of rust. He didn't move, nor did he breathe. He was a sword, a sharp steel like the weapons around him. No purpose, no emotion, but regardless, ready for use, and it was killing him.

He was missing something. A desire that made him who and what he was.

It was almost like the eternal hunger every hollow he'd ever met described, yet it was different for him. He didn't feel the need to consume, rather he was repulsed by the fact. Kill another to further one's own power. His soul detested the notion just as much as he detested the hollows who fed on the humans. It was just wrong. He couldn't understand it. He was a hollow himself, yet his very soul refused to bow down to a hollow's base primal urges. Yet he became a Vasto Lorde?

He was different from the other hollows; that he already knew. Perhaps his evolution was different as well? It didn't matter. For as long as he could remember, he had always been in control of himself, and that's what mattered.

A soul of steel.

His shoulders perked, the faintest of whispers entering his ears, but it might as well have just been the wind with how silent it was. An eerie reminder that he was alone.

A world of blades.

A world of solitude.

But for what meaning? His very being yearned for it. Welcomed it, yet he didn't truly know it. Again, and again he found himself drawn to the dream, an image of some greater objective. His presence in the dream today was no different.

"What is it that you want of me," he spoke.

The sudden stopping of the wind was his only answer, a sword and sheath shining prominently in the distance.

His gaze lingered, unable to drift away. More than ever, he felt a single prominent compulsion. A desire. A need. And this time, he found it, a reason for his existence.

He closed his eyes.

I wanted to be a hero.

And disappeared from the dream.

The sudden stillness of the world revealed the restlessness from within.

"So he still can't hear us?" A sword shimmered before transforming into a murky figure obscured further by a thick haze.

"I'm sick and tired of this shit!" A spear shimmered, and like the sword, took an obscure form. "I want to fight!"

The world shook from the proclamation, spectres rising from glory filled steel. Others, from the dredges of curses and filth. The devil's armaments.

"And yet he can not hear you. Any of us. He doesn't even call our names," the first voice spoke solemnly.

"But he knows mine," A figure smirked, its body less obscured. "Used me to slay an army."

"But he used us to defeat a king," two other voices spoke. Two other spectres with their hands interlocked in firm grips.

"So what, he used me far that as well." The figure stopped smirking and glared at the other two spectres.

"But he hasn't truly used either of you," the first voice spoke cut in. "We do not know what we are, or how we came to be when all of us are simply weapons, but instinctively we know our purpose. We know we are at our strongest when linked to our wielder. He may know your names, but you both shared no links. To him we're still weapons."

"Then how do you suppose we change that!" the spectre of the spear shouted.

"We do what we've always done. We wait."

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Shirou opened his eyes to a forming garganta.

"Lord?" The Raven-like hollow who took command of his supposed army, Brans asked for instruction. He had come to call Shirou by request of Lilynette, something he was still hesitant to comply with. The little hollow had the strangest ideas, and he didn't want her to be an influence on his King.

This was Shirou's one perch. The area he could be alone to think while at the same time remain vigilant for any harmful hollows. He released a breath. It had been only a couple hours ago that Baraggan had once again challenged him, and once again got repulsed. Each victory earned him unnecessary praise and admiration from those who lived along side him to the point where other hollows outside his influence thought Baraggan was weak. They were wrong.

Baraggan maintained the order, killing all who would question his power. That was exactly how it has been for the past few centuries, each new battle increasing both Baraggan's and his power by leaps and bounds, but inadvertently elevating his status to worship. These days, almost every hollow either feared, or revered him. And those that were in-between, were fellow Vasto Lordes. Yet even they, though rather subtly and without informing him, agreed with what the other hollows believed.

The Hollow King.

Shirou motioned Brans to stand down, sighing as Brans readily obeyed his orders. Was it too much to ask for more hollows like Starrk? At least they wouldn't be even close to devote.

Shirou stared at the forming garganta, curious of what kind of hollow would open a door directly within his area of influence. Few were those who would intrude on his personal space, but even fewer were those who would slight him. Well, not that he was particularly slighted, it was more a slight to those who looked up to him. What he would give to return to the old days where he wasn't in constant danger of heated stares? He shuddered. He couldn't understand them, the female hollows who took insult when he was the one insulted or disrespected.

Brans tensed as the garganta formed. How dare some random hollow intrude on their King. His feathered wings began to beat on his back, his restlessness revealing itself. But he didn't instantly move to attack, not when the King had decided to entertain this vagrant hollow.

A hollow slipped out, and it wasn't even an Adjuchas. It was a stupid hamster if anything. Brans raised his hands in preparation to eradicate the vermin who had the audacity to intrude on his King. It would be a mercy to be killed by him anyway rather than those ravenous females vying for his King's attention. Yes, it would be a mercy compared to what they would do if they found out some random hollow unfairly gained an audience with the King when others had yet to even speak to him.

The hamster looked up, as if suddenly just realizing where he was, and what the red cero forming in front of him meant. Pathetic thing. His King met his eyes, but he didn't lower his cero, simply waiting for a single word.

"My name is Grand Fisher," the hollow spoke quickly, rubbing at its bird-like hands and forgetting about the half eaten-human soul still held within them. "I-It was not my intention to intrude." Grand Fisher stuttered, flailing his hands and then suddenly realizing he was waving around his meal.

Brans saw his King's eyes narrow. Good good. Just give the word King, I'll end this filth.

The human soul opened its mouth to scream, but not a sound was heard.

Shirou clenched his fists as he watched silently. The human soul, a woman with light wavy brown hair, met his gaze once before Grand Fisher promptly swallowed her.

"My apologies, Vasto Lorde. I forgot about my meal," Grand Fisher said as he finished chewing. "Well now, I will just take my lea—"

A wave of spiritual pressure came crashing down, pinning Grand Fisher.

Brans raised a brow, but powered down his cero. His King would be the one to end this rodent it seems, an honour to great for some worthless hamster.

Shirou didn't know what to think.

You let her die, a voice whispered.

He tensed his muscles. Why hadn't he moved? He was faster and stronger than Grand Fisher, yet why? He already knew the answer. The human soul had already been partially consumed, its body missing its legs and half her torso. It wouldn't have been a mercy to let her live. Yet, it was Grand Fisher's fault in the first place.

"Hollows like you," Shirou took a step forward. "Sicken me." The pressure increased over Grand Fisher, his body compressing.

Grand Fisher couldn't even utter out a word. What had he done but eat a mere human? He struggled uselessly as he noticed the overpowering Vasto approaching him.

Shirou watched Grand Fisher's struggle, and felt nothing. He wasn't staring at another hollow, he was staring at a monster who he let kill an innocent before his eyes. He noticed Brans from the corner of his eyes power down his Cero. Good. Because there was one thing that he could do that no other hollow could. Purify a soul. He would save her, and all the souls trapped within this monster.

"Balmung." The army slaying sword appeared in Shirou's hands before he plunged it into Grand Fisher. Trace on. "O sword, let thee be filled."

Grand Fisher screamed, his body invaded by holy energy. So many souls in one hollow. Shirou could feel each one as they left Grand Fisher's body. It was revolting. The difference between a hollow who ate other hollows, and a hollow that ate humans, was the experience. Each soul purified revealed a memory of death. The pain, the misery of being forced away from one's loved ones.

Shirou increased the output of Holy Energy. He had seen and heard enough of the memories of each soul. A hollow like this, was not hollow to protect, but a monster to destroy.

Grand Fisher stopped screaming long ago, his body fading away with each soul lost. Green coloured fur receded into pale skin, bird-like hands and feet losing their scales and reverting to something more human.

Shirou's eyes widened as he quickly willed Balmung away. What just happened?

"My King?" Brans asked in confusion as he stared down at what looked like the female human soul moments prior. "Her spiritual pressure feels like a Shinigami's, but I also feel the presence of a hollow."

Shirou didn't respond, his eyes staring at the anomaly and analyzing her for what she was. Yet, it didn't make any sense. Like Brans had said, she possessed the spiritual pressure of a hollow and a Shinigami, and something else he couldn't quite make out. His structural analysis had even proved that her soul was somehow intertwined with a Shinigami's spiritual pressure even before she was eaten by a hollow.

Before he had anymore time to ponder on such a discovery however, she stirred.

Her hands twitched before she sat herself up and rubbed at her eyes. Blinking slowly, she stared confused out at the vast dunes of Hueco Mundo. She tilted her head, and gaped in wonder.

"You are in the presence of a King and you choose to gape at dunes!?" Brans demanded.

She turned her gaze on Brans and looked at him questioningly, unsure of what he was speaking about.

Brans fumed, but made no move to harm her. She was a fresh-born based on her actions, no memory, and still learning about the harsh world of Hueco Mundo. He was much the same once upon a time, before stumbling into his King's land. She deserved a chance just as much as he had. Still though, he crossed his arms in contemplation. Why was she humanoid? She couldn't possibly be a Vasto Lorde, not with her power output. Therefore, he broached the question that he knew was in his and the King's mind. "What are you," he asked curiously.

Shirou watched as she turned to look both of them in eyes. For Brans, it unnerved him to see such naivety in an inhabitant of Hueco Mundo. For Shirou however, it was different. It gave his goal of becoming a hero a new meaning. Not only to protect those who follow him, but to protect those before him as well.

Shirou and Brans watched carefully as she opened her mouth and spoke.

Yet not a word could be heard.