Strangle To Death, Anaconda!

"The hole in a Hollows chest shows that the heart has been lost, leaving nothing but raw instinct. The white skull shaped mask is all that sheilds those bared instincts from the outside world. Neither is necessary when the heart is still intact."

Words that intrigued me as I watched an anime, transfixed by its premise, words that pulled me in deeper into its lore as I watched. Bleach was a pretty damn good anime and I had only got around to the Fake Karuka arc. Those were some pretty good fights for supposed side characters, but I gotta say, Ayon confused the Hueco Mundo outta me. What happened when he died? He wasn't purified I know that much. But what would happen if a Quincy killed him or something? Did Yamamoto even kill him with his Zanpakuto? Was there any way to permanently kill Ayon? I can't remember how Yamamoto even killed him, and I never even got to the Sternritter arc. So I had no answer to my questions. I mean...he showed up there, I just have no idea how.

I was just slightly pissy the head captain came around and punched his lights out though. Why didn't someone else come around? Now how was I supposed to get a gauge for how powerful Ayon was? He absolutely trashed and walked all over all the the vice-captains. So what's the deal? How am I supposed to compare Ayon to Komomura now? That sort of thing was important to me.

I mean I knew Tier Halibel or Tia Harribel could kick Nel's ass with no problems. What's that Nel? Your Resurrección can't break Las Noches? Then you're not my Espada.

Who the hell even liked Nel? She sucked ass in the dub. But perhaps I should have been a bit more polite to that has-been and her dreadful English VA. I was more than rational to realise that wasn't why I ended up dead, but I felt I had to get my humour out of this. The last bit of cheek aimed at her put a bit of a sheepish smile on my face.

Up until my face barely moved. The smile being stopped by my rigid mask.

I was a killing machine powered by raw instinct and a brain. I was a Hollow.

And damn did I feel good! I don't even remember how I died and I got a brand new body that didn't suck ass. No sickness or limitations to deal with. Instead I got a body that defied physics and could get even more power. And the process was so unbelievably simply that a baby could do it. The best part might be the fact I didn't remember how I died. If I did I'd probably be mopey for about a month before finally getting on with obtaining more power. How a hollow could become more powerful was simple.

Feast upon the souls of humans. And I had no moral quibbles about it, I was a misanthropist and a hypocrite at heart. I could ignore the judgements of others and change my own logic and justifications when I had to in order to get my end goal. I could just pull an excuse outta my ass, the moral quibbles that others concerned themselves with was beneath me. And disregarding my own opinions was simple, simple because I had no pride. I had contributed nothing to this world! Or any world!

And a person that gave nothing to the world did not deserve a voice! They did not deserve even an opinion! An artist that made only one good quality piece was greater than a million philosophers. Those who sat and contemplated the world from a lonely household contributed nothing to the world or society. Why would I be shackled by a man who gave nothing to the world? Why would I respect him?!

And why would I respect myself? After all...there was no one I hated more than myself. A dumb child that failed in everything...despite being given everything on a silver platter.

So, getting started on the path to evolution, to finally realizing my existence was as simple as picking a location and pulling out some weak and flimsy excuse. Killing a few thousand to defend myself against Aizen was a worthy cause wasn't it? I didn't harbour any misconceptions about my situation. I was operating on scattered and fragmented knowledge. I knew what his Zanpakuto could do, but I only vaguely remembered its weaknesses. Beating him was impossible. So I did something I had taken a firm stance on in life, when I was alive.

I put my destiny and life in the palms of fate. This time I was in a position where that might actually mean something. Where my death might mean someone's evolution, where my words might bring about change. All I could do was follow my incredible instincts. Combined with my brilliant luck and instinct it seemed like fate did guide me. So even if all my reasoning was destroyed, as long as I was guided, I would continue. In a world like this morals had no place and I had no right to make decisions that shook this earth when I could bring no meaning to my own.

So I picked the best location. A location that would fulfill my gut-based instinct to evolve. A place filled with those who could not help themselves, the easiest prey imaginable. And I remembered full well where these feasting grounds resided. This would hasten my evolution, spectacularly so. So I descended with all the speed and haste that this gigantic serpentine body of mine could muster and feasted upon the souls of the damned.

I crashed into the wall of the prison, my very entrance already killing people and bringing out their souls.

All of the prisons in this world and all of the asylums. I devoured all who resided within. Guilty or innocent I rendered them into a thick paste of blood and bones with my body. It was a disturbingly simple body for me, void of any limbs other than a spine and I suppose my Hollow mask. The mask was limited in movement. Most Hollow's could climb and scale walls and manipulate their own masks to a greater degree than I could. I was landlocked and could literally kill people in only two ways; crushing and biting.

I seemed to have landed in the cafeteria. I brought in more of more body and prepared to use Rapid Spin. Which would kill or cripple everyone it hit and let me eat the souls. The only part that mattered. What was I saying? Ah yes, my murder methods.

They worked decently. But it wasn't human meat that I was interested in so much as the souls, to further empower my spiritualized body, so breaking their body was completely fine. In fact I needed to break their body in order to bring out the soul inside and then devour it.

Preferably I'd break them with my body. Since the last time I ate a living human they clogged my teeth and kept panicking and shouting as he watched his body get swallowed whole. And feeling a Soul Chain grate against my teeth really wasn't something I ever wanted to experience again either. Although it did make a good sight I suppose, a tiny human corpse riddled with holes you could stick your fist in if you were a human.

The prisoners and some guards scattered, which was fine since they couldn't see me. I slithered towards the middle of the room, trapping and crushing people who were running towards the wrong direction as I moved there. I broke every bone into multiple pieces by my weight alone.

Apart from my newfound serpentine body and its limitations I had another question in need of some answers. My newfound...gender...or...sex? How I changed sex in the afterlife was a question beyond me. But it was not a question that would stop me from killing some people and depriving them of an afterlife. Conveniently taking the power that was rightly mine as I did so. The power that my instincts and fate had guided me towards.

I feasted on these poor hapless souls with abandon, having killed nearly everything in the room and preparing to move onto greener pastures, through the hallways. To be frank, killing them may not be necessary at all.

I tilted my head back to speed up the process of eating a man's soul, It was easier to dodge an earache if you ate them quicker. But yeah, killing and eating them was just a precaution on my part. I was sure that my ability wouldn't let me evolve if I used only it. But then again...I might be wrong. But not everything was okay.

Shinigami and Hollows. The only two things that proved to be a detriment to my habitats and my diet. It was trouble like no other when others cottoned on to my ways and thought to emulate me or try and bargain for a cut of my precious source of food. No! they were all mine! And interlopers were not something I could tolerate. A threat to my food and halting destiny's flow for even a moment was unacceptable. I killed them, I just knew that someone escaping with this knowledge was not something I could let happen.

There wasn't much emotion put behind my actions at all. I just had to silence them to make sure no one ate these pockets of helpless humans before I did. But if I could get something from my actions it might be to have legs again. To be beautiful was also quite important for me. If I, formally a man could pull it off then I feel like I'd have contributed to something in some weird way.

First I had a beard in a time where everyone was a baby faced idiot, and now I'd probably have a killer body when I was basically a worm. It had to be worth something right? And if not, my perversion would find a way to make it worth something.

And an obligation to be kind, cruel, beautiful or faceless was inherited by those with true power in a world like this. To be powerful you must also be one of those four things. I would go so far as to claim it was noblesse oblige. My noble obligation, to be as beautiful as I was powerful. If I was truly going to evolve to a great extent and have an impact on this anime world then I needed to look as important as I was in the story.

But upon thinking this I began lamenting. I was kind of ugly now wasn't I? I felt like a fat and bulky worm instead of an intimidating snake. Which, as I destroyed the prison by trying to go through it's hallways, wasn't far off the mark.

Guess that came with the size and the colour scheme, as well as the mask. All of it being ivory white. Bones were not beautiful. I was currently nothing more than a simple animal really. Only Gillians and Vasto Lordes were aesthetically pleasing to my eyes. Gillians fit Hueco Mundo perfectly, the face of Hollows across the world. Vasto Lordes were an unexpected evolution however, a pleasant surprise that appealed to the eyes and senses.

But I had no beauty of my own. I was just an overgrown albino worm that ate humans, and sometimes Hollows. But it was a rare instance where I moved into another town only to find a Shinigami patrolling the town. Irritating and dangerous. A prey that I had rarely ever partaken in. Raiding and exiting towns as quickly as possible was what I always did, without fail. So fighting a Shinigami was incredibly rare, and typically avoided as they were swamped by other Hollows. But I pushed on and simply gamed the odds. Because they would inevitably be attacked, or ambushed by my new kin. It was common sense to gang up on Shinigami alongside some Hollows. But it was not common sense to eat the person that you just shared a near death experience with.

Not that I always did it. The odds were quite low actually, but I'd do it sometimes. How did they sound when they talked? How injured was I? How did they act and talk? Those things decided it. But I could not eat a fellow snake. No matter how crass or rude they seemed to the rest of the outside world snakes were always polite to each other, even if people assumed otherwise. When snakes dined on Shingami's or humans we were perfectly polite and accepting of the others flaws. They were the only ones to know the secret habitat for serpentine Hollows. The prisons. Only they knew about the feasting grounds.

But regardless I had fed well. Shinigami and Hollow souls in the double digits rested within me alongside what felt like thousands of human souls. Shinigami were a special thing. Each that patrolled were pretty pathetic by Bleach standards, more capable than the average Hollow certainly, and there was one in every town I visited. I had only eaten ten of them as a matter of fact, Hollows being much easier to kill and consume. They were better on average but not worth attacking when they had the capability to wield Kido. I judged the risk too high. Attacking only in dishonest ways, never striking from just one direction if I could help it. Which is where my size ended up playing a part at times.

Any opportunity to strike was taken. One more bruise, another beating by the tossed rubble, everything was taken. A war of attrition. My patience was more durable than both their blade and their body. I'd tell them that but my speaking came out in slow hisses, grating on any conversation partners ears. My attack style was also supplemented by my ability, given to me by God himself. An invisible smog that drained the Reiryoku of others. It was enough to cover an entire town and could even be narrowed down in size to speed up the process tremendously, and it was already pretty fast on living humans so yes, I did drain entire towns of spirit energy before moving on.

It also had a different form. Touch. Once I touched something a constant drain was applied, better than my smog. But I called both forms of the ability by the same name.

Serpientes Veneno Inexistente. Snakes Nonexistent Poison. An ability that let me drain Reiryoku and allowed me to keep it. Forever.

A watered down version of the ninth Espada's ability in essence. It might, to a fool, sound incredible. But what spiritual relevance did a person have at all when they could not even perceive you? My ability was a reflection of myself in one way. Its intense hatred of mistakes mirrored my own.

In life I did not push myself often, but once I did I strived for excellence. Mistakes and failures weren't something tolerated by me. Other people were spared from my intense self-flagellation thankfully. But the point was that I'd never get a result if I played it safe and went for a constant drain instead of a quicker drain, the Touch Version being something to rely on. A crutch for a broken arm.

So my ability was something that needed a measure of prediction and daring. Would they flee this way or that? Did they intend to charge or stay back and chant? If I failed I knew I'd kick myself.

It was enough to sate me, more than hundreds, thousands even. But for some reason I was still stuck in my first form. Which was as incredible as it was infuriating. I should have evolved long ago shouldn't I? I had far more than just a thousands of human souls, after all I came equipped with a special ability like all hollows do.

An invisible smog that drained the Reiryoku of others En masse. It was enough to cover an entire town and I could even narrow it down in size to hasten the process.

So why was I still a measly little nothing?! It was scary to be kept back by some unknown force when I needed to evolve in order to live. But it was a simple question to answer, I didn't eat nearly enough. Thousands of weaklings was only a thousand ants. Barely enough to fulfill and satiate the appetite of a creature as powerful as I was. I was only fighting unimportant Hollows and unseated Shinigami. The cannon fodder that was born and created for the people who actually mattered to trample on. But then I recalled a critical fact. Hollows do not evolve. Menos do. And in order to be a Menos you needed to eat a certain amount of Hollows.

There was only way to get as much Hollows as I needed. And that was Hueco Mundo. And once I ate enough Hollows I was supposed to cross an invisible threshold where I became a Menos, and I did remember this with clarity; Menos were attracted to one another and would feast on each other. Leading to the next stage of evolution. So I ripped open a great cosmic gash in reality with my claws and promptly stilled myself.

Because I remembered that I didn't actually have claws and was only deluding myself into believing I had them.

So I pulled upon my spirit energy and began to howl. Ripping open a pretty crappy looking door to my hometown instead, filled with my homeboys. I'd grin, laugh or giggle with my now feminine body but that was quite literally impossible with my mask. To be honest in all the excitement I seem to have forgotten where I actually used to live. The excitement I felt at how fast my sheer rate of progress was must have knocked the information from my head. I was pretty sure that I'd remember in time but it was a point worth noting. I mean...I never once moved out of the place after all. I don't think I even left my country...w-w-w...it began with a that letter. Somewhere around England or...Wales! That was it. Wait...was Wales even a country? I shook my head, It didn't matter.

I went through the doorway, a doorway that was pitch black with the rare scattering of purple, and emerged to behold illuminated sands and a quiet landscape. The only sound to be heard being the soft thump of my large body cratering the soft sand beneath me.

I closed my eyes and hissed in appeasement at how the sands felt across my scales.

This. This was beauty incarnated! The perfect world before my eyes, a world cast in darkness from a sun that would damage my eyes. And the softest thing I've ever felt. The sands felt like granules of silk, caressing and soothing the scales of my body.

In my heart I declared that this was my country, not Wales. This was my utopia. My ideals crystallized, every part of me felt at peace. At home.

I opened my eyes and turned my head to and fro to gaze across this world of perfection. The darkness that held no stars, only a moon. There was essentially only enough sources of illumination that you could count them with both hands. The clouds were even a minor source of light here, being slightly lighter when compared to the dark sky behind it. The sand, the moon, the trees...all of it made me weep in agony and euphoria. Where were my hands?! How could I not cry in pain at being unable to paint this?! I wished for nothing more than to evolve now as I gazed across this land so that I might finally create a an art piece of this world. Something I knew had never been done before.

I would sell the same piece across all three worlds. The Shinigami would love it, the humans would adore the majestic piece and I would instill nationalism within Hollows. Perhaps patriotism as I did remember that the Soul Society also looked lovely. Its labyrinthine structure and bright and polished walls and floors drew my eye. If I show that painting of the Soul Society to Hollows then perhaps we'd have more pleasant architecture to admire in this world full of Hollows.

But where was this urge to paint coming from? I never had that. And sadly I still remembered how much ass I sucked in art class. Hell...I'm using more fancy words than I typically would.

But I felt at home, beyond what mere words can describe. I dwelled amongst dens of Hollows weaker than me and felt the presence of those stronger than me. All amongst this world that gave no advantage to anyone, but a world that comforted you with its sights and textures every living moment.

Serpientes Veneno Inexistente was cast out as far as it could go. Detecting any Hollow and promptly draining them as I slithered onwards, towards the strongest Menos I could ever find. My ability was always active of course. There was never a moment where I turned it off.

I ate anyone who ticked me off along the way and felt luxury within my absurd power. This land brought out the best in me. I even felt like I had the luxury of time for some reason. An illusion to be sure but one that I luxuriated in along with these sands. I held no doubts that I was in the beginning of the story somewhere. I was not fool enough to believe otherwise, but I had to relax at some point, and feeling how my powers took all the Reiryoku of those weaklings while I used a sandy mountain like a ball pit was probably one of the most therapeutic things there is. To become powerful off of the fruits of others while I played around was truly grand.

But I still had things to do, I had to find those who were stronger than me, I just took my time about it. Bathing under the moonlight and wrapping myself around the quartz trees as I slowly found my objective.

A den full of Menos. More precisely a den full of Gillians. And there I waited, passing away the time under their feet like the snake I was and injecting my bite less venom. Sinking my teeth into their feet and drinking from the air as my Nonexistent Poison narrowed down and drank even quicker.

I drained them dry. The process accelerated by digging my teeth into them. It stacked along with my poisonous aerosol and crippling venom. The Touch Version being used to speed it along, even if I viewed it as a crutch.

To be truthful I was blinded by success and euphoria. It took weeks or maybe even months to drain them. I knew it took longer than it felt but was it worth it? Yes. Well...no. I now had the strength and power of Gillian's inside my body. Thirty six of them to be precise but everything was still the same.

I still had my old body. The answer presented itself to me immediately, I wasn't an idiot after all. I had to eat them to become more powerful. I knew full well where I was and what the rules were.

I had to devour their souls. After careful contemplation that was the answer I came to. Shinigami were strong indeed. But it was only because of their Zanpakuto. The other soul that dwelled within their body. Was it just that Hollows needed a far greater amount? I was forced to say yes. And with that simple answer came a measure of dread and resignation.

I was going to become a Gillian. To become a Gillian was to die.

When you became a Gillian you become nothing more than a gestalt monstrosity. A thing that might evolve if the stars aligned correctly because you were too stupid to figure out how to even hunt anymore. And on top of that even if you did evolve it didn't mean that *you* evolved. Within the Gillian stage everyone you had ever eaten resurfaced to fight for control. To become the only personality.

On the other hand...fate made me believe that there wasn't a problem, that these souls in my stomach would not wriggle at all.

My dread and resignation already vanished, my spine straightening as my destiny forcibly wiped all traces of doubt and fear from my heart. No, the souls I ate would not rebel at all. Fate had tampered with things somehow, rigging my cycle of evolution.

And the upper echelons of power had Barragan slow people down around him and let him age distant objects and people to dust within the blink of an eye. If I wanted that then I had to get eating. So with confidence held in my heart I approached the Gillian, toppled over and powerless from his complete lack of spirit energy, and began devouring him. Beginning my metamorphosis.

It was a quick road. Possible only thanks to my intelligent strategy of raiding buildings full of hundreds of people who could not escape.

It didn't even take me a year. Not once had I taken a break now that I think about it. Was that why I was so happy to be here? Who knew. I just started biting down on his foot, praying and calling upon the luck that was merciful enough to grant me this second life to aid me once again.

Praying for fate to turn me into something greater than a useless mob enemy.

Omake, ACTIVATE!

Omake 1, Rex comes for you! Et tu my lovely?!

It died a death it truly hated, the canine feeling the slim stick of metal pierce it's mouth.

As the crook would be handled by justice not many would mourn the particularly difficult K-9 unit. The source of all its difficulties was that it yearned for its mother. An oddity.

An oddity great enough to turn it into a Hollow! Fido Tyrannosaurs Mutt as the large things called it knew only one thing.

It was hungry and knew where food was.

Unbeknownst to Fido Mutt was that it was supposed to be man's best friend.

Guess that's why it was called the mutt tyrant.

This small feisty stray would go on to become Captain Komamura's greatest nemesis yet!

Brace yourself Komamura! Fido Tyrannosaurus Mutt comes for you!

Respect his first, middle, and last name!

And listen to Disgaea's OST while you listen to these. Disgaea 4 - Sparking.

Within the span of one omake I've referenced THREE Werewolves. If you count Fido Mutt that is!

And I'll count Komamura too...not that I know WHAT he is!