There's nothing to do in the Menos Forest.(Open)

Five hundred and five trees.
Five hundred and six trees.
Five hundred and seven trees….this is boring. Cried a thought interrupting his tree counting experience.
The creature was slowly walking through The Menos Forest while trying to take in the sights. During his first days as a pre – adjucha gillian he quickly had realized that one can’t exist here just by consuming menos grande. No, one must also spare a moment to train the mind. Because without sentience what point there is for power?
Well that was the bullshit excuse he went with instead of admitting that he was just incredibly bored. The reason for that was, of course, that he hasn’t seen one of the giant bastards since the one he ate five hundred and eight trees ago. Like what the hell! Where were they?
At first it was incredibly easy. He had just awoken near a pack of those things and it was just a question of picking them off. Of course while being shot from eight different directions, but that made everything at least challenging. Since then he was lucky if he managed to find four of them. Most of the time it was a single straggler who, at best, shot one cero blast which Heart easily thanked.
Like, he wouldn’t call himself a battle maniac. But when fighting was the only way of entertainment, what was guy to do if not to start looking forward to it? Not that there was anything else to do around here. And even if there was he’d probably be too stupid to understand how to use it. Because turning into a gillian had done a real number on his cognitive abilities. Of course Heart appreciated the absence of the unspeakable feeling of emptiness that plagued the lesser hollows. Tough he wasn’t sure if the state of feeling like you’re permanently shitfaced wasn’t as bad or was it worse.
At five hundred and twenty-eight trees the creature finally found his next meal. It was a lone menos that by the looks of it hasn’t even noticed his presence. While Heart could think of at least four different ways to kill it before the hollow would understand what happened. It definitely would be a lot more interesting to give the giant sack of flesh at least some fighting chance. Because god knows when he’ll find another lower class gillian later.
He came a bit close and just like the creature expected the menos painfully slow turned its body around to look at him. Nothing happened but Heart was sure that the big oaf was thinking of a way to deal with him.
After four seconds he opened a small garganta next to himself. The menos did nothing.
At seven seconds the giant hollow slowly opened its jaw and began to charge a red blast between its teeth.
A cero ha. Heart thought. Just as expected.
At eight seconds another garganta opened next to the giant hollows head. It seemed to ignore it in favor of preparing to strike its foe.
Slowly heart pulled his black arm out from beneath his robe and inserted it in the garganta next to him. It emerged from the other garganta next to the menoses head and without hesitation it grabbed the giant hollows jaw and slammed it shut disrupting the cero. The disrupted energy exploded in the gillians face and while screaming in pain it fell on its back and leaned on the tree behind it. Heart pulled out his hand and closed the gargantas. Some of the blast caught his palm, but receiving it did nothing than make his fingers feel mildly uncomfortable. He had hardened his skin before inserting said limb in the portal.
The creature approached his prey. He grabbed its body with his blackened hands while piercing the flesh with his white claws. The menos tried to pull away. A last ditch effort to escape. But it was all for naught. Just like he’d done it before Heart opened his mouth and with a sickening crunch bit through the hollows mask.
The gillian slowly consumed his meal. It tasted like bland porridge. Like really, REALLY bland porridge. Like someone would’ve collected all the things in the world that are “kinda ok” and combined them in one really miserable meal. Because of that it wouldn’t be incorrect to assume that he was pretty dedicated to eat it as fast as it was possible for his slow ass body.
After that was over. Heart chose a random direction and set off to find a new meal while “enjoying” his “favorite” pastime.
One tree.
Two trees.
Three trees.
Four trees.
Ugh….kill me.
Five trees.

NIZE SPLIT

As the giant gilliant would resume his torturous activity of counting the endless trees in Menos Forest he would soon find himself in a company of another presence.

Nize Split had kept himself off the radar for the duration of the whole war that had raged throughout the multiverse. The arrancar still had many things to sort through and participating in an all-out battle wasn’t one of those things.

Such, he waited. Hid his lab deep in the sands of Hueco Mundo and with countless eyes of smaller hollows watched how the world ripped itself apart. It would be almost amusing if not for all those lives pointlessly killed. So many resources he could have used and wasted or in hands of demons. Nize wasn’t found of demons.

On this particular day, though, Split had decided to get outside of the home and resume research he had started before. One of them involved a particularly tiny hollow and his training to become stronger. He was a silly creature, really. Small and weak, made by the first Nize. The Original.

At first, the tiny thing seemed useless. Weak, with no impulse control and overly friendly for something that had to be a cold-blooded predator. But there was a situation, run-in with fate, and the small hollow proved to have much more courage and loyalty then Nize anticipated. His calculative mind was intrigued and blooming with ideas. Plans.

So, all these plans got stalled, but here he was now, resuming from where he left off.

For the particular day, the arrancar was in need of a gillian. Preferably one that could think on its own. He should have assumed it will not be that easy. On this particular day, gillians had all decided to hide. In fear of him? Someone else? No one really knew what was happening in Menos Forest.

The man flashed from tree to tree, from branch to branch. The tiny hollow boy was attached to his leg, holding for dear life. Nize abruptly stopped once his senses picked up something. A gillian, but with a certain spark. Individuality.

About time. He thought, changing abruptly the direction where he was jumping. In second both of them stood on one of the highest branches of the trees, Split looking down on the...Differently looking gillian.

He let some of his energy flow inside the [Mark of Hollow Prince] and the next moment an overwhelming presence tried to overtake the large figure.

”Stop!”

The arrancar spoke, his voice resonating in the air. You could feel the silent space being filled with tension. Something was happening in the dead land.

”Face me.”

He would then speak out to the massive thing, no matter if he had grabbed the being under his control or not. Most post-gillians were still stupid and almost always reacted to possible meal options. Hard to imagine he evolved out of something like that.

Nize then grabbed the hollow boy and dropped him off the tree, his eyes cold blue and glowing, skin pale and face with no expression in it. Body covered with his own spiritual presence and reminding a black, tattered robe.

”I require you to fight this thing here. Now.”

He stood and waited.

Be careful of what you ask for.

Heart remembered this proverb as something horrendous was calling to him from above. The other thing to do besides counting trees appeared to be a chance to meet some kind of monstrosity. He felt as its words tried to wiggle their way in his psyche. It was the same feeling as when the hollow was controlled by his endless hunger. That was a clear indicator that the caller was definitely bad news.

Thankfully the gillian had experience in resisting the temptation to feed. So whatever that thing attempted to do failed. Sadly it didn’t fuck off as he hoped instead waiting for him to respond. Every instinct in Hearts body pleaded to him to run away. But instead, he listened to commonsense which dictated that something big and slow would most definitely suck at escaping. So the hollow decide to turn around and face the music. Plus who knows, maybe the creature was all bark and no bite.

The creature was revealed to be some black-haired teenager who was probably taking his pet - a dummy hollow by the size apparently for a walk and had requiered that Heart fight it. Well, that’s how it looked like, but he would be stupid to believe that the guy was anything besides a monster. And coming from an apex predator like himself it meant something.

The gillian could try to fight him. The teenager, not the pin-sized copyright infringement. A part of him, a really hungry part loved the idea. But Heart reminded himself that he has a good enough chance to sprout wings or grow some roots as he had a chance to beat this “Evanescence” knock off.

Still doing as the other creature said sounded really demeaning. And he was already wearing a half kilometer long dress. So another constant embarrassment to remember until the sweet release of death would be too much.

In the end, since Heart still hasn’t replied to emo-kun he decided to listen to his heart. The answer was completely obvious.
Okey, just like we practiced. He reassured himself. The gillians mouth opened.

Screw………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….you

The hollow cringed in how deep he sounded. In his head, Hearts voice was more youthful and cheery. But he’d give it a solid four out of ten in the famous last word scale. The dramatic pause between each world really drove it home.

So if he wasn’t vaporized at this point he would reveal his blackened hand from beneath the robe and charge as much kinetic energy as it was possible in the limb until it was glowing in a bluish light and then slam his fist in where the teenager was standing creating a large dust cloud in the process. Ather the dust would settle the gillian would look upon what remained of the threat.

If failed the hollow would open his mouth and charge “The red buster” launching himself back from where he came.

If the boost failed his last attempt of escape would be to open a garganta beneath his feet and fall down in the black void with the help of gravity.

NIZE SPLIT

Like every gillian he has seen, this too couldn’t stand proud for its feats of speed. The thing moved slow and languid, creatures large size being the main reason for its survival. Nize gave it time. There was nowhere to rush. The arrancar’s blue orbs were solely focused on the gillian, face unmoving. White and cold.

When it finally turned something of a surprise nudged back in Split’s mind. His computer had already started to record. The beast was talking...And had no manners at all. Well, the thing was from Menos Forest after all.

”A pity.”

He didn’t even think of dodging. While most likely the punch could do some sort of damage to his body, Nize released a burst of his spiritual presence just before. A small explosion and black and white flames quickly surrounded the gillian’s fist. With no defense, the hollow would soon find his fist in huge pain, black skin charred and burned in multiple places.

”Interesting. Seems that the gillian is in a state of slowly developing unique powers.” The scientist thought, observing as the gillian was slowly charging its cero. He was really surprised anyone fell from the hands of something so slow.

Data flew in front of his eyes and the blue glow intensified in male’s mechanical eyes. The nano-hollows were analyzing the energy type and power behind the gillian’s attack.

”I don’t know if this is genius or just plain stupid.”

He spoke aloud this time and while the creature was taking his time to charge the escape blast Nize took over the surrounding trees(the reishi they were built from) under his control and made them bend and twist with aerie moans. If the hollow didn’t pay attention to his surrounding it would find himself hitting a hard wall made out of the trees that had surrounded them in a wall. It was hard and in a thick layer.

No matter if the plan succeeded or not, in the next moment, even before the thing managed to open a garganta or get up, Nize would Sonido in melee range to land a hard kick to the middle of the beast. With the strength to move around tanks and an additional boost from expelling little amount of cero from his leg the arrancar’s goal was to send the thing flying to the opposite side of the enclosed circle, the stone tree wall cracking from the impact.

The black cloak had dissipated, exposing Nize’s slender, almost mechanical body that was covered with blue glowing lines. With the expressionless face he spoke,

”Your move.”

Thank you, kind sir! Heart thought as a response to the other guys “offer” to continue.
To say the hollow fucked the pooch would be an understatement. He didn’t only fuck it but also accidentally made it pregnant and now was forced to meet its parents and offer to mary it as an apology.

The gillian looked at the enemy from his position on the ground. The hollows left hand was charred, his stomach had a sizable dent in it and any resemblance of fighting spirit had just fucked off to Canada. Meanwhile, this guy didn’t look even fazed.

This would be the part where he’d just accept that the human look-alike was stronger and die like a proud hollow. Sadly the black-haired sadist seemed more interested to “play” a bit than to end it quickly with a blast to the face. This meant that any kind of resistance will be met with horrible, horrible torture. On the other hand, god knows what will this freak do once he’ll give up.

Heart gazed upon the deformed trees in which he crashed in. Once a companion in his loneliness in The Menos Forest now a tool to be used against him. Like seriously who controls trees!? The hollow dreaded what other kinds of bullshit this self-inserts creation was capable. There was already enough wood here to clobber him to death and then build him a nice fancy coffin.

Argh this sucks! He could only whine. There the gillian had thought to be the most dangerous thing in Hueco Mundo only for fate to screw him over.

The hollow slowly got on his feet, stomach hurting in the process. It was like the regeneration was doing barely anything. He looked down at his foe. The smart thing would be to surrender. To prostrate himself and give up, hoping that he’ll be spared whatever wrath hid under the teenagers’ stoic expression. Yet the thought itself felt disgusting.

The moment he gives up he would never evolve. He’d have abandoned his drive to become stronger over preserving his existence. And that was unacceptable. If Heart ever dreamed to escape this depressing prison of a forest he couldn’t throw the towel.

The gillian hardened all the reishi bonds around his skin. This little ruse always protected him against the ceros from other menoses, but it was obvious that against such a foe it’ll mean almost nothing. Still, Heart will use all the tricks in his book to win or to die as something more than a punching bag.

He opened his mouth again and started to speak.

I’ll…...not…..submit! I’ll……...FIGHT…...till…...thend! Sho…….bring…..it…...ON!

With his last words, Heart pulled his hands out of the cloak and readied himself in some impromptu fighting stance. The damaged hand had somewhat healed, not that it mattered much.

Still, his thoughts echoed stronger than before. On my pride I’ll never give up!

NIZE SPLIT

Nize would’ve never imagined that a gillian will prove to be such an interesting subject. He kind of waited for the creature to quickly lose its will to fight and obey, but no...It didn’t. Should’ve imagined that after seeing how it shrugged off the attempts of being controlled. Now here the thing stood, many times taller than the arrancar, fist ready for battle, the words still resonating in the chill silence.

”Bring it on, hmmm?”

The male said in the same, cold tone as an idea formed in his mind. Sick curiosity bubbled up, swirled and grew. What would happen to a half-advanced gillian if you break it? Break its spirit. Does it fall back to be a blank foot soldier? Could Nize even break him? The old version was too soft to ever try something like that and till now he had no interest in such question. But Split was curious. So, so curious…

Guess his tiny Hollow Boy will have to fight another day.

The trees uncurled from their unnatural state, reforming as if nothing had happened. Split needed a lot of free room for what he had planned. As it happened the towering hollow would see as a black fog slowly rolled out and around the pale male’s body. It thickened and grew, exploding in a huge mass of black once he spoke.

”Dance, Diabillo!”

As quickly as the black grew it compressed as well, ejecting 10 black balls of, seemingly, slime in the dark of Menos Forest. The smoke faded and in front of Heart stood something less human but more hollow. His hair was loose and chaotic, two whirled horns pointing out from them. Outfit all black leather, bones, and chains with black, pointed tail swirling impatiently back and forth.

The air was now buzzing with Nize’s spiritual pressure. He could hear the countless voices begging to set the fire free. Allow his hunger to devour the land, the trees and the unsuspecting creature in front of him.

Nize smiled while starring into the black voids that should be the creature’s eyes.

Sand behind him exploded and shaped into a tower with a stone throne on top of it. The process was fast, smooth and seemed almost natural. The next moment, with his superior speed, the male appeared sitting in this throne.

The arrancar’s eyes never left the black-clad creature.

He observed it’s every move, energy drops, and spikes. Waited even for some signs of emotion behind the white, solid mask. Split knew he was experiencing new emotions at the moment. It was beyond curiosity, something more primal. The man just didn’t know yet what it was.

He will have plenty of time to analyze it later. Now he needed to continue his experiment.
As on cue one gillian roar after another echoed through-out the Menos Forest. Figures similar to Heart crawled out of the shadows and surrounded him. What set them apart, though, was that they were as basic as one expected from a gillian. The same face, the same black cloak and white arms.

One of the creatures stepped forward, opening it’s jaw and started to charge the telltale cero blast. If caught in it one would experience the full brunt of a destructive power enough to level a small building.

If this would be avoided, though, another of the ten gillians would try landed a hard and powerful punch, strong enough to crush concrete and even metal.

Now to see how Nize’s experiment handles the most basic of combat.

Heart felt that he was about to die. There was no denying it. The teen was able to easily knock him down without even pulling a sweat. He also was capable of controlling the environment which put the gillian in and even greater disadvantage. At this point, only a complete moron would believe that he had a chance of victory. Still, Heart promised himself that whatever happens, he’ll go out swinging.

So that’s why it was really confusing when lil’ pale and mysterious turned the trees back as they were instead of sicking them on him. For a moment a part of the hollow’s brain thought that maybe the other creature will just leave him alone. The gillian truly deserved what was coming to him for being so stupidly optimistic.

When the other being said it’s little incantation and transformed, the spiritual pressure in the vicinity skyrocketed. Heart almost roared in pain as it almost crushed him like an empty soda can. Thankfully he endured but it still felt like someone had stolen half of the oxygen in the surrounding area. What stood in front of the gillian was truly a horror like no other.

It was a hollow. Before it’s human form seemed to mask most of the hollow characteristics but now it was all released revealing a personification of corruption. Heart wanted to laugh. He really did. The gillian felt like an ant challenging a sentient volcano. As the ten menoses literally appeared out of thin air, he almost lowered his hands.

How did he hope to do anything? It was pointless, his efforts were pointless. The super hollow didn’t even seem interested in fighting. It just made a nice and fancy throne on which to sit while the others ripped him to shreds. Broken, he watched as one of the menos grande charged a cero to blast the gillian out of existence. Just by the size of it Heart could tell that these minions were as strong as him if not stronger.

Dont you dare to give up! A voice of someone once forgotten echoed in his head.

The hollow slowly clenched his fists harder. That’s right. He couldn’t surrender. Not when he made that big speech about never surrendering. Not when the first time in a long while the gillian was in an actual battle of survival. Anger rose from the depths of his being. It was for becoming complacent enough. For becoming weak.

Heart made a mighty scream that echoed in the forest. It was a mix between a hollows roar and shout born from anger, weakness and an unstoppable drive to evolve.
It was fuckin glorious.

Heart attacked the menos charging the blast. Another got in his way. It was probably ordered to attack him if he dodged. Heart landed a hearty punch in its face shattering the creature’s mask if connected.

After that, he’d be too late as a red blast of doom was already traveling the distance to get him. It would hit the hollow partially before a garganta would appear absorbing the rest of the shot. Heart would have minor scorch marks on his body which was nothing compared to the previous cero.

Then the gillian would attack the mass of foot soldiers with a readied “Tyrants fist” that had enough destructive capabilities as an aerial bomb. If lucky, it would give him an opportunity to open his mouth and charge a cero that had as many destructive capabilities as the one the gillian foot soldier used. Then it would be launched at the “King”.

NIZE SPLIT

Disappointment. More frequent emotion in Nize’s daily life, he knew when he felt it. And now was one of the moments.

It was quite obvious how all will to fight seeped out of the huge creature once the arrancar entered his release form. Purely from a logical standpoint, he knew that it wasn’t so much of a surprise, but...He really hoped for the experiment to be more...Engaging.

But as quick as the drop was the gillian was overflowed with a sudden rush of anger, desperation. Desire. It bubbled out of him in a fierce cry and next thing Split knew the hollow had gotten up and crushed the head of one of his creations.

This may just turn out interesting after all.

As the cero hit Heart and was partially negated by the garganta the arrancar was already working on making the foot soldiers more on par with their enemy. Through his [Mark of Hollow Prince] he imbued part of his power and knowledge in the black-cloaked soldiers.

So, as Heart would try eliminating another gillian he would find that the masked creature with uncharacteristic agility would step aside from the punch. At the same moment, it would try landing a karate chop across Heart’s back. The hollows pale hand would be encased in bright red cero and, if landed, matching the strength to break stone and heat to melt glass.

”Too slow!” The arrancar spoke inside the gillian’s head, wondering will that freak the primitive creature out?

The attacking menos returned his now burned and deformed hand back behind its cloak while two other gillians started shotting energy balls equivalent to balas in the direction of their enemy. While 1/10 in power compared to a cero, these spheres traveled with much greater speed and required almost no charging time.

The only thing indicating about any drawbacks is the tiny cracks appearing around the mouth of their masks

Fuck! He swore as the menoses hand hit his back which was followed by a ”cunt” when two red orbs hit him. In the nipples! How was that even possible! Fortunately, the armor around his skin protected the hollow from most of the damage. Now there was a shallow gash on his back while the smaller blasts did nothing more than just make him feel uncomfortable.

These menos grande were a lot faster than the regular bunch and possessed unique abilities. But it also seemed that they were not compatible with their powers. The one who was actually able to damage him scorched its hand in the process. It could mean that Heart could win just by outlasting them.

Sadly he couldn’t afford such a strategy. It was clear as day that the thing keeping him alive was the other monsters ego. The moment It gets bored, he dies. So because of that, the gillian needs to kill all the lackeys fast and then go for the head before exhaustion kicks in. He smiled behind his mask. No pressure.

Thankfully a weird thought politely informed him of being too slow. Which was weird, but when did the hollows complain about free advice. He hardened the skin around the left arm which was left without armor as a side effect of “The Tyrants fist”.

Heart went for the menos that attacked him. It looked like the hollow was trying to push his enemy off its feet. That was a ruse. Knowing the gillian foot soldiers as the one-trick ponies they were, he gambled that it would try to evade like before. The hollow was counting on that. He’d create a garganta below one of its feet to trip the giant monster. If it succeeds then he’ll grab it and use it as a human shield against the speedy, red blasts.

While holding the poor sucker, Heart than will charge jet another cero in his mouth. At the same time, a menos head-sized garganta would open between him and the hostage turned meat shield. If lucky the other hollow would conceal it from the main enemies sight.

When the cero will be fully charged he’ll open a second portal next to the head of one of the shooters. The garganta will be opened so it would also face the second long-range attacker. He would then release the blast capable of vaporizing a house through the gateway.

NIZE SPLIT

”Eight more left.” The arrancar thought as the cero removed one of the gillians head clear from its shoulders. He was impressed so far. The hollow was more than just barely aware, using tactics and techniques its brethren usually wouldn’t. The thing was already showing talent in manipulating the garganta, something Nize should really consider improving himself aswell.

The question now stood, how to act from now? The gillian used as a shield wasn’t going to last long with the rapid blasts of balas he received to its body, but Split had only a rough idea of how many gargantas the thing can open before exhaustion. He could just scan him. Use the billions of tiny hallow-nano bots in his body and find out everything about the lumbering giant through them. But no. This was good mental training.

Meanwhile, the rapid-fire of balas didn’t end even when one of the soldiers fell lifeless. Its position was quickly replaced by another one, firing a steady stream of balas, one after another. By this time Heart would feel the resisting gillian in his hands weakening. The before weak struggles now something to completely disregard.

But then, as the creature would stop resisting all together, he would feel as intense warmth filled the creature’s body, it started to inflate like a balloon and soon explode with red energy. If he wasn’t fast enough Heart would experience how it is when a cero explodes in point-blank range. And even if he managed to quickly throw his body shield away there was still the shock-wave released by the explosion, being strong enough to make gillians lose their footing if they are too close.

”Reishi obeys to really lose rules. If it’s under your control you can tell for it to become unstable and volatile. A shame gillians don’t have that much energy in them.” Split’s voice spoke in Heart’s mind, feeling like educating the black-clad hollow.

”Don’t you think they are too slow, hmmmm?”

As that was whispered in the hollow’s mind one of the furthest gillians released a loud moan, almost human-like, and full of pain. Its mask cracked in multiple places as a sudden rush of energy filled it, all thanks to Nize, and another pair of arms broke through its black body.

Crazed, the gillian would charge at Heart in speed twice the usual and attempt to pull him to the ground, claws slashing from all four arms. If done nothing about it the victim of this onslaught would be left with countless gashes, ripped pieces of flesh and more, as the hollows claws were enhanced enough to now be capable of going through steel like butter.