Episode 23: Evolution V
Before I can shake my opponents hand he strikes with a jab to my chest. I'm thrown back but slide along the dirt, raising a veil of dust. I charge forward with my claws, swiping left, right, diagonal, up and down. He weaves around each strike in an amazing display of agility. He smirks then kicks upwards, reaching my chin. I'm hurtling into a tree before I become embed in the wooden structure. Splinters pierce my slimy scaly flesh but that that is only trivial compared to the pain approaching.
His fist is like a missile, pounding into my ribcage, shattering bone and rupturing vital organs. I cough out blood and purple-black slime. My guts are turning into a pulpy soup as he pummels me into this tree.
"THIS IS THE ONE WHO KILLED MOSQUIS! WHAT A JOKE!" Time seems to slow down more as each punch impacts my frame. His arm flings back then bursts forwards like a piston in a large engine. His last strike impacts my mask, fragments of bone scratch my eye, and my vision blackens as my body wanders in and out of darkness.
I begin to wish that I pass out so I no longer have to feel the pain. But something inside of me is telling me to stay awake...and fight back...
As I feel the air funnel around my body for another incoming punch, I grab his hand without looking, digging my claws deep into his fist.
He screams in pain and tries to free his hand but my claws are locked in place. When I tug back his hand becomes a mangled mess of raw flesh and bone. I happily lick away his blood from my nails as the fluid streams down.
"YOU MONSTER!" He curses. He returns with his other arm but I block the fist and knee him in the gut. The force was enough to leave a gash in his stomach.
"That's it! Destroy him!" He resorts to his underlings.
"You can send a million of your pathetic men but the outcome will be the same." My voice sounds different and I feel like I'm in a strange trance. Although my body is mutilated forces I cannot comprehend keep my legs supported and my arms raised.
As the creatures head towards me my claws are aimed...al I need to do is pull the trigger... "Juicio Cero." The battlefield becomes scorched in dark flames. Bones turn to ash and blood vaporises into red mist.
Some hardy Adjuchas managed to survive the destruction and continue to attack. I duck under a flying arm and throw him to the ground before impaling my claws in his fragile mask. Another one leaps over me I hide my claws under my armpit before skewering him in mid-air. He looks as if he's fallen in a pit of stakes. As another few come forward I use the dead as a shield from their cero. Their left open to my attack, rip into their guts and quickly devour the scraps.
All that remains is the lead Adjuchas. "It seems I've killed your underlings...will you beg for mercy? Or seek retribution?"
I can see his breaths are heavy and he's losing lots of blood. "I-I-I...will...NOT LOSE TO YOU SCUM!" He flies forward in one last attempt of retribution. He seeks vengeance for his lost comrades.
"I would have given you an honourable death...if only you hadn't disposed of your comrades like that." The judgement has been dealt as his body remains skewered in my claws. One of them penetrates his eye whilst the other three impale the upper body, stomach and thigh.
"You...think…I'm...dead...yet?" He spits. He weakly raises his arm, forming another orb of destruction. His cero appears very bright, however I'm not fazed. Before he can complete the cero I clench my fist, cutting through his entire body. I defeated an Adjuchas; he will serve as a wonderful dinner.
As I devour him my body seems to change once more. This is unexpected and I wince as a pain surges throughout my body. The veins in my arms bulge and spew a milky substance. I grab my arm to stem the circulation but it's no use. My whole body is going through metamorphisms.
"GRRRAAAAAAGHHH STOP THE PAIN." I bash my head multiple times to silence the rising noises. I curse at the futility of my situation. The battle must have taken a toll on my body and this is my punishment.
Now my body begins to glow yellow. My arms and hands are shrinking and changing shape. They pulsate as my body compresses into half its size.
I scream to the Gods in one last plea for mercy. My bones are being crushed and my insides are coming out. As I yell to the top of my shattered lungs my body seems to explode in what would otherwise be a dazzling display, brighter than a thousand suns.
As the smoke clears I find myself in a large crater possibly kilometres long. The impact torn a giant seam in the dark heavens and I can now see the moon for the first time. Sand cascades down from the giant chasm forming a wall of fine crystals around the crater as the moonlight shines down upon me.
My body feels, for the first time since I've become a hollow, great. The voices appear to have been silenced and everything seems in the right proportions. I feel more...human again.
Observing my hand it seems the once giant feature is now more of a small gauntlet. Black markings stripe along my emaciated body. I stare into my reflection in the flowing sands of time. My mask spells complete fear, no ordinary hollow would dare want to encounter me now...as a Vasto Lorde.
The evolution process has reached the end for me...strange...I had no idea how quickly it would take...Is something else involved here? For now though I will savour this moment, as the most feared and most powerful type of hollow in all of Hueco Mundo...Please don't miss the next intriguing chapter