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Episode 26: Abdication

As he laughs I feel a chilling sensation run down my spine. I believe this s the hollow Nel told me about. She loathed this man and perhaps for a valid reason. His appearance, his clothing, everything about him spells true evil and utter despair.

Avoiding conflict with this hollow would be preferable. I kneel before the king, "Please forgive our intrusion...we do not wish for any conflict..." I raise my head. "Could we please join your great army?"

He leans back in his chair which I notice is made entirely of bones. "HAH!" His maniacal laughing fills the air, coercing his fellow subjects to grudgingly laugh as well. He forms his bone hands into a pyramid. "So you wish to serve me? If you had not realised yet with your infantile brains I already have a complete army, I get so bored here I do not require any more henchmen..." He cranes his head towards one of his subordinates. "However...I wouldn't mind some entertainment..." He clicks his fingers, summoning six shadows from behind the wall of darkness. "If you can defeat one of my Fraccion then I will be more than happy to have you as my subordinate."

After analysing their individual reatsu levels it seems clear these Adjuchas would be a pushover. "I'll take 'em all on at once..."

My comment generates hisses and gasps from the crowd. Barragan retorts. "That will not be necessary, one of my Fraccion will be enough to defeat you."

Is he kidding? They are only Adjuchas class and I already defeated a Vasto Lorde.

"Findor will be your opponent." As Barragan calls forth the Fraccion I feel a swift jet of air blow along my face. Once I blink, a hollow with proportionally large crab-like pincers appears within immediate proximity to me.

"In the time you blinked your eyes I could have killed you..." He speaks in an effeminate manner.

I step back hoping to avoid another quick strike but he pursues me towards the back of the hall.

"BANZAI!" I hear Shrieker however he is held back by another one of his Fraccion.

The battle begins with myself on the defensive. My opponent back-flips whilst performing an upwards kick. It strikes me in the chin and I'm sent flying backwards into the air. Whilst in the air he Sonidoes and kicks me upwards again. He pummels my body until I lash out with my claws, to which he clamps his pincers down on my hands, sniping them off my body.

"GRRRAAAGGGHHHH!" I howl in pain as I lose my bodily weapon. Until I can regenerate I must dodge his moves. Yet he is so agile and fast, especially for an Adjuchas.

I grunt hard as I try to quicken the regenerative process but through brief lapse in concentration I'm thrown into a giant pillar. He slowly walks over with his claw pointed, an indigo cero forming.

"Goodbye..." But before he can complete his cero he's impaled through his eye by a mysterious projection from my arm. It's black and almost looks like a sword.

He opens his pother eye in shock and remains limp for a moment before screaming in agony. "!" His reatsu levels flare when he pulls away from my sword hand. Half of his mask has broken away and a human face, though bloody, appears behind the crimson-black veil.

"GUUUGGGHHAHAHAHHAHA" He laughs in an eerie manner. "You're dead now. I'm able to increase my power by breaking off pieces of my mask. I'm not sure what kind of trick that is but I'll fix you." The battle has resumed and I roll to the side to avoid his strike. He's already entered Sonido before the strike impacts the wall.

I'm not sure what is going on with my body but for now I must focus on protecting my life. I use this sword attachment to block his claws. He disappears then attacks from behind. I jump up but he follows in the air. Blocking another one of his strikes I'm swept off my feet with a kick but recover in time to stop his claw from driving down into my gut. I parry him back but he Sonidoes again to land firmly on the ground. His speed is frustrating. It's too fast to interperet and he's supposed to be one class below me!

He zips between both sides of my vision going in for small flick of flesh. I can't block all of his movements and soon my body is full of small lacerations.

"I have you know." He descends but with my other hand fully regenerated I surprise him with a skewer attack aimed for his vital organs.

"Gungh..." he vomits purple guts with some blood mixed in. I think I've won until I notice the crude smile line his face. Though his teeth are stained with bloody plaque he still displays a strong fighting spirit. "BEHOLD..." He slices away the bottom of his mask and snips my extended claws. "...MY..." He now cuts off more of his mask and Sonidoes with brilliant speed around me. "...TRUE..." After cutting away more of his mask I'm back on the defensive. His strength has increased exponentially.

"...POWER!" I'm overwhelmed by a shockwave of reatsu. He dashes around appearing in a hundred places at once. They all fire small balls of cero like machine gun bullets. I use my Sonido t0o the best of my ability to avoid the energy bullets but some of them connect. They leave large singes on my flesh but aren't collectively as powerful as a cero. He forms a wall of bullet cero as they cave in he reappears in front of them to put me off guard, but I'm ablee to find a space and charge through the wall relatively unscathed. However I still don't have the time to relax as he performs an axe kick, sending me plummeting into the earth like a small meteor.

I'm riddled with pain, my body doesn't want to move any more. My sword is raised helplessly in hope I can stay alive for a little longer. As he pushes one claw against my sword he uses his other claw to amputate my sword hand. Whatever that mysterious power was I won't get the chance to fully now. It's gone, and soon I will be.

"To think I defeated a Vasto Lorde, in the end you were no better than a lowly hollow..." He was about to eat those words, literally, when the sword seemingly regenerated from my stumpy hand. White slime erupted from my appendage as it suffocated my opponent. Stained in blood and brain matter, he was not going to recover this time.

A deathly silence entered the hall as the battle concluded. A solitary clap from the King of Las Noches ended the awkward mute.

"Congratulations...you were able to defeat one of my Fraccion. As such you have been granted the privilege of serving under me...King Barragan." He places his fingers to his chest to emphasise his status.

Before I can reply I'm battered from the inside with a tremendous throbbing sensation. The sword attached to my arm convulses and the ground rumbles around me, eventually cracking the tiles. Barragan's docile subjects cautiously retreat into the shadows but his Fraccion rush to protect their king from the monster within me.

The voices that constantly tormented me as a Menos converge into one menacing voice. Although it's demonic in nature – it's all too familiar.

"You wanna know why your so strong Banzai? You wanna know why you've been winning all these battle lately? You wanna know why you evolved hundreds of times faster then any other hollow? You have been foolish too forget about me this entire time...You thought that by eating and killing hollows you could silence the voices but my voice overpowers your very conscious. I have been waiting for a time like this to emerge...I would thank you yet I cannot forgive you for your arrogance..."

"GAAAAGGGHHHH!" My life of pain never ends. My organs are crushed into fluid as a slimy white creature propels from my jaws. The slime spills onto the ground and slithers around, morphing and forming into the shape of a devastating hollow – no – it's more powerful than that.

The hollow's arms and legs emerge from the blob of slime, black markings run in zig-zags from his hollow hole. His horns curve forward and he bears a skull shaped mask. However it's not the fact that this thing spewed from my body that terrifies me. No not even the fact his reatsu is equivalent to a Vasto Lorde.

...But its the flowing fiery orange hair that terrifies me to the core of my hollow hole.

The fiery hair brings back hauting memories of an enemy I haven't ridden from my life just yet. Has he returned for vengeance? Or is this just a hollow manifestation? Find out what happens in the next dramatic chapter!