"Coming here is one thing, but finding the bloody hollow is another" Torin grumbled, he had been hunting for his inner hollow for a while now, time flowed in strange ways in his inner world, and it seemed like it had been hours since he first woke up on the outskirts of the ruined city of the world.

Torin entered the central building of his inner world, a large dome with ornate double doors, skylights without glass, and a giant wall sized mural in the center that was colorless unless struck by natural light, which only existed when Kessho Satsujinsha was present.

"Bout time you showed up" a female voice said

Standing before the mural was a woman Torin recognized. She had fiery red hair, a stunningly beautiful body, and all white clothes. Torin's breath caught in his throat, it couldn't be… he stumbled backwards in shock "y-you, you're" he stammered.

"I've waited a long time to see you Torin" the woman said "It's been so long since we parted, back in the rukongai"

"S-Serena?" Torin asked "but… how? You're dead, you can't be here"

"Silly boy" Serena laughed "you know I'll always be a part of you"

Serena turned to face Torin, and his blood turned to ice in his veins. Every part of her was exactly as he remembered, all except for the eye, which were golden irises in a sea of blackness, just like a hollow.

"You… you aren't her…" Torin said, his shock and confusion slowly turning to anger, how dare this thing mock Serena's memory like this! "Why do you look like that hollow!" he asked angrily.

"I am the darkness of your soul Torin" Serena said "I embody your regrets, your fears, and all the negative emotions that come with them, this woman is your biggest regret, and so I appear to you in her form. In many ways I AM Serena, I even possess some of her memories of her time with you, it's strange to have the memories of another as your own."

"They aren't your memories, and you are NOT her!" Torin said through gritted teeth. He said that, but he couldn't really fight Serena could he? He had resolved to put his past behind him, but this was different!

"Believe what you wish, the fact is though that now that we've met, the conflict has begun, there's no retreat for you now. We will fight, and you'll either kill Serena or die yourself!" Serena laughed as a mockery of Torin's zanpakto appeared in her hand, the blade was black, the exact opposite of Torin's. it practically absorbed the light of the room around it.

Serena charged at Torin, slashing viciously at his head. Torin ducked and drew his own zanpakto to parry the next strike.

"So… do you have it in you? Serena asked "to strike me down? To watch me die…again?"

Torin was shaken by the question, and his force lessened, allowing his blade to be pushed away and his arm to be cut by the hollow. Torin jumped away, but Serena used sonido to move behind him and slash again. Torin barely got his guard up in time, and struggled to hold off the strike, particularly with his arm already injured.

"Damn you" Torin growled, he let his instincts take over, breaking away from Serena and avoiding the rest of the slash.

Serena jumped back and spun, slashing to send a wave of force at Torin, which he met with one of his own.

Torin used shunpo to mover behind Serena and launch a spinning slash of his own, which was blocked. The two broke apart and used shunpo and sonido to clash again and again. They were equally matched in speed and strength, but Torin's male body had more weight, and as such he had a slight edge in power.

Torin blocked a strike from the side, then pushed it aside to counter, but Serena jumped over the blade and landed on it with one hand, launching herself into a kick to the face that should've sent Torin tumbling, but he caught her foot at the last moment with his free hand and threw her into a building.

Serena got back up, but was too slow, Torin was on her, determined to put an end to the hollow once and for all. His blade rose over his head, preparing for the killing blow.

Serena blinked, and for a moment her eyes were blue and human again "Torin… please don't" she pleaded, her voice exactly like the real Serena's

Torin hesitated, even though he knew it was his inner hollow, it was such a convincing copy of her that it brought him out of his instinctive style of combat and made him realize he was about to cut down the woman he had loved.

Serena grinned sadistically as it recovered and slashed, using Torin's hesitation to cut him open, very nearly cleaving him in two. Blood spurted from Torin's body as if it were a broken water balloon, and he stumbled backward, barely able to stand after the critical injury.

Serena cackled "thank you Torin, for everything, goodbye" she said, mocking the real Serena's final words to him.

Torin began to fall backward, it seemed like time was slowing down for him.

"everything's… going dark…" he thought "so this is… how it ends… its fitting really… that I'd die by her hand…"

Serena cackled, her laugh becoming a cruel distorted mockery of the woman he had once lover.

"but it isn't her, not at all" Torin realized "the hollow is just a reflection of my own memories, its twisting them, using them against me, desecrating them."

Torin's fall stopped, then reversed, his body lifted by an aura of reiatsu. Serena's laughter stopped as she watched in awe and horror.

"I won't die here" Torin said, his hair beginning to float in the aura around him as he straightened, his wound closing as if it had never existed.

"anyone who desecrates her memory…" Torin spat "I will KILL!"

Torin's reiatsu shot up to an impossible level. Making his entire inner world tremble.

Serena stumbled back, her form flickering from Serena to a reflected version of Torin, then back. "w-what are you?" it stammered "where do you get such power!?"

"This is MY realm hollow!" Torin spat as his bankai formed on him "here, I am god, and now I am going to smite you! Prepare to die!"