Chapter 3: The beast that remained

Madara's Mindscape:

A frenzy of black lightning raged through a blood red sky, erratically the black arcs of energy danced above as the thunderclaps that followed each bolt boomed continuously in a useless attempt to keep up. Black droplets fell in sheets from the cloudless sky filling this world in a melancholy state of being, tall jagged peaked mountain tops made of obsidian gemstone filled the area piercing a swirling veil that shimmered red and black below, the haze like clouds gave an appearance of extremely high altitude. They obsidian spires towered high into the crimson sky the dark lightning paid them no mind as it danced around the colossal structures striking a lone figure restrained in midair between them.

Excruciating pain coursed through his body each time the black lightning bolts struck him jump starting his nervous system well beyond its limit, forcing his jaws apart in an attempt to scream out in agony yet no sound left his lips. Madara Uchiha hung suspended in the air between two of the dark mountain peaks, his arms and legs restrained by four white tendrils that stretched from the black gemstone. All four restraints painfully sown deep into each limb reaching his bones as they weaved through his arms and legs ensuring he could not move. Sadistically they snaked from his shoulders and thighs outward in small fiber like wires tightly interlaced into his muscle tissue coming together to form a thick grotesque looking wire that stretched towards the mountains. He felt like some strung up animal inwardly cursing the irony of his situation restrained in a world that so perfectly resembled that of tsukuyomi his answer to the hell that was his world in life. Being tortured there like some cruel joke mocking him, smearing his failure in his face. He couldn't think, he couldn't speak and any attempt to resist the pull of his restraints just ended in mind numbing agony. He was helpless.

When the next set of Lightning bolts came they weren't for him, instead this time they strayed and converged on a single point in the distance before him bursting to life in explosion of black energy as if the bolts had struck some invisible floor. As the energy that was released began to spread and dissipate the individual particles suddenly imploded on themselves and seemingly out of nothingness a heinous and savage looking beast of dark fur covered in bone like armor formed and began stalking towards his hovering body. With its head down as if it were preparing to pounce the four legged beast slowly approached the dazed Madara a low growl rumbling from within it growing louder the closer it got to its prey. Its features and shape fluctuating from the monstrous beast to a featureless humanoid shadow supporting to large curved outlined horns atop its head shifting every time the black lightning flashed above. Through a haze of pain Madara made out the beast's appearance what he saw echoed through his core as if something cold had gripped his heart. He opened his mouth to speak; to question what this place was and why he was there, but his voice betrayed him again as his mouth moved without sound. Barely a foot away the beast bared its sharp fangs shimmering to its horned humanoid black mass then instantly back to the growling beast he saw before as lightning flashed twice in rapid succession one after the other.

The beast lunged black steel like claws extended it tore into Madara's abdomen sinking its sharp fangs into his left side crushing his rib cage between its jaws filling its mouth the dark beast pulled its head back tearing his flesh the making first of many injuries to come. Only the snarls of satisfaction that rolled from inside the beast's body could be heard as it violently tore into him again and again falling deeper in to frenzy with each bite. The beast carried on that way tearing at whatever it could get its teeth around not differentiating between meat or bone as the black and red world around it crumbled to pieces dissolving into nothingness, rearing back giving a victorious deafening roar as the mind scape of Madara Uchiha shattered taking his consciousness and the memories of his past life with it.

Back in Hueco Mundo:

The three hollows were blown back with incredible force by the shock wave of spiritual pressure released by changing body of Madara Uchiha. After crashing hard into the sandy floor the three monsters struggled to rise crushed by the weight of the volatile spiritual pressure their bodies trembling as they tried to support their own weight. The torrent of black energy surrounded him. Rapidly swirling the dark energy picked up the surrounding sand as it began to spin violently to form a white and black typhoon with an unstable Uchiha at the center.

Hunched over on all fours Madara desperately tried to breathe in between the heaving spasms of white substance that was now freely flowing from his mouth. His veins ran black across his skin extending from the new hole that now made a perfect tunnel through his chest. Setting his nerves on fire as they spread through his body thickening and melding together changing his skin to the same pitch black color as the fur that grew where his skin had changed. Becoming overwhelmed with agony as his bones began to break and reform giving off a sickening cracking sound as they dislocated, shattered and healed moving to suit their new purpose under his skin. His teeth became fangs growing longer and sharper as his nose and chin grew out to short cat like snout, his spine elongated becoming visible as the Spinous process grew and sharpened becoming spiked ridged scales made of thick bone like those found on the back of a dragon and the bottom stretching in to a long pointed tail of jagged hard bone. His ribs thickened melding together forming diamond shaped plates that overlapped to protect his under belly. Painfully he raised his right arm as his elbows unhinged backwards giving a new angular curve between themselves and the shoulders that shifted popping out of place becoming thicker and ripping out of his skin forming a dense boney shoulder plate that grew thick short spikes which curved to angle at the sky. He pounded his fist into the ground sending another shockwave of spiritual pressure across the landscape as both of his hands and feet became thick paws with his nails stretching and hardening into sharp jet black claws. His long raven colored hair became coarse and rough as it hugged both sides of his neck merging around the underside of his cheekbones forming a thick long mane that reached down to his newly made hollow hole. Uncontrollably his body continued to change to perfectly resemble the savage beast that was feasting on his very being inside his mind.

Yet it wasn't the solidifying foreign substance slowly taking shape around his face nor the crippling pain he felt in every fiber of his being while his body drastically changed to its new animalistic form that worried the unstable Uchiha. As strange as it all was he'd undergone unknown transformation before, he'd experienced this level of pain neither were anything new. What unhinged the transitioning shinobi completely was the very essence of his being fading away from his body something he'd never in his hundreds of years experienced. As everything that made him who he was being ripped away from him fading into an empty space he struggle to cling to any form of coherency but his consciousness, his intelligence even his memories were slipping from grasp and into nonexistence.

The white substance covering his face now hardening black wisps of spiritual pressure rising as it began taking a shape of its own. Above its new round feline ears two horns extended curving back into sharp points that be reached several inches above his black mane. Each horn supported one long thick black cone like marking that curved towards the top of where its eyes should be. Coming under the bangs of its mane at the base of the horns the mask curved connecting the two causing its mane to slightly fall over the front curve of the mask. Reaching down tightly conforming to its new face with a thinner jagged horn extending straight up from the point of its nose that down to the mouth where two long fangs covered the beast's large canines. The mask continued following the curve of its mouth forming two smaller fangs towards the corners of its mouth where a stout black triangle mark point outwards here is where the hollow mask split into two separate halves. The jaw piece formed three jagged ridges falling just below the jaw line coming to a long thin flat top point at the chin. The jaw piece supported three black triangular markings from each of the newly formed ridges at its jawline, with the points.

As the mask finalized its shape and hardened only the name Madara Uchiha remained, with the last bit of will power the lion like hollow struggled mentally to cling to that small piece of its former self. In the end it proved useless as two long and thin black bars stretched out on both sides of lion's hollow mask from the bottom curve that framed its ears. Reaching for each other stopping at the edges atop its flat wide nose where it spilt around the base of its snout. One small pointed curve spilled down towards the longest fang of its mask the and the other forming a black hitch pointing towards the black marking that extended from the tip of the horns above its head. when the black bars dissolved giving way to form narrow eye sockets through the hollow's mask only darkness shown underneath like empty soulless pits the name Madara Uchiha was no more.

With its nose pointed towards the ground and its weight shifted on its hind legs ready to launch the four legged beast at its three targets struggling to stand before it. A heavy and feral growl rolled out from deep inside of the newly formed hollow calming the maelstrom of whirling black energy, letting its growl turn in to a loud malicious roar the pitch black whirlwind dissipated as the hollow stabilized its new power. As the its roar died down the black spirit particles shimmered dissolving in the air, the black lion like hollow covered in thick armor like bone crouching and ready for altercation to come bottomless black voids where it's for eyes giving it a malevolent visage even by a hollow's standards. There was no coherence in this monster any rhyme or reason long gone, no conscious or intelligence no sense of self let alone right or wrong. All that remained was the hunger insatiable and unyielding. The painful pit in its chest urging it to feed came on like tidal wave.

With its attention on the three hollows in front of it the beast's mouth watered seeing only means to slightly quite this uncontrollable hunger coincidently focusing its spiritual pressure on the three hollows causing there trembling legs to buckle underneath them. The Lion took off closing the wide distance rapidly lashing out with its newly formed claws it delivered a killing blow effortlessly piercing the mask of to the centipede shaped hollow. Without breaking stride the lion continued towards the two remaining hollows as they tried to move out of the way. The bigger one of the two hollows lunged with its huge talons outstretched before it in an attempted to injure its attacker. Seeing the big hollows attack the black lion instinctively sunk its head lower ducking underneath the clumsy attempt. Now directly below the oversized monster the cunning beast arched his back higher piercing its target with the razor like spikes that extended from its spine slicing cleanly from its sternum down its midsection. Landing on its own entrails that had spilled out the injured giant began groaning in pain it reached out trying to pull its self away. The hungry lion looked back no mercy shown in the black pits that occupied its eye sockets the beast tore through the back of the whimpering hollows neck leaving the spiked helmet that covered its head to roll freely on the ground. Savoring the tastes of its first bite as a hollow the loin's spiritual pressure lashed out as it swallowed lump down. Overcome by the exhilarating sensation the mindless beast had completely forgotten the last hollow. The green hollow took advantage of its opening sinking its sharp claws across the distracted lions neck, feeling the searing pain of the new wound the lion lashed out moving faster than it was capable of moments ago he caught the dog's hind leg in its jaws jerking its head back it tearing the limb clean off. Crashing hard into the ground the dog whimpered in pain as its blue orbs started back at the lion. It was introduced to a grotesque sight as the cannibalistic hollow stalked towards him slowly crunching down on the leg of its prey swallowing it bones and all. It's spiritual pressure lashing out once again increasing as he devoured a piece of the weaker hollow. Something strange happened inside of its empty eye sockets as it drew near. From out of the endless darkness that seemed to fill the lion's eyes a sliver of red danced its way out of the emptiness spinning intensely as it formed two blood red orbs in its sockets, but more interesting yet were the three black commas that continued to spin madly as the lion sunk its fangs into its next meal.

When he was done the black armored hollow stood over the corpse of its fallen prey as it reared its head back and let out shattering roar signifying its victory. After consuming each of the pathetic monsters, something happened with each bite the hollow's strength grew, its muscles became stronger its spiritual pressure increasing, slowly being able to form thoughts… white mask, more power it incoherently thought to its self. Not noticing the price of its new habit the cannibalistic lion began hunting its own kind. Three black commas spinning slowly in there crimson orbs it scanned the area seeing a shimmering shade of blue visible far into the distance…Hunger was the lone thought that crossed its mind before taking of in a burst of speed in the direction of the blue hue that rose into the empty void miles away.

Authors note:

Phew, that was a fun chapter to write got to get pretty damn creative with that one. Ok so now that I'm starting to get a few chapters under my belt here let me start by saying this is my first attempt to write anything outside of the papers that are required going through school but I've always had a crazy proactive imagination, add my immense love for Naruto and bleach then multiply it with the fact that I've secretly always wanted to be a writer equaling to this story being my first step towards that end. For me anything I write on here is a test run of my writing skills as i take the steps to write my own novel. So I really want to know your thoughts and opinions as the story progresses feel free to share any ideas you'd think would be awesome in the story try and keep it productive please. I don't know how long the story will be exactly but I'm looking to make it a big story as my whole goal is to test my ability to create something interesting and captivating that makes you want to keep reading. So let me know if you have any questions or if anything isn't very clear in the story so I can address it in my next authors note.