c2 - Xenogenic Gillian
"Cruff, crunch!"
The eerie sound of chewing echoed across the vast, desolate landscape of Hueco Mundo. The endless white dunes stretched out in every direction under a bleak, moonlit sky, indifferent to the carnage below. In mere moments, the two-meter-long Lizard Hollow was completely devoured, reduced to nothing more than scattered remnants of bone and flesh.
Yet, despite consuming the entire creature, Ye Chuan did not feel full. If anything, it was as if his hunger had only slightly lessened. He instinctively knew that he could gorge himself on a hundred more and still crave more.
As he finished digesting his meal, Ye Chuan noticed a subtle shift in himself. His spiritual pressure had increased by about one-twentieth of his previous total, a marginal gain but a necessary step toward survival. He also felt a slight expansion in his size—his monstrous, centipede-like lower half had grown just a bit longer.
During the process of devouring the Hollow, Ye Chuan had made a crucial discovery. Less than 40% of the spiritual energy absorbed came from consuming the body itself; the remaining 60% originated from the shattered fragments of its mask.
"The taste is strange," he mused, running his bone-covered fingers over his own mask. "A bit like compressed biscuits."
---
For the following half-month, Ye Chuan roamed the desert wasteland, driven by his insatiable hunger. He systematically hunted down weaker Hollows, growing steadily stronger. Yet, none of them displayed intelligence—each was a mindless beast driven solely by instinct. It became clear to him that, unlike himself, most Hollows were devoid of human reasoning.
Then, one fateful night, while lurking beneath the sand with only his masked face exposed, a blinding crimson light erupted in the distance.
"ROAR!"
A bloodcurdling scream tore through the air as a massive, black-and-red Cero beam cut across the dunes. The searing energy struck a forty-meter-long Earthworm Hollow, splitting it in half in an instant. The sheer force of the attack caused the ground to tremble, kicking up a dense cloud of dust.
Ye Chuan, hidden just meters away, instinctively recoiled. Even buried beneath the sand, he could feel the oppressive spiritual pressure radiating from the attacker.
"That was… Cero!" His mind reeled as he recognized the signature ability of Menos-class Hollows. Seeing it in real life was far more terrifying than any depiction in the anime.
Turning his gaze toward the source of the attack, he saw a towering figure—one that dwarfed anything he had encountered thus far.
Standing nearly a hundred meters tall, the entity was unmistakably a Gillian-class Menos. Its body was completely black, save for a grotesque, elongated white mask adorned with jagged bone spikes. The dense spiritual pressure emanating from it confirmed what Ye Chuan feared.
"This… this is a Gillian! No… wait!"
He had encountered Gillians before, but this one was different. It was far larger than the ones he had previously seen and, more importantly, its mask deviated from the standard featureless design of typical Gillians.
"A… Variant Gillian!" Ye Chuan realized with a jolt.
He recalled from Bleach lore that Gillians were formed when hundreds of Hollows fused together in a chaotic battle for dominance. Normally, this resulted in a mindless behemoth, a mere foot soldier among Menos. However, in rare cases, one dominant consciousness could retain its individuality—such anomalies were known as Variant Gillians. These unique beings had the potential to evolve into the higher forms of Menos—Adjuchas or even the legendary Vasto Lorde.
Ye Chuan felt a chill crawl up his spine. If this Variant Gillian had retained its intelligence, it would instinctively seek to devour weaker Hollows to accelerate its evolution. That made him a prime target.
Before he could even process an escape plan, the upper half of the bisected Earthworm Hollow, still twitching, suddenly burrowed into the sand and frantically wriggled in Ye Chuan's direction.
"Damn it! Don't come this way!" he hissed internally, his instincts screaming at him to remain undetected.
The Variant Gillian watched the Earthworm Hollow's feeble escape attempt with an amused glint in its eyes. Then, with terrifying speed, it moved—appearing directly in front of the fleeing creature.
Ye Chuan's breath hitched.
"So fast!"
The Gillian reached down, its massive hand—covered in jagged bone spikes—gripping the Earthworm Hollow effortlessly. With a guttural roar, it hoisted the struggling creature up and, without hesitation, shoved it into its gaping maw.
Crunch! Snap!
The sickening sound of bones being crushed sent a shiver down Ye Chuan's spine. In mere moments, the Earthworm Hollow was reduced to nothing but scraps. Then, without sparing another glance at its surroundings, the Variant Gillian turned and lumbered off into the distance.
Ye Chuan remained motionless for several minutes, his body still partially buried in the sand. His mind raced as he processed what had just transpired.
"It… it saw me," he realized, his fingers clenching into the coarse grains of sand beneath him. "But it ignored me."
The realization left a bitter taste in his mouth. The Variant Gillian had deemed him too weak to even bother eating.
A mix of humiliation and relief washed over him.
"Fine… I'll remember this!" Ye Chuan vowed internally, watching the Gillian's retreating form. "One day, I'll evolve—become an Adjuchas, maybe even a Vasto Lorde. And when that day comes, I'll make sure you know how this feels!"
Only after several more hours passed, ensuring the Variant Gillian had truly departed, did Ye Chuan cautiously emerge from the sand. His gaze fell upon the remaining half of the Earthworm Hollow's body—its mask and upper portion had been devoured, but its lower half remained untouched.
A dark grin formed beneath his mask.
"Well… thank you, Gillian. I'll take this as a gift."
With that, he began feasting once more, determined to take another step toward his inevitable evolution.