After slaying the newborn Hollow, Lin Sheng wandered Hueco Mundo's dunes for nearly a week. In that time, he hunted and devoured countless beasts—mindless creatures that knew only hunger. One resembled something from an alien nightmare. Each kill added to his strength, swelling his serpentine body until he stretched nearly four meters long.
Yet amid his growth, he noticed something strange. Unlike other Hollows, he bore no black hole carved through his chest. Was he truly a Hollow at all?
"I'm not… empty," he muttered. "But I'm not human either. What am I supposed to be?"
The question lingered for only a moment. Whether Hollow or not, it hardly mattered. If lacking a void hole set him apart, it was a blessing—better than staring down the abyss carved into every other Hollow's chest.
His strength continued to climb, and soon he began to grasp the nature of his surroundings. This land was a nursery, a spawning ground for newborn Hollows. Relatively safe, compared to the vast desert beyond.
Or so he thought.
Three crushing waves of reiatsu suddenly slammed against him, one so overwhelming that his very body trembled. Cautiously, he climbed a dune and peered out. Three black silhouettes advanced across the sands.
"Borz, why are there so many newborns scattered here?" a massive humanoid Hollow demanded of the beast beside him.
"Lord Guy, I swear it wasn't me!" the beast—Borz—stammered. "Even if I had a hundred lives, I wouldn't dare steal from you!"
Lin Sheng's eyes narrowed. The towering Hollow called Guy radiated power, the clear commander of this territory. Borz served as his subordinate, charged with tending the area. But Lin Sheng's recent hunt had stripped the sands of newborns—and Borz, unlucky enough to return just now, looked ready to be executed.
A newborn Hollow burst from the ground nearby, shrieking. Guy struck it down in a single blow, so casually it made Lin Sheng's blood run cold.
"So strong…" he whispered.
But what happened next unsettled him more. Guy plucked the slain Hollow's mask and devoured it whole. No glowing reishi drifted free as Lin Sheng had seen before—only after Guy finished did the corpse dissolve into dust.
Why? Lin Sheng's mind raced. Do I absorb differently from them? Or… is this the true way Hollows evolve?
The questions would have to wait. Guy was far too dangerous, his reiatsu so immense that Lin Sheng knew he couldn't survive an encounter. Quietly, he began to slither away, determined to retreat before their presence crushed him.
But his inexperience betrayed him. Veterans like Guy could project their senses outward, scanning the sands for even the faintest reiatsu. Had Lin Sheng remained perfectly still, he might have gone unnoticed. But the moment he moved, the ripple betrayed him.
"There," Guy growled, his spiritual perception flaring. "A reiatsu nearby. Go hunt it down. Bring it back—whether guilty or not."
"Yes, Lord Guy!" Borz and the leopard-like Hollow beside him charged across the sands.
Lin Sheng froze. A sharp sting crawled across his spine—a predator's gaze.
They found me.
He whipped around, accelerating to his maximum speed, body gliding over the sands. Yet the danger only mounted. Two reiatsu signatures closed in rapidly, stronger and faster than his own.
"Not good," he hissed. "They're coming straight for me!"
His chances were slim—two against one. Unless…
Up ahead, several newborn Hollows clashed in a chaotic melee, their reishi flaring wildly. Lin Sheng's eyes lit with opportunity.
Perfect. If I devour them, maybe I'll gain the power I need.
He plunged into the fray, striking with ruthless precision. Against the newborns, his superior strength was overwhelming. One after another dissolved into fragments, blue spirit particles streaming into his body. His frame stretched longer, swelling to five meters.
Then came something new. A flash burned in his mind, an inherited memory forming from instinct.
Cero.
The word etched itself into his soul. A Hollow's most devastating weapon: a concentrated beam of reiatsu unleashed in a single destructive blast.
"This… this is Cero?!" Lin Sheng gasped, disbelief giving way to exhilaration. He had never seen a newborn Hollow wield such power—this was a technique reserved for Menos Grande and above. Yet somehow, he had claimed it.
Confidence surged. He no longer thought of fleeing. For the first time, he considered standing his ground.
The hunter and the prey… sometimes the roles change in an instant.
A dog-like Hollow and a leopard Hollow finally cornered him, circling with predatory grins. Borz bared his fangs. "You really know how to run. We've chased you across half this territory." His tone masked fear with bravado—he knew Lord Guy's wrath would fall on him if he failed.
The leopard glanced around at the dissipating reiatsu of fallen newborns. "There's been a fight here. Spirits scattered. But nothing else nearby."
"Then it's simple," Borz sneered. "He's just a newborn who got lucky. Grab him and drag him back. Lord Guy will decide his fate."
Both Hollows moved to surround Lin Sheng, confident in their strength.
Lin Sheng coiled his body, his masked eyes narrowing. The power of Cero pulsed within him, waiting to be unleashed.
This time, he would not run.