ARRANCAR
Title: Heroism, Hollow King
Human Name: Kotomine Kirei
Age: Unknown - most likely around 3000 years.
Gender: Male
Orientation: 'High Priest' of the Espada
Appearance: Heroism is a very tall individual, standing at nearly 2 meters height. His build is strong and muscular, leaving no room for possibly thinking that he might be vulnerable in combat. His movements and actions all seem very collected and calm.
His Hollow hole is directly above where a humans heart would be, hidden by his priest robes. His mask fragments take on the shape of a pendant around his neck, which has the shape of a crucifix. He can't remove the pendant from his body, the chain is connected to his soul directly. His tattoo signifying his position as an Espada is on the back of his right hand.
Aspect of Death: Pride
Personality: ~Calculating~
Heroism isn't one to act upon emotions. In fact, he never does that - he is always analytical, and thinks about all possible options and outcomes of each action or even step he takes. He has been known to lead possible Arrancar opposing him against each other with cold, sharp planning, without getting his own hands dirty. And for the times where he does need to get them dirty, he is just as tactical in fights, though way more brutal and seemingly impulsive - but even these impulses are calmly thought out strategy.
~Feelings for Others~
The Hollow Hero cares little for others. Those that gain his trust are excluded from this, but all normal Arrancar, humans, Shinigami - he hates the latter two, and while approving the uses of the former, he clearly doesn't shed tears for them dying for his plans. He doesn't approve of suicide missions, however, seeing as they merit not enough profit for the loss... In most cases. There are exceptions to every rule for him.
~Determined~
If Heroism has a goal, he'll go through any means to achieve it. If he has to, he'll fight an army to the death alone, or sacrifice a close friend - it all is for his higher goals. His determination is admirable, but also a bit self-destructive, and dangerous for those around him - it's a strange case of own madness in that right.
~Pride~
Heroism is proud about being a Hollow. For him, their wild, savage race is the salvation of everyone, a cleansing darkness to wash away the madness of life. He takes great pride in his abilities as well, and will usually hate to drop a challenge to a fight unaccepted. Still, he is often forced to do so.
~Root of Evil~
In short, Heroisms whole behavior is simply one thing: evil from the viewpoint of a normal human. He kills, he takes hostages, he is cruel and sadistic in combat, and he loves to twist people around with words alone. Once, a long time ago, Heroism found out that he was born with a soul that could only feel joy whenever he was evil - the good won't give him any joy. He follows his instinct to be evil from nature alone, a twisted mirage of a hero - the Dark Hero of the Hollow race.
~Pure of Heart~
Disturbingly, being completely and utterly evil has not tainted Kirei's soul in the slightest. Normal abilities to sense corruption and evil do not work against him, as they will simply find a pure-hearted individual - even evil-sealing weapons have no special effect against him. His 'evil' is counted as so pure, so natural, that even the Angra Mainyu can't corrupt it, but even obeys his purity. As such, Heroism can be compared to a real saint. As such, though, Kirei is also able to feel whenever someone else is an 'empty' person like himself, and can't help but feel some sympathy for them.
~Manipulative~
Nobody is truly Heroisms friend, no matter what they might think. Everyone is, in some way or another, a tool for his greater plans, or a tool that is being saved for possible later plans. Yet still, he can act perfectly friendly and even like a true hero if he needs to do so to capture the trust of someone he needs for later. Once someone trusts Kirei, though, all bets are off on what he'll do with that trust - his influence can twist even kind souls and utterly break them upon the reveal of his true face.
Abilities: His ability is the reason for Heroisms strange knowing attitude. Every being can see 3D - we comprehend the world that way. But actually, the fourth dimension is always around us - time. Heroisms eyes are special - they can 'see' and 'comprehend' time in a strange way. He can see the possible future as fluctuations of time. For example, if one would throw a punch at him, and he was to dodge to the right, he could see if the enemy kicks for him with the knee before he even dodged to the right - and he could chose another action.
This ability is not instant, and it will never cover everything. Recklessness can break the times he sees, and strong or wide attacks can make it harder to figure out the corrent 'timeline' to follow in order to dodge. In other words, even with this knowledge of impending paths of time, Heroism is far from invincible, although he would like to believe that he is. He can, however, use this to more easily manipulate people by talking, since he has a bit more time to figure out what to say himself, compared to others.
As an Arrancar, he has augmented physical abilities - his bodily strength is quite amazing, as he knows multiple martial arts styles to enhance it even further. His favorite ones to use are Muay Thai and Bajiquan.
As the Hero of Hollows and high ranking Espada, he is able to use Cero quite efficiently - his blasts have a golden color to them. He can also use Gran Rey Cero and Cero Oscuras, both with their regular charging time. His Gran Rey Cero is made up of golden lightning entirely, while his Cero Oscuras has a muddy, black and red interior instead of the normal pitch black, with a golden outline. This symbolizes his affinity for the real Angra Mainyu, but does not change the effect of the attack at all.
His most famous ability, though, is one embedded into the fragment of his mask. When the fragment touches the mask of a normal Hollow, that Hollow's mask will be broken into pieces. A weaker Hollow might die from this process, but Menos-class Hollows will most likely survive. The result is a new Arrancar being born, maybe slightly weaker than a natural Arrancar, but still quite capable of fighting... And of being a danger to the Shinigami.
Sealed Zanpakutô: Heroisms Zanpakutō is called 'Black Key', and it's actually made out of six seperate swords, which he uses in a three blades per hand fashion.
While he is skilled with the blades, he doesn't use them too much. He can throw the black keys like throwing knives, and as long as he holds onto one of them at least, he can call them back to his hands one post later. They don't 'fly' back, but rather disappear into black smoke and reappear in his hands.
Release: All the World's Evil, Angra Mainyu.
Resurrección: The six black keys melt into him like wavering shadows or mist, as the darkness covers Heroisms entire body, before revealing his true form of power.
The white armor that forms enhances his durability, while the wings and tails give him better movements in the air. The structure is not unlike the bones that make up a Hollow Mask, just harder. The tail itself has razor-sharp saw-like parts, with both his hands and feet having their own set of claws that come with the natural armor.
Besides having those natural weapons now, his phyisical attributes improve quite a bit, making him stronger and faster, a general upgrade of his body. Furthermore, he can now charge a Cero more quickly, and even fire multiple ones, with one from each claw on his hands at maximum.
Furthermore, his view into the future becomes better - he can see a bit further, making him react better, but still not on the level where he sees EVERYTHING.
His most feared ability, though, is one that slowly charges up as time passes. After five posts after using Resurrección, the 'meter' on Heroisms chest is fully charged and glows yellow, allowing him to use his absolutely strongest attack - Worst Possibility.
This attack takes the shape of a yellow orb of energy, similliar looking to electricity. If it hits an enemy or object, they get struck with any injury and damage they could sustain during the next few moments up to next few minutes - hitting the ground in a city with it would devastate it, and an enemy will get high amounts of damage from it, too.
After using Worst Possibility, it has to be charged again for 5 posts, and it takes quite a bit of energy to use it each time he does so. Since the attack is spiritual, it can be deflected or destroyed if the sphere gets damaged enough before making contact with the body of someone.
History: Heroism was born in japan, with his birth name being Kirei - Kotomine Kirei. His exact date of birth is unknown, but it seemingly was around 3000 years ago, rather young for a person who should later become an Arrancar. His life was set out to be a harsh one from the start, as one of the five sons of a farmer.
Since he was a kid, his life felt empty, though. No single bit of happiness ever filled his thoughts, and even as a baby before he could even think, Kirei rarely smiled or laughed, as if he was devote of any feelings at all. However, that was not entirely true, as he found out at the age of 10.
On his way home with his father from the market, they somehow lost each other in a forest. That was not really a problem for Kirei, since both he and his father knew their way back. But on this way home, all alone, he suddenly stumbled over something - and that something was whimmering in pain. There, an injured man laid in his own blood, the wounds clearly speaking of an attack by a wild animal. Looking at the boy, begging for the mercy of a quicker death at his hands...
Kirei smiled, and sat down on the ground, watching the man suffer. A whole-heartedly, happy and content smile - he felt joy watching the pain of the other human, his struggle for life. This dark pleasure filling him, seeing a life vanish, the mans begging turned into cursing the boy, shouting different insults and names of demons as his last words.
As Heroism watched this, he slowly noticed that he
knew what the man was going to say. As the mans voice turned into a whisper, growing weaker... the young Kirei said just what the man wanted to say, with an innocent, smiling "Right?" behind it. Turning from hate into pure fear, the man died with his last breath. Standing up again, Kirei made his way home.
Shortly before arriving at home, he felt this strange knowledge again, but only when thinking about those possiblities. So, the young farmer boy saw many possible outcomes of opening that door to his home - but they all seemed cold, unreal. As if he would lose that feeling he now had... that feeling of joy.
Sneaking behind his house, the boy snatched the nearest tool he could find, a simple axe. The next move he did, was to attack his oldest brother from behind - bringing the axe for wood-chopping down on the head of his 20 year old brother who was still working on the field alone in the evening. Leaving the dead body behind with a smile, he hid the axe and returned home, making his excuse that he got lost in the woods.
The next morning, he faked his surprise and terror at finding his oldest brother dead in his own blood, with the head cleaved in two. Nobody noticed the hidden smile on his face. That night, he would bring even more terror and death...
As everyone was sleeping, the still awake Kirei snuck into the kitchen, getting the only knife in the entire house. Sliding it through the throat of each of his brothers - after waking them up first and letting them slowly bleed and suffocate to death - he even moved on to his parents, cutting his fathers throat and stabbing his eyes out, after waking up his mother first, before he also killed the terified woman. And all along, the hazy image of possibilities before his eyes solidified - he had aquired the Mystic Eyes of Possibility.
From that point onward, Kirei was always alone during his life - he became a thief and murderer, using his child-like looks at first and his eyes later to become a feared man in ancient japan, before he was found out at the age of 25. Being driven into a corner, even his eyes couldn't save the maniac from being stabbed to death and torn to pieces.
When he next woke up, he was a lost soul in the human world. Unable to accept his demise, as he was still searching for the 'answer' to everything, especially why he was evil from birth on, his soul chain quickly eroded over the course of only one month, transforming him into a Hollow. Slaying the humans who killed him as a mad beast, he retreated into Hueco Mundo once the Shinigami arrived.
In his unbelievable hunger, he nearly immedeatly started consuming other Hollow. While he had lost much of his intelligence, his eyes remained with him.
Taking over the personality of the newly forming Menos his wild, savage self was a part of, Heroism slowly acquired the knowledge he searched for, or so he believed.
The answer to everything was this hunger. The desire to consume, to rule, to destroy - darkness was the true heart of humanity. And to make them realize - he would have to make them into Hollows themselves.
Consuming Hollows and other Gillian, as a Menos, it took Kirei nearly 200 years to ascend into the next level - to become an Adjuchas. His form from that time is unknown, but his eyes kept going with him, from hazy images to nearly clear pictures of possible futures flooding his mind, turning him into an even more efficient killer. And that killing was mostly done on other Adjuchas to consume them, furthering his own power. To bring darkness, he needed to be the ultimate darkness - a Vasto Lorde.
However, attaining that power could take aeons. Only very few Hollow ever reached that level. So, Kirei thought out a plan... he would find someone who already was a Vasto Lorde, and kill and eat him. Easier said than done.
Finding a Vasto Lorde, Kirei talked a group of other Adjuchas into attacking, making them believe he would help - but he actually stayed back until they were all dead, and the Vasto Lorde weakened. Using his eyes for a near-perfect sneak attack, Kirei managed to bite off an arm of the way stronger Hollow, and comsume it, instantly gaining more power with which he slaughtered his enemy. That was his ascension, roughly 600 years ago, to the ranks of the Vasto Lorde. He achieved the nearly impossible feat all in order to obtain his ultimate power, so that he could plunge humanity into insanity.
To increase his power further, he hid in the human world afterwards. Acquiring the means to hide his presence as a Hollow by taking posession of a living human, he shaped the body into a form alike to his human self and learned. Martial Arts, spiritual arts, and more. He learned from the master of the Bajiquan himself, and is rumored to be the murderer of his master, too.
Collecting information in all worlds, he slowly found bits and pieces about the one thing able to grant his wish - the Holy Grail, but it was obstructed from his grasp by the dimensional barrier between Hueco Mundo and the Sugiura Dimension. As Aizens betrayers went through the desert lands, Kirei hid himself, and watched. How Aizen turned Hollow into Arrancar, gave them new powers. Made them sane enough to fight as an army. Analyzing how the breakdown sphere made a Hollows inner Shinigami come out, he still needed more data - so he found out who the first real Espada were, and tracked one of them down.
Earning the trust of his fellow Vasto Lorde wasn't an easy task, but when Kirei's cunning finally won over the better judgement of his new ally, he learned the secret of turning his own self into an Arrancar. Usually a process that was imperfect for any natural occurances, but Kirei found a way around it - by killing his newfound ally from behind, he gathered the strength of that Vasto Lorde into himself and used it alone to break his mask, without utilizing his own power at all, making him a nearly perfect Arrancar.
After Aizen's defeat, a new queen rose within Hueco Mundo and rebuilt the fortress. One day, Kirei simply stood before that queen, bowed his head, and offered his services - as both a soldier, as well as a tactical adviser and high priest of Angra Mainyu, the god he worshiped.