Who even needs goals to move forward?

- ...Bring my brother back alive and unharmed. Commanding voice echoed through the dark room. The middle-aged man sitting on the majestic throne looked down at his servant, showing his contempt for what he considered a worthless creature. - ...Yes, sir. A tall, skinny guy who looked no older than eighteen years got up from his knee, already turning towards the exit, but.... - Oh, yes, I forgot to tell you: you have time until the end of the week. The guy froze in place, digesting what he'd heard. "So this was all set up from the beginning... You're not even hiding the fact that I have no choice but to go in there and die with him... Well. If that's what you want, I'll make it perfect. You'll regret doing it..." - ...As you wish. The young servant replied calmly as he continued towards the exit. Reaching the door, he bowed to his master one last time, and exited, closing the door behind him and leaving no trace of his presence. - ...That's what I like about you: you never oppose my will. Even when I sent you to your death. So faithful. A smirk touched his lips. A few moments later, he laughed. - Yeah, you can't even say a word against it! Just like everyone else, weak! Hahaha!

***

- This room is strictly off-limits to unauthorised persons. Please lea- The guard was cut in half before he could finish. The intruder sighed quietly and entered the room full of bags. They seemed to be exactly the same, but the unknown man quickly found among them the one for which such painstaking work had been done. Quickly opening the sack, he pulled out an orb. After making sure that it was exactly what he needed, he quickly left the room and ran to the nearest clearing. Once there after only two minutes, he lifted the orb in front of his face, and crushed it. The space around him began to shake, and a crackling sound was heard for many kilometres around. It was space cracking, being torn apart by hundreds of Gargantas - cracks in space created by the hollows. From the Gargants began to emerge the lowly hollows, whose minds, for the most part, were lumps of anger, pain, sadness, rage, hunger, and anything else that fell under the category of "negative emotions", kept together and given a goal by the instincts. The soul, and he couldn't be anything else in this world, that had caused this grand event, whispered some kind of incantation to himself, and simply disappeared. It was impossible to see this soul with eyes, or smell, or even with the sense of reatsu. Just like that, remaining unnoticed by the hollow, the soul simply ran into one of the still open Gargantas, easily skipping into it. Once in the dark space (or was it space?), it immediately created a path of spiritual energy under its feet. The modified invisibility spell he had invented for spying and infiltration was very helpful in many situations, like this time, but was still one of the most difficult and energy consuming in his arsenal, so it was turned off as soon as the soul disappeared from the sight of the hollows. After a while, he reached his destination: right in his path was a gaping passageway to the world of the hollows, Hueco mundo. Without even thinking of stopping, he jumped straight through the crack in space. After a rather awkward fall, he shook himself off and looked around: there was only sand around. A lot of sand. But still, there was a lack of variety.... A sudden pain in his chest made him look over there puzzled. What he saw did not make him happy: there was a hole in his chest, unintended by the "construction" of his body. The hole was large, almost as big as his head, which was not in any way good for his health. Still not fully aware of the situation, he slumped forward. The already breathless body fell to the ground. The hollow, which had killed the traitor of the Soul Society, had eaten it. However, strangely enough, as soon as he finished his meal, his legs gave out and he fell to the ground. A tremendous spiritual pressure immediately descended on the world around him, causing the rare hollows who had already travelled far away to flee with all their might in the opposite direction of the reatsu. At the same time, the abnormal hollow got into that place again....

***

Having just appeared, the abnormal hollow immediately sensed danger. Turning around sharply, he immediately saw a huge tree, and an incredible number of hollow, going far beyond the horizon, and devouring each other. The abnormal creature roared at them, and began to slash at them, devouring them at once. Devouring... Devouring...

***

It had been a long time. He didn't count, but the amount of blood on his body and the ground spoke for itself. Looking around, he didn't see a single hollow. He was about to go to the tree, but his gaze locked onto... A man. Yes, not far from him stood his latest victim in the Hueco mundo, calmly studying him with his gaze. - Who are you? The unexpected question dispelled the silence of this world, and the boy tilted his head to the side with interest. - What exactly are you interested in? My name? My race? My profession? Silence reigned. - ...Everything. The simple word made the traitor of the Soul Society grimace. - Well, where to start... He hesitated, scratching his chin lightly. - Start from the beginning. Silent pause. - Thanks for the idea, I'll do just that. The venom in the boy's voice could kill a population of elephants, but the hollow didn't even seem to pick up on that. - Hm, okay. Well, listen: I am a human soul, my name is Natsuki Sosuke, I used to be a servant of the second head of the noble clan Tsunayashiro, but now I am a fugitive, a criminal, a thief, a traitor, a villain, and many other ugly epithets. Now, can you tell me about yourself? After a few seconds of thinking about what he heard, the hollow nodded. Joy flashed in Natsuki's eyes. - I am a hollow. Silence. - Is there anything else? A name? Hollow tilted his head to the side, pondering. Then, slowly returning his head to its normal position, he spoke. - I don't have a name. The man froze for a few seconds. - Ha~... Well, since we've already introduced ourselves, we can begin. Hollow tilted his head to the side. - Start what? - Natural selection! Natsuki lunged at his opponent, trying to break his skull. Hollow reacted instantly, dodging the blow, ripping Natsuki's arm off in the process. "Tch... Quick... I won't be able to counter him. What to do...?" Suddenly, a hunch visited his head. "I hope this will work..." - Yokubō: Kioku. The reatsu around him stirred, fulfilling the will of the human soul. Hollow, who sensed the danger as soon as a part of his reiryoku disappeared without a trace in the whirlwind of the stranger, immediately rushed to run away. - AAAAAAH!!!! TOO MUCH!!! Natsuki, meanwhile, was dripping blood from his whole body, screaming in pain. However, he didn't suffer for long: after a few minutes, everything stopped abruptly, the reatsu calmed down, and Natsuki himself, frozen for a few seconds, wheezed. - Ganbō: Chiryō. This time the reatsu quickly began to flow into him, acquiring a soft green colour. - Ganbō: Yari no Katachi. The reatsu around began to take the shape of a spear in Natsuki's hand. When the "spear" was completely ready, he threw it into the sky. The abnormal hollow running at him sensed the danger too late, and didn't have time to recoil. The consequences were serious: the attack easily pierced through his unrivalled defence, and pierced through his body from his right shoulder to the left side of his abdomen, creating a second hole in his body. Hollow was now bleeding, and his opponent standing several kilometres away suddenly appeared in front of the pool of blood with its master standing in it. - I have a suggestion. Hollow couldn't thinking clearly anymore, so he just listened silently. - Hmm... To make it clearer, I'll start from afar. What do you think, for example... Hollow is? - A human soul that turned into a monster? - That's almost right! But that's not the point. Like you said, the hollows are souls. What do you think happened to the souls of all the Hollow you absorbed here? A brief silence while the hollow ponders. - They... Disappeared? - Almost right! The spiritual energy, Reiryoku, in simple terms the energy of the soul, was absorbed by your soul. But the soul itself, its core, as far as I know, is indestructible, so it went to be reborn, losing its memory and identity. I don't want that fate, so I suggest another way out! Silence, accompanied by a strange hollow gaze directed at the human soul in front of him. - You are... Strange. I lost, shouldn't you just absorb me and continue on your way? Isn't that the order? - In most cases, it is: the strong wins, and devours the loser, letting him go to the cycle of reincarnation, where his personality and memories are erased from existence. But... You and I aren't the majority, are we? If you were an ordinary hollow, you wouldn't be in the process of becoming the strongest Arrancar right now, and I... Would not exist by now. So, are you willing to settle for a different solution to this problem? Hollow fell silent as he pondered Natsuki's words, remembering to keep a note to himself about the new word: "Arrancar". - ...Alright. What's the plan? - Oh, the plan is very simple...