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Amidst the once burning lands were any number of Hollows, drawn ever here for the safety of the land that provided protection for them against the harsh environment and the severity of which was much less, any could tell you, than elsewhere. Here Hollows flocked like animals because they knew instinctively that it was safer than the other realms of Hueco Mundo, where the hungry and deadly greater hollows existed, and there was no shortage to the threats they faced even though they did all they could to find some small semblance of protection against the hungry predators that were natural born hunters that grew in this area. First the smallest Hollows, who were too small to even be considered real beasts of the mask, were often sought after for the small amount of nourishment they held by creatures of Human size, Hollows that had shapes like deer or crocodiles, whose size was as obvious as their small spirit signatures and a sign that they were not fit for this world of regret that so many lives fell into, and that they would only be consumed in a short time due to their own weakness, and their inability to even think of a porper defense to retaliate against the monsters who stalked them with supernatural powers and called this land their feeding ground. Theres was only a small step up from the life of the small, lizard like Hollows that were the very basest life forms in the barren desert, and they were often consumed by the world itself after long enough so that their nearly negligible spirit power would be added to Hueco Mundo's itself, or they would of course be devoured by the predators mentioned before. And of course those who were capable of taking a size similar to animals on Earth were only soon to be prey themselves, consumed by the true rulers of the land known as Noches which was crowned by rocks and the occasional dead tree, which only added to the ambiance of the empty world by reminding those who had the ability to think that even though there were things in this desert that would take their minds off the endless sands, even the sparse decorations to this natural requiem were also dead, and there was no hope to be found even if you wandered the sands of Hueco Mundo for all your days if you stayed on these outer rims where the weak were prety to the stronger, and even the stronger were only a stepping stone for the true monsters who came from elsewhere. After all, even the mightiest resident of Muchos was in fact nothing but a denizen of the largest and most spiritually thin area next to the veil that separated humans and Hollows, and the strongest resident of this land posed no more threat to a Hollow from Grande than did the world's stronger ant. It was a laughable affair to imagine one becoming a lord simply because they were able to walk the sands of Muchos without ducking their head, and for too long had they begun to forget that, always acting haughty and standing proudly when they caught one of the animal like Hollows who reminded them so dearly of the human world, letting it hear long winded speeches made up of arrogance and decadence just before they died. None of the words truly meant anything, the Hollows were truthfully simply drunk on their own voices, proud to be able to be the ones who meted out fate to another instead of being the ones whose day had come, and though that squandered their freedom with such useless hunts it was clear that on the inside they quaked with fear every so often, a fear that had been born from the destructive impulses they could feel every now and then when another Hollow wandered into this region, a creature that could hardly be called 'just' a Hollow like them, more a monster than a mask, a breather of air that had realized that this land was in fact nothing but the home for the foolish and the fodder, and it was when these insane, spaztically strong auras entered Muchos that whole flocks of Hollows ran, and even the tall and deadly looking beasts ran for any shelter they could find, tears practically issuing forth from the empty voids of their eye sockets in the masks that were now their faces, as they wimpered and hid amidst their own decadence, scared to death of what was hunting them. Every now and then, whole swarms would disappear at once. Sometimes, a whole desert amidst the vast lands would be empty, all life stolen by the things that wandered into this realm. And when those things came, it was at those times, when even the most boastful and bravehearted of 'Hollows' truly feared. And these, the creatures that could empty this desert, were merely the 'Huge Hollows' of legend.

Not many Hollows had a clear memory of the real world, filled with tall buildings and people who clamored amidst the narrow streets as if they were insects mindlessly working themselves to the bone without ever understanding the true purpose of their lives, boxed in on every side by their own creations that had been built pale and grey so that there was no feeling left amidst their own living arrangements, a place where their own souls seemed sold to the God that they knew as 'progress'. As opposed to this land however, Hueco Mundo was almost completely barren except for the trees that occasionally dotted the tall dunes, and even they only stuck up a few feet, much shorter than the powerful Hollows that roamed Muchos, and thus they were considered tiny and fragile to the Hollows who even paid them mind, though this was of course untrue if they were educated as to the rest of the desert, or at least the part beneath the sands. But not every Hollow could see the forest beneath, which was home to even stronger monsters, and so to them there was no accurate comparison, save for someone like himself who had seen the more dangerous areas of Hueco Mundo, and yet there was a terror that they all feared that stocked them with a bulk that stood much higher than any tree, that could only be compared to those great buildings that the Humans lived and worked in, that seemed to sap the souls from their everyday lives. This terror, these Huge Hollows, were easily comparable to such abominations; they were as tall as a home, and could easily dwarf even the massive Hollows that were new to Hueco Mundo, their own masks usually chipped or torn, or generally more terrifying than the ordinary Hollow due to the power that it had absorbed from all their time feeding and growing on one another. A Huge Hollow was the normal resident of Grande, and it was because of this that the Hollows of Muchos always lived in fear of one of their betters coming to this land to find themselves food, sometimes with an insatiable appetite, capable of devouring whole scores of Hollows and leaving with nothing but a greater desire to eat and find more power, because they had become nothing but a vessel for the hundreds of Souls they were collecting, and all of these souls had a personality that would dominate those around them if it could, but without, and many Hollows weren't so lucky, they often fell into nothing but a mindless frenzy of death that would only end when they did meet a Hollow that could keep it's iron will strong enough to rule the others; either they died by that monster, or they consumed it and, in doing so, were given a taste of it's unwavering willpower which would turn a Huge Hollow into something else, something with a sturdier build than even these creatures. Still, a Huge Hollow was enough to have the kind of power that a Shinigami who didn't even know their zanpakutou's name couldn't handle, and that meant that the Hollows of Muchos who only hunted creatures smaller and weaker than them, occasionally venturing into the Human world to devour the souls of the living if they could, or the souls of the dead if they were even luckier for nourishment, were completely incapable of handling the beasts that wanted to tame them with their own claws and fangs, which grew in strength and brevity with their own power and so were often much more dehumanizing, and much deadlier than the simple tools and effects of the weapons that the Hollows who ran in packs had. It was said that as a Hollow forged bonds and grew to know it's kinsman, it actually weakened itself because at the most base level they were creatures whose soul purpose was to fill their void with the power of those around them, eating others in order to satiate the Hollow hole that had formed the day they were unable to find peace in their own death. By denying this, they were dooming themselves to Muchos forever, and it was only because they forsook such simple minded beliefs that Huge Hollows were able to evolve and devour so many souls, and it was after all that reason that they reached the next plain of existence in Hueco Mundo and became residents of that middle land, gladly freed from the harsh feelings they had once had and of the harsh environment that made up Muchos, though there was not so much improvement in Grande as there was a recognition; that their land was a battlefield, prepared for those who took the next step, and that Muchos was nothing but a ranch for the cattle to graze in until it was time for their slaughter, while the warriors needed that nourishment in order to face each other in a battle of blazing spirits. Huge Hollows always climbed towards the next plateau for their kind, but at the same time they feared that they would be stricken down by that plateau, and so they came to Muchos to gain strength quickly, and in turn they were often hunted by the creatures who needed them for nourishment, leading to an even greater terror that could flood the border of Hueco Mundo and that would leave Muchos ravaged for weeks, until the scourged souls of the dead who were desperate for a second chance once again came to this world having forsaken their hearts, refilling the lands with monsters unworthy of being called people. It was this beast, this feral creature that dominated the next level of Hollow evolution, and yet even so the Huge Hollows yearned to become this haughty existence, and so they worked towards the emergence of their greatest selves, testing themselves countless times in battles of life and death with their own countless souls on the line.

Tall as some office buildings, capable of towering to heights greater than overpasses, were the Menos Grande that began the true ascension of a Hollow to their ultimate brink of power. They were what happened when a Hollow's body could no longer contain the power of so many souls, and as such their forms were usually either extremely complex, or extremely simple, formed only through the unstable minds that it had consumed and thus capable of untold destruction no matter what they looked like. A Menos Grande started at the Gillian level, and they were the ones who lived underneath the desert, and that forest occasionally erupted onto the sands above, where Menos would find themselves any number of fools for the slaughter as they devoured their precious prey and fueled themselves by gorging on the food provided to them by humanity's dark desires and their unstable need to keep existing even when they had passed on from the world. Gillians were something like a testament to that foolishness man possessed; a collection of so many lives, and yet it could do nothing but the simplest of actions as it foraged for any wandering Hollows and strays beasts, and unlike Huge Hollows they often returned to that predatorial, pack like instinct that the original levels of Hollows had because they were incapable of keeping their own devoured souls in check anymore, the dominate mind vanishing once more beneath that frail and sickly black skin that dotted their large and armless forms. They lost appendages, defining features, anything that made them unique as they became nothing but a gutless army that was driven only by a desire to devour and that felt no remorse when it gathered those helpless lives it needed as sustenance, a walking tower of fear that would embed it's feelings of hatred and resentment in all the living things of Muchos, never quite designing just why it wanted to become such a strong being. If they were to guess, most would assume that their natural instinct to hunt was brought about only because they were searching for someone who was capable of becoming the brain behind the beast, and even though the Gillians were drawn to raw power sources it was not in fact by eating spiritual creatures like them that Gillians were going to evolve any further, it was through finding someone with the pure will for domination that they lacked and that was something that no amount of predatorial instinct would point out, it was something one had to design with the thoughts and wiles of a person who was willing to conquer all, something they were lacking in the first place... it was the reason they became fodder for the next level of power, ones that no Hollow in Muchos was likely to ever meet, and that was because the ones who fed on Gillians knew that no amount of Hollow souls could satiate their desires, and that they could find nothing but the ability to cause pointless slaughter in Muchos. That was the goal of the Adjuchas who wandered into that realm, but that was a once in a thousand year experience, and the stories of anything like that happening were ones that had been spread throughout the great powers to warn against ever allowing it again, since it could mean devastation for Hollows as a whole, all because of one creature's simple and weak lust for power. Much safer to let the Menos Grande devour one another, and so the Adjuchas relented and they fed on the Gillians, giving them the minds they desired while the Gillians gave them the power that they had, becoming symbiotic in nature even if that meant that never again would hundreds of souls be in control of their own destiny; only that one strength, that one life capable of conquering all would take control of the Menos Grande, and like a king over his kingdom he would rule them to his whims until they day he died, and when that day came, so too would all the peasants of that King die in honor of the lord they had once served.

Adjuchas were kings. Well, that was not right. The first observation would be that Adjuchas were kings, the rulers of their own minds, the ruler of the countless minds in their control, the beings capable of domineering a hundred souls to their own end at any time and who were said to possess enough lives to make up whole towns from the real world, swathes of people who once had dreams or regrets, turned into the subjects of a Hollow and forced into his own body so that he could draw on their power and cause them nothing but undue pain because they were unwilling to accept their own deaths and thus sealed their own fates as the wretched, unholy servants of the Adjuchas mind who stood at the head of them. The life of humans was truly cheap to Hollows, and even though the Adjuchas was not the stronger of their kind, nor even the smartest, he was someone who for the first time had a distinct control over himself, and his personality was sometimes influenced by those who he had once consumed, but the Adjuchas was unquestionably in control of his own soul and the souls of those whom he had fought in fair combat, or ambushed and devoured like wild animals. In a way, Gillians were still a society, a mindless rabble that worked together so that all those who were occupying the body could benefit and in the end they would find a way for them to obtain the things they wanted, the power or sentience that could free them from the outlandish nightmare that they had been trapped in ever since they took the step over the horizon and into Hueco Mundo, the land of cursed souls who were never going to be what they had once been, unless a shinigami were willing to free their spirits and renew the vigor that had been stripped from their hearts with the formation of their masks. Gillians were that group of hopeful souls who wanted to either attain a new height of power, that of the Legendary Menos Grande, and in doing so they hoped to become something that could control their own destinies and begin settling their own scores, or in another context, Gillians were the souls of those who wanted to return to being human, or at least pass on peacefully, and so they operated together so that they could move towards that end, their own moot of emotions welling up to drive the mindless creature towards some instinctual course of action. The Adjuchas was no such boatman, and he had no intention of steering them towards the far side of the river Styx where they could finally be laid to rest; the Adjuchas, the mind behind a Menos Grande, was the ruler of Hades, Hades himself, who used the souls that were given willingly or not to him to whatever ends he saw fit, and he knew that those who had forfeit their rights to control their own lives had no rights no when their power could be put towards the ends of creatures who truly longed for something greater, whose purpose was something more insincere than 'I miss my daughter' or 'I want to go back to the life I led'. The Adjuchas was a monster in the true sense of the word, not because of it's smaller form or it's words or it's depravity, but because it's own desire to conquer life and to become evil itself was greater than all of their own sad longing feelings and their hopeful gestures. The Adjuchas was not a monster because it was an amalgamation of so many lost souls, but because there was one soul amongst them all, who beyond the others, had power enough to force them to service it's will as if they meant nothing. But, for it's power of control, all of it's wiles and ability to commandeer the might of a countless number of bodies, the Adjuchas was more like a knight or a steward, a harbinger who could only act in service to others and who had a master that it knew to fear, and no Hollow before it's level was smart enough to truly consider the deep seeded feelings of fear they always felt about the inner most areas of Hueco Mundo. Most Hollows only had an innate feeling that it was a dreaded place, never once foolish enough to wander close to the lands of Noches, the greatest area of Hueco Mundo where the deadliest and most dreaded beasts of Hueco Mundo were known to roam. The Adjuchas acted as agents of these greater beings, because they knew that if they did not, they would be consumed by someone who's desire to control everything was greater; the masters of Adjuchas forced their stewards to gather strength so that they could share, and often times even when an Adjuchas performed admirably, the lands of Grande were eventually harassed by one of the lords of Noches, and one of them was enough to devastate all the Adjuchas that gathered together, a power great enough to rival one hundred Adjuchas in only one body. A body that would consume an Adjuchas even if it performed to the letter, and gain it's power for the troubles, not necessarily because it needed it, but because it was rampant violence, maybe even violence incarnate, and a source of dread that proved that no souls in Hueco Mundo were put towards a useful end so long as that one being could use them to it's own ends, which were so much darker than that of the Adjuchas, so inconceivably awful to humans, that it would take a mind of the cruelest tastes to begin to understand what thoughts sparked any actions they took because they were only meant for betrayal and power. The Adjuchas were rulers of the Hueco Forest for a reason; the forest was a place hidden from view, and if they smothered their power, then they might never draw the attention of the power hungry beasts that roamed amidst the deepest areas of the sands that made up Noches, and that often ravaged the unwary Gillian hordes that walked about the lands of Grande in packs so that the droves might escape while any small number of them might act as sacrificial pawns. If they were lucky, then the Gillians might consume themselves, and this amalgamation could create one of these greater beings, but more often than not, it was this outside terror that found them and forced it's will upon them, clearing out whole swarms of Gillians as if they were flies, and that was the reason the Adjuchas acted in subservience to another even though they too longed so much for power. Adjuchas feared Vasto Lordes, and that was why they would never show themselves in the inner courts of Hueco Mundo unless they were personally in service to the King of Hueco Mundo, or following their own Vasto Lorde as a lord, knowing that his protection would at least temporarily leave them alive so that they could survive the stares of avaricious animals that crowded around them in those all too cramped halls, hoping to pick off the unwary Adjuchas to increase their own standing, as always.

Vasto Lordes were what the Soul Society itself feared, and with good reason. No Hollow needed the books of Soul Society, or the education of the Academy in order to know that Vasto Lordes were the masters of destruction that you could write a thousand stories about, who would put Dracula, the Werewolf, and all other creatures of feeding to shame and who would still not be comparable because they were born from the rage that all humanity had allowed to boil to the point that even after death they were unable to accept that their avaricious nature was insufficient to give them the world that they wanted; a world that they had been born in, raised in, and that they wanted with all of their remaining human desires to rule because it had been the source of their happiest times and was in many ways the very personification of the hole in their chests that Hollows formed when they were first born. The Earth was desire, and Hollows were born to feed their desires because Humans were too weak to accept that they could not fulfill their dreams without putting forth their fullest efforts. A Vasto Lorde was proof of Human weakness, but it was also the source of Humanity's ultimate strength, turned into their own destruction. 'Man is his own greatest enemy', to borrow the phrase of a certain someone. Though they were small, only human in size, Vasto Lordes were far more fearsome than their car sized Adjuchas servants, nor were they as bulky as the Gillians who they used like puppets and might keep like pets, who were mere insects in comparison to them and who they could devour en masse without gathering even a fraction of their own power. To use the Soul Society's comparison, ten Vasto Lorde could easily destroy all of Soul Society even if the Captains united against them, and it was for this reason that the shinigami were lucky that Vasto Lorde were so consumed with their own desires, so hellbent on becoming a Demon or God, whichever one saw fit to choose, that they never left Hueco Mundo except for the most extreme of battles in which they could sense a source of power greater than that of their home in Hueco Mundo. Vasto Lordes left Hueco Mundo because they sensed disaster, but that was it; outside of Hueco Mundo the land was often too barren of spirit particles for them, it was as if they were suffocating, and that was the cause of their domesticated nature, not any love of Hueco Mundo or any lack of a desire to see all of Soul Society and Earth laid to waste. In fact, Vasto Lordes were an amalgamation of negative emotions; their desire to obtain what they could in life, now turned into animosity, and so they wished to destroy the Earth that as Adjuchas they had once wanted to rule, because a Vasto Lorde was a being of supreme lordship, and if it could not have something then there was no reason for it to ever exist. A Vasto Lorde was the most primitive state of being in all of the spirit world, even simpler in some ways than the small creatures that wandered the sands, and yet it was precisely because they were reduced to such a simple state that they were the most powerful and destructive beings in Hueco Mundo. Vasto Lordes had the strength in a single hand to destroy an entire human city, because that was what they could do with even the most primitive of their negative emotions, and so they were known as creatures that Soul Society would hunt with top priority with their most powerful agents, even in mass if they thought that it was truly a necessary application of force. To Hollows, they were a simpler existence; Vasto Lordes were the pinnacle to which all aspired, and even if a Hollow was new to the world it had an instinctual desire to become that creature, a desire to become the most supreme beast in all the sands, if only so that they could forget the wants that had caused them to lose their hearts in the first place. Adjuchas served them because they realized their destructive urges, and knew that only by pledging loyalty to one cause, could they avoid the destruction of their souls for the desires of another. Adjuchas were often quick to pledge themselves to a new lord if their current Vasto Lorde master died, but more than often they would be consumed with their master en masse, and so they knew loyalty only inspired from fear of the Vasto Lordes, a battle between two Vasto Lordes often requiring an entire 'clan' of Hollows to fight to see who would be the victor. In such a manner the King of Hueco Mundo was often known to have gathered a thousand Hollows to his side, and a hundred Adjuchas, as well as a few Vasto Lordes because they had gained their strength through such fierce group battles for a long time. In the end though, if a Vasto Lorde lost, then there was no amount of force the Hollow hordes could use in order to avenge their master, or survive if the Vasto Lorde who won desired to eat them as it's own victory meal. Vasto Lordes inspired Hollows to better themselves, but they also inspired treachery because a single Hollow could eat a dead Vasto Lorde, and in doing so, they could have all the power they ever dreamed of without putting much effort into it, though the chance that such a precious meal would be laying around was almost unheard of it was such a rare event in the entire history of Hueco Mundo. One Hollow maybe, or two, could be said to have risen to legend because of such an extreme jump in power, but even if they had the seat of the great was not easily obtained, because even becoming a Vasto Lorde meant only that you had to battle in equal favor with all the other creatures who had existed in the lands of Noches since the beginning of time. Vasto Lordes lost the control that Adjuchas had, and the power that they obtained finally took over, their individual souls that had once ruled them fading into nothingness because Vasto Lordes were finally so powerful that even that single source of being had overruled their individuality. The dreams of the ruling personality faded into nothingness; a soul could only contain so much, they had hypothesized once, and a Vasto Lorde most likely lent credit to that fact because in order to become the stuff of myths they had to give up the dreams they use to long for. Power was the sole reason for their existence, but it was also the reason they could never be human again, and in that state to Shinigami it was often thought that they were a suffering beast, the most pitiable of existences but also the ones that they had the most to fear from due to the danger that they presented. Hollows simply saw them like Gods to be worshipped, and a single Vasto Lorde could command even the mindless Hollows as if they were human once again, though only out of a preternatural need to keep on living that could be completely overridden by the one aspiring thought. If a Vasto Lorde was before you. You. Would. Die.

There was only one way someone could escape the doldrums of the Vasto Lorde's empty existence, pushing aside the pangs of destruction so that they could regain some composure and add some meaning to their almost pointless existence. It was born from the most absurd of reasoning in Hollow existence, and it was in fact going against the very nature of Hollows, so much so that that was the reason they were able to break free of the grip that a hunger for power had upon them. To break their own mask was a way for Hollow to break free of the spiral of death that they were caught in, and in doing so they could obtain a new existence separate from the chain that ruled over the majority of Hollows, becoming governors of their own souls again, even if it meant giving up the dreams that all Hollows once had. To break your mask, was to turn away from power, and become an Arrancar. Arrancars were rightly given clothing and made to look human again, more shinigami than Human even, a mockery of both Soul Reapers and yet the thing that all Hollows wanted most; with a brain, an Arrancar could say that there was no more reason for gaining power if they weren't going to be able to accomplish the thing they had gained power for, and an Arrancar could in that way battle against Vasto Lordes, conquering them through wit, not through power. The mind is man's greatest weapon, to partake of the proposition of a proud writer. No Hollow had instincts warning them of the Arrancar, because they no longer had the animalistic nature that the other Hollow forms had; but Arrancar didn't need it, because they were not so simple as to be beaten by a pack or horde who groveled helplessly while hoping to attain their dreams. Arrancar meant nothing to Muchos, but they were the most likely creature you would run into in this realm that was not a lesser Hollow or a Huge Hollow, and when they came it was often not so that they could clear out the entirety of the Hollow race but because they wished to enlist those who were beginning to gain sentience, those who had desires, and make them into killers who could work towards the greater good of all Hollows. Arrancar were the preservers of their kind in many ways, and even Soul Society wasn't always worried about a face off against them; though they were deadlier for their ingenuity, they were not as powerful as Vasto Lordes, giving up a portion of their power so that they could become able to master themselves. Still, wiles were much harder to fight against than raw strength, and there was no reason that a person who could craft a bomb wouldn't be deadlier than the person who could trigger it. It was an interesting concept, but from the day that they were born onwards Arrancars were exceptions to the Hollow hierarchy, escaping the innate sense Hollows had for each other's killing intent because they had the brains to mask their intentions, and it was the ability to not reveal your intentions that made Arrancar the true masters of the Hueco Court, capable of besting even Vasto Lordes in a vie for power. It was said that the last Hollow King, Barragan had been a Vasto Lorde of such immense power that not even Arrancar could match it, but eventually the Vasto Lorde himself had been consumed by the desire to know a better rule, so he had accepted the wisdom of Arrancars. Though prompted by some other reasons, in the end the virtue, the ability to want and desire again, and the ability to take things rather than destroy them, the entire fact that Arrancar could create and change instead of just destroy, were reasons why they were so much more important for Hueco Mundo than the Vasto Lordes themselves, the things that all Hollows initially dreamed of. Then again, simple creatures only wanted simple dreams... and it was because they eventually ran into a wall, that they were capable of realizing they needed to evolve, and eventually doing so.

But even they were known only for following one creature amidst the entirety of Hueco Mundo's beings, and that being was of course the King who was recognized by all, who had both the essence of a ruler that all Hollows recognized with their instincts, and also the wisdom or at least the brutality to be loved by all the Arrancar and the Vasto Lorde at most. Well, loved was perhaps the wrong word, but the Hollow King had the respect of every creature in the dimension due to a specific reason, and that reason was mastery of this entire world. Fear would keep the masses in check, fear of this battle station, fear of the local lords of every area of the city. The King of Hueco Mundo had bested Arrancars and Vasto Lordes already, and taken the throne by force, and the reason he was considered a being that no lesser creature could comprehend or resist was because he had already taken their masters and throttled them, often quite literally, by the throat until they and all their followers dedicated themselves to his service because they knew that to oppose the king was to oppose everything that Hueco Mundo stood for. In the Human world a King could command his people to obey him, and he could control any part of his city to behave as he saw fit. But a Human King could not tell the filthy rats of his own kingdom to stop scurrying amidst his streets, and he could not command a tree to wither simply because it was unpleasant to his visage; the Hueco King would never know such weakness in all his reign, and it was quite literally a position in which one would have the command of the entire negative force of souls, the emptiness of one man's life far far in the past turned into a source of negativity that spread itself amidst the entire universe and that opposed the positive nature of all shinigami. To think that the Hollow King had once been a single human who had lost his loved one, or wanted more, or failed at business, was almost laughable... but true. And from that it had consumed other people's dreams, then their own wants, then their own sadness, and finally it had evolved into a greater creature. Other Hollows sensed this negativity, and they rallied around it that they might know their own existence as something greater than pure sadness, the thing that had originally born them into this world. The King used that, and if he wanted a tree to wither, it was for the first time in it's existence satisfied to fade into nothingness so that it's master could know the joy of it's non- existence, and if the King wanted the rodents that scurried amidst the desert to die then all the plagues in the world would vanish on a whim, only so that he could show that he was a benevolent ruler, ignoring the fact of course that his one true desire was the destruction his original Vasto Lorde natural had wanted. When you combined that level of absolute hatred and vilification with the mind of an Arrancar, and the void like powers of a God, there was no question why he was a presence felt by every Hollow from the day they were born into this world until the day they died. Every single Hollow was in a servile relationship to that dominating presence, but it was so ever-present, so absolutely in control, that they could not even begin to feel fear at it's existence, only a happiness that there was one capable of fulfilling their void as a race, of becoming the next generation of the Slaughter King who would fill the empty holes that had caused their existence.

"Well, the entire food chain starts here of course. I know that you don't feel like participating in this, but that's only your choice. I will continue to follow the path that's been set out before me for many years to come, if that's what it takes." The overly tall and fanged beast said as it sat atop the dune, words slipping from it's pale white mask as if honey were being poured into the ears of all those around. Despite the fact that it was a large beast covered in fur, with a mask similar to the Noh masks of Japan, it was a simple and clear voice like that of a human's, and because it sounded like something from the real world it was easy to see how it was not one of the mindless drones that wandered the sands as if they were mere planktin that would feed off the sparse particles here and there, dreading the time that would come when they faded from existence. He had his life confirmed, and he knew what path he wanted to take, but it was only a matter of time until he actually started to make something of himself and so he had thought to take the time to speak to someone he knew who lived around here, a creature that very few would accept because of it's unique ideals but that wanted to aid him as badly as he wished to for it's assistance; especially in the absence of his father who died not long ago, and who had acted as his pillar of strength for many years before he was finally given the burden of responsibility himself. He was a Hollow who served in the court of the greater Hollows, but he was not yet of power himself, and he hoped only to become a fighter worthy of his father, though at the same time he didn't want to give himself over to rage and violence if it was going to disgrace the name that he bore at the same time. The pale eyes turned to look up at the other face, something that might have been even more surprising, as he glanced into the eyes of the large beast that he was talking to in order to get it's answer and to show the honesty he felt in his feelings after their long talk, possibly the only person in the lands of Muchos who wouldn't bat an eyelash twice at the figure of an enormous dragon that could fly across the sands in an instant, someone who was surprisingly intelligent for the feral nature of it's body and the exaggerated features that made up it's body and drew attention to it even from the farthest of distances. This, for all the strangeness in the world, was also the creature that could still aid him with some beneficial wisdom, sprinkling a few seeds of trust here and there for those who wanted to know more about the world and less about the senseless violence that had long been the prone nature of Hollows. "Do you think that I can earn some respect if I continue along this path as I have? Or am I simply errant in my ways, with errors littering my path due to my own mistakes...?" The Hollow asked, once again seeking the assistance of the great Dragon, knowing that his council was worth more than the words of a thousand Hollows if only because he had the patience to consider things from a more unbiased nature.

"Dova-kul... your father must have wanted you to be at peace. Don't allow yourself to be consumed by your desire for approval though, or you will only cause him to weep instead. Kraus koo lau. Whether your current path is right, I cannot say yet." Paarthurnax's wisdom wasn't easily grasped. It was true that he hadn't given Shouei the words that he wanted, but they were at the same time perhaps what he needed to hear; though he had lived for many years, Hihi had been a Hollow who was proud of service to the other Hollows and in doing so he had obtained some happiness along with his son, but Paarthurnax had long ago given up the ways of the Hollows, only seeking to become wiser and to, in time perhaps, aid the Humans in keeping themselves safe from harm. Though they should have been at odds, Shouei showed no great desire to cover the Earth in flames and at the same time he was young, with a desire to learn, while Paarthurnax was old and with a desire to teach if there was someone with an open mind capable of listening to a dragon be a bit preachy. Though he said 'maybe' now, Shouei was a student capable of knowing the wisdom in the words, and discerning whether there was a 'yes' or not amidst them; his father would be happy for his son whatever path he had chosen, and yet Shouei had chosen the path of his father so that he could make him proud, and no father could be dissatisfied with someone like that following in their footsteps nor could they be angry that they had not sought their own way with a love for their family as strong as Shouei's. It was enough to restore a bit of warmth to the heart of the old dragon, even as it at the same time gave him a companion for speech the likes of which he hadn't had in many years, the dragon himself having a great weakness for conversation where ever he could have it as a reward for his years of exile from those of his kind who waned to seek their baser instincts and destroy anything they could get their hands on. He would teach self defense to those who needed it, but only in times of great need, and though a time as such seemed to be approaching he hadn't had any students in many years and was for the most part forgotten by humans and the Hollows that he had once betrayed for the sake of the fledgling Earth race.

"I wonder if...hm? !!!" Shouei turned as the two heard voices nearby, ones that were quite lower pitched, as in an obvious hint that they were humanish or at least Arrancar. Though both had met their types many times in the past, the ones they heard were angry now, bereft of joy, and as such it was better if creatures of their own might steered clear of them so that they would not entice them to anger; Paarthurnax especially, the dragon having long been at odds with the greater beliefs of Hollows and the desire to destroy shinigami and Humans alike that they had held since almost the dawn of time. When Alexander's words became clearer because the two, in due nature, had approached to overhear them it became clear as well that they were exactly the type of people that they had first assumed them to be, as Alex lamented his inability to devour and enjoy the decadence of life. Shouei knew this man, because he was quite intimately tied to the affairs of Las Noches, even if he had not met personally the last First Espada that had ruled the city of white in the land of night, and as such it took only seconds for a shudder to spread through his body and for the Hollow to motion to Paarthurnax, motioning that he was one of an incredibly dangerous stature. Still, he was not dumb enough to think they had slipped the Mad King's awareness if they were this close, not by now. And so, Shouei was the first to brave the short distance, standing and marching over the sand dune towards Alexander and Amaimon, two people who saw someone of their meek level of existence as disposable with only a whim, and nodded in acknowledgment of the incredibly powerful Espada. "I am sorry for overhearing the important matters of an Espada. Allow me to introduce myself, and offer my services as an apology." Shouei bowed his head again, showing respect (he had once been quite groomed, in a life he could now only vaguely remember after all), and waved for the Dragon to follow him over the rise, which quickly lowered it's head to show equal favor to the two. "Dova-kul... Greetings, Noah. We should leave, before we interfere furhter." Paarthurnax said with a thought to Shouei, providing further that they had been here by happenstance, and that knowing the weakness of a Noah might in fact be quite a setback, especially if they were disposable. His power had faded years ago due to his exile, and now the two of them were easily disposable by nature, so offending one who was known so well or knowing their secrets, which could fall into enemy hands quite easily and cause great harm, were terrible things for someone of their particulars in Hueco Mundo. Still, as lesser Hollows they would offer their assistance if they could, but they were not quite capable of such things yet... and asking them to provide aid would do a favor unto the Noah, but it would also not bear fruit for a bit of time, if only because of the nature of the place. One could not ask a denizen of Muchos for aid and expect them to unravel the secrets of Las Noches over night after all, at least, not if they were wise enough to know their own homeland. Granted, both of these two were an exception, Paarthurnax having once been a great ruler amidst the sands of Hueco Mundo when it was a much more feral land, and Shouei being a steward of the Hollows there, but they were both quite out of practice and as such, needed time to improve themselves before they could improve for others.

Still, they would assist in whatever manner they could, if disappearing from this place quickly enough was not enough of an acceptable payment to the Noah for having overheard something they had perhaps meant to keep amongst themselves. The fact that they needed to increase their own position before they could influence change in themselves, the world around them, or in the dimension as a whole would only begin when they took the first steps towards change, and that was to begin now, both aspiring Hollows with ambition and the desire to become strong once again ruling over them. They had hit rock bottom, but when you were at the bottom, both were wise enough to know, it was only the beginning to moving towards the top again... climbing towards the top would be the time when their lives for the first time began, and when they stopped it would only be because they died. Before that, they would never cease pulling themselves back up again, because they were ones who had something... not nothing, but enough that they would dream, and pursue the things that could one day lead them to their fortune. Fortune, of course, did not mean they wanted money... only change.

It had been quite a long time since a dragon had come anywhere near Hueco Mundo, or even a creature that might have had the particular shape of a dragon, despite the fact that Hollows came in any shape or form and could be seen as all sorts of beings due to the insecurities in the dead men's hearts that ultimately gave them their forms in this afterlife. Hollows were after all the way they were based on what they had loved or lost in their lives before they had met whatever penultimate fate they had run into, and so their shapes often resembled something humanoid even if it happened to scale up several times higher than a human body, or if it took on a beastial form; perhaps someone who had felt like they were powerful and yet feral in life, or who thought of themselves as some sort of carnal beast, perhaps due to a self inflicted guilt or a mere delight in the pleasures of savagery that was so shunned in society. Even the most seemingly mundane things in life could end up being quite important to one in the afterlife after all, so what they chose to become was often something that they never would have chosen for themselves on a whim during the everyday; it was at times like that that people didn't realize the importance of the things they had and simply went on enjoying themselves along with their throw away items, holding fast to their businesses and their relationships as if those were the things they should truly treasure in their lives. But Hollows were not made of pennies and dimes, and Shouei himself had never seen a Hollow that looked like a dollar bill in all the world, although it was likely there was something like that out there if they simply put enough looking into it; perhaps some numologist had finally gotten fed up with life, and when his desires got the better of him in the next life he decided to choose that form himself simply to make up for all of the coin that he had lost the moment he died and all of it left him. There were plenty people like that, who thought that wealth would benefit them in life, yet when they finally reached the end of their alotted span they lost everything just as humans had known since the first day they entered the world; and yet they refused to accept that they could no longer keep their money, or that the world had turned against them and their believe in walking over the downtrodden, and in the end it was one of the most common factors of suffering that brought them into the fold, as new members of Hueco Mundo joined day in and day out through this same sorrowful means of recruitment that Humans were always forcing upon themselves.

And yet, even if there were those who thought that 'boy it would be nice to become a dragon in my next life', or someone who had an equally creative imagination when they finally passed on from the Human world, there simply weren't Hollows who took on the shape of dragons; perhaps it was because they were sacred beasts and their forms were unique, or perhaps it was because they were a form that was simply too elaborate for a Human's simple dreams, but whatever the case seemed to be it was inarguable that Dragons were a sacred creature that could rarely be found in either Soul Society or Hueco Mundo, and it was for that reason that many believed their form was something dedicated to humanity and the beliefs of the earth itself, not necessarily in the souls and afterlife that they were all so familiar with. Or perhaps they truly were a creation of the gods, meant to instill terror and might and give others pause when they appeared, fierce beasts that could only be tamed through abject might and an iron will that could not falter before creatures of such fortitude despite the fact that they were to be rightfully feared and revered for the things that they possessed, the determination and greater means of existence that seemed untainted by the passage of time or even by the hands of man that were so ready to reach out and mutate all they could touch with the filth that they themselves believed mattered so deeply. Humans always were the types to underestimate great things however, and it was true that they had done things even to dragons that should not have been thought of, trying to tame them or capture them through strength of arms, whether to turn their power on others or simply so that they could show them off as an amusement or attraction and earn the vile coin they enjoyed so much in return for the agony and embarrassment that the dragon would carry on it's back until the end of days. Dragons were after all going to outlive their holders even if they wanted to keep them in check, simply because humans were weak to the passage of time, and so when they were finally laying in their beds weak dragons might break away with their great power and with a rightful resentment they would return to wherever they had come from, only to allow their kind to know the cruelties of humanity so that they would err away from them again. It was a cold fact, and yet it did not mean that the spirit realm was adverse to such idiocy either; many times in the past the Soul Society that they stood opposed to had attempted to capture the creatures with their considerably greater powers, and of course they had more success than mere Humans due to the strength that they possessed, forcing them into their service or into their labs where the things they would do next could only be expected of someone so arrogant as the Shinigami. And so the Twelfth Division had caused many Dragons to die out as well, leading to a harsh reality where Dragons were rarely seen even amidst the sunshine and vastness of the Rukongai and that entire dimension, and they too now thought that the creatures were mere myths even though Hollows and SHinigami were living proof of the extravagance and interest of the world that they enjoyed so readily, and that the dragons were yet a part of. For hundreds of years they had been seen by neither Humans nor Shinigami, and as Hollows had no tradition of passing on information from the old to the young anyways there was simply no legacy to be told in Hueco Mundo, so it was as if the monstrous looking creations never existed in the first place in the world, almost being written off and forgotten for all time as simply figments of a person's mind, or children prone to flights of fancy when their parents were giving them too little attention or they wandered into the wilderness and saw only the shapes moving in the darkness, perhaps of some small bunny or a scared deer, but the imagination would could conjure the most heinous of demons that they would eventually tell the others about later. That was what most had come to think of when there were those who spoke of Dragons, and yet one of the creatures was nearby now, a form that showed living proof of the old tales and spoke of the indiscretion of humans in the past that had caused something of such a mighty form to become so rare, even though it had never had the equal desire to destroy them all as Humans and even the Shinigami who looked and resembled Humans in thought had done to them long ago; the real monsters weren't the ones with fangs and claws after all, flying through the skies on mighty wings and letting out the fiercest roars. The real monsters were the ones who wore cloths and held council, proclaiming themselves kings of creation even though all they had done was use their talents to take advantage of others throughout time.

Now that he had that kind of shape beside him though he had to say that there was a legitimate reason behind the tales of a dragon's mighty form, not just because it happened to be bigger or scarier than a man, but because there was also a sense of nobility about it's body and the eyes that shown from behind it's scales were those of a creature which didn't see the world as one to be ruled over simply for it's own sake, but saw it as one living creation that needed to be maintained as it was lest it begin to fail and they all suffer for the idiotic acts of just a few simple fools. A Dragon saw the world like a body, and yet Humans acted like a virus mercilessly attacking every other part of the structure and claiming it for their own, never thinking that if they destroyed that part of the body it might fail, and the world would have no way to protect itself any further from something that could kill the whole host and all the creatures inside. That was the kind of misguided nature that Humans possessed that would eventually lead the whole world down a path to ruin, and yet Hollows and Shinigami cared little for that because each thought that only their civil war would benefit the world when their kind had taken over and the other side was destroyed. Then they intended to turn their blades or claws towards Humans and keep them in check, but there was simply no proof that they were going to be able to settle their own differences in time to make a difference, but they refused to think of a better way to maintain the world's own grasp, even though the realms of Hueco Mundo and Soul Society both relied on the Earth for both their own creation and maintenance, but also for the people who came to both from that realm where Humans presided over others so strongly and thoughtlessly. The creature nearby did not show the same signs of ignorance that the Humans and the ones who claimed to be kings and princes had, and yet it felt like it was one that deserved to be in charge and have some follow it, although it was not necessarily his calling in life to fall behind this Dragon and do the things that it would have them learn and act so that the world could be restored. He wasn't quite so apt to do the world a favor now that his father was gone, but he didn't want to see the Dragon's fear come real either and so he wasn't going to simply allow Humans, or even Shinigami with their own arrogance, or the rare Hollow who thought too highly of themselves destroy the world simply because they had nothing better to do with their time when there were so many people who relied on the life that came into being day by day. He could respect that at least, and perhaps that's why his soul instantly felt a bit kindred with the Dragon, even though at the same time there was no reason for him to show it any respect at all.

Paarthurnax was not a Dragon that took the harshness of Humans to mean that Dragons, who were bigger and had a fascination for dominance, to mean that they were the ones who should rule over Humans though and instead he saw it as their job to guide their kind until they had learned something of the mistakes they had made in the past, and in turn guide them away from repeating the errors that they had made before and towards doing some good instead for the world that still saw them as salvageable after all this time. It was a bit of a naive idea some would say, but then again naivety and wisdom often walked remarkably close to each other, sometimes even acting hand in hand as the people who were given the chance to change quickly took up the path that would give them some redemption for their mistakes. Paarthurnax believed that power should be meditated on, so that one understood exactly why they had been given it, and knew when to apply it instead so that they would not exceed the use of their power and commit crimes with the might they had been given instead of fulfilling it's rightful destiny. He couldn't quite say that he understood all of the 'Way of the Voice' talk that Paarthurnax talked about however, and despite the fact that the Dragon continued to lead him so that he wouldn't make his father regret his actions from wherever he was watching, he was also cautious not to forget that he had already given himself a purpose in life and that it was not one that he could reconcile with the Dragon's own eventual end game, which called for him to resign himself to the path and ignore the payback that he wanted to inflict on his father's final enemies so that they could know the suffering that had come to him. It was all he could do now, for his father who had been ambushed by Shinigami, and though he could respect Paarthurnax's age and his wisdom, as well as the very nature of the being that thought to keep him from giving in to his rage filled self, there was also the fact that it desired to never fight again and went against the basic nature of Hueco Mundo so that most viewed it as an enemy and also a something that never should have come to their world in the first place, while Shouei was a Hollow who followed their ways a bit too truly for the Dragon to ever truly raise it's head proudly after seeing the results of Shouei's actions even if he did take it's advice for a time. But it had overcome it's own desire to rule others through years of exile and meditation, and it denied it's hunger for destruction through the tenacity of it's spirit and it hoped only to see Hollows and their kind realize that they had a better future they could find for themselves, so with a path like that he could not force himself to hate the Dragon even if he were told to, but rather respect it for the adversity that it had overcome even if it would eventually become an enemy to him, something that seemed a remote chance due to the Dragon's desire to avoid fighting if at all possible. How many years ago now had it been when he was first introduced to Paarthurnax, when his father was still up and coming in the Hollow world and he had been only a boy by comparison with little power and the desire to enter the courts of Las Noches one day although he wasn't ready even to leave the protection of Muchos without his father to keep him safe yet, when he had finally met Paarthurnax and seen the giant form of a Dragon for the first time? As strange as it had been, Paarthurnax had been his teacher since that age long ago, and it was another reason he felt a bond that could not be eaisly severed with it even if it was to eventually become an enemy of Hueco Mundo as a result of it's refusal to attack Soul Society or to prey on Humans, a fact that most Hollows would see as immediate proof that they could never be from the same stock and that Paarthurnax should only serve to feed their hunger, simple and primal creatures as they were.

Years ago, long past, his father and himself had found the two wandering amidst the sands of Hueco Mundo and they knew littel of how to survive other than to kill the things they came upon, nor did they understand how they had become some of the masked race that were trying to do their best to survive in this bleak world that was already drained of life before it's formation had even become complete. They had a few followers, but these were quick to give in to their hunger or to be picked off by the various battles they had entered into, and even fewer were still around today thanks to the destructive nature of Hollows that always presented a problem to their kind and that could inevitably lead to their basest of desires ruling them as strongly as even their strongest beliefs. And when they were finally attempting to find themselves a place in this world, they had met a Dragon, atop a large plateau of broken rock, which while actually quite short and dismal compared to the lands of Earth or the mighty peaks that that real had therein, was something like a great monument to the Hollows of Muchos who knew only an infinitely expanding flat desert filled with only dunes to block their sight. It was not special, and as two great wings spread atop it and flew out over the sands, blanketing out the moon for a moment, Shouei first looked on the form of the Dragon and his father and their followers prepared to defend themselves from the form that looked like a terrible menace, he realized that there was no reason for them to fight against a creature that had such a terrible form simply to pass by the rock that should have been crushed and returned to the sands long ago. When he spoke to them and crashed into the sands suddenly however, claws digging into the sand as it's breath did not radiate fire but still seemed to heat the atmosphere, their understanding had changed and he had offered them only one choice; to stop their pursuit or to face the wrath of his Thu'um so that he could live to see another day even if it meant walking over the corpses of their kind. His father had been an unwavering soul however, with broad shoulderblades that could protect anyone who stood behind them from harm, and he had been the first to speak with the Dragon and tell it that they were not here to destroy it, but merely wandering, with no guide through the sands of Hueco Mundo to keep them from passing by such fearsome creatures or getting themselves into traps. In fact, he said, they were unable to find themselves a place to rest, and soon they were likely to become weary of their wandering and start to lose hope at this rate, so the least he could do was to spare them from a fight with something that had such an impressive look, and let them be claimed by the sands or the lords of this land instead. Then Paarthurnax had taken a few moments of silence, and finally conceded that he was not a creature prone to destroying others either, but merely protecting himself since this desert was filled with such powerful and threatening monsters, a fact that they both could agree upon after all the time they'd spent in Hueco Mundo. Paarthurnax offered to teach them what this place was and show them where to go if they sought any semblance of protection, if in return they stayed there for a while and confided with him, so that others might be dissuaded from fighting against the mass of Hollows for a bit. If nothing else, when others came at them hoping to devour a whole slew of Humans, they could combine their strength and drive off their enemies together, since this was a land of such troublesome tastes and varieties that it would require as many types of battle as possible to truly feel some safety. His father had accepted, though he ensured he didn't appear too eager, and they had found themselves working together for a time. Paarthurnax had taught them about the structure of the world and of the lands of Grande and Las Noches beyond that where the Hollows with greater strength had, and he warned them of the ferocity of their kind and that from that point on they would be seen as mere puppets or worse, dinners for the things that dwelled along the borders or that hoped to climb the food chain. Some things they hadn't even considered before, such as the fact that the moon never seemed to set, and Paarthurnax explained that there would be no day which they hadn't even noticed yet, giving them an understanding of the years past and how he had seen time flow here like it would anywhere else, yet there was no sense of change amidst the sands that they were now going to call home. Finally, he explained the way to enter the Human World if it was truly necessarily, explaining that he had done so in the past so that he could hide himself from Hollows, but explained that there was no way for them to go there with any true safety since their true enemies were not hidden amidst the land of night, but of the ones where the sun rose and settled in an oh so timely fashion. There was a great deal of information they passed between each other for that tie, but the fact that neither could stay in that land for long was never a real question, and as time passed they knew they would have to settle on a course of action if those following Hihi were going to survive.

Eventually his father had decided that in order to survive they needed to either gain great power, or they needed to gain great favor, and for either of those they were going to have to entertain the Hollow King in Las Noches and become one of the horde that was forbidden from killing one another relentlessly without the King's command. Hihi reassured them that they had to either devour one another, something that despite their hunger they were loathe to do because their master was clearly the strongest amidst their kind, or they would have to cross the desert and find Las Noches in the direction that Paarthurnax had pointed them towards, even if it meant they ran the risk of facing more powerful Hollows. Though it was not a question for him, as Hihi had the kind of power that they only wished to have, the others were hesitant and only followed after they all were caught in a fierce battle one night that took more than just their strength to handle, coming away with many of their own brought to pieces. They ate what remained and gathered all the strength they could, but the Hollows knew from that point on that they were not going to be able to protect themselves any longer in the outskirts of Muchos without Hihi or Paarthurnax to be their leader, and so they decided on the harsh trip even if it meant that potentially many of them wouldn't make it. The trip actually hadn't ended up being as severe as most of them thought, and Hihi had managed to slay a Menos twice during the travels, earning himself more power until he had finally reached the land of Las Noches with his followers. They did not have a major incident, and so quite a few had dedicated themselves to Hihi's service for a much longer time, believing that he could possibly become an Espada or even the Hollow King, though unlike them their lord seemed to know that that was merely a faint dream with the power that he had in his possession. That first time the Hollow King hadn't even met them, and likely hadn't even heard that he gained new followers, such was the respect that the position commanded. Instead they had merely been accepted after Hihi had slain an impetuous Hollow who attempted to devour them to show that they were not worthy and that he should obtain favor in the realm, and Hihi had gotten acknowledgment from one of the Espada nearly off hand it had been so minute. After all, it wasn't such a surprise for one to enter the King's service with the power to slay a Menos, and if the Menos Grande had been so strong in the first place then the lands of Hueco Mundo wouldn't be the ones pushed back time and time again by the Shinigami, it had said with an offhanded and quite snide remark. Their world was one where you had to be beyond strong in order to matter, something that Humans could not consider a Demon or a beast if they were to see you for the first time. If you could not be a God, then you were not worthy of even serving the elite of that world, and so Hihi had only managed to become the servant of beings that saw themselves as so superior that there was not even a reason to give their table scraps to the horde of the King. Hollows were ever an idiotic race who clung only to their self importance, but it was because they felt like that that they kept such a strong hold over their own possessions, and even Hollows who acted in service to them were considered objects but also extremely valuable if another Hollow wanted to take them from them, though they might have destroyed the lesser being a day earlier simply for amusement. So while it may have sounded like a dismal first meeting, Hihi in fact smiled when he left Las Noches, and the Hollows that had followed him understood that it was not something they should worry about; they had merely received someone's protection, and though the Espada might have spoken harshly and the King might not even know of them, they were safe, and safety was much more important to them after all. No Hollow joined the King's legion simply to become a tool, and so they cared little if they were told to stay out of the way of business and not become something they would use; and they were fine with being ignored in just such a fashion, receiving protection without any real payment in return. The only one who did not show immediate signs of relief happened to be Hihi himself, who later informed them he would go back to the court more often from that point on. Though they had not been with him when he entered and didn't know the exact details of what happened, from that point on he became very interested in the happenings of the most powerful Hollows, and continued to grow in rank himself, though he never tried to take it from those above him; he had not become an Espada when he died, and he had never interfered with the Exquisa's actions either, but he had instead become quite a powerful and influential voice to the King because of his wisdom and his ability to fend for himself, and he had slain more than a few impudent Hollows who had tried to gather themselves some fame from his death time and again. It was safe to say he was extremely powerful, and that had he actually wanted for any of the positions, perhaps he could have become an Espada or Exquisa with little trouble, but he continued to hold on to the wisdom that protected him from such things until the day he died and he had avoided the game of thrones with an admirable ability while continuing to keep an iron fist on the things that happened around him through both shrewd dealings and a good deal of what happened in the shadows. Shouei didn't think of it as underhanded; in fact, since he had always kept himself from the political turmoil of Hueco Mundo and the desire that others held to kill one another, and simply used his actions as a way to keep the two of them safe, as well as their followers, he had always seen it as an honorable path that they simply couldn't speak of with ease to the other Hollows. The basest of desires did give way to the basest of actions after all, and so if they knew that he was not one to give in to their own 'racial' needs of blood and slaughter, he might have made others uncomfortable. And if there was one thing that Hihi attempted to do with a bit of fervor, after all, it was to make those who gathered around him feel safe and secure, just as his son had for all these years.

It wasn't the kind of story that every Hollow was use to, that was for sure. Instead it was the kind of thing that you would hear more often of in the feudal days of Humanity, or back when their kind was young and still held strongly and fast to honor, a story that could be told around a fire and that would spark some amusement from those listening because they too could feel the sense of duty that was relayed in it, and of the nobility his father Hihi had displayed without ever trying to presume too much or become arrogant and force his way into the politics of Hueco Mundo. He had kept his own desires in check and taken care of his family, and to that end fulfilled duties that he had never been asked to hold fast to by Shouei, though he now felt eternally grateful to his father for what he had done. Someone like Alex might have been entirely bored by those kinds of thoughts however and seemed like the type to keep himself distracted with inane babble, or more appropriately insane babble... so trying to speak to him about the sensibilities of family duty and responsibility, and the love of those who were taking care of their family might be pointless and a bit lost on him, although there were stories about the Noah Family who held great sway in Hueco Mundo. Still, there was some difference between forming a family and maintaining protection of people you owed nothing for years, and Hihi had certainly given the greater part of himself to the latter as there were countless Hollows who followed them now that were part of the 'family', while the family that the Noah formed was like more a creation of mutual trust and advantage, with no protector to be seen for those who might error outside of their domain for a time. The same could be said for many Humans families, and it was more like something you would see in a movie, one of those 'Yakuza' that you could have related it to, rather than a real family...and that was the difference between the men that they were formed of, and those that followed Alex who likely didn't feel so compelled to his fulfill his duties, along with the oh so real Noah family that was at the same time comprised of people who had not known each other before meeting in this life. Again, it was a point that would be lost in a such a brief discussion however, and Shouei felt like keeping his silence even as he continued to stand there, waiting for a bit of time as the Noah remained silent... hoping to keep the situation from omving any further towards the position of 'awkward'. "...I'm... going to leave now..." Shouei mumbled suddenly, holding back a sweatdrop that started to show that he wasn't going to just hang around bowing all day, especially when there were other things to do... things like not being in front of Alexander Noah all day, and his little dog too.