El Hastío (厭世, The Loathing)
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■Name: Cayo Alzolaburreta
■Actual Age: Unknown
■Apparent Age: Early 20s
■Birthday: 01/01
■Race: Arrancar
■Stage of Evolution: Vasto Lorde
■Aspect of Death: Somnolence
■Gender: Male
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■Height: 176 cm
■Weight: 2,250 kg
■Theme: Weight of the World
■Battle Theme: Everything Burns
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■English VA: Lucien Dodge
■Japanese VA: Megumi Ogata
■Rank/Numero: Primera (During the First Reign)
■Position: Vagrant
■Motivation: The death of kings in Hueco Mundo and the reformation of Hollow Society.
■Allies: None (For Now...)
■Base of Operations: The Forest of Menos
Cayo has resided for a little over a hundred years within a place some came to call the 'Black Cradle'. It served as a location within the Menos Forest where he hid away from those outside. Those who sought a fight, a meal, or even his words never returned from the Cradle.
■Personality:
Cayo was born in an era of uncertainty, one that held infinite possibilities. Though for him, he never got to see those possibilities truly ferment. Instead greed, malice, and hunger was all the fledgling world knew. This lead to centuries of strife and conflict. Over years the flowing waves of order and disorder in Hueco Mundo calloused his heart — eroding away kindness and leaving only the innate nature of the Hollows. He grew to only seek power just as his kin did. His existence only managing to feed into the same cycle of clawing through battlefields and gnawing on those that fell. Though just as this cumbersome plague wore at his very being, so did this repetition. With hope dead, with war being tiresome, all that remained was an empty despair. Surely there was another answer to it all.
It was here that he met others who shared the sentiment — a solution to the bloodshed. They instilled hope within him once more though it took on a new and less naive form. He learned once more to smile, to aspire to something, and yet contained the capacity to still expect opposition. Cayo has grown over countless lifetimes into someone who can walk the duality of kindness and cruelty. The white strand weaves through to find answers while the black sews the eyes shut of those who perpetuate the past.
Cayo has issues with authority figures — less because they challenge him and more because he finds those that find excessive value in weighted titles as an indication of outdated ideologies. Even a violent criminal would be looked upon as a better individual who tries desperately to be a wannabe tyrannical ruler.
■Reiryoku Level & Spirit Class: Immeasurable - (Spirit Class 1)
An ancient and twisted power lies within Cayo, something born from times of discovery and forced evolution. He has had ages to hone his body, mind, and natural given abilities. He has outlived rulers, tyrants, monsters, and men all the same. He had already been born with an overwhelming soul but the need to survive, the need to claw for power, and the need to be feared made sure his limits were broken. Just with that grown might alone he could contest with many, meeting equal or greater footing with those who visually seemed to outclass his physical stature. The vigor that laced his very being enchanting his blows, his strides, and his defenses. Even with no weapon in hand, Cayo has been capable of tearing flesh from bone and shattering steel with force akin to passing stars in the night's sky.
■Reiryoku Control: Expert
What use is a power that is untamed? Cayo knew wholly well, countless moons ago, that he needed the means to guide and invoke his boundless wellspring of power. In his beginnings, his power was raw and untamed — he crushed those he never intended of harming and bore the consequences of it. He spent his time of evolution learning to funnel his power which such precision that he could decide the threat of a single jab against a foe without wasting a blink of time on the thought. That strike could be as light and gingerly as physical banter between friends or it instead could carry with it the force to topple whole structures.
Cayo can and has participated in fights that have lasted not mere hours but instead days, exchanging blow after blow without rest. This is due to his ability to use just the right amount of spiritual power necessary for matching his intention, not an ounce more. Even in battles against where he was outclassed in raw power, he often took advantage of winning games of attrition — besting foes as darkness clung to their eyes.
■Reiatsu Description and Effect(s):
Cayo's Reiatsu is without color, devoid of any and all vibrance. It bears with it an overbearing presence that weighs down those in its influence. The crushing pressure bears a reflection of his innate abilities and his perception of the world around him. The weak will kneel to the strong, the heads will fall of kings who have run their course, and the structures of eld will be have the memories of them buried. Some have described the fearsome embrace of Cayo's spiritual power to be akin to the sensation of drowning, they found themselves sinking and gasping for air out of fear they felt.
■Pesquisa:
For Cayo his perception is such a second thought that he often forgets its something others have to hone in on to begin with. Just as his lungs draw in breath — his eyes, his ears, his whole being observes the world around him. A sudden spark a great distance away can be all the indication he needs to know something is going on. A valuable trait in a world filled with unyielding conflict. He can distinguish microscopic changes in spiritual power that could be indicative of falsities and layered efforts, a feat that becomes even more apparent the less clever the opponent. A momentary glance can spell a whole story.
Cayo's body is innately rather heavy despite the size of his frame. That peculiarity does not however hinder him in any way but instead rather backs his approach in combat. Additionally, in his merged state he gains a pair of oversized teeth that are sturdy enough to rip through even formidable defenses with ease. He can invoke this specific mutation outside of his full transformation on a whim. It is a partial anatomical transformation into his Resurrección.
■High-Speed Regeneration: Pinnacle
Unlike those that express a near impervious defense, Cayo houses a regenerative factor that leave opponents reeling as they witness their efforts unraveled in a flash. His body can recover from non-fatal injuries with ease. A lost arm? Restored. A deep gash along his midsection? Gone. This astounding level of recovery had been a topic of envy in the past, as even enemies who could tank a sturdy cleave to their bodies would be outlived by Cayo.
■Hand-to-Hand: Expert
From the oldest of days Cayo relied on his earth sundering strength and abilities to deconstruct his enemies. Every blow delivered with the proper amount of force to dismantle threats. A strike to shatter, a claw to sever, a throw to displace — precise and devastating, his homegrown instruments. He has not only honed his skill from struggle, but has honed and adopted that which he has observed.
A consistent oversight others have with him - is his innate nature to pack a deceptively potent resistance to displacement, allowing for Cayo to capitalize on being deceptively weighty. He leverages this through using techniques akin to Aikido and Sumo styles. That being said though, he does not believe in the rigidity of form outside of ensuring the intended effect — he would absolutely deploy abstract and impractical approaches to definitively end a conflict. He is not above underhanded measures either to achieve a means to an end. War is war.
■Sonído: Expert
Now you see him, now you don't. The shimmering stride of Cayo closes gaps and generates space in an instant. Even great distances mean little to nothing to the elder Arrancar, for he will clear it in a flurry of brilliant strides. In pursuit of prey, he is relentless — matching the rhythm of their steps and exploiting their flaws. In the pace between a heartbeat he can deliver a definitive display of his combative knowledge. He can keep pace with some of the most experienced practitioners of speed techniques. He had even developed maneuvers of his own to express his expertise. One such measure is a unique utilization of a speed clone that mimics the phenomena of a yo-yo, creating a feint in an instant and then rebounding to his last position to unveil the true intention behind his advances. Such a skill is an extension of the ability to create afterimages.
■Bala / Cero: Expert
Cayo has found a strong union in his body as well as spirit, excelling not just at physical feats but those of the less tangible. The building of projectiles and the releasing of streams of spiritual energy are expressed in a natural way. A thought that need not even drift through his mind, the powers of Bala and Cero are just as easily accessed as a flexing muscle. Was that an earthquake felt from a distance? Or was it simply the hammering scatter shell of Bala? A thunderous Cero? The fruits of his efforts may not just lie within the direct intended result but the echoes left in their wake. Cayo can gauge not the waves far out from the orbit of his flashes, the cause and effect — adding an extra dimension to his proficiency.
Over the centuries he has adopted an assortment of techniques known to other Hollow and even adopted a few of his own. One of these learned abilities is the odd ability to consume Reiatsu-based attacks and sending it back with adder fervor. Another utilizes nothing more than a glance. It is of course to be expect that he'd have the traditional Gran Rey Cero and the even more fearsome variant Cero Oscuras. He has also built up his own unique brand of Bala that he dubbed the Bala Tirabuzón, a skill to which Cayo effectively bats a constructed Bala, instilling it with a curved trajectory and a peculiar spin. This projectile moves in an unconventional path and drills its way a bit into a mark before erupting. It was inspired by the interesting ways that Shinigami use Kidō, that flexibility and adaptability ignited a spark of genius. Along with the Bala Tirabuzón, he has experimented with matching an opponent's offensive attacks with equal output to dampen or outright negate their advances.
■Weapon Mastery: Journeyman
The usage of external weapons has never really been Cayo's style. Where there's value in it and the presence of his anchor, he learned to rip and tear with his own body long before the need for armaments. He of course over time learned and adopted techniques suitable to his personal weapon and ways that he could keep distance between himself and an enemy's blade. Instead of building a mastery with a weapon he'd rarely use, he instead focused on matching opponents and complimenting his other strengths. This includes the weaving of formidable attacks with his martial prowess and hefty chops with his axe, creating a dance that leverages the weight of his actions — quite literally...
Pereza (怠惰, Sloth)
Sealed Zanpakutō Description:
Pereza appears as a medium-sized single blade axe. It does not stand out visually as anything special but those that have clashed with the weapon have noted its weight seems to vary.
Zanpakutō Release Phrase:
"Despáchate, Pereza."
(Be done with it, Sloth.)
■Innate Ability: Letargo Panteón (万霊の沈睡, Pantheon Lethargy)
Cayo's embedded ability expresses his persona to the last perfectly punctuated period. His body produces a blackened sludge-fluid that is akin to Non-Newtonian fluids, a substance whose viscosity shifts and changes based on the force used against it while also being able to still be manipulated as if it were a regular liquid not unlike water. Should something be submerged within enough of it, they'd drown at a rate even more fearsome than the waters of oceans, as the highly-viscous substance occupies their airways. Those buried within it will also find the more they resist the fluid, the more it retaliates against their excessive force. Subtly goes miles but time is also always ticking.
Outside of the circumstance that someone becomes taken by the blackened tide, Cayo is also able to wield the substance as an extension of himself — weaving together simple objects and guiding its motion like another limb. Forces that act out against or around Cayo also play into this macabre ability, bestowing Letargo Panteón with scaling virtual mass. This furthers the destructive and defensive powers he can enact several fold. All of which plays into the themes of a fruitless cycle, the fall of the strong, and the bleak nature of senseless violence.
Corona de Espinas
(茨の王冠, Thorned Crown)
In full-release Cayo encases himself with the substance that typically only emerges from within, forming a shell upon himself that immensely bolsters his combat prowess. His appearance contorting into something more monstrous and reflecting the lengths he will now go to bring an end to the conflict. In this state, he often exhibits a more animalistic approach to battle but still one constructed of seasoned judgment. He bears a pronounced set of teeth and claws that are heavily condensed extensions of his innate ability, coupling with them some of the most fearsome destructive abilities in his repertoire. His bite in particular backed by the full force of his influence, easily breaking through the hardest make-ups.
While transformed Cayo also gains the ability to convert his expelled spiritual energy into his blackened substance. This vastly expands his range, coverage, and options. Stories have it that he has painted streaks across whole battlefields and even that the skies above shared in his tears.
But those that spoke of this were hardly in right body or mind... so who could trust that?
Cayo has existed since the earliest days of the sands. He has watched reigns rise and fall, and observed hundreds, if not thousands, of battles. He has had friends, enemies, lovers, and rivals—though time claimed them all one way or another.
A fatigue has grasped at his throat over the centuries, his will burdened by the fragility of Arrancar "society." While other civilizations, like those of humanity or even the Soul Reapers, had structure and order, Hueco Mundo existed in a constant state of chaos. Even when kings wore crowns, they would find their heads on pikes. Even when councils united, they would find knives in their backs. As innovation was presented, primal instinct would erode it away. The status quo of the desert was simply to drift like the sands.
Cayo fell into despair, hiding himself away for a century in hopes of awakening to change or gaining the answers in his dreams to claim it for himself. He dug a hole and submerged himself within his own influence. As he dreamed within his lake of black, his breath tugged at the very space around him—a dormant power within his anomalous cocoon.
Some souls tried to investigate the mass over the century, some bearing the intent to feed and others acting out of curiosity. Fate, however, claimed them all the same. They sank and drowned within the obsidian mass, their bodies crushed and stripped of life in record time, destined to become one with the slumbering predecessor. All the while, the Arrancar slept.
Eventually, however, he awoke once more, rising from the abyss untouched by time but unaware of what lay outside of his paradoxical shell. As his purple gaze was set upon the world once more, an unseen weight was lifted from Hueco Mundo—though the gravity of the souls within would decide how this ancient being would react.
Would he find comfort in this new age? Or did he bear answers that would create a new one entirely?
Cayo has seen many souls come and go over the centuries, though he remembers those that stood out in some way. It is probably that he has crossed path with many before his slumber though the days of his contributions to mass bloodshed haven't been prominent for a while. Memories of his proficiency in combat, his bloodlust, and his former station are likely eroded away through time. Though there may be some souls out there that remember the burden that comes with his name.
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