Bleach: Reborn — Chapter 57 - The Weak

"You're saying you were once human?"

Wayne stared, dumbstruck. Of all the answers he might have expected, this wasn't one of them.

"Y-yes, my lord." Timd swallowed and answered carefully. "I'm a Hollow born from a human. Before this, I lived in the World of the Living. Just an ordinary college student."

"Country."

"J-Japan."

"A shut-in?" For some reason, that was the first word that came to Wayne's mind.

"Th-that... that would be about right."

"Did you have figurines at home?"

"Eh — eh?! Y-yes! I did!"

"Good. We'll get into the details later." Wayne nodded. The fact that Timd could answer those questions without hesitation was proof enough he wasn't lying. If he hadn't once been human, there was no way he'd be so familiar with terms like shut-in and figurines. Satisfied, Wayne's gaze shifted back to Atak, who looked ready to explode.

"Lord Atak, you're no longer of any use to me." The Sky-Rending Greatsword materialized in Wayne's hand. "As a reward, though, I'll let you die alongside your loyal followers."

"Hmph. Keep a traitor at your side and see what happens — sooner or later, you'll taste the same bitter fruit I'm eating now!" Timd's betrayal had turned what might have been a winnable fight into a dead end. In the end, all Atak could do was fix Wayne with a cold stare from beneath his Hollow Mask. No retaliation left.

"He's a little different. Perhaps he'll find a greater sense of belonging with me." Wayne smiled, offering no further explanation. He raised the greatsword and drove it clean through Atak from behind, ending his life.

"Clean up the battlefield." The greatsword dissolved back into Reishi and scattered away. Wayne walked over to Timd and took the Hollow Masks from his hands. "Aside from Atak, his adjutant, and that mid-tier Adjuchas-class from earlier, everything else is yours."

"R-really?!" Timd's excitement surged. "Thank, thank you, my lord!" Of course he was pleased. Beyond the masks he had already collected for Wayne, there were still more than 20 intact corpses, plus scattered flesh and shattered Hollow Masks strewn across the ground. And most importantly, among the three names Wayne had just listed, Kovodis wasn't one of them. That meant he stood to gain a complete mid-tier Adjuchas-class worth of Reiatsu. How could he not be excited?

"Good. Go on. And make sure to bury those three — Atak and the others."

"Yes! My lord!" With that, Timd broke into a run on all fours toward the battlefield. It was only then that Wayne noticed, Timd was shaped like a mouse-type Hollow Beast. Small paws, short legs, yet all four of them moved at a surprisingly quick clip.

"A perfectly ordinary human being, already so accustomed to running on all fours." For reasons he couldn't quite name, Wayne felt a small pang of sorrow.

This was, in all likelihood, the first Hollow he had encountered in Hueco Mundo who had originally been human. Not humanoid in form, but he had once been a person. He still carried those memories with him.

Wayne let out a long sigh and turned away from Timd. One by one, he began stuffing the collected Hollow Masks into his mouth.

With the lords of both territories now dead, their resources could be redirected toward Jekain's territory. That would give Wayne 5 contiguous territories under his control. The Hollow Beast Mines could be linked together into a connected defensive perimeter.

"After this, though, I'll need to uproot one of the alliances," Wayne muttered to himself, chewing steadily. "Only by completely eliminating one alliance can this entire region fully belong to us."

About half a day passed. Timd consumed every last scrap he could swallow from the battlefield, fragments, blood, flesh, wasting nothing. Meanwhile Wayne, who had long since worked through a large pile of Hollow Masks, sat on the ground refining and digesting the excess Reiatsu that had built up inside him.

"My lord, this area has been cleared. What do you need me to do next?"

"Sit here." Wayne pointed to the open ground in front of him. "Digest for a while. And while you're at it, tell me everything about how you became a Hollow."

"Oh. Alright." Timd crawled in front of him, bent his hind legs, and settled onto the ground. A long tail swayed in front of him, swinging back and forth where it rested on the earth.

Wayne stared at him for a long moment, then let out a helpless sigh.

"Go ahead."

"Yes, my lord." Timd nodded. "I'm from Japan. Ordinary student at a university, studying chemistry. My grades were decent, the teachers liked me well enough. But I was terribly shy. I rarely talked to anyone. The only time I ever really interacted with people was when a teacher pulled me into a seminar.

During one of those seminar experiments, I accidentally knocked over some reagents and triggered a massive explosion. When I came to, a great deal of time seemed to have passed, and I had already become a soul. Dying itself wasn't the worst part, honestly. I was just... I was really worried about the ones I left behind at home. Those... those..."

"Figurines?" Wayne offered.

"Mm..." Timd gave a meek nod. "When I returned home, my parents had already cleaned out my room. All those figurines I had once treasured, they had gone into the cremation furnace along with me."

"I've heard that humans become Hollows because of obsession. But didn't your parents burn the figurines as an offering to you?"

"That's the thing, but..." Timd hesitated.

"Don't tell me you had a secret stash of figurines your parents couldn't bring themselves to burn, and that's why, "

"No! Absolutely not! My parents simply missed a few of my most beloved figurines, that's all!" Timd protested at full volume. "Anyway, the point is, I became a Hollow because my obsession over the ones that didn't make it was simply too deep."

"To become a Hollow that way, you might genuinely be one of a kind." Wayne laughed. "So you weren't born as an Adjuchas from the start, were you?"

"No. When I was first born, I was only a lower-level Hollow. But I came into existence on the World of the Living side. There were plenty of weak souls over there to consume."

"Were there no Soul Reapers?"

"There were. But my ability is somewhat special, it's quite good at keeping me alive."

"Oh? Tell me."

"My ability is Division." With that, Timd activated it on the spot. The body that had stood over 2 meters just moments ago split apart in seconds into hundreds of tiny mice, each one no larger than Wayne's thumb.

"With an ability like that... wouldn't a single Cero wipe you out entirely?"

"Yes, my lord." Timd reassembled himself into a single form. "However, Division has a special property, as long as even one fragment survives, I can revive indefinitely. It just takes a very long time to return to peak condition."

"How long?"

"Well... if you had killed me just now, my lord, I would likely need to sleep for a hundred years before recovering to early-stage Adjuchas-class strength."

"You had a fragment hidden somewhere else the whole time?"

"Yes, my lord." Timd nodded. "I have quite a few fragments left behind in both Hueco Mundo and the World of the Living. The ones too far away I can't control, but they're still part of me, and they can move freely, like animals. That's why my current strength is only at early-stage Adjuchas-class."

"That is a disgracefully cowardly ability." Wayne let out a rueful laugh. It was both pitiful and remarkable. It might cost him a hundred years each time, but as long as not every last fragment was destroyed, he could revive without limit. And Hollows could live for tens of thousands of years, more than enough for Timd to die several hundred times over.

"So how did you end up in Hueco Mundo?"

"It was by chance. I was being hunted by a Soul Reaper in my area when an Adjuchas — for reasons I can't explain — opened a Garganta leading to the World of the Living, which also drew that Soul Reaper away. I took the opportunity to slip into Hueco Mundo and started building up my strength through hunting."

"You said you were the one who taught Atak the technique for using Negación?"

"Yes, my lord. My ability is reliable for survival, but its usefulness in direct combat is limited. So I relied on the knowledge I carried over from my human life to set traps for hunting. When I evolved into a Gillian, I was fortunate enough to retain my consciousness, and through the use of Cero and Negación I managed to advance into the Adjuchas-class.

But because neither my ability nor my raw strength was particularly high, I was killed by other Adjuchas-class quite a number of times. In fact, what you see before you now, my lord, is already my twelfth return to early-stage Adjuchas-class strength."

"Which means you've been in the Outer Circle for over 1,200 years?"

"Mm, more or less." Timd nodded, a little sheepish. "Each time I woke back up, the territory had already been claimed by someone new. This last time, Atak had taken it. I had no choice but to join his faction, otherwise I might have had to sleep for another hundred years or more. To keep myself alive, I taught Atak how to use Negación. His ability was perfectly suited for that style of fighting, and as the one who invented the technique, I was fortunate enough to be included among those who released the Negación. I kept myself positioned in the middle of every battle. That's how I survived."

"I see." Wayne was quiet for a moment, thoughtful.

"My lord, I truly am not a turncoat by nature. I just... I truly cannot bear to sleep again. I don't want to die. I want to live. That is why I..." Timd's words grew agitated. He understood what this conversation was really about. And he knew just how precarious his position was, a subordinate who had switched sides in search of survival.

"It's alright. That was simply your means of survival. There's nothing shameful in it." Wayne didn't take issue with it. He rose calmly and placed a hand on Timd's shoulder.

"In any era, in any world, the strong sharpen their claws, and the weak sharpen their wits. Being weak is not something to fear. What is truly fearful is a weak creature losing the will to struggle against the strong."

He began to pace, reaching out with one hand to lightly touch the air. A dark void split open at his fingertip.

"The most primal power of the weak is the cowardice born of having nothing, of being so small and powerless that one has no choice but to bow. It is precisely because of that cowardice that we develop the skill to evade those stronger than us. It is precisely because of that cowardice that we draw wisdom from learning and experience, wisdom sufficient to defeat the strong.

To be weak is to learn how to use the advantages of weakness to overcome strength. Cunning, strategy, these are the forces the weak live by. And one day, those reckless, self-satisfied strong will have their throats torn out by the weak who carry wisdom."

"M-my lord..." Timd couldn't name what he felt in that moment. But it was something he had never felt from anyone before.

It was called hope.

"Precisely because we have no power. Precisely because we have nothing. That is why we can use our cowardice to create limitless possibility." The Garganta before Wayne had opened completely.

"Timd, cowardice is not your original sin, it is the very source from which you sharpen your wits and overcome the strong. I believe that you, who were once human, carry that capacity within you. Live on in your weakness. And in that weakness, slaughter the strong. As for me, I will give you exactly that opportunity. Come back with me. From today forward, you will never have to sleep again."

Wayne's words. The open Garganta. The hope kindling in his chest.

In that moment, Timd felt as though he had found the thing he had always dreamed of. A place to belong. Somewhere he would never have to wander again.

"Y-yes! My King!"

➤ Next: Small Figure, Big Impact