Lucero Olmos

"I'll have you know I'm number one on Hueco Mundo's "Most Attractive Men" list."

--Lucero Olmos

Lucero Olmos (オルモス ルセロ; Orumosu Rusero) is the Cuatro Espada of Hallibel's Army, and oversees the Cuarta Zona in Hueco Mundo.

Appearance
Lucero is a tall and lean man that looks to be somewhere in his mid-twenties. His shoulders aren't particularly broad, which tends to make his well-muscled body look less powerful than it actually is. His skin is slightly tanned, marked by very few scars and other blemishes. He has very prominent, high cheekbones, and his eyes are hidden behind the remains of his hollow mask which resemble a pair of sunglasses. His brown hair is spiked up, and is shorter at the sides than it is at the top. He sports a thin goatee on his chin, with hair travelling up either side of his jaw.

Lucero's uniform consists of a simple, form-fitting white coat that seems to resemble a leather jacket. Two black lines run down either side of the zipper in the middle, and line the hem of the jacket and the edges of the collar. Since the coat is rarely done up, the black t-shirt he wears underneath can be seen. Like the rest of his clothing, Lucero's white pants are quite formfittion, and are tucked into black boots that seem to resemble combat boots from the World of the Living.

Personality
Lucero is confident, cheerful, and very childish in spite of his position. He is incredibly friendly, and will try to strike up a conversation with just about anyone, regardless of who or what they are. He's also prone to teasing and/or flirting with people he knows a bit better, as he really enjoys getting a rise out of others and seeing their respective reactions. Lucero's also an incredible optimist; there's no such thing as a hopeless situation in his eyes, and if he's ever confronted with an unpleasant scenario, he'll do everything possible to flip it on it's head and see it in a new light. Due to this behaviour, it often seems as if there is nothing in the world that Lucero takes seriously, which isn't as far from the truth as he'd like. In reality, he just hates heavy or overall unpleasant atmospheres, and does his best to avoid or change them. His goal is to keep everything lighthearted, even in the face of war.

A driving force in improving the relationship between the organizations in the Tetra Alliance, Lucero is one of the few people who want to maintain the alliance even after the war is over. He genuinely cares for the wellbeing of all parties, and is a firm believer that putting an end to all the fighting is necessary in order to build a functioning, universal society. He has not changed these views at all, even after being put down several times. This is one of the rare instances where he shows how stubborn he can be; usually he's just content to sit down and go with the flow. Other examples of his persistence and stubbornness can be found in anything regarding how people are treated. He hates seeing or even hearing about others in pain, and will go out of his way to try and help them out.

Lucero's demeanour in battle depends solely on his position. He absolutely hates directly confronting the enemy; getting so up-close and personal with them makes it far harder for him to kill them, which is a feeling he has a hard time dealing with. He much prefers to hide in the shadows and shoot them from afar, as feeling like a coward is, in his mind, better than feeling like a coldhearted murderer. On the off-chance that Lucero does engage in close-range combat, he'll try to distance himself from the enemy as much as he possibly can. He will not look them in the eyes or engage in any kind of conversation with them. This rule obviously doesn't apply to sparring, as the goal of the fight is to practise, not to kill the other person. When sparring, he'll simply keep up his cheery front.

Like everyone, Lucero has his dark moments. Combat has a very negative impact on him overall, and he's haunted by the ghosts of the past. Images of the people he's killed often come back to settle in his mind when he's alone or trying to sleep or he's confronted with an unpleasant situation. When this happens, Lucero won't even pretend to be okay, and he'll typically find a quiet place where he can brood and sulk in silence. It should be noted that he often seeks out Reyes Palamo during these times, finding comfort in her company alone. This mood can last for a matter of minutes or a matter of days, depending on what he's remembered.

Equipment

 * Radio: Like every member of Hallibel's Army, Lucero carries a small, wireless radio with him.  It enables him to communicate with both his troops and the other Espada.  The device is small, black in colour, and rests in one of the inner pockets in his jacket.
 * Two .44 Magnum Revolvers: Not overly fond of fighting with a sword, Lucero's first go-to when fighting are his guns.  Originally from the World of the Living, he modified the pair so that they could actually cause damage to the different types of souls.  He also makes his own bullets, as regular ones would have no effect on any non-living beings.

Powers and Abilities
Average Swordsmanship: Due to his preference of taking out the enemy from afar, Lucero rarely, if ever, uses his sword in a fight. While he will occasionally spar with others using a wooden blade, that's really the only time he will ever practise his skill with the blade.

Expert Hand-to-Hand Combatant: Lucero has shown incredible profieciency in the art of hand-to-hand combat, and is capable of keeping up with Second Division's Captain Soifon for an extended period of time. His style is heavily based upon Hung Gar Kung Fu, with bits and pieces from other martial arts such as Aikido mixed in. He typically blocks and counters the opponent's attacks while waiting for an opening that would allow him to cause as much damage as possible in one go. This allows him to conserve much of his energy in preparation for the "final blow" and also minimizes the amount of damage he takes. He has also developed a technique that allows him to further condense his Reiryoku in order to strengthen the his Hierro. This way, if he does get hit, the attack will do little to no damage depending on the opponent.

Sonído Expert :  One of the faster Espada, Lucero is able to travel at a great speed for short periods of time. He's not nearly as adept as Coyote Starrk or Soifon, but he can easily hold his own against the average Arrancar or Shinigami.

Cero : Lucero's cero is grey in colour, and is remarkably powerful. He has put a lot of time and effort into developing different techniques to manipulate it, and is capable of changing it's width and power. He's incredibly accurate, and able to hit a moving target from quite a ways away. Currently, he is attempting to mimick Starrk's technique of being able to fire off multiple ceros at once, but has had little success.

Immense Reiryoku: Like all Espada, Lucero posseses an incredible amount of spiritual energy.

Master Marksmen: Lucero is an incredibly skilled marksmen, and is more than capable of taking out targets from approximately 3000 yards away. It should be noted that this is with a scope and his enhanced vision; with his revolvers, this distance is cut down to around 1000 yards.

Immense Durability and Endurance: Even without his enhanced Hierro, Lucero is more than capable of sustaining immense damage before being slowed down. He has an incredibly high pain tolerance, and can fight even with broken bones and deep lacerations.

Enhanced Strength: Like the other Espada, Lucero has displayed greater-than-average physical strength, and is more than capable of snapping a person's bone in two.

Super Sight: Lucero has managed to obtain 20/1 vision through artificial means, making his eyesight better than that of a hawk. However, the methods he has used to obtain this level of vision have severe consequences. The amount of strain placed on his eyes is immense, and he has to take medication twice a day in order to alleviate the stress. Should he miss even one dose, his eyes will begin to deteriorate and within days he will be blind.

Keen Intellect and Highly Perceptive: In order to shoot as well as he does, there are several factors that Lucero must take into account. How fast the target is moving, wind speed, wind direction, the angle the target is at from his position, and what defenses the target may have are just a handful of things he has to take into consideration. After practising for countless hours, he is now able to judge and calculate such things within minutes. Despite his attitude, Lucero is actually fairly intelligent, possessing an IQ that's above average (although not astonishingly so). His strength lies more in street and combat smarts than book smarts.

Zanpakuto
Sealed Form: Lucero's Zanpakuto takes on the form of a small hunting knife when sealed. The blade is an ordinary grey colour, and the hilt is black. The weapon is kept tucked into a black case that is attached to his belt.

Resurrección: The command for releasing Halcón is "pierce the heart." Upon release, the blade turns into a long sniper rifle, complete with a high-tech scope, and an optional stand. Lucero's clothing also changes, although not very drastically. The right portion of his mask fragment breaks off, and the left part changes in shape to resemble a half-visor. He loses the jacket, but the black, formfitting t-shirt stays. His pants turn into a pair of black cargo pants, and two large, cross-body bandoliers rest on either shoulder. He also has one wrapped around his waist, and all of them are chock-full of ammunition. The bandoliers are actually an essential part of Lucero's resurrección, because they're the things that create the bullets. When ammunition is taken out, the bandolier will attract and condense reishi into the empty spot, forming another bullet. Lucero can also channel his own reiatsu into the bandolier if there is a lack of reishi in the area, or if he wants a more powerful or specific bullet.

Resurrección Abilities: Lucero gains several new abilities in his released form, although most of them have to do with the bullets he uses. Depending on how he channels his reiatsu and the reishi into the bandolier, he can create bullets that have different properties. For example, one could explode upon impact, while another could freeze the target. A list of known bullets he can make are as follows:
 * Explosive Bullet: Explodes upon impact.
 * "Firework" Bullet: Subtype of the regular explosive bullet.  Breaks off into smaller pieces after being fired, spanning out like a firework would, and all these pieces will explode on impact.  Causes less damage over a larger area.
 * Fire Bullet: Bursts into flames upon impact.
 * Ice Bullet: Freezes whatever it hits, forming a thick layer of ice over the target upon impact.
 * Smoke Bullet: Used if he needs to make a quick get-away.  Releases a thick cloud of smoke upon impact.


 * Scout: The missing piece of Lucero's mask can be brought back in the form of a small hawk, which can be sent to scout out the surrounding area.  What the hawk "sees" is transmitted back to the other piece of the mask, which sits on Lucero's face.  However, if the hawk must remain within a five-mile radius of Lucero at all times.  If it goes any further, it will promptly break apart, and the mask pieces will disappear once more.

Trivia

 * In the early design stages, Lucero was supposed to a quiet and moody character.
 * His revolvers are modelled after the Smith & Wesson Model 629 Stealth Hunter.
 * The rifle Lucero uses in his released form is modelled after the Barrett M82 rifle.
 * Soon after the formation of the Army, Lucero started dating Salvador Velasquez.  Their relationship lasted for well over a year before they decided that things weren't working out and it was best to move on.  It was a clean, mutual break, and the two are still fairly good friends to this day.