Sakaala

Sakaala, also known as Shukuteki-sama (宿敵様, "Lord Nemesis") was a male. He was also referred to as "The Scourge of Soul Society" (尸魂界の惨劇, Sourusosaeti no Sangeki) and "The Unfettered King" (自由な王, Jiyūnaō).

Appearance
Sakaala was an unusually tall and lean young-looking male of unclear ethnicity. While slender, he had toned, wiry muscles. The shade of his complexion was unnaturally pale. With a diamond-shaped face, he had somewhat serpentine features and a perky nose. His platinum blond hair was rather long, with a fringe hanging loosely over his left eye and the hair normally styled in a braid that reached below his shoulders. He was always seen clean-shaven. The colour of his eyes was light green.

The remnants of his Hollow mask lingered on the right side of his face. They had an uncanny resemblance to an opera mask, though with a single small horn protruding upward from above his eyebrow ridge. They covered about a half of his face, including the nose, though only a portion of the right cheek. The estigma on his face took the form of four small, pink symbolic stars on his left cheek. The location of his Hollow hole was the solar plexus region.

The usual attire of Sakaala was quite extravagant, especially considering the time period during which he lived. He wore a necklace made from teeth and ears of his victims. Other than that, the only other piece of clothing upon the upper part of his body was a small vest made from white leather, adorned with some spikes and small chains. In addition, he had rather tight-fitting trousers made from white leather as well, and shoes of similar make. Sometimes, he also wore a patchwork cape fashioned from the skin of his victims, predominantly their flayed faces.

Personality
Unfettered - that is one of the best terms one could use to describe the peculiar person that was Sakaala. Born of insanity, despair and trepidation, and with gargantuan power unlike any other Hollow of his time, he accepted no authority. There was no-one above him, everyone was a lowly worm in his eyes, and he would not tolerate rules or laws that could hinder his excesses. He was a capricious man. Whenever he set his sights on something, he would pursue that goal with reckless abandon, to the exclusion of all else, and anything that dared stand on his path was immediately, ruthlessly removed.

Self-absorbed, arrogant, condescending - Sakaala displayed no shortage of negative traits during his long life. He treated people as objects, toys, tools. Persecuted them, abused, exploited, tampered with them. He knew no bounds, there was nothing too extravagant for his taste, and he was inhumanly unflinching in his approach to whatever he found worthy of his attention. Sakaala devoted his existence to enjoyment, and, as a Hollow, his definition of enjoyment tended to differ severely from that of ordinary Souls. He raped, pillaged and burnt, took trophies and made trinkets from the remains of his victims. There was nothing sacred to him, no words or actions that could prevent him from once again indulging in his dark desires.

And he was charismatic, drawing people like moths clinging to bright light, to his warped, twisted "cause". He had a way with words, the ability to speak of and present the atrocities he had committed as misinterpreted, that it was the Soul Society who painted him a villain. That he was a revolutionary instead, free from the chains and shackles of normal Souls, determined to bring them absolute freedom as well. Many followed him, intoxicated with the belief that they were no longer subject to any arbitrary restrictions, in truth, ignorant of the fact they had been manipulated and set on a course to utter destruction sooner or later. For Sakaala had a penchant for acting on impulse, and no-one was safe from his whims.

He was the epitome of vanity, relentlessness, immorality, ferocity and extravagance. Among the many monsters that populated the ancient past of Soul Society he is one of the darkest, the topic of many an eerie legend or scary bedtime story even nowadays. For he was without fetters, and in his presence all fetters were undone, physical, mental, spiritual, leading downward a spiral of torment and madness.

The Devourer of Hueco Mundo
Vicious. Ever since the day that single particular did not transition to the, perhaps in an attempt to exact revenge from beyond grave, or simply unable to accept that his worldly existence had come to an end, the being that would one day become Sakaala, the Unfettered King, was vicious. Assuming its beastly form, the now- continued his hostile existence, perhaps giving rise to the mythical. Unusually powerful, unusually intelligent, it was the bane of many men and women, forever hungry, relentless. But after many years of barely satiating its hunger everlasting with such miniscule amounts of spiritual energy, the Hollow eventually moved to, the sombre realm of much greater opportunities to such a nightmarish wraith.

The perpetual hunt continued. The Hollow paid no heed to the abominable, terrifying forms of its peers, their special abilities and power, their own animalistic drive to survive and grow stronger. For the Hollow was only concerned with its own agenda, its own development. So it pursued and killed, ruthless, unflinching, with brief periods of rest between day-long massacres, hours on end of constant bloodshed. After consuming each successive victim the Hollow grew stronger, tougher, faster, winding up the spiral of cannibalism with each feast. One day, there were many Hollows populating the white deserts of Hueco Mundo. But soon they became scarce, hunted down, little more than fodder to the voracity and ambition of that single specimen. Until a group of powerful Hollows assembled, with that specimen among them, to participate in one final struggle. They fought and devoured, emerging on top a pile of corpses only to drop dead and form a new peak. In the midst of that slaughter they transformed, hundreds of Hollows fusing into about a dozen of towering monstrosities known as Menos Grande.

The vicious Hollow suddenly became one amongst many tormented souls occupying a single vessel. But that status was short-lived. Self-centred, adamant, the Hollow immediately rose above its peers and asserted his dominance, crushed them under his heel to wrest control of that colossal body all for himself. They became fuel for his rage and determination, and the first action of that Gillian-class Menos was to pounce upon his closest peer and sink his teeth into its neck. Soon, from the dozen of newborn Menos Grande that single one remained, only to wander off back into the white expanse afterward. With the combined power of many other Hollows at his fingertips, there was barely any opposition to his incessant advance. It was only a matter of time until the Gillian reached the next stage of evolution and transformed into an Adjuchas. With a smaller, more sleek body, not unlike that of the original manticore-like Hollow, but more developed, exponentially more powerful. In whole groups the remaining Hollows were fleeing at his approach, but there was no respite, no mercy. Only death. They were cattle, and he was the butcher. In the end, the Adjuchas inevitably achieved the final stage of evolution and became a remarkable Vasto Lorde.

And everything changed.

All of a sudden, the Hollow realised he had reached a limit. After so many years of gruelling fight for survival, the inhuman ordeal he had persevered, the vicious cycle of cannibalism and evolution he had prevailed, he was at his limit. There was nothing else to achieve. Just the empty, lifeless plains and dunes around him. No more successes. No more power. For the first time in his long existence the Hollow despaired, realising that in climbing to the highest peak, he had nowhere else to go in the aftermath. He had accomplished his goal, and there was nothing else. Eventually, unable to accept that, that anything could be imposed on him by anyone or anything, the Vasto Lorde sank his claws into his Hollow mask, the grisly remains of his heart, and tore off a half of it to cast it onto the white sand in a gesture of vicious denial. And with that act he serendipitously came across the only way for him to progress forward once again. With his mask cracked, he underwent another change, acquiring a completely Human-like form and Shinigami-like powers, becoming an.

In the meantime, concerned about the inexplicable purge of Hollows, the Balancers of Souls sent a small squad to investigate the issue. After some time they came across a source of unbridled tremendous power, a single eerie lantern in the middle of an eternal lifeless night. They were outmatched and destroyed by the newborn hybrid. Nevertheless, in visiting that sombre realm they reminded the advanced Hollow of the existence of another realm. Previously, it paid little attention to those swordsmen, martial artists and mages pursuing his kind, dismissing them and occassionaly slaying them out of annoyance. But then, with Hueco Mundo nearly devoid of life, the Arrancar could move to another world, a world of endless opportunities, more fit to serve as a path for his never-ending progress. Thus, he manifested a dimensional portal with his newfound power and relocated to the Soul Society.

The first time he was confronted by the denizens of that realm, they demanded to know his identity. And, for the first time willing to actually interact with someone else, the Arrancar mused about a name for himself, and replied: Sakaala.

The Scourge of Soul Society
For many years, Sakaala would travel across the spiritual realm, enamoured with the sheer variability Soul Society offered compared to the bleak and uninteresting Hueco Mundo. He had grown weary of co-existing, or rather exterminating fellow single-minded monsters who all shared a common goal. Instead, he observed the myriad different people inhabiting that world, their entertainment and daily hardships, their suffering and joy. Over time, he learnt much about them, about the laws and organisation that tied them. As such, he was also perplexed. In Hueco Mundo there were no rules, no authority, only survival of the fittest. But in Soul Society, weak mingled with strong, sought their assistance and protection. Everything and everyone was subject to order, restrained by morality, obeying commands. From the newborn child of a pair of beggars up to and including a respectable veteran warrior, they were bound.

That was an obvious conclusion - he was unlike anyone else. With the remnats of his Hollow mask and colourful spots on his cheek, he was a caricature of a Shinigami, bearing uncanny resemblance yet not quite the same. So he was treated with animosity, apprehension, disgust. People feared him, avoided or attacked him. In fact, they wanted to impose their arbitrary rules upon him, attempted to comprehend him through the prism of their limited perception, forcibly integrate him into that one giant community of eternal prisoners or destroy him so that there would be no-one free amongst them, no-one truly free, exposing and highlighting their own metaphorical confinement solely through the fact of existing. But Sakaala paid no heed to their threats and warnings. He did as he pleased, forever unchained. He killed and abused with impunity, as no warrior who stood on his way proved able to stop him. There was no area he did not trespass, no rule he did not violate. In that world of duress and shaky order he was a force of pure chaos, unrestrained and unabated. He killed and ravaged with reckless abandon, relishing his unique status and unrivalled power.

There was only one source of concern: the. As incredibly powerful and reckless he was, Sakaala was not a fool. He had learnt quickly of the Thirteen Divisions, each a warband of its own led by a formidable warrior. He did not fear armies, he did not fear their leaders, but to engage the whole military organisation was not a sensible idea, to put it mildly. As such, he took another approach. A death of a thousand cuts. He was the man-shaped plague of the, elusive like a wraith, abrupt and decisive like death itself. With time, the scum and villainy of the Soul Society outskirts began following him, enchanted by his inhumanly unfettered nature, virtually worshipping his godlike might. And Sakaala did not mind, for why would he prevent others from finding pleasure in unchaining their shackles and letting their primal insticts guide them? With nary an effort on his part he managed to accumulate his own warband, a loose association of thieves, murderers and lunatics, slowly but surely. Gradually, he had been becoming an ever greater threat to the stability of the whole Soul Society. However, the Shinigami had other concerns at the same time and, inevitably, clashed with the in a bloody war.

They emerged victorious, but decimated and enfeebled. Sakaala was eager to exploit that opportunity. The atrocities committed by him and his warband escalated rapidly, drawing the ravaged Soul Society toward the depths of Hell. There were few opponents left worthy of his attention, and amongst them there was one particularly stubborn specimen: Third Division Captain Kentarō Akiyama. One of the few who was able to put up a good fight and survive their encounters, though not quite win any of the engagements. Nevertheless, he piqued Sakaala's curiosity with his prowess, his attitude, his ideals. The Arrancar recognised Akiyama's disillusionment with the world he was forced to protect with his life. Ultimately, they clashed once more, and once Sakaala had got rid of nuisances accompanying the Captain, he began fighting with words in addition to actions. Soon, the resolve of his opponent wavered when the extent of corruption and hypocrisy of the Gotei 13 was revealed, their alleged lies uncovered to him. In the end, Akiyama accepted Sakaala's offer to join him and his "cause", the first and only time the Arrancar actively recruited someone. A decision that was half-pragmatic, seeing as he reforged one of his greatest enemies into his own second-in-commad, but also a display of his whimsical, curious disposition. For he wanted to discover how low could a former hero fall, and savour the misery of the latter's former allies forced to fight him to the bitter end.

Unfortunately for Sakaala, he had a way with words, but he could not resist indulging in his excesses. It was inevitable for Akiyama to discover the dissonance between the things Sakaala said and the atrocities he committed on a daily basis, slaughtering and devastating mercilessly whilst claiming to merely uproot the hypocrisy of Soul Society and grant common people freedom. The truth was, the Arrancar never did anything for anyone else but himself. Others were tools, toys, pets to him, and he manipulated them with disturbing delight. His capricious nature, though, prevented him from following through any scheme or charade to the end, and inevitably, Kentarō saw through his ruse despite his own instability and doubts. The man left suddenly, but Sakaala was barely concerned about his departure. For the damage had been done, the Seireitei surrounded with smoky ruins and mindless masses of aggressive people. It was time to launch the final offensive.

The first target was one of the Great Noble Families, or rather, their estate. Perhaps as a way of indirectly punishing Akiyama, Sakaala and his warband ravaged the estate, since the Arrancar knew of the bond between his temporary comrade and one of the ladies of that house: Hitomi Akui. The woman herself decided to face him, as she was a powerful warrior, and challenged him with her Bankai. Nevertheless, Sakaala had defeated many an esteemed Bankai user before, and in spite of her valiance Hitomi was unable to overcome him as well. She perished in battle unceremoniously, and her body was slumped on a pile of other corpses. Soon afterward, Akiyama returned from his several month-long exile, just in time to witness his last tie to Soul Society crumble to dust.

Sakaala was surprised to see him at that moment, but also elated and quick to mock him. Kentarō, on the other hand, was not amused. He tore through the ranks of Sakaala's followers and struck the Arrancar on his face so suddenly the latter did not have a chance to react. The remainder of the warband fled, frightened by the combined amount of power the two were about to exert and what was to follow. Meanwhile, Sakaala recovered and faced Akiyama in battle. They clashed in a contest of not just physical might, not just their metaphysical special abilities, but also a struggle between two tremendous willpowers and similar but fundamentally different outlooks.

The battle moved beyond the walls of Seireitei and into the Rukongai, carving a wedge of utter devastation throughout whole cities and landscapes. For hours on end the two exchanged blows and deconstructed each other's worldview. Eventually, they braced themselves for one final clash and, in spite of his grave wounds, Sakaala did not waver. He had not lost a single fight throughout his entire long existence, and had little reason to fear that would change anytime soon. In that, he underestimated his exponentially more serious opponent and when they collided for the last time, the Arrancar was unable to prevail and vanished from the Soul Society, his body eradicated and his essence dragged to Hell where it belonged.

Trivia

 * Sakaala was conceived as an irredeemably evil counterpart to Tōsō. While the two did share some views and a similar approach, ultimately their reasons and goals proved completely different. In addition, he explores the consequences of an egocentric and malicious person boasting power so enormous that not even whole armies can stop him.
 * His theme is Batman v Superman - Fight Night.
 * In Japanese, Sakaala would refer to himself with the informal pronoun ore (俺), which establishes a sense of masculinity and superiority, and might be considered rude under certain circumstances. Though there exists an even more arrogant ore-sama variant, Sakaala cannot be bothered to pronounce that each time he speaks and as such prefers the shorter version.
 * The author's choice for his hypothetical voice actors are and, who voiced the Naruto character Zabuza Momochi in Japanese and English, respectively.
 * Sakaala was partially based upon a character from his creator's original fiction. However, said character is a female alien and substantially more powerful than the Arrancar Sakaala at that. Which is somewhat ironic, seeing as Sakaala pushes the limits of power in a fictional universe chock-full of strong characters, whereas his much stronger namesake vastly outclasses everyone else in a fairly typical hard science-fiction setting.

Bleach: Extinction

 * Fists of Calamity! Two Grandmasters Collide! (Mentioned only)
 * Worlds Apart