Vamp

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"Lovely! So you're telling me the thing that attacked Randy is a younger version of Kentaro Hiroshi, who happens to think he's fucking Dracula!?"

—Garrett regarding Vamp.^[src]

Vamp
Name	Vamp, Dracula, #.3, #.4
Characteristics
Race	Soulless
Gender	Male
Eyes	Red
Hair	Black
Professional Status
Affiliation	Imawashī, Dastan Shiba, Arata
Base of Operations	World of the Living, Reikai
Personal Status
Status	Numerous alive, numerous deceased
Powers
Signature Skill	Blood sucking, Hakuda, Hollow summoning, Hollowfication

Project Vamp, known alternatively and somewhat derisively as "Dracula", was an enhanced version of the Soulless. He was created by Dastan and Arata based upon the physical appearance and skill-set of Kentaro Hiroshi when the latter fought against the original Imawashī. Enhanced versions known as #.1 and #.2 where failures, but #.3 was a success and was released upon the World of the Living, where he very nearly killed Randy Jones. This version fought and was defeated by Garrett Sheppard, before being disintegrated by Tiffany Henderson. Another #.3 was responsible for the murder of several high-spec Humans but was intercepted and killed personally by Kentaro. Following this Arata continued his experiments and eventually created #.4.

Appearance

All models of Vamp encountered have shared core physical traits: they sport spiked black hair with a long fringe hanging between his piercing red eyes, his head framed neatly by his long bangs, and has a scar that runs through his left eye. The #.3 models encountered, as noted by Kay, Marisa and Tiffany, have all borne an uncanny appearance to Kentaro, with Vamp being almost identical to Kentaro's general look when the latter fought the original Imawashī. The likeness was such that Randy Jones dropped his guard and was subsequently attacked. There have been slight differences between the two #.3 models encountered by Kentaro and the Grat cell however. The one encountered by Kentaro sported a half-healed stab wound to his forehead, which Kentaro had thought fatal.

Personality

Although there have been numerous #.3 models they all share similar personality traits which, coupled with their shared appearance, led to the mistaken belief that only one Vamp existed.

Regardless of the model Vamp has demonstrated little in the way of a personality, speaking in one-word sentences. He is a creature driven by simple impulses like hunger and self-preservation, with little discernible intelligence, though he demonstrates the mindset of a predator by lying in wait for his targets to drop their guard. He was likewise fit to bide his time and attack at the most opportune time; an example being when Randy had just dispatched a Hollow and had dropped his guard. Although compared to both a Reikon Kyuuban by Sanada and a Bount by Shūhei, Vamp possesses none of the aforementioned races characteristics, with the exception of biting and draining a target of their blood. This led Garrett to comically describe Vamp as "Dracula". He seems to operate on instinct like a low-level Hollow, such as when he attacked Kentaro upon identifying the latter as a threat, or running away when overpowered or surprised.

The sight, or perhaps the smell of blood, drives Vamp into an uncontrollable frenzy which required Vamp to be bound by powerful Kidō, leading Kentaro to pity him, and claim that he was going to put him out of his misery. Even in this frenzied state Vamp's sense of self-preservation remains strong, for he fled from Marisa rather than attempt to harm Randy further. Against Garrett however he demonstrated yet another side of this frenzied state, which propelled the Soulless-like creature to attack Garrett with a degree of ferocity the young Fullbringer had never seen before. Garrett was forced to embrace the Hollow-like training he underwent with Kenji, which focused on pure destruction, just to keep his head above the water when faced with Vamp's frenzied state.

History

The failures that came before the #.3 and #.4 model.

Vamp originated as an experiment conducted by Arata at the behest of Dastan Shiba as a form of enhanced Soulless, and came to be known as #.3, and an unknown number where created. All where installed with a data collection protocol that recorded Vamp's various encounters for Arata to review. All that is known is that two #.3 models appeared in the World of the Living roughly a month following the destructive events of The Collapse, where they where known to have attacked Randy Jones in Grat and at least one other man in an unknown location. The data collected from Vamp's battles with Garrett and Kentaro allowed Arata to develop #.4.

Synopsis

Main article -- Bleach (Kenji Hiroshi).

Part IV

Main article -- Bleach: Cataclysm.

Rising arc

• The Resolve to Fight
• Tracking Kentaro!? (unseen)
• Garrett's Vengeance
• Rising Shadows (#.4 first mentioned)

Bound by Blood arc

• Terrors of the Night
• Returning Terrors
• Facing the Terrors
• Terrors End

Part V

Main article -- TBA.

Equipment

Former equipment

• Bakkōtō: Some of the #.3 models where armed whilst others where not. The Vamp who first fought against Kentaro used Hakuda strictly, and possessed no discernible weapons. During an encounter with Randy Jones and Marisa however, Vamp carried a sword, which he used to stab Randy. Garrett successfully disarmed Vamp of his sword during their battle and it subsequently came into the possession of Marisa, who was the first to identify it as a Bakkōtō. Garrett would later take possession of the blade following extensive rework by Anko. Whether or not those who wield weapons all wield Bakkōtō is unknown to all save Arata.

Powers & abilities

Blood-sucking: Vamp demonstrated the ability to drink the blood of his victims. When he did this to Sanada and Akiye he also absorbed their spiritual power, strengthening himself, whilst knocking Akiye unconscious and greatly weakening Sanada. This tendency to drink the blood of his victims led Garrett to nickname him "Dracula".

Great Spiritual Energy: Vamp model #.3 possesses high levels of spiritual power. He was capable of overpowering Humans with both high spiritual energy and significant combat training. Marisa noted that Vamp's power and combat abilities was virtually identical to Kentaro's own when he fought against Shinzō's Imawashī, confirming him as a Captain-class combatant. He can further bolster his spiritual power by directly biting a victim and sucking their blood. The #.4 model created by Arata following Vamp's battle with Garrett and Kentaro was noted to be stronger.

Hollow Summoning: After sucking the blood of Sanada and Akiye, Vamp demonstrated the ability to summon vast numbers of low-level Hollow directly to the Reikai. Both Kentaro and Kensei noted him to be the source of the Hollow summoning.

Swordsmanship: Vamp displayed some ability with a sword, successfully defeating Randy, and killing another Human.

Hakuda: Vamp used his arms and legs to attack his opponent, and was strong enough to hold Kay aloft by her throat with only one hand. He frequently used a lunging attack with great speed, but was consistently overpowered and outmanoeuvred by Kentaro's superior Hakuda abilities. Against numerous opponents he displayed the tendency to bite his opponents.

Sensory Blockage: Garrett Sheppard noted that something was actively preventing him from sensing spiritual energy, and attributed this strange phenomenon to the one who attacked Randy. Kentaro noted that Vamp wasn't simply warping or throwing off his sense for spiritual power as he had thought initially, but rather the source of Vamp's spiritual power was being actively blocked, but how is unknown. Kentaro only consistently located him using the "darkness sense" of his Zanpakutō.

Immense Durability: Vamp survived being stabbed through the skull, which shocked Kentaro upon encountering him again. Kentaro surmised that nothing short of incinerating him and casting his ashes to the wind would succeed in destroying him. Although Garrett inflicted enough damage to knock one of the #.3 models unconscious he had nothing in his arsenal capable of killing Vamp outright; it took Tiffany Henderson using a fully-powered 90-level Hadō to finally finish him.

Self-healing: Vamp demonstrated a limited form of self-healing. Kentaro noted the earlier stab-wound he inflicted was half-healed when he encountered him again. He had likewise healed from the wounds earlier inflicted upon him by Garrett and Tiffany when first encountered by Kentaro.

Hollowfication

An additive first seen in the #.4 model that arose from the battle data collected from the #.3 models battle with Garrett and Kentaro.

Vamp accessing his Hollow form.

• Hollow Form: The Hollow form assumed by Vamp is similar to the physical appearances undertaken by the failed #.1 and #.2 models that where created in mass, and was identical in appearance to Kentaro's second stage Hekigenkai release. The composition and utilisation of the form has been compared to Garrett's Shinuchi, for it taps the user's Hollow power to the fullest and releases it, creating a form comparable to Hollowfication.

• Power Augmentation: The original intent behind Hollowfication was to bring about an enhanced being whose power alone was greater than either a Shinigami or Hollow would be capable of reaching on their own. In his Hollow form Vamp experiences heightened ceilings of power, whilst expressing a unique duel-type spiritual signature not unlike that of an Arrancar.

Behind the scenes

• Vamp, and the arc he appeared in, was originally filler content designed to highlight some of Kentaro's growth following The Collapse. The decision was made later to canonise the event and tie it to the events surrounding both Garrett Sheppard and the Soulless. This new arc, dubbed The Rising, was originally known as Return of the Soulless. This arc also showed that there existed an unspecified number of Vamps.