Chapter 4: Growing Stronger
Although she came down here to get stronger the first battle was a little too sudden. A cero is a powerful blast of concentrated spiritual energy that is fired at the target. While in most cases it is fired from the mouth it can also be fired from hands, fingers, and other parts of the body depending on the level of proficiency of its user.
Coating her hands in her Spirit energy Layla braced for the impact of the blast. When the red energy made contact with her fur it scorched it turning the original cyan-colored fur black.
"It Hurts!" Grinding her teeth Layla tried her best to maintain her consciousness as the blast was far more powerful than she originally thought. Her Paws sunk into the ground as the force of the blast threatened to knock her off balance.
When the hollow's Cero finished it looked at the area of impact with interest, what it saw was the formerly blue hollow now dyed a black color due to the burning of its fur yet those Cyan eyes maintained the same vigor as before.
This has never happened before to the Hollow, it's special move had no effect so it thought to get in closer. With a speed that didn't match it's large body the hollow weaved through the trees making it's way towards Layla.
"Fuck!" Layla tried to move her paws as the pain shot through her entire body, Ultra High-Speed regeneration was working hard but in tandem, the spirit energy in her body was draining quickly as well.
As the Hollow approached Layla moved Swifty using her claws for both Offense and defense as her left arm blocked the incoming blow and her right jabbed straight through the left pectoral of the Hollow. Thinking that she successfully won the fight nothing else was done, yet the hollow did something unexpected.
Bam!
Using it's left arm the Hollow grabbed onto Layla's arm preventing her from getting away, it then opened it's mouth and started to charge up another cero.
If Layla had a heart it would no doubt be beating wildly as she stared at her impending doom. Seconds seemed to pass like years as Layla racked her brain to come up with something that would get her out of this mess.
With a woosh the cero was released, Layla opened her mouth and allowed the beam to enter. Her body heated up but the death that she was expecting never happened but instead, she felt as if she was going to vomit.
Opening her mouth a dark cyan colored cero exited, it's power cut through the Hollow like a hot knife through butter. The beam continued to travel as it cut through the trees illuminating the area, the entire upper half of the hollow disappeared leaving behind a bright blue ball.
Grabbing the ball into her paw Layla felt instinctivly that whatever it was it would be beneficial to her. "Zuex what is this?"
"That is the souls that the hollow has collected in its life along with a small portion of its spirit energy. If you ingest it depending on the Quilty of the souls it will greatly boost your progress towards advancing." Bringing the ball to her mouth the energy seemed to sense her intention. The souls entered her body willingly, excited to be a part of someone stronger than the Hollow from before.
*Powers Learned*
-Cero
-Cero Doble: After absorbing an incoming Cero by swallowing it, Layla fires one of her own while returning the previous one, thus creating a potent Cero Doble.
(4/100 Souls)
After taking a look at how many souls she collected Layla was a little dejected but with the addition of Cero and Cero Doble, her arsenal was no longer as limited as before. With a successful victory in her first fight, a sense of confidence was ignited within her and she started looking around the forest for someone to quench her bloodlust.
The Menos forest was extensive and divided into a few different sections unbeknownst to Layla, there were many different pockets of influence but 5 main areas: the Gillian rest, Cannibal pit, the Reishi well, the Deep, and The Forbidden Zone.
Currently, Layla was near the Cannibal pit which is where Hollow that have awoken their cannibalistic nature come to devour each other. The direction our poor hollow is walking towards is the Gillian Rest, this area is where those hollows that successfully evolved wonder too as the concentration of reishi increases.
A Gillian is formed when these new cannibalistic Hollow congregate and eat one another until a Menos Grande is formed with a large body and tremendous spiritual energy. The melding of these souls causes them to lose their individuality, rendering them slow and stupid. However, occasionally a Gillian will retain the individuality of one of the many personalities that make it up. These Gillians have unique masks that differentiate them from the usual members of their sub-species. It is these Gillians that will continue to consume other Gillians, allowing for further evolution.
Unknowingly Layla wandered into an entire group of these Gillian, they all look alike: they are several stories tall, covered in a black cloak, have large white feet that look like boots, and wear white masks with long pointed noses. Staring up at these beasts Layla can feel that they are much stronger than she is currently. Before she could react they all let out a screech, their spiritual pressure was released pouring down on Layla unrestrained as they each charged Cero.
There was no escaping so Layla thought cero Doble was the only option, Placing her Paws out in front of her Layla channeled her spirit energy to allow the Ceros to enter her mouth without causing to much damage to her body. After that, she poured 90% of her Spirit Energy into the technique.
The Cyan beam was an unstoppable force that cut through the Gillians by using their own power. All that remained were a sea of blue soul orbs.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
DukeNeaffy
DukeNeaffy The Story may seem to be moving fast but I just wanted to get to the Adjucha class where things will finally get started for real!
Let me know your thoughts!
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone