(Arrancar) Ciaran, the Dark Soul [LIO CHECK]

• Name: Ciaran, the Dark Soul
• True Age: More than seven centuries.
• Appearance Age: Early Twenties
• Gender: Female
• Orientation: Under Nagato’s Leadership



• Appearance: She stands lithe and five-foot high. She has ivory hair that is tied into a long, braided ponytail while her face is concealed behind her hollow mask, only showing her racial trademark yellow eyes in the midst of the darkness surrounding it. Her attire does shown wear and tear while the brass trims are dulled by the sand dust, just like her formerly smooth, porcelain hollow mask that bears no teeth at all, which is believed to be a deformation or an unfortunate mutation from the normal hollows. On top of the theme of her outfit resembles a hornet, the color scheme drastically rebelled against the usual white primary and black secondary with dull blue primary and dull brass secondary with tertiary being the metal and leather based on her armored boots and leather gloves. From time to time, she is seen with either a man-sized ballistae, or a pair of curved blades that one was brass-colored and plain while the other was silver-colored with serrated edges; it is currently a mystery, even for her allies and her leader about which of the three was her actual Zanpakutō.

Spoiler:

• Bone Appearance: Unlike most Arrancar, she retained her entire mask, which only fell apart around her head, but not over her face. Anywhere else is covered by her attire.

• Hollow Hole: It is not visible, but it typically is located in the center of her chest, but she has two additional holes and one is located on each of her wrists about the size of an iron spike.

• Reiatsu Colour: She has three colors when her reiatsu is revealed, which gave her the nickname, “the Dark Soul.” Appearing in form of a powerful flame, the core of her reiatsu is bright white as it was outlined in very dark blue before it outlined as the final layer surrounding a body of black darkness. It is unknown whether she is a special case like the appearance of her mask or she has a greater potential within her being, whenever she is going to turn hostile, that reiatsu shows, glowing with malicious intention that was not out of spite, but by a feeling that was never explained for Ciaran’s muteness clouded all sorts of truths behind her gestures and choices. What is also strange was that her reiatsu is as tangible as water, thus it led to whispered words of a theory that she is originally not human to begin with.



Personality: She surrounds herself with her muted guise due to an unexplained reason that is only speculated by other Arrancar who worked with her before; one was because she naturally cannot talk, thus she has no mouth, a reason why her mutation was unfortunate while the other theory was because her heritage was foreign, thus if she does speak, it will be in a language that most hollows and Arrancar could not understand well. Her communication was through gestures such as bowing and showing pleasure of victory or the pain of defeat. Because of her muteness, it is usually difficult not to stumble onto one of her emotional buttons without setting her off onto an emotional tiff. As a hollow, she was very direct and stealthy when it comes to hunting her prey, and as an Arrancar, she gained an aspect of tragedy, which her presence can lead to a downfall of any character who she considers as a prey, she would even be at risk of bringing up the worst of evils from her prey, which explains why she would prefer to kill the prey quickly; solely to avoid it from happening. Strange for an Arrancar, she frequents her demonstration of adamant loyalty as she joined Nagato’s group on her own will after all the time wandering the desert, looking for a Vasto Lorde to side with; she does not speak much, but when called upon or by knowledge that Nagato was in battle, Ciaran will answer, regardless if Nagato wanted her or not while not letting anything stray her loyalty, except if Nagato himself was really trying to kill her.

When in combat, Ciaran prefers to use the element of surprise either through the calmness of the field or by the chaos of battle. She does that by using her sonido to elude enemies and choose a spot away from the enemies and not always the highest place she could find because a perch that high will always be the roof and that will be too much exposure in an event of an aerial bombardment. When taking a sniper shot, she normally takes her time to adjust her aim with her ballistae because unlike other cero, her was liquid-based, thus physics do apply to her shots. The precision of her shots are hardly noticeable because of the speed and the thinness of her cero being likely to outdone many flash step users as the typical flash step users hit by it would have difficulty telling where it came from due to their familiarity with the wider and bigger version. Should her foe be hindered by her sniper shot, she could move in for the kill with her twin curved blades or with her ‘soul-stealing grasp.’



• History: She was born in a kingdom where the sun was praised as the greatest of miracles to behold and the very inspirational object for many warriors. It is unknown if it was on Earth or was in other worlds, but it is clear that she was once human before entering Hueco Mundo as a Hollow. Her attire seems to tell that she was once someone important like a knightess or a member of an elite force, but her silence and habits entails that her death was not by natural cause and a tragic loss of a friend. How she died was only speculated by the additional holes in her wrists, which could mean that she was crucified or was tortured before she met her end. Others speculated that she was committed to rejoining her lost friend as a last resort of loyalty.

When she arrived into Hueco Mundo, she was the only hollow who does not have a mouth as her porcelain mask only has sockets for eyes while her form is a hornet that was no bigger than a small child. As a hollow, she has an ability to fling acidic black muck at a far distance at her prey and predator, causing them crippling agony as she finishes them off with a jab of her serrated stinger and brass-colored, bladed legs. Eventually, she was sucked into a formation of a Gillian Menos, which she slowly took over with her poisonous black reiatsu. The Gillian Menos’s mask broke apart and reform into an image of Ciaran’s mask. It is learned by observant Adjucha Menos that Ciaran’s feeding method was by absorption, using her “black cero” to cripple and mortally injured her prey from quite a distance, up to their level, which was significant by average before she absorbs them by grasping their body and drawing out the souls from them until the bodies are as dry as the sands above her.

As an Adjucha Menos, she was already very fearsome among her surface dwellers of Hueco Mundo as the only one of her kind to be able to hit a target from miles away with black, toxic cero attacks that could come out from nowhere at any moment as Ciaran was nowhere to be seen. She became an Arrancar through Aizen’s experimentation on Hollow Evolution, which Aizen thought her to be a failure since her mask did not break apart almost completely like the others. She became a Numeros only because of her potential with her strange mutation that predates before Aizen’s arrival. Due to her position, she was only sent on scouting missions to find the other Vasto Lorde to recruit as a member of Aizen’s elite group of Arrancar called the Espada. She did not return to Los Noches when Ichigo and his friends invaded Los Noches as she was meant to be killed by two other Numeros who thought of her as a weakling and through her defeat they will gain a place among the Fraccion; instead, they are quickly defeated and coveted by Ciaran, which their powers are added onto her own through absorption.

Now, she follows Nagato after his defection from Shadow Fall and her reason was unknown other than the fact that she is willing to show her loyalty by handling assassination of individuals who Nagato deemed to be likely to cause trouble or to infiltrate a group hideout to gather intelligence and manifestos for Nagato to base his decision on. Her silent demeanor was factually her signature trait as her stare was intimidating enough for people who knew her while her skills with cero and her twin blades are extraordinary for her degree of power.



• Sealed Zanpakutô: It is entirely uncertain which of her curved blades or her ballistae would be her actual Zanpakutō, but it is also known that Ciaran never used her Resereccion before or at least in plain sight. If based upon her hollow form before, most would see the crossbow being her Zanpakutō because it was never seen on her person before, but traditionalists claimed that her blades are her twin Zanpakutō due to it being present as her brass legs and her silver stinger before she became an Arrancar.

Spoiler:

• Racial Abilities
Dark Toxic Cero: Short-ranged and not instantaneous, the cero is charged by one of her feet and she kicks it towards the enemy, ‘splashing it’ upon them with liquid cero that can sink into their body if it is not washed off quickly. The effect of the toxin was very mild, but it is persistent, making it crippling if not taken care of in time. First stage of the toxin was the toxin’s attack on the nerves, benefiting the person’s pain tolerance, but will feel more sluggish than before. Second stage is the attack on cerebral cortex, making it harder for the person to utilize their willpower, focus, mental deduction. Final stage is the attack on the muscles, which would cause loose paralysis where the target falls limped and could only struggle to roll as they would not feel any strength left in them. The toxin is not lethal, but it leaves the target prone to Ciaran’s Dark Hand technique. The time for it to take effect before the first stage and in between first and second stage is based on the target’s willpower skill. The time in between second and third stage is reduced by one post. After that, it is entirely based upon willpower and strength skill to be able to crawl around, leaving speed skills and flash step skills useless.

Dark Piercing Cero: Her strongest attack that is also her most famed cero in Hueco Mundo as its range is considered the furthest. By using her ballistae as an aim-stability catalyst, Ciaran is capable of clocking her cero’s range with over a hundred miles at her current power level. Like her Toxic Cero, the cero is liquid-based and is prone to external forces affecting its trajectory, but was made up with the extreme compression caused by her utilization of her ballistae and her mastery in the use of cero-based techniques. Through that compression, her cero gained its reputed name for its ability to overcome any kind of resistances, including a grand master of hierro and layered barriers as well as its speed being quick enough to make advanced sonido users very wary of being her target should they try to prove themselves to be an opposition of Nagato, her leader. The cero is about an inch wide in circumference, which is an achievement in cero compression. The payload was significant, but comes at a price as she needs time to aim before launching it (one post) and time to recover (first post on cool down and second post to reload before third post being the aiming;) the cost of the technique will cause her to be winded after first shot (additional one post before the cool down.) She can cut down the recharge time by utilizing her willpower to tap into her energy reserves (one use per rank,) that is meant for her regeneration process, but if she uses that for a more frequented uses of her sniper shots, she will be more prone to off-sighted attacks and more likely to take longer to recover if she wears herself out like that or get injured during a fight. If that is the case, the fall back option upon injury is she needs to keep going by potentially killing someone with Dark Hand to restore her vitality and even her energy reserves.

Dark Hand: Ciaran’s main method of feeding since she cannot eat like others could. If you are familiar with Rogue’s ability in X-Men, it is essentially like that with exception of gaining abilities. To heal herself if she is injured, she can naturally use her energy during rest to improve her regeneration rate, but when in battle, she used this technique to heal herself by sucking out the reiryoku out of her downed opponent through direct contact from her bare hand. By connotation of ‘being downed’ is by being either crippled by her Dark Piercing Cero or by going limped due to exposure to her Dark Toxic Cero. If one of these two is met, she can perform that. If she is fully healed when feeding, she can restore her spent energy, rejuvenating herself and potentially make her cero slightly stronger for the period of the thread. It does not kill the target initially, but it is possible to be killed by this technique by prolonged contact with it because the target’s reiryoku or ‘soul’ is drained dry and the target is unable to sustain their life any longer. Living targets are not safe from it as their reiryoku can only be their shield against the Dark Hand, but without it, the technique can continue by drawing upon their soul, or their life force.



• Resereccion Name: The name is unknown.

• Resereccion Release Phrase: The phrase is unknown.

• Release Actions: She prostrates as her reiatsu swirls underneath her before it erupts upward, creating a large pillar of reiatsu. Upon completion, her reiatsu falls and splashes outward like water. However, her reiatsu is still toxic to those around her, so it is usually advisable to clear about a hundred yards of circumference (fifty yards radius) of the area if they desired to stay out of its tidal wave and rain. If affected, follow the effects on Dark Toxic Cero.

• Resereccion Appearance: Her Resereccion is based on a white hornet that is clearly man-sized with brassy legs that are razor sharp like her brass curved blade and her stinger silver and serrated like her silver curved blade. The face is the same, but slanted into a downward slope while her ivory hair became her ivory wings. At that point, she is constantly airborne and prefers to dive-bomb her targets than to land.

Spoiler:

• Resereccion Abilities
Serrated Sting: Her deadly technique where she stabs her stinger into the target as she flies by before tearing them from the inside with the serrated edges of her stinger. Those affected by it would deal with severe internal bleeding. Evasion is highly recommended if one cannot see any black goo from her stinger.

Brass Stabbing: Ciaran the Hornet can land, but usually on an enemy has she uses her six razor sharp appendages to rapidly jab and stab the enemy. She can even stab them and lift them off the ground to either use them as a battering ram against their own allies or to toss them down to do additional damage (weight limit is based upon her strength skill.)

Toxic Slinging: A toxin coats her stinger from the thorax and Ciaran flings it at the targets as she flies by over them. If any of its liquid residue hits the person, it will be like Dark Toxic Cero, but takes effect at half the time. It is the most frequented tactic she uses.

Dark Skyward Carnage Cero: She flies high into the sky and aims her stinger towards the individual(s) (takes up one post) and releases up to fifty needle sized compressed ceros, which would made up the one inch cero from her Dark Piercing Cero. Each needle is very hard to see because of Hueco Mundo’s passive nighttime as well as the great speed they go by (comparable to an advanced sonido user.) Unlike her Dark Piercing Cero, this technique has a spread, which is an inch wide per mile distance, which is precise for a flying shotgun-like technique. Due to the speed and compressed sizes, each needle can pierce through master rank hierro and layered barriers.



Checker Note: The numbers before the skill name was the priority rating which how the skills are distributed; 1 = top priority to 4 = lowest priority.

General Skills

• 4 Durability: Master/Advanced/Adept/Beginner
  
• 3 General Speed: Master/Advanced/Adept/Beginner
  
• 2 Strength: Master/Advanced/Adept/Beginner
  
• 1 Weapon Skill: Master/Advanced/Adept/Beginner
  

Will Skills

• Willpower/Determination: Master/Advanced/Adept/Beginner
  
• Mental Deduction: Master/Advanced/Adept/Beginner
  
• Pain Endurance: Master/Advanced/Adept/Beginner
  
• Focus: Master/Advanced/Adept/Beginner
  

Racial Skills

• 2 Perquisa: Master/Advanced/Adept/Beginner
  
• 3 Sonido: Master/Advanced/Adept/Beginner
  
• 1 Cero/Bala: Master/Advanced/Adept/Beginner
  
• 4 Hierro: Master/Advanced/Adept/Beginner