Quintalla Cora Calica: Pt. 3

Segunda Etapa Appearance: There is no soul alive in Hueco Mundo that commands enough influence on Quintalla to bring forth her Segunda Etapa, not even Barracuda. It is a thing that even her lost lover never bore witness to, for to enter into its finality, the Broken Beauty must relinquish herself to the sadness—she must release the bonds of her clarity and fade completely into the mists of her insanity. It is a thing that she would never easily consider, even in those moments when her grip on reality is already failing. A primal, core part of her being knows that entering into her final form is to open the door to madness, and she will only ever resort to such extremes if she believes that it is the only way to preserve herself or Hueco Mundo. There is a very real fear buried in her soul of what damage she may do should she give herself completely to her regret. Only the farthest expanses of Hueco Mundo know the answer, and they tell their tale in shattered ruins and the sand-covered bodies of countless Hollow.

There are no release phrases required to enter into the truest form of the Hollow race. It is an instinctual thing, stitched into the soul when a Vasto Lorde becomes an Arrancar. However, Quintalla’s final expression stems from a world far darker than those of her peers. When she finally chooses to call upon her Segunda Etapa, she does not clear the area. Instead, she uses her tremendous telekinesis to bring forth matter from all directions, forming a dome-like shield. This can be made of literally anything—sand, stone, and even bodies are drawn in like flies to a blinding light. Once protected from any aggressors and isolated in the darkness, Quintalla beckons forth the clawing voices in her mind, releasing her defenses and succumbing to her regret. Her spiritual pressure explodes, transforming her in an instant and sending the debris around her in every direction at thousands of miles per hour. Anything within a few miles risks being pierced by countless pieces of shrapnel. Those that manage to dodge the projectiles must still stand strong in the face of a spiritual pressure that is so painful and overwhelming that it can kill through sensation alone.

Those that live to see Quintalla’s Segunda Etapa are subjected to what may be the most unsettling release in Hueco Mundo. Having surrendered her soul to madness for as long as she remains capable of sustaining her truest shape, her physical body is shifted to match this most primal decision. Her height, weight, and general proportions remain virtually unchanged. The way she carries herself, however, is markedly different. Quintalla loses all semblance of emotion or character the second that she emerges. There are no signs of madness, which is as terrifying as it is unexpected. Instead, she simply paces towards her victims at a steady gait, randomly bursting forward with immediate Sonído as her power sends the world around her twisting and flying through the air. This advancement is everlasting and uncaring. It does not matter if her opponents are charging straight for her with sword drawn or if they are in a justified retreat—Quintalla will walk after them, perhaps straight through a readied weapon, until her eyes are mere inches from her victim’s face. Even those who retreat to the sky find her chasing close behind. Only once all living beings have surrendered to the voices will she stop moving, waiting motionless for the madness to end.

Quintalla’s void-black hair does not change much in her final form. In fact, the mask fragments that lined her spine vanish, returning it to whatever style it was resting in before she released her Resurrección. This is short lived, however. The nigh-uncontrollable torrents of telekinesis produced during her Segunda Etapa quickly cause her long strands of hair to separate into random bunches and pull wildly in all directions, as if they were each alive and trying to escape. Her eyes, blackened completely, produce ink-like tears that drip down the sides of her now unmarked face. These liquid streams of regret-made-physical trail past her chin and into the void of her Hollow-hole. Despite the seemingly sad and maddening state of this final form, Quintalla’s face betrays no apparent knowledge of what she is going through. It is emotionless. Stoic. She expresses no outward signs of the violence going on around her or within her. Instead, she simply walks, seemingly numb in her relentless progression.

An expression of a Hollow becoming not only at one with their race, but with the Shinigami spiritual powers they possess, the Arrancar’s Segunda Etapa is closer to a humanoid form than a normal Resurrección. As such, Quintalla not only loses the scorpion tails of her previous incarnation, but fuses with the once bell-like dress. The corset top, once brown with bone accents, is now bleach-white in its entirety, and the cartilage seems broken and fissured almost randomly. The sleeves, separated now only by brittle remnants of ossein, are bleached, and her long nails are gone. Even the armor around her neck is now cracked and open in the front, revealing the Hollow-hole and the black tears flowing into it. Some of these tears seem to pool in the remnants of the bone, and, should the battle rage for long enough, spill out and stain her chest and the top of her corset. Although these tears do not produce any ill-effects, they represent Quintalla’s descent into the blackness of her regret, and they are a terrible sign of how deeply into the mist she has wandered.

The dress and bustle that once composed her lower half changes significantly, losing its breadth and closing in around Quintalla’s body. The now-white cloth wraps around each of her long legs individually, appearing like tight pants. The bones that were once radial are now separated between the two limbs. Three line the outside of each thigh, continuing from the corset uninterrupted like broken fingers grasping at her body. The one in the front and back no longer exist. This pants-like article of her final form is separated by a ring of bone from a pair of white boots, complete with the heels that are featured on almost all of Quintalla’s thought-out designs. In place of any laces or straps, these shoes are wrapped with a bone motif similar to a rib-cage.

Segunda Etapa Abilities:

Psychotic Telekinesis: Driven by the madness within her, Quintalla’s telekinesis is propelled to near-impossible levels. In this form, she can immediately manipulate as much as two hundred tons of material—enough to pull a blue whale from the ocean and fling it into the sky. She can propel small amounts of matter, such as a stone, at speeds to fast that they can catch fire and slam into targets like a missile. But this power only grows. As the black tears spill out of her broken armor and spread across her body, her potential slowly increases. At its maximum, which can take as little as twenty minutes, Quintalla Cora Calica is able to move one thousand tons. She can sweep aside entire armies, create sandstorms that can rend flesh, or manipulate the clouds of the sky to draw water into devastating floods. All but the strongest individuals—those whose spiritual powers or raw strength can resist her pull—will find themselves ripped to shreds or flung violently against the ground repeatedly until they are liquefied. This power does not turn off, and is not directly controlled by Quintalla, who is lost to the depths of her madness. As such, it is always flinging the maximum amount of material around her in a constant storm, making hers the single most blatantly destructive form of any Espada. Were she to release within Las Noches, the crowning achievement of the Hollow race would be reduced to rubble within minutes.

Telepathic Lunacy: The sorrow of Quintalla is a bottomless thing. Its depths are unfathomable, and with her mind lost in its darkness, the tendrils of her telepathy become amplified and twisted to match. In this state, converting others into thralls or planting false memories is not an option; such things would take direction and planning. In her Segunda Etapa, Quintalla is a force of nature, an embodiment of regret. She has no ability to choose what she inflicts on those around her. Instead, everyone within a few miles is subjected to a maddening onslaught of false visions, screaming voices, fears brought to life, and a host of other indescribable hallucinations that never end. They affect everyone, regardless of alliance, and only the most enduring minds can ever hope to distinguish reality in the fog of psychosis. All the while, Quintalla herself slowly advances on her victims, driven by instinct and the purest essence of despair. Those that manage to break free of their mental binds may find themselves staring into the black eyes of the Scorpion Queen—the last frightening image they will ever see.