Spatha

**Spatha** are a type of sword created by Capra one of the 5 Great Hollow Lords. They function similarly to Zanpakuto and work by similar principles.

## ***Naming***

Spatha is the Latin word for Sword and they are named so because ??? has adopted a latin naming scheme as opposed to Spanish as is standard for Hollows.

## ***History***

The Spatha are a relatively recent development in the world, they were created by ??? by reverse engineering the Zanpakuto of the shinigami that had failed to defeat them.

## ***Overview***

**Spatha** are essentially the hollow version of a Zanpakuto for they are made by combining bits of spirits from various Hollows into an **Asauchi** like existence dubbed **Infans**, which then are forcibly made into the shape of bladed weapons, most commonly swords. **Infans** are similar in conception to a Menos hollow but because they are composed of only part of the spirit of an hollow as opposed to the entire body they become a lesser existence without a defined core or personality.

Only the hollows loyal to ??? seem to be in the possession of one, as they are the secret weapon ??? has created to become the ruler of Hueco Mundo and subsequently the rest of reality. There might be hollows who have stolen a Spatha for themselves but these are rare. Notably Spathas do not seem to work for Arrancar as a result of their design, being specifically made to equal a hollow to an Arrancar.

## ***Evolution***

**Infans Spatha** can evolve like Zanpakuto and the manner to do so is similar to Hollow evolution. In essence to make one's Spatha evolve one must feed them Souls at first, and then Hollows later, this is done to appease the Spatha which is a stark contrast of the Shinigami method of defeating their Zanpakuto spirit.

To achieve its first transformation analogous to a "Shikai", the **Primum**, a Spatha must be filled with some variable ammount of another Soul's Reiryoku or by consuming a particularly strong Soul like a Shinigami. This effectively increases the nature of the sword from a simple weapon into a "Hollow", and it grows in power the more Reiryoku it consumes.

To achieve a "Bankai", **Ultimus** a Spatha must instead be filled with parts of or the entirety of Hollows. If the Spatha consumes a hollow of high enough power it may also evolve. This in essence is the weapon being raised from a simple "Hollow" into a "Menos".

## ***Abilities***

Spathas unlike Zanpakuto do not *seem* to grant entirely new powers to its users, instead, bearers of a Spatha seem to become able to interact with the direct nature of reality and how it pertains with and relates to hollows and their powers. In essence all Spathas replicate this "reality manipulation of themselves" in a unique manner. The most common result of Spatha use is a simple increase to ones abilities as a hollow, be it their attributes, their natural unique ability or their general capacity to acquire and alter hollow abilities. In some rare cases a Spatha may change the very limitations of a hollow to approximate that of another existence by granting them the ability another existence finds natural.

They are then classified as such:

* **Imperium Type**: The simplest straight forward type, it increases the baselines abilities of a hollow.
	+ *Examples*: Capra's Spatha grants her increased stats, cero control and boosts her personal hollow ability.
* **Arcana Type**: Relatively simple, it grants a hollow the ability of another race.
	+ *Examples*: Don Carlos's Spatha grants him the ability to replicate Kido with hollow Reiryoku; Tōko's Spatha grants her the ability to learn and master techniques to the ultimate level like a Soul can; Miles get pyrokinesis similarly to how certain shinigami have elemental reiatsu.

## ***Basic Abilities***

The primary and perhaps most core basic ability of a Spatha is to absorb the entirety of or parts of a Soul by touching them with the pommel and the ability to do the exact same to hollows and hollow parts by cutting them apart and killing them. In essence a Spatha can superficially replicate the baselines abilities of a Zanpakuto as a tool for purifying and ferrying souls while in fact actually absorbing these into itself or its bearer. Notably the Spatha can do so to only parts of spiritual creatures as opposed to the full entity as such the Spatha can naturally evolve by simply fighting these spiritual entities without actively ever killing any of them.

A secondary and perhaps more interesting ability is that of **Shape-shifting**, bearers of Spathas are capable of acquiring this ability by sacrificing their innate **High-Speed Regeneration**. Depending on the quality of the regeneration sacrificed a Hollow is capable of acquiring multiple forms however for anyone below **Adjuchas**-level they only gain one new form they can freely switch between. Hollows almost always choose to make this form humanoid in nature to better wield their Spathas and as an intimidation tactic against other Hollows, but there is no actual power difference between forms other than appearance change.