Glorious Appearing

**HUMAN WORLD**

\*\*\*
It began with a crackle of thunder across the western horizon.

Mikoto Sakura stepped out from the wooden shrine that adorned her mountain home to observe the approaching storm. There had been no bad weather in the forecast that day, and yet the storm she was looking at was massive. No radar on Earth could have missed it. Except that wasn't exactly true.

This storm was not ordinary by any means. She felt it at once. It had not been created by the natural processes that generated others like it in the Human World. It was a creation of **Reiatsu**, undetectable by Earth radars. And yet, Sakura kept track of the comings and goings of Shinigami from Soul Society. There were no captains in the Human World—certainly none fighting, which would be one of the only causes of such an anomaly. What's more, the **Reiatsu** causing this storm wasn't even coming from the Human World.

It was coming from Hueco Mundo.

"It's been far too long," she said to nobody. After all, she was alone at her shrine. It got so few visitors these days. Its former patrons had forgotten the god it was built to worship. But they would soon remember. "It is time to pray."

**HUECO MUNDO**

\*\*\*
The tear in the sky was not Garganta.

It was a collapsing of the dimensional fabrics. A seal falling in on itself, exposing a wormhole to a pocket dimension thousands of years forgotten. All who would remember it were dead or gone, but there were new ones to take their place. Those who would learn.

A storm was gathering there, too. Hueco Mundo did not have storms. Not even sandstorms. So the sudden appearance of a massive thunderstorm that further blackened the endless nights covering the sands had drawn many Hollows to the surface. However, none had ascended to feast on the source of the **Reiatsu** at its epicenter. Instead, the clung to the edges of the only city Hueco Mundo had ever built, watching the lithe form of a woman step down from the heavens to peer down on them from on high.

The woman stared down with a cold amethyst gaze. She said nothing. She had not spoken to anyone in thousands of years. It would take some time for her speech to return. Until then, she had other means of communication. A small shift in her power, and a bolt of lightning raced out of the clouds around her and crashed into the gates of the city. Wood splintered, fires raged, but the woman felt no better for the act. Centuries of pent up rage could not be so easily distilled.

But as she surveyed the Hollows gathering below, she surmised that this would be a good start. Until her faculties were back, they would make a great warm-up for everything that was to come.

**El Dios, Primer Regimiento Barracks**

\*\*\*
The explosion that had destroyed the front gate of El Dios resounded throughout the entirety of the city. Hollows and Arrancar alike who had sought refuge within its walls were running in a panic. The sight of smoke billowing into the sky, black enough to blend in with Hueco Mundo's own pitch canopy, could be seen all the way towards the barracks of the Primer Regimiento, near the rear of the city.

The door leading to the office burst open, and a bulky Hollow kneeled in the doorstep.

"Diputados, pardon my entrance," the voice of the Hollow echoed from behind it mask. "The Puerta Norte has been entirely eradicated by an unknown enemy."

The office itself was one that implied it had been structured only recently. Within it sat a simple desk, a chair, and several bookshelves littered with scrolls and hand-bound books alike. Standing at the end of this office, near a large opening which revealed the city below, were two women.

Tinelra and Hanelri Vanina, the joint Diputados of the Primer Regimiento."

"It is a powerful reiatsu," muttered Hanelri.

"Like a raging storm, intent on smothering everything in its path and leaving nothing but destruction," added Tinelra.

"A vile scent," said both at the same time.

"What do we do? Where is the Primer Regimiento Comendador?" the Hollow imquired.

"He is currently away," replied Hanelri.

"This person chose the right time to launch an attack," added Tinelra. "When the strongest of our number is gone. But we are not without our defences. The Puerta Viviente is already making her move."

"Be at ease," Hanelri smiled. "Within these walls, you are family under our protection."

"T-Thank you," the Hollow sighed in relief.

**El Dios, Puerta Norte Remnants**

\*\*\*
An Arrancar woman had already made her way towards the remains of the ruined Puerta Norte - the Northern Gate through which one could garner entrance to El Dios - deflty moving around the fleeing citizens with frightening Sonído. She had reached the destroyed gate within only two hundred steps, and cast her eyes to the sky.

Her Pesquisa, a skill she had developed during her time in Sōsuke Aizen's Rebellion, functioned much like a second sight. She could focus on strong sources of reiatsu around her, dimming her sight to everything physical and bringing only those with reiryoku into her field of view.

It was impossible to miss this person.

They shone like a beacon, releasing energy in waves after that simple assault on the Puerta Norte; it almost felt like they welcomed a battle, craved it. And she was going to answer, because it washer duty to protect the safety of their city.

The woman's attire was staunchly Asian in design; she wore a low-cut robe, white and blue in hue, with sleeves detached, cut just above her legs. Her footwear consisted of thigh-high, white boots, clad in blue armour. Her pale blonde hair was tied, framing her face, which possessed a black and white mask covering everything on the lower half of her face.

"Greetings, enemy of El Dios," the woman spoke loudly, calling high into the sky where her target was sure to hear. "Ilryri Kirdella, the Santo Velo's Tercera Regimiento Capitán, will be your opponent!"