"ORA ORA ORA ORA—!"
A wild, shrill roar echoed through the valley as a gigantic woman—her fists like sledgehammers—plowed through an endless tide of Hollows. Her white cloak and uniform were drenched in blood, her golden curls whipping through the air.
Drawn by the massive spiritual energy, the Hollows surged toward her—only to have their masks shattered one after another.
Emerging from the horde, the woman let out a bestial howl, intoxicated by the scent of blood and the dense reishi of Soul Society. Her muscles swelled with excitement.
"Orado."
"Enough playing."
"We have a mission."
A dry, rasping voice cut through her frenzy.
The woman—Orado—grinned back:
"Hey! Seidritz!"
"Come try this! I've never seen so many Hollows in one place!"
"Way better than the scraps in the human world!"
Seidritz, an elderly man in an identical white cloak, his hair slicked back and an eyepatch over one eye, regarded her coolly.
Though aged, his posture was impeccable, his attire pristine.
"Do you defy His Majesty's orders?"
Orado's bloodthirsty grin faltered. She hunched slightly but grumbled:
"Yeah, yeah!"
"Just got carried away!"
"Besides, Shinigami and Hollows are all weaklings anyway. What's the rush?"
A nearby Shinigami—wearing the Kyouraku crest—twitched with outrage:
"You DARE look down on the Seireitei?!"
Both Orado and Seidritz turned to him.
The giant woman licked blood from her fingers, sneering.
Seidritz merely adjusted his cuffs:
"Forgive this uncultured Germanic brute. She lacks... subtlety."
"After all, some truths are best left unspoken."
"You—!"
The Kyouraku Shinigami's face purpled.
Were it not for his clan head's orders—and the Seireitei's precarious state—he'd have stormed off.
(Why flee instead of drawing his sword? A glance at the dissolving Hollow corpses behind them answered that.)
He spat: "Is this how the 'Empire of Light' honors its alliance?!"
"I don't mean just you."
Seidritz's voice was ice.
"I mean all of you—Seireitei, Genryū, every last fledgling."
"..."
The Kyouraku Shinigami fell silent, seething.
Seidritz strode forward, Orado trailing behind after sticking out her tongue at the Shinigami.
Behind them, the valley floor was littered with corpses—most clad in black shihakushō.
Any Genryū member would recognize them: a squad sent on a mission, wiped out on their return.
"E-excuse me...?"
A timid voice called from the rubble.
A young mother clutching a child peered out, eyes red-rimmed but hopeful:
"Are you... the Genryū Shinigami here to save us?"
"Th-thank you so much!"
The Kyouraku Shinigami's face spasmed—but before he could snap, Orado beamed:
"That's right! We're here to help!"
"Come on out!"
"O-okay!"
As the woman crawled free—
SPLAT.
A giant hand crushed her into paste.
"PFFT—HAHAHA!"
Orado howled with laughter:
"Delicious! The idiots here are delicious!"
"Orado."
Seidritz frowned.
"You got blood on me."
"Oops. My bad." (She didn't sound sorry.)
The Kyouraku Shinigami paled.
"Delicious"...?
Then—three figures materialized on the path ahead.
Seidritz's gaze swept over them dismissively.
A voice called out:
"Just these two?"
"Plenty."
Orado's nostrils flared.
Her pupils slit like a predator's as she locked onto the newcomers, her grin widening into something feral.
"PREY!"
Before Seidritz could stop her, she LAUNCHED forward—
BOOM!
—landing before the trio in a crater.
Makoto's expression darkened.
A silver Quincy cross dangled from her wrist.
Quincy.
"My, my..."
Shutara Senjumaru eyed the giant woman with disdain:
"Have humans grown this hideous in just a few years?"
"Be careful."
Only Makoto was fully alert.
Unlike Shutara and Ōmaeda, who were clueless, he knew how dangerous Quincies could be.
But at least there were only two.
His eyes scanned the open terrain.
If things went south, they could retreat.
Yet Orado only grinned wider at their words.
Mimicking Seidritz's mannerisms clumsily, she boomed:
"Greetings! I am Orado Weber, envoy of the Empire of Light!"
"Empire of Light, huh?"
Makoto drew his zanpakutō, stepping forward:
"Funny. I know someone from the 'Land of Light' in M78—Ultraman's dad. Ring a bell?"
Orado blinked—
SHING!
Makoto slashed—
SCHLICK!
The blade bit into her shoulder, drawing blood—
Then stopped, lodged in her collarbone.
Her skin shimmered with the blue flame-like patterns of Blut Vene.
Makoto froze.
So did Shutara and Ōmaeda.
Seidritz watched coldly.
"Just like him, Orado was one of those personally selected by His Majesty to join the empire's new elite combat unit—the Sternritter."
"Her epithet was 'O'."
"—Overkill. The Massacre."
"The more lives she claimed, the stronger she became. The mightier her prey, the greater her power swelled."
"Since arriving in Soul Society, Orado had slaughtered over twenty thousand Hollows and lost souls."
A slow, savage grin spread across Orado's face as she looked down at the blade lodged in her flesh:
"You..."
"Is this all you've got?"
Yet when her gaze dropped further, she froze.
Something was wrong.
The Shinigami before her was smiling—wider than she was. Brighter. Like a man who'd just stumbled upon buried treasure.
"So this..." Fujimiya Makoto's voice was almost giddy as he eyed the blue veins glowing beneath her skin. "...is your Blut Vene?"
Orado's pupils shrank to pinpricks—
BOOM!
—and the world upended as her massive body LAUNCHED backward like a cannonball, crashing through the air with a thunderous roar before embedding itself deep into the distant mountainside. The impact sent a shockwave tearing across the plains, kicking up a storm of dust and debris.
Seidritz's composed expression shattered.
The Kyouraku Shinigami's sneer froze.
Ptooey.
Makoto spat to the side, flicking blood from his blade with a contemptuous wrist motion.
"Fucking amateur hour over here."
He rolled his shoulders, flashing a grin sharp enough to draw blood.
"Man, you scared me."