Chapter Summaries

Yamamoto confronted Yhwach while Sasakibe and Byakuya fought Baraggan alongside As Nodt. Sasakibe and Byakuya destroyed Baraggan’s Soul Jade, but two Knights then appeared and began draining their Reishi after Sasakibe used Bankai.

• Yamamoto left Sasakibe to face Baraggan, ordered the captains to split up the battlefield, and engaged Yhwach in the sky.
• As Nodt fought Baraggan with his fear abilities, but Baraggan’s skeleton resisted them and his Aging aura damaged As Nodt.
• As Nodt unleashed his full Vollständig, while Baraggan transformed into his Soul Jade Form and defeated him with a single slash.
• Byakuya used Senbonzakura Kageyoshi to weaken Baraggan’s Aging aura, and Sasakibe used Bankai to pierce and shatter the Soul Jade in Baraggan’s chest.
• Baraggan crumbled into Reishi, but two Knights arrived and drained Reishi from Sasakibe and Byakuya after Sasakibe’s Bankai was revealed.

The Shinigami learned how the Quincy stole Bankai and fought the Espada and Sternritter across Hueco Mundo. Gin Ichimaru struck Yhwach with his Bankai, but Yhwach’s dying words suggested that another power or plan remained in play.

• Sasakibe used Tenteikūra to warn the captains that the Quincy could steal Bankai, and he discovered he could contact the supposedly dead Siwei Yan.
• Byakuya drew Robert Accutrone away while Sasakibe fought Cang Du, who stole Sasakibe’s Bankai and activated Kōkō Gonryō Rikyū.
• Kenpachi Zaraki released Nozarashi and killed Nnoitra, then resisted Quilge Opie’s attempt to steal his Bankai before Cang Du trapped him with The Jail.
• Gin and Rangiku confronted Harribel and her subordinates, then Gin concealed his attack inside Rangiku’s Haineko sphere and struck Yhwach through the heart with Kamishini no Yari.
• Yhwach fell from the sky and apologized to someone as Yamamoto demanded to know what he had said.

Yan Si and Aizen agreed to attack the Royal Palace, and Yan Si sought Kūkaku Shiba’s help to enter it. After Yan Si explained that the Three Realms were trapped inside a protective shell, Aizen realized there was a world beyond them, while the Soul King and Chiziro Kenpachi reacted to Yan Si’s plans.

• Aizen and Yan Si revealed that Aizen planned to capture the real Yhwach while Yan Si planned to attack the Royal Palace, then they traveled to Soul Society.
• Aizen left Kaname Tōsen in charge of the Hueco Mundo battlefield, where Ulquiorra sealed off space and several Espada joined the fighting; Baraggan and Nnoitra were killed.
• Yan Si reunited with Kūkaku Shiba and asked her to send him into the Royal Palace so he could destroy it.
• Kukaku warned Yan Si that destroying the Royal Palace would collapse the Three Realms, but Yan Si argued that the Soul King’s protection kept the world trapped and unable to change.
• Aizen concluded that the Three Realms were hidden from powerful enemies in an outside world, and Chiziro Kenpachi decided it was time for him and Amatsuyu Takuru to act.

Kukaku agreed to prepare the Shiba family’s means of reaching the Royal Palace, while Yan Si explained to Aizen why he was willing to risk acting on a guess. On the Hueco Mundo battlefield, Unohana protected the Fourth Division’s medical post, defeated Grimmjow, and then noticed a falling figure that was not the real Yhwach.

• Kukaku trusted Yan Si and called for Koganehiko, Ginkanehiko, and Ganju to prepare the fireworks needed to reach the Royal Palace.
• Aizen confronted Yan Si about risking a plan based on a guess, and Yan Si defended humanity’s willingness to take risks.
• Grimmjow attacked the Fourth Division’s medical position, and Unohana stopped Isane from calling for help before challenging him.
• Grimmjow released Pantera and wounded Unohana, who activated Bankai-Minazuki and repeatedly killed and restored him.
• Grimmjow entered Soul Jade Pantera, but Unohana transformed into Blood Demon form, drained his blood, and killed him.
• Unohana saw Yhwach falling and realized he was not the real Yhwach, then looked for the strongest opponent nearby.

Hirako Shinji attacked the Wandenreich’s unmoving Sternritter and used his Bankai, Gyakushū Hōgōsai, to turn them against one another. As the battle spread, Askin fled and joined Coyote Starrk in a feigned fight, while Jūshirō Ukitake’s illness worsened after he sensed the Soul King’s Left Hand.

• Hirako told Hiyori to keep the others away from the Sternritter, then charged their formation while Kensei trusted his warning and stayed behind.
• Jugram Haschwalth confirmed Hirako had uncovered that the man fighting Yamamoto was not Yhwach, and Hirako revealed he had come to kill the Sternritter.
• Hirako released Bankai-Gyakushū Hōgōsai, causing Lille Barro, Pernida Parnkgjas, and Jugram to perceive one another as enemies; Lille shot off Jugram’s hand, and Pernida’s attacks helped kill him.
• Askin Nakk Le Vaar fled the fighting and encountered Coyote Starrk; they agreed to slack off while pretending to fight, as Nelliel and Zommari watched.
• Jūshirō Ukitake sensed the Soul King’s Left Hand and wondered if taking its power could cure him, but he coughed up blood and Shiba Kaien escorted him toward the Fourth Division.

Urahara Kisuke revealed that Yan Si was alive and that the battle in Hueco Mundo had been part of Yan Si’s plan, while Yhwach revived through Auswählen and confronted Captain-General Yamamoto. As Yamamoto fought Yhwach, the captains realized Aizen had gone to Soul Society, but Ulquiorra Cifer blocked their attempt to open a Senkaimon.

• Bazz-B dismissed Jugram Haschwalth’s apparent death, while Liltotto hid her team from the strange battle and warned them when Auswählen began draining the Quincies’ power.
• Yhwach used Auswählen to absorb the Quincies’ power, revived Jugram Haschwalth, and then tore the Soul King’s other arm from Ukitake Jūshirō.
• Yamamoto released Zanka no Tachi, while Unohana freed Kenpachi Zaraki and fought him; meanwhile, Askin and Coyote Starrk retreated from the battlefield.
• Hirako Shinji realized Aizen had left for Soul Society, but Ulquiorra Cifer destroyed Kurotsuchi Mayuri’s attempt to open a Senkaimon; Urahara Kisuke then revealed Yan Si was alive and had planned the battle.
• Gin Ichimaru proposed a temporary truce with Tier Harribel, while Yhwach accused Yan Si of intending to seize the Royal Palace and Yamamoto began attacking him with Zanka no Tachi.
• Yhwach tried to steal Yamamoto’s Bankai with a Quincy Medallion, and Kurotsuchi Mayuri explained that an evolved Bankai could resist being absorbed.

Yamamoto fought Yhwach with Zanka no Tachi, while Urahara chose to return to Soul Society and Yhwach used the conflict to sow doubt among the Shinigami. Yamamoto unleashed a decisive final slash, but Yhwach trapped him in a Quincy formation and plundered his strength, leaving the attack halted.

• Yamamoto activated Zanka no Tachi, West: Zanjitsu Gokui, and Yhwach bombarded his white flames with Heilig Pfeil while the fighters below fled or continued battling.
• Urahara decided he had to return to Soul Society, and he used the Boundary-Breaking Orb to leave after reassuring Gin that Yoruichi was part of their backup plan.
• Yhwach told the Shinigami that he was waiting for Siwei Yan to kill the Soul King, prompting Yamamoto to summon the charred skeletons of Yhwach’s former subordinates.
• Yhwach enclosed the skeletons in Sanctuary of Praise and repeatedly blasted them apart as they regenerated, while Yamamoto gathered their power into Zanka no Tachi.
• Yamamoto struck with Zanka no Tachi, North: Tenchi Kaijin, but Yhwach formed a Quincy five-pointed formation around him and plundered his strength, stopping the slash three feet from its tip.

Yamamoto nearly died after exhausting his power, but Gin Ichimaru’s poisoned Bankai pierced Yhwach and forced him to reveal how he could heal. Yhwach survived, defeated Kurayashiki Kenpachi, and faced attacks from Kenpachi Zaraki and Retsu Unohana as the other battles across the field intensified.

• Yamamoto used his remaining strength in Sōkotsu to stop Yhwach’s descending sword, and Gin Ichimaru’s Kamishini no Yari pierced Yhwach’s heart while Kyōraku Shunsui and Shiba Kaien caught the falling Yamamoto.
• Yhwach healed the poisoned wound by using the Soul King’s Right Hand and Left Hand, while Gin collapsed with a broken Zanpakutō and Rangiku Matsumoto tended to him.
• Kurayashiki Kenpachi’s Bankai was nullified by Yhwach’s Cross Insignia, and Yhwach killed Kurayashiki with a Heilig Pfeil after his sword strike failed.
• Kenpachi Zaraki and Retsu Unohana attacked Yhwach together, but he used Yamamoto’s Zanjitsu Gokui to blast them away; Kyōraku engaged Lille Barro as Bazz-B confronted Jugram Haschwalth.
• Yammy transformed into his Soul Jade Form and struck Gerard, whose Miracle did not heal the damage from Yammy’s claws.

Yan Si and his allies used the Shiba family's Flower Crane Cannon and Reishi Core to enter the Royal Palace, where they prepared to face Squad Zero. Urahara Kisuke recovered the core in Soul Society and used it to form his own barrier and rise toward the Palace.

• Kukaku Shiba fired Yan Si, Yoruichi, Aizen, and Chiziro Kenpachi toward the Royal Palace using the Flower Crane Cannon and a Reishi Core.
• Inside the barrier, Yoruichi discovered that Aizen and Chiziro Kenpachi had joined the journey, and the group discussed their plans to fight Squad Zero.
• Yan Si assigned Aizen to face Ichibē Hyōsube, Chiziro Kenpachi to face Hikifune Kirio, Yoruichi to face Tenjirō Kirinji, and reserved Ōetsu Nimaiya and Senjumaru Shutara for himself.
• The group passed through the Royal Palace's boundary and saw its five great halls and the Soul King's Palace.
• Urahara Kisuke caught the returning Reishi Core, activated it, and began ascending toward the Royal Palace.

Chiziro Kenpachi confronted Hikifune Kirio at Futonton Palace while Yan Si sent Yoruichi, Urahara, and himself to face Squad Zero and Aizen. After Kirio summoned captain puppets and her Life Barrier trapped Chiziro's copies, he ordered more than eighty of them to unleash Ittō Kasō, engulfing the plaza in flames.

• Yoruichi kissed Yan Si before charging toward Kirinji, while Urahara agreed to distract Senjumaru and handed Yan Si the equipment for sealing Aizen.
• Chiziro Kenpachi reached Futonton Palace and explained to Hikifune Kirio that he was fighting to create a future for Soul Society.
• Kirio summoned thirteen captain puppets, but Kenpachi Zaraki ran toward Yan Si and collapsed when he left the palace, and several other puppets refused to fight or turned against her.
• Chiziro's puppets defeated the captain puppets who attacked in earnest, while Kirio reclaimed the souls of the others and trapped more than eighty copies in her Life Barrier.
• Chiziro's trapped puppets cast Ittō Kasō and sacrificed themselves, setting the Life Barrier and Futonton Palace plaza ablaze.

Yoruichi fought Tenjirō Kirinji outside the Kirinden, using her knowledge of Squad Zero’s secrets and her Hollow power to gain the advantage. Kirinji killed himself to stop the Hollow power spreading, leaving Yoruichi unsure what danger it posed to the Soul King.

• Yoruichi confronted Kirinji and tried to persuade him to kill himself, claiming Yan Si’s group was not truly their enemy and that Aizen posed the greater threat.
• Kirinji revealed that the Four Divine Generals sealed one another because their Bankai could destabilize the Three Realms, then attacked Yoruichi with Kinpika and his Blood Pond Hell.
• Yoruichi fought back with Shunko, cut off her trapped foot to escape Kirinji’s attempt to overwhelm her with Spiritual Power, and secretly released Hollow power into the blood pond.
• Yoruichi taunted Kirinji about romance, and he broke down over his loneliness and lack of a life outside the Royal Palace.
• Kirinji discovered that the Hollow power was spreading through the blood pond and warned that it could destroy the balance if it reached the Soul King.
• Kirinji slit his own throat to prevent the Hollow power from spreading, and Yoruichi watched the pool vanish while wondering what he had meant.

Urahara Kisuke fought Senjumaru Shutara in the Riden, using Benihime and powerful Kidō while she countered him with her puppet arms, threads, and custom uniform. As Urahara sensed Yan Si had defeated Ōetsu Nimaiya and found Yoruichi recovering, Shutara broke free of his strongest attack and prepared to press on.

• Urahara Kisuke met Senjumaru Shutara in the Riden, and she questioned what Siwei Yan intended to do; Urahara said Yan Si gave him hope for a better future across the Three Realms.
• Urahara and Shutara declared themselves enemies, and Urahara attacked her with Benihime while Shutara blocked his strikes with red cloth woven by her puppet arms.
• Urahara bound Shutara with a modified Kidō and struck her with Hadō #91, damaging her custom uniform before she closed in with her needles.
• Shutara restrained Urahara with threads and sewed him into a binding garment, but he escaped with a decoy and trapped her inside Hadō #99: Goryū Tenmetsu.
• Urahara sensed Yan Si's Reishi at the Phoenix Palace and Yoruichi's at Kirinden, then found no Reishi signatures from Chiziro Kenpachi or Hikifune Kirio at Futonton Palace.
• Shutara burst out of Urahara's dragon attack unharmed and said she would have to put in more effort.

Urahara Kisuke fought Shutara’s overwhelming Bankai by using Kannonbiraki Benihime Aratame to stitch his own future and undo her attacks. After Shutara fell, Urahara recovered enough to continue toward the Royal Palace, determined to seal Aizen.

• Urahara activated Kannonbiraki Benihime Aratame as Shutara unleashed her Bankai, Shatatsu Karagara Shigarami no Tsuji.
• Shutara blinded Urahara with her first skein, and he healed his eyes with his Bankai; her second skein pierced him and his puppet with spikes, but he survived by stitching himself back together.
• Shutara tried to weave Urahara’s death through six skeins, but he countered her threads, causing her Bankai to unravel and collapse.
• Urahara revealed that he had modified Shutara’s body, and Shutara pierced her own chest with her puppet’s needles before collapsing.
• Urahara wondered whether Yan Si had sent him to face Shutara knowing their Bankai would counter each other, then rose and continued toward the Royal Palace to seal Aizen.

Yan Si defeated Ōetsu Nimaiya at the Phoenix Palace after realizing Nimaiya was holding back to protect the Zanpakutō he had nurtured. He then surveyed the other battles and headed toward Riden near the Soul King's palace, where Aizen and Ichibē Hyōsube were nearing the end of their fight.

• Yan Si attacked Ōetsu Nimaiya with Sayafushi and Hadō, then shattered Nimaiya's fully chanted Senju Kōten Taihō with one finger.
• Mera Hizushima came out of the building and offered herself as Nimaiya's Zanpakutō, but Yan Si inferred that Nimaiya feared losing her and the other Zanpakutō inside.
• Nimaiya sent Mera back into the building and chose to face Yan Si without risking the Zanpakutō he had nurtured.
• Yan Si used No Void to bisect Nimaiya, who entrusted what remained to the other Riden as he died.
• Yan Si checked on the battles involving Chiziro Kenpachi, Hikifune Kirio, Yoruichi, Urahara Kisuke, and Senjumaru Shutara, then headed toward Riden near the Soul King's palace as Aizen and Ichibē Hyōsube's battle neared its end.

Yan Si joined Aizen at Ichibē Hyōsube’s Riden, where the two confronted the monk and discussed the Soul King’s plan to use Yhwach as a replacement linchpin for the Three Realms. Hyōsube questioned Yan Si’s power as something outside the Soul King’s system, and Yan Si said he did not know what it was.

• Yan Si wrote his name on the soles of his feet to guard against Hyōsube erasing it, then went to the Riden.
• Yan Si found Aizen fighting Hyōsube, whose fusion with the Royal Palace let him counter Kyōka Suigetsu.
• Hyōsube questioned why Yan Si had come to the Royal Palace and why he had lured the Quincy to Hueco Mundo.
• Yan Si explained that Yhwach was meant to be a replacement battery, and Aizen concluded the Soul King could be replaced.
• Hyōsube said Yan Si’s novel-writing ability belonged to none of the four known power systems and seemed to exist outside the Three Realms.
• When Hyōsube asked what his ability was, Yan Si replied that he did not know.

Yan Si and Aizen confronted Ichibē at the Royal Palace, where Aizen’s inventive Kidō combinations damaged Ichibē despite his power to cut names. Ichibē escalated with a forbidden Hadō, and Aizen countered it with a spell he had just copied as the battle continued.

• Yan Si explained that his unusual power let him absorb Shinigami, Hollow, and Quincy Reishi, and he said he sought the Hogyoku’s evolutionary potential.
• Ichibē stained Yan Si with ink, but the name Yan Si had written in advance protected him from its effect, so Yan Si stepped back to watch Aizen fight.
• Aizen trapped Ichibē in Black Coffin and combined it with Goryū Tenmetsu, injuring him, but Ichibē cut the spell’s name and seized control of it.
• Aizen used altered Kidō attacks to strike Ichibē, while he and Yan Si mocked him with nicknames such as Baldy and Baldhead.
• Ichibē unleashed Iron Wind Kill at Aizen, who countered with a matching gale after copying the forbidden Hadō, while Yan Si watched.

Ichibē Hyōsube stripped Aizen and Yan Si of their names, but Aizen transformed into a Transcendent and killed him. As Aizen departed to reorder the world, Yan Si forced the Hōgyoku to fuse with him and began investigating the soul-based nature of his power.

• Ichibē used Ichimonji to erase Aizen and Yan Si’s names, then gave them the names “caterpillar” and “ant” with Shirafude Ichimonji.
• Aizen emerged from Ichibē’s attack in his fourth Fusion form, pierced Ichibē through the chest, and declared himself a Transcendent.
• Aizen severed Ichibē’s hand and destroyed him with Hadō #90: Black Coffin.
• Yan Si wrote “Fusion” onto the Hōgyoku, causing it to crack and release power into him; Aizen then warned Yan Si to settle in the Human World before disappearing toward the Soul King.
• Yoruichi and Urahara appeared beside Yan Si, who asked Urahara to make a Boundary-Breaking Gate so people from Hueco Mundo could cross over.
• The Soul King asked Yan Si to examine the essence of his power, and Yan Si wondered whether it was the power of the soul rather than Reishi.

Yan Si learned that souls contained power beyond Reishi and that the Soul King had created Yhwach as a failed weapon against Hell and as a replacement lynchpin. After absorbing the Hogyoku, Yan Si faced Squad Zero, whose members offered themselves so he could absorb their accumulated souls and gain a chance of surviving Hell’s arrival.

• The Soul King explained that Yan Si and Hell used Soul Force, that Yhwach could only take what existed within the Three Realms, and that Yan Si had arrived in Soul Society without any Reishi.
• Yan Si absorbed the Hogyoku in minutes but did not become a Transcendent, and the Soul King urged him to absorb the souls accumulated in Squad Zero’s Riden.
• Yan Si realized Ichibē Hyōsube had faked his death on the Soul King’s orders, and Hyōsube called out Ōetsu Nimaiya, Tenjirō Kirinji, Senjumaru Shutara, and Hikifune Kirio.
• Hyōsube and the Four Divine Generals sat down and invited Yan Si to do what he needed to do, leaving him to consider absorbing them and their Riden.

Yan Si gathered the souls from the five Riden into a powerful bead, while Yoruichi, Urahara Kisuke, and Squad Zero reacted to the revelation of what the Royal Palace was made from. Though Ichibē Hyōsube urged him to consume the bead, Yan Si refused and left its power unclaimed.

• Urahara Kisuke questioned Hyosube about Aizen, but Hyosube assured him the seal could not be broken and urged Yan Si to absorb Riden's souls.
• Yan Si used Tsuzurimono Bansho to inscribe the names of the countless souls used to build Riden, shocking Yoruichi, Urahara Kisuke, and Hikifune Kirio.
• Yan Si released the souls from Riden's stones and gathered their incomplete forms before fusing them into a red-and-black bead called Future.
• Yoruichi warned Yan Si that the bead was alluring enough to make them want to seize it, while Urahara Kisuke remained dazed.
• Ichibē Hyōsube urged Yan Si to eat the bead, but Yan Si tucked it into his sleeve and declared that he refused.

Yan Si refused to absorb the Soul King's power and warned Squad Zero that Aizen might break the seal. After explaining his theories about Hell and the Soul King, he approached the Soul King Riden to pursue his unchanged goal.

• Yan Si refused Ichibē Hyōsube's demand to absorb the Soul Power, and Hyōsube angrily ordered Squad Zero to protect the Soul King when Yan Si mentioned Hell.
• Aizen turned toward the Soul King Riden, and Hyōsube and the other members of Squad Zero rushed to stop him.
• Yan Si explained to Yoruichi and Urahara Kisuke his conjectures about Hell, human souls, and the Soul King's power.
• Yan Si proposed using a squad funeral ceremony inside a Valley of Screams to mislead Hell and keep it from finding the Three Realms temporarily.
• Yan Si set aside the discussion and walked toward the Soul King Riden, saying his goal had never changed.