Chapter Summaries

Gin Ichimaru and the Arrancar defeated Lille Barro and reopened a passage from Hueco Mundo to Soul Society with help from the Research and Development Department. They found Soul Society still standing and prepared to join the fight against Yhwach, while Aizen arrived seeking passage to the World of the Living.

• Gin Ichimaru and Grimmjow trapped Lille Barro's birds in a net and destroyed them, sending him into the cycle of the Three Worlds.
• Gin Ichimaru discovered that the Garganta had closed after Kirinjī Tenshirō, Shutara Senjumaru, and Yachiru Unohana sacrificed themselves, and Nel and the Arrancar failed to reopen it alone.
• Gin Ichimaru used a poison-bearing fang on Shinsō to corrode Yhwach's shadow, while Akon and the Kido Corps helped establish a Garganta to Soul Society.
• Kaname Tōsen, Sajin Komamura, Gin Ichimaru, and the Arrancar crossed into Soul Society and found it ruined but its familiar spiritual pressures intact.
• Kyōraku invited them to join the effort against Yhwach in the World of the Living and assured Gin Ichimaru that the sacrificed Soul Reapers would not truly die while the Soul King Palace remained intact.
• Aizen appeared and asked Kyōraku to take him along to the World of the Living.

As the Soul Society prepared to confront Yhwach, Mayuri captured Shaz Domino for experiments while Soya Ashirogi killed Gernar Lee in Seireitei. Their actions gave Seireitei the invasion’s first two kills.

• Kyōraku assembled the Soul Society’s captain-level fighters and had Squad 12 prepare a passage to the World of the Living while Mayuri continued secret experiments.
• Mayuri and Nemu tracked Shaz Domino through Seireitei and captured him using the Superhuman Drug.
• Soya Ashirogi and Uro Zakuro watched Gernar Lee explore Seireitei, then Soya killed him with three blasts of White Lightning.
• Seireitei claimed the first two Quincy kills as Mayuri took Shaz Domino away for testing.

Karin and Toshiro cornered Bambietta inside Sennen Hyōrō, but The Auswählen strengthened Bambietta’s Vollständig and let her turn the battle around. Karin compressed Bambietta’s flames into a fireball, and Toshiro used an ice dragon to deliver it back to Bambietta, who was engulfed by the blast.

• Karin caught and returned Bambietta’s attacks while Toshiro kept her trapped inside Sennen Hyōrō and froze her hidden bombs.
• After The Auswählen empowered Bambietta, her bombs changed course and exploded around Karin, but Toshiro shielded her with Daiguren Hyōrinmaru.
• Bambietta turned her bombs into a sea of fire, and Karin used her Saint Letter ability to compress the flames into a huge sphere.
• Toshiro launched an ice dragon at Bambietta as a feint while Karin’s fireball followed inside its mouth.
• Bambietta fired an explosive arrow at the ice dragon, but the fireball struck her and engulfed her in flames.

Bambietta evolved into a fighter-jet-like form with Pernida’s power and tried to kill Karin and Toshiro with a fuel-air bomb. They survived the destruction of the Sennen Hyōrō, and Toshiro revealed a new form of Daiguren Hyōrinmaru as Bambietta prepared to attack again.

• Bambietta evolved into a mechanical fighter-jet form, while Pernida’s new evolution power appeared across the Soul Society and Ukitake confronted him with the power of the Soul King’s right hand.
• Toshiro pursued Bambietta with ice attacks, and Karin compressed an ice dragon into a sphere and hurled it at her.
• Bambietta blasted apart Toshiro’s ice dragon, then dropped a fuel-air bomb into the Sennen Hyōrō.
• Karin warned Toshiro and pulled him down as the bomb exploded and shattered the Sennen Hyōrō.
• Bambietta returned to attack the survivors, but Toshiro emerged from the smoke in a new form of Daiguren Hyōrinmaru.

Toshiro used Beyond Bankai to overpower Bambietta and stopped her from detonating herself across the Seireitei. He sealed her inside a blood-red ice lotus after freezing the Pernida-controlled nerves on her body.

• Toshiro shielded Karin from Bambietta’s explosion, then sent her to safety as he took on Bambietta.
• Toshiro outmaneuvered Bambietta, destroyed her weapon, and turned her missile against her with his crimson ice.
• Bambietta evolved into a living bomb under Pernida’s control and begged Toshiro to save her, but he said the Seireitei had already been evacuated.
• Toshiro enclosed Bambietta in Chaotic Ice Lotus Splendor and froze her body, causing Pernida’s surface nerves to die.
• Bambietta fell asleep kneeling inside the closed blood-colored ice lotus.

Ukitake used his Bankai to call on attacks from the Bleach team while battling Pernida, who could evolve by collecting the Sternritter’s powers. As Pernida trapped and immobilized him, Ukitake invoked Lord Mimihagi and began transforming with Beyond Bankai.

• Pernida spread a neural web across the battlefield and injured Ukitake’s ankle, but Ukitake escaped using the Diagram of Impermanence.
• Ukitake coordinated with Rukia, Rangiku, Ikkaku, and Kensei to attack Pernida, revealing that his Bankai let him fight with the Bleach team’s help.
• Pernida revealed that he had evolved powers from other Sternritter, including Cang Du’s hardening and Bambietta’s explosive arrows.
• Pernida countered Ukitake’s attacks with more Sternritter abilities, then used Bazz-B’s analysis and NaNaNa’s power to pin him down.
• Ukitake blocked the spiritual-pressure leakage, regained his mobility, and invoked Lord Mimihagi’s Beyond Bankai, freezing the nerves around him.

Jūshirō Ukitake fused with Mimihagi to enter Beyond Bankai and fought Pernida, the Soul King's left hand. Ukitake defeated Pernida and sealed him away, though Mimihagi could not kill him.

• Jūshirō Ukitake revealed his Beyond Bankai, Twin Black Slaughter, and used Mimihagi's power of stasis to halt Pernida's attacks.
• Ukitake explained that Mimihagi had chosen to fuse with him, allowing him to wield stasis without sacrificing his life.
• Pernida and Mimihagi clashed in an arm-wrestling contest as they argued over progress, stasis, and the Quincy.
• Ukitake distracted Pernida during their contest, then struck him with a Zanpakuto and tore his body apart with black carp slashes.
• Ukitake used Mimihagi's power to seal Pernida inside a black triangular pyramid, leaving him alive and shouting accusations from within.

Ukitake confirmed that Pernida’s separated nerves retained their power even while Pernida was sealed. In the wilderness, Hirako fought Giselle as Pernida’s nerves transformed him, and Hirako revealed his Beyond Bankai to face Giselle’s growing strength.

• Ukitake sensed that Pernida’s separated nerves still held powerful spiritual pressure and reaffirmed his faith in his companions.
• Giselle used his Vollständig and Yhwach’s redistributed power to pressure Hirako with blood-laced arrows, but Hirako pierced Giselle’s heart with a surprise attack.
• Giselle revived as a self-made zombie and healed his wound by absorbing a nearby skeleton.
• Pernida’s nerves commanded Giselle to evolve, turning his body into a skeleton and letting him absorb Reishi from the surrounding bones.
• Hirako activated his Beyond Bankai and unleashed Reversed Confusion Flash Cannon.

Hirako used his Beyond Bankai to shatter Giselle’s evolved skeleton, then activated Sakanade’s Sacrificial Reversal to remove her Saint Letter ability. The reversal left Giselle examining her body, and Hirako realized it may have granted her the physical trait she had longed for.

• Hirako transformed into his Beyond Bankai and fired Reversed Confusion Flash Cannon, splitting Giselle’s skeletal giant and body apart.
• Giselle regenerated as a skeleton, rejected Pernida’s nerves, and destroyed them with an arrow.
• Giselle challenged Hirako to kill her, trusting that her Zombie Saint Letter made her impossible to kill.
• Hirako used Sakanade’s Sacrificial Reversal and sacrificed Giselle’s Saint Letter ability.
• Giselle lost her power and rushed Hirako, but stopped to examine her lower body as Hirako realized what the reversal had changed.

Giselle lost her Saint Letter powers and became a woman after Hirako reversed her, then followed him toward custody while teasing him. In the Seireitei, Bazz-B fought Hail, Yhwach’s replacement for the H designation, and found that his opponent’s ice-based powers could withstand his flames.

• Giselle discovered that she had become a woman, and Hirako stopped his sword before killing her and told her to await judgment at Sokyoku Hill.
• Giselle put on Hirako’s undershirt and chased after him, playfully asking him for a romance before she was imprisoned.
• Bazz-B encountered Hail, who identified himself as Saint Letter H and attacked him to obtain complete power by killing him.
• Bazz-B struck Hail with Burning Finger 1, but Hail’s icy body repaired the damage and repelled Bazz-B’s flames.
• Bazz-B activated Vollständig and attacked with Burning Finger 2, but Hail protected himself inside a massive block of ice and fired an ice-hail arrow at Bazz-B.

Bazz-B defeated Haier after Haier’s Vollständig and Pernida’s nerves transformed him into a relentless ice weapon. He revealed his own Burning Finger 5: One Bone, then learned that Uro Zakuro would make him pay for the streets he destroyed.

• Bazz-B used Burning Finger 3 to blast Haier through the ice, but Yhwach’s Holy Rain awakened Haier’s Vollständig.
• Bazz-B struck Haier with Burning Finger 4: Torch, and Pernida’s nerves took control of Haier’s damaged body.
• Bazz-B used his flame saber to unleash City Wall on Fire and Scorching Hell, but Haier survived and transformed into a frost spear for one final attack.
• Bazz-B countered with Burning Finger 5: One Bone, shattering Haier and turning several streets of the Seireitei into scorched earth.
• Uro Zakuro told Bazz-B he had to pay for five destroyed streets, and Bazz-B protested that the damage should come from the public treasury.

Soi Fon fought Robert Accutrone in Squad 2's training grounds, using Flash Cry and Suzumebachi against his defenses and increasing speed. Robert evolved with Pernida's nerves and wounded Soi Fon's right arm, leaving her at a disadvantage as he aimed his gun at her.

• Soi Fon used Flash Cry to mark Robert with Hōmonka, but Robert revealed defensive Blut Vene seals that protected the marked spots and countered her attacks.
• Soi Fon attacked Robert's throat, but Yhwach's Auswählen empowered Robert, letting him knock her away and aim a shot at her back.
• An unseen wind deflected Robert's shot, and Soi Fon used Infinite Flash Cry to fight him as her speed and strength rapidly increased.
• Robert combined his seals into a shield and used Pernida's nerves to evolve, gaining thrusters and a powerful cannon while refusing further transformation to preserve his sanity.
• Robert used Blut Vene to defend and Blut Arterie to fire a massive beam, which Soi Fon dodged at the cost of a severe wound to her right arm.
• Robert aimed his gun at Soi Fon and declared the fight over, believing he had stopped her Flash Cry evolution and gained the advantage.

Soi Fon awakened her Beyond Bankai and used its speed and Hōmonka technique to defeat Robert. Robert's body was crushed into dust after Pernida's nerves took control and drove him to fight beyond his limits.

• Soi Fon released Flash Cry and revealed her Beyond Bankai, Chaotic Sting Execution.
• Soi Fon cut apart Robert's attacks and used rapid strikes and Flash Steps to overwhelm his speed.
• Robert lost hope, allowing Pernida's nerves to seize control and force his body to evolve recklessly.
• Soi Fon's attacks filled the sky with spiritual-pressure threads that trapped Robert in a gigantic Hōmonka.
• Soi Fon used Sting Them All to Death to stamp two Hōmonka on Robert, crushing him into dust.

Kenpachi Zaraki battled Hsuh, whose The Wind warped attacks and space, and was left without his arms and with Nodachi broken. After Hsuh evolved and was pierced by the broken Zanpakuto, Kenpachi joined forces with Yachiru to face him.

• Kenpachi Zaraki attacked Hsuh, but The Wind bent Nodachi and turned it against him, while Hsuh’s arrow twisted Kenpachi’s left arm until he severed it.
• When Yhwach’s rain forced Hsuh into Vollständig, Hsuh warped the space around them, cut off Kenpachi’s remaining arm, and took his Zanpakuto.
• Kenpachi laughed, charged by instinct, and struck Hsuh with a headbutt before kicking Nodachi at him in a Shigure Soen Ryu form.
• Hsuh stopped the sword, evolved through Pernida’s nerves, and sliced Nodachi in two, but the broken blade stabbed him through the chest.
• Hsuh transformed further as his environment twisted, and Kenpachi asked Yachiru to work with him against Hsuh.

Kenpachi Zaraki summoned Yachiru Kusajishi and awakened his Beyond Bankai, Two-Sword Heart Essence, to battle Huasuo in the distorted world. After destroying Huasuo and annihilating him with a final cross-shaped attack, Kenpachi left with Yachiru to check on the others.

• Kenpachi Zaraki activated Beyond Bankai, gaining golden and blue arms and two blades linked to Yachiru Kusajishi and the Three-Step Sword Beast.
• Yachiru appeared on Kenpachi's shoulder and warned him of Huasuo's attack, while Kenpachi wounded Huasuo with strikes that included invisible blades.
• Kenpachi unleashed a storm of slashes that destroyed the distorted surroundings, then cut Huasuo into pieces after rushing him with Flash Step.
• Huasuo reassembled as a distorted sphere, fired twisted arrows, and created monsters that surrounded Kenpachi.
• Kenpachi crushed the monsters with his spiritual pressure, and Yachiru pinned Huasuo with an unseen blade while Kenpachi annihilated him with two enormous slashes.
• Kenpachi and Yachiru left to see how the others were doing.

Askin fought Unohana Retsu and Yuzu Kurosaki beneath Squad Four, but Yuzu's Saint Letters neutralized his poison and Unohana overwhelmed him with her swordsmanship. Just as they thought they had won, rain of pure Reishi revived Askin and restored his body.

• Askin activated Vollständig and filled the underground chamber with Gift Ball Deluxe, but Yuzu's Saint Letters purified the poison and protected Unohana Retsu.
• Askin attacked Unohana Retsu and Yuzu with Spirit Bow and Arrows and a Poison Ring, but Yuzu blocked one shot and Unohana carried her out of danger with Flash Step.
• Unohana Retsu told Yuzu to close her eyes, then pursued Askin and struck him with countless blood blades until she reduced him to a skeleton.
• Askin's Gift Ball Deluxe began to collapse, and Yuzu asked Unohana whether they had won.
• Rain made of pure Reishi fell beneath Squad Four, regenerated Askin's flesh and blood, and left him declaring that His Majesty's followers would not die.

Askin evolved into a living mass of poison and defeated Unohana Retsu, but she sent Yuzu to seek reinforcements and relied on her Zanpakuto, Meninas, to keep her alive. Askin attacked Meninas as Unohana began to unleash a power beyond Bankai.

• Askin was resurrected and strengthened by Yhwach, and his Lethal Dose poisoned Unohana Retsu while suppressing Yuzu’s cleansing power.
• Unohana Retsu attacked Askin with a storm of blood blades, but Pernida’s evolution transformed him into a poison life-form that her sword could not harm.
• Askin wounded Unohana Retsu and turned on Yuzu, whose arrows and cleansing ability could not overcome his poison.
• Unohana Retsu used a blood spring to send Yuzu out of the underground area, and Yuzu fled through the Seireitei to find reinforcements.
• Askin fired at the incapacitated Unohana Retsu, but Meninas swallowed her and used healing arts to protect her from the poison.
• Askin attacked Meninas, while Unohana Retsu’s voice from within began to say, “Beyond Bankai...”

Unohana Retsu used her Beyond Bankai, Merciful Five Colors, to endure Askin’s lethal poison and secretly remove Pernida’s nerves from his body. She restored Askin to human form, then revealed that she had planted a fatal factor in him, leaving him to die as a human.

• Meninas transformed into a pale green haori and blood-red eye that empowered Unohana Retsu’s Beyond Bankai, Merciful Five Colors.
• Askin pushed Unohana Retsu past her lethal limits with poison, but Meninas’s healing power and her Kaido kept her alive.
• Unohana Retsu fought Askin while concealing that her slashes were removing Pernida’s nerves from his body.
• Unohana Retsu used Kaido to rebuild Askin’s human body while preserving the poison abilities he had gained through evolution.
• Unohana Retsu revealed that she had planted a fatal factor in Askin, and he accepted his impending death with a faint smile.

James and Mask De Masculine fought Stark and Lilynette, with James’s cheers repeatedly strengthening and reviving Mask De Masculine. As Stark and Lilynette stopped James from cheering, James awakened Pernida’s power and sought strength of his own.

• Lilynette silenced James while Stark struck down Mask De Masculine, but Yhwach’s Holy Rain revived Mask De Masculine and awakened Vollständig in both him and James.
• Mask De Masculine attacked Stark with James cheering him on, while Stark used Resurrección and Wolf Pack to battle him.
• Stark and Lilynette’s wolves chased and wounded James without letting him split into copies, preventing him from cheering and leaving Mask De Masculine at a disadvantage.
• As Stark wounded Mask De Masculine, James became desperate for power and activated Pernida’s nerves, revealing that James was the Sternritter’s true S.

James absorbed Mask De Masculine and evolved into a mecha, then Stark and Lilynette fused with two Hogyoku to fight him. After James transformed into a giant machine, Lilynette took control of Stark’s body and unleashed Wolf Pack’s Guns.

• James used Pernida’s nerves and Blut Vene to kill and absorb Mask De Masculine, becoming a mechanical version of the hero he had imagined.
• James fired tracking arrows at the Wolf Pack, killing the wolves while Stark saved Lilynette.
• Stark and Lilynette fused with two Hogyoku, transforming Stark and giving him overwhelming spiritual pressure and new weapons.
• Stark blasted apart James’s mecha and exposed his weak body, but James absorbed Reishi and rebuilt himself as a giant machine.
• Stark dodged James’s attacks and smashed his armor, but James again evolved and slapped away Stark’s Cero.
• Lilynette took control of Stark’s body and fired Wolf Pack’s Guns, sending azure wolves charging at James.