Chapter Summaries

Yoriichi awakened Di Jun, the will within Hekyō, and learned that his sun reiatsu was only a suppressed, diluted form of his true power. He asked Di Jun where his memories and abilities came from.

• Ōetsu Nimaiya used the Phoenix Palace’s forging power while Yoriichi poured his reiatsu into Hekyō, causing Di Jun to manifest in golden flames.
• Di Jun dismissed Ōetsu Nimaiya’s role in awakening him, and Ōetsu Nimaiya took Ichigo Kurosaki out of the hall.
• Di Jun warned Yoriichi that his manifestation could not remain in the fragile Soul King Palace for long.
• Di Jun told Yoriichi that the world’s laws had suppressed his vast source power, leaving his sun reiatsu as a weakened product mixed with reishi.
• Yoriichi asked Di Jun where his memories and abilities had come from.

Di Jun explained that he had fused Yoriichi’s weakened soul with the departed soul of Yoriichi Tsugikuni to protect him from the world’s laws. As Di Jun’s presence threatened to destroy the realm, he vanished without revealing Yoriichi’s original identity, leaving Yoriichi with unanswered questions.

• Di Jun told Yoriichi that the world’s laws had tried to purge him when his soul crossed dimensions, so he gave him Yoriichi Tsugikuni’s soul as a protective identity.
• Di Jun explained that Yoriichi Tsugikuni’s memories and demon-slaying techniques had survived the fusion and become part of Yoriichi.
• Yoriichi questioned who he had been before the fusion, but Di Jun did not answer.
• Di Jun’s presence caused spatial rifts and disturbances across Soul Society, the World of the Living, Hueco Mundo, and Hell.
• Di Jun warned that the realm would collapse if he stayed and began to disappear, telling Yoriichi that he would learn the truth in the future.

After meeting Di Jun, Yoriichi reunited with the others at the Phoenix Palace and learned that Byakuya, Rukia, and Renji had recovered. He left for the Soul Society with Byakuya and Rukia, while Ichigo and Renji stayed behind to train.

• Yoriichi emerged from the Phoenix Palace and told Ōetsu Nimaiya and Ichigo that he did not know how the powerful figure had appeared.
• Ichibē Hyōsube, Senjumaru Shutara, Kirio Hikifune, Byakuya Kuchiki, Renji Abarai, and Rukia Kuchiki arrived at the plaza.
• Yoriichi confirmed that Byakuya, Rukia, and Renji had fully recovered from their injuries.
• Yoriichi decided to return to the Soul Society, and Byakuya and Rukia chose to accompany him.
• Renji and Ichigo stayed at the Zero Division to continue training.
• Yoriichi, Byakuya, and Rukia boarded the Tenchūren, which descended through the barriers toward the Soul Society.

Yoriichi checked on the critically injured Izuru Kira, then struggled with the paperwork Kira had left behind. Yamamoto appointed Yoriichi as the new Captain-Commander and Shunsui Kyōraku to handle Gotei 13 administration; Yoriichi then convened the captains for his first meeting.

• Yoriichi visited Mayuri Kurotsuchi, who said Izuru Kira was alive and recovering in a cultivation tank but could not predict when he would wake.
• Yoriichi returned to the Third Division and found Kira's accumulated paperwork waiting for his approval, then spent the following week handling it amid Soul Society's war preparations.
• Yamamoto summoned Yoriichi and Shunsui Kyōraku and announced that Yoriichi would succeed him as Captain-Commander of the First Division.
• Yamamoto ordered Kyōraku to assist Yoriichi full-time and take over the Gotei 13's paperwork and logistical affairs.
• News of Yamamoto's resignation and Yoriichi's appointment spread through Soul Society, alarming many rank-and-file Soul Reapers while the captains accepted the decision in silence.
• Yoriichi gathered the captains in the First Division assembly hall for his first meeting as Captain-Commander.

Yoriichi addressed the Gotei 13 captains after taking over as Captain-Commander, acknowledging their defeat by Yhwach and rallying them to prepare for another invasion. He ended by promising Soul Society would not lose and leading the captains into a renewed resolve to fight.

• Yoriichi took his place on the Captain-Commander's platform while Yamamoto stood aside, and he released enough reiatsu to silence the captains' doubts.
• Yoriichi openly described the devastation caused by Yhwach's first invasion and warned that the Sternritter would return with even more dangerous abilities.
• Yoriichi challenged the captains to remember the Gotei 13's strength, and Zaraki, Byakuya, Mayuri, and Kyōraku each pledged to fulfill their roles in the coming war.
• Unohana watched Yoriichi with affection, while Yamamoto looked on with approval as the captains regained their confidence.
• Yoriichi promised that Soul Society would not lose, drew Hekyō, and declared, "Before us, there are no foes!"

Yhwach assembled the Sternritter and announced a two-pronged assault on Soul Society and the Soul King Palace. He assigned Uryū Ishida and Haschwalth to accompany him, named four knights as his elite guard, and ordered the remaining Sternritter to kill the Soul Reapers within nine days.

• Haschwalth reported that all twenty-two surviving Sternritter had assembled, and the knights discussed Yoriichi Tsugikuni and their confidence about the coming battle.
• Yhwach announced that the Wandenreich would attack both Seireitei and the Soul King Palace, where Zero Division resided.
• Yhwach ordered Haschwalth and Uryū Ishida to accompany him to the Soul King Palace and chose Lille Barro, Gerard Valkyrie, Pernida Parnkgjas, and Askin Nakk Le Vaar as his elite guard.
• Yhwach ordered the remaining Sternritter to attack Seireitei after the Ice Palace covered its streets, kill every Soul Reaper, and leave no captain alive.
• Yhwach declared that the world would meet its end within nine days and ordered the Sternritter to seize it.

The Wandenreich invaded the Seireitei, overwhelming many Soul Reapers until Kisuke Urahara and Mayuri Kurotsuchi’s Shadow-Invasion Drug restored the captains’ stolen Bankai and turned the battle around. As the captains launched a counteroffensive, Yhwach and his group reached the entrance to the Soul King Palace’s main approach.

• Yoriichi Tsugikuni, Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto, and Retsu Unohana cut through Quincy attackers while Soul Reapers elsewhere struggled against the Sternritter.
• Mask de Masculine defeated Kensei Muguruma and Shūhei Hisagi, while BG9 and Cang Du pressured Soi Fon, Marechiyo Ōmaeda, Tōshirō Hitsugaya, and Rangiku Matsumoto.
• Kisuke Urahara announced the Shadow-Invasion Drug, and Mayuri Kurotsuchi explained that it could counter the Quincy method of stealing Bankai.
• Hitsugaya took the drug and reclaimed Daiguren Hyōrinmaru, causing stolen Bankai across the battlefield to turn against the Sternritter.
• Kensei and Soi Fon regained their Bankai and struck back, helping the captains begin an all-out counteroffensive.
• Yhwach, Lille Barro, Gerard, Uryū Ishida, and Haschwalth reached the entrance to the Soul King Palace’s main approach.

Yhwach advanced through the Soul King Palace as the Guard Squad fought the Zero Division, then battled Ichibē Hyōsube. After Ichibē stripped away Yhwach’s name and powers, Yhwach awakened The Almighty, overcame Ichibē’s techniques, and shattered him.

• The Guard Squad and the Zero Division clashed at Omotesandō while Yhwach continued toward the Inner Palace.
• Ichibē Hyōsube attacked Yhwach with Thousand-Mile Heaven-Piercing Palm and used Kotodama to cut his throat, but Yhwach repaired it.
• Ichibē released Ichimonji and renamed Yhwach a black ant, stripping away his strength before knocking him into the sea of clouds.
• Yhwach awakened The Almighty, broke free of Ichibē’s naming power, and returned to the fight.
• Ichibē used Futen Taisatsuryō to swallow Yhwach, but Yhwach destroyed the mausoleum and declared Ichibē’s methods powerless against him.
• Yhwach struck and shattered Ichibē Hyōsube.

Ōetsu Nimaiya killed the four elite guards, but Yhwach revived them with Auswählen and awakened The Almighty, tearing Ichibē Hyōsube apart. The Zero Division members sacrificed themselves to break Senjumaru Shutara’s seal, and she unleashed her Bankai to trap the guards in a vast weaving workshop.

• Ōetsu Nimaiya killed Gerard, Pernida, and Lille Barro with Sayafushi, then struck down Askin after Tenjirō Kirinji purged the poison from his body.
• Yhwach used Auswählen to revive the four elite guards and restore their powers, while The Almighty awakened and tore Ichibē Hyōsube apart.
• The Zero Division prepared their blood pact, and Ōetsu Nimaiya, Tenjirō Kirinji, and Kirio Hikifune took their own lives to break Senjumaru Shutara’s seal.
• Senjumaru Shutara released her full Reiatsu, shaking all Three Realms, and activated her Bankai, Shatatsu Karagara Shigarami no Tsuji.
• Senjumaru trapped the four elite guards inside a vast weaving workshop and declared that their deaths had already been woven into fate.

Senjumaru trapped the enemy Quincy, but Uryū escaped her restraints and attacked her. As Ichigo hurried toward the inner palace, Yhwach killed the Soul King and absorbed his power, sending the Three Realms toward collapse.

• Senjumaru imprisoned Gerard, Askin, Lille Barro, Pernida, Jugram Haschwalth, and Uryū Ishida in woven restraints.
• Uryū used The Antithesis to reverse the needles piercing him, break free, and strike at Senjumaru.
• Ichigo heard Ichibē Hyōsube warn that Yhwach had defeated him and that the Soul King's death would destroy the world.
• Yhwach entered the Soul King's chamber, shattered the amber barrier, and pierced the Soul King with his sword.
• Yhwach absorbed the Soul King's essence, causing the Soul Palace to tilt and disasters to spread across the Soul Society, World of the Living, and Hueco Mundo.

As the Three Realms began collapsing after Yhwach consumed the Soul King's essence, Jūshirō Ukitake and Yoriichi Tsugikuni stabilized them by making Ukitake's Kamikake the world's new anchor. Yoriichi was left with only a fraction of his strength and reached the First Division to tell Shunsui Kyōraku and Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto that they needed new aid.

• Jūshirō Ukitake activated Kamikake and used the Soul King's Right Arm to hold back the collapsing sky, but the strain left him badly injured and unable to stop the destruction.
• Yoriichi Tsugikuni poured his sun Reiatsu into Ukitake's black hand, amplifying its power until it halted the collapse of the Three Realms.
• Yoriichi permanently gave up much of his power to make the Right Arm a stable anchor, leaving himself able to wield at most twenty percent of his peak strength.
• Yoriichi went to the First Division, where Shunsui Kyōraku and Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto were discussing countermeasures.
• Yoriichi told Kyōraku and Yamamoto that they needed new aid.

After stabilizing the Three Realms at great cost, Yoriichi decided to recruit imprisoned enemies to help fight Yhwach. Yamamoto reluctantly left the decision to Yoriichi, who headed to Muken while Shunsui Kyōraku went to contact Gin Ichimaru.

• Yoriichi explained that he had sacrificed most of his core power to keep the Three Realms from collapsing before Yhwach arrived.
• Yoriichi proposed recruiting Gin Ichimaru, Sōya Azashiro, and Sōsuke Aizen, but Yamamoto vehemently opposed releasing Aizen.
• Shunsui Kyōraku argued that Aizen could be persuaded to fight Yhwach, and reminded Yamamoto that Yoriichi was now Captain-Commander.
• Yamamoto accepted that Yoriichi would decide whom to release and how to fight.
• Yoriichi sent Shunsui to contact Gin Ichimaru and set out for Muken to release Aizen and Sōya Azashiro.

Yoriichi visited Aizen in Muken to recruit him against Yhwach, explaining that the Soul King was dead and the Three Realms were collapsing. Aizen agreed that he would oppose Yhwach for his own reasons, then began to tell Yoriichi that he had always believed they should stand on the same side.

• Yoriichi descended to Muken despite his weakened condition and told Aizen that Yhwach had killed the Soul King, leaving the Three Realms barely sustained by Yoriichi's power.
• Aizen dismissed the old order and said he did not care if the world was destroyed, while Yoriichi clarified that he cared only about protecting his friends.
• Yoriichi told Aizen that the Zero Division had been wiped out, Yamamoto had stepped down, and he now commanded the Gotei 13.
• Yoriichi provoked Aizen by telling him Yhwach had absorbed the Soul King's power and was trying to become a new god, but Aizen said he only wanted to defy anyone who sought to control his will.
• Aizen said he would act against Yhwach because Yhwach stood in his way, then told Yoriichi he had always believed they should stand on the same side.

Yoriichi visited Muken to recruit Sōya Azashiro after telling him that Yhwach had killed the Soul King and Soul Society was in danger. After freeing Azashiro, Yoriichi led him toward the Twelfth Division to speak with Mayuri Kurotsuchi.

• Yoriichi rejected Aizen’s invitation to join his side and said someone would come later to unseal him.
• Yoriichi told Sōya Azashiro that Yhwach had killed the Soul King, the Three Realms had nearly collapsed, and the Gotei 13 needed his help.
• Azashiro agreed to return and protect Soul Society despite Urozakuro’s protests.
• Yoriichi destroyed the Kidō seals and freed Azashiro from his chains.
• Yoriichi and Azashiro left Muken and headed for the Twelfth Division so Yoriichi could speak with Mayuri Kurotsuchi.

Yoriichi sought a way to restrain Aizen before releasing him to help fight the Sternritter, but Mayuri Kurotsuchi refused to work on Kisuke Urahara’s seals. Urahara assured Yoriichi that Aizen’s restraint garment and a backup plan would keep him contained, so Yoriichi handed Urahara the Muken Key and left him to release Aizen.

• Yoriichi asked Mayuri Kurotsuchi to make a failsafe for Aizen, but Mayuri refused to study Kisuke Urahara’s sealing work.
• Yoriichi sent Sōya Azashiro to report to Shunsui Kyōraku and reinforce the front line.
• Yoriichi found Kisuke Urahara at an aid station and asked him how to safely release Aizen.
• Urahara explained that Aizen’s Black Restraint Garment suppressed his Reiatsu and movements, and said he had another contingency if it failed.
• Yoriichi gave Urahara the Muken Key and assigned him to release Aizen himself.

As his strength rapidly drained from stabilizing the collapsing Three Realms, Yoriichi handed command to Shunsui Kyōraku and sought a secluded place to recover. With Retsu Unohana watching over him, he fell into a deep sleep in a secure room at the Twelfth Division's Research and Development Institute.

• Yoriichi told Kisuke Urahara that he needed to rest and left the aid station despite his worsening weakness.
• Yoriichi met Shunsui Kyōraku and handed him responsibility for the Gotei 13's defenses while he searched for a way to address the crisis.
• Retsu Unohana insisted on supporting and caring for Yoriichi, then accompanied him across Seireitei.
• Mayuri Kurotsuchi found Yoriichi a secure, empty room in the Research and Development Institute.
• Yoriichi sat down in the room and immediately fell unconscious as Unohana kept watch.

After exhausting himself stabilizing the Gotei 13, Yoriichi entered his mental world and struggled with a tolling that grew louder as his power drained away. Above Soul Society, Yhwach used the Soul King's source to create Wahrwelt and prepared to begin the final battle.

• Yoriichi collapsed from exhaustion and awoke in his mental world, where a strange tolling continued to agitate him.
• Yoriichi recognized that sacrificing much of his power had left him dangerously weakened against Yhwach and the revived Sternritter's Guard Squad.
• Yoriichi resolved to adapt to his weakened state and find a way forward before the forces outside could recover.
• Yhwach absorbed the Soul King's source and unleashed a reishi storm that destroyed the nearby Zero Division Detached Palaces.
• Yhwach drew the Wandenreich together with the Soul King Palace's ruins to form Wahrwelt above Soul Society, then looked down at the surviving Soul Reapers as the final battle approached.

Ichigo and Renji learned that Yhwach had gone to Wahrwelt and entered the hidden Rotating Passage to pursue him. In Seireitei, the remaining Gotei 13 forces assembled beneath Wahrwelt as Shunsui Kyōraku prepared to address them before the final battle.

• Ichibē Hyōsube told Ichigo and Renji that Yhwach had stolen the Soul King's power and built Wahrwelt below, reachable through a hidden Rotating Passage.
• Ichigo and Renji entered the passage and set off for Wahrwelt to confront Yhwach.
• The remaining Gotei 13 fighters, including Yamamoto, Byakuya, Kenpachi, and Yoruichi, gathered before the ruins of the First Division Barracks.
• Gin joked with the assembled fighters, and Kisuke urged Shunsui to begin.
• Shunsui stepped forward and announced that he would deliver a prebattle declaration at the Captain-Commander's request.

Shunsui Kyōraku prepared the Soul Reapers to attack Wahrwelt and introduced Sōsuke Aizen and Sōya Azashiro as reinforcements, prompting outrage among the captains. He explained that Captain-Commander Yoriichi had sacrificed most of his power to hold the Three Realms together, and the assembled forces set out to fight Yhwach.

• Shunsui Kyōraku announced that Mayuri Kurotsuchi had prepared a Reishi elevator to take the Soul Reapers to Wahrwelt.
• Kyōraku introduced Sōsuke Aizen and Sōya Azashiro as outside reinforcements, and the captains reacted with suspicion and anger.
• Kyōraku urged the Soul Reapers to set aside their grudges and unite against Yhwach, who threatened the Three Realms.
• Kyōraku revealed that Captain-Commander Yoriichi had used most of his power and the Soul King's Right Hand within Ukitake to stop the Three Realms from collapsing.
• The captains accepted the seriousness of Yoriichi's sacrifice, and Kyōraku ordered the forces to assemble and move out.

The Gotei 13 used Mayuri Kurotsuchi’s Reishi array to ascend to Wahrwelt, leaving Sōsuke Aizen and Sōya Azashiro behind in the ruined Seireitei. Shunsui Kyōraku warned Aizen not to cause trouble before departing, and Aizen spoke for the first time after the others were gone.

• The Gotei 13 entered Mayuri Kurotsuchi’s teleportation array and ascended toward Wahrwelt.
• Sōya Azashiro remained behind to monitor Aizen, using his Bankai’s perception to watch for any movement or Reiatsu changes.
• Shunsui Kyōraku warned Aizen not to take advantage of the Soul Reapers’ absence, invoking Yoriichi’s name to gauge his reaction.
• Aizen ignored Kyōraku’s warning, and Kyōraku left for Wahrwelt after Azashiro signaled that he would keep watch.
• The teleportation array shut down, leaving Aizen and Azashiro alone among the Seireitei’s ruins, where Aizen finally spoke.