After Retsu Unohana revealed her true strength and cut down Yammy before everyone's eyes, the battle beneath the dome of Las Noches finally came to an end.
Rukia, Renji, and the others collapsed to their knees, their bodies too drained to hold them upright any longer. The relief of surviving arrived late and heavy, crashing over them only after the danger had passed. One by one, they began gasping for air, as if their bodies had only just realized they were still alive.
Renji kept staring at Unohana in her released state, his eyes wide, his voice still shaken by disbelief.
"I never knew Captain Unohana was this strong…"
Rukia, still trying to steady her breathing, turned toward Biakuya.
"Brother… did you know from the beginning what Captain Unohana's true power was?"
Biakuya remained silent for a moment. His gaze stayed fixed on Unohana's back, and in his eyes there was more than respect. There was something dangerously close to awe.
"…No. I only heard my grandfather mention it once."
Then, as though he were also answering the curiosity of countless viewers watching from beyond the screen, Biakuya explained in his usual composed tone:
"Retsu Unohana. Because she claimed to have mastered every school and every style of the sword, she gave herself the name 'Eight Thousand Styles.' Before joining the Thirteen Court Guard Squads, she was known as one of the most vicious and unprecedented criminals in the history of the Soul Society. Later, she was defeated by Commander Yamamoto and brought into the Guard, becoming the first captain of the Eleventh Division… as well as the one who discovered Kenpachi Zaraki's talent."
With that explanation, Unohana's image was instantly elevated to an entirely different level. The woman many had seen only as a gentle, soft-spoken healer now carried a presence that was almost terrifying.
On the other side of the screen, the audience collectively held its breath.
So that was why Kenpachi had not shown the slightest surprise when he saw her make her move. Between those two, there had always been a far deeper connection than anyone had imagined.
"You really hid that well, huh…"
On the set of her new production, Helena puffed out her cheeks like an annoyed little frog.
Back when they were filming the Soul Society arc, she had thought Alex no longer had much affection for Donna. Otherwise, why give her such a minor role with so few scenes? But now it all made sense. For the first two seasons, he had simply been holding back. The real explosion of the character had been reserved for the final season.
He had hidden it far too well.
"Mwah!"
On the other side, Donna could not hold back and planted a firm kiss on Alex's cheek.
Seeing her so happy, and seeing the screen flooded with praise, Alex knew his adaptation of Retsu Unohana had worked.
To be honest, the relationship between Unohana and Kenpachi in the original work had always felt a little strange to him. Unohana had such an absurdly powerful background, such a monstrous reputation, and yet she had supposedly lost to Kenpachi when he was still just a boy. And on top of that, Kenpachi had sealed away his own strength just so he could prolong the pleasure of battle?
That concept was… well, at the very least, a little too convenient.
Alex had thought about it for a long time, and in the end, he chose to make Unohana the person who discovered and recognized Kenpachi's potential, rather than keeping the idea that young Kenpachi had already been invincible enough to defeat her. That part, he decided to discard.
And no, it definitely was not because he was a fan of Lady Unohana and had a soft spot for her. Absolutely not.
That being said, there was one thing that had to be acknowledged: although her thick robes hid it well, Unohana's figure was genuinely top tier, not inferior at all to Summer Johnson or Harribel… Cough, cough. Better stop that topic right there.
Otherwise, the chapter might disappear.
"Donna, want to go for a walk with me tomorrow?"
Seeing that she was in such a good mood, Alex decided to strike while the iron was hot.
Donna's face turned red at once.
The word "walk" was not exactly innocent between the two of them. It was an old code. Back when Alex was eighteen and the two of them were dating, he had loved inviting her to go on "walks."
Except they had not been ordinary walks.
Before going out, he would always come up with some wicked little idea involving hidden vibrating toys, and then, halfway through the stroll, that shameless brat would suddenly press the remote without warning.
"No way! I must've been under some kind of spell back then to go along with your nonsense!"
Donna smacked Alex hard on the arm, half embarrassed, half annoyed.
Even now, when she remembered those days, she still wondered how she had ever been crazy enough to agree to something like that.
"Oh, come on, it'll be fine. We'll go somewhere with fewer people."
Alex continued coaxing her with the irritating patience of someone who knew exactly where to poke.
Meanwhile, within the series, Isane Kotetsu, the vice-captain of the Fourth Division, hurried over to report the situation in Hueco Mundo's battlefield to Unohana.
Except for the fight between Ichigo Kurosaki and Ulquiorra, which was still unfolding above the dome, every other enemy in Las Noches had been completely suppressed.
But at that very moment, a deafening explosion erupted overhead.
The dome of Las Noches shattered completely and collapsed in a massive avalanche, causing the Soul Reapers below, who had only just begun to breathe again, to stare upward in shock.
Two streaks of light tore through the sky like meteors, one green and one red, crashing down in opposite directions and blasting apart the desert on both sides of the palace.
As the dust slowly settled, the figure on the left was the first to climb out of the crater.
It was Ulquiorra, in his third stage of release.
"Yammy was…"
Sensing that Yammy's spiritual pressure had vanished, a fleeting shadow of grief passed through Ulquiorra's eyes. It was too brief to be called mourning, but too deep to be ignored. Then, slowly, he walked toward the other crater.
"In the end, you were nothing more than an inferior existence that lost its reason. Someone like that could never defeat me."
In his third released form, Ulquiorra looked down at Ichigo, who lay at the bottom of the crater in that monstrous horned state.
The demonic mask on Ichigo's face had broken in half, revealing the right side of his face, pale and lifeless. But the most shocking detail was elsewhere.
The Tensa Zangetsu in his hand was broken.
Even so, despite the coldness of his words, Ulquiorra's own condition was far from good. He held his injured arm, and his thoughts betrayed the tension his expression refused to show.
This man's strength is truly… If he had not lost his mind and fought so chaotically, perhaps I really would have been…
"Ichigo!"
Rukia and the others rushed over. In only a few seconds, they formed a protective line in front of the crater, placing themselves between Ichigo and Ulquiorra as they drew their blades and stared him down with extreme caution.
After a brief silence, Ulquiorra's body left the third stage and returned to his usual form.
Was he out of strength?
Or had he simply lost the will to continue fighting?
The next second, Ulquiorra raised his right hand to his ear, as if listening to a distant transmission. He remained that way for several seconds, then nodded with respect.
"Yes, Lord Sosuke Aizen."
After that, he lowered his hand and looked at Rukia and the others with cold indifference.
"Lord Aizen has already achieved complete victory. There is no longer any need for me to remain here."
The moment they heard those words, Rukia, Renji, and even the usually composed Biakuya all changed expression.
Sosuke Aizen had won?
Then that meant…
None of them dared to finish that thought.
Ulquiorra raised his hand and opened a Garganta, his cold voice cutting through the air like a sentence.
"Tell Ichigo Kurosaki that our battle will be settled in the Soul Society. There, I will destroy him completely."
With that, he stepped into the black passage. The portal slowly closed behind him, as if it had never existed at all.
Renji looked at Biakuya, panic already coloring his voice.
"Captain! Commander Yamamoto and the others… they can't have…"
Normally, whenever Renji lost his composure, Biakuya would silence him with a look or a short reprimand. But this time, he said nothing. Even he could no longer maintain his usual calm.
Then Ishida Uryu descended from the shattered dome, bringing Orihime with him.
As soon as she landed, Orihime rushed to Ichigo's side and began healing him without hesitation. At the same time, a familiar voice echoed in everyone's ears.
"Hello, hello… everyone in Hueco Mundo, can you hear me?"
"Mr. Urahara?!"
Rukia and the others were startled at first, but their shock was quickly overtaken by anxiety.
"What's happening in the real world? Is Commander Yamamoto all right? Are the others safe?!"
Only silence answered them.
A silence far too heavy.
"Mr. Urahara, answer us!"
Rukia's voice trembled with urgency.
"…The commander-general died in battle."
Even Urahara, who always seemed to treat everything with that relaxed, almost unserious air, now spoke with unmistakable pain. And when those words reached Hueco Mundo, the four captains and the many vice-captain-level Soul Reapers present felt as if lightning had struck directly in front of them.
The spiritual pillar of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads… no, of the entire Soul Society…
Yamamoto had fallen.
"It took some time, but I finally finished analyzing the structure of the Garganta. I'll transfer all of you back to the Soul Society now."
Urahara's voice sounded again, heavier than before.
"There are still a few days before Aizen and the others create the Royal Key and launch their official attack on the Soul Society. During that time, we must find a way to face them."
"What can we possibly do in just a few days?"
Renji's voice already carried a trace of despair.
But that question did not belong to him alone. It was exactly what countless viewers around the world were thinking.
Right. With only a few days, what could still be done?
"Captain Kyoraku has already requested reinforcements."
Urahara's tone sank even further.
"The Royal Guard. Squad Zero."
At those words, everyone's expression changed once more.
The image froze for a moment, and then the ending sequence began.
In the comments, the audience completely collapsed. Some cursed Alex for always ending every episode at the worst possible moment. Others lost their minds over the mere mention of Squad Zero, wondering if these reinforcements could be even stronger than the old man Yamamoto. Some immediately disagreed, saying that at most they should be on the same level, because if they were far superior, the entire balance of power would fall apart.
There was also no shortage of praise for the tension built over the last two weeks. Two episodes in a row had ended with victories for the villains, and yet none of it felt cheap. Instead, the pressure kept rising until it became almost suffocating. Many viewers were still stuck on the image of Ulquiorra's third release and Ichigo's monstrous hollow form, calling both designs explosively cool. As always, when it came to character design, visual presence, and sheer aesthetic impact, Alex never disappointed.
But behind all that excitement, one question continued to hammer inside everyone's mind.
With only a few days left, how could the main cast possibly close such a terrifying gap in power?