Marching Out the ZOMBIES 2

When a zombified Tōshirō Hitsugaya appears with his Reiatsu nearly gone, Ikkaku Madarame shoves Yumichika Ayasegawa clear of the ice wave, losing his frozen leg in the process, and Yumichika is cut down trying to avenge him. Mayuri Kurotsuchi deduces the captain was reanimated while still alive to keep his speed, which Giselle Gewelle confirms. After Charlotte Chuhlhourne is nearly killed rushing in, Mayuri shields him and turns his attention to studying Hitsugaya, whose relentless slashes are automatically blocked by a sensor Mayuri installed on his own blade.

Hitsugaya keeps seeming to restart the fight because Mayuri has dosed him with the Postcognition Drug, which rewinds his mind to a past moment every time he kills Mayuri, trapping him in an unwinnable loop he cannot even remember. The drug eventually paralyzes Hitsugaya's balance, and Mayuri paralyzes his limbs with Ashisogi Jizō before injecting another agent as zombified captains close in. Elsewhere, Byakuya Kuchiki overwhelms Robert Accutrone, Candice Catnipp, and NaNaNa Najahkoop in turn with Senbonzakura and its Bankai, only for a mind-controlled Shūhei Hisagi to attack him without warning.

PePe Waccabrada reveals himself as Sternritter L, The Love, splitting hearts to claim them and setting his followers against one another. When Byakuya discards his possessed sword, Hisagi wields it, and PePe activates his Vollständig, Gudoero, to break Byakuya's resistance. Kensei Muguruma and Rōjūrō Ōtoribashi arrive freed, having been converted into Mayuri's zombies: his drug replaced Giselle's blood with his own substance, flipping her undead to his command, and Kensei batters PePe until Liltotto Lamperd devours him with The Glutton. As the palace comes under attack, Yhwach, Uryū Ishida, and Jugram Haschwalth reach the Soul King Palace. This is the 23rd Thousand-Year Blood War episode and the 389th overall, drawing on Chapters 587, 588, and 592 through 597.