Invading Army Arc, Final Conclusion!

Operating on only a shadow of the power he once held, Ichigo opens against the fused Oko Yushima. Wanting to save Nozomi, Kon begs to help, so Rukia scoops him up and joins Renji, Sado, and Uryu in a combined rush. Yushima swats the group aside, wounding Renji and Sado badly enough that Uryu and Rukia have to pull the pair clear. Ichigo then seizes Yushima's blade to lock down its abilities, pulls on his Hollow mask, and fires a Getsuga Tensho at point-blank range. Nozomi resurfaces within the wreckage and pleads to be killed so that Yushima and Inaba die with her, but Yushima wrests back control and calls up his strongest technique, Renzan: Hajo Kuri.

A concentrated column of Reiatsu erupts from the technique and tears away a section of the Seireitei. Yamamoto arrives and lays bare Yushima's true aim: he has no attachment to Soul Society whatsoever and means to wipe it out entirely. Ukitake's Reigai clarifies the copies' earlier claim of separate goals, explaining that they too want to shield Soul Society, only by their own method. Recognizing Yushima as a danger to themselves and their home, the Reigai move to bring him down.

Ichigo cannot pierce the technique alone. The Reigai of the remaining captains and lieutenants throw themselves into Yushima's barrier, weakening it enough for Nozomi to briefly take hold and drive a summoned blade into his gut. Losing strength and consumed by rage, Yushima assaults Ichigo, insisting that the truly strong stand alone and that leaning on friends only marks a person as weak. Ichigo answers by shattering Yushima's Zanpakuto and striking the finishing blow, and the fused body splits apart once more into Nozomi and Inaba. Lying beside her, Inaba asks whether they were mistaken from the start; Nozomi admits she does not know, murmurs something that makes him laugh, and he dissolves into Reishi. Kon reaches Nozomi as her own form begins to break apart. She thanks him for the little lion he gave her, weeps as she holds him, and calls him a pervert one final time before scattering. Kon lifts her spent pill and swears they will always be friends as it vanishes.

Ichigo's point-blank Getsuga Tensho cripples Yushima's merged form. The captains' Reigai sacrifice themselves against his barrier, letting Nozomi wound him from within. Ichigo destroys Yushima's Zanpakuto and finishes him, after which the body separates into the dying Inaba and Nozomi. Kon shares a tearful goodbye with Nozomi as she fades away, keeping her pill until it too disappears.

This is an anime-original entry with no manga counterpart, serving as the last chapter of the Gotei 13 Invading Army arc. In the Illustrated Picture Book segment, Ukitake sees Ichigo's group off, hands back the Substitute Shinigami badge that was dropped in the Dangai, and offers Kon a miniature version. Kon turns it down, showing off Nozomi's good-luck charm strapped to his back instead, before the friends ready themselves to head home.