The Last of a Void War

The smoke clears to reveal Mayuri Kurotsuchi torn open and his Bankai split down the middle, both of Uryū Ishida's arms streaming blood. Refusing to be finished, Mayuri stabs his own throat and dissolves into liquid, a state in which he can neither strike nor be struck, and promises to reform at his laboratory within days before slipping away. As the poison begins to discolor his skin, Uryū is saved by Nemu Kurotsuchi, who reveals an antidote hidden beneath the badge on her arm and swears the toxin cannot harm her since her blood matches her father's.

Uryū drinks and asks why she would shield such a man; Nemu confesses she does not fully understand, only that she felt relief he survived. Thanking him for aiming at the gut rather than the head, she urges him to leave before her comrades arrive to tend her. Uryū limps toward the Senzaikyū compound as his Ransōtengai fades and his strength as a Quincy ebbs, resolving to reach Rukia Kuchiki first and picturing how furious Ichigo will be. At the top of the stairs, though, Kaname Tōsen releases his Shikai, Suzumushi, whose piercing tone drops Uryū unconscious. Shedding a single tear, Tōsen asks forgiveness as elsewhere Yoruichi Shihōin stands over a bloodied Ichigo Kurosaki and orders him back to his feet.

Mayuri escapes by liquefying his own body after his defeat. Nemu gives Uryū the antidote to Konjiki Ashisogi Jizō's poison, sparing his life. Uryū's borrowed power runs out, ending his time as a Quincy. Kaname Tōsen intercepts and knocks him out with Suzumushi, and Ichigo's training resumes.

The chapter belongs to the fifteenth volume, BEGINNING OF THE DEATH OF TOMORROW, in the Soul Society arc, and was adapted across Episode 44, Ishida, The Utmost Limits of Power, and Episode 45, Overcome Your Limits. It concludes the Uryū versus Mayuri fight and quietly introduces Tōsen's willingness to enforce the peace by force.