Countdown to the End: 2 (Lady Lennon~Frankenstein)

Having torn open Tosen's chest, Kenpachi wonders whether his senses returned because he caught his foe or because he is gripping the enemy's sword, then dismisses the question and dares Tosen to try again, promising to seize his arm before the next blow lands. As Kenpachi releases him and goes blind once more, an injured Tosen staggers back, his perception warping from the wound, and charges anew.

The chapter turns to Tosen's past and a woman named Kakyo, whom he found beautiful though he never saw her face. She loved the night sky, comparing its scattered lights hidden by clouds to the world itself, and vowed to sweep those clouds away so no light stayed concealed. Tosen quietly preferred the clouds but never said so. When Kakyo later announced she would marry a Shinigami and enroll at the Shin'o Academy to fight Hollows for peace, telling Tosen he was the first she wanted to know, he wished her well. She asked only that he stay unchanged. She never returned, killed by her own husband after scolding him for slaying a comrade over something trivial. At her funeral, Tosen drew the sword from her coffin and swore to become justice itself so all evil would scatter like clouds.

Back in the present, Kenpachi catches Tosen's hand and slashes his chest again, breaking his hold on Enma Korogi, which collapses across the pavilion. Bleeding heavily, Tosen still will not yield, and Kenpachi refuses to keep fighting a man half dead. When Tosen tries to stab his back, Kenpachi decides to grant him the death he seems to crave, only for Komamura to appear and block the blow with one arm while dragging Tosen clear with the other. Kenpachi's edge splits Komamura's helmet, and as it falls away it reveals a humanoid wolf. Unbothered by his opponent's looks, Kenpachi awaits a real fight, and Komamura brings forth his own Bankai, Kokujo Tengen Myo'o.

A flashback reveals Kakyo, the murdered friend whose ideals shaped Tosen's devotion to justice. Kenpachi wounds Tosen badly enough to collapse his Bankai, and when Tosen refuses to stop, Komamura intervenes. His shattered helmet exposes his wolf-like face, and he summons the giant of his Bankai to take Kenpachi on.

The chapter supplies the backstory behind Tosen's rigid creed and marks the first full look at Komamura's true appearance. It was adapted into Episode 53, Gin Ichimaru's Temptation, Resolution Shattered.