Countdown to the End: 0

Near the hill, Shinigami watch the heavy ropes binding the Sokyoku fall away and crash below, leaving the great halberd exposed. Standing on the scaffold, Rukia finds her heart strangely calm despite Gin's earlier words, and decides the peace comes less from Yamamoto's promise than from her brother turning his back on her when she clung shamefully to life. Quietly, she thanks him. Her restraints then dissolve, and three cubes rise to splay her arms and pin her legs before lifting her, frozen, toward the top of the stand.

When Shunsui asks Nanao not to look so sad, she replies that sadness is not what she feels. Flames erupt from the base of the halberd and wreathe it, and as the Sokyoku climbs from its pit it reshapes into Kikoo, a phoenix formed entirely of fire. Yamamoto reveals this is the weapon's true form, meant to impale the condemned. Unafraid, Rukia looks back on a full life shaped by Renji's friendship, Byakuya taking her in, Kaien's guidance, and Ichigo's attempt to save her, and concludes she leaves nothing behind. She sheds one tear, bids Ichigo farewell, and closes her eyes as Kikoo charges.

The burst of flame clears to show her still alive. Astonished, she opens her eyes to find Ichigo suspended before her in a Tentoken, holding the phoenix at bay with Zangetsu and greeting her as casually as ever.

The Sokyoku is unsealed and transforms into Kikoo, its true phoenix form, which surges to impale Rukia. She reflects on her life and accepts her end, only for Ichigo to arrive at the last instant, wearing a Tentoken and blocking the strike with his released blade.

The chapter opens the eighteenth volume and stages Ichigo's dramatic return to Sokyoku Hill. It was adapted into Episode 54, An Accomplished Oath! Get back Rukia!.