Grinning Revengers

The Garganta that unsettled the captains disgorges not only Wonderweiss Margela but a towering beast, Hooleer. Sajin Komamura recognizes the creature at once, having glimpsed it once before through the rift Aizen used when he abandoned Soul Society for Hueco Mundo. Before anyone can react, Wonderweiss flickers to Ukitake's back and drives his arm clean through the captain.

Shunsui lunges to punish the strike, but Coyote Starrk presses his pistol to the captain's shoulder and looses a Cero point blank. Wonderweiss then unleashes a shattering scream whose shockwave splinters the ice cocooning Harribel and scatters the smoke that had swallowed Baraggan after Sui-Feng's attack. Harribel tears loose, and Baraggan strides out of the haze without a mark on him.

With the strongest Espada restored, Hooleer's next blast disperses the flames caging Aizen, Gin Ichimaru, and Kaname Tosen, setting all three traitors free. Izuru Kira, watching every gain erased, urges Komamura onward while privately concluding the Gotei 13 is finished. Then a single voice cuts across the ruin. Aizen turns, and Shinji Hirako stands there with the rest of the Visored at his back.

Hooleer arrives through the Garganta beside Wonderweiss, and Komamura identifies it from Aizen's earlier departure. Wonderweiss impales Ukitake while Starrk shoots Shunsui at close range. Wonderweiss' scream frees Harribel from Hitsugaya's ice and clears the smoke around Baraggan, both foes emerging intact. Hooleer's gust burns away the fire trapping Aizen, Gin, and Tosen. As Kira despairs, the Visored make their entrance behind Shinji.

This is the sixth chapter of the forty-second volume, Shock of the Queen, which carries Tier Harribel on its cover. The events were adapted into episode 278 of the anime, The Nightmare Returns...Revival of the Espada. The chapter marks the dramatic first appearance of the Visored on the fake Karakura Town battlefield, reversing the captains' hard-won momentum against Aizen's strongest Espada.