THE LAST 9DAYS

Shunsui gently breaks the news that Ichigo might be barred from the living world for good. Should the strength the boy gains grow vast enough to endanger the Human World, he would be forced to stay in Soul Society. Keigo seizes the captain by the collar, furious at the trap, but Mizuiro presses for the odds and hears the chance sits under one in ten thousand. Even so, Shunsui hands out Soul Tickets, passes meant to let the friends and Ichigo's family visit him if the worst arrives, and promises the day is far off.

In Hueco Mundo, Orihime rests against a pillar and confides to Sado that the fragile peace among humans, Arrancar, and Shinigami feels precious enough that she wishes the war would simply never begin. Her hope shatters as the Schatten Bereich sweeps across the Seireitei, devouring the ramparts and the Shakonmaku and swapping the entire city for the Wandenreich's own while Yhwach, Uryu, and Haschwalth survey it from atop Silbern.

Inside the research institute, Akon and Hiyosu cannot make sense of the impossible readings until Akon understands that their entire city has vanished. Yhwach turns to Uryu and has him recite the Kaiser Gesang, the verses that return the sealed Quincy king his heartbeat, his mind, and his power across nine hundred, ninety, and nine years. Then he unveils a fourth line few have heard: in nine days the king reclaims the world, and he invites his heir and grandmaster to spend those final days at his side.

Shunsui warns Ichigo's friends that the boy may never return to the living world and hands out Soul Tickets. The Wandenreich replace the Seireitei with their own city through the Schatten Bereich. Yhwach reveals the hidden fourth verse of the Kaiser Gesang, opening the last nine days.

The title chapter of the sixty-first volume, THE LAST 9DAYS, this installment belongs to the Thousand-Year Blood War. Its events appear in the anime as Episode 380, THE LAST 9DAYS.