THE VILLAIN 2

Rukia Kuchiki lands beside Renji as he squares off with Mask De Masculine and is told to haul the broken Rose and Kensei out of danger so Renji can take the Quincy on his own. Judging that Mask is no match for the man Renji has become, she bundles both captains away in a shawl, leaving the Sternritter to grumble that a proper villain is entitled to gang up and fight dirty just as the captains did.

Because his ruptured eardrums have left him deaf, Mask cannot hear Renji at all and calls on James, whose upper half springs over to mend the damage. Boasting that his hearing has never been keener, Mask invites a taunt and is simply called creepy, which he treats as an unforgivable insult before rocketing forward with a headbutt that flings the pair blocks away on impact.

The dust clears to show Renji untouched, and he drives an elbow into Mask's spine hard enough to crater the street and bury the Quincy's head in stone. Crediting luck, Mask swings a Star Satsujin Punch he brags is tenfold his usual strength, only for Renji to catch and hold the fist in one hand. Enraged that a villain would halt a hero's strike, Mask throws dozens more punches that topple the surrounding buildings. During the barrage Renji slips behind him and carves James into pieces to block any further regeneration, then rakes his Shikai, Zabimaru, across Mask's stomach.

The installment continues the ringside duel of the Thousand-Year Blood War and was adapted as part of episode 384, Rages at Ringside. Its cast in order of appearance is Renji Abarai, Mask De Masculine, Rukia Kuchiki, Kensei Muguruma, Rojuro Otoribashi, and James.