The Perfect Crimson 2

Freshly aged into an adult by his fully ripened Bankai, Hitsugaya explains to Byakuya that his earlier form lacked the growth needed to draw out the technique's real strength. Gerard welcomes the change, insisting a grown opponent suits the clash he wants, and drives his sword down before flinging his shield forward. The captain halts the shield in the air with a sheet of ice, then chides the giant for tossing debris that could plummet onto the Seireitei far below.

When Gerard swings Hoffnung, Hitsugaya shears straight through its edge and points out that a frozen weapon loses its blessing. Gerard answers by calling up his Heilig Bogen, meaning to overwhelm the smaller fighter with raw output, yet the bow arrives a moment too slow: Shikai Hyoketsu locks him in ice, the product of a Bankai able to freeze anything set before it within four seconds. He tears loose and seizes Hitsugaya, boasting that no earthly element can hold him, only for Kenpachi to grab his feet and heave him off balance. With Gerard's arm frozen where it gripped the captain, Byakuya unfurls the Senkei form of his own Bankai and looses its hidden art, Ikka Senjinka, sending a storm of blades into the giant's skull.

Hitsugaya reveals that reaching adulthood was necessary to command his matured Bankai. Gerard hurls his shield, which the captain suspends in frozen air, and then has the edge of Hoffnung cut apart. Gerard is encased by Shikai Hyoketsu after his bow forms too late, breaks free to grab Hitsugaya, and is tripped by Kenpachi. Byakuya finishes the exchange by driving the blades of Senkei's Ikka Senjinka into Gerard's head.

This installment is the 671st chapter of the series and the eighth chapter collected in the seventy-third volume, BATTLE FIELD BURNING, released in Japan in July 2016. It continues the drawn out struggle between the three Gotei 13 captains and the seemingly unkillable Gerard Valkyrie inside the fortress city of Wahrwelt, setting up the regeneration that follows in the next chapter.