The Blade

Ichigo splits Yhwach down the middle, and the king dissolves into a churning mass of darkness as Aizen praises the speed with which Ichigo reacted to Kyoka Suigetsu. Ichigo admits he felt something akin to the confusion Aizen once spread among his own allies, prompting Aizen to reveal that he loosed the illusion before Ichigo's arrival, confirmed it could ensnare Yhwach, and always meant Ichigo, immune to its effect, to be the last piece of his scheme.

Yhwach's darkness then swallows Aizen. Noting that the borrowed illusion has run dry, the king reassembles himself and scoffs at the notion that such a strike could finish him, boasting that The Almighty lets him overwrite even the futures in which he dies. He knocks Tensa Zangetsu from Ichigo's grip and wraps the Seireitei in shadow, promising that all form will dissolve into oneness. Before he can complete it, Uryu drives the silver arrowhead through his chest. Recalling Soken's teaching that silver born of the Auswahlen can seal its wielder's abilities on contact with their blood, Uryu watches the darkness drain from Yhwach and shouts for Ichigo to strike. Leaping in with his fractured Bankai, Ichigo sees the blade seem to break apart, only for it to crumble away and expose the original Zangetsu beneath. As Yhwach grasps that this was the warning hidden in Haschwalth's dream, Ichigo cleaves him in two.

Aizen reveals Ichigo was the intended final piece of his Kyoka Suigetsu plan against Yhwach. Yhwach reforms after being cut and disarms Ichigo, engulfing the Seireitei in darkness. Uryu pierces Yhwach with the silver arrowhead, temporarily nullifying his powers. Ichigo's cracked Bankai gives way to the true Zangetsu, and he cuts Yhwach in two, fulfilling Haschwalth's ominous dream.

This is the 684th chapter of Bleach and the tenth chapter of the seventy-fourth and final volume, THE DEATH AND THE STRAWBERRY. It pays off the mystery of Haschwalth's earlier dream and the reforged Zangetsu, bringing the long war against the Quincy king to its decisive blow.