Ishida's Trump Card, the Cutter of Souls

 is the one hundred and fifty-seventh episode of the Bleach anime.

Uryū Ishida concludes his battle against Cirucci Sanderwicci with a new weapon, the Seele Schneider, as Yasutora Sado continues battling Gantenbainne Mosqueda.

Summary
With pieces of the blade feathers from Cirucci Sanderwicci's Resurrección, Golondrina, falling around him, Uryū Ishida admits that he is glad he came prepared and had Kisuke Urahara help him retrieve the Seele Schneider from Karakura Hospital's secret storage area as he identifies it and reveals that it is the only Quincy weapon which has a blade. As Cirucci stares at Uryū in shock, an outraged Pesche Guatiche stands behind the doorway and calls him a thief for borrowing the Seele Schneider without permission.

When an annoyed Uryū points out that he never said it was done without permission, Pesche indicates that this proves he is a thief, leading an exasperated Uryū to question whose side he is on anyway and tell him to shut up. After Pesche addresses Uryū as Ichigo Kurosaki and asserts that this is no way to talk to someone who just saved his life, an outraged Uryū corrects him, only for Pesche to pick up on his first name and wonder who Ishida is, forcing Uryū to incredulously recite his full name and Pesche to confirm that there is no Ishida Uryū in turn as Uryū tells him to shut up so he can focus on the battle at hand.

Cirucci picks up on Uryū's mention of being a Quincy and responds to him claiming to be honored that she knows of them by mockingly describing them as only mattering due to being a race wiped out by the Shinigami. Acknowledging this, Uryū reappears behind Cirucci and slashes at her, forcing Cirucci to counter by striking at him with her left wing and its blade feathers. Though Cirucci questions why Uryū would involve himself with Shinigami if this is the case, Uryū declines to answer and suggests that Cirucci instead focus on her blade feathers, which Cirucci is shocked to see have all had their tips cut off as well.

Upon landing, Uryū explains that the sudden rise in his Reiatsu was not temporary, and after yelling at Pesche for commenting on this being a long flight record, he elaborates that the Seele Schneider was designed to counter high-speed vibrations with even faster vibrations, functioning like a chainsaw with the Reishi comprising its surface vibrating at 3,000,000 cycles per second. Revealing that he is very sensitive to Reiatsu as a Quincy, Uryū concludes that he knows that the Reishi vibration rate of the surface of her blade feathers is between 1,100,000 and 1,300,000 cycles per second, making the Seele Schneider more than twice as fast.

In turn, Cirucci deduces that her blade feathers will not work against him now and detaches them from her wings alongside her elongated arms, leaving only her mane, tail, and bare wings. When Uryū comments on her being able to alter her released state like articles of clothing and wonders if this is true for all Arrancar, Cirucci clarifies that she has actually discarded those parts of Golondrina for good. Explaining how the Resurrección of an Arrancar lets them regain their original fighting abilities from their time as a Hollow, Cirucci notes they can only return to a fully humanoid form when those abilities are sealed in the form of a Zanpakutō.

After revealing that altering their form without reverting first causes serious damage akin to burning an arm off and that Golondrina hampers her by consuming much of her Reiryoku with her wings and blade feathers, a sweating Cirucci asserts that it is better to discard them and free up that energy to be used elsewhere if she cannot win with them as her wings fall off and the tip of her tail splits apart to generate a large fan-shaped energy blade above it for Ala Cortadola Hachador, which she describes as focusing all of her power into one attack while an unnerved Uryū inquires if this war is really so important that she would risk everything to win it.

Cirucci counters that they would not have gone to war in the first place if it was not important to them because Arrancar are soldiers and the Espada are their leaders, meaning they exist to kill the enemy and win while defeat is always unacceptable, prior to lunging forward and attacking Uryū with Ala Cortadola Hachador. Upon seeing Uryū struggling to hold back the energy fan with his Seele Schneider, Cirucci laughs and knocks him on his back with a forward thrust of her tail before slashing the fan forward to cut through the surrounding pillars, forcing Uryū to leap high into the air to evade this.

With Cirucci's tail following him into the air, Uryū dodges its first two strikes and counters the third with the Seele Schneider as well, which prompts Cirucci to pull back her tail and declare that she should have done this sooner while lashing out with Ala Cortadola Hachador once more. Running around to dodge several more strikes from Cirucci that destroy the pillars and ground around him, Uryū is eventually cornered into directly blocking Ala Cortadola Hachador once more when Cirucci comes down on him with a powerful stab, but begins cutting through the energy fan with the Seele Schneider, to Cirucci's surprise.

As she leaps back with a smoking gash cut into the energy fan, Cirucci points out that there is no need to make herself vulnerable to an opponent wielding a sword as she reforms the energy fan into a large sword with Ala Cortadola Gradiator and concludes that a battle between two swords of equal power is won by the one with the longer reach. However, Uryū picks up on her mention of equal power and states that she is a bit confused before clarifying that Seele Schneider is not meant for cutting through vibrating Reishi, but instead to weaken the bonds between Reishi and make it easier for its wielder to steal.

With a startled Cirucci looking up to see Ala Cortadola Gradiator being broken down from a section on the edge of its blade, Uryū informs Cirucci that a Quincy gathers the Reishi around himself to use as a weapon and that the Seele Schneider is the most powerful embodiment of that, meaning that most of her Reishi is his now. While an enraged Cirucci tells him to shut up and leaps forward, Uryū realizes that she was wrong about one other thing and reveals that the Seele Schneider is not a sword as he nocks it in his Heilig Bogen, Ginrei Kojaku, and declares that a Quincy only uses a bow and arrows.

Apologetically telling Cirucci that she loses, Uryū confirms that victory was indeed a matter of reach and fires the Seele Schneider, splitting Ala Cortadola Gradiator in half and piercing Cirucci through the chest. As the deactivated Seele Schneider falls to the ground alongside Cirucci, Uryū picks it up and looks down at Cirucci forlornly prior to telling a sitting Pesche to leave with him. When Pesche points out that Cirucci is still alive, Uryū asserts that the victor gets to choose whether his foe lives or dies and that he will be playing by his own rules and not those of the Arrancar, even if letting Cirucci live is an insult to her.

Uryū elaborates that he pierced Cirucci's Saketsu, the source of her spiritual powers, and that her anatomy being similar to those of Shinigami means that she will not be able to harm him even if she regains consciousness and pursues him. Content with this answer, Pesche agrees to go and addresses Uryū as Ichigo once more, to the latter's annoyance. Shortly afterward, Golondrina dissipates into energy, leaving only Cirucci's humanoid body lying on the ground as she curses Uryū for doing this to her. Suddenly, Rudbornn Chelute surrounds her with his Exequias and informs Cirucci that they have come for her.

Unsheathing his Zanpakutō, Rudbornn requests that Cirucci not struggle, which leads her to curse one last time. Meanwhile, Yasutora Sado is sent crashing through a wall and is embedded in another wall on the far side of the room as Gantenbainne Mosqueda walks through the hole and observes that he is no match for Arrancar #107. Having already manifested his Fullbring, Brazo Derecha de Gigante, Sado channels energy into it and leaps toward Gantenbainne, only for the latter to move to him in midair with Sonído, grab him by the head, and declare that a Human who cannot even perform high-speed movement has no chance of catching him.

After throwing Sado along the ground with enough force to gouge through it for several meters, Gantenbainne wonders how many times he must tell Sado this and promises the latter that he will die if he continues fighting. In turn, a sweating Sado gets to his feet and channels energy into Brazo Derecha de Gigante again prior to daring Gantenbainne to make this happen and attacking once more, only for Gantenbainne to casually catch Brazo Derecha de Gigante with his left hand. With Gantenbainne punching him hard in the face and delivering a powerful uppercut to his torso, Sado is sent hurtling high into the air and nearly hits the ceiling.

A yelling Sado channels energy into Brazo Derecha de Gigante once more and falls down to throw a punch at Gantenbainne, who leaps back just before Sado's fist connects with the ground to create a large cloud of dust. However, while Sado gets to his feet, Gantenbainne lunges toward him and performs a spinning kick to Sado's head that sends the latter flying through the air to land several meters away. Musing that Sado is relying solely on his strength while high-speed attacks like this are useful too, Gantenbainne is startled by Sado getting up yet again and warns him that he really will die if he continues this battle.

In response, Sado asserts that he has no intention of dying and channels more energy into Brazo Derecha de Gigante, which leads Gantenbainne to admit that he has courage and rush forward alongside Sado to exchange punches. In the aftermath, Sado and Gantenbainne stand across from and behind each other, with Sado falling to one knee in pain. Suddenly, as Gantenbainne grins at this, Sado whirls around and delivers a backhanded strike directly to Gantenbainne's face with enough force to send him crashing into the far wall, where he slumps down in a large crater, before reiterating that he has no intention of dying here.

While pulling himself out of the crater, Gantenbainne declares that he understands Sado's feelings and must fight him at full strength, and as Sado affirms that he must get past him, Gantenbainne notes that this sounds pretty interesting and disappears with Sonído prior to reappearing behind Sado, where he brutalizes the latter with a rapid series of punches culminating in a powerful downward strike that smashes Sado flat on his back into a crater. Proclaiming that he is not done yet, Gantenbainne jumps high into the air and aims a powerful downward punch directly at a stunned Sado's head, forcing the latter to roll out of the way at the last second.

After a brief pause where Sado gets to his feet alongside Gantenbainne and looks down at his clenched fist, the two leap toward each other and exchange dodged punches, only for Gantenbainne to flip over the blades of his Zanpakutō on his right wrist and initiating Uno Dos Cientos, where he first punches Sado hard in the stomach, then unleashes a barrage of punches across his body that leaves him coughing up blood prior to delivering a powerful downward punch that shakes the entire room and embeds Sado face-down in the ground. In the aftermath, Gantenbainne tells Sado to get up because he knows the latter is still hiding his true strength.

Performing the sign of the cross on himself, Gantenbainne chastises Sado for concealing his abilities like this and suggests that they have an honest fight, but when Sado remains unresponsive, Gantenbainne states that his heart is broken and channels energy between the two prongs of his left gauntlet. However, upon being attacked by Gantenbainne, Sado senses something about his right arm change and gets up just in time to block the attack as he apologizes to Gantenbainne and details how he was not trying to hide it, but has instead felt something strange ever since he came to Hueco Mundo and was initially confused by it to the point where he had to struggle to control it.

After concluding that he finally has and can now fight Gantenbainne with everything he has got, Sado emerges from the dust cloud with the final form of Brazo Derecha de Gigante, a large shield emerging from his forearm that he identifies as his real right arm.

Arrancar Encyclopedia
Gin Ichimaru announces that he will be discussing Zanpakutō releases today and explains how an Arrancar's Resurrección returns their original Hollow abilities to their body. When Cirucci Sanderwicci pops up and declares that she is attractive even in her Resurrección, Gin points out how they would be able to see up her skirt while she is flying around in this form, but Cirucci reveals that she is armored even underneath her skirt, leading Pesche Guatiche to chastise her for ruining the fantasies of men like this, only for Cirucci to stomp his head to the ground and bluntly assert that she does not care while Pesche apologizes.

Characters in Order of Appearance

 * 1) Uryū Ishida
 * 2) Cirucci Sanderwicci
 * 3) Kisuke Urahara (flashback)
 * 4) Pesche Guatiche
 * 5) Yasutora Sado
 * 6) Gantenbainne Mosqueda
 * 7) Ichigo Kurosaki (flashback)

Fights

 * Uryū Ishida vs. Cirucci Sanderwicci (concluded)
 * Yasutora Sado vs. Gantenbainne Mosqueda

Powers and Techniques Used
Quincy Techniques:

Arrancar Techniques:

Fullbring:

Resurrección released:

Spirit Weapons:

Anime Notes
Removed Content= Added/Expanded Content= Changes=
 * The flashback to Grand Fisher using his Zanpakutō as Uryū Ishida explains how Arrancar are Hollows who have been altered to resemble Shinigami.
 * Pesche Guatiche responding to Uryū indignantly identifying himself as Uryū by wondering who Ishida is and determining that there is no Ishida Uryū, to the latter's further chagrin.
 * Pesche commenting on Uryū having a long flight record as he begins explaining the Seele Schneider.
 * Cirucci Sanderwicci attacking Uryū repeatedly with Ala Cortadola Hachador, forcing him to evade around the area and into the air while several pillars are cut apart.
 * Cirucci gasping in shock when Uryū's Seele Schneider begins cutting through Ala Cortadola Hachador.
 * Gantenbainne Mosqueda warning Yasutora Sado that he will die if he continues to fight and the two exchanging several brutal punches and kicks that send them flying across the room, culminating in Sado landing a blow to Gantenbainne's face that convinces him to fight seriously before they trade punches that both of them dodge.
 * In the manga, once pinned upside-down to the floor by a Heilig Pfeil, Pesche remains in this position until Uryū frees him later, including when he is accusing Uryū of theft; here, he instead frees himself and gets back on his feet by the time he accuses Uryū of theft, where he remains until they leave.
 * In the manga, when claiming to be honored by Cirucci knowing of the Quincy, Uryū is smiling; here, he instead wears a stern expression.
 * In the manga, Uryū declares that he chooses to let Cirucci live even if it is an insult to the Arrancar, then explains how he pierced her Saketsu to render her powerless; here, the order of these statements is instead switched.
 * In the manga, Pesche takes the lead in leaving Cirucci's area; here, Uryū does so instead.
 * In the manga, when Rudbornn Chelute prepares to execute Cirucci, he is kneeling and she grins wryly; here, he is instead standing and she remains grimacing.