The Swung-Down Edge! The Moment of Ruin

'''The Swung-Down Edge! The Moment of Ruin''' is the one-hundred-seventh episode of the Bleach anime.

Statistics

 * Original Airdate: December 13, 2006
 * English Airdate: March 28, 2009
 * Opening Song: Rolling Star
 * Ending Song: Baby It's You
 * Manga Chapters: None
 * Kanji: 振り下ろされた刃！破滅の瞬間
 * Romaji: "Furiorosareta ha! Hametsu no shunka"
 * Arc: Bount Assault on Soul Society arc

Summary
After having Ishida take Rantao away, Ichigo initiates bankai and starts his battle with Kariya. The Bount runs at first, but then uses his wind power to knock Ichigo completely through one tower and crashing into a second. Ichigo responds with a Getsuga Tenshou attack that completely destroys the first tower and cuts into the nearby wall, but is avoided by Kariya. Rantao and Ishida meanwhile are making their way through Seireitei when they run into Inoue and Sado along with the three mod-souls. Ririn notices that Ishida’s accessory is gone, yet there wasn’t a large explosion like there was supposed to be when it broke. Ishida explains that he figured out it wouldn’t happen if he only used the accessory to amplify spirit particles. Hitsugaya and Rangiku soon arrive and learn that Ichigo is fighting Kariya. The captain wants to go help, but Rantao stops him and warns of another power. It seems that there was more than one Joukaishou, which were experimentally used to create spirit particles, and after the first explosion that wiped out one-tenth of Seireitei, the rest were sealed off. The danger is that if Kariya explodes the one he has inside of him, the others are likely to go off too. In order for this not to happen, Rantao thinks that they should re-seal the other Joukaishou. She’s about to hand Hitsugaya a book, but she grows faint on her feet and nearly falls over from pushing herself too far earlier. After the captain takes the book and leaves, Inoue leads the rest of the group to go help Ichigo.

By this time, Kariya and Ichigo have taken their fight to the hill where the Soukyoku stood. Ichigo doesn’t notice that an injured Ichinose has also come up here, and so he’s almost caught off guard when the Ichinose attacks. Over at the library, Hitsugaya is showing Kyouraku and Ukitake the book he got from Rantao, which includes a map of all the locations of the sealed Joukaishou. Nanao then sends a message to the other captains and ranking division members informing them of the situation. Word of this reaches the sixth division where Rukia is resting at, causing her to wake up from the commotion outside. Concerned about Ichigo, she gets out of bed and goes out. Back in the Soukyoku area, Ichinose locks blades with Ichigo, but he’s actually here to ask Kariya about Koga and the other Bount. After Kariya reports that they’re all dead, Ichinose attacks Ichigo again, but Ichigo is able to knock him back. Although he gets back up, Ichinose turns his blade towards Kariya. He had originally gone alone with what Kariya was doing because he saw his old captain in the Bount. However, Ichinose’s battle with Zaraki reminded him that he had once wanted to make Seireitei better. He and his old captain had the same goals, but his feelings had changed to revenge after the captain died.

Ichinose is thus willing to let Kariya’s power to restore Seireitei, but will stop the Bount if that power is used for revenge. He believes that revenge cannot give birth to anything, and since Koga and the others are dead, he’s the only one left to stop Kariya. All this time, Kariya has been powering himself up and eventually admits that he can’t do what Ichinose wants. He stops Ichinose’s wrist from swinging his zanpaktou down and explains that thanks to Ichinose, he’s gotten enough time to allow the Joukaishou to flow through himself. The devastating punch Kariya then delivers knocks Ichinose back and causes him to fall down. When Ichinose still tries to grab onto him, Kariya blows him away with his wind power. The Bount then turns toward Ichigo, who is angry that Kariya would do that to one of his comrade. Kariya, however, didn’t think of Ichinose in that way - he was just a chess piece to Kariya. To finish the battle with Ichigo, Kariya calls forth his doll Messer, which covers his arm and takes the form of a sword. As those two attack each other, Rukia is meanwhile getting caught by Renji as she is attempting to leave the sixth division. With everything that’s going on, Rukia surprises Renji by asking him to take her to Soukyoku.