Renji Abarai, Bankai of the Soul!

 is the ninetieth episode of the Bleach anime.

Gesell turns on Ugaki while Ichigo Kurosaki attempts to fight Jin Kariya directly.

Summary
Running through a long and twisting corridor in the Bount caves, Ichigo Kurosaki and 6th Division Lieutenant Renji Abarai come to a halt and stare in shock upon reaching a large cavern, which they begin cautiously proceeding through before discovering 11th Division 5th Seat Yumichika Ayasegawa lying battered on the ground several meters away. Though Renji is concerned for Yumichika, Ichigo warns him that the Wächter of Ugaki's Doll, Gesell, are approaching.

With a swarm of fanged Wächter approaching them, Ichigo and Renji curse, and as he declares that this is the real Gesell, Ugaki places the Unbekannt card in the central pile of his card mat, causing a large portion of the Wächter to begin beaming light and rise up behind five massive pillars. While Ichigo and Renji rapidly slash at the remaining Wächter with their respective Shikai, Zangetsu and Zabimaru, the shadows of the five pillars intersect on the ground near Yumichika.

Suddenly, Gesell pulls his full upper body out of the shadow, alerting Ichigo and Renji, who question what this is and marvel at his size as Gesell flexes and growls at them. Ugaki wonders which one he should crush first and decides to return Yumichika to them, causing Gesell to grasp Yumichika's body in his fist, alarming Renji, before throwing him across the cavern, where Renji manages to catch him right before he hits the ground. As a concerned Ichigo joins them, Yumichika opens his eyes and admonishes himself for losing like this while observing that the situation has gotten ugly and refusing to die here since he would not be able to face his captain and comrades.

When Ugaki notes that Yumichika is persistent to still be alive at this point, Ichigo turns around and demands that he come out to face them, but Ugaki simply cackles maliciously, prompting Ichigo to assert that they will just have to defeat Gesell and drag him out instead. However, Renji stands up and requests that Ichigo leave this to him, to Ichigo's surprise, as he explains that teamwork is not bad and that he understands Kisuke Urahara's lesson about direct attacks not being the only means of fighting, but muses that he has become accustomed to these situations lately and begun letting his guard down. With Ichigo confused by this, Renji states that Shinigami battles are solo.

After reiterating Yumichika's claim that they lose when they die, Renji proclaims that he is going to go all-out if he is going to die here, shocking Ichigo, and recounts how he failed to save a single child by assuming that someone would come to help him when he was battling the Bitto, which put the boy's life in danger. Stating that he has become soft every since he came to the Human World, Renji concludes that he will not be able to return to Soul Society if he does not show more spirit here and points out how Ichigo should save his stamina for the other Bount he will have to fight. With Ichigo still hesitant, an annoyed Renji reminds him that an active lieutenant is helping him here.

While an intimidated Ichigo acknowledges this, Renji runs up to Gesell and draws his Zanpakutō while declaring that he is the latter's opponent, which leads Ugaki to mock Renji for intending to recklessly fight Gesell alone prior to ordering Gesell to crush Renji. Despite this, when Gesell brings both fists down upon him, Renji evades the attack by moving to the top of a nearby vertical rock formation with Shunpo and glows with red Reiatsu as he activates his Bankai, Hihiō Zabimaru, causing his Reiatsu to surge throughout and damage the cavern while the giant skeletal snake appears and coils around Renji before hissing and roaring at Gesell.

Gesell rises up in front of Renji, and when the latter sends Hihiō Zabimaru hurtling toward the intersection of the shadows where Gesell is stationed, Ugaki places a Streituxt card on a free space on the mat, causing the right hand of Gesell to morph into a large bearded axe as he slashes multiple times at Hihiō Zabimaru, only for the latter to evade each blow. With his left hand morphing into a bearded axe as well, Gesell continues attacking and swings his right axe toward one of the segments of Hihiō Zabimaru. However, with Ichigo expressing concern upon seeing this attack, Renji simply separates the segments.

As the segments pull apart to reveal the red Reiatsu binding them, the axe of Gesell smashes into the Reiatsu and is repelled after a few seconds of clashing, prompting Renji to explain that his Reiatsu binding the segments of Hihiō Zabimaru means that he can separate and rejoin them at will, preventing such attacks from breaking them. Though Ichigo is impressed by this as the segments of Hihiō Zabimaru reattach, Yumichika simply asserts that it is not beautiful as Ichigo holds him up. Suddenly, while Renji declares that he is going to finish this all at once, a disappointed Ugaki flips over the card in the center of the mat, resulting in Gesell vanishing.

Expressing confusion at this, Renji is told by Ugaki that fighting his way through does not seem like a good idea as the right hand of Gesell emerges from one of the pillar shadows and transforms its fingers into spears before stabbing them across Renji's chest and right shoulder, which sends him flying across the cavern and tumbling across the ground as he screams in pain. The Wächter of Gesell cluster around two pillars and shine their light near the area where Renji comes to a halt, allowing a large sword and bearded axe to emerge from the resulting shadows cast by them. Upon seeing this, a shocked Renji rolls out of the way right before the weapons attack him.

Despite initially missing Renji, the sword pulls out of the ground and slashes sideways, cutting Renji across the left side of his torso and sending him hurtling across the cavern as Gesell repeatedly slams his fists into the ground Renji passes over in an attempt to crush him. After Renji skids to a halt in front of another pillar shadow, the head of Gesell rises up behind him and bites into the ground where he is located, forcing Renji to leap away at the last second and grab the hilt of Hihiō Zabimaru while Gesell retreats into the shadow. When Ichigo attempts to rush to a panting Renji's side, Yumichika grabs him by the shoulder and stops him.

With Ichigo perplexed by this, Yumichika details how the Eleventh Division always fights one-on-one, and when Ichigo points out how Renji is not part of the Eleventh Division, Yumichika clarifies that he is a former member of the division and that no one who serves under Captain Kenpachi Zaraki ever forgets that rule. Though Ichigo protests this, Renji calls out to him and instructs Ichigo to simply watch before promising to turn this around. A chuckling Ugaki inquires how he will accomplish this when he has no options left, but stops in astonishment upon seeing through Gesell that 12th Division Lieutenant Nemu Kurotsuchi has approached Uryū Ishida.

After observing that this means the Shinigami have made their move, Jin Kariya orders Ugaki to finish off the lieutenants and Ichigo's group at once because the situation has changed, which Ugaki acknowledges. As the upper body of Gesell pulls itself out of the shadows' intersection and roars, Renji notes that he has come back and struggles to remain standing, which leads Ugaki to praise his fighting spirit and admit that he never expected Renji to confront Gesell knowing that he would die. Deciding to respect Renji's feelings by crushing Hihiō Zabimaru with the full power of Gesell, Ugaki places the upper body card on the center of the mat.

Suddenly, when Gesell lunges forward at Ugaki's urging, Renji initiates Higa Zekkō, causing the segments of Hihiō Zabimaru to separate and hang in the air above Gesell before glowing with red Reiatsu as they plunge downward and stab into Gesell, who shrieks in pain and begins flailing around the cavern. Hearing Gesell destroying the rock formations around him, Ugaki wonders what is wrong and realizes that he should retreat, only to look up in shock and fear as the walls of the room he is sitting in begin shaking and crumbling violently. With Renji staring in astonishment, the rampage of Gesell reveals Ugaki in the far wall.

While Ichigo deduces that Ugaki has been controlling Gesell from there the whole time, the cards on the mat begin flying off the table and past a stunned Ugaki, who claims this is impossible and sees Kariya through one of the Wächter of Gesell. Kariya commends Ugaki for his work and bids him farewell as he crushes the Wächter of Gesell, leaving Ugaki to beg Kariya to wait while Gesell continues to smash through the cavern, knocking down and breaking the stone pillars in the process. Deducing that Gesell is completely out of his control now due to its rage, Ugaki angrily claims that Kariya will not get away with abandoning him after he fought perfectly.

Upon seeing Gesell approaching and reaching out to him, Ugaki frantically tells him to stay back and attempts to run away, but Gesell easily grabs him and begins crushing Ugaki in his grip before killing him with the force of his grasp, causing Gesell himself to burst apart and dissipate in a surge of light-blue energy. When Yumichika tells a concerned Ichigo to run ahead while he takes care of Renji, Ichigo questions this, only for Yumichika to note that he is now indebted to Renji and push Ichigo aside as he runs into the billowing dust cloud, with Ichigo finding his path destroyed by falling rocks upon attempting to follow Yumichika.

In the aftermath of the cavern's partial collapse, Ichigo runs through the debris and repeatedly calls out to Renji and Yumichika. Having not received a response during this, Ichigo curses and is alerted when Kariya questions if he is the only survivor as the wall behind Ichigo collapses to reveal the two-platformed central chamber of the underground capital. Seeing Kariya, Maki Ichinose, Gō Koga, Yoshi, Mabashi, and Sawatari standing on the upper platform, Ichigo slowly approaches Kariya, who asks Ichigo how many Bount he must kill in order to make himself feel better since they are a valuable tribe and are already few in number.

After chuckling at Ichigo's baffled reaction, Kariya walks down the steps while the Bount grin behind him and stops at the base, where he admits that he would have preferred it if Ichigo had been buried alongside Ugaki and dismisses this as simply meaning it will take him a little longer to get what he wants. Recalling Ugaki's disbelief at the collapse of the cavern, Ichigo demands to know if Kariya intentionally collapsed the wall concealing Ugaki, but Kariya points out that the foundation was weakened by Renji's attack and that the wall fell on its own while Ichigo inquires how Kariya can call his tribe valuable when he used one of his comrades as a pawn.

Kariya asserts that he did not plan to do so and that events are just proceeding slightly faster than he expected them to before concluding that they must prepare to leave the Human World. Shocked by this, Ichigo wonders if Kariya really plans on connecting the Human World to Hueco Mundo like Sōsuke Aizen is. As he stares blankly at Ichigo, Kariya instructs Koga to begin preparations without him since he will be fine on his own, which leads Koga to recite an incantation twice that causes two etched pillars, an arching top, and a stone base with steps to emerge at 90-degree angles from the space behind him and slot together to form a Senkaimon.

With Ichigo astonished by this, Kariya reminds him that Bount who have absorbed large quantities of Souls can manipulate space, and as Ichinose offers to take over supervision of the process, Koga expresses appreciation for this and observes that he should have finished off Ichigo when he had the chance. When Kariya requests that they begin since he wants to test his own power as well, Ichigo levels Zangetsu at him and promises to crush Kariya along with the Senkaimon, to Kariya's bemusement, before rushing forward and slashing Zangetsu upward at Kariya from the ground, only for Kariya to casually block the blade with his forearm.

Holding Zangetsu in place for a few seconds, Kariya pushes his arm down and backward, causing Ichigo to stumble forward, prior to reaching out with his left hand and flicking Ichigo into the air, where he is sent hurtling across the room and tumbles multiple times across the ground before slamming into the wall on the other side of the chamber. As he uses Zangetsu to push himself up, Ichigo, now bleeding from a wound on his scalp, expresses disbelief at Kariya not being injured by a direct blow from Zangetsu and wonders how he can block an attack unarmed. Up on the platform, Koga tells Mabashi to understand that this is a display of a Bount's true power.

With Kariya rushing toward him, Ichigo forces himself to his feet and stabs Zangetsu forward with his left hand pushing it from the bottom of the hilt, but Kariya simply grabs the blade near the tip with two fingers on his right hand, stopping the movement of Zangetsu altogether and leaving Ichigo stunned as he slowly pushes Zangetsu up and stabs his left hand into Ichigo's abdomen, which results in a torrent of blood pouring out of the wound while Ichigo coughs up blood from his mouth as well. After kicking Ichigo in the chin to send him flying into the air, Kariya kicks him in the head once more, causing Ichigo to fly across the chamber.

Zangetsu slices through the ground that Ichigo hurtles across and eventually flies out of his hand as he crashes into the base of the steps. After Zangetsu lands on the ground a few feet away from Ichigo, Kariya casually walks over to Ichigo and pulls him up by his hair while expressing disappointment at this being the most he can do. Tossing Ichigo next to Zangetsu, Kariya states that he cannot test his powers at this level and suggests that Ichigo use his Bankai since he is the only one who can do so in the Human World without power restrictions, which is why Kariya believed Ichigo would make a good target to test his powers against.

As Kariya demands that he take his Zanpakutō, Ichigo struggles to get up and falls on his side, where his vision begins to blur as he strains to reach for Zangetsu. Seeing that Ichigo cannot grasp Zangetsu, Kariya kicks it away from his hand and observes that this seems to be the end, though Ichigo denies this. After musing that it would be a pity for Ichigo to die young without knowing anything, Kariya decides to tell him the true goal of the Bount, startling the Bount and Ichinose, whom Kariya assures that this is fine since he never tried to hide it to begin with. Kariya informs Ichigo that Yoshino Sōma and Soul Society's assumption about his plan is false.

After pulling Ichigo up by his collar, Kariya inquires about what good connecting the Human World to Hueco Mundo would do and reveals that they are actually heading for Soul Society itself as revenge, due to its status as the birthplace of the Bount, leaving Ichigo shocked.

Shinigami Illustrated Picture Book
At the store he is working at in the Human World, Ganju Shiba notes that he does not have much to do right now and wonders where Hanatarō Yamada has wandered off to before questioning what he himself came here to do. When Ganju flips to a spread of a woman in a bikini in the magazine he is holding, his manager appears behind him and asks if that is what he likes before running away in tears, prompting Ganju to frantically ask him to wait while realizing that he cannot do this anymore.

Fights

 * Shinigami Task Force vs. Ugaki (concluded)
 * Ichigo Kurosaki vs. Jin Kariya: Rematch

Powers and Techniques used
Hohō Techniques:

Zanpakutō Techniques:

Zanpakutō released:

Shikai:

Bankai:

Dolls summoned:
 * (flashback)
 * (flashback)