User blog comment:Godisme/Love It/@comment-893506-20121227203327

God, I theorized that the reason why Ichigo and Renji have gone this far is because they both have had their Bankais damaged. Renji was able to fight with his crippled (regardless of how minor it was), but it was still damaged nonetheless. Byakuya lacks his entirely, and as it stands, Nimaiya may not know a way to restore a Bankai that's been stolen entirely.

On the other hand, Byakuya was the most heavily injured of them, and we really don't know if he's regained consciousness yet or not. Additionally, Rukia isn't as strong as Renji, so I can see why she didn't come this far.

Anyway, moving on, I actually enjoyed this chapter. Nimaiya is wild, but as you said, also unpredictable, something that takes a somewhat sinister turn towards the end of the chapter. Overall, I do wonder what's going to happen once this training he set Ichigo and Renji up for is done.