Mayuri Kurotsuchi vs. Sawatari

 is one of the battles between the Bount and Soul Society during the Bount Invasion of Soul Society. It is the battle between the Bount, Sawatari and the 12th Division Captain, Mayuri Kurotsuchi.

Prelude
After the Bount invade Soul Society, Sawatari is present when the group of criminals led by Tōba who were recruited by Kariya open the gates to Seireitei. Once inside, Kariya gives each Bount a task. While Yoshi and Mabashi make distractions, Gō Koga and Sawatari are to eliminate the thirteen captains of the Gotei 13. Sawatari notices the ruckus that Mabashi and remarks that he is doing a good job. Sawatari then decides that he should begin moving forward in completing his task, but is secretly being followed by 12th Division captain, Mayuri Kurotsuchi.

As they each engage in their own battles, Sawatari feels the death of Mabashi from across the Seireitei. Sawatari remarks that the enemy must be skilled to have defeated Mabashi. He brushes off Mabashi's death and states that he knows he is being watched, asking the spy to reveal himself. Mayuri steps forward and informs Sawatari that he tried to copy the Bount by hiding his Reiatsu. Sawatari laughs, and tells the captain that although his Reiatsu was masked, there was no way to conceal the captain's lust for blood. Mayuri then asks Sawatari where Maki Ichinose is. Sawatari tells him that he felt Ichinose's Reiatsu disappear some time ago and thought it likely that one of the Shinigami finished him off. Mayuri says it is a shame, but now he will aim the revenge he wanted on Ichinose towards him instead. Sawatari delightfully tells him to bring it, informing him of his task to kill the Gotei 13 captains.

Battle
Sawatari summons Baura and warns his Doll that the enemy before them is unlike their previous opponents since Mayuri is a Gotei 13 captain. Mayuri remarks that the Bount are interesting and states that the Bount’s power can be sourced from Soul Society's ancient technology. He then tells Sawatari how it is a pity that one mistake caused the experiments to be forbidden, thus making the information on them lost forever. Mayuri then asks Sawatari if he'll be willing to become one of his research experiments, but Sawatari declines and states that the goal of the Bount is to destroy Seireitei. Mayuri tells his opponent that he'll regret his decision and the two of them prepare to battle. Baura heads into a different dimension and Mayuri states that he knows Baura’s ability from reading the reports about Sawatari from Rangiku Matsumoto. Knowing that Baura can only emerge from large flat surfaces, Mayuri activates his Shikai and goes on top of a rooftop to avoid attack. However, to his shock, Baura enters back into Mayuri's dimension through the air and Mayuri is barely able to dodge Baura's attack. Mayuri continues dodging Baura's attack and he eventually swings his Zanpakutō on the Doll's scales. However, the scales are too hard and no damage is done, which gives the Doll enough time to slam into Mayuri and causing the captain to crash into a wall. Baura then attacks Mayuri again, taking out the entirety of Mayuri’s left arm.

Sawatari comes out and tells Mayuri that he and the other Bount have gained a large amount of power from the Reishi since coming to Soul Society and Baura's alternate dimensions are no longer restricted to just the surface of the earth. Sawatari then mocks Mayuri, feeling that the captain is far weaker than what he would expect from a Gotei 13 captain. Mayuri brushes off the attack and injects himself with his Hojiku-Zai serum to regenerate his lost arm. Sawatari mockingly remarks that Mayuri has an interesting body. After telling his "test subject" to be quiet, Mayuri pulls part of his ear out to form his hidden kusarigama. Mayuri then immediately swings the scythe towards his opponent. However, Baura is able to block the attack and immediately launches at Mayuri. Mayuri quickly dodges and continues to do so, saying that he will not fall for the same trick twice. Mayuri remarks to himself on how he should have brought Nemu to serve as a decoy. Mayuri then notices that Baura always hides in an alternate dimension whenever going from one place to the next, always appears just when about to attack and that he eats anything around his target. This causes Mayuri to head into an open area and yell for Baura to come out. Mayuri then uses explosives and detonates them to create smoke around the area.

The smoke allows Mayuri figure out where the Bount is hiding and he throws his scythe towards the Bount, successfully hooking it to Baura. Having caught Sawatari, Mayuri leaps up to stab him in the arm despite Baura's scales. However, Baura throws Mayuri into a wall before the captain can do any more damage. Baura falls to the ground and Mayuri remarks that it seems like his cut was too shallow, but should be able to defeat his opponent quickly after coming so far. Sawatari then retorts back by asking Mayuri if it will really go that smoothly. Sawatari suddenly uses the Reishi in the air to heal himself, telling Mayuri that the Bount are invincible in world overflowing with Reishi. Mayuri recognizes the technique being the same as how the Quincy harness Reishi. Sawatari tells Mayuri that it doesn't matter how many times he is attacked as he can always heal himself by absorbing Reishi, but is surprised to find his right arm suddenly paralyzed. Mayuri uses this opportunity to kick the Bount onto the ground and pin down Sawatari. He steps on and stabs Sawatari's paralyzed arm. Mayuri explains that his Zanpakutō paralyzes anything it cuts by selectively disrupting the neural signals sent to the limbs and only steals ability to move, but unlike normal paralysis, Ashisogi Jizō does not affect the ability to feel pain.

Baura attempts to help, but Mayuri threatens Baura to stay where he is. Mayuri then takes his Zanpakutō out of Sawatari, remarking with intrigue on how Ashisogi Jizō’s effect still works despite Sawatari healing himself. Mayuri decides to take the Bount back for research, but Sawatari calls upon his Doll and Baura suddenly spits out everything that it has eaten onto Mayuri, allowing Sawatari and his Doll to escape. In the alternate dimension, Sawatari heals his injuries, but realizes his arm is not healing completely as Ashisogi Jizō's effect has not gone away. Feeling frustrated by how much trouble Mayuri has been causing him, Sawatari orders Baura to counterattack. Sawatari comes out of the alternate dimension and waits for Mayuri to come towards him, but Mayuri has already arrived. Astonished at Mayuri's speed, Sawatari asks how it is possible that Mayuri knew where he was. Mayuri explains that he knew where he was because of the records from Sawatari's battle in the Human World. He states that it's possible for him to track Sawatari as long as he has that Reiatsu data. He also reveals that a sensor he created that can track Sawatari down. He informs Sawatari that the device is now complete from inputting the data that he gathered earlier in the battle. He informs the Bount that he was specifically tracking him down from the start, thinking that Sawatari would be perfect research material with his aged body caused by consuming so many living souls. Sawatari then realizes Mayuri had been tracking him from the beginning and Mayuri sadistically asks him if he really thought the two had met by accident.

Mayuri asks Sawatari to become his research subject again, telling him that it is pointless to try to escape since he can track Sawatari with his sensor. Yet Sawatari begins laughing, telling Mayuri that it is he who has been forced into a corner and surprises Mayuri by having his Doll fire off a Hadō #4 Byakurai blast that Baura absorbed in earlier battles. Mayuri dodges the attack and Sawatari informs Mayuri that his Doll has absorbed the spirit power of every technique that previous Shinigami used against him. Mayuri continues dodging the various Kidō blasts fired off from the Doll, but Baura chases after him with faster speed than before and it eventually bites into Mayuri's left arm. Mayuri stabs into the underbelly of the Doll, causing it to fall down. Mayuri is shown to have lost his entire left arm again as Baura lies on the ground injured. Sawatari remarks on how Mayuri losing his left arm makes their pain even. He then orders Baura to attack, determined to finish the battle before Mayuri heals himself again.

Angered at how overly confident his “lowly experiment” is acting, Mayuri surprises Sawatari by releasing his Bankai. Across the Seireitei, many others sense this battle. Mayuri further surprises Sawatari by informing him that the Bankai breathes a poisonous derivative of Mayuri's blood. Konjiki Ashisogi Jizō then emits its poison fog and Sawatari quickly calls on Baura to swallow up the toxin. As Baura continues to swallow the poison, Sawatari decides to strengthen his Doll by giving all of his Reiryoku to Baura. Baura begins to grow larger and larger. Mayuri, in turn, increases his Reiatsu, telling Sawatari that he will die. Sawatari retorts that he will not die in a place like this since he had the broken the Bount's rule on not consuming living souls to gain power to become the leader of the Bount. He claims that he is the most worthy of being the Bount's leader as Baura jumps into the air and tries to devour Konjiki Ashisogi Jizō by biting its head. Mayuri then calls on his Bankai to counter with its hidden spikes, which send Baura falling back. Mayuri sends his Bankai charging across the field as Baura falls down and it crashes into the Doll. As this happens, Uryū and Yoshi both sense the battle. Mayuri approaches Sawatari who calls for his doll, but he doesn't get a response. He then begins to die from the poison, having exhausted all of his Reiatsu. Realizing the end is near, Sawatari begs Mayuri for the antidote in exchange for information about the Bount, but Mayuri refuses, expressing how he no longer has interest in Sawatari. Sawatari tries to beg for help again, but his body turns to dust before Mayuri. Mayuri, mildly surprised that the poison spread through Sawatari's body that fast, remarks that he just wasted his time and heads back to restore his lost arm.

Aftermath
Sawatari dies from being poisoned by Mayuri's Konjiki Ashisogi Jizō, having exhausted all of his Reiatsu. Mayuri Kurotsuchi loses his left arm, seeing that he had used up all of his Hojiku-Zai in regenerating the damage from the earlier stages of the battle. He returns back to the Shinigami Research and Development Institute to restore his lost arm.