Ichigo vs. Dalk! Appearance of the Faded Darkness

 is the eighty-second episode of the Bleach anime.

6th Division Lieutenant Renji Abarai fights off the Bitto, who are quickly recalled, while Ichigo Kurosaki battles Gō Koga's Doll, Dalk, in her new form.

Summary
As Ichigo Kurosaki, Rukia Kuchiki, Ririn, Orihime Inoue, Kurōdo, Yasutora Sado, and Noba run through different parts of Karakura Town, Ugaki observes them through his Doll, Gesell, and observes that they have begun to move even though they are too late while standing with Maki Ichinose, Gō Koga, Yoshi, Mabashi, and Sawatari before Jin Kariya, whom Ugaki asks about their next course of action, prompting Kariya to order them to show Ichigo's group their new level of power.

Though Yoshi inquires about what he will be doing, Kariya fiercely stares at her and questions in turn if there is a need for him to do anything, which causes Yoshi to glare as he instructs Ugaki to give the orders and call back the Bitto. After exiting the cave with Koga, Sawatari, and Ugaki, Yoshi notes that Kariya really is acting like a leader, and when Koga wonders if there is anyone other than Kariya who is fit to lead, Sawatari muses that it would not be wise to defy Kariya at this stage and decides that it would be best to follow him.

Concurring with this, Ugaki adds that it would be wise to do so even if they have problems with Kariya, though he quickly clarifies he does not have any problems while Yoshi snorts derisively. With the Bount splitting up, Ichinose asks Kariya if it is alright to let them go, leading Kariya to note this will give them the opportunity to test the power granted to them by the Bitto. After ordering Ichinose to look after a giggling Mabashi, Kariya returns to his room, leaving Ichinose to respectfully comply. Elsewhere, the Bitto withdraw from the air over 6th Division Lieutenant Renji Abarai, who pants with exhaustion as he stands with several small cuts and the boy under his arm.

Surrounded by several destroyed Bitto, Renji suddenly collapses, startling Ichigo and Rukia, who wonder what this could mean before having their attention drawn to Jinta Hanakari, who runs up to them with Ururu Tsumugiya while holding the small case and reveals that Kisuke Urahara's new Bount sensor is ready. However, upon seeing the sensor in the opened case, Ichigo is left stunned by its appearance and a confused Rukia comments on its shape as Jinta smugly asserts that Ichigo knows what to do and explains alongside Ururu that the development process being rushed means that the sensor will only work for fifteen minutes once switched on.

With Jinta concluding the switch is the password that Ichigo knows, Rukia questions why a mortified Ichigo is hesitating, and when Ichigo wonders if he really has to put it on, Ririn reminds him they are racing against the clock. After swallowing his pride, Ichigo puts the headband-shaped sensor over his forehead and shouts the activation phrase, causing the gem in the center to glow brilliantly and the chin guards to drop over the sides of his face while Jinta expresses surprise at it actually being a switch. An aghast Rukia admits she did not think Ichigo could say something so embarrassing, but Ichigo counters that she told him to do so.

Before Ichigo can continue, the gem on the headband glows once more and begins pulling him down the street, prompting Jinta to reiterate Urahara's promise of the sensor leading him to the Bount. As Ururu confirms it is impossible to turn this off, Rukia decides to tend to Renji while Ichigo confronts the Bount, which Ichigo affirms before crashing into and heavily damaging a fence that the sensor subsequently pulls him over. Watching Ichigo be pulled screaming into the distance, Jinta realizes he cannot detect Renji's Reiatsu anymore and wonders if he died, which Ururu chides him for saying, while attempting to run off in the direction that he believes Renji is located.

However, Ururu inquires if Jinta is actually worried about Renji, and after turning around in embarrassment, Jinta hits Ururu on the head and demands to know who would worry about such a freeloader as he claims he simply wants to see how stupid Renji looks, though Rukia points out that his face is red regardless, causing Jinta to run off again while Rukia and Ururu stare after him in confusion. Simultaneously, Keigo Asano exits a convenience store with a bag of junk food and asks himself why he always craves this at night as he unwraps a candy bar, only to be interrupted when he hears a droning noise and sees dozens of Bitto down the street.

Suddenly, one of the Bitto hurtles toward a confused Keigo, causing him to duck down while his candy bar is blown apart by the Bitto. Though he does not know what the Bitto are, Keigo tearfully runs away in fright and hides behind the entrance to a construction site, where the swarm of Bitto pass by without detecting him. Keigo emerges from the construction site and admits that he cannot tell if the Bitto were real, but as he resolves to go home and get more sleep, Keigo is stabbed in the chest by another Bitto, resulting in him dropping his bag of groceries and clutching his chest in disbelief while he wanders back into the construction site.

With Keigo collapsing under the belief that this is a realistic dream, the swarm of Bitto returns to his location. Meanwhile, Ichigo runs down the street with Ririn, who observes the Bount might be nearby, and finds Keigo lying on the ground with several Bitto hovering over him as three of them begin to suck out his Soul. Upon having this pointed out to him by Ririn, Ichigo draws his Shikai, Zangetsu, and slashes away the other Bitto between him and Keigo before cutting through the Bitto on Keigo's back, causing the orange liquid in their sacs to spurt into the air. While trying to resuscitate a trembling Keigo, Ichigo leaps back to evade a metal sphere that slams into the ground.

Landing nearby, Ichigo demands to know who is there, only to be shocked alongside Ririn when Koga emerges from the entrance and introduces himself. When asked by Ichigo what he did to Keigo, Koga declines to answer and proclaims his intention to crush Ichigo as he summons his Doll, Dalk, who emerges in an eight-legged form and revels in her new level of power. While Ichigo and Ririn express confusion at this difference in appearance, Dalk comments on how her body is tingling and declares that Ichigo is her type, which means that she wants to chase him rather than be chased by him, before swinging up her lower body and firing a large metal sphere at Ichigo.

Though he manages to block the sphere with the broad side of Zangetsu, Ichigo finds himself pushed back several meters and is shocked by how heavy the sphere is as he comes to a halt and the sphere drops to the ground, leading Dalk to inquire if his hands are numb and promise to give him a good taste of her new and enhanced body. The sphere at Ichigo's feet splits apart into dozens of tiny spheres that rocket upward, forcing Ichigo to shield himself with the broad side of Zangetsu, while Dalk leaps forward and jabs her two right arms down at Ichigo, who leaps into the air with Shunpo, prior to arching back and firing hundreds more tiny spheres at Ichigo.

Despite successfully blocking most of the spheres with Zangetsu, Ichigo has the right side of the headband destroyed by a sphere that hits it, causing it to fall off in pieces as he lands on the ground with a bleeding head wound, where Dalk sarcastically apologizes since the headband suited Ichigo as he and Ririn observe she is faster, heavier, and tougher than she was the last time they encountered her. With Dalk affirming she is done toying with Ichigo to an impatient Koga, Ichigo admits Dalk is pretty good, but assumes a battle stance and proclaims he does not have time to be fighting her because he has to save Keigo, impressing Dalk with his tone.

Elsewhere, near a set of warehouses, Orihime realizes that she can no longer sense Renji's Reiatsu and questions what is going on, which leads Kurōdo to theorize that he has lost either his consciousness, his fighting spirit, or his life. Suddenly, Rukia runs up to them with Jinta and Ururu, and when asked by her where Renji is, Orihime admits that she lost track of him after coming here while Kurōdo details how they can no longer detect his Reiatsu. Upon being asked by Orihime where Ichigo is, Rukia relays her decision to have Ichigo head toward the Bount, with Jinta explaining that he is using Urahara's sensor and noting that he may not have found the Bount.

Asserting that Orihime and Kurōdo should join Ichigo and Ririn, Rukia expresses her intention to search for Renji since something extraordinary must have happened to him. However, before Orihime can act on this, Kurōdo senses something and pushes her down with his body as the fan of Yoshi's Doll, Nieder, crashes into a shipping container in front of where Orihime was standing. After being pulled out in front of a stunned Rukia, Nieder criticizes Yoshi for not aiming well enough, prompting Yoshi to claim that she is not very good with details and that it is better to kill two or three of her enemies at once, though Nieder points out that it does not matter how she kills them.

With Yoshi acknowledging that Nieder is correct, Rukia orders Orihime to leave, Ururu to find Sado, and Jinta to track down Renji, though Jinta protests being assigned to Renji on the grounds of being his friend. Yoshi throws the fan of Nieder down at the group once more, forcing them to scatter in order to evade it while Rukia fires '''Hadō #33. Sōkatsui''' at Yoshi, who leaps down to the ground and states that she would rather be fighting a man than a woman. After Nieder reiterates that it does not matter as long as she defeats Rukia, Yoshi throws the sword of Nieder at Rukia, who ducks to evade it, and follows up by throwing the fan at her as well, leaving Rukia shocked.

Suddenly, the fan of Nieder is intercepted mid-flight by Santen Kesshun and bounces off of it, leaving Rukia to express disbelief as Orihime stands in front of her and requests to fight alongside Rukia since two are better than one is. Kurōdo clears his throat nearby and clarifies it is actually three before turning to Yoshi and proclaiming she will tell them where Kariya is, with Orihime adding that she will also tell them what the Bount plan to do, only for a chuckling Yoshi to dismiss this as unlikely. Back at the construction site, Ichigo blocks and evades machine gun fire from an overjoyed Dalk prior to moving into the air above her with Shunpo and coming down to attack.

Before Ichigo can complete his strike, one of the spheres on the lower body of Dalk fires upward at him with a tether attaching it to Dalk, knocking Ichigo off-balance and forcing him to fall back to the ground below. As Ichigo tries to catch his breath, Dalk resumes firing her machine gun arm at him, engulfing Ichigo in a cloud of dust that he moves out of with Shunpo before collapsing. With Dalk inquiring if she hit him, Koga admonishes her for her bad habit of toying with her prey, but Dalk counters that she should let him taste extreme pain and fear since they are fighting for their lives and not knowing when one will die is tragic, leading Ichigo to laugh and get to his feet.

Ichigo asserts Koga and Dalk talk too much and are treating him like some pushover, and after praising how manly this is, Dalk swings up her lower body and fires another large sphere on a tether at one of the vertical girders on the nearby building frame, where the sphere becomes liquid-like and attaches itself to the metal on impact, allowing Dalk to reel herself up and attach the tips of her lower four limbs to the metal as well. After demanding Ichigo accept her feelings, Dalk fires several dozen jagged metal spears downward at him, which prompts Ichigo to move back with Shunpo and slash through the spears with Zangetsu, only for Dalk to fire more down at him.

Having been separated from Ichigo by this, Ririn watches in concern as he is enveloped in another cloud of dust that clears to reveal a panting Ichigo surrounded by the spears, which he has protected Keigo from being struck by. With Koga and Dalk amused by this, Ichigo orders Dalk to not touch Keigo and turns around to ensure that he is okay while the spears separate into tiny spheres and return to Dalk. While Ichigo promises to save him soon, Keigo looks up and recognizes Ichigo, who is shocked that Keigo can see him. Upon witnessing this, Koga deduces that Keigo has had a sizable portion of his Soul removed if he can see Shinigami.

As Koga concludes Keigo cannot be saved, a stunned Ichigo looks at him and declares he will be taking Keigo with him, only for Koga to assert this is pointless due to Keigo's body being unable to handle the strain of his Soul being returned to him. Upon being asked by Ichigo what he plans to do with the Souls collected by the Bitto, Koga points to the increased power of Dalk as being received from the Souls concentrated by the Bitto and details how the Bount plan to absorb more of this power to achieve their ultimate goal. Ichigo is left staring in disbelief at this and is alerted when a struggling Keigo begs him to run away before losing consciousness.

Remembering his time spent with Keigo at school, Ichigo yells in fury and exerts his Reiatsu in a surge around his body, leading Dalk to assume that he has not had enough and fire more spears at him. However, Ichigo responds by firing a Getsuga Tenshō through the spears and up at Dalk, who is cut in half at the waist and screams in shock as several severed girders fall from the building skeleton and onto a surprised Koga, engulfing him in a cloud of dust. After panting heavily, Ichigo turns around and attempts to move Keigo out of the construction site, but is alerted when one of the metal spears of Dalk melts and slithers down the side of the building skeleton.

Suddenly, two strands of metal whip out from the pile of severed girders and wrap themselves around Zangetsu as Dalk reforms her body and criticizes Ichigo's attack as not being good enough. Near Dalk, an unharmed Koga pushes two girders off of himself and admits that Ichigo's attack was good, but concludes that it will not work against them. Expressing her enjoyment of this, Dalk turns her upper two arms into strands of metal and wraps them around Ichigo before pulling them tightly, causing Ichigo to groan in pain before his body swells up and bursts, leaving Koga and Dalk staring in shock and confusion while a bright light engulfs them.

Elsewhere, in a park, Ururu relays Rukia's request for them to join Ichigo in fighting the Bount to Sado and Noba, who acknowledge this, only to be interrupted when a chuckling Sawatari emerges in the center of a nearby roundabout while sitting on the back of his Doll, Baura, and has the latter turn around so he can face the group, whom he addresses maliciously as they tense up in surprise. Back in the construction site, Ichigo lies on his hands and knees within the building skeleton and struggles to catch his breath. Beside him, Ririn instructs Ichigo to run away quickly because Koga and Dalk will not fall for her Illusions forever, but Ichigo simply stands up.

When Ririn questions why he is not running, Ichigo insists on saving Keigo, and as Ririn protests that his Soul being drained means they cannot save him even if they go, Ichigo asserts he cannot save anyone, not even himself, if he cannot save Keigo right now. Agreeing with this, Koga confronts Ichigo alongside Dalk and claims believing one can save someone else is either arrogance or an illusion, to Ichigo's chagrin. After refusing to forgive Ichigo if he runs away before she is finished, Dalk swings up her lower body and fires all the spheres on it with tethers, which attach themselves to nearby girders and form additional tethers between them in the shape of a web.

With Ririn separated from Ichigo by the ricocheting tethers, Dalk proclaims that she is not letting Ichigo get away anymore and pulls herself into the air as Ichigo fires another Getsuga Tenshō at her, which she evades while it crashes into her web. However, Ichigo finds that Zangetsu has been locked in place at the end of his swing by strands of metal attached to its tip and that the web has coalesced around his body to prevent him from moving. Reveling in Ichigo falling for her trap, Dalk repeatedly whips him with long strands of metal, injuring Ichigo in several places and forcing him to drop Zangetsu as he falls to his knees, to the disappointment of Dalk.

Dalk wraps her two tendrils around Zangetsu and pulls it to her before rushing at Ichigo with it outstretched in an attempt to impale him, but within Ichigo's subconscious, Hollow Ichigo scoffs and takes control of Ichigo's body, allowing him to grab Zangetsu by the blade, shocking Koga and Dalk, whom he throws over himself with Zangetsu. As she lets go of Zangetsu, Dalk demands to know what is going on alongside Koga, leading Hollow Ichigo to admonish them for referring to someone as an object and spin Zangetsu around by the cloth attached to its tang while laughing maniacally prior to driving it into the ground in a burst of Reiatsu.

Upon being asked for his identity by Koga, Hollow Ichigo mocks this as a stupid question and declares that he is himself, and when Koga admits that he thought Ichigo was an ordinary Shinigami, Hollow Ichigo counters that Ichigo is the ordinary one and that he is not soft like Ichigo is before explaining that he is only intervening due to not wanting to be crushed within Ichigo's body. With Hollow Ichigo concluding that he will be crushing them instead, a bemused Dalk presumes that he fights a little better and agrees to test him as she extends her four arm tendrils toward Hollow Ichigo, who leaps up to evade them and criticizes Dalk as slow while impaling her with Zangetsu.

Pushing a shocked Dalk out of the building with Zangetsu still embedded in her, Hollow Ichigo warns her to not treat him like Ichigo because the latter does not even compare to him and slashes Zangetsu through her, cutting Dalk completely in half and causing her to separate into hundreds of spheres as she screams in agony. Suddenly, a maniacally-laughing Hollow Ichigo finds his left arm gripping his mask and realizes Ichigo is interfering with his possession again, which he derides since Ichigo regaining control right now will get him killed as he flails Zangetsu around. Despite this, a yelling Ichigo successfully rips off his mask, blowing Ririn back with his intense Reiatsu.

After panting in exertion, Ichigo falls forward and collapses, leaving Koga to walk past him and note that one needs a strong mind and heart in order to use strong power. With Ichigo looking up and expressing confusion at this, Koga turns around to face Ichigo and clarifies that he cannot control his power due to his lack of these, which he believes will cause Ichigo to destroy himself in the near future. As Ichigo refuses to believe this, a grinning Koga summons Dalk again and informs her that this is over after she wonders what happened. Though Dalk considers this boring, Koga instructs her to not make Ichigo suffer too much, which she acknowledges.

Meanwhile, Jinta walks down a set of steps leading onto a road and calls out to Renji, whom he is shocked to discover lying unconscious in the middle of the road with the boy still under his arm.

Shinigami Illustrated Picture Book
As 11th Division 3rd Seat Ikkaku Madarame sits in a chair in a barbershop under a barber cape, his lieutenant, Yachiru Kusajishi, pops up and inquires why he is at a barbershop when he is bald, prompting a startled and embarrassed Ikkaku to claim that it does not matter. When Yachiru draws a line with a downward indent on his forehead to differentiate it from his face, Ikkaku angrily knocks her off and asserts that he keeps his head intentionally shaved before being shocked when 7th Division Captain Sajin Komamura sits up in the chair next to him with immaculately-groomed fur. Upon seeing Yachiru preparing to draw a line on Komamura's forehead as well, Ikkaku attempts to stop her, only to trip and fall over in the middle of his lunge.

Fights & Events

 * The Bount Rise (concluded)
 * Ichigo Kurosaki & Izuru Kira vs. Gō Koga
 * Rukia Kuchiki & Orihime Inoue vs. Yoshi

Powers and Techniques Used
Hohō Techniques:

Kidō Techniques:

Zanpakutō Techniques:

Other Techniques:
 * Illusions
 * Illusions

Zanpakutō released:

Shikai:

Dolls summoned:

Other Powers: