Another Bleach chapter to gawk at and wonder, why?
Spoilers after the cut.
I suspect that most thought of the Royal Guard as "elite" cannon fodder. Bach had brought his elite Stern Ritter up to Reioukyuu (the Soul King's realm) for the purpose of killing the RG, right?
Right.
That plan has gone slightly awry. Last chapter, Hikifune and Hyousube erected the "Cage of Life" to entrap the elite Stern Ritter with the goofiest and least interesting of the RG, Nimaiya Ouetsu. I was skeptical, to say the least. How is this guy who looks like a total weakling going to take out the elite Stern Ritter?
Then he takes out Gerald Valkyrie, Lille Barro, and Pernida [last name omitted because of how stupid it is and I can't be bothered to spell it out]. In addition, he also slaps Nakk le Varr around. Now, the last one has yet to go down, but taking out three of the four elite Stern Ritter has earned Nimaiya my grudging respect, at least. I didn't know he had it in him to take out one of those guys.
As to whether those three are well-and-truly dead, we may find out next chapter (or, knowing Kubo, we may not). But it's obvious that the next battle in this never-ending sequence of battles is going to be Nimaiya vs. Nakk le Varr.
It could be interesting.
Still, we wait for Ichigo and his team to arrive. He's the main character, after all, and the most important player in this Reioukyuu business.
Because all of this is really a prelude to the moment when Ichigo and Ishida confront one another. And then Ichigo will have something to say to Haschwald.
