Yhwach had been perfectly content to let the original captains kill a few more Sternritter.
Every death returned another portion of power to him, and every fallen subordinate increased the odds that he could break free of the Seireitei and regroup elsewhere.
Then the sky split open.
A deafening crack rolled across Soul Society as a vast dark-gold fissure was forcibly torn through the air above the Seireitei.
There was nothing natural about it.
Something on the other side had simply ripped its way through the boundary by brute force.
A horse neighed from within, the sound so violent that the Shakonmaku covering the Seireitei shattered under the pressure.
Then a rider emerged.
He wore pale bone armor and carried a longbow that gleamed with a cold metallic light.
Beneath him was a magnificent white warhorse, and every step the animal took through the air produced an eerie change below: grass, trees, and anything else touched by the spreading influence turned gray-white and hardened into lifeless stone.
The knight slowly advanced through the open sky.
"Kazuma!"
His voice thundered across the entire Seireitei.
"Come out and die!"
The spiritual pressure that followed hit like a tidal wave.
Captains throughout the battlefield stiffened as the sheer weight of it swept over them.
Even the original captains, who had already been strengthened far beyond their former selves, immediately stopped treating the new arrival as just another enemy.
This man was on an entirely different level.
Several captains drew their Zanpakutō at once.
"You dare to call the Captain-Commander by name?"
The hostility around the battlefield shifted almost instantly.
Moments earlier the captains had been focused on Yhwach and the Sternritter; now dozens of blades were pointed toward the pale rider hanging above them.
Yhwach, however, saw something else.
An opportunity.
The moment the newcomer appeared, the attention of Soul Society's strongest fighters fractured.
Yhwach did not hesitate.
"Withdraw!"
The remaining Sternritter needed no second order.
They immediately scattered with Hirenkyaku, fleeing in every direction before the captains could reorganize around them.
With the original captains forced to focus on the far more dangerous threat overhead, no one was in a position to commit fully to the pursuit.
Within moments, several Quincy had already disappeared from sight.
The captains noticed, but none of them moved.
There was a much bigger problem standing in the sky.
Yhwach himself remained where he was, studying the rider with increasing interest.
"Who is this man?"
His brow furrowed.
Nothing he had seen in the incomplete futures available through The Almighty had shown him someone like this.
More concerning was the knight's strength.
Yhwach carefully measured the reiatsu pressing down over the Seireitei and reached an uncomfortable conclusion: even at his full strength, fighting this man might be an even match.
Then another thought occurred to him.
The knight had come specifically for Kazuma.
Yhwach's eyes narrowed.
'The enemy of my enemy…'
If this unknown monster was willing to turn his power against Soul Society, then perhaps the situation could still be salvaged.
Instead of escaping immediately, Yhwach actually stepped forward and addressed him.
"Powerful stranger."
Several captains looked toward him in disbelief.
Yhwach ignored them.
"Your strength is impressive. If your enemy is Kazuma and Soul Society, then perhaps we have common ground."
He spread one hand.
"Would you consider joining forces with me and destroying the Seireitei together?"
Even by Yhwach's standards, it was an unexpected gamble.
No one knew who the rider was, where he had come from, or what he wanted beyond Kazuma's death, yet the Quincy King was already attempting to recruit him.
The captains' expressions darkened.
If someone this powerful genuinely allied himself with Yhwach, the situation would become far worse than anything they had prepared for.
The rider finally looked at Yhwach.
He studied him for a moment.
Then the corner of his mouth curled upward beneath the helmet.
"Join forces?"
His tone carried almost amused contempt.
"With you?"
Yhwach's expression hardened immediately.
"Hmph."
Being dismissed so casually in front of both the Sternritter and the Gotei 13 struck directly at his pride.
The knight raised his bow.
Its point settled squarely on Yhwach.
"Yhwach. Son of the Soul King, Adnyeus."
His voice became colder.
"You are not important enough to act arrogant in front of me."
For the first time since the rider appeared, Yhwach visibly reacted.
The words had hit far harder than the insult.
His connection to the Soul King was supposed to be one of the most closely guarded truths in existence.
Outside of figures such as Ichibē Hyōsube, almost no one should have known the truth of his birth.
Yet this stranger had spoken it aloud without hesitation.
The captains around them were equally stunned.
"Son of the Soul King?"
Several exchanged looks.
Kazuma had never told them that part.
They had already learned more forbidden history over the past few days than most Shinigami discovered in centuries, and now another revelation had been dropped into the middle of a battlefield.
Yhwach's restraint finally cracked.
"Who are you?!"
Veins stood out along his forehead as he glared at the mounted warrior.
The regal calm he usually cultivated had been replaced by open anger.
The knight sat straight-backed upon the white horse, entirely unaffected by the outburst.
Then he raised his head.
"My name is…"
He paused just long enough for his voice to carry across the battlefield.
"Tsunayashiro Mitsuhiko."
The bow in his hand gleamed.
"Founder of the Tsunayashiro Clan."
The battlefield erupted into shocked murmurs.
The name immediately connected several pieces of the puzzle.
This was the same founder who had intervened earlier and torn Tokinada out of the Gotei 13's encirclement.
The same ancient man Kazuma had warned them about.
One of the four surviving founders of the Five Great Noble Clans.
Yhwach stared at him.
Then the full absurdity of his earlier offer finally sank in.
The man standing before him was not merely some ancient noble.
He was one of the people responsible for dismembering Adnyeus.
His father.
And Yhwach had just invited him to become allies.
For once, even Yhwach seemed to realize how ridiculous that sounded.
Mitsuhiko had already lost interest in him.
"Kazuma!"
His voice shook the sky again.
"How much longer are you planning to hide?"
He pulled sharply on the reins.
The white warhorse reared, its front hooves rising high before slamming down against empty space.
The impact sounded like thunder.
Then Conquest spread outward.
The force did not behave like ordinary reiatsu.
It carried an absolute sense of domination, a pressure that demanded submission rather than merely crushing the body.
The entire battlefield buckled beneath it.
Aside from Yhwach, Unohana in Bankai, and Batsu'unsai within her own released Bankai, every captain in the area was forced down.
Knees struck the ground one after another.
Some managed to remain upright on one leg for a moment before the pressure overwhelmed them; others dropped immediately, Zanpakutō digging into the earth as they tried to resist. Sweat ran down their faces while their bodies trembled under the sheer weight of Mitsuhiko's power.
It was not merely strong.
It was commanding them to kneel.
And for nearly everyone present, resisting that command was impossible.