Schutzstaffel

The name blends the German for Protective Squadron with a Japanese reading meaning Elite Guards. These are the most powerful Quincy in Yhwach's service, and their existence actually predates the founding of the wider Sternritter order. A version of the guard already stood beside Yhwach a thousand years ago under the Lichtreich, and the present group carries on that lineage. Kubo has described their motif as war across four eras, from ancient hand-to-hand combat through to modern chemical warfare.

Their charge is to keep Yhwach safe, and later to break the Royal Guard and wipe out whatever foes remain in Wahrwelt. Because they answer to Yhwach directly, they hold the highest standing in his ranks, taking their place at his side when he names Uryu Ishida his heir and skipping the meetings held for lower Sternritter. Originally three, the circle grew when Askin Nakk Le Vaar was raised from the common ranks for the strike against the Soul King Palace, which spared him the second Auswahlen that drained the remaining Sternritter to revive and empower the guard. After Wahrwelt took shape, Uryu joined as the fifth and final member, and each guardian was posted to defend one of the city's five branch districts. In the end Yhwach proved he saw even these elites as disposable, turning a third Auswahlen on the last survivor, Gerard Valkyrie, once the emperor no longer needed him.

Sternritter X, Lille Barro, leads the guard as the first Quincy Yhwach ever granted a Schrift, wielding The X-Axis to render himself intangible. Gerard Valkyrie carries M for The Miracle and Pernida Parnkgjas C for The Compulsory, both incarnations of the Soul King, its heart and its left arm, whose letters are honorary rather than earned. Askin Nakk Le Vaar, Sternritter D and master of The Deathdealing, is the sole member promoted from below. Uryu Ishida, Sternritter A, was accepted last of all, though his loyalty was a ruse: he joined the Wandenreich only to avenge his mother and destroy Yhwach. The original Lichtreich guard was made up of Johann Seydlitz, Huburt Alexander Kleich, Algora Lallau, and Nikita Deslock.