Daiki Kimura (TT – Vizard Hopeful)

[Daiki]

-Opening-

Discord Username: Burgundy#3240

Password 1: Black Hole

Password 2: Moon Pray

Type: Berserker

Rank: Academy Student (Squad 11)

click for ambiance

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-Basic Information-

Name: Kimura, Daiki

Age of Death: 95

Real Age/Age of Appearance: 471; Appears mid 30s

Birthday (Month/Day): [1/29]

Blood Type: O+

RP Sample (Optional): [Insert Here]

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-Appearance-

Height/Weight: 6'7"/212 lbs

Physical Description:

SPOILER: Click to show

{Appearance Gallery}

In short, a large, gruff-looking black man with inch-thick dreads and blue eyes, who wears his shinigami uniform differently. Of course in the spirit of maintaining a certain degree of length and detail, I must now subject you to a cascade of information, which will all say pretty much the same thing, but will probably inspire somebody to paint a picture in the future.

The subject of this application is a very tall – albeit not in the league of giants – dark-skinned male. His heritage traces itself back to african tribes in Mozambique, hundreds of years ago. It was only through a miraculous, though grim and definitely of-the-time series of events which lead to his arrival and subsequent death in Japan to become a part of the Shino-Academy Student Body. As far as appearances go, Daiki is imposing, and doesn't blame anybody who is intimidated by his presence, which will likely only grow more fierce as he gains power and prestige.

When you get past the fact that he's a mountain of a man in almost every sense of the word, it becomes a bit easier to pay attention to the details. His eyes, for instance, are a striking shade of blue. This is due to having spent much of his life and afterlife in caves, the normally brown hue of his eyes was unsated by the lack of sun, becoming a pale blue coloration and staying that way into his many years in Rukongai for reasons he can't grasp. The striking blue coloration against his darker skin tone is a strange facet, to his appearance, but all things considered it's probably the only strange detail about him on a surface level, fundamentally.

Like many men of African descent, Daiki's hair is naturally quite difficult to manage and thus he's taken to braiding it into dreadlocks to that he doesn't have to worry about it so much. The sides of his head are shaved, usually cleanly and upkept when he shaves his beard but sometimes he has a lazy day and the stubble grows back in. He never lets the sides get long enough so as to change his hairstyle, of course, but his dreadlocks seem to keep getting thicker as opposed to longer. It's a wonder he doesn't just shave it all off, but then he couldn't tie it into a cool warrior's ponytail, or let it hang loose every once in a while. Short or no hair is very unsatisfying, he found once, so he simply maintains a style while not going overboard with it. Dreadlocks on the top of his head is enough.

It was mentioned earlier in some modicum of detail, but it needs to be stressed once more just how chiseled this man is. If one were to ask his previous professions, they would be expecting an answer 'professional wrestler' 'truck mechanic' maybe 'shipwright', but 'spice merchant's assistant' just sounds outright suspicious with a build like Daiki's. Indeed, much of his life and afterlife has been spent wasting the potential of those arms and abs and pecs. His jawline could cut diamonds, his abs could wash laundry, his pecs could have a modeling career separate from him entirely, his arms could crush stone in any pit he chose, perhaps even a stone in each one, just going by appearances. However, his back muscles are certainly the winners in terms of just how intimidating they are. Their structure is not only supremely toned and trained, but the way they are structured give off the impression of an angry demon glaring at whoever has the misfortune of looking at them directly. Worse yet, they'll only get more defined and scarier the stronger he gets.

Now to look into his sense of fashion. In his mortal life he spent a few years as the retainer of Nobunaga Oda, and though he barely recalls such a time, spending time around the Demon King of the Sixth Heaven gave him a particular sense of aesthetics. At all times he wears the warrior garb which was assigned to him by Shino Academy, and later he'll do the same with his Shihakusho. However, because he doesn't like the restrictiveness of the fabric on his chest, he wears it with only one sleeve on. This leaves most of his chest bear, and exposes one 'eye' of the demon impression in his back muscles.

Due to complaints from students who sat behind him, Daiki would regularly be told to fix his shirt; He's training to become a shinigami, not a male prostitute, after all. Of course, the fabric strained against his muscles while trainijg, and this was interfering with his ability to concentrate, so he dipped into his savings to buy a bit of glamor for his upper body: Jackets. These jackets could be worn open-fronted and not distract the people behind him. They're still a little tight around the shoulders, but he's quite content to just slide his arm out of the sleeve when he gets into a fight.

As we all know, the uniform for a shinigami is called a Shihakusho, or 'Garment of Dead Souls'. It's consistent of a black kosode worn over a white shitagi, black hakama worn over white hakama-himo, and white tabi worn with waraji straw sandals. The particular shinigami's division insignia is emblazoned on the inside of their kosode. For Daiki in particular, he would wear it in his trademark style if he had a choice, and he's grown to like the jacket aesthetic – particularly his white jacket.

This jacket is a bit modernistic, with metal studs and yellow keep-out tape on one shoulder. It's a bit over-designed, which is how people are supposed to tell it apart from a Captain's Haori, though not everyone does, humorously. Of course, it's not against dress code to wear a jacket over your uniform, so any confusion this accessory causes is strictly humorous, provided he doesn't maliciously imitate a captain's identity or anything. This isn't the only jacket he owns or wears, but it's the only jacket he's depicted with.

To pair with this jacket, he has a white vanity tasset which has numerous belts, only two of which are actually the same color. Each belt says 'keep out' like police tape as well, with christian crosses spacing them apart. This is worn over his hakama and obscures his legs even more, like a battle skirt, though it is split in the front to give his legs room to move without getting entangled as well. In addition, he optionally has a pair of fingerless gloves with metal plates on the back, though these are particularly optional, only ever worn when he's going for a 'complete ensemble' look, or wearing the set in the human world.

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-Personality-

Dislikes:
[1] Weakness: As a fundamental part of his personality, he disrespects weakness. However, he doesn't cherry pick parts of a person to call weak, but merely considers Weakness to be the lack of any personal strengths.

[2] Leeches: People who latch onto stronger individuals in order to follow along their path to success. They are not worth consideration in most situations. He also doesn't like leeches as in the bloodsucking parasite.

[3] Superfluous Talents: When people waste their time honing and sharpening a skill which doesn't matter to their intended career path, it strikes him as wasteful. Those who intend to veer from their path to follow a new way are exceptions, obviously, and old talents are fine to keep in fine-tune.

[4] Wasting Time: Sort of ironic considering his perchant for doing stuff the hard way, but this really just represents time spent standing still, time spent waiting, time spent which he'll never get back and never truly benefit from.

[5] Bitter Food: Bitterness is a disappointing flavor which takes a lot of work, technique, and spices (or butter and salt) to turn into something worth eating in his mind. It's not that he won't eat bitter food, but to call it 'good' is an overstatement.

[6] Board Games: Board Games are a thing he may have enjoyed at one point in his past, perhaps when he was alive. However, nowadays the only time he spends playing Board Games is spent trying to figure out why he remembers liking them so much.

[7] Firearms: Generally speaking, ranged weaponry was seen as a tool for the cowardly to fight wars, but Firearms really took it to the next level, especially with their advancement in the recent century or so. Not requiring true skill asides basic aiming and being able to propel metal into people at speeds faster than the eye can see is beyond nuts, in his perspective. A cowardly tool for sociopaths who want to kill without discipline and nothing more.

[8] Platypuses: Strange chimeric abominations of animals which defy all known classification, and thusly break every rule of zoology. From his perspective, 'Mother Nature was a mistake.'

[9] Red Wine: The taste of fermented red grapes, mulled or aged in casks and bottled nicely, is a respectable side with beef dishes, but he'd rather just drink grape juice, to be honest. White wine's still better than white grape juice though.

[10] Exaggeration: In a world like the one he lives in, it's difficult to grasp what is real and what is fake. A person who says a pillar of fire reached the skyline could be exaggerating for narrative effect, or could be talking about an insanely powerful Hadou or something.

[11] Paperwork: Boring boring boring boring boring boring boring boring boring boring boring boring boring boring boring boring boring boring boring BORING!

[12] Getting Scolded: Generally speaking Daiki is well aware of what he did wrong as soon as he did it, and the tendency of authority figures to spend far too long going over the incident in teeth-gritting detail as opposed to solving it tends to grind some gears.

Likes:
[1] Strength: If you've read his personality section first, this is a given. Any form of strength qualifies, but he values physical strength above all else.

[2] Real Men: Worthy Adversaries and Rivals who prove so valuable that he could never imagine killing them in earnest, despite their antagonistic relationship. Colleagues can categorize in this as well, but this is typically a title reserved for people he Fights a lot.

[3] Worthwhile Skills: There are many skills and talents which may prove beneficial in many facets of one's career. It's important to learn what they are, and if possible, learn and hone them properly. Such advantages are to be respected.

[4] Efficient Strategies: Due to how simplistic his thoughts have become in the last century, Daiki has respect for people who can plan around a situation and guide his dumb ass to victory. Much better to stab once at the chinks in the armor than it is to hammer the breastplate until it cracks open, especially when time is of the essence.

[5] Meat: Protein is a vital part of being fucking huge, and meat is the primary source of it. The fact that he likes eating meat is mostly serendipity. His favorite type of meat is poultry.

[6] Video Games: He was exposed to a handful in recent years, brought over from the human world. They are actually quite thrilling, and remind him of how he felt back when he liked Board Games.

[7] Sword Craftsmanship: Is there anything more beautiful than a masterfully crafted katana blade? The curvature of it; the wavy pattern that gently traces the edge; the lovingly cloth-wrapped handle? Marvelous.

[8] Swallows: An old obsession lingers on in his mind centuries later. Perhaps there is something to muscle memory after all. To this day he can reflexively pick a swallow from a flock of various birds flying away in a cloud. A strange and very specific talent.

[9] Volleyball: He sucks at it because he has to get so low to receive, letting along his reaction time, but he's actually a pretty decent blocker.

[10] Cooking: He's spent over 70 years in the business of trading spices and living with a spice merchant. He understands and appreciates cooking even if he rarely does it anymore. Of course, the same experience has made him quite fickle with his food.

[11] Fighting: What point is there in being strong if not to Fight!? He's not an elitist who believes only in physical combat, but believes that all challenges in life are their own Fight. He just so happens to specialize in Physical Strength and the Fights thereof, so he obviously appreciates real combat more than metaphorical combat.

[12] Solving Problems: Boy, you know what really makes you feel better after fucking up? Fixing the issue. And when there's a challenging problem to solve, you know what feels great? Solving it and moving past it. Yup. Definitely beats getting chewed out for half an hour.

Flaws:
[1] Overreliance on Physicality: Daiki's foremost and biggest flaw is the assertion and understanding that his body is the only tool he needs to win and thrive in life. He tends to forget to think his way around problems, and suffers the consequences when 'through it' is a less than optimal solution.

[2] Dismissive of Others: Daiki is a big strong man who doesn't need other peoples' help, and thus is born his tendency to neglect his teammates or training partners. Or perhaps it's better to think of it as his inability to see them as such at all, as opposed to 'loud training weights'.

[3] Easy to Manipulate: While direct orders are generall not gonna get you anywhere, his self-reliance is almost like a sore point. One can coax him into doing jobs meant for multiple men just on the basis of how little he likes teamwork. A little, 'oh, nevermind, that needs two men to carry' and he's slinging the crate over his shoulder asking where they want it.

[4] Rusty Skills, Rusty Kills: He doesn't remember much about his human life, but is convinced that he was at one point a legendary, peerless swordsman. Whether this is true or not, the fact stands that thinking of himself as such is detrimental to his actual progress as a swordsman. Even if he was a swordsmaster beyond compare at one point, the only thing that seems 'beyond compare to' now is how amateurish his swordplay is now. In other words, 'Legendary Swordmaster? Seems unrealistic. Needs proof.'

[5] Lack of Miscellaneous Talent: A man who possesses a body like his needs no other talents, he thinks. Cleaning? Singing? What's that useless junk for? Of course, the dearth of talent he has in some areas might loop into the territory of 'so bad it's good' situationally.

[6] Difficult Customer: An odd flaw to mention, but at restaurants, due to an uncharacteristically sensitive palate, he is just insufferably picky when it comes to what he eats at a restaurant. The number of times he'll send a plate back to the kitchen is painful by proxy.

Habits:
[1] Hard Way, Best Way: There's something to be said about a guy who sees an elevator that is closer to him and takes the stairs down the hall unless somebody convinces him otherwise. When two options are presented and one is clearly easier, he acts like the easy option is an obvious trap, but if the easy option were an obvious trap, he's the kind of guy to go right up to it.

[2] Clammed Up: He has a tendency to think before he speaks and then forget to actually convey his thoughts, meaning whole chunks of conversation wind up missing, perhaps confounding his conversational partners. Perhaps spending 350 years isolated in a cave and ruminating on your life will do that to a guy.

[3] Odachi Complex: He has a tendency to 'compare sizes' of pretty much everything. This is often mental, but can lead to humorous moments where he's literally comparing his sword side by side to somebody else's in the middle of a conversation, derailing the subject.

[4] Flex! Pose!: It's perhaps a corny, overdone trope, but it's his corny overdone trope, goddammit! When juxtaposed with similarly strong entities, he usually takes a moment to flex his muscles, just to see if they'll follow suit. If they do, he begins to do body builder poses. This might continue until the other contender loses patience.

[5] He Who Laughs Loudest is King: Dude really has pipes when it comes to expressing how humorous he finds things. People with high senses might be shaken by his boistrous laughter.

[6] Reseasoning: Because he's spent most of his time in Rukongai working for and living with a spice merchant, Daiki happens to have a distinctly sensitive palate when it comes to seasonings on food. So he's the kind of guy to raid somebody's spice cabinet if the mashed potatoes they served him at their dinner party aren't salted perfectly, or if his spaghetti sauce just needs a little more heat.

Fears:
[1] A Certain Melody: There was an instrument that was played long ago during the darkest time of his life, and this particular sound can drag him mentally through the mud, shaking him to his core. He doesn't know what instrument it is, but it sounds like if the violin had a sickening lovechild with bagpipes.

[2] Small People: If you have a loli or a shota faceclaim and stand under 4'11": Congratulations! Daiki is afraid of you in the same way an elephant is afraid of a mouse. This is more of a passing unease, since he doesn't feel comfortable handling small folks. A strong man like himself could accidentally crush them and get in a lot of trouble, but they also have a tendency to be really agile and difficult to deal with otherwise. In casual and work circumstances it's more in-line with a fear than in combat circumstances, where it's more of a vexation.

[3] Freaks, Lunatics, Lost Senses, Strugglers, Etc: Anybody who is a fringe weirdo case sets him on edge. Daiki feels something between pity and fear for such individuals, those who live their lives with a completely different set of rules to his own simplistic understanding of the world. It could be said that they are strong in ways he can't imagine, and thusly he doesn't want to compare himself to them. Yet perhaps this is because of a fear of something else entirely.

[4] Worthlessness: A man only has his pride and his body, thusly to be faced with an enemy or situation he cannot overcome, or a challenge which cannot be solved with a suitable application of physical force, he becomes worried that he'll be overcome by insurmountable odds, and that his whole life will have been a meaningless build up to a moment where he didn't matter at all, or worse, only served as a sacrifice to destroy his allies' morale.

Goals:
[1] Unyielding Strength: Daiki is a man who treasures his strength more than anyone else. Strength is the means by which man overcomes any obstacle, be it nature, a demon, even his fellow man. To that end, Daiki wants to be the absolute strongest. If there is an obstacle, whether it be physical or non-physical, it becomes his goal to surpass it with his strength.

[2] Top Captain/Captain Commander: It is only a matter of course that Daiki possesses the will and determination to become the strongest. Those who rank above him have a claim to that ideal, and thusly he has no real choice other than to climb higher than all of them.

[3] Recover his Lost Memories: Time wears on all souls, and though he could retain his humanity until just before the end, Daiki could not retain his mind through all that time. There was a lifetime of memories lost long ago, and through centuries did they fade to nothingness. Who is Daiki, or rather, who was he? All he knows is that a sword in his hand feels right. In a past life, maybe he truly was a legendary swordsman.

Alignment: Neutral Good

Overall Personality: Pride and masculinity are the defining traits of Daiki Kimura. To say anything else of him before this would be injust. It can be mentioned countless times that he is man who relies only on himself and his body and it still might not hammer home the true mindset he possesses. To Daiki, there is nobody to compare himself to, no height which he can reach for, and so he must set one for himself. To call it narcissism would be fair, to call it hubris would be fairer.

There was perhaps a time when Daiki truly respected somebody else. Perhaps there is a glimmer of that in him still today. An imperceptible nagging in the back of his mind that he'll never be enough, that a single defeat has scarred him for eternity. There is no stain like the one which weighs on his heart, the idea of being defeated is strangely fresh and new to him. In a past life, he lost because he didn't understand strength. When he got strength, he lacked wisdom, and his friends suffered the ultimate price.

In the past he had both, but now he has but one.

Wisdom is a boon which was disposed of in the afterlife, for as many years as you meditate, there is no experience to be gained from such hollow experiments. For every day he lived, another slipped away from him until it was all blank, an existence with no meaning other than a very core concept: That he was strong. A concept which was shattered at one point.

He learned to taste defeat in a humiliating bout one time, a pitiful excuse of a fight. No reason to fight other than a pitiful desire to survive, snubbed nigh-on casually by somebody with years of experience on him, and memories of time spent in battle. Such things which Daiki had been deprived of. This man could have taken his life, but instead proffered him a position to gain something new: A life. It wasn't pleasant, but it was something he tolerated and learned to embrace over time for a simple, pitiful reason.

He couldn't win.

Indeed such a self-deprecating thought bounced around in his simple mind for decades. As he lifted crates, bounced away bandits, and lived under that man's roof, he was being strangled by a noose of his own brand new conception. The idea of loss despite strength hung heavily over him like pall in those times, and it was only in that man's passing did he really give himself the opportunity to redeem his strength. This was the spark which revived Daiki into the man he is.

A true man's man, who can rely on himself, who others can rely on when he lets them. To see others as obstacles was in his nature now, each person reduced to 'can I beat them?' and the answer always being 'yes'. Trivial ideas like strategy can be left to the thinkers, a plan only needs one resource to work and that is strength. When he justifies it like that, of course he can't lose his way. While one might think of him as a tool to hammer their problems into submission, he is content to think of smarter companions as tools to point out a good place to hammer.

As a person, Daiki is a reliable sort of guy, albeit perhaps a bit full of himself. To hear the words 'of course I can' from him quickly becomes either grating or drowned out. His respect for authority is a little shakey at the best of times, but he's slowly learning to bend the elbow and work his vocabulary in their favor, albeit it will quickly slip further into his boastful manner of speaking and acting as he progresses and has fewer people to answer to.

While this obviously makes him quite simple to understand, it isn't to say this is the only facet of his personality. For instance, one would be surprised to learn how his background includes over 70 years of working with spices and food, and thusly he's quite the chef, and a culinary connoisseur. Despite his simplicity, one might find themselves meeting him under circumstances that make him seem refined. He's neither embarassed of this fact, nor is he particularly proud of it, it's just who he is.

This is the fundamental outlier which proves something deeper. Despite a talent he worked long and hard to cultivate, he shows no signs of hubris, which draws a direct comparison to his Strength. It shows that there is something else at work fueling this obsession with Strength, something which causes him to treasure it more than he treasures a whole lifetime's work. This factor seems to be 'desperation'. For lack of something more substantial to reach out to, he sees strength as the ultimate scapegoat and the ultimate resource.

If somebody dies in battle, it is a simple matter to say they weren't strong enough. Yet to believe that wholeheartedly means to believe that strength is the solution to death. For Daiki, this pattern repeats: He was humiliated because he was not strong enough, he could not eat because he was not strong enough, he cannot remember because he is not strong enough. To blame strength for every failing is to believe strength is their ultimate solution.

And how right might he be, in this world he's found himself in?

Probing into him as a person is certainly an interesting venture, but it doesn't really show a practical analysis of how he acts in a true day to day scenario. While a real man might not need associates, to shun everyone in favor of oneself is folly not even he can abide. Socializing is a normal part of living, and nobody who lives is above living. Which is to say, he's not antisocial by any means.

From the neutral perspective of people who might consider themselves an ally to his cause, classmates or squadmates typically, the average person doesn't grasp deep psychological disasters like the ones churning in Daiki's head. What they see is a fairly stoic and forthright man whose following the path a man he respects set up for him in his last thoughts. An outsider perspective might not want to get close to him to ask his true intentions, but it's well known that he got into Shino Academy, into the whole business of being a Shinigami, via recommendation letters from retired veteran shinigami.

That kind of thing paints a picture in one's mind – Daiki is a powerfully built man, blessed for success with a combination of manliness, work-ethic, and connections. One couldn't view this recipe as anything less than the threads of destiny themselves, so the average person who knows anything at all about this dark-skinned Reaper Trainee is that he is a born-Shinigami, and the academy, the ranks to climb is just a formality on his way to the top.

It's safe to say that a guy like that attracts leeches. People who see him as a powerhouse, ready to casually waltz up the ranks, will be looking to ride his coattails for a smooth ride up. These people are probably at the bottom tier of his associates, those who are truly just training weights and nothing more – bordering on disposable assets to use as practice for true acts of comradery. They'll latch onto him and he'll pretend he doesn't even notice them as he carries the team, only ever acting like he notices them when they are in danger and he needs to save them. Which is to say, he doesn't care that they die more than he might any other civilian, but it's in his best interest to save them for that very reason.

For everyone else, there's more of a potential for friendship and comradery in various degrees. People who can be useful and don't view him as a taxi to the top are obviously more favorable than the leeches who are the opposite of those features. Simply put, Daiki recognizes all different types of strength, but considers physical strength to be the supreme ruler of them all. Skill, Tactics, Speed, Giftedness in the spiritual arts — all are their own sort of strengths, and all will buckle when brought to bear against a master of physical strength. This is a conscious understanding he possesses, and is the reason why he refuses to rely on others. Though their 'strength' may be great, Daiki really only sees it as auxiliary attachments to real, provable strength.

This means, of course, that the highest peers in his regard are actually, physically, strong people. These are the sorts of people he will cheerfully flex and match poses with, the sort of people he'll talk openly with about whatever. Daiki recognizes them as people of a like mind, as close to innate friendship as one can get with a guy like him. Friendly rivalry sprouts easily between himself and these sorts, in joint operations, one could even say he trusts them with his back, and doesn't feel like he's carrying the team.

One way or another, the only real way to get higher into his regards than being a fellow musclebrained idiot would be to climb one's way up into his circle of friends. There's not really a whole lot of room for friendship when it comes to a guy like Daiki. There is a certain degree of trust one needs to earn, something akin to proving to him that you're different. It's not as though he needs to perceive somebody as a threat, or that he needs to be defeated in combat to respect somebody as more than some accessory to his team; But it would do wonders for his regards if they weren't so weak that he needed to worry if they got split up during a conflict.

There's much to be said about his friendship. It's a pretty warm friendship if one can feel that kind of thing. As opposed to his coldness when dealing with so-called peers, a friend can feel his care in how he doesn't coddle them on their missions. It's like his way of accepting their strength as a valid contribution, something that will only need help during particularly dire straits. Of course, this means that he comes to understand a friend closely, and feels something for them. Trust, confidence, and perhaps most importantly, like he can relax around them.

It's hard to explain how Daiki is in terms of Romance, because he genuinely never took a lover before in his life. The closest thing he can feel to 'love' is the same thing he feels towards friends. There is a lacking fundamental wall between romance and 'bromance' for him, albeit, this says more about romance for him. Or rather, says less. He doesn't like the whole 'thrill of the hunt' when he comes to romance, slapping the label of 'dating' on something drags down the experience a lot.

Yet at the same time, he'll gladly wine and dine his friends then go catch a movie and then crash at their place, without even thinking about it. Which really brings it around to the sole difference between friendship and romance with him is the physical relationship dynamic, which he is not particularly inclined to initiate as a change, but even less inclined to deny when presented. So more or less, a relationship with him could be just a friendship or a friendship with benefits, but it's really up to the other person, he's down with whatever, really. One could say that all the court facets asides the physicality of romance come packaged with his friendship deal. He's savvy enough to understand that people like their relationships to be monogamous, though.

Sliding into the negative spectrum of personal interaction with him is such individuals as 'prey'. There's a strange fixation on targets he needs to kill, disable, or capture as part of his job or training. His personal opinion of such things is very neutral, they are basically the same thing as a target, a fleeting bird whose wings need to be clipped. There's not much to say about them, but it's worth mentioning that prey are typically subject to the cruelest treatment specifically because of how little he cares about them. Grabbing their head and crushing their skull before decapitating them and using their still-dissolving body as a projectile to attack another prey, all seems fairly cut and dry to him.

Along the same path is something like a 'worthy adversary', essentially any foe which puts up more of a fight than a typical hollow below his level. The sort of enemy who pits their strength against his, whatever that strength may be. He appreciates this sort of foe, they brighten his evening, they're the highlight of a day's work, the thing he can brag about beating later on to his buddies. Thusly does he treat them with more respect in combat: He's far less prone to brutalizing worthy adversaries like a monster. Daiki puts care and effort into ensuring that the foe gets their chance to leave an impression.

Of course, this also applies to people as well, especially leeches in their element. People who are usually little more than training weights tend to have capabilities in certain areas he doesn't, and more particularly only matter in very limited instances. To name one, an attractive classmate who gets good grades because he's book-smart, could be a total coward during a training exercise, and prove time and again to be a burden.

But if this charismatic classmate came back alive, and no observing teachers disputed it, they could easily just take all the credit and put Daiki on the spot to dispute it. Worthy adversaries who only show their strength when he can't contest is are certainly worthy of his spite, but instead he somehow has a healthy respect for it. Of course, that's an intimidating reaction in its own right, but it's thankfully a lot less frightful a prospect in practice; He simply doesn't underestimate them later on.

Beyond this would be recurrent worthy adversaries, the sort he can't just kill, the sort which he respects too much or who are a thorn in his side in just the wrong way. Rivals which have two side on a coin in her perspective: Nuisances and Real Men. The former sits lowest in his regard, lower than leeches on his metaphorical scale of respect and appreciation. While their strength may be an asset to them in ways he can respect, what he can't respect is his inability to counter it and how frequently it comes up. Something like a particularly strict secretary who scolds him for collateral damage, after missions and gets his pay docked, would be a Nuisance.

Then there are Real Men, rivals who he can fight and could kill but probably won't for reasons which are either obvious or not so much. A Real Man can make him sweat in a battle despite his physical advantages, or challenge him in ways that his strength will only somewhat account for. A Real Man is an engine of change, evolution in mindset, somebody who forces Daiki to grow in ways that a stern conversation with a good friend wouldn't.

In this case, the dichotomy is a matter of respect and reciprocation. A Nuisance cannot be reciprocated against, because he lacks the assets required to challenge them back. He cannot make a nuisance grow as a person and can only be vexed by their persistence. Meanwhile, a Real Man is able to change him and be changed by him, Daiki can fight back and force them to adapt just as much as they do him. This dance of mutual antagonism and character growth is fairly common among meatheads such as himself, and can be said to be more intimate than friendship.

Because such a relationship is so beneficial, Daiki is the sort of person to treasure a rival he considers to be a Real Man. He would be heartbroken if circumstances stood that he couldn't spare their life, because that meant their time as rivals had come to an end. To end this relationship would be more painful than many things, and it would be even more painful to know that his rival had died for reasons unrelated to him, rage-inducing in fact. When the death of somebody he knows sets him on a warpath, that person was a Real Man.

If there were such a thing in the various relationship dichotomies, one could consider his relationship with a rival he repsects wholeheartedly to be like a negative version of his romantic inclinations, the yin to their yang. Which is to say, if their fights got a little more intimate than the usual variety, he probably wouldn't reject the change...

[Daiki]

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-Powers-

Fighting Style: Daiki is a strong-bodied bruiser type of man, equally at home with a blade in his hands as he is with nothing at all. In terms of combat, not much needs to be said, but for the sake of expansiveness, it will be said anyways. When plying one's trade as a blade for hire, even in the human world, one needs to be prepared to deal with unfair odds. The least fair of these odds are when you get attacked by armed opponents while having no weapons on hand to back oneself up.

Daiki has never really cared much about the idea of somebody having a weapon when he doesn't. When it comes to conflict, you have what you bring, and what he brings is a body. His body is quite reliable, always has been. Getting killed is no excuse to die, just because somebody stabs you or puts a few bullets in you is no excuse to cease fighting for your life. For him, the only defeat is complete and irreversible annihilation. He's not the sort of guy who flinches at pain, the thought of spending months in recovery.

Of course, it's not always like that in his head. In all conflict, he tends not to respect it as much as his opponents do. For him, a fight is a fight. It might as well be a chore. He doesn't usually approach a fight with it in his mind that the opponent could just kill him. Rather than a lack of respect or some kind of haughtiness however, it's more like it doesn't cross his mind in the first place. An injury is usually enough to shake off this mindset, but there are so many people who are confident that just cutting or shooting their opponent wins them the fight, forgetting how flimsy their usual opponents are.

Daiki is a cut above your typical flimsy Shinigami or hollow, at least in terms of sheer physicality. His talents certainly lie in pain tolerance, resilience in the face of blood loss, and willpower. Simply hurting him is only enough to win a sparring match. If he's fighting for real, one would have to break him entirely to put him down.

Putting behind us the philosophy of a great body which fuels his attitude in conflict, we return to how indifferent towards particularly unfavorable circumstances Daiki is. Because his body is big, strong, and durable, he can fight unarmed against armed opponents without losing out too much in terms of combat effectiveness. Their attacks have a more refined sort of damage, but unarmed strikes from him are devastating in a different sense.

His fighting style of choice in terms of unarmed combat is a sort of nostalgic re-interpretation of mixed CQC from his sword-for-hire days. He's gotten pretty rusty with it, but altogether, his body still recalls some of the tricks that pulled through some of his deadliest operations. The art of dodging the barrel is forever etched into his muscle memory, making sure to prevent firearm-using enemies from getting a clear bead on him in close quarters, forcing them to resort to inefficient shots that would never stop, let alone kill, a truly manly guy like himself. Against foes armed with melee-ranged weaponry like swords, knives, and spears, he's conditioned to stop the handle as opposed to the blade, making sure that people who treat their weapons as 'an extension of their body' understand just how delusional that concept is.

In terms of striking, Daiki is a no-nonsense heavy hitter. While he's not flinging haymakers like a drunken idiot in a back alley behind a bar, it can be said he really doesn't need to. Small gestures are useful for building momentum, simply bending his elbow can propel his fist like a wrecking ball into his opponents. If one sees him reeling back his fist at all, they could be certain the sheer force behind it spells certain death, or at least something representative of his full strength. All things considered, his fighting style is primarily composed of useful essentials with a lot of fluff discarded.

He fights with his fists primarily, mostly because his center of gravity is higher up due to his broad shoulders. His kicking is modestly hampered because of it, or rather, his balance while kicking. Though his legs are just as impressive arms, if not a little more so, he doesn't exactly have the build where one needs to throw a kick unless his opponent is so low to the ground that punching is impractical. It's much safer to use his hands or perhaps grab something in the environment to strike with, although in some circumstances he might feel compelled to show people why he wore steel-toed boots in life. Particularly when he has something to brace against so as to not lose balance.

To narrow the focus even more, when he notices his disadvantage becoming truly dangerous, he is not against using improvised weapons. Picking up a barstool and smashing it against an opponent's blade is a lot safer than trying to reach past the blade's length and stop the opponent's wrist. There's a saying in the martial arts community that 'something in the hand is many times more dangerous than an empty hand', and Daiki is more than happy to prove it true.

Speaking of having something in his hands, we get around to swordplay. A sword is an unfair advantage, designed by early man to kill his fellow man. It was not like a spear which was designed for hunting, it was a tool which requires practice and experience to master. In terms of practice and experience with using a sword, Daiki was a master beyond masters at one point, but his mind has gone as time depleted him of the challenge of living, and though it's largely been reconstructed since coming to Soul Society, the overwhelming edge he possessed in life is barely even a fleeting memory, like a meaningless dream amidst a haze of meaningless dreams. Despite this, he has an innate familiarity with the sword.

In terms of practical knowledge he shows signs of all the basics. A properly sized sword for him is a good bit longer and thusly needs to be a little thicker to accommodate its length. Daiki re-learned swordplay with a sword that was not sized properly for him, and thusly when handling something more suited to him personally he fights like he doesn't have as much reach as he does.

This much can be fixed through further training, though. In a real fight with a blade in hand, he still comes to the fight with the understanding that he is big and strong, much tougher than the typical guy. In a duel of the blades, he's not the kind of guy who lets himself get put down in one hit. In sword duels where one strike is the duration of the match, he makes sure to stay standing even if he gets cut. Dying is not an option. The edge of the blade may cut his flesh, but it won't cut his spirit.

Of course, the point of using a sword is to try and kill the opponent first. Daiki is a fairly ruthless fighter. There isn't a hint of hesitation behind his strikes when he doesn't feel there needs to be. A kill should be swift and decisive, and leave no question as to who won. When swinging the blade, the sword seeks to cleave through his target, not stopping for flesh, nor sinew, nor bone. A messy, horrible kill, which leaves no question that he killed the opponent. Even when purging a hollow with a zanpakuto, one would be forgiven if they worried that he caused a second death.

In keeping with patterns, we use this opportunity to transition seamlessly and innocuously into his particular methods when using Mukyozuki, his Zanpakuto. The biggest fundamental difference between fighting with his Shikai active is that it provides a bit of passive support. He's able to focus on the battle at hand while setting aside distractions like those presented by auxiliary foes who might try to stab him in the back. His blade represents the skill of himself and those versions of himself across parallel dimensions, a blade which calls in blades for support.

It's a funny thing, how his ability works. So much potential, yet so limited in scope. A sword supported by itself from across dimensions, yet it can only pull in two additional edges at a time. Of course, when these edges are handled with the same skill and might that brandish the original sword itself, the threat seems a lot less paltry. Three blades capable of cleaving steel and shattering concrete with ease, are certainly more terrifying than one such blade, even if it shows but a fraction of the potential it should have. Through this ability he can expand his arsenal just a bit, allowing for triplicated sword techniques which can bolster his offense tremendously.

Of course, that's if Daiki is focusing entirely on offense, which he admittedly tends to do more often than not, but the defensive options aren't always rightly under his control. Mukyozuki is protective of him, and thusly it will often dedicate a blade expressly for defending his body. There exists a way to overwrite that tendency of the blade, but it's a risky concept, since he needs to shed defense almost entirely in order to use it.

If he tucks his shikai-released sword back into its sheathe, he can manually control the attack angle of the swords, albeit it's more like focusing on which attacks he's letting through. Doing this dramatically enhances his offensive potential by increasing the number of attacking blades from two (and one in hand) to five, or even more, but leaves him open to enemies exploiting his weakened senses and low personal mobility, which are most of why Mukyozuki so frequently defends him instead of going all-out on the offense.

If one were to push him, it's quite possible he could unlock his true potential and achieve Bankai. Sure, his spiritual profile is weak, and he doesn't have much talent for the spiritual arts, save perhaps for healing (interestingly enough), but his willpower is actually very high level. This willpower is what pulled him through his toughest challenges in life, and so something on the level of 'coaxing the full potential out of his sword' almost seems like an easy request. The whole process might not be that easy, but one couldn't say for sure it's impossible for him.

That said, his Bankai is a nearly unusable mess of a power. The functionality confuses him at the best of times, and its aesthetics are all over the place. Thankfully, like in Shikai, it makes up for how user-unfriendly it is by taking a lot of its purpose into its own hands. Were Daiki to attempt to control this whole thing manually, it would fail because he just doesn't have the sensory aptitude himself to watch everything at once and take action. Willpower is one thing, but it's a whole other ballpark when trying to analyze the entire battle like some kind of military tactician, and he really doesn't have the mind or reflexes for that sort of thing.

What he does have the mind and reflexes for is many of the tertiary purposes outside of reading the field for attack and defense opportunities. While Ikuma Mukizuki is paying attention to the hard parts, he can stay on the lookout for alternate realities where his allies are safe, or powered up, or in a better position to strike from, and keep everyone shuffling on the field and in advantageous positions. The opposite is true as well, as his Bankai lends itself well to sabotaging the enemy, adding or removing structures from parallel dimensions to impede their movements, swapping them with a version of themselves that was attacking a different version of their allies who were in different positions.

Of course for every support action he's taking is another moment where his strength isn't being brought to the fore of his combat. Daiki is a man made of muscle, who possesses strength the likes of which few can possess. While his Bankai is capable of working at a larger scale than his Shikai, this is only a distraction: One born from his nature as one who tries to shoulder the burdens of others. In truth, the mist generated by Ikuma Mukizuki is a dimensional refraction phenomenon, multiple parallel dimensions being focused into one point, and thusly the amount of harvestable power is truly tremendous.

Where all blades become as one, that is the truth of Ikuma Mukizuki. His ultimate technique is a simple flourish of that power which could be harvested thanks to one man's reliance only on himself. Daiki can concentrate a vast amount of offensive power through his blade by utilizing one of his techniques, though ultimately it's probably just overkill. When done right, his foe should die in a matter of one or two strikes, though perhaps a thousand wouldn't be so bad either...



Zanpakutou Spirit Appearance:[/b] Mukyozuki's appearance is eerie, but not because it's some demonic being, or some eldritch abomination from your least favorite SCP Fanfiction. It's eerie, because it's just Daiki again. Indeed, Daiki appears to be drawing power from a mirror reflection of himself. More than that though it's ever so slightly different than him, but the difference never seems to be the same as before. Sometimes Mukyozuki has yellow eyes, sometimes the tips of his deadlocks are red, sometimes his skin is weirdly chalky, sometimes there's a strange, jagged scar on his cheek.

The truth is that Mukyozuki is not a singular entity, or rather, it is not singular in form. It is a seemingly unending council of alternate universe Daikis, who cycle through who is interacting with him at any given point. Hence the differences, each version is just a slight offshoot from his current self, the version who left the cave to see the sun once in a while, the version who didn't dodge as quickly when a fellow mercenary was cut down and had his hair stained at the ends, a version who stayed the the church and grew old and ashen with nothing to do with himself, a version who saved a life but was scarred permanently for it.

Each version within the united consciousness known as Mukyozuki has their own story to tell their own experiences. It is not correct to say they are a hivemind, and instead it is more appropriate to say they're individuals who share thoughts with eachother, but not necessarily their wills. Their experiences shape who they are and what they do.

Then there's the other one. That possibility right at the end who was so close to becoming a hollow. There is a particular denizen of his inner world who represents the version of Daiki which is closest to who he is now, yet couldn't feel more different. That possibility at the end which was so far out of his control, the version in which an old friend was able to defend himself and held off the Shinigami that in truth purified him. It's an anomalous entity who is shackled by the combined efforts of a great many of the Mukyozuki horde.

This version of him seems to be a cumlination of all the differences which were listed, taken to their extremes: A chalk-white beast of a man, with glowing yellow eyes, numerous bloody red scars to the point of aesthetic, and scarlet-stained dreadlocks. This particular entity, while restained, appears to have no discernible personality besides a feral hunger and fury. It's a terrifying sight to behold, but so long as Mukyozuki keeps holding it back, Daiki doesn't have anything to worry about, right?

Were it to get free, the inner hollow would show a strange tranquility, like it was resisting itself. Since it is fundamentally an instance of Daiki, unfortunate though it is, it possesses a similar fortitude in the face of mental anguish and strain to him. However, it's by and large an unreasoning entity, it doesn't have much in the way of words to speak and yet doesn't seemed to be inclined to go on a rampage after all that fuss it made while held down. It seems to be waiting, letting Daiki grow stronger and stronger. Perhaps it holds some insidious scheme or perhaps it's disinterested in him altogether.

The only instance it would conceivably take over would be out of vicarious frustration. This not-particularly-malicious event would be like it's way of scolding him 'This is pathetic, let me show you how it's done.' It seems to look down on Daiki, like he is but a pitiful whelp, and views any assistance or lack of aggression it grants him to be a sort of gift. It casts magnanimous indifference upon him and watches his life with dull intrigue. Once freed from the shackles of Mukyozuki, it sits and waits and watches from a particular memory, which the various alternate selves that form the collective of Mukyozuki will purposefully avoid in order to prevent him from interacting with the menace within.

Inner World:[/b] Daiki's inner world is probably best described as a barely lit void with a floor that forms underneath his feet at he walks. It's blackness as far as the eye can see, but when his Zanpakuto spirit reveals himself, he is made visible by some unidentifiable light source which barely works. However, beyond that there exists a boundless realm of possibilities. Mukyozuki is capable of conjuring up any scenery Daiki can remember and even those he can't but but has been to.

This inner world can be thought of as the Nexus of all of Daiki's potential and history. Its a world without time, where space only means what one let's it mean, not unlike the matrix. The darkness it shows is a representation of an infinite range possibilities; When confronted with countless memories or symbols to choose from it simply selects none. It's perhaps the ultimate representation of the inner self of one who sat in a cave for three hundred years, infinite turmoil masquerading as inner peace.

Ultimately, while Mukyozuki controls the layout for most situations, it is theoretically possible for Daiki to learn to manifest his memories in this place – a form of lucid dreaming performed during meditation. It's not as though his inner world is dominated by turmoil, though that may be as it seems. Instead one could see its refusal to take a form passively to be acceptance of himself as being the only source of power. There is no spirit guide who wants him to swim up a waterfall to become a dragon, there is no legendary monk who wishes to have him meditate on the peak of a mountain for fifty years.

The only thing inside Daiki which is going to be the source of his strength is himself and his experiences and his training. Mukyozuki is truly the only sword for him.

Zanpakutou Appearances: In its sealed form, Mukyozuki is what some might consider a Nodachi, although relative to his size, it's just a moderately long katana. The blade is an unimpressive dull grey coloration, it's almost impossible to tell where the blade is, as the shape seemed impractically flat, yet at the same time, it exudes a rustic air of experience, like a tool which was used a thousand times in another life. The handle, on the other hand, seems freshly refurbished, red spiritual sharkskin leather, wrapped up in a pure white hydrophobic cloth which refuses to stain even if one rubs dirt into it.

The design of the tsuba, like many zanpakuto, is the real point of interest. It is a black cross-shaped tsuba, almost circular but with notches carved at the corners. To either side of the sword's flats, an oddly-shaped bar in screwed into the tsuba, which extends a few inches up parallel to the blade, and wraps around the back side to form a symmetrical shape, as though attempting to contour the scabbard. The scabbard itself isn't terribly impressive, simply a leather-wrapped wooden sheath, black on the far half, brown on the half near the tsuba, and the brown half has a pair of decorative belts. It has a gold-colored latch designed to slide under the tsuba's bar and hold the sword into its sheath until he pressed the trigger-like simple mechanism with his thumb.

When Shikai is activated, Mukyozuki's blade simply changes from a dull grey to a reflective mirror-like coloration, like gazing into a precious jewel. This is the only notable change outright, though if one pays close attention to the reflection in the mirrored blade, they would notice strange differences, for instance, if they were to swing their blade downward at it, their reflection might be swinging upward at it, or maybe it would just have a slightly different hair color. Unfortunately this window doesn't offer much insight into itself, though is a mysterious function of the blade.

When he activates Bankai, the blade lights up in a reddened hue glow, and the air around him for up to a kilometer, though perhaps as little as two hundred meters, fills with a mysterious translucent haze. This haze has reflective properties, but is thin enough that it's akin to looking through a store window. The reflections, however, as with Shikai's blade, don't quite match up, and in fact have a strangely mirage-like aspect to them, like looking at discarded possibilities side by side with reality. Altogether, the haze can get very distracting, but ignoring it can prove more deadly than being distracted by it.

Zanapkutou Release Names "Reflect and Consider," Mukyozuki (無境月 Borderless Moon); Ikuma Mukizuki (異空間 無期月 Mysterious Void, Limitless Moon)

Overall Ability: Mukyozuki is a special sort of zanpakuto which gains its abilities through interactions with multi-dimensional instances of itself. Its existence neither proves nor denies the existence of parallel realities, but as a tool its functionality must be understood through the scope of multiplicity yet singularity. Functionally, its ability lies in the potential present in borrowing the properties of itself from itself. A sword which relies only on itself truly befits a man who relies only on himself. If a keyword were to be placed to describe its ability it would be 'Refraction', though it's applied through a dimensional scope, and thusly it could also be viewed as 'Invasion'.

To wit, there are two leading theories with how this ability might function. One presumes the existence of multiple parallel dimensions at all times to begin with, while the other does not. The former is the most simplistic understanding, the sword simply resonates with itself between dimensions for a variety of purposes, slipping in between dimensional walls where needed to synergize with oneself actoss dimensions. Of course, this approach would suppose that there existed subtle, yet practical enough differences between parallel dimensions to draw benefits from them, such as the position of one's arms when striking. This would also bespeak a highly intelligent zanpakuto capable of tracking all instances of itself and thr varioud Daikis who brandish it between dimensions in real-time.

The more realistic approach is simply that this zanpakuto generates numerous pocket dimensions containing nothing but itself, emptily mirroring what Daiki does while its active, and only diverging slightly for utility purposes. This simply relegates the ability to something more tool-like and less living, less thinking. A convenient program of weaponry supplementing weaponry, with nothing particularly advanced going on. In either situation, the ability lends itself to itself for the utmost internal synergy.


Shikai Overall Ability: Mukyozuki's Shikai ability is simplistic in practice, no matter how convoluted it may appear in theory. Regardless of whether it's reaching between dimensions to synergize with itself, or is simply keeping myriad copies of itself tucked away in generated pocket space, the fundamental function of this ability is that there is some way that his blade is drawing utility from 'more of itself'.

There's a few ways this manifests, and to head this off, we'll talk about the most-used version from his standpoint: Sporadic and indirect multiplicity of attacks. It might be better to think of it as sword-cloning, except only the blades ever seem to dip out from wherever they're from. These blades are always being swung with the same offensive stat which Daiki is using, and always at the same speed, however, their point of origin differs somewhat. It's never from a point of origin which he couldn't have moved to in some dimension, though this mostly prevents him from using 'inside the victim' as a point of origin. In fact, it also can't originate from too far away from him either, with a range limit somewhere close to 50 yards, if he feels so compelled to strike from afar.

The main kicker and function of this particular utility, is that his blade seems to know when to attack and defend even when he's not particularly up to speed on it. While he can certainly order it around personally to act as he wills, there are some actions it takes which surprise even him. It functions with his speed as usual, but just so happens to act according to its own Energy Sensory Stat which is set to a flat 200, and only while Shikai is active, allowing it to protect him from sneak attacks, somewhat.

Otherwise, this can decrease Battle Analysis and adjacent skills used against him by one rank, since not even he's wholly aware of where he's going to attack from at all times. This particular advantage can be negated by the opponent thinking of Daiki and Mukyozuki as two separate entities working in tandem. Additionally, anybody with 50 senses can hear when one of his blades is attacking from nearby, as it makes a noise akin to a marble being dropped into a puddle as it enters into this reality, and no more than two additional blades are able to be brought into this world at once, though they are not limited to simple movements at all.

The secondary embodiment of this ability is a less overt utility, with minimal visual cues if any. Namely, the ability to draw on the properties of the blade's own copies, similar to stacking its own power on top of itself to enhance its own qualities. This essentially reinforces it in one way or another, making the steel harder, the blade sharper, that kind of thing. This allows him to concentrate in order to count his Offensive Stat as +50% boosted for the sake of certain actions, particularly Defensive Cutting, Material Cutting, and Blocking, though not for the purpose of breaking through defenses. Defensive Cutting essentially means slashing a projectile to split it around himself to bypass the harm it can cause. Material Cutting can be considered the same thing but is geared towards cutting unattended inanimate objects to get them out of the way. Blocking is basically when he's using his sword's durability to interfere with an attack, like Defensive Cutting without the cutting. He can only do one of these three things at a time, and while concentrated like this, his auto-combat features fade out, leaving only himself and his sword, both at their most refined.

Essentially, it makes it easier for him to overwhelm incoming attacks using OS alone, helps him cut through obstacles more easily, or makes it more difficult for him to be overwhelmed by OS alone. However, in no case will this help him damage the opponent directly, such as cutting through Hierro or breaching a personal Bakudo Barrier. When it's at the cost if its versatility, Mukyozuki is a bit skittish about this particular tactic, but presuming he's not using it out of spite or something, he usually doesn't get into any arguments.

Bankai Overall Ability: A truly bizarre phenonemon originates from his blade as Ikuma Mukizuki is activated. A haze of reflective mist fills the air, or rather, a seeming reflective mist fills the air. When examined, minor differences can be detected in the haze's image. The haze is a means by which one can view multiple dimensions at once. Whether this is gazing into actual instances or whether these dimensions are created as simulations of the battle at hand, either way, these visualizations are more or less variations of how the battle could be taking place. It is neither foresight, nor a window into the past, but a representation of what could be right now were the circumstances slightly altered.

His Bankai's ability is similar to his Shikai's ability, but functions on the broader scope of the battle at hand. He can borrow aspects and properties of the other dimensions in order to affect his current fight in a way similar to how he uses his Shikai. This allows him to cause certain circumstances to phase shift into his current reality in order for himself or his opponent to interact with them. The different instances don't necessarily interact with one another automatically across dimensions, so cutting an opponent from another dimension doesn't affect their primary opponent, however it pays to be aware of the various happenings in the mist.

By borrowing the properties of battle from a parallel dimension is becomes possible to change the playing field to some extent. Specifically this is a give and take from another dimension, shifting one part of the terrain and battlefield with the same version of another. Interestingly it is possible to do this with people as well, however, it should be noted that a soul remains in the dimension it's inherent to, and thusly when he swaps the positions and bodies of his allies and enemies, it is experienced as a sort of jolt wherein they are shunted to another position. This is treated as a special flash step with a set Speed stat of 2000, and it can be done once every 3 posts to other targets, and once every 2 posts for Daiki alone, cooldowns applying separately to individuals.

With 200 in Healing Expertise, this ability can be used to heal wounds by trading off injuries from this dimension to an alternate one. On a given post he can divert one injury this way, either from himself or from an ally. With two-class superiority, he can use this same property to inflict injuries, though it is limited to major wounds at most in both cases – destroyed organs and severed limbs are neither fixable nor causable in this manner. Furthermore, if the target it presently using their racial release, he is restricted further to causing minor wounds. If causing injury to an opponent at all is impossible then this ability can't function to harm.

With player permission it is possible to borrow certain properties from alternate dimensional variants of the battle, allowing him to trade in 'certain actions being taken'. For instance, he can draw from the mist an instance of an ally who was already using his Racial Release, or draw forth a version of the opponent who was attacking an ally whose position was swapped in their dimension, causing them to miss. If this happens, the parameters of the battle are shifted appropriately, for instance, in the former case, the ally's Reiatsu would be changed. If this ability benefits an ally and detriments an enemy, then both the ally's and the opponent's permission are required to use this. This does shares individual cooldowns with the position swap feature (since it's functionally the same thing), and permission is needed each time. Heavy moderator scrutiny is recommended during adventures.

While Ikuma Mukizuki is active, Daiki benefits from enhanced cross-dimensional auto combat. Clones of himself will periodically dip into the battle to strike at his opponents of their own accord, capable of using sword techniques he knows at the skill level he knows it, up to 5 additional instances at any one time usually for no more than the duration of a post each. His zanpakuto can also use its automatic defensive capabilities with a flat Energy Sensory stat of 300 to protect him from indirect and sneak attacks, though it will not step in to stop a direct assault. While the audio cues are removed from this level of the ability, he cannot draw from any dimension not currently represented in the mist.

Opponents fighting him with his Bankai active will be suffering a 2 point penalty to Battle Analysis and adjacent skills used to predict his actions in any given moment, since he is not wholly in charge of when he attacks. This penalty is negated for targets who are splitting their focus between Daiki and the reflections in the mist.



Zanpakuto Techniques:
Name: Kumu Iru (汲む要 approx 'Draw What's Needed')
Description: A simple refocusing technique used during shikai, not necessarily a trick uninherent to the ability it holds, but essentially shifting his limits. By stowing his Mukyozuki in shikai state into its sheath, he becomes capable of drawing out more alternate versions of his sword to attack with. His limit rises from two additional blades at a time, to a whopping five at a time, plus an additional one per Class superior to 4 he is (up a total of 9 at class 0). These swords are able to be used as the mediums for sword techniques he knows, and he uses his Swordsmanship skill to control them.

Drawbacks: While this is active, he cannot draw his Mukyozuki out of its sheath, as the lock will not disengage until the extradimensional variants are all dismissed. The copies of the blades are 100% manually controlled in this state, and thusly he will not benefit from his Zanpakuto's auto-combat, including its 200 Energy Sensory for auto-defense, and the penalty conferred against Battle Analysis. Even though he is using up to 5 or more swords this way, he can only use one Sword Technique through them at a time. Can't use sword techniques that require any part of the sword other than the blade to strike through this technique.


Name: Chichi Sasshou (遅々殺傷 "Tardy Bloodshed")
Description: A strange application of his shikai's properties, which focuses them internally for an attack or two. In simplest terms it seeks to divert damage from 'directly on himself' and spread it across his various parallel selves, essentially splitting the damage innumerable ways to the point where it doesn't even register. Functionally, it allows him to survive injuries, even fairly devastating ones, without needed to resort to first aid in the middle of combat. It's also functional in staving off poison symptoms, and even merely 'pain'.

Drawbacks: This diversion of damage will only last until his release ceases being activated, causing all damage he split off of himself in this manner to reform onto him at the same time. While this technique is active, healing techniques and abilities will not fix the injuries which are separated. In order for this technique to take effect he must still be alive and conscious after sustaining the injury, so it doesn't function against lethal injuries or attacks which put him under. If used against techniques or abilities of a higher class than himself, he only reduces the injury by an amount equal to his class as opposed to reducing it to negligible damage. This technique is unusable unless he has 100 SP Allocated to Healing Expertise.


Name: Tsubame Gaeshi (燕返し Swallow Reversal)
Description: A fairly basic sword technique which doesn't really do anything special with his Shikai, but entails utilizing the cross dimensional qualities of his sword to strike three times simultaneously. The only real mastery this technique shows is utilizing a forked nexus of alternate dimensions at the exact moment of striking to create separate attacks originating from roughly the same point, making it appear that his attacks multiplied mid-flight, or that one single attack flew twice. The real special attribute this technique is that it can be stacked on top of another sword technique, multiplying the number of attacks he's creating by three. This technique is named after a fun little sword technique he'd created in his human lifetime, though only unconsciously so.

Drawbacks: Triples the Reiatsu cost of any sword technique he is multiplying, if it has one. Zanpakuto techniques are not qualified to be used alongside this technique. Once per post.


Name: Sakubou (朔望 "New Moon, Full Moon")
Description: A defensive bankai technique which harnesses his attunement to multiple dimensions to sidestep without sidestepping, a phase shift technique. It's reserved for emergencies only, since it's not exactly suited to his particular limitations, but essentially he slides through the mist in order to avoid an attack, transferring himself into another dimension for a brief period. This poses its own set of dangers, but for the most part a few seconds is fine, and helps him dodge. Its primary strength is that thanks to the mist's aesthetic, it's difficult to notice him phase shifting, as its only visual cue is that it turns him translucent, which could reasonably just be a trick of the fog.

Drawbacks: He can use this a total of three times in a given day. Each time it gets more and more difficult to return properly, and thusly any attempts beyond the third are possible in a true pinch, but can rightly result in disaster, thusly the option to use it beyond the third time in a day is restricted to Adventures and Quests only. If his bankai gets sealed up while he's phase shifted like this, he'll be trapped in a strange dimension, unable to return. He cannot maintain a phase shift for longer than the duration of the same post that he started it, and there must be at least one post of cooldown between uses. Each use costs 100 Reiatsu.


Name: Hashikara: Mugen (端から: 無限 expression meaning "One and All: Limitless")
Description: A technique utilizing the Dimensional Refraction Phenomenon of Ikuma Mukizuki's Mist to it's fullest, part of the Hashikara duo. It is the internal counterpart which draws upon the countless blade reflected through the mist. In order to use this, he must sheathe the blade for a post while charging up, during which time the feintly shown images of Ikuma Mukizuki will flow through the mist and fall into the sheathe just as the original blade did. Each time this happens, his blade will become charged with the power of another blade from across the dimensional barrier, until all the power is collected into the blade. Once charged up, the mist will retreat into the sword's sheath as well, like being vacuumed up, before he can unleash a single tremendous iai-style drawing slash. For the duration and purpose of this single slash and no further, his Offensive Stat will be multiplied by 3, turning this into an absolutely devastating blow the likes of which would he difficult to match even for the strongest opponents in all the spirit world.

The goal of this slash is to end a fight, but if it fails to, the lingering power built up will allow for a second strike to be performed at double his OS, with the same restriction. However, performing that second slash is extraordinarily taxing, and thusly shouldn't be done lightly, despite it being weaker.

Drawbacks: Requires one post dedicated to doing nothing but charging. When unleashed, he only gets that first chance to strike at full power, which means it shouldn't be used if he can't guarantee a hit. If he takes the second swing he will exhaust himself to the point of passing out for at least three posts. Even if he doesn't, his bankai will seal up after using this attack, requiring time dedicated to re-activation. He can only use a Hashikara technique once per fight, and doing such more than once per thread or adventure will result in noticeable damage to his body, even if he used two different Hashikara techniques.


Name: Hashikara: Musuu (端から: 無数 expression meaning "One and All: Countless")
Description: ] A technique utilizing the Dimensional Refraction Phenomenon of Ikuma Mukizuki's Mist to it's fullest, part of the Hashikara duo. This is the external version, which brings forth all of the possible slashes into one reality. It's purpose is able to be likened to attack like Senbonzakura or the Judgement Cut End, an absolute sea of slashes which would require surreal skill to be avoided or blocked. To use this technique requires him to sheath his blade, and spend a post charging.

The key difference in this technique is that instead of synchronizing the blades into his own, he is synchronizing the blades in the other dimensions, and thusly the warning sign for this is that the reflections of Daiki in the mist are also sheathing their swords, instead of disappearing to join their image to his. Once primed, he will unleash a single iai-style draw cut, which can be delivered directly to a foe or simply used as a signal to attack. From there on, the battlefield becomes a veritable sea of blades, shades of Daiki phasing into and out of reality to deliver cuts and bail out. One giant, synchronized attack sequence, leaving his enemies shredded to bits.

Attacks will spew out continually in this manner for two posts, before the mist fades out as if the slashes themselves blew it away.

Drawbacks: Requires a full post dedicated to nothing but charging. Once unleashed, he doesn't have much control over where the slashes wind up or where they're aimed, though most of them wind up in the vicinity of the enemy. They each carry roughly a third of his Offensive Stat, which makes this weaker to use, but the number can make up for it. He cannot stop this attack prematurely once it begins, and the torrent of blades is a map hazard for the full two posts once unleashed, although it can be forced to end prematurely from an outside source if somebody breaks through the technique. His bankai will seal up after using this attack, requiring time dedicated to re-activation. He can only use a Hashikara technique once per fight, and doing such more than once per thread or adventure will result in noticeable damage to his body, even if he used two different Hashikara techniques.

Mask Appearance:

SPOILER: Click to show

{Worn}

His vizard mask is a bit strange in that it doesn't have eyes, in lieu of a visor-type display. It has all the basic qualifiers for a hollow mask, barring this: Bone-white as its base coloration, with defined, prominent teeth as a dividing feature. The mask is segmented into a top, which covers from over his nose to the top of his head, well past his hairline; the teeth, which mostly cover where his mouth would be and a good bit into his cheeks, and the bottom which covers from below his teeth to under his chin.

The top segment is the most exotically detailed, sporting a pair of katana-like curved horns from symmetrical sides of his forehead, and in lieu of the eye holes which typically appear on hollow masks, the face appears to be flat with a crimson design painted on in a manner similar to calligraphy. However, the design doesn't say anything in particular, and is not actually paint. It lights up when he's powering up or getting serious, and otherwise functions like a tactical visor, allowing him to see through it safely. The top segment also covers his ears, but doesn't really muffle sounds or anything.

The teeth are a little different from the 'stock' hollow teeth one comes to expect from the lower tier mobs. It's a short pair of parallel rows of teeth, ended on either side by symmetrical upward-curve tusks which are only around twice as long as the teeth. The rest of the 'teeth' segment is a grinning shape reminiscent of upward curled lips, though it's actually colored pinkish red and connects to the teeth in a way that suggests it actually represents gums, really bringing to life a demonic grin.

The bottom segment is largely the least interesting portion. It possesses a slightly rounded chin, which might be called sharp if it wasn't positioned between two outward-jutting protrusions on either side of the jawline. Otherwise, the bottom segment hugs his jaw quite nicely.

When putting the mask on purposefully, dark energy forms sections of the mask which form together like a mechanical series of interlocking puzzle pieces, which form a frame around his face before expanding inward as a shadow before filling in with color, a red glint from the design on the top section first, followed by the bone white and finally the reddish grin around the teeth.

Ressurection Appearance: While undergoing the Vizard Ressurection, the current concept design (which is not necessarily a finalized idea by any stretch) is essentially based on a mountain oni. His body will swell up to around twice its proportions isometrically, and his skin will turn a shiny red coloration. His mask will wrap around his entire head, leaving only his dreadlock ponytail hanging out the back, and the mouth part will operate more naturally.

The markings on the front will animate, acting like eyes and a nose as they slide across the front like a neon display. Reiatsu will pour like steam from his mouth as he breathes. The aura emanating from thus form will be tremendously fightening as every bulging crimson muscle seems to act like a different sensory organ, twitching and rolling as though he can see and smell through them. The most disconcerting fact of all, though, is the sheer gripping strength he places on his own zanpakuto in this mode, causing a metalic creaking to drone.

When activating Vizard Resurrection, he would have to strain for a few moments, coaxing out an immense amount of effort (think 'going Super Saiyan') practically dragging out his inner hollow kicking and screaming. At its climax, he would cough up what appears to be blood, but what swells into a crimson globule that engulfs his entire body and then keeps growing. It would eventually swell to roughly proper size for his Resurrection form, before the surplus flowed away like a shower of blood, leaving only a monstrous Daiki at full power in its wake.

Ressurection Powers: The power theme for Daiki's Vizard Ressurection is 'Sheer Effort' wherein the effort he is putting in fuels supernatural capabilities. As opposed to self-bolstering as it would imply, it's simply modifying the detriments of such effort into a proper weapon. Thusly the true theme is 'Explosive Effort'.

Name: Rikisaku: Kansetsu (力作: 汗血 lit "Work of Great Effort: Sweat and Blood")
Description: The crimson shell which encases his form is constantly leaking a thin vapor which is reminiscent of the haze which his Bankai produces, albeit a reddish coloration. This is, in truth, his sweat which has been heavily modified by his Ressurection form to be a chemically-altered volatile substance. The sweat is more or less a haze field that absorbs reiatsu from every source around him, using it to enhance its volatility. By gritting his teeth until the form sparks from the tensile pressure, the mist will detonate violently, growing more powerful the more reiatsu was absorbed. The shell protects him from the explosion's damage up to a certain point, but those around him aren't as lucky, probably.

Weaknesses: The strength of this explosion starts with his Reiatsu Strength as its baseline, but grows stronger for every point of reiatsu it consumes from incoming Reiatsu attacks (1:1). It is an exception to the 3x Reiatsu Strength cap, scaling instead up to 3x his Physical Strength amount, but if the power goes over 3x Reiatsu Strength, as it is a physical shockwave-type explosion, it will cause him some recoil damage as well. If a reiatsu attack would push it over 3x his Strength, the mist detonates automatically, whether or not the intended target is in the blast radius. The same thing happens when exposed to any source of fire, regardless of how small. The mist is constantly leaking from him and drains 50 reiatsu from him for every post it is active, though that only matters when the form ends.


Name: Rikisaku: Nyuusan Hakou (力作: 乳酸発酵 lit "Work of Great Effort: Lactic Acid Fermentation")
Description: A technique which harnesses the buildup of lactic acid in the muscles during aerobic and anaerobic exercise, or more particularly, during intense physical effort. It is largely responsible for muscle fatigue and soreness, and thusly for the degradation of performance under physical stress over time. Specifically, this technique extracts the lactic acid from his body and swiftly causes it to degenerate, breaking it down and altering it inside the crimson shell. This fermentation causes gas to form, allowing for him to build up pressure from sheer effort.

On any given post while in Vizard Ressurection form, Daiki can release a powerful shockwave using sheer effort, to one of two effects. The first effect is allowing himself to move at his Offensive Stat as a speed stat for a single step, basically a supercharged Hoho for a lumbering giant. The second effect is a basic attack, exerting his full Strength from any point in his body, including places that are not necessarily spots one can strike with in most circumstances, such as his mid-back.

Weaknesses: One shockwave per post. If used as a Hoho, it carries the inherent risks of such speed without such reflexes.


Other Techniques:

[Daiki]

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-History-

Birthplace: Inland Territories, Mozambique, Africa

Current Residence: East Rukon District 61 – Seireitei, Shino Academy Dorms

Memorable Figures: 'Musashi' - A name he recalls for only a brief instant before finding his way to Soul Society. His fate and that of this Musashi were deeply entangled at one point or another, he thinks.

Kimura Shingen - Owner of Kimura Enterprises, a small spice trading company in the East Rukon Suburbs. A highly belligerent old man, and a retired shinigami. Acted like an abusive father figure to Daiki, giving him his name by accident, teaching him a good deal about the world and helping him refresh himself on combat training, and eventually convincing him to go join Shino Academy.

History:

SPOILER: Click to show

{A Study in Syncretism - A Surprisingly Long And Complex Life}Deep in the inner forests of Mozambique there existed a tribe of indigenous peoples called the Yao. Born amongst this tribe was a male who was given a name of his own, but what this name was hardly mattered. What did matter instead was he was reaching early adolescence right around the time Mozambique tribes were coming into first contact with the Portuguese. Back then slavery was a real threat the white man posed, but the indigionous peoples were more or less used to it as a trade agreement. At the time, a war between the Yao and the coastal tribesmen had broken out, resulting in this young man being brought to a battle to test his skills.

He was captured, because he was weak. It was a matter of course that he would be made to work for the betterment of the coastal tribes. However, the Portugeuse merchants had other ideas, and he wound up chained to a bench in the hollow of a large ship. How long it had been before he saw sunlight again was unclear, but be it weeks or even months, he found himself amidst a sea of oddly colored people, whose faces were pale white or scorched red as a campfire.

He was bright, and while on the ship had picked up a little bit of Portuguese. Not enough to understand his circumstances, but enough that he was afraid anyways. In the end, he was purchased by a priest of some sort, an Italian man by the name of Alessandro. This man was a traveling preacher, a man who saught to bring his religion to peoples who existed outside the white man's lands. Under this man, did the young adolescent Yao tribesman begin learning the white man's tongue, Italian and Portuguese, as well as Spanish and French and even English to some degree. In fact, he learned the word of God in many languages, because as Alessandro traveled, he strove to ensure his disciples could spread the word as well.

To that end, he was given a name to work with and respond to, Isaque, and rather than the overtly malicious and abusive slave relationships depicted in media outlets, Isaque was treated like a brother under God by Alessandro. The two of them were practically joined at the hip for years, and while he sometimes suffered a cruel reminder of his place in the brotherhood, he took his life in stride. The word of God kept his temperament steady, his ethics true, and his purpose righteous, or at least that's what he believed and would tell people.

His time spent as a loyal servant to a Jesuit Itinerant Preacher granted him the opportunity to experience many cultures around the world, though never for long, it seemed. By becoming worldly he gained knowledge, and Alessandro preached to him that knowledge and wisdom was strength in its own right. It was not long yet felt like a lifetime all the same, before the Italian Jesuit took his business to Japan to engage in diplomatic matters.

Compared to the white man's lands, Isaque found the Japanese island, the culture he witness and even the architecture in its cities to be otherworldly, enchanting beyond compare. He studied hard to try and understand the new language at that time, and though their time was short there, he was introduced on that first visit to Japan to some key players in his life story. One young nobleman was so intrigued by Isaque that he gave the black man some money upon meeting him for the first time.

This young noble's uncle, a daimyō by the name of Nobunaga, found novelty in the fact that he was black as well, believing at first that he was simply dyed with ink, and having him strip naked and scrub himself clean. His humility and humbleness in this situation, his size and build, alongside the fact that he proved himself to be truly a colored man earned him a spot of favor from the daimyō. There was an offer to purchase him on the spot, but Alessandro didn't so easily trade a brother under God for coin, while he was technically property that could be sold, he was a lot more similar to a pet than a piece of merchandise.

They left after their diplomatic matters were resolved, yet Isaque's heart seemed to be left behind. He'd found a place he truly longed to experience to the fullest, perhaps even build a life there. It was another year or two before he was to return, this time with the blessing of Alessandro and God himself to carry out a life befitting a christian man in Japan. Rather than allowing him to be bought, Alessandro gave Isaque his freedom, and allowed him to stay with Nobunaga, who was delighted by the offer, especially when he found out that Isaque had picked up the Japanese language to such a degree in so little time.

Though he had a name and gladly shared it, the locals had a hard time pronouncing or transcribing it, and thusly Isaque evolved into a more localized Yasuke. Yasuke was taken into the house of the Oda clan as Nobunaga's personal retainer. He was given a ceremonial katana and taught in the ways of combat. There were those who were offended by the passing of such traditions, and the bestowal of these kinds of honors to some dark-skinned novelty from across the seas.

Yasuke was unable to see the ugliness of the Japanese people and their xenophobic tendencies, because for every cynic who considered him a demon who belonged in a cave, there seemed to be a child who was delighted to see such a big man that couldn't even fit in a doorway without ducking his head. All around him, all seasons of every year, there was beauty and cheer. He was the personal weapon bearer for Nobunaga, who held onto the daimyō's trusted blade during diplomatic occasions where a blade on the hip would have been considered a threat.

Because he was strong and wise, the blade could be in no more trustworthy of hands. Indeed Yasuke carried out his duties attentively and with the pleasure of a man who lived in his own personal heaven. There were many upsides to being Nobunaga's lapdog, so to speak, while the downsides barely registered to him. For every strange request of himself, there was some manner of reward. Sometimes Nobunaga would have one of his concubines see if they could pleasure him, other times he was given poetry to read alloud for the amazement of the dinner guests.

Indeed his years were spent in wonderment. But not all stories have happy endings. Nobunaga Oda was ruthless Daimyō, one who nearly united Japan by force. Yet ultimately, a betrayal from his trusted advisor Akechi Mitsuhide. Yasuke fought valiantly by his lord's side, but it was ultimately for naught, and he watched as Nobunaga was forced to commit seppuku. Because he was weak, Nobunaga perished and he was captured.

It was unfortunate, but at the time, he was given cruel mercy by Akechi. His skin was too dark to be human, he was told, and thusly he was an animal, and didn't deserve to be killed. Instead he was sent to the Christian Church in Kyoto, the Nanbanji. It was here where he began to question his faith: Would a good God allow a man so cruel to kill his lord and make a mockery of his retainer's humanity? Was there no justice to be found? Perhaps there was, one day, but he wouldn't let himself see it, because that beauty in the world, his own personal heaven, had turned into a hell following Honnō-ji.

He took what he had left, his ceremonial katana and the clothes on his back, and left the church only a few months later. He was a free man after all, the church respected the Italian Jesuit's decision to let Yasuke be free. He decided to live out the remainder of his days in the mountains, where he meditated on the meaning of strength. Some of the strongest foes he faced could not lift him, but had technique which he could not parallel.

It was a path to crawl back up to Heaven after he'd been cast from paradise. Yasuke no longer had a name, nobody who respected him, nobody to protect. It was too late for any of that. All he had was his body and his blade. So he trained, in hopes that one day, he could hope to earn back his pride. Of course, it wasn't all mountains all the time. The tale of a stone giant in the mountains made its way around and he found himself being hired for mercenary work every so often.

Through rigorous, bordering on religious training, and the experience of slaying those who would harm his clients he would grow strong. Yet no amount of strength could bring his happiness back. No, rather than finding his beautiful Japan once more, The Stone Giant was simply surviving a wasteland where the blade was law and coin flowed like blood. The stronger he grew, the more certain he was that he would never be satisfied.

Eventually he retired from that life, mercenary work ill befitting an outsider who saught a beauty once held in his eye that fell out with the last of his tears. An idea still swirled around in his head, this cursed idea that maybe he just still wasn't strong enough. Maybe if he got a little stronger. Maybe a little more.

Then one day, some children watched him practice. He was a man of considerable size, and his skill with a blade was quite noteable. Despite his foreign-ness and exotic appearance, the children asked him to teach them how to use a sword. He saw a business opportunity, much like Alessandro used to talk about, so he opened a dojo using the earnings from his mercenary work. The dojo which originally taught Ganryu (Large Rock-style) Kenjutsu, a well-respected style even to the day.

After this, the rumors surrounding his exploits took on a life of their own, perhaps owing to the success of his style. According to legend he became a major key player in religion and politics, and his very skill with a sword surpassed the realm of man and into the sort of bladework expected from divinities. He developed a technique which surpassed the physically feasible, all while apparently shrinking six inches to a foot and becoming a light-skinned, natural-born extremely young Japanese man. Of course, over several hundred years it's hard to keep the details straight, expecially considering the xenophobic tendencies at the time. He was supposedly killed early on by Miyamoto Musashi, a legendary trickster of a samurai who defied tradition and honor in favor of victory, however, his actual death date falls far and away from the estimated date of their duel.

In fact, many of his exploits were dramatized under the false name of Sasaki Kojiro, and he owes this to the ramblings of a failed student of his, who grew up to become a storyteller. These stories tended to include strange elements such as 'Kojiro' fending off three armed men at once with a tessen. All things considered, he might have been able to do it, but The Stone Giant just wanted a peaceful life.

There was a truth to his tales however, the one fact he couldn't deny. During his years in the mountains and into his first years running a dojo, he developed a particular grudge against a crafty swallow, who would always fly in and avoid his traps and steal some rice during his mealtimes. Having gotten away too often, it lead the man who would be known as Kojiro to try and cut the bird down.

Day after day would he aim his slash to clip the bird's wings. Yet no matter which angle his blade approached from, the bird would juke him nigh effortlessly. Swing as he might and strike as he may, he may as well be carving a statue out of the air. One day, he got close, much closer than ever before; and then the next day, it was an even closer call. His blade work was being honed beyond mortal limits, into a legendary art developed solely out of spite for a lone swallow.

One day his blade struck true, and his technique was perfected, a pair of strikes from two angles in such quick succession that it could cut down a bird mid-flight, the Turning Swallow Cut (燕返し Tsubame Gaeshi). It was a truly beautiful technique, worthy of the legends, however, he rarely used it after he developed it. In fact he only ever used it one single time in a fight since then, and it was during his climactic fight against Musashi Miyamoto.

There was a time when he had been coaxed into challenging Musashi but he lacked the desire to fight at that time and thus declined. The result was his student, dejected and infuriated by the disappointment, killing off his fabled Kojiro in a cheap fight against Musashi, ending the storyline with a pathetic rib-shattering finish in which Musashi cheats by using an oversized weapon with reach just a little outside of what Kojiro's 'laundry-pole-like' notachi possessed to bypass his ultimate technique.

Thus ended the embellishments.

The truth of the matter is far more typical and boring. After giving Ganryu Kenjutsu a good foundation, the Stone Giant went back to living as a hermit in the mountains. He practiced religiously with a blade until he felt himself come to a new milestone. Many times did he come from the mountains, and challenge a worthy opponent to a fight.

Many times did he win. Until he realized just how hollow the pursuit of strength is. In the time he'd spent training, the one legendary swordmaster known as Musashi Miyamoto had become a philosopher who'd penned a piece of literature which shook the dark-skinned sword sage to his core. Once again had wisdom been brought to the fore of his mind, and he understood just how little he'd achieved in his lifetime.

The name Sasaki Kojiro was famed at the time, the name of a dead man who once brandished a sword the length of a drying pole with the finesse a master might handle a blade shorter than a katana. This was the final name he'd adopted in his lifetime, around 20 years or so after he'd allegedly died. Of course, the people who met him knew it was just a nickname. To take on such a name was to bring trouble, and it was at this era of his life, in his 80s that he was finally getting into the sorts of fights he allegedly got into in legend.

The name Kojiro brought forth strong people, knowledgeable people, skilled people, all seeking to erase a name from history once and for all. They weren't ready for a man whose body may as well have been stone, and whose blade was as long as they were tall. Even as his hair turned grey and his skin got ashy and uncomfortable to live in, his strength never once failed him. Through his fights did he gain experience, and livelihood, and knowledge. It was... fun.

Of course he knew his days were numbered as his bones continued to ache under the stress of his fights. He spent his final years seeking the man who was said to kill him, a man who went on to become a philosopher, a sword saint who surpassed mankind long ago just like him. Years went by when he heard an innocent rumor, a mountain where it was said the dead fear to tread, the demons fear to look upon, and even death himself never returns. It was alleged by some brave few that a lone man sat in a cave near the peak, waiting for death, lamenting of those who'd failed to take him because his sword was too much for them.

Kojiro knew who this man was, and understood for a brief instant his purpose in life. Sasaki Kojiro existed to fight Miyamoto Musashi to the death. The reason he'd come all this way, and lived for so many years, was because he needed to meet his destiny. So he saught that mountain, climbed the sheer cliffs and found a man who sat meditating in a cave, muttering to himself dryly about wishing to meet 'that one person'.

"Is it me you seek, Musashi Miyamoto?" he asked his destined rival. The sound of his voice shook the younger yet still quite elderly swordmaster for a moment, who snapped to his senses. Fear filled him, dread even, but then acceptance washed over his face, as he nodded. "It would seem you're thirty years too late for our battle, Sasaki-kun," the asian man chuckled.

The african samurai would chuckle himself, "Well, I had to give you some time to prepare. After all it was 10 years too early for you to defeat me back in the day."

A little bit of banter to acknowledge the occasion. On this day, a legend would die.

The two old men were quite the experienced veterans, understanding the ebb and flow of battle more than anyone else in the world. On this day, Kojiro's – no Yasuke's – no; Isaque's blood ran hot with the flames of passion. This fierce battle was something the likes of words would fail to do justice, the likes of eyes could not truly perceive, a truly mindboggling display of swords clashing against one-another.

It was in this fight in which Musashi finally reached the enlightenment he saught, that void which would grant him the highest level of swordmastery possible. And it was in this fight that Sasaki Kojiro clipped the wings of his second swallow. The Tsubame Gaeshi was the final strike which finished off the legendary sword saint, and in that moment, there was a surge of satisfaction which could be called many good things, but perhaps most importantly to Isaque, in his final words: "I've finally climbed back to Heaven."

His death at age 97 was due to old age paired with the exhaustion and bodily stress of his final fight with Musashi Miyamoto. The fight which happened on that day was nothing short of legendary, and yet not a soul had been around to witness it.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Centurian Strife - A Surprisingly Drab Afterlife}When you're dead, it's a very strange experience. There are many who die in battle, it's a common occurrence, to put it playfully. It can be said that a shinigami posted in a warzone will reach purification numbers joked about in the handbook. But in a spiritual dead zone like where the man known by so many names throughout his life, it wasn't so quick. For years and years, a mortal man awaited death here, and slew dozens, if not hundreds of shinigami. There was no malice in his heart, no ill will, but his only promise was to die in battle. To challenge death itself was presumed to the greatest task given to any artisan, any person who lived and breathed competition.

So imagine the surprise when that man who challenged death so often was slain by an even older, even more mysterious man. Truly bizarre how a man had travelled across the world, across the seas, lived so many lives in so many cultures, reached the zenith of his art, only to finally seek his death at the hands of a man who was seeking his own death. The two had perished, one in the battle itself, the other nary even a minute later from the strain on his old withered body.

When you die, you become a soul, and as a soul you wander the world aimlessly until a strange god come from the next world and takes you away. There are some few who hold attachments to this mortal plane, something important to them personally. Those are the sort who are bound tightly to one spot, and have the hardest time fleeing, the most likely to become hollows.

This particular circumstance was strange. The ghost of one who was called Musashi, was tethered to a place he had no attachment to other than having spent so long there awaiting his death, while the ghost of one once called Kojiro was not tethered to this place by his soul chain, but considered this place to represent heaven. Of course, there was a terrible conflict of faith because of how the cycle of souls functions in comparison to the way he'd learned about so many years ago, but all things considered, he felt the finality of simply meditating and looking back on his life was a good way to go about it.

Musashi was good company for the few weeks that they associated with one-another. Of course, though the area they shared the mountain cave as their final resting place was a cursed land which even gods and demons feared to tread, they were a pair of very powerful spiritual beacons. So while the shinigami had the conscious choice to avoid that particular line of exploration, there was only a matter of time before the feral and hungry beasts that prowled for souls to feast upon would come crawling into the area looking for a easy, nutritious meal.

Back when they were alive, Musashi and Kojiro could have cut down these hungry spirits even as they were blind to their physical presence. Yet as they attacked the mountain cave, they both lacked a sword to fight with, unable to interact with the physical world primarily due to a lack of practice. Kojiro had always been a self-sacrificing sort of guy, and was ready to throw himself into the jaws of death to protect his afterlife buddy.

It was then that he realized that he was back at his physical prime as a spirit, such was the strength of his soul. Though he could not finish them off, he could fend these hollows with his bare plus soul hands. Musashi had always been more of a technical fighter, which was respectable due to how much of a challenge he offered, but it wasn't much help against what amounted to giant monsters that devoured souls.

But to be shown up so much by that guy who killed him boiled his blood, or perhaps he felt guilty. The man who might as well have been Kojiro Sasaki could not possibly grasp the fundamental truth of what happened to make Miyamoto Musashi take the actions he did on that day. He attacked a hollow, attempting to use his soul chain (which he'd discovered earlier on was very sensitive to pain) as a weapon. In terms of improvised weapons, chains pretty high on the list of good options, but not when the feedback was so intense.

That's when it happened; The hollow he attacked bit straight through it like an overzealous dog playing fetch, and used what little remained to whip him around by. The screams of pain were bloodcurdling, reminding Sasaki of his adolescent days back during the auctions, the sound of cruelty, and nothing more. Miyamoto's soul was tossed aside like a ragdoll, the remainder of his soul chain being mutilated beyond recognition. Kojiro pushed himself to his very limits to enact vengeance upon that cruel hollow that dared to inflict such savagery on a good man's soul.

But that's when it happened.

A surge of the darkest aura he'd ever felt shot through the cave like a tidal wave erupting from the walls. The surge hit like a heretofore uninvented truck, sending the dark-skinned wanderer across the cave and slamming into a wall at a speed that should have killed him, if only he could die again. The hollows found themselves in a similarly pressured position, albeit since they were inherently spiritual predators, they were used to this intensity at some points.

It took a moment for Musashi to become visible through that thick fog of energy he was exuding, but the real problem was that what was revealed thereafter... didn't really look like Musashi anymore. It had a white beak-like mask of some type of shelled substance, and was otherwise a grotesque somewhat feathery monstrosity. There was no way for Kojiro to understand what happened, other than he'd just watched what happens when a man's soul chain was destroyed. He looked like the hollows which were attacking them to some extend, but even they seemed to fear him now. The mask's beak opened wide revealing rows upon rows of razor sharp teeth, and it took a bite out of one of the hollows' faces, the one who did this to him, of course. The mask was crushed like a candy bar between the halves of musashi's new mask. Kojiro wasn't sure, but he felt a slight shift in the intensity of his power at that moment.

The other hollow tried to go for our dark-skinned hero, as he was vulnerable and weak by comparison to whatever hell had just broken loose on the other side of the cave. Which is to say, it made the mistake of turning its back on the new enemy. It lost its head, and its blood stained the walls of the cave, and Kojiro's face and body.

The first hollow retreated in shame, its ascent to power forever halted by a misjudgement, but the latter didn't dissolve as it perished, because a hollow did not purify. Musashi's hollow would look at Kojiro for what felt like an hour, as though contemplating whether or not to eat him too. Whatever may have gone through its mind, it simply began devouring the remains of the dead hollow. It wasn't a very quick eater, and the wanderer eventually sat and watched from what felt like a safe distance away. Maybe 10 minutes of this later, and the hollow had finished its meal.

After a sigh, it sat across from him. Its eyes, now visible to Kojiro, were filled with something that was hard to explain. Somewhere at a crossroads between the desperation of somebody who was starving to death, the abject horror which befitted his current bodily status, regret and pity like a man who let go too early and could never see his friend again. Kojiro didn't try to say anything to it at first, but then the hollow hissed out something to him, an innocuous question he can't even remember anymore. He can remember his answer though, whatever it was he was asked, he answered simply, 'Yes.'

With nothing more and nothing less, the hollow that was once named Musashi Miyamoto left him to solitude in the cave where they'd dueled to the death.

From then on, there was nothing. Seasons came and went, but the soul of the man who was once Kojiro Sasaki, who was once Yasuke, who was once Isaque, who was once a young tribesman in the Mozambique jungles, sat in this cave in a Japanese Mountain. Never moving, only looking back at his life with slowly fading vividness. Since that day, not one visitor had come to see him. A hundred years had past, and he could no longer remember his name. Two hundred years had passed, and he'd forgotten the faces of everyone he'd loved, respected, and admired. Three hundred years had passed, and he'd forgotten how it felt to hold a sword, how the sun felt on his face. All he could remember were a couple of folk songs from around the world which he liked.

His mind had gone from excess of solitude, and yet his spirit was resolute. The world turned without him, and that was acceptable. Even watching his body decompose in real time was a sight which he felt was valid and natural. This cave was the place which represented the final time he'd felt the catharsis of life, where his existence culminated and presented a meaningful impact to the world. The cave which hosted the greatest swordfight between a pair of not-so-special mortals, of which he was the victor. Though history would not remember it, he held onto that memory with the tightest grip he could.

It occurred to him many times how strange it was that he never had any visitors on this mountain, in this cave, when it had only taken a couple of weeks to get hunted and attacked by predatory spirits back when he first died. This musing sentiment would always last for a while, but he would always dismiss it, since no obvious answers came to mind. It wasn't until he'd spent three and a half centuries in isolation that he'd finally receive another guest.

Who it was didn't really strike him as important, he was happy to see them, however sinister he appeared. He greeted this strange man with metaphorically open arms, speaking for the first time in hundreds of years to welcome him. The man was quiet for a time, as though unable to parse how little had changed. He had this look in his eyes, a bit guilty, a bit dejected, a bit nervous.

"So what's your name, what brings you to my cave?"

"My name. It's of little consequence. I'm just a stranger by this point."

"Oh? Do I know you from somewhere? That would make you pretty old, right?"

"Not as old as you, but quite old, yes. Albeit, in the grand scheme of things even we two are infants."

"Damn. You meet people that old out there, in the world? How much has changed, I wonder? I haven't been outside in... damn, it's gotta be three hundred years?"

"Around three hundred and fifty. I've been counting, though I lost track."

"Really? Wait, so I really do know you? Or... you know me?"

"Is your mind so far gone? I apologize. I realize just how greedy I was all those years ago. Kojiro. I've come to right my wrongs."

"You want to, apologize to me? What, were you some traditionalist jackass who skimped on my serving sizes at a restaurant or something? I can't think of anybody whose done me wrong in a way that could eat at them for a hundred years, let alone three of em."

"No... I mean, yes, I want to apologize. I want to apologize and make things right. My one true destined friend."

"Friend? I didn't have very many of those either. Lords and owners, sure, maybe even bosses. But I can't even remember my friends' faces anymore."

"That's fine. You don't have to remember, I just wanted you to know, that I've come a long way since that time when you protected me, and all I did was get in the way and nearly die again."

The event he described rang a bell, but the nameless soul who vaguely recognized the title of Kojiro would only recall one instance in any semblance of clarity.

"Is that so? Well it's been so long since I've heard a good story. Please, sit down and share with me your tales."

With that invitation the visitor solemnly considered, and then acquiesced. What unfolded was an interesting tale which answered a good many of the questions that had been piling up unanswered as he sat in solitude this whole time. Some of the answers were a lot simpler than he'd imagined. This man was once a monster, and all he knew at that time was that he respected one man too much to let anybody take him away.

So he stood on the mountain roaming only to hunt, never letting a single other hollow reach that man he so respected. Yet as he fought and consumed and grew, he found that his powers were far surpassing that man he respected, or perhaps they always had for as long as he'd been a monster. Soon he gained the advantage of flight, and loomed over the mountain like a dragon, swooping down to kill interlopers and take what he wanted. There was no reason to it, simply making sure the man who stayed in the cave would find peace.

As the years went by, this man's monstrous form grew tiresome, his urge to devour was a constant mental exercise which requires a restraint. A restraint which felt a lot like a thread dangling towards humanity. This thread is ultimately what lead to him eventually driving himself utterly mad, a crisis of identity which led to him tearing the mask away from his face, no longer accepting it as his identity.

And after that he was no longer a monster. Yet he was still so very, very powerful, stronger than ever before. This chain of events got him to thinking, thinking for the first time in a long while, that he deserved to be hated for what he did. Centuries of solitude was not peace, it was torment.

So there it stood, he needed to apologize to the Nameless Spirit. He needed to apologize and make things right—

—Suddenly a sword found its way into the point where his soul chain connected to his chest. A terribly painful blow, one of the first not entirely mental feelings he'd felt in so long he couldn't help but cry out in surprise. All those years of solitude couldn't stop him, but an instant of the truest agony one could feel was enough to bring him to tears.

"To make it up to you, I've decided to make you like me," spoke that stranger with a malicious toothy grin.

The nameless spirit's mind ran a mile a minute, mostly screaming to make the pain stop. But it would find a brief moment of clarity to analyze all that story that had been told and come to a conclusion. "Musashi?" he would ask. His question caused the strange visitor's face to droop with realization at what he was doing, what he'd done. In a past life, the nameless spirit had been known by many names, lived many lives in but a single lifetime. But even as fear crept through his heart, and his soul began to congeal and erupt from his facial orifices, he wasn't entirely against the idea of living yet another one, even if it was as a monster.

It is this momentary acceptance of such a nightmarishly bad end which fuels his ultimate shame, the true origin of his inner demon.

Thankfully the day was saved by a surprise visit from an insanely powerful Shinigami, who stopped the transition process half-way – slaying the mysterious visitor with his blade of spiritual steel, and then purifying the nameless spirit with the butt-end of his sword. This wordless intrusion was the sudden end to his life on the mortal plane, both as a man, and as a ghost.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Rukon Blues - A Surprisingly Humble New Life}When one talks about the afterlife, one imagines pearly gates, fire and brimstone, drabness, nothingness, or rebirth into the same world under different circumstances. The idea of winding up in another layer of the same world using different principles is closest to the last of those afterlives, but it unfortunately didn't coincide with the particulars of any religion he'd grown up with. The fundamental structure of the cycle of souls was esoteric in comparison to the Christian and Shinto denominations he'd been exposed to in life, and seeing how his Lord Nobunaga Oda took care to burn down as many Japanese Buddhist temples as was conceivably possible in the short time they'd known eachother, it was only natural for him to have been prejudiced against the sect for the remainder of his mortal life.

To wit, his entire existence up this point had missed this possibility. In one respect, it had been so long since he'd actively practiced a faith that he couldn't remember most of the doctrines he used to follow anyways, short of being excellent to one-another and all that. On the other hand, since he'd never considered this new afterlife as a possibility even when he died and haunted a cave, he had essentially wasted several centuries of precious time allowing himself to wallow in death, not saved by his lord and savior, nor did he have anybody close to him with which to defend as an ancestral guardian spirit.

So it stood to reason that the sheer ruthless efficiency in which a man was sent to the afterlife if found to be bound to the world, and the lack of bureaucracy for when somebody got there, rendered a certain nearly four-hundred year old soul who arrived freshly to Rukongai perhaps a touch on the salty side. Which is to say, upon arrival, he spent a few days lost in the streets feeling hunger for the first time in centuries, and almost immediately resorted to banditry.

Unfortunately, the first person he attempted to rob for their food supply was a retired shinigami cutting a living in the East Rukon suburbs as a food merchant, specializing in the spice trade. An unarmed, incredibly rusty, nearly starving mountain of a man was a fairly easy target to dispatch especially with a small puff of ground up fire chilis at the merchant's disposal. The unnamed vagrant recalls the pain he suffered in that moment with shivers as it nearly ruined his once fairly good vision altogether.

Of course, the merchant was a conniving man who knew quite well what he'd done, and he further decided to charge the stranger for the spice he'd wasted on him. Of course, he couldn't pay, he had no name, letting alone money. He wasn't quite sure where he'd gotten the clothes on his back. So the merchant put him to work. Suffice it to say that if he didn't understand what it truly meant to be a slave back in life, he understood it in the years to come. What his former experience lacked in whippings and similar inhumane abuse, his new boss made up for in thrashings and pay cuts.

Lacking anywhere else to go, however, he had to stay and work. It was the only way he'd found that would actually give him access to food. Eventually the boss took to calling him Daiki, albeit it was used in the context to mean 'Big Guy', as opposed to being a proper name. The old man? His name was Kimura Shingen, and his humble spice company was known as Kimura Enterprises, despite its only enterprise being spice.

It is in a human's nature to adapt to their circumstances. If you ask a person who'd recently won the lottery and a person who'd recently had a leg amputated both to rate the satisfaction in life they have, they would have very different scores. Yet as time marches forward their circumstances simply become 'how it is' until a few years later, their scores would become similar, barring additional substantial change. When the nameless vagrant officially took on the name of Kimura Daiki, that was when things began to shift to a more tolerable pace.

His body had grown used to the work hours, his fingers understood the force needed to harvest without damaging the spices, his personality had adjusted to account for his boss's belligerence as something of a quirk as opposed to anything malicious. Daiki had been living with the boss for around three years, and over time had grown quite used to the setting. The work was hard, but the pay was good, and when his efforts actually did benefit the company, he saw it trickle down, as it was a small business. He found himself in the grasp of the capitalist model, albeit a woefully feudalistic one, and more importantly, had found himself a family. Just a grumpy old man and his dumbass adopted son, always at eachother's throats yet they couldn't bring themselves to separate.

While Daiki was never able to get the better of this old man in terms of combat, the rows they would get into were always helpful in helping him remember how to defend himself. In terms of parenting, there couldn't be a worse example of a father, but as a man, Shingen was worth respecting. Their time together was probably a little too long though.

They say that if you look into the abyss that the abyss also looks into you. As the years went by, Daiki found himself slowly becoming more and more like the old man that he was working under. Though he tried to keep his belligerence under wraps, he was becoming a bit quicker to anger, and found himself agreeing with the old man's sentiments regarding certain undesirable elements in the Soul Society. Criminals were always a problem, especially the sort who were dipping their greasy paws into the spice trade. Hypocritical as it were, Daiki agreed that people who do the things he once tried to do were scum. He considered that hypocrisy a mark of maturity, like he was still growing up.

For another seventy long years they continued their plying their trade until one day Daiki got sick. It was a strange turn of events, since Daiki had always been preternaturally healthy, even during the most squalid conditions he never succumbed to illness nor contaminant, neither in life nor death. Some foreign agent had worked its way into his system somehow, and rendered him unable to work. It was the first time that he'd ever been given the impression the old man genuinely cared about him, since the old bastard went out of his way to get medicine for him.

Unfortunately, the old man died. He'd been attacked by rogue bandits of considerable skill on his way back from the apothecary, while he was carrying his medicine. While that wouldn't have been enough to kill him normally, the rat bastards had taken the medicine from him in an attempt to extort more money out of him. It worked, and when he brought the money, they passed him the medicine along with a knife through the back.

The old man survived the attack, clutching the medicine so hard that they couldn't pry it from his hands even as he lie bleeding. When the bandits got bored and left, old man Shingen got himself back onto his feet and walked home, bleeding profusely the entire way there. He mixed the medicine into some fresh water and helped Daiki drink it all down, before promptly going to sit down in his favorite chair to finish bleeding to death, reading the most recent newspaper while he waited to pass.

When Daiki awoke the following day, he found the old man, propped up in his chair as though alive, stern and quiet as usual, and didn't realize he was dead until he'd realized the newspaper was being held upside down. The following days were truly the most grief-ridden days of his new life. He wasn't sure what he would do, until he'd been given an invitation to a reading of the old man's will. That was as good a place to go as any.

There weren't many people in the reading, but he did recognize everyone; just a few people from Shingen's life before becoming a shinigami, and a few veterans like himself. Most were surprised to see Daiki there, since they never really seemed to get along, albeit the veterans knew exactly what kind of guy Shingen was and thusly understood immediately why Daiki was here, and also why they were here.

The Will rattled off belongings and their destinations, all just his assets being passed to his old family as thanks for making him who he was today – a terrifying accusation in retrospect. Daiki and the veterans weren't really brought up until the end, however. For Daiki, the Will read as follows:

"To the big dumbass who lived at my house for 73 years, I think he actually likes the name 'Daiki' the weirdo, goes not a damn thing. I busted my ass taking care of you all these years and all you ever do is complain. You need some fucking discipline, ya brat! What I leave to you, is some advice. Go to the Shino Academy and get yourself some real friends and real experiences worth talking about. I dragged some other old guys here to guilt them into writing you some letters of recommendation. They're a bunch of assholes and shitheads like you, but they also earned a bit of respect in their day, and I figure if those fucking reprobated can do it, so can you."

Daiki was solemnly happy to hear this read word for word out loud by somebody who wasn't getting paid enough, because for just a few seconds, it felt like he was still there, telling him off again like he always did. It felt like closure, this parting advice. After the reading Daiki sheepishly approached the veterans and asked if they actually intended to write those letters of recommendation.

Of course, they all told him some level of 'hell no'. That was honestly so perfectly expected that Daiki didn't even know why he bothered asking. Of course, with none of the assets left behind by the old man, the military was really the only sound strategy anymore, and he simply told the veterans that he was going to join the Academy either way, since there was ultimately very few other viable options, most of them illegal. With respect they sent him off, as though he was a shoe in already.

He prepared himself for the entry exams, learning the very most basic of basics when it came to controlling Reiatsu, barely accomplishing that, and was headed in one day to scrape through by the skin of his teeth by giving it everything he had, just like he'd always done. Except when he got there, the exam had been waived – A few letters of recommendation came in and gave him all the sparkling credibility he needed to start taking classes.

The year that followed was perhaps the most difficult he'd ever faced in all his existence. Service as a retainer to a feudal lord, years of mercenary work, centuries of isolation, were nothing in comparison to formal education. The high expectations, the sheer amount of material he was expected to learn. The physical aspect was never going to be a problem for him, it was everything else that posed a problem. With all those years of labor behind him, and all those years of service ahead of him, we begin his new story at the crux of possibility, his school days.

[Kyomei Kuchiki]

Alrighty, I'll be your first grader today.

First off, good work on the length and quality of the app here. Having written two Vizard apps in the past, I know it's not an easy feat to churn out length that is also quality. I very much enjoyed the reading of the app and it, to me, fits the level of quality and length for a Vizard. With that out of the way, let me grade your powers.

First off, can you define "Defensive Cutting" for me in terms of Shikai Overall Ability? Second, as long as I understand it correctly in that you cannot use your tripled OS for attacking purposes, I still can't pass an overall ability getting a Max boost in Defensive power. 3x is the limit, and hitting that limit just in your overall is a hard sell, even though it's just defensive in nature.

Hashikira: Mugen is too strong, sorry. I can't pass a 10x stat increase. 3x is the absolute maximum. No amount of drawbacks can change that.

Same for Rikisaku: Kansetsu. It can't surpass 3x his Strength stat. It's okay if it surpasses 3x his Reiatsu Strength if it becomes a shock wave type explosion and is physical in nature rather than a reiatsu construct like the Area Thrust Kidou, but it still can't surpass 3x his Offensive Stat.


Overall, great app, excited to see it in motion. Just needs less boosts in Offensive Strength.

[Daiki]

Alright, I've edited his powers section. To stipulate exactly what changed:

Explained the terms Defensive Cutting, Material Cutting, and Blocking in clearer terms, and reduced the benefit to a mere 50% boost.

Mugen was weakened dramatically to a 3x boost for one slash, and a 2x boost for the optional second slash with extra downsides.

Kansetsu has been slightly redefined from a reiatsu-altered volatile vapor to a chemically-altered volatile vapor, with absorbed reiatsu reinforcing the volatility as opposed to creating it in the first place. It starts at his Reiatsu Strength, but can scale up to his 3x Strength, because the explosion is a largely physical shockwave borne from his body. I also added that any fire at all can detonate it involuntarily, as will it being overloaded with reiatsu.

Let me know if you see anything else that needs altering.

[Kyomei Kuchiki]

I approve of these changes.

[Col Arana]

Alright! Sorry for the wait! I'm hitting up this profile now though!


Honestly, it looks like Kyo did a good job!

2/2 APPROVED

You will start with 280 SP, 15 Skill Points, and 1,000 Ryo. Once these are added, let me know and a mod will move you.

[Daiki]

SPOILER: Click to show

{Stats & Skills}
Strength: 55 (+150% = 137)
Speed: 50 (-50% = 25)
Reiatsu Strength: 50 (-50% = 25)
Spirit Pressure: 50 (-50% = 25)
Instinct: 25
Senses: 50 (-50% = 25)
Energy Sensory: 0
Healing Expertise: 0

Light Aura: 50
Dark Aura: 50

280/280 SP

Skills

Pain Tolerance 1 (1 Free)
Strength of Will 1
Bleeding Tolerance 1
Poison Resistance 1
Weapon: Katana Blades 1
Street Fighting 1
Battle Analysis 1