Name: Trịnh Văn Sơn (Sơn is the given name)

Age: 58



Origin: Samurai

Former Faction: Nobuzai

Skills: Space warfare, planetary warfare, sojutsu

Fighting Style: Sơn practices Izanagi Shin Buko-ryu (伊邪那岐神武甲流), a style supposedly divinely inspired by Izanagi, focused on sojutsu. It's style is distinct for its use of the spear not just as a thrusting weapon, but for powerful, cleaving attacks; they are meant to be strong enough to push a blocking monoblade back into the face of the user. It also has techniques for wrestling with the aid of the haft and for staff fighting.

Weapons:
Monoblade jumonji yari - Sơn's yari features a long, cross-shaped monoblade. The blade is 2 shaku long, much like a omi yari, with the tang nearly as long as the blade. It is fitted on a 7 shaku haft made of light durasteel meant to resist monoblade attacks, but the blade can be removed to be fit onto a shorter haft of two shaku. On the other side of the haft opposite the blade is a stun baton, which starts out at a disabling strength can be powered up to be lethal. The hafts themselves are suitable staves. When fitted with a saya it looks much like a spade and hits like one too. Engraved into the collar below the blade is his family's kamon, two suzuran plants. This spear is one of the few things of worth owned by his family. Sơn often leans on it when his leg bothers him.

Monoblade tanto - a simple weapon, nearly straight and flat, meant for stabbing once an opponent has been wrestled to the ground. The whole tanto is one shaku long.

Motivation: to put his talents to the test shaping the end of an era, and then seeing what the universe looks like on the other side.

Name:
Aragami Shinzou

Age:
28

Appearance:


For the most part, Shinzou has a fairly unassuming appearance, looking quite average over all. He does what he can to cultivate this age these days, as people tend to underestimate anyone who doesn't stand out in the crowd. However, not everything about his appearance is quite so 'Average McNormalguy'... His hair, for example, will generally remain messy no matter how hard he tries to keep it neat, or his eyes, which will occasionally give off a look of such piercing hatred that it's surprising he's even still alive.

Origin:
Samurai

Former Faction:
Nobunaga Zaibatsu

Skills:
Primary: Swordsmanship
Secondary: Small throwing weapons
Poisons (offshoot of botany)

Fighting Style:
Jisatsuken, the suicidal sword
Shinzou is very skilled in the sword school of Jisatsuken, a relatively unknown and very dangerous fighting style, both for the opponent and the wielder themselves. The style revolves around creating obvious openings in your stance while fighting and baiting the opponent into attacking said opening, allowing you to predict their movements and respond with deadly counterattacks.

While blocks do play a part, they are more for redirecting an enemies momentum around you, with a much greater emphasis on dodging to keep your weapons free. Especially skilled masters of this school can even utilise it against multiple opponents at once, going so far as to redirect their attacks into each other alongside their own counters.

Weapons:
Hakuro and Tsubaki
A pair of monoblade katanas, normal in just about every way. The only feature of the weapons that differentiates them from any other are the ribbons tied around the hilt, one white and one purple.

Motivation:
Shinzou has just one goal, which can easily consume him if he doesn't constantly push it down, and that is to tear down the Nobunaga Zaibatsu, no matter the cost.

Backstory:
Born without a name, the boy who would one day become Aragami Shinzou grew up on a horrible little planet towards the outskirts of the galaxy named Hiyuki, spending most of his formative years on the streets. Life was tough on the planet, which had come to be known as the 'Frozen Fireball' for its odd climate of highly volcanic tundras and glaciers. Half the time it was too cold to survive on the streets as an adult, let alone a small child, and to this day Shinzou still doesn't quite know how he managed it.

However, everything changed one day when he was eight. He had just killed a boy a few years older than him, a sight which was sadly quite common on the planet, and was in the process of looting the corpse when he was stopped by a man. The man introduced himself as Iwamane Oboro, and told Shinzou that he had hoped to build a school a short distance away from the city, where children like him wouldn't constantly have to worry about looking over their shoulders for danger. Naturally, Shinzou thought this was probably the stupidest thing he'd ever heard, but he still decided to go with the idealistic man because hey, if he was able to say such stupidly naive things, it probably meant nobody had managed to steal his food yet!

And so, Shinzou decided to follow Iwamane to his 'school', with the goal of killing him and taking as much food as he could.

When he got there, he saw that the building itself seemed decent, but it was hardly a school. After all, what kind of school only has two students? Iwamane introduced the two as Hakuro and Tsubaki, a brother and sister who, like him, had grown up on the streets. He then gave Shinzou his name, which he admitted to just picking off the top of his head, with no real thought put into it. Still, Shinzou didn't care. It wouldn't matter in a few days anyway...

Over the next few days, Shinzou lived in the school, not quite letting himself get involved with the trio that he could see getting along so well. The only thing that really interested him was when Iwamane trained with Tsubaki in swordsmanship. She wasn't really the best at it, but Iwamane himself seemed kind of decent. If only he didn't have that dumb grin on his face, Shinzou might've been able to take him halfway seriously. However, before he got the chance to consider the man worthy of any sliver of respect, the night of his getaway came around. Waiting until everyone had been asleep for at least a couple of hours, Shinzou left his bed and dashed towards the room the was food stored in. However, he was surprised to find that Iwamane was already waiting for him inside.

As it turned out, the man had expected this to happen, and had been waiting in the room every night since he had first been brought to the school. Before Shinzou could make another move however, Iwamane handed him a monoblade, drew his own, and then said something that shook the boy to his core.

"Kill me, and you can take as much as you want."

Shinzou was so shocked by this simple phrase that he actually had to remind himself that it was his plan all along. Once he did, however, he barely let a moment pass before lunging at the wannabe teacher.

Now, it has to be noted that, despite growing up on the streets, Shinzou was actually quite a decent fighter. Sure, he usually used things like old rebar and stuff instead of actual swords, but he was cunning and resourceful enough that it really shouldn't have mattered all that much. This is why Shinzou was brought to such a state of shock when his blade never even came close to touching Iwamane, despite every single one looking like they were right on target. Meanwhile, Iwamane landed hit after hit, each one looking more effortless than the last. Of course, he was using the back of the blade, as if the whole fight wasn't embarrassing enough...

After being smacked around for a while, Iwamane finally decided to sheath his sword, taking Shinzous in the process. He then decided to make the boy a deal. His offer still stood, if Shinzou managed to kill him, he could run off with whatever he wanted. Until he was capable of doing that, however, he would have to stay at the school with Hakuro, Tsubaki and he. Essentially, Iwamane would teach Shinzou how to kill him.

For the next nine years, he did just that, learning everything he could from the man and growing closer to both him and the other two students. Along with swordsmanship, Iwamane also taught Shinzou many other subjects, both combat-oriented and not. Two particular areas he excelled in were the use of small throwing weapons like knives and throwing needles, and botany. By the time he was seventeen, they were practically a family, training and growing together.

However, one day, Iwamane decided that Shinzou needed some outside experience, specifically from an offworld source. With that in mind, he suggested that Shinzou should travel for a while, seeing what the rest of the galaxy has to offer and improving himself as he goes. Maybe then, if he payed attention, he might get strong enough to finally kill him.

Shinzou, despite long having given up on trying to kill his teacher, agreed with him, having been eager to get off Hiyuki for a few years at this point. Getting off the planet was kind of difficult, but once he managed to get that part over with, he found himself in a position well suited to a someone like him. Over the next few years, he travelled across the galaxy, and he liked to think he became a better person as he did. Eventually though, he ran out of money, as everyone does, and he needed a way to make some more. When he took his skill set into consideration, it really seemed like there was only one option, driving him to enlist in the military of whoevers territory he was currently in. As it turned out, it was none other than the Nobunaga Zaibatsu. Over the five years that followed, Shinzou rose in rank and skill, becoming a talented samurai who, while not all that well known, was widely respected by those who did.

And then some minor lord recognised his fighting style, demanding to know where he learnt it. He told the man of Hiyuki, Iwamane and the 'school' he grew up in, and was promptly rewarded with multiple days of interrogation. Sick of being kept in the dark, he finally managed to ask another lord, one who had always been friendlier towards him, just what the hell was going on.

The answer he got terrified him.

There was no such man as Iwamane Oboro. The man who had raised him was, in all likelihood, Akechi Masahiro, a former general of the Nobuzai and companion of the Demon himself. However, a rather spectacular feud erupted between the pair about twenty-five years ago, leading to an attempted coup from Akechi. He had attempted to take his fleet and kill the Demon at the planet Honno-ji, but was thwarted when reinforcement entered the system and wiped them out. After his defeat, Akechi went into hiding, although to this very day they were still hunting him, just in case he decided to start another rebellion.

Horrified at the realisation of what he'd just done, Shinzou deserted the Nobunaga Zaibatsu, making his way to Hiyuki as fast as he possibly could. All in all, the trip took him just three months. However, it was already too late.

He returned home to find the charred ruins of the school, the bodies of Hakuro and Tsubaki left in the snow to freeze. Akechi's body was no where to be seen. For a full three days, Shinzou stayed in the ruins of his former home, crying for his adopted family. Finally, he could bare it no longer, and after burying the pair, he abandoned the planet once more. The last things he has to remember them by are their swords, with the ribbons they always used to have on them wrapped around the hilts.

Since that day, Shinzou has returned to wandering across the galaxy. However, their is now a burning hatred within him for the people he once served, and although he doesn't know how he can achieve it, he is slowly being consumed by his wish to see the Nobunaga Zaibatsu's destruction.