Itoshi Maria | 愛志 マリーア
Female
B r i e f B i o : Maria's father Sento fell in love with her mother Carolina and chased after her for years, even converting to her religion. A Catholic church in a small Japanese town is where they were married, and where Maria spent the majority of her childhood.
When Christian missionaries first came to Japan preaching of overcoming demons, they had no idea just how literal their words would become. After discovering the demons were not only real but incredibly deadly, and realizing their usual method of prayer and incantations did little to stop them, the church sought out the Demon Slayer Corps. Information sharing lead to the church's first true "demon slaying" sub-sect. For church branches outside of Japan that might run into one or two stray demons that had made it off the island, they were told of the power of sunlight. For the Japanese branches of the church, sending a few members to officially join the Demon Slayer Corps was much more effective.
Maria was scouted at a young age by an elderly church matron to have the potential to master a breathing style and aid in the Corps' cause. While her parents were devoted church members, they were at first against letting their little girl get involved in something so dangerous... but Maria herself was enamored with the idea. To her, it was like she would become a knight or heroine to protect people. After some convincing, the Itoshi parents let Maria permanently stay with the old woman and train, coming to visit her once a month to check up. The old woman's name was Kiyoko, and the breath she taught to Maria was one of love. Love thy lord, love they neighbor, love thyself. The breathing style came naturally to her - the swordsmanship she had to work on. Through constant effort, she became proficient with a sword, and came to prefer an iaido style of battling.
At sixteen years old, and having trained in the breath and the blade for more than half of her life at that point, Maria learned that Kiyoko had be killed in action while hunting a demon. Maria did not weep or cry out for vengeance, because Kiyoko had sworn an oath and knew that this would one day be her fate - just as she had sworn Maria to the same fate. To kill demons, until every last one of them was gone from the face of the Earth, or until she fell dead.
At twenty-four years old, Maria had mastered her breathing style and had already invented a form of her own. She was powerful, and she told others she owed all her power to her devotion to the Lord, having become a full-fledged Sister at this point. She was devout in her faith and her work as a full-fledged member of the Demon Slayer Corps.
At twenty-six, after a harrowing battle in which she nearly lost her life and which another new form for her breathing style had been created, Maria defeated a lower moon demon. After recovering, she set her sights on taking down more, and even stronger demons too - now confident in the knowledge that she could do it.
Now at thirty-one, Maria is the strongest practitioner of her particular breathing style alive, and is a force to be reckoned with. She splits her time between hunting missions, the Corps HQ, and nearby churches. Her allies seem to either admire her or dislike her. "She can quiet a crying newborn in one hand while mercilessly decapitating a demon with the other" was once said of her. She enjoys looking after youths, and she can act a bit motherly at times - to either people's delight or ire. Recently, the Vatican sent a representative to Japan for a liaison with those already stationed there. Maria was the Sister assigned to receive the rep: Gerard Godson. It has been a few weeks since his arrival, and Maria has acted as a glorified chaperone for him since.
Her views on humans and demons are simple; humans are the Lord's children and deserve love. When they fall prey to sin they can be forgiven through repentance. Demons cannot be forgiven because they cannot fall prey to sin, for they are sin incarnate and must be destroyed. Her mission has not changed since she was young: eradicate all demons, with extreme prejudice.
P e r s o n a l i t y[+] Compassionate
[+] Patient
[+] Supportive[-] Unrelenting
[-] Stern
[-] Doesn't mince words____________________________________________________________________________________________B r e a t h i n g S t y l e
Once said that it was only able to be preformed by those of a certain body type, the Breath of Flames-based branched
Breath of Love has evolved into a versatile breathing style. It's forms utilize both speed and power, not excelling in either one, to best adapt to situations as needed. It is a flowing, ever-growing style, as whimsical as it's namesake.
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First Form: The Shivers of First Love - A quick forward dash with a series of light and quick slashes, used mostly for confusing and distracting opponents.
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Second Form: The Anguish of Lost Love - A powerful diagonal slash from a lower angle to a higher one. Strong enough to cut clean through a demon's hide. Loses some of it's power when Maria uses it with her iai art.
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Third Form: The Burn of Passionate Love - A form drawing the most inspiration from the parent
Breath of Flames, it is a circular slash used for deflecting attacks.
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Fourth Form: The Bite of Unrequited Love - A sharp, accurate thrust attack. Unable to decapitate demons, but a pierce from this form through the heart is enough to slow one down considerably.
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Fifth Form: The Pain of Self-Love - A leaping attack that can be used with horizontal or vertical slashes, backward or forward. It isn't very powerful and is used mostly for safely re-positioning.
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Sixth Form: The Beauty of Enduring Love - One of the forms Maria developed. A lightning quick draw attack aiming for the opponent's neck, often leading to swift death. Her preferred form.
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Seventh Form: The Trust Fall of Agape Love - One of the forms Maria developed. A counter-attack that involves sheathing the blade, closing one's eyes, and relying on sense, instinct, and faith the redraw the blade and slash the opponent before the user is slashed themselves.
____________________________________________________________________________________________N i c h i r i n B l a d e
A katana of standard length and weight, the sword's
hamon is wavy and uniform. The only discernible way to tell it was a Nichirin blade at all was it's color - a deep, dark red. The red blade could appear almost black at certain angles, and at others it would shimmer brilliantly.
Red could symbolize many things - anger, hatred, passion, force - but to Maria, it could only be one thing: a love to reflect her breath and her faith. In addition to the blade itself, it's hilt is wrapped with a special Nichirin Rosary that Maria had specially commissioned. The rosary isn't meant for fighting, but in a pinch it is tough enough to bind a demon.
____________________________________________________________________________________________O t h e r U n i q u e T r a i t s : Maria doesn't have any enhanced senses or body oddities, she relies on her skill while battling. However, after devoting her life to the art of demon slaying, and perhaps in conjunction with her strong religious nature, she can sense if a demon is nearby - and if it is a particularly strong one that isn't explicitly hiding it's nature, she may even be able to tell exactly who it is.
Oh, and she's really good at telling when people are lying. This isn't a supernatural skill, she is just good at it. It comes with the territory of hearing others out all the time, she supposes.
