The Jest

Fenix Tear [Invite | Ask Only]

Kotaro Kuzunoha



...Well, this was Emotional and Mental whiplash if Kotaro ever saw it.

Of course he didn't expect fire-guy to stand down as he requested. He himself was a kid and clearly out of his league, and by god did he know it. If truth be told, deep down, he was indeed hoping he'd help out and they might tag-team. Not that he was expecting to beat her, but maybe keeping her distracted would somehow weaken the mind control spell on the other kids? To be frank, he was grasping at straws, utterly terrified of what he was about to do, what he was about to fight; what he should have been doing at that point was not backing down on the original plan of being a distraction. After all, those kids weren't going anywhere as long as that mind control spell was in place, and as a kid himself, he had neither the strength nor the time to drag those kids out of the castle himself. The fire-guy at least looked strong enough to carry a couple between his arms and go out of there much faster.

Of course, before he had the chance to say anything - whether gratitude for teaming up or insisting he grabs the kids and run - he made his move.

"What the-HEY WAIT!" Was all Kotaro could get out of his mouth before the fire-cracker threw himself at the Yuki-onna crashing both of them through the wall and now falling down outside...

Or at least, that's what he thought happened.

In a way, Yuki-Onna truly are the rival race of the Kitsune; they are equal opposites in their origins, their existence...

...and most importantly in this case, their ability to deceive and trick the mind through a thickly-veiled mirage.

Setsuka was, in truth, still in front of the throne, having still just stood up, and the Firestarter, well now he was trapped in some illusional loop, falling without the impact. With him now incapacitated, it was just Kotaro that could stand in the way between her and these kids behind him.

Although trained by Tai in the art of illusions, even he couldn't see through Setsuka's. Like Kaiga, he also thought he saw them both crashing through the wall behind the throne, before he blinked and Setsuka was right back where she started. Which made him start to wonder: how much power of illusion did this woman have? Or rather, how much of what Kotaro seeing right now - from the castle, to the kids behind them, to Setsuka herself - real, and how much of it is an illusion this Yuki-Onna crafted to deceive his eyes?

None of that mattered at the moment though, for now that Kaiga was out of the picture, Setsuka's focus was now on Kotaro, and as soon as her eyes' cold gaze met him, he tensed up with sword in hand, readying for what might be his final fight.

But then, to say things took a turn was an understatement; things more took a screeching swerve.

"Kitsune. That magic power essence, I never thought I'd taste it once more, it's been 400 years since I fought Tai. How pathetic, yet another mere human is his successor? How disappointing, oh well, as Queen of Iceberg, all enmity against you is severed, you may take your leave, this instance. Had I known sooner, that Hizuru arranged an appointment, then, by all means have an intelligent discussion."

Wha- ...Wait, what?

Her sensing and recognizing his Kitsune magic wasn't a surprise. Given how powerful she is, her knowing and outright dropping his Master's name also wasn't too much of a surprise. Tai told him about how dangerous a Yuki-Onna is; that was probably due to fighting against one before - fighting against this one before - and clearly it must have ended in some kind of draw.

No, what really surprised him, to the point where he lowered his guard in confusion, was that firstly, she was apparently the queen of this land of ice? Well, they are in a castle, and she was on a throne, but how does a foreigner - a Yokai at that - become queen of mainland country so far from Hizuru? Secondly, and most importantly, She essentially ends the battle on good terms, as condescending about it as she seems to be.

"Nope, I have no further business here, Have a good day!" That's what Kotaro wants to say right now, immediately leaving the castle and never coming back.

But no, he couldn't bring himself to leave the kids here like this, and he couldn't leave the fire guy just falling endlessly like that after he's been trying to help in his own...brutish way.

"So let mask you lad, you're free to go or do you have business with Iceberg because we haven't been accepting foreigners since then, though I made it as gesture of goodwill against my rival to not touch what is his."

Well, that confirms her relationship with Tai; Kotaro would think that the view must be great from the glass house she put herself in when mentioning foreigners, but hell, this might as well be a castle of glass considering how frozen over it is.

As much as he wants to take her offer though... He took a deep breath before slowly breathing out. Composing himself, he sheathed his sword and looked at her.

"I didn't exactly come here of my own free will, your majesty. Your creepy clown jumped and grabbed me on my way through the mainland, and brought me here, no doubt to end up like them..."

"End up like them." The moment those words reached his mouth, an epiphany came to mind as if struck by a thought he never had before. No... More like, struck by a thought he subconsciously tried to hide from himself.

Come to think of it, if this was something of advanced mind control magic, why was he the only kid unaffected? They tied him up and took his sword, but that's all they did, and he knows they weren't brainwashed like that when he was with them in the cell. If it was just activated later on, why wasn't he brainwashed as well?

He looked at the kids behind him again, staring at their blanked out expressions from the mind control, and all the pieces were starting to come together in his mind.

And the picture they made, was something truly nauseous. The reason he was in this castle to begin with, the reason all these kids were in the castle, those creepy people grouping around Setsuka, and Setsuka's showing of her clearly powerful illusions. Everything pointed to one, tragic conclusion.

"...The other kids...they're "gone", aren't they? ...If you thought we had a chance of rescuing and escaping with them, you'd have killed us by now. You distracted us with fake kids so that you can use the real ones for your ritual uninterrupted. If it's a ritual that requires using kids as some kind of offering, ...it must be to summon a Devil, right?"

Kotaro may be young, and he doesn't seem himself as any prodigy, but he is also very studious; Tai practically forced the little kid to be and compressed as much knowledge into his little head as could. In particular, he studied Devils while on his journey, hoping he might be able to find a way to take down the one that framed his Master and put him on this path in the first place. Offering sacrifices in a dark ritual to an entity of evil is an unfortunately common story to hear and read about.

He wanted to remain calm, if only to keep her from killing him next, but something inside him began to stir, a sudden subtle ache in his chest that was difficult for him to explain, perhaps a physical symptom of how anxious and disgusted he was, as it dawns on him that these kids who were kidnapped just like him are now probably dead.

"...Why? Why would you do all this? You're queen of a land of snow, far larger than any of the mountains of Hizuru, and you're clearly strong enough that you don't have to worry about gaining food here. What's there to gain by summoning Zagre-" That was when Kotaro felt the quaking as the Castle shifted. The illusion kept him from seeing the castle's transformation into the R-System tower of crystallized Ether.

But he didn't need to see to realize at this point that something was very, very wrong.

My Hero Academia: Just Another Hero, Act 2

My sincerest apologies for how long it took, but here's my other two PCs in addition to Eva/Crystalis.

Jake Falcon/Dream Weaver

M Y H E R O
M Y H E R O

Mirage Hero "Dream Weaver"

I d e n t i t y
Jacob Falcon, 18

_{3 ★ P R O H E R O Japan, Unranked - Eirei College}

---

The Anxious, solemn, but kind-hearted and level-headed younger twin. He was always a shy wallflower, more interested in his fiction than anything going on around him, but he had little trouble being able to make friends and getting pulled along by his twin sister. However, an accident during his last year of high school and a week-long hospital stay led him to become even more solitary than before. He means well, and deep down want to become a hero, but can't bring himself to truly interact with others save for his sister and his mother. He doesn't have much of a relationship with the other half of his family; their father is neglectful and busy with his work, and - for reasons unknown to him - their eldest brother is keeping his distance from the rest of the family.

Q u i r k
Scaramist

Gen 5 - Emulation/Accumulation - Repressed

---

Generates a mist of energy from the birthmark/"scar" on the back of his neck, which can coalesce together to create illusions of various shapes and sizes. These illusions mostly come from the user's mind, but should he spread it out across an area around him, these illusions can be made based on the perspective of whoever's nearby, changing based on the perception and cognition of the nearby viewer. Unless he takes direct control, the illusion's appearance and what it does is also dependent on the viewer. According to Jake himself, the mist basically makes the brain talk to itself; the illusions are shaped usually by the viewer's subconscious thought. So if it's shaped like a person they know, it'll have the same personality of that person according to the viewer's subconscious memory of them.

What generally differs these illusions from the usual smoke and mirrors is the "real" factor. By concentrating and focusing his energy on the illusion, he gives them solid mass. The durability of which is dependent on that focus and concentration. His self-made illusion is something of an art form; He must understand what exactly it is he's making, every facet and detail must be imagined, and the more he can mentally draw and visualize the illusion, the more "perfect" the illusion becomes. Simple objects such as what he turns Chameleon into can be made within minutes, but the more advanced and complex the illusion, the longer it will take to manifest it. Either way, however, it does put a strain on his body and mind to keep up the illusions for long, his mental and metabolic energy draining away the longer he keeps it up. Once he deactivates the quirk - or the quirk gets nullified - all his illusions disperses and vanishes.

S k i l l s
An Active Imagination • Swordplay • Acrobatic Athleticism

Support Item - Chameleon - Technically Self-made

---

It's a stick... A typical small branch you'd find from any tree, albeit chiseled to be more comfortable to his hand. Using His quirk, however, he can cast an illusion around it and shape it into any item he wants from a rope to weapons, which his quirk makes solid and thus becoming the item. The weapon in question, however, will either be a typical variant of the weapon or if it's based on an actual weapon design - such as another hero or a villain's weapon of choice - then it is essentially a replica with none of the effects of the original. The durability of what he makes, much like his quirk, is depending on his concentration and energy. Losing focus on Chameleon's form will make it more intangible until it turns back into a mere stick.

Alice Falcon/Virgo

M Y H E R O
M Y H E R O

Dream Artisan Hero - Virgo

I d e n t i t y
Alice Falcon, 18

_{3 ★ P R O H E R O Japan, Unranked - Eirei College}

---

The bright optimistic elder of the Falcon Twins. On their third year, she spent most of her life being by Jake's side and standing up for him when others messed with the solemn boy, while helping out their mother at home as much as possible. Cut to now, and her cheerful and friendly disposition earned her a place in the Student Council as Vice-President, leading her to split priorities between staying by her brother's side and helping out her friends and the SC President with her duties. She is also musically talented, performing for the school frequently throughout her high school years, and is currently training up Jake to duet with her one day. It should also be noted that, for reasons known only to them, there seems to be some bad blood between her, their older brother, and their father.

Q u i r k
"Thought-Form Projection" or "Tulpa" for short.

Gen 5 - Emulation/Accumulation - Awakened

---

Alice can manifest her energy into a blue sphere in her hand. With but a squeeze and a thought, she can shape that energy into whatever object she thinks of made entirely of light. For example, a literal lightsaber, or bo-staff, or axe, or a shield for defensive means. In addition, she can launch the energy forward, and it would be treated as a small explosive. What she shapes it into is limited to her imagination, and technical know-how of the object in question. Like with Jake's illusions, the simplest objects like those above can be made almost instantaneously, but the more complex and technical the object, the harder and longer it would take to actually make it.

S k i l l s
Swordplay • Martial Arts • Pro Singer/Guitarist

Support Item - Magen - Self-Made

---

Since her Quirk seems to be all about manifesting "support" weaponry for her activities as a heroine, she doesn't necessarily have support items she takes with her to help with her heroics. That said, in the event that someone ever deactivated her quirk, she sharpened the edges of her mother's guitar to use as a bladed weapon as well as a bludgeon. In addition, using it in combination with her Quirk - such as by projecting a pick - allows her to weaponize her music, allowing her to create shockwaves, and shape her energy through the song. The latter of which is more artful than practical, so she often uses it more during shows for pyrotechnic flair than in battle.

@Megatron @El Gato Naranja @Digmata

My Hero Academia: Just Another Hero, Act 2

Jake Falcon/Dream Weaver

M Y H E R O
M Y H E R O

Mirage Hero "Dream Weaver"

I d e n t i t y
Jacob Falcon, 18

_{3 ★ P R O H E R O Japan, Unranked - Eirei College}

---

The Anxious, solemn, but kind-hearted and level-headed younger twin. He was always a shy wallflower, more interested in his fiction than anything going on around him, but he had little trouble being able to make friends and getting pulled along by his twin sister. However, an accident during his last year of high school and a week-long hospital stay led him to become even more solitary than before. He means well, and deep down want to become a hero, but can't bring himself to truly interact with others save for his sister and his mother. He doesn't have much of a relationship with the other half of his family; their father is neglectful and busy with his work, and - for reasons unknown to him - their eldest brother is keeping his distance from the rest of the family.

Q u i r k
Scaramist

Gen 5 - Psychokinesis - Repressed

---

Generates a mist of energy from the birthmark/"scar" on the back of his neck, which can coalesce together to create illusions of various shapes and sizes. These illusions mostly come from the user's mind, but should he spread it out across an area around him, these illusions can be made based on the perspective of whoever's nearby, changing based on the perception and cognition of the nearby viewer. Unless he takes direct control, the illusion's appearance and what it does is also dependent on the viewer. According to Jake himself, the mist basically makes the brain talk to itself; the illusions are shaped usually by the viewer's subconscious thought. So if it's shaped like a person they know, it'll have the same personality of that person according to the viewer's subconscious memory of them.

What generally differs these illusions from the usual smoke and mirrors is the "real" factor. By concentrating and focusing his energy on the illusion, he gives them solid mass. The durability of which is dependent on that focus and concentration. His self-made illusion is something of an art form; He must understand what exactly it is he's making, every facet and detail must be imagined, and the more he can mentally draw and visualize the illusion, the more "perfect" the illusion becomes. Simple objects such as what he turns Chameleon into can be made within minutes, but the more advanced and complex the illusion, the longer it will take to manifest it. Either way, however, it does put a strain on his body and mind to keep up the illusions for long, his mental and metabolic energy draining away the longer he keeps it up. Once he deactivates the quirk - or the quirk gets nullified - all his illusions disperses and vanishes.

S k i l l s
An Active Imagination • Swordplay • Acrobatic Athleticism

Support Item - Chameleon - Technically Self-made

---

It's a stick... A typical small branch you'd find from any tree, albeit chiseled to be more comfortable to his hand. Using His quirk, however, he can cast an illusion around it and shape it into any item he wants from a rope to weapons, which his quirk makes solid and thus becoming the item. The weapon in question, however, will either be a typical variant of the weapon or if it's based on an actual weapon design - such as another hero or a villain's weapon of choice - then it is essentially a replica with none of the effects of the original. The durability of what he makes, much like his quirk, is depending on his concentration and energy. Losing focus on Chameleon's form will make it more intangible until it turns back into a mere stick.

Alice Falcon/Virgo

M Y H E R O
M Y H E R O

Dream Artisan Hero - Virgo

I d e n t i t y
Alice Falcon, 18

_{3 ★ P R O H E R O Japan, Unranked - Eirei College}

---

The bright optimistic elder of the Falcon Twins. On their third year, she spent most of her life being by Jake's side and standing up for him when others messed with the solemn boy, while helping out their mother at home as much as possible. Cut to now, and her cheerful and friendly disposition earned her a place in the Student Council as Vice-President, leading her to split priorities between staying by her brother's side and helping out her friends and the SC President with her duties. She is also musically talented, performing for the school frequently throughout her high school years, and is currently training up Jake to duet with her one day. It should also be noted that, for reasons known only to them, there seems to be some bad blood between her, their older brother, and their father.

Q u i r k
"Thought-Form Projection" or "Tulpa" for short.

Gen 5 - Psychokinesis - Awakened

---

Alice can manifest her energy into a blue sphere in her hand. With but a squeeze and a thought, she can shape that energy into whatever object she thinks of made entirely of light. For example, a literal lightsaber, or bo-staff, or axe, or a shield for defensive means. In addition, she can launch the energy forward, and it would be treated as a small explosive. What she shapes it into is limited to her imagination, and technical know-how of the object in question. Like with Jake's illusions, the simplest objects like those above can be made almost instantaneously, but the more complex and technical the object, the harder and longer it would take to actually make it.

S k i l l s
Swordplay • Martial Arts • Pro Singer/Guitarist

Support Item - Magen - Self-Made

---

Since her Quirk seems to be all about manifesting "support" weaponry for her activities as a heroine, she doesn't necessarily have support items she takes with her to help with her heroics. That said, in the event that someone ever deactivated her quirk, she sharpened the edges of her mother's guitar to use as a bladed weapon as well as a bludgeon. In addition, using it in combination with her Quirk - such as by projecting a pick - allows her to weaponize her music, allowing her to create shockwaves, and shape her energy through the song. The latter of which is more artful than practical, so she often uses it more during shows for pyrotechnic flair than in battle.

Eva "Crystalis" Todoroki

M Y H E R O
M Y H E R O

Igneous Hero - Crystalis

I d e n t i t y
Eva Todoroki, 23

_{5 ★ P R O H E R O Japan}

---

Despite the red hair and the fiery Quirk, Eva's a rather cold and straight-to-the-point person in general, and self-aware to the point that she desires no fame and prefers fighting crime over any other jurisdiction of Heroism. She does truly want to help, but her quirk makes suppressing those emotions a necessity in order to keep herself from hurting others. She does, however, have a big sister instinct for her little Quirkless Brother, Officer Crobalt, and would always be willing to help or die to keep him safe.

Q u i r k
Crystal Greenhouse

Gen 5 - Accumulation/Contractor - Awakened

---

As common with the Todoroki family, Eva's quirk is pyromantic in nature. But in her case, it's less to do with fire and more to do with pure heat. Specifically, Eva's Quirk is the ability to concentrate and generate intense heat all throughout her body, being able to focus it onto her hands and feet and transferring it to whatever she touches. If not for her gloves and boots keeping it in check, she would be able to melt concrete and metals into an amorphic state. Moreover, perhaps due to the intense heat or due to inheriting her Grandfather's quirk, she can also use this to convert matter she touches into crystals as hard as diamond.

The source of this being her own body heat, and by extension, her emotional state which may further increase that body heat. Much like distant relative Toya, this means that the more hot-headed and flared up her emotions get, the more intense the heat that disperses, the stronger her blows. Moreover, keeping it contained within herself makes her incredibly resistant to extreme cases of low temperature weather.

Normally, she can't control the particular details of her Quirk; she can't touch anything when it's active without resulting in burns and melting, and any crystals that may form, she can't shape it the way she'd want, nor keep the crystallization contained. However, once equipped with her gloves, she can contain and release the heat in as slow and carefully as she'd like and shape crystals how she sees fit.

Of course, because her body heat is the source of her Quirk, it's imperative she keeps a delicate balance within her body, something she has trouble with even now. Use too much heat, and she could suffer hypothermia regardless of the current temperature. Hold it in long enough without a means of cooling or hydrating herself, and she'd risk dangerous heat-related conditions such as a lethally-high fever or heat stroke, or worse, outright catch fire. The suit's automated heating/cooling systems helps mediate the rapidly-changing body temperature, but it's not an end-all solution to it, she still has to work to keep that balance physically and emotionally.
S k i l l s
Martial Arts • Home-Cooking • Hell of a Poker Face

Support Item - HVAC Suit - Patented

---

Her hero suit was tailor-made for her and her quirk; equipped with an AC cooler, a heater, and both regulated by an internal sensor for Eva's body heat. This suit is designed to help Eva keep a heat balance when using or not using her quirk, keeping herself cool while idle or her emotions creates an increase, and heating her up whenever she runs out of her quirk. Her gloves and boots are designed to absorb and concentrate Eva's heat via the internal insulation, allowing her to limit, compress, and expunge the excess heat with control and precision, and ventilate it outwards slowly and safely, or violently if Eva wills it.

The five doors shaped like a five-circle pattern on her palms can open up to release concentrated blasts of heat akin to a welding torch, allowing her to be more delicate and precise when melting objects or shaping the crystals she form.

The concentration of heat at the bottom of the boots is designed to ignite and act as propulsion for her feet, allowing her to levitate and with the help of the gloves, even fly at high speeds.

My Hero Academia: Just Another Hero, Act 2

Although I'm technically new, I joined and was working on CSes during Act One. Therefore, @Danyel gave me permission to use the "Vet" CS for these CSes.

This is the first one completed. A few more is on the way. ^^

Eva "Crystalis" Todoroki

M Y H E R O
M Y H E R O

Igneous Hero - Crystalis

I d e n t i t y
Eva Todoroki, 23

_{5 ★ P R O H E R O Japan}

---

Despite the red hair and the fiery Quirk, Eva's a rather cold and straight-to-the-point person in general, and self-aware to the point that she desires no fame and prefers fighting crime over any other jurisdiction of Heroism. She does truly want to help, but her quirk makes suppressing those emotions a necessity in order to keep herself from hurting others. She does, however, have a big sister instinct for her little Quirkless Brother, Officer Crobalt, and would always be willing to help or die to keep him safe.

Q u i r k
Crystal Greenhouse

Gen 5 - Accumulation/Contractor - Awakened

---

As common with the Todoroki family, Eva's quirk is pyromantic in nature. But in her case, it's less to do with fire and more to do with pure heat. Specifically, Eva's Quirk is the ability to concentrate and generate intense heat all throughout her body, being able to focus it onto her hands and feet and transferring it to whatever she touches. If not for her gloves and boots keeping it in check, she would be able to melt concrete and metals into an amorphic state. Moreover, perhaps due to the intense heat or due to inheriting her Grandfather's quirk, she can also use this to convert matter she touches into crystals as hard as diamond.

The source of this being her own body heat, and by extension, her emotional state which may further increase that body heat. Much like distant relative Toya, this means that the more hot-headed and flared up her emotions get, the more intense the heat that disperses, the stronger her blows. Moreover, keeping it contained within herself makes her incredibly resistant to extreme cases of low temperature weather.

Normally, she can't control the particular details of her Quirk; she can't touch anything when it's active without resulting in burns and melting, and any crystals that may form, she can't shape it the way she'd want, nor keep the crystallization contained. However, once equipped with her gloves, she can contain and release the heat in as slow and carefully as she'd like and shape crystals how she sees fit.

Of course, because her body heat is the source of her Quirk, it's imperative she keeps a delicate balance within her body, something she has trouble with even now. Use too much heat, and she could suffer hypothermia regardless of the current temperature. Hold it in long enough without a means of cooling or hydrating herself, and she'd risk dangerous heat-related conditions such as a lethally-high fever or heat stroke, or worse, outright catch fire. The suit's automated heating/cooling systems helps mediate the rapidly-changing body temperature, but it's not an end-all solution to it, she still has to work to keep that balance physically and emotionally.
S k i l l s
Martial Arts • Home-Cooking • Hell of a Poker Face

Support Item - HVAC Suit - Patented

---

Her hero suit was tailor-made for her and her quirk; equipped with an AC cooler, a heater, and both regulated by an internal sensor for Eva's body heat. This suit is designed to help Eva keep a heat balance when using or not using her quirk, keeping herself cool while idle or her emotions creates an increase, and heating her up whenever she runs out of her quirk. Her gloves and boots are designed to absorb and concentrate Eva's heat via the internal insulation, allowing her to limit, compress, and expunge the excess heat with control and precision, and ventilate it outwards slowly and safely, or violently if Eva wills it.

The five doors shaped like a five-circle pattern on her palms can open up to release concentrated blasts of heat akin to a welding torch, allowing her to be more delicate and precise when melting objects or shaping the crystals she form.

The concentration of heat at the bottom of the boots is designed to ignite and act as propulsion for her feet, allowing her to levitate and with the help of the gloves, even fly at high speeds.

Fenix Tear [Invite | Ask Only]

Kotaro Kuzunoha

In hindsight, this may not have been the best idea.

This was a castle manned by some crazy child-napping, devil-worshipping cult. Of course it was going to be laden with insane traps alongside a bunch of strong guards! While the Mist he made from his flames and his gourd of water may have helped with the latter, it wasn't going to be that effective with the former.

Plenty of times, the boy evaded traps that nearly grabbed him by the tail in quick succession. Just when he thought he got through the worst of it and had a moment to catch his breath... The ground beneath his feet liquified like quicksand, dragging him in.

"Oh, Come o-" Before he could finish his yell of annoyance, he was gone without a trace.

---

Falling into darkness for a second before he could see light beneath himself, the ceiling spat him out and dropped him right onto the floor.

...Of the throne room he left.

Though not quite as he left it. Apparently a lot happened while he was away; he noticed what was happening outside... A giant white monster that looked like an angel, taking on a dark starry dragon of some kind. While both of these were pretty terrifying, something in his gut was telling him the angelic one was the enemy here. Yet for as scary as it looked, there was something about it that gave him...comfort? ...Confidence? As if he felt like he could win when it seems and feels impossible. He never seen an angel before, but heard about them from Tai: the mentors of Devil Slayers and envoys of the most high. Maybe this was some kind of effect they have on people?

Wait, that's besides the point! He shook his head and focused what really matters right now: He was right back where he started. He got to his feet and looked around, wondering how the bloody hell that happened. He was pretty sure he didn't make it to the second floor; if anything he thought he was descending down to the basement when he sank. It seems this entire castle's layout was completely under someone's control, and as he immediately noticed that damn jester looking at them all smug, an Anti-Magic barrier now around the two and the kids still just standing there!

...In fact that, in itself, was strange. Taking a moment to look closer, he could tell they didn't seem to be reacting to any of this...in fact they weren't reacting at all.

...So that's it. This castle, these kids, they're under that clown's control! Kotaro had no idea what kind of magic was being used, but it seems that clown had everything under control from the beginning. Honestly, thinking back on it, he should have saw it coming. He figured the presence of Brandon, his comrades, and his mistress was what kept them in line, and that ring of fire was what kept the kids from escaping. But in that case they should have at least noticed him breaking out and hopping through the fire, and should have at least tried to follow suit, or yell at him to come back, or something. It also made sense why no one bothered to stop him from escaping: he didn't have any hope of going anywhere Brandon didn't want him to go.

But it seems the clown had one oversight. Even though they were surrounded by Anti-magic particles, he was still in Kitsune form, and could still feel that inner fire without hinderance. By the looks of it, it seems like it didn't hinder the other flame guy one bit either. Since running off clearly isn't an option, their only option was to fight!

That said, however, it seems Kaiga was quicker to handle things than him. First by having Kotaro get behind him to protect him, which honestly felt somewhat insulting. But before he could protest, Kaiga got grabbed by the jester's darkness sucking him in. Only for him to flare up in fires the likes of which Kotaro hasn't truly ever seen before, and firing at Brandon with an arrow, the heat from this move being enough to nearly overwhelm him as well.

As soon as Brandon tried to escape into his shadow portal to retreat, from out of the same portal popped out a blade Kotaro immediately recognized. It seems the sword was never in the armory like Kotaro deduced, but was kept by Brandon himself this whole time! As if on instinct, Kotaro quickly jumped into the air and grabbed his katana, putting it back into the no-longer-empty sheathe by his side.

Now that his trusty partner was at his side, and the Jester was gone in a way he admittingly almost felt sorry for him going through - "almost" - things were starting to look up... Is what he would have said had he not felt a sudden frigid chill coming from the throne. Kotaro looked and saw Setsuka finally standing up, and the area around her succumbing to sudden frost, the sound of the room being frozen over like the cracking of glass. Almost immediately, Kotaro himself froze up, the fiery tail standing on end and the fires dimming.

"...Oh crud..." He whispered in fear.

From the start, Kotaro knew there was something about this woman that was bothering him, something about her was bad, bad news, especially when considering the others were taking orders from her. But at the time, he figured it was just because she was a very powerful wizard, or maybe even some sort of demon.

It was only after she unveiled herself by freezing the throne room that he realized she was something far, far worse.

"Here's a rule of thumb for ya, Kota: Eyes of Ice? ...Be like Mice. Hair of Snow? Don't be slow. Dressed in white? Run for your life."

"What's a Yuki-Onna doing here!?" he thought, his whole body shivering either from the cold... or was it from the fear?

In Hizuru, Tai taught him about this special kind of monster known as the Snow Lady. Supposedly a kind of yokai like Kitsunes, though Tai never called them anything more than monsters. Either way, they were viewed as incredibly powerful beings of cold and ice, and for Kitsunes like Tai, were something of a rival or perhaps even nemesis race to them. Most - save the most powerful among the kitsune - would avoid or run from one, and this was especially so for someone like Kotaro, who wasn't even truly a Kitsune himself.

Now, what is considered a bogeywoman among yokai stands before him: powerful, cold-hearted, and pissed off! Even as a Snow-lady, she seems especially powerful, given how she had all those guys serving under her.

This is a land of ice, so it's not entirely unthinkable that a yuki-onna would show up here, but he assumed they only existed in Hizuru.

Every single fiber of his being was making him want to take his mentor's advice and run like hell away from this woman. Brandon's gone now, so the spell keeping this castle under control should be as well; there shouldn't be anything preventing him from escaping out the door or one of the windows that she hasn't frozen over yet... If only it was so easy. Brandon's spell probably broke on the kids by now. Even if it didn't, he can't just leave them here with this ice witch, and he can't just leave the fire guy after what he just did; Tai wouldn't do that. But at the same time, he's not Tai; he's not strong enough to take down a Yuki-Onna even with his sword.

His heart raced in his ears; as if he was already frozen by her powers, he couldn't move his legs as he gasped for air.

...What should he do?

...WHAT SHOULD HE DO!?

_{☞︎♓︎...♑︎♒︎⧫︎...👌︎♋︎...♍︎🙵✏︎...}

...No, deep down he knew what he had to do, but he was too scared to commit to it.

Even so...

Kotaro took a couple of deep breaths to calm his beating heart and return to his senses. His kitsune features dispersed like an extinguished flame as he unsheathes his katana once more, the blade suddenly whirling with rings of wind magic.

"Taigetsu" was a quality form of Spirit art that Tai taught him, but it was ever going to be a back up plan until he was old enough to adapt to it properly. His true calling, a majority of his strength, lies in the wind spirit arts he harnessed through his blade.

"In this situation, even if he was outmatched, Master Tai would never abandon these kids. So I won't back down and abandon them either! There's only ever one reason to fight a losing battle..." He thought. He then turned to the fire guy.

"Grab the other kids and run for it, I'll cover you!" He said to Kaiga, gripping his sword with both hands as he took position to fight Setsuka, the winds around his blade roaring and pushing against the cold air she emitted.

Was he still terrified? Of course he was! The cold eyes of Death were staring him in the face, and simply feeling the air she emits was making him shiver even still. He doesn't stand a chance against this woman and he knows it! But...

"There's only one reason to ever fight a losing battle: When you can win even while you lose. A favorable outcome at the cost of a defeat is no longer a loss, but a sacrifice."

"Even so, ...Oh, This is gonna suck!"

@Danyel @Iamme

Fenix Tear [Invite | Ask Only]

Kotaro Kuzunoha

@Gerlando @Iamme @Danyel

Well, it didn't turn out quite like the boy expected. The clown, though unamused, just took the insults and disappeared. He'd be lying if he said that the ineffective trolling didn't disappoint him a bit. Still, the main point of the insult - to get the kicking of the frozen fire-magic guy to stop - was accomplished at least, so it wasn't a total loss. Now he had to just wait for the guy to break out of his frozen bindings and get the rest of them out of there...

Or at least, that was the plan, but confusingly enough, a priest that seemed to be working with this group came over and sped up the process by defrosting the man personally, and the boy too to boot. But as if to show he's not actually on their side he also erected a giant ring of white fire around all of the kids and the fire-user, then just up and vanished without any further elaboration. Kotaro was familiar with priests as being similar to his master's own occupation. Tai told him that they were essentially exorcists and holy men who often do good for people around them....what was someone like that doing with these people in the first place?

"Umm... Thanks?" Kotaro confusingly said to no one, meant for the priest who disappeared before he could say it. Then there was the other chick who had a face that portrayed the kind of imagination a 10-year old like him shouldn't ever step into yet; a very creepy lust plastered over it that made the boy cringe and a shiver run down his spine. She snapped herself back to reality and summoned up candles, which in turn seemed to summon a giant humanoid monster of some kind - a "puppet" as she called it - before she too left the area.

Either these people are really confident they can't get out of this situation, or they're really stupid for leaving them alone like this. As much as Kotaro would like to, he can't take a chance on the latter. This marionette, Nemesis, was unlike anything the boy has ever seen before, and his legs were shaking in fear at the sight of it. Not to mention, the woman on the throne was still present, and there's no doubt in his mind that she's the strongest of the group. Even if they managed to beat this thing, she wasn't going to let them go easily herself.

Even so, he can't help the fire-user like he is. Not with the anti-magic cuffs still on his wrists keeping him from using Taigetsu, and without his sword he can't use his Raigetsu either. As it stands, he's just as much a sitting duck as the other kids by him.

As he kept instinctively stepping back more and more - as if his body was wanting to get away from this throne room on its own - he noticed that his heel was right in the white flames, and just as instinctively, he jumped away from it. ...But the strange thing is, there was no indication of that other than him seeing that. There was a little heat but that's it. Curiously, he then touched the flames with his finger as if to confirm he wasn't imagining it, and sure enough, his finger wasn't getting burned.

Why did the priest make a wall of flames that doesn't burn? Was he bluffing when he made it, or is there some kind of trap on the other side?

He couldn't think about that right now, as his cuff was having some effect from getting close to the flame. This was a magic flame on anti-magic cuffs after all...Maybe...

"Hey, Fire man, mind keeping that thing distracted for a bit?" Kotaro asked Kaiga. Not waiting for an answer, he sank both his wrists into the white flames to let the anti-magic cuffs get constantly hit by it. Sure enough, even though the white flames weren't burning him the cuffs couldn't say the same. They were becoming quite hot - perhaps due to an overload of magic - and eventually broke, opening up on their own and dropping off the boy's wrists.

That was one problem taken care of, but he's not at his best yet. If he couldn't be hurt by the flame, then he could probably pass through it. He'd hate to leave the guy and these kids here with the monster and that woman, but he couldn't afford to play escort right now to the kids, and Kaiga... Tai looked over and noticed that the guy was content on fighting this monster-puppet on his own, even seeming to have delivered a rather clean blow to it with a sword he summoned out of nowhere...so he's re-quip swordsman as well, huh? Kotaro was convinced; he could probably handle this thing for now.

So while the lady - he hopes - was distracted by Kaiga fighting Nemesis, Kotaro snuck off out of the ring of fire.

But he wasn't going to escape just yet, he needed to get his sword back.

This was quite a castle; there's probably some kind of armory they casually dropped his sword into as a trophy. If he can just find it, he'll be able to help fight off that monstrous puppet alongside the fire-wizard, maybe even be able to get the other kids out of there as well. One problem though: He had no idea where the Armory is, and this place is likely loaded with enemy guards all over the place. Still, he couldn't turn back now.

"At least they let me keep my water." He muttered to himself as he then clapped his hands together in a hand symbol and closed his eyes.

"Taigetsu..." he quietly said as he became enveloped in blue flames. his hands and feet shifted and became more fox-like paws as his arms and legs gained golden-yellow fur, his ears perked up and became points upwards as a fox, and three tails of the same golden fur appeared from his backside. Opening his now red eyes, he moved towards a Wall to keep from sight, then looked around to see if there was any guards anywhere.

Since he has no map for where the Armory was, he'll have to just guess and comb the castle for it. It's more likely it's on the lower levels than the upper levels, so he'll have to start there.

Fenix Tear [Invite | Ask Only]

Kotaro Kuzunoha

@Gerlando@Iamme@Urizen

Ever got into a situation so bizarre or dangerous or just plain different from the norm, that you have to sit down and ask "How the hell did I get here?"

Well, for the little 10-year old samurai vagabond Kotaro, this was one of those situations. His journey from the island nation of Hizuru to Avalon was evidently not off to a good start; bonded to anti-magic cuffs, his sword far away from him, and currently in a room surrounded by weird-but-powerful wizards who apparently are indecisive what to do with him, and the guy who came to rescue him only to get his insides turned to iron-flavored popsicles.

---

Looking back, the boy was naive in thinking he could travel from Hizuru all the way to Avalon by his lonesome without any trouble. He suspected common thieves or kidnappers on the road, maybe even a rogue wizard or two wanting to grab him for profit of any kind. But he figured he could handle whatever came his way. He was after all the Fox Sage's pupil, and learned how to be decent with his wind raigetsu and swordplay; anybody who'd stand in the boy's way would have a lot more than they bargained for. In a way, the fact that he's a wandering kid on the younger side of the spectrum is something he could use to his advantage; people of a child-harming profession tend to underestimate their prey and master Tai always taught him not to waste an opponent's underestimation in battle. How did he put it again? "Hunters who chase a little black fox into a corner, will find themselves led there and becoming the prey." ...Something like that anyways.

But never did he expect the opponent blocking his path be some clown freak apparently made of crows. Something about this..."thing" freaked the boy out more than any thief or hooligan ever could. That gaudy ridiculous attire, the crows that seemed to be around him, those big black eyes that were as if the boy would be sucked into the Void just for looking at him, and this feeling, this darkness he could sense... Screw "butterflies", there were outright moths in his stomach as this guy chatted about him being perfect for... well, Kotaro wasn't really paying much attention to whatever he was saying. This guy was a particular brand of bad news he wasn't prepared for, instinctively going into his Kitsune form, The boy and Brandon the Jester fought off the trail...well, it's more accurate it turned into a fight as Kotaro tried to run off the path to get away and the clown followed suit.

Kotaro tried to fought him off, and to his credit, the boy seemed to be doing well at it, giving the clown a hard time. But, there was a moment of weakness, his mind starting to go dark, his body getting enervated and sleepy... was it the clown's magic, or was it something that hit his head during the battle and giving him a concussion? His mind was too scattered to focus on that or the fight for much longer until eventually...he just blacked out.

Next thing he knew, he was in a dungeon, his weapon taken from him, his hands cuffed to keep from using any magic, and surrounded by other kids roughly around the same age as him.

For a little while now, Kotaro was in his cell with the others, sat down near the middle, trying to keep himself calm and figure out how to get out of this situation - hopefully without any random blackouts this time - and free the rest of these children with him. The fact that they were kids and so not the least bit quiet about their situation did not help matters at all, some of them even tried to pick a fight with him as the weird new fresh meat. This was far from the kind of thing master Tai trained him for, and the cherry on top is that while he tried his damnedest to hide it, he was just as terrified of this situation as the rest of them.

---

Which brings us to the present. Kotaro and the other kids are lined up in what seemed to be a giant throne room, a giant heart-shaped Lacrima - the likes of which Kotaro has never seen before - chained up in the back behind the throne. That clown from before is there suggesting the many things they could do to him including - oh, how cute - feeding the "fox" to a bunch of hounds outside, said iron-popsicle guy the clown was kicking, and sitting on the throne was the one whom the clown was talking to, a woman that looked almost like royalty, her eyes as blue as the giant lacrima on behind, and a look in them that was just as cold and stone-like. He didn't know what the clown who was still chatting it up was talking about, but while he never heard of the name 'Rajabel' before, something about it irked him in a way he couldn't explain...A demon perhaps? Could it have been the same one that attacked the forest that day? ...No, it sounds like whoever this Rajabel is, he isn't materially present in the world yet...and these kids - himself included - are the ones that are going to be that material to bring him into the world.

Just looking at this "Setsuka-sama" on the throne, Kotaro doesn't know why but he can tell, ...this lady is gonna sacrifice him and the rest of these kids for this Rajabel demon if nothing was done. Moreover, by the sound of things, that's the "lucky" way out of this. One's gonna be a lot worse off as a vessel if nothing is done.

The guy coming to rescue the kids is incapacitated from the ice, but judging by what the clown was saying, this guy's a fire wizard. While it's true that ice magic might beat out fire magic, ice itself might be able to melt off from the fire magic; he won't be able to focus on that with that clown kicking him though. Considering that Setsuka lady over there, never mind the other mages in the room, he didn't like this guy's chances in a fight. But with his own hands tied and his weapon out of reach, he was the best chance they had at getting out of this.

And so, Kotaro took a deep breath...

"If you care so much for those hounds' stomachs, how about feeding them some of those birds of yours instead!? In the meantime, how about not threatening to kill off kids you need so badly for this ritual or whatever? Seems a bit stupid and short-sighted to think about how to kill us 'vessels' you spent a lot of time gathering for such an event. What if you end up killing the one kid that's perfect for hosting this Raja-whatever, and you end up with a failed ritual for it? Did it occur to you how her royal highness over there will react if that happens, or do you happen to have a crow's brain to go with that bird-magic of yours?" He yelled to Brandon, a smirk on his face. Chances are the other kids were trying to calm Kotaro down or shut him up for his own sake, but if the clown got pissed at his taunts, then his job was done.

He just needs to keep him and everyone else distracted while the fire-guy melts off his ice and fights back.

Fenix Tear [Invite | Ask Only]

Kotaro Kuzunoha

_{^D.O.B X783·01·01 | ^Age 10^y.o. | ^Guild Fenix Tear (Eventually) | ^Type Independent | ^Race Human}

Kotaro Kuzunoha

---

𝕴𝖉𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖎𝖙𝖞
Kotaro Kuzunoha is essentially what you'd expect from a 10-year old. Upbeat, emotional, adventurous, ambitious, vindictive, and quite a bit pretentious with his sense of honor and code.

Kotaro was raised by Tai to be capable of helping himself sooner rather than later, but that doesn't mean he was strictly about training the boy to fight. Everyday was spent training, but that doesn't mean he trained his entire life. The boy had more knowledge and skill jammed into his little brain than any normal 10-year old should, and it shows. While Tai tried to give him a proper childhood, he was a mentor first and a father second.

As such, what we have is a boy who chooses to act more mature than his age suggests, but is ultimately awkward to society and having little experience of the world outside his training, and even less of a childhood as a result. Kotaro is booksmart, but street average; clever, but naive, and tries to hide the rather large inner child underneath his mentally grown-up facade with mixed success. As such having potential episodes of various emotions, and an internal thought process that may be much more nervous and fearful of bad situations than he'd ever let show on the outside. As such, easily flustered by taunts and perversions of others.

On his negative emotional highs, he thinks back to his masters words and teachings and repeating them like mantras to calm him back down. He has a great respect and need to protect his master and father figure, refusing to accept insults or critiques upon him, and this respect is what drives him to do something as reckless as attempt to travel across the world and hunt particularly powerful devils just to clear his name.

However, his master's training has conditioned his mind to focus in the face of a battle. In combat, he puts aside all his thoughts and emotions, focusing only on the opponents in front of him, and how best to take them down. The boy is perceptive and taciturn in this state, not just relying on his own skills and strengths but the limitations of the opponent and any advantage or disadvantage of the environment around him.

But ultimately, the greatest thing his master has ever taught him, is both empathy and willingness to help. Kotaro is a kind and generous child, and when he sees someone in need, he's compelled to help aid them, sometimes to literally stupid degrees. A bit selfish in that regard to a point where it could considered a hero complex of a kind, but ultimately with his heart in the right place. Save devils, it really doesn't matter what they are; if anything, he was trained to help spirits find their way to the afterlife as much as possible.

---

𝕱𝖆𝖎𝖗𝖞𝖙𝖆𝖑𝖊
There's not much to tell of the boy's story. Being a mere 10-year old, one could argue his story is only just beginning.

For as long as he could remember, Kotaro was raised in Hizaru by his mentor, a 9-tailed Kitsune yokai renown in the region as the "Fox Sage" Wizard, Tai Kuzunoha. Before that, the earliest memories he had were flashes of a man whom Tai states is his father, and this feeling of sickness that made those early memories feel like a fever dream. Life under the Fox Sage's tutelage was all he ever knew, and were it not for Tai giving the boy info regarding his real heritage, Kotaro would have likely assumed he was practically Tai's son. To that end, He inherited the family name "Kuzunoha" from Tai.

That was a peaceful life, with the only hardship the boy knowing was his master's training. From the moment he could walk, he was taught the ways of magic and combat. Tai knew he had a potential talent for wind magic, but also for the spirit arts themselves. Being a Yokai affiliated with fire himself, Tai also knew there was so much he could teach the boy without knowing about wind magic himself. As such - despite knowing the boy wasn't old enough to have an affinity for anything else but wind - in addition to teaching him the basics of Raigetsu, Tai taught him as much his own yokai spirit arts as he could, calling them "Tai"-getsu as a way to help the boy differentiate between the two, starting with the ability to become a kitsune yokai temporarily himself using spiria as the basis. In the end, however, all he could teach the boy was the capability to produce fox flames and how to implement and use it in different ways both inside and outside the box.

Tai was also Hizaru's spirit guide. He claims he once had another job far from this island, but retired from it; never elaborated further on it for whatever reason. As a Spirit guide, it was his job to encourage and aid people of the living while guiding the dead into the embrace of Ankhselam, and as his pupil, Kotaro was also to learn how to be a spirit guide himself via his yokai magic Tai taught him. To that end, across the whole of his training, he was taught Tai's signature ability of "Guiding Star" to allow wayward spirits to pass onto the afterlife. He was only ever taught to exorcise one soul at a time, tapping into the soul and slowly using psychology to unchain them to the living world. But he wasn't ready for a mass exorcism of multiple spirits at once.

But one night during one of their escapades to haunted places for Tai to exorcise - specifically a haunted forest near a rural village - the two were surrounded, and a careless mistake led to Tai getting injured. He told Kotaro to run, but instead Kotaro could feel as if something was telling him to stand his ground to save his father figure. The boy used guiding star, and against the orders of his teacher, he used it on every spirit in the area, burning them away by force. The last thing he could feel with that event was a stabbing pain and a thunderclap headache, before he blacked out.

When he came through, he was in a bed with his master overlooking him, a small look of dread instantly going to relief, and they seemed to be in a different place from the forest, a building by the looks of it, but not their home, and seemingly a bit more civilized than the rural village they were at before. They seemed to be at a hospital in Hizaru's capital, with Tai stating that the boy blacked out after using Guiding Star, and that using Guiding Star to force spirits out of the living world has dangerous consequences. He never elaborated further, just stating that it unwittingly drew in the attention of a great devil to the area. Tai fought it while the boy was unconscious, burning away its influence on the area around it, but unfortunately it led to the village being caught in the crossfire.

The whole village area they tried to save and give peace to, was wiped out.

Needless to say, the boy was saddened and guilty over it, but as if his mind was read, Tai stated it wasn't the boy's fault. He couldn't have known there was such a powerful force of evil in the area. If anyone was to blame for it, it was Tai himself for not teaching the boy anymore about Guiding star than he had. He told him that when someone makes a mistake, they must recognize and own up to it, no matter how large or small. ...It was around that time the boy realized that Tai's little fox paws were cuffed. Turning his focus away from him, he also noticed a few of Hizaru's cops behind him.

As it turns out, Tai was made the scapegoat for the incident; not only was the village and everyone in it up in smoke - creating a charge of multiple counts of involuntary manslaughter - but he failed to capture and exorcise the devil partly responsible for it. The only reason he was at Kotaro's bedside was at his request before the sentencing, wanting to inform the boy of the situation and stating he'll need to move into a new family. Before the hauled him to jail, having satisfied this request, Tai whispered something to the boy.

"Go west, to the land of pendragons where the flaming bird cries, You will find what you need at the gathering of its tears."

Tai has given the boy riddles before as part of his training and education. However, if ever he tells him a riddle outside his training, it's generally to keep what he says a secret in case someone decides to listen in. In this case, it seems he didn't one the police to listen to what's being said, before being hauled off.

Before Kotaro was sent to an orphanage, he ran away from the hospital with weapon in tow, heading west. He didn't know where exactly his master was telling him to go, but what he was taught about the world solved the first part of the riddle already:

"Avalon."

---

𝕬𝖙𝖙𝖗𝖎𝖇𝖚𝖙𝖊𝖘

_{Class: Enchanter | Origin: 1^st | Deck: Spiria | Ethos: Celestial}

_Glazing
^Rank: B

^Grade: A-

_Affinity
Sky

_Magecraft

Raigetsu Wind Arts and "Tai"-getsu Yokai Arts
Kotaro Kuzunoha is a little expert of spirit arts, specifically Wind Raigetsu, making able to use sky magic to attack, defend, and heal using the wind. In addition, while he lacks an affinity for its element, he was taught how to use Yokai spirit arts by his master, Tai, turning himself into a yokai temporarily and being able to cast spiritual fire magic in place of his sky magic.

Spells

Raigetsu- Immovable Wind Arts
With his sword as a Conduit for his wind Spiria, Kotaro is able to harness the wind to produce and release sword beams of razor sharp winds, capable of cutting through wood and flesh with ease. He can also use charge the wind around his sword to create a particularly strong gust of wind in front of him, capable of blowing back most creatures at max. Sharp as they may be however, that can still be blocked by particularly hard materials, such as magical shields and walls of stone or metal.

Raigetsu- Healing wind arts
Focusing the Wind spiria into his hands, and his breath, Kotaro is able heal wounds and ailments using gentle motions of his hands hovering above the afflicted. Depending on how big or deep the wounds are, or how bad the ailment, this could take anywhere from less than a minute to hours on end. Curses that interfere with the healing process or negate magic - as well as fatal wounds - would make healing them impossible. It should be noted that the First Aid he was taught by his master served to help lessen the time it would take to properly heal wounds and be able to provide some comfort at least for those too badly damaged or sick for a proper healing.

Raigetsu - Hurricane Shield
By charging up a considerable amount of wind spiria into his blade and hands, Kotaro is able to envelop himself and others in a sphere of heavy typhoon like wind. Hard enough on its own to break into or get out of even with weaponry, but it also produces shockwaves on the outside that continuously blow strong winds around the area without distinction, making it hard for anyone on the outside to even get close to it. The area of the shield is roughly large enough to be capable of holding himself and about six adults at best - with him at the epicenter - but can adjust the size accordingly. If it's too big, he can't hold it for long, and if it's too small, it could become an inconvenience for allies. While he uses this generally for protection purposes, due to the walls of wind being thick on both sides, it could also be used to entrap others if the need ever arises. Of course, in addition to the long charge time, it takes a rather large amount of spiria to set it off, and as things stand, he can't hold it for much longer than 5 or so minutes, and if he himself was knocked out or drained from the experience or dies while in it, the shield will fade away and shut off immediately.

Tai-getsu (Raigetsu) - Yokai form: Kitsune
Kotaro's master Tai is a Kitsune Yokai, and so naturally knows spirit arts associated with Yokai, or more specifically, spirit arts involving their form. While he hasn't mastered it like Tai would, Kotaro is able to partially turn into a Fox Yokai temporarily - the only real difference being a golden tail, some golden fur around his hands and feet, both of which become paws and his ears moving upwards and becoming those of a fox, While it may not look like much, Kotaro in this form sacrifices any defensive capabilities he may have had for strength and agility. While he can use a sword in this form, the paws make it more difficult to wield it properly, so he prefers to fight with his fists.

Tai-getsu (Raigetsu) - Kitsune Magic: Fox Flame
While in Kitsune form, Kotaro is able to generate blue flames made of Spiria that he can shape how he fits, be it of a stream of fire, coating his flames on his fists and feet, or generating fireballs on his tail. While these flames are indeed hot and have physical mass to them, it should be noted that they do not physically burn like normal flames, but rather they burn spiritually, charring the soul of anyone who touches them, causing a disconnect between the soul and the mind, leading to disorientation and vertigo. As these aren't actual wounds, healing magic won't be effective against this attack. However, strong emotions can turn this flame from blue to natural flame colors, causing them to work like actual flames, and while it can be healed at this point, the wounds inflicted are still resistant to said healing magic.

Tai-getsu (Raigetsu) - Kitsune Magic: Hollow Forest Mist
By combining his fox fire with some water, Kotaro is able to evaporate the water into an intense steamy mist. While it can work as a smoke screen to help get away from certain situations, its main function is to allow to use the concentrated spiria within the steam to produce illusions and hallucinations, the spiria giving them a ghostly mass. Kotaro can't control what the person sees within the fog, but he can control the movements and actions of the illusions conceived, provided he concentrates on them. Otherwise they'd just be standing there, and what they are and what they hear will be dependent on the subconscious of the individual that sees it. Useful for distractions and mind games, but - ironically - can be blown away rather easily through wind magic.

^Yūdōboshi
_{Star Guide}
誘 導 星
Guiding Star
^{Type: White Arts, Shaman Exorcism, Organic Link Magic, Ancient Spell, Enchantment, Law
Range: AoE
Target: Yōkai Exclusive}
The venerated reijutsu of Hizuru no Senko-Tai that's bequeathed to Kotaro by the highest honor of discipleship as a coming of age rites upon the culmination of the Raigetsu Magics.

An ablazingly enchanted radiant blueflame-solacing starbeads illuminated mirage, Guiding Star glistens wayward with the unresting souls, emotionally entangled and pacifying to its mechanism. A wordysome series of prayerful sacraments divised to encroach yet quell the unresting souls from their earthly strongholds, flickering set ablazing them to resoluting rest by sevenfold. An Ancient Spell requiring heartfelt sincerity to cast, therefore ineffective if the heart is at the wrong road.

Those without remorse of their actions, cancels this Ancient Spell immediately.

Poetically built to precise in Kitsune aesthetic, Hizuru no Senko-Tai is established handling nine spirits at once and at a time in a bustling 99-meter radius likened to the Mythical Nine Tailed Fox. Kotaro by virtue of high magic potency is established with three tails, making him a Sanbigitsune whose range is 33-meters radius true to his moniker; Tenko no Kotaro, Heavenly Fox Kotaro. Neophyte in his skill grasp, Kotaro earnestly trains to master Guiding Star.

Likewise, the penalty of improper execution is likened to abusing and finding a cheating loophole for kicks will warrant users to be cursed by Ankhseram.

_Advancery
High Speed | Bullet

_Talentstree
Melee Combat
Master Tai taught the young Kotaro that while magic is a vital tool for anyone in this world, but not all there is to a fight. To rely too much on magic is to be helpless when that magic fails him, to rely on a weapon is to be helpless when that weapon is out of his grasp. But to rely on his body is to be helpful to himself and others when all other options run dry. Knowing this, the boy was taught and trained in the art of melee combat, both with his trusty sword, and with his fists. He's still very young compared to others in the guild, and so naturally he's not as strong as full grown adults, but he has the will and technique to at least put up a fight if nothing else. Furthermore, he was trained in the art of the sword, being able to wield one - albeit a small one due to his stature - with the grace and capability you'd find in an adult samurai.

First Aid
Upon learning that his magic has the capability to heal others, Tai taught him some basic first aid treatments to help him and others recover from any sudden ailments or injuries. Since his magic takes some time to fully heal an individual depending on the severity, the logic of learning first aid stems from shortening the time it takes to heal individuals, or failing that at least comfort and keep things from getting worse so that others more experienced and capable than him can take it from there.

Amateur Tactician
Master Tai was, above all, a wise sage that taught Kotaro the importance of the world around him and the need for observance and perception of that world. He educated the boy as best as he could for as short a time as he had, and Kotaro took in that knowledge as best as a 10-year old possibly could. As such, Kotaro tends to try and continuing learning about his allies, his adversaries, and the environment around him so that he may use it to the advantages of himself and comrades. That said, he's still just a kid, and has a lot to learn about the world of strategy and tactics in a fight. Any actual tactician could walk circles around him easily as things stand. Still, for a 10 year old, he's better at making plans than most adults.

𝕸𝖊𝖉𝖑𝖊𝖞
Main Vocal Theme 1 | Main Instrumental Theme 1 | Battle Theme 1

Fenix Tear [Invite | Ask Only]

^Yūdōboshi
_{Star Guide}
誘 導 星
Guiding Star
The venerated reijutsu of Hizuru no Senko-Tai that's bequeathed to Kotaro by the highest honor of discipleship as a coming of age rites upon the culmination of the Raigetsu Magics.

An ablazingly enchanted radiant blueflame-solacing starbeads illuminated mirage, Guiding Star glistens wayward with the unresting souls, emotionally entangled and pacifying to its mechanism. A wordysome series of prayerful sacraments divised to encroach yet quell the unresting souls from their earthly strongholds, flickering set ablazing them to resoluting rest by sevenfold. An Ancient Spell requiring sincerity

@Urizen

Thanks for this.

@Gerlando With that, I've made all the necessary edits to Kotaro's CS for now. ^^

Fenix Tear [Invite | Ask Only]

Kotaro Kuzunoha

_{^D.O.B X783·01·01 | ^Age 10^y.o. | ^Guild Fenix Tear (Eventually) | ^Type Independent | ^Race Human}

Kotaro Kuzunoha

---

𝕴𝖉𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖎𝖙𝖞
Kotaro Kuzunoha is essentially what you'd expect from a 10-year old. Upbeat, emotional, adventurous, ambitious, vindictive, and quite a bit pretentious with his sense of honor and code.

Kotaro was raised by Tai to be capable of helping himself sooner rather than later, but that doesn't mean he was strictly about training the boy to fight. Everyday was spent training, but that doesn't mean he trained his entire life. The boy had more knowledge and skill jammed into his little brain than any normal 10-year old should, and it shows. While Tai tried to give him a proper childhood, he was a mentor first and a father second.

As such, what we have is a boy who chooses to act more mature than his age suggests, but is ultimately awkward to society and having little experience of the world outside his training, and even less of a childhood as a result. Kotaro is booksmart, but street average; clever, but naive, and tries to hide the rather large inner child underneath his mentally grown-up facade with mixed success. As such having potential episodes of various emotions, and an internal thought process that may be much more nervous and fearful of bad situations than he'd ever let show on the outside. As such, easily flustered by taunts and perversions of others.

On his negative emotional highs, he thinks back to his masters words and teachings and repeating them like mantras to calm him back down. He has a great respect and need to protect his master and father figure, refusing to accept insults or critiques upon him, and this respect is what drives him to do something as reckless as attempt to travel across the world and hunt particularly powerful devils just to clear his name.

However, his master's training has conditioned his mind to focus in the face of a battle. In combat, he puts aside all his thoughts and emotions, focusing only on the opponents in front of him, and how best to take them down. The boy is perceptive and taciturn in this state, not just relying on his own skills and strengths but the limitations of the opponent and any advantage or disadvantage of the environment around him.

But ultimately, the greatest thing his master has ever taught him, is both empathy and willingness to help. Kotaro is a kind and generous child, and when he sees someone in need, he's compelled to help aid them, sometimes to literally stupid degrees. A bit selfish in that regard to a point where it could considered a hero complex of a kind, but ultimately with his heart in the right place. Save devils, it really doesn't matter what they are; if anything, he was trained to help spirits find their way to the afterlife as much as possible.

---

𝕱𝖆𝖎𝖗𝖞𝖙𝖆𝖑𝖊
There's not much to tell of the boy's story. Being a mere 10-year old, one could argue his story is only just beginning.

For as long as he could remember, Kotaro was raised in Hizaru by his mentor, a 9-tailed Kitsune yokai renown in the region as the "Fox Sage" Wizard, Tai Kuzunoha. Before that, the earliest memories he had were flashes of a man whom Tai states is his father, and this feeling of sickness that made those early memories feel like a fever dream. Life under the Fox Sage's tutelage was all he ever knew, and were it not for Tai giving the boy info regarding his real heritage, Kotaro would have likely assumed he was practically Tai's son. To that end, He inherited the family name "Kuzunoha" from Tai.

That was a peaceful life, with the only hardship the boy knowing was his master's training. From the moment he could walk, he was taught the ways of magic and combat. Tai knew he had a potential talent for wind magic, but also for the spirit arts themselves. Being a Yokai affiliated with fire himself, Tai also knew there was so much he could teach the boy without knowing about wind magic himself. As such - despite knowing the boy wasn't old enough to have an affinity for anything else but wind - in addition to teaching him the basics of Raigetsu, Tai taught him as much his own yokai spirit arts as he could, calling them "Tai"-getsu as a way to help the boy differentiate between the two, starting with the ability to become a kitsune yokai temporarily himself using spiria as the basis. In the end, however, all he could teach the boy was the capability to produce fox flames and how to implement and use it in different ways both inside and outside the box.

Tai was also Hizaru's spirit guide. He claims he once had another job far from this island, but retired from it; never elaborated further on it for whatever reason. As a Spirit guide, it was his job to encourage and aid people of the living while guiding the dead into the embrace of Ankhselam, and as his pupil, Kotaro was also to learn how to be a spirit guide himself via his yokai magic Tai taught him. To that end, across the whole of his training, he was taught Tai's signature ability of "Guiding Star" to allow wayward spirits to pass onto the afterlife. He was only ever taught to exorcise one soul at a time, tapping into the soul and slowly using psychology to unchain them to the living world. But he wasn't ready for a mass exorcism of multiple spirits at once.

But one night during one of their escapades to haunted places for Tai to exorcise - specifically a haunted forest near a rural village - the two were surrounded, and a careless mistake led to Tai getting injured. He told Kotaro to run, but instead Kotaro could feel as if something was telling him to stand his ground to save his father figure. The boy used guiding star, and against the orders of his teacher, he used it on every spirit in the area, burning them away by force. The last thing he could feel with that event was a stabbing pain and a thunderclap headache, before he blacked out.

When he came through, he was in a bed with his master overlooking him, a small look of dread instantly going to relief, and they seemed to be in a different place from the forest, a building by the looks of it, but not their home, and seemingly a bit more civilized than the rural village they were at before. They seemed to be at a hospital in Hizaru's capital, with Tai stating that the boy blacked out after using Guiding Star, and that using Guiding Star to force spirits out of the living world has dangerous consequences. He never elaborated further, just stating that it unwittingly drew in the attention of a great devil to the area. Tai fought it while the boy was unconscious, burning away its influence on the area around it, but unfortunately it led to the village being caught in the crossfire.

The whole village area they tried to save and give peace to, was wiped out.

Needless to say, the boy was saddened and guilty over it, but as if his mind was read, Tai stated it wasn't the boy's fault. He couldn't have known there was such a powerful force of evil in the area. If anyone was to blame for it, it was Tai himself for not teaching the boy anymore about Guiding star than he had. He told him that when someone makes a mistake, they must recognize and own up to it, no matter how large or small. ...It was around that time the boy realized that Tai's little fox paws were cuffed. Turning his focus away from him, he also noticed a few of Hizaru's cops behind him.

As it turns out, Tai was made the scapegoat for the incident; not only was the village and everyone in it up in smoke - creating a charge of multiple counts of involuntary manslaughter - but he failed to capture and exorcise the devil partly responsible for it. The only reason he was at Kotaro's bedside was at his request before the sentencing, wanting to inform the boy of the situation and stating he'll need to move into a new family. Before the hauled him to jail, having satisfied this request, Tai whispered something to the boy.

"Go west, to the land of pendragons where the flaming bird cries, You will find what you need at the gathering of its tears."

Tai has given the boy riddles before as part of his training and education. However, if ever he tells him a riddle outside his training, it's generally to keep what he says a secret in case someone decides to listen in. In this case, it seems he didn't one the police to listen to what's being said, before being hauled off.

Before Kotaro was sent to an orphanage, he ran away from the hospital with weapon in tow, heading west. He didn't know where exactly his master was telling him to go, but what he was taught about the world solved the first part of the riddle already:

"Avalon."

---

𝕬𝖙𝖙𝖗𝖎𝖇𝖚𝖙𝖊𝖘

_{Class: Enchanter | Origin: 1^st | Deck: Spiria | Ethos: Celestial}

_Glazing
^Rank: B

^Grade: A-

_Affinity
Sky

_Magecraft

Raigetsu Wind Arts and "Tai"-getsu Yokai Arts
Kotaro Kuzunoha is a little expert of spirit arts, specifically Wind Raigetsu, making able to use sky magic to attack, defend, and heal using the wind. In addition, while he lacks an affinity for its element, he was taught how to use Yokai spirit arts by his master, Tai, turning himself into a yokai temporarily and being able to cast spiritual fire magic in place of his sky magic.

Spells

Raigetsu- Immovable Wind Arts
With his sword as a Conduit for his wind Spiria, Kotaro is able to harness the wind to produce and release sword beams of razor sharp winds, capable of cutting through wood and flesh with ease. He can also use charge the wind around his sword to create a particularly strong gust of wind in front of him, capable of blowing back most creatures at max. Sharp as they may be however, that can still be blocked by particularly hard materials, such as magical shields and walls of stone or metal.

Raigetsu- Healing wind arts
Focusing the Wind spiria into his hands, and his breath, Kotaro is able heal wounds and ailments using gentle motions of his hands hovering above the afflicted. Depending on how big or deep the wounds are, or how bad the ailment, this could take anywhere from less than a minute to hours on end. Curses that interfere with the healing process or negate magic - as well as fatal wounds - would make healing them impossible. It should be noted that the First Aid he was taught by his master served to help lessen the time it would take to properly heal wounds and be able to provide some comfort at least for those too badly damaged or sick for a proper healing.

Raigetsu - Hurricane Shield
By charging up a considerable amount of wind spiria into his blade and hands, Kotaro is able to envelop himself and others in a sphere of heavy typhoon like wind. Hard enough on its own to break into or get out of even with weaponry, but it also produces shockwaves on the outside that continuously blow strong winds around the area without distinction, making it hard for anyone on the outside to even get close to it. The area of the shield is roughly large enough to be capable of holding himself and about six adults at best - with him at the epicenter - but can adjust the size accordingly. If it's too big, he can't hold it for long, and if it's too small, it could become an inconvenience for allies. While he uses this generally for protection purposes, due to the walls of wind being thick on both sides, it could also be used to entrap others if the need ever arises. Of course, in addition to the long charge time, it takes a rather large amount of spiria to set it off, and as things stand, he can't hold it for much longer than 5 or so minutes, and if he himself was knocked out or drained from the experience or dies while in it, the shield will fade away and shut off immediately.

Tai-getsu (Raigetsu) - Yokai form: Kitsune
Kotaro's master Tai is a Kitsune Yokai, and so naturally knows spirit arts associated with Yokai, or more specifically, spirit arts involving their form. While he hasn't mastered it like Tai would, Kotaro is able to partially turn into a Fox Yokai temporarily - the only real difference being a golden tail, some golden fur around his hands and feet, both of which become paws and his ears moving upwards and becoming those of a fox, While it may not look like much, Kotaro in this form sacrifices any defensive capabilities he may have had for strength and agility. While he can use a sword in this form, the paws make it more difficult to wield it properly, so he prefers to fight with his fists.

Tai-getsu (Raigetsu) - Kitsune Magic: Fox Flame
While in Kitsune form, Kotaro is able to generate blue flames made of Spiria that he can shape how he fits, be it of a stream of fire, coating his flames on his fists and feet, or generating fireballs on his tail. While these flames are indeed hot and have physical mass to them, it should be noted that they do not physically burn like normal flames, but rather they burn spiritually, charring the soul of anyone who touches them, causing a disconnect between the soul and the mind, leading to disorientation and vertigo. As these aren't actual wounds, healing magic won't be effective against this attack. However, strong emotions can turn this flame from blue to natural flame colors, causing them to work like actual flames, and while it can be healed at this point, the wounds inflicted are still resistant to said healing magic.

Tai-getsu (Raigetsu) - Kitsune Magic: Hollow Forest Mist
By combining his fox fire with some water, Kotaro is able to evaporate the water into an intense steamy mist. While it can work as a smoke screen to help get away from certain situations, its main function is to allow to use the concentrated spiria within the steam to produce illusions and hallucinations, the spiria giving them a ghostly mass. Kotaro can't control what the person sees within the fog, but he can control the movements and actions of the illusions conceived, provided he concentrates on them. Otherwise they'd just be standing there, and what they are and what they hear will be dependent on the subconscious of the individual that sees it. Useful for distractions and mind games, but - ironically - can be blown away rather easily through wind magic.

^Yūdōboshi
_{Star Guide}
誘 導 星
Guiding Star
^{Type: White Arts, Shaman Exorcism, Organic Link Magic, Ancient Spell, Enchantment, Law
Range: AoE
Target: Yōkai Exclusive}
The venerated reijutsu of Hizuru no Senko-Tai that's bequeathed to Kotaro by the highest honor of discipleship as a coming of age rites upon the culmination of the Raigetsu Magics.

An ablazingly enchanted radiant blueflame-solacing starbeads illuminated mirage, Guiding Star glistens wayward with the unresting souls, emotionally entangled and pacifying to its mechanism. A wordysome series of prayerful sacraments divised to encroach yet quell the unresting souls from their earthly strongholds, flickering set ablazing them to resoluting rest by sevenfold. An Ancient Spell requiring heartfelt sincerity to cast, therefore ineffective if the heart is at the wrong road.

Those without remorse of their actions, cancels this Ancient Spell immediately.

Poetically built to precise in Kitsune aesthetic, Hizuru no Senko-Tai is established handling nine spirits at once and at a time in a bustling 99-meter radius likened to the Mythical Nine Tailed Fox. Kotaro by virtue of high magic potency is established with three tails, making him a Sanbigitsune whose range is 33-meters radius true to his moniker; Tenko no Kotaro, Heavenly Fox Kotaro. Neophyte in his skill grasp, Kotaro earnestly trains to master Guiding Star.

Likewise, the penalty of improper execution is likened to abusing and finding a cheating loophole for kicks will warrant users to be cursed by Ankhseram.

_Advancery
High Speed | Bullet

_Talentstree
Melee Combat
Master Tai taught the young Kotaro that while magic is a vital tool for anyone in this world, but not all there is to a fight. To rely too much on magic is to be helpless when that magic fails him, to rely on a weapon is to be helpless when that weapon is out of his grasp. But to rely on his body is to be helpful to himself and others when all other options run dry. Knowing this, the boy was taught and trained in the art of melee combat, both with his trusty sword, and with his fists. He's still very young compared to others in the guild, and so naturally he's not as strong as full grown adults, but he has the will and technique to at least put up a fight if nothing else. Furthermore, he was trained in the art of the sword, being able to wield one - albeit a small one due to his stature - with the grace and capability you'd find in an adult samurai.

First Aid
Upon learning that his magic has the capability to heal others, Tai taught him some basic first aid treatments to help him and others recover from any sudden ailments or injuries. Since his magic takes some time to fully heal an individual depending on the severity, the logic of learning first aid stems from shortening the time it takes to heal individuals, or failing that at least comfort and keep things from getting worse so that others more experienced and capable than him can take it from there.

Amateur Tactician
Master Tai was, above all, a wise sage that taught Kotaro the importance of the world around him and the need for observance and perception of that world. He educated the boy as best as he could for as short a time as he had, and Kotaro took in that knowledge as best as a 10-year old possibly could. As such, Kotaro tends to try and continuing learning about his allies, his adversaries, and the environment around him so that he may use it to the advantages of himself and comrades. That said, he's still just a kid, and has a lot to learn about the world of strategy and tactics in a fight. Any actual tactician could walk circles around him easily as things stand. Still, for a 10 year old, he's better at making plans than most adults.

𝕸𝖊𝖉𝖑𝖊𝖞
Main Vocal Theme 1 | Main Instrumental Theme 1 | Battle Theme 1

I hope it's to your liking, everyone. ^^