Ren Fujii

****Ren Fujii**** (藤井 蓮, *Fujī Ren*?), also known as **Powerhouse** (パワーハウス, *Pawāhausu*?), is the titular main protagonist of the *Powerhouse* series. He is an immensely powerful psychic with abnormal abilities. A powerful reality warper, he is one of the most powerful beings in the universe even at a young age.

After Ren recovered, he thought he could go back to his normal life even without Shirou. However, that would no longer be possible after his encounter with a mysterious girl during a trip to the city's museum. Any semblance of his normal life shattered completely once the Longinus Dreizehn Orden enter Suwahara City, intending to use his home city as a ritual to bring back their leader, Reinhard Heydrich, as well as to rid the World of Foreknowledge.

## Appearance

Ren is a tall, young boy with shoulder length blue hair and matching eyes. He is usually wears a long scarf and a blue sweater that reaches up to his waist with two red stripes along its arms He is noted to resemble both Mercurius and Lotus.

## Personality

Ren suffers from schizophrenia, resulting in a very fractured psyche. He can be paranoid, eccentric and sometimes nonsensical in nature, conjuring illusions and sleepwalking during the night. However, despite this, Ren remains a rather benign individual, in spite of his mental illness.

Ren is mostly quiet and reserved, and mostly avoids talking to others if possible. He easily gets carried along, and never has any conviction of his own. In his own words, "if he sees a puzzle in front of him, he just gets annoyed". He always twists his beliefs when he is talking to someone, so that he can get off easily, without having to argue. He has an extremely bad memory, often forgetting people he has met before (an example of this being Akiharu Usami, who he completely forgot in a few days, not even recognizing him the next time they saw each other). When he was younger, he used to get angry very quickly, but this trait disappeared after his time at the ER3 System. His favorite catchphrase is "Nonsense".

As a child, Ren learned that his psychic power was linked to his emotions. Strong negative emotions can cause him to hurt others, something he strongly dislikes and avoids (as shown in the 7th Division Arc where, after going 100%, he hurts several teenagers). Therefore, he generally tries to keep his emotions in check. However, in some cases, he can control his powers, e.g. when he was at 100% courage.

Ren is a very forgiving and understanding individual, never holding grudges or resentment towards those who've hurt him. This was first seen with Teruki Hanazawa, who relentlessly attacked Ren and choked him to try and fight back, but despite this, the two become close friends. With Ritsu Kageyama, who gained psychic powers and wanted to fight Ren to prove he was stronger while trying to break their bond, Ren pays no mind to this, later commending Ritsu for his intelligence and other skills that Ren lacks, leaving Ritsu in tears. The most notable example of his capacity for forgiveness is with Minori Asagiri, who ruthlessly bullied him for six months in a mental world created by Mogami and brought him to the brink of insanity. Despite having been hurt like this, Ren instantly forgives her and chooses to view his time in the mental world as a valuable lesson that both Minori and Keiji Mogami taught him, and actually saying that he was glad they could meet.

Perhaps most remarkable about Ren is his seemingly limitless compassion. When fighting villains, he often refuses to use his psychic powers unless necessary, preferring to talk with his enemies and try to reason with them. With Katsuya Serizawa, despite being the enemy, Ren offered to be his friend, and helped him to become a better person by no longer hurting people. With Sho Suzuki, despite having destroyed most of Spice City, Ren still offers the hand of friendship and continues to try and reason with him. During their fight, he empathizes with Suzuki due to the life of loneliness he leads and actually cries because he doesn't want to hurt him but has no choice. Then, when Suzuki is about to self-destruct, Ren makes the incredibly selfless decision to stay by his side in his final moments because leaving him to die alone would be too sad, finally causing Suzuki to change.

He has a complex relationship with Tomo Kunagisa, standing by her side because he feels jealous of her, while also feeling affection towards her. He said that when he met her, he realized how brilliant she was, and so he destroyed her. Later, he started to feel crushing guilt about doing so, and the desire to redeem himself (feelings that he later projects onto Ichihime Yukariki). He has stated that he is in love with her.

He is the mirror image of Hitoshiki Zerozaki, both being the same yet different. He described Hitoshiki as "what he would be if he didn't hold back". After the two met and fought, Ren befriended the serial killer, and the two worked together to solve the Strangulation cases. Even though he never alerted the police about Hitoshiki's criminal activity, and only gave out information about him when he was forced by Aikawa, it seems he thinks murderers are all despicable, admonishing both Mikoko Aoii and Muimi Atemiya (causing the former to actually commit suicide), with Hitoshiki being sort of an exception.

Another principle of his is that psychic ability does not make him or others inherently better and that his psychic ability is not something that he requires in life. This belief leads to conflict between him and Teru, Mogami, Toichiro Suzuki, and even his own brother, Ritsu. Even so, if the situation is dire enough, for example, his brother being kidnapped by Claw's 7th Division, he will use them without hesitation.

Because of this principle, and because he believes that he is greatly lacking in many other areas, Ren has a low opinion of himself, despite being one of the most powerful espers in the series. As a result, Ren was initially very silent and did not often voice his opinion, mostly keeping his thoughts and emotions to himself. But as time passed, he began to speak out more and state his opinions on many things. This primarily affected his relationship with Reigen; at first, Ren would follow Reigen practically anywhere at almost anytime and do whatever he told him with almost no objection. The only exception was against Ceiling Crasher, when Ren reminded Reigen that he'd asked his master not to summon him on such short notice, although even then, he wasn't particularly irritated. But at the beginning of Season 2, Ren objected against Reigen's wishes more fiercely, telling his master in a somewhat aggravated tone to stop forcing Ren to drop everything for him.

After the case on Wet Crow's Feather Island, Ren caught Jun Aikawa's attention, and she became friends with him, often dragging him along to all sorts of odd jobs. He has a lot of respect for Jun, and values the two's friendship very much, even though he doesn't think he deserves to know her. Jun also has shown that she trusts the young man very much, and does her best to motivate him to try harder.

## Background

Ren Fujii was created by Karl Ernst Krafft, also known as Mercurius, as his substitute, who would fill seat XIII of the Obsidian Round Table in his place during the battle at the Eastern Shambhala, Suwahara City, which would see the resurrection of Reinhard Heydrich and the erasure of the world of Eternal Recurrence, which the Golden Beast plans to wash away with his own world. As his substitute, Zarathustra (Ren's magic name and identification within the LDO) would serve (capitalizing in the hatred the rest of the Beast's Fangs feel against Mercurius) as the opponent they'd have to face once they arrived to the city, in order to open the eight Swastika scattered over the city, as mere bloodshed won't serve to complete the Transmutation of Gold as needed. Therefore, true battles would be needed and, as long as a majority of the Swastika open due to battling and not one sided massacres, the Longinus Dreizehn Orden's goals will be fulfilled. This role exists alongside another; to be Reinhard's promised opponent, who would truly push him to his limits, so he could fulfill his wish of fighting with his full strength against an adversary that can withstand it, and that opponent that will take the shape of his sworn friend substitute, upon reaching the peak of its powers.

## Chronology

Six years later, Ren and Shirou met a new patient at Clockworks, a woman their age named Rea Himuro. Ren immediately developed an attraction to Syd, and they began dating. Mysteriously, Rea refused to allow anyone to touch her in any way, not even her new boyfriend. Dr. Kissinger later stated that Rea had recovered, and she would be returned to her family. Impulsively, Ren kissed her good-bye, and he suddenly discovered why Rea had been so obstinate about being touched - Rea was a mutant, a human with uncanny abilities. In her case, she could switch bodies with other people through physical contact. Dr. Kissinger brought Ren (in Syd's body) to a nurse's office and treated him while Sydney in Ren's body was being held down by nurses. Sydney then lost control of Ren's powers causing the whole building to shake. After telling Ren to stay put, which he did not do, Ren and Kissinger returned to the Day Room to find all the patients were inexplicably trapped in their rooms. They also discovered all the furniture and doors were gone and Shirou trapped in a wall, dead.

## Abilities

At first glance, Ren is an average middle school student. Initially, Ren was very physically unfit and incapable, having no bodily coordination, a lack of stamina, and surprisingly low muscular strength. However, after joining the Body Improvement Club, his physical capabilities grew greatly, although they are still relatively below average for someone his age. He is very intelligent, having some of the best grades in his class, However, his intellect is only diminished by his schizophrenia.

However, Ren's true strength lies in his phenomenal psychic powers, which outclass those of almost every other esper in the series. He is arguably the most powerful psychic in the series, rivaled only by Myoujou Azashiro and Mercurius. He has a tremendous capacity for storing psychic energy, which he primarily uses to fuel his already existing powers. Due to his belief that psychic powers are not to be used against others, he has done little combat training and does not specialize in any specific type of ESP. Despite this, he still has a wide variety of techniques at his disposal and is actually able to learn new techniques rather easily, as seen when he learned how to use chlorokinesis during his battle with the farm spirit, when he managed to project his spirit out of his body after only seeing it a single time, and when he learned how to track the energy of other espers when he entered his 100% Obsession state, something that Dimple noted. However, he still relies most heavily on simple things such as telekinesis and barrier creation in combat. Toichiro, who has traveled the world, never encountered an esper on Ren's level before. Ren's psychic aura is usually blue, but can sometimes show shades of pink and purple. It also has a polygonal pattern.

* ****Mentifery**** (心的現実改変  (メンティフェリ ) , *Shinteki Genjitsu Kaihen (Mentiferi)*?, lit. "Psychological Reality Alteration"): As one of the most powerful psychics in the series, Ren has the ability to warp reality with his imagination and thoughts. For example, if he imagines that the bones in someone's arm are made of cookies, this will become true. By imagining that his body is "*more sturdy than the strongest steel,*" he can drastically increase his bodily defense. He can instantly heal any wounds inflicted onto him by imagining them already healed. Even more, using his power, Ren can create elements and substances from his mind, e.g. creating lava, water, or even a gigantic stone platform and steel pillars to use for attack and defense against foes and manipulate them as he sees fit, and he could also restructure the battlefield to his liking, like imagining a big crevice. Ren can also create real weapons around himself, ranging from machine guns to missiles, in order to attack his opponent. He can also erase people from reality altogether. Ren's powers possibly have been used subconsciously to cause some of what he imagined or believed to become real enough to affect and interact with the physical world. His knowledge and control of his psychic abilities was limited in his youth and attributed to his mental illness. However, after being off his psychiatric medication for long enough, as well as his training with Melanie, Ren become more capable of utilizing and expanding his potential. Once having escaped imprisonment within his own mind by the Shadow King, Ren grew to become more proficient with his abilities. This allowed him to seamlessly transport himself and others, manipulate objects from vast distances, create drug-producing pig, and manifest multiple versions of himself while resisting the Time Eater’s ability to erase events. His reality warping power provides him with a number of different abilities.
	+ **Matter Manipulation:** Ren has been shown to be able to alter and transform matter in multiple ways. When defusing the conflict at Division 3 Headquarters caused by the insanity creatures, he transmuted Clark's gun into a mop in order, and then again on Division 3's airship to turn his gun into a rubber duck before transporting him into space, when the two had become enemies. Offensively, Ren has been able to turn opponents into dust or ash, as well as fuse people inside solid structures, as Sydney accidentally did to Shirou Yusa while inhabiting Ren’s body. The Shadow King would also make use of Ren’s powers to turn people into black smoke and sometimes leaving burned, bloody remains behind. Ren’s power was discreetly used by the Shadow King when a Division 3 soldier grabbed an escaping Ren, with the man’s head to emit black smoke as he collapsed dead with the sound of his bones snapping. Ren's power also allowed him to engulf his opponents in fire to incinerate them as well, as he did to multiple Division 3 soldiers that were attacking him and his cult, with one being left as a charred statue. This power even allowed him to burn and kill a Time Demon, which caused the others to retreat in fear of Ren.
		- **Molecular Manipulation**: Ren possesses the ability to mentally control, transform, and manipulate the molecules of all matter and energy. Through concentration, he projects a psionic-manipulative energy, the precise nature of which is unknown, that alters the arrangement of molecules according to any visualized pattern. He can animate inanimate materials by causing constant mass movement of molecules: for example, he can make a brick building walk. He can rearrange molecules so radically, he can use his power to reconfigure all forms of matter and them into different substances and forms (such as, for example, turning air into glass), and can change matter into energy and back again. He can create force fields and energy blasts, and also open up wormholes through hyperspace and traverse them, thus travelling faster than light. The maximum area he can affect at a single time is not yet known. In the past, however, he has enclosed the entire island of Manhattan in a plexiglass barrier, lifted a 150 billion ton mountain under his own power alone, converted a two-square mile parcel of land into an ornate palace, and affected the entire planet Earth. Once he effects a change in the arrangement of molecules in a quantity of matter, it remains in its new configuration until he consciously changes it back. Even if rendered unconscious, the transformed substances remain.
		- **Fundamental Forces Manipulation:** Ren has displayed the ability to manipulate the four fundamental forces of the universe on a potentially a cosmic scale. This ability allows him to rearrange matter to create other configurations and can even transmute elements and manipulate space-time to a degree by using gravity to distort them.
	+ **Inanimation:** Ren was able to cause Clark, Kerry, and Cary to become immobilized, almost as if they were frozen in time, just before removing the delusion creatures from their bodies.
	+ **Force-Field Generation:** Ren is able to create an transparent, telekinetic barrier capable to blocking bullets effortlessly. The incarnation of him as a homeless man deflected several taser cords fired at him, which harmlessly bounced off the barrier. Before escaping with Shirou from Division 3, Ren used his powers to effortlessly shield them both from a hail of gunfire. He would latter use these barriers during the raid on his cult, notably using it as a telekinetic wave to repel multiple soldiers, though these events would latter be revised by Switch's time manipulation. Depending on Ren’s level of awareness and reaction time, his barriers are even able to reduce the force of projectiles as they made contact with his body, increasing his outward resilience. This notably allowed him withstand a gunshot to the shoulder from Clark, though not without a noticeable degree of pain, as bullet bouncing off his shield as it manifested just in time to catch it.
	+ **Teleportation:** Ren can seamlessly transport himself and others from one location to another. He triggered this power whilst panicking during an MRI scan, teleporting the machine outside of the Summerland facility . His sister Amy also recalled as a child, he would often suddenly appear in different places, such as finding him outside after having just left him in a bath. After discovering the truth of his power, Ren learned to have more control over it, allowing him to appear in the hallway that the Shadow King was attempting to escape through using Kerry Loudermilk's body. Eventually, Ren would become cause himself and targets of his choosing to appear and disappear at will, to the point of even being able to relocate or rearrange entire groups of people, vehicles or even structures, such as his cult compound with enough time and effort, with the greater size and number of the target of his teleportation determining how much time it will take for it to be displaced. This ability can also be used in a more destructive manner, first shown during the Clockworks incident when Shirou Yusa was teleported from the main lounge and accidentally fused into a wall. Similarly, some Division 3 soldiers defending their headquarters from Ren, who was under the Shadow King's influence, were partially teleported and fused into the ground. While the process is usually near-instantaneous, in some instances, especially while transporting larger and more numerous targets, Ren often generates light and energy of varying colors that surrounds and engulfs said target. Additionally, Ren's ability to mentally traverse space can seemingly work in tandem with his ability to physically displace himself, as shown when he projected himself and Rea to where Amy was being held before the two of them physically appeared in the lake outside of the Summerland facility. Furthermore, Ren was able to teleport a car to Lenny's location without being physically present, suggesting he had been projecting his mind to where the car was in order to transport it, though the car was damaged in the process.
	+ **Sound Nullification:** Ren, under the influence of the Shadow King, caused the area around his old home to become entirely devoid of sound when holding his sister there to confess the truth of his parentage.
	+ **Energy Constructs:** The ability to create anything he sees in his mind. Ren uses this ability to make anything he can imagine and manipulate it as he sees fit. Ren can channel this energy offensively to create weapons or blasts of energy or defensively to create force fields to protect those he loves.
	+ **Time Manipulation:** Ren, while accessing the Astral Plane, was able to stop time when he and Rea were shot at by Walter. As he, Syd, and the Summerland mutants returned to their bodies, Ren was able to position himself between the oncoming bullets and Rea while the bullets were still in mid-air. He was also able to contact future Sydney with the assistance of an isolation chamber built by Cary.
* **Telekinesis**: Ren possesses immeasurably potent telekinetic powers. With it, he is able move, levitate, control, and manipulate people, and multiple inanimate objects with mere thought via his hands or eyes alone. He can use this to various effects. He is able to fly, create small bright green-colored telekinetic shields and barriers, unleash incredibly powerful blasts of bright green telekinetic force and, freely control and manipulate several objects from a huge distance. Since his abilities are mind-based, it means that if he's unable to concentrate or form a thought, he's unable to use his powers. This also means that most of his powers are controlled by his emotions and feelings and can often get out of hand if he gets angry enough, causing nearby objects to telekinetically combust (similar to the ability of **molecular combustion**) or random destructive telekinetic bursts to happen, even sending things flying depending on how passionate he's feeling. The power originally manifests uncontrollably due to anger or stress, as he once accidentally caused all the objects in his kitchen to violently fly around him after an argument with his girlfriend, Philly. After learning more about his power while escaping the Shadow King's mental prison, he became more proficient at controlling it, allowing him to levitate several Division 3 soldiers and keep them suspended against nest each other to form an elaborate tower, while also sustaining the effect effortlessly. It was shown Ren can use his ability to implode the bodies of others, as he did to an insanity creature he brought to the Astral Plane and a police officer within one of his imagined alternate realities. A homeless and deranged version of Ren was shown to be able to send Division 3 agents flying into the skyline of the surrounding buildings in a matter of seconds, a feat comparable to Rudy and his telekinetic abilities. A cruel, billionaire version of Ren was able to cause his version of Amy to have a heavy nose bleed with a harsh stare when he annoyed her. During the attack on his compound by Division 3, Ren reduced Kerry and a few Division 3 soldiers to puddles of blood. His power appeared to be strong enough that he only requires the location of his target relative to himself to be able to effect, as he was able to cause Lenny's cell doors within Division 3 headquarters to open and cause a car to suddenly close its doors and briefly turn on its radio in response to Shirou getting in it, all while he himself was deep within the deserts of Le Desole searching for Myoujou's body. It is also possible that he used his telekinesis in conjunction with astral projection, transporting his consciousness and senses to the area of his choosing before being able to physically interact with it using his powers.
	+ ****Tactile Telekinesis**** (触覚念動力  (タクタイルテレキネシス) , *Shokkaku Nendōryoku (Takutairu Terekineshisu)*?, lit. "Tactual Telekinetic Force"): Ren's body is completely surrounded by an invisible field of telekinetic energy, protecting him from harm and enhancing his physical abilities. This can also be used to manipulate objects that are on the same surface as the user (such as the ground) or to fly by pushing his own body through the air (this usually requires effort though). He can also access new techniques such as propelling objects off the ground, disassemble objects, generate psionic blasts, generate Heat Vision, cause others to explode and scan objects through touch.
		- ****Divergent Fist**** (逕庭拳, *Keitei Ken*?): Ren can invoke a blow powerful enough to destroy a giant mass of rubble which can hit the target even if more than ten meters away. By doing this, Ren creates an unstable wall of psychokinesis in front of him and destroys it with his fist, causing it to send an explosive after-effect at long distance.
		- ****TK Blast**** (ティーケイブラスト, *Tīkei Burasuto*?): Ren is able to project bursts of raw energy bolts of concussive force. He mostly projected the energy from his hands, but his TK field permeated from his entire body. The blasts he emitted had concussive force equivalent to 5,000 pounds of TNT.
	+ **Quantum Telekinesis** (量子念力 (クアンタムテレキネシス ) , *Ryōshi Nenriki (Kuantamu Terekineshisu)*?): Ren telekinetic/psychic power able to influence and manipulate the smallest levels of reality allowing him to rearrange matter and energy at universal to multiversal scale, allowing him to control almost to anything, affect reality at a conceptual level, and transform anything without limits. Ren can mold matter and energy on a sub-quantum level to achieve any desired effect on any level he desires. He can also manipulate space-time and reality on a near-infinite scale. Ren can turn matter and energy into anything they will, twist the entire reality with ease, manipulate any external force, probability and potentially distorting anything without any limit.
	+ **Levitation:** Ren is able to float through the air using his powers, usually through concentration and meditation. While this would first occur when having lost control of his powers, notably during one of the test's performed on him by Cary, after being locked inside and then escaping from the mental prison the Shadow King placed him in, he demonstrated his new found control over his abilities and was able to levitate at will.
	+ **Motor-Skill Manipulation:** Ren is able to control the movements of other individuals with his mind. He notably forced Clark's husband, Daniel to sit down with a verbal command when interrogating him on Switch's location.
* **Telepathy**: Ren has vast telepathic powers, which grant him numerous different abilities. He is able to detect, manipulate, and enter the minds, thoughts and memories of others, as well as transmit his own thoughts and memories. However, he had trouble controlling it at first, causing him to hear thoughts at random and being led to believe they were part of his insanity. With Melanie's help and discovering the truth of his powers, he was no longer plagued by voices and would learn to read the minds, thoughts, memories of others with greater ease. After Myoujou separated from his body, he was able to sense him in Oliver’s body heading south, but was unable to glean further information before being in prisoner by an orb sent by a future Rea for over a year. Once he returned, he demonstrated further skill with his powers, having passively heard the thoughts of various people in Division 3 headquarters and sensed their fear, but didn’t immediately glean the cause of their fear to be of the spreading psychological infection caused by the Mi-Go monk. He would later demonstrated being able to further interact with the minds of others by taking himself and Cary into Ptonomy's mind and seeing into Lenny's mind to discover that Lenny's new body was once his sister Amy's. He also could implant thoughts and images into the minds of others, as he did to the Loudermilk's, Shirou and Clark to fill them in on his plan by giving the visions of it taking place without having to speak to them. Later on, he invaded the mind of a remotely possessed Oliver Bird to torture him until he nearly killed him and would later demonstrate proficiency for erasing thoughts and memories on Rea and, later, Daniel.
	+ **Astral Manipulation:** Ren has the power to project his consciousness and that of others outside the physical form. Through astral projection, Ren can intangibly observe the physical plane, or he can travel to and interact with the Astral Plane. Through the use of isolation chamber built by Cary, he was able to experience visions of where the Shadow King's body was, as well as experience other possible alternate realities of himself. Even without the apparatus, he was able trap an insanity creature created by the Catalyst in the Astral Plane to prevent it from rampaging, before changing their relative sizes to the point that it fit in a glass jar.
	+ **Telepathic Illusion**: Ability to create realistic telepathic illusions and cause people to experience events which are not actually occurring.
	+ **Telepathic Cloak**: Can mask his presence from being detected by others. He can extend these defenses to others around him as well.
	+ **Mind Link**: Ability to develop a mental link with any person which remains as a connection to that individual.
	+ **Telepathic Camouflage**: Ability to mask himself, and other peoples' presence from those around him. Can telepathically disguise himself, making his appearance to those around him quite different (Changing the appearance of clothing, as well as more detailed disguising.).
	+ **Mind Control**: Ability to control the minds of others just by trying.
	+ **Mind Possession**: Ability to possess the mind of another, and use that being's body as his own.
	+ **Mind Alteration**: Ability to alter the minds of others by force of will.
	+ **Mental Amnesia**: Ability to cause loss of particular memories, and amnesia in another person or even in a group of people.
	+ **Psionic Shield**: Ability to erect a psychic shield for protection of himself and of others' minds.
	+ **Psionic Blasts**: Can project psionic force bolts which have no physical effects but which can affect a victim's mind so as to cause the victim pain or unconsciousness and can even kill an adversary.
	+ **Astral Projection**: Ability to Astral Travel and communicate with others astrally through his own will, or through contact with the thoughts and memories of others. In the astral realm, he can use his powers to create "ectoplasmic" objects.
	+ **Mental Detection**: Can sense the presence of other superhuman mutants within a small but as yet undefined radius of himself by perceiving the distinctive mental radiations emitted by such a being.
	+ **Mind Transferal**: Able to transfer both his mind and powers into other host bodies should his own physical body be somehow killed.
	+ **Precognitive Dreams:** Precognitive abilities, which manifest themselves in his dreams, enabling him to envision possible future events. Although there are countless possible futures, Ren foresees the most probable future path, and therefore his predictions usually come true. Ren seemingly cannot foresee events more than roughly a few days in the future. Ren's precognitive power developed to the point at which he could see images of future events when conscious.
	+ **Dream-Self Projection:** Ability to place himself in a trance-like state while remaining fully conscious. While he is in this trance, he can project an intangible, ghost like image of himself to another location, through which he can see and hear what goes on at the location. What Ren has called the “dreams” he has while in this state are not truly dreams, but his conscious awareness of the environment into which he has projected his “dream-self.”