Masayoshi Ayashi

**Masayoshi Ayashi** (popularly known by the Betorics as "**Nohr**") is a mysterious individual that, according to the legendary prophecy of the Advent of Magic, is the Fifth King of the End, legendary individuals said to be conceived at the end of every era to save Carokiiv from the clutches of a certain malevolent entity.

After the conclusion of the Prophecy of the End, Masayoshi's fate remained uncertain until he chose to fade from the known world.

## Biography

### Early Life

Masayoshi was born at some unknown point in the timeline of Carokiiv, very likely in accordance to the belief that a King of the End would be born to eventually combat Odyss upon her inevitable return at the end of every era. Born in the Ayashi Ancestral Temple, he was held in very high regard, and was looked on to be the person who may be able to bring the Ayashi clan into a good light.

Since at a very early age, Masayoshi was gradually taught everything his family knew once he was capable of understanding the world around him, causing his time to be mostly occupied and robbed him of the liberty of experiencing a relaxed life as a child, much to his chagrin, especially after being severely reprimanded every time he tried to plea to his superiors, and even that of his father and the clan's Matriarch at the time.

Despite how he was raised and bred to become a weapon against the impending darkness, he was given light when he first met an unusual child, who turned out to be his half-sister named Shirayuki, born from the Matriarch of his time, just a year after after himself. His half-sister proved to be a child prodigy, especially since it was discovered that she had an unusually fast growth concerning intelligence very quickly. Although raised in almost the same manner as him, Shirayuki's open-mindedness and friendliness to Masayoshi allowed both of them to survive the trials yet to come, and were akin to siblings very close to each other.

After passing his trials and completing the remainder his training, Masayoshi was soon given his title as the champion of his clan and was set off to combat Odyss and her minions when she made her return.

### The battle against Odyss

When Odyss finally made her return in his time, the knightly order whom serve her as generals, led the initial invasion against the rest of Betoriv. Masayoshi and his forces confronted them when they appeared in northern Betoriv, the former faction intending to invade Vidan . Seeking to make an example out of anyone who would oppose him, Masayoshi ordered his allies to stay on the defensive, intending to take the offensive alone, even when reprimanded by many of his allies.

When the enemy forces finally attacked, Masayoshi demonstrated a large extent of his power by going all-out against them in force and power, destroying a large portion of Odyss's armies and sending her forces into retreat, but causing severe collateral damage to the surrounding areas in the process, and jeopardizing the lives of even his allies. A few of his own family tried to stop his rampage, but the King of the End pushed on, too consumed by pride, seeking to slay Odyss herself in her own home of Bismuth.

### Disappearance

When he disappeared, Masayoshi was believed to have saved all of Carokiiv, and some of his clan celebrated in their homes. However, a majority of the people of the human nation soon heard of and saw the damages he had done to the northern portion of their lands, and the champion of Clan Ayashi was soon demonized by many and idolized by few by the people that lived in Betoriv. Some claimed that he ended up fulfilling what Odyss had wanted for so long, while others say that he did what he had to do, and were proud of his actions.

Regardless of what others thought of him, Clan Ayashi soon suffered backlash from the public, and a majority of it's members were shunned by many as a result. In it's internal affairs, merely all of the Clan's Elders believed that Masayoshi had failed them and disgraced the family's name, and planned to place a deathmark on him should he be found alive.

### Exile and Resurgence

Unknown to all who knew of him, Masayoshi soon appeared somewhere in southern Kyrsides. However, he had lost all of his memories, only able to remember the word 'Nohr' as his name. He was found wandering aimlessly by a group of Dryads originating from a certain village. Although suspicious of the human at first, they quickly realized that this human was lost and but a former shadow of himself, and so took him to their village.

Upon being presented to the village's leader, she carefully studied the human for a bit. Feeling that there is a lingering darkness within him, she debated with her own thoughts on whether or not to let him stay or cast him out. She ultimately chooses the former, and decided to help the lost human "find [his] way, but not [his] destination."

Now welcomed and accepted by the village, Nohr spent time with the Dryads as he lived his new life, learning the simple way of living from his new neighbors and eventually welcomed as if one of their own, but strangely avoided consorting with any of the Dryads for reasons unknown even to himself.

Later, as nearly five centuries passed, Nohr's fate soon took a turn when his half-sister, Shirayuki, arrived at his village, and was informed on how she was glad to see him and how she tried to find him for so long, even after everything he had done. However, due to him losing all his memories aside his current name, Nohr is unable to recall anything. Feeling that he needed to be enlightened, Shirayuki told him of his story, from since the day she knew of him up until he disappeared, but without mentioning his true name.

Although still unable to recall anything from what he heard, Nohr felt that Shirayuki was somehow connected to him, and so decided to trust her, in hopes of learning more about his past. Noting that both of them had to return to their true home, Nohr was forced to leave the village he stayed for so long behind, a choice that he found difficult to deal with.

Upon returning to his ancestral homeland of Betoriv, Shirayuki used Nohr as her brother's cover identity after the first one she used soon saw the risk of being compromised, to keep others (especially the Ayashi Elders and their agents) from knowing who he really was, and set out on a journey with him to seek the answers they sought.

### A New Beginning

A year after returning to his homeland, Nohr begins his effort to live a normal life with Shirayuki's guidance and her unusual companion, who seemed to distrust Masayoshi for reasons unknown, but eventually began opening up after some time.

As they enjoyed spending time in the capital of Azureridge, where they are contacted by a informer from the Azure Military, who in turn leads them into a mission to investigate reports of an Enven invasion force preparing itself in a hidden military installation in southern Kyrsides, and tasked with eliminating everyone within it while leaving no evidence of their activities.

Upon arrival near the installation via a specialized transport-class airship, Nohr and his group head for the installation site, only to find it already raided and all the elves within killed by the early visitors; An off-shoot faction of Clan Ayashi. The off-shoots quickly note that their King (Masayoshi) is 'corrupted' by his current allies and attacked his allies only, but the Ayashi retaliated to defend his friends.

As the battle went on, the leader of the off-shoot expedition noted that Shirayuki was the 'invisible rot' that 'corrupted' Masayoshi and strayed him from his true purpose, and noted that Shirayuki herself lied to her own brother and friends.

Sensing truth in the man's words, Nohr was momentarily paralyzed by fear, before he reaffirmed his senses and aided the group in defeating the off-shoot expedition. After the skirmish, he and his group fled the installation to return to Betoriv and report their findings. On the way home, the sole soldier in the airship reported that he managed to capture a snitch trying to escape the installation, who happened to wander into the landing site. Nohr ordered the death of the prisoner, but Shirayuki interrupted him and went to see the prisoner for herself. Nohr is later called by Shirayuki, and the former realizes that the prisoner before him was the fabled Heroine of his time, as per the legends that spoke of him and his achievements.

Seeing the prisoner in a new light, Nohr decided to take good care of the prisoner, who introduced herself as Eleanor after being asked for her name.

## Personality and Traits

A truly independent spirit and very defensive of his freedom from others whom may seek to control or exploit him, the fourth King of the End is seen as a wild card by many who meet him, and for very good reason.

He has shown himself as vindictive and reckless at times, especially against strong opponents when he doesn't hold back, where his true ruthlessness and cruelty becomes evident, usually in the form of either burning or dry rage, and can hold grudges and harbor thoughts of vengeance against those who defeat him in a major confrontation.

In battle, and especially war, Masayoshi believes that death is a punishment as it is a mercy towards his real enemies; He spares no expense in destroying them as soon as possible and eliminating all liabilities and loose ends as soon as they outlived their usefulness, firm in the belief of "once something is no longer useful, it must be eradicated." According to someone who knew him well, he'd even go as far as to kill his own when deemed necessary for the survival of "only the worthy." Like many within his clan, he is very hateful of both conservatives and liberals, and muses on his amazement of the 'typical attitude' of many he sees as narrow-minded, "These mortals sure like to eat themselves." Like his other clan members, he is also known to be extremely distrustful of any non-human or stranger, and that collaborating with what he perceives as enemies is equal to playing with fire.

Masayoshi believed in the strong always triumphing over the weak, and that a 'weak' being only triumphs when they strive to rise above their station and become strong, and are expected to rise to the top or die trying in the process. Due to this, and as he grew in power and skill, his tolerance for failure became extremely low, almost to the point of non-existence. In addition to his history of being exposed to many themes and activities of war and survival, both from training and real experience involving activities, he is known to emit an unusual aura about him, which makes a majority of people around him feel a sense of discomfort and uncertainty from the darkness radiating from him, especially those who can sense the essence of a being through sensitive magic.

Despite his war-like and survival-oriented outlook on life, which is daunting to many and caused him to be normally shunned, behind his thick shell lies another side that is in complete contrast to many of his initial self, and unknown to all but those who manage to truly know him. Nohr was thoughtful and tried to be as helpful as he could, while knowing the limitations of generosity and taking care of one's self. He greatly despised being wrongfully or unjustly accused of anything he did not commit.

Nohr liked to try being honest, despite being hard for him to do so at key situations, as he was told and taught not to divulge anything that may be used against him. He also hated politics to a very high degree, seeing most politicians, especially those from Setora and Kyrsides, as nothing more but greedy and conceited, as well as being the equal of "mass-hoarding Vorwhals with a grain of rice for brains." Those who truly earned his respect would likely end up gaining his fierce loyalty, doing anything to keep those who was close to him from harm, regardless of cost. He only had one thing he liked and wanted in return: Loyalty. As someone whom seeks peace and loyalty, he tries his best to avoid conflicts, both from others and himself, well aware of the consequences his power can bring unto others and himself should it be unleashed without restraint.

Three of his greatest desires, was to be accepted, appreciated, and even loved, born out of his isolation from others who enjoyed their early days in life free from metaphorical shackles that bound him for an untold amount of time. When asked concerning the subject of love by others, Nohr was well-known to quickly (and at times abruptly) drop/shoot-down the topic and conversation and attempt to switch the subject immediately or leave the current premises when persistently questioned. This is due to his fear of losing loved ones whom are closest to him, and any of his adversaries using this fear as a weapon against him.

There are only two people known by very few to truly care for and was closest to him: His half-sister and his first love interest.

## Powers and Abilities

Masayoshi has access to a unique variant of Darkmatter Manipulation as his main form of magic, and all it's applications, techniques, variations and associations, it's potentials limited only by his own mind. Thus, he is able to freely create matter and energy that doesn't follow the laws of physics, which didn't exist until he created it. This can also create copies of normal matter and energy if needed.

Masayoshi has relatively flexible access to Vitakinesis, a power that manipulates health and the healing process. He has Vitakinetic Circuits and so is immortal. He is a mage from the Ayashi clan, and hence he possesses a Void aligned Crest as part of his bodily make up, allowing him to cast low tier Void spells for no drain on his mana reserves.

Masayoshi is skilled in the use of Void magic in addition to his Darkmatter Manipulation, as well as being able to utilize Gravity-based abilities as well as Shadow-oriented ones. Much like the other clan members, it cannot be said that his magical capabilities are restricted to three elements alone.

He is also versed in the use of the Ayashi clan's unique swordplay, which he has adapted for use on blades that are not katanas. The swordplay is dependent on using a sword of certain length, though, and it is apparent that he cannot execute the moves with a short sword like a gladius.

Masayoshi is said to possess an unusual mechanism dubbed as "Near-Perfect Defense", which is rumored to protect him from many abilities that would spell his demise, such as soul destruction and being forcefully frozen in space-time, but no known evidence exists to support this, and he himself dismissed the mechanism as a hoax, stating that there is no such thing as a 'perfect defense' unless proven otherwise before his own eyes.

## Weapons and Equipment

Masayoshi possesses a spirit-containing longsword, the King Sword *Moraltach, Twisting Crack of Final Peace*. It holds unthinkable level of Void-aligned ability within it, and is known to be one of the strongest swords to ever exist, if it isn't *the* strongest. It controls the Void, and can even rip apart space-time in a single slash if the weapon's full release is used. The spirit within the sword has stayed dormant after Nohr sealed his memories, but he is known as a golden-eyed angel of darkness, wearing armor as black as the night.

Moraltach has the following techniques:

* **Loose the Wind** - Moraltach's variant of the sword beam. It releases a burst of powerful wind-like energy that strips matter away. It doesn't release as a crescent but a reverse cone, causing quite a narrow corridor of damage. The knockback force is high.
* **Open the Gate** - Moraltach calls forth the true fury of the Void, and sends out a blast of white wind-like energy, destroying everything it comes into contact with. Deals damage in a wide conical area and extremely high knockback force via air displacement, to the extent people are ragdolled.
* **Reality Destruction: Final Countdown** - When released with "I bring harmony to all, returning the fury of creation back to the tranquil void. Return to nothingness, the wars will end with peace", the sword returns the world to creation, creating an expanding white ring around Masayoshi that swallows creation, destroying all. It is noted to be unmatched by any other known King Sword. There is a shortcut to activate this ability, by simply rejecting reality and wishing the world to end.

After the destruction of his previous normal weapon, Masayoshi earned a replacement weapon, Seraph's Judgment, which he continued to use even after defeating the Odyss of his time at Flinrock. He can use multiple weapons with high skill and power, so long as they are sword-shaped. Concerning his attire, he favors light armor or clothing over a long coat-like robe with a hood to keep himself slightly more anonymous or covered from the natural elements when necessary.

## Trivia

* Masayoshi's initial Darkmatter power is based on Kakine Teitoku's from A Certain Magical Index.