Declan Akaba

**Declan Akaba**, known as **Reiji Akaba** (赤馬 零児, *Akaba Reiji*?) in the Japanese version, is one of the main characters in the Duel Monsters ARC-Zexal anime. He is the second CEO of the huge Leon Corporation. Declan is also one of the youngest Duelist in history to be certified to Duel in the professional circuit at age 15.

Declan is also Number Hunter dedicated in learning mystery of Astral and Barian World by gathering Numbers Card and was major rival of Yuya. He eventually became of major ally of Yuya where he founded the Lancer that is dedicated in fighting in interdimensional war against the Duel Academy of the Fusion Dimension and the war between Astral World and Barian World.

## Design

### Appearance

Declan is a thin young man with pale skin and grey hair, the front layer being a lighter grey than the back. His hair is arranged in a simple style, flicking upwards at the ends. Declan's eyes are purple, and he wears red-framed spectacles. His ears are both pierced with black stud earrings. Despite his status as the CEO of the Leo Corporation, Declan dresses rather casually, wearing a dark-blue sweater, white pants that end just above his ankles, and white shoes (apparently without any socks beneath them), along with a long red scarf wrapped around his shoulders with the ends trailing to the small of his back. This also breaks the tradition of primary rivals wearing trench coats or jackets.

### Personality

In general, Declan has a grim and serious demeanor, but he takes an interest in Yuya Sakaki. He is utterly polite without fail, save rare moments of a loss in composure. Declan is calm and collected, and is shown to be extremely level-headed and strong-willed. Despite his advanced skills, he is not overly arrogant, merely truthful; he takes winning for granted and does not care for other Duelists, though this changes after meeting Yuya.

He is quite respectful to Yuya's father Yusho Sakaki due to his history with Leo Akaba, fiercely defending him when he was insulted in a rare moment of emotion. While he does not consider empathy as beneficial on the battlefield, he does seem to enjoy himself while Dueling, and even requested Yuya to demonstrate Yusho's Dueltaining. He was shown to smile when Yuya exerted his full strength. He later admits that while Yuya's feelings gave birth to a great power, this is not always the case and emotions can still cost one on the battlefield.

Despite his declared rivalry with Yuya Sakaki, Declan does not show any open dislike for him, and in fact defended him from false accusations of attacking Leo Corporation employees and later remained confident that Yuya wouldn't be foolish enough to cooperate with Jean-Michel Roget; this demonstrates that he may hold a degree of respect for Yuya. Declan has also mentioned that he does not care very much for his father, Leon Akaba, mostly due to him abandoning their family in the past however they ended recolliding upon his Leon's return. Declan has demonstrates an intense dislike of Lent Krawler's ambitions, given the suffering that they have caused. Declan is also pragmatic without regard for the actions of potential allies, offering an alliance to Shay and Celina despite their attacks on his students, and to Sora Perse after Sora renounced Duel Academy, but doesn't extend similar offers to people with ulterior motives like Jean-Michel Roget.

He is shown to be highly analytical and a skilled strategist, and claims he only plays games that he knows that he can win. He used the Arc League Championship as a test to recruit Lancers, and came up with a plan to fend off the Fusion Dimension invasion within only a day. He can show a less moral side when executing his plans, as he had no problem allowing many Duelists to be sealed in cards during the Battle Royal and only cared about the ones that did survive. During his second Duel with Yuya he showed a cruel indifference and revealed that he considers feelings to be a weakness and a tool to manipulate others, as seen when he used Yuya's feelings towards Zuzu Boyle to push him to Duel more efficiently by lying about Zuzu's fate after her disappearance.

Despite his cold nature, he cares closely about his adopted younger sister Riley and gets along with his mother. According to Moon Shadow, Declan does care about others' lives and won't abandon his allies, even if his actions seem to suggest otherwise; he sent Moon underground precisely for this purpose. Declan tends to act more reserved and quiet and takes action only when it is necessary. However he later criticized the High Council for their incompetence in keeping New Domino City under control and Roget for his selfish ambitions.

## Deck

Declan uses a **D/D/Spiral-Eyes** Deck, which primary focus on various summoning methonds.