Terashi

* Masked
* Unmasked

*"A martial artist's strength is a waste. In order to* wreck *someone, this much is enough."*
— Terashi to Naoya Ohkubo

The man known as **Terashi** (赫 (てらし) ), also known as **The Silent Nightmare** (音 (おと) 無 (なし) の悪 (あく) 夢 (む) , *Otonashi no Akumu*), is an assassin who disguised himself as a B-list Gladiator of Purgatory and a former fighter of Bishamon. He is one of the thirteen representatives of Purgatory who fights in the Kengan Association VS Purgatory Tournament, entering the tournament with the purpose of killing Nicolas Le Banner.

## Appearance

Terashi is a tall, slender man with long, slicked-back black hair styled into a short ponytail. He wears an all-black outfit along with an eyeless mask. The mask itself follows the pattern of the Taijitu, otherwise known as the "yin-yang symbol".

Under his mask, Terashi possess a youthful face with delicate features. Due to plastic surgery, the 'impression' his face gives off is slightly different to his previous one. Thanks to his artificial kinetic vision, the veins in his eyes are very prominent when in active use.

## Personality

Terashi is a calm and analytical individual with an intuitive mind. He possesses an immense respect for Rolon Donaire, being wary of even the slightlest moves from him.

Terashi is also not above mockery, declaring that a martial artist's strength is a complete waste. Despite this, Terashi is otherwise aware that he's nowhere near as strong as the rest. After his defeat against Naoya, Terashi admitted he completely underestimated the strength of a pro martial artist, and leaves the ring with no hard feelings.

## History

At some point, while working as an assassin, he was asked by someone from the French government to kill Nicolas Le Banner in an underground match. Not given any further information, Terashi was only asked to kill him unarmed and by joining Purgatory, much to his annoyance.

To prepare for this, Terashi had surgery under Hajime Hanafusa to have his face changed and hypothalamus altered, receiving the ability to rapidly shiver as a means of protection, as well as an extremely potent kinetic vision. After that, Terashi joined Bishamon until the organization was absorbed by Purgatory as a means to blend in under suspicion. Thanks to his performance in his debut in the organization, Terashi became a B-list Gladiator. It was also enough to convince Toyoda to add him to the lineup of the Kengan Association VS Purgatory Tournament.

## Plot

Terashi spent most of the time during the tournament commenting on the fights with Rolon.

After Liu Dongcheng's rampage over Naidan Mönkhbat's death, Terashi asked Nicolas Le Banner and Fei Wangfang why they weren't as angry as Dongcheng, despite also being his friends as well, only to be surprised by how quickly they brushed it off.

After Lu Tian's loss against Agito Kanoh, Terashi ended up accusing Nicolas of "keeping something from them." Terashi and the other gladiators would later meet the Kengan fighters in the middle of the ring to find out that the Worm infiltrated Purgatory. Terashi, initially believing that they were just a fairy tale, found out that they were real. When Rolon called off talks to suspend the tournament, Terashi returned to his gate.

After Jurota Arashiyama's defeat at the hands of Masaki Hayami, Terashi was baffled by this unexpected loss, only to be reassured by Rolon. Terashi remained skeptical of Nicolas' abilities, due to the latter's spotty track record of four wins and nine losses. Terashi would later realize that Nicolas' record is because he would only give his all when going for the kill, which clashes against Purgatory's strictness on non-lethal matches.

Terashi entered as Purgatory's fighter in the eleventh match, facing Naoya Ohkubo. Though Naoya struck the first blow, Terashi's unusual physiology allowed him to tank and even superficially damage the skin of Naoya's fists. Though Naoya discovered that Terashi isn't able to protect his head in the same manner as the rest of his body, and Terashi being an utter amateur against martial arts, once he was forcibly unmasked, Terashi's artificial kinetic vision had come into play. With his other ability unleashed, Terashi managed to dodge Ohkubo's jabs and even to down him for the count.

However, once Naoya pressured Terashi to the edge of the ring where, faking a grapple, he hit Terashi with an uppercut and mocked him for looking down at a real martial artist like him. Though initially believing that he didn't care about who wins the match, an insult from Naoya caused Terashi to stand up at the count of nine to try and win. Ultimately, Terashi lost via submission once Naoya exploited his ability's weakness. After his defeat, Terashi admitted Naoya's superiority as an expert martial artist and showed his respect with a friendly handshake, before moving to the infirmary to kill Nicolas.

Upon making his way to Nicolas, Terashi realizes that Jean wasn't the target he was actually supposed to kill, telling him to take care before leaving.

## Powers and Abilities

Terashi is a professional assassin who is famous for completing assassinations that were considered nigh-impossible to complete. Terashi's true specialty is weaponry, and is otherwise a complete amateur in unarmed combat. Out of the thirteen representatives of Purgatory, Terashi is noted by Kazuo Yamashita as an outlier, due to having almost nothing in regards to match results. As the only B-list Gladiator of the thirteen representatives, Terashi himself considers himself the weakest of them all.

Terashi's inexperience in martial arts is noticed immediately by experienced fighters such as Naoya, Ohma Tokita and Takeshi Wakatsuki, who figured it out by watching how Terashi reacts against such techniques. However, Naoya still praised Terashi's toughness and his abilities after their match, with him and Ohma acknowledging that Terashi is still stronger than the average amateur.

During his brief encounter with Shen Wulong he displayed his above average sensory abilities as well as a glimpse into his weaponry arsenal, being able to detect Shen and bring out a knife and a wrist mounted gun in an attempt to engage the Connector. However he was incapacitated before he could do anything, much like the rest of the security forces, including individuals like Misasa, Takayama Minoru and others.

### Shivering

**Shivering** (シバりング, *Shibaringu*) refers to an exploited body function Terashi makes use of. Thanks to a surgical procedure to his hypothalmus, Terashi is able to shiver at fifteen times the normal intensity than the average human. This rapid shivering not only allows him to disperse the impact of blows that connect to his body, but also emulate an effect similar to Fa Jin, allowing the damage of a normal strike to penetrate through the body. To prevent himself from being concussed, Terashi doesn't induce that shivering for his head, leaving it as the only weak spot in his body.

However, being a phenomenon that increases the body temperature of a person, Terashi is only able to induce it for two minutes, and needs a twenty second to cool off his body, leaving him vulnerable.

### Imperial Eye

The second result of his altered hypothalmus, **Imperial Eye** (帝 (てい) 王 (おう) 眼 (がん) , *Teiōgan*) is essentially an artificially induced Fist Eye that exceeds the kinetic vision of even Kazuo Yamashita and Koga Narushima. Terashi is able to process visual information to a rapid degree, Terashi can almost effortlessly dodge Naoya's jabs, the speed of which only world-class boxers can surpass.

The downside is that Terashi cannot turn it off. The sheer amount of visual information he receives puts a heavy strain on his brain, and can only use this ability for an hour; anymore and he risks severe brain damage from overuse. For this reason Terashi deliberately blinds himself with either an eyeless mask or a pair of heavily-tinted shades.

## Etymology

* **Terashi** means "suddenly, brighten, illuminate, light up" (赫).
	+ The name "Terashi", as well as the reason he wears a mask, are done as a homage to an infamous Chinese hitman named "Fa", who uses the same kanji as Terashi.

## Notes & Trivia

* According to Daromeon, Terashi is the most straightforward character for him to illustrate.
* Terashi's name was originally meant to be **Kami** (神 (かみ) , lit. *"God"*), as indicated in Chapter 64's drafts. This was later changed to Terashi since it was hard to understand.
* Terashi was originally supposed to have the appearance of a middle aged man, but this was later changed to a more youthful look, modelled after the actor Ayano Go.
* He used to be a member of his school's volleyball team.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Chapter 115 (Omega)
2. ↑ *1 win as a B-list Gladiator of Purgatory prior to the Kengan Association VS Purgatory Tournament(Ch115)*
3. ↑ *1 loss against Ohkubo Naoya in the Kengan Association VS Purgatory Tournament due to Submission(ΩCh119)*
4. ↑ Chapter 116 (Omega)
5. ↑ YouTube: 200912 manuscript