Licht Bach

* Anime (Post-300 years)
* Anime (Pre-300 years)
* Manga (Post-300 years)
* Manga (Post-Chapter 77)
* Manga (Epilogue)
* Manga (Pre-300 years)

**Licht Bach** (リヒトー=バッハ, *Rihitō Bahha*), or known by his real name **Sakai Rihito** (坂井離人, *Sakai Rihitō*), is the main male protagonist of *Plunderer*. He is one of the 7 Legendary Red Barons, known as the "**Flash Baron**" (閃撃の撃墜王, *Sengeki no Gekitsui-ō*, Yen Press: **Ace of Flashing Strikes**).

## Appearance

Post-300 years Licht does not differ much from himself before the war, other than his long white hair and taller height. His eyes are crimson and his skin is fair, though his looks are not uncommon among others. He had dark blue eyes and black hair before he became a Baron.

He hides his face under masks of all designs. They are typically classic Japanese Theatrical masks, known as Noh. He sometimes even adorns costumes to appear unassuming, such as a pudding cup with his sword re-purposed into the guise of a spoon.

His usual attire consists of a red garb draped over his shoulders with armor underneath and jet-powered boots. Although it is unknown if the boots are still functional. On the back of his hand is his count. It's an astonishing count of -999 at the start of the series.

During his first appearance, Licht has messy, mid-back length hair that was cut shorter mid-fight and a Noh mask which was also destroyed during his fight with Davi.

At certain moments, a number code "001" can be seen in Licht’s left eye. Although it's yet to be confirmed, this is most likely his identification code from the Aerial Ace Project. This code can also be seen in the other Barons as well. Tokikaze is 002 and Taketora is 003. This code represents the order in which they were made into Barons.

Later, during the final war between Althea Royal Guard and Special Service, Licht's hair color changed back to black as a result of combined both Schmelman's genes and his own into one.

## Personality

He is enigmatic as far as intentions go. He does his best to conceal that he is a Baron, but his overwhelming power and inability to allow others to suffer causes him to reveal himself often.

He's also shamelessly perverted and needy in an almost comical way. He could be considered mischievous upon first meeting. He is used to girls denying him and being hated, facing the truth with a stone face.

When he takes on the true power of his Ballot, his personality shifts to an unwavering bloodlust and desire to kill all enemies.

## Plots

*For his story events, see Licht Bach/Plots.*
## Appearance in Other Media

### Anime

In the last episode of *Plunderer* anime, after Licht was absorbed into the black hole created by Taketora, seven Baron's masks was shown to be floating in the "world of darkness" and surrounding Licht. One of the masks, the **Flash Mask** (閃撃面, *Sengeki-men*, Funimation: **Mask of Flashing Strikes**), is representing Licht's despair and his self-blaming for his own faults.

Along with the other masks, the Flash Mask tries to criticize Licht’s actions and advise him to give up and die. However, after he remembered his promise with Hina and the others, Licht destroys the masks and successfully escape by splitting the "world of darkness".

### Special Booklet

Licht appeared in the special booklets that were released together with the anime's Blu-ray.

### Schmelman's Alternative Tales

Licht appeared in the Drama CD *Schmelman's Alternative Tales*.

In *Cinderella* part, Licht portrayed as eldest sister-in-Law of Cinderella. As Licht portraying his character, he laughed at Jail (As second eldest sister-in-Law) for his clothing, due to him wearing women dress which pissed Jail. As Hina (As Cinderella) trying to calm Jail down, Licht went to see her panties but it's stopped by Jail. Soon, both Licht and Jail arguing each other about their attitude. Hina wonders why neither of them can get along well, Gespenst (As youngest sister-in-Law) stated that Licht and Jail were actually good friends, which both of them disagreed at him.

## Abilities and Power

Licht has two separated counts: the ‘first count’ is on his left hand, which reads "-999". This count is the ‘first count’ since it is the “first one seen”. This count is obtained after the Abandonment War ended. Licht and Nana were roaming Althea for 300 years and to “blend in with the crowd”, they decided to get a second count, one like everyone else had. Nana stated that this Count stands for how many girls have gotten close to him. If he turns them down, his count goes down and visa versa. His count becomes -1000 after Hina calls him a liar and says that she hates him. His current count is -1002.

The ‘second count’ is 5,700 and this count is his first and original count. This count is located on his long sword near the handle, and stands for how many heads he had cut off. During battle, his count increases tenfold, reaching the amount of 57,000 when activating Schmelman's bloodlust genes. Later on, it was revealed that Licht was not using his original Ballot Replica, as the sword he was using was taken from a Ballot Holder who attacked him 100 years ago. Thus, 5,700 is not his real count. In Chapter 50, it was revealed that Licht's original Ballot Replica was stored away behind Ende, as Schmelman was scared of the Ballot returning to Licht and with it, all of the other Barons. His original count on his original Ballot Replica is 300,000, and reached 1,500,000 when activating Schmelman's bloodlust genes. His original count stands for how many people he has killed in place of his friends and loved ones, as revealed after Hina and the others traveled back to the past. It is noted by Taketora in Chapter 53 that the 1,500,000 is only 5 times normal, because if he goes higher than that, Licht would lose control of himself due to the bloodlust genes. Since it is only 5 times and Licht’s full power is 10 times or assumed to be, it is possible that when his count is at full strength, it reaches a total of 3,000,000 or greater. Later during the fight against Firenda, Licht tried to overcome Schmelman's genes and bloodlust with his calmness which his count increased to 20,000,000, just so he could surpass Firenda's count.

* **Flashing Strike** (閃撃, *Sengeki*): This is Licht's ability as a Baron: his legs has been enhanced to be able to move at incredibly high speeds, which even faster than the light.
	+ **Superhuman Speed**: According to Nikola, Licht possesses superhuman-speed ability and his speed is even faster than sound. So fast, that his opponents can't see his movement.
	+ **Supernatural Leap**: The ability to leap to supernatural heights and distances. When Licht tries to jump high, a lot of people mistakenly believe that he was flying.
	+ **Speed Strike**: Licht can acquire the relativistic mass by traveling at great speeds, and hit blows of tremendous force. He does this when he give a finishing blow to Davi.
	+ **Speed Throwing**: Licht can throw objects at extremely high speeds, causing great damage to whatever it hits. He does this when he threw a sands at Firenda which could stop her movement.
	+ **Light Slash**: Licht can combine light to attacks with his Ballot. He does this when he tries to slash the Baron masks and destroys the "world of darkness" to leave. This ability is only used on the anime adaptation.

* **Bloodlust**: As the Red Baron, Licht possesses a ability to increase his count by activating Schmelman's bloodlust genes. However the more higher the count, the higher chance he would lost his sanity. Also the genes can be brought out by a unknown drug it was given to Licht in high doses to increase his count.
	+ **Flash Slashing**: Upon giving into his bloodlust and accessing Schmelman's bloodlust and increasing his count, Licht was able to immediately slash apart a fully grown human beings into bloody mists, effectively destroying their bodies on a atomic level and rendering their corpses non-existent.
	+ **Shockwave Manipulation**: Due to his speed of flash ability, when Licht activated his bloodlust genes, he can create, shape and manipulate shockwaves, a powerful compression wave produced by the movement of a body through a medium at a velocity greater than the local speed of sound. This ability is stated to be one of the biggest reason why Licht is considered as the strongest Baron.
		- **Shockwave Blast**: Licht can create a shockwave blast while traveling at great speeds.
	+ **Slashing Aura**: When Licht completely lost his sanity, he generates a field that slashes everything inside of it in the speed of flash.

* **Superhuman Reflexes**: Licht has a superhuman reflexes which allows him to dodge and maneuver around complex attacks. Initially believed to be ability he received after the Baron Surgery. However, it was later revealed that Licht already obtained this ability even before he became a Baron. He was already able to see bullets moves slowly even without the enchantment from the Baron's surgery, but his talent was held back by his slow body movement which was why nobody but Schmelman seems to notice his naturally born superhuman reflexes until after he became Baron later on. Both Alexandrov and Firenda noted that combining both his reaction speed and his enhanced movement speeds, Licht can moves and reacts even faster than Schmelman did, whom was already considered by Gespenst to have a invincible reaction speeds. This ability is the biggest reason why Schmelman considered Licht as a rare warrior back during his discussion with Alexandrov at the enrollment ceremony 300 years ago.

* **Flight**: During his time fighting in the Abandonment War 300 years, Licht was given specialized equipment to further assist and complement his fighting abilities in battle like the rest of his fellow Barons, specifically Licht was given specialized jet boots that gave him the ability to fly, float and glide through the air, greatly complementing his "Flash" power. Although nowadays Licht is still wears the jet boots, it's not know if the boots are still functional.

## Trivia

* The name Licht means "light" in German and Yiddish. While for his surname Bach means "small river" in German.
	+ For his original surname, Sakai means "slope, hill" (坂 *Saka*) and "well, mine shaft, pit" (井 *i*).
	+ For his real name, Rihito means "detach, separation, disjoin, digress" (離 *Ri*) and "person" (人 *Hito*).
* Licht's character design (Especially his appearance and personality in 300 years ago) is most likely based on Sakurai Tomoki from Minazuki Suu's previous works, *Sora no Otoshimono*.
	+ Licht also shared the same English voice actor with Sugata Eishirou from *Sora no Otoshimono*.
* Despite the German name, Licht is actually Japanese.
* Most of the characters refers him as "Licht". However, the other Barons and his friends from 300 years ago are refers him as "Rihito" instead.
	+ Similarity, in the original Japanese version, when Hina and the others referring him, his name was written in Katakana (リヒトー). While for Tokikaze and the others, his name was written in Kanji (離人) instead.
* In Chapter 16 and Chapter 24's colored pages, the young Licht's eyes color were red, just like his present self. However, in the Volume 7's cover, his eyes were blue instead and only got his red eyes after he became a Baron.
* It is to be believed that Licht does not need his first count in order to “live” as he never had a count to begin with, since he is originally from the Abyss (Japan). And people from the Abyss do not have counts.
* According to Alexandrov, Gespenst and Avsette, Licht is the strongest baron, despite what other Baron’s counts are. The only reason why Licht was defeated in some of his battles was mainly because he was holding back and doesn't want to hurt anybody, even at the risk of losing his own life.

## References

1. ↑ *Plunderer* Chapter 37
2. ↑ Meet the Cast and Characters of *Plunderer*, Coming to FunimationNow in January. Funimation. August 31, 2019.
3. ↑ *Plunderer* Chapter 6
4. ↑ *Plunderer* Chapter 9
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 *Plunderer* Chapter 20
6. ↑ *Plunderer* Chapter 26
7. ↑ *Plunderer* Chapter 53
8. ↑ *Plunderer* Chapter 65
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 *Plunderer* Chapter 73
10. ↑ *Plunderer* Chapter 27