Shizuka Etou

### Quote

"If you can't protect a someone, or even protect your own friend, then you're not a warrior anymore. You're just a coward."

## Debut

### First Apperance

Shizuka Etou (ヴィー, Vee) is one of the Four Horsemen of Callisto, a member of FLCL , and younger brother of Yumi Etou . Due to a Horsemen's sudden disappearance, he is the replacement and only human amongst the Horsemen. He holds the title as **"Ruler of Death"** (永眠, Eimin).

## Appearance

Shizuka appears to be a mild-featured young man with short, light brown hair and red-brown eyes. He has an almost-childlike innocent face as well as full lips and is often described as handsome.

He wears a white cravat around his neck, tucked into a black vest with a yellow lock. His dark, unbuttoned jacket (reaching to the thigh with a collar) is decorated with gold buckles, buttons, and triangular-shaped cuffs. His black trousers are supported by a brown belt with a silver buckle. At the left hip is tied his sheath, holding his katana. He also wears black, heavy boots with a small heel.

When resting, or skipping school, he wears a distinct redsleep mask with eye markings. He carries it around with him and is rarely seen without it. It has a black border and red painted interior, decorated with wide-open eyes with straight lashes. He wears it on his forehead or around his neck in order to contain his strong Reiastu that even he cannot control. His is either seen in his school uniform or a t-shirt and jeans when he isn't in Callisto.

## Personality

Shizuka's most prominent trait is his sadistic nature, an example of this being his collaring and chaining up Elise  with a metal leash for an "S&M" (sadistic & masochistic) play.

Ciel even goes as far as calling him the King of the Planet of Sadists. Although he is known as a sadist, he is extremely submissive to his sister, Yumi Etou , shown in his respectful way of speaking to her and the way he kneels before his sister to apologize. However, once, Shizuka fell of a roller-coaster and admitted in his panic that his sadism stems from his insecurity.

He is shown to have evil intentions behind any good thing he does, and is very blunt about his dislike towards other people, especially to Elise and Ringo . Despite this,  Shizuka is usually protective of the ones he cares for, such as his sister, Yumi, and his commander, Light Kiyomizu & Grim ; when an official insults Grim, Shizuka draws his sword to kill whoever before being stopped by Elise. Additionally, he is unexpectedly sensitive to others' feelings when it truly counts, often saving his comrades' lives in battles and even taking on burdens for other people.

Shizuka's ambition to uphold his position as a Horsemen is greatly recognized by even the original Horsemen.

In spite of this never-ending to Light, Shizuka has respect for Light and even considers him to be one of his 'three rotten friends' (the other two being Robin and Ciel). He also has a similar rivalry with Danzo Kato , and the two often get in meaningless competitions over the smallest of situations.

In general, Shizuka acts aloof and disinterested most of the time and is most often seen with a blank, deadpan expression on his face. Though he often acts lazy and slacks off on his jobs, he is very attentive when needed and does not hesitate to kill or cut down his enemies.

He is also very observant and aware of political movements, as he is often the one explaining situations to some of the Roses. Both Tsubasa and Yuuki have stated that Shizuka has the eyes of a killer, yet he doesn't wish for innocent people to walk the path he has taken and be stained by blood.

He resentsLiam Blanchar , though, hating him for abandoning his position as a Horsemen.

## Relationships

### Yumi Etou

Shizuka is very attached to his older sister Yumu Etou, who brought him up from a young age when both were orphaned. He always speaks to her with great respect in contrast to his typical attitude towards everybody else. He has made wrong decisions for what he believed was for her sake. He has shown emotions around her that he never shows anyone else, as she was the most important person to him.

### Grim

Similar to many others, Shizuka constantly teases Grim and calls him by his nickname, Clot. However, Grim is the only person besides his sister & Light whom Shizuka is openly loyal to, loyal to the point where he sees himself as only one fitting to the perminate member of the Horsemen. This admiration stems from when he was a child--Grim was the first person to make friends with him and became somewhat of a brotherly figure. Shizuka went as far openingly attack Erebus before thinking, losing his arm as a result.

### Light Kiyomizu

He often commits acts of violence toward Light in a deadpan manner or with a sarcastic smarmy attitude, leaving

   everyone else constantly wonder whether he is really serious about killing Light or not. For now, he just seems to play dangerous jokes. Despite the fact that he always tries to kill him, Shizuka considers Light as an important figure and a friend, treating him with respect in serious situations.

### Robin Evans

After a rough beginning, the two find common ground in their love of torturing and humiliating Kida. After witnessing the fight between Kida and Robin, Shizuka said he would love to clash swords with Robin one day. Although a hit from Kida would often result in violent retribution from Shizuka, he doesn't seem to have a problem with taking a lecture or a knock on the head from Robin. Though this was a charade meant to reassure his sister, Shizuka does consider Robin to be one of his 'three rotten friends.'

### Sasori Leyroad

Sasori and Shizuka have a bit of rivalry as they are usually seen arguing over magic and swordplay, arguments that are usually put to a stop after some time by others or by Sasori. Shizuka also stated that he would not forgive Sasori if he died with his swore in his hands. However, it is shown they have some respect for each other.

### Kidako Kiyomizu

Kidako calls her 'stupid' or 'blockhead'. The two would often fight whenever they had a chance. Kida is one of the only female characters in the entire series whom he has apologized to, the other being his sister. He's the only one who notices Kida is faking her illness once to skip class, but he chooses to sit back and sadistically watch her 'literally' dig her own grave when the Roses start to show growing concern for her.

During a battle with the Comandments , when Kida was in danger, Shizuka saves her and states that only he was allowed to beat her; later, however, when Shizuka bends her wrist the wrong way in his 'attempt' to mend it, Kida retaliates by breaking his leg. When the two realize they will be unable to fight by themselves, they reluctantly team up, showing that despite their ongoing rivalry towards each other, they can work together when needed. He also tries to protect her from Wisely, whom he believed intended to kill her. In the aftermath, it is not clear whether Shizuka actively seeks Kida out to say goodbye, but they have one last, bittersweet fight before he departs, during which they both tell each other to not lose to anybody else.

### V

Shizuka treats V quite well in comparison to other people since V does not offend people as much as the Horsemen. They get along quite well. When Shizuka is in Callisto, he's often in V's laboratory. Talking about his days at school, or V teaching him about the ways of magic.

### Ango Higuchi

Although not shown too much, Shizuka seems to have a friendly relationship with Higuchi. He once whined that if he ever left,  Shizuka wouldn't have anyone to help him harass Elise.

### Elise Goody

He and Elise first met in a cabaret club when Shizuka took note of his masochism tendencies and quickly formed a bond as S&M enthusiasts. Elise compliments him when he suggests that he pin his nose back with hooks and posts pictures of it around town for the G-course he was offering. Shizuka is often found picking on him though since he is an easy target.

## Abilities

### **Master Swordsman**

* Both Sasori and Tsubasa mentioned that Shizuka is a genius swordsman and the strongest within the Horsemen. He has shown incredible strength with his sword, eradicating many Hollow while deflecting sniper bullets with only two swords. He destroys an entire concrete building and was also able to fight squarely with Giovanni, managing to inflict many grave injuries.
* Due to the lawlessness of Callisto, Shizuka's skill with his sword has been honed to essentially a masterful level, letting him strike multiple times with changes of attack type (from slash to pierce) without any difficulty. While still a child, his prowess was great enough to single-handedly kill hundreds of adult fighters and wound even Liam in battle.
	+ His unpolished skills, but immense might with his sword allow him to always fight with one hand free, only using both hands when facing opponents he feels will beat him otherwise, such as with Giovanni and momentarily Kida.
	+ As a member of the Horsemen, which specializes in sword fighting, he is among the most, if not the most, proficient swordsmen in all of Callisto.

### **Hand-to-Hand Expert**

* While preferring to use his blade in battle, Shizuka has proven several times to be very dangerous while barehanded, showing considerably effective brawling prowess. He can easily catch an opponent's attack with a single hand, perform powerful punches and kicks, and easily subdue opponents with throws and take-downs.

### **Immense Reiastu**

* Even by the Horsemen's standards, Shizuka's Reiastu is monstrous. He has so much that even while wearing his energy-sealing sleeping mask, his prowess is not noticeably hindered as he is still able to fight two Valkyrie's opponents at once who were both using their Arcana.

* + V estimated his sealed power to be close to or at the same level as Valentine Skaði' s Reiatsu. Ango Higuchi, one of the most powerful Horsemen, stated he was weaker than him even while he was still a child. After defeating Shiro  and releasing himself from his self-imposed limits, he becomes powerful enough to fight on par with and defeat the likes of Kokai  without taking off his eyepatch. Similar to Zero , when unleashing a strong enough surge of energy, it becomes visible and yellow in color, sometimes with the appearance of a skull.
* However immense, Shizuka doesn't know how to use magic.
* When he loses his eyemask, his hair grows long to his waist.

### **Highly Perceptive Combatant**

* Despite his seeming disregard for any strategy and his self-admitted aversion to thinking, Shizuka has regularly displayed more understanding than one would expect. Even Ikuto was impressed by Shizuka's ability to understand things he has no personal experience with.
* He is very adept at finding and exploiting weaknesses in his opponents' techniques, and likewise at adjusting to his opponent's attack patterns and battle methods to better counter them.
	+ This was demonstrated when he was subdued by Shiro's Arcana, leaving him with only his blade and sense of touch, which prompted him to let Shiro strike him simply so he could catch his opponent.
* He is also deceptively insightful, able to notice subtle traits in people and see what drives a person's actions; he correctly singled out Youran and Dai as the only Valkyries who are afraid to die.
* He possesses sharp intuition towards incoming danger, which allowed him to repeatedly dodge Shiro's assault while still affected by her Arcana.
* While claiming not to have any common sense, Shizuka can still theorize, as he deduced that Murasaki's **The Wings** only works on one target at a time and all effects on a previous target will disappear.

### **Enhanced Strength**

* Grim once stated that Shizuka, despite being purely human, was one of the best fighters within her regime. His combat skills are at a lower level than the other Horsemen, but he rarely loses. He was able to cut a car in half with a single strike, and destroy concrete pillars supporting a building during his fight with the Yellow Valkryie.
* Shizuka possesses a very large degree of physical strength, most commonly displayed by his ability to push back his opponent's attacks with a single arm, even if the opponent's weapons and attacks are gigantic in size. He can carry three full-grown human corpses on his shoulders without any apparent effort. When Erebus began warping and damaging his arm, Shizuka ripped it off effortlessly to get rid of it.
* In his various battles, he has performed superhuman physical feats, such as launching full-grown men through buildings with a kick and slamming his opponents over his shoulder, as well as grabbing Allen's large sword to reel him in for an attack.
* He can also ram clear through a solid wall and launch his opponents back during a weapons clash.

### **Enhanced Speed**

* While he possesses no known skill in Shunpo, Shizuka is deceptively fast for his size and build. Thanks to the     tremendous raw strength in his legs, Shizuka's natural acceleration more than makeup for his lack of Shunpo, allowing him to move fast enough to instantly close a huge gap of space between him and his opponent, and even seemingly disappear from sight.
* In battle, he can strike with incredible speed in rapid succession, making it highly difficult for his opponents to find an opening and counterattack.
* During his short battle with Leo , Shizuka manages to keep up with his opponent's incredibly fast Shunpo, a feat which shocked and impressed Leo.

### **Enhanced Supernatural Endurance**

* His physical prowess is equally shown by his resilience.

* Shizuka often ignores most of the injuries he sustains in battle, not suffering any debilitation despite having multiple slash wounds in his body and rarely any signs of pain (much like a berserker). He allowed himself to be stabbed during his fight with Kokai just to grab Kokai's blade to dispel her Arcana's effect.

* During his battle with Alexnader, he suffered numerous slash wounds, even impaled and almost beheaded with no visual impairment of his fighting performance; Alex noting most people would have already been dead by then.

* Even after receiving grievous injuries which left him in a comatose state, he healed enough to return to training only days later, showing a high recovery rate as well.

* Despite having his arm mangled by Erebus, Shizuka still managed to nonchalantly hold his sword with that arm

### **Supernatural Durability**

* As resilient as Shizuka is, he is just as hard to damage.

* During his battle against Alexander, while Shizuka was focusing his attention on Kida, Alexnader delivered a powerful blow with his massive fist, launching Shizuka several meters and smashing him into a large pillar.

* + Despite the impact, Shizuka quickly emerged unfazed, claiming it was only a "decent punch" but was still unimpressed.

* During his battle with Murasaki, Shizuka remained unharmed after being fired upon by dozens of firearms and having missiles thrown at him, and later withstood the cold vacuum of space and have several clones of Murasaki self-destruct at point-blank range with only moderate injuries.
* Even after Shizuka suffered severe organ damage from these attacks, it took the combined effort of four Valkyrie to finally take him out of the battle.

## Sacred Treasure

### ***Jabarage  (''***蛇腹化, Snake Belly)

* The release command of Snake Belly is Hissori (一口, ; Viz "Hiss"). Shizuka's Sacred Treasure is a katana, a traditional Japanese sword. The handle is decorated with typical braid tsukaito. His katana has a built-in MP3 player, and the blade can cut through even rock.
	+ By applying a coating of blood along the length of the sword, the user can transform it into an elongated, lance-like weapon. This technique transforms Shizuka's Sacred Treasure sword into a longer form with a wavy edge, much like the curves of a snake. In addition, the area near the tip of the blade gains an eye. This technique requires blood to be spread along the blade of the sword.
		- This technique is only used when Shizuka's sword is in its Snake Belly form. Slashing the sword through the air, it created a zigzagged wave in the air that flies forward, causing massive destruction to whatever it hits.
* Snake Belly is able to cause the enemy against it to lose whatever magical power. When the snakes pass over the enemy, the enemy loses it demonic power and traits like regeneration.

### **Shironagamushi (白長虫, White Snake)**

* After transforming his Sacred Treasure into its Snake Form, Shizuka slashes the blade towards the enemy. Starting as a jagged line of energy akin to his Snake Lance technique, the lights transform into multiple snakes that wrap around the target, binding them from head to toe.

### **Garagara (がらがら, Rattle)**

* Summoning several spectral snakes behind the user, the snakes rush towards the target, passing over them     and stripping them of their magic energy and ability to regenerate. While they inflict no physical harm, this leaves the user free to attack in the opening after the assault.
* Striking towards the enemy with the back of the blade, they are seemingly pushed back with a blast of air. The full effects of this attack are never seen as Shizuka chooses to spare his target at the time.

### **Dabo (蛇牙, Fang)**

* Running blood along the blade of his Sacred Treasure, it is transformed into a massive sword with five undulating blades from which Shizuka can launch into his White Serpent attack.

### **Manda (マンダ, *Manda*)**

* Shizuka is able to summon the King of Serpents, Manda, who he uses as his familiar. However, he cannot use it freely. He can only use it when he's under extreme pressure or anger.
* Manda was very powerful, feared as the "strongest colossal serpent" (最強の蟒蛇, *Saikyō no Uwabami*). He was able to stand his own against Gamabunta and Katsuyu, having almost killed them both. It is also obvious that he was well-known, as a Valkyrie was afraid of him just because of his gaze.
* He was extremely fast, as he was quickly able to dodge Hyde's attack and restrict it. He was also able to shed his skin in a manner similar when caught ablaze and move underground in quick succession.
* His body was also sturdy enough to withstand Giovanni's ultimate attack, and remain intact, while providing a relatively safe shelter for Shizuka to hide inside his mouth, although this came at the cost of Manda's life.

### **Big Boom Bazooka**

* Shizuka can often be seen with a bazooka, which he uses to shoot not only opponents but also Light or Elise.

## Traits

* His name in Japanese means quiet or peaceful.
* Though being a Horsemen affiliated with Callisto, he states that he never once prayed to God.
* He pastimes and talents are foot massages, hot stone spas, and bothering animals.
	+ He also loves S&M based themes.
* He gets 8 hours of sleep a night on average.
* His favorite genre of manga is romance.
* His favorite type of girl is a strong and collected one.
* Whenever a demon or mage in Callisto makes fun of him for being human, he usually shoots whoever down with his bazooka.