Takehito Hayase

**Takehito Hayase** (早瀬 武仁, *Hayase Takehito*) is a member of the Tatsuyama Village and childhood friend of Rei, as well as Takashi, Yuki, Seito, Kurumi, and Celis. He was soon partnered with Masaomi, Kurumi, Seito, and Yuki as ordered by the Elders who changed the "Suzaku" Aoi Haruno into an S-Class Elimination Target instead of just a Observation Target, but later lost against Rei after Táowù went out of control and Aoi was changed back to an Observation Target.

## Appearance

Takehito is tall and has a well-built physique due to his training like Rei.

## Personality

Being a member of the Tatsuyama Village, Takehito upholds the principle to defeat Daemons and the C.P.S. no matter the cost, even if that Daemon hasn't done anything wrong first as shown when the Elders changed Aoi, a failed Tatsuyama Village experiment, into an elimination target. He has also shown to be quiet hostile toward his former friends, Rei and Takashi who were both hosting Daemons and were assisting Aoi despite being a former member of the Tatsuyama Village and even claimed to have become far stronger than him who was viewed as a genius, though this is likely due to the strain in their relationship from childhood due to Rei's forced departure by the Elders. After Yuki started to protect Aoi from him and even attacked Takehito, he didn't hesitate to attack back and even kill her if necessary.

In battle, Takehito is shown to be calm and collected in dangerous situations as he fought back all three of Aoi, Galatea and Lilith in combat using the best of his abilities to overpower them in combat.

After their battle ended in Volume III, Takehito started to settle down, as whenever it comes to Rei, Takehito is a bit of a tsundere and still considers Rei and Takashi to be important childhood friends.

After six months, he has softened to his original view on Rei and the others, even using the power of Eisheth along with Seito and Celis in facing Masaomi, despite knowing that it could be viewed as a betrayal by the Elders.

## Powers and Abilities

Being a member of the Tatsuyama Village, Takehito had undergone a unique training regimen since childhood, making him stronger than a normal human letting him fight against that of Daemons and Daemon-enhanced Humans. After his former friend was exiled from the Tatsuyama Village, he continued to train himself harder than before to the point where he has proven to be much stronger than Rei who hadn't trained since he was exiled from the village. He could overpower Aoi Haruno, the **Suzaku Doll**, Mio Uesugi, a **Gokujonin**, Galatea, a half-daemon and Lilith, a **Hard Striker** when using Táowù, then later Yuki, a **Multi-Saber** and Takashi, a training Onmyoji and host of a Daemon Lord. Takehito grew stronger over the past six months since he lost against Rei being able to suppress the out of control Táowù controlled by Masaomi.

* **Superhuman Strength:** Takehito has shown to be able to break through concrete and create craters in the ground using his spear. Takehito also overpower Yuki, another hero, and very skilled swordsman, with ease and almost kill her in process

* **Immense Speed:** He has superhuman speed and agility, being referred to as being the same speed type as Rei and Seito, but his technique is called a **Quick Lancer** and is able to hamper his opponents with his speed and attack with his spear. After losing to Rei in volume 3, Takehito spent the past six months training. He later achieves a near god-level speed that's arguably faster than Rei's base speed.

* **Magic Resistance:** Like with all members of the Tatsuyama village, Takehito has an innate resistance to magic and the supernatural.

**Master Spearmanship:** Takehito is greatly skilled in using spears and other polearm-based weapons. Due to his longer reach, Takehito often has an advantage against most opponents. Whenever wielding Taowu, he's able to extend that advantage further and use the abilities of Taowu to act as an extension of himself.

## Equipment

**Táowù** (檮杌とうこつ, *Tōkotsu*): Taowu is one of the Four Perils, which resides inside a spirit lance and governs the east. Although Taowu is a cursed beast who represents the Wood Element, in its current state, it lets Takehito use the air element instead of wood, letting him wield various wind-based abilities, which is suitable for a Speed-Type and limited ice manipulation, letting him freeze Býleistr. Differing from the other three beasts who went over to Masaomi, Táowù remained with Takehito.

**Tonbokiri** (蜻蛉切, *Dragonfly Cutter*): Takehito also owns a spiritual replica of Tonbokiri, which was wielded by the daimyō Honda Tadakatsu. Tonbokiri acts as his main weapon whenever not wielding Taowu.

## Trivia

* His first name Takehito (武仁) means "Military Benevolence".
* His surname Hayase (早瀬) means "Rapids, Swift Current".
* Takehito lives by himself and learned how to due after losing his mother.
	+ Teriyaki Chicken is his specialty dish.
* Takehito started receiving hate from some heroes who held animosity towards Rei for the incident from five years ago (at that point).