Ricardo "Cards" Berani

### Likes

Keeping promises, Being a reliable and helping hand, Finding something to do while idling, a certain Stealthy Kitsune.

### Dislikes

Egotistical magi, Exploitation of children, remembering his younger self

## Magic

### Principle

Swarm

**Ricardo Berani**, better known as "Cards" by his colleagues, is an agent of The Snake Tong, and is part of it's Unit 8, "Cloak and Dagger". A highly skilled infiltrator and assassin, he utilizes a swarm of metallic insects to form weapons, armor, and tools with great versatility. He is also known as the Sworn Oath-Brother of Mao "Stray Cat" Ligao, and to a lesser extent, the target of Mitsune Godo's affections.

## Background

A young Cards was brought to the Snake Tong by Katja Nikula, after a raid on a Balete hideout in the city of Agihan , rescued from a fate of servitude, or worse, being turned as raw magical materials. The Balete mage used Cards as a subject for an experiment, fusing his body with the "Abo-Alon", or the “Grey Tide”. The Grey Tide was essentially thousands of tiny hive-mind insectoids made up of metallic chitin that were slowly and painfully etched into his body over the course of a year. The Wizard planned on turning Cards into a weapon, his mind would be fused with the Tide, allowing him to instantaneously command the Tide and transform them into weapons. This fusion would have wiped his mind eventually of any individuality, turning him into just another part of the hive and a fully obedient tool to be used, were it not for Katja and Unit 8 assaulting the hideout . Further investigation on the boy’s history revealed that he was from a mage lineage that tried to keep their heads down and avoid involvement with the major factions of magi in the Philippines. It clearly did not go well as Cards’ parents ended up being killed by the Balete magus that ran the hideout.

He was raised by Katja and the rest of Unit 8, training him in the art of magic and assassination. He was introduced to a young Mao Ligao, another recruit a few years older than him, and the two formed a sibling bond throughout their youth as they trained, even sharing the same oath-taking ceremony and becoming Oath-Siblings, two Snakes bound by duty and kinship to help each other no matter what. During his youth, he had a fiery anger in his heart, especially against magi who reminded him of the one that killed his parents and kidnapped him. This made him all the more eager to learn the ways of fighting and killing magi. This anger consumed most of his early adolescence as he and his colleagues carried out assassinations. Then one event changed the course of his life. It was a routine assault on a mage hiding within plain view of civilian non-magi society. The Bounded Fields were broken into, the familiars where eliminated, the target was eliminated quickly. But the adrenaline of the assassination took hold of Cards and when he heard the sound of footsteps behind a door, he unleashed a barrage of his Grey Tempest. He watched in horror when he opened that door. What he thought were familiars trying to sneak up on him was actually his target’s wife and infant child, non-magi and unaware of the dark world of magic. His weapons spilled the blood of the innocent.

This event left a memory that was forever burned into his mind. Cards started contemplated what he has done throughout the years, mercilessly killing every target he was assigned to, a ruthlessness that made him unintentionally take the life of those who did no wrong. Thus became his journey to redeem himself. Overtime, Unit 8 would realize that he started using less lethal force, the blades he used to form became jitte, blunt weapons. He would later tell his oath-sister first about his realizations, and how he secretly went to Fenghuang and struck a deal with their b0ss. He would dedicate his life to serve the Tong on the condition that he can open up an orphanage where the children there will never be recruited into the Tong if they showed magical potential. He wanted to make sure that these children do not go through the same life of violence. He even offered that when he died, his body can be re-animated and continue to serve the organization. Such dedication convinced Fenghuang to agree. He first shared this with Mao, and eventually the rest of Unit 8, who respected and supported his decision.

As he continued his work as an agent of the Tong, he was assigned a mission to Japan to hunt down an assassin who recently caught the ire of a rather rich businessman. A bounty was put on Mitsune Godo's head, and Cards wasn't the only one who was after her . Several other mercenaries and freelancers went after her. In the past, he would have just carried on and went for the kill. But he was not the same as he was before. Cards tried to find a more reasonable way to solve this, and wondered if he could even save Mitsune's life. From what he saw, he had nothing personal against her, in fact, this was just a "steal a bounty" job given to him, not an importance to the Tong in the grand scale of things. He tracked down Mitsune, and even helped her fight off a bounty hunter she was currently dueling when he arrived. While she was suspicious of him, Cards tried his best to convince her that he meant no harm, and for the time being, he was an ally. He wanted to hear her story, why she was being hunted down. Mitsune abandoned her assassin life years ago, choosing to live a better existance in Japan and was only known as such because of her late father, who raised her to become one. She used her skills to knock out the a famous executive of a business conglomerate, who was notorious for sexually harassing and intimidating his female subordinates and colleagues, and embarrassed him by leaving him tied to a train station bench in his underwear and with a sign taped to his chest saying "I'm a perverted bastard". The bizarre way of getting justice aside, he decided to help her by fighting off the bounty hunters and offering her to come with him back to the Philippines, where she can live a better life than a wandering ex-assassin in Japan. While he was unsure what the future might bring, he promised that he'll be there to help.

Such words reached the heart of Mitsune, who misinterpreted the offer as a proposal. The woman who longed for friendship and affection took this opportunity to go with him, but also gradually started developing romantic interest in the man who went out of his way to help and save her. While this was not what he expected at all, he ended up realizing Mitsune was enamored with him when she followed him to the Snake Tong and joined up just to be with him and boldly declaring that she wanted him to be her lover. Totally caught off-guard, and inexperienced with romance, all he could do was accept for now since he did not want to see her saddened by rejection. Mitsune officially became a member of Unit 8 soon after. Needless to say, while Cards strives continue his life-long mission, now with Mitsune wholeheartedly helping him with it as well, he’s also found himself with a new mission: Romance. With her continued advances, Cards gradually began to enamored with her as well the more he got to know her. He also tries to keep thing wholesome with Mitsune, as the she is very forward with her advances. Mao herself states that she watched Cards, who does not flinch facing dozens of armed thugs aiming at him, become all flustered and lose composure thanks to a certain kitsune of a lady.

## Personality

Cards is a rather reserved individual, usually only engaging in conversations if prompted by others first. He is rather courteous and polite despite this, however, and is the total opposite of the abrasive Mao. Although is a very pragmatic fighter, he is very far from it outside of battle. Despite Mao treating it like him still having a naïve outlook, he secretly tries to find the good in people, until they actually try to kill him, in which he will act appropriately in self-defense. This way of thinking came about the older he got, and while he is seen as very aggressive in combat, most of the time he applies non-lethal force so he doesn’t actually kill someone and prevent them from redemption. Although not very religious, he still mutters short prayers for the people he does actually kill, hoping they find peace. Beneath the shell of a silent and deadly assassin lies the heart of a softie, as Mitsune would say. He also has a soft spot for children, especially orphans, and he absolutely detests the idea of children being taken advantage of, especially by magi, because of the horrors he experienced first hand because of it. He has sworn in a secret deal with Fenghuang that he will devote his entire life and even allow his own body to be re-animated in service to the organization if he was allowed to run an orphanage in the future where children can be raised and loved without the Tong recruiting any of children there and being raised into a life Cards considers something children should not even think about following, a sentiment that Mao supports. Most of his salary goes to the funds for this future goal and thus he tends to live a rather minimalistic life as a result.

*”Even if I bear the burden for years, even if I save only a generation or two of children from what I saw, I’ll rest easy knowing I at least tried and saved a few kids.”*

In his youth, he had an anger within his heart and was less forgiving, especially towards the people who reminded him of the magi who killed his parents. Anyone who tries to dominate others ticked him off. But soon he realized that violence was not always the best option. His present self tries to restrain himself and be more merciful. He still has a dislike of the cruel and egotistical magi, but no longer automatically acts out with hostility when he interacts with one of them.

Cards dislikes it when he’s idling about and not doing anything, and has formed a habit of filling the otherwise idle time by humming to himself, practicing flips with his balisong knife, or even doing some light reading if he has a book accessible. He’s also quite the cook, since he was made to do a lot of the cooking for Unit 8.

He treasures the close relationships he has, treating friends as his family, especially those he grew up with. Mao is the most obvious, who he grew up with and treated like an older sister. Although she can be a handful, testing his wits and messing around with him, he still respects her greatly and is pretty much a loyal friend and sworn brother to her until the end. Now if only she wasn’t as competitive when they spend time playing board games or during sparring contests. Growing up with Mao also made him quite the snarky bastard himself, a side-effect of being around someone like Mao for almost two decades. Unlike his abrasive Àté, however. He is more of a deadpan snarker. Oddly enough, he is one of the few who can keep up with the nonstop *boke-tsukkomi* banter and "contest to test each other’s wit’s" against Mao or Kaoru.

He is rather stubborn when he has set his mind on a goal, and will do everything to achieve it and will not stop until his body gives in, even if it is to the detriment to himself in the long run.

He never was good with romance with women, seemingly content with living a life devoid of romance until Mitsune walked back to his life. Despite his imposing appearance and rather cold visage, he apparently gets embarrassed easily, especially when exposed to skinship, at least that’s what Mitsune would say.

He is fluent in English, Tagalog, the dialects Unit 8 uses, and is a little more knowledgeable in Japanese thanks to Mitsune.

## Abilities

Cards was trained with the skillset of an assassin. Stealth, tracking, marksmanship, close-quarters-combat such as Kali, Lim Ga Kuan and Teräskäsi, and infiltration were skills that he developed thanks to the intensive and grueling training he went through in his childhood. He can fully suppress his killing intent when performing his assassinations, in order to be invisible physically and mentally to his targets before the final strike.

Cards was taught the basics of magic, specifically Reinforcement magic in order to enhance his physical abilities. He was also trained on how to disable hostile bound fields, or how to detect enemy spells, basic skills agents of the Tong are trained in.

**”Abo-Alon”, the Grey Tide**

With the help of Katja and other members, Cards developed the experimentation on his body by his former captor to suit his line of work. The Grey Tide swarm spread across his body can be deployed and commanded by Cards’ thoughts at a very fast rate, allowing him to shape and transform them into different weapons or objects, from shields to a metallic baby carrier. The hive-minded insects are made up of a metallic carapace, and asexually reproducing as long as Cards has magical energy. In fact, the Tide survives by absorbing mana in the air, but reliant on their host to provide them with processed mana that allows them to multiply.  It is called the Grey Tide since when deployed to its full extent, it looks like a wave of metal destruction that violently bursts out of Cards’ skin. Although painful whenever he deploys the Tide, he has grown used to the pain and has developed a high source of pain tolerance for it. The main use of the Tide is that he can will the Tide into weapons, shields, and even utility items like wrenches, hammers, screwdrivers, etc. He can even use the Tide to be used as projectiles, be it spikes or small bullets that could bury itself in a target skin and then be transformed into sharp objects for silent assassinations. Although he uses this less often now that he prefers less gruesome takedowns.

He has total command over the Tide since their minds are fused with his own thought processes. This also allows him to “Sense” where each and every individual Tide insect is, allowing it to be useful for tracking by leaving a few of the Tide on people. His sense weakens the further the Tide is, however.

**"Grey Shroud"**

The technique that Cards developed, allowing the Grey Tide to stick to the surface body and clothing, causing his body to reflect light and blend into the surroundings. This technique is what he uses to follow targets and remain undetected, or infiltrate heavily guarded locations. While skilled magi and martial artists can detect his presence,  his physical invisibility can still be a hurdle for an opponent to fight in melee. You can sense his presence, but you still can’t see which punch he throws, after all.

### Equipment

**Snake Key**

Card's Snake Key is a Karambit, and considered more of a tool than a weapon. The blade itself was made with special materials that are not necessarily strong enough for heavy combat. The pride of the Pranaja Empu smiths, the steel during forging blessed the property to disperse mana. Since it disperses magical energy, the blade of the knife can't be reinforced with magic. However, the reason why it's named a key is because users can create holes within certain points of a Bounded Field. Since the blade merely disperses mana and not outright destroys it, it creates thinned and weakened areas in a Bound Field that is more susceptible of being bypassed physically without triggering an alarm for the owner.

It can also be used against an enemy using Reinforcement on his body. If the Key is stabbed onto the target's arm, for example, the magical energy of the reinforcement spell disperses to other parts of his body and his arm is now more weakened thanks to the lower amount of mana for reinforcement.

Cards used to own a standard Balisong, but switched his Key to be a Karambit, as it requires more skill to be lethal against trained foes, requiring more effort to kill with it. He prefers the handicap, since it allows him to go for nonlethal approaches.

**S11 'BB' Bulletproof Body Suit**

Standard issue magic armor that Snake Tong provides its members. It is a black suit which was made to be bulletproof (tested with 9mm, 7.62, NATO/.308) and provides magic resistance, dispelling low level spells. It is considered to be one of the iconic uniforms of the Shiai-shi. The suit is made with a composite of multiple magical materials, a major one being Huohuan Bu Silk from a Spider Yaoguai. This makes the Suit durable (enough to withstand modern gunfire and magical projectiles), easily enchantable with magic, and has innate fire resistance. If the Suit was stained, one simply needs to burn the area with the stain and the mess will soon disappear without damaging the cloth.

**"Shroud Ties"**

Shroud Ties are standard issue magic armor and head protection, cleverly disguised as neckties that allow them to blend in with the Bulletproof Snake suit style. By pulling down the tie and channeling mana through them, the ties transform into balaclava masks that provide full coverage of the head and neck. The material is made to be as bulletproof as the suits and also provide the same magical protection. The Shroud Tie can be deactivated by the user removing the mask, and it will turn back into their necktie forms.

Cards has the standard issue mask, a featureless black mask that hides his face, save for the eyes.

**Méihuā Darts**

More commonly known as "Plum blossoms" or "Plums", are special darts disguised as badges or buttons that can be worn with Snake Tong Suits. They originally made as decorative buttons in the shape of Plum Blossoms, hence the name. These darts are made of materials enchanted to cut and pierce despite being blunt or smooth-surfaced. The material for these darts are also enchanted with a curse that quickly knocks out even the most steadfast of individuals as long as the darts have pierced flesh. They can be quickly shot by the wearer simply channeling mana through them, but this meant that they fly forward towards one direction. As a result, they serve as surprise weapons for assassinations. Some agents, like Cards, place them on their cuffs disguised as cuff links so they can aim the darts. The darts themselves can pierce clothing, but Reinforced clothes or armor can protect against it. Cards also has a habit of placing a a small swarm of the Tide on his darts so he can actually control them mid-air and reuse them as non-lethal weapons.