Veteran

**Veteran** (ベテラン, *Beteran*) is the oldest living man in the world, who is currently at an incredible 512 years old. On the surface, he seems like a heavily enfeebled, aged, decrepit and senile old man, however, he seems to have developed incredible superhuman powers and abilities which have resulted in him becoming an s-class hero, and an invaluable asset to the hero association. Within him, veteran carries a unique form of raw power and unlimited potential, which is directly effected by his age at any given point in time. Because of his small stature, feeble appearance and senile behavior, countless foes who encounter him fail to take him seriously. This has resulted in vetern becoming responsible singelhandedly for crushing and defeating some of the most dangerous and destructive mysterious beings to ever appear.

Veteran is wildely acknowledged as being a man of complete mystery, the details as to the nature of his powers and exact abilities are mostly unknown to the public, and even some of his fellow heroes have no idea what he is truly capable of, as he is rarely actually ever seen in the midst of battle anymore, thus causing his peers and fellow heroes to severely doubt his abilities and even label him as a fraud or somebody who is useless to the cause of protecting the innocent, when in truth they could not be more wrong about the man. Veteran is considered an extremely deadly, powerful, and mighty hero, one of the greatest members of the s-class division of heroes by way of the sheer strength, battle experience, and tenacity which he possesses.

Inexplicably, veterans powers, abilities and sheer, raw might has only served to proliferate, swell, and increase to ever greater heights as the years have passed, and only a handful of heroes know what he is truly capable of, or have even witnessed him in the midst of battle to begin with, though by all accounts, veteran is hyped up as being one of the most absolutely mighty and powerful heroes to currently be on the side of justice, being coveted in respect, legend, and even myth by numerous people throughout the world who have shared their testament on the sheer might and strength which veteran wiels at his fingertips, power which seems to swell, grow and evolve to ever greater heights as he continues to stubbornly stave off the absolute force that is known as death in his extreme age, showing no signs of slowing down at all.

## Powers & Abilities

### Physical Abilities

**Enormous Strength:** Mysteriously, and i complete contrast to his feeble build and frail persona, veteran has proven himself to be an absolute monstrous powerhouse when it comes to displaying his physical strength. He is capable of stopping attacks from dragon level mysterious beings with a single hand, and holding back the incoming blows of enemies who are much younger, larger, and stronger than he is with out any visible effort in the process. His sheer might is great enough that he effortlessly manhandles most opponents who come into a range close enough where he can actually lay hands upon them, completely annihilating and ripping apart almost any mysterious being in only the most brutal and dominant of movements, finishing his foes in most cases, a single attack.

**Immense Speed:** In immense contrast to the way which he is prone to moving when not in battle, veteran is shown to be anything but slow or sluggish in his movements. He can perform immense bursts of speed in a sudden explosive display, both when moving about and attacking. His sheer speed is something which as just as baffling as the raw physical power which he wields, and because of how fast he is, he completely runs circles around most monsters and other opponents which he battles, being capable of easily outpacing other speedsters, completely blitzing and outdoing them in their own element thanks to the sheer speed he is capable of tapping into. More than anything, veteran moves around like a high speed bullet, capable of changing directions and zipping around with such velocity that most opponents can only ever perceive him moving as a mere blur of incredible speed, if they can even witness him.

**Massive Durability:** Finally, one of the most terrifying characteristics about veteran's physical abilities is his sheer physical endurance. He is an absolute juggernaut who is capable of completely tanking and soaking up most forms of outside damage and attacks, so much so that he has become completely immune to an enormous variety of attacks. Most opponents whom he encounters, in the situation that they are skilled, powerful, and fast enough to actually lay a finger on him in the first place, completely fail to actually inflict any visible damage on his body to begin with, another physical characteristic which completely betrays veterans physical appearance and characteristics. Becuase of his sheer durability, veteran rarely even has to go to the effort of actually dodging an attack, something which forces his enemies to cower and retreat away from him continuously, as even the strongest of attacks are enfeebled.

### Fighting Skills

**Raw Combat** (原戦闘, *Gensento*) is the term which veteran describes his signature fighting style as. He has never actually received any formal training in a style of martial arts or organized fighting, and because of it, he has turned out to be one of the single most lethal and dangerous men on the face of the planet. Raw Combat is a method of extremely effective, brutal, and dangerous martial arts which is native solely to veterans usage. It is a highly disorganized, unpredictable and improvized method of fighting which veteran has steadily cultivated and built up over countless years of exposure to real life combat situations and life or death battles against strong opponents, essentially giving him the ability to access the purest form of "violence" as he calls it. As a close range method of fighting, it is considered suicide to get within arms reach of veteran when in battle. In the situation that he lays hands on an opponent, that alone is considered the deciding factor in any fight against him, as he simply wrestles, traps, and overpowers his foes with crushing attacks in this style.

### Known Powers

**Deathlessness:** There is one aspect that veteran has made abundantly clear in his career as a professional hero. He is completely and utterly undying, and to an extent, immortal because of it. It doesn't matter how old he gets, or how many years actually pass by in his lifetime, he is completely incapable of depleting his lifeforce or physical energy as a result of aging. Though he does actually continue to age and grow oldier physically, he does not grow weaker or closer to death, maintaining a state of complete physical health and cutting edge perfection regardless of how old he gets. However, although he cannot die from causes such as aging, organ failure, sickness and diseases, if he encounters a foe that is capable of actually damaging him, he could still perish if he suffers an injury too severe, being somewhat indifferent from that of the average human being in this regard, resulting in him being just as weak as a normal human in some ways.

**Age Empowerment:** The crux of veterans powers, and the reason for the incredible, ever growing strength and potential for growth which he possesses. As veteran grows older, getting by in the years of his life, so too does his strength and power rise by a considerable margin. Whereas others grow weaker, feeble, and more decrepit with age, getting ever closer to deaths doorstep, the opposite is in effect for veteran, as he goes further and further away from death, getting stronger and stronger without limitation. Now at an astonishing 512 years old, the power which veteran wields is absolutely terrifying, and continues to grow greater and greater with each and every passing day in his exceptionally old lifetime. When he was in his 20's, veteran was a weak man of feeble constitution, though as he got closer to the death age of normal human beings, he found himself tapping into considerably superhuman strength. Centuries later, he has become one of the most powerful and mighty men ever to walk the face of the planet, whose unlimited strength continues rising.

**Injury Empowerment:** As a result of encountering a rare foe powerful enough to actually injure him and make him feel pain, veterans grows even stronger as a result of falling victim to physical harm. As a direct result of being injured in any way shape or form, veteran receives in sudden considerably large multiplication to his already immense power. The more intense and lifethreatening the physical injury in question he sustains, the more massive the sudden boost of strength he obtains will be. As a fight progresses, and veteran sustains more and more injuries from his opponent, he only gets closer and closer to victory as a result, becoming stronger and stronger. In this regard, actually going to the length of injuring veteran immensely and as brutally as possible is one of the worst possible options for an opponent to exploit, as he will only become more and more difficult to defeat and keep up with. However, for all their benefits, injuries still do take a toll on veterans body, and even if his power is strengthened, his actual lifeforce is still depleted in the same way as a normal human beings is in response to intense injuries sustained at the hands of his opponents, slowly killing him over a set time, causing veteran to try and finish his foe quickly as possible.

### Transformation

**Defying Death** (凌ぐ生死, *Shinogu Seishi*) is a form which can only be accessed by veteran when he has sustained a certain amount of injuries. It is only when he takes an injury, or injury intense and dangerous enough that it will actually kill him if he does not seek medical help or aid from another, that the furthest extent of his power can be tapped into. Defying death is a transformation where veterans lifeforce becomes temporarily boosted by an enormous amount, allowing him to ignore the physical injuries he has sustained for much, much longer than that of the normal human being, allowing him to literally stave off the grasp of death, becoming much stronger because of it. In this form, veteran's youth actually returns to a significant degree, and his old decrepit body becomes extremely muscular, filled with life energy, youth, and billowing amounts of immense, raw power, now dozens upon dozens of times more powerful, veteran actually entering this form against an opponent is considered a sure kill against his foe, though it is actually rare for veteran to be pushed to this form.

**Dying Will** (遺書, *Isho*) is the highest, strongest, and most powerful transformation which vetern can enter. In his lifetime, he is only capable of triggering this transformation once, and as such, he has never met a foe powerful enough to actually make him enter the form, as the requesite parameters for triggering such unholy power have never been met in any of the many thousands of foes he has fought. In the situation that veteran is actually killed, even that isn't enough to stop him. Overcoming his defying death form will only trigger a power even more immense than anything ever before, the dying will. After veteran is "killed" as this is the only way he will ever actually meet his end, the dying will is triggered. Veteran will not only obtain a sudden immense power boost, but his power will keep on rising, continuously, without limitation or end, both life energy and physical energy flooding his system. This causes his form to bulk up to an absurd margin, becoming extremely vascular and much larger than before. Essentially, this form grants veteran the energy required to carry out his dying will, in this case, defeating the foe that has pushed him this far. Veteran will not die, he will not perish, he will not back down, he won't give up and he won't slow down, this form continues to persist and grow stronger right up until his target dies by his hand, until then, he won't stop fighting.