Akari Saito

"We've done this "hero" thing for a while now, why stop now?"
—Akari to Marlynn Avalon

 **Akari Saito** (齋藤あかり, *Saitō Akari)* is the deuteragonist in the on-going series. *Sin & Virtue: Rise of the Runelords.* She was introduced in Chapter 9 and serves as one of the founding members of both The Virtuous Vanguard and Ex Nobis She is a heir of The Saito Clan.

## Appearance

Silken obsidian hair cuts itself short on the small and angular face of the foreign woman, Akari’s pale bleak skin and muscular figure clash together to paint the picture of a beautiful seamstress of death, often larger and far more muscular than even the men in her company.

## Personality

Akari throughout most of her life has kept to herself and is considered an introvert by many. This doesn't stop her from being a compassionate and caring person when appropriate. She tends to be pretty passive most of the time due to her upbringing. She has a hard time opening up to her peers but when she does eventually open up to people, she can be very lively. She enjoys having friends to talk to and isn't very hateful towards people most of the time. She can be very impatient at times and is quick to anger. She tends to bottle up her emotions most of the time and can get stressed easily under certain conditions and factors; But her biggest flaw is her defeatist attitude. She quickly casts a form of blame upon herself when bad things/events happen that involve her.

Akari does many things in her spare time when she gets the chance of course. She enjoys writing stories and poetry and did it often in early chapters when she had the resources. Her lessons have improved her writing abilities which have benefited her since. She also occasionally maintains and works in gardens as they calm her down and relieve stress.

Although not very great at it, she likes to cook meals for herself and has never made meals for others, claiming that she's not ready for that. She also kind of has to due to her pretty strict diet. Other then that, she would like to improve. She likes to train surprisingly and likes to save active, she's a little iffy when it comes to sparring ever since the Kirin incident.

## Biography

Born into nobility in 1081 CE. Akari Saito is one of many females in the Saito Clan. She is currently the oldest out of her 2 siblings but has been overlooked her most of the life. She is also known to be overprotective but caring to both her younger brother and sisters, helping them stand up to bullies that pester her siblings during school hours. Her mother country is Ashina and has lived in the Saito Estate for most of her life. The Saito Clan is known to have a long line of warriors and artists that have influenced her sword technique and the hobbies she participates in. She saw the rise of the new samurai upper class as a way to make her presence known as well as a way to learn how to defend herself. She also strived to make her own fighting style and to pass down her art and teach others to defend themselves reliably. Her father was reluctant to teach her at first once she explained to him why she wanted to learn in the first place. Another contributing factor is that she was deemed to old at the time; she was sixteen when she asked to be trained. As well as her gender, there were no female warriors in the Saito Clan at that point. But after many days of pressing, he would train her in secret and would have to dedicate to it.

Akari would go on to learn the art of the blade and gain some experience in archery. She has learned how to endure most physical trauma done to the body as well as finding the perfect workout routine and diet to help her stay built. Her samurai classes would help her improve her poetry and extensive knowledge about Zen Buddhism. Due to her dedication, she had a pretty good running start compared to others considering she had only been training for 2 years at that point. But at the age of 18, due to her samurai status, she would be forced to be engaged to another samurai from the Shen Clan, that samurai being Ukyo Shen. Knowing absolutely nothing about this person besides hearsay, she dreaded the thought of being married to a stranger. This decision would change how she views her father after finding out that it was his call. After weeks of getting to know each other, it wasn't looking great between them at all and neither were romantically interested in each other. The two samurai would even shipwreck into the continent of Aaenwall after a disastrous boat ride date. Ukyo and Akari would have to teach each other to better their skills in swordplay and learn the language of the land.

Her story goes on from there.

## Abilities

Akari has gained many abilities through her training from her father as well as some additional samurai classes that can be seen in battle. She has dedicated her life solely the katana due to her finding it easy to swing, reliable to her all around, and simple to understand. She has learned multiple stances for specific encounters. During her time in Aaenwall, she had crafted and created her own sword technique to her liking as well. Despite all this she claims there's still more work to be done.

### Knowledge

* **Physiology -** During her studies, Akari has learned and explored more about the human body. Learning about vital and crucial areas that are important to note during a battle.

* **Dietary/Physical Exercise -** Due to her rigorous training, Akari needs to keep her body in shape in order to fight efficiently since she is at a biological disadvantage. To complement her diet, she has
* **Nobility -** Having been born into nobility, Akari has learned the proper manners, morals, and rules of being a Lady. Although holding disdain for the morals she's taught, she has no other choice.
* **Theology -** Despite not upholding too many religious beliefs, she has extensive knowledge in Zen Buddhism as well as Shintoism and finds the story aspect of the religion to be intriguing.

### Juzumaru

Juzumasa has been her weapon of choice since Chapter 9 when she grabbed the tool morphing stone the first time from the goblin she faced after her other katana was destroyed in the fire. She finds it to be the most effective blade out of all the ones she's used in the past. It's been used to slice through many foes and monsters efficiently, even relying on it do most of her work in earlier chapters. Until it was destroyed by ogres, leaving her without her traditional katana for a while. That was the case until she found the same morphing tool in the Thassiolion space base and continues to use Juzumaru.

#### Thundergun Mk.II (Chikara)

The Thundergun Mk.II was Akari's prefer ranged weapon in combat when her katana isn't quite doing the trick. She isn't a great archer, but she isn't terrible. She adopted this new weapon to get the advantage when things get overwhelming for her, especially after the force damage it did towards Sven. It was later destroyed during a confrontation with her brother.

### Skills/Combat

* **Katana/Combat Expertise -** Like stated earlier, Akari has become an expert at Kenjutsu. She has learned to efficiently use the weapon in battle as well as duels. She knows every part and material that makes up the weapon and how far the weapon can go before it falters. She has learned the amount of force she needs to produce in order to do the damage she wants to do, which explains all the critical hits. She has learned to keep up with other sword wielders, but is willing to learn more and become better at her art. Her katana skills carry over to other well-known blades for the most part. Although she is considered very strong, she hasn't learned any real martial arts or any hand-to-hand combat at all and is an average archer at best.
* **Aspiring Writer -** As said earlier, her samurai classes allowed her to write haikus and poems in way better quality. This is her primary hobby and she's considered exemplary when it comes to writing. She also writes many stories that are non fiction and fiction but has yet to show them to anyone.

* **Trained Precision -** Akari is practically a trained killer, over time she has known which parts of the human body are vital and which aren't thanks to the help of her classes. She doesn't know close to anything about the anatomy of non-humans which makes it harder for her to examine them in battle. But with humans, it's an entirely different story.

* **Enhanced Resolve/Pain Tolerance -** Akari has trained to withstand most physical and mental trauma that could effect her in a battle or a duel. Having a series of painful trials that included starving herself, flogging, surviving in cold or hot climates, and psychological methods put onto her. With this, her pain tolerance has increased over time with the amount of injuries and battles that were brought onto her. She is able to maintain a level headed state when in conflict, but can and will break when it comes to it.

* **Duelist (Challenge EX) -** Due to her many sparring matches and training sessions in the past, Akari has become an expert duelist. When she isn't fighting hordes of drunk mercenaries for hire or non-humans, she focused on a duel between her opponent. Like most, she does much more damage and does things with more efficiently when in duels or when singling out one of the out the many enemies she is up against.

* **Vigilant -** Akari has learned during her time in Aaenwall that being reckless and negligent in combat is a recipe for disaster. Especially when the enemy uses his own type of tactics to get the edge in battle. She has learned how to avoid being flanked from either side of her in combat as she has witnessed and fought against people who have effectively won battles by flanking. As well as learning how to stay alert to prevent her from being sneak attacked, as she knows the devastating effect it has on unwary foes.

* **Trained Athlete -** Akari's training has allowed her to pick up the essential athletic abilities in a warrior's arsenal. She is a trained swimmer and treading waters isn't difficult, it can come in handy when the time comes for it. She can climb up and down many buildings that most cannot. Getting into buildings or climbing up surfaces is considered a regular task for her and not a problem by any extent. Akari can also be agile in most difficult situations with her heightened dexterity which allows her to weave and cut through many people in combat.

## Relationships

Raiden/Kader
Akari truly cares for Raiden and considers him a friend. Like everybody in the beginning, she found him strange at times. His previous morals and mannerisms were strange to her, but as she opened up to Kader; she gradually enjoyed his company despite him being pretty young to her. Even in he doesn't feel the same way back, she'll still enjoy having him around most of the time After their unfortunate trip to the Kingspyre, she would vow to make everything right. She takes note that they act similar but thinks it only solidifies their relationship. During their training sessions, she would nickname him Raiden due to his rapid progression with a blade and his strength. To add on, she thinks Raiden is a talented fighter and has a lot of potential. She plans on learning his own form of martial arts to exchange each others knowledge. Despite all this praise for him, she doesn't like his cynical and demeaning attitude/personality that's present. His impulsiveness annoys her and his constant barking at people he doesn't even know. She doesn't care for his quick to judge demeanor and his quips can be very annoying. His use of magic doesn't entirely bother her too much as he uses more of his fists then anything.
Saku Les
Akari enjoys Saku's company and is impressed by his use of magic and his strength. She considers him a powerful ally and pretty easy to talk most of the time. She likes his optimism and his growth as a person since being on Ann's ship. However, she thinks Saku can be reckless at times. Especially on the boat where he said they he would wager Raiden and her life with his life. As well as when he pinned a target on everyone in the Vanguard for talking back to Emily in the Shackles.
Miguel Nápoles
A horrible tragedy she would like to forget and grow from. Although sharing similar hobbies and their skills in combat. They genuinely hit it off for a while and she enjoyed it. It was Miguel's pride and use of power as well as his cognitive thinking that quickly pulled them apart until his death which she deeply regrets. She had fell into a temporary depression for a while during the boat ride but decided that rather sitting on the thought of his death, she would grow from it and better herself as a person as much as humanly possible.
Nuno Dias
Although in the same group, Akari and Nuno aren't very close. She really appreciates Nuno's devotion to get her home and his all around kindness towards her and everyone in the party. She is very impressed by Nuno's creative ability to make nice looking outfits. She also enjoys Nuno's talent which is singing and his gifted magic. His sense of humor and his optimism are breath of fresh air to her when appropriate. Akari would like learn more about Nuno in general.