Damien Hashira

**Damien Hashira** (雫実庵柱 *Damian Hashira*) was once the proud heir to the Hashira Clan until the birth of Kazuo Hashira. He is also the famed man responsible for the murder of the same clan that shares his name. What was unknown to many, was that he was in fact part of the Solis Knights, an organization focused on maintaining the balance between good and evil. An organization who gave the order to exterminate such a family. And with such skills with a lance, as well as an inherent prowess for combat, Damien was the likely choice to execute such a deed.

## Personality

Damien is a bit of an enigma when it comes to describing his personality; being both a nihilic cynic and a charming man with a strong value system. He has a way of altering the light in the room so that it somehow always shines on him.

Charm and popularity is a quality he has in spades. He instinctively know how to capture an audience, reading the room and picking up on mood instantly, allowing him to alter his communication style to fit with reason, emotion, passion, or restraint – whatever the situation calls for. His talent with imitation gives him the descriptor of "cunning", as he able to shift his tone and manner to reflect the needs of the audience to get what he wants.

Aside from being a fluent conversationalists, Damien is mentally quick, and enjoy verbal sparring with others. A main topic for a rousing argument comes from his enjoyment of picking apart the beliefs of others, often calling their idealistic ways "childish and naive". Though he can be rather contradictory in that fact that when someone threatens his own value system he becomes an aggressive defender, fighting passionately for his cause and validity. He holds the ideas of the Solis Knights highly, fighting to maintain a balance in the world, believing that the idea of destroying the evil in the world is a fantasy of those who cannot handle pain. When talking with someone he can become quite harsh when his patience is tried in these respects, because he doesn't believe that he should tailor his judgments in consideration for people's feelings, and will speak his mind freely regardless of the authority of his audience.

This is not to say that Damien isn't a true team player. He recognizes his faults and shortcomings, and will listen to the opinions of others whom he respects; even if it contradicts his own views. This can be seen in how Damien falls back in his attempt to kill his nephew at the orders of Haruko Yuta, a man who Damien sees as both his superior and his mentor. While he admits he doesn't have all the answers, he is often receptive to dissent, so long as it remains constructive. For the one think Damien hates most is the sight of mistakes repeated, and he has no patience with inefficiency.

Though from what he is admired most for is his wit and adaptability, a skill not many Solis Knights of his time had mastered. He is constantly absorbing ideas and images about the situations he is presented with in his life. Using his intuition to process information, coming to a conclusive plan extremely quick and accurately. Accordingly, he is quite flexible and adaptable even if the situation changes, using his perceptive abilities to see the possibilities everywhere that can maximize his chance of a successful outcome. His quickness to grasp complexities, absorb a large amount of visual information, and his quick and decisive judgments is what makes him such an unpredictable and skilled mage.

## History

Not much is known of Damien’s past, as he is a very secretive man, and those who would have accounts of what he was like in his younger years were all wiped out in the massacre of the Hashira Clan. What is know is he was born the younger brother of Satoru Hashira, the leader of the Clan who born a gifted son named Kazuo Hashira. Damien speaks highly of his brother, saying that they were always training with one another; Damien excelling with the lance, and Satoru with the sword. It was because of this close bond that when Satoru was named the next head of the Clan at the age of 15, he promised his brother the subsequent rule out of respect for Damien’s skill and power in persuading the masses. Although this promise was later broken; filling Damien with a great deal of hatred.

Though before this event, when Damien was in his mid-twenties, he was out in the forest training on his own in hopes to best his brother in their next spar, when he was greeted with a man in what looked to be a uniform of Rune Knights past. The man introduced himself as Haruko Yuta, telling Damien he was a part of an elite organization dedicated to maintaining balance in the world, and that they have been watching him and wanted him to join in their cause. Damien was initially distrusting of the stranger and challenged him to combat, effectively losing in the process, but little did he know his opponent was immortal. He decided to hear the man out, realizing that the ideals of this organization, the Solis Knights, greatly reflected that of the morals bound to his heart. Damien skeptically agreed to join their cause, earning the alias Venus in the group to help protect his identity while out of missions.

Damien continued to stay with his Clan, as it was his duty to train the future generations of the Hashira Clan to be able to wield any weapon so as to better serve their family and their country. But his absences became more frequent as he would escape to go perform duties asked of him from the Solis Knights. He was partnered up with a rather ruthless female named Haru Kazenaki, or better known by her alias Pluto, who specialized in Nullification and Wind Magic. The two completed many a jobs, fighting on the sides of both legal guild and dark guild alike; whatever side they needed to aid in order to secure victory and maintain the forces at play. Their greatest feat came with what was seen as revenge from Damien on the Hashira Clan, but was actually an order given by Haruko and the Solis Knights.

They were ordered to execute the Hashira Clan due to their overwhelming power and their intent to defend any legal guild that was threatened by the darkness. The Solis Knights agreed that with their service so widely distributed, it would tip the scales too far, and so they needed to be eliminated in order prevent disasters in the future. Damien was hesitant at first, feeling a great conflict for having to go after his own family; one with whom he had shared laughs and love with, and a family with which he trained the children to hold pride and honor in their name for the future generations. When Haruko decided to choose him and his partner to take out the Clan, for it was he who knew it best and would be able to defend against any retaliation, Damien initially refused such an order, not knowing if he would have the courage to face his family. Yet after some discussion and a great deal of mental dilemmas, Damien know that this was the best choice in order to maintain the sides of good and evil.

Damien and Haru executed their plan the next night, mowing down anyone who dared approach them. When it came to the children however, Damien couldn’t bring himself to kill the young minds of which he had molded into proud warriors that bear his same last name; and so he somehow always found a way to avoid it when Haru was looking, playing his part of “the villain” in this massacre. When he entered the familiar home of his brother and his nephew, Damien felt a great deal of chagrin and sadness, yet he kept up his face in front of the watchful eye of his partner. When Haru had knocked back Satoru in their fierce battle, she instructed Damien to kill him, to prove his allegiance to their cause. Her ruthless and violent ways told Damien that if he didn’t kill his brother, he too would be killed; and he was no match for her in a straight up fight. So under her watchful eye, he plowed his lance through his brother’s head, feeling numb as the blood spill out across the familiar floor. He knew that his nephew was still in the building somewhere and that, although he did despise the kid for taking away his right to the family, he would not allow such a young soul to be cut short in this world.

So Damien would continue to play his part. Embodying the evil pushed those of gullible minds to take on the ideals of a hero. And although Damien disagreed with all that “heroes” stood for, and their idealist view of the world, he knew that having such people balance out his own darkness. Haru caught sight of his nephew in the wardrobe when Kazuo made a break for it, and Damien knew if he didn’t step in, Kazuo would die. So with his partner’s back turned, and her guard lowered against the feeble boy, Damien took his chance to plunge his spear through her heart. With his partner “killed in action”, Damien did all he knew how to do, he would persuade the moldable mind of Kazuo, giving him a cause to keep fighting; a cause to keep living for despite the amount of horror and pain he witnessed. Setting the entire village up in flames, Damien made his exit with an empty heart, unable to feel such things as love anymore.

He reported back to Haruko what had happened, telling him of how his partner was killed by a Hashira during their battle; words that were spoken as half-truths given that Damien was a Hashira himself. He said that his Clan was eradicated; not wanting to share that he had spared the life of his nephew in the process, even though he did not know if he survived the fire or not. Haruko apologized for his loss, reminding him it was for the best, and then said that he would be his partner until they could find a suitable replacement for Pluto. It was after this that they continued to do the work of the Solis Knights, running into so some familiar faces down the road…

## Magic Abilities

**Summoning Magic** (召しの魔法, *Meshi no Mahō*) is a Caster and Holder Magic that provides Damien the ability to summon objects out of thin air from a completely different location. Damien utilizes this magic by summoning up a large collection of unique weapons he has collected from his clan's heritage of being elite warriors. Each weapon has their own unique abilities, giving him a wide variety of potential attacks. This magic is very similar to Requip, yet it doesn't have the hundred item limit. It is because of this that Damien has tailored this magic to his life of living on the road, having items such as tents, food storage, emergency medical supplies, clothes, and even going so far as to storing his wallet inside his own pocket dimension so that he is able to travel light and unhindered.

All the weapons that Damien has at his disposal are made of a unique construct of Kinesium and Sciodian Metal, an extremely rare metal monopolized by the Hashira Clan into extinction. The Kinesium allows the weapon to absorb the kinetic energy of its attacks, lessening that which is transferred to Damien as well as storing up energy to release in a powerful wave. The Sciodian Metal gives the weapon an incredible durability as well as its purplish hue. The Sciodian gets its durability from the self repairing properties it achieves by absorbing the ethernano of that which it cuts. So that means Damien is able to cut through rock, steel, and bone without his blade ever losing its edge.

* **Mangata** (マンガタ *Mangata*): This 1.5 meter golden lance is the smaller of the two Damien wields, named after the golden glow of the moon’s reflection on the earth. This spear is easier for Damien to use in closer combat, its shorter shaft being able to move more fluidly and rapidly. Although his range is short, he can rapidly overcome it by performing a thrust at an approaching enemy instead of moving out; quickly closing up the distance between him and his target. The main strength of Mangata comes from the unique magic infused into its spearhead. The golden blade itself is actually another rare element monopolized by the Hashira Clan that is no longer in existence. This element contains particles that disrupt the effects of Healing Magic, making it so that the wounds caused by this spear cannot be healed through ethernano means. Now that isn't to say that traditional medicine or stitching won't work, but in a battle a mage will rely heavily on magic to preserve themselves, and this spear counter's such a "coward's method".

* **Razbliuto** (ラズブルート *Razuburuuto*): A 2 meter long crimson lance that is much more often relied on compared to it's sister Mangata. The power of this unique weapon is in its swings, rather than it's thrust, as its shape would indicate. Its length allows Damien to utilize a swinging motion to help limit the filed of escape when an opponent attempts to dodge. This motion is still able to deal damage during the swing, such as a slashed stomach or limb, and Damien is still able to charge forward to pierce the body with the long shaft of the lance. This lance itself is laced with a special kind of magic as well; Nullification Magic. This allows it to pierce through almost any magic barrier giving that Damien channels enough ethernano into it. One of his signature attacks with this lance relies on the face that the Nullification Magic will give way in any defense to allow its razor sharp point to pierce the heart of his target.
* **Harakiri** (切腹 *Seppuku*): Through the use of a great deal of Ki, Damien is able to summon up multiple copies of the weapons in his arsenal to unleash a barrage of bladed fury. A signature of the Hashira Clan, he is able to summon up a total of 10 weapons at once, sending them off at will through the use of ethernano manipulation. TBC

**Fire Magic** (火の魔法 *Hi no Mahō*)

## Physical Abilities

**All Around Weapon Specialist**: From his upbringing Damien was taught a variety of basics for each weapon class, later expanding on his skills to achieve a mastery in the likes of the polearm, axe, and sword; an education that he would later pass on to the youth of the Hashira Clan. He rather excels when it comes to using dual-weapons, moving fluidly and gracefully to block and strike down any enemy in his path. With the sword he has shown that he is incredibly skilled in the one handed grip, not losing a significant amount of power when compared to that of the usual two handed grip. His polearm skills were praised as the most elite his clan, as he took an immediate liking to such weapons. He is able to swing his weapons in an incredible fast manner, using his reflexes and speed to the fullest, and even being able to mass summon up to a dozen weapons. He is able to unleashed swift strikes, often attacking in such an aggressive manner that his opponent is unable to retaliate or deflect all of the powerful blows. His speed at manipulating his weapons has even been able to deflect bullets and projectile from an enemyts target. His power with a weapon is also able to produce shockwaves from his strikes, giving him tremendous cutting power capable of effortlessly slicing through defenses while pushing enemies to their absolute limits. His defenses when blocking seems unmatched, and his offense is capable of tremendous precision. Utilizing evasion techniques, with effortless counterattacks, Damien tends to use his speed to overwhelm the opponent and create an opening for himself

* **Spear/Staff Specialist**: His skill as a warrior with the spear stands high, as he can typically be seen carrying this weapon around while out on jobs or even around the guild. He can be seen utilizing fluid motions when he is wielding a spear, giving his attacks a sense of grace, as well as a seemingly endless array of potential strikes. By slowing his breathing down to match his opponent's Damien is capable of entering a state of keen awareness of his opponents moves, basing it on the pattern and alteration of their breaths. His stance can alter between one for countering his opponent's moves by using the shaft of his spear to deflect attacks away; or he can lower his spear toward the ground to execute various ethernano defenses, like Defenser. It is this lowered stance Damien becomes far more deadly, as he is capable of blocking attacks from any direction as well as being able to attack with a swift raise of the spear. He is able to perform as a dual-handed spearman, capable of using each hand to fight and throw his opponents off guard. When using his spears he has shown a master usage of Sojutsu and Bojutsu, with a mastery in Torunku Ryu,  and has even gone as far being capable of moving his spear fast enough to deflect projectiles. His ability to perform tremendously powerful and precise strikes, launch several consecutive strikes in a matter of mere moments, and versatility against opponents has given him the skill to render many of his targets unable to fight by striking and paralyzing the joints needed to wield a weapon.
	+ **Torunku Ryū:**The offensive aspects of the style focus on conditioning Damien on an instinctive basis to, when fighting with a pole weapon, always keep the opponent within a certain zone of attack to optimize offense while still retaining the ability to defend oneself. By keeping the opponent a comfortable distance away Damien is able to focus more on offense. Taking advantage of the extended reach of the staff, Torunku-Ryu holds a distinct advantage over weapons with shorter reaches, besetting the enemy with a relentless flurry of vigorous assaults at range. In the interest of pressing the advantage, practitioners of this weapons form are able to close considerable distance in a short space of time relying on pure agility as long as the opponent is within 15 meters of their position. Because of the extended reach of the weapons used in this form Damien is able to deliver attacks faster than the time it takes for an opponent to cast a spell, forcing the mage to attempt to physically dodge or block Damien's strike. Thus, this weapons form is extremely effective in closing the distance and forcing a direct physical confrontation. A master of such art can fight fluidly with two polearms at once. The draw back to this form is that Damien will not be able to fight quite as effectively in extreme close quarters, nor can the advantage be maintained if the opponent's weapon is sufficiently heavy or of similar length to Damein's. Torunku Ryu is also excellent at defense and evasive maneuvers. The defensive aspects of the style rely on perception and awareness of surroundings. By using deceptively quick sweeping movements Damien is able to divert force away from their body easily by simultaneously shifting into the least accessible position while also not confronting the force directly when necessary. This can work to defend Damien even from extremely swift assaults. Damien can easily alternate between offence and defense, as this form allows for fluid transition. In addition Damien is trained to whip the staff around their body so quickly, they are able to block multiple projectiles from several directions easily so long as none are fired from a blind spot. This form is less effective in close quarters or in tight, confined spaces with places to potentially catch the staff weapon and halt its movement. Adept skill in the style allows Damien to fight on par with close range combat masters on equal terms, and mastery of the style allows Damien the ability to fight on equal terms with nearly any opponent.
	+ **Bōjutsu**: The basis of bo technique comes from thrusting, swinging, and striking techniques that often resemble empty-hand movements, following the philosophy that the bō is merely an "extension of one’s limbs". Bōjutsu attacks are often avoided by agile footwork or jumps and returning strikes made at the enemy’s weak points. The bō is typically gripped in thirds, and when held horizontally in front, the right palm is facing away from the body and the left hand is facing the body, enabling the bō to rotate. The power is generated by the back hand pulling the bō, while the front hand is used for guidance. When striking, the wrist is twisted, as if turning the hand over when punching. Bō technique includes a wide variety of blocks, strikes, sweeps, and entrapments. The bō may even be used to sweep sand into an opponent’s eyes.
	+ **Sojutsu**: Sojutsu focuses on the various uses of the spear in combat, and is one of the principle stance and holding techniques for those who learn the spear. Generally speaking, there are many kinds of spears or, *Yari*, that a mage can use within combat, however, nearly all of them are used in the same way. Damien holds the bottom of the shaft with one hand and uses the other one near the middle. With the spear held like this, Damien can keep the weapon between himself and the opponent, giving him a great advantage, and can also move it out of the opponent's range and slash back at him easily.

* **Hand-to-Hand Combat**: Coupled with his natural agility and acrobatic prowess, his current fighting style is reminiscent of a blend between Aikido, Capoiera, and Kenpo Karate, mixed with brawler techniques and the usage of elbows and knees. He can also change the flow of his fighting style, making it an aggressive and straight forward attack style, to fluid and acrobatic motions while using pinpoint accuracy and lethal strikes. Although his strength may be lacking, his lethality comes from these skilled evasive maneuvers and accurate strikes to vital areas. Damien has proficient understanding of various martial arts, and will only use these techniques when evading blows, as he has a sophisticated understanding of how the body moves in various styles of combat.
* **Capoiera**: Being a fast and versatile martial art, this style emphasizes using the lower body to kick, sweep and take down an opponent, while the upper body is used assist those movements and occasionally attack as well.The series of complex positions creates an uninterrupted flow, in order to strike, dodge and move without breaking motion, giving it the characteristics of unpredictability and versatility.The defense is based on the principle of non-resistance, meaning avoiding an attack using evasive moves instead of blocking it. This fighting strategy allows quick and unpredictable counterattacks, giving the mage with the fastest reflexes the upper hand.
* **Kenpo Karate:** This is a martial art characterized by the use of quick hand strikes in rapid succession. The multitude of fast strikes has a dual purpose, perhaps overwhelming an opponent, while attempting to ensure that at least some strikes effectively hit their target, akin to a striking combination.

**Master Assassin**: One of Damien's most distinguishing characteristics is the fact that he is able to move with an inconceivable amount of stealth; never faltering or emitting any form of unnecessary sound without effort. His peak acrobatics and agility make him a skilled mage at infiltrating the most difficult of compounds and evading superior defense systems. Over the years he has developed excellent tracking abilities, being able to see minute changes in scenery to detect a target's path of escape. Although sometimes not his proudest accomplishment, he is able to execute a hit with the cleanest of strikes; not even allowing a small scream to escape his target's lips to alert anyone of his presence.

**Superior Acrobatics and Agility**: Damien can perform any complicated sequence of gymnastic stunts with ease. Damien is extraordinarily limber and his tendons and connective tissues are twice as elastic as the average human being's, making feats such as flips and springs as easy as breathing. He has the combined agility and acrobatic prowess of the most skilled acrobats and easily incorporates this into his fighting style. He has impressive personal strength and phenomenal equilibrium, making him one of the most lethal assassins; as accomplishing feats such as scaling a wall, evading trip wires, and leaping from roof support beams is easily accomplished with little to no discomfort.

**Immense Speed and Reflexes**: Damien's speed and reflexes gives him the upper-hand in combat, easily dodging surprise attacks from behind, and disappearing like a flash of light, only to reappear for a deadly attack. Honed from experience fighting different enemies, this Elite mage hosts pre-determined actions to undertake when certain movements are being used against him; making it almost impossible to hit him with traditional style fighting moves. Although, Damien is able to apply this accelerated understanding of his opponent's movements even to fighting styles he has not seen before, adjusting his patterns accordingly. Having trained his body in conditions such as high altitude and long distance, Damien's muscle operate at peak performance, giving him the stamina to run at speeds up to 31 MPH without the aide of ethernano, a feat not many can keep up with. When in battle though, he is able to manipulate the eternano in his body to give him burst of speed, up to 54 MPH at take off, making it extraordinarily difficult to hit him with longer range attacks. It is this speed that truly makes him a difficult opponent for anyone.

**High Pain Tolerance and Heightened Sensation**: His bloodline show excessively high pain tolerance, with markedly decreased endogenous concentrations of nociceptin (pain-activating neurotransmitter) and extraordinarily high levels of enkephalin and anandamide (natural biologically-occurring pain relievers), which both serve to decrease pain reception. Furthermore, their thalamus show super-threshold afferent and efferent innervation, especially to the eye, ear, nose, and somatosensors, thus increasing the ability of their central nervous system to receive and integrate external sensory stimuli. This increased perception time has given him a reaction time of 0.047; a time twice that of the average human.

**Incredible Intelligence and Tactics**: From his time spent with the Solis Knights, Damien has witnessed and gathered an impressive understanding of how many magic abilities work, and how to counter them. He is highly observant and analytical, and judging from how quickly he can analyze an opponent's power and attack patterns, most maneuvers are ultimately useless against in due time. He is capable of performing a calm analysis of battle conditions, even when in danger, and deduce an appropriate course of action after considering all possibilities to successfully execute his target. This skill can also translate into easily pinpointing weaknesses and quickly calculate new battle plans as the fight is taking place. This is in part due to his great instincts and intuition which allows him to quickly become aware of his surroundings and react to incoming danger in time. In addition to his incredible tactical prowess, he is also shown to be a very perceptive; being able to deduce a person’s true motives and intentions by thoroughly observing their individual patterns, personality traits and characteristics.

**Resounding Strength**: Perhaps his most astonishing physical attribute, Damien possesses a truly monstrous level of strength, to such a degree that it was previously deemed unimaginable for a single person to have such an amount, even through magic enhancement. Damien possesses a greater number of slow-twitch and fast-twitch muscle fibers; maximizing his strength to the utmost abilities.. Slow-twitch fiber specialize in long-duration, low-intensity movement, such as walking, standing or lifting loads below 70 percent of your maximal ability. They fatigue slowly and dominate muscle composition in the human body. Because slow fibers contribute to all muscular contractions, they are easier to target with exercise; something that Damien has continued to focus on due to the intensive training program issued to him during his time in the service. White muscle fibers create high-intensity actions lasting fewer than 30 seconds, such as jumping and lifting loads greater than 70 percent of one's maximal ability. This gives Damien extreme explosive power in his hits and agile endeavors, making his lances far more deadly. In fact, with his enormous strength, all of his physical attacks can be deal extreme damage, easily capable of shattering bones even with a glancing blow. Even solid matter is no match for a man of his power. He can easily rip apart logs with his bare hands, heft massive amounts of weight over his shoulders, punch through soft metals, and even punch through concrete.