Creighton Valdez

**Creighton Valdez** (バルディーズ クレイトン Barudīzu Kureiton) is a young Philippine male and currently a student of Scholomance High School. Like all students, he aspires to obtain his hero license one day and become an actual hero. He is one of the eleven chosen to represent Scholomance during the West vs East Academy Tournament storyline. He is third to fight, chosen to face off against the unbreakable Kirishima Eijirou.

## Appearance

Creighton is a boy of relatively average height, standing five feet and eight inches tall. He has light brown skin (what is often referred to as *kayumangg*i in the Philippines) with neck-length black hair and brown eyes. Due to the nature of his quirk there is an odd chalk-white line all across his hipline. He possesses small jet-black bat wings (the size of a literal bat) on his back whenever he is in his normal form, he possesses sharper and more pronounced canines as well as an extendable/elongated tongue. A slit can be found on both sides of his face, connected to his mouth, implying he can unhinge his jaw far wider than a normal human's. Whenever his quirk is *dormant*, he appears to possess more muscle mass in general, although it appears to be more noticeable on his leg area.

When Creighton *activates* his quirk, the muscle mass in his body (especially his legs) decreases, the small bat wings on his back grow by a large margin, becoming large enough to allow him to fly. At the same time, his upper body detaches from the hip, both loose ends are sealed off with the seemingly alien material that goes through his body. Creighton's sclera also darkens. His bodily fluids make its way to his nails and solidify, creating elongated, sharpened and reinforced nails to act as talons.

His hero costume appears to have a black undershirt, and a leather jacket one half being blue and the other being red. He also wears a necklace/talisman referred to as an *agimat*, said necklace holds no actual powers and is merely for aesthetic. The necklace appears to have three stars on it, and within it a depiction of the Ibong Adarna.

## Personality

Creighton is an easy-going and somewhat boisterous fellow. He is as friendly and hospitable, more than willing to help his friends out. He is quite voracious, and more than open to trying new foods (most likely tied to his childhood). He has a love for music, but is particularly a fan of older music. He is also a bit dimwitted in terms of raw intellect, but quite knowledgeable in terms of fighting and cuisine. Creighton lacks intuition and is more of a follower than a leader, but he always seems to perform well (or at least is determined to perform well) in whatever task he is assigned. Due to his childhood, Creighton is quite street-smart as well as a risk-taker. Unlike his older sister, Angela Valdez, he doesn't appear to be that invested in the Japanese lifestyle and this can occasionally lead to him being homesick.

### Quirk

**Manananggal** (マナナンガル, *Mananangaru*): Manananggal is Creighton's quirk, one he received matrilineally. A mutant-type quirk, it has created various physical alterations in Creighton's body. Some more noticeable than others. Quirks like the manananggal quirk are usually found in the females of family, with males either having nothing at all, a mix of the two dominated by the traits of the father's quirk or simply a variation of the father's quirk, making Creighton one of the rare cases of a male inheriting the type of quirk.

#### Powers

One of the signature and key abilities of this quirk is its ability to allow the user to separate its body into two halves. The upper half possesses wings for fast and agile flight, sharp fangs and nails, night-vision and finally a long prehensile tongue. He also possesses a small share of superhuman strength, reflexes, olfactory senses and auditory senses. His lower half usually shrivels up and does not move, Creighton has been shown to be capable of controlling his lower half to some extent while separated, although it appears his lower half holds no powers whatsoever whenever severed from the body. He has bat wings on his back, the size of an actual bat's when dormant and then it will grow larger when active. Muscle mass across the body seems to drop in order to input more mass into the wings.

A more hidden development in his body involves his musculoskeletal system, there is an odd liquid that is created and stored in preparation for any severance. These fluids will seal off the tears left upon severing, thus preventing any sort of infections or worse, the accidental removal of bodily organs and bones. Some of these fluids also appear to make it to his nails, turning them into talons. There are small vessels of muscle also present within the leg areas, most likely to preserve them while there is no heart to circulate blood around.

Creighton is capable of moving his upper-lower halves at a full 360 degrees when he is connected, allowing him to create a highly accelerated spinning kick.

According to Creighton himself, Quirks like the Manananggal quirk are also supposed to possesses a proboscis like tongue and the ability to consume blood like a vampire, but it appears Creighton does not possess this ability.

As a mutation brought by his father's quirk, Creighton is oddly capable of creating an odd red smoke across his body regardless of form.

Creighton's Manananggal quirk is listed as a Mutant quirk, due to the fact that even when it possesses certain key elements of a transformation quirk, there are still various permanent alterations in Creighton's body caused by said quirk.

#### Weaknesses

Creighton holds various weaknesses caused by his Mutation quirk, for one, he cannot eat salt (sodium chloride) and possesses a distaste for garlic. He is a bit sensitive to light and must wear shades in areas with lots of it. While his tongue can regenerate, it can still be cut and severed by any bladed weapon. His regenerative ability only appears to extend to his tongue, and even then can be easily overtaxed.

Finally, when he severs his upper-half from his lower-half, his lower-half is incredibly vulnerable. Should his lower-half be destroyed, he is doomed to various things. For one, the fluids that solidify to seal his upper half's hole is limited and will eventually run out, he has no proper way of removing bodily waste and there's also the fact that he has to live the rest of his life without anything hip-down.

### Stats

Creighton's stats, according to the creator.

## Trivia

* Nomenclature/Etymology: His name means "Town near rocks from the valley"
	+ Creighton: Town near rocks
	+ Valdez: From the valley
* It is unclear where in the Philippines Creighton is from, it is possible he comes from a community somewhere in/near Dewil Valley.
* Creighton's entire family moved to Japan for various reasons, one being their father's work, the other being the stigma they apparently received from people who feared the mythical creature that resembled their quirk resembled, the manananggal, which Creighton ultimately decided he should name his quirk after.
* Creighton's quirk is clearly designed after the cryptid known as the Manananggal, a ghoul from Filipino mythology and folklore. Creighton also possesses certain variants of the creature's weaknesses.
* Due to his childhood, Creighton is a Misotheist.
	+ Despite his older sister's resemblance to an angel, said view does not seem to apply to her. Although he is envious that she got "the good genes".