Masaomi Haruno

**Masaomi Haruno** (春野 正臣, *Haruno Masaomi*) is the estranged father of Aoi Haruno and the former administrator for the Tatsuyama Village's Sì Xiàng Project. In Volume 3, he was paired up with Yuki, Kurumi, Takehito, and Seito as an observer tasked with with observing the current spike of Daemons in Kimura Town, and to track down and eliminate the "Suzaku" his daughter Aoi, who had been deemed an SS-Rank Elimination Threat, but the missions later ended after she was changed back into an Observation Target.

He later became the main antagonist in Volumes XI, XII, XIII and XIV in his attempt at revenge against the Tatsuyama Village and C.P.S.. After his defeat in Volume XIV, Masaomi became an informant for Rei by using the Belialuin Contract with his and Orcus' power. He now works for him as a personal detective and trump card for an eventual fight with Zeus and his faction.

## Appearance

Masaomi is a tall, slim man in about his late twenties with long, chestnut-colored hair. He is often seen dressed in the special combat uniform of the Tatsuyama Village, and grey plain pants most of the time. He is seen to always wear an pair of black glasses that he rarely takes off, however, when he finally takes them off it shown that his eyes are red with slit purple pupils.

He keeps his face set in a mocking smile most of the time, which Masaomi removes on rare occasions of annoyance, surprise or anger. Masaomi is later seen wearing casual clothing outside his uniform and after leaving the Tatsuyama Village.

## Personality

Masaomi is initially displayed as a calm and joking person to the point of being nonchalant about almost everything.

## Powers & Abilities

Masaomi is a powerful Human considered to be "Over-Talented" rather than a "Genius" far more dangerous than even High-tier Daemons. Unlike most people, he emits a vicious red-black aura. In Volume XII, Masaomi revealed that he had been experimenting on himself, turning him into a chimeric being by using genetic material from other beings, being able to absorb corruption and convert it into power; Masaomi can also absorb other beings and take their power as after absorbing the Daemon Lord Wöden, he became a being the Tatsuyama Village and C.P.S. couldn't oppose. After choosing to enact his revenge on the Tatsuyama Village by kidnapping Seiryuu, Genbu and Byakko and stealing the Four Perils, Masaomi managed to become their master in a couple of hours and change all of their affinities to the four elements.

In Volume XIV, after massing nigh-infinite ki having synced with Kouryuu, being compatible with the Five Elements, and using Wöden's full power; he was still superior to Rei, who had both Orcus's and Mikhail's powers, and co who completed their Belialuin Vows. If he absorbed Kouryuu, then he would've become an omnipotent being, but lost after being unable to achieve the power of Yang due to the corruption within him and achieve balance with Yin-Yang like Rei despite having one of the Aesiren, a major flaw in his plan. Despite losing to Rei in the end, he was a trump card for him against Zeus and his Faction due to his potential and knowing a lot about them.

* **Immense Strength:** He has immense strength superior to that of most heroes and even most Daemon-enhanced humans, being able to break the special barrier, which handled the powerful shock waves of Býleistr using a single *light attack*. Masaomi was able to withstand a slash from Ame-no-Ohabari without flinching, blocked a flaming scythe with one hand, then send Rei backward a great distance into the Zojoji Temple.
* **Immense Speed:** Although not on par with Rei, Masaomi is an extremely fast and agile fighter, being able to appear in front of him without being noticed in a false attempt to kill him. In their initial clash, he was able to avoid all Rei's attacks even react when he used his Cocytus Nephalem form, which can move at god-like speed.

**Corruption** (穢れ, *Kegare*): Due to having Daemon and Cherub cells, like Aurelia, Masaomi can absorb, store, and convert limitless corruption into power; this is also applicable to living beings as he could absorb the Daemon Lord Wöden, taking his powers, knowledge and memories. Inside him is an absolute abyss that absorbs everything even darkness. This also works as a toxin almost killing Takehito, Seito and Florence and could dilute it enough to where Rei, Orcus and Mikhail remained alive. Despite being more dangerous than the Three Great Daemons and the Nephalem Rei, no one could kill him since it could end the Tatsuyama Village and C.P.S. by releasing all the endless corruption, which could infect everything it touches with death and destruction threatening the world itself.

**Ki Manipulation:** Masaomi is a rare Ki-Based Fighter, as such he is able to control the ki of both himself and others, almost killing Seito, Florence, Takehito, Celis and Eliza after overloading their ki despite blocking their strikes, and going toe-to-toe with a Shenlong-powered Hisashi Sumeragi. He is afforded different abilities more so than others, able to fire off ki waves; channel and absorb elemental ki from his environment gaining a brown aura after absorbing earth-based ki; suppress his presence and appear invisible, and control the ki found in magic and attacks such as Rei's Ame-no-Ohabari at it's original power and Hisashi's Worochi-no-Aramasa. Similar to him being able to absorb limitless corruption, Masaomi could potentially be able to absorb limitless ki from the planet, especially after syncing with Kouryuu.

* **Ki Sense:**
* **Ki Barrier:**

**Master Combatant:**

**Magic Expert:** He is skilled in magic being able to create a replica of Táowù using Ashkelon, then use it, Seiryuu, Genbu, Byakko and the other three Perils to create a near-perfect three-dimensional barrier around Kyoto; even creating a visual screen to view the other's actions. Due to having Daemonic DNA, he also has the dark element as shown in Volume XIV in his second fight with Rei.

**Belialuin Vow:**

### Other Skills

**Genius Intellect:** Masaomi has impressive intelligence, which added onto his ludicrous power and magic knowledge making him more of a threat. In addition to the memories and knowledge from Wöden, one of the oldest beings, he has been afforded knowledge beyond that of even the oldest daemons. Masaomi's knowledge grants him an advantage against his foes, able to determine the complex nature of Cocytus Nephalem. He could alter all the natures of Grover, Seiryuu, Genbu, Byakko and the Four Perils to boost his strength with the Four Elements and bringing down Kouryuu and Gonggong.

* **Master Manipulator:** He is more cunning than even the Daemon Council, Eliza, Albareos, and Elders, being able to control the situation at hand to his advantage. Masaomi could deceive the Elders acting as their tool, using their desire for political power and their conflict with the Vatican about the fates of the Serizawa Household to force Rei to fight against Celis, even threatening Yuki, Kurumi and Seito if he didn't. He masterfully stole Seiryuu, Genbu, Byakko and all the Four Perils, even tricking Rei into bringing Grover and Táowù after it remained with Takehito, even making him believe he stole Ashkelon as a replacement, which he planned on using from the start.
* **Master Strategist:** He is a masterful and flexible strategist, able to think and plan several moves ahead of even the Elders, Poseidon and Rei, great thinkers in their respective groups. Masaomi can see through all the plans, traps, and abilities of his opponents, then devise a countermeasure for them. Rei admitted that he's far more sharp-minded than himself, being able to accomplish feats he cannot imitate such as getting Aoi and the others to defeat the Four Gods and Perils to bring down Kouryuu.

**Stealth Expert:** By eliminating his presence with Ki, Masaomi is able to walk between peoples completely undetected which coupled with his speed allows him to appear and disappear akin to teleportation. However, he can be detected by those who can sense Ki.

**Skilled Detective:** Due to his stealth abilities, intelligence, and cunning nature, Masaomi is adept at gathering information about various things or spying others undetected from shadows.

### Daemon

**Wöden** (ウオーディン, *Uōdin*) is the Daemon Masaomi absorbed into his body, who is known as the **Wise Trickster** (賢者魔王(ワイズ・トリックスター), *Waizutorikkusutā*, lit. "Wiseman Demon Lord"), and is one of the Aesiren. While absorbed by Masaomi, Wöden took the form of an black raven constantly around Masaomi, either on his shoulder or flying above him. He was shown to be able to use Wöden to create an invisible forcefield with a circular motion of his arms, and allows Masaomi to see through all illusions and barriers that are not equivalent to an Yahweh-Daemon. Chisato explained that Wöden far surpasses Thor, a fellow Aesiren, Orcus, and Lucyfer in terms of raw magical power alone.

* **Wöden's Soul:** Hidden inside of the depths of the dark abyss within Masaomi is the soul of Daemon lord Wöden who had vanished within him, which is the source of Masaomi's infinite ki and magic. Although it was partially destroyed by Rei, it's able to regenerate itself over time.
* **Nephalemic Armor:** In Volume XIV, Masaomi has allowed Wöden's power to corrode him, thus absorbing the Daemon Lord into himself in order to bring out his power, causing an organic armor akin to a demonic-angelic exoskeleton with six black wings, likely due to possessing daemonic cells. This armor also appears to be made from materials different from what the magical gauntlets were made from, four colors that represent all the Four Elements: Fire (red), Metal (white), Water (black), and Wood (blue). It is noted that both Fire and Metal were dominant due to Wöden who wielded flames, both of which would soon be strengthened further if Masaomi absorbed Kouryuu achieving a balance with the Five Elements. However, if done under normal conditions, this process would've swallowed his flesh and mind if he hadn't accumulated the four elements beforehand. In this form, he decided to sacrifice his humanity to kill Gods, Daemons and Cherubs alike with the armor being incredibly durable enough to handle slashes from Yuki and electrified smashes from Keisuke without a single scratch.

## Equipment

**Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi** (草薙剣, *Grass-Cutting Sword*): In his final battle with Rei, Masaomi, while using Wöden's full power, was able to summon a Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi by combining all five elements and enormous ki he had amassed to create a vermillion god sword to use as a final trump card against Rei. It is a divine blade that releases a unique flow of energy, able to cut through concepts, including Garo's Gravity Spheres and Poseidon's Black Seawaters.

**Ashkelon:** After being rejected by Táowù, Masaomi seemingly stole Ashkelon to act as a replacement, however, he planned on using it from the started to act as the divine vessel for Kouryuu as a result of its control over the Earth Element aside from Fire, Wind, and Water.

### Four Cursed Treasures

**Qióngqí** (窮奇(きゆうき)): One of the four Cursed Treasures, the purple spirit sword, which contains the Winged Tiger, Qióngqí/Kyuuki that he stole in Volume XI to enact his revenge on the Tatsuyama Village. After Masaomi was accepted as his master, he brought out the Winged Tiger in its true form and switched his affinity to the "Metal" Element letting the tiger wield and create metal weapons, as well as letting him absorb the metal ki in the barrier.

**Húndùn** (渾沌(こんとん)): One of the four Cursed Treasures, the jet-black spirit sword, which contains the Faceless Monster, Húndùn/Konton that he stole in Volume XI to enact his revenge on the Tatsuyama Village. After he was accepted as his master, he brought out the Faceless Monster in its true form and switched his affinity to the "Fire" Element letting the monster wield various fire-based powers, specifically jet-black flames of chaos, as well as letting him absorb the fire ki in the barrier.

**Táowù** (檮杌(とうこつ)): One of the four Cursed Treasures, the spirit spear that contains the tusked Dire Wolf, Táowù/Toukotsu. At first, Masaomi was rejected as his master and instead remained by Takehito Hayase, his original master's side, but Rei had soon brought Táowù to locate the three beasts and was forced to place Táowù in place of his replica resulting in the original to be switched to his "Wood" Element letting Masaomi amass his wood ki. Táowù had soon returned to Takehito after the young hero entered the barrier to bring him back under control.

**Tāotiè** (饕餮(とうてつ)): One of the four Cursed Treasures, the white spirit baton, which contains the Gluttonous Monster, Tāotiè/Toutetsu, the Strongest among the Four Perils and a gluttonous existence, which he had stolen in Volume XI to enact his revenge on the Tatsuyama Village. After he recognized Masaomi as his master and being switched to the "Water" Element, letting Tāotiè wield various water-based abilities, while Masaomi could amass his water ki.

## Trivia

* His name Masaomi (正臣) means "Minister".
	+ His surname Haruno (春野) means "Springfield".
* During his time in the Tatsuyama Village, Masaomi was considered over-talented instead of a genius.
* Masaomi is the only villain who almost killed Rei and Orcus in battle one on one as well as the most powerful foe that he ever faced so far.
* After the events of volume XVI, Masaomi moves into Chisato's old apartment and lives rent-free.