Ijincheon

**Ijincheon**, also known as the **Sword Hunter**, is the father of Hero Killer and her late older sister, Yeon. He is the successor of the first Executioner and second *Executioner of the Silver Forest* as a member of the Four Swordsmen, the most powerful and famous sword masters in the world.

## Appearance

Ijincheon is a rather shredded muscular man on the tall side. His skin is a pale hue of gray tone that's covered in multiple scars presumably coming from years of being around blades and years of fighting, they surround his entire body including his face and arms. He has messy but formalized dark grayish hair with the front slightly angled away from his eyes. His eyes have pale red irises with a thin black ring separating the iris into an inner and an outer, which his daughters both inherited. Since his debut he is seen wearing a beige medieval looking peasant's shirt with string tying up the front and wears mud brown pants with dark brown boots that go up to his knee for clothing. He carries a multitude of weapons collected from numerous battles and wears a large broadsword as his main weapon.

## Personality

Ijincheon appears to be a straightforward and bold man, a trait his daughters both greatly inherited, as he shows little concern in facing the danger of the Hero Clan, Villains or even the possibility of the Elders to protect Ihwa and avenging Yeon's death. He cares very deeply about his family as he shows a great amount of regret in leaving his daughters and potent rage after learning about Yeon's death to the point that he almost drew his sword against Yushin. He would even warn Engen that he will utterly crush the Smiling Man and his ambitions if his plans for Ihwa brought her harm or death, but Ijincheon is realistic in his relationship with his children as he knows that he has little right to meet with his daughter.

     He also appears to have an envious side as he expressed it during his fight with Jintae Yang while seeing the young villain's swordsmanship, as he wished he had such talent during his own youth in which he could've better protected those dear to him. Aside from that Ijincheon is ruthless whenever in combat as he maintains complete focus against his opponent, but he has a surprisingly merciful side as he spared Jintae's life after seeing Sapphire's determination in protecting him but still made sure to deal a greater form of punishment in making the villain blind himself. Ijincheon also shows that he respects the relationship between a mentor and student as he scolded Jintae in his actions against his master.

## Background

While his overall history is unknown, but it's assumed that he was born after the Chaotic Era. In his youth Ijincheon was the least promising out of the pupils taught and trained by the Executioner. With his lack of talent, he was nicknamed "The Incompetent One".

In a flashback during Assault on Castle Grey Arc (Episode 147), Ijincheon is shown to meet with the Executioner. The executioner tells that his end is near as his body is failing him. He also tells Ijincheon that he will have a visitor - Yushin of Yerim  who will give him a graceful departure. The Executioner says that Yushin wil be a worthy last adversary to engage before he dies.

The executioner notes that he was born with a fragile physique which is why he worked on a single swordsmanship technique to gather whatever energy he could muster to unleash a single, ultimate attack to execute his enemies without the need for a followup attack. Ijincheon says that that is how his master became one of the five most reputable swordsmen to which the Executioner says that it is a name that means nothing and what he wanted was the skill to reach the skies and that he wanted to become the very best.

The Executioner describes Ijincheon's lack of talent to be one-in-a-billion but believing him to be the one to make his dream come through despite the fact. Ijincheon seemingly confused at his masters swords repeats back to his master that he is talentless as his master says. The Executioner asks Ijincheon that would such a thing matter if he had infinite time hone himself.

Then the Executioner notes that his other pupils took his three cherished swords and that he only has one left. The he asks Ijincheon if he still wishes to become strong like he said on the first day he met his master. The Executioner pulls out a white energy sword of his walking cane and commands Ijincheon to take his masters sword. He then proceeds to attack Ijincheon who fails to defend against this attack and gives his wounded student a monologue:

*"If you can't accomplish anything even with a million swings, swing it a billion times. If you cant accomplish with a billion thrusts, thrust it ten billion times. See what lies at the end of this path of swordsmanship with your own eyes. You are the next Executioner".*

Ijincheon is absorbed by his masters sword into a separate dimension. He meets with a large sword wielding manifestation who welcomes him into the Sword Purgatory where souls of swordsmen driven mad by the desire to perfect their skills have gathered. Ijincheon is trapped in this dimension for a 1000 years, endlessly fighting these swordmen manifestations. After defeating the last manifestation, the manifestation notes that Ijincheon is the Executioner.

Upon his return to the real world, Ijincheon finds himself at the same place where he was absorbed at, opposite to his masters clothed skeleton. His masters skeleton immediately releases a phantom like technique to attack him. Though surprised, he easily defends against the attack. His masters spirit seems content to leave Ijincheon his final farewell and the bones turn into dust. Ijincheon bows down before his master final resting place.

It is not yet know how much time passed in the real world during his time training inside the Sword Purgatory but it is likely far from the real passage of time.

It is possible that Ijincheon became acquainted with Yushin after these events.

     Decades after the Great War and well into the modern era, Ijincheon met his future wife and fell in love with her. They started a family together with her giving birth to Yeon, their oldest daughter, and later Ihwa, their youngest daughter. But for reasons yet to be revealed he decided to choose his wife over his daughters, presumably abandoning them when Yeon was a child and Ihwa as a baby. Ijincheon would come to greatly regret his decision. It's unknown on what he did after this period leading up to the present.

## Story

### Nostra Arc

Years later, Ijincheon would resurface and meet with Yushin. The former Elder would inform him about Yeon's death. Enraged at the news, Ijincheon asks if the former Elder had anything to do with her death, but Yushin tells him about the possibility of one of the Four Swordsmen being involved. Ijincheon refers to the Four Swordsmen as five but then quickly corrected himself. Ijincheon then decided to look for Ihwa, his other daughter. While tracking her down, he would meet and nearly kill Jintae Yang and his gang along with Vendetta as they were getting ready to steal The Torch. Ijincheon would spare their lives but force the villain to blind himself with his unique knife. Days later, Ijincheon would meet Engen as he was about to enter Nostra. Ijincheon challenged the villain to a fight as he threatens to destroy Engen and his plans should they bring ruin to his daughter. The details of this fight have yet to be revealed aside from the fact of them both leaving each other alive.

### Assault on Castle Gray Arc

After his encounter with Engen, Ijincheon is seen fighting against an unknown sword wielder. He is later seen getting ready to travel with a young girl named Serin. Ijincheon travels to Castle Gray and confronts The Punisher Narkle Encilion, Paladin, Highnoon and Langjer.

## Abilities

**Overall Abilities**: Ijincheon is an extremely dangerous man and a master combatant with immense power. As a member of the Four Swordsmen and second Executioner, he is one of the greatest sword masters in the world while also being a former pupil of the first Executioner. He has inherited the entirety of his former master's swordsmanship, techniques, and title. Jintae Yang would comment that Ijincheon is far stronger than his late master and the villain himself was very nearly killed by Ijincheon's basic technique.

### Physical Prowess

**Master Swordsman:** Ijincheon is one of the greatest swordsmen in the world, being recognized as a member of the Four Swordsmen. His ability with the sword is so incredible that he can kill his opponents without even drawing his blade. This is hugely evident when he easily defeated and nearly killed Jintae Yang in one showing of his techniques without even unsheathing his sword.

**Superhuman Strength:** Ijincheon possesses great physical strength. He is capable of creating devastating shockwave's with just a swing of his sword. He held back Engen's Hell's Sanjiva attack with one arm and knocked it back with no seeming effort.

**Superhuman Speed:** Ijincheon is inhumanly fast despite his large frame. He can disappear from the eyesight of others without anyone even noticing him while appearing right behind them. This is especially evident whenever he is performing one of his techniques.

**Superhuman Reflexes:** Ijincheon reflexes are honed to the very pinnacle. He easily brushed off Jintae Yang's attacks as if he was taking a stroll through the street while pushing the villain back and was able to retreat from Engen spreading Hell in a second.

### Techniques

* **One Blade - Thunderous Slash**: Ijincheon is a master of his former mentor's signature technique. The technique is an all-out attack that abandons all other aspects in favor of immense speed.
* **Clan I Blade - Tree of Awakening**: Ijincheon's first technique of his own creation.

### Gift

Ijincheon's gift appears to be some form of Pyrokinesis. He is capable of combining his gift with his sword techniques to produce powerful slashes of EST that can rend landscape in a single swing.

### Equipment

* Broadsword/Other Unidentified Swords
* His Knife

## Battles & Events

**The Torch Arc**

* Ijincheon vs. Jintae Yang

**Nostra Arc**

* Ijincheon vs. The Smiling Man

**Assault on Castle Gray Arc**

* TBS

## Trivia

* Like his daughter Ihwa, he appears to like collecting weapons, particularly swords, with his nicknamed and his first appearance showing it to be extensive.
* His Clan I Blade - Tree of Awakening technique is pronounced EE as in bee. This a reference to Kkulbeol, the writer of the series.
* Ijin is one of the most muscular male characters in the series aside from Prosecutor, Sledgehammer, and Paladin.