Nickname(s)/Alias(es): (No one has given him one. He hates nicknames)
Race: Shinigami
Rank: Empty (Like my current relationship status, hint hint)
Physical Description: Kodate is a strange breed. Born Caucasian, he was raised in a purely Japanese culture, speaks their language fluently, and has no foreign accent. Short brown hair brushed to an almost-fauxhawk in the center. He has strong, slanted brows, a defined, short nose, and thin lips. His musculature is accented to the point of ridiculousness; all thanks to the daily, rigorous training put upon him by his clan. When wearing the traditional shinigami robes, he wears them a little differently than most people. His left sleeve is gone all the way to the shoulder, while his right remains entirely intact. When wearing gigai clothes, he often goes for tight shirts and black pants. No matter what he is wearing, however, he is always found wearing black gloves. Use this as a reference.
Personality: Once upon a time Kodate was a hard-working, courageous, mild-mannered noble with nothing but respect for authority and a penchant for trying to be a model shinigami. Some of those traits have stuck over the years, but much has since been lost. He wishes to attain a high rank for the honor of his clan, yes, but he no longer has such a drive to be a perfect death god. He only wants one thing, and he doesn't care how against the law it is, he doesn't care if he'd be imprisoned for the rest of his life; all he wants is revenge. He's a pretty alright guy, all things considered. In the right mood he can be the life of the party and is bursting with an almost limitless amount of enthusiasm and energy. All his emotions are more like dams, though, keeping the true feelings inside at bay so he doesn't have to come to term with them. So he doesn't have to face the skeletons in his closet. But the surefire way to ruin his mood on any day, to piss him off and show him a darker side of himself, is to ask about what happened in his past.
Zanpakutou: Anrui (Silent Tears)
Zanpakutou Spirit: A massive steel golem with golden light gleaming out of every possible orifice. He often sits in a giant metallic chair in the center of Kodate's Inner World, very rarely moving. When he moves, or if he becomes agitated, an almost viscous light spews out of his mouth and eyes, golden as it rolls out; as if like smoke.
Inner World: A mighty fortress, miles and miles wide, surrounded on all sides by a constant foe trying to break in. In the center, on the highest parapet sits Anrui, observing the battle passively.
Sealed Form: A circular shield two feet across that fits neatly against Kodate's arm. He often fights with that alone, so people assume that it's his sealed zanpaku-to. But, technically, it's the sheath. Behind the curvature of the shield lies the sword itself, coming perpendicularly across Kodate's forearm. He's loathe to pull it, but he has been known to time to time. It takes the form of a short gladius; a close-quarters short-sword with no handguard and a dagger-like style. Imprinted clearly for all to see on the blade itself is the strange rune of the Kago clan that Kodate is almost always seen with. It also adorns the surface of the shield.
(Not obtained yet)
Shikai Name/Release Phrase: Reflect, Anrui!
Shikai Description:
After calling out the zanpaku-to's release, nothing super flashy happens. The surface of the shield, and the blade itself, glow a vibrant gold and grow into a body-sized triangular shield. The surface is an unrefined black, not polished or buffed at all. Towards the top lies a large jewel, jagged and torn to match it's equally as rough surroundings. If one were to look close enough, it would look like a shattered tear. Kodate can hide behind the shield completely if he just angles himself to the side. (For reference, it is the shield in the 'appearance' picture).
Shikai Powers:
Trading the cutting power of the traditional zanpaku-to and its subsequent release, Kokkishin's shikai release can deflect and in general stop most attacks as long as they hit the shield. He cannot stop the follow-through of attacks or the power of explosions, as the momentum will still force him back, but Kodate would be safe as long as the shield comes between himself and the attack.
The shield can absorb any energy-based attack (one that requires reishi to activate), but he has a limit to how much energy he can store. He can store small-time stuff with ease, low powered kidou or bala, quincy arrows, etc. But the more advanced the technique gets, and the more energy behind it, the less he can store. He can only store about half a cero before it stops absorbing and the rest of the energy has to crash against the shield. When Kodate achieves Bankai he can use this ability in a limited form even when still sealed, but it is very hard to do with such a small shield and it can only absorb a fraction of what his shikai can.
When the shield absorbs small amounts of energy, nothing significant happens to Kodate or his shield. But when a powerful pulse enters the shield at one time, triggering Bouhatsu or not, can cause the jewel inside the shield to chip. Each chip causes the jewel to hold a smaller and smaller charge until the jewel shatters entirely. This can only happen about five times before the jewel shatters. This is usually a sign of Kodate's exhaustion, but that kind of reaction can be forced simply by overloading his shikai.
Aegis: A shimmering forcefield grows from the surface of Anrui, drastically increasing the surface area and strength of his stopping power. He uses this primarily to protect those behind him, saving them from any giant blasts of damage. The ability spreads out a yard from the shield's surface on all sides, providing ample protection to any behind the Aegis. It does not carry the same power of absorption and nigh-indestructibility that Anrui has, and will shatter if enough force is applied. That being said, Aegis is an actual expulsion of energy much in the same way as Happa and Bouhatsu and is more resilient. It can brunt a full gillian-class cero, or fractions of that as the power of the cero increases, before breaking.
Happa (Explosive Blast): Kodate shoves Kokkishin's surface forward, and utters the name of the technique, and a concussive blast emits out from the shape of the shield; forcing everything away in a shaped charge of powerful fury. The blast itself only reaches out to about five feet in front of the shield, but the last two feet or so all one would feel is a powerful push back. The real power of the ability comes to those right next to the shield. The powerful concussive waves vibrate through the air, and the effects on the opponent's body are devastating; completely ignoring armor or hierro to damage bones, rupture blood vessels, and generally cause untold mayhem to internal systems after repeated hits. One hit would just feel like a giant fist colliding with your body, sending them backwards, but there would be no serious problems. But after two strikes bones would be susceptible to breaking, organs and muscles have a high chance of damage, veins would rupture and nerves could be severed. At three, however, these effects are almost guaranteed. And you thought you should be worried about swords...
However, this ability is limited. Three Happa is the limit. No more than that. Additionally, if he uses them too fast one right after the other (there must be at least two posts between each), it causes the jewel to chip. It is an ability that Kodate uses sparingly as a result.
Bouhatsu (Spontaneous Discharge): At any moment of Kodate's choosing, or if the shield receives too much charge, the shield flips around on Kodate's arm and splits, revealing a large cannon. It doesn't matter when, as long as the shield reaches max charge it will change. The shield parts on the side are still capable of blocking attacks, but for the most part it turns into a giant cannon. The gun can fire in different modes, suiting the need of the user. A giant, singular discharge in beam formation (half the strength of a cero, given that it is all the shield can absorb at a time at max strength), a few giant mortar blasts, small cannon shots roughly the same power as a Sokatsui, a barrage of tiny needle-like projectiles like from a shotgun, or in insanely fast burst of single-fire shots; minigun style.
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Kodate receives the same boost in strength, speed, reflexes, kidou and spiritual power when he releases his shikai as all those of his same level, with no focuses on any particular power. His shikai does tend to last a tad bit longer than others because of his energy absorption, but it still grows taxing and he has to exit out of it eventually. The only other explicit benefit that Kodate receives is that all 'shielding' or 'repulsing' kidou gain a boost in strength when he uses them in shikai, expanding their limits greatly as to how much damage they can take.
(Not obtained yet) Bankai Name: Anruiouitsu (Silent Tears Overflowing)
Bankai Description: After calling out his Bankai, a blinding golden light pours out of his entire being. The powerful hum of raw power eminates out as the light reaches its peak and begins to recede into Kodate's form once more. The shield changes a final time, becoming a beautifully ornate, polished round shield. It is much larger this time around, the wielder is able to hide behind it just by standing. It reaches above his head and around his body with ease. The surface is a beautiful, polished black, outlined with gold and covered in the dark visages of demons' faces surrounding a white and gold woman. There are seven eyes on the shield, each one a gem representing one of the latest members of the Kago clan. Aside from the obvious, drastic increase in fighting prowess, Kodate's Bankai gives him not only an increase in blocking power par none, it allows him to fully absorb all reishi based attacks until the limit is reached. The limit has been increased as well, there being seven jewels on the shield now.Reference
Bankai Powers:
Mayoke (Charm Against All Evils): Calling the name of the attack, an entire jewel has to be filled in order for it to work and then emptied. A resonating noise eminates from the front of the shield, much like the angelic crack of a hammer on the most divine bell. A force not entirely unlike Happa bursts forth from the shield, filling a much larger area than Happa with throbbing, powerful energy. Instead of five feet it roars out into a large cone that reaches all the way to twenty feet. The blast pushes back all who dare stand against it, even those at the bare end of the cone, and dispels all energy-based effects caught inside of it (cero, kidou, etc etc). Too close to the shield, five feet and closer, and effects similar to a powerful, amplified Happa would wrack their body. Five feet or closer to the blast and it affects the opponent's body as if two Happa had hit them dead on.
Souka (Family in Mourning): Kodate can only use this ability when a certain amount of jewels on his shield have been filled. It's true potential can only be unlocked by the gaining of all his family's lost Wards, but for now it has but one initial effect.
The Golden Child: (One Jewel) - His Bankai shield disappears, and a golden sheen covers Kodate's arms. He becomes a living shield, a living weapon. All abilities granted to his shield are granted to his arms, and he can execute all abilities from them as if from the shield itself. Miraculously enough, it can deflect a large radius of damage as if the shields were attached to his arms. However, being an effect of the jewels, it slowly eats away at the energy until depleted. As such it can only last 5 posts at most.
Special Accessories: Kodate wears a pendant around his neck with all of his clan's Wards on it, combined in a beautifully ornate crest. He hides it behind all his uniforms and clothes, but you can see the chain around his neck. It is his most beloved treasure. He also wears a thick metal gauntlet on his right arm up to the elbow. It can deflect most direct zanpaku-to hits, and is used more to inflict damage during punches.
Skills/Abilities:
- Kodate has developed, with the help of his family members, a unique fighting style much like street brawling in appearance, designed to accomodate his shield and unarmed hand. His family simply called it the Kago Method, but it was simply the genius of a family of fighting spirits collaborating on a specific style for him to use considering his rather unorthodox weapon.
Kodate does not have an large repertoire of kidou; he seems to only have a penchant for purely defensive spells and in his entire existence he has focused on only those spells; not only making sure that he perfects them but that he excels. As time goes on and he rises in power he may find new limits to the spells considering his specialization; only time can tell.
The Wards: The Kago family were the keepers of a very awe-inspiring yet secretive series of spells unique only to the Kago line. Every family member, once upon a time, had their own Ward but years of opposition and desertion thinned the ranks considerably so only seven members remained with six Wards left to the family's memory. Each Ward had a specific design and a specific effect assocated with it. Kodate's mission is to learn all the Wards of his family, but at the moment all he knows is the Golden Ward.
Golden Ward: The long-since dead art of the Kago clan, Kodate being the family member in charge of the powerful, inherited Golden Ward. When incanted, Kodate chooses a target, and a bright symbol (like his tattoo), appears glowing on their torso, above their clothes if they are so clothed. It has no damaging effects, it does not slow them down or count down to their doom. The Golden Ward simply makes Kodate the only target that the marked person can damage; all other people after that point are unable to be struck except for Kodate. The Mark is not permanent, lasting only a few hours if not tampered with. While in combat, however, if someone wishes to remove it, they will find it's not like a binding kidou where they can simply overpower it with strength or flood it with reiatsu. The Golden Ward of the Kago Clan can forcibly be removed by sacrificing a small portion of your reiatsu, about five percent. Unlike breaking it with spiritual strength, where that energy remains with you, giving the Ward that energy means that it essentially takes that energy with it and dissipates. The loss is not permanent and will return eventually, but in the heat of battle the loss of energy, no matter how small, is drastic and could turn the tide of battle; some find it better to simply live with the Ward for the short time it exists than attempt to break it.
Incantation: In the black, cometh the light; seven tongues to speak it and no ears to hear. The Golden Ward.
Senda (閃打, Flash Strike) Senda is a technique created by Aine through trial and error under her attempt to emulate Shunpo through her arms. With her exceptionally fine control and understanding of her own reiatsu, she postulated that similarly to forming a reiatsu based springboard against the foot to enter Shunpo, she could do the same platform building with her hands. After a few painfully sprained wrists she found the correct amount of reiatsu to gather about her hands and all the way up to her shoulders. The coating both supports her arms from hard impacts and collapsing while pushing off or landing, but also restricts the movement of her fingers due to the pressure exerted on her hands from the coating. Those pressures, if left unmanaged through missing concentration, can slip and literally shred her skin and cut deep enough to sever tendons and scar muscle tissues. Kodate learned the technique from Aine after leaving the Academy. He has yet to perfect the technique or even come close to battle-ready.
Kidou:
Bakudou:
- 1. Restrain (Sai)
8. Repulse (Seki) Creates a round shield that seems to temporarily paralyze and repel whatever strikes it.
26. Kyokko (Curved Light) Hides the target from sight, by bending light. The spell has the ability to totally hide the presence and reiatsu of the user or specified object.
37. Tsuriboshi (Suspending Star) Creates a star-shaped cushion of Spiritual Energy, which anchors it to nearby objects with "ropes" of spirit particles. It can stop falling objects, acting like a safety net.
39. Enkosen (???, Arc Shield) Summons a shield of condensed reiatsu to block opponents' attacks.
Hadou:
- 1. Thrust (Shou)
Biography/History:
Kodate was born in the Soul Society. Rare, yes, but he doesn't consider himself lucky or lord it over others. He does not know if he was, perhaps, a dead soul given new birth in the Soul Society, but such matters do not concern him. He was born to Habito and Jun Kago, wonderful and magnificent parents of the Kago clan. They were a dying noble clan, seeing as they never recruited outside of their family and didn't see fit to set their offspring up with complete strangers, arranged marrages from hell like other clans. But their family was strong, and they loved each other dearly. His early years were a mix of incredibly hard training and loving moments. He spent almost every waking moment of his life as soon as he was able to walk and talk training for the inevitable moment that he would join the shinigami and make his family proud. It wasn't a stressful thing; he loved his family and would do anything for them and making them happy was the least he could do. So he pushed himself harder than even his parents wanted to go just to make them happy.
Kodate was raised outside of the Wards; he was the odd child out and there were no more Wards for him to accept. They knew there were more than enough Wards in their family's history for each of them to have five but that information had long since died, all of the secret magics being passed down from Master to Student in the family; no one was allowed to share Wards. Despite the loving family and his almost perfect life he often felt the outcast, and began to hate his birth for it. Even unto his teenage years he hated everything about himself. Despite being strong, despite an aptitude for the Demon's Way, despite being the prodigy of the family he hated his life. He still did what his parent's asked, and still strove to make them proud, but he did not do the extra that was required. The time given to him now that he felt no drive to 'excel' he worked away reading and writing, generally lagging around and wondering what his life would be without all this crap. All this 'need to prove yourself for nobility' and exclusion from his own family. Sure they loved him, but he couldn't share with the one thing that made a Kago truly deserving of the family name.
And then his father was murdered by his supposed greatest family friend in a search for the secret of the Wards, masking it as a duel for a position in the Gotei 13. When his father refused, the man beat him down and cut him in half, and left his body for the wolves without the decency for the burial. Their family was devastated. They called for retribution, but received none. The officials of the Seireitei would not respond because, according to the survivor, it was a legitimate duel and as such could not be prosecuted as a 'murder'. The knowledge that this man was still alive, well and glorified in his position ripped their family apart. When Kodate turned eighteen and the rest of his siblings beginning to take positions in the Gotei Thirteen, his mother took him aside. With the house empty, she taught him the deep, secret technique of the Golden Ward, his father's position and technique. This technique was reserved for the head of the household, he did not understand. Only later would it make sense. He was also confused how she knew it, seeing as only his father should have known the secret of the Ward.
"You think you have all that memorized?" His mother asked hurriedly, wiping a tear away from her cheek. He nodded numbly, feeling the power of the Ward coursing through him but it just didn't feel right. He wanted his father there to teach it to him, to kiss him on the forehead with his bristly beard and tell him how proud he was. But instead of that, a sudden flash of white filled his vision for a split second before darkness.
The rest of the family, out while Kodate was recovering, saught honor against this blood-hungry man in single combat. Each and every one of them was ruthlessly slaughtered, and their body parts fed to the crows. When the last remaining member of the Kago family awoke, he was not allowed to bury them, to erect headstones in their memory. Instead he stood amongst the dessicated remains of his family, tears mixing with other viscous materials as they flowed from his face, openly sobbing in this field of death. He didn't understand why he cared now, why now after all the apathy he wanted his family back. He knew the answer in his heart, but he couldn't say it out loud. He wanted so much to follow in his family's footsteps and make this man run him through, to let his grief be torn to pieces like so many body parts. The man, now the last remaining member of his family, knew that it was folly. There was no point to it. The only way to reach absolution was to kill the man. And so he swore an oath there on that blood-stained field. He swore he would become strong. Not the strongest, not the bravest. Just strong enough to kill him. Whatever happened afterwards, he left to providence.
So he began the hard regiment of training once again; preparing himself for the inevitable confrontation. He would kill the man. He would dash his body against the ground and feed him to the hollows, taking pleasure in his death rattle. In his begs for mercy and the sound of crunching bones. Not even the blood on the ground would be left to recognize the man, that is how deep his vengeance would reign, that's how far he would go. But he swore to never let it show. To all those who know him, he refuses to show that side of himself, saving it for the only man in his life that he can truly say he hates. He joined the Shinigami Academy of his own volition, devoting every second of his life to shinigami studies and learning as many techniques as possible. As he trained, the memorization came easily to him. But he learned a great many things. No one understood his strange form, or his preference of the shield over the sword. He was often ridiculed, even though he was technically nobility, but he never lost his temper. He found that proving himself on the training grounds was proof enough. He was more than adept at physical combat; many shinigami not used to the idea of taking on a man with a shield and a free arm. He was strong, and often simply overpowered his opponents through sheer force of his blows. But that isn't to say he never lost. Many, often more adept at swordsmanship, caught on to his shield style and found ways around it. It was the first time he had been introduced to a truly competitive environment and as much as he hated it, he grew exponentially.
Things involving the spirit however, especially kidou, he found very difficult. He couldn't seem to keep control over the chaotic forces required to summon a Byakurai or Sokatsui; but Sho and other shielding kidou came as easily to him as breathing after a time. He failed almost every test exam except for the ones that invoked the kidou he became adept at. Shun-po he found was something he neither excelled nor failed at. He often came out towards the upper quarter of the class but it was nothing to look at with awe. Facing failure so often was a strange sensation for the noble so used to beating his siblings, but no one knew who he was. Not even the teachers made a mention of his last name, though he did catch a sideways glance from time to time. Given no noble sponsorship and his serious lack of kidou capabilities, it took him all four years to graduate; having to prove his combat skills and his proficiency of those specific kidou were enough to make up for his shortcomings. Once proved, he left the Academy and struck out to join a squad, grow strong, and find his vengeance.
Powers:
