CANON: Arumial - Marluxia's Heartless - #11

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Name:
Arumial

Nickname(optional):
The Elegant Swordmaster

Age:
?? (Looks roughly 17)

Gender:
Male

Species:
Heartless (High Intelligence)

Position:
Dark XII- Number XI

Powers:
Arumial has a strength which transcends that of a Dark XII member of such a low level of authority. This is reflected in the strength of his Nobody, the Organization member XI Marluxia, who was able to hold off the higher-ranking Axel in combat with relative ease. Like all members of the Dark XIII, he can levitate himself off the ground, teleport, and uses the Corridors of Darkness to move from world to world. He has limited shapeshifting abilities, and can cause shadowy wisps to come out of his body, and produce basic forms, such as spikes and blades. They are, however, fleeing in existence, and are only there as a momentary defence.
His title, ‘the Elegant Swordmaster’ is not there just for show. Few can match his speed and power with the blade alone, but his nickname comes from his unique, dancing form, where his swift strokes are matched with graceful seemingly slow steps. This fighting form mixed with his perfect control over his other abilities and shapeshifting make him an extremely difficult enemy to predict.
Aside from his Heartless abilities and swordsmanship, his main ability is his control over his shadowy existence. He can split himself up into several 'silhouettes' which are, by themselves, ethereal and incapable of attacking or being attacked. These silhouettes move several times faster than a normal person, but not supernaturally quickly. However, Arumial can move at an almost untrackeable speed between these silhouettes, meaning he can attack large numbers of targets in a very short period of time. Arumial uses this ability to manipulate his silhouettes into advantageous situations, such as behind an opponent, and against a wall. This can be used to pull off high-speed maneuvers and acrobatic techniques. The downside is, if Arumial was to attempt to move into a silhouette that was behind something, then Arumial would literally crash through that object. Although the aforementioned object would probably be crushed, Arumial would probably take some damage from the shock.

Some of his trademark techniques are:

-Ayame Shower-
His silhouettes surround him and and he moves two each one, striking down multiple enemies.

-Hisabenken (Flying Petal Sword)-
His silhouettes form a complicated slashing maneouver through the air, which Arumial follows, slicing through any targets in his path.

-Senbonayame (Thousand Iris)-
His silhouettes appear to attack a target, but simply pass thourgh, until Arumial eventually strikes.

-Hanabira Gaeshi (Petal Cut)-
One of Arumial’s most powerful techniques, Arumial splits himself into an exceptionally large number of silhouettes, and after launching an enemy into the air, the silhouettes form a rough sphere around the enemy. Arumial between each of his silhouettes, striking the airborne target in transit with his sword. However, splitting himself up so much puts immense strain on him.

Weapon:
A florescent lilac katana-like sword with a blade similar to that of Marluxia’s scythe. It can be controlled telepathically independent from Arumial. He can summon and unsummon it at will.

Appearance:
Arumial has spiky, lilac coloured hair which comes down to his shoulders. His eyes are a bright blue colour, which has the uncanny tendency to change colour according to his mood- while it is usually a light, carefree sky-coloured shade, it can turn into a cloudy grey when he is sad or a stormy cyan when he is angry. His expression is often calm with a playful sparkle in his eyes, and although he is not strong like Eleaus or Sai, he has a lithe form which is more than capable of getting the job done. He walks in an almost dancing manner, but not refined or practiced as most highborn nobles. While he rarely gives genuine laughs, he smiles more often and unlike his counterpart, whose smirks are nothing more than creepy, his smiles are sincere and much more warming.

His general attire has an oriental feel to it- he wears a white muslin shirt with a high, open colour, and a pair of loose-fitting, purple-trimmed black trousers tied with a belt with two tassel-like attachments. He wears a lilac band around each of his arms to hold the loose sleeves together, and an armband on each of his wrists. He has two belt-like buckles hanging off his collar, and a small loop of leather at the back of his trousers to hold his sword when he has it sheathed. He wears around his neck a silver chain with the Kingdom Hearts emblem dangling off it.

Personality:
Arumial is similar but different to his counterpart in many ways. The most noticeable different is their outlook to life- Arumial is more serene and carefree than Marluxia, and isn’t half as worried about his own appearance. Arumial believes that beauty should be achieved not by what is passive, but what is active. This reflects in its fighting style, which concentrates on elegant footwork and graceful, flowing sword strokes. In combat he prefers a fair fight where there are no handicaps or advantages, as opposed to the devious tactics used by Marluxia. His techniques mainly involve straightforward attacks, and swift finishes. This reflects on his unwillingness to hurt an enemy more than he needs to, and he despises toying and playing with helpless beings, which puts him at odds with the more senior, science-based members.

Despite disliking the scientific methods of the senior members of the Dark XII, Arumial is quite respectful, and accepts his role in the order with good grace. He even thinks that it is better to be a lower rank, since the only way from the bottom is up. While he has his own opinions on the strength of the members of the Dark XII, he keeps them to himself and treats his fellow members with cordiality. This makes him likeable even to the eccentric heartless that make up the order, and those who haven’t seen Arumial in battle often doubt if he really is a Heartless. He can be extremely devoted to his tasks, no matter how menial it may be. He accepts the jobs he is assigned with little complaint, with the exception of destroying Nobodies and Humans. He refuses to kill high intelligence Nobodies, and asks for hunting down humans with an exceptionally high degree of darkness in their hearts and a certain level of combat ability. He feels that it is wrong to destroy pure hearts which have minimal darkness in them, and claims that it would provide minimal yield for Heartless, who feed on the darkness of the heart. His real reason is that his memories as a human cause him to question his existence as a Heartless. This reason also makes him a little less desperate for consumption of hearts than ordinary Heartless, due to the fact that he finds the concept of eating hearts ‘a little disturbing’.

Like Marluxia, Arumial has secret desires and ambitions. While he gives the charade that he is working with the Dark XII in order to envelop the worlds in darkness, his real aim is to somehow regain his body and become whole again. He wants to be able to throw aside his cursed body composed of darkness, placed in a pitiful replication of a human body. This is one of the reasons why he does not wish to kill high-ranking Nobodies such as the Organization, since he believes that it may deprive his fellow members’ chances of reuniting with their ‘others’. But if the call of battle proves too strong, then Arumial can succumb to attacking exceptionally powerful foes.

Although many of his points may seem positive, Arumial also has a darker side. He enjoys fighting greatly, and will attempt to draw out a battle for as long as possible. This means that he will continue to force strong opponents to fight, while defeating weak opponents. His newfound power as a Heartless made him seek out even stronger enemies, and dreams of a time when he can fight the ultimate foe.

History/Background:
Arumial was the son of a famous swordsman from Radiant Garden who was known for his incredible skill with a blade. Legend had it that he could cut every petal that fell from a sakura tree before it touched the ground. Arumial trained under his father since he could walk, and soon became an excellent swordsman himself. Although he maintained the traditional lifestyle of a swordsman, his father understood the importance of providing education and knowledge of civilisation for his son. So Arumial attended school like all other youngsters of Radiant Garden, and was, of course, top in all of his melee combat classes. He graduated from school at an early age of sixteen, after which he devoted his life to following his father’s footsteps and protecting Radiant Garden. He and his father defended the world of Radiant Garden until the armies of Heartless attacked. Unable to destroy legions of this new foe, he and his father held back the Heartless long enough for the residents to begin their evacuation. But despite the incredible amount of skill that they both showed, their ordinary weapons and human bodies were unable to cope with the overwhelming darkness of the thousands of Heartless that continued to pour in endlessly. His father died by destroying his own heart, before it managed to form more Heartless. Arumial almost lost his mind in anger as he began to cleave through the ranks of Heartless. The darkness in his heart grew and grew with every stroke of his blade that cut with the rage that burned from his father's loss. He eventually lost his heart defending his father’s fallen body.

Now a heartless, Arumial felt embittered by what he had become, and was ready to blame the whole world for reducing him to this after spending his life defending it. But he remembered his father, who had sealed his own fate in order not to become a mindless Heartless. Knowing that his father would not have wanted him to turn to revenge, he decided that he needed to turn his predicament to a new blade which he could wield. Heartless seemed to bend to his will, and therefore he would not be threatened by them. He decided to train his new abilities by hunting down powerful humans to sate his newfound lust for hearts. But he found this concept despicable, and only attacked those who had committed unforgiveable sins- murderers, thieves and corrupt nobles. He trained his body to resist the lure of hearts for as long as possible. He mastered everything that his heartless body could offer. All the while, he maintained his seventeen-year-old form, as a reminder when he had died and how he had died. Soon, word of his strength reached the Dark XII, and was quickly recruited into their ranks. Now Arumial had the resources to fulfil his own ambitions- to regain a body, so he could be whole.

While he decided to keep up the façade that he aimed to spread darkness across worlds, he kept his morals in attacking only humans with extremely dark hearts, and low-ranking, unintelligent Nobodies. Meanwhile, he is keeping tabs on his other, Marluxia, the prime candidate for his body. And he is becoming ever more interested in the legendary Keyblade Master, and the Princess of Heart from Destiny Islands, who have Nobodies, but no Heartless…

Role Playing Sample:
See Kioku.

Questions/Comments/Suggestions?
Nay