All spoilers regarding Volumes 1 through 7 are unmarked.
open/close all folders
In General
- Fatal Flaw: Wrath. More specifically, Fantastic Racism and Revenge Before Reason. These flaws, unfortunately, set up the Brynhildr incident and the current antagonism of the Tōjō Household in the aftermath as shown by Seito and Takashi respectively, and both Yuki and more so Kurumi nearly made these their own flaws before they got better.
Seito
Seito
The one who unsealed Brynhildr and caused Basara and his father's banishment from the tribe.
- Absurdly Sharp Blade: When he wielded Brynhildr, he sliced people apart like they were made of paper mache.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Combined with Demonic Possession. His grabbing Brynhildr out of her seal causes the evil spirits inside her to possess him and vent their hatred, combined with his own resentment toward "the village."
- Character Death: He is killed by Basara during the Brynhildr incident.
- Death by Origin Story: His death is what causes Basara to get exiled.
- Freudian Excuse: Given how his parents were killed by demons, it's understandable to see why Seito wanted them all dead and was against the truce.
- General Ripper: He wants to utterly genocide the demon race out of existence, and was perfectly willing to defy his home village for that sake. This resentment, combined with the hatred of the "evil spirits" sealed by Brynhildr results in him nearly exterminating his own village instead.
- Knight Templar: He's so fixated on killing demons that he resents the village for agreeing to a truce, regardless of the reason(s).
- Named by the Adaptation: While he has no name in the original light novel series, the anime names him Seito.
- Posthumous Character: By the time the story begins, he's long dead.
- Revenge Before Reason: Despite knowing that Brynhildr wouldn't let even Jin, the strongest member of the tribe, touch her, he honestly believed he could subdue her and the S-ranked evil spirit it was sealed away. His arrogance nearly doomed his people to extinction.
- Too Dumb to Live: He was so fixated on using Brynhildr to genocide the demons, ignoring the village elder's truce, that he failed to consider that maybe there was a damn good reason Brynhildr was sealed away in the first place.
- Transformation of the Possessed: As a direct result of being possessed by Brynhildr, he transforms into a shape that's far more fitting for a demon than a man.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: His grabbing Brynhildr dooms a great many people in his clan, and causes the Hero Clan to exile Basara thanks to the latter's part.
- You Killed My Father: Takashi's mother was one of his victims during his rampage. No one was able to tell after Banishing Shift erased her body though.
Takashi Hayase
Takashi Hayase
Voiced by: Go Inoue (Japanese), Todd Haberkorn (English)
Basara's childhood friend.
- Cavalry Betrayal: He shows up and kills Valga to force Basara into a duel to the death, with Mio's life on the line.
- Combat Clairvoyance: Byakko's "ultimate defense" allows him to predict and intercept any attack, provided he meets the spear's conditions.
- Conditional Powers: He can't bring out the spear's true power unless his back is facing west, or he's at the most western edge of any barrier he's fighting in.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: He curb-stomps Mio, Maria and Yuki effortlessly, only to end up on the receiving end when Byakko goes out of control.
- Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: After one taunt too many towards Basara, Mio slaps Takashi and gives him a Shut Up, Hannibal! in response.
- Fantastic Racism: He has so bought into the "hero" party line that demons are evil, that he refuses to brook any exception. It is also his Fatal Flaw.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: While he's understandably furious about what Basara unintentionally did to the village, Mio shuts him up by saying that Basara and Maria suffered just as much if not more so, but refuse to go through the same self-pity as him.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: His own Tautological Templar Fantastic Racism is what ultimately defeats him. He grows so enraged by the thought of Basara protecting Mio, the inheritor of Wilbert's power, that he tries to use Byakko's powers to attack Basara, in a manner directly contrasting its inherent attributes. This causes Byakko to reject him and go completely out of control.
- Improbable Use of a Weapon: He doesn't just use Byakko like one would normally use a spear, ie, big thrusting, stabbing, thrown attacks, or parrying blows like with a staff. He also often uses slashing moves to cut his enemies to pieces. Considering how small the spearhead is, this is a very difficult way to use it.
- Insane Troll Logic: Okay. So the fact that Basara and his father are exiled and the Elders don't have any say in the matter means Basara is a coward, abandoning you and running away? Is that right, Takashi?
- Jerkass Has a Point: He may be a jerk to Basara the moment they see each other again, but given that their friends were killed during the Brynhildr incident, it's not without reason.
- Kick the Dog: His murder of Valga and taunting Basara about his involvement in the Brynhildr incident within earshot of Mio.
- Kick Them While They're Down: Takashi combines this with Explaining Your Powers to the Enemy as his specialty. In his first battle, he curb-stomps down Mio, Maria, and Yuki, then goes on to taunt them, in explicit detail, how Byakko's special abilities are covering him.
- Know When to Fold 'Em: Takashi is forced to stand down after his mission to kill Mio is withdrawn.
- Lightning Bruiser: Thanks to wielding Byakko, and being a speed-type, he both hits hard and is very fast.
- Malicious Slander: He repeatedly mocks Basara's feelings on how the latter unintentionally caused the Brynhildr incident. Sure enough, one taunt too many from Takashi within Mio's earshot results in the latter giving him a Shut Up, Hannibal! in response.
- Missing Mom: His mother was killed by Seito and later erased by Banishing Shift. Given how his mother was the only one who looked after him, one can see why he ended up so bitter.
- Murder Is the Best Solution: He's willing to kill anyone in order to achieve his clan's goals, especially Mio.
- Powers Do the Fighting: Subverted. While he is quite strong and agile, he relies primarily on Byakko's special abilities to fight.
- Razor Wind: Byakko can unleash winds capable of slicing through anything.
- The Resenter: He understandably resents Basara for inadvertently causing his home village's destruction.
- Sore Loser: Takashi doesn't take losing to Basara very well and attempts to have the latter kill him, but it doesn't work out and Mio gives Takashi a brutal slap and a Shut Up, Hannibal!.
- Tautological Templar: He's convinced himself that the Hero Village can't do anything wrong, and anyone who disagrees is a "traitor" that has to be killed.
- Virtue Is Weakness: He mocks Basara as a coward for shielding Mio from Valga. Mio, understandably, doesn't react well.
- We Used to Be Friends: With Basara when they meet again five years after the Brynhildr incident. Though they were friends, after Basara's Traumatic Superpower Awakening, many people, including some of their other childhood friends, were inadvertently killed. After that, Basara and Jin were finally exiled.
Kyouichi Shiba
Kyouichi Shiba
Voiced by: Daisuke Hirakawa (Japanese), Brian Beacock (English)
The man sent from the "Hero Village" to oversee the fight between Takashi, Kurumi, and Yuki against Mio, Maria, and Basara. Aka, the "elimination" of Mio.
- Artificial Human: Was created in an attempt to clone Jin, mixing his DNA with that of several monsters and spirits.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: To say that his moral compass is skewed is putting it lightly. He calls off the "extermination" mission because he couldn't see sufficient moral justification to keep attacking, especially after Basara stopped Byakko's rampage, but his introduction had him eager to attack Mio in the first place because an unrelated "rogue demon" attacked an innocent civilian.
- Boxed Crook: He has a history of being a criminal within the Hero village, but his power is far too useful to banish him.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: He acts goofy and amiable, but his power is so great, it dwarfs all the six people mentioned in his character description, combined.
- Death Glare: He glares at Takashi to convince him to stand down when their mission to kill Mio is withdrawn.
- Eyes Always Shut: He walks around with his eyes shut all the time. If he opens them, that's when you need to run.
- Final Boss: He's the last enemy Basara encounters at the end of the series.
- Perpetual Smiler: He's always smiling, except when he's not, at which point, bad things happen.
- Sociopathic Hero: Kyouichi manages to combine this with Nominal Hero. He's only a "hero" because he's a resident of the hero village but he has a sociopathic personality and only moves according to his own pleasure or being forced by a greater power/authority.
