Royce Blixtrande

Royce Blixtrande (ロアイス ブリクストランヅ, Roaisu Burikusutorandu) is the leader of the band and independent guild, Wings of Archadia, as well as the owner of Stocks Pub in Ilmarinen. He is known by the moniker, Hell's Lightning, which is a reference to the red color his rage enhanced lightning magic changes into and the intensity of his attacks.

Appearance
Royce Blixtrande is a young man with chiseled features standing at 6'0". He possesses a muscular build gained from his earlier days working the mines of Ilmarinen, as well as the numerous battles he fought during his travels around the Kingdom of Fiore. He has silver white hair with its bangs hanging over his brown eyes and slight stuble on his chin. His hair is white only on the top with his sides black with matching colored eyebrows. These features together make him quite intimidating when he stands tall and walks each step with purpose.

His attire mainly consists of biker boots, torn jeans, alternating designed tshirts and an assortment of leather jackets. His jackets vary from red leather with a fur collar or black with its sleeves torn off. After forming Wing of Archadia, he adorns several accessories such as rings, bracelets, belts with chains connecting to his back pocket.

During his travels, he acquired a chest tattoo that appears like a modified skull and bones. He admitted that he got the tattoo while drunk one night and on a dare, a decision he still regrets. When performing, he plays what appears like a Gibson Flying V.

Personality
When he was younger, Royce was quite the troublemaker. He was described as being hotheaded, brash, arrogant, impatient and quick to anger. He felt the world owed him something and the only reason he wasn't succeeding in life was because others were holding him back. Royce would walk around with an air of superiority and quickly clashed with those around him. This led him into numerous fights with the locals resulting in his expulsion of various establishments. At one point, he had gotten into trouble with the law and was put to work in the mines to pay off his fines. There, his resentment towards everyone only grew and once he settled his debt he left Ilmarinen in hopes of finding fame and glory.

No one knows where he ventured or how he became the man he is today, but the current Royce is so different from his younger self that its like night and day. When he returned, not only had he matured, but learned to channel his rage. Realizing that his anger would always be present within him, he spent years learning to channel and harness it as a power source. Its been hinted by other band members that Royce faced another lightning mage and was soundedly defeated when he let his anger get the best of him. His loss had appeared to teach him humility and from then on worked to better himself. He became patient, humble and placed others before him. While still coming as cocky at times, he never lets himself be taken over by his ego. Instead, he fights against those who think they are above others and enjoys defeating them, hoping their defeat could change them for the better in a similar fashion to him.

When he purchased Stocks Pub and formed Wings of Archadia, his displayed other qualities, such as knowledge in finances, marketing and creative writing. He helped turn the nearly bankrupt pub into a profitable business within a short few months. He's quite a talented guitar player as evident by being lead in the band, as well as an accomplished singer. At first glance, most people view him as being simple minded and a sort of lumbering brute, so it always catches people by surprise learning that he's quite intelligent and a keen observer.

History
Royce comes from the Foundation District of Ilmarinen, a district that is considered quite poor and lower class. His parents had died when he was very young and was left to fend for himself on the streets. In order to survive, Royce resorted to stealing and less than moral activities. He quickly became a troublemaker and criminal, often having to evade capture from the Silver Guard who policed his district. Also during that time he befriended another orphan by the name of Johan Hellstrom, who shared a similar past. They grew to become best of friends and would often lash out at the Sky District by personally attacking its citizens or property. Though their luck would run out one day and they were finally captured. As punishment for their past crimes, Royce and Johan were put to work the mines to pay off their debt. While there, they formed a pact to leave the city and search for a better place that would be more accepting of them. Once their debt had been paid, Royce and Johan boarded the earliest flight out of the city and began traveling the world.

It is unknown when exactly Royce learned how to wield lightning magic, but by the time he was in his late teens he was already proficient enough to hold his own against other mages. He and Johan spent several years taking odd jobs and fighting their way across Fiore in hopes of creating a name for themselves. It was not until Royce suffered a massive defeat by the infamous lightning mage, Laxus Dreyar, that he began to question the choices he's made in life. Royce began to feel guilty for all the harm he's caused and wanted to return to Tuska to make amends for his past crimes. Johan did not share in Royce's new outlook and the two slowly became much more distant. Royce was becoming concerned with Johan's behaviour, which was becoing more violent and psychotic. Their travels also brought them to Jakko Wohlhart, a former member of the Silver Guard in Ilmarinen, who had been honorably discharged from service after sustaining injuries. Royce and Jakko became good friends, while Johan became more distant, often disappearing at times.

After much protest, Royce and Jakko managed to convince Johan to return to Ilmarinen, and with the money they saved from their travels, purchased and reopened Stocks Pub in the Industrial District of the city. To attract more business, the three formed the band, Wings of Archadia, and after early success hired Zander Isdal. With business booming and the band taking off, Royce was completely caught off guard with news that Johan was wanted by the Silver Guard for working with criminal organizations to assassinate targets. Royce immediately confronted Johan and was devastated to find out that Johan was in fact killing people who sometimes were innocents who stood up to the criminal bosses. Royce threatened to turn in Johan if he continued and in homicidal rage, Johan attacked Royce, forcing him to defend himself. In a final clash, Royce seemingly killed Johan, knocking him over the edge of the Foundation District and sending his body down into the Forbidden District where it was never seen again. This had caused Royce's life to shatter all around him and couldn't deal with what he had done.

With the help of Nestor and Jakko, it took a great deal of time for Royce to recover from the event and instead focused his rage and sadness into his music. Continued success allowed him to hire the rest of the band and he is slowly began putting the pieces back together in his life.

Plot

 * 001. From The Top Of The World
 * 002. Journey to Magnolia
 * 004. Breaking up the Band
 * 005. Follow the Leader

Magic & Abilities
Lightning Magic (雷系各種魔法 Kaminari Kei Kakushu Mahō lit. Various Lightning Magic): Royce commands the element of lightning which he holds a great deal of skill over, making him a formidable combat mage even against S-Class opponents. It allows him to produce, control and manipulate lightning and electricity at will, and often uses the lightning in conjunction with his hand-to-hand combat skills to enhance its damage. Royce is also able to momentarily turn his own body into lightning in order to evade enemy attacks, move around at high speed and strike every opponent crossing his path. Though he's still not fully capable of using this skill to its full effect. A unique passive ability granted by his knowledge of lightning magic is to internalize it to stimulate his healing abilities so that he can recover from injury at an accelerated speed. This requires some effort and splitting his magic through other offensive and defensive spells reduce and weaken the effect of his enhanced healing. He would often need to stop performing any other actions and concentrate to fully benefit from this effect.

Red Lightning (赤雷光, Aka Raikō): During times of need, Royce is capable of tapping into his rage to temporarily increase his lightning magic's power, causing it to turn into a deep red, earning him the name "Hell's Lightning". When increased by his rage, the lightning becomes tremendously powerful but also becomes erradic and difficult to control when using for ranged attacks. This is why he typically uses it for melee purposes or to sweep a large area with blasts. Aside from its lack of precise control, tapping into rage also provides another consequence. Mainly its ability to consume energy and stamina, leaving Royce exhausted after prolonged use. During his fight with Lancaster Black, it was revealed that Red Lightning has a second effect besides its augmented destructive power. Due to rage fueling this magic and its rather violent nature, Red Lightning somehow is capable to disrupting the binds of other magics either directed at Royce or when he strikes against other magics, such as barriers and other magical constructs. This magic is described as somewhere between Crash and Dispelling Magic, but couldn't be classified as either. Since Royce isn't fully aware of the effect Red Lightning can have against other Magics, he uses it in its most basic form, only recently realizing its true power. Up until now, Royce had always assumed that his magic was just naturally capable of dealing with other magics, attributing its ability to counter magic due to its raised power level.
 * Lightning Fist (雷光拳, Raikōken) Similar to the Lightning Magic spell, Lightning Punch, Royce channels his lightning magic to cast an orb of electricity to surround a single fist, thereby increasing the resulting damage when striking targets. This spell is only good for one attack, but can deal great damage if it strikes against an opponent, as well as sending them flying backwards from the force.
 * Lightning Gavel (雷光槌, Raikōtsuchi) Royce delivers a lightning enhanced overhand punch, where upon contact, creates a large wave of lightning that washes over his arm and smashes his opponent into the ground with such force that it causes an explosion and leaves behind a small crater. This can be further enhanced through Red Lightning.
 * Lightning Rocket (雷光ロケット, Raikō Roketto) Another simple, yet highly effective spell where Royce strikes an opponent with an uppercut. From underneath the opponent, a massive pillar of lightning shoots upward dealing tremendous damage and sending them flying into the sky at great speeds. Its name comes from the manner in which the opponent is sent into the air like a rocket before coming crashing back down for additional damage.
 * Lightning Shield (雷光盾, Raikōtate): Seemingly his only defensive spell, Royce can use his lightning magic to create a temporary barrier to block incoming attacks. First, Royce holds his hands out towards the direction of the attack and creates a large blue seal where numerous bolts of lightning shoot out and shape into a rough circle. This allows Royce to absorb the attacks unharmed as they will crash against the circle as if they were a solid object. The shield itself is only as durable as Royce's concentration in holding it together, as well as the amount of time it took to summon it. He primarily uses this spell through instinct and not through any sort of preparation.
 * Lightning Stomp (席を蹴る雷光, Sekiokeruraikō) Unnamed during the Wings of Red Arc. A destructive spell triggered by Royce stomping hard into the ground. Upon impact, he releases large arcs of lightning that tear through solid earth towards a target and explode once it reaches them.
 * Knuckle Duster Lightning (メリケンサック雷, Merikensakku Kaminari) By channeling his magical energy into his fists, Royce is capable of delivering devestating attacks that cause additioinal eletrical damage. He typically raises his fists with the back of his palms facing his opponent and the spell's sigil glows on the skin. The lightning wraps around his fingers taking a shape that resembles a pair of brass knuckles. This can be further enhanced through Red Lightning.
 * Lightning Bullets (雷光弾, Raikōdan) One of two ranged spells, Royce holds his hands out towards a target from which a number of small, yet destructive lightning orbs are fired towards the target at high speed. While an individual orb doesn't possess much power, it cumulative effect can be quite devastating. This can be further enhanced through Red Lightning.
 * Lightning Body (雷光体, Raikōtai) Unnamed during the Wings of Red Arc. A magic spell in which Royce is able to wrap his body in lightning and propel himself through the air. While it greatly increases Royce's speed, it seems that he is only to able fly in one direction, needing to cast it again to move in another direction. He has yet to master this spell and employs it more instinctually during melee combat.
 * Hell Fist Breakdown (地獄拳破壊, Jigokuken Hakai) A difficult spell that Royce is currently trying to master. By raising his fist high above his head, Royce acts a human lightning rod, pulling in electrical energy and engulfing his entire body in red lighting. Once enough energy is gathered, Royce will strike the ground and release massive arcs of electricty that tear through solid earth in either an omni-directional path to strike multiple targets or send a series of them in one direction to strike an individual target. Due to Red Lightning's wild, and sometimes uncontrollable nature, Royce has yet to use this spell in actual combat.
 * Hell Bullets (地獄弾, Jigokudan) Enhanced through the use of Red Lightning, Royce is able to cast faster and more powerful versions of lightning bullets that explode on contact. This offers the potential to deal tremendous cumulative damage if a target is engulfed in the barrage of projectiles. Due to Red Lightning's erradic behaviour, Royce has difficulty controlling their overall direction and has to sweep an area to ensure they strike against their targets.

Advanced Spells
Rage-Augmented Physical Attributes: While already gifted with extraordinary levels of physical power, he can tap into his rage to saturate his muscles with enough energy to temporarily increase all of his physical abilities. Doing so causes his muscles to swell, often tearing his leather jackets and destroying the sleeves. Like Red Lightning, Royce can only use this power for short periods of time and leaves him exhausted if used for too long. Expert Hand-to-Hand Combatant: While possessing no formal training or martial arts style, Royce is none the less an extremely skilled combatant. During his youth, he fought against many opponents, even some twice his size, and managed to stand victorious for most of it. Even when defeated, he quickly learned and adapted to become a better fighter. While traveling across the kingdom, he developed his own style of fighting that was mainly influenced from street fighting, boxing and several grappling techniques. He specializes in power moves and slams that allows him to utilize his already impressive physical prowess to its utmost capabilities. An example of his fighting ability is when he faught against 3 members of The Dreadnaughts and hold his own to a certain degree, even while already previously wounded from a poisoned dagger. Amongst all the members of Wings of Archadia, Royce is considered its best and strongest fighter, even more so than Zander Isdal.
 * Starbolt (星落雷, Hoshi Rakurai) A secret spell that Royce crafted during his times traveling and sometime after his defeat against Laxus. Its current effect and description is unknown, though there seems to be a variation to this spell when using Hell's Lightning in conjunction with it.
 * Increased Strength: Royce's strength is so great that he's capable of smashing through thick rock with a single punch, as well as support an entire second floor of a large home from collapsing on him. He's capable of snapping metal chains around him with some ease and throw large opponents over a great distance. His strength isn't merely limited to the strength in his arms, but also his legs as well. He can use the increased strength to leap over great heights or propel himself in any direction with amazing speed.
 * Increased Durability: With his muscles swelled with energy, his body has become quite durable and able to withstand great punishment without signs of injury.
 * Increased Reflexes: While enraged, Royce's natural speed is greatly amplified, giving him heightened reflexes and agility. He is capable of evading several attacks at once while engaging in direct combat. In short bursts, Royce is able to seemingly disappear a split second before being struck by an attack and reappear either to the side or behind an opponent. These moments are few and far between as it requires a level of heightened awareness that is difficult to sustain during his moments of rage. Instead, he relies heavily on instinct and his body's natural defense mechanisms to take over and react on its own.

Enhanced Strength: One of Royce's most outstanding physical qualities is his raw physical power. Royce has been gifted with a naturally high level of strength that allows him to clash with opponents nearly twice his size. He's capable of hefting large weights with relative ease, as seen during his days of working the mines. This level of strength also makes all of his melee attacks potentially devastating and often holds back his true power. When tapping into his rage, his strength is augmented even further to potentially lethal levels. Among the members of Wings of Archadia, only Allastr Grimmgold in his Breker Take Over form is able to match his strength. During his first encounter with The Dreadnaughts, he was able to snap a steel chain just by using his brute strength, as well as knockback his opponents when fighting. Another example of his phenonemal strength is that one punch is enough to deal heavy damage and drop his opponents to the floor.

Enhanced Reflexes: One would think that Royce's massive frame would hinder his speed and reaction time. To think that would be a fatal mistake. Fueled mainly on instinct and almost a "sixth sense", Royce's reaction time is almost supernatural and allows him to avoid incoming attacks and counter with amazing speed. When tapping into his rage, his reflexes are augmented even further. His reflexes are high enough to be able dodge several attacks aimed at him simultaneously. He's battled multiple opponents simultaneously and held his own for a short period of time, all while nursing previous injuries.

Enhanced Durability: Royce's second most outstanding physical quality is the sheer amount of physical punishment he is able to sustain without grievous injury. Since his youth, Royce has conditioned his body to take tremendous damage to the point where he could shrug off the attacks seemingly unfazed. Royce has, on multiple occassions, withstood a barrage of punches, some magically charged, from Johan Hellstrom, a former friend and strong combatant. He has even been able to withstand simultaneous attacks from 3 guild members known to possess high levels of magical power. While tortured by Arno Drobisch, Royce was able to withstand repeated shocks of electricity, as well as a direct blast to the chest from his magical revolver.

Enhanced Endurance: Royce is nearly unyielding in his determination and refuses to admit defeat if still standing. This may be a combination of willpower and stubborness, but even while sustaining massive damage Royce will continue battling on and ignore any injuries. He has shown to continue battling even though previously poisoned and still reeling from its effects.

Great Magical Power: While not officially regarded as an S-Class mage, Royce still possesses considerable magical power which manifests itself as the element he controls: an aura of electricity. He is quite skilled in manipulating its power, from sparking the end of his cigarette with precision to unleashing it as a destructive blast all around him when venting it. By internalizing its power, he's able to temporarily provide himself additional protection against physical damage by supercharging his muscles so that it can withstand the force from attacks. This makes him an overall powerful mage who can go toe-to-toe with most others.

Stats
Royce's statistics are listed to the left. These statistics are a close approximation of his baseline abilities. They do not reflect his full potential, and may vary during moments of stress or determination. As such, they are not to be taken as definitive stats, but merely as an overall indication of his level of power. His statistics are broken down to: Offense, Defense, Speed and Intelligence, with a fifth statistic specific to his character which is Rage.

Trivia

 * Royce's appearance and rage power is based from Bunshichi Tawara from Tenjho Tenge.
 * His theme song is Fairy Tail OST - Released Power.
 * Royce is a smoker.
 * Aside from being the band and guild leader, he's also the owner of Stocks Pub.