Markus Hotaru

Markus Hotaru (マーカスほたる Mākasu Hotaru) is a powerful mage who secrectly works as the famous vigilante/thief Infamous

Appearence
Markus is a tall well built mage covered in irezumi style tattoos and scars, sporting pure white hair and eye that seem to blend amber and red to give them a almost demonic appearence. He is known for his red sleeveless trenchcoat, black jeans (formally dark red) and short sleeve shirt and waistcoat with three silver buckles either keeping the waist coat closed or not. Under these clothes however is a black bodysuit with what looks like armour plates just under the surface of the outfit. He also has a red and black face mask which he can summon from his head phones. When using his magic at full power Markus' skin gains a feather like pattern around the sides of his face and down his arms and back. His eyes also take a hawk like appearence but keep their normal colours.

When wearing his mask and armor his hair take a black star burst pattern and his tattoos turn black and grey instead of full colour as usual. This makes it harder to figure out his indentity. After forming the Twilight Phoenix guild Markus applied the guild mark to the back of his left hand.

Personality
Markus has a simple personality upholding honor, loyalty, justice and respect. but he also has some quirks such as his seemingly slacker attitude to most things except food and fighting, He's normally seen napping in various spots around the towns and cities he stops off at. Despite this he's always up for a fight and loves ones that are stacked against him. He also has a thing for Ramen and Onion rings.

As Infamous he takes a much more grim attitude focused on his task and brutal in his execution of them. He seems to prefer ambush and terror tactics when in combat and prefers to talk very little.

History
Not much is known about Markus even to him. All that is known is when he was a child (about 4-5) his home was attacked by Dark Mages and his family was killed the shock of what he saw forced his mind to give him amnesia. He was eventually found wondering the country side by The Storm Phoenix Bolterus, who after much persuation taught the young Markus as Bolterus refered to him the power of The Storm Phoenix Slayer magic a form of magic designed to hunt and kill feral Phoenix. After years of training Bolterus left to dwell inside of a mighty storm, MArkus on the other hand went to bring justice to the world and look for a strong guild or group of mages to fight with. He eventually takes the persona of Infamous to act without the restirctions of law and the magic council, attack corrupt officials, crimelords and dark mages without permission or what could be seen as a reason other than the search for justice.

Known Magic and Abilities.

 * Storm Phoenix Slayer Magic (暴風雨の滅鳳凰魔法 Bōfūu no Metsuhōō Mahō): This is the most powerful of the Phoenix Slayer types; it uses both sound in the form of concussive blasts and lightning to boost physical abilities and unleash devasting damage. The most iconic spell of this as well as all the Phoenix slayer is the Diving Phoenix spell which in the Storm version's case will take the form of a phoenix made of lightning dive down on their opponant causing a huge explosion. The only main weaknesses of this slayer style is none-conductive material and submertion in water. Markus counters the water based weakness by wearing a special amulet. This style also gives him incredible boosts in his healing when needed and the potentual to ressurect once a week.


 * Weapon Card Magic (武器のカードマジック Buki no Kādo Majikku): Markus possesses a variant of Card Magic known as Weapon Card Magic, which allows him to materialize various weapons from cards. The weapons depend on the picture on the card. He, however almost never uses this magic despite being proficient with it.


 * Telekinesis (テレキネシス Terekineshisu): Markus has great skill in this magic. While not a master he can lift and throw great weight across large distances.


 * Repair Magic (修理魔法 Shūri Mahō) If his clothes are damaged, instead of having to buy new ones or pay to get them repaired, Markus has learned Repair Magic to fix any rips, tears and other forms of damages to his clothes and armor.


 * Transformation (変身魔法 Henshin Mahō): While not used often, Markus is an expert in Transformation spells. He can easily change his appearance to make it easier to complete jobs.


 * Summoning Magic: Markus has basic skill in this form of magic he mainly uses it to summon his armour or headphones.


 * Master Martial Artist: Markus is a martial arts master creating a style known as Twilight Phoenix Kenpo, the style is a powerful form of combat using mainly kicks and open hand techniques infused with magic. A common tactic is Markus using ambush tactics to open the fight and during the fight using the enviroment to his advantage. The style is unique only to Markus and is always evolving and improving.
 * Rising Talon Strike: This attack involves a mix of open palms strikes swift knees all leading up to a rising palm strike to the chin of the opponant. It's commanly infused with lightning from his Storm Phoenix Slayer magic.
 * Phoenix Rage: This attack involves Markus launching himself and strike with a flying headbutt followed by a sweeping kick then a rising round kick and then a series of kicks with palms strikes and elbows mixed in.
 * Soring Ghost Strike: Markus launches a series of fast open hand strikes, elbows and punches while countering his opponant's attacks. Each strike is aimed at an openning and pressure point.


 * Weapon Master: Markus is also a very talented weapons master due to his Weapon Card magic and is able to out match most soldiers in a duel.
 * Sword: Markus has masterful skill in a blade. Able to use a veriaty of attacks when he needs. His main usage of the sword is fast attacks darting in and out of attack range while deflecting and countering any attacks that get close.
 * Dual Swords: Like a single blade Markus can weild two he uses the same tactics as with a single sword but more aggressivly.
 * Spear: With a spear Markus uses it's reach to his advantage. He attacks with rapid lunges and thrusts and uses wide swings when needed.
 * Dual short spears: Markus uses the twin short spears' speed and length to his advantage twirling them around while slashing and stabbing his enemies.
 * Staff: Like the spear Markus uses the staff's reach to his advantage but utilizes more strikes and locks with the staff itself.
 * Fighting Sticks: With fighting sticks Markus uses fast and painful strike at the enemy getting inside their guard and pounding at joints and soft spots.
 * Axe: Markus basicly cleaves at his enemies with this weapon. Using it's heavy head to crash down onto the skulls of his foes.


 * Talisman Magic: Markus uses small rectangle peices of paper called Talismans. These have magic symbols drawn on them and allow him to use one shot spells from various mystic disiplines like fire, water, earth etc. To use them he needs to preform several hand movements which can make them unsuitable for fast paced combat but make a great tool at the begginging or in slow more tactical combat.
 * Immense Magic Power: Markus' power is inhuman but due to his limited control over it's full power he has applied 'breakers' to limit his magical output, these breakers are actually his tattoos they help him control his magic when he releases it and focus it into his magic.


 * Immense Physical Capabilities: Markus' physical abilities even without his Slayer magic giving him a boost is amazing, he is feared in many places as a demon in human form. Out fo fairness though he does limit his capabilities till he needs to go all out with them.
 * Strength: Markus' strength is scary he able to crush steel with one hand and leaving giant craters making it look like a meteor landing at full power. His leg strength is great enough he can jump high into the sky to avoid any ground effecting attacks.
 * Speed: Markus in terms of speed is crazy, even without his Phoenix Slayer Magic he can move at blinding speeds that benifit his role as a thief and night-stalking vigilante. Able to appear behind someone and vanish in a split second.
 * Durability: Markus is no stranger to taking hits. During his training with Bolterus he gained incredibly tough flesh, he is able to be hit with powerful elemental attacks and hard be effected. Even his mental durability is amazing able to withstand psychological punishment that would break a normal mage and keep fighting.
 * Reflexes: Markus can block and catch attacks and incoming object with great skill. Even fighting 25 experienced bandits attacking from all sides at once can barely touch him.
 * Agility: Markus is amazingly agile he can proform acrobatic stuns even while incombat with little effort. To get around cities easily he uses a fast flowing method of mvoements using flips, rolls and vaults ot get over walls and other obstructions. Due to this his balance is also amazing able to run even when the floor shifts under his feet with subtle but effective repositioning of his feet.
 * Senses: Markus due to his Phoenix Slayer Magic has amazing senses. His senses of smell, taste, touch and hearing are amazing able to out do everyone without some kinda of trick to increase their own. However his eyesight is the major strength, thanks to the magic he can see miles with fully clarety and even see through walls.


 * Master Theif: Due to living on the streets Markus taught himself how to steal and became proficiant in the art and uses it when tailing dark mages and their minions.


 * Great Magical Knowledge: Despite not knowing other magic styles he does have enough knowledge to tutor others in their magic style.


 * Tactical Genius: When fighting as Infamous he uses fear and ambush tactics to make his work alot easier. He'll attack from hidden locations and move at top speed to avoid any relaiations. This combined with the ambushes against unsuspecting targets only to be found by their allies makes the fear rise and lets him finish them off.

Equipment

 * Magic Headphones: Markus also has a set of magic headphones which play his favourite type of music (Thrash Metal & Melodic Death Metal) He normally has them around his neck or summons them. The Headphones can also turn into a black and red face mask that covers his entire head, when in this form they keep their ability to play music and also broadcast it like a radio.
 * Armour: Markus makes use of a unique armour when using his Infamous persona. All the armour comprises of is a lightly armoured left shoulder which covers the left side of his chest. That links to a black leather frame on the upper arm which finally ends with a armoured gauntlet which has clawed finger tips to slide down cliffs or buildings too high for him to jump from.. His other arm is just the same armoured gauntlet. To protect his face and identity he wears a white and red fox mask (later black and red). His boots are covered with the same segmented plate armour than the gauntlets but only covers the top side of the boots.
 * The Charge: A handy tool Zero gave Markus when they first fought together. This small crystal can absorb and store near limitless amounts of elemental magic. Markus store lightning in this small gem and gets Zero to charge it after use. When squeezed it release it's power into whatever it's touching like Markus who absorbs it and lets him enter Phoenix Force. However Markus rarely uses this unless he absolutly needs to.

Trivia

 * Markus' hand ot hand combat style is based on a combination of Tae-Kwon-Do, Chinese Martial Arts, Capoeria, Lethwei, Aiki-Jujitsu, Boxing, Ninjutsu and Eskrima.


 * When relaxing he's either seen sleeping, reading or meditating.


 * Markus' theme(s) are Death Before Dishonor by 5 Finger Death Punch when in a fight, Guardian Angel by Abandon All Ships for everyday things and a random song (can't think of one atm) for when those two songs don't apply.
 * Alittle known fact its that Markus is an amazing guitarist, Zero states he helped him learn by transfering the knowledge into his mind via his Archive Magic.