Gary Straights

Gary Straights (ゲーリー=ストレート, Gērī Sutorēto), also known as the "Legendary Dark Knight" (伝説の魔剣士, Densetsu no Makenshi), is a mysterious fellow that once had the chance to become a Majin (魔神, Magic God), a rank above a Wizard Saint, but decided not to due to deciding to save a kitten in a tree instead. Still, he is stated as one of the strongest characters in the series, and is currently being pursued by various magical organizations seeking his power and knowledge, but he has managed to elude all of them with ease—in truth, he works for the Magic Council, though he sees no harm in the Akatsuki guild, and he is currently planning a coup of the council after his family had a falling-out with them, but the details of it are currently unknown.

Appearance
Gary is known for his thuggish appearance, though this is deceiving of his kind nature. Possessing an unruly mop of jet-black hair that is accentuated by several fashionable spikes, while his bangs frame his face, exposing his forehead, Gary has been called 'duck-butt' by his childhood friend Iris. Physically, Gary has a muscular body befitting that of a demi-god; causing the ladies to swoon over him like there's no tomorrow. Lastly, Gary's eyes gleam a glaring gold, piercing the souls of his enemies as they lose the will to fight against this unstoppable maelstrom of destruction.

Personality and Traits
Despite his rough appearance, Gary is kind-hearted and sentimental person, to the point where he squandered the chance to become a Majin in order to save a cat. He also destroyed a human trafficking organization and saved one-hundred children, when he did not need to, and did it knowing full well he would have to face the wrath of his superiors over his overtly casual attitude. When one of the children he saved says she wants to repay him, Gary dismissed it by saying he didn't expect anything in return. He also says that chaining up the human traffickers was meaningless because it was no different than what they did.

Thor points out a negative aspect of his methods, saying that Gary loses sight of his surroundings when he starts fighting, and does this without concern for everything other than what he is trying to protect.

History
Gary Straights was born to a rich family who had precious ties with the Magic Council; not much is known about Gary's backstory. He has a history with Iris Lavra and Vivian Starkkewolfe; how they met and the circumstances behind it are unclear, but it appears they've known each other for awhile; though it appears that the trio are childhood friends—possessing strong bonds.

Alexis says Gary is a "damn dust-covered ruined noble", that he keeps getting wrapped up into all sorts of troubles ever since he failed to become a Majin, and that he sometimes cries late into the night when remembering the missed chance; though he admits that he would always save the kitten instead. There seems to be great antagonism between Gary and Exialia Halphas, the one who stole the title of Majin from him.

Equipment
Balmung (バルムンク, Barumunku), also known as the Sealed Blade of Wrath (封怒剣, Fūdoken) is the name of Gary's specialized sword; a legendary blade, a divine construction, the pinnacle of holy swords, forged by the planet as the crystallization of the wishes of mankind stored and tempered within the planet. In the past, it was used to slay the 50 foot long "Sealed Flame Dragon" from ancient times. It is 3.5 metres long and weighs 200kg. It is imbued with the power to vanquish evil; and it is said to be the only sword capable of defeating high-tier demons and dragons without being trained to do so. What should be noted, is that Balmung is blessed with anti-Dragon properties, allowing Gary to destroy dragons, despite not being a Dragon Slayer himself. Gary can change his sword for offensive or defensive measures that would fit the situation, creating a very versatile and deadly weapon. More than mere steel, Balmung holds the power to repel those aligned with evil. The magic of Balmung also seems to prevent it from ever being physically damaged. When Gary acquired it, the temple in which it resided fell into ruin over the centuries, but Balmung and its pedestal both appeared untouched by the ravages of time when Gary discovered it. True to its name, the sword is often seen to choose or accept its master by its own will, always a hero who has gone through great trials that test his courage, wisdom and power to prove him worthy of wielding it. In Norse mythology, Gram (Old Norse "wrath") is the name of the sword that Sigurd used to kill the dragon Fafnir; in the Nibelungenlied (ca. 13th century), Siegfried discards Gram after receiving a legendary sword called Balmung; from which this sword is based.

Physical Abilities
Master Swordsmanship Specialist: Gary is an enormously skilled user of 'Sword Magic (剣の魔法, Ken no Mahō); being rewarded with the title of "Kensei" (剣聖, "Sword Saint") due to his incredible prowess. He is a prodigy unlike any other, who learns and adapts to the pace of his opponents with effortless ease. The speed at which he attacks is noted by others to be incomprehensible, as he can inflict several blows upon his opponent in the blink of an eye. The deadliness of his skill is further expanded as he is able to infuse his magical energy into his blade, amplifying the power of his strikes significantly. The speed and precision of his strikes are able to inflict a lethal blow on his opponent without staining the blade with blood. Gary's precision is even able to cut off a lit candle's wick and keep it lit on the edge of his blade; as well as produce shockwaves from his strikes to intercept enemy attacks. The tremendous cutting power of Gary's sword strikes are capable of effortlessly slicing through diamond. From the strength of his blows, to the speed and precision of her strike, his mastery is made apparent by a single swing of his sword. Gary's sword skills blur the line between the physical and the magical, conjuring incredible beasts hewn from blades to devour his opponents, or constructing nigh impenetrable barriers of blades as strong as the greatest defensive skills. When he battles the terrain around him becomes an extension of his legendary Balmung; from a single sweep of the legendary blade in his hands, howling winds surge forward as incredible tornadoes ripping apart the landscape, a simple stab into the earth capable of causing tremendous earthquakes, upturning entire sections as fissures and chasms spread outward. His swordsmanship is a force of nature itself turning even the surroundings into a raging maelstrom of death and oblivion. It was stated that due his skill, his sword is a "danger zone"; and if his foe even so much as touches this "zone", they will be obliterated in a few moments. Befitting his pacifistic ideals, Gary often purposely avoids striking the foe's vital parts (those that can cause severe damage). Instead he only incapacitates them or otherwise prevents them from continuing a fight.
 * Sword Birth ( 無限の剣製(ソード・バース) , Sōdo Bāsu; lit. Infinite Creation of Swords): Gary's lone Sword Magic technique; and the irrefutable proof of his mastery over the ways of the blade. Expanding the territory of destruction that Balmung grants him, Gary releases a small burst of magic; expanding a seal from underneath him that extends outwards, unto a three mile radius. Raising his Balmung into the air, Gary swings it around effortlessly, before planting it into the barren earth. The sign of the almighty legendary blade impacting upon its surface is a sign sent to the heart of the planet itself, telling it to cower in fear of the man known as the Legendary Black Knight. Being subjugated to the will of the potential Majin, the earth itself explosively reacts, allowing Gary to momentarily take possession of its ground; unleashing countless replications of Balmung in any location imaginable, erupting from the earth like a powerful fissure to attack the enemy with brutal force and a chance of impalement, leaving the battleground awash with fabrications of the legendary sword.

Master Hand to Hand Combatant: Even unarmed, Gary shows immense power to those who have the unfortunate fate of fighting him. Gary's incredible skill in the art is drastically enhanced by his inherent immense strength, giving him the ability to unleash devastating blows with ease. His preferred way of striking seems to be punches, though he has often used kicks as well. Gary's fighting style is freestyle and improvised; it follows no particular code of honor at all, and so if necessary, he will actually attack women, hit below the belt, attack even if his opponents have their backs turned on him or are otherwise unprepared or unsuspecting, use allies or opponents as human shields or even bite his opponents. While fighting, Gary can also think on the spot, and come up with creative counterattacks against his enemies. With every blow that Gary unleashes, he deals tremendous internal damage to his foe by causing his attacks to impact upon the foe's pressure points at the exact angle, which allows him to assault their organs without fail—but outwardly, it seems that Gary's physical attacks are unable to inflict any visible damage; but if Gary strikes his foe hard enough, he can trigger a violent internal explosion. Because of his mastery of this art, Gary is able to alter, affect, and even disrupt the flow of magical energy in the foe, via blunt attacks, sending his kinetic energy through his limbs and into the opponent's body, drastically weakening their joints and causing irregularities in their internal and external powers, essentially sending his own magical energy into them, and causing their spiritual energy to surrender to his; making his foe's attacks unable to deal any damage at all.

Immense Strength: Gary possesses phenomenal strength and superior hand-eye coordination, and can break free from almost any attack that binds him and prevents him from moving. He is strong enough to break an enormous tree in half; and he can upturn huge portions of rock floor with a single strike at the ground with his sword. Gary also has enough power to break diamond with his bare hands, and break through diamond; his inherent immense power is only amplified by the momentum at which he moves; making him strong enough to cut through enemies (though not all shields), burrow through the ground, smash through surfaces by stomping, or break down walls. However, it is debatable whether his main power comes from his immense speed or his superhuman strength, or a combination of both. A lot of moves Gary uses involve his feet and legs more than his hands, which suggests that his legs are more powerful than her arms. This does not mean that Gary's arms are not powerful as well, as he has been shown being able to tear parts from robots' bodies with brute force alone. Another testament to Gary's monstrous brute strength is that he is able to split the hydrogen in the air by punching, strike out with his fists or throw object through air with such force that he can make them ignite fire and punch the ground with enough strength to cause fissures, tremors and even kick up small volcanic eruptions over a wide area.

Immense Speed: Gary possesses mind-blowing speed which can be considered almost unsurpassed; his speed enables him to jump to the top of lamp posts with ease and leap from rooftop to rooftop. She can effectively use his agility to use the battlefield to his advantage, jumping from wall to wall to keep his opponents unsure of his attack patterns. Gary moves at such a speed that his foes more often than not can't register his movements, until he's made them; he's also skilled enough to dodge at tremendous speeds, even if he's assaulted from behind. It should be noted that a burst of crimson is emitted from his feet with every step he takes, augmenting his speed even further. Gary is capable of defying normal physics and zipping around with tremendous speed; and is able to move backwards at full speed just as well as forwards. His speed enables him to attack almost a multiple of fifty times in a row per second; and he manages to move fast enough to instantly close a huge gap of space between him and the opponent and even seemingly disappear from sight in the span of a millisecond. He is stated to move at a speed which nears breaking the sound barrier, and he often augments his physical blows by the velocity at which he is moving at. Due to such speed, he is able to scale right up the walls of buildings, or similar structures, and can also run right over water. When launched into the air, he can perform several tricks before finally landing on ground. He has also shown on several occasions that he can jump incredibly long distances, up to several hundred meters by applying speed to his jumps.
 * Shukuchi (縮地, lit. To Shrink the Earth): The highest speed that one can achieve; it is often touted as the "supreme form of ultimate speed"; and can be used by any master with any sort of speed-enhancing technique. This speed is noted to be something completely different than mere speed-enhancing techniques; in fact, it is called an ancient form of teleportation. On rare occasions, Shukuchi is misguidedly compared to the likes of light-speed, though this is completely inaccurate. By using the gathering energy method of his speed, Gary gathers additional energy within his legs in order to enhance his already tremendous speed, drastically boosting his movements exponentially. The movements of Shukuchi make it seem that the positions of Gary and his targets have been shrunk through his light-speed movements, hence the name of the technique. When utilizing Shukuchi, Gary releases a fair amount distinct noise like distorted lightning as he moves and on the ground she leaves craters in his wake with every step, and midair the region of the air around his ripples as though from waves of heat with an occasional discharge of electricity; leaving afterimages as he moves. Each of these afterimages are accompanied by powerful slicing winds that possess concussive power.

Insurmountable Durability: Gary's physical and mental durability and stamina is truly mind-boggling; capable of withstanding nearly any and all onslaughts thrown in his direction. His durability enables him rise from attack after attack after attack on numerous occasions, more often than not surprising and confounding his foe, striking fear into their hearts. He can smash several barriers of magical energy with his fist without showing any sign of pain or injury. This is due to his special skill, which is described below. He can smash several robots with his fist without showing any sign of pain or injury. It is also worth noting that, for nearly all the battles Gary has endured, he has never been crippled, nor has he displayed any serious injuries. Additionally, he can survive free-falls from extreme heights, bordering at the edge of space, falling face-first from a high point in the atmosphere twice, merely shaking it off after landing, and additionally, he is able to survive atmospheric reentry unharmed. Gary can, when necessary, expand his muscle areas to enhance his speed, agility, and strength. He is strong enough to forcibly move a pair of turrets, lift a giant building with little effort, and even temporarily halt a warship in its tracks. If he is penetrated by certain projectiles, the internal pressure could be utilized to propel them outwards from the body, as demonstrated by Gary against throwing knives.
 * Armour of Fafnir: Blood of the Evil Dragon Armour ( 悪竜の血鎧(アーマー・オブ・ファヴニール) , "Āmā obu Favunīru"; Japanese Akuryō no Chiyoroi), which is the invulnerability gained from bathing in the blood of the dragon, Fafnir. His skin is able to cancel attacks of Guild Ace or lower, which make all weapons ineffective against him; the process that ensures that this works is rather convoluted. Because of the holy blood of a being of draconic origin coursing through his veins, beings who are naturally resistant to assaults, the blood in Gary's body will harden the moment that he is faced with an attack via his magical energy instinctually flowing through them, represented by a faint pattern tracing the veins beneath the surface of his skin, which is only visible on the afflicted area when struck. This grants his body the ability of completely neutralizing magic of any type, allowing Gary to charge in without fear to quickly determine the outcome of the battle with a slash. This is especially true against those who dedicate their lives to practicing and unlocking the mysteries of the essence of magic, putting her at an overwhelming advantage and giving them little chance of victory should they face him directly, as spells instantly disappear simply from touching Gary. Due to a linden leaf sticking to him during the bathing process, he has a leaf-shaped mark upon his back that marks his only weakness.

Magic Abilities
Immense Magical Power: Being a potential candidate to the title of Majin, it is shown, without a doubt, that Gary has enormous magical reserves. Gary has natural control over the exertion of his magical energy, keeping it contained to the point where it is virtually impossible to detect his by normal means, though the constant effort can be taxing. The presence it exudes is completely at odds with his personality and appearance; the magical pressure itself is a vibrant crimson, crackling intensely when Gary focuses; when Gary's power is at it's peak, it transforms into the frightening visage of a Chinese dragon which surrounds him, striking fear into the hearts of his foes. It is so great it can be felt from a great distance and it has the tendency to make people perspire in fear. Additionally, the sheer aura radiating from his person has the additional effect of affecting entire areas to the point of disrupting energy attacks from enemies, as well as affecting others from seemingly miles away. Gary's magical energy is called an Energy Core, which is a fundamentally different from those of any other being. While any other being's body can be considered a machine which creates energy, his acts as a factory which creates energy. It functions as an enormous energy core with tremendous capacity that generates energy independent from his body simply through breathing.

"The most fearsome thing in this world is to be defeated by an attack using an unexplainable power coming from an incomprehensible place while you have no way of thinking up a counter measure. The attack is vague and you cannot assign conditions to it and you don’t even know if there is a direction you can go to avoid it or if you could even avoid it after getting tens of thousands of kilometers away. You now know how horrible that is firsthand." –Gary Straights, explaining his magic, Attack Crash, to Crux Kouga

Attack Crash ( 念動砲弾</rb>(</rp>アタッククラッシュ</rt>) </rp>, "Atakku Kurasshu", Japanese Nendō Hōdan literally, Telekinetic Shell): Attack Crash is the name of Gary's specialized magic; and a powerful Lost Magic. It displays a variety of effects which maybe the reason why others cannot comprehend it fully. Essentially, Attack Crash is his power to change life energy and normal magical power into an unexplainable type of power. The magic is not a myth or inhuman creation, but a power trained by the heart alone, making it reign as the strongest fantasy. It is the crystallization of the prayer named "glory" and everything etched in the hearts of those who are scattered at magic's radiance; the nostalgic, sorrowful, and hallowed dream of those who were placed on the bloody hell called a battlefield, of all warriors past, present, and future fully exposed to the fear of death and despair, and who still cling to a desire: "to be exalted." The power by its nature cannot be described, can't be explained, and can't be comprehended. Since the power cannot be comprehended, there is no possible defense to stop it according to Gary, which is very much apt; the magic is able to alter and ultimately negate even the causality between that which arises from cause and effect, capable of severing the bond between people, objects, and all phenomena though its unexplainable nature. Normally, it doesn't have any offensive function, but by forcefully using Attack Crash as an offensive power makes it even more unexplainable. Although a potential Majin cannot use spells that are used by normal mages, and only Lost Magic, with Attack Crash, he is blessed with this condition which allows him to use spells that a normal human can use like runic magic, or any type of magic. He uses Attack Crash due to the fact that his own magical energy is too special and can't be used with normal magical powers, even if he applied knowledge of various magical artifacts. In other words, he needs the unexplainable energy to be used up by Attack Crash to prevent a build-up of magical energy inside him, preventing himself from self-destructing.
 * Hliðskjálf ( 北欧王座</rb> (</rp>フリズスキャルヴ</rt>) </rp>, Hokuō Ōza (Furizusukyaruvu), lit. "Nordic Throne"): Better known by it's common name of "Felling of the Sky Demon" (天魔失墜, Tenma Shittsui); Hliðskjálf is Gary's main form of attack. To use the spell, he holds Balmung above his head and it begins to glow with an orange light. The twilight swells around the sword; turning it into a weapon of directive energy that converts Gary's magical power into light by accelerating it with his factor of the dragon, intensifying the kinetic energy by convergence and acceleration. It is an "ultimate killing technique" that releases light holding energy equaling Gary's total amount of energy from the tip of the blade once the sword is swung. While the result is what looks like a large beam of orange light, only the tip of the attack, which is a wave of light that can mow through the surface of the earth, is capable of doing damage, as the beam is the result of the "dislocation" of everything the attack destroys in its path. Even if it is dodged, those in close proximity can still be temporarily distracted by its intensity. Its concentric area of impact is broad enough to incinerate an entire military cohort, turn the ground into scorched earth and leave a great disorder in land that would never fade, cut into the clouds, and completely destroy an enormous demon, capable of regenerating instantly after receiving mountain shattering attacks, by annihilating every single atom of its flesh. Its destructive power can also be a negative trait that limits its usage, as it can easily damage the surrounding area and kill a large number of people if used under the wrong conditions. The distance between Gary and the enemy increases its effectiveness, so it is possible to limit its destructive power if they focus on close-range combat.
 * Stigma ( 聖痕</rb>(</rp>スティグマ</rt>) </rp>, Sutiguma; Japanese Seikon): Stigma is one of Gary's two spells; it is the ability to call upon the power of the divine, endowing him with super-human qualities. Attack Crash nullifies the limiter of the body so that he could use 100% of said capabilities as bio-engineered human being. To use it, it sends magical energy into his bloodstream before reaching his brain, resonating with adrenaline he is experiencing during combat. This in turn reacts with his own body and magical energy, increasing the strength, speed, and potential he possesses tenfold, giving him a truly insurmountable boost in power; entering a state of enhanced awareness and peak physical ability. While in this state, Gary demonstrates heightened reflexes and extremely quick information processing. However, this ability is a double-edged sword; it has a twenty minute time limit, which, if passed, has serious consequences for both Gary and his magical energy; though by this point in time, it is not too stressful, to the point that he can immediately move after being affected by the time drain.