Markus Hotaru

Markus Hotaru (マーカスほたる Mākasu Hotaru) is a powerful mage who used to secretly worked as the famous vigilante/thief Infamous. He now works as the Guild Ace for the Twilight Phoenix Guild.

Appearance
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 appearance. He also has two red line tattoos going over his left eye starting from his eyebrow to the underside of his chin. He is known for his black & red sleeveless trench coat, Black trousers that have 4 stapes on them; one half way up the shins, another just below the knees another just above the knees and the last halfway up the thigh. He also wears black cowboy/combat hybrid boots. He has a strange habit of wearing 2-3 belts as well all at different angles. Under his trenchcoat he normally wears a black vest with red highlights that look like wings wrapping around his torso.

When wearing his mask and armor his hair take a black star burst pattern and his tattoos turn black and grey instead of full color as usual. This makes it harder to figure out his identity. After forming the Twilight Phoenix guild Markus applied the guild mark to the back of his left hand. He also removed the mask's feature that changed his hair colour and the colour of the tattoos. Also on both boots he gains a special bladed spurs that can be sharpened and lengthened with the aid of his lightning. He normally only has one out though.

Earlier in his career he wore the same trench coat but with sleeves and had little to no tattoos (depending how many jobs he had done when seen). He also had shorter hair and very little number of scars on his face.

When sparring alone or with other member of his guild, members of the royal guards or even the king and crown prince of his home island MArkus will wear his training uniform. This uniform consists of him wearing black Gi trousers with the cuffs ripped and dishevelled and a white phoenix printed on the legs. He holds them up with a long black tied belt with gold bands at the tips. He also wraps his arms with bandages the same goes with his feet, to gain this look he simply requips it with his magic.

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.

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. Though after founding the Twilight Phoenix Guild he seemed to keep the Infamous attitude when in combat but seemed to blend his regular laid back attitude making jokes and wise crack lines every so often. Outside he takes a laid back wise man kinda of attitude and a brother to his most loved and cherished friends.

He also seems to have a great dislike to pacifists seening them as people who ignore the basic natures of life.....Conflict and hardship. As he's quoted many times "The world is made up of two sides....War and Peace, Life and Death, Good and Evil, Justice and Injustices....They are two sides of the same coin and will always exist trying to avoid or ignore it is pointless and redundant." Needless to say he's a man of war and justice and surprising wisdom.



His anger is also one of his most deadly traits, he can be a vicious animal when pushed and destroy anyone who gets in his way, however he dislikes giving in to it as it make him more violent and destructive to the surrounding area and people which goes against his personal code to protect the weak against evil. However he has 3 stages of anger; angry, pissed and demonic. Once he hits demonic take cover and stay out of his way.

Markus is also abit of an adrenaline junkie enjoying the thrill he gets from combat and often putting himself in life threatening situations jsut to get that rush. He'll even prolong fights to get his fix of adrenaline. Despite this he doesn't enjoy killing but will if need to, but that being said he will gladly kill those certain dark mages and tyrants that commit monsterous crimes against life. Those are the only people he'll show a sociopathic level enjoyment towards killing.

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.

Synopsis
Fairy Tail: Twilight

Magic and Abilities
"The man known as The Infamous Storm is a demon pure and simple.....He has not known defeat or death. A legend that goes around says he's died a hundred times and everytime has come back stronger....If anyone is able to defeat him i wish to meet them and understand who they are that could defeat Markus Hotaru the stongest mage of the Crescent Archipelago."

-King Horden; Ruler of Mochina Island

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. By pressed and draggingt he two tiny skulls on the arms of the headphones Markus can turn them into a set of magical speakers.
 * 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 more armour running down his arm in the form of black leather strips on the upper arm which finally ends with a armoured gauntlet, his other arm doesn't have the armoured section but does have the same armoured gauntlet. The back has a similar armour protecting his upperback but retains a high degree of flexibility. His boots are covered with the same segmented plate armour as the gauntlets. After he formed the guild he kept the armour's design but changed the colour from all black to black with a dark red version of the guild symbol over the left side of the armour.
 * Mask: To protect his face and identity he wears a white and red fox mask (later black and red). The mask has an enchantment that allows him to use Transformation magic while wearing it, this makes it easier than learning the magic he just thinks of a disguise and mimics someone almost perfectly. It did have an automatic transformation spell that was maintained aslong as the mask was worn (see appearence for details) it was later abandoned after Markus gave up his vigilante work. Another fun feature is it's chameleon ability that allows Markus to blend into his surroundings almost perfectly (those with amazingly sharp eyesight or magical sensing abilities will spot him). The mask is also very durable able to take a serious bit of punishment before cracking.
 * 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 as using his magic to charge it would be pointless. 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.
 * The Ember: Another tool Markus aquired on a small job asa  reward it allows him to store vast quantities of fire magic that allow him to enter his Burning Storm Mode when no other fire mage is around. It appears to be the fire twin of The Charge, having similar shape and size.
 * Swords: Markus can requip two blades twin katana one blue and one red. The red sword is Death Wing and the blue sowrd is Star Talon. Both are rare and well made swords crafted by The Hotaru Clan centuries ago and are symbols of power amoung the clan itself.
 * The Death Wing:  The red blade Twin_Katanas_by_Tajaia.jpg the two swords. The seath has a red grip like on it's hilt just under the top of the saya, it also has a tassel attached to the top of the saya which seems to serve no purpose other than to add abit of style. Near the base of the saya is a chain that doesn't serve any real purpose along with another tassel. The blade of the sword has a red edge and a white blade with golden runes engraved into the red edge.
 * Nigh-Unbreakable: The blade is forged of Micain Steel a nearly unbreakable but very rare metal found only in the Crescent Achipelago. It can be broken but only with an amazing level of power.
 * Weight: While most swords weight only several pounds this weighs over a ton (4 tons). This weight allows more powerful strikes.
 * Magical Alignment: This allows the sword to channel magic through it. Markus channels his Phoenix Magic through it to create devastating cuts. It can also make use of other people's magic for example if catches a fire ball mid air with the sword he can reflected back or at someone else..
 * Mage Link: Ths sword can only be used by those who summon it. while others may pick it up but if they try to attack with it they'll be unable to.
 * The Star Talon: The blue twin to Death Wing almost idencticle in every way except for the colour. The blade has the same design as well a blue edge and white blade.
 * Nigh-Unbreakable: Like it's cousin and siblings the blade is nearly unbreakable despite it's small slender blade and distinct lack of weight. The blade will bend though but always retains it shape in the end.
 * Weight: The blade weights the same as every other regular sword in the Earth-Land.
 * Magical Alighnment: Like it's cousin and siblings the blade can absorb and use magic to attack and enhance certain magic attacks, by catching the attack and redirecting it back, but unlike it's cousin in the forms of magic homing arrows.
 * Mage Link: Once aligned to the user it must be given to someone else to be used by anyone different from it's owner.

Trivia

 * Markus' hand to hand combat style is based on a combination of Jeet Kune Do, Five Animals Kung Fu (Tiger, Leopard, Dragon, Crane and Snake variation), Capoeria, Lethwei, Taekwondo, Boxing, Ninjutsu and Aiki-jujutsu. The stance is based on Bruce Lee's classic stance (basicly this http://browse.deviantart.com/art/DSC-Dashiell-Badhorse-185550752). His weapon based style is a mash up of free style techniques and chinese swordsmanship & Krabi Krabong (A Thai weapon style involving sword and staff) with elements of Fencing, Kenjutsu, Bojutsu & Sojutsu.


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


 * Markus' theme(s) are [[File:This Will Be the Day (Rooster Teeth's RWBY) - By Jeff Williams feat Casey Lee Williams (With Lyrics)|thumb|right|301px|This will be the day by Jeff and Casey Lee Williams]]This Will Be The Day from RWBY done by Jeff Williams and Casey Lee Williams when in a fight, GAbandon All Ships - Guardian Angel (HD) with lyricsan Angel by Abandon All Ships for a protective moment and Kick It Up from the Digimon MovieAir Gear-Kick It up-0 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.
 * Markus' fav saying is "Walk towards death, fight for life."
 * Here's a list of facts not mentioned in the articles above:
 * His favirote food(s) is Ramen and Onion Rings.
 * His favirote drink is Mochina Sake and Phoenix Pop (a fizzy drink made on Mochina Island).
 * He has an I.Q. of 196 mainly focused around tactics, history and philosophy.
 * He loves music (Heavy Metal and Rock).
 * Markus would love to face the S-Class/S-Class level Mages from Fairy Tail. Especially Natsu and Gildarts.
 * Hates tyrants, bullies and scumbag criminals.
 * Loves cats & dogs.
 * Can let out a battle cry that mimics a Phoenix/Eagles cry
 * HATES wearing suits or any formal attire. Always seen in either his casual appearence or when in serious combat in his armour.
 * His tattoos were rewards he gave himself after completing every 4 jobs. it took him 20 jobs to get his arms, legs, chest and back covered and another 4 to get the tattoos on his face. The tattoos are also done with a specially enchanted ink so that he doesn't need any redo's when he gets a serious injury, they simple repair themselves as he heals.
 * Markus runs like a ninja at high speed, with his arms back along his sides and torso leaning forwards.
 * Markus often refers to a large mountain that overlooks the Mochina capital as a reference to his full power. Markus most of the cap cleanly off resulting in the cap looking like 2 horns, the reason for this was due to a dangerous Drake threatening the city.

Stats
During the last Crescent Archipelago Tournment, Markus wowed the crowd and judges with a flawless victory score and was voted to be one of the strongest mages to have lived by The Mochina Weekly newspaper. They done a huge spread that took up the bulk of the issue about his past, magic and combat skills, this included the power chart.