Deen Lhant

"At the same time as... hmph... at the same time as trying to lead a good life, I have to reconcile myself with the fact that, yes, I have killed people in the pursuit of order. Not many people. Most of them were not very nice people. Listen here little missy; most of us are kind-hearted law-abiding human beings who would never dream of committing murder in private life. We're just...people. It's the only way to keep the money rolling in so that we keep a roof over our heads and eat every night. It's just, a job. Nothing personal."

- Deen Lhant, to Tsuruko Sejren, in Paragon of Hope

Deen Lhant (ディーン・ラント, Deen Ranto) is the Head Captain of the Rune Knights in Daybreak Chapter: A Change of Perspective. A troubled young man, Deen often bemoans the fact that the Magic Council which he works for is seen as tyrannical, whereas most of the employees hold no real grudge against regular mages, but are simply doing a job they're getting paid for, repeatedly telling people that they're totally personable joes who go hang out like anyone else. Nevertheless, he is seen arresting Tsuruko Sejren in his first appearance, before he lets her go due to a trick Giselle Mercury played upon him. Later on, he becomes the "official" bodyguard of Team Daybreak and plays a vital role in the story. As a former lacky, grunt, and mook, he delved into the darkness of the world and turned into an anomaly that disrupts Mr. E's plans and calculations time and time again.

Appearance
Deen is a youth with short, light blond hair and light blue eyes; he's described as having a cool look. Tsuruko described him when she saw him for the first time to have a silky blond hair, and a pretty face that could almost be mistaken for a girl's, but his eyes were strangely sharp. His expression was stiff, and he exudes an air of coldness and spoke with a severe voice.

Like the other male members of the Rune Knights in the Daybreak era, he wears a uniform that consists of a black jacket, white pants, a medium-sized red cape and a brown pack. In his summer outfit, he wears a white shirt, black pants, black gloves, and necktie, and retains his cape and brown pouch. In his formal outfit, he wears a red jacket, white gloves, black pants, a medium-sized white cape and a black pack. Deen also wears skates that have a pattern of small "jets" on the bottom which Deen uses to propel himself forward at high speeds.

Personality and Traits
Deen is a bitter, impatient, and complex young man, akin to a tragic villain; demonstrating empathy for others despite his pompous attitude. He believes that one becomes strong by struggling and fighting for what they want. However, he expresses contradicting mindsets; he did not want good luck because he felt he could control his fate, but also believed he was marked unlucky and that the world was against him. His reaction to the perception of the world always set against him is an iron-willed defiance and inflexible determination. He is clever, yet hot-headed, often letting his temper get the best of him. He seems adverse to the thought of harming others without any motive or benefit.

Due to his lack of magic, Deen shows an inferiority complex that makes him think he can't do anything right or complete. The main reason behind this is that he had been always branded as a powerless person and a mere "mook", he has yet to display any manifestation of an esper ability. Therefore, due to his lack of power and mockery by genuine magicians, he decided to join the Rune Knights in order to be the one pushing the magicians around. This complex can be seen in his usual snarks, as he always complains about the situation. In battle, he prefers to avoid fighting if possible or to finish the fight as quickly as possible; due to his perceived "weakness"—being highly pragmatic and merciless, aiming to target the opponents weak-spots and tactically disable them as fast as possible before dealing the finishing blow.

Deen is a highly dedicated worker—he's very serious, calm, wise and disciplined, but also opinionated and somewhat arrogant at times. Despite this fact, he is usually eager to find danger to flex and polish his skills. His dedication to his missions often leads to him going to extremes in order to complete his tasks, no matter how minor; taking everything that has to do with his job absolutely seriously. Amusingly, Deen is suggestive to anything sex-related, as shown when he got a nosebleed simply by seeing Giselle putting a stuffed bunny doll behind Tsuruko to give her a bunny girl look. While Deen is generally a stoic person, he secretly has a childish dream of becoming a super hero—something that he tells Tsuruko when she asks him about his dreams. When he first becomes his alter-ego, his face showed great discomfort, but was actually quite delighted in secret; going so far to prepare a hammy speech.

History
Not much is known about Deen's past; other than the fact that he was born into poverty, and his parents died when he was young. As a result, he was forced to scavenge on the streets, and as the magicians bullied him, he grew to despise the concept of magic. Soon after, he joined the Rune Knights and quickly rose up the ranks.

Equipment
CW-AIM02X: Blue Rose (青薔薇, Aobara): The Blue Rose is a mass-produced version of the Chain Blade (変形銃槍剣, チェインブレイド, Chein Bureido), which is an Earth Land weapon; once a unique weapon, it has now become a staple of the Magic Council's standard equipment; developed by Caledfwlch Techniques as a AIM Armament (AIM武装 AIM Busō); which is a series of weapons manufactured by Caledfwlch Techniques for the Magic Council's Rune Knights; the primary function of the AIM series is to counteract the effects of magic. The abbreviation "AIM" presumably stands for "Anti-Magic"; however, AIM can also stand for An Involuntary Movement' (無自覚 Mujikaku, lit. "No Awareness"); meaning that the weapon is at the pinnacle of power. Visually, the Blue Rose is a sword of average length characterized by its mechanical nature and looks. It sports a notably long handle wrapped in bandages, allowing the wielder to wield it with both hands (even maintaining a certain distance between the two of them), ending in a large pommel with an arched outer part. The sword's blade is double-edged, and is notable in the fact that it lacks a sharp tip, instead ending in a squared section. The handguard is the tool's most complex part, being massive and hollow on the edges, extending for several inches over one side of the blade itself, sporting two small wings on each of its sides, meant to offer protection to the hand, and bearing two openings on one of such sides, each surrounded by bolts: the first is small and trapezoidal in shape, serving no visible practical purpose, while the other has an elongated, complex polygonal shape, and a prominent lever jutting out from it, which is used to activate the weapon's special qualities. It looks very similar to the standard Chain Blade, so much so, that people can generally only tell the difference from colour schemes most commanders apply to their weapons and the increased performance of this version; Deen's version of the weapon is coloured azure with golden linings. The Blue Rose features a more powerful powerplant compared to the regular Chain Blade, which in turn, gives it greater power. This allows Deen to move and attack at speeds 3x faster and more powerful than he would with a normal Chain Blade; making it incredibly dangerous in the hands of the commanders it was handed out to. The model designation of the Blue Rose, "CW-AIM02X", stands for "Caledfwlch Anti-Magic Experimental Weapon 02". Blue roses, which cannot occur naturally, have long been a symbol for extreme rarity or attaining the impossible. Roses also traditionally symbolize love, while blue flowers are used to signify great faithfulness and loyalty; the combination of the two would thus denote a lasting, faithful love.
 * Hidden Blade: By manipulating the lever located on one of its sides, the user can almost instantly reveal several smaller segments of the handguard's protrusion (usually partially overlapping), which together extend some meters past the squared blade and end in a secondary, smaller one-edged blade, usually kept hidden, which sports a sharp point, and is thus suited for stabbing. This allows the sword to double as a polearm of sort (with the added blade granting it the possibility of both slashing and stabbing, much like a halberd or a naginata), whose notable length, thanks to the segments composing it, can be bent to some degree to better attack targets; not only that, the speed at which the weapon elongates is fast enough to catch opponents off-guard, making for an effective and possibly lethal surprise attack, and the sheer force present in such motion is such that not only what it hits, but even objects out of its physical reach can suffer heavy damage, being struck by an aerial shockwave which can cause devastating effects, obliterating large-sized trees with ease.
 * Gunner Mode: The user is capable of turning the Chain Blade into a firearm reminiscent of an assault rifle. This is handled with two hands and can fire barrages of bullets at high speed, granting its user an effective ranged weapon to attack foes with; a weapon that poses a treat even to fast-moving enemies. Its magazine seems to contain a considerable amount of projectiles, allowing the one handling it to shoot for quite some time before reloading the gun. In such state, it is wielded using one of its handguard's protrusion (now complete with a trigger) as the handle, with the blade disappearing and a dark barrel emerging on top of the handguard; a rectangular detachable magazine has to be pulled down diagonally by the user from the weapon's lower side in order for it to be employed. The Chain Blade ' s original handle can be laid against the user's shoulder, acting as a stock, while a forestock is now located below the barrel. The weapon's lever isn't visible in such state.

Ways of Combat
Master Swordsmanship Specialist: Deen has displayed a rather advanced technique with a sword, utilizing the mechanical, transforming Blue Rose as his weapon of choice, and displaying great efficiency with it; unleashing extremely accurate blows and quick maneuvers before his opponent can react that are much swifter than other swordsmen in the main cast; in fact, Tsuruko even compares Deen to an actual samurai; something that not even the strongest swordsmen are classified as due to their reliance on other fighting styles. The speed and precision of Deen's strikes are able to inflict a lethal blow on his opponent without staining the blade with blood, and even slice open the head of a large demon. Most of the time, Deen uses Iaidō (居合道, Way of Iai), a sword style where the user quick draws the blade extremely fast to strike, then re-sheathing it after every attack. Deen's speed is so fast that he prevents opponents from reciting magical incantations; making it highly effective against magicians, however, if one has no need for incantations, then they could hamper Deen's advantage. Deen is able to strike so fast that the opponent does not realize they have been cut until he sheathes his weapon; thanks to the uniqueness of Blue Rose, even though it is heavy, he carries it in a large sheathe and has no problems withdrawing it, swinging, and re-sheathing the weapon—Deen himself states that he has trained himself to wield it in such a manner. His skills in the use of the weapon's basic form (and thus in general swordsmanship) allowed him to cut down some of the darkness spears generated by a rogue member of the Magic Council with ease, astonishing the Dark Mage. Deen is shown to be just as capable when it comes to exploiting his sword's unique techniques: right after negating his foe's attack, he was able to extend his blade and almost land a blow on the Dark Mage, the feat made more creditable due to the sheer size and length of the weapon being used. He could also slice through the magically frozen leg of a giant, leaving a deep crack in it.
 * Spar Claw ( 上昇斬(スパー･クロー) , Supā Kurō, lit. Rising Slash): A simple move in which Deen wields Blue Rose with both hands; from a position which is below the foe, which is usually achieved by crouching down for a split-second, Deen applies his free arm to the back of the blade, before leaping upwards with a quick burst of speed, then jumps into the air; something which also allows him to avoid other attacks, and performs a vertical, upwards slash with the blade; unleashing a rising attack meant to strike the jaw from below; continuing to rise, Deen appears slightly above his foe's head, before slamming down with the intent to strike their brain. The wind that accompanies this strike is twice as fierce as before, feeling almost as if a razor had cut the foe at the same time of the strike. A violent wind which is generated through the sheer velocity generated by his movements accompanies this blow to deal additional damage.
 * Atomic Spar ( 微塵牙突(アトミック･スパ) , Atomikku Supa, lit. Particle Fang Thrust): Atomic Spar is a technique in which Deen unleashes a powerful thrust after lunging forward, plunging Blue Rose into an enemy with high speeds; making it extremely useful; interestingly, Deen appears to be dragged by his sword, as his feet literally slide over the ground after he simply thrusts Blue Rose in his foes' direction. Atomic Spar can also be used outside of combat to allow Deen to use a long jump when performed off of a ledge. This can be useful to reach areas that are unaccessible with a normal jump—the swift motion of the blade which is accelerated and augmented by the buildup of energy—with kinetic enhancing it— slices through any and all barriers and unleashes a vortex of destruction; this slash is almost unrivalled, releasing a slicing horizontal cyclone with Deen at its origin that tears through the landscape, wreaking havoc everywhere. Atomic Spar has only a precious few blind spots to be exploited. Despite the apparent inflexibility of using one attack repeatedly, it has many useful applications. The motion of the Atomic Spar can also be used even with his bare hands.
 * Atomic Spurt ( 微塵速牙突刀</rb>(</rp>アトミック･スパート</rt>) </rp>, Atomikku Supāto, lit. Particle Speed Fanged Thrust Blade): Atomic Spurt is a destructive piercing technique which requires the use of the mechanical sword Blue Rose; and it is Deen's most powerful sword technique. When performing Atomic Spurt, Deen extends the weapon's secondary blade in his foe's direction at high speed, trying to impale them, all the while wielding the sword's handle in the same way he would wield a spear. The blade also carries tremendous force when extending; and Deen can maintain the extension and swing the spear-form in wide arcs, attacking multiple targets quickly and simultaneously; Blue Rose's maximum length is equivalent to one hundred times its original length—The momentum generated by this motion is astonishing, enough to reduce a large tree several meters away from its target and from the blade itself to pieces; at its full power, Deen is capable of swiftly cutting an entire house in half with a single slash while standing a great distance away.

Master Hand-to-Hand Combatant: Besides his overwhelming ability with a sword, Deen is extremely well-versed in hand-to-hand combat. Rather fitting for somebody so pragmatic, Deen's way of fighting enables him to knock foes out effortlessly. Deen's fighting style possesses amazing footwork, defense, and tremendous speed and power; and he was able to effortlessly knock out three students at La Pucelle stealthily with a single strike each. He can easily catch an opponent's attack with a single hand, perform powerful kicks and wrestling throws, as well as elegant techniques. His fighting style involves striking the nerves or pressure points that control movement of his opponent with the use of specialized techniques, allowing him to paralyze them. By hitting the opponent's pressure points, he can cause damage to surrounding organs due to their proximity to the pressure points; meaning that the slightest tap can cause severe internal damage. However, the location of these nerves is different in every species so a great amount of knowledge and experience is required to utilize this fighting style effectively; and lastly, these techniques require an exorbitant amount of skill, power and precision and have only been performed by Deen himself. His attacks are also extraordinarily fast; an evidence of this is the fact that not a single character in the series has managed to block or dodge one of his strikes. Despite this, they are carried out with pinpoint accuracy; never missing.
 * Spiral Hollow ( 螺旋抜掌</rb>(</rp>スパイラル･ホロウ</rt>) </rp>, Supairaru Horō; lit. Helix Uproot Palm): With this technique, Deen is able to perform very precise attacks using his bare hands. The blows he lands are also very painful, compensating for the lack of true damage to the opponent. This technique is used to close off the flow of magical energy through one hundred and twenty-eight magical points of an opponent's magic pathways. This eliminates their ability to use magical energy for quite some time and makes it difficult for them to move. Alternatively, it can be used to hit a great number of targets very quickly. First, he starts with a powerful blow to the celiac plexus that can paralyze the target completely before finishing with multiple strikes to the opponent's motor nerves that paralyze every muscle in their body. This allows him to finish them off with any other technique.

Physical Prowess
Enhanced Strength: As a regular human, Deen's physical strength is really nothing to write home about- it is very much below average- a major contributing factor to this is his low physical durability, and the fact that it is virtually impossible for him to take a 'serious' hit; though it is still very much above the average human. Deen possesses an enhanced amount of strength; enough to shatter wood with his bare hands. However, compared to the others, Deen's strength is somewhat lacking; he more often than not finds it difficult to perform physical tasks; and struggles to withstand a strike. Because of this, Deen uses quick palm strikes to produce extra pain to the opponent, and while at first these blows do not seem as if they are inflicting any particular harm, the damage racks up frighteningly fast.

Immense Speed: Lithe and graceful, Deen excels at midair battling, and can run rings around foes due to his overwhelming agility and dexterity; with his Hover Shoes, Deen can hover-skate at supersonic speeds, even nearing that of hypersonic speeds, and is fast enough to nearly equal the speeds that Tsuruko can run at. Even though he is physically weaker than most of the cast, Deen is noticeably faster; moving at speeds rivaling those of a High Speed user without using any movement techniques. Deen's leg strength allows him to more than make up for his physical strength, allowing him to move fast enough to instantly close a huge gap of space between him and the opponent and even seemingly disappear from sight. He 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. Deen 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, leaving afterimages behind as he moves.

Innate Fragility: Deen is much weaker in physical strength compared to other members of the cast, since his legs buckle inwards as he slides whereas many of the other cast keep them bent strong. He also gives the impression of being as weak as ice, though the grievous wounds that he receives throughout the series imply that he is somewhat tough as well. However, Deen's frame makes him a difficult target; Deen even notes that in a straight up battle with the "big hitters", he would go down in "five seconds, give or take". However, thanks to his build, Deen is very nimble and can dodge attacks easily; this indeed did lead him to forsake toughening himself up physically and instead focusing purely on speed—with hypersonic speed, there is really no need to be physically durable, and his speed more than makes up for this slight setback.

Assorted Others
Incredible Tactician: Deen is also very perceptive and analytical young man, judging from how quickly he can analyze an opponent's power and attack patterns to ultimately make them useless against him with due time, and eventually, he can easily place himself many moves ahead of his foe to ensure a total safeness; from there, he is capable of coming up with highly effective counter-strategies to his opponent's actions. Deen is extremely analytical in battle, and can exploit his opponent's weaknesses quite easily, such as Tsuruko's reliance on her quick judgment, to which he replies by kicking Tsuruko's back rather than with the sword despite having taken his sword up. He is supremely confident in combat, immobilizing an enemy for a moment to calmly assess the battlefield and other enemies before destroying his current target. Compared to modern magicians who refuse to use phones and the like despite their convenience, he freely uses anything at his disposal in order to accomplish his goals. While not his specialty, he is occasionally able to exploit his opponent's vulnerabilities mentally as well, which he displayed by mocking a fellow Rune Knight's cowardly move in backing down from his vendetta against Alexis. Deen is also skilled at infiltration and stealth, able to sneak into heavily-defended fortresses and conceal himself effectively for long periods of time.

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Dragon-Blooded Knight
"The heavens call... The earth cries out... The crowds roar... All calling on me to strike back against evil. Now listen up, villains! I am the warrior of justice, the Dragon-Blooded Knight!"

- Deen Lhant, upon transforming for the first time

Dragon-Blooded Knight (竜血の騎士, Ryūketsu no Kishi): The Dragon-Blooded Knight is the name of Deen's alter-ego and the form he takes upon invoking the powers of the Mage Ring. When Deen slips the Mage Ring upon his finger, the Mage Ring's special ability activates—as the eternano in the atmosphere quickly becomes drawn to him; gathering and condensing upon the ring and reacting with Deen's dormant magical container; through a method known as Henshin 1-Shot (変身一発, Henshin Ippatsu) where the Mage Ring opens his magical container, gathering and condensing the eternano into his container and unlocking his Second Origin—actually granting him the power to use the magic of his past life, where he was a powerful knight who had the blood of a dragon coursing through his veins.

Four hundred years ago, Deen was a knight who served to protect a kingdom he lived in; being friends with the ruler of Bevelle, Gary Straights' previous incarnation. When Gary's kingdom was attacked by the Tyrant Dragon Vritra, Deen arrived to assist. He was targeted by Vritra's Blaze Holy Flare, but he was too quick to be hit by the multiple blasts; even managing to use his dragon-slaying genes to deal a powerful blow to Vritra which has not healed even now. As Gary's fiancé arrived, she sacrificed herself in order to become the Savior Quasar Dragon, Critias; who, along with the Berserk Shine Dragon Indra, put a stop to Vritra's madness—after defeating Vritra who was crystalized by The Exalted One, Critias and Indra were also crystalized; though the day had been saved, Bevelle's future queen had died and the king was left heartbroken.

Eventually, he returned to his home village, but learned about how his fellow knights had grown arrogant and plotted to usurp the King. Deen intercepted the other knights and tried to reason with them, but Deen failed and the knights turned their swords on him. Since Deen was unwilling to kill his former comrades, Deen was eventually defeated and killed. However, Deen's fellow knights regretted their actions and they buried him peacefully. Eventually, he was reincarnated as the Deen seen today—however, due to being killed instead of dying, a remnant of his power still remained within him, which is what allowed the Deen of the present to become the Dragon-Blooded Knight as the Mage Ring invokes his sealed magical power; as the knight is the representation of all of the power he possessed within the past.

As he opens his Second Origin, Deen undergoes a unique transformation as golden armour covers his body; mainly textured as golden, crimson, and azure, sporting a purple cape, the armour possesses draconic wings, and overall a draconic look, adding to its menacing factor. It possesses a rather mechanized look as well; appearing as a unique hybrid of past and future, making it appear mysterious—to cap it off, the armour has a draconic horn that extends outwards. The armour of this form has blue on the arms, legs, and head. The chest is primarily white with a red sun-like shape in the center, the core exposed due to the removal of most of the armour plating. A shining aura of gold surrounds his body as the sheer pressure emitted by this aura enables him to strike fear into the hearts of his foes. When donning the armour, Deen goes by the name of the "Dragon-Blooded Knight" (竜血の騎士, Ryūketsu no Kishi); possessing near infinite power that allows him to contend with the likes of Mr. E and even down a dragon with a few attacks. As Giselle would later explain, the magical power cannot be used by a normal human, as usage would ultimately result in death for utilizing it even a single time. However, due to sheer determination, Deen would become the Dragon-Blooded Knight four times before finally dying due to the strain it put on his body. -->
 * Dragon-Slaying Gene: The magical energy of the Dragon-Blooded Knight carries a "dragon-slayer"-esque effect; only when in the guise of the knight is Deen capable of utilizing it. This magical energy acts as a powerful barrier against demonic corruption, as well as darkness-aligned attacks—the magical energy is also apparent within his attacks, which are incredibly effective against corrupted beings; or any individual which has darkness-aligned abilities. This magical energy is strong enough to permanently damage the strongest dragons, some of which can usually recover from even the most life-threatening damage, which is how Deen was even able damage Vritra; allowing Deen to defeat most dark beings with ease. His genes give him the power to harm holy and demonic beings in equal proportions; obliterating any and all traces of which made them divine and wicked in the first place, respectively, before finishing them off for good. With his power, Deen can perceive the points and lines of a holy or demonic target's death. A cut along any line will bifurcate the object, no matter the sharpness of cutting tool used, and ultimately destroy the object's origin, causing instant death. Deen's abilities extend to cutting things with no physical existence, such as manifestations of the target's magic. With this combination, he is able to perceive the death of mostly anything, though it is limited to what he perceives as "holy or demonic." Something like a telephone is seen as "being alive because it's not broken", so he will not see lines on a broken telephone because he feels that it is "already dead." The notion only refers to his perception of "holy and demonic" rather than if it has "unearthly origins", so ghosts can be killed even though they are "dead" because they are "unearthly" in the sense that they can interfere with the current world. Beings do not have to have to be "unearthly" in order to be "killed", so even zombies without life can be slain. Deen can stop anything that can move and break without exception.
 * Enhanced Physical Attributes: As the Dragon-Blooded Knight, Deen's attributes are drastically enhanced; because, with a simple swing of his sword, Deen is capable of manifesting a violent tremor that obliterates the ground it comes into contact with and knock his foes away; in addition, his blows with his blade and unarmed are positively overwhelming and can be bone-shattering. In addition, his endurance has been upped significantly; enabling his to receive damage like it was nothing and ignore all senses of pain—though it should be noted that this varies on the factor of how powerful the blow is. Finally, Deen's naturally immense swiftness is augmented to the point that he forgoes any need for speed-enhancing techniques, enabling him to outstrip almost anyone in a contest of pure speed. All of these boosted attributes were a major deciding factor in how Deen was capable of fighting on-par with the Knight of Silver Plains—impressing his foe, who called him, "the strongest human to exist".
 * Enhanced Swordsmanship: Interestingly, when becoming the Dragon-Blooded Knight, Deen's swordsmanship capabilities shoot straight through the roof—gaining overwhelming power and speed, so much that Gary Straights and Crux Kouga, two of the strongest swordsmen in the Dawnverse, state that they are intimidated by Deen's incredible skill now; naturally, it doesn't hurt that he is now wielding a drastically stronger weapon, that of the mighty Dein Nomos. His defenses when blocking with Dein Nomos is like a wall, and his offense is capable of tremendous precision; utilizing evasion and attacking an opponent either in the front or back using the element of surprise to overwhelm them; it was stated that due his skill, his sword is essentially considered a "danger zone"; and if her foe even so much as touches this "zone", they will be obliterated in a few moments. Through mere thought, Deen can unleash numerous blows as the blade floating beside him spins and twirl, dealing "grinding" damage. Dein Nomos acts as though it has a mind of its own; Deen effortlessly sends it slicing into enemies with a flick of his wrist, and launches into long strings of attacks, engulfed in flame, that pierce right through enemies' defenses.
 * Zantetsuken (斬鉄剣, Iron-Cutting Sword): Zantetsuken is the signature technique of the Dragon-Blooded Knight; it is also one of the most powerful Sword Magic spells to ever exist. When performing the technique, Deen sheathes Dein Nomos, while dashing past the opponent; the moment that he passes them, he unleashes his sword and delivers a triad of almighty sidewards slashes that have no peer; afterwards, he sheathes his blade and the magical energy unleashed from the triple slash is expelled with every strike, scattering through the air and forming into the kanji for "Zantetsuken" (Zan Tetsu Ken). When utilized as a finishing move, Zantetsuken has a chance to instantly defeat or kill the opponent; and no enemy is immune to this instant defeat condition, however, it more often than not, deals extremely high damage to them. The three cuts only appear seconds after Deen has struck them. This technique throws away defense for a full powered attack, so he only utilizes this 'death-or-glory' attack in life-or-death situations. Whether or not Zantetsuken kills the enemy is determined by the amount of magical energy poured into the triad of blows; meaning that if Deen spends all of his magical power into Zantetsuken, then it is a sure kill. When it kills the opponent, it seems as if the triad of slashes did absolutely zero damage at all; but moments later as Deen walks ten feet away from them, the enemy realizes that Deen has killed them; then, they are bisected and their body slides apart before vanishing. The actual attack itself however, is never seen clearly in any of its appearances because of the speed utilized in its workings. The technique is highly versatile, since with it, Deen is capable of slashing multiple targets at once and, if he desires, the damage that he inflicts can be as fatal or as incapacitating as he wishes.
 * Rensen (連閃, Flourish of Steel): A special sword technique that has odd offensive/defensive properties; it is renowned as one of the strongest assets that Deen has. When he uses it, Deen manifests a circular glyph in front of himself that whirls around at high speeds; timing is key the moment that he summons it. If he has cast it at the exact moment that any of the foe's attacks is about to strike him; the special ability takes place—upon the moment of impact, the glyph releases a pulse of magical energy that reverses the opponent's blow in the span of a few seconds while he slashes forward with Dein Nomos, carrying the pulse on his blade; quickly counterattacking by reflecting the foe's attack at high speeds; often more than enough to absolutely overwhelm them in a single blow; such is its power. Rensen is capable of busting through the opponents defenses with relative ease; destroying everything in its path in order to deal a large amount of damage in a single wide swath.
 * War Emperor Magic (軍帝の魔法, Guntei no Mahō): War Emperor Magic is a special Caster-Type Lost Magic that Deen utilizes; allowing him to assume and utilize the full power of the Dragon-Blooded Knight. When utilizing it, Deen is able to conjure a kind of destructive matter that is stuck in-between the state of particle and waves that allows him to manipulate the space around any object or substance of her choice, allowing for great versatility. It is a magic touted similar to War God Magic, but fundamentally different in that it goes more in-depth with it's mechanisms and does not promise an 'absolute territory' as seen in the latter magic, making it far more manageable. As the wave is struck between the state of particles and waves, it's magical frequency is wildly fluctuating; War Emperor Magic can cause a diverse amount of effects ranging from elemental emission to warping; it is assisted by Deen's mental commands flowing through the flow of his magical energy, allowing him to prevent the effects from being randomized and merely controlled. Additionally, Deen can utilize the effects of War Emperor Magic upon himself; in order to dart around the area as if through an obscure method of teleportation. He can use War Emperor Magic to fire up to four beams at once, create a defensive shield that can melt/disintegrate steel, and supposedly his ability even grants him the ability to turn into an intangible energy, allowing him to phase through attacks. Most of the spells of War Emperor Magic revolve around light and stars; whether or not this is part of the Lost Magic, or by Deen's choice, remains to be seen.
 * Heaven's Sole Spirit (天一神, Nakagami): The most basic attack that Deen has when under the guise of the Dragon-Blooded Knight, raising his blade above his head, the sword begins to charge with an golden light of blinding brilliance, causing most to avert their eyes upon seeing it. The twilight swells around the sword, before converging at a singular point—the tip of the sword; intensifying the kinetic energy that is about to be released by convergence and acceleration, he unleashes a massive horizontal slash of unstable energy that erupts outwards and "purifies the very soul", releasing it as a flash of light; a surging wave of golden light that was conceptualized for the simple purpose of absolute destruction. Heaven's Sole Spirit is a wave of twilight that is released in a semicircle that is centered around Deen. It is said to represent the rays of heat from the sun; a supernova, to be exact; this magical energy transfigures into a cascade of shining beams reminiscent of shooting stars, which lock-on to his opponents no matter their position, chasing after them. They can dodge obstacles in their way, unless it is not physically possible, never ceasing their hunt until they catch their prey. Impacting upon their opponent, these shining beams detonate with great force, enough to level a city block. Heaven's Sole Spirit is most useful when activated towards the end of a battle between high-level opponents, since the area will be saturated with excess energy from their attacks. It is a recycling of the magical energy just used and spread over the battlefield. Therefore, even though Deen has been exhausted from magical energy, the ability can still be invoked.
 * Dragon Four-mation (ドラゴンフォーメーション, Doragon Fōmēshon): One of Deen's most useful spells; he causes bilocation, which causes his foes to view two places at once; this allows him to shift himself towards the enemy's blind spot. Upon noticing the "fake" Deen, his foes become caught under brief hypnosis, causing those under the influence of the technique can be easily outmaneuvered by Deen. From there, he expels his magical energy outwards and solidifies it in the form of three duplicates of himself. The duplicates formed by this technique function as if they were Deen himself, even able to bleed. After sustaining enough damage, they become miniature dragons and rise to the heavens before turning to ash. Deen often makes use of these puppets to utilize some of his stronger attacks and to act as diversions or support in the heat of battle. This technique is by far, Deen's most useful technique. These puppets also carry a shocking twist- when defeated, they let out a small explosion which can burn or paralyze his foe in an instant. The clones can only be dissipated by striking them enough times, or if the constant drainage of Deen's magical power upon using this spell does him in.
 * The Final Nirvana (最後涅槃, Saigo Nehan): The final attack utilized after Deen has activated the Mage Ring; it is the end-be-all of offense, and his absolute strongest attack. When firing up this spell, Deen enters a state of trance while expanding the magic of the Dragon-Blooded Knight outwards, causing the area around him to become full of star-like lights, followed shortly after by a dark blanket reminiscent of a night sky. After a few moments, Deen expands his magical energy and converts it into numerous photons, which appear similar to miniature stars. These photons hover around the area, though they do circle the foe. Through a mental command, Deen forces the photons which are whirling around in the battle ground to accelerate their destructive power; upon a single command, these photons penetrate the foe's body, paralyzing them. Upon entering the opponent's body, the photons become smaller particles. These photons have the principle of antimatter, which cause degenerative action wherever they stop. There, Deen commands the photons that were inside the opponent's body to explode, releasing a large amount of light which has the capability to destroy the foe's body outright. Once it is used, the transformation dissipates. Afterwards, Deen will lose consciousness, accompanied by intense pain, with his magical powers being drained away immediately afterwards, leaving her in a state of windedness for about the timespan of a month; though soon after this time limit is up, Deen will regain the usage of his transformation and he can perform the spell once more.

Tsuruko Sejren
"Deen: "Well, you're free now." Tsuruko: Hey, Deen? Don't give up on your dream, okay? Maybe we'll cross paths again.""

- Tsuruko Sejren and Deen Lhant, in Paragon of Hope

By far Deen's most outstanding and dynamic relationship—while Tsuruko and Deen's relationship started off on a sour note, though only for the latter, Deen was shown to be touched by the former's kindness towards him, even though he had arrested her on the charges of being rather suspicious. As Tsuruko told Deen to not give up on his dream of being a superhero, the words struck him on a high note; as she gave him one of her Super Soul Rings and left. This caused him to become intrigued by her, seeing her as somebody other than any other mage—until he had met Tsuruko, the mages that Deen had encountered in his profession were cruel and arrogant, even those under Legal Guilds. His impression of her was further softened after he witnessed her petting a kitten on La Pucelle grounds. When his superiors instructed him to infiltrate La Pucelle, Deen immediately jumped at the chance—not for the higher pay, but for the chance to meet Tsuruko once more. After posing as a student and a later bodyguard for Team Daybreak, Tsuruko and Deen had become friends officially.

Deen is shown to be a bit of a tsundere towards Tsuruko, being somewhat harsh to her, but deep down, he cares; as he doesn't openly admit that he worries or cares about Tsuruko, usually feigning anger and yelling at her, which only makes Tsuruko smile because she can tell Deen's true feelings. In dire situations, Deen openly shows concerns and proclaimed he will do anything to protect Tsuruko from danger. It was shown many times that Deen holds romantic affection for Tsuruko; blushing when he is close to her or when she is being kind to him—because of this, he has a rivalry with Gary. While normally being cold, Deen will listen to Tsuruko's words and advice even when he is angry.

When the Knight of the Silver Plains attempted to kill Tsuruko, Deen immediately ended his power-up and saved Tsuruko's life—diving in front of an attack he could have easily avoided. Dying in Tsuruko's arms, the two shared a sad goodbye and Deen thanked Tsuruko for everything she had done, leaving Tsuruko devastated and almost comatose. Afterwards, Tsuruko spent many sorrowful days locked inside her room, crying her heart out. Despite this, Tsuruko was still willing to protect Deen's dream of being a superhero that Deen entrusted to her and fight on.

Gary Straights
Upon meeting Gary, the two immediately got off to a bad start—having an intense rivalry in regards to the very same girl. Noticing that Tsuruko was acting different towards Gary than she did to other people, Deen quickly deducted that Tsuruko was in love with Gary, which caused him to instantly develop a certain coldness towards the young man, and as a result, he was known to be extremely rude to Gary, who responded in kind—the two often flinging insults against one another and butting heads at every opportunity that arose. Gary and Deen's rivalry can be fierce enough to the point of trying to kill each other, and at other times an intense competition. In any case, one always wants to outdo the other. Gary and Deen frequently fight due to their own views on justice and morality, and how to act on them. Each does not care what the other thinks of those views. In a sense, the two young men are polar opposites in every way except their appearance. Almost every time they meet, they battle ferociously. Neither is ever willing to accept defeat.

Interestingly, as the story of Daybreak progresses, Gary and Deen venture into more of a friendly-enemy territory. As love rivals, Deen tends to get jealous when he notices how casually Gary is capable of chatting with Tsuruko, and when their mutual past was finally revealed; Deen was quite shocked and saddened by this fact. As it was shown when Deen remarked that Gary's childhood friendship with Tsuruko was "ancient history", it caused Gary to become enraged at Deen and punch him across the room—startling others around, as Gary is shown to be a highly patient person. Even so, Gary later apologized; and after seeing Tsuruko and Gary's reunion, Deen noticed how happy Tsuruko was with his rival and after some thought about it, peacefully admitted that he had lost in their rivalry and wished the two the best.

Alexis Tenjouin
Interestingly, Deen's approach to Alexis is different from most characters in the series. Deen sees Alexis as the super-genius she has proven to be, rather than the kooky megalomaniac that Tsuruko and the others see her as. This can be backed up by the fact that Deen almost always calls Alexis by her title of "Archmage", as opposed to her first name. Alexis has shown similar respect by referring to Deen's potential as "spectacular", and by how she sometimes applauds Deen. However, even though Deen and Alexis display a level of respect toward each other, they also show a dislike toward one another—especially after Deen decided to side with Tsuruko over Alexis herself. Despite being respectful towards her, Deen has the habit of snarking at Alexis' more odd behaviours, albeit in a more subtle way; however, Alexis herself rarely, if ever, notices these comments as they fly over her head.

Mr. E
While Deen is completely unaware of Mr. E's existence, the man saw Deen as absolutely nothing—at least, until Deen caught the Knight of Silver Plains off-guard and managed to save Tsuruko from one of his attacks. The fact that Deen was not a factor in his plans threw him off so much that he decided to eliminate him. However, to E, Deen was not a threat in general, but that he is an anomaly that goes against E's plans. His victory over the Knight of Silver Plains is considered something that should have never happened; he is a powerless mook and the Knight of Silver Plains is his highly powerful Thought Projection, but every attempt to kill him so far has failed, and Deen's plans have begun to go awry ever since. To E, Deen is someone who is never noticed by people and doesn't have any talent, but for the sake of the person he loves, he’ll become the hero—but not just any hero, a "superhero". Because of his ability to constantly defy E's expectations, he is given the epithet "He who defies finality". Even in his dying moments, Deen's actions proved to be a thorn in E's side as Deen's death triggered the manifestation of the Infinity Ring, which Tsuruko used to kill the Knight of Silver Plains for good.

Quotes

 * "When I was a kid? I wanted to be a superhero. Like, run around, beat the bad guys, save people kind of heroics. Hehe, wasn't that every kid's dream? You guys can do all this awesome stuff, like punching demons to death, and flying around, and making other stuff fly around... I can't fly around, okay? I can't do anything...I wanted to be a hero, and now I'm stuck as a member of the damn goon squad." –Deen Lhant, to Tsuruko Sejren, Paragon of Hope
 * "Humans really are scary. As long as they can make the excuse that they are doing something no matter how terrifying to protect those they care about, they can do almost anything. That's how I see it anyway. I'll be showing you just how cruel us regular humans can be."

Trivia

 * Deen is Per's strongest non-magician.
 * Deen's secret dream is to be a super hero. The obvious pun is "super", a play on "Supa"; which appears in many of his attack names.