Hakumen

Hakumen (ハクメン) is one of (and said to be the leader of) the Six Heroes, and a playable character in the BlazBlue series.

Appearance
Hakumen follows a rather unique blend of cyborg and samurai. He wears semi-heavy white armor and a muscular body suit with a large collar and the traditional hakama present, ballooning pants common in samurai. His long silver hair is tied at the mane. All armored sections feature fully-functional crimson eyes with slit pupils. These eyes are not as much of an intimidation as much as the mask he wears; a completely white, two horned helmet with no features or visor, appearing to have no face at all, a feature that paralyzes even Ragna in fear.

When he is in Amane Nishiki's Astral Heat, he appears as a cat-like figure with one strand of sliver hair, symbols on his stomach, and a smaller version of Ōkami.

Personality
Hakumen is a very serious individual who is usually extremely focused on the task at hand and rarely shows any emotion beyond stoicism. His attitude can come off to others as prideful, stubborn, and even arrogant, occasionally getting him into issues with his comrades when he refuses to cooperate with them and tries to handle things on his own. His solitary goal is to eradicate evil wherever it hides and rarely compromises, warning his target to not take his mercy lightly when he spares them. During his Bad Ending in BlazBlue: Continuum Shift, Hakumen completely loses his temper when Hazama brutally tortures Tsubaki in front of him. Having already witnessed Tsubaki's gruesome end in his own timeline and harboring immense guilt over the fact that he didn't stop it, Hakumen can't bear the thought of having to witness it again.

While Hakumen is generally cold toward others, he does have respect for Jūbei, Valkenhayn, and Trinity, occasionally indulging them in conversation. Although Rachel Alucard frustrates him with her commandeering attitude, he is willing to tolerate her to some extent not unlike that of Ragna. He also show respect towards Bang Shishigami as a fellow man of justice and shows kindness towards Celica A. Mercury, occasionally doing favors for her.

Due to the fact that Hakumen is Jin Kisaragi's alternate future self, they share many similar traits. Both are cold, stubborn, anti-social, and desire Ragna to die by their hands. However, while Jin's desire is brought out as an obsessive impulse, Hakumen merely does so as it is his destiny, yet regrets every bit of it, showing that deep down he cares about his brother.

Due to his ego, Hakumen often clashed with other members of the cast. Over time, however, he has become much more focused on the more important matters, letting fate run its course with the rest of the cast and not interfering with their affairs. Even though he considers Ragna his greatest opponent, since BlazBlue: Continuum Shift he has put aside their rivalry for the sake of the greater good. By BlazBlue: Chronophantasma, their rivalry is noticeably less hostile and he is more cooperative with his comrades.

History
Hakumen is a samurai-esque warrior wielding a sword around as tall as he is and wearing a mask that completely hides his face. He is an incredibly powerful individual in the BlazBlue universe, so much so that the player is often told to proceed with caution when confronting him, and at times even advised not to do so entirely. His armor (which is the Susano'o Unit) seems to grant him limitless energy and incredible power, and his sword (a Nox Nyctores named Interfectum Malus: Ōkami) appears to bear the capability to kill characters that otherwise would be immortal, or have rapid healing properties that would make them difficult or impossible to kill. This makes him an equally dangerous foe to both mortal men as well as more powerful beings.

It is revealed that Hakumen is, in fact, Jin Kisaragi through hints given to the player during both their respective stories in BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger. In the original timeline, Nu -No. 13- killed Tsubaki Yayoi and afterwards, jumped into the Cauldron with Jin's brother, Ragna the Bloodedge at the Gate of Sheol. In a fit of rage, Jin went after her, and was thrown into the past, not long before the birth of the Black Beast. As he was lying on the ground, injured and helpless due to the previous battles and the trip through the Boundary tearing him, physically and mentally, he met Rachel Alucard, who offered him a chance to become a true hero.

Jin was taken to Alucard Castle for treatment; he woke up after one week and was greeted by Rachel's father, Clavis Alucard. He noticed not only his body, but his memory was also damaged, which Clavis explained as the result of his trip through the Boundary. Barely concerned himself with what the old vampire was saying, Jin's mind was stuck with the thought of having to eliminate the Black Beast. However, Clavis said that there was still time before he would be presented with the choice to stand up or not. He suggested Jin rested until then so that he could regain his strength, because his destiny had yet to conclude.

A few days later, Clavis led Jin to the basement and showed him the Susano'o Unit. Explaining that the Original Unit was like a god to humans, he offered giving it to Jin should he wanted to wield a sword again, though he would also not mind if Jin decided to stay in the castle for the rest of his life. As Jin was left with Rachel to consider his options, the girl said that once he decided to take the armor, he would cease to be human. Jin asked what he would become, to which Rachel replied that he would become different than what he currently was. Looking at his crippled body, Jin easily made his choice. For him, it was either live unable to fight, or live to fight. As the white armor whispered to him, he decided to wear it in order to sever the repeating tragedy. Ending the life of Jin, he 'tread a new stage' as Hakumen.

BlazBlue: Phase 0
Hakumen traveled alone, chasing after the Beast's trails. As he arrived at the lab where the Black Beast had first appeared, he detected a faint presence and searched for the source, though to no avail. In exchange, he met Nine, Trinity Glassfille and Celica A. Mercury for the first time. He recognized them as his comrades to-be, but noted that the time for them to encounter each other had yet to come, and went away.

BlazBlue: Phase Shift 2
Some time passed ever since the incident at the lab, the one-sided massacre between mankind and the Black Beast rages on. Hakumen is summoned to a meeting held by Nine to form a team of extraordinary people, which has the necessary abilities to defeat the Black Beast. Their cooperation has a shaky start, but eventually, their efforts pay off, and the Black Beast is repelled for the first time. The Six Heroes are then recognized by the whole world, Hakumen in the lead. With Nine passing on the knowledge of creating Armagus to mankind, the tides turns, and the Six Heroes defeats the Black Beast. Hakumen personally slays the Beast in the finale of the long war.

After the war, Hakumen and Jūbei wander to search for and close the Cauldrons, which are spreading toxic seithr around the world. Little did they know that while they were away Yūki Terumi escaped mind control, thanks to the help of his host body, Kazuma Kval, and killed both Nine and Trinity. They meet Terumi again, free from his bindings, when a closed Cauldron suddenly opens. Due to the disadvantage of being near the Cauldron, both Hakumen and Jūbei are overwhelmed by Terumi. As a last resort, Hakumen urges Jūbei to use his Sekigan, to which the latter grudgingly obeys, and somehow forces Terumi to reveal his true form. While Terumi is in shock, Hakumen grabs him and jumps straight into the Cauldron, telling Jūbei to close it to trap both of them inside the Boundary forever.



Innocent Black
Just as the Black Beast was beaten, the body reverted to Ragna and his own consciousness, his body beaten and covered in black and red. Hakumen approached him, looking at the man he recognized, his many red eyes staring daggers into the beaten body. He muttered towards the dying figure, pitying him with the words "How pitiful… So this is what your existence has finally come to huh…", and finishing with "…No. Perhaps this is just the 'beginning'?" with these words said, Hakumen raised the Interfectum Malus: Ōkami above his head and struck downwards, his Nox Nyctores killing the Beast that had wrought its destruction upon the world and its denizens.

BlazBlue: The Wheel of Fortune
Hakumen managed to return to the real world after almost a century after his heroic sacrifice. He arrived at the Cauldron beneath the 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi to chase after Ragna, but was late and encountered Hazama and Relius instead. Relius was interested in how Hakumen escaped from the Boundary. He theorized the white knight either accomplished that feat through pure will, or through a third party, but concluded that it was a meaningless topic to talk about. Hakumen said that the only thing he found meaningless was them, adding that he found the two of them no more than trash. Terumi took that as a provocation, and drew Ouroboros out of anger. Hakumen easily bested him, commenting that he was still incomplete. Relius ordered his automaton to assist Terumi after the latter begged for his help twice. Recognizing the product of Snap Weapon, Hakumen attempted to attack Relius in rage, but was dragged back to the Boundary before he could do so.

BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger
As the time loop begins, Hakumen was 'rescued', by Kokonoe, a scientist who often subjects him to her whims, though only at 20% of his full capabilities. Hakumen recognizes her as the child of Jūbei and Nine, which irritates her. Kokonoe tells Hakumen that as much as she would love to dump him back into the Boundary again, she still has to study his body, the Susano'o Unit; the rest is the least of her concerns. Hakumen tells her to do whatever she wants and leaves to find and destroy the current threat to the world, Ragna the Bloodedge.

As Hakumen reaches the 13th Hierarchical City of Kagutsuchi, he meets Ragna again for the first time and engages him in combat. While his immense strength allows him to easily overpower Ragna, he finds himself repeatedly aggravated by Kokonoe's meddling, as she repeatedly interferes with his duels by having him teleported elsewhere until a miraculous change happens, in which Hakumen uses sheer force of will to dispel Kokonoe's forced phenomenal interruption. There being nothing left in his way, he resumes his battle with Ragna, to which the latter responds by activating his Azure Grimoire and defeats Hakumen.

BlazBlue: Continuum Shift
After the decisive battle with Ragna, Hakumen is revealed to have been locked up in one of Sector Seven's lab by Kokonoe, meant to be imprisoned until Kokonoe has no further use for him. Rachel, claiming to need his power to deal with Terumi, breaks him free and tells him to rendezvous with her outside. Hakumen takes up his sword and destroys every single door in his way. However, as the exit is too easy, he becomes suspicious and turns his attention towards a particular direction Kokonoe wanted him to ignore. As he slices through another door, he is disgusted to learn that Kokonoe is storing nuclear warheads, something he deems even more dangerous than the Black Beast.

After escaping the lab, Hakumen arrives at the Hanging Gardens and meets Rachel again, who is displeased for his late arrival. Rachel tells him to stop Terumi, which might involves killing Noel Vermillion if worst comes to worst. Their conversation is disrupted midway as Tager arrives to retrieve Hakumen. Hakumen easily defeats him, as Rachel's observation allows him to make better use of his current power than he did previously. Hakumen continues to wander, and by chance, meets Tsubaki. They introduce themselves to each other, and Hakumen is surprised to find that Tsubaki is a devoted fan of him. He tells her to take off her mask, so he can see her face, and tells her an old tale about himself, though leaves out the name of those in the story. In his story, he inadvertently led the girl he loved to her demise through his arrogance and conceitedness. The pain strengthened his resolve and allowed him to slay the Black Beast; he even named one of his techniques after her. Hakumen expresses his regret, and wishes to ask for her forgiveness, to which Tsubaki replies that the girl must have already forgiven him. As he hears  the answers he has always longed for, he bids her farewell and silently says "Thank you, Tsubaki" in his old voice.

After his moments with Tsubaki, Hakumen encounters Jin inside the Cathedral, and they exchange a short fight. He criticizes Jin's weakness of being conceited. However, he realizes what Terumi wanted and asks Jin to go save Tsubaki, to which Jin agrees. Hakumen then goes to the Cauldron to defend the entrance leading to the Boundary. After some waiting, Noel, who has transformed into Mu -No. 12- arrives at the Cauldron to destroy Amaterasu. Hakumen fends her off, as requested by Rachel, but is unable to kill her. Before they could continue, Jin arrives to take on Mu, though to no avail. As Jin is defeated, Ragna arrives and successfully defeats Mu while keeping her alive, at the cost of his left arm. Hakumen decides to spare Ragna for the impossible deed he has done for once. Suddenly, Hazama appears before them, announcing that Takamagahara is under his control. He attempts to kill everyone present, as he has no further use for them, but the Imperator appears, telling him to back off. Hakumen and Jin attack the Imperator on sight, but Tsubaki and Litchi Faye Ling block them. Both Hakumen and Jin are shocked to see Tsubaki on her side. The Imperator, indifferent to everyone but Rachel, reflects the current situation, where Amaterasu is at her mercy before leaving.

Sometime after the incident at the Sheol Gates, believing Rachel to be too soft as an observer, Hakumen decides to walk his own path.

BlazBlue: Chronophantasma
After a month passes, Hakumen travels to Ikaruga to put an end to Terumi. Rachel appeals to him a few times to join her, but he refuses cooperation every single time. Hakumen unconsciously wanders to the Snow Town in the 9th Hierarchical City of Akitsu-Kō under the effect of the Power of Order and meets Jin. He compliments Jin for making good use of his power and briefly engages him in combat. After the short battle, Hakumen tells Jin about Izayoi, so that he can save Tsubaki from its influence. Jin then asks about Hakumen's timeline, whether Noel and Hazama existed or not. Hakumen confirms that Noel did not originally exist, but wonders why Jin asks about Hazama. Concluding that he has no further answers, Hakumen walks off.

Hakumen later comes across Celica A. Mercury near Kazamotsu's Lakeside Port and saves her from Carl Clover. Overjoyed to finally see someone she knows, Celica wants him to take her to see the other heroes. Hakumen initially refuses, but thinking that she might starve and die if let be, he decides to at least take her to Valkenhayn. On the way, they encounter Azrael and Hakumen engages him to defend Celica. Seeing no way to end the battle, Celica uses her power like a flare to temporarily blind Azrael, giving them enough time to run away. As they manage to shake him off, they meet Jūbei. Hakumen tells Jūbei to take Celica to Valkenhayn, but Rachel appears and teleports everyone to her castle for a reunion. As the Heroes finally gather, Hakumen finally agrees to follow Rachel's plan to stop Terumi once and for all.

As Rachel and Trinity successfully materialized Terumi, Hakumen, Jūbei and Celica is teleported to the 6th Hierarchical City of Yabiko to finish him off, but unfortunately, he manages to slip away as Phantom interrupts them. The Heroes then split up to look for Terumi. Trinity manages to find him, but is almost killed if not for Hakumen's intervention. Terumi then traps them in Phantom's Infinite Corridor, saying that they will be fighting his shadows forever. Hakumen deduces from his words that to manifest such perfect shadows, there must be a source of hatred for him close by. Using Amaterasu and Muchōrin's power, Hakumen and Trinity bypass the barrier and confront its creator, Phantom, directly; Hakumen recognizes her as Nine. Trinity attempts to dispel the Mind Eater on her, but something strange happens as she finishes.

In the finale, Rachel sends Hakumen to assist Ragna in the final battle against the Imperator. Honoring the request of Celica, he goes to the Monolith to destroy it. He encounters Yūki Terumi and, by using his Time Killer technique, kills all the "time" that Terumi possessed, destroying him once and for all. He then attempts to destroy the Monolith's foundation, but realizes that after the immense amount of power he exhausted during these events, particularly with killing Terumi, his existence has begun to waver. He laments his weak heart and soul, but then Jin Kisaragi shows up and the two combine their Kokujin: Yukikaze techniques to slice through the foundation. After Takemikazuchi is stopped, Hakumen warns Ragna and Celica that Nu will only cause more evil as long as she remains alive and attempts to kill her, only to be stopped by them. Hades: Izanami then appears alongside Phantom and Hakumen attempts to attack her, only for it to be completely ineffective since she is incapable of feeling time. Hades: Izanami then has Phantom teleport Hakumen away to an unknown location.

Powers and abilities
Being the former leader of the Six Heroes, Hakumen is an extremely powerful individual with a myriad of significant abilities. Having apparently mastered the Power of Order during the Dark War, utilizing the Sankishin Unit: Susano'o which grants him nigh limitless fighting capabilities and stamina, and willpower so strong that he was able to resist losing himself to the Boundary, Hakumen could very well be one of the most formidable characters in the BlazBlue universe.

It should be noted, however, that Hakumen is only at roughly 20% of his full power as only his existence is projected in the real world; his body is still somewhere in the Boundary. His state was, from Bloodedge's perspective, nothing but a remnant of his full prowess in his early days. In BlazBlue: Continuum Shift, Rachel Alucard became a "superior" Observer for Hakumen, restoring more of his fighting capabilities (although to what extent remains unknown).

His weapon of choice is Nox Nyctores, Ookami, a nodachi with an odd blunt tip in place of a sharp point. The sword is attached to a sheath on his back with a slot to allow him to draw the sword without straining his arm due to its long length. Hakumen repeatedly claims that despite its cursed nature, it is a weapon meant to destroy evil, hinting that it may have holy properties. It apparently possesses the ability to negate ars magus as well. Hakumen with this sword often focuses on defensive-wide-singular strikes and a touch of focused kicks.

Hakumen's Drive, Zanshin, allows him to project energy barriers that repel enemy attacks and allow him to effectively counter advances towards him. He also has an unusual ability called Fuumajin, which leaves a sort of vacuum sphere in place of a projectile that he stops with his sword. His Overdrive, Kishin, greatly speeds up his magatama gain rate, allowing him to use his special moves more frequently.

By utilizing Susano'o Unit's ability to cut time, Hakumen is able to tear the space between two parallel time-lines. Then, through the unit's special eyes, he is able to observe what is happening in the same place, but in a different time-line.

During BlazBlue: Chronophantasma, Hakumen reveals a last resort technique called Time Killer (刻殺) which destroys all the "time" his target possesses, effectively allowing him to kill an immortal being such as Terumi. However, this technique failed against Hades: Izanami as "[her] time ended long ago". In order to use this technique, however, it seems to take some time to prepare and uses up a substantial amount of Hakumen's power. In Arakune's arcade mode, Hakumen reveals another technique called Demonslayer (劫魔滅殺), which he specifically reserved against Terumi, but he is soon forced to use it against Arakune, his opponent runs away.

Etymology
Hakumen (白面) in Japanese literally translates into English as White Face, White Mask and/or Blank Face. All three are obvious references to his pure white, blank mask. As well as this, the men in Hakumen also means '‘mirror’' (in reference to the Japanese numerical counting system); it’s also a ‘counter-attack’ term in Shogi (Japanese equivalent of Chess) as well. Both are possible references to his Drive.

Trivia

 * Due to the fact that Hakumen is only at 20% of his original power and yet is still considered an extremely dangerous adversary, it is possible that, should his full power be completely restored, he could very well be one of the most powerful individuals in the BlazBlue universe.
 * Along with Hazama and Arakune, Hakumen is one of the few who do not appear to have a skeleton. This is due to the fact he is just a suit of armor (apparently), but can still get shocked. His insides appears as his armor outline, wires, and orb-shaped items.
 * In BlazBlue: Continuum Shift, dialogue reveals that the multiple orbs on his body are his eyes.
 * In Japanese, the "Just Sword" part of his speech its written "Jin" in rōmaji, so the speech that says "Ware wa Jin" can also be translated "I am Jin" which is actually a Stealth Pun, in which he reveals himself as Jin Kisaragi.
 * The Japanese god Susano'o and Hakumen, whose Susano'o Unit is named after this god, have a few things in common. Both have slayed an eight-headed monster (Yamata no Orochi/The Black Beast) and both were banished from their home (Susano'o to the earth/Hakumen to the Edge beyond the Boundary).
 * Hakumen's crest depicts a kitsune, a fox in Japanese mythology that can grow as many as nine tails, in its center.
 * For an unknown reason, in Hakumen's BlazBlue: Continuum Shift audio gallery, right after "Kokūjin Ōgi: Akumetsu", "Kokūjin: Rehhyō" can be heard.
 * Along with Ragna, Rachel, Hazama, Jin and Platinum, Hakumen is a playable guest character in Lost Saga.
 * Hakumen, as well as Noel, Hazama and Tsubaki, are the only characters with playable alternate forms. Hakumen's alternate form is the Hero of Ikaruga, Jin Kisaragi.
 * It seems that Hakumen finds nuclear weapons to be a greater evil than the Black Beast was. This might be because while the Black Beast did spread destruction, it left seithr which became the power source for the future, while nuclear weapons just completely obliterate any life within its radius and leaves the area irradiated and useless.
 * In BlazBlue: Chronophantasma, by using Hakumen's Overdrive together with Kokūjin Ōgi: Mugen, he gains infinite magatama for the duration of his Overdrive.
 * Interestingly enough, just like Terumi, Hakumen dislikes being in the Susano'o Unit, though his reason was that Terumi's lingering presence made it especially uncomfortable to put up with. He called it an abominable power and said that if it were possible, he would even gladly give it back to Terumi.
 * Part of the reason Hakumen was searching for Cauldrons was to understand the Boundary, so that he would know what to do in order to end the God's dream. Interestingly enough, Terumi himself has a similar aim. The difference between them is that Terumi doesn't care if the world dies with the dream, while Hakumen wants to end the dream while protecting the world.
 * Hakumen's 2C and j.5C are seemingly inspired from the Nagare (流れ) and Nagareboshi (流れ星) sword techniques of the historical manga Shigurui.
 * According to Clavis, Jin's arrival right before the Dark War, was not a coincidence, but the will of the world. A will, that the world gained through human hands.

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