Freaks

Freaks (フリークス), known previously as Ripper (リッパー) and the Vampire (吸血鬼), was a major antagonist in XBlaze – Code: Embryo and the true main antagonist of XBlaze – Lost: Memories. He was an Irregular Type Drive-Union, he was killed by Kazuto Kotetsu, and revived by the Magic Guild before truly being defeated by Es and Tōya.

Appearance
Ripper had a strong resemblance to Hazama, except he had short violet hair with green streaks, wore a white eye patch on his right eye, and he usually had his eyes closed; his eyes open when he went maniac, revealing that he had one brown eye and that his other was his Crystal (colored red). He wore a magenta leather jacket with a black fur collar bearing Brain Cat near his abdomen; the jacket has a cross motif, with a green and black cross decorating the front and the for rea. His look was completed with plain black trousers and a pair of magenta sneakers.

Upon revival as Freaks, he looked like a pale and slender young man with bright green left eye. His long black hair covered his right eye, that was his Crystal before it was shattered by Es and Tōya, as well as twin ahoge and a single long strand of gray hair that extended past his chin. He had two huge scars in the shape of crosses on his hands that extended to his forearms, although these were slightly covered by the large metal cuffs and chains he wore on his wrists, and a third cross-shaped scar was on his body. He also had stitches on both hands.

He wore a black choker with a green pendant. His outfit was a large, baggy black onesie with numerous blue strips scattered across it, all of which are arranged horizontally. The suit had a zipper from its hood to its crotch, and metal rectangles adorning the hips in a belt-like manner. The suit had an entirely purple interior and brown strips decorating the large hood. Finally, a blue belt hung from his suit, and he wore blue and black shoes with brown strips on the tongue.

Personality
More crazed and psychopathic than one could believe, Ripper was nothing short of twisted and sadistic. He fully enjoyed wanton slaying and hunting Unions. Despite possessing a Crystal and being utterly devoid of any positive emotion, Ripper was fully mentally capable, being clearly able to devise cunning strategies to give him an advantage in combat. He was also somewhat sharp, being able to discern Es as not being human after she dodged one of his attacks. He was also well known for doing what he wanted, which eventually lead to his demise.

Ripper was also barbarically sadistic, only getting any real joy out of his opponents helplessness and scared emotions. When Es failed to reveal any emotions for him to thrive off, Ripper commented on her being boring, asking if she was 'as dead on the inside as she is on the outside'. In order to help strike fear and panic into his prey's hearts, he also possessed multiple bombs that were molotov-like in their design as they ignited the area around them.

In Lost: Memories after his revival as Freaks he drops his polite facade and became more violent and brutal than he was before most likely due to his death and desire for vengeance. He is also more arrogant after draining some of Toya's seithr boasting that he is invincible and his time as Brain Cat shows that he is quite manipulative and deceitful as seen with his treatment of Kiri. He also shows that he has no concern with his name stating that Ripper was nickname and insists that he is Freaks now.

History
Ripper was an insane sadistic serial killer, and he had murdered a large number of people and disposed of them haphazardly. Thirteen years prior to the events of Code: Embryo he was captured, and when he was being transported to his cell, his Drive first manifested. He used it to kill the 19 year old suspect riding with him, his two guards, and four other officers, and ran away. The only remaining officer, Kazuto Kotetsu, has survived, and went after him. Ripper escaped into the Himezuru household and murdered Yuki Himezuru's parents, leaving the young girl under her parents corpses. He was shot by Kazuto, but still managed to flee.

Ripper continued killing people, and began to hunt other Unions, having learned how to smell them out. He devoured their Crystals to become stronger, and turned into a Phase 0 Union, also known as "Strange Red". His insanity led to an odd immunity to the soul corruption that Crystals are notorious for. Ripper was wanted worldwide, classed as an SS grade criminal. He had been on the run from the Mitsurugi Agency for over ten years, and even the Magic Guild sent after him Kazuto, who became a bounty hunter known as "Avenge".

XBlaze – Code: Embryo
In the New Yokozaki City Ripper murdered a couple of Unions, including Akio Osafune, who he killed by piercing his cranium four times and slashing multiple times at his abdomen. Sometime later, Ripper made his first formal appearance after murdering the night watchman of the crime scene where Akio lay. He attacked Mei Amanohokosaka, Es and Tōya Kagari with throwing knives before confusing the trio with a multicolored smoke bomb; he then closed the distance as he dodged Mei's Shikigami Raven attack and appeared behind Tōya, mocking him as he called him 'Kagari-chan' and demanded to know where the Original Grimoire was. His mocking, however, was cut short as Es slashed at him with Crystal Sealing Blade: Murakumo, narrowly missing. Ripper fled to the local train station with Es on hot pursuit with Mei and Tōya trailing behind. After a brief stand off with Es and setting the train station's floor ablaze, Avenge leaped into the fray and clashed blades with Ripper as the Drive-Union laughed hysterically as they did so. When Mei and Tōya finally arrived, Ripper became bored, comparing the duo to cockroaches creeping out of woodwork. He fled after insulting Tōya, using one of his smoke bombs as a cover.

He later kidnapped Hinata Himezuru to lure out Tōya because of his "interesting smell". Stealing Hinata's phone, he called Tōya, initially posing as her, but dropping the act for the young man's reaction. He subtly told him that he would murder Hinata if he couldn't find him by the time the sun had set; feeling that he had been too lenient with his time, Ripper emitted a Discover Call so Tōya could find him.

He began to taunt the young man, telling him the truth about how Yuki became orphaned, but when Ripper went too far and pushed Hinata over the edge of a building to see the power deep inside Tōya, he had effectively sealed his own fate. Tōya, in a fit of rage, awakened the power of his Grimoire and absorbed the seithr that Ripper's Crystal needed to survive. This led to Ripper being in an incredibly weak state. He limped away to the sewers, but with no way to fight back nor run away, Ripper was finally killed by Kazuto Kotetsu.

XBlaze – Lost: Memories
Ripper's body was retrieved by the Magic Guild. There, they reanimated his body, and tried to erase his memories. In result, a new personality, Kiri, has developed in his body. He had no memories and was in control of their body, while Ripper remembered everything and could do nothing being trapped inside the Brain Cat doll. He used the doll to talk with Kiri, and tricked him into killing the leaders of the Magic Guild and fleeing from Ishana to the New Yokozaki City. Ripper told him that his body was taken by the leader of the bad guys, "Tōya Kagari", and if Kiri kills him, he will regain his memories and return Brain Cat's body.

Kiri drained some of Tōya's seithr, and Ripper's personality took over their body. He called himself "Freaks", and killed Tōya with his friends. In the World of Tsukuyomi, Es tried to save them, but her Embryo lacked power to do so, and she fell into despair and turned into Nobody. With "Me"'s help, she returned her memories and gained enough power to make a change. She made herself a human body, which she sent back to her world, before her friends were killed.

Es helped Tōya to defeat Freaks, and they smashed his Crystal in place of his right eye, killing Freaks, but leaving Kiri alive and powerless.

Powers and abilities
Ripper was an immensely powerful Drive-Union. His Drive, Scissor Hands, turned his fingers into long, sharp blades that were easily capable of piercing the human body; as well as this, they were laced with seithr, and any wounds inflicted by them could not be healed by any form of healing sorcery. To help compliment his attacking power, Ripper was incredibly swift and fast, easily dodging Mei Amanohokosaka's Shikigami Raven attack, to her astonishment. Ripper also had an ability to 'smell' Unions, meaning he could easily locate them when he wished. For some reason, Ripper emitted the same type of Discover Call that Tōya Kagari and Sechs could.

A tactic that Ripper often used was to feign being winded after or during a chase, and then attack with, seemingly, new-found swiftness and power when his opponent least expected it, giving him one of numerous tactical advantages; to help aide in opponents he couldn't catch or otherwise, his Drive also produced multiple throwing knives that he threw with deadly accuracy. Ripper also had multiple smoke bombs with him at all times to help confound his victims and gave him another tactical advantage when striking opponents, his arsenal was not just limited to smoke bombs, as he also carried Molotov-like bombs as well.

After his revival as Freaks he gained access to the New Testament Grimoire, which consumes the life force of those surrounding it. Its ability was denied by Es' Phantom Grimoire.

Trivia

 * Judging by Freaks' sprites, he cannot close his right eye.
 * According to his concept art, Ripper's mobile phone is Samsung Galaxy.

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